Tag Archives: Action

Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 4s

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We are back for another round of the RWBY episode rankings! You probably won’t be surprised at how well Volume 3 does but the question is if any of the other volumes can keep up. Will they get absolutely destroyed or will they have a fighting chance here? With a series as good as RWBY it’s always fun to see which episodes can really surpass the others in these battles. You can tell how about half of these episodes are more about setup though, but there are the action ones as well. It shows how balanced the series is as the action changes from volume to volume.

9. Volume 4

Volume 4 has to come in at the tail end here which is rough for the volume but this is more of a low key episode. We see Yang finally come to terms with not having her other arm anymore and it was nice to see the teachers off duty. I always like Yang as the really confident heroine so it was nice to see her get back in the groove. Meanwhile Raven and Qrow’s meetup was hype. We hadn’t known Raven too well by this point so any appearance was really appreciated. A lot of setup for future events occurred here.

8. Volume 7

Finally seeing the heroes become fully official huntsmen was great. It’s been a long time coming after all and it was nice of Ironwood to have kept this in mind with everything going on. That said, I still think the heroes act a bit too in awe of the Ace Ops here. Cmon they may be reasonably tough but RWBY and friends have dealt with much more powerful fighters. We see here that the Ace Ops don’t even see each other as friends so naturally that was going to hurt them down the road. The episode is really more on the calm side but seeing the heroes finally get some real recognition was great. They’ve saved the day on many occasions after all.

7. Volume 6

The cliffhanger for this episode is really what gets it a bit higher up. We have the heroes making their way to an abandoned village which has clearly seen better days. It’s a nice ominous way to end things off but otherwise this episode doesn’t have a whole lot happening. Everyone’s really upset at Ozpin for the fact that he kept more secrets and has no real plan. That’s probably the worst part of it because then he has been stringing them all along for ages without any big strategy. You’d think he would have thought of something over the years but I guess he just never got around to it. It’s a really bad look if you ask me. I was never a big fan of Ozpin but if I was then this would probably hurt even more.

6. Volume 5

Volume 5 will always be the most nostalgic volume for me even if it isn’t my favorite one. That’s because it was coming out right as I first got into the show and so I kept watching the episodes over and over. It may be a dialogue heavy volume but it handled itself in much more interesting ways than Volume 4 so it stayed fresh. We do get a quick Yang fight in this episode though. While the speed of the fight is a bit on the slow side, the choreography is still on point and that’s what counts. It’s also nice to see more of Raven and we’re gearing up for the big conversation there. I also liked that Weiss was able to break free on her own and didn’t really need to be saved. Of course if Yang was not there then she would have been doomed though.

5. Volume 1

Volume 1 has some more fun gags with Ruby and Weiss having their differences. I do wonder where Ruby popped out from though, has she just been beating up on a bunch of Grimm off screen? Admittedly it probably is her fault about the trees burning down since she should have seen Weiss while zipping around. It also is embarrassing to be having so much trouble with normal grimm when individually they should be able to defeat them all with ease. We also get to catch up with the other teams like Jaune and Pyrrha so it was nice to see them. The episode has a good blend of story and action while covering a lot in a small amount of time.

4. Ice Queendom

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.

3. Volume 8

Volume 8 continues to go strong in this episode. We get a really tense chase scene where Yang and company are trying to save Oscar. Unfortunately there are just too many Grimm in the way and they can’t keep up. They tried hard though. Ren is annoying in this episode though as the guy blows up on Yang and does a lot of complaining the whole time but it’s all undeserved. He’s the one not handling things well and trying to push that off to everyone else. It’s not the right approach to the situation and he’s hurting the team unity. That’s playing right into Salem’s hands. This would begin his downfall as Ren never really recovers throughout the volume. Well perhaps his downfall began in volume 7 but I remember thinking this was a particularly bad moment for him. The actual episode is just too hype to have any lower though and the song during the chase was on point.

2. Volume 2

This was the first time we really got to see Team RWBY fight..well as a team. They used advanced combination moves and really overwhelmed Torchwick throughout the fight. It was nice to see the combos and as always I liked seeing Blake and Sun team up here. I miss when Blake was the very rebellious one who was always leading the charge like this. She is really at her best here and Sun has always got her back which is great. Neo’s debut appearance was also exciting and seeing the bar from Yang’s trailer was a nice callback. It reminds you why you definitely don’t want to be skipping those trailers. The lyrical song that played during the fight in the episode was also masterful.

1. Volume 3

I have to admit that I was not surprised to see this one at the top because Volume 3 is full of stunning fights. This one had us finally see Mercury and Emerald get their first action scene. Considering that these villains have been around for quite a while, it’s something that has been a long time coming. What better way to show off their skills than to beat some of the most experienced students in the whole school? They won so easily too that it really made a statement too. To this day I’ve watched the fight many times over. The trash talk is also excellent.

That wraps up another comparison list for the RWBY episodes. Some more shake ups here but at the same time Volume 3 is still dominating so things haven’t fully changed yet. That volume was just so epic though, it really set the tone and pace for the series going forward. A lot of fun moments here though and it’s always nice to revisit the series. Will Episode 5 start to turn the tables? Well we’ll definitely find out soon! That said, the best comparisons will probably be once we hit the climax because every volume always ends with a bang with no exceptions. Measuring which climaxes were the best will be the exciting part.

Black Adam Review

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It feels like this movie has been coming out for so long that you almost started to wonder if it was really happening. Well at last it’s here and the movie definitely lives up to the hype. With top notch action, a solid story and a good group of characters you’re definitely going to be pleased here. I would put it in the top 3 DCEU films just under Man of Steel and Batman V Superman while knocking Justice League off the 3rd spot. You could say that the hierarchy of the DC universe really did change.

The movie starts off with showing us the past of Kahndaq as its King turned crazy with power and enslaved his own people so that they could find him jewels of incredible power. One kid didn’t like this and made a brave stand which resulted in the wizards transporting him away to gain incredible powers. He then stopped the King but it took everything he had and the destruction was massive. 5000+ years later in the present day, the country is once again ruled by terror as Intergang rules now. They’re up to their usual tricks of looking for powerful artifacts. The Crown of Sabbac is their objective and the only one standing in their way is Adrianna.

She is trying to locate the crown first so that she can hide it and works together with her brother Karim and their friend Ishmael. In trying to find the crown we see that Ishmael is a traitor and Adrianna is forced to summon Black Adam from the void to protect them. He defeats the evildoers quickly but is unsure of what to do. He’s been gone for so long that the world doesn’t feel like his. Still, he won’t let the country stay oppressed for long and prepares to fight. Unfortunately the aggressors have help as the Justice Society is summoned to stop him and put this country back into being oppressed by Intergang. If Adam doesn’t stop them quickly then all hope will be lost.

Right off the bat one thing I liked about the film is how fast paced it is. After that initial flashback to the old days, you can bet that there was going to be a lot of action. Just about every scene has someone getting absolutely devastated in combat or a lot of explosions galore. Considering that the film is 2 hours, that’s a lot of good content around every corner. The fights are a lot of fun and Adam’s speed is handled well. It almost looks like teleportation with how quickly he can move and it’s why nobody appears to be a match for him. If he could just keep on attacking while moving at that speed more freely then even the final boss of the film and characters who seemed to last for a little bit like Hawkman wouldn’t have a chance.

The visuals are top notch here and I also liked the soundtrack. Now I won’t say that every tune was a winner here but for the most part they were all solid. I liked Adam’s main theme and when it played you knew that things were about to get real. When a movie looks and sounds good then it’s already starting on a good note. Could the rest of the film capitalize on this? I’d say that it did without a doubt. The movie has some good humor as well mainly thanks to Amon (Adrianna’s son) giving Adam a lot of ideas and him doing his bet to meet them. The movie’s humor style works really well with how serious and stoic Adam is at all times. You should crack a smile a few times.

Now a big thing here was that the Justice Society would not just be appearing but also getting a decent role. Would their scenes just make you wish Adam was around or would they do good? Well, they made for fun supporting characters. The film did have to try hard to make them appear to be any kind of match for Adam though because you get the feeling that he could crush them all in an instant if he actually wanted to. None of them are remotely in the guy’s ballpark after all.

Strength aside though, they look absolutely awful at negotiating. They are given two different opportunities to try and talk Adam down and use the worst possible ways to do it. “Kneel or Die” is not a phrase that just about any character would appreciate so that being the first impression here is a massive miss. I was wondering if the helmet was mind controlling Dr. Fate when he flew in and said this because it seemed so out of character. This isn’t really hinted at so I guess it was just him but it was an odd scene.

Then later on the Society are given another chance so Hawkman promptly ruins it by saying “We’re here to negotiate your peaceful surrender” when the whole idea was supposed to be just to talk. So power levels aside, I can also see why Adam found these guys to be really annoying. I wouldn’t trust them to be heroes at all and it’s clear that they had let this country alone to fend for itself for ages. While Adam couldn’t know that they are just lackeys working for Waller, that probably explains why they didn’t come sooner. I’m guessing they just wait until the government tells them who to fight.

I don’t doubt that they are heroes but they are bad at reading the situation and that didn’t help matters here. They just fumbled the ball so the whole time you are rooting for Adam. See, Black Adam is the kind of villain you can root for here because he’s still protecting people and has a very clear honor code. He’s not going to go after anyone who is keeping to themselves and not hurting anyone. He only punishes the wicked and does so without any mercy.

It’s why characters like the Punisher are always appealing because they keep the villains off the street permanently. So they aren’t heroes but they make the world a safer place and for people living in those areas, they can’t afford to be picky. It’s easy to see why they would side with Adam here. At long last they have a protector and their country won’t be so easily messed with anymore. It opens up a lot of possibilities for the whole area in the rest of the DC Universe. It’s sort of like Atlantis, Wakanda, or Latveria now where it’s an independent area with its own setup.

Picking fights aside, Hawkman is a fun character. He’s just super annoying with how he’s picking unwinnable fights the whole time. His baseless confidence just doesn’t work in this case and always wanting to fight reminds me of Hawkgirl there but usually she wasn’t matched up with someone outside her league like this. Hawkman seems to be the leader but isn’t a big strategist. Still, at the end of the day he is a tough fighter and I liked his determination.

Atom Smasher is the rookie here and he almost felt a bit like Deadpool with how he’s always joking around and having fun. This guy is still a hero and all though. I thought his attempts at humor weren’t nearly as good as the jokes around Adam but he tries. I always thought turning big wasn’t a great power since it just makes you a huge target but he does decently well for himself. His role is fairly small though. Likewise Cyclone doesn’t do a ton of fighting here but her wind powers are nice to have. If she can use her genius to build some kind of robotic suit to protect herself while fighting then I think she would have a good set up here and could really go to town with her wind abilities.

Dr. Fate is really the heavy hitter here and he had the only attack from the Society that actually seemed to hurt Adam. Magic always has a lot of uses and its power can be quite impressive so he makes for a good addition to the team. He doesn’t take things quite as seriously as Hawkman so he actually has some fun with all of this. I really liked the voice that he uses as Dr. Fate so it’s a shame that he didn’t use it more. This guy was a lot of fun though so I can see why everyone likes him.

As for the humans, they were okay. I didn’t care for the villain Ishmael though. He’s just your average guy who wants to be super strong. It’s all well and good that he has these elaborate plans and all but he’s just not very interesting at all. Karim is the comic relief guy here who does his best but is always in over his head. I give him props for coming out to help in the climax though and not backing down. He may not be the best fighter but he still tries his best.

Then you have Adrianna as the main heroine here and I was glad that she always had Adam’s back. When the Society tries to convince her that he’s a menace she doesn’t believe them and defends Adam every time. That’s good loyalty because he’s done nothing but help her by this point in time while the Society hasn’t done much of anything to help out. If anything they get in the way with all of their meddling and destroying half the city trying to stop him.

Finally for Black Adam himself, I was a big fan of the character. He’s very no nonsense with how he goes about attacking the villains. He’s portrayed to also be fairly quick on the uptake. He takes things literally but not to extreme lengths like Drax and while modern things may be foreign to him, he doesn’t suddenly act dumb with new concepts. His character has a lot of nuance to it and even to the end he is making the right calls. As a result he makes for a very good main character and someone you can root for here.

So I didn’t really have any issues with the film. If we want to get into really minor things, occasionally it felt like they had to nerf Adam a bit in order to keep the Society competitive. Based on his opening showing in terms of speed there is no way Hawkman or the others could come anywhere close to even landing a hit on him. They’re just way too slow. I used the excuse of Adam not being able to fight while moving that fast which we could use if we have to, but that really is an excuse since I don’t think anybody actually buys that. Still, the movie did show that none of their attacks did any damage aside from Fate’s so I can let that slide.

It’s also interesting seeing the Society effectively seem like antagonists for a good chunk of the film. It reminds me of how the Avengers went off the deep end during the AVX comic series. I like to think the League would have handled things better which is why Waller didn’t call them in. That or she knew they wouldn’t listen to her and would cause a lot of chaos. It’s always tricky balancing superheroes with a broken country like this because you do wonder where the heroes have been. There is no excuse or reason big enough for them to have abandoned this place for over 20 years so inevitably the hero is going to look bad in this kind of circumstance. I don’t think there would be any way for the Society to win back people’s trust after that.

Naturally the film does have a scene after the credits so you’re going to want to check that out. It’s definitely a real important scene and again it makes Adam look really good with how he handles this. Now, one character here needs to be handled carefully because he’s not the kind of guy who just takes orders. He may follow them if they’re good orders but he’s nobody’s lackey. It’ll be interesting to see where this plot goes and of course I’m hyped to see it. It was a good way to end things off.

Overall, Black Adam is definitely a film that you need to watch as soon as you can. It even throws in some twists and turns for you as it really goes back to the original DC days of Man of Steel and Batman V Superman with the incredible battles and intense story. Like those it can feel a bit darker at times and there’s a lot of grey here as the characters even call the Justice Society out for trying to draw a line between good and evil real quickly. You’ll have a good time here whether it is for those big power displays or also as you weigh in on if Adam is doing the right thing or not. With the country in ruins like this should he keep taking everyone out or should he try to adopt some kind of justice system and make things work out in a more legal way? It’s a lot to make you think but at the end of the day you’ll be glued to your seat the whole time. To answer your big question, I’d still put Superman as the most powerful being in the DC universe but Adam is solidly ahead of Shazam, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and every other member. The next DC films are going to have a lot to live up to as this one set the bar very high again.

Overall 9/10

Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 3s

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It’s time for episode 3 as I continue this journey down memory lane with comparing each volume. By episode 3 it’s still more of a toss up on if the season’s going to have its next big action moment or if it will be more set up. Which volumes will come out on top and which will fall short? It’s time to find out!

9. Volume 2

Volume 2 has the team splitting up to check on different things as they approach the White Fang issue. It’s always nice to see them all working as a team like this and as always Sun is a great character. He just dove in and inserted himself and Neptune into the team mission and made it look easy. The guy is made of confidence and you love to see it. In the subplot we got more hints that Penny was a robot as she stopped the car although in universe she probably could have just played it off as a super strength semblance and everyone would believe her. No reason not too right? Weiss and her family drama is also set up a bit more here since she doesn’t want to talk to her father. A lot of setup going on and it’s a solid episode but would quickly be overshadowed by volume 3 the next year.

8. Volume 5

This was the episode where Volume 5’s pacing really started to slow down a bit. We got updates on the various plots but because of that there wasn’t a whole lot to all of them. In Ruby’s plot we had Ozpin decide to teach Ruby how to fight in hand to hand (I never bought that Ruby couldn’t fight tbh), for Blake she tried convincing the Faunus to fight back against the White Fang, but I can see why they weren’t on board. Sure the White Fang are evil but infighting among themselves would leave them wide open to attack from the humans. This was definitely a setup chapter but it was nice to see the Weiss plot. Her figuring out a way to escape was a great way to end things off.

7. Volume 1

Volume 1 is mainly still setting up the big forest fights here as the group actually begins the test. We get a lot of fun scenes to introduce the various characters like Nora and Ren while also giving Pyrrha some more screen time. This is definitely more of a character building episode and the humor from this era is still unmatched. I always did wonder where Ruby just vanished off to during the forest though. If she went off to fight it must have been really far away since Weiss couldn’t hear her at all. The place just went dead silent.

6. Volume 4

Volume 4 is a lot more low key which makes sense as that volume took this approach for the most part. In Yang’s plot she is still trying to cope with just having one arm now and it’s been a tough adjustment. Her trauma over losing to Adam is still raging strong as well. Meanwhile Blake gets her first fight as a giant serpent Grimm appears and Sun helps her out. Unfortunately this would be the beginning of the end for her character as she went from being very brave and ready to fight in the first 3 volumes to someone who was running away from fights here. She also seemed to get a lot weaker so don’t expect a lot of big wins for her in this volume. As it is the serpent Grimm seemed to have the edge for most of the fight. The actual fight is one of my least favorite fights in the series (Something had to be right?), there’s a lot of jumping around but it felt like very little actual fighting. Still reasonable but the fight doesn’t elevate the episode quite as much as you would expect. It’s still the best subplot in the episode though.

5. Volume 6

This was a really important chapter because we finally got the origin of Salem. Now this one was a doozy. I also blame Ozpin quite a lot here. I’m always harsh on the old guy but seriously, he really didn’t do anything to slow down Salem’s descent into madness. When she uses her powers recklessly he should have tried to talk her down or talk things over rationally. Instead he tries to run off with her kids in the middle of the night? No….that’s not a good idea at all. Additionally both of the gods just seem cruel (which is not surprising) so I can see why Salem wants to take them out. Ozpin deciding to avoid them is another option I suppose but yeah this episode wasn’t flattering for him. Still, it was a lot of fun because I’d been waiting for the origin story for a very long time.

4. Ice Queendom

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.

3. Volume 8

The AceOps got their big rematch here after being absolutely dominated by Team RWBY. I don’t buy their excuse about holding back to be honest but it’s still good to see them using more teamwork here. They were actually overwhelming Penny who is a maiden so that’s fairly impressive. Penny didn’t look great here but that’s how it goes. Nora also had her best moment in quite a while here as she handled the electric entrance. With a good amount of action this was definitely going to be a high ranking episode. You can see how Volume 8 started off really strong already.

2. Volume 7

This time we get to really see the AceOps in action. I do think the team is rough even if I always thought Team RWBY was stronger. We got to see their updated landing strategies as well and had some fun fights in the caves. There weren’t a lot of stakes here or anything but it was still nice to see the team all get to take down some Grimm. With all the big plots going on you sometimes just want to see them being Huntresses and taking these monsters down. They also start to feel some guilt over lying to Ironwood the whole time which is really good. They should be feeling bad about that since so far he’s been doing a good job. I would say it was clear from this episode that they were setting up an eventual fight though and we’ll talk more about that in a future episode!

1. Volume 3

Volume 3 jumps us right into the mix as Qrow takes on Winter. Still a great way to introduce us to the power levels of an adult huntsman. Ultimately Qrow would end up getting nerfed in the future but I still appreciated seeing the power gap right now. The music was on point and it was a great spectacle. Meanwhile we also got to see Cinder making her first move in rigging the tournament match as well as Ironwood have a chat with the other characters. His moves seem reasonable considering that Ozpin never seems to want to really have a conversation here. He thinks that Ironwood should not have brought his army but doesn’t say much to really make his case. To make this more convincing we would need some more good reasons since under Ozpin’s eye the villains have already infiltrated anyway. Qrow and Winter’s rivalry in addition to the fight easily makes this the best episode 3 of the bunch.

Well, I guess volume 3 has done it again. This was such a strong episode 3 and it reminds me why the volume had the best pacing. Something was always happening here to keep you excited. The other volumes will start to make some more competition for it as the volumes go on though because all of them tend to have great climaxes and the length varies so there should be a good amount of back and forth. Now the wait begins for the episode 4 comparisons!

Blue Lock

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Blue Lock has easily become the definitive Soccer manga and one of the all time definitive sport titles. It holds its own with heavy hitters like Kuroko’s Basketball and Prince of Tennis. We’ll see if it can keep the momentum up and I’ll have a review up once the series is completed.

Overall 9/10

Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 2s

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It’s time to rank all of the episode 2s! The episodes in general are shorter than the premieres so there is less opportunity for quite as much plot development and action but at the same time that means we can really judge how the series tries to follow up the big premiere. Do they go small scale and try for character development or blow it all up and go as big and bombastic as possible? IN general I’d say the series goes for the former and that definitely makes sense. It’s rare that you do back to back battle episodes like that.

9. Volume 4

It’s been a rough start for Volume 4 as it has to come in at the end here. Mainly that’s because not a whole lot happens in this episode. We get a lot of info-dump as we learn a bit more about Atlas and Ruby’s team visits a village that was destroyed by bandits. Not the most exciting episode 2 but it’s not irregular. It was nice to see Whitley being supportive to Weiss though. Low key he never seemed like a bad guy throughout the show and he went through a whole lot while she was gone. Everyone ditched him but he still warned her about Ironwood’s arrival and genuinely seemed to care so that was nice. I think he tends to get a bad rap. It’s also nice to see the seeds about Ironwood getting a little aggressive start here.

8. Volume 6

In this episode the gang catch Ozpin lying to them again as usual and so we get quite a few heated arguments here. It eventually even leads to the genie finally appearing and the cliffhanger lets us know that we’re about to learn the truth about Salem’s past. So it’s a very important episode but the main reason it’s low is because it’s all set up for more exposition. Build up for a fight can be pretty hype but build up for knowledge is less so since you wish they could just fit it all into one episode. Ozpin is always annoying with his secrets as well since you’d think he could trust them more at this point. He also just made a big mistake with Lionheart so you feel like he should probably own up to that a little more.

Instead he goes on the defensive side right away and it looks suspiciously like he was going to attack Ruby at the end. So all in all it is a very important episode to be sure and a very interesting one at that but without any real action it couldn’t quite keep up with the others. The Cinder subplot was very intense though and since the opening was already hinting at the fight with Neo coming up, that’s definitely something that everyone was looking forward too.

7. Volume 1

The original volume’s a bit low this time around but that’s because it’s more of a build up episode. Aside from being super short, we don’t even get to the first challenge yet. The episode is mainly about the main characters finally meeting up a bit. It’s got a lot of nice humor like Ruby and Weiss meeting up or Yang dashing off with her friends. Since Weiss would eventually mellow out, it’s always nice to see her during her mean phase where she and Ruby didn’t get along at all. The banter between them is always a lot of fun. The show has a lot of spirit at all times and it was a fun appearance for Jaune as well. He cements himself as the big comic relief character right away here and can’t keep up with the others. Little did anyone realize that he would eventually become one of the big characters.

6. Volume 2

Like Volume 1, Volume 2 has a lot of that classic humor that I enjoyed. If it’s one thing that RWBY hasn’t captured nearly as much since the old days, it’s that fun humor that it always had. The heroes playing that Yugioh homage game was a blast. They got the trap cards and everything. There aren’t any big fights this time around and it’s a short episode so it’s not going to rank too high but it’s still a pleasant watch. We also have Cinder and the gang infiltrating the school at the end which is a big deal.

We even get a brief Ironwood appearance where he tries to talk with Ozpin but that conversation doesn’t really go anywhere so he leaves. It feels like nobody really wants to have an actual conversation with him which is rough since it does seem like he is trying hard at this point in time. It was also nice to have the team get Blake to open up to them instead of flying solo again. Flying solo is always fun but since the rest of the group is ready to help out, there isn’t really a need for that.

5. Volume 8

This was a fairly somber episode as the heroes are still trying to pick up the pieces in Mantle. The hero groups are also split up since they have different approaches to things. While it’s mainly a low key episode, we do have a very intense climax with the new hybrid Grimm coming out. There were a lot of fun theories about this possibly being Summer or another old character back in the day because of how it could talk and strategize. It was a great way to end the episode even if I think that Yang and friends looked a little too weak now. I have a hard time believing that they would have so much trouble against a single Grimm, even if he does have intelligence. The fight did boost this episode above a few of the other episode 2’s.

4. Volume 7

In Volume 7 we finally got to go inside of Atlas and actually talk to Ironwood. This is definitely a very dialogue based episode but it was a super important one with the major players finally getting to decide what to do about Salem. As interesting as it is, it can also be a frustrating one though with the heroes lying to Ironwood at literally every turn. By this point there is no reason to think he would make the wrong move and moreover, I don’t think he would have gone down the wrong path. Ironwood’s big plan here is to let the world know about Salem and the heroes are absolutely appalled. (In volume 8 they end up going with his plan anyway)

This is before Ironwood went off the deep end and I was supporting him every step of the way right now. Look, Ozpin’s plan of keeping everything a secret just didn’t work and he ended up just putting everyone in danger. In just about every other series, letting the world know the truth is the good option and even here it would be in the next volume. If Ruby and friends had sat down with Ironwood and told him the truth of all that they learned then they all could have finally started to do something. They could have come up with a plan and I believe they also could have figured out a way to help Mantle as well. They just didn’t help Ironwood at all and ultimately that would come back to bite them.

3. Ice Queendom

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?

2. Volume 5

Volume 5 is rather high this time eh? Well, we get a good mix of plot and action this time around. Weiss got to fight the hornet queen which was a lot of fun with that epic song playing in the background. Things may not have gone well for pilot boi but he did good while he was around. We also got the really epic subplot with Adam finally taking control of the White Fang. This would be one of his last really hype moments before the series started to drop the ball with him. This was a great example of his strategic awareness and making everyone his pawns. Even Hazel from Salem’s cabal wasn’t able to keep him in check. His speed was also really good since Sienna Khna wasn’t able to stop him.

It was a natural progression for Adam’s character and a big part in why this episode was so good. He really made a name for himself here and I was super eager to see how things would play out. The cliffhanger was also massive with Raven finally appearing for the first time. That’s something everyone had been eagerly awaiting for a very long time and the appearance lived up to the hype.

1. Volume 3

Volume 3 is on top again eh? Well, it’s not too surprising as this is the tournament volume though so you can expect a whole lot of action. We get two tournament fights in this one with Jaune’s team first and then Sun’s team. The fights themselves are on the weaker side of Volume 3 and aren’t even taken as seriously but it’s still fun to see the characters fight. The team that fought Sun’s group even got to appear quite a bit in the novels so it was interesting to see them here even if they still feel like NPC’s. The fight choreography of the old volumes is always just so good! The new volumes eventually did manage to catch up but for the most part the other volumes don’t have big fights in volume 2. That should slowly start to change though and then I think you’re going to see more of a shake up in the rankings.

So that’s all of the episode 2s. We’ll see how the episode 3s go. As always it’s nice to see how the animation style and tone changes throughout the volumes. You can also try to see common elements or strategies in the episode 2s for each volume but as of now I wouldn’t say there’s much of a pattern. It makes sense since each volume is all so different and so it’s not like you can always call episode 2 the setup episode or anything like that. Some will jump straight into the fights while others go for a more emotional feel.

The Wolfman Review

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

Oof, this is one of those films where you figure that it’s not going to be good from the start. It’s going for the ultra violent route to the Wolfman mythos and in the meantime you also have a romantic rebound going on which never helps anything. I think there are parts of this story that can be a little interesting but at the end of the day there isn’t much going in its favor. I’m not a big fan of the setting for starters and beyond that there aren’t many good characters. The film is also very mean spirited which doesn’t help anything either so it becomes a bit of a wash.

The movie starts with Lawrence coming into town after his brother was brutally murdered by something. Everyone has their own theories but it was either a wild animal or..something supernatural. Lawrence takes care of business but he ends up getting bitten and now he is doomed to be the next Wolfman. In an old town where everyone is superstitious, that’s not a good thing. Additionally Lawrence has little to no control over this transformation either so he could really end up hurting someone. Can he find a way to either stop his transformations or get out of town?

There is a lot of mystery in the air throughout the film but at the end of the day there isn’t much Lawrence can do for most of it. When he’s not being assaulted by the villagers or manipulated by Sir. John, he’s being strapped to a chair and tortured by the doctor. That had to be the worst scene in the film by far. So this doctor decides that he will use shock therapy to save Lawrence and the way he does this is to continuously electrocute him until Lawrence can feel his mind slipping away the entire time. Lawrence can barely focus or even think rationally by this point so he starts hallucinating.

I should mention that the film loves its fake jump scares and hallucinations. Get ready for his mind to play tricks on him in rather violent ways. I suppose that’s the best way to escape the actual pain in the real world but I still feel like this whole sequence had no purpose being here. Of course he will end up murdering this guy viciously in his Wolfman form but did we need Lawrence to go through all of that? I personally don’t think he deserved it.

Not to say that Lawrence is a great guy or anything but it was all so extreme…much like the rest of this film. You will be hard pressed to find a Werewolf film more violent than this one. They really wanted to show people getting ripped apart and eaten alive. One poor guy is basically hung up with what’s left of him for the world to see and that guy at least had some experience with werewolves. The whole movie felt rather mean spirited and even the dead couldn’t know peace.

So at the start of the film Lawrence’s brother was brutally murdered and his fiancé is the one who was pushing for Lawrence to arrive so that he could help out. She must be in a lot of deep distress over this tragedy right? Well…she falls for Lawrence rather quickly and they have a romance. How could this possibly happen? Rebounds are bad enough as it is but this one had two reasons for why it should not have happened at all. The first is fairly obvious which is that she’s now going out with the guy’s brother. You never rebound with family, that’s just awful. The second is the circumstances of the brother’s death which you think would add some extra time to how long you wait before entering another romance.

So the romance here was particularly bad without a doubt. It really hurt the character of both Lawrence and Gwen. I can’t say that I liked either one of them by the end. Gwen doesn’t do a whole lot beyond the romance either. Then for Lawrence, well he goes through a lot for sure and I can’t say there are many things he could have done differently but he probably should have dashed out when he had the chance.

John is the most interesting character because he’s rich, aloof, and a little odd. He knows how to use a gun and isn’t afraid to threaten the entire town with it. You can tell that nobody’s going to be messing with this guy that’s for sure. As the film goes on he gets shadier and shadier but is ultimately the character who adds the most to the movie. At least he always takes over any scene that he’s in. Then we have Inspector Francis but I feel like he’s fairly generic. The guy basically admits that his skills aren’t great so he waits at the pub until the Wolf makes his next move. The location of the pub is quite convenient for him and all but he’s still not putting in a lot of the work personally. I expected him to have a much more active role in all of this.

I at least enjoyed one exchange between him and Lawrence where they traded insults during the entire conversation. Neither one of them was going to back down in the slightest and it was nice to see. It ended up being a stalemate but I always like it when a character doesn’t meekly just take the insults or anything like that. Lawrence wasn’t going to take it and the Inspector has a lot of experience on his end.

Overall, The Wolfman doesn’t really add anything to the mythos. Instead I would say that it’s one of the weakest installments in the series. It’s ultra violent without much reason behind this and the story is fairly basic. You could tell that the story was not the highest priority for the writers compared to just making this as gory as possible. There really isn’t much reason for the film to exist at all. The torture was also gratuitous and all the shock value moments just serve to weaken the movie. I would absolutely recommend giving this one a skip. You’re better off with just about any other film about a Universal monster and considering that Dracula is around, that’s saying something. There are some worse films out there to be sure like Frankenstein but it’s best that you don’t seek those out either.

Overall 2/10

Tiger & Bunny: The Rising Review

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All right, we’re back in action for another Tiger & Bunny movie adventure! This time it’s a brand new story with updated visuals and everything so it’s already showing some different improvements there. I would say this movie is definitely better than the first one. It’s fairly low key and does suffer from throwing the giant opponent who can’t fight back cliché in the climax but aside from that you can tell that it’s trying this time.

The movie takes place after the show so Tiger’s powers are all but gone at this point since he can only use them for super short amounts of time. He and Bunny are now a part of the second division for heroes so in a way you could call them the B team. It doesn’t earn a lot of money though and Bunny can’t help but feel like they should get back into the A league. The test is coming up soon but things take a spin when corporate gets involved. The companies are all bought out by Mark and he wants to change things up. He’s axing the second league and is now pairing Bunny with a new hero called Golden Ryan. Tiger is left out and he’s starting to wonder if he should retire. First he’ll have to stop a new villain group that is re-enacting tragedies from an old play. Can he do it?

For the main plot, it definitely feels like Tiger has to struggle with confidence issues a lot. In the main show when he was losing his powers that became a big thing and now it is resurfacing with how he’s holding Bunny back. He really needs to get his powers back to 100% or this is probably going to keep on happening with him. He handles things mostly well though and tries to make sure that Bunny is set up at least. Although I think the right move would have been to make more of a scene and convince Bunny to stick to the B league. Call Mark’s bluff and maybe he would have gotten Tiger back to the A team.

As for Bunny, well as always he is the big standout hero here. We see how he spends a lot of his free time helping out the orphans and making sure that they have a lot of stuff. Now that’s high quality hero behavior and he even gets them all tickets to the biggest party of the year. Bunny is all about giving back to the community now and you love to see it. He’s also still the top strategist among the heroes and easily the most powerful. He may never end up being the main character as long as Tiger is here, but you couldn’t ask for anyone better as the #2.

The rest of the heroes don’t get a ton to do for the most part. You have Sky High who is still one of the top heroes and he gets to be in the fights. There isn’t much of a character development arc needed for him though. Same for Dragon Kid but it was nice to see her fight more here. We didn’t get to see her have too many serious battles in the main show. She’s always a loyal ally and a fun fighter to have at the ready.

Blue Rose is still acting like a tsundere a lot but fortunately she always makes the right calls at the right times. I was glad that she wasn’t sidelined for the whole fight with trying to put out Fire Emblem’s flames because that would have been a shame. She still gets less action than the others but does contribute in the big fights. Rock Bison has a bit of a subplot where he isn’t feeling like he sticks out very much. So he starts ripping off other characters’ catch phrases and everything. It’s not a good look and starts to just put more pressure on him.

I feel that this plot still isn’t actually finished yet so we’ll see if the next season picks up on it. I feel bad for the guy but at the same time it is true that he is usually lagging behind the rest and taking a lot of Ls. Then we have Origami Cyclone who wants to be able to fight straight up instead of always going for surprise hits from behind. It was an interesting plot although there wasn’t a lot of time for it. Ultimately he did get to try fighting up close and personal but for the most part the opponents here are just a little too high tier for that to work very easily.

Now onw hero who does get a big role here is Fire Emblem. In the show he was easily the worst character as he was always messing with Rock Bison no matter how much the guy told him to knock it off. It was very in line with a character like Puri Puri Prisoner or even Master Roshi with how he would get physical. So fortunately this film doesn’t have any of that as it decides to tackle his plot on a more serious note. Of course that brings up issues of its own and I can’t say it’s the kind of plot that I’m a fan of.

It’s a bit late in the game to try and save his character. Hopefully if he keeps the development then in the next season things could work out but sometimes it’s just a bit too late. Like I never got around to liking Gajeel even though he’s been a hero for over 10 years now. Sometimes it’s just too late and then it’s all game over. Here Fire Emblem is taken out by the villains for most of the film so he’s indirectly causing another hero to be indisposed the whole time and then when he does return for his big fight…he gets taken out rather quickly. I was at least expecting a big win for him. I can’t say that Fire Emblem really works yet and we need more screen time to see if he has really changed or if he’s just going to be acting the same way when he returns.

Finally we have Golden Ryan who is a new hero who has shown up and gets a good amount of hype here. He has gravity powers which is always super useful in any context. I love gravity powers and consider it to be one of the most high-end elements that you can use. He does look really strong here too and automatically became the second strongest hero after Bunny. He can be rather arrogant and all but I’m liking this guy so far. He add a lot to the dynamic and doesn’t feel like just another guy. Actually enhancing the dynamic and changing things up is absolutely what you want to strive for with a new character.

As for the new corporate guy Mark, well he’s just your classic shady CEO. The guy’s so over the top that you will keep wondering whether he is super evil or just shady. Sometimes the line can be hard to distinguish in these things. The rest of the supporting characters are around as well and it’s always nice just seeing everybody again. The movie does have a huge issue with power levels though.

So you’ve got a few villains here, the 3 main ones and the big mastermind. The movie doesn’t bother to give the main 3 names but it was nice to have a full squad. My problem is that none of them should be all that tough. Take the disc throwing girl. She has to go up against Bunny and Ryan which should be the worst matchup for her. Gravity will negate her discs and Bunny has the speed to catch her no matter how many illusions she has. The film has to actively make Bunny and Ryan look awful for her to last so long.

Then you have a guy with super voice going up against Bison, Cyclone, and Sky High. That’s all this dude has, a super sonic voice and yet he’s crushing them with ease. I’d like to see some team work here or even some common sense like dodging the attack and countering with a quick energy hit from Sky High. It seems to me like this really shouldn’t be asking too much. How are these villains who have never really fought before taking on seasoned veterans?

Finally we have the third guy who is a literal old man with a staff and he is crushing Fire Emblem, Dragon Kid, and Blue Rose. I liked his memory abilities which are kind of OP but in hand to hand he should be getting crushed. It is a running gag that the pro heroes are super weak, what with their having trouble with random bank robbers the whole time. Yes, we get that scene again here as the opener where the entire cast of heroes can’t beat one random punk. It’s extremely embarrassing at this point and shows how low tier the fighters are.

I have to blame a good amount of this on the writing though because it just doesn’t make any sense. At least the final boss has a giant form where he’s huge and everything. It may not make for an interesting battle scene but you can see how he would be putting up a fight. That’s the kind of energy that we should be seeing. While I thought the fights didn’t make a lot of sense, I will at least say that the villain motivations were good. I liked how the film executed the reveal on who the mastermind was and why they’re doing this. I thought the motive was quite sound and that goes a long way for a villain. Same for the other 3 who were working for the leader.

So that part was good. Lunatic even gets to appear for a bit but the role was mainly filler here. He doesn’t actually contribute anything to the story except to appear a bit for the fans. It’s really just a cameo that comes out of nowhere, but I appreciate it all the same. As I said earlier, the animation is also greatly improved here which is good. It’s still not going to hold its own against many of the more mainstream anime titles but at least now I can say that it looks pretty good. The soundtrack is still on the forgettable side though.

Overall, It’s nice to have another movie for the series. Even if the stakes might be a little higher here than in the first film, I would say that it still feels like more of a calm movie. Maybe it’s just because you never feel like they’re all in a lot of danger. It still executes just about everything on a higher level than the first film. It’s also nice that each of the heroes at least got a bit to do here even if it wasn’t much and we got to follow them down their paths. I could see some of these plots continuing in the future as well. So if you’re already in the series then this is a good movie to check out and see the characters. You’ll probably be a bit lost if you jump straight into this one though.

Overall 7/10

Tiger & Bunny: The Beginning Review

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It’s time to check out a film with a very unique style here. See, most of the film is just recapping parts of the TV show without even upping the animation and then you have some new stuff towards the end. I always feel like it’s a bit lazy to do things both ways. Whether it’s framed as a merged movie like Madoka or a movie split into episodes like Demon Slayer, you’re just doing the same thing twice. If you’re going to handle something twice then I want a completely different animation going in there and some changes to the story like how Super handled the Resurrection F part. It may not have been completely different but you didn’t really feel like you were watching the same thing twice. Still, as a stand alone film I suppose it holds its own but there’s not much reason to watch it over the show.

The movie begins by introducing us to the world of heroes which has become heavily commercialized. Various companies own the rights to the various heroes and they all perform as best they can in order to rise up the ranks. Tiger is old news at this point and his company is going under but fortunately he is bought out by a big company that wants to pair him up with the up and coming prodigy, Bunny. Bunny is a modern hero who is completely different in every way from Tiger. Tiger believes in secret identities and doing whatever it takes to save people while Bunny is more by the books and lets everyone know his true identity. Can they put their differences aside to save the world?

Well, this isn’t really a “Planet in danger” kind of scenario but that sounds cool at least. So in readapting the first few episodes you have the duo going up against a giant statue and they meet the other heroes but the big threat comes when a guy shows up who is a big thief. Robin is his name and speed’s his game. He is incredibly elusive to the point where all of the heroes teaming up are having a tough time keeping up with him. It’s almost like he’s mocking them…but that can’t be right…can it? This is another obstacle where teamwork may have to be the answer. That’s what you’d think anyway.

So, aside from the fact that readapting something is a bit iffy, this does work as a stand alone movie to the general audience. So if you haven’t seen the show before then you should be able to understand what is happening here well enough. It’s all about superheroes and fighting crime. It’s not too complicated or anything so it works out. The pacing is decent as well. Now your first tip off that something isn’t right may be with the animation. The movie doesn’t look great, and that’s because it just looks like the TV show most of the time which I already wasn’t very impressed with.

The movie feels at least 5-6 years older than it actually is because you had movies that came out a lot earlier in the 90s that look better than this one. So you can’t count on the visuals to hold it up. Additionally I don’t think the soundtrack is great either. There aren’t too many real memorable tunes. What that means is this feels a bit like a low budget adventure and the story/characters have to hold it up.

And to an extent I do think it works. For example I wouldn’t call this a bad film or anything. It’s not very solid but it is “good” and worth watching. I could recommend this to anyone wanting an action title. I would recommend a long list of other titles first but at the end of the day I wouldn’t be deterring anyone from watching this. It’s fun enough and does the job of keeping you busy for a little while but of course I am hoping that the series can hit the next level in the future.

The villain, Robin is okay at best but he mostly does good by relying on the heroes making constant mistakes. We find out that his ability is actually rather great. He can swap places with anyone and that’s such an overpowered ability for a verse like Tiger & Bunny where nobody is super strong like that. Right off the bat I had a bad feeling about the whole thing because there’s no way this guy should really lose. As long as he plays it smart that is but Robin makes a lot of mistakes and fumbles the ball. It was still fun to see the heroes strategizing and trying to find out ways to stop him though. There’s just not much to Robin beyond the chase.

As for the main characters, they’re decent. I like Tiger well enough as a good hero who wants to save the day no matter what. My only problem with him can be that he seems weak sometimes. Considering how good his powers are, he should be doing a lot better. He can increase his skills many times over with his power and yet he is still being outmaneuvered the whole time. He didn’t do so well against a normal bank robber near the beginning.

Bunny is still my favorite character here. The guy has very concrete goals and won’t be giving up until he has achieved them all. You want someone with that kind of focus on your side for sure and he is good at strategy. You could even say that he steals the show by the end of it over Tiger. It’s not surprising since that’s how things played out in the show as well. He can be a bit mean/rude but that’s just how he rolls.

The rest of the heroes don’t get time to do too much here. As usual Fire Emblem is annoying, Rock Bison seems way too weak, and the others are generally just not super effective even if they mean well. It was nice seeing Blue Rose talking tough here since this is before she started to weak around Tiger. The scene of everyone meeting up to introduce themselves to Bunny was a solid addition by the film. It may not have gone over well but it shows that everyone made the attempt which I think was a good idea.

That said, there isn’t a whole lot to discuss here. In part because the film is mostly recap but also because the story is very by the numbers. From the general plot you can mainly guess how the film will play out. I’d say the only twist would be how they deal with Robin and I was a fan of that. The heroes didn’t handle things too well for most of that fight so at least they had a plan by the end of the movie.

Overall, Tiger & Bunny is best experienced by watching the show since you can then seamlessly continue to the next adventures. You always could watch the movie and then skip the episodes in the show but it feels like more steps compared to just watching the season as you usually would. Go with your gut on this though and I’ll have a review for the sequel up shortly. Then we can really see how that one stacks up and if it takes the franchise to new heights.

Overall 6/10

Narrow Margin Review

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

The original Narrow Margin was a lot of fun and this movie is a blast too. It’s always a good idea to have a film take place in a train because there is so much that you can do with the concept. You better believe that this one makes the most of it. You’ll be hooked from start to finish and that is the sign of a great movie.

So things start off with Carol being set up on a blind date with a rich guy. She figures this is fun enough and even follows him when the guy has to go to his room. He’s quickly bumped off for double crossing a powerful criminal mastermind though and Carol goes into hiding. A guy named Robert then shows up and explains that they need her testimony in order to put the criminal away for good. It won’t be easy of course and she will be in tons of danger but the villains aim to silence her anyway even if she says no. So Carol very reluctantly plays ball but in fairness she doesn’t have much of a choice. Once they get on the train, it should be clear sailing except that the villains have managed to get on as well. This could get dicey now.

Now there is a decent amount of set up before they get on the train so even if that’s where all of the big action is, it’s nice that the film sets things up rather carefully. You already have a good idea about the characters before they get on the train. Robert is set up as a very smart guy right from the jump and one who isn’t easily deterred by his boss. If Robert thinks that the best thing to do is get Carol on the stand then he’s going to do everything necessary to get her on board.

He’s up against a ton of opposition and the odds aren’t in his favor so that’s part of what makes it all very impressive. You can count on Robert to get in there and stay strong at all times. There is one point where two villains show up just to threaten Robert for a while and he’s able to continue the conversation the whole time without backing down or appearing to be afraid. It was a super tense conversation so just holding his own there was really good. A lot of other characters would not have been able to do that under similar circumstances.

The villains are also written pretty well. While the mob boss doesn’t appear much after the initial scene, I thought it was a very good entrance. He certainly kept his lackey afraid all the way until the end and he was in control the whole time. The guys he sent to intimidate Robert also did good and were quite good at their job. Even the two who pretended to be cops and cornered Robert at the stall did good. While most of these villains were ultimately one shots or characters who never stood a chance, they felt like real villains.

Then you have Carol who very wisely doesn’t want to have any part in this. I don’t blame her because it never seems like the witness protections are very good and this isn’t something that she signed up to die for. Robert even admits that he can’t totally protect her here but ultimately once the villains have Carol in their sites, she really has to do this. If they’re going to bump her off anyway then she may as well get them behind bars right?

So the choice was made for her in this case but otherwise I absolutely understood why she didn’t want to take the stand. Throughout the movie you also have traitors, conspiracies, and a lot of twists so you really can’t trust anyone. The movie spreads out the twists quite well and so you even still have another one near the end. Everyone is more than they appear to be and the movie did a really good job of showing that.

At the end of the day I have a lot of praise for the film because the writing was so great. It’s a very engaging movie that is written as if it was one of the older ones. There is even a touch of humor like when the fat guy walks in which is a homage to the old film and also with Robert’s final scene with the villains. It was the ideal ending and really helped to wrap up a film that was already very strong on all sides. I didn’t really have any issues with the movie and it has a considerable amount of replay value.

This is the kind of film that usually wouldn’t get a sequel but I think it would work out very nicely in this case. Robert feels like he could serve the role as the main character in other adventures because he’s quick on his feet and is strategic. Those are two qualities you always need in a main character and given his job, you could have another big story with other crime bosses. Perhaps you could even have this guy try to get revenge. It would be difficult for the sequel to match up to this one but I’d like to see the attempt.

Overall, Narrow Margin is a film that you should absolutely check out. It’s a great thriller with a lot of really solid characters. The action scenes are handles well and there is always a lot of tension with all of the characters running around the train. The train is quite large after all so there is danger around every corner and no easy way out. It’s part of the appeal of the location because then you really have to use strategy. Usually the villains aren’t going to just shoot everyone on the train and so that gives the heroes a chance as they try to blend in and last a bit longer. I’ve never been on a big train like this before but it always looks interesting.

Overall 8/10

Valkyrie Elysium Review

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I remember when the first trailer for this game came out I knew that I had to get it. It looked like a really fun 3D action game with a cool plot and everything. Something just out of the blue that had a super amount of potential. Well, I got it day 1 and it was a lot of fun. I do think it could have maybe been a bit longer to really go into the tory here but all in all it was still a quality title. I could see myself going back to grab some more trophies at some point and the battle system was crafted well.

The story starts with the game introducing you to the Valkyrie Nora who is sworn to fight under the command of Odin. Odin and Fenrir had a powerful battle that nearly reduced the planet to ashes and both of them sustained absolutely massive damage. Fenrir is now returning and Odin fears that he will need to move quickly to regain the advantage. He tells Nora to go and cleanse as many souls as she can since each one will power Odin up. Additionally she needs to find the 4 artifacts of power and as a bonus, destroy Fenrir if she can. This is a really tall order but Nora will do her best.

Right from the start you can see how Odin is rather shady and he keeps on throwing more and more tasks at Nora. When he mentions that she needs to destroy Fenrir as well you can see how crazy this is. If Odin himself couldn’t defeat her, then what hope does a Valkyrie have? He gives us a trusty rope that can in theory take Fenrir down but that’s still not a whole lot to truly change the tide of battle. At best it’s a confidence booster I suppose but you still feel like that could never possibly be enough.

Fortunately Nora meets with lost souls along the way that she uses to aid her in battle. By the end of the game she has 4 souls who help her and they each try to get Nora to act more like a human. Initially Nora is virtually emotionless and just following orders but as the game goes on she starts to question things more and also show more empathy. So the character arc here is pretty solid. Nora even gets emotional to the point where she has an outburst by the end but fortunately apologizes for it.

The way the gameplay works is it’s a 3D fighter where you attack with your sword mainly. You can eventually switch weapons as well but there aren’t a ton of them and I mainly stuck with the sword since it handles so well. You can summon one of your 4 fighters for 30 seconds which then changes your weapon to that character’s element. You can summon all 4 of course and keep summoning them but they all take up some of your energy meter. When it runs out then you can no longer summon anybody so keep that in mind.

It’s actually possible to get completely stuck in the tutorial as a result since you need them to get past one of the obstacles but there is no way to replenish energy in the tutorial. It was a rather odd oversight from the devs that I fell for but it was interesting all the same. Part of the strategy in the game is constantly changing your element to deal with the enemies in front of you. Additionally you can also equip up to 4 spells and use them to back you up with the various elements. I personally would have 1 heal, fire, thunder, and holy as my 4 spells. It’s easy to switch though so feel free to experiment.

Aside from combat you can also level up your character’s stats and the weapon itself. They all use the same energy currency so choose wisely. Typically I would upgrade the character and my weapons were purely a backup option. I figure having Nora as powerful as possible was always the best bet here. I feel like the game isn’t super easy to just pick up and play because of how much is going on but it does feel good once you’ve got the whole system down. You’ll be seamlessly transitioning from opponent to opponent.

That said, the final boss is still super tough though and gave me a real tough run for my money. For a minute there I thought I was going to have to go back and train but fortunately I was able to just barely clutch it out. I didn’t run from a single enemy in the game so I like to think that I was at exactly the level the devs intended me to be at for the final boss. The challenge is real but it feels fair and I do think that I could have mastered the mechanics a bit more to make things easier. I sort of learned it to the bare minimum needed to beat the game.

The game felt a little shorter than I expected though. Not saying it’s super short but you can likely beat it in under 10 hours. Each chapter tends to be around 30 minutes or less and there are less than 20 chapters in the game. So just keep plugging away and you’ll be at the end in no time. There are trophies that you can obtain to help with the replay value though and a lot of side missions and such. So there’s still a lot to do here including getting the true ending. Now this I’m not positive about since I haven’t looked it up but the way the game ends just feels a bit odd so I suspect that I needed to do more side missions. I was certainly taken by surprise though so it was effective if this was the game’s intent.

As a main character Nora is solid enough. She doesn’t have much of a personality for most of it but that’s part of the point really. Her evil counterpart Hilde is more interesting but also more annoying because she refuses to say much of anything. What good is it to know a lot of secrets and taunt Nora about being a pawn when you won’t fill her in? I thought Hilde handled the whole situation quite poorly and was really not all that smart. For all her tough talk, she was being manipulated just as much as Nora.

As for Fenrir and Odin, I thought the game did a good job of showing them as two sides of the same coin. They both really just want absolute power to dominate the masses and show what they’ve got. Neither one of them are heroes in the slightest and in fact you could just call them villains straight up. It would certainly be accurate which is part of why the ending is a bit funny. They don’t even disguise their sinister intentions the whole time either. They just do what they want when they want and can get away with it since they’re so powerful.

Overall, Valkyrie: Elysium is a pretty good game. It may have been a bit different than I was expecting in terms of length but I was still satisfied and would be interested in a sequel. I do think it’ll end up being a game that is largely forgotten to time though as it doesn’t do anything to really stand out in a genre that is brimming with tons of games at this point. The story is fun and all though so they should just keep on going with it and eventually this will be a home run hit!

Overall 7/10