Blue Lock Review

Posted on April 30, 2023 by dreager1

It’s time to talk about one of the top new titles of our generation. Blue Lock goes strong right from the gate and the sports genre is already so stacked that initially I didn’t think it was going to match up. Well, almost immediately it has become the second best sports title of all time right after Prince of Tennis. If it keeps going strong who knows…it may even take the top spot. The anime is handled excellently with a 10 star soundtrack and the animation is on point too. This show will really breeze by with all of the great moments and there is no episode that will leave you feeling even remotely disappointed.

The show follows Isagi, a kid who made the team call in not trying to take the shot himself at the championship but his teammate missed the shot and so he regrets that. Why didn’t he take the shot personally and prove that he was a striker? Well, he was always taught the merits of teamwork and such so it just didn’t occur to him. One day he receives an invite to the Blue Lock program. Basically the goal is to create the world’s greatest striker. The stakes are high because if you lose then you can never compete for Japan in the World Cup. However if you can survive then you will truly be a star. Isagi is ready to risk it all and prove that he is the best. Ultimately the champion will come down to whoever has the most skill as well as the most ego. After all without ego you may not have the nerve to take the shot when it counts and if you can’t do that then you’re no striker at al.

It’s a fantastic setup. The guy running this program is fittingly called Ego himself. Basically the government is allowing this experiment to go on for now but they aren’t super thrilled by it so Ego has to move quickly. This is an unprecedented project so this is brand new to both the players and Ego as the coach. He does believe that this is the only way to push the players to get better quickly enough for it to matter. Additionally because of the setup, the series manages to create a lot of tension with players being eliminated here. See, when you leave Blue Lock, it’s almost like you died since you will never appear again and can’t be in the tourneys. It’s a clever way of increasing the body count while still being a soccer manga.

There’s a decently large cast here but before we dive into them lets talk more on the technical elements. The soundtrack is excellent as I mentioned before. Not only are themes dynamite but there are a lot of them. Many shows have a fairly small ost so you hear the same tunes over and over again but this one kept coming up with new tunes in what felt like every episode. Bout, Rin’s theme, Bachira’s awakening, there are tons of great themes scattered throughout the show and I enjoy listening to them quite a lot. The openings are also really solid and I really liked the first ending. It’s a very emotional track that fits in with the show on being low key but how if your dreams end then that’s it. The soundtrack is very fitting for the futuristic intense vibe that the show is going for.

Then for the soundtrack, it does a good job of nailing the intensity. Now it is true that the intensity probably can’t match the manga which is as over the top as possible but overall I thought it still did an excellent job. I like the energy effects that the characters get and how their eyes change when they enter a serious state. Think of it like Blue Lock mode to an extent but when they’re serious then it is curtains for everyone else. Yes that was really quite excellent. The soccer matches can sometimes transition into 3D while the game is going but it’s not overdone too much and you can still follow the action really well. I particularly like when the show adapts a speed scene well like with the World 5. It’s quite impressive visually.

The show also mastered the use of adding in one last scene as the end theme is playing. I always thought this was a great idea because it always sets up the next episode extra well. It makes the episode end on an epic cliffhanger as opposed to just stopping normally. Sometimes they will even have the next game start while the credits are still showing up and that’s when the series is really at its best. I wish more series would d o this where you basically have a fake ending because the show keeps going if you leave the TV on. It makes sure you stay engaged all the way to the end and it’s like a little taste of what’s to come in advance.

Okay now lets talk about the cast. First up is Isagi and he’s an excellent main character. It is always very important for a show to be excellent that you have an excellent main character so that’s one thing Blue Lock already has in its favor. Isagi is a very intense guy who really wants to be the best and isn’t under any illusions that everyone can do this. He knows that in order to be the best he will need to crush some other dreams in the meantime and has made peace with that. That’s what I like about him, it’s all very matter of fact and just makes sense. He even has one scene where he actively enjoys seeing one guy fall into despair which felt a little odd but shows that sometimes the soccer pretty much takes him over and that’s it. At that point he will do whatever it takes to get the win.

We see this throughout the show where he will temporarily be discouraged or lose some drive but then he’ll get it right back and double down. Isagi never stays disheartened for long which I appreciate and he has a lot of confidence most of the time. He knows that he is not the best yet but is determined to change that and so he keeps on practicing. He never makes any excuses or lets anyone else try to console him. He just focuses on getting better and better. This has already been paying off for him big time and I like his gimmick of being the strategist instead of having the most power. It works well within the soccer context and of course he is still a striker so you know he can score when needed.

Then we go to Bachira, the best character in the series. Rin is really close but it’s just hard to go against Bachira. This guy really loves to play the game of soccer and probably has the saddest backstory. He was all alone for so long that he basically created an imaginary friend to play against and even then that didn’t fully break him out of the shadows. It was only after meeting top tier talents like Isagi and Rin that he was really able to get out. It’s very emotional all the way through and his continual rise to the top is really fun to watch. I also like that he doesn’t back down to anyone and was quickly ready for a fight when Shido attacked Isagi.

Bachira easily could have been the main character in another series but works well as one of the rivals either way. In two different circumstances he was able to go up against an entire team on his own which is really saying something. His one man charge against Reo’s team for example is still one of the more epic moments in the season and trust me there are a ton of epic moments. It’s just something that ordinarily should not be possible and yet he pulled it off anyway.

Next up is Rin, another one of the best characters in the series. in this one he’s sort of likw Sasuke. Basically he wants to defeat his older brother due to something that happened a while back but we don’t have the context on this yet. Rin is a true prodigy and appears to be the best player in all of Blue Lock. Up to this point he has dominated everyone he’s gone up against with ease and even Isagi isn’t able to keep up with him. I like how easy Rin makes everything look. He really excels at soccer but we also see how hard he works for this day in and day out. He goes through the most grueling training processes and knows how easily you can fall from first to second. This is what he has that most of the other characters don’t, drive. Pure 100% drive and confidence in himself to be the best. That’s not something that you can learn, you have to have that from within. He never gives up on the game or in himself and fights to the last man. I definitely look forward to seeing more of him.

Nagi is another genius and while I would put him below the first 3, it’s clear that he’s on the same level and he’s another dynamite character. Up until now he has never really had to practice or work hard at anything in his life. It all just came easily to him but now he’s up against other geniuses and it wakes up his competitive spirit. I like the idea that Nagi was always very competitive but just didn’t realize it because he never had a challenge before. It works really well as a character trait and makes sense because at the end of the day nobody likes to lose. He continues to get better and better and I see him sticking around as one of the best.

Now lets talk about someone who I thought had potential to be one of the best but it didn’t happen. There was a guy in episode 1 named Kira who embodies what the main character would usually be like. He’s all about teamwork and doing the right thing. He believes that Ego is wrong in his belief that soccer is about one person standing out and joins Blue Lock to prove him wrong. Unfortunately he gets tag teamed at the end and is taken down so he doesn’t return past episode 1. To this day I’m waiting for him to return somewhere, perhaps playing for a different country or something. He was clearly very skilled and I see a lot of potential there but I guess we’ll have to see how that plays out.

Back to the players, next up is Reo and he was Nagi’s teammate for a while there. He may not have the same level of skills as Nagi but he is great as copying techniques and strategizing. That’s where he gives the heroes a lot of trouble and by providing Nagi with the ball it makes them a very solid tag team. I liked him well enough although he definitely went on a slump after the first loss. Fortunately he has now found himself and can finally start to make a comeback. I see him staying relevant for a long time.

For someone who’s not very relevant, Naruhaya fits the bill. See this is a character I didn’t like because he was not someone who let his soccer do the talking. He was always trash talking and trying to get in Isagi’s head. I feel like that means he doesn’t have the same top level confidence that most of the strikers had. You don’t resort to mind games if your play on the field can speak for itself. He kept on calling himself and Isagi average which also isn’t good because if you’re always downplaying yourself then of course you’re not going to be very good. So yeah I didn’t like this guy at all. One of the weaker characters if you ask me.

Gagamaru is another character who doesn’t really stand out. He’s not bad or mean like Naruhaya but I never found him very interesting or impressive. He does mean well though and by default to last this long he is fairly skilled. Will see if he ends up doing any better coming up. Likewise for Igarashi although in this case I would say this guy is a lot weaker from what we’ve seen. I really wonder how he possibly cleared the solo striking challenge that everyone had to go through because he’s not impressive at all. The guy’s also super petty so I won’t like him much at all. I’m ready for him to be eliminated to be honest.

The Wanima twins get some decent screen time as they were one of the first bosses. They are decent players but I feel like there isn’t a whole lot to them. They love their trash talking throughout the episodes but that’s about it. Imamura was another early boss and he seemed pretty good the whole time but ultimately comes across as a bit more of a one shot player. I was surprised he didn’t make it further since he seemed to have real talent but sometimes it really is the luck of the draw. Lemon is the guy you feel the most bad for because he’s been stuck playing the goalie in just about every match so we have yet to see what he can really do. Hopefully he ends up being one of the big players but I don’t get that vibe from him.

Then we have Kunigami who looks a lot like Ichigo Kurosaki which is a common joke while watching the show. I like his honor code and he’s a good guy. He has a lot of raw power which works really well during the matches. There isn’t anything tricky or outside the box with his play though which I would argue puts him at a bit of a disadvantage. Yes pure strength and technique are important but you need more than that if you’re going to win it all.

Chigiri is the speedster of the group and always looks very impressive in the matches. Low key they seem to hint that he really is one of the best players in all of Blue Lock. Without exception every top player always comments on his speed and I think that makes sense since speed is a big part of soccer. It’s always fun to see him with the ball and I expect he will continue to be one of the best. We already got a bit of a scare about his ankle from the flashback though so I’m worried that it ultimately will break later on which will force him out of the running. Until then I expect him to really keep exceling though.

Raichi is a very loud player who has a ton of confidence but it is unwarranted so far. He seems like a fairly average player who is not weak by any means but not quite able to tangle with the big shots yet. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong but for now he needs to do more. I do like his personality though, he takes the games very seriously and isn’t about to let anyone pull one over him. This guy is playing for keeps and understands exactly what Blue Lock represents in the grand scheme of things. He absolutely won’t be caught lacking when it counts.

Now we have to talk about one of the worst characters here…actually the worst character in Kuon. Basically this guy is a petty traitor and I’ll just never be able to overlook that guy. When the chips were down he didn’t stand by his team and that was absolutely the wrong way to go. When you turn traitor and mess with the team there is really no way out of that. From that point on I was rooting for him to fail. His skills are okay I suppose but yeah the guy is just really obnoxious and needs to go.

I liked Niko as another rival to Isagi. This guy can read the field really well and has solid skills so he’s a good parallel to Isagi. Their mind battles were a lot of fun and this guy is probably the best player who is really under the radar. I look forward to seeing what he can do when he next appears. Then there is Baro who started out as an ally, and is back to being a rival. This guy doesn’t believe in teamwork at all so in a way you can argue that he embodies the teachings of Blue Lock more than any of the others. At times it can be annoying how he just completely does his own thing but he does get results sometimes. I do think this will limit him in the long run but it makes for a unique way to play soccer which is always good to have.

Zantetsu gets the shaft from Nagi’s team as he doesn’t appear much after the initial battle but he’s still pretty good. His speed was impressive and he could hold his own with the other speedsters. I feel like this guy could end up doing good things in the future but I’m also tempted to say that he’s pretty much capped out his potential. We’ll have to see how that goes I suppose but yeah it could be a while before he really does anything super special again.

As the guy who came up with the project, Ego is a fun character. He’s always being as disrespectful as possible to the other players and his matter of fact way of talking makes people listen to him. He’s definitely not a people person but he’s here to complete a mission and you do believe that he can pull it off. Meanwhile Teieri does a great job of handling the political aspects of this like talking to the big shots. The anime actually improved all those scenes tremendously by making the executives not appear to desperate and annoying. While the Blue Lock scenes are the best part, I do enjoy the cutaways to what’s happening outside the arena. It helps to develop the world too.

For example this is where we meet Sae Itoshi for the first time and of course he is a big obstacle in Rin’s way so this sets things up nicely. We know that the guy is an excellent player but he’s actually not a striker. He’s someone who passes the ball to strikers so they will be competing in slightly different arenas. Of course the personal thing to Rin is that Sae at least was still a better striker than him at the time. Have things changed? Well we’ll have to wait a while to see how things stack up now.

Then we have Rin’s teammates Tokimitsu and Aryu. Tokimitsu is one of the more annoying characters so I don’t like him much at all. He’s constantly crying and panicking the whole time. The gimmick is that despite this he is really strong but I like my characters to have a lot of confidence so panicking like that doesn’t do him any favors. If he can ever get his head in the game then I think he can be really good. Meanwhile Aryu is all about playing soccer in a way that is glamorous to him. His signature saying is throwing the word glam into everything. The guy has the skills to back it up but like Tokimitsu I think he could stand to be a little less quirky.

At the very end of the series we meet Shido and now here is a guy with personality and drive. He’s ready to pick a fight with everyone immediately and is clearly a threat in soccer. I look forward to seeing him on the field since he left an immediate impact. We also got to see the World 5, a quick team comprised of some of the world’s best for the final training match. That was a really fun way to end the series and see just what the pros are like. What I like about this is that it really shows how this series ultimately will reach the pros. The World Cup arc will definitely be the highlight of the series if it lives up to the potential. I can’t think of the last time I read/watched any sports title where they actually made it to the world championships. It feels like it’s always the high school or college tournaments instead so the stakes here are a lot higher.

What else really needs to be said right? The show is firing off on all cylinders and even as a big fan of the manga I was super impressed at how the show was handled. It’s all just so energetic and action packed. You are never given any chance to relax and by having that final scene after the credits several times it amps up the energy even more. I’ve rewatched a few of the cliffhangers a bunch of times for that reason. It really is effective and season 2 needs to make sure and match up with this tempo. We’ll see if Ego is right or if this is actually going to be a very long winded way of saying that Isagi and friends should have kept up their teamwork. After all the World 5 actually had a good amount of teamwork going and it worked well.

Overall, This was a fantastic start to the franchise. Blue Lock has really laid the groundwork for a lot of great seasons worth of epic fights and solid characters. I would say one of the things that works really well about the series is that so many characters are interesting and worth rooting for. They all have their dreams and aspirations and it’s not like they’re villains. For the most part they all seem like good and decent people who just want to be the best. Sure, not all of them are super nice but this isn’t a battle of good and evil. It’s just a lot of people fighting for a spot that ultimately only 1-2 people will actually be able to grab. It really makes you feel the stakes involved here because realistically you have to be the very best to really stand a chance here. when you’re playing so many experts like this, it isn’t easy.

Overall 9/10

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part One Review

Posted on April 30, 2023 by dreager1

The RWBY reviews continue with the new movie! I had to buy this one immediately on day 1 because the hype was too real. After all these years RWBY was finally getting the movie it deserves. After completing the movie I can definitely confirm that it is a great title and hopefully this gets more people into the fandom. Automatically there are a lot of DC fans who will watch this one even though they haven’t seen RWBY and so it’s a good introduction there. I will say that it doesn’t quite feel like the movie budget but just seeing the characters is cool.

The movie starts off with Superman waking up in a different world and for some reason he’s a teenager. He remembers fighting someone but can’t remember anything beyond that. He’s quickly saved from danger by a pair of superheroines known as Ruby and Yang who defeat the Grim monsters in the area. There is something off about their world too though as the Grimm are now able to absorb all dust related abilities which means that Weiss and Blake are going to have a tough time but it won’t affect Yang and Ruby quite as much once they adapt. Superman knows that he needs to find the rest of the League and quickly but why are everyone’s memories off?

Now amnesia is not exactly my favorite trope. I’d always choose to have the crossover with both verses at their peak in terms of strength and ability but hey at least it is the real characters as opposed to the comics which went in a very different direction. Mainly part 1 is about solving the mystery of why everyone’s memories are spotty and why things just don’t line up. For example why are all of the RWBY characters in their volume 1 outfits yet they have things that they shouldn’t yet. (Ex: Yang’s metallic arm) I remember people pointing that out immediately in the trailer which helped to build up the suspense of what was going on here. The mystery is very engaging and of course you’ll have a lot of theories right off the bat. They’re trapped in a dream, a simulation, time travel’s at work, visual illusion, just an AU, etc. The reveal definitely works pretty well with this in mind.

Now this is still a part 1 so don’t expect the full answers to be revealed. I won’t say where this takes place in the RWBY series yet but from the ending you can narrow it down to the volume and come pretty close to the exact episode that makes the most sense. If the ending just went on for an extra minute or two that would have been great to confirm exactly where the cast is. I’m also really intrigued on who the big villain for part 2 will be. I’ve got really high hopes for that one and so I hope part 2 comes out soon. My understanding is that both parts were animated back to back in the middle of Volume 9’s production so it should already be all done. Summer release would be nice as opposed to waiting for the Fall.

So lets jump onto the good stuff first. It’s super nostalgic to see Ruby and the gang in their original forms dealing with classic Grimm. It’s a very nostalgic return to form for their classic days and the environments look very clear. We get to see a lot of interactions between the cast in a fun setting that wouldn’t really be possible currently with how high the stakes are. It’s always nice to see the characters have some downtime to just talk and this movie has a lot of that with the various interactions.

I also liked the emphasis on using dust again since it’s been a while. In the main series the heroes always use dust like Weiss with her rapier, Raven’s attacks, etc. but it’s all just used silently and it’s nice to discuss the specifics of dust some more. Beyond it being an energy source we’ve never gone too far into it and you always wonder what the upper limits are. In theory you figure more fighters should be able to make super powered weapons powered by dust to fight the Grimm. Perhaps they wouldn’t be as advanced as a huntress but it would still be very useful in war efforts.

The crossover aspect itself is great as well of course. Seeing the heroes interact was fun and Team Jaune taking on the Justice League’s B team was fun. The fact that they basically won that fight was also excellent. While Team RWBY may typically overshadow them, it’s important to remember that this team is still very skilled and has a lot of powerhouses on their side. They aren’t the type of fighters to just roll over and take a loss. By this point in the series they are full fledged hunters and huntresses after all.

There is a ton of action here as well so if you missed that in volume 9, there is no shortage here. Now granted I would have liked more human type fights like the earlier battle I mentioned. Most of it is against the Grimm and since the monsters can barely fight back it’s not like you can have as much fun with the choreography. Of course you see all of the super attacks being used but when things are too one sided it just won’t have the same impact as a true fight. In a power levels sense I also have some doubts on how well they do against the larger Grimm but I think given the situation and context I can overlook those power level moments because it’s not quite as if it happened in a normal setting. Otherwise I thought the power levels were good and the RWBY verse looks real impressive here. They have homefield advantage of course but it still counts. (I hope Part 2 takes place in DC’s world because that would make a lot of sense as a parallel although given that we’re probably sticking to the RWBY animation style, maybe they’ll just keep home court. It would also be interesting if the League just doesn’t appear and part 2 is purely RWBY but that would be an odd choice given the title)

Now for the animation, it’s classic RWBY style so it looks great. I would just say there is a bit of a noticeable downgrade compared to the RWBY show which is a bit ironic. Typically you expect the movie to blow the show away after all but that’s not what happened this time. It’s very clear and the attacks look good but the animation itself is a bit choppy. Now from what I heard, this happened fairly last second as between episodes 7 and 8 in production the animators were all pulled off of the show to work on Justice League and that’s why the volume was pushed back. Not sure how much of this was confirmed but if they did have to rush through the two movies to get back to the show then it does make sense that this one’s a bit choppier.

Still, even a weaker RWBY style is still great and I enjoyed the visuals. The DC character designs were more of a miss for me but that’s not strictly speaking animation. It feels like they were trying too hard to make the League look like RWBY characters and they come across more like NPCs or fanfic characters. Batman’s design is easily the weakest although Flash would be in second there. They just don’t look much like the characters and I think they really could have done a better job there. Reminds me of when I would create a character in Soul Caliber and you could see the resemblance but it just wasn’t right.

The film is fairly short but makes the most of every moment so you do feel like this was a complete adventure at all times. The heroes are always rushing from place to place and with how often you switch from plot to plot, it never reaches a slow point. That’s probably one of the most impressive parts of the movie really. The amount of content it covers is impressive and whenever we’d get a flash into the RWBY memories that was a lot of fun. We even see a new angle to the big Adam scene from Volume 5 which was intense. No matter what that guy always find a way to return.

The RWBY characters are mainly all in character as you’d expect so I’ll keep their sections brief. There really isn’t much to talk about in terms of Yang and Blake. They go in and do their job as needed. Yang’s maybe a bit overprotective of Blake the whole time which I feel is retroactively setting things up for volume 9 unless the writers are trying to acknowledge Blake as the weakest but otherwise the film does her a lot of justice. This is easily the most powerful Blake has looked in years and I was glad to see it.

Ruby is struggling to be an effective leader here as everyone shouts her down and holds her back but ultimately she proves that she has the right stuff. She was good when it counts. Meanwhile Weiss showed off her expertise in using computers which was cool and in general she was in command of the situation. I would actually say she looks the best from all the RWBY characters. Jaune is in competition for that title though as he helps out Green Lantern quite a lot in this one. He gives her multiple pep talks and shows her what it means to be brave even when you don’t have powers. He was just really patient the whole time and very genuine. You can see why he is a good leader.

Ren looks pretty bad the whole time though. He gets jealous about Nora way too quickly to the point where he is always bickering with Cyborg. They could have toned that down somewhat as he is usually supposed to be the emotionless one so why he is blowing a fuse in every other scene? It just didn’t feel like the usual him at all. Meanwhile Nora was definitely more on the aggressive side here and taking things personal. Definitely not the really chill and goofy Nora you may expect but at least she does a ton of damage in every fight so you can cut her some slack.

On the DC side of things, Superman looks solid. He’s a natural leader as always and is someone you can count on. He gets a lot of great scenes and consistently thinks things through before making a move. Then you have Batman who in comparison is one of the worst members here. (Not the worst though, that’s coming up) Now in part I would say the voice is to blame a bit as he just doesn’t sound like any version of Batman and lacks the power or charisma behind him. But most of it is just how he’s written here. He’s a bit sloppier, has no prep time, and tends to get humiliated a lot. He’s lacking in confidence and apparently has always wished he could have powers. He gets outbrained by Weiss in the computer room and just wasn’t the decisive, capable vigilante that we’ve always known. This guy is truly Batman in name only. They really should have just kept him as being super in control the whole time around and that would have went over perfectly.

He may have stolen the show a bit but that’s what Batman does so it would have been worth it. Not much to say about Vixen, I’d say she seemed in character and was about what I expected. She has a good amount of confidence and is always ready to fight which is good. Then you have the Flash who is definitely on the goofier side but his character is ultimately handled well and the movie even has a great reason for why with his speed he isn’t just ending the movie in one second. Leave it to RWBY to come up with a solid way and not let this turn into the usual power level hax that happens with the Flash.

Cyborg definitely looks rather disgraceful here though and even worse than Batman. Yes this guy is the worst. He yells at Ruby for basically no reason and I was really hoping Yang or someone would slug him at some point. Sure he apologizes and says he was stressed out but really? Eh I didn’t think that was a great excuse. Then he also does seem to be overtly flirting with Nora at times which seems very much like a wrong place kind of moment. They’re trying to save the world right now so there’s no time for that. Yeah this was definitely not his best moment.

So in some ways I do think the writing could have been a little better to really maximize the effectiveness of the crossover. With the characters not being fully in character, it makes the meetup not work quite as well as it could have. I’d also have liked more in-fighting but that’s a fairly small thing. Either way this is still a great film and one I would definitely recommend checking out. It also holds up well as a stand alone film so you don’t have to worry about watching the sequel per say. Watching it as soon as possible is good to help with the sales and views then maybe we can keep getting more films in the future. Crossovers with the Teen Titans, Avengers, TMNT, and more would all work really well. The possibilities are endless to be honest.

Overall, It’s really nice seeing RWBY in a movie. They deserve a theatrical movie one of these days to really show off the budget but right now this will definitely work. It has been fun going on this little RWBY review marathon but all things must come to an end and unfortunately there probably aren’t going to be many other RWBY reviews for a while because there aren’t many other products out right now. Hopefully that will change sooner than later but in the meantime you need to enjoy this adventure while you can. It has a lot of replay value because of all the fights so you can enjoy watching it a lot.

Overall 8/10

RWBY: Ice Queendom Review

Posted on April 30, 2023 by dreager1

It’s been quite a while since this show aired. I ended up reviewing every episode of the show as it came out which is the first time I ever did that but ultimately I never actually reviewed it in its entirety. With volume 9 finished, now is a good time to check that out. I’ll even post my episode reviews below and then I’ll wrap the whole thing up. Basically Ice Queendom is the weakest RWBY show so I’ll get that out of the way first. It has some issues that the main show doesn’t have and ends up not pushing the anime medium to its limit. The show feels low budget and like an abridged version of the real thing. It hopefully brought some new people into the fandom but otherwise you’re better off just watching the original. Of course a copy can not beat the greatness of the original but I will say that it’s still a pretty good show, it’s just not up to the RWBY standard.

Episode 1

“The visuals were fantastic and it definitely moves through a good amount of material by knocking out 2 of the specials and the first episode plus some material from a volume 4 special. The fights look great as Ruby takes down some goons and Blake destroys a bunch of mechs. A lot of effort went into this one and at least at this point and time you can really feel the high budget effort behind this. I would also say it does work well as someone’s introduction to the series. You quickly get the plot and learn about the characters so that’s a win/win. I was quite satisfied here. If I am recommending someone to the series I would actually show them this episode first and then transition over to volume 1 from where this one left off. If episode 2 is as strong then I may do the same for that one.”

Episode 2

“Once again the quick pacing really helped this one jump up near the top. You could feel the budget already dropping from episode 1, however they quickly increased it again for the climax which I appreciated. The fight with the Nevermore was a lot of fun and it’s always nostalgic to see the group in the old days. The episode speeds through several from volume 1 and makes for a really satisfying watch. It still feels like a best hits montage but of course we’re getting closer to the original story so then we can see how that stacks up. Will Ice Queendom still be one of the best or will this be where it falters?”

Episode 3

“Naturally Ice Queendom has a lot going on here as it wraps volume 1 up but makes the very unfortunate choice of cutting out the fight at the docks. I think they definitely should have kept that in but at least we did get the fight between Weiss and the Grimm which was really solid. The animation really shone during that part and this episode had a lot of good development for the characters. The cliffhanger was also really epic. We’re getting into the original plot now so I’m definitely hyped to see how that plays out. Ice Queendom is off to a fast start and has been keeping up rather well so far. “

Episode 4

“Now we’re entering the anime only original story and it works quite well here. We get a whole new environment and get to learn about Weiss’ psyche. It’s an effective way of showing her true thoughts the whole time without having to make it appear too forced or anything like that. It’s the right way to go about it. The visuals still look really good and actually getting a Ruby vs Weiss fight is something we’ve been waiting for throughout the franchise. The battle theme is also on point even if it seems like the show always uses the same ones. The lyrical moments are on point though and this show just continues to operate at a very high level. I’m eager to see how this plays out for the rest of the show.”

Episode 5

“Ice Queendom comes back with another big episode as we get to see Weiss square off with Blake this time around. Ruby’s first mission didn’t go great so she brought Blake and Yang this time around but Yang was stuck on decoy duty for a while so it’s more about Ruby and Blake running around. I do like that Yang is a bit more no nonsense about the whole thing and doesn’t mind taking shots at Weiss here. That’s just her personality and it’s good to see her stay bold, it’s the Yang we’re used to after all. While the fight isn’t quite as good as the last one, the episode has a good mix of action and plot main for another solid episode in the saga. The dream world is certainly difficult to conquer.”

Episode 6

“Episode 6 has our big group fight against Weiss as even Yang gets involved. Interestingly part of the scuffle actually seemed to transform into CGI which was interesting but it was brief. The episode got to show off it’s animation a little more than the last one as Weiss spammed her energy attacks and the heroes had to deal with it. I’m a little skeptical about the main trio not being able to stop her though. It was shown that Weiss upgraded Yang and Blake’s weapons subconsciously so I like to think that they could defeat her. Just knock her out and then take out the Grimm. That would be the most direct way to solve all of this. It’s been fun seeing more into Weiss’ mind and that’s definitely been one of the most engaging parts of the show.”

Episode 7

“It’s Ice Queendom’s first time at the bottom. Mainly this episode allowed Jaune to see into the dream but because of that we’re seeing a lot of things that we already know. The Mini Weisses were fun though and then they even got to turn giant. The cliffhanger is definitely the best part though and that nearly bumped it up a spot but the volume right above this one also had a powerful cliffhanger like that. It’s nice to have Jaune in the mix but I look forward to the volume throwing in some more action in the next episodes.”

Episode 8

“Ice Queendom is in a similar situation to Volume 4 here. Sure, it’s good that the heroes are getting in a little deeper through the dream and learning more but it does feel a bit like they’re treading water by this point. Not much has really changed since the last episode to the point where it almost feels like this episode could have been merged into the last one. In a way I think I just miss the real world by this point as the dreamscape got old real quick. That being said you can tell that we’re getting close to the climax so I’m ready to see how this all pans out.”

Episode 9

“In Ice Queendom the heroes are trying to get closer to saving Weiss but seem to hit a dead end at every corner. It’s just not easy to get to her when she has the home field advantage in the dream world. Blake seems to go with a rather gutsy plan at the end though which leads to a great cliffhanger. The overall episode is a bit on the slow side but the final scene is really what pushes this above the other two volumes. It opens up a lot of fun possibilities for where the arc could go from here and I’m at least looking forward to a really big fight!”

Episode 10

“Ice Queendom is getting closer to the end now as we begin the big Blake vs Weiss fight. This episode spends half of its time showing us what led to Blake embracing the powers of darkness and then the second half continues us from where it left off. It’s definitely a very risky plan and one that I’m not a fan of since letting yourself be controlled can really not end well. I’d say just going up there and winning in fisticuffs would be the best way. Try a sneak attack to get the rapier away from Weiss or something like that. Beyond that I enjoyed our classic divide and conquer approach as each fighter will be going up against a different opponent. With better animation I dare say this could really be a top contender but I did enjoy the Weiss and Blake clashes regardless. Seeing Weiss immediately realize that something was up with Blake was also nice to show that she isn’t totally gone yet.”

Episode 11

“This was quite possibly Ice Queendom’s best episode in the batch. We finally get to see the team fight as a unit on more than one occasion which was really satisfying. The ost was top tier as you’d expect and they really saved up a lot of the budget for this episode. It was an excellent way to wrap up the arc and we got to see how strong Blake would be with the power of Adam. It all goes by really quickly with nonstop action so I had no issues with the episode. It’s just a lot of fun and I always enjoy team fights like this. I hope to see more and more combos from the team in the future.”

Episode 12

“Ice Queendom has been a fun ride and I’ll definitely have a full review up for it soon. In the meantime this works really well as an epilogue episode. A chance to just see the characters interacting and now that they have all had a lot of character development, they’re the best friends you remember. The series really nailed the characters for Blake and Weiss in particular and why they are so great. Both are usually considered to have the most development from the main group and it’s nice to see how they’ve changed. Even the little things like Weiss waiting for Blake afterwards so they could have one last talk and reaffirm how they will change the world was great.”

All right so from the episode reviews you can see how things started out on an excellent note with the volume 1 recap but then the show quickly lost some steam in the original plot. That’s pretty much how I would frame it. The volume 1 adaption was definitely a bit rushed but it was great seeing all of the iconic moments again. The only big miss here was completely cutting out the Torchwick fight at the climax of the volume. That would have been great to have seen in anime format instead of then jumping into the original story. The original story has an interesting premise.

Basically there is a nightmare Grimm that is ridiculously overpowered and ensnares Weiss. The other characters jump into save her along with Jaune but once inside they find out that this won’t be easy. Basically the entire world is in her mind but a twisted version of it and to get to her they have to defeat a lot of other obstacles like statues and such. Additionally once they get to Weiss she is quite powerful and won’t turn good unless they can destroy the Grimm behind her. Make any kind of contact with the Grimm and you too will be corrupted though. So dodging it won’t be an easy endeavor.

Where the show fumbles a bit is that the heroes try over and over to save her and fail multiple times. This causes the heroes to fall out of the dream and then re-enter so you see the same things over and over again. Once when Ruby lands, once when the team lands, and then once for Jaune. It feels like a way to save on the animation budget at times to be honest and the show unfortunately looks very low budget. Sometimes the fights barely have any animation. It will randomly change to CGI once in a while too and so nothing is very streamlined. The show looks solid during the first episodes for the volume 1 recap and then in episode 11 but that’s about it.

One of the most disappointing parts was when they set up the Weiss vs Ruby fight but then in the next episode it was done as lazily as possible. This happens quite a few times and it’s too bad because you were really looking forward to these battles. For example you have Weiss vs the rest of Team RWBY and there are no memorable shots there. Then you have Weiss going up against Blake for a few episodes and only one really had the good animation. The others were mostly them just yelling the same things at each other. The dialogue could get awfully repetitive as Weiss yells how the Faunus are destroying everything and Blake says that she will liberate them. We get this stalemate of sorts for a while.

It was fun to see a mind controlled Weiss figure out that Blake was mind controlled and swear to save her. I guess even when you’re not in your right mind you know when someone else isn’t either. Now I do want to underscore that the animation can be good at some times but it is rare and very scattered. This is a show that could have used a lot more time in the oven to really hammer everything out and deliver a more complete product. Trust me when I say that doing this would have absolutely been the right way to go about it. Because with top tier animation this would have worked so much more.

I did enjoy the soundtrack quite a lot though. It was different from the average RWBY title for sure but it worked well. Realm is probably the standout song from the ost. It plays a few times and always to great effect. There was another really solid lyrical song as well. The only one that didn’t really work well for me though was the opening but it’s not bad. I just like one part of it a whole lot and the rest is just okay. Still not bad though and while the soundtrack is limited, each tune in the episode ost are solid. You’ll definitely have a good time with the music, no doubt about that.

The show’s original characters don’t get to do much though so you don’t get much of an opinion on them. First up is Shion but I couldn’t tell you anything about that character’s personality or anything really. He’s mainly just a means of explaining the plot and the new Grimm but that’s about it. Likewise the new Grimm is basically just a mindless monster to be defeated so there isn’t a ton to discuss on that front either. At the end of the day most of the discussion will naturally end up being about the existing characters instead.

Weiss gets the most to do here and I’d say her character portrayal is on point. At first she comes across as a bit of a jerk and then tries to play nice with her teammates. In the main show people often mention how she seemed to change a bit too soon and so this show actually addresses that. Basically she was just acting the part of the nice teammate but she didn’t truly mean it. So by going into her dream they were able to have a true heart to heart talk and get to the bottom of this. I thought that was really a great way to use this nightmare bug. Now Weiss could be changed inside and out as opposed to just talking the part and that’s really the best kind of change. Weiss puts up a lot of resistance subconsciously with all of the monsters and such but she herself is trying her best. It was a really fun look into her psyche.

Likewise her whole issue with the Faunus and Blake. I think the premise was a little better than the execution there but the two of them being able to just talk things out was really solid but then when it didn’t work, going into a fight was on point. Sometimes you do need to end up talking with your fists a bit even if it’s not actually the final answer. It’s the driving force that allows you to connect at least. Blake’s new super form was also a lot of fun, I liked the design as there was a lot of inspiration from Adam.

This also led to the climax which actually was excellent. The budget went into this fight as they all fought evil Blake and really got to show off their abilities. It was a true team effort and you love to see it. The fight with the Grimm itself was also solid I’d say. Whenever RWBY is fighting as a team it’s always great to see, they complement each other well with the fighting skills and you get the feeling that if they did this more often the villains really wouldn’t stand a chance. Fortunately for them RWBY is usually split up for plot reasons.

I still can’t get over the fact that the show finally got its full anime treatment. Yes it may not have been quite as high budget as I would have liked but it’s still cool. I also think you really could show someone the first two episodes and then cut to volume 1 to finish it off. I would say the first 3 and then skip volume 1 but it’s rough to miss out on the Torchwick battle because he would go on to become such a major character later on. You really need to see him fight here so you can really understand just what a big threat he was. Ice Queendom’s power levels do get a bit wonky though so you’ll need to keep that in mind. There were a few times where I felt like the heroes should have had the decisive edge by a mile and it just didn’t happen. The show could have just been a few episodes long imo but they had to stretch things a bit.

In terms of characters, well they’re all in character so it works out. Ruby is still a good leader here and while Weiss’ insults may really cut her to the core, she always stands back up and keeps going. Her determination really comes through very strong here. Weiss has a masterful level of depth to her here and is executed perfectly. Yang may come off as a bit meaner than usual with all her shots at Weiss but I like how she always speaks her mind. She still comes through as the power hitter and Blake conquers her fears to allow herself to be taken over all to save Weiss. That’s a lot of dedication right there and so she gets a big thumbs up as well.

As a sidenote, I really liked their winter designs in general. The cold weather type outfits worked well and I always like when characters actually do change their attire based on the weather. Weiss and Blake both have really cool evil forms as well. The designers really held nothing back here and it ended up working out really well. I may take my shots at the animation but the art itself was great so the show always looks really good in the still images. It’s one that will hold up and ultimately I still do really want a season 2. Maybe lets just re-adapt the whole show this time and not bother with an original plot until it’s caught up. Then I can get to see volume 3 and all the tourney battles in the anime style.

Overall, RWBY: Ice Queendom is a fun side adventure. I think they should have planned things out a little better so that the episodes weren’t repetitive though. There’s really a lot of ways you could have done this like make Weiss’ dream world change completely each time or use more check points so it’s different. I think a little less repetition would have just gone a long way here and then you could focus on the story more. It may not match up to the classic RWBY adventures but those are all star titles which surpass the very medium so that’s probably not a super fair comparison. On its own this is still a great title either way and one that I would recommend checking out. So if you want more RWBY content, well you’ve come to the right place.

Overall 8/10

RWBY Volume 9 Review

Posted on April 30, 2023 by dreager1

All right this is going to be a long review so strap in! The greatest show of all time has finally returned for season 9 after so many years. I’d been eagerly awaiting the return and the company’s gone through a lot in the meantime so right now we don’t really know if Volume 10 is coming or not. Everything seems up in the air and if it were to all end here then I would still be satisfied because 9 seasons of content is incredible but of course I will be eagerly awaiting Volume 10. It’s one of those things I can never lose hope on because there’s always a chance and with the amount of buzz the show gets it feels crazy to put it on hold. We’ll get that season 10, but hopefully sooner than later.

Volume 8 ended with the main characters falling through the hole into the ever after. Fortunately they all meet up with each other very quickly so the gang’s still together but it’s not under the best of circumstances. Ruby is feeling depressed after the heroes lost to Salem’s forces yet again and this time the body count was very real. This world is really trippy and every time they try to leave they just seem to be further and further away. It all seems to be following a book that the main characters read when they were kids so they can at least predict some events but their presence as well as Neo’s is already changing things up. Can the heroes defeat her and escape? Also, where is Jaune?

For a big show like this it’s almost hard to know where to start. The volume is a bit shorter than the others since it’s only 10 episodes and they’re all fairly short as it is but because this is RWBY there is a ton to unpack. I’ll probably keep this review fairly scattered as I just type each aspect as I think of it and we’ll go from there. First to get this out of the way, to an extent this volume was considered by some to potentially be a filler season since it was planned out from way before the main plot even started and the mini volume format that the writers would refer to it as made people feel like it was a side adventure. By and large that probably is true. There are some developments here to be sure but at the same time it can feel a bit like Capsule Monsters or Fast Forward in that it’s sort of a break from the main story. There’s no Salem or Cinder here and the heroes aren’t fighting the Grimm. The Grimm don’t even appear.

Think of this as the heroes getting isekai’d into a whole different world for one season. Of course unlike other spinoff adventures they won’t be losing their memories or anything. Their development will be sticking with them for the future sagas. Aside from Weiss who was already perfectly sound going into this world, the other 3 do change and adapt from their experiences here. Jaune and Neo have quite a lot of character development as well. So in a literal sense the season isn’t filler because things did happen. At the same time it is a breather season I would say since it’s not super important to the grand story. On a RWBY binge re-watch if the series ever does end, you could basically skip this volume or jump to the final episode to enjoy the fights. Of course it’s still a great watch on its own so no need for skipping.

Now as this is going to be a deep look through at the series you should be warned that there will be advanced spoilers here. Tread carefully and if you haven’t seen the season yet then I highly recommend changing that first. Trust me you want to go into this fresh because that just makes for the best viewing experience. A show like RWBY has so much replay value that you will keep on watching anyway but it’s still nice not to be spoiled. Then when you’re watching the battle song in the final episode on loop over and over again you will always remember your first experience with it.

First lets talk about Ruby as she gets a lot of focus here. She’s coming off of 2 of her best volumes in the series as she led her team to a decisive victory over the Ace Ops and nearly took down Neo if not for Cinder getting her from behind after that. Well, unfortunately this is her worst volume by far and it’s not even close. Basically Ruby has taken the loss very hard and completely doubts herself as a leader now. Her friends keep trying to ask her what’s wrong and see what’s going on but Ruby pushes them away and ultimately blows up.

My main issue with this is while it’s portrayed as if she was ignored, the characters made every effort to talk to her. It was Ruby who actively pushed them away so I wouldn’t say that they could be blamed for anything at this point. Ruby blowing up at them was just a big L for her and she doesn’t come off very well for just about the entire season. Ultimately this leads to her getting bullied by Neo and ultimately choosing to drink the poison tea and destroy herself. Now, whenever a show deals with taking your own life, that’s a pretty big thing. It’s a huge decision and always the wrong one so a show has to make sure to show this.

The main controversy among this season was how this was handled. After all Rooster Teeth already has a bit of a dicey streak with this since Gen Lock and to a lesser extent, Penny convincing Jaune to destroy her in the last volume. I do think it was the wrong choice to have Ruby do this as well here because that’s just not who she is. She always has some hope and losing it all like this may have been to show how she’s been broken down but it goes too far. I would say the other aspect of this that doesn’t work are the non reactions of her friends and sister in Yang. When Ruby drinks the cup, none of them make a move to stop her, yell or do much of anything. It’s like they were all stunned into silence.

Now you can write this up as a momentary freeze but in the next episodes they are completely over this. They tell the cat that Ruby has to choose for herself what to do here, how she might be a different person, etc. The reactions are so bizarre, they are not being proactive about anything and don’t seem nearly as worried as they should be. Yes in this world death means instant reincarnation so she won’t be gone for good but based on what they have seen, Ruby herself would still be “dead” as her new form wouldn’t have her memories. Look at the paper pleasers for example. So for all intents and purposes Ruby really would be dead and so I don’t understand how nonchalant they are.

I feel like the show got confused midway on exactly what kind of symbology they were going for here. Within the show’s context none of this made any sense considering that Ruby just chose to destroy herself. That absolutely should have shaken up the cast a whole lot no matter how strong they are. Certainly they shouldn’t be grinning in a scene right afterwards. I had similar issues with the Paper Pleasers plot. Basically they are a suicidal cult that wants to destroy themselves because they feel they have succeeded in their mission a long time ago.

In this world once you have completed your mission then you are empty and need to ascend to get a new one. The problem is that this is still death since they don’t retain their memories or experiences and so Jaune tries to stop them. Unfortunately it is portrayed as a bad thing as he should have let them go off to their deaths. I definitely can’t get behind that one either and it was annoying how Team RWBY was so okay with this. Ruby in particular had no sympathy for Jaune at all. Have I mentioned how this is her worst portrayal in the franchise? Yeah it was definitely rough for a while there. Death in general seems to carry less weight than it should. At one point Team RWBY run off when the Jabberwockers appear and leave a whole village to die. Each and every one of them are murdered and we hear the sounds as they left.

At the end of the series Blake asks if they actually helped at all or if they just made things worse and you have to assume the latter to be honest. The heroes left a trail of death and destruction everywhere they went. They destroyed two villages, took down the king, and now the kingdom has no more of the original creatures like the Jabberwockers and the Cat. Not all of that was directly their fault but you’d be hard pressed to say that they really made the world a better place.

Now I am still ready for Ruby to bounce back because she finally goes back to herself in the final episode. Now she is the Ruby that we all know and love. In that sense her character arc sort of just flipped back to her being really confident like in volumes 7 and 8 once more but we can assume with this arc over that she won’t have any more doubts in the future. She also seems more powerful now but it’s hard to scale until we see her back in the real world. Ultimately her arc was filler you could say as it basically reset to where she started but I was glad that we got to finally see her smiling and having a good time again. Her final fight is absolutely the highlight of the whole volume and I’m ready to see her take on Salem. Plus now that she’ll be in a world of Grimm again she can finally use her silver eyes. I get that part of the point of this volume was to take a break from the Salem plot but I still miss Ruby’s cool silver powers. We still need to find out how any Grimm will ever be a threat again since Ruby can one-shot almost all of them at this point so Salem needs to think of something quickly.

Yang looks great here as you would expect. She’s always ready for a good fight and I would say that she has relaxed a bit more now. She’s back to making a lot of puns and just grinning all the time. For a while Yang had always been the heart of the team and kept the atmosphere lighter but she did get a bit more serious in the last volumes. I think this was a chance for her to reset in a way as well and it was a welcome change. She is still the power hitter of the group and does well in all of the fights. The heroes would definitely be lost without her.

Then we have Blake who has unfortunately been flanderized a little bit. She really takes the role of being the nervous member of the group who can’t stand up to Ruby anymore and is the only one to have some self doubt in the final episode. The writers took great care for her to basically not land any real blows in every fight outside of the chess battle and she always ends up being support. It’s fine to be a support fighter but she was one of the stronger fighters back in the day so I’d like to see that return. Blake is still a good character but right now she’s not keeping pace with the other 3 at all and that needs to change.

As for Weiss, I was pleased at just how confident she was. See, Weiss has already been through her character arcs so before the volume started I was talking about how nothing should get to her here. The villain mind games just won’t work at this point and sure enough, they don’t. This was the best attention to detail in the series as Weiss basically tries to keep everyone together. She does act a bit goofier at times which did feel a bit out of character but my headcanon will just be that she is trying to keep the atmosphere lighter since she sees how Ruby is feeling down. Might not be the sharpest theory but at least it works as an explanation. I can buy into it at least. She also finally uses her rapier a bit more here rather than relying exclusively on summons and I appreciated that. With her glyphs she has the potential to be one of the most powerful fighters so lets get back into that.

Jaune gets a big role here as well. He’s been a consistently solid character throughout the series and has had several character arcs. From the characters you can make a very strong case for him enduring the most amount of trauma. Yes, even more than Ruby and Blake I would say. The guy had to watch the girl he loved run off to her death and then he was pressured into murdering another one of his friends. He’s always been powerless to protect those around him and even started to get suicidal in volume 5 with how he kept charging Cinder. He finally got into a good headspace in volume 8 and then falling into the Everafter and being alone for years broke him again. The guy just can’t catch a break but whatever happens he tries his best.

The fact that he lasted for so long on his own in a strange planet shows just how resourceful he was. That’s why it was a shame when RWBY didn’t back him up. Still, he kept on trying to be the great hero and this is absolutely a highlight volume for him. I would have preferred that he stayed in his grown up form in the present since the design was also so good but I guess this is the end of the road for that. Right now he has a lot of experience though so I hope that is directly shown in the next volumes. He has grown into truly being an excellent leader and will be able to make a difference. The volume really nailed his character from start to finish.

Okay it’s time to talk about Neo and she is the character that the volume fumbled the most. So what do we really know about Neo beyond what we see in the novels? Well, she wants revenge on Ruby for murdering Torchwick and will want revenge on Cinder for being portrayed at the very end of volume 8. We need to remember that originally Neo intended to murder Cinder for Torchwick’s death but the villain told Neo that it was Ruby’s fault. So now that Cinder has betrayed her maybe Neo will double think this? She doesn’t and just goes after Ruby but surely after that she would try to get Cinder right? Well that’s where the issues come in.

When Neo successfully destroys Ruby, she suddenly goes all empty. Basically her purpose was fulfilled so she is an empty shell. That seems to be what the show was driving at and it makes no sense because she still needs to murder Cinder. Her purpose is hardly completed, there’s a lot left to go in her adventure. That was the first warning sign here. Alternately you could say that she suddenly regretted this and thought that murdering someone was going too far but that makes even less sense for such a ruthless calculating villain. Neo was just completely out of character here and so she went from being one of the most powerful, epic villains imaginable to being someone who was just left by the wayside. Even the way her character arc ends was not satisfying at all as she just jumps off to die too and be reborn as something else. Unless she chooses herself like Ruby did, she’ll lose her memories now and that would be annoying.

The show never explained why her powers completely evolved and changed either. Sure, Semblance evolution is a thing but it’s something you need to actually work at. She just got a bunch of new powers and used them immediately. For example her illusions can now talk and they seem to have the original’s memories because she uses some illusions that she couldn’t possibly know about. Penny dying twice for example. It’s all to break Ruby so these characters had to show up but logically it makes no sense that she would know the inner dynamics of exactly how they would break Ruby. That’s really my issue here.

At least she still looks powerful but we don’t get to really see her fight before getting possessed and I wanted to see how the team would fare against normal Neo. That would have really been good to see since I figure she can probably still handle the whole team to an extent. Fans of the Jabberwocker should not be too pleased either. The monster starts off by losing against Team RWBY rather handily and then getting instantly murdered by Neo. The rest of the show they are just clones of Neo’s and that’s not the most impressive way to appear. Cool design but the character sort of got misused a bit.

Then we have the curious cat and he was a lot of fun. He’s the kind of guy who will trick you so you always have to be on your guard in every conversation. He is playing the long game and does a good job of getting the characters to trust him so they can be manipulated. As a villain he also works well and I definitely liked his true form. Automatically I would say he’s probably a top 10 villain in the show and that’s good considering how many there are. Even to the end he was talking tough and I loved how he called the humans weak and insignificent even as they had just beaten him up. Sometimes you have to double down like that. He also made for some of the most intense visuals in the show.

Finally Alyx who was the main character of the book gets a decent role in the lore. At first she wasn’t the nicest person but gradually grew nicer. It’s a classic character arc but they try to keep you off balance with some twists and almost twists. I don’t think she adds a lot to the adventure but she does help to give Jaune even more trauma by the end so he’s not going to run out of that any time soon. The show also heavily implied that she ended up being reborn as the metal crafter although I think that’s a rough fate since it feels like you would be bored for a very long time in that role. You rarely have people to talk too.

The gang also meet a little mouse named Little. She’s a bit scattered all the time and tends to sleep a lot but means well. I was expecting them to reverse the death for a while there like it was just an illusion but ultimately Neo really did get the better of her. Little will likely never show up again in her new super form but if she ever returns that could be interesting. Perhaps Little will even have some fighting ability now.

Now the volume did decide to finally go through with the very controversial ship of Yang and Blake getting together. Long had I dreaded this day but the writers have basically been promising this for years now. A good chunk of their scenes are used for setting this up and general flirting the whole time. So much for Yang’s personality being the flirty one for a while there and Blake’s connection with Sun. Both have been squashed due to popular demand. It was just a matter of time until this happened but it was still unfortunate since they were such good friends and shows don’t need to go there like this. I know they’re now saying this was planned from the very beginning..but I have doubts. We’ll see if they can keep their personalities and stay strong or if this will become their personality and Blake will continue to shrink in fear at every danger so Yang can save her.

I would say the best non action scene in the volume was when the members of Team RWBY met their younger selves. It was great to see the old designs from back in the day and how each character has really changed. As expected Weiss really destroyed her previous version verbally while Ruby got completely devastated since the old her was so confident. The contrasts were really good and of course the art was excellent as always. The show really knows how to make every scene really pop out at you. In general of course the dialogue in the volume is very strong and it helps to make up for the lack of action but this was the stand out scene for me.

Of course the end of the volume gets you hyped for volume 10. The show seemed to be trying not to set up too much of a direct cliffhanger in case it isn’t renewed though like not having any kind of post credits scene this time. That was too bad since I always like a good cliffhanger but at least we still have a bit to theorize on. The last show showed that Atlas has arrived in Vacquo and somehow Amity Arena is back in operation. So the implication is that the distress signal Ruby sent out in volume 8 actually did work and the kingdoms sent backup. It’s a bit funny how the instant the heroes leave things start looking up again.

Of course the portal was set up to send Team RWBY to when they were needed as opposed to where so it could be any kind of timeskip. I’d assume maybe a few weeks or months but nothing too drastic. Anything longer would also be dicey since you’d assume humanity would be wiped out already. Salem and her forces should be having a field day without the main crew there after all. It’s why I can’t wait for volume 10 so we can see what’s been going on. The side story is all well and good but I am absolutely ready to jump back into the action here.

This was the first volume where Jeff would not be doing the music along with Casey and you can feel it as the volume sounds very different. Of course that could be to match with the tone as well. Ultimately it’s easily the weakest soundtrack but there was still a really good song for the final fight. Right now the theory is that it will be called Red Like Roses Part 3 since the opening lyrics are similar but we’ll see. It’s an excellent rock song and really brings you back to the classic days. The other themes are a little more fantastical but there is much less rock than usual. The ending song for the volume is emotional but not one that you would typically re-listen to after the first time. I’ll do a ranking of all the songs once they’re released and we’ll see if the full version buffs them a bit. Still, it’s a good soundtrack just a step down from what we’re used to.

Likewise that’s basically the case for the animation as well. The art is top tier as always and the colors have never been more vibrant. The character designs are on point and they clearly took a lot of time to make sure everything looked great. The only issue here are the fights which don’t have quite as much animation as you would expect. That’s really the only problem here. The fights are still fun overall but you can’t compare them to volume 8. The last fight of the volume though can hold its own with any of them. It’s super short but the part we get was still very crisp, fast, and streamlined. Exactly what you expect out of any RWBY fight so this one really delivered. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a Volume 5 situation.

Instead of them saving all the budget for the final fight since most was spent on GenLock, this time the budget was saved for the end because the group was taken off to work on the Justice League movie midway through the volume and the budget was already smaller. It also explains why the volume was only 10 episodes instead of the usual 12-13. They really didn’t have much room here to do anything more than what they needed to. Hoping that the next volume gets the full budget start to finish so we get a lot more intense fights like this though.

I would mention the flashbacks with Alyx and the gods but those look super low budget intentionally. It’s a narrative decision to make them look like storybooks even if I think they should have skipped that and made it look normal. My motto is that you should never intentionally make animation look older or lower quality even if that’s the intention. Sure you would have to create new 3D models…but then it’s time to start creating. I was glad that the flashback with Summer and Raven was fully animated. It makes you feel like Summer will be getting more scenes sooner than later now that she has a character model and I want to see how the mission with Salem went. Clearly not very well but still there is a lot to fill in there. Meanwhile it was also great to see a lot of the old characters return like Ironwood even if it was just as an illusion. It reminds you just how large of a presence the guy had and still has within the series.

The volume was a bit rushed so it could have used another 2-3 episodes I’d say but at least since it is so short, that makes it even easier to binge. You can definitely watch the whole volume as a movie of sorts and that would work really well. The season has a lot of light hearted moments to balance out the series ones and so you should feel good just going through it all. At the end of the day RWBY is always a lot of fun to watch and this volume is no exception.

Overall, There’s always more to discuss but that’s volume 9 in a nutshell. At the end of the day is pretty much is a side story and one that you could probably skip without missing much for volume 10. That said, it’s more RWBY content so you don’t want to miss that. It will naturally have far less replay value than most of the other volumes though as a result of the smaller cast and stakes. I would say it only beats Ice Queendom and loses to the rest of the main volumes. I’ve already rewatched all of the episodes once via reactions and I’ll be doing it a lot more so either way it’s still RWBY. It having less replay value doesn’t mean that it’s gone after all and there were still a lot of fun moments here. I would definitely recommend checking it out and at least before volume 10 we have the two movies to look forward too. That will have to satisfy the RWBY itch for now but you know as soon as volume 10 comes out, I will be there!

Overall 8/10

Season of the Witch Review

Posted on April 23, 2023 by dreager1

Whenever you have a film taking place back in the olden days with witches, demons, werewolves and the like I have to assume that the film is not going to be very good. Sure that is a general plot and so you can definitely surpass that if need be but what are the odds realistically right? I doubt they are very good at least with the track record and this one is no exception. Sure there are some interesting moments and plot lines scattered around the place but ultimately the movie could not capitalize on any of them and so it failed in the end.

The film starts off by showing us how skilled Felson and Behmen are. They utterly decimate opposing armies in every fight that they are in. We see a montage of them in countless fights and it’s definitely impressive how ahead of the curve they are in the battles. Nobody can really touch them or even come close. Well one day Behmen ends up murdering an innocent civilian and he becomes disillusioned with the whole thing. He now realizes that he was merely a soldier of battle and quite the army. Felson follows him but unfortunately they are quickly captured by the same army again. Their mission is to bring a suspected witch back into custody with them to face justice at a “fair” trial. Behmen doesn’t much like this but orders are orders and trying to escape the whole army again would be tricky. The girl’s name is Anna and she seems incredibly suspicious and crafty but that doesn’t automatically make her a witch. Behmen will have to handle this carefully.

I did find part of the intro funny in how quickly the two leads were captured though. These were the kingdom’s best warriors and yet they could be brought back in so easily? Have to admit that they lost a lot of hype there. I give some credit for wanting to leave the army in the first place of course but I really didn’t think that they would be brought back so quickly. As for the mission itself, well in a way they know that this won’t be a fair trial but they aren’t the justice system so what can be done? I think just running off for a second time would have been just fine to be honest but it is what it is.

Anna is unashamedly suspicious the whole time to the point where it can definitely be real amusing. She keeps on using magic and messing with the heroes so it seems obvious that she is a witch but they can’t prove it yet. She even goes out of her way to save someone who nearly plummeted to his doom by using her super strength. Even the characters can be confused sometimes on if she is sympathetic or not. It’s just really hard to get a read on her and that’s definitely by design. For what it’s worth she was a good antagonist for this reason. She really kept the heroes sharp and always on edge. Her abilities were solid too and versatile. She had flight, mind manipulation, animal summoning/transformation, super strength, etc. Yeah that’s a lot for any human to deal with and by the end her scenes get even better in hindsight.

Unfortunately you can probably guess how the animal summoning ended up being a net negative here. We have to sit through an extended scene of the heroes destroying a bunch of dogs that she transformed into werewolves. Definitely a scene that didn’t need to be here and it really drags down the experience. At this point they should have taken her down since this also directly murdered some members of the team. You don’t exactly need a trial when the villain openly murders people in front of you right? Well, unfortunately Debelzaq the priest says you do need that so there isn’t much the heroes can do about this. Behmen ultimately stands down but the body count only continues to rise.

These are guys who don’t have a no killing code or anything like that so in light of this it just doesn’t make sense to spare her. Anna will only continue to cause more death and destruction in her wake the longer they keep her alive. It’s always hard to defeat the supernatural and this is just another example of that. Behmen and the others are completely outmatched and only plot armor is enough to help them win. It’s why I say films always need to be careful not to make their villains end up being too powerful or there’s just no way to buy into the hero ever winning. When you create an unwinnable situation that’s exactly what happens.

Ultimately I did like Behmen as a character though. He wanted to do the right thing and protect everyone. His motivations were always good and he let his actions do the talking for him like when he left the army early on. He won’t be a part of anything that is unjust and has the strongest moral center of the group. His partner Felson is solid as well but that guy’s more relaxed and will just do whatever he feels like doing. He follows Behmen since they’re friends but it’s less about the morality of it and more because that’s just what he wants to do.

The film actually has a fairly large cast of characters accompanying the main two on the trip but you will forget most of them immediately because they don’t do anything. You’ve got a guy with a tragic past, the priest who is always ready to exorcise, the comic relief maps guy, etc. They’re all just here for the body count and you know it. There is never even an attempt to start liking these guys or making them a part of the main cast. It’s just not happening and so the film treats their characters rather half heartedly.

You’ve got your share of jump scares here but the film is more action than horror. The film just likes using some strong imagery so that you can see how threatening the villains are. We get lots of zoom ins on rather deformed faces on the witch side and while the film isn’t super violent, it does have some moments here and there. The imagery can be more gross than violent at times although I suppose it depends on the scene.

I think this film could have really shined by focusing on the main two guys as they look for a battle that is worth fighting. They stop just blindly listening to orders and look for a chance to really make a difference. Having them work for the army again was a really odd move and not the one I would have chosen. From there they are back to following orders even when they have doubts and that’s what doesn’t work as well about this film. It sort of goes against their whole character choice in the beginning to do that.

Overall, I liked one of the twists at the end of the film but this one didn’t live up to its full potential. After a while it felt like this film was even trying to be the next Exorcist although it still beats those easily. Witches can make for decent villains when you focus more on their magic and the cool fantasy battles we can have but outside of that they aren’t super interesting. So when you just have Anna locked up in the cage for most of the film it takes some of the bite out of the experience. A sequel could maybe do better but lets shift the time-frame to modern day. Trust me that setting works way better.

Overall 2/10

Young Sherlock Holmes Review

Posted on April 23, 2023 by dreager1

This film was interesting because I just don’t remember ever hearing about it, but clearly it must have been a fairly big deal back in the day. It’s Sherlock Holmes after all! If that isn’t enough to make this a really big household name then I don’t know what would be. The movie is part mystery to an extent but to be honest it’s more of a thriller all the way. It works out well though and while I could see some Holmes fans being a little disappointed, this was before he was a true detective so I’d say it works out fine. He gets to have one explosive adventure before things turn realistic again.

The movie introduces us to a younger Sherlock Holmes who is already widely known for his genius level intellect. The guy isn’t afraid to show it off either and is 100% confident in his abilities. Holmes has no need to be humble when he’s the best although he does tend to lose in fencing to professor Rathe. It’s the only thing in which he isn’t the best. Well, the quiet days are over when a mysterious group begins murdering people using powerful hallucinations. It’s as if the Scarecrow is around. Basically this dart that they hit people with makes them see their worst fears before dying. The body count is slowly starting to rise and when one of Holmes’ favorite teachers is bumped off it is time for him to act. Unfortunately he will have to do it while on the run since he has been kicked out of school. Can he pull this off or is it game over?

One thing you’ll notice right away is that the film is having a blast showing off all of its special effects. You have CGI dragons running around and lots of moving objects as part of the hallucinations. There is even a giant throne room like something out of Harry Potter for the villains’ hideout. It’s all very fantastical and so again it doesn’t feel like Sherlock Holmes but the visuals are still really fun to look at. I do feel like some of the deaths from the hallucinations were a bit convenient though like one guy stabbing himself and another jumping out the window. To an extent you have to know that the hallucinations aren’t real so you want to break through them but you have to know that certain actions will still hurt you in the real world.

The most tragic part of the film is definitely that the heroes are rather late to make a difference. For example, the villains have this whole human sacrifice thing going on and so they’ve been murdering people for a while. The heroes make it in time to see a woman get burned alive and they don’t end up saving her which was unfortunate. They only manage to save the main heroine and it’s just a rough way to go. It makes the police detective Lestrade look even worse because Holmes keeps trying to get the guy to help but he couldn’t care less. Usually he isn’t very helpful in these things but he may as well have been a complete villain in this case. He actively did his best to prevent Holmes and the others from helping out. If he wasn’t an established character in the mythos I would have assumed he was in on the take the whole time. That’s how absolutely corrupt the guy was.

At least you can always count on Holmes to be a really solid character. He did well analytically and this was also before he would get more emotionless so you actually get to see him get mad and put up a real fight. This version of Sherlock Holmes may lag behind the experienced one but the film does a good job of making him stand out and showing how he has changed over the years. Watson also gets to help out a bit here. Ultimately not a ton but his contributions are never forgotten and so he’s always an easy character to root for.

I wasn’t as impressed with the quirky Rupert. I felt like he was only here to help out with one particular invention for near the end but otherwise he just felt a bit out of place. At least professor Rathe was an expert fighter and had a lot of lore behind him. I rather enjoyed Rathe, now here was a character who contributed a lot to the plot and was also very interesting. He could actually hold his own against Holmes which is something that almost no other character could pull off.

Then there is Elizabeth who gets a decent sized role as the main heroine. She helps Holmes out when he’s in a pinch and can always be counted on to support him. Ultimately she does about as much as she possibly can during the course of the film. Holmes had a lot of enemies here so it was always good to have some allies. Watson was helpful too in his own way. Just like in the other films he always comes through when it counts even if he can’t follow Holmes on an intellectual level. He can pull off the physical feats that help make a big difference here.

I enjoyed the action a lot here and so this worked well as a prequel. In a lot of ways this felt like a Harry Potter film too but going at a lightning fast pace. I would have enjoyed staying at the school a little longer and you could have turned this into a whole movie series. The instant Holmes left the school though, it felt like the only logical step would be to pick up with him being an experienced expert. After all, that would be his big reunion with Watson and that would tie into the main novels. Feels like they left a lot of potential stories on the chopping block here by switching things up like that.

Overall, Young Sherlock Holmes is a pretty good movie. It’s an action film which pretty much plays things by the book so I wouldn’t expect anything crazy to happen here. The special effects go all in though and your attention will be captured the whole way through. There is a mystery here but for the most part that never really seems to be the focus. The answers just sort of appear as Holmes is fighting his way through all of the villains and that works out well enough as this is more of a thriller but it’s why I’d say you shouldn’t go into this one expecting a full blown mystery. It’s just not that kind of film so enjoy the action scenes and quality dialogue instead.

Overall 7/10

Levius Review

Posted on April 22, 2023 by dreager1

Levius is one of those series that I certainly hadn’t heard of before watching but it was quite the solid show. I’m always up for a good boxing title as it goes without saying that it would have a lot of action thrown into the mix. This one has a solid story to back it up as well and the last fight was quite a bit longer than I expected and that’s a good thing. It was quite climactic and usually you don’t see something like that outside of Shonen Jump so that was pretty cool. All in all it’s a great show with solid pacing and you should have a good time all the way through.

The show starts off by showing a city being reduced to rubble and machines kidnap a bunch of people in the area. In particular one girl was calling for help but Levius was too young and didn’t have the power to save her. This haunts him to the present where he is now a boxer. His destroyed arm was replaced with a metal one but he has decided to keep the other one. It puts him at a disadvantage against fighters who use two metal arms but it has sentimental value to him. He aims to gradually become the world’s greatest boxer but his coach Zacks suspects there is more to his dream than that. One day that girl appears again and Levius is determined to save her this time around. Will his strength in boxing be enough?

Now the show does have a plot outside of the boxing stuff but I would say boxing is absolutely still the main focus and as it should be since that’s likely why you’re here in the first place. The world building is more used to help set up Levius’ big reunion with the girl A.J. (Will just keep as AJ for easier typing) It does open up the possibility for a lot of interesting plots in the future but at the same time Levius is just a boxer. He’s not a CIA agent or anything so odds are that he won’t actually be getting mixed up in any of that. Unless a potential season 2 took a really big shift in story the global issues would be a different character’s concern. It’s actually an interesting angle as you assume there are a lot of big battles going on in the outside but we just don’t see them. Picture an end of the world event going on in Transformers but instead we’re following some big races.

The closest this ties in is the fact that AJ’s suit and mech is created by the guy in charge of the evil machine company. His name is Clown which is kind of fun. That’s his last name but it’s still his name. Imagine walking around and when someone calls you a clown you don’t know if it’s an insult or your name? I thought this guy made for an interesting villain but at the same time he wasn’t quite as good as he could have been. What I mean by that is he gives off the aura of being a great fighter and has a lot of mystery to him but in the end he goes out like a chump. It’s going to take some more time for him to build up his hype again. I still feel like he should be able to fight very well and must be powerful but we have yet to see any real proof of this.

Now the cast here is pretty small but that works well enough since the show is so short. It’s only 12 episodes after all so this lets them really dive into the characters. First up is Levius and he’s a solid hero. He’s the kind of guy who will jump in to protect someone even if it could cost him the match. His best moment was definitely when he went into the ring to save Hugo when his opponent was going too far. Levius was also making sure that any plan the heroes went with would be one where AJ was saved since he wasn’t going to resort to murder. He’s a very stand up guy and a determined lead to boot. He went through various fights without having any leads towards his true goal without ever losing hope. He’s also a nice guy too and when he has to let someone down he does it gently.

There’s really nothing to dislike about the guy. He’s a very well rounded main character. Then you have his uncle/coach Zacks who is also solid. Zacks used to be a fighter himself so he makes for a good coach. He knows what it’s like in the ring and always does his best to give good advice. It can be frustrating being the coach because sometimes the boxer just won’t listen to you even when you’re right but he still tries hard. Zacks has a big moment near the very end of the series which definitely helped to make him stand out. He actually contributed in a very direct way which made him stand out.

The mechanic Bill was also good even if he started to crack a bit towards the end. The pressure was nearly too much for him and so his emotionless façade broke down. Ultimately very few characters can truly be emotionless to the very end. Often times they will end up overflowing when the going gets tough which is always the tough part about internalizing. Bill was very good at his job though and even if he couldn’t get it done in the end, he came close and still gave Levius a whole lot of help.

Then you have Natalia who is a fun rival but her power level is a bit lower than I would have liked. The whole show I was expecting her to get some kind of a big win considering just how confident she is. Unfortunately it turns out that she is a bit delusional and can’t compete with Levius. Now she is still a good fighter as she was climbing up the ranks quickly but he defeated her early on and she just never improved from there. She has some more street smarts than he does and comes in handy for training but I would have liked a big moment for her that involved combat. Natalia is a lot of fun but she ultimately seems to be all bark and no bite.

After that you have the other 3 boxers who had a big role. First up is Malcolm and he’s known as a very dirty fighter who will do whatever it takes to win. The guy also murders all of his opponents. No that’s not a figure of speech, he literally makes sure to attack hard enough to always destroy his opponent to the point where that’s his reputation. Yes this is a futuristic form of boxing where everyone has on mecha armaments but even so he doesn’t have to do that. Malcolm is proud of himself for murdering everyone though and that’s why it’s hard to forget this later on when the show tries to paint on more of a sympathetic edge to the guy. I’m just not buying it, you don’t go from being a mass murderer to then forgetting about it. That’s not how this works.

The show sort of glosses this over a bit I’d say. He does end up donating to charities later on but it’s just a bit late for that. He makes for a good villain but it’s hard to see him as anything more than that. A hero or an anti-hero? I don’t think it’s quite deserved yet. He was certainly an impressive boxer though so nobody can really doubt his abilities in the ring. Those were definitely for real.

Then we have Hugo who was my favorite character in the series. The guy is just a very straight laced boxer who goes in and tries to take his opponents down by force. There are no tricks or gimmicks here, the guy just fights very logically and with a lot of force. He puts up a tremendous fight against AJ and really never wanted to give up. It was super impressive so while the guy may not have appeared a whole ton, he left a good impression. This is the kind of guy that you want to have on your side.

Finally we have AJ herself. She has the coolest mech suit in the series to be sure. It just looks really impressive and since she has the best tech developers behind her, her equipment is the most efficient as well. Her own natural fighting moves are really good too. Without the enhancements I don’t see her taking on Hugo or Levius but with them she’s basically unstoppable. I would even say they probably made her a bit too strong because you really don’t see Levius holding his own here. AJ was just too powerful with each hit dealing massive damage.

Throw in the speed as well and Levius was outmatched. I sort of buy into the whole taking advantage of her rage and making her sloppy at different points in the fight but lasting long enough to pull that off is where I have my doubts. Still a great fight though and the perfect way to end off the series. It was everything the show had built it up to be and it would be difficult for any sequel fight to top this one. Especially since it was basically 3 episodes long.

As for the animation, it is CGI so it’s not quite going to hold its own against the big hand drawn titles but I thought it looked well enough. They did a good job with the fights and the character models are on point. It definitely beats some other CG titles that I’ve seen in the past. Then with the soundtrack it’s good but not super memorable. I thought there were some decent action tunes mixed in there and the theme song was decent but on this aspect it’s a little more forgettable.

The show always does a good job of nailing the build up to the fights. I like the way the arena looks and you feel that excited crowd atmosphere for every fight. We get good cliffhangers during the episodes and the pacing is on point. The dialogue/writing are good as well and so the show can hold its own even when the action scenes aren’t happening. It even takes some time for more emotional type moments with the characters as they want Levius to abandon the fight several times when his opponent seems too powerful.

Ultimately Levius doesn’t waver which is why once again he is such a great character. No matter who is trying to get him to quit the guy just won’t listen. Above all else he has his own moral compass and knows what he needs to do in order to win. The show also doesn’t waste much time on the past. We get quick flashbacks for Natalia, Bill, and Zacks but it’s always very quick since they know we’re more interested in what’s going on in the present. Everything else can really just wait until another time.

If I have just one minor issue here it would be that the third last episode overdid it with the flashbacks a bit. It felt like half the episode was the characters remembering things and considering how short the show is, I don’t think almost any of them were necessary. You could have one or two quick ones if you want for narrative reasons but that episode was spamming them. I figure maybe they wanted a very specific episode ending cliffhanger and so this was for the pacing but it felt a little bit forced.

On one more positive note, I like how in detail they went on the actual boxing training. We got to see them practice the moves that Levius would be using in the actual matches. Each time it felt like there was actual coaching and adjustments happening which was nice. It’s not overdone or anything, it just helps add extra context and detail to the fights. I thought it worked out really well all around. The spin punch for example was a really fun technique and I also liked the side step technique Levius learned later on. The blur effect and the squeaky sound effect was satisfying. Moreover it felt like a technique that really could be effective with some practice and not something the show just made up on the fly.

In the end, if I was in this future there is no way I’d ever want to be a boxer though. It feels like you are constantly at risk of dying there and your opponent will get off completely free each time since it’s still just within the rules. One realistic element they included here is about bribing the association though. One boxer lands a hit on the referee but because of her group’s pull there are no penalties or anything like that. It’s pretty crazy but that’s the power of widespread influence I suppose.

Overall, Levius is a great show. What really seals it is how solid the fights are and the characters hold their own as well. You’ll have a lot of fun watching the show and it has a good amount of replay value. The ending is very satisfying so there really aren’t any weak points here. It’s also a very safe recommendation to anyone whether they be action fans or looking for a good story. The series has 0 fanservice in it which is always impressive and so the writers are confident enough in their story to keep everyone’s attention the whole time. This show really does all the right things and will be remembered fondly. It’s crazy to think about how this was all G3 level fighters, just wait until we reach G1! I’d definitely recommend checking this show out.

Overall 8/10

Monkey King: Hero is Back Review

Posted on April 15, 2023 by dreager1

This game was definitely one of the more random ones that I ended up grabbing from Gamestop but when a title is just a few bucks you’re inclined to take a few risks right? Odds are that this would be worth the few bucks and naturally that was the case in the end. This is the kind of game that may not be great but it’s good fun and by the end you realize you had a good time with it. I’d definitely be down with a sequel to this one someday.

The game starts off with the Monkey King getting taken down by the gods so his powers have been sealed. A kid unseals him and the hero, Sun saved him but a girl gets kidnapped by the villains. The kid begs Sun to help out and at first this Monkey King can’t be bothered but as the adventure goes on he realizes that it is finally time to step up and be a hero. Without his famous powers will he really be able to win though? Only time will tell! One thing’s for sure, he will need to eventually find a way to remove those chains before it’s too late.

The story of the Monkey King is a classic one and this adaption does a good job of going through the motions. He gradually learns about empathy, kindness, and humility as the days go on. At first he is very gruff but gradually becomes a team player. It’s all handled rather well here even if it may come across as just a little generic. The story is fairly barebones as it is. Even the trio of characters have a fairly old dynamic with Sun being the gruff one, you have the guy who talks tough but is actually weak, and finally the kid who means well and is super cheerful but isn’t really cut out for tangling with the others even if he has the heart for it.

So you’re playing this one more for the gameplay which is fortunately pretty good. It’s a 3D action game where you take out enemies with hand to hand skills or use one of your attack powers. I highly recommend using a bench to fight most of your battles. Yes, you heard me right…. a normal bench. It’s surprisingly effective the whole time. It has a longer reach than your normal blows and also deals more damage so it’s kind of a no brainer right? Once you get hooked on it then you won’t want to use anything else. The only exception is a staff that you should unlock by the very end of the game. Once you have it, it is an immediate upgrade over the bench so you’ll never use it again.

You can upgrade all of your special abilities as you play through the game so choose the ones that you want to max out carefully since by the end of the game you won’t have enough points to max everything. Mainly if you go with a maxed out bench and staff then you should be okay. There are other fun abilities like your projectiles but they all just feel a whole lot weaker. Also, the game is more fun with those items because otherwise the game can feel a little too slow and clunky the whole time. I do have to say it’s a pretty valid complaint against the game. The core combat doesn’t feel super balanced or organic at times. Mix that in with how the game can actually be rather difficult and you can have a rough time here.

I only barely beat the final boss after a lot of cheesing and was nearly out of magic meter. Just one or two more hits and I would have lost. It makes for a spectacular story down the road of course and you feel good when winning a real nail biter like that but I can’t help but feel that I would have done better if the game was just a bit more polished. At times it can feel like you dodged an attack when you get hit or an opponent launches an attack with no real way to dodge it. The enemies also have a whole lot of health at their disposal and you feel like they would have calmed down on that a bit.

The free roaming parts of the game where you pick up collectibles and find things is okay but I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of effort put into that. The focus is definitely more on the combat. I do give the game a lot of props for making the final, final boss a blast though. There is a whole different gameplay style created just for that fight and it ends up making a real big difference. See, you can actually feel the power and high stakes behind the final boss due to this. It is worlds different from every other boss fight and that’s exactly the kind of feel and atmosphere you’re supposed to be going for with this. The game understood the assignment here.

Overall, The Monkey King is a fun game. I’ll admit that it gets off to a rocky start and you have to get used to the game so initially it was leading up to more of a 6 star slot but by the end the game came into its own and really surprised me. It’s still a fairly short game so you’ll likely have it beat in around 10 hours or less but it’s a complete title. It also helps that I got the game for around $5-10 which is a fair price for this title. If you see it for a price like that then I recommend grabbing it. There’s not a lot of replay value here beyond aiming for the platinum so I’d say to just enjoy the gameplay/experience and call it a day. At the end of the day that’s really all that you need/want here. The wii Monkey King game I played was more fun but this one still gave me a good time.

Overall 7/10

The Mark of Zorro Review

Posted on April 2, 2023 by dreager1

Zorro is one of those characters who was really huge back in the day. His popularity has waned since then but it’s fair to say that most people probably still know who he is. The reputation of this masked vigilante still precedes itself after all. This is probably the best cinematic portrayal of the character because it really nails the dual identity of the hero. It has a lot of action and a good amount of fun with it as well. It’s a well balanced movie that I could recommend to anyone at any time which is definitely the sign of being a quality picture.

The movie starts off with Diego wowing the world again with his impressive fencing abilities. The guy is second to none but one day he is called home only to find out that his father is no longer the ruler of the country. Instead a guy named Luis has taken control and the place has fallen into ruins. His family’s name has also been tarnished. Diego decides to don a mask and call himself “Zorro” as he goes through the city helping the impoverished. It’s not an easy task but somebody has to do it! To keep anyone from guessing his true identity Diego acts incredibly incompetent in battle and as someone with a very pure soul who doesn’t know much about fighting. Still, Esteban the top commander of Luis’ forces is determined to take down Zorro so Diego has to keep his wits about him. Can he pull off this ultimate deception?

It’s very much a Clark Kent/Superman kind of dynamic here. I like how over the top Diego is in not being able to do much of anything. The guy has a great time acting super spoiled and I’d say he does a great job of it. You can’t help but be impressed at how he handles his appearance and mannerisms. It’s a lot of little tings that all combine to make the ultimate disguise. Diego is certainly not someone to be trifled with when he can become a different person so easily.

At first I did think he was a bit quick to anger when he first arrived though. Everyone was terrified of even hearing his father’s name so then Diego starts threatening them and you figure he is sort of proving their point there. Maybe they were right to be afraid of the family right? Diego changes once he sees the true culprit here so perhaps he just thought these guys were being rude but I was a little surprised at his first impression. From this point on there are no setbacks though and he goes on to become the legendary hero everyone loves.

He’s very much like Batman here with how he strikes fear into all of the villains and leaves behind marks of his trademark Z so that people know he was around. He’s also quite the excellent fighter which makes him a true threat. I did appreciate that the villain Esteban was an actual fighter as well though. It made for a really good back and forth fight which was exactly what I was looking for here. Not for Zorro to just steamroll everyone but for him to get a legitimate battle where he would have to pull out all the stops in order to win. The climax is fairly long with both fighters giving it their all.

Esteban in general was a great villain because he was crafty aside from being skilled. It was no fluke that the guy made it as far up the ranks as he did. His dedication and greed got him far and that’s exactly what you would expect from such a guy. He helps to be a good foil for Luis who is the comic relief kind of villain who can’t really fight or hold his own at all. That guy lags behind and has to be protected at all times. Any true villain would just roll their eyes at such a figure but of course that also means he is very easy to manipulate. So that’s basically his role there.

Meanwhile you did have the romance here with both Lolita and her aunt both liking Diego. Diego likes Lolita but as part of his plan pretends to like the aunt to sow more discord. That was probably hitting a little below the belt to be honest. You don’t feel all that bad for her since trying to start an affair while already married is already a huge taboo but Diego encouraging it isn’t great either. Definitely made for a rather odd romance and it’s good Lolita was quick to overlook this and realize it was fake by the end because otherwise that romance definitely wouldn’t have worked very well. Honestly I’d say that romance is still rather rushed either way. I think they could have bypassed that and since it wouldn’t really change the film at all, it’s best left on the shelf.

I don’t really have any issues with the film which is always a good sign. It’s just a great experience and has the right amount of tension, action, and solid characters. Each character feels well developed here which enhances the overall adventure. For example the local father/bishop was a nice supporting character who was really helpful and was quick on the uptake. Now I would have liked some kind of a big cliffhanger as the film ended in order to get the sequel lined up but it’s not like you need that one. In a way the only missed opportunity was in not having Zorro keep his secret identity from everyone but that’s probably something you’d only do if you were intending on making this a big franchise with lots of sequels. Since that wasn’t the goal here then there wasn’t really a reason to do that.

Overall, The Mark of Zorro is a really fun film. At its core it feels like a classic superhero movie and that’s a large part of why it’s so good. It really executes on each of the genres as well as the tone and feel of what this adventure should be like. It’s a very self contained story as well so you can jump in and just watch this as a oneshot while fully understanding the world around Zorro. They cover a lot of ground here and the pacing is good at each turn. The writing is on point and it’s all very believable. Yes this is definitely a title that you don’t want to miss out on.

Overall 8/10

Shangri-La Frontier

Posted on March 26, 2023 by dreager1

This one’s a pretty interesting title with how it handles the video game worlds. Unlike Sword Art Online or .Hack where death means complete obliteration, this one is actually playing it out normally for now. You log in and have fun. It’s already got good action though and a less intense story could work out here. I’ll be interested in where it goes and it’s off to a fun start. I will have a review up as soon as I finish the series.

Overall 7/10

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