Violent Night Review

Posted on February 21, 2026 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 3/10

Death Wish Review

Posted on February 21, 2026 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 3/10

Rings Review

Posted on February 15, 2026 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 2/10

Sniper 2 Review

Posted on February 8, 2026 by dreager1

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

It’s still pretty crazy to think that the Sniper series has gotten so many movies. It just never seemed like the kind of franchise to break out in that way but hey that means more action scenes for me. This may seem surprising but the second film actually beats the first one. This one just jumps right into the action and doesn’t try to be as gritty as the first one. The heroes have a job to do and they just get right on it.

The movie starts out with Thomas being recruited by the army for one last mission as a sniper. He points out that he was let go because he lost some fingers in the first film but the army explains that they have nobody better. (Translation: They found someone expendable to put in a crazy dangerous mission!) So Thomas is sent abroad for the latest assassination and this time his partner is Jake. Jake was also a really good sniper but he ended up murdering one of his teammates and so he was taken to jail. If he clears this mission, he can get a pardon so that’s the incentive but Thomas has to be careful. This still might not be someone that he can really trust. That’s a tough doubt to have when you’re in a life or death situation.

Now what some may not like here is that a good chunk of the film actually has absolutely nothing to do with Thomas doing any sniping itself. They take down the main target really quickly. A lot of this ends up being running away from an enemy sniper. So you’re sort of flipping the script here. Thomas finds out that the government has been using him once again so now he has to help Jake get someone out of enemy territory but it won’t be easy. The enemies have a powerful sniper of their own who is really good at making high pressure shots.

There may be some issues where you have to suspend your disbelief quite a bit but that is normal for a thriller. The biggest instance of this absolutely has to be when the characters hijack a bus and then run through a bunch of cars. They break away to run from the enemy soldiers but you don’t see how they could have possibly escaped. Jake is captured quickly so we see that every soldier stops searching even though they knew that they were chasing two guys. Thomas just hides around the corner and nobody goes on to check. Seems a bit farfetched right?

In general you were always going to have a hard time trying to find a way for the two soldiers to go into a super urban environment, bump someone off and then escape. That’s hard to do and so the film doesn’t always make a convincing case for it. Still, the pacing is always good and this is a very explosive film. Someone is basically always shooting at the main characters here. Ultimately Thomas makes for a pretty good character here as well.

I thought the subplot about him not being able to see well would be a bigger deal but surprisingly that plot doesn’t matter after the opening shot. He is basically able to shoot and fight normally. He isn’t the kind of guy who talks too much and just gets the job done. That works pretty well for the main character and his experience really came in handy here.

As for Jake, well I can’t say that I liked his plan. It’s the kind of plan that usually has a 99% chance of failure. Somehow he was able to pull it off here thanks to plot armor and all but that doesn’t make it a good one. He was still a good ally to have and was much better than the spotter from the fist film. Jake is an actual professional who could hold his own in comparison. During the climax he takes down a ton of enemy combatants on his own.

The most annoying character has to be the guy that they are trying to rescue. He’s one of those classic pacifists who talks about how war is bad and everyone who participates in it is terrible. Yeah war is a bad thing of course but not every combatant is in on it. Thomas is here to try and make the world a better place and Jake is actively trying to save this guy. There are times when violence is necessary for the greater good and the absolute stance on how it’s bad is always a bad thing. Sure enough, this guy comes around by the end but it’s a bit late for that. It’s just such an obvious thing to realize that it shouldn’t be an actual twist or anything.

The main heroine here is Sophia and for most of the film I figured she would be the traitor. She is quite helpful and knows the best places to snipe from and where the villains will be at their weakest. Without her the main sniper duo would have had a much tougher time of it. Sophia ends up being a pretty solid character. Definitely someone who is taking an active role in this conflict as opposed to just sitting around watch. This whole adventure is happening in her country after all.

There isn’t much to Sniper 2 beyond being an action title so how much you enjoy it will depend on how much you like that premise. I don’t think it’s inherently a bad thing to be hyper focused like this. For the most part the film isn’t throwing a ton of twists at you and the formula follows a lot of what happened in the first film. When you see the plot description of the film you can guess a lot of what will happen from there. Not every individual twist but the general flow. The character cast is very small as well. If you’re watching for some good gunfights then you’ve come to the right place.

Overall, Sniper 2 is the definition of a classic action film. I thought the execution was pretty good to that end and had a good time watching the film. You won’t be bored or anything. The film can get violent at times but not nearly as much as the first one. This is more nonchalant about the battles so it doesn’t dwell for too long on any one scene. Naturally if you don’t enjoy films about war time situations and fights then you should skip this one but then there wouldn’t have been much to save it in general. I’m not sure I really see any future Sniper films improving further on the formula here but I’ll still be curious to see how they turn out.

Overall 6/10

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit Review

Posted on February 8, 2026 by dreager1

Moribito is an anime where I knew the name of it for a long time but never really knew what the show was about. For the longest time I actually thought it was something vampire related. Well, it’s a pretty fun adventure show with some solid action in there. The old time setting doesn’t always work for me but I would say this show did a good job with it. The pacing is solid and so in the end I didn’t have any big issues with it.

The series starts by introducing us to Balsa who is one of the world’s greatest spear fighters. For a while there she had been a fighter who would not hold back and clear any mission. As a result she ended up taking 8 lives and so she has decided to save 8 lives in return. Balsa was able to help out 7 people easily enough but the she stumbles upon a royal conspiracy. The prince Chagum is expected to be assassinated and so his mother asks Balsa for help. This is not usually a mission that Balsa would undertake but it is the final life that she needs to save for atonement. So she takes Chagum and escapes the kingdom but now everyone is after her. Can Balsa keep him safe?

The other difficult part of this task is the timeframe. Typically you would expect to get someone out of danger and then you can leave. With this task, Balsa is expected to look out for Chagum for the rest of his life as the kingdom will never stop looking for him. This means that her life is essentially over as she will be a bodyguard forever. This concerns her friends and Chagum also isn’t thrilled about this. He doesn’t wish to be a burden to anyone and has his pride as a prince. This is something that causes quite a few disagreements during the series.

So why does the kingdom want to murder Chagum? Well, he has a legendary beast within him, one that is said to bring destruction along with it. To that end, murdering him is the only way to save the world. His father, the Mikado is the one who has to do the deed. So he’s not exactly happy about this, but that’s what the guy does. Unfortunately it does mean that The Mikado is hardly one of my favorite characters. Listening to a prophecy over trying to help your own kid is just a terrible decision. He may as well be a total villain if this is the kind of decision that he’s making.

Several characters act as antagonists throughout the story but ultimately the monsters that wish to eat Chagum serve as the final boss types. They are hard to defeat with conventional weaponry as you have to wait for them to materialize. There are also a lot of them which results in a pretty big climax. About 90% of the series is a really realistic feudal setting with the monsters spicing things up for the final act. That was pretty fun although I will admit that the fight scenes against them are not nearly as entertaining as the human ones.

The animation throughout the show is pretty good. the fights have solid choreography and while the animation colors may be a little washed out, there is a lot of movement. The series peaks rather early on with the fights though. The best battle in the series is when Balsa takes on the 5 legendary hunters at the same time. It’s really an impressive fight and shows why her skills are in a league of their own. The soldiers all get really upset about this but in a 1 on 1 fight she would be able to defeat any of them.

She does take injuries in the fight which affects her for a long time after that but at peak strength she is clearly number 1. We do get some fights here and there after this like a flash back with her mentor but surprisingly the show does prioritize adventure over action. There actually aren’t a ton of fights in the series. Instead Balsa shows Chagum that fighting isn’t always the way as they meet many people and journey throughout the world.

The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side though. It’s not bad or anything but you won’t find a whole lot of tunes that are going to make your playlist. Likewise with the opening. It’s all a bit quieter than it needs to be. Some may say that rock music would go completely against the show’s vibes but ehhh I think it would work pretty well personally.

Balsa does really well in the main character slot. She is quietly powerful. You won’t hear a whole lot of bragging from her but she does take all opponents down as needed. She also does well in dealing with Chagum who isn’t accustomed to this life so she has to set things up carefully. Balsa is put through a whole lot of hardship here but never backs down. Her experience really shines through.

As for Chagum, well longtime readers of this site can probably expect that I wouldn’t be much of a fan. It takes him way too long to actually get with the program. He does his best to try and help Balsa but tends to make a lot of mistakes. Going to the festival to wrestle a bully was the wrong decision when he was already on the run. It also gets annoying when he keeps on trying to get to the capital. He vastly underestimates the danger that he is in at times. Then this isn’t totally Chagum’s fault but near the end the monster within him starts to take more control so Chagum is often rather lifeless and quiet.

He really needed to trust Balsa more and understand why she would have to keep some things from him. Then we have Tanda who likes Balsa a lot and is always worried about her. He’s not a fighter so he stays back at base and makes herbs to heal her. He has never really been able to confess his feelings but is trying to gather strength for that. Tanda never ended up becoming one of my favorite characters. He should have been learning how to fight if he really wanted to help Balsa.

Additionally, his powers of walking through dreams and reality is good in concept but it seems like he never trained that either so he has a ton of limitations. The guy needed to be bolder and protect his craft. If he had done that then this would have been a very different story. Balsa’s mentor Juguro was a whole lot more interesting. It’s a shame the way that he went out but this guy was a true fighter all the way. His skills may have even been better than Balsa’s although I like to think that she caught up to him in the end. I would have liked to have seen more adventures of Juguro since we don’t actually see him all that much. He has a constant presence within the show through references though.

Then we have Torogai who is essentially the oldest character in the series. She is part of a tribe which uses natural remedies and talks to the spirits. They are direct rivals to the kingdom’s own faction of spellcrafters. I’d say she is far more impressive than they are. Even in her old age she is able to take down several master hunters and is always one step ahead of the others. If she was just a bit younger she probably could have taken on an active action role as well. Either way she is very helpful to the main characters and they would have been doomed without her. She ended up being a bit better than I would have guessed.

There are also two kids who help Balsa throughout the series. Toya and Saya, who grew up poor but have always been very resourceful. They don’t get down about the situation and just keep on doing their best. They’ve made a whole lot of friends in the process and know their way around the town. They are generally able to stay out of danger this way and help Balsa at the same time like when they lit up the cabin on fire to warn her that enemies were around. These two characters certainly had a lot of guts.

Then there are the star readers. First there is Shuga who starts out as a bit of a yes man but gradually starts to realize that not all is well within the kingdom walls. It takes him a little while to really get a spine but by the end he is firmly within the hero’s camp. I would have liked his star reading to have been a little more helpful though. He ends up needing the help of the main characters for noticing signs of the upcoming draught and then he has to rely on others to read the ancient scriptures on what to do.

It is true that Shuga is the one who pushes these things into motion but I would have liked some more direct skill out of him. He was better than his master Hibi though. Hibi was a complete antagonist for a while there as he was quick to try and murder Chagum. He tries to explain later on that he has to follow the prophecies and he will adapt along with them but to me that was never a good excuse for how he was in the first half of the series. The guy was absolutely brutal and out for blood. While the Star Readers need to take definitive action during a crisis, this guy was ready to justify anything within those confines.

I don’t think any character should trust him after that. The guy had an imposing presence though so I appreciated him as a villain. I was less sold on him being more of a decent guy. At least he did more than Sagum though who probably ends up being the most underwhelming character. He takes over for Chagum during the series but then randomly passes from his illness. It was foreshadowed to a degree but I thought he would be able to do something first. You could cut him out of the show and absolutely nothing changes. It just made him feel like a very random character.

As for the 5 legendary warriors, two of them really get main plots of their own. Jin was a good friend to Chagum and the king so he has made it his mission to murder Chagum himself. He wants to do this to spare the Mikado the trauma of the act. The problem of course is that he is no match for Balsa. I would even say he may be the weakest of the main 5 because of how headstrong he is. The guy is chastised for this on multiple occasions but never really changes.

While he is another character who is primed for the redemption arc, I wasn’t feeling it here either. At the end of the day he is moving to murder a child after all. No matter how you square that way, that is absolutely big villain territory. I don’t know how you can really get past that. A real friend would fight against the prophecy rather than letting it dictate his life. It was a misstep right from the very beginning.

Then there is Mon who is the leader of the group. He is the most well balanced and the guy who can listen to reason. As an enemy he is as dangerous as they come but it is also easy to see why he is so trusted by the empire. He is able to match wits with Balsa much better than the other characters. Additionally he has a whole lot of power. Balsa is still more powerful to be sure but he is a worthy rival all the way.

There are other characters running around but these are most of the main ones. There is a bounty hunter who goes after Balsa for a long while until she eventually takes him on. That guy was definitely a nice wild card to introduce to the series. It makes sense that Balsa would have made some serious enemies over the years after all. The episodes were also a great way to show her stamina as Balsa was basically not allowed to go to sleep for several nights while under constant attack and still pulled through. A lot of characters would have broken down at that point. Balsa also comes close to going back to her murdering ways but is able to pull back.

During this part of the adventure I do think it would have been worth not having the plot twist. Instead of the opponent surviving, he should have died and then Balsa would have to reconcile with that fact. By having him survive, it does take a little bit away from her decision. There are times when murder is necessary in a self defense situation like this and having the characters explain that to her would have been more powerful if you ask me. Even if it means she has to save one more life at the end of the series since she would have a body count of 9 now.

Overall, Moribito is a pretty fun show. With the ending you can tell that there are many more adventures to come but this was a great way to introduce all of the characters. The ending isn’t perfect with Chagum basically becoming royalty but not being powerful enough to let Balsa go where she pleases. I never understand why the Prince/King at this point have to succumb to classic traditions. When you rule the nation you should be able to bend the rules and help your friends out. Otherwise what’s the point of even having a King? If you like a good adventure show then you should definitely check this one out.

Overall 7/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez DELUXE Finals Arc Review

Posted on February 7, 2026 by dreager1

Cardfight Vanguard has had so many seasons at this point and yet I still remain impressed every time. There are very few franchises that can pull off this kind of high level consistency time and time again. This whole season is for the final rounds of the tournament so you can be sure that there will be a lot of action in just about every episode. This is an elite climax to this phase of the tournament so I can safely say that Cardfight fans are eating well here.

When it comes to the storyline…well there’s not much to say. The top 8 Cardfighters in the world are competing in order to win the championship. Each of them have their own motivations for winning the tournament. They range from just wanting to win, to defeat an old rival, to become a pro, etc. There can only be one winner though and there are no cop outs here. So you have to strap in and see how it goes.

Another thing I really enjoy about Cardfight is that it’s one of the only shows that can pull off an upset. In 99.9% of fiction you immediately know who will win a big fight based on the narrative. You can have a good time watching a fight like Gojo vs Sukuna, Goku vs Jiren, and Godzilla vs the military but at the end of the day you’re generally going to know who is going to win because of the situation. If it’s near the end of a series/movie, well the hero has to win. Not 100% of the time but you’re generally going to be able to guess. Well, Cardfight has uprooted that notion in the past and this season does that as well as my bracket of predictions was essentially tossed out the window.

It was really cool to see and also made the tournament feel a bit more realistic in that regard. Anyone can win a given Cardfight. That’s part of the appeal of the sport, it all comes down to your strategy with the cards that you are dealt. From that point on, anything is possible. Now if you want the end of the world stakes, you’ll have to wait for the next season. The very ending does give you a glimmer of what’s to come and it looks hype. Cardfight is able to nail the sports genre and the end of the world genre so it’s all good by my book.

By this point you should be pretty well acquainted with the animation. If you liked it in the previous seasons then you will like it here as well. I thought it looked pretty sharp and smooth the whole time. It’s not necessarily improved from last season but continues to hold its own. Then we have the soundtrack which is solid as always. Every character has their own tune and there is quite a lot of variety here. I tend to like all of the themes to a degree with some of course being at a higher tier than others.

Now there are a ton of guest star characters from previous seasons. You’ve got old main characters from tons of past seasons in attendance for the tournament. Mainly I’ll be focusing on the people actually involved in the tournament or someone who gets a big duel like Yu-Yu. Yu-Yu has been retired for a long while now as he became a fashion designer but it was still fun to see him duel. It would be nice to see a prior protagonist take a more active role someday though. I always felt that even Aichi wasn’t done full justice when he returned in G. Likewise, I would like to see Yu-Yu fighting to save the world at some point. He is still a skilled duelist though.

The first big battle is between Kagetsu and Ruka. Kagetsu was introduced in the last season as one of the most powerful duelists in history. His skills are incredible and so it was interesting to see him set up against Ruka, a character with the same levels of hype. In fact, Ruka actually defeated him in the past and then she vanished for a while. She gets a lot of backstory in this one and we really find out more about her motivations. She just doesn’t like to be tied down and considers dueling to be something that is always done for fun.

I can appreciate her easy going personality and she’s a fun character to root for. I was rooting for her over Kagetsu but it was close either way. I liked Kagetsu as well but miss his more fiery self from the flashbacks. He has really gone into full on adult mode by this point so he doesn’t typically how as much emotion as he used to. Of course only one character could move on from here and neither of them had very large ambitions outside of the matchup.

Then the next fight was Michiru vs Mirei. It was surprising to see Mirei make it this far into the bracket. She was always known as a powerful fighter but not usually someone you would expect to be in the top 8. Mirei is essentially playing with house money at this point so every extra win will feel good. Meanwhile Michiru is still trying to find fun people to duel against. His goal is simple but always a good one. I was never able to buy into the hype though. He as strong but there are so many characters who were set up to be the strongest that he just folded next to them. It didn’t help that he lost one of his first important duels in the series.

After that we have Suo vs Erika. Erika quickly became one of my favorite characters in the series when she debuted. Her goals of trying to save the future were definitely good ones and she took the necessary actions. Her story is still rather tragic as she had to give up on living with her family so as to avoid any time inconsistencies. I don’t really think that would have been a problem to be honest but in the end she changed her name and aims to become a pro. Winning this tournament will really help her reach that goal.

Meanwhile Suo aims to win to continue polishing his skills. He likes a good duel after all and his powers of darkness as potent as ever. He is not someone who will be going down easily. He doesn’t have much of a story arc going on right now but he’s not a bad character. I always thought he made for a more interesting antagonist than hero though. It is fun to see a hero command the powers of darkness but the cast is so large that he doesn’t really stand out.

Finally we have Akina vs Megumi. Akina is the main character of the series after all so you would expect him to be getting a lot of action. He certainly has a high degree of skill as you would expect. He’s still one of the heaviest hitters on the block. He aims to be a pro so that’s why he has to win this tournament. He can’t afford to lose and fall behind on his dreams. Akina has been a well balanced main character who steps up when needed. He really wants to enjoy his duels and fight at full power throughout but knows to turn it up when the stakes are high.

As for Megumi, she is one of the last fighters of the old era. She has long tried to become one of the world’s strongest but there were always obstacles in her way. Danji is not in this tournament so this is really her best chance to win it all. Will she really be able to pull it off? Well it won’t be an easy task. Megumi is a fun character and at times she does show some fire but I wish she would show this off more often. That would really make her stand out as a fighter.

Then when the first rounds are completed, the semi finals start and then the finals. There are a few intermission episodes in between there but for the most part every episode is about a big battle like this. Since the season already starts off with the top 8 beginning, the show does not have to hold off on the epic nature of the battles from the start. Episode 1 is already dialing things up on a high level. You really can’t go wrong with tournaments.

Between the upset victory and all of the characters being likable, there is really no reason not to love this show. As long as you enjoy the game of Cardfight, then I’d say you will have a really good time here. I’d say to make it even more fun, try and pick someone to root for in every matchup. It makes the duels more exciting when you have a dog in the race. You may expect the main character Akina to win all of his matches but aside from his, you can still have fun betting on the other matches. Everyone has some kind of motivation on why they want to win their fight after all. The motivation you identify with the most can help you make your choice.

There are definitely several moments of foreshadowing for the next season as well. You have a brand new character who seems to be quite powerful and she makes some cryptic statements here. Then at the very end you see the brand new villain. So this helps build the hype even more in addition to the tournament itself. This might end up being the final tournament we get but I wouldn’t mind one more. Something really huge with all of the key characters across each season participating. You’d probably need 24 episodes for that at the least and will have to skip through some fights but I want to see Tohya get back into the picture.

If there is an issue with the series, it would just be that the cast is so large that some of your favorites won’t have time to do anything. At this point it is completely impossible to balance them all in 12 episodes. So each season has to choose some core characters and then ditch the rest. Fortunately there are enough good characters where you should still have a bunch to root for. At least that’s the way I see it. I really enjoyed seeing Erika here but it’s likely that she won’t be doing much at all in the next season. Getting two seasons in a row would be a bit greedy of me to expect.

Each season always adds some new characters as well so I’ll be looking forward to seeing what the new villains are like. Hopefully we should be getting some really serious power creep in here. Akina is definitely ready for action, we’ll have to see if the other characters can follow suit. With the pro leagues close by, it does feel like this saga is coming to a close though. I hope they have a new installment ready to follow it up right away though.

Overall, This was another top tier season and I would definitely recommend checking it out. I’m eager to also get back to the end of the world stakes as well though. Cardfight really excels at both sides of the coin here. If you aren’t watching Cardfight yet then you really need to change that. It’s really amazing how far the series has come. I may bring this up in every season review but the first season in the latest timeline was so rough that I had doubts on the series recovering. Well, it certainly did that in spades. I can essentially expect every season to be a 9 star experience which is really insane.

Overall 9/10

Sniper Review

Posted on January 25, 2026 by dreager1

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

When you hear of a film with the title of Sniper, you’re definitely expecting something really intense. It pretty much comes with the territory right? Well, this movie does not disappoint so if that’s what you’re looking for then you are in the right place. There is quite the body count here and you will see just how difficult the job is. The sniper position is really a unique one in the army and has its own set of dangers.

The movie starts with Tom and his partner completing a routine sniper mission. Unfortunately the partner dies and Tom is forced to head back alone. Now he has one last mission to complete before retirement. It’s an assassination mission with 0 backup and heavily behind enemy lines. His new partner is a rookie named Richard who has no in field experience but is a skilled sniper in non combat scenarios. Richard is technically slated to be the boss for this mission and was even given authority to murder Tom if needed. Will his lack of experience be a major liability here?

Right away you will be able to see that the answer to this question is Yes. Richard is constantly panicking and doing things by the book. Tom is someone who has been in the field a whole lot and so he knows what actually works and what doesn’t. It’s a massive difference in approach and leads to a lot of inside fighting among the two. The problem is that there is really no time for that. As a sniper you have to be able to trust your partner 100% and vice versa. If you don’t, then things are not going to work out.

I should note right away that I put 100% of the issues on Richard. There weren’t any arguments where I thought that he had a point. He spends a lot of time whining but he’s the one falling into traps and missing his shots. Richard misses a key shot that results in a lot of extra lives lost because naturally the target ended up being extremely vindictive. This was completely avoidable so Richard should feel bad about it.

Instead Richard gets defensive every time which isn’t helpful to anybody. Then by the end of the film Richard completely cracks and becomes more than a simple liability. He’s the kind of emotional loose cannon that you really don’t want out there. Tom is easily more patient with him than I would have expected any character to be. By the end you’re meant to find Richard likable again and be able to root for him but that didn’t work for me.

As for Tom, he’s a good main character. Richard tries to psycho analyze him a few times and explain how messed up Tom’s life is, but to me Tom is handling this all in a fairly mature manner. He has a tough job and he sets out to do it without any issues. It does look like retirement will be tough for him but I like to think that he would handle it lie any other mission. The fact that Tom hasn’t broken down after all of these missions is another testament to his strength of character.

He has good reason to be upset right in the intro when his partner dies because the helicopter came way too early. Is it possible that the stalker would have gotten them at night? Sure, but it would be a much more difficult shot and there are more variables at night. Tom took care of business with that guy later on as well. If I’m in the jungle, I’d want a guy like Tom to have my back. He may be rough around the edges but he absolutely knows what he is doing.

What does keep the film back from being better is the excessive level of violence though. You’ve got full blown torture with what happens when they catch Tom. It’s expected considering the situation but you just hope they could keep it off screen or something. You’re seeing a whole lot more than you would like to there. The film is definitely not shying away from the general violence either with all the headshots and fights going on.

The general combat violence may not be super crazy but then you also have the collateral damage like a villager who is murdered during the crossfire at one point. The film is showing you what a dreary world it is for the average sniper and does succeed at that task. It just comes at a huge cost. This isn’t the kind of film that has a whole lot of replay value. Nor is it the kind of film that you would say is generally happy. It’s not really meant to be and so that means it’s not really going to be my style.

I would have liked to have seen more of the government back at home. I enjoy all the tough talk and corruption going on there. Everyone acting real slippery and all that. Those set up scenes were really good. The army scene when Richard gets to base is more of a nonsense scene though. I understand the whole sizing each other up part but why were the soldiers acting downright evil? It seemed like Richard was about to have to fight for his life there and hat just seems to be pushing the tough army stereotype a little bit too far.

Also should you really be making the sniper upset when he could camp out at a distance and end things? Yeah he’d be in trouble but if you’re tough enough to be a sniper in the first place, you’re not going to have the same levels of worry. It’s why you always hope that the snipers are extremely resilient because even a single rogue sniper can cause a whole lot of problems.

Overall, Sniper is a very direct film. I want to say that about 90% of the film is the two guys in the jungle getting ready to take the shot and moving through tough terrain. The film doesn’t bother with any cutaways or side plots. There is only one story to tell here. So I applaud the focus but it’s definitely not my kind of film. It goes too hard on the violence and overall dread. That said, if this film seems like it’s up your alley then you should check it out. There are no fakeouts here so if you want a film about sniping, it’ll be hard to be more realistic than this one.

Overall 2/10

Dragonheart Review

Posted on January 19, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for one of those classic films about dragons. It takes place in the medieval days so you already know that the film is starting off on shaky ground. It does mostly avoid any real dragon violence which is good but the film still suffers from really iffy characters and everybody being way too passive. It’s easy to see why the heroes were getting dominated for the whole film.

The movie starts off with a bunch of villagers uprising against a corrupt king. They manage to murder him and even fatally injure his son. Unfortunately the prince is taken to the local dragon who manages to revive him by splitting his heart into two. Now the prince has proven to be just as bad as his father, if not worse! The villagers have exited the pot and entered the flame. They have no protectors left and enter 12 years of devastation. Is there any way for them to make a comeback one more time?

I’ll give the villagers this, they did a good job in the first battle. I wasn’t expecting them to actually take out the king the way that they did. I also can’t fault them for the prince living since that required supernatural help. So they did their job but it’s a shame that they somehow all became enslaved again. Could they not have fought back while the prince was still gaining power? Also it’s too bad that none of the knights did anything to stop the corruption. It’s clear that the kingdom was an evil one that needed to be stopped.

The main character is a knight named Bowen who initially had high hopes for the prince. Unfortunately he became disillusioned when that guy turned out to be evil too. So he spent years murdering all of the dragons and eventually became nothing better than a scammer. He completely left his honor code and the film’s journey for him is about reclaiming this. It’s just hard to find him even remotely likable after all of that because he was in the best position to do something about this.

Perhaps taking out the prince himself. Running away doesn’t solve anything. It was also such a sudden transition with him blaming the dragon and running off. When the 12 year timeskip initially happened, I was pretty surprised about it. I understand going after the dragons but I thought the end goal was to make Prince Einon whole again. Instead it just became a pure quest of vengeance? Yeah by the time Bowen shapes up it’s a little too late. Additionally he also got crushed by Einon in their first fight.

Sure, Einon was using psychological warfare but it was a really bad look for him. At least Aislinn was doing something by enlisting the dragon hunters to destroy the dragon. If the dragon dies, then Einon will as well. She probably could have acted quicker but at least she gets some small points there. Then you have Kara who is the last villager to not lose her fighting spirit. She is trying, even if she doesn’t really have the abilities needed to enact change.

She ends up getting into trouble on more than one occasion as a result. Better to do something than to do nothing though. She may have even had a shot against Einon the first time if she didn’t announce her arrival. He had seen her through the mirror but it would have been tougher to ace the timing. I definitely could have done without Einon’s twisted attempt at seducing her though. That whole scene is pretty painful and you wish Kara could have gotten more of a direct revenge against him after that.

Einon has near immortality thanks to the dragon’s heart so it is difficult to keep him down. You have to thoroughly destroy him to the point where he can not regenerate but it would be a squeamish job for the average person. Additionally you will need time and skill to make that happen. For the most part nobody is really up to that task. There is one exception though and this pretty much breaks the whole story.

So we meet the dragon named Draco and he was someone who really believed in the knight’s code. He was even hoping that Einon would walk a better path which is why he revived him. Yet, why did Draco never aid the humans? He seemed to be aware of what was going on and could easily fly around to check whenever he wanted to. Dragons have great abilities and we saw that Draco was the best of them. He should have easily been able to prevent the corrupt kingdom from gaining more round. He could have burned them all with his fire and called it a day. The fact that he didn’t was pretty disappointing.

Bowen wasn’t the only one who let his kingdom down, Draco is guilty of this as well. He let the villagers suffer for over 12 years while he sat back. Additionally, he allowed Bowen to destroy all of the other dragons to the point where Draco is the last one standing. A part of him longed for death as he mentions in the film but you have to do something to fight back in the meantime. Instead he played the part of a passive spectator.

The heroes are just too passive here and so it makes sense that they got completely rolled over. That was basically going to be inevitable with how this went down. The special effects within the film are pretty good though. The dragon looks really solid and the film has aged really well for its day. You can’t show off the visuals much more beyond that because of the setting but the fire looks solid.

Dragonheart maintains a pretty dreary atmosphere for its run though. The villains get away with a whole lot before they’re brought down. We see a villager who had his eyes burned shut and after being a slave for 12 years, he is finally murdered. It’s all just rather grim and yet the film throws in a lot of gags and even some crude humor to try and lighten the mood. The various slapstick and gag moments weren’t handled all that smoothly. I appreciate the attempt but I don’t think this film was able to balance the two approaches all that well. The only parts in that vein that worked well involved a monk who would chronicle Bowen’s journey. You felt happy for the guy because he was always waiting for an opportunity like this. You know that he won’t let any of the events be forgotten and will have enough inspiration for a lifetime now.

Overall, Dragonheart is supposed to be a story about Bowen reclaiming his role as an honorable knight. The problem is that he missed his opportunity for far too long. Leaving the people to die for 12 years is just too big of a burden to easily come back from. Draco is equally guilty of not doing anything and so the would be saviors of the village were the ones who watched its ruin. If you like the retro setting of a Narnia/Game of Thrones setting then you should have an okay time here but I definitely missed my big city backdrop and the heroes are too slow to act. You’re better off with Eragon.

Overall 3/10

To Be Hero X Review

Posted on January 18, 2026 by dreager1

This show really took the world by storm with how big it got. Right away you could see that the animation was really top notch here. It was also going to take the interesting approach of airing backwards. Each story arc would take place before the one that just happened. Each of the top 10 heroes got their own animated short early on to introduce them and then you’d get to see them within the story. Each character got something to do and there was also live voting for the top 10 heroes which would possibly determine seeding in the tournament. The whole thing was really bold and I dare say that it was a complete success.

In this world, heroes gain their power directly from their fans. If the fans believe something then it will happen. As a result the hero industry has become huge in the entertainment field with companies sponsoring heroes and also manufacturing different crisis events for them to solve. As long as a hero has supporters, he will continue to be powerful. However, this also means that the hero will lose their freedom right away. If the fans don’t want you to get together with someone or to move way then you physically can’t. In a way it’s a very scary thing but you won’t find out about it until you become a hero. We follow different heroes as they encounter this reality and have to decide how to move forward.

This is a show that is really all about setting up season 2 so hopefully they are able to make it that far. If not, well it was still a real blast to see how this one played out. To say it is elite is not an overstatement. This is a show with a ton of replay value and I’ve seen lots of the fights several times. It’s crazy how much budget went into it and it’s one of the few shows that could pull off 3D and 2D. It was also fun to really be involved in the predictions and theories online like the in universe reason for the 3D.

This show being marketed as a multi media franchise with things happening in universe and out of it was rather brilliant. Also the soundtrack is top tier. A lot of the heroes have their own themes and they really work out well. Ther is a lot of variety here and the themes all have a lot of power to them. The lyrics make sense and they just make you more excited for what’s going to happen. The opening and ending were both really good as well. I could go on, the point is that everything about this show is really top notch. Season 2 will have a hard time matching up to this but with a tournament coming up, that is already a promising start.

The first episodes are about Lin Ling. Lin was just an average citizen who would write about the top heroes when he witnesses one of the most popular heroes jump off the building to his death. The PR agency grabs Lin and tells him that he must act as Nice. By tricking the fans into thinking that he is the real deal, Lin will gradually be changed into Nice. He slowly starts to gain abilities and even his appearance but what are the limits to this? Will Lin in effect become Nice mentally as well? Will he still be his own person? Lin isn’t sure about this but for now he will play ball with the group. Things get dangerous with Nice’s girlfriend Moon is kidnapped. Saving her won’t be easy.

This story arc sets up a lot of the subtle elements of the show like how the fans having this level of power may not purely be a good thing. It sounds really good on paper of course but if they have total control of your life, then things can get really dangerous. One example is when they prevent Lin from going to save Moon because they fear that it is the wrong move. Lin’s only possible escape there is to separate from his identity as Nice. It’s easier said than done to do this though.

Lin is a great main character and this was a good story arc to begin the series with. Even by the end it may be the best one of the bunch. It’s not necessarily the flashiest or anything like that but it’s a clear character arc for the lead and the fights are great. It is also the source of all the intrigue here since almost every other episode after this is a flashback. That really changes how you look at the first arc afterwards from all the other angles.

Moon is also a solid heroine and she had a tough draw so you do feel bad for her. Having to play the role of girlfriend for a while to a jerk is tough. Also because of the fan influence it’s not easy to get away from him which is why she needs to fake her own death. Her ability is more of a support one as well so she’s not going to be getting in there and landing a lot of powerful blows either. In this world, being doomed to be a supporting character is a tough fate as well.

Wreck is a character who hasn’t appeared much yet but he was solid. He’s a great fighter and was a friend to the original Nice. So you figure that’ll come into play more in future episodes. He will probably be a powerful ally that Lin can rely on. I liked his design and he was a good contrast. We also can’t forget about Enlighter who is a crazy good investigator. Lin may end up making him look crazy for a while there but the guy was absolutely right on his hunches. Ultimately he succumbed to the dark powers too quickly as a shortcut and that was his biggest problem. He was still a lot of fun to have around though.

We also meet Firm-Man who really suffers due to the fans. They believe him to always be up-right and firm to the point where he physically cannot bend down. It is his ultimate curse. Now by this point you’re wondering why he doesn’t just tell people about this in a speech. Let them know that justice can bend or something. Perhaps he isn’t fully aware of it being the public’s fault but it’s implied that he knows about it. Maybe there would be a severe punishment for this? Either way I would have liked a more concrete answer because changing public perception should just be the way to go in situations like this.

Then we have the E-Soul arc. In this one, a kid named Yang starts out as an actor who portrays E-Soul in a play. He gradually gets close to a girl he has a crush with. After stopping some thugs, people even start to believe in him. His fake E-Soul suit becomes the real deal and his power really starts to grow. The thing is, there should only be one of each hero. His power is directly draining from the actual E-Soul’s. Finally a match is set up to determine who will continue the legacy of that hero. Yang doesn’t intend to lose here but is he perhaps a little too desperate for power?

Yang is a good main character here but right away you can tell that the show is letting him be a bit more sinister than Lin. This guy is determined to be the strongest no matter what and has a huge chip on his shoulder. The end of Lin Ling’s arc also means that you’re going to be on edge as well. So you don’t trust him for a lot of reasons but I do like the E-Soul design and his powers are certainly really cool. Super speed and electricity is a deadly combination.

The old E-Soul doesn’t get a whole lot to do in comparison. He doesn’t really want to change his ways or even acknowledge a lot of what’s happening. I’d argue that he looks really complacent at best and that comes back to haunt him here. He’s not a bad guy but you aren’t really given much to root for with his character.

Then we have Lucky Cyan’s arc. She started out as a survivor from a big airplane crash. She was the soul survivor and now lives at an orphanage. The orphanage is a bit strange though and she has dreamed of leaving to become an idol. In the meantime people have started to treat her as a prophet of sorts. Her luck has made the news and people feel like she can spread it around to them. Perhaps she can…but perhaps it is simply the will of the people that is doing this. However the power worked, she is incredibly powerful now even though she has never fought a battle before.

Lucky knows that this isn’t healthy and that she has to go but it won’t be easy. She’ll have to fight her way out and may have a rift with her best friend over this. That’s because another train of thought suggests that she gets this good luck by stealing it from others. If so, that puts a much darker spin on things. Lucky can’t control this, all she can do is try to be the best hero that she can be. So she continues to move forward and doesn’t let these events get her down. Ultimately I would say that it’s a much happier arc than the first two in tone. It’s fitting for a girl who is known as being lucky. The arc also sets up several supporting characters who will grow to have bigger and bigger roles as the series goes on.

After that we focus on Queen who is one of the highest ranking heroes in the world. She was really close to claiming 1st but got destroyed by X, the number 1 hero. This messes with her confidence but she keeps on fighting. Unfortunately, a former champ known as Bowa does not take this well at all and latches onto fear in order to gain more power. Trust is the term for the power that ignites the heroes and fear is what the dark power that fuels villains is called. the contrast makes a lot of sense.

Bowa is super petty the whole time but makes for a good villain. The fight itself was definitely real intense. Meanwhile Queen is a really good heroine. She is actually trying to change the whole system and is trying to grow in her political movement. Of course to make a real difference she will need to become the #1 hero and that’s going to be incredibly difficult to manage. Right now X appears to be completely invincible. How you even begin to fight such a guy seems impossible to think about.

Then we have the story arc about Loli. She wants to fight crime and use her robot suit but everyone sees her as a cute little girl which prevents her from building up a ton of muscle. Gradually at least she gets people to respect her abilities while in the suit even if her father is rather over protective the whole time. That’s at least something that she can really deal with here. She looks out for her friend and makes for a solid character. I do think she tends to get overshadowed by most of the other top heroes though. She is really good, but just doesn’t stand out. Additionally you feel like a robot suit is not enough for her to hold her own against most of the top heroes.

We also get to see another former #1 hero in DJ. DJ continues to show us why the previous top heroes were not all that impressive. This guy has fallen off into tough times and easily lets himself get taken into the dark side. The musical attacks are pretty interesting and I do see a lot of potential there. I think he could have been a more powerful villain if he was given more time to really get set up. Having a tough time with Loli doesn’t really help his case.

Ghostblade also shows up here briefly but gets his own arc afterwards. We see that he has a hard time communicating with others. He actually still managed to get married and have a daughter but things quickly become tense and he is written out of their lives. From that point forward he is even more isolated but watches over his daughter in secret. As a contract killer it’s not like he is a good person though. This even puts him in a tough position since he murders the father of a current top 10 hero.

He’s an interesting character though because it was nice to see a top hero who isn’t actually a “hero” all the way. That’s something that you figure would be happening from time to time with how the system works. People don’t always look up to the nicest of folk after all. He also gets to crush DJ in this battle. That guy can’t catch a break but Ghostblade also does seem to be one of the more powerful heroes.

Then we have Little Johnny. Right now he has to be one of the blandest characters but part of it may be by design. He is trying to figure out who murdered his father. As the viewer you know that it is Ghostblade but he doesn’t know that. He tries to always keep a positive mindset about things but you can feel the rage behind that. So what I’m banking on is that this will be what makes him a more compelling character. For now though, he’s essentially a kid who is out of his league right now. His pet monster is certainly powerful but Johnny himself isn’t very impressive.

In his arc we also meet Vortex who is another former #1. This guy actually seems really powerful so you can get why he was a full on legend. Power over the weather is always a good ability and it didn’t seem like he got really corrupted the way that a lot of the others were. So he gets props on having a strong will as well which is something that a lot of ex heroes were missing.

As we approach the end, Dragon Boy gets the next slot. We’ve got another villainous figure this time. He was raised by one of the corporate sponsors to be the next big villain so it was going to be tough for him to get on the right road from the start. His ability is about tanking damage long enough for him to copy his aggressor’s abilities. It’s a cool ability so long as you can stay in the fight that long. It’s a big if though and that’s where things get pretty tricky. He does well against both Smile and Nice so right now his abilities have a high limit to them.

I’m a bit skeptical if this will continue to be the case but for now he has to be a contender as one of the strongest fighters. He makes for a good villain so I’m excited about that. Then we have Smile who feels like a Superman type of figure. How much he has to force himself to smile is an interesting topic. Is it the fans or Smile himself trying to keep up an image? I tend to think it’s more the latter which makes this another scary curse. Imagine having to constantly be smiling no matter what’s going on? That’s not a fun fate for anyone to have. Things really got rough for Smile here and I’d have liked to have seen more of him.

Nice also gets a big role here and I should talk about him separate from Lin Ling. Nice is a much pettier character and he doesn’t have the mental fortitude that Lin Ling has. Nice constantly lets the pressure get to him and doesn’t stand up for himself. Even when he makes the right decision it’s not until he has hesitated for quite a while. I can’t say that I ever liked him here. He doesn’t even work as a cool villain because he’s too whiny. Unless we get some twists about the first episode, he ultimately wasn’t able to stay strong in the end either.

After that we wind down with quick episodes for the last heroes. The first is Ahu who is a dog but gained the ability to talk and everything as he became a legend. It shows that the power of the fans can even affect animals. It’s a pretty interesting effect. I can’t say that I can take him too seriously though. He doesn’t seem nearly as powerful as the other heroes. He also seems to be easily manipulated like when he went after X at the end. A nice enough pup but I don’t see him winning a single match against a named opponent in season 2.

Finally we have X, the ultimate hero. He has reality warping abilities where he can switch the world from 2D to 3D by snapping his fingers. Which world is the real one? Well we don’t even know. In addition to this he has very quick reflexes and basically never gets hit. He can end most matches in an instant and is virtually unbeatable. It’ll be curious to see how someone gets the jump on him eventually but for now it’s hard to picture that happening without some serious plot convenience. This guy is just too broken and powerful. There is a reason why he is known as being unbeatable after all.

This guy is also super likable so that’s another added bonus. He’s easy to root for Generally I like the overpowered characters so I’m not too surprised. X has unbelievable confidence and just says it like it is. He clearly has some kind of a plan as the season ends so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. There are so many ways that the next season can play out. Almost half of the heroes are evil at this point and everyone has an agenda. Some range from being dangerous to flat out world ending threats.

The final episode has a new ending which also shows a bunch of new villains. So there might be some kind of outer space invasion that forces everyone to team up. That would be an interesting angle to pursue but I admit I’ll be a little sad if we just completely skip the tournament. I would not want to do that! At least let me have a few small fights to rank the heroes. I also really need Lin Ling to confront E-Soul. I don’t even know how E-Soul is still alive right now. Lin should have put him 6 feet under as soon as they met so the show is going to need to give me some really good explanations for this. It’s going to be a hard plot to write around.

Overall, To Be Hero X is a really intense series. It took a lot of bold approaches like airing all of the arcs backwards and the shifting animation styles. Even releasing the exact order of the arcs and who the leads would be before the series even started airing. It spoke to the confidence of the show and I hope it was well founded so we get the second season soon. If you haven’t watched the show yet then you should definitely check this one out. It’s an elite action show and has the daunting task of trying to create a whole universe about heroes like Marvel and DC. It is definitely on the right track though. It also set the bar extremely high for animation so season 2 has an insane amount of pressure on it.

Overall 9/10

The Town Review

Posted on January 17, 2026 by dreager1

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

It’s time for a film about committing crime in a small town. Definitely not the best option in general but it’s extra rough here when a ton of people are into crime. The main crew have been doing this for a while but things are shaken up when the leader falls in love. Is he going to mess this up for everyone or are they the ones who are getting greedy?

The film starts off with introducing us to Doug and his posse. They just completed a huge bank heist and are basically set for life. Doug figures this is it for the jobs but his partner Jem doesn’t think so. Jem has been gone for quite a while in jail so he is itching for more jobs. Doug thinks this is a really bad idea but Jem doesn’t tend to take no for an answer and makes it clear that Doug leaving may cause some problems. In their bank heist, Jem panicked and took a hostage. She was let go but heard all of their voices and got to see a lot. Doug checks up on her but falls in love and now they’re dating. Jem worries that this could mean death for their group if she puts two and two together.

So on the first part, Jem is right that this is a really dumb idea. You should never date your hostage. That’s just a really bad idea because it does make sense that she would be a liability. She may not have realizes anything just yet but it is possible that she could make the connection at any point. It was Jem’s fault for making her a hostage in the beginning but Doug really compounded the issue here. He is a bit in denial of this the whole time but it was a bad move.

Now Jem is still crazy the whole time and should have been satisfied with the big score at the beginning. It seems like it’s less about the money and more like he just really wants to live an exciting life. He almost thrives on these life or death situations like when he accompanies Doug to go beat up some people who were harassing his girlfriend. Doug didn’t need to give him any details and Jem was still ready to bust up a bunch of heads.

The town is effectively ruled by the crime lord known as Fergie. He’s really not the smartest character on the block though. Sure, Doug was planning to leave and Fergie wanted to stop that but he does so by basically rage baiting Doug a whole lot by revealing how he destroyed the guy’s parents. That doesn’t seem like a good move if you’re planning to stay alive. If anything, it feels like a good way to shorten the remainder of your life span.

This guy is still just a man after all. He can summon up a bunch of help but that’s not going to help a whole lot when he lets Doug meet with him whenever. His ending is one of the most predictable parts of the film. If anything, I think Doug let him get away with too much for quite a while there. You usually need to take someone out of the picture near instantly in this kind of situation.

Then we have his girlfriend Claire who is okay. I think she was moving rather quickly with the romance but she doesn’t know about the robber part and I can’t blame her for that. Not just anyone would have been able to make the connection there. Later on I suppose her reaction is justified enough about how she gets upset with Doug. If anything she probably should have ratted him out. From her perspective, he’s a total villain who manipulated her. It would be dangerous to assume that any part of their relationship was real. She decides to believe in it but I just don’t think that was a great idea.

For the most part the FBI agents are completely in over their heads but I did appreciate that the film made them look decent. They couldn’t crack the case officially for a while there but at least they had leads. It’s just that in a town like this, all of the crooks would look after each other so there wasn’t much in the way of hard proof to get after anyone. You had to try and work around that which isn’t easy. When it came down to the climactic shootout, they were ready.

Then you’ve got Krista, the crazy ex. As soon as she shows up, you know that she’ll be trouble and that’s exactly what happens. She is here to really cause some mixups and keep Doug stressed out. She had a tough lot in life but a lot of it was self sabotage with the drugs. It’s why you should never get involved in that business in the first place. Aside from damaging your body, it makes it easy for others to blackmail or just plain manipulate you.

There is quite a bit of action in here aside from it being a mental thriller. The Town keeps you engaged the whole time but it is also a bit of a downer movie. There’s not a whole lot to cheer for here and the ending is more of a bitter sweet one at best. Everyone has lost something by the end and so it felt like they couldn’t really escape their destinies in the long run. They grew up in a crime filled neighborhood and it destroyed them all. It would have been nice to have had a more positive resolution to wrap everything up.

Or maybe a happier middle in there. The film succeeds as a thriller with quick pacing but it has almost no replay value because of this. It’s not a film you’ll want to look up. I will say the film did a better job of making a likable antagonist as the lead compared to other titles. Doug was someone you could almost root for since he was trying to get out of the game and did his best not to hurt anyone. Still a criminal but he could have been a lot worse.

Overall, The Town is a film about how sometimes it can be really hard to go on the straight and narrow. Doug tries his best but the odds were stacked against him. Maybe if he left on his own but then he had to go and fall in love at the worst possible time. There’s definitely a lesson to be had with that. You have to be careful with those feelings because they can really pull you in the wrong direction especially if you go too fast and that romance felt pretty rushed. If you want to see a film about a criminal trying to go straight, this is a pretty decent one to check out. It’s a bit too dreary for me though and so it just doesn’t pass the bar. I’ll go with a classic thriller instead.

Overall 4/10

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