Fate/strange Fake Review

Posted on May 10, 2026 by dreager1

This is a show that really took a long time to come out. Initially there was a pilot episode/movie and then the product vanished. Well, I can safely say that the show did end up being worth the wait. The animation is through the roof and it has ended up being one of the most interesting Fate titles. They are really throwing in figures from all kinds of factions and having the Grail War take place in America this time is pretty hype. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the conclusion to this one.

The series starts by introducing us to a lot of the masters and servants who will be participating in the war. A grail war is a battle where various mages summon heroic legends from the past. These “heroes” are figures of great renown, not necessarily folks who all fight for justice. Each master will then fight along with their summoned servant to destroy all of the others. Typically there are 7 masters and 7 servants in a grail war. The winner will then receive the Holy Grail which allows them to make any wish come true. This grail war feels different from the start though. In a way it’s like some kind of a strange fake. The rules are all in flux and somehow there are 14 masters and 14 servants this time. That’s going to get confusing….who will come out on top?

One thing that’s always been fun about Fate is getting to decide who you want to root for. To an extent I would say Stay/Night is an exception as the first main product. You’re meant to root for Shirou Emiya in that one. For the others like Zero and Apocrypha you get to pick which master you believe to be the most worthy. This anime takes the same approach. While the various masters range from heroic to evil, only one can be the victor. The others will all be doing their best to murder all of the opposition so even the most heroic ones will need to draw blood. There can be no mercy on the battlefield.

I’ll go through each of the masters and servants here. Before that lets just go over the technical elements. Like I mentioned, the graphics are incredible here. The fights all look phenomenal and the fact that people even compare them to the Ufotable battles of previous anime show how impressive they are. The characters all have their own fighting styles and they really show up over the course of battle. While there is occasionally some downtime in the show, you could say that a big portion of it is for the fights and they do not disappoint.

The soundtrack is also top notch with each character getting their own theme. Unfortunately the main Saber has the worst one. It’s not as if this happens often but it is interesting that it’s happened twice now as the main character of Cardfight Overdress had the worst character theme as well. There seems to be this thought that the main character needs to have a super heroic theme. While I agree that it should be heroic to an extent, but you can let the character have a little style to it. Put it this way, Saber’s theme is the only one that I won’t be listening to on Youtube while I play the others quite a lot. In particular I would say that Jester has the best theme.

The writing is also excellent as you would expect. The fate titles are no strangers to a ton of strategic dialogue throughout as every character plans and plans for every eventuality. It’s a big part of what makes the shows to intriguing. There are alliances here and you really can’t trust anyone. Each of the characters would likely betray each other under the right circumstances. It’s important to keep that in mind so that you aren’t manipulated.

One issue the series starts to run into as it goes on is the Sengoku Basara effect. The characters are all in a lot of life and death battles but then somehow they keep finding ways to survive. Fights are interrupted a whole lot to preserve the hype on both sides. This starts to be a bit noticeable when the show is almost over and everyone is still running around. Even by the very ending, 2 of the possible “deaths” aren’t confirmed yet as we don’t see the bodies vaporize into spirit energy. Usually this means that a big comeback is imminent.

It’s not a problem yet as it all depends on the ending but I do think it would have been nice to have taken more fighters out of the picture by this point in the story. You don’t want to be in the final 6 episodes and you’ve still got over 20 participants running around. It’ll make the ending feel a little rushed when it didn’t need to be. I assume we won’t have any guest stars interfering since there wouldn’t be much time for that but it’s still a possibility until the ending with characters like Shiro and Rin being referenced. Personally I feel like Shirou should be able to do some damage here even with how broken these servants are.

Okay so lets get into the characters now. First up we have Ayaka who really does not want to be involved in this war. Unfortunately for her she does not have much of a choice in the matter. The instant Saber showed up to save her, the chances of leaving this place were next to nothing. She has some kin of a cryptic backstory and there are quite a few mysteries surrounding her. As it stands she is one of the least interesting masters though. The reluctant types are usually not my favorite characters. The situation absolutely sucks for her of course but I feel like she needed to just focus after a few episodes. When you have crazy creatures all around you, it’s nice to have a bodyguard.

As for her servant Saber, he’s a really fun character. He’s the kind of guy who likes building others up and always wields his royal authority in a kind way. He takes each character’s personality in stride and tends to have great banter all around the board. Saber is also a man who clings strongly to his ideals and isn’t led astray so easily. At one point another character tries to destroy the faith he has in King Arthur and fails completely. Saber may not have had a solid wish for the grail for most of the series but he was still an easy character to root for. You could argue that he is easily the most heroic servant of the group even though he hints at darker things that have been done in his past.

Then we have Tine who has been preparing for this grail war her whole life. Her whole clan have powered her up for this mission and she summons Gilgamesh, known as the king of heroes. She is surprisingly not as confident as you would expect but she does have to deal with the king who has the biggest ego. In a way, working with him ends up making her more timid in general since it’s just hard to keep up with the guy. I do think she could have done a lot better during the actual battles though as she mainly just watches the whole time. Of course when you have the most powerful servant that is usually a decent option.

As for Gilgamesh himself, well the guy is definitely a beast in combat. I always enjoy just how overconfident he is. Nearly all of his lines are either praising himself or dissing opponents. After all that tough talk you do have to perform though and his biggest weakness seems to be the fact that everyone just no sells his weapons all the time. He has a home run type of weapon that he uses for last ditch efforts but until then he just doesn’t appear to be as dominating as he should. The guy bring a lot of hype moments though and for better or worse he is still my favorite character. The guy just elevates every scene that he’s in.

Then we have a wolf who is one of the masters. That was definitely a surprise but hey that makes him easy to root for. Animals are pure of heart and have no crazy motives. He just wants to live a happy and quiet life. He ends up with one of the most powerful servants in Enkidu as well. This guy is able to hold his own against Gilgamesh and the power set also seems kind of similar. The whole planet is his tool to wield in combat. It would be nice if Enkidu were a more proactive fighter though. It seems like his advantages will slip away if he just sticks to the back and lets the other fighters get stronger. For now there has not been anybody who could really put any pressure on him though. He seems relaxed in all the fights.

After that you have Tsubaki who is a really sickly child. She has had to endure a lot thanks to her psycho parents and now she has a crazy strong servant. Her servant is essentially darkness incarnate and has the ability to create an entire mirror world. Tsubaki’s story has to be the saddest one here though. She’s not old enough to even understand what is happening and was thrown into this war against her will. You just want her to be able to get out of this situation but the grail war makes that difficult. Her servant is also confusing with the different forms that he has. Certainly a strong force but he may not be as evil as he looks because his abilities are really based on emotions. The stronger the emotions, the stronger he gets. I may not have him as high up as the top tier servants but one on one he can handle a lot of them.

Then there is the chief of police, Orlando. He is one of the more heroic masters as he wants to put an end to this grail war and restore peace to the city. We don’t really know what his wish is though. We do know that his sense of justice is quite extreme and he likely has no qualms with the death penalty. His version of saving the world may not work out for everyone but we’ll see how that goes. Unfortunately he got saddled with an extremely weak servant and doesn’t seem to have any real chance of winning the grail war. It’s probably the most unfair part of the event which is that some servants are simply very inferior to others. This isn’t a war where you can hope to win without a good one.

His servant is Shakespeare and his abilities are rather vague. He can write things which come true and can power up other fighters through his language. He seems good at gathering intel and so if you have a lot of foot soldiers then you can power them all up. The problem is that a human with a great weapon is still a human. A lot of them are sent after Jester and they are all wrecked. So for all intents and purposes this is an absolutely useless ability. Casters are usually rather weak if you ask me.

Then there is Jester who is actually a vampire. The guy has great physical specs and is basically invincible against humans due to how the cosmic structure of the universe is set up. He has one of the best fights in the series and is constantly around to stir up trouble. The guy is absolutely crazy and so giving him a wish would put everyone in a tough spot. He also really want Assassin as an obsession that’s rather creepy. He makes for an imposing villain but definitely not one of those guys you can root for.

Assassin may be his servant but she wants nothing more than to murder him. It’ll be very difficult as long as he has command seals though. Her abilities also don’t seem as powerful as other servants. She can launch quick one hit KO moves but if they are evaded or blocked then she doesn’t seem to have much else. I’m sure there is some kind of a trump card that she is hiding though. These servants always seem to have some kind of a wrinkle to them. She does have a full honor code and seems more heroic than other characters though so she is easy to root for.

Then we have Flat who is a child prodigy from the magic organization. Usually he shouldn’t be involved in a war like this just yet so he managed to slip out early just to join in. The guy has a whole lot of talent with his knowledge on magic spells and the like. Unfortunately he also ends up getting a pretty bad servant like the police chief. He’s got Jack the Ripper who is decent when it comes to fighting humans but I was really unimpressed with him here. His true monster form was pretty cool though so I’ll give him that. Flat really meant well but in the end he really didn’t keep his guard up enough. That may have been part of his charm but it really came back to bite him.

As for Jack, well he seemed like a nice guy. If you can get around the fact that he was a big mass murderer back in the day, well he has mellowed out a whole lot. He has a good relationship with Flat, I’d even say they are one of the best master/servant duos in that respect. If we are rating the groups on manners then these two would be near the top. Ultimately it wasn’t quite enough to translate into wins though.

Sigma is one of the weaker humans and he seems to have a weak servant so that’s pretty rough. He grew up as a child soldier and is essentially emotionless but the more he is involved in this grail war, the more he finally has something to fight for. He wants to end this cycle of mindless carnage and at least has a chance to do that now. He’s another character who is easy to root for even if it feels like he’s a longshot to win. At least he does have a solid alliance with other fighters who could help him to swing the odds here.

Bazdilot is one of the more openly antagonistic masters here. The guy seems as shady as it gets and he went out of his way to make sure that his servant was giving in to his dark emotions. This guy is a real fighter and may be one of the strongest masters in terms of overall ability. It’s not like he will be taking any servants on but at least he can take the opposing master out of the running right away. I’d also say that he has one of the most powerful servants without a doubt.

Alcides looks incredibly impressive throughout the show. His bow and arrow combo is much harder to dodge than it looks and each hit really has a ton of power behind it. Going at him the wrong way will definitely lead to certain defeat. He has begun to rack up some serious injuries though so we’ll see if his master has enough mana to sustain him. We did see a whole lab that was built for this though so the preparation is there. Bazdilot has probably done the best preparation work for this out of any fighter except for maybe Faldeus.

We don’t actually know all of the masters yet though. For example True Rider has a master somewhere but we don’t know who that is yet. Her role in this season was also incredibly short as she basically just gets one fight and then vanishes out of there. We’ll see how she does in the next season but her stats didn’t seem super impressive. If anything she appeared to be one of the weaker servants at face value.

Faldeus is fun to watch because he’s basically a government lackey who learned about magic. As a result he has access to the army and can shoot someone down at the drop of a hat. The average master isn’t going to be able to do much against a barrage of bullets and he makes use of this at several moments. He’s still unable to predict every action and is thrown for a loop more than once but is generally in control of things. He has yet to really start fighting in this war and we barely even know who his servant is. Faldeus had better hope that he has a strong one.

Francesca is a fun wild card because she actually went and summoned herself. You’d almost think that can’t be allowed but hey that’s the perk of basically being immortal. She has one of the catchiest tunes as well and just works as a great troll throughout the series. She really enjoys making life harder on everybody else. I don’t see how illusions can win this war though so ultimately she is probably doomed.

Another girl is thrown into this war near the end and her servant is a giant golem. For now they haven’t gotten to do much yet since they were added into the game late. The golem has a super powerful laser but doesn’t seem very mobile so I could see that being a big weakness. The girl isn’t really a fighter but she has a fairy god-mother watching over her so that helps a lot. Ishtar is someone that you want on your side.

Ishtar is someone who isn’t technically a part of the grail war but she’s really not letting that stop her. She was quick to launch her own attacks and take advantage of Gilgamesh’s carelessness. Additionally she mentioned that a temple had been set up so now her powers are growing even more. I have pretty high hopes for her. A powerful wild card like this is just what the grail war needed to get even more chaotic. Also she’s just a lot of fun.

Hansa also makes for a good priest. He may not be the most iconic one in the series but he is a great fighter and even held his own against Hansa for quite a long while. That’s not an easy thing to do at all. That’s even accounting for the fact that Hansa doesn’t take things too seriously. Whenever there is a human who can fight, that gets pretty exciting. I can’t give John the same acclaim since things didn’t go well for him at first. I am curious how his current powered up form will fare in future battles though. He has the right spirit at least. There are a few more characters but this accounts for all of the big ones. I am sure we will meet quit a few new ones in the next season.

While most of this tends to be in combat, I would note that the series can definitely be a bit more on the violent side. These guys are all playing for keeps after all so you’ve got quite a few people getting taken out by bullets and stabs. One character is shot over 100 times as the enemies wanted to make sure that he would stand down. Tsubaki’s origin is pretty grim as well even if it really isn’t on screen all that much. Fate always tends to cut loose a bit although this one isn’t all that crazy compared to some of their previous works. Generally speaking it’s within the realm of what you’d expect for a big action title.

Overall, This was definitely an excellent title. It has strong replay value to each episode to the point where you can rewatch an episode almost immediately after watching it. The visuals are stunning and I dare say this may be the best grail war yet. We’ll see if it can stick the landing though. It is often way easier to set the stage and introduce a bunch of character than it is to actually end the conflict in a satisfying way. As long as there is no cop out and we get an actual winner then I should be fine. Cop outs are the main thing that would just get annoying here because I want to see an actual winner. Hopefully the gap before season 2 isn’t too crazy this time but with Fate you never know.

Overall 8/10

Spy x Family Season 3 Review

Posted on May 3, 2026 by dreager1

Spy x Family has been going on for quite a while now. It definitely looks like this isa title that will be sticking around even if it is at the cost of a fairly slow amount of plot progression. At this point the idea is mainly to enjoy the status quo which works well enough. The main characters are good and we do get some action scenes here. The season is solid as a whole and is a good comfort watch.

There are a few mini arcs in this season but for the most part we have a lot of stand alone adventures. The season kicks off with a disgruntled construction worker deciding to claim some lives and this forces Loid to step in. It’s a fun premiere to set up all of the characters and their personalities. I also like the idea of a random threat just popping up like this so that was well done.

We get a much smaller scale story after that where Fiona and Franky have to team up. Franky is consistently one of the most annoying characters so I definitely felt bad for Fiona here. She really had to put up with his endless flirting and everything. Franky needs to just stay on mission instead of doing too much all the time. Everything works out in the end but mainly I’d give all the credit to Fiona here.

This is probably Fiona’s best season in general because she gets a big fight near the end of the season. Without her, Loid would be dead and the heroes would have suffered a big blow. She really needs to give up on Loid romantically since he is married but otherwise she has developed herself into one of the strongest fighters around. She is really dedicated to clearing the mission and certainly has a high pain tolerance. She’s easily the second best agent only losing out to Loid on his side. Yes, Handler is strong too but I don’t think she’s on the same level.

As for Franky, I don’t really think there is any hope left for him. He is really stuck in the comic relief slot at this point. He may have some big moments here and there but at the same time I don’t really see him making the jump to being one of the top characters. It’s just not happening and his segments really always need another character in order to succeed. They are only marginally better than Bond’s. Anya segments can be hit or miss but at least she has a strong supporting cast to back her up.

She gets a short about a legendary teacher showing up to cause chaos. She is well known for throwing around Tonitrus bolts in order to penalize the various students. If you remember part of the main plot here, enough of those bolts will expel you. They are the opposite of Stella Stars, where getting a certain amount of them will allow you to graduate. So that’s really something to keep in mind and be worried about. One wrong turn and that’s going to be a big problem.

The old lady ends up being decent. Yes, she definitely is super unreasonable and not someone you would want to have on the faculty but at least she will be making sure that everyone stays sharp. I trust that Becky won’t make any mistakes but the other students better watch out. As the main student in the series, Anya can be a true wild card. Sometimes she is wise beyond her years but most of the time she will be falling into every possible trap. If she didn’t have the ability to read minds then she would really be doomed.

She does get one of the mini arcs though as Anya’s school bus is hijacked by terrorists. They are trying to spring some of their comrades but the military police have a 0 tolerance policy for negotiations. These guys appear to be serious about murdering everyone so Anya has to find a way out of this. Loid and Yuri also get involved briefly but for once they can’t claim a lot of credit here. Anya ends up being the definitive factor here even if it wasn’t all intentional. This was a fun mini arc though because there was a clear sense of danger here. Anya got some solid moments and I also was glad that the police didn’t just get completely paralyzed. They were ready to handle things by the book even if it meant some casualties would happen. It’s grim but sort of the way you have to handle things lie this or it would only get worse.

Then we have Loid’s origin story which is another big event. The show makes sure to hide his true name so I assume that will become relevant at some point. I’m curious what the implications would be. No way he’s actually a Desmond but I’m guessing Loid is related to some established character that we know about. Since Loid was a child at the time, it makes his origin even darker. He had to grow up really fast in a war torn environment even when he was just a child. That’s not easy for anybody.

It’s also a real contrast from the expert agent that he is in the present. While Loid sometimes gets overwhelmed, he always solves the case in the present. Loid continues to be one of the best characters in the series although I would have to give Yuri the top spot. The two of them get an actual battle in this season which was intense. Yuri appears to be stronger physically but Loid’s skills are far superior. It’s not even close when the two of them end up having a fight. We’ll see if Yuri can adapt or if that might have been their only fight.

It happens during the final arc of the season where both sides are trying to get to a secret agent. The secrets that he holds are simply too dangerous for anybody to have a hold of them. SSS and WISE both get some hype here as they uncover moles within each other’s organizations and continue to appear to be on par with each other. Neither side is significantly more powerful than the other. It’s still a bit unclear who the real good guys are here. Both organizations seem to be a bit on the shady side. In general I tend to side more with the SSS as the local authorities in the mix but it’s definitely not an easy call.

The new secret agent, Wheeler, was also a fun character. Definitely the best villain and it would be nice to see him again. I get the feeling that this was probably it for him though. Still, he got to show off a lot of great abilities like how he kept the main characters at bay the whole time. That’s not the easiest thing to do considering how outnumbered he was.

There are a few other oneshot stories like Loid having to deal with a jealous co-worker. That one just made me feel like the villain got off way too easily though. He was actively lying and trying to get Loid arrested. If Loid had not been a super spy, he would have been in real trouble. It’s why just scaring this guy doesn’t seem like enough. I know they have to keep a low profile so that does hurt your available options but there surely must have been something that they could have done.

You may be wondering what Yor is doing throughout this season. Well, unfortunately she doesn’t have a whole lot to do here. She has a segment where she gets drunk and tries to pick a fight with Loid but it isn’t her best appearance. Her larger role is when she gets to meet Damian’s mother and even joins a club with her in it. So now Yor is deeper into the main plot even if she doesn’t realize it. I think this should lead to some pretty interesting plots. I would like for Yor to be a little more alert on what’s going n but I suppose that simply isn’t her character.

Yor is still fun but man did she get the shaft in this one. I want some action scenes for her. Both Yor and Loid should get one big action scene in every season if you ask me. So by and large those were most of the adventures. I didn’t include literally each one but there was a lot of variety here. As always the technical elements were pretty good here. The animation is solid and the soundtrack works out well too. The opening isn’t my favorite though. It’s not the kind of intro that you will be playing on repeat or anything like that.

The writing is pretty solid and the pacing is good. I would say that the show has strong fundamentals all around. It just lacks ambition so this is the kind of show you watch passively but you won’t be on the edge of your seat quite yet. The show may prove me wrong with future seasons but I expect it will stay more or less like this for a while. So then it all comes down to the character dynamics and usually they cancel out to this one being a pretty good title. Loid and Yuri segments tend to be great. Bond and Franky segments are weak. Yor and Anya segments can really go either way. There is quite a lot of balance in this kind of setup.

Right now the 2 most interesting subplots are going to revolve around the group that gave Anya and Bond powers as well as who the “good guys” are between WISE and SSS. I expect at some point the series will choose one as the lesser of two evils. In theory the shady group giving people powers will be the final boss that both sides have to unite against. It will be fun once Loid and Yor find out about Anya’s secret but I expect that won’t happen until the very end of the series. Once they find out, there is no returning to the old status quo after all. While the series does have a body count, I would say that it is fairly light toned overall. This is an easy action title you can check out at any time.

Even if we do stay with episodic adventures for a while, I would just like to have a more even distribution of missions. We should always have at least one Yor assassination case and one secret agent case for Loid per season. If you go a whole season without that happening then it feels like something went wrong. Someone is getting too much focus and messing up the balance. If we have to stop having Franky segments, well then so be it. It is worth getting more action from Yor. The whole point of the show is about this family dynamic where everyone has a secret after all so the show needs to focus on that a bit more. Beyond that, it can just continue going on as it has been since each season has resulted in a good time from start to finish.

Overall, Spy x Family continues to churn out more and more episodes. It is impressive how far it has come with 3 seasons and a movie. Not just any title could hope to pull that off. I feel like there is already enough material for a season 4. If you have enjoyed the first two seasons then you should have fun with this one. The 13 episodes go by quickly but they still did manage to get 3 story arcs in there which is pretty impressive. I’ll definitely be around for season 4 when it comes out.

Overall 7/10

My Hero Academia Season 8 Review

Posted on April 5, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time to finally take a look at the final My Hero Academia season. It’s always impressive to not only see a show reach this many seasons but to actually have an ending. We really got a full adaption here which is really cool. The show ends on a solid note here with a lot of closure for all the characters and great action throughout. The season’s a little short with 11 episodes but will eventually be getting a bonus episode to help out with this.

The season picks up right where the last one left off as All Might and Deku continue their fights against Shigaraki and All For One. The results of this fight will be felt across the globe and will determine whether good or evil will emerge triumphant. It’s a lot of pressure but our heroes are ready for this. The season even has time for 3 episodes of epilogue which is rare for any title, but especially for a big Shonen Jump one like this.

With this being the last season, there was naturally going to be a lot of pressure on the animation. Fortunately the show was up to the task on this. The battles are really intense and flashy at all times. The characters are moving at great speeds and you never get lost during it. This is a high quality production all the way and I was glad to see it end on top. The soundtrack is also really good. You’ve got a lot of great tunes throughout including a lot of really classic ones. The technical elements are great as you would expect.

First lets go over the All Might battle. All Might hasn’t had a whole lot to do since the opening seasons since he was depowered. Giving him a mech suit so that he could keep on fighting was definitely a great idea. While it’s true that All For One should still be able to crush All Might, the show does acknowledge this and tries to mitigate that by having All Might constantly bait him into aggressive approaches. It’s also nice to see that side of All Might.

The world remembers him as an ultra heroic force who is always grinning and that much is true, but he is also a man of utmost intensity who does not like to lose. All Might pulls out every trick in the book in order to win and that makes sense. Evil must be defeated at any price. The mech suit also just happens to look really cool which is an added bonus. Stain also shows up to help out although at this point he has a little trouble keeping up. Stain would be able to take on nearly any character but All For One is one of the only ones in the verse that is a direct counter because of his blood arts mastery.

As for All For One, well this is the season where his tough guy facade finally breaks. He begins to panic a whole lot and falls for every single trap. He was a really fun villain for a while but in this season you’re likely just going to be laughing at him. He severely underestimated the heroes and gets relentlessly clowned on for it. They just keep on beating him up throughout the season no matter how many times he tries to pull out a secret power. I would have liked him to go out with a little more dignity at times, but I still can’t say that the appearance itself was bad. He even gets one last jump scare near the end.

We also see his backstory in this one. It’s actually not a sad backstory as we just see how he was a really twisted person from the start. All For One isn’t some misguided soul who took the wrong path, he was actively making the world worse at every step. It’s a strong contrast to Shigaraki who actually had a rough upbringing and things just kept getting worse for him. A good person could have been able to persevere but ultimately that wasn’t going to be Shigaraki’s lot in life.

The main fight is over there of course as we continue the deadlock between Shigaraki and Deku. If Shigaraki touches Deku even once then the fight is his, while Deku has to find a way to overcome Shigaraki’s healing regeneration without murdering him. It’s an incredibly difficult task and the more Deku holds back, the more people are put in danger. Deku is forced to consider some tough decisions here and even gets to go into Shigaraki’s mind to really see the full story of what happened.

By this point in the show you either like Shigaraki or you don’t. For me he is one of those villains who started out weak but did gradually get better in every season. By this point I’d say he is a very strong villain. Even when the heroes do their best to try and turn him good, the villains stays true to his convictions. He wants to destroy everything and as far as he is concerned, that is the end of the story. There is nothing more to his adventure than that. He continues to resist All For One and gives Deku an incredibly strong fight, not many characters can say that.

Deku also does well in the climax here as he finally does what he has to. There are a lot of legitimate complaints about Deku taking too long and putting too many people in danger in the meantime. I tend to agree with that but he gets points for ending the situation. In the end, Deku is a kid who always believed in All Might’s idea of perfect justice. It does make sense that he would have a very hard time going away from that and making a decision that does have some negative effects.

The very end of his epilogue nearly left Deku in a rough spot so I’m glad that it got overturned. That would have been really rough and also just plain undeserved. So this was the much better outcome all around. If they ever make a sequel to MHA, I’d still want Deku to be a primary focus. Doesn’t have to be the main character but I would want him to be getting some action.

Then we have Bakugo who shows up at crunch time to really help out. Without him the heroes would have been doomed. He also has the most impressive quirk by the end of the series. Al For One, All Might, Deku, and Shigaraki all had multiple quirks/stockpiled quirks. Bakugo is hanging in there with them despite only having his natural quirk. That’s extremely impressive and I don’t think we’ll really see any more examples of that any time soon.

He’s also got one of the clearest character arcs in the series. He started out as a huge bully and by the end of the series he has learned to respect the other characters. It doesn’t mean that now he is a huge softy or anything but he’s certainly not telling anyone to go jumping off a building. That’s definitely big time character development. His redemption just works better than some others.

That about wraps up the big battles and then of course we get all of the epilogues. We see how some villains have been fully turned over to the side of good like Gentle Criminal, some are still carrying out their sentences like Nagant, and then others are going to continue with new careers like Spinner and his book. With 3 episodes there is plenty of time to give just about everyone a true ending so that was impressive. If you like any MHA character but didn’t get to see them too much in the climax, then they will probably be somewhere in these last episodes.

On the whole it is a pretty solid ending. We do get a full scene/episode for the Todoroki family at the end and they definitely went through a lot. Dabi is basically doomed to die a very slow death and there is no way to save him. Now that is a total nightmare scenario. The guy was a total villain so that’s just what he gets at this point.

Endeavor will never be back to fighting shape but he is doing his best to turn over a new leaf. I was never a big fan of Endeavor after seeing the past and even these scenes are not enough to really save him. I appreciate the author allowing one of the family members to basically say that he’ll never accept Endeavor and leave. The others are all handling the situation in their own way but it’s for sure that the family will never be quite the singular unit that Endeavor would wish for them to be.

Uravity may have been grieving for Toga way too hard but I suppose everyone deals with death differently. There’s an old lady in the final episodes who sees a kid that is turning to the dark side and she wonders if she could have made a difference if she had helped Shigaraki prior to the start of the series. I think that is pushing herself too hard because that wouldn’t have made a difference (Especially since All For One was watching, not that she would know this) and there’s no way you should be taking responsibility for reaching out to everyone. What happened to Shigaraki was tragic but it doesn’t mean that everyone should have realized this in hindsight.

Either way it is safe to say that the world is now in the safest place that it has ever been. The top heroes are incredibly powerful and also still in the prime of their youth. No villain will be able to challenge them or a long time and so All Might’s dream was achieved. This is the world that he envisioned after all. Villains will still be around and doing their own thing but certainly not to the same level as the League of Villains.

These 8 seasons would really make for a killer marathon watch going from start to finish. In terms of length it feels like the closest thing to when Naruto and Bleach ended. Sure Bleach has the sequel going but the original anime was one the big ones as well. This feels like it’s easily the longest modern gen title to finish all the way. There have been a ton of great moments during the adventure and of course lots of fights. So the final episodes should hit extra hard when you consider that angle as well.

As for this season, if I had to pick a top highlight then naturally it is going to be Bakugo. At the end of the day it is easy to see why he got to be so popular. His explosion quirk is just so much fun to see when animated and the guy really persevered through quite a lot. The best low key moment would belong to Gentle Criminal holding up the whole base like he was Captain Celebrity. He was always a really enjoyable antagonist and I’m glad that they didn’t saddle him with a really dark fate. The stuff he did was certainly not as bad as many of the other villains so he deserved the leniency. There were still a ton of lasting effects to other characters who will never be able to fight as heroes again and so the war felt very legitimate. My small pet peeve would be not getting to see Koichi and friends show up but if I only saw this show then I wouldn’t even know about their existence so that’s not something for the anime to worry about.

Overall, This was definitely a great final season. It wraps everything up and keeps up a good level of intensity. The production values are super high and the cast is a strong one. It’ll be difficult for a sequel to really catch up to this one but of course it is definitely possible. Ideally the sequel will still have a lot of these characters as pros and they show up to help in their grown up forms. I wonder what villain will be chosen to give them a good fight. If you haven’t seen this season yet, then you need to hurry!

Overall 9/10

Magic Knight Rayearth Review

Posted on March 22, 2026 by dreager1

It’s been many years since I read the manga for this series so it was fun to see the animated side of things. Season 1 covers the main arc with the heroes heading off to save an entire world. The pacing is good and the arc goes by real fast. The characters and fights are good with a soundtrack that pops out more than you would expect. Whether you like magical girl anime or just a classic adventure then you should be satisfied here.

The series begins by introducing us to Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu who are on a class field trip. Hikaru stands out for having a lot of fun and enjoying the experience while everyone else just goes through the motions. All of a sudden the three of them are transported into a whole new world. They are told that the world will be coming to an end soon because Queen Emeraude has been kidnapped and she is the pillar which holds the world together. These three girls will need to quickly become friends and learn how to fight at a high enough level to stop the enemies that have conspired to keep Emeraude from saving the planet. Umi and Fuu aren’t so sure about this but Hikaru is eager to save the day. Will her determination be enough here?

Right away I can say that Hikaru is the best of the three heroines because of how quickly she focuses here. Hikaru wastes no time in wanting to be of help and throughout the show she is always very enthusiastic. It’s probably good that the three main characters are all very different for the contrast but at the same time it’s no surprise that Hikaru stands out the most. She gets quite a few scenes where everyone else has been defeated but Hikaru keeps on fighting. Without her the heroes would have really been doomed.

She just has good battle sense and so she is able to always put up a fight even though it takes a long time to get her own mecha. Other characters might have lost heart but not Hikaru. Umi mainly wants to go home and from the three leads it takes her the longest time to adapt to this world. She just doesn’t think it is their problem and wants to get back so she can be in the fencing competition. I was a little surprised at how long she stays on that point but it does show how seriously she takes her school commitments.

In terms of ability I would say she is second in strength to Hikaru. She clearly has a lot of talent but it doesn’t always translate as smoothly. As Umi begins to focus more fully on the world, she does better. She’s not quite as stuck-up or arrogant as you might have expected with her dignified background either. You could see her making a lot of friends real easily.

Finally we have Fuu and well I guess someone had to be in last place. Fuu is certainly not a bad character. She tends to be more soft spoken and her abilities aren’t offensive in nature so there’s a lot she has to deal with there. She also has a bit of a romance plot going on with Ferio so she tends to be a bit more distracted at times. They fight quite a bit when first getting to know each other and with the world at stake, there isn’t a whole lot of time for that. So Fuu is good but a big step below the other two.

As for Ferio, well he’s one of those charmers where it’s hard to say when he’s really being genuine or not. He works well in being the rival who shows up to change the situation but if I was Fuu it would be a bit hard to trust him after a while. He has more than one deceptive moment included here after all. He also tends to get discouraged when the going gets tough and just runs off to be by himself. I do like his fighting style though and he actually could hold his own for quite a while.

Presea is a supporting character who doesn’t appear much but has a good role in encouraging the heroes and being someone who could drop some exposition as needed. She didn’t last long but seemed like a powerful fighter. This tracks as the strongest characters tend to go out quickly like Clef. Clef is the ultimate super sage and yet he stood no chance against the villains. It’s why the prophecy about the three magical girls was so important because without them it is clear that the villains had an overwhelming edge here. The heroes were rarely in the same ballpark in terms of abilities and would have quickly been stomped. Clef has to come across as one of the most underwhelming characters because of all the hype though.

The first villain to go up against the heroes is Alcyone. Typically you could say that the first villain will always end up being the weakest. Well, in this case I think she was stronger than Ascot but it is safe to say that she wasn’t very powerful since a day 1 Hikaru was able to push her back and overwhelm her main spell. Alcyone has a one sided romance plot going on as well but it doesn’t do her any favors. You definitely have to be careful who you fall in love with, even if that’s not easy.

She at least had a strong presence though. Ascot has to be the most underwhelming villain because he can’t fight at all really. He just relies on his various monster summons and then gets mad when the heroes blow them up. At one point he yells about the magic knights almost 4-5 times for the episode cliffhanger with an echo in there and it just showed how helpless he was. If he really wants to stop this, then he needed to get into the ring and fight himself. Anything short of that and he doesn’t deserve to be one of the big monster commanders.

Caldina is a bit harder to scale because she also isn’t the most direct fighter. She likes manipulating the humans to assist her and then had Ascot as backup as well. She seemed reasonably tough but left as soon as she appeared. She actually got off rather easily considering she was a total accomplice to the villains here. She had a good personality and I liked the gambling gimmick. Her battle with Ferio was certainly a fun one.

Rafaga was a fun villain. He’s being mind controlled for most of it so that’s why I’d say it’s fair to refer to him as a villain. His abilities are clearly way ahead of the others and so only the main characters could really handle him. Well, naturally the main villain as well which is why he fell into this mess. He feels like a Fire Emblem character and I like everything about this guy. His powers, outfit, and personality are all very becoming of a knight. I would have liked to have even seen more action scenes out of this guy but he made every bit of screen time count.

Then you have Innova who is Zagato’s right hand man. This guy is definitely a really good fighter and his first battle with the heroines really showed what he could do. His barriers are able to nullify any attack and then he can launch attacks of his own. If anything it felt like he was a bit nerfed in his true monster form since he suddenly lost all strategies and just ran around like a mindless beast. Not a good idea when you’re fighting monster hunters like the main characters.

A good right hand man can always go a long way in an adventure like this and so I’m glad to say that he lived up to the hype. Then we have the main villain Zagato who is very good. He tends to win most of his fights with absolute ease. His goals also make a lot of sense and are dare I say admirable? He made a lot of great points and you could draw similarities to Homura Akemi from Madoka Magica. The system was broken and so he decided to make a move. It is a move that would destroy the planet but when you learn what the alternative is, it suddenly doesn’t sound so bad.

This may sound like madness to the average reader so you’ll need to watch the show to get the full context here. It comes down to the classic dilemma of sacrificing someone to save a group people. At what point are the numbers worth it, if ever? At least Zagato did something about this while everyone else was aware and chose to stay on the sidelines. It’s another reason why I give Zagato major points there. He ends up being the kind of main villain that you will not soon forget.

As for Queen Emeraude, well she has a lot more character than the average queen in these things. For starters it is also nice that she can fight. She has incredible powers at her disposal which is how she kept the whole planet stable. She isn’t some figurehead, but an actual leader who can be on the battlefield. I’d say her actions in the end will probably be questionable for some as well but ultimately I was on board with this. She had to make a lot of difficult decisions all throughout her life and finally made one last one in this show.

The animation is definitely pretty good. There are a solid amount of action scenes and the colors are always very striking. I’d say the show feels more high effort than you would expect from a magical girl title but then again it makes sense since this one loops all the way around to feeling like a true shonen. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also quite good. In particular there is a battle theme that is really solid and I’ve listened to it many times by now. It has a sense of danger that really supports the battles.

Good technical effects like this can always help to enhance a title. So like I said, the show is very good all around. We’re talking good writing, solid fights, good animation, etc. The ending is also a lot more intense than you would have expected. Of course there is a second season but on its own this would probably end up being known as one of the more depressing endings. Certainly not what you’d expect from a title that looks more like a feel good adventure.

Overall, This is definitely a pretty good series. I’d recommend checking it out. The show doesn’t need to have a giant cast or anything like that. It crafts a good adventure with monsters of the week as each villain gets a few shots before moving onto the next one. It always feels like the show is moving forward. Also a show like this is really dependent on the main cast being very charming and energetic. Hikaru is able to handle that side of the show with ease. There’s really nothing to dislike here and if you watch it you may find yourself being on Zagato’s side. In the end this isn’t as straight forward a threat as you would have assumed going into the show.

Overall 7/10

Slam Dunk Review

Posted on March 6, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time to look at one of the all time most popular sports anime out there. Slam Dunk has always been known as a stellar series and I remember liking it a lot when I read the manga. The anime definitely does a great job of elevating it even further with an excellent soundtrack and good production values on the whole. The show feels very retro in all the right ways and it’s the kind of title that will definitely keep you at the edge of your seat the whole way through.

The show centers around Sakuragi, a guy who has had no luck with girls. He has asked many of them out but they all turn him down to the point where it has become a bit of a joke among his friends. Well, one day he falls for another girl and it just so happens that her big brother is captain of the Basketball squad. Sakuragi figures he’ll impress her and next thing he knows..he’s on the Basketball team. Sakuragi has never played before so he’s a total novice but he has been gifted with incredible size and power. Perhaps this will be enough to succeed.

Sakuragi initially figures that Basketball doesn’t take any real talent and really dunks on the sport. This naturally makes everyone furious but Sakuragi quickly gets with the program. Sakuragi quickly becomes one of the first players to get heated when anyone dares to make fun of the sport. That’s just the kind of guy he is once he is passionate about something. This show is really about showing Sakuragi’s journey to being the world’s best Basketball player. He goes from being a liability to being one of the team’s greatest strengths. Will that be enough for his team to win the world championships for the first time?

So like I said before the technical elements are incredibly good in this show. The soundtrack is really top notch with a lot of great tunes all around. Whether it be an action theme, a track that plays when they’re losing, or even a victory one. Slam Dunk has a wide range of great musical themes throughout and this really helps to set the mood. Slam Dunk quickly becomes a show that is amazing to watch during or in between basketball games.

Then you have the animation which is always a blast. There is always a lot of movement here and you feel the intensity of each shot. There aren’t a lot of slam dunks that happen here after all so they are all treated with a great deal of respect. I enjoy the sound design when they are sinking shots and you will never be mixing up the characters here. I definitely have no complaints here and of course the pacing is also really good. You will have basketball games that last for many episodes and yet it never feels like the show was just stalling for time or anything like that.

Each part of the game really means something. There are even several anime only arcs which blend in rather seamlessly as you wouldn’t know that they weren’t in the manga. Another benefit to this is really how it lets the characters get extra screentime and character development. That’s not something you’re always going to see with a newer show. 100+ episodes is certainly a lot of time to develop the characters and that works out well because each of the starting 5 on the basketball team get a lot of development. Even their main benchwarmer gets a lot to do.

While the show would have still been great with less episode, I think the long duration still plays a large part in just how good the title was. Now it does end off on a massive cliffhanger so if you’re not a big fan of that then you’ll probably want to watch out. That being said, cliffhangers just help the series to stay even stronger in your memory. Maybe on day we will get a full adaption for the rest.

Sakuragi is a great main character from the start. He’s a very earnest guy and so it is satisfying to see him gradually improving as the series goes on. He definitely has one of the best laughs I’ve ever heard. Everytime he would start boasting about his abilities it would make for a hilarious scene. Sakuragi is also no quitter and while that may come at odds with him actually quitting at one point, it was never going to be for long. Sakuragi gets a lot of difficulties to overcome and has to make it through his setbacks but he always manages to achieve this.

There will probably be some moments where you get annoyed that he is still losing but he usually gets a big win to make up for it. By the end of the series I would say that he has not become the best player in the world yet but I would probably put him in the top 10 which is still impressive. Sakuragi is a true genius considering that he hasn’t been playing Basketball for very long at all.

Of course his team is no stranger to geniuses. The next one on the team would be Mitsui. Mitsui was another prodigy who used to be one of the greatest players around but then he ended up joining the dark side. I mean that in a very literal way too as he actually joined a biker gang and started beating up a lot of people for no reason. He became an actual menace which climaxed with his gang attacking the main school. It was a fun mini arc because you don’t generally see a lot of fighting going on in a sports show. That said, it also meant that this would be tough for him to come back from.

It’s one thing to be a jerk but actually going as far as to try and murder people? Yeah Mitsui would definitely have a real tough time getting me to like him again. I was real hard on him for the rest of the show and Mitsui does tend to vanish in big moments. He’s not the guy that I would consider to be very clutch compared to the other members. Even by the end of the series I was still salty about this guy but it is fair to say that he acts like a completely different character in part 2. Once he joins the group as a hero, he has a new design and everything.

His skills are the real deal even if he isn’t very likable for a while there. The whole team forgave him but they do tend to be softies. Miyagi is an example of a character with a much more realistic turnaround. He also ditched the team for a while but at least it was due to injury. He tends to be distracted a lot like when he’s flirting with Ayako but ultimately comes through when the team needs a play to happen. I would say that he is the weakest member of the main 5 but he is the guy who gets the play drawn up. So his pure talent isn’t as important as his ability to escape from his opponent.

He also has some good banter with Sakuragi and knows how to manipulate the guy which is a handy skill to have. Kogure is the only other one who always knows how to handle Sakuragi. I don’t mean it has to always be in a deceptive way but they know the best way to encourage him at all times which is an impressive skill to have. Kogure gets power creeped rather quickly but he’s still a good teammate to have. He’s an example of a character who makes up for his lack of overwhelming talent by having very strong fundamentals. He’s not going to fall for opponent traps and they aren’t going to be able to play mind games on him. I actually think it would have been nice for the series to have focused on his strengths a little more but ultimately that wasn’t the way this played out. The series has a lot of juggling to do though so it makes sense.

Then we have Akagi who works as the foundation of the team. He’s the captain and the big bruiser that you keep under the rim. He has the tough job of trying to keep this team of rebellious teens together. It’s not easy and in the meantime he has his own dream of being the #1 center in Japan. He’s incredibly skilled but his competition is tough. It’s always fun to see him scoring points and doing well. Akagi is quite good to the point where he can hold his own with the other players. I’d say he has enough confidence to put himself on the same tier as even someone like Rukawa.

You need that attitude in order to succeed here. He’s also quite intelligent and ends up having to help Sakuragi when that guy gets into trouble. Akagi gets a lot of character moments on and off the field which really makes him a balanced character. His sister Haruko also has a big role since Sakuragi likes her from the start of the series. She is a big reason he joined the team in the first place. Ultimately she likes Rukawa though which puts Sakuragi in a tough spot and that doesn’t really change even by the end. I thought the plot was handled well though.

So the romance didn’t go both ways, at least Sakuragi ended up with a good friend as a result. Haruko is a good person and certainly someone that Sakuragi can rely on. I would still see this as an absolute W and she can still be a good motivator for him to win the Basketball trophy. He wouldn’t have gotten into this sport and made so many friends without her. I imagine that he’d always be pretty grateful about that.

Then we have Rukawa, the ultimate prodigy in Basketball! Well, perhaps not #2, I would actually have him as the #2 best player in the end. He is very aggressive while playing and gets pretty passionate about defending the sport like Sakuragi. Rukawa is able to back up his tough talk at all times and there is never a moment where he is completely dominated. He does absolutely have his share of occasional losses but that tends to be the fault of his teammates not pulling their own slack. In Basketball it is not possible for someone to be a one man team and that comes up on several occasions. His team is stacked by the end but at first it is in rather rough shape.

Rukawa also tends to be more of a quiet player than the others. You’ll hear him throw out a quick insult to Sakuragi but he is usually goaded into that. It’s not like he just randomly starts fights most of the time. I would also say hat he has a great dynamic with Sakuragi in general. They both help to goad the other one into doing better. No time to give up or falter when the rival is watching.

As for their coach, I’m never really impressed with Anzai. Outside of the end of the show, he never seems to give a lot of advice. He just sits around and lets the chips fall where they may. I dare say that he uses his experienced team as a crutch and would have been exposed otherwise. He has a very distinguished reputation but after some traumatic events in the past he has just been a different person. I think this directly impacted his coaching abilities as well. In a way he is afraid to make any bold moves. You can’t win that way.

The athletic trainer Ayako is much better as she actually makes sure that the characters focus and stay in top shape. She is always working and doing her best. I would like to see that level of dedication out of Anzai. I sympathize with his rough past but in the present he owes it to the team to bring in his best effort.

Now lets talk about one of the other big teams. We have Maki’s unit who are known as the greatest team in Japan. They win every year and this is due to Maki being a top tier generational talent. Well, perhaps I shouldn’t say that. High School teams have a complete roster shift every 3 years because their players graduate so Coach Takato should also get a lot of credit for keeping them at a high level. Maki is one of the top players of this generation though and he does really well in each of his fights.

He gets to go up against Rukawa and Sendoh, both top players in their own right. Maki never actually appears to be on the losing end in these battles which is why you could say that he is the best player. I still have Sendoh in that spot but it’s certainly a close one. He also has some pretty good teammates. The only one I wasn’t impressed with is Miyamasu. That guy is very small and not great at anything but shooting. He only manages to do well because he faces off against Sakuragi who doesn’t know how to handle him.

I had a hard time believing that throughout the match. I suppose I just have to accept that but this guy is the definition of a gimmick player. Then you have Jin who is great at 3 point shots. He’s better than Miyamasu though because he’s actually a really good all around player even aside from that. The 3 point shots are just his signature technique. That’s a better way to handle a specialist and Jin’s a solid character to have around. His role isn’t huge but he still makes a difference.

Kiyota is the only player on Maki’s team who acts more like Sakuragi. He is hungry to prove himself as one of the best and tends to go a bit wild. He is actually pretty good although he is far from elite. You can tell that Kioyta will only continue to improve as the games go on though and it’s fun to have a fiery player like this. He could have stood to have more screentime to really keep up with the others but was a good addition either way.

Meanwhile Coach Takato was really good. Honestly I like all of the coaches a lot aside from Anzai. Takato, Taoka, and Goro are all really good and constantly have plans at the ready to support their players. You really need to be doing that because it is the whole reason that you have a coach in the first place right? Now I did say before that Anzai started using plans by the end of the series so in a sequel he may do better.

Then we have the other powerhouse team led by Sendoh. Sendoh is the player who I consider to be the absolute best. He is at the pinnacle of his position to the point where he was able to change positions mid season and still dominate. I consider the rest of his team to be a step below the others which puts even more pressure on him. Nevertheless, Sendoh never falters and continues to dominate. He always seems to rise to the occasion and just gets even better. At one point he gets past the entire opposing team on his own which was a crazy feat. He even needed to be triple teamed and could not be stopped.

Mix that in with his incredible stamina and you have the equivalent of a final boss on the team. He also knows how to stay loose and just have fun compared to some of the other players who take things very seriously. His right hand man Uozumi is still really good as well though. He is a center who has a strong rivalry with Akagi. He tends to be on the losing side of it but always puts up a good effort. He’s a strong all around player.

Fukuda enters the group later on and proves to be good but does have some weaknesses. He’s a solid scorer but isn’t quite as good on the fundamentals to the point where Sakuragi is able to give him a tough fight for a little while there. This guy also gets very emotional like Sakuragi and ends to fly off the handle. It’s pretty rare to see that from someone on Sendoh’s team but this guy does help to fire him up.

Most of the other teams will only have one big player which is part of why they couldn’t reach the top. It’s always a bit tragic but makes the one player stand out more. One good example of this for me is Fujima. This guy is the analytical type and that’s how he plays against the geniuses. He may not be able to beat them in pure size and skill but can outplay them and win within the paint. This guy doesn’t get to appear a whole lot but every fight with him is fun. It was also an unexpected surprise to see him show up for the big fight at the end of the series.

Also while not Basketball players, I should give a shoutout to Sakuragi’s friends. They really help him out a whole lot whether it be by fighting off thugs who try to get the lead distracted or even providing damage control when he says the wrong thing. The main member of the group who stands out is Yohei. He’s incredibly powerful and the show hypes him up a lot. He could have been the leader of almost any other gang. You could say this plot could even be its own show as Sakuragi helped these guys become good vigilantes rather than going down the thug route.

It’s inspiring how close their bonds are. I would also say they help give the show a lot of its humor. Slam Dunk tends to be a really funny series when it’s not in the middle of an epic climax. The show runs the gambit on emotions and it is all extremely well written. Naturally there are more characters and events but these are the main ones. I think it would be nearly impossible to watch this show and not be impressed at just how elite it is.

Overall, Slam Dunk is an elite show. It’s a whole lot of fun throughout and really depicts Basketball in an amazing way. I really didn’t have any notable issues with the show. It made no mistakes and all of the games are really good. You know a series is elite when even the throwaway battles against no name teams are good. Slam Dunk really delivered in a big way and I highly recommend this to any fans of Basketball or even to anyone who likes sports in general. The show does a good job of explaining how you play the game and all of the rules through Sakuragi anyway.

Overall 9/10

Sakamoto Days Review

Posted on February 22, 2026 by dreager1

Sakamoto Days is one of those titles that jumped out at folks immediately. It was poised to bring in a ton of really creative action scenes with an overpowered main character who could win while using any item. Think of it like John Wick but pushed to more of an absurd level while also being part comedy. This show is able to balance the serious and comedic moments really well so it ended up being an absolutely stellar title. You won’t want to miss out on this one.

The premise involves the legendary assassin known as Sakamoto finally deciding to retire from the hitman life. The reason for this? Well, he fell in love and got married. He’s now a full time family man with a wife and daughter. He manages a local 7-11 type food shop and has put on a ton of weight. He intended to live out a normal life but one day someone puts a huge bounty on his head. Now assassins from all around the world are trying to take him down. He’ll need to stop them, defend his family, and find out who put the hit on his head. Until that bounty is taken down, his peaceful days are over.

Now if you are worried that you won’t see the overpowered Sakamoto from the first scene, no worries he is still around. While his skills have greatly diminished, they are still more than enough for almost every character that he will have to fight in season 1. It may not be enough for The Order, but those guys feel more like late stage bosses from how the show goes in season 1. Although I can tell you that every season is going to be filled with amazing moments! Sakamoto also has the ability to go back into his lean state when he is fighting hard enough as his body remembers the shape.

So you’re going to see him fighting with every day appliances and beating people up with his bare hands. Then for the more serious fighters, he will occasionally use items that feel deadly like a classic pen. Throughout the series you are reminded that he is a true threat and worthy of the bounty. His killer instinct also shows up from time to time although it is mainly directed at the telepath, Shin. Sakamoto balances his life really well and so right away you have a great main character here.

His wife and daughter are also pretty solid although they don’t get to do a whole lot here. His wife’s best scene is one where she technically doesn’t even appear. The context will make more sense when you watch the show. They’re both nice and wholesome though so it’s easy to see why Sakamoto enjoys his current days. He’s living the dream as they say.

The first few episodes mainly start to introduce you to the supporting characters and establish the general tone of the show. So you should know right away if you’re going to like the show or not because it does a really good job with the introductions. The first side character is Shin. They hint at a backstory with him and Sakamoto and I have to admit that this happened so early on that I completely forgot about this later on. He has the ability to read minds which is incredibly handy for an assassin. It’s an ability that has a whole lot of limitations and drawbacks but Shin spends the show working to improve it so that he can be a better fighter.

Shin definitely gets the most character development within the show and it works really well. I liked him from the start but by the end he is easily one of the best characters. In fact, I’d say that he is second only to Nagumo. Shin’s just really likable and a fun underdog since he is pretty much always outmatched in a fight. You can expect that this will continue to be the case for quite a while since the earning curve is really steep. He does take after Sakamoto in how he can make use of the environment during his fights. As long as you like the eager type of character then you’ll be a fan of his.

The next member to be added to the group is Lu. She’s from a famous Chinese mafia family and can fight with her drunken fist. She can be a bit of a scatterbrain but does add a lot to the main dynamic. She has a good rivalry with Shin. Rivalry may be the wrong word here since she isn’t a fighter on his level but they constantly bicker with each other. When the chips are down they will team up though and I tend to enjoy their dialogue quite a bit. They know how to poke fun at each other without going too far. When an insult does go too far, they work to remedy it which happened at one point in this season.

As the series goes on Lu starts to appear less so you want to enjoy her screentime while you can. She’s fun to have around and the main cast definitely wouldn’t be the same without her. Heisuke is the last one to join up although he’s technically not far behind the others in terms of debut. He’s a sniper who tends to be down on his luck when it comes to cash. This is partially because he’s a really generous guy and is always looking out for others. He doesn’t have the usual ruthlessness that you would expect from an assassin. So naturally that works out pretty well with the Sakamoto family and their no killing rule. He’s quickly able to make friends with the others.

Thanks to his position as a sniper though, I would argue that he is always going to be at a disadvantage. Any decent character is going to be a casual bullet timer after all and there are only so many things you can do to get around that. Heisuke tries to shoot bullets onto bullets to mess with the angles but even that is going to be a longshot at actually working. Still, he is definitely a likable guy.

I think calling it an arc may be an overstatement but the first main adventure is when Sakamoto takes his family to the amusement park. What he doesn’t realize is that an assassin named Boiled and a few hand picked goons have arrived to try and take him out. It’s a good way to let all of the main characters get a quick fight and Shin really makes himself useful here. Sakamoto also gets a pretty decent fight with Boiled. I wouldn’t say that Boiled every really stood a chance but he at least doesn’t go down in a single hit or anything. That guy is all about being as intense as possible and it shows in his fighting style. I think he’s a fun character although I would like him more if he was more powerful. Shallow? Perhaps, but the hard boiled lifestyle just works better when you’re incredibly powerful.

The first real adventure is the museum battle. The heroes head to a museum which leads to the lab where people experimented on Shin and gave him some powers. You have a couple of crazy assassins running around here while the Order has also infiltrated to take down the mysterious X. There are quite a number of big names here and it’s cool to see them all. A lot of fights are set up here without too many of them going all the way through. The whole saga is meant to be more of a teaser than anything else I’d say. It’s effective though because you can’t help but get hyped here.

Nagumo is of course the best character in the series and it’s not even close. He is extremely confident at all times and always has a trick up his sleeve. He has big scenes at every part of the show and consistently likes to troll everyone. You immediately get the vibe that he’s a pretty good guy because he could easily murder Sakamoto at any time but chooses not to since they used to be friends. He has a good honor code and also acts as a stand-in for Sakamoto’s wife later on to keep her safe. Nagumo embodies the humor of Sakamoto Days at its best as he blends together being the strongest fighter with also being the funniest.

It’s hard for any Order member to really keep up with him but I will say that Shishiba and Osaragi are still really solid in their own right. Shishiba is one of those really jaded guys who just wants to complete the mission and then go back to his life. Unfortunately things rarely work out for him and Osaragi doesn’t really help. Their dynamic is a fun one as he basically spoils her the whole time and never gets all that upset even when he’s the one messed over. It’s clear that the two of them have a really good friendship going.

One of the big villains to appear here is Kashima who has a really interesting deer mask. The guy is strong and has actual weapons within his body. Certainly not someone that you can afford to underestimate. He gets power cliffed really quickly in the series but I like him well enough. He may have lost his hype but Kashima is still the kind of villain you want on your side because of how loyal he is.

Then we also see a bit of X. He will do more later on in the story but he’s your classic villainous mastermind. His skills put him near the top of the verse and his overall motivations are unknown. He wants to destroy the JAA assassin group but why? He’s certainly making enemies out of basically everyone by going through with this. Well the series will unpack that as it goes on but I have no real complaints with him. This is the kind of villain that motivates his group well. He’s a complete character outside of just being a villain. He even jokes around with the team quite a bit but at no point do they forget that he is the leader.

Seba is a character who is introduced early and is difficult to defeat because of his invisibility suit. It can be hard to plan for his attacks as a result and his base stats are pretty good even without those. He has a rough matchup with Shin since telepathy can get beyond that but still puts in a good effort throughout. In fact, one on one he would have defeated Shin. He makes for a pretty good villain and is definitely memorable.

Then we have Horiguchi who by all accounts is a random one shot villain but I actually liked him quite a lot. His speedblitz against Shin was super impressive and his drugs also make it difficult to stop him. Essentially if he does land a hit on you, then he has a good chance of winning. His drugs mess up the signals within your brain so you start moving in the wrong direction and can have other effects. He was really interesting so that’s why I never forgot about him.

After that we have a short interlude where we meet Wutang, who has come to bring Lu back to the mafia. He clearly can’t defeat Sakamoto’s group on his own so he resorts to gambling. It makes for a fun little arc as the characters have to try and use their abilities to win at games like poker. This is exactly the kind of episode that is good at getting you to learn more about the characters and also let them banter off each other. That’s why I had to give this part a shoutout because it was really fun.

There isn’t too much time for that breather though as we jump right into the action in the next arc. X sends his 4 assassins after the Order as well as Sakamoto. Each of the 4 get their chance to fight but for the most part they are really outmatched. Dump gets some good initial hype for example but gets absolutely crushed in her fight. Saw gets a much longer amount of screentime in his fight but had the weakest opponents. To his credit, he essentially won that fight since he survived but ultimately that was barely even a consolation. He didn’t have a chance at actually surviving in the end.

Minimalist seems to be a really strong guy but had to fight an absolute demon so he didn’t stand a chance. Apart definitely has the biggest role out of the 4 since he wisely decides to do his own thing. It ultimately lets him stick around for a bit and observe more than 1 fight. He was an interesting villain and had more character than the other 3. Still, I did think he was ultimately outshined by most of the other villains around.

This leads right to the next main arc with X and Gaku attacking the JAA base directly. It was fun to see Gaku getting some screentime. He’s one of those total prodigies on the villains team. This guy has super strength and great battle instincts. He’s also really young and yet is able to keep up with the strongest fighters around. It’s clear that he could grow up to be one of the biggest threats if he sticks around. I enjoyed him quite a lot and he rose up to the top. He’s rather chill about the whole assassin thing and still takes time to play his video games and everything.

Takamura also gets some hype from the JAA side. The show positions him as being the absolute strongest character in the series. There’s an argument to be made for that although I would still put Nagumo in that slot. Takamuru makes up for his old age by having precise control over his blade. He can strike in an instant and mask his killing intent to the end. Any scene with him tends to go really hard on the animation and he looks like a real beast. If only he were a bit younger, then he’d probably be invincible.

With that we enter the final arc which is basically a big JAA exam in order to get to their school. Sakamoto needs to get there for intel so he and Shin enter this exam. It’s basically like a multi step tournament and the villains are here to recruit up and coming stars to their organization. This means that things go off the rails real quick. It’s a fun arc that is super fast paced and I always love a good tournament. It may not be a traditional bracket system but works to the same end.

One of the new fighters is Mafuyu, a guy who really doesn’t like germs. He is extremely wary of them and that includes blood from his opponents so the whole job irritates him. Why be an assassin at that point? Well he seems to have an important reason for it. I thought that he was pretty decent but the germs thing just feels like a massive weakness. You’re always going to get dirty in a fight to the death.

Akira is the best member of the new characters here. She is really good at killing her opponents silently. All that she’s lacking is a killer instinct so unless someone draws it out of her, she’s not going to be eliminating her opponents too efficiently. Akira will get better at this though and in the meantime she basically has Sakamoto as a mentor. That’s a good position to be in. From the glimpses we get of her true abilities, you already know that she has a good future ahead of her.

Kanaguri is a guy who really loves movies. Anyone who insults them is immediately sentenced to death. The guy is definitely quirky and extremely insane but that’s true for a lot of the stronger fighters. He’s a good wild card and is also portrayed as being really powerful. Sakamoto won’t be able to just cast him to the side like with some other villains. I’d give Kanaguri a passing grade, he’s just fun to watch.

Toramaru is a big Sakamoto fan to a rather violent degree. She’s certainly picked the right path in being an assassin. Her weapon is really large and she specializes in powerful attacks. That tends to have a hard limit in a series like this where you want speed but as one of the top talents in the tournament, she lives up to the rep. She ends up being more fun than the other two special recruits.

Kaji has super hearing and so that’s a good ability but he doesn’t last quite as long as the others. Or a better way of putting it is that he doesn’t leave as much of an impact even though he is always around. Super hearing just isn’t the most interesting ability out there. His physical stats are really good but of course that’s true for the other characters too. He’s also a bit soft spoken and has a hard time jumping into a conversation. As a result, he’s ticking the wrong boxes and doesn’t go much further.

Finally there is Shinaya who is really cool but can’t really talk at all. There are some twists about this which drastically changes the character. So what I’ll say is that his role is really cool but the character himself can be more on the forgetful side. I like him more as an opponent than as a character.

The animation for the series is really great. There are a lot of big fights here and the animation is always smooth. The colors stand out and while I remember there being some controversy about the animation quality, I had no complaints on this end. It all looked really good to me and I was eagerly awaiting each scene. The soundtrack is generally good although I’m not a big fan of Sakamoto’s main theme. That’s maybe a bit ironic since it is meant to be the big theme that really breaks out but it didn’t fit in for me. Definitely not next to some of the epic battle themes that were around.

Overall, Sakamoto Days is a pretty great series. It really reminds you of the classic Shonen days. You’ve got a really crazy premise right away and the series just leans into it. The action is great and the characters are really fun. I’d say this is the kind of series you can plug in and watch at any time. I’ll definitely be ready for seeing just how fun season 2 can be. The end of this season introduces a bunch of characters all at once and basically ends on a cliffhanger as the story was just starting. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long to arrive.

Overall 8/10

Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 Review

Posted on February 22, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for the return of Kaiju No 8! It feels like they’ve been moving through these seasons pretty quickly if you ask me. Maybe it’s a normal timeline and it just feels that way but it’s still cool to be seeing a bunch of the new villains. The season has got quite a lot of action to it and looks smooth as you would expect. If you like good fight scenes and a bunch of Kaiju then you are definitely going to have a solid time with this one.

The season starts with Kafka and Kikoru being sent to Narumi’s unit for some training. Narumi is a complete prodigy with abilities beyond just about every other human. At this point he may be the strongest hero alive but he is also a slacker and has his own quirks so this won’t be the easiest traineeship. He really takes Kikoru under his wing while Kafkka needs to control his Kaiju form. There isn’t a lot of downtime for Kafka to do this though as Kaiju No. 9 is still seeking him out and seemingly has an endless amount of Kaiju to throw at the cities. Kafka will need to fight hard but are the heroes underestimating this villain?

Kaiju No. 8 is absolutely one of those series where it feels like the heroes never really stand a chance. Yes, they are fighting back but Kaiju No. 9 can seemingly pop out of nowhere and also summon Kaiju at the drop of a hat. There is absolutely nothing to stop him from just summoning them to really populated areas and racking up a huge body count. In fact, he does this to stop a wedding at one point. The heroes always respond as best as they can but they’re always going to be on the defensive.

Then you have the fact that No. 9 is incredibly powerful. Kafka is stronger and Narumi makes it a 50/50 but everyone else is fodder to him at this point. Then he has the ability to create clones? He could easily just destroy everybody like that. The only reason he hasn’t yet is because he’s trying to get Kafka out in the open so he can get the powers of No. 8. 9 is presented as a strategic mastermind but I’m saying that he could go even harder if he really wanted to.

It is nice to have a really good villain like this though. Most of the villains in this series are mindless so whenever one does talk, it is instantly a good thing. There is also a mysterious villain who looks a lot like Kikoru. She hasn’t done much yet but from her few scenes you can tell that she’ll be a winner. Most of the other fighters from the final invasion wave are mindless so they have cool designs but aren’t about to become the next character to really stand out.

As for Kafka, he’s a solid main character as always although it would be nice if he could not be wavering so much here. You get why he would be nervous since the power already overtook him once in season 1. Still, he will be completely doomed without the powers so he just needs to hope for the best. This makes for a good cliffhanger to the season. I would say that as the season ends, Kafka has really come to terms with the fact that his human form is not going to be really helpful in the fights that are to come. He will need to exclusively rely on his monster mode and that’s the best way to go.

Kikoru looks great as you would expect. She consistently shows off her incredible close combat skills and continues to improve. The fact that she has risen to be one of the top 5 strongest heroes in the series without any Kaiju powers is impressive. If you remove the characters who have a Kaiju enhancement then she would be #1. Of course, this is the season where everyone begins to get Kaiju equipment so you can bet that she’ll at least be getting some equipment to be stronger.

I thought this was definitely necessary with how outmatched the humans are like I said before. That being said, I would still give the monsters the edge. Take away the top 3 and the humans are still in rough shape even if they are getting better. The third character I put on the list here is Narumi of course. With his special eyes he can essentially block any attack and has extreme amounts of speed. He immediately dominates in this season and I like his confidence.

Kaiju No. 8 has a really good core cast of main characters. The cast may be rather small since I barely count more minor characters like Iharu, but they do all carry their own weight. Narumi is allowed to slack off because he is simply that skilled and I respect that. When you put in the work and consistently outshine the rest, you should be allowed to get a little special treatment. That just makes sense.

Then we have Hoshina who gets a smaller role in this season. Near the end he finally gets his own Kaiju equipment which makes him relevant again. His speed and knife skills are solid but the first season showed that this definitely had its limits. Now he is in a better position and I also like the banter he gets with his Kaiju partner. Honestly it’d be fun if all of the Kaiju talked for that reason. The dialogue and banter would be really good throughout the season. Hoshina’s fights always tend to be a lot of fun because of his close combat style as well.

Although in general all of the fights look great. The series never disappoints with how fast paced and smooth the animation is. The fights look incredible and there is a lot of variety to them. The soundtrack is also good although I wouldn’t call it excellent. There are at least 1-2 themes that I enjoyed quite a bit in this one. The opening is one that I did not like though. I wasn’t even the biggest fan of the first season’s opening and this one is absolutely a step down.

As for the side characters, well we’ve got Reno who is still doing his best to find a place among the hero forces. It’s really just tough timing for him. Technically speaking Reno is considered a prodigy, but he’s less of one than the other 3 geniuses running around and of course Kafka has his own Kaiju suit. So here Reno is desperate to get more power and finally gets a Kaiju suit. This does give him incredible powers but it goes to his head right away and he has a hard time conquering the suit. Ultimately things go well so he’ll be ready for the next season but in this one he looked pretty bad. The fact that he couldn’t immediately neutralize his opponent Kaiju in a single hit was bad.

His partner Iharu had to help Reno stay in the fight. Iharu isn’t all that interesting and blends together with most of the other side characters who don’t have a Kaiju power. Still, since he saved Reno I guess I’ll give him a slight consolation prize there. It puts him ahead of some of the other characters. The baseline is clear though, you need to get a Kaiju power of your own or you are not going to be able to keep up. That’s basically what this all boils down to.

General Isao looks good as always. We really get to see what he can do here. Ultimately he has to contend with the fact that he’s a lot older than back in the day but Isao still puts up a great fight. The guy has a lot of guts and is not the type to back down from a fight. He was always one of my favorite characters here even if I treat him more like an antagonist. Isao is one of those very strict types who will break a lot of eggs to make an omelet. Without him the army would have been doomed though so you need him around.

Mina is a character who doesn’t get a lot of screentime in this season. She does land a really good sniper shot and is still known as one of the strongest fighters. There just weren’t a lot of opportunities to get her into the action. The season only has 11 episodes after all so it’s not like there is a whole lot of time for everyone. That shouldn’t be a problem in the next season where we’ll pretty much be going into nonstop fight scenes the whole time. You know I’m hyped for that, the more action the better.

This is a series that does thrive quite a lot on the action. I don’t feel like it ever really hit its stride when it comes to the downtime and just having the characters hang out. I like them well enough like I mentioned before but I guess they just don’t have a whole lot of great banter opportunities. I thought Hoshina and his Kaiju partner were immediately more enjoyable and comedic than the main characters. The leads just don’t tend to be all that funny and aren’t charismatic enough to hold their own scenes.

That’s probably slightly what keeps the series from reaching the next level. I think season 3 will bypass this just by having so many crazy awesome fights. Season 2 had a lot of action but was just one step away from the elusive 8. Perhaps that is being harsh on the series but I would say it was pretty good. It’s just not going to stick with you as much as other titles. A lot of anime I will go back and watch various clips and reactions right away but I admittedly have never done that with Kaiju No. 8. Maybe I’ll change that sooner than later.

It does make for a fun thought experiment though because it’s a bit harder for me to put my finger on it compared to some other titles. This is just the best way I can describe it. You almost don’t care about the characters a whole lot outside of the fight scenes. This is perhaps the kind of series that could use some random fillers but I would still like some action. For example we got the special about Hoshina’s day off and it’s not all that entertaining. So more fights with the characters bantering would be the best way to build up their likability further.

Eh that’s a lot of work though. Doubling down on the action is the best way to go. Narumi and Kafka had a very temporary team up fight against No. 9 that was really hype. It was a fairly brief fight scene but we don’t get a whole lot of 2 v 1s in this series so far. That should also change soon and I’m hyped for that since I love a good team up fight. It’ll also solidify No. 9 as a really powerful villain that you can’t simply beat 1 on 1.

Overall, I’m definitely looking forward to checking out the next season for this one. If you like action and giant monsters then you really can’t afford to miss out on this title. It’s the kind of anime that just works really well as a classic action title. It can get a little violent with all of the monsters blowing up and some civilians get caught up in the action but for the most part this one stays very streamlined. The overall vibes of the show tend to be rater happy even with humanity on the brink. Kaiju No. 8 just has that classic Shonen energy where you’re waiting for the heroes to claim victory.

Overall 7/10

Speed Racer Review

Posted on February 21, 2026 by dreager1

Speed Racer is one of those super famous series but it’s just old enough where a lot of people haven’t really seen it before. Well, I got to blast through the whole series and it is a title that really ages well. It shows some age but in all the best ways with the fun facial expressions and everything. Speed makes for a really good main character and Racer X is definitely one of the better rivals that you will come across. I didn’t really have any issues with this one, it’s a very well rounded series.

The series starts by introducing us to Speed, who aims to be a professional racer. Unfortunately his father Pops is against the idea and has pretty good reason to be. His other son Rex disappeared one day after crashing in a race and having a big disagreement with Pops. Pops believes that Rex simply wasn’t ready for that level of competition and doesn’t want Speed to make the same mistake. Speed disobeys Pops and enters a race anyway. His skills quickly become well known across the land and now Speed wants to be the world champion. Can he pull this off and eventually get Pops to see things his way?

Technically speaking that’s really the main plot for the 52 episodes coming up. The series doesn’t have a super deep plot or anything like that. Once in a blue moon you will get a returning character but for the most part these are episodic adventures. Most of them are 2 part adventures but as the series comes to a close we get more one shots. Racer X’s plot is one of the few that continues on throughout the show. As the viewers we learn that Racer X is Speed’s brother early on so you have to see if Speed can ever put the pieces together.

One thing that is also clear from the start is that racing is very dangerous in this world. It may be legal but there are constant fatalities throughout the series. Over half of the racers appear to die in every single event. Why do they still race? Well, for the pure thrill of it. That seems to be what it all boils down to and it is why Pops does appear to be rather justified here. Speed comes close to death on many adventures. In fact, if he had a normal car then he would be dead.

Naturally everyone knows about his super car, the Mach 5. This car has a ton of different gadgets inside of it like bullet proof glass, a spring to jump, a bird that can fly around, a water mode, buzz saws, etc. Speed uses these to get himself out of a lot of sticky situations. Otherwise he would have been doomed in a lot of events. To be clear, that’s because the enemies tend to cheat a whole lot. In a straight race Speed is second only to Racer X himself. Speed tends to demolish his other opponents.

Speed also takes a whole lot of pride in his abilities. He is very quick to jump into attack mode when someone calls him a chicken or crosses him the wrong way. Speed just isn’t going to let anything like that slide and he is a rather good fighter. On different occasions we see him going up against professional ninja, crime lords, and whole mini armies. Speed takes on all challengers and usually comes out on top. At times he will be defeated, but Speed is only human. He will eventually go down to a cheap shot or sheer numbers.

He’s just a great character and there is a level of genuineness to him that you won’t always see. Speed is incredibly heroic but he’s not a super saint. Speed’s quick temper means that even his allies have to watch out, as Sparky learned the hard way on at least one occasion. Speed is also willing to step out of his comfort zone as a racer like when he worked as an agent against different terrorist groups. Speed is always willing to help the cops out

His friend Sparky is often not able to keep up with Speed. Sparky is a great mechanic and helps to keep the Mach 5 in good condition but his role is lessened a bit by the fact that Speed’s also a top tier mechanic. So Sparky often feels like he doesn’t even need to be around. It’s kind of sad but he doesn’t really add anything to the show. It’s good to see Speed having friends and all but yeah Sparky could be removed and nothing really changes.

Then we have Speed’s girlfriend Trixie. It’s easy to forget that they’re actually together but she does a good job of getting jealous the whole time. Speed tends to attract quite a lot of attention in the races and often times Trixie isn’t allowed to race with him. She tends to have a pretty big role in the show so that’s good. It’s too bad that she’s not a big racer though because that could have really helped her to be an even bigger player. She races at least once but it’s a rare event to be sure.

She does provide aerial support though and arrives to help many times when Speed crashes. A little healthy jealousy can be a good thing as well so ultimately I would say that she gets a pretty good showing throughout the series. Naturally you always need to have at least one troublemaker in the main cast’s dynamic so that’s where Spritle and Chim Chim come into play. Spritle is a little kid who loves getting in on the races and so he follows Speed all the time.

Speed never seems to realize that his little brother is in the trunk until it’s too late. The few times that Speed suspects something is often when Spritle decided to stow away in someone else’s car. Spritle does come in handy sometimes so it’s not like he is always getting into trouble but often times he isn’t really helping too much. If anything he tends to be a hostage which gives Speed one more thing to worry about. As for Chim Chim, well he is helpful less often than Spritle. He pretty much never has a big moment of triumph and has to play second fiddle here. I could have done without him, I need my supporting characters to be able to talk and everything!

As for Pops, well he’s definitely a tough guy who is always being rather defensive but he’s a fun character. Like I mentioned before, he’s got a really good argument for keeping Speed away from the races as well. They’re just far too dangerous. You have people bringing bombs and guns onto the tracks and the refs never seem to notice. There is a constant amount of fighting going on and explosions but no cameras to capture it. Honestly I’m not sure why the spectators would enjoy racing all that much considering that most of the race is completely off screen for them.

You have races that go on for over 30 hours as the characters cross a whole continent. Speed has to fight off multiple opponents before the ending and the spectators only see the last mile or so. You shouldn’t think on it too much but that’s why the sport is rife with corruption here. Villains know that they can get away with anything. Pops is the top mechanic in the world in this series so for that reason there are a lot of people trying to get to him as well. Pops has to always do his best to try and stay safe while this is going on. His wife doesn’t really get much of a role in comparison. It would have been nice to have seen her in a few fights to show that every member of the family was a big fighter.

Then we have Racer X. This guy is not only known as the world’s greatest racer but he is also the top secret operative in a global organization that keeps the peace. For that reason he often travels the world. It also makes sense why he can’t reveal his true identity because then it would put Speed in danger. At the same time he does make sure to save his younger brother on many occasions. Their bond is a really strong one and you can sympathize with everything that Racer X has to go through.

I do wish the series could have given him more races with Speed. In almost all of their encounters, something comes up which prevents a straight race. Racer X does still manage to give Speed a whole lot of advice to help him out like not being as naive or gullible. Speed has a bad habit of believing sob stories and what he is told far too quickly. That’s something that you never want to do because you will be taken advantage of quickly. By the end of the series, Racer X has helped Speed improve a whole lot.

It’s also fun to just see Racer X have his really dangerous subplot while Speed is out there in the races. Racer X knows how to use a machine gun with an amazing level of skill. Where does he have the time for all of this right? When Speed gets close to learning his identity, X is able to deliver a well placed gut punch that completely removes his memory of learning the solution. Now that is talent.

The animation is definitely really good here. This is what I would call a very authentic hand drawn style from the old days. So there will be animation errors and perspective issues but that’s part of the charm. It still looks really good and is a lot smoother than you would expect. The colors are striking and this is the kind of animation that I could keep watching for a long while. The soundtrack isn’t nearly as memorable though. It sounds good and all but none of the themes will have you humming or anything like that.

Fortunately the writing is strong enough where you don’t mind. The show has a lot of good humor, both intentional and unintentional. The script is top notch and the way characters say things nonchalantly just works extremely well. It’s the kind of series you can definitely have fun watching reactions for. If you like a happy racing series with a good amount of banter then this is the title you want to check out.

Speed Racer also embraces the absurdness of the situations that Speed finds himself in. One second he is fighting a global terrorist organization, the next he is fighting giant monsters over in the jungle. Speed battles in Egyptian Tombs and in labyrinths underneath the waves. He doesn’t shrink from any challenge and fights just as well as he races. His opponents also tend to have some pretty strong gimmicks. There are one old guy who hated cars for example and so he would use his Horse to get around and whipped any cars that got too close. That takes a lot of guts. Speed even went up against a legendary gambler who knew the odds about everything and then another guy who built an entire secret city.

It’s the kind of atmosphere that is harder to create in a new title. These storylines work pretty well as long as you don’t overanalyze them. There are probably loads of plot holes and little inconsistencies that such situations create but they are fun to watch which is far more important. Give me a fun scenario like this any day and I’m all set. Where else are you going to see a group of Acrobatic racers who do stunts involving dozens of cars? That was one of the few times where even Speed got nervous.

Overall, Speed Racer is a pretty fun series. It’s definitely one of the older ones that I’ve seen now and I dare say that it was even better than I remembered it. I had seen a flurry of scattered episodes back in the day so it was fun to see the whole thing cover to cover. The series has a lot of humor to it but part of why it works is because the show is still treating these situations with a good amount of seriousness. There is a really tight line to balance here and the show makes it look easy. If you haven’t seen the series yet and worry that it’s too old, stow those fears. This series became a legend for good reason and you should definitely check it out! This is true for basically all shows but especially for Speed Racer I will also advise you to watch it through the English Dub.

Overall 7/10

.hack//Liminality Review

Posted on February 15, 2026 by dreager1

This is a quick OVA series that I started a long time ago. With the final part of the PS2 .Hack series completed, it was time to finally watch all of the episodes. It’s fun to see what was going on in the real world while all of the fighters were in The World trying to stop The Wave. As a result this one is a bit more of a low key adventure but you still have some danger going on here. The most important part is really being able to connect the dots and see the pieces that you were only aware of in the background before now.

The special starts with Mai’s boyfriend being put into a coma after playing “The World”. It is a super popular game and everyone is playing it so people figure that it must have been a coincidence. Mai was playing as well but managed to wake up for some reason. Well, she isn’t satisfied with the situation as it is and wants to find a way to bring him back. She is approached by a man named Tokuoka who used to work for CC Corporation who are the ones behind the World. He tells Mai that the game is responsible but proving it and finding a cure will be difficult. Also, can she really trust him? The longer that the World is able to survive, the more damage the planet takes in the real world.

There is also a tough moral dilemma to deal with here. The mysterious monster within The World will keep on destroying more characters and sending their real life players into a coma for as long as he is active. If the game is deleted, then that will prevent any more victims from popping up but at the same time it will completely doom the ones that are present. Naturally that means the company is going after the first option in order to limit the liability and bury the proof of the glitch but the main characters want to save everyone that they can. It is with the knowledge that they could be creating new victims though which is why I wouldn’t say that this is easy by any means.

For what it’s worth, I would have to say that they made the right decision here. As long as there is a chance, you should not give up on the people who need help. So Mai and the others continue to push on. Each episode mainly focuses on different characters here. The first is about Mai and Tokuoka, the second is about Yuki and Kaoru, the third one is about Kyoko, Bith, and Tokuoka, then the final episode has everyone in. It’s a pretty good way to slowly build things up each time.

From the 4 episodes, I would say the second one definitely has the highest level of danger. The two heroines are trapped in a building that has entered lockdown mode with a lot of fires breaking out. If they don’t escape quickly then it’ll all be over. Naturally most of humanity immediately starts panicking and makes a run for it so you want to avoid those. Yuki and Kaoru do their best to escape the crowd and get away but it’s not easy. They have to use the vents at the ceiling of the floor and I always thought that looked really tough. I don’t consider myself to be super claustrophobic and yet I would have to do a double take there.

My favorite character in this series was Kaoru. She really only appears in the second episode but does a good job of staying calm and getting Yuki out of the building. Perhaps she would have survived on her own or perhaps not, but Kaoru made sure this was a guarantee. She put herself at risk and even got a sprained ankle out of this but did her best throughout. It’s why you always want to have an adult around in a high pressure situation. This is one of the rare titles where the adults actually hold their own with the kids.

As for Yuki, she panics a bit too much for my liking. She doesn’t really think things through and gets herself into trouble as a result. It’s just how these things go but since all of the other characters were really focused the whole time, it made her look a little worse in comparison. She did contribute in the final episode so I’ll give her that but it’s more of a consolation than anything else.

Then we have Bith who really came in handy by the end. He shows up rather mysteriously but has good connections like with the super hacker Helba. Without him, the characters wouldn’t have made it in time to save their cyber companions. He is also good at bluffing and has just enough credentials to hold up against the CC Corporation. I imagine that he probably spent all of his goodwill within this mission but it was worth it.

Kyoko also shows up a bit later into the series than the other characters but is able to help out right away. She is ready for the fighting to take place although you do have to keep your expectations within reason since for the most part everyone here is just a normal civilian. They’re not going to be putting in crazy combos and taking down tons of opponents or anything like that. This isn’t that kind of series.

Mai is still the central focus here and her character is interesting. She seems rather emotionless for a while and I thought that was going to be a full plot point but it mainly went away. I suppose that’s just how she is. For example she didn’t seem to care a whole lot that her boy friend went into a coma but maybe that was meant to just show that she was trying to cope with things. The guy was moving a bit fast in the flashback but it seemed like the event still ended positively with them. So I’ll assume all is well.

It does make her a good lead because it’s hard to know what is really going through her mind. She’s a bit of a wild card in that respect. I also think she had good reason not to trust someone like Tokuoka for a while there. If anything I would have been more wary of him like her friend Masaya. He did not trust Tokuoka at all and did his best to warn Mai about him. Ultimately she just wasn’t really interested in heeding those words. Masaya is a bit helpless but I appreciate him at least trying to protect her.

As for Tokuoka, well he is a good guy. He’s just as shady as it gets and I suppose that is bound to happen when you are fighting a multi billion dollar company. The series starts and ends with him getting beaten up. The poor guy definitely takes a whole lot of punishment but in the end is a critical piece to stopping The World so he can hang his hat on that.

This is a side piece to the games so the terms might get a little tricky for you. If you’re just watching this title you may miss some of the context but you can still enjoy it as a good conspiracy story. It is obvious that big business is hiding something and the heroes have to stop them. It’s a compelling piece either way. In order to get to the next level I think we would have just needed to have had some more suspense.

Ultimately there is only so much you can do with 4 episodes after all but I thought it was still a good adventure. The animation is also solid although there aren’t a ton of action scenes to really test it. It did help back up the eerie atmosphere of the series. It just feels like everyone is always very isolated and with glitches affecting the real world, you aren’t safe anywhere. This is not a horror by any means but I thought the atmosphere was crafted pretty well.

The soundtrack is really good as you will hear a lot of the classic .Hack songs. I liked each of the intros and it was cool to see the video game scenes from the accompanying volume at the same time. It helps to really tie the adventures together. Even with that you may lose track of some of the characters but you’re only meant to really focus on the ones in the real world here. One character even surpasses the speed of light with her reaction times.

Overall, .Hack/Liminality is a good example of an anime that may get a little confusing if you were to start with this as your first experience with the franchise. I think you’ll still have a good time but it might be worth playing the games first. Either way I would recommend this series. It’s so rare to see what people are doing in the real world while the superheroes are fighting so it’s just a fun angle. The CC Corporation is also shown to be as evil as they can be so this isn’t one of those situations where you will be on the fence. It’s clear that The World really needs to be stopped even if 99% of the player base doesn’t even know what is going on. One more episode to focus on the fall out and what the government does would be fun but you can probably imagine that for yourself.

Overall 6/10

Future Boy Conan Review

Posted on February 8, 2026 by dreager1

This is one of those legendary anime titles that everyone has heard of, but has everyone watched it? I think it’s just old enough where people tend to miss out on it and even for me I feel like I may know the name by association but didn’t really know the show. Well, now I finally got to check it out and it’s a fun title. Conan makes for a good lead and the show looks really good for its age. Some of that is due to the high quality of the release but it also shows that the animation techniques were really timeless here.

The show starts by introducing us to Conan and his grandpa. They are some of the last humans alive after a terrible war shook up the whole planet. The humans had gotten too violent with their massive means of destruction and so this launched the world back into the stone age. One day a girl named Lana washes ashore and it turns out that she is the grand daughter of the world’s greatest scientist, Lao. Unfortunately this means that the army led by Lepka want to kidnap her. This faction believes that the world needs the weapons of mass destruction once more and of course Lepka will be the one to lead the world. Conan must now protect Lana from the forces of evil and is really on his own after his grandpa dies during the attack. Can Conan adapt to the rest of the world?

Now even with something like 95-99% of humanity wiped out, you’ve still got enough people for about 2 cities and 2 villages. That makes sense as humanity will gradually grow again as long as they aren’t 100% eliminated. If anything it underscores how brutal the war was because this happened during the lifetime of guys like Lao, so to see humanity immediately reduced like this was crazy. It actually wasn’t nukes, but a kind of magnetic weapon that caused the problem within the planet.

One of the things that I appreciated about the show is how Conan quickly adapts to things. He naturally knows nothing about the outside world, technology, or any of that. Yet instead of acting clueless or confused he just works on understanding it. This is why I never like the fish out of water trope because often times it feels like the characters don’t even bother using context clues. If there’s something that you don’t know, then you just work to understand it by using tools that you are familiar with. That’s all there is to this in the end.

So Conan does well there and is quite mature for his age. I’m not always sold on the kids being main characters kind of dynamic but Conan isn’t your average kid. The show also gives him a good amount of super strength to the point where he can lift boulders, hold his breath for a long time, run across a moving plane, etc. It’s not to the point where he can become Superman and just save everyone but enough to where he is always really helpful in a bunch of different situations. Conan has a good moral compass about him so he’s always trying to help out his friends.

He’s not some crazy pacifist though and knows when the villains have to be taken down. As the series goes on, he gets a best friend in the form of Jimsy. Jimsy never really grew on me though. He’s another kid who grew up in the wilderness so he has to adapt to society as well. I’d say he just doesn’t do as good a job in that and while he is strong, I would definitely take Conan in a fight. Jimsy is always going to be held to second place in that regard. Jimsy just had more weak moments like ditching Conan at one point.

He eventually becomes a reliable friend but it sure takes him a while. Any adventure is easier with a friend so his presence itself helped Conan but the character could have gotten off to a quicker start. Then we have the main heroine Lana who gets a massive role here. Of course she gets along with Conan really well so you can expect a real romance once they are older. She has the ability to use telepathy to a small extent like communicating with animals or with her grandfather. She is being hunted throughout the whole series and does a good job of keeping her wits about her. That can’t be easy at such a young age.

Lana doesn’t have the physical abilities that Conan has so she often has to stay back during dangerous situations. It’s definitely something that annoys her and she always tries to get in on the adventures. At times she does get used as a hostage so that does put Conan in a tough position. It’s hard to blame her too much since she is a kid but I would have liked an episode with Conan teaching her how to throw a spear or something like that. I think that would have worked out really well.

The other big character for the heroes here has to be Captain Dyce. Now, calling him a hero may be a bit of a stretch. He starts out as a villain and even after that he starts to waver back and forth at times so you’re never really sure if you can trust him. He has a big betrayal at one point as well. Despite that, he is definitely the most entertaining character though. He may meddle in the heroes’ affairs a lot and get into trouble but there is a certain confidence about him. It also may help that he’s an adult so he is able to fight in a different way than the others.

It’s always nice seeing an adult who can actually do something in this kind of adventure. He is tasked with the role of being comic relief a lot of the time but also has his serious moments. This balance works extremely well and he adds a lot to the show. It definitely would not be the same without him and his leadership. I also liked his robot suit. It may not appear as much later on but that gizmo was super handy.

Another one of the villains is Orlo. This guy is a lot pettier than Dyce but also makes for an entertaining villain. You may think that he looks bad since he spends a lot of time trying to intimidate a kid but that’s just how he rolls. I would have liked him to have ended out his screentime still being the leader of his group though. He ends up bowing to Monsley and her crew almost immediately. It’s true that he would have lost any kind of fight there but you at least have some respect for a villain who doesn’t bow the knee in the end. From the way he ended up succumbing to the others, it showed that he was not the main guy in any capacity.

His little sister Tera had even less moments to look threatening here. She is good at talking tough to people who can’t fight back but immediately falters afterwards. She is only a little kid of course but that made her look even worse. You shouldn’t be a villain at such a young age and have to be able to know that you’re on the wrong side of things. Orlo at least had some convictions, she was just following the path that was laid out for her.

Then we have Monsley who is essentially the second in command among the villains. She commands a ton of respect from everyone and has earned her spot at the top. Anytime she shows up, the village where Conan is at tends to take a lot of damage. She captures him a ton of times so we also see how capable she is. In some ways Monsley has to be the most impressive character here. Ultimately by the end of the story she has to ask herself some tough questions about what she is even doing here anymore. She gets a whole lot of character development and it is all handled really well.

Finally there is the main villain Lepka. This guy does one of my favorite villain tropes which is where he will feel a laugh coming and tries to stop it. The attempts are futile though so he ends up laughing as loud as possible and just going along with it. It’s just great when that happens. Beyond that, he just works really well within the role. You always want at least one villain who is just evil and the heroes have to stop him. He has no delusions of being a good guy or anything like that. He just wants to crush everyone and rule the world.

Right up through the end he is still fighting for this. He will shoot random people and murders as many as he can. He tries to punch Conan into the exploding ship at the end which would have murdered him. This guy is absolutely shameless but he did raise up an empire and nearly took over the world. Lepka was a very serious villain and definitely not someone to mess around with. It’ll be hard to top him as a main villain.

We also had Dr. Lao of course but he spends most of his time either captured, knocked out, or missing. He’s not a bad character or anything but I do feel like he could have made things a whole lot better on Lana. I’m unclear on the extent of his powers so maybe he was really just out of range for a large chunk of the adventure of something. I just think he should have helped more. In the end his presence is felt throughout the series but it almost felt like he had given up until Conan and Lana showed up. His disguise was great for staying out of trouble but not for helping the world stop the encroaching threat. I suppose he figured that without him, Lepka would ultimately not get very far. It’s not like this is a terrible plan but it’s far too passive for me.

The animation is pretty clear like I mentioned before. I also think that all of the environments really stand out here, whether it be the highly technological city or the small villages. There is a lot of movement in the fights which balance the visual humor well with the actual blows being felt. There are a few times where Conan is beaten quite thoroughly and the show doesn’t shy away from it. It doesn’t end up being super violent or anything but it’s clear that he’s taken a lot of damage.

The cartoony style ends up being beneficial for characters like Dyce as otherwise it would be harder to forgive him. Conan is super forgiving of everyone but the viewers won’t be as kind. The soundtrack is decent but it can be repetitive. It doesn’t seem like the show had a ton of budget allocated to it so the selection is small. The opening is decent, but I would say it looks better than it sounds.

If there was ever a show where I would say that it’s all about vibes, it would be this one. I think the show’s greatest strength is just that it has a fun atmosphere. It’s nice to see Conan just travelling the world to save Lana. The whole show feels very calming. Yes there are the big climaxes and danger moments but most of the time you’re just seeing what it would be like to live in a world without a lot of people. As far as post-apocalyptic worlds go, this one just seems rather nice. It’s good to have a more optimistic look at one for a change.

Overall, Future Boy Conan is a pretty good series. It has a very low key feel to it even with the end of the world stakes. Treat this as a slice of life adventure type story and you should be satisfied. The story wraps up nicely here so it’s definitely going to be interesting to see how the sequel fares. Could be a while before I check that one out though. There isn’t anything to really dislike about this show. It’s a pretty safe option that you can really recommend to anybody. As long as they enjoy a good adventure then this one will be a winner.

Overall 6/10

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