Toradora! Review

Posted on April 20, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to jump into one of those big romance-comedy titles from a while back. This one definitely goes all in on the comedy right from the jump as the first episode launches quickly with the main heroine punching the guy’s lights out and then breaking into his house. That really set the show up on a good pace and it’s definitely a really fun title. Usually the weakest part of any romantic comedy tends to be the ending as the comedy part eventually has to give way for the serious romance and this one is no exception. The ending is a bit of a trainwreck at times but that’s less than 10% of the whole show so either way I am able to solidly recommend this title to anyone regardless.

The show starts off by introducing us to Ryuji who is your average teen except for the fact that he was born with a really scary face. So everybody thinks he’s a big delinquent and that makes it tough for him to approach the love of his life, Minori. Well, this school term is his chance to get past that but unfortunately he is in the same class as the Palm-Top Tiger. A legendary delinquent whose short stature doesn’t stop her from beating everyone up. Sure enough, she knocks him out early on and it turns out that she lives right across the street from him. There is one thing that connects them though, Taiga is in love with Ryuji’s best friend Yusaku and Taiga’s best friend is Minori. So they decide that they will help each other obtain true love but what if they end up falling for each other somewhere in the process?

Now I have to admit that if they didn’t fall for each other in the end I may even bump this up to an 8 because that would be completely unheard of for this kind of show. You want to talk about plot twists? This would be the biggest plot twist in the anime industry. Regardless, for a show like this the process is more important than the outcome. After all in a grand sense you know how most stories will end. It’s just all about the execution on just how good the story will be and the execution here is pretty fun.

Right off the bat you see that this show isn’t afraid to have some slapstick in the mix. When Taiga’s not slapping Ryuji, she’s punching, headbutting, or just pushing him around. She’s definitely a really tough character and the show can be super expressive. There’s always some comedic violence going on and the gags work very well. I do tend to enjoy Tsundere type characters in just about all anime but of course it also depends on how the writing goes. This was a very well written character and the rest of them are very different from Taiga so it’s also not like this will get repetitive. She’s actually the only openly violent character.

I would also say that another strength to the show is that each character gets a whole lot of depth. Rather than expanding the cast with the show getting over 20 episodes, it mainly sticks to the main cast from the first part so they all get their own character arcs. Yeah there are a few side characters who don’t do much but they didn’t have a ton of potential anyway. The show’s at its best when Ryuji and Taiga are trying to come up with a lot of plans and just failing miserably the whole time. After the final episode there is a bonus episode involving school bento lunches that takes place early on and it easily clobbered most of the final episodes because of this.

It’s a series where you get so invested into the comedy that you don’t even want the plot to return. Of course, the fact that the plot exists is why the comedy can be good so you can’t really go without it. It’s like a mystery series, you have to allow for an ending even if you feel bad because you wanted more of the intrigue. The ending/reveal is a necessary weak point for these kinds of genres so you just have to get ready and accept it. In the meantime though you get to really enjoy the comedic moments as they come in.

Fortunately the animation is also very high end and is able to complement the humor well. We even get a fight scene that actually looks rather good in one of the classrooms. We’re talking about some real physical blows being thrown around and a lot of movement. There’s also a brief slapping fight later on during a trip and a nice attention to detail was that the stronger fighter got a much more powerful sound effect for each slap. The show was always ready to pay attention to each detail which was good.

As for the soundtrack, this is one area where the show definitely went above expectations. There are a number of really catchy tunes in the show. The first opening is also really solid. I’m not as on board with the second one but it’s okay. Unfortunately my favorite theme in the show seems to be hard to find on Youtube so I suspect it’s a small part of a track so I need to listen to it more carefully to find this one. It’s got some nice randomness to it that fits the moments.

So yeah the writing is really solid and that helps the series be a lot of fun. The main cast is generally really solid as well. As for the romance….well yeah get ready for a lot of rebounds. Naturally the romance will usually be the weak link here. I did smirk a bit as the romance went on because at first the show is at least trying to make you think that this won’t turn into one of those titles where everyone likes the main character but at the end that is also something that’s difficult for the genre to dodge. So I can’t say I was behind the end game pairing here. I wasn’t particularly rooting for any of them but naturally the best girl does lose since that’s always how it goes with these things.

The reason the climax fails a bit for me though isn’t even directly related to the romance. I felt like a few of the story beats weren’t developed enough so you were almost rooting against the main characters. For example towards the end Ryuji gets upset with his Mom for trying too hard to make everything work out without relying on him. So he then decides to run off which doesn’t solve any of the issues and really just makes him look super ungrateful. I wasn’t on board with him at all here. It’s at least a little understandable for Taiga but even then it feels too drastic. You never got the feeling that things were as dire as the main two made it out to be.

Then the final episode plays out a bit too melodramatic in some ways. There was no reason for Taiga’s final decision which just put a lot of heat on Ryuji for no reason. I guess the ending throws you a bone but it just felt unnecessary. So the final 2-3 episodes started to feel a bit off and the plot developments feel random at best but like I said, the rest of the journey was on point so that’s really what counts. There’s also a big difference between an underwhelming ending and a downright bad one. Like it’s not enough to lower the score or anything like that. Now lets talk about the characters.

First up is Ryuji who is super addicted to cleaning. He actually gets excited when he sees that a place is messy since it means that he can get in there and make the place look perfect. This gag doesn’t appear very often but I’d say that it’s a good character gimmick. Meanwhile he’s a nice guy who does his best to look out for everyone and make things work out. He doesn’t always make the right calls and makes a few mistakes particularly when the parental figures are involved but at least he means well.

He has enough courage to try asking out Minori several times which is more than a lot of other main characters. Things tend to not go his way which are usually due to stuff he can’t control. He also does his best to look out for Taiga even when they were just neighbors. I’d say this shines through a lot more on his side than Taiga’s to be honest. For most of the series he is helping her out without much in return for himself and he seems to genuinely care. He is the kind of guy who will really help anyone out.

Then you have his best friend Yusaku who can be a little more on the annoying side. His main character flaw seems to be trying to ignore what is happening in order to avoid conflict. That means acting oblivious whenever it suits him. He looks really bad in his mini arc as well when he starts to act out. I would definitely say that was his worst moment by far and it was hard to recover from that. From the main cast he was definitely the weakest. Still not a bad character I’d say but yeah he mostly worked as an obstacle/antagonist rather than amping up the main cast.

Then on the heroine side we have Taiga as the main heroine and she definitely brings in a lot of the heart for the show. She’s a little out of her depth on how the whole romance thing goes and so Ryuji has to help her a whole lot. Half the time it feels like he set things up pretty well for her but she wouldn’t have the nerve to go along with it and would mess things up for him. So again, you have to give Ryuji a whole lot of points for effort here. Taiga’s toughness is part of what makes her so much fun though. At one point she isn’t sure how she can help emotionally so she takes out her sword and just starts beating someone up.

As the show goes on she gradually learns more though and stars to become more aware of how to act on her emotions. In a way it helps her move on when she sees that she’s not the first choice. Of course that doesn’t work with the rebound that comes in later on but she definitely changes a lot from the start to finish. She tries to go down the noble route of just letting the guy she likes go so that she doesn’t wreck another relationship. Ultimately after a lot of pressure she isn’t able to hang on but it was a good attempt.

Her constant banter with Ryuji is always a lot of fun and she’s an entertaining character. Taiga is very much a bold kind of character who goes and tries her best at everything she tries. Then you have her friend Minori who is also a great character. Minori always believes in trying really hard at everything in life. She joins tons of different clubs and jobs and pushes herself to her very limits. She also believes in always having a great attitude and never gets down about things.

Minori even faces her fears right away in the first episodes without backing down. So she’s really fun and is another selfless character who is willing to throw away her desires to help someone else out. This can sometimes turn into a bit of a Martyr case where these things just start to build up but I can still admire this part of her. Eventually when her buttons are pushed enough she will cut loose but it takes a whole lot to get to that point. It’s never that she’s fake either but she tries to just tune things out that would cause her to lose her focus.

So she’s another really solid heroine here and of course the more solid characters you have, the more tragic the ending is going to inevitably be. The most tragic would have to be Ami though who is also the most mature character. Everyone expects her to be super mature too which is the tough part since she has an image to maintain. If she lets it slip at any point then it starts to turn into trouble. At first she’s a jerk but gradually gets nicer as the series goes on.

I give her the most credit here because she successfully keeps in her feelings at all times. Even by the end it’s not clear if Ryuji ever got what was going on. Ami made some fair attempts but when they didn’t work, she never tried to get in the way of the other relationships or cause trouble. In her own way she even helped out her rivals a whole lot. It’s the tragic kind of romance that is one sided but that’s what makes it fun to root for if you had to pick a pairing to go for. Can she get ahead of the other characters? It’s not always easy though and if someone’s not into you then that’s really where that ends. There’s not much that you can do about that.

So Ami’s a character that was doomed from the jump and you feel bad for her the whole time. She really stuck the landing though and never took things the wrong way. She ended up being the best character in the show easy and that’s saying a lot since the cast is generally pretty good. Then we have a few minor classmates but they tend to be weaker or just don’t get much to do. First is Koji who is just annoying the whole time. I felt like he had no real purpose in the story other than to be annoying. Seriously he doesn’t add anything to the story at all and he’s just not that funny. I guess he serves the role as the hopeless flirt who is out of his league.

Then there is Hisamisu who gets a sudden romance plot with Maya at the end but it comes in way too late. It’s also crazy how late he is to the party as he tries to ship Taiga and Yusaku well after that plot had already ended. Meanwhile Maya was trying to get Ryuji and Taiga together so she could be with Yusaku but nothing really came out of this either. Maya was at least a fun character though and if she had appeared more I think she would have been able to add to the dynamic.

Then we have Ryuji’s mom Yasuko who has a medium sized role here. While the show is mainly good about not having too much fanservice, it does feel like that is her role for the most part. There are other moments for other characters here and there but the camera usually gets dicey when Yasuko is around. I feel like this even fools the writers into forgetting just how tragic of a character she is. Yasuko has to raise Ryuji all by herself and works nights and picks up as many part time jobs as possible to support him. She is really working hard and doing her best at all times yet the show kind of turns against her in the end. I didn’t think anything about the ending was justified against her. They call her immature and everything but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

She sacrificed a whole lot to help Ryuji and it makes sense that she wanted him to focus on his studies. So this was one plot where I definitely disagreed with the direction that the show went in. We understood why Taiga’s dad was a big villain as he kept on breaking her heart over and over again. The Mom didn’t get enough to do so that’s a bit harder to tell but at least we could reasonably say she wasn’t being very helpful. This just wasn’t the case for Yasuko.

I’m not really sure what their pet bird Inko added to the show though. I think it went a bit too far in trying to make his character design look really ugly though. They could have made him look a little cooler. Then you have the teacher Yuri who is okay. You feel a little bad for her too though since her high school life definitely left her wanting for more and now she feels like she’s too old to really do anything. That’s got to be rough. She is absolutely too harsh on herself though.

Finally there is the student council present Sumire who doesn’t appear for long but she has a pivotal role in one arc. She was a solid character who handled the situation pretty well. I guess making a joke out of the guy’s confession towards her was not very nice but the setting for being asked out was pretty bad. Never ask someone out in front of a huge crowd and put them on the spot like that. Ultimately I can also see why she was a bit disillusioned since Yusaku took the news of her leaving so badly. I think she could have even been a good addition to the main cast as another strong member who could handle anything if she had stuck around.

Overall, Toradora is a pretty fun series. You’ll definitely get a solid amount of laughs out of it and the pacing is on point. The characters all get a ton of development to them and you really feel the progression from each of them. None of them are really the same as they initially started which is the sign of a solid show there. The status quo was definitely changed quite a few times and the show is long enough where it gets to take its time in each one and we can see the characters just interact. You really feel like you know all of the characters very well by the end. A sequel could definitely be fun at some point although the ending is fairly definitive. I also think it’s hard to match the school setting since in College they will all be split up but I suppose then it’s up to the writers to come up with a bunch of fun new characters.

Overall 7/10

Lycoris Recoil Review

Posted on April 20, 2024 by dreager1

I remember this anime being massively popular when it first came out. There were clips of it everywhere and it looked like a pretty fun show all around. Well, I have now gotten to dive into it and it is a fun experience. I’d say the dynamic between the main two heroines is definitely one of the stronger ones and is a big reason as to why the show is fun to watch. It’s also the only time I can think of where you have one character who is a prodigy and then the other is a super prodigy to the point where the first one even looks super weak. The power scaling here gets pretty intense.

In this world, there are a group of girls who fight to protect Japan from behind the scenes. They are the Lycoris. They operate in complete secrecy so nobody even knows that they exist. Because of this, the world believes that Japan is basically crime free because their citizens are just that good. They’re literally built different and it gives people a lot of security. You feel safe while in Japan. The main heroine is Takina and she is the best agent in the group. She completes all missions with ease and while this has stunted her emotional growth, she is effective. Unfortunately on one mission her partner gets captured so Takina rescues her by going in guns blazing but she had to defy orders in the process.

Takina is demoted from the main task force and sent to a little Lycoris cafe in the middle of nowhere. Since Takina has trained all her life to be the best, this is a huge blow for her and she wants to get back into the elite squad at all costs. It won’t be easy though as she will have to work together with Chisato, the problem child of the group. What Takina doesn’t realize is that Chisato is the greatest Lycoris agent to ever live. She has uncanny reflexes that allow her to dodge any attack and she does all this while keeping up a no murder policy. It’s going to be tough getting back to the main squad when working with a troublemaker like this. Takina may be at odds with Chisato for now but will she slowly learn how to just be a normal civilian?

I’d say in a lot of ways that’s the main plot here. Takina put her whole life into being a ruthless killing machine but now she gets to do some normal stuff. Operating a cafe for example may be low key but it does force her to learn some actual conversational skills. Chisato helps her learn how to dress fashionably and take life less seriously as well. It takes a while for Takina to really start dropping her defenses but that’s what makes the dynamic work. I think it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well if Chisato wasn’t so unbelievably strong so it’s good that she was the top fighter.

The concept of the Lycoris group is also pretty interesting. I feel like it probably doesn’t hold up if you think about it too hard though. Like when they’re murdering all of these villains and hiding the evidence, what happens to the families? They’re told some kind of accident happened and they aren’t allowed to see the body? No matter what tricks you go with here, it feels like they wouldn’t be able to work indefinitely. The more that things keep being weird and having unexplainable circumstances, the more that it’s going to raise some flags. There’s also a second secret assassin group made up of the guys but they’re a lot weaker and not much of a threat so you can ignore them.

The animation here is very solid as you would expect. It’s all very smooth and the action scenes always bring out the best in the series. There are a lot of quick movements and the opening is also high budget. Basically any time Chisato is fighting, the series dials things up quite a bit. It helps that this is the best way to show her bullet timing abilities so she gets to dodge a lot of hits all the time. The gun fights and also just the general movement around town tend to be good as well. The colors are striking and so I have no real negatives here.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is good as well although it’s a lot more subdued. The opening for example is great but from the ost within the show, you will likely be forgetting about it fairly quick. None of the tunes there were super memorable but at least they would fit the scene so I still wouldn’t say that the themes are bad or anything like that. Then we get to the characters. The cast isn’t all that large but considering that the show is only 13 episodes that makes sense. First up is Takina who is of course a great main character.

It does feel like her confidence doesn’t always line up with her skill level though. She may have been the best among the active Lycoris but when the going gets tough she does not do well against the main villain Majima and several times seems to be holding Chisato back. Still I like her personality and I tend to enjoy characters with high levels of confidence. Takina is always talking tough to anyone in her way and she does try really hard to learn every lesson that Chisato gives out. So you have to give her a lot of credit there. Like I said before, she is one of the big reasons why the show is good.

Then you have Chisato who definitely steals the show here. She has a lot of confidence and is always upbeat. She’s not the kind of character who will do much bragging but her confidence shines though in subtle ways. If there is a big fight where everyone is sweating and stressing, she’s just casually dominating the fight. She is quick to defend Takina as well and is also the most heroic member of the group. Unlike everyone else who are content to murder as many villains as possible, Chisato takes them all alive. She even loads her gun with pepper spray instead of bullets to further make sure that she doesn’t go too far by mistake.

Chisato definitely has a serious plot ongoing here involving a mystery that she has to solve but where other characters might falter and get frustrated, she just plunges forward. There aren’t many characters that are as mentally strong as she is, that’s for sure. Her character’s ending is satisfying here.

Then we have Kurumi who is really good at hacking. So while she may not be able to fight, that’s fine. Having two expert fighters on the group seems like it should be enough for any circumstance right? Kurumi’s hacking comes in handy many times as it is. I don’t think she adds a ton to the dynamic as far as the characters go but she’s not bad. She’s still a fun character to have around. Finally you have Mizuki who probably has the smallest role from the main group. She helps out as needed but is really here as comic relief so don’t expect her to really contribute in the plot.

Now lets talk about the higher ups in the Lyrocis project who tend to be the worst characters. First you have Mika who owns the bar and is trying to do better but I have to say that he comes across pretty badly by the time all of the twists are accounted for. He takes way too long to come clean about a lot of things and the secrets are actively hurting everybody. He really needed to do better and comes across as wishy washy during a lot of points. There was no real saving him because at the end of the day inaction is almost always a negative action.

Even worse though is Kusonoki. She leads the Lycoris project although she still has to answer to the board of directors and everything. The problem is that she loses fight of the point of the project early on into the show. Benching Takina for a small problem and then ignoring her the whole time is just unprofessional. Even worse is the fact that Takina finds out new clues and evidence that helps them press the case forward on several accounts. It’s clear that they need Takina but a misplaced sense of justice causes Kusonoki to still make the wrong move. Then here is a moment where the government tells her to stand down so they can murder all of the girls, she doesn’t do much about it. Yeah she has her big resistance moment but now that we know this kind of order can happen she should be taking steps to destroy the other groups. Kusonoki ultimately feels like the kind of character who will follow orders and keep the status quo even if everyone ends up dying as a result.

Then we have the other members of Lycoris who are mainly here to help remind us why the group is absolutely doomed without Takina and Chisato. Those two hard carry the group. Fuki is one of the squad leaders and she can’t do much of anything. She talks a big game but can’t back it up. Then you have Sakura who replaced Takina and gets embarrassed at every opportunity. She comes across more annoying than anything else. Like I said I typically enjoy the confident characters but it can’t be 100% empty air. At that point I just can’t take you seriously.

There’s also a detective character running around but I feel like the show wasn’t really sure what to do with him. He just gets written out midway and gets a final scene at the end. I was expecting his plot to continue and maybe we would get something big in season 2. Granted, like I said the whole Lycoris secret project doesn’t always feel very well thought out so him solving it could have been interesting but the whole thing felt a little weak.

Okay now lets talk about the villains here. First up is Shinji who is definitely on the weak/annoying side. So this guy basically has a death wish for a while there and his plans don’t really excite me. I feel like he isn’t even getting closer to his goals with the way he handled things. Chisato looks up to him a whole lot so a direct approach might have at least had a slim shot of succeeding. Instead he’s playing all of these games and being sneaky while talking about his message in the worst way possible. There was no way he was going to win over Chisato the way that he planned it out. It just doesn’t make sense. So yeah this guy was pretty awful the whole time.

Then you have Robota as the evil hacker and he was okay but my main problem was just that he was really weak. You couldn’t take him too seriously because the heroic hacker was so much better than him at all times. So this guy has a lot of confidence issues as a result and that doesn’t really work for a villain. Fortunately the main villain Majima helped to balance things out because he is actually a really good character. Basically he wants to expose the Lycoris group by letting everyone know the truth about them. He goes pretty far in this goal like spreading a ton of weapons among the civilians and making a lot of connections.

Naturally he goes full villain with how he is actually murdering people but otherwise the message makes sense. This fake sense of security by hiding all crimes does feel like it’s not the right thing to do. They’re just hiding things at that point and playing judge, jury, and executioner. They are explicitly acting outside of the law here. That said, the characters still treat him way too kindly to the point where it doesn’t make sense. The biggest example of this is the climax with him fighting Chisato.

At times it feels like Chisato doesn’t care that this guy was ramming other Lycoris agents with cars and generally causing a lot of people to die. She was arguing with him like he was some random dude. Yeah it’s great that she never takes things too hard or gets down in the dumps for long but this was different. This is a fight where she needed to knock him out right away to neutralize the threat. The climax just felt out of character and a bit bizarre. It only would have worked alongside the twist that he never actually ended up hurting anybody. It’s why the whole fireworks scene doesn’t really work.

But hey, getting let off easy by the heroes isn’t a negative for Majima. He’s just responsible for his own actions and on those he did good. Considering how outgunned he was against Chisato, he also did a great job of planning for the fight and using the only way possible to even the playing field. Even with that Chisato was definitely primed for the win but I give the show big props for actually coming up with a way to make it dangerous for her. For a while it seemed like there were not going to be any real threats to Chisato in the series. Nothing wrong with that of course but I do always love when a character can go all out because it’s really close.

The show mainly keeps things high brow the whole time too which is nice. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that there wasn’t much fanservice. The show even mainly avoids having any rushed romance plots thrown into the mix. So this way we’re able to just have the main characters enjoy life and have fun. The episodes usually would spend half of the runtime having fun and then half with some kind of action scene and the balance works really well. I’d say the show’s biggest strength is that it’s just fun to watch. Each episode is entertaining and so the show manages to be consistent the whole way through. The foundation is strong enough where the show could fully transition into being a slice of life title and it would still be in good shape. Although of course I’m glad we get to keep the action in. One plot that I think we could take a bit further is Chisato’s killer mode. We don’t get to see much of that even in the final battle and it feels like there is some good potential there because she’s still holding it back in a sense. The longer she holds it back, the more credit I give her strength of will though.

Overall, Lycoris Recoil is a pretty fun show. It’s the kind of title with a lot of potential for sequels. You could really keep sending the heroines on more and more missions as needed and the end only has to happen once the writers run out of ideas. If you like the idea of secret agents protecting Japan then this lives up to the premise. It’s bound to keep your attention all the way through and a lot of care was definitely put into this one. I’d be hyped for a season 2.

Overall 7/10

Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 4 Review

Posted on April 14, 2024 by dreager1

The adventures of Natsume and his protector Nyanko continue in this season as they help some more Yokai now. By this point you either vibe with the season or you don’t which is typically how a long running title goes. I would say it keeps pace with the previous seasons. It’s not my favorite one out of the batch since Reiko doesn’t get to do much but it’s still on the same level. It succeeds in being a calming series as always with a good array of different stories to keep you entertained.

We start off with a fairly important episode right off the bat. Natsume gets overwhelmed by some Yokai and so he ends up getting captured by Matoba. Matoba takes the chance to try and recruit Natsume although that doesn’t go well. Both characters mainly get to use this chance to discuss their different ideologies. Natsume wants to protect both humans and Yokai while Matoba wants to exterminate them all. If Matoba ever got the Book of Friends it would be a rather attainable goal since he would immediately have an entire army.

Matoba gets a solid amount of hype here as well since he is quickly able to even take out Nyanko. There’s a decent amount of back and forth here as both characters try to keep their hype but it does feel like Matoba has the edge since he is willing to murder Nyanko while the yokai has to hesitate since Natsume doesn’t like bloodshed. I’m glad to see Matoba because the series could use a serious reoccurring villain like this guy. The only tricky thing is that Natsume himself can’t fight so the series will have to squirm its way around why the guy doesn’t just murder the kid. For now we can believe that since he only wants to murder Yokai, destroying Natsume would go against his creed.

I would say the whole Matoba plot outshines the actual Yokai predicament of the episode. You have Lord Rokka who is being hunted by Matoba and Natsume has to help him out a little bit. It’s not bad or anything but you are really laser focused more on the confrontation of ideals which makes sense. I expect that will always be the case when Matoba or Natori is in the episode since they tend to steal the show.

In fact the next episode had a very tough time matching the opening two. You have this mini Yokai puff ball that threatens Natsume and his house if he doesn’t get some help fast. Ultimately Natsume helps out but these kinds of scenarios do help Matoba’s point quite a bit. There are so many Yokai that are constantly trying to murder humans or at least threaten to do so before they are taken down. At the very least it appears that there are more evil Yokai than good ones and that’s rough. At the end of the day you can’t destroy them all but destroying the evil ones makes sense. They’re practically dead already so I feel like sealing them is worse since you are conscious forever.

After that we go with a more emotional episode. There was once a guy and girl who were very much in love with each other but one day the guy died. A yokai decided to pretend to be the guy so he could talk to the girl for a while and keep her from being lonely. This meant he always had to hide indoors and find an excuse for her not to enter. I have to suspend a ton of disbelief here to be honest but it’s a pretty touching tale. Ultimately he should have been honest from the jump though and is super lucky that she wasn’t bitter about the whole thing. Maybe she suspected the truth early on but it’s hard to say. The ending is solid here and it’s nice to have a story about a good natured Yokai over here. At the end of the day, a romance between a human and a Yokai will never end up working out with how different they are though.

We follow that up with another emotional story. This one deals with Natsume’s past and those tend to be some of the most enjoyable episodes. We see things from the point of view of a girl who used to be around there and saw how strange he was. She sort of wishes she had talked with him a bit more but for the most part she just watched and eventually he left for good to the new school. This got kicked off due to a friend of her friend noticing him on the way back from school or something. There’s some mild danger with the girl almost getting hit by a truck but for the most part this was about the feels.

So after that it makes sense that we dive into a more action packed story segment. Our next 2 part adventure! This time Natsume gets rather sloppy and is stuffed into a bottle. Nyanko is forced to go undercover as Natsume in order to rescue him. This is also Tanuma’s big chance to help. He always wants to contribute but Natsume tends to block him out. Well, Natsume can’t quite do that this time eh? It’s a fun teamup and I also think this is Nyanko at his best. His rude demeanor while in Natsume’s body makes for a lot of great humor. The guy absolutely doesn’t care about keeping up appearances.

It’s certainly rough for Natsume since you know that his reputation will never be the same but I dare say this version of him would be a much more interesting protagonist anyway. I like Natsume but he is way more passive after all. Nyanko just tells it like it is. As for Tanuma, it’s great that he wants to help but I totally get why Natsume keeps him to the side. Without the ability to see Yokai everywhere, he would usually be a liability. It’s only in select circumstances where he can be helpful like when he can temporarily see the monsters.

After that is more of a quiet episode but with an interesting pairing. Nyanko and Nanase are both trapped in a pit which gives them time for some banter and to reflect. Nanase gets some actual character development with a glimpse into her past here. I didn’t talk about her much earlier but she works for Matoba as his main assistant/follower of orts. She is knowledgeable and experienced which makes her a great partner to have. So this was fun, again it’s one of those episodes that isn’t the most action packed with high stakes or anything but it works well.

After that is the next big saga as a 2 part adventure. I’d call it more on the fun side this time though as Natsume has to pretend to be a god and compete in a big competition. It’s going to be difficult to win obviously though because he is up against another god. Really he needs to buy time until they can find the genuine thing but he may have been sealed by an exorcist a while back or worse yet, some yokai think he abandoned them. Natori is also on the case here and while he will watch for now, if the villain wins then Natori will have to exorcise him.

While Natori isn’t quite as intense as Matoba in terms of destroying the Yokai, he’s still more aggressive than Natsume. Natori will destroy any spirit who poses a threat and he makes that clear to Natsume here as well. Humans are ultimately going to be his priority so these episodes have some solid stakes to them. It’s a rare case where there is no danger of the villains winning but innocent Yokai will be destroyed as well if Natsume can’t get to the bottom of this in time. It’s an interesting saga that will keep your attention the whole time.

Finally we have the 3 part finale about Natsume remembering his days as one of his old houses and then having to visit there in the present. Basically his father’s house is going to be torn down and it still has a lot of precious memories to him. He tries to keep a brave face about it but he really wants to visit. This stirs up a bunch of old memories and he also has to meet up with one of his old foster families which is a bit awkward. He left on mainly good terms with them although the kid didn’t like him.

It’s easy to see why since at the time he was unable to hide his ability to see Yokai very well. So to the family it would look like he was yelling at nothing and constantly breaking stuff. He ended up running away from home more than once and a lot of rough stuff happened to him. The Yokai really never let him catch a break and it got extra powerful in the current days as well. It’s too bad that he couldn’t ultimately get along with them a bit better. The actual family really seemed like nice people too. They definitely did the best that they could and ultimately it just wasn’t enough. Hopefully Natsume will visit there again someday and make things better.

It works really well as the finale because it’s a good reminder of how difficult Natsume’s life was back in the day. The episodes mainly take place in the present day where everything is rather calm and happy but that only came after years of struggling. Having Nyanko-sensei there to guard Natsume really makes a world of difference. There are scary Yokai all around every corner and without a bodyguard Natsume would be dead in short order. Yeah he definitely has to keep his guard up at all times but at least now if he makes a mistake there is someone to help him.

It makes Reiko extra impressive in how she stood her ground for so long and even caused Yokai to fear her. I’d still love to see a prequel series about her some day. I’m sure she had her own troubles and we’d probably see those even clearer in a series from her point of view but to everyone else she is someone to be feared and that’s definitely hype. Still the best character in the series by far.

On a technical level the series isn’t too impressive and mainly uses the good writing to get by. The animation is okay. It flows well but it’s not going to be catching your eye or anything like that. The soundtrack is super peaceful which makes sense for the show but I could use some more rock themes. I know the show is about the calm vibes but I don’t think that means the soundtrack and everything has to follow suit. You can absolutely go all out even within those confines.

Overall, Natsume’s Book of Friend continues to be a consistently solid series. It may not be a great title or anything like that but it’s one where you can tune in every week and expect a good product. The seasons always feel familiar and so you can jump between episodes from any season without any real issue. There is not much of an end goal since we don’t know how many more demon names are in the book so this can go on for as long as the author of the manga wants. In the meantime I will be ready to continue following it for each season. As long as you enjoy fun little stories like this then you should have a good time here as well. We will see if Natsume ever does end up completing the book or if ultimately the series will have one of those “The adventure continues” endings.

Overall 6/10

Demon Slayer Season 3: Swordsmith Village Arc Review

Posted on March 10, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for the big return of Demon Slayer. The series has been on an upwards track so far but would season 3 be able to sustain this? The Mugen Train arc I consider to be much better than this one after all but at the same time just because that is the case in the manga, doesn’t mean it will track that way in the anime. I preferred the Cell Saga to the Buu saga in the DBZ manga while it’s the opposite in the anime so these things can happen. Either way with only 11 episodes this season goes by extremely fast.

This time it’s the Tanjiro show from start to finish as his two teammates are sidelined the whole time. Tanjiro needs a new sword and heads over to the Swordsmith Village where there are 2 other Hashira hanging around. That’s definitely really handy because Muzan sends his troops over to start murdering everyone. Tanjiro will have to try and stop the demons again but does he really have the ability needed to stop them?

One thing you always have to give Demon Slayer is that there’s not a lot of downtime. We get the intro episodes to set the stage and then from there it’s a nonstop climax. Basically from episode 3 and all the way through to the final episode 11, it’s a bunch of nonstop fights. Ufotable is at the helm so the fights all look spectacular. This is definitely a true spectacle show and I’m always up for that. I think it also helps to mask Demon Slayer’s weaknesses and focus on the strengths.

To me, the series does have one of the weaker casts. Tanjiro is nice and all but he’s not a very entertaining main character. Outside of battle he has no real fire in his soul. He’s a nice guy but that feels like most of his character. There isn’t a ton of fun banter between the characters and so the between arc stuff can feel a bit boring. The first two episodes for example aren’t downright bad or anything but any scene of just hanging around the village can be rather boring. I don’t think the show tends to succeed with its humor or non action shenanigans. Fortunately like I said, this isn’t here for long anyway so it’s not really a big concern.

As to the animation, it’s as great as ever. While it’s fair to say that none of the fights match the highs of season 2, they still look great. It’s not that the animation has dipped at all but just that those fights were even more special. This season has more villains who are using run and gun tactics or long range abilities so there isn’t as much chance to have the kind of brutal close quarters combat that you saw in season 2. So have no fear, this show is still giving maximum effort at all times.

The soundtrack is also great. The opening is another high tier song even if it can’t beat some of the previous ones. It’s definitely catchy all the way through. There are also some great emotional tunes like the one that plays in the final episode and of course you have the usual action ones. The soundtrack is very well balanced all the way through. The technical elements never fail to impress and support the main story.

This is the first season where you start to think that Muzan may not be very smart though. The hints were always there but this one definitely sells it. He’s got all of these powerful demons at the ready and he still hasn’t finished off the Hashira? It’s well established at this point that the demons are way more powerful than the Demon Slayers. If they all rushed in at once then the heroes would be doomed. So why not have the demons attack a town as normal. When the Slayers send a single Hashira as they always do, murder him and wait for the next one. Rinse and repeat a few times since there are only 8-10 Hashira and then you’ve won the war.

At the very end of the season Muzan gets real happy because he’s close to his goal and you just feel like he should have been doing things sooner rather than constantly murdering his own men and hurling threats around. He’s an imposing figure to be sure but definitely not a strategist. I look forward to seeing him finally take the stage even if you feel like the heroes should not even remotely stand a chance. One of the strongest Hashira couldn’t take on one of the top 10 and Muzan should be many leagues stronger than that.

The series has been using each arc to develop the Hashira so lets talk about the ones in this arc. First up we have Mitsuri who even now I would say has one of the smaller roles in the franchise from the group. Still, she does get to take down some giant monsters and helps out in the climax. She may lack some of the raw power that the other members have but her weapon itself is very memorable. Its sheer agility makes it hard to dodge while still being sharp. She’s a good character though so I look forward to seeing more of her.

While the series has always been rather spectacular in terms of avoiding fanservice, the show does indulge a bit for when she appears. It’s a rather quick moment at least so on the whole I would say the show is still really solid in this area. Mitsuri gets an origin story and it’s probably the only one that’s not particularly tragic. Almost everyone has an origin involving a demon murdering their whole family or something like that. I’m glad that she was at least able to avoid that.

Then we have Muichiro who has a big role here. This guy doesn’t really like working with a team and values his life above others since he’s a Hashira. Basically he’s a complete jerk to the point where he beats up anyone who gets in his way. Again this is where Tanjiro loses points for me because he just stands there and takes it. How many times does someone have to beat him up before he fights back in a serious way. A lot of leads wouldn’t put up with half of the stuff that Tanjiro allows and it’s really what holds him back in a significant way.

Back in the day Tanjiro and Deku were compared a lot when talking about how much nicer the modern Shonen leads are but the difference is that I do feel Deku would actually stand up for himself a lot more. Yeah he would put up with a bit extra but he still has a tipping point while it feels like Tanjiro really doesn’t sometimes. Obviously if someone else is in trouble then that is a different story but when it’s just him? Game over man. We see why Muichiro turned out this way from his origin story and by the end he is doing better.

He feels a bit weaker than the average Hashira but the battles had some circumstances including poison. In theory he will look a lot better in the future battles coming up. Then we have Genya, another big jerk. This guy can turn part monster if he eats a part of a demon which is a really handy ability. Unfortunately he’s another slayer who can’t play well with others. Yeah he’s also got a super tragic backstory and everything although if anything he’s the one who ends up looking bad in that one since his brother did the best he could. Genya gets some development here as well but to be honest part of his problem is that I find him weak as well.

That fancy gun of his doesn’t work nearly as well as a classic gun would. It’s fortunate that he has regenerative abilities or he would have been bumped off early. This arc basically has the weakest assortment of Hashira and weaker fighters. While I wasn’t a big fan of Tengen, he was extremely powerful. I’d probably take him in a 2 v 1 fight against the Hashira in this season. His stats were just so far through the roof.

Then we have Kotetsu who does his best to look out for the swords but he gets beat up by Muichiro. He helps train Tanjiro although maybe overdoes it with starving him the whole time. It’s not the most extreme that I’ve seen for training though so it’s not crazy. The kid goes through a lot that’s for sure, you definitely feel bad for him in the season. The guy’s got a ton of determination though because he keeps on trying even after getting stabbed when he’s not even a trained fighter like that.

Hotaru could learn a thing or two from this guy because he’s completely unreliable. He’s mad at Tanjiro the whole time because he blames the lead for his sword breaking. That’s illogical on every level. As the guy who made the sword, it’s obviously on him if the sword breaks. Blaming the guy who used it is incredibly petty to me. He eventually gets over himself and makes the sword but yeah I definitely didn’t like this guy.

Nezuko does well as always here. Her fighting abilities are still really impressive and she is certainly able to hold her own really well even against top level demons. Ultimately they are too much for her but the fact that she can deal damage saves Tanjiro and the others quite a bit. The downside to having regen like this is that she does tend to take the most damage though and always goes through the most violence here. The amount of painful injuries that Nezuko takes is absolutely crazy. She has the most emotional moment in the series near the end for sure. Also the implications from this could be a little worrisome so after finishing the season you wonder how that will go.

Gyokko is the main villain here and he’s definitely one of the more annoying ones. He tends to rely on cheap tricks and running around. His own pride is also what keeps him from murdering the swordsmith when he had the chance. So the guy is not efficient and he’s also not one of the strongest members. That’s just great. He definitely has fun picking on opponents who can’t fight back and for a sleazy villain that’s in character but it does mean that there is no reason to really like him all that much.

The other villain Hantengu is way better. That guy actually can fight a lot and then of course he can split into a lot of other demons. All of the split demons have their own special abilities, names, and personalities. It is definitely one of the more expansive splits I’ve seen in a character. I’m used to characters being able to multiply and everything but becoming unique characters like this? It’s really a lot of fun and is part of why the climax went on so long. He would just keep changing over and over. Then he can also absorb everyone and become super powerful again.

It’s a loop that is super hard to fight against and it’s why it took many fighters to defeat him. His rank is definitely very justified within the demon organization since he should clear most of the fighters in the verse. One on One I dare say that there is likely no member of the Hashira who would be able to defeat him. That’s how impressive this guy is. The heroes really had to rely on sheer numbers and a lot of strategy here. The guy definitely left a lasting impression and I won’t be forgetting him anytime soon.

As in previous seasons I would say the only thing that really holds the show back from being higher is that the violence can still be on the excessive side at times. The origin stories are bleak as always with families being murdered or characters being forced to murder their family because they were turned into demons. The demon system still really feels more like vampires to be honest as it’s practically the same thing. A lot of noncombatants are always thrown into the mix as well which definitely makes you feel bad for them.

Even for the combatants the fighting always gets real intense. I tend to have a bit of a higher threshold there as long as they don’t overdo it, but man does Demon Slayer take this close to the brink. Like in Bleach you always wonder why they aren’t all just dying of blood loss by this point. With the demons having high speed regeneration and everything it’s also why you still can’t picture the humans ever winning. It just seems like an absolutely impossible fight all the way through.

Overall, Demon Slayer continues with its nonstop action here. I really do like how the series just locks in every season with massive fights that span many episodes. In that way it feels like a classic action title like DBZ where the fights would really last a while. I look forward to seeing what comes next even if the next season seems like it could be a little lighter on the action. Until it actually comes out, you never know though. Either way we are slowly getting close to the end here.

Overall 6/10

Mashle Review

Posted on March 10, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to dive into the world of Mashle. A lot of comparisons were drawn to One Punch Man when this came out because the series is about a guy who is extremely powerful physically to the point of having a lot of absurd feats. I would even say his feats start holding their own against Saitama for a little while there but aside from that general part of the premise, it’s not actually all that similar. The blend of humor and action work really well here.

The story starts by introducing us to a world where just about everyone has some kind of magic. If you somehow don’t get this then you will be in a lot of trouble and unfortunately Mash is one such kid. Fortunately as a baby he is taken in by a kind man who raises him for year, Regro. He has done his best to raise Mash in an isolated cabin since then so they are away from the outside world but one day the cops catch on. Mash will now have to enter magic school and pass the exams to become a Divine Visionary. It’s the only way to keep him and pops safe, but how can he compete with these students who all have crazy magical abilities? Well, that’s where the strength comes in!

So with that part it starts to sound a bit more like Black Clover and that’s probably the best series to use as a comparison. No wonder this series is so good right? A lot of the magical abilities are also very creative and powerful so by extension when Mash is taking them on, it makes him look even stronger as well. One thing I’d note right away though is that Mash is never presented as being unbeatable or anything like that. He is super strong but gets damaged and comes close to losing a few different times. He’s always able to think of something in the end but it does ensure that the stakes are high throughout. Mash can be destroyed if he isn’t careful.

There’s also the social stakes of everyone finding out that he doesn’t actually have magic but that’s more for the comedic element. Mash isn’t the smartest guy around and is a terrible liar so more often than not he is practically giving that secret away anyway. He also makes friends rather easily and so they aren’t about to give the secret up. So many people know the secret as each episode flies by that you figure it may not matter as much as everyone thought it would anyway.

What I like about the humor for Mashle is that it’s quite quick witted. There are a lot of great physical gags with Mash doing things that shouldn’t be humanly possible but then you also have the more out of the blue ones that tend to involve creampuffs. One is that no matter what Mash cooks or what ingredients he uses, it always ends up becoming a creampuff. It’s like a curse, but a beneficial one since that’s his favorite food anyway. The gags tend to be really funny with this one and there is a good variety of jokes to be had here so it never gets repetitive or anything like that either.

The show tends to lean a bit harder on the action than the comedy but it executes both really well which is the important thing. When the show wants to get serious, it definitely nails the tone. The fights are really solid and very creative with the abilities like I mentioned before. Mash may occasionally undercut the tone with a gag but for the most part if it’s a serious fight then it’ll really stay that way.

Fortunately the animation is up to the task. I wouldn’t call this a particularly high budget show for the most part but they knew their priorities. For example the average scene of standing around or moving through different locations won’t look great. The animation tends to be a tad spotty there but all of the important fights quickly dial up the intensity quite a lot. Any plot important fight will generally look great so the show knows how to turn it up when necessary. That’s important because you need to look good to properly convey the serious feats happening here.

Then for the soundtrack, that part’s a little more forgettable. I wasn’t a big fan of the opening. I feel like it was trying to feel like One Punch Man to encourage discussions and comparisons but it just didn’t work. It wasn’t particularly catchy. Then the show itself had some decent tunes but none that really stood out. I’d like to see the soundtrack improve in season 2 because I do think of it as a bit of a weak point right now. Nothing that would seriously hurt the show of course but it’s certainly not helping it either.

One of Mashle’s strengths is how each character really stands out. Part of what makes them so memorable are the striking colors for each one. While the animation may not always be super sharp, the colors always stand out. The character designs are on point and the show is just very bright. It has an early 2000s vibe to it with everything being so vibrant and the show is really easy to watch. It’s the kind of title you can pick up and play at any time, although it’s not like there are a ton of episodes so it’s not something you can watch too often for now unless you want to really get it played out.

Now let talk about the characters. First I do have to note that a lot of characters get off a bit too easy here Yeah forgive and forget is all nice and good sometimes but these guys go very far. Like Brad, one of the police officers was definitely going to murder Regro and would have murdered Mash if he wasn’t so weak. The guy has clearly been abusing his power for a long time now and so he should be in jail after that. Ultimately the show is more comedic in nature so these things tend to get overlooked but when you really think about it….it just doesn’t work. I can’t say I ever liked Brad much. He sticks around as a supporting character but never gets better if you ask me.

Regro doesn’t get to do much but he gets a lot of points for looking after Mash for so many years. He’s a good guy and really did his best. That’s the whole reason Mash is so motivated in trying to succeed at the magic academy. Meanwhile Mash is a solid lead. He may not be quite as charismatic as some other Shonen leads and isn’t exactly the most fired up character that you will see. However, his gags do tend to be funny and he has a solid amount of rage moments for when it’s time to protect his friends and I can always appreciate that.

Then we have another petty character in Claude. Again, the show could have been harsher with this guy. He was actively blackmailing a student and then kept trying to get in Mash’s way. He’s a straight up villain the whole time and I’m not super convinced that he is suddenly going to be a big hero going forward. I just don’t get those vibes from him but hey I could be wrong.

The main heroine of the show is Lemon but she never actually gets a super big role. She doesn’t look good initially as she makes the wrong calls but ultimately she gets better…at least a little bit. The problem is that her main personality trait is that she’s in love with Mash and that’s about it. So that doesn’t really make for much of a complete character. It just means that she will be really one note for most of the adventure and she also can’t really fight that well which knocks her out of most situations.

The same can be said for Finn who is a support mage at best. He’s always really nervous and can’t keep up with the other characters’ shenanigans. He’s just not my kind of character. I prefer to see characters with a whole lot of unwavering confidence who grin in the face of evil. Characters who aren’t afraid to mix it up with the villains and all of that. You know that they’re building something up for Finn but it’s going to take a while and so right now he’s on the lower end of the cast.

We’ve got another petty bully character in Lloyd. In a way that’s how you can describe all 3 of the first villains. This guy likes picking on the weak and that’s about it so as you can imagine Mash makes short work of him. There’s not much to like about this guy and he’s fairly forgettable. Fortunately the villains get better as the show goes on because that’s definitely a rocky start. Another villain who is more on the annoying side is Lauren. She basically uses her magic to make guys fall for her before Silva goes and knocks them out. It’s definitely not a magic that will work on most of the stronger fighters in the verse so that really knocks her out of the running early on. Nothing particularly interesting about her either.

Okay now we get to the bigger characters. First up we have Lance who is a pretty strong rival type of character. He challenges Lance early on and gives him a really good fight. It’s probably the first time in the series that Mash has a really solid challenge in combat. His character’s gimmick of being obsessed with his sister is definitely overplayed and annoying though. It’s his one bad trait and otherwise he’s one of the most intense characters in the series. You can always count on him dealing serious damage and all of his fights are a blast. Definitely one of the standout characters in the series to be sure.

Then you have Dot who is a lot more talkative and rather loud but unfortunately he is very easy to trick. The guy lowers his guard a whole lot and tends to feel really bad for himself. I’d definitely like to see him man up a bit more often. He does get his big moments of course but they are usually outnumbered by him being humiliating. He is one of the funnier characters which works in his benefit but definitely expect him to eat a lot of Ls. It’s too bad because he’s the character with the fire type magic so you could say that he takes up that lot there.

Another hero is Rayne although he doesn’t show up until later. Also, he’s one of those guys who doesn’t like those without magic to the point where you could argue that it basically makes him a villain as well. He was absolutely ready to take Mash down and would have if he was stronger. He’s the kind of guy that’s great to have around to fight the villains but you can’t trust him at all.

Then there is the headmaster of the school Wahlberg, but I can’t give him too much credit. Part of the problem with this guy is that he’s a nice enough guy but he still has people that he answers to. This means that he will make compromises even if he knows that it’s not the right thing to do. It’s a big issue in any series because in my mind you have to follow justice no matter what. If that means disobeying direct orders and such…well so be it. That’s just how it has to go.

His evil counterpart Innocent Zero gets a lot of hype but doesn’t really do anything in this season. You can definitely see that they’re building up to a big confrontation like an All Might vs All For One kind of deal so that will be fun. Likewise one of his top subordinates is a guy called Cell War who hasn’t had a chance to do a ton but in his brief screentime we see that he is incredibly powerful. Another true threat to Mash so the hero will definitely have to watch out. The season ends with a lot of intrigue for part 2 so you definitely want to stick around.

For the villains who are in this season though, Silva is a pretty solid one. He’s definitely a villain who plays dirty and uses every trick to win but he’s also very powerful. Even without his cheap tricks he would be able to defeat a lot of opponents. That’s part of what helps him stick out. If he was weak then he would come off as more petty than anything but like this the guy is on point. He leaves a real impression on you. Anser is another decently solid villain. The guy is the brainy type although that is also used against him as the guy’s main gag. I enjoyed his fight a good deal he ends up being a villain who can stand out. He’s not one of the most powerful by any means but he can hold his own.

Then we have Abel who is a really big deal. The guy’s ability to use many puppets at once is really impressive and he’s actually someone who did give Mash a run for his money. The guy looks great right from the start and also lasts for a little while which makes him stand out more. He’s got his own reasons for fighting and ultimately while he is a villain from the start, he’s fun to watch. He even plays off of Mash’s gags a bit here and there.

Abyss comes in later and strength wise is easily one of the most impressive. He can use arrows in the air much like Medusa to speed himself up and he can also use them to mess with his opponent’s movements. It’s an incredibly difficult spell to work around because you will be really disoriented the whole time. All it takes is one big mistake and then you are gone. Almost any fighter except for Mash would have lost this battle which just proves that point. Abyss is a very complete villain with a lot of solid development.

For some more minor villains who were pretty hype, next up is Shuen. I ultimately thought he was fun. The guy even made his opponent Dot jealous because of how good he is. That’s a fight he probably should have won too, I had my doubts on Dot really being able to turn things around there. He may not really get to do anything going forward but he made for a good villain. Likewise Jon was solid with his kitchen themed attacks. A good gimmick goes a long way so even though he may not return to do anything, it was a good appearance nonetheless.

Love, Wirth, and Milo fall into this camp as well. Each one appears for a quick fight and looks good. I liked their designs and overall confidence. They may be very minor villains almost by definition but they definitely trounce the average oneshot villain. Mashle really excels when it comes to making enjoyable characters like this. There are other characters but these are the main ones. The show has already done a lot of solid worldbuilding and set things up well for the second season so we’re in good hands.

Overall, Mashle was definitely great. It’s the kind of show that just feels good to watch with a lot of quality humor and good action scenes. You will definitely never be bored watching this one and the action is always a lot of fun. If you were worried about having to compare it to One Punch Man, you should still check it out anyway. Obviously I’m on Team One Punch Man overall but both shows definitely have their place here and I look forward to seeing more of Mash’s adventures soon!

Overall 8/10

Kimi No Todoke: From Me to You Season 2 Review

Posted on February 28, 2024 by dreager1

Yeah we’re back with the next Kimi No Todoke season already! Unfortunately this one isn’t quite as solid as the first season. I do have to deduct a star for the characters taking Ls all over the place in a lot of situations where things should have been easily resolved. The drama feels quite a bit forced in a lot of ways. Ultimately I would say the show still goes back to its more wholesome roots in time but it’s not quite the carefree adventure that season 1 was. Of course it’s not a bad thing to get more serious and dramatic but you really have to earn it and I don’t feel like this season did.

After the events of the fist season, Kazuhaya and Sawako are a couple now. They did spend Christmas and New Year’s together after all so things were going great. Wait…they’re not together? Wait a minuteeeeeeee….and so the drama begins! All right so I know this can actually happen to some people where they don’t clearly assign the labels and don’t know that they’re dating but this is a bit much. Spending the holidays together in an obviously romantic setting should signal some bells. This isn’t even a case of the characters being together and just being embarrassed about their friends knowing. This is both characters actually thinking that the other may not see them romantically. Looks like Ayane and Chizuru are going to have a whole lot of work ahead of them. Particularly when a new guy named Miura shows up to stir the pot.

This season is about half the length of the first so it’s not very long and yet it should have only been 2 episodes based on the events that happen. Lets quickly talk about some of the plot conveniences here. First up, for Valentine’s Sawako makes everyone chocolates instead of Kazuhaya. Her reasoning is that they’re friendship chocolates and so she feels awkward because she’s not sure if it’s really friendship with him. So what does she do? She doesn’t give him anything and goes home. I’m also not giving her any excuses like Kurumi getting in her way because Kurumi just offers up a level 1 mental games remark that works for some reason.

At this point Sawako just needs to do better, particularly since Kurumi said they are rivals now. So she’s not going to go easy on her right? Well, Kazuhaya feels bad after that but he still tries. He says good morning to her the next few days and everything…but Sawako ignores him because she is feeling too flustered. She’s happy that he is talking to her but doesn’t know what to say. The problem is that part of her character has always been talking to explain things so there are no misunderstandings. Now she is suddenly the one being silent. At one point he even walks up to her and straight up asks what is going on and she has no real answer.

Meanwhile he has to watch the new guy Miura talking to her constantly, telling her to smile and all kinds of stuff. She is able to chat with literally everyone normally…except for him. It doesn’t help that he gets advice from lots of characters about how he doesn’t really understand her and everything. So a lot of this is on her for not communicating.

Finally he does make a big flub where he decides to confess but does it in such a roundabout way that it doesn’t work. “I like you” is the worst possible way to confess your feelings because it is probably the only main phrasing that could be misinterpreted. Then he and Sawako both have a parallel conversation where they misunderstand each other. I give Pin all the credit there when he told Kazyhaya that he blew it. Cmon you can do better than that. So then next Kazuhaya tries to be more distant so he doesn’t bother Sawako and everyone gets on his case about that.

In this case I’ll defend him. What else is he supposed to do? From his point of view, Sawako just flat out rejected him so he should give her a little space right? He’s not being mean or anything, that’s just a logical step. Of course meanwhile everyone else knows what is going on but aren’t telling him or Sawako. So yeah a lot of the drama here just doesn’t work. They could have texted each other at any point, actually spoken some words, etc. This season would have worked better in a way if the events were earlier on. Like before Christmas since they were at least slightly more distant before. By this point it’s just too late in the game.

Ironically the main romance was a lot more complete and natural in season 1 when it had to share with Chizuru while this season is all for them and now everything is going wrong. It’s still better than most Shojo romances by far because there are no rebounds for either of them and neither one of them ever even thinks about someone else. Even while their relationship is rocky, both characters want to find a way to make it work. That’s what puts the romance above the average one. The whole drama in this one is still out of left field and makes no mistake but if you think about it as a test, both still pass in loyalty.

The ending also would work as the ending to the series with the plotlines wrapped up. This time they both very clearly admit to dating so there should be no way for season 3 to reverse this. If they do then that would be absolutely crazy. Far as I’m concerned the rest of the series should just be about the two of them hanging out and making lots of fun memories. That’s the kind of wholesome series I signed up for after all. The show can feel free to dodge the usual story beat of having everyone find a partner as well. Just let them all hang out solo and focus on the main duo.

So even with the drama, Kazuhaya is still a good main character. He may have run into some issues but I do think he still fought for Sawako fairly hard. He still shuts down anyone trying to give her a hard time and does his best to be a good role model. The guy has a quick fuse and gets jealous easily so the fact that he’s always so nice and pleasant around Sawako is good. As you can guess from the earlier summary I’m a bit harsher on Sawako here. I feel like she did a lot of backsliding in terms of development.

Her season 1 character felt a little more self assured and confident. I feel like she would have spoken up in a lot of these circumstances and not let things go quite so far. She could have easily stopped the drama in the first place and then it would not have been an issue. By the end of the season she has regained her composure so that puts her in a good spot at least. Hopefully in the next one she can be solid from start to finish and then we will really be in business.

Meanwhile Ayane is still solid as always. With all of the drama in place she really has to work overtime to make sure that things don’t go wrong. In some cases she doesn’t find out the info right away so she isn’t always there to help but I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to be 100% tapped into all of the drama at all times. There’s just too much information but she is a caring person and has the confidence that Sawako needs. So at least that’s someone she can always count on.

Then there’s Chizuru who gets less to do in this season since her plot is done with. Right now with her and Ryu nothing’s really developing so they aren’t taking up the screentime there. She does her best to help Sawako out as well even though she doesn’t always understand the situation. She means well. Then Ryuu gets to help out a bit with Kazehaya. He’s really the only person that the main guy can turn to and it is important to have at least one friend. Ryuu doesn’t tend to talk much but even just having him around to listen is good.

Quick shoutout to say that Joe is still the worst character. Even Kazehaya has to tell him off at one point. Kurumi doesn’t get as much to do here but she is a solid rival. She tells Sawako the tough truths when necessary and always does it in a way where it sounds like an attack even though she is helping out. Now those are some serious skills. I can definitely appreciate that. She even slaps the new guy Miura in what was a pretty impressive animation moment with how fast she went. She’s like Ayane, but even tougher. Kurumi definitely turned out to be one of the best characters and in this season at least, she is second only to Pin.

Pin still gets the top spot of course. Do I even need to go into why that is? The guy is always ready for a lot of advice. Like Kurumi he tends to put on an act (It’s a different act though) but sneaks in some good nuggets of wisdom into his speeches. The characters rarely ever give him any props but he does look out for his students. I’d even say he does a very good job of it, the main characters would have taken longer to get back together if not for him.

Finally there is the new character Miura. So his gimmick is that he’s a nice guy and that’s a pretty good one but of course the characters don’t trust him. There’s a reason why the term “Nice Guy” is pretty much a meme at this point. Someone who acts super nice usually has something that he is hiding and doesn’t end up being all that pleasant at all. I would even say he already starts to break character here as he asks Sawako out like 3 different times. It’s my main problem with him. For the most part he’s a fun character and I do like that he’s trying to help but it goes too far when he actually tries to insert himself like that.

It makes you doubt all of the previous advice and if he was actually trying to help her or just intentionally trying to cause misunderstandings. So like 95% of his scenes are good for the character but the remaining ones hurt. I think he’s an interesting figure that does add a lot to the mix though. I like the idea of a character who wants to play cupid for everyone while avoiding a relationship of his own but you know that this can’t last. Inevitably he will be paired up with someone and then that will be the end of his big character arc. He’s a meddler right now but at least one you could make a decent case for. The guy does lose objectivity when it comes to Sawako though. Pretty crazy that the series only really had one big new character right? Just goes to show that this series doesn’t need to inflate the cast.

As for the technical aspects, the soundtrack is good. There’s one theme that I always tend to enjoy and while the soundtrack isn’t large, it tends to fit the scene well enough. The opening never really caught on for me though. Even romantic shows can afford to have a more fast paced beat if you ask me. Throw in some fun instruments and a lot of energy. Then I will be game 100%. The animation is a noticeable step up from the first season though. The first season had so many scenes where all the details were missing while this one is fairly consistent. It’s still not a top tier show or anything like that but when the improvement is noticeable like this it does jump another level. Particularly after seeing both seasons almost back to back it stands out.

Overall, This second season may not have been quite as pleasant as the first but it’s still a good show. I had a good time either way and compared to other titles it is still rather tame with the drama. One thing I can always be grateful about is that none of the characters did anything irredeemable or major while they were upset. They didn’t say anything hurtful that would need apologizing for later on. The characters are always very mature here even when things are going badly and that’s why the writing in this show is really good. I would definitely say to check this one out and now we just gotta wait for that third season.

Overall 6/10

Little Witch Academia Review

Posted on February 28, 2024 by dreager1

All right, it’s time to talk about a very wholesome slice of life title. Yeah you could probably throw some other genres into this one but that’s what I think of when talking about this show. It’s got magic, fantasy, and spells but for the most part it’s about the girls living their day to day lives and having a lot of fun. It’s a very pleasant show and one where I do think the animation is part of what helps it turn up to the next level. They had a lot of fun going crazy here.

The show starts off with Akko getting ready to start her first day at magic school! As a kid she always looked up to Shining Chariot and so now this is her chance to follow in the legend’s footsteps. The only problem is that Akko has a very low aptitude for magic. No matter how often she trains, she has trouble performing even the most basic of spells. Throughout the show she has to try and keep her confidence up while watching everyone else easily excel. Fortunately she makes two friends in Lotte and Sucy and even gets a rival in the prodigy Amanda. Along the way Akko may even have to save the world…or at least the school.

So yeah this is one of those shows that can be fairly episodic for most of the run but there are ongoing plots in the background. One of them for example is that their teacher Ursula is a bit mysterious. As the viewer you find out that she is Shining Chariot almost immediately but the characters don’t know that. Part of the mystery is why did she retire in the first place and then additionally, why not just tell everyone?

The only tricky thing with a plot like this is you are always looking forward to it getting more screentime. You want to see what happens with Shining Chariot but typically the show only gives you some breadcrumbs. It’s not until deep in the second half of the show that you get to see her having more action. Even by the end of the series, my favorite episode was easily when she infiltrates the villain, Croix’s base. We get to see why she was the top witch as she’s jumping past enemies and using a lot of crazy acrobatics.

In Chariot mode her eyes and hair even change color. It definitely makes for a perfect disguise in that way since nobody should reasonably be able to figure out her secret. If she’s stressed then her eyes change color though so she has to watch out for that. She’s definitely one of my favorite characters even if her inaction can be a bit annoying at times. She should have told everyone about Croix right away. I know in general she wants to be a nice person and doesn’t want to jump the gun but once lives are at stake then you really have to make a move.

Again this isn’t typically an action series but it certainly happens at times. You have dragons and then near the end you have Croix and her machines. The machines are pretty fun and definitely have a whole lot of uses to them. Croix is also a fun villain. Naturally she does have a backstory and everything but the show committed to her being an antagonist a lot more than I figured. For part of the show I was expecting it to all be some kind of massive misunderstanding. Sure, we find out her reasons for doing all of this but she was actually causing damage and could have easily murdered Chariot and Akko at different points. Croix was really resolute in her goal for most of the run so she worked really well as a villain.

Before I talked about the animation and part of why it’s so good is because of how fast it is. You really feel the speed going by when Akko gets her magic staff and zooms through at super speed. Shining Chariot gets some good animation whenever she shows up and all the action scenes are great. The animation goes one step further though and is also very expressive during normal scenes. I think what caught my eye the most were the facial expressions. Akko always has different funny faces going on when she is frustrated, excited, bored, etc.

It’s the kind of show you could watch on mute and you could always tell what her mood is. I dare say she may have had the best facial expressions I’ve seen in anime. It really helps to play up the humor. For example with standard animation this may have been more of a 6 but it gives the show an extra boost because it’s always just a lot of fun. Now at times the show almost feels like it has some fanservice with how short the costumes are and how the animation is so high budget that the wind is constantly blowing as they’re jumping around but I feel like the show was just careful enough to never go too far there.

There may be a little fanservice here and there but for the most part I really do think the show isn’t going for that. It’s more just showing off the special effects than anything and there’s no perv characters or anything running around. If anything this is a very safe all ages kind of show and it’s even got some nice morals throughout. It’s not a literal “Dear Celestia, today I learned…” but usually there’s something about never giving up, trusting your friends, learning that others have their own problems, etc. So in that way it can almost feel part educational. I think this would have fit right in as a Saturday morning cartoon.

In terms of world building I think the show isn’t always perfect though. It’s always fairly ambiguous just how much the average human knows about the witches. On one hand they have to get investors for the school so the rich people kind of know about it but some seem to think it’s all just a big hoax/scam. That would be fine if the witches weren’t right there but it’s extremely easy to prove that witchcraft is real. I’d have preferred either they went the X-Men route and just pretended to be a normal school, or that everyone just knows about them and they’re cool with it. I feel like the show sort of goes in the latter direction but it’s just not as clear as you would expect.

In terms of the soundtrack, it’s not nearly as memorable as the animation. I’d say it sounds okay. I’m not a big fan of either opening but they work well enough. If the show was more action based then this would be more of a problem but for a slice of life the music isn’t something you focus on as much. As long as it isn’t downright bad then we’re always still in business. Now lets start talking about some of the characters. I wouldn’t say the show’s cast is all that big to be honest. There are a lot of one shot characters and also a bunch of mild supporting characters but for the most part the core cast is never big.

Akko is the main character and she’s a fun heroine. The storyline of the main character not being able to use magic or whatever power is normal in the setting isn’t anything new, but she doesn’t really get a cop out for it. Usually in titles like this, the main character secretly gets the strongest power (Magical Index), secretly always had powers, (Mashle) or gets a power that is just labeled differently. (Black Clover) Notice the cop out here, they can all actually fight. In this case, Akko can use magic to a small degree, she’s just not good at it. She will continue to improve over time but she’s not secretly the most powerful or anything.

At best she gets little glimpses of what a mage would be like by getting a special wand that works for everyone briefly and also with the magic broom. Neither of these are permanent power ups though so she still has to work hard every day. We also get an actual story reason for why it’s so difficult for her and it’s a pretty emotional twist. It really changes the whole dynamic of the show and also isn’t waved away by the end. If we ever got more seasons I’d be curious on what happens next. Akko may get sad at times but for the most part she never stays feeling sorry for herself for very long though.

One of her best friends is Lotte who is more of a brainy type of character. You can sometimes guess a character’s personality and strengths right from the design and this is one of those cases. There’s nothing wrong with Lotte but she’s never one of the more interesting characters. She tends to be fairly quiet and isn’t super ambitious so there just isn’t a lot you can really do with that character in the dynamic. She does have a plotline involving a book series that she enjoys though and that appears several times.

Then there is Sucy and I never became a fan of hers. My main problem is that she’s a little too drastic in her opening appearances. She nearly gets Akko murdered to which she is not apologetic and then tests her poisons and plants on her. She’s not the kind of friend you would want to have. Not only does Sucy always cause a lot of trouble but it’s the lethal kind. You want a friend who might pull some pranks or something on you but would never go quite so far. That’s where you have to put your foot down because it’s gone above the line.

Diana is one of the standout characters here though. She’s the classic genius/prodigy type of character so you know that she has absolute confidence. She’s rich as well which is an added bonus and is always outperforming Akko. By all accounts they shouldn’t even be rivals but Amanda doesn’t really dissuade Akko from this and just focuses on her own techniques. Part of what I like about Amanda is we see many times just how hard she trains and studies. As she tells Akko, she’s not the best because she’s just that talented, it’s because she trains the hardest.

I think more times than not this is true. The people exceling and doing a terrific job have actually put the work in. No matter how much of a prodigy you are, if you never train then you won’t go anywhere. I think it helps Akko see things in a different light and in general Diana is also just a very responsible person. While she has her banter with Akko, Diana never says anything particularly hurtful or ever tries to get in the lead’s way. She’s really a good role model all the way through.

There are a bunch of other classmates around. Some have big roles and some are more on the small side. The one I would mainly say is big enough to get a write up would be Amanda. She shows up a bit later in the show and is like a second rival. She’s super competitive and talks a good game. I thought she added a lot to the dynamic so I was glad to see her around. It’s always good to have another character with a ton of confidence to really shake things up.

For example we already have plenty of quiet characters like Constanze. She’s a genius and great at her craft but she’s not exactly the outgoing type. Nothing wrong with that but it does mean that she won’t tend to be quite as interesting. It’s always nice to see Akko gradually get to all of the characters and break the shells around them though. Also there is one human with a fairly big role and his name is Andrew. He’s the son of one of the biggest investors in the show and he always grew up being told that the witches were scams and not to take them seriously. After meeting Akko he learns the truth and also starts to slowly stand up for himself. So he has a good character arc here and has a lot more confidence than he used to.

The guy was never super timid or anything like that but he did have a tough time talking back to his father. He would just defer to the guy but now he can make his own decisions so that’s always a good thing. In a show like this you can probably imagine that there is some shipping going on, but for the most part this is avoided. I think that’s a good thing since this should just be a show more about having fun. The romantic drama can certainly wait and take a backseat for now. Finding the different inscriptions for the staff is already enough of an active plot to keep you super invested while still having a good time.

Overall, Little Witch Academia is a pretty fun show. It’s a fairly low stakes adventure for most of its run but will dial up the tension from time to time. There’s a lot of fun moments here and some quality characters to follow for the whole duration. You’ll have a good time for the entire run. At most you might just wish there were a few more action scenes for Shining Chariot to show off her skills. Even past her prime and without using her powers she is a complete threat in combat so you wish you could see her in her prime. A prequel starring her as the main character would be great someday! In the meantime I would definitely recommend this show if you’re looking for a solid feel good title.

Overall 7/10

Sword of the Stranger Review

Posted on February 28, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for an anime film that got pretty well known back in the day. A lot of people definitely heard of this one before too long for all of those big action scenes. It’s definitely a movie that goes hard as a thriller and there’s always a lot going on but it does go a bit too far on the violence. It’s just so excessive after a point and distracts from what is otherwise a pretty engaging film even if the lead takes too long to really start fighting.

The film starts with a kid named Kotaro and his dog managing to survive out in the cruel world with their wits and speed. They steal food and keep on moving because they are being pursued by many powerful adversaries. For some reason the government themselves seem to want him. He is attacked by an assassin but saved by No Name just in the nick of time. This guy doesn’t really want to get involved but Kotaro says he will pay No Name if he can safely get the kid and his dog over to a certain temple where they should be safe. The dog got poisoned trying to protect No Name so he agrees. What he doesn’t realize is that this will be a much bigger/more dangerous mission than he had ever suspected. Does he have what it takes to survive?

No Name is clearly skilled with a blade and can fight with the best of them but he’s really tried to leave that life behind him. We get a flashback showing what happened but you can probably guess early on since it is a fairly popular trope for wandering swordsmen like this. Perhaps not the exact same circumstances but always something very much like this. He’s a good guy at the end of the day who will protect those in front of him though. It would just help if he would go all out from the start and he probably could have saved more lives that way.

For example, one of the big villains Luo-Lang bumps into him at one point and tries to pick a fight but No Name refuses to draw his blade. It would have created a scene but imagine how different things would be if he had taken that guy down? Then in the climax, No Name misses most of it and only shows up at the very end. The heroes really could have used him there. Although when I talk about the heroes I’m really just talking about Kotaro and the dog. There aren’t really any other heroic figures here when you think about it.

There is a lot of internal strife going on between the Japanese and Chinese forces here. Basically China has started to slowly take Japan over by bringing more and more of their fighters here and the corrupt people at the top of the Japanese foodchain don’t really care as long as they get some profits. So there ends up being some betrayal on both ends. The climax is mainly those two groups fighting each other while No Name has to make it in time to prevent Kotaro from being sacrificed.

What I was surprised about was that the Japanese side actually does pretty well. Luo-Lang and his squad are hyped up as being supremely powerful so you expect them to shred everybody but they actually have their share of losses. I suppose in a way you could just say this is a fair way for thing to play out though. As skilled as they were, they were heavily outnumbered. It was something like 300 against 10 people. So each of the fighters took a ton of warriors down but would eventually succumb. By the time No Name gets there, there are maybe 2 fighters left.

Fortunately the Luo-Lang vs No Name fight definitely lives up to the hype. It is a great action scene with a lot of good choreography all the way. I also liked the intro fight between No Name and the first assassin. Beyond that, there aren’t many more close fights like that. There are a ton of massacre scenes of everyone being destroyed of course but those aren’t so much fights as one sided stomps most of the time. It’s why I give some credit to the climax where the ordinary soldiers actually start getting some wins. I really would never have guessed that this would have happened.

Despite all of the hype and action though, the violence does drag the film down a lot as I mentioned. It’s extremely excessive with characters being tortured and ripped apart. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen this level of violence happening during the fights. If it wasn’t bad enough to see the actual battles like that, they also had to rope the horses in. Part of the problem with films that take place in the past like this is that most of the fighters are all riding horses who get hit in the crossfire. A ton of horses get destroyed along with the human fighters here.

The dog also gets injured early on which is what triggers most of the plot. At least for that one they didn’t go too far with it and you knew he’d be okay but the horses are another matter. That’s definitely something that should have been cut. Even with that the general violence would have probably kept this from being too high either way but it definitely adds another layer.

I will say that the ending itself is really solid. You can interpret it different ways but I would say it’s a pretty happy ending. I think things turned out well and that’s good since No Name is a solid main character. Kotaro is a bit on the annoying side. He’s a kid so that’s to be expected but it would have been great if he could have helped out a little more. The dog was super impressive with how fast he was and how he could grab the weapons in mid air though. That’s not something that most dogs could pull off.

As for the villain side, I generally thought all of the Chinese fighters were fairly cool. I liked the outfits and they were definitely all down to business when the fights started. Luo-Lang stands out the most though for obvious reasons. He’s the most powerful and gets the big fight in the end. He at least has some kind of honor code and wants to win fair and square. The guy just wants to be the strongest no matter what so he won’t claim a fraudulent victory. You need a good villain like that to really keep things interesting.

Overall, Sword of the Stranger has a pretty good plot. The concept is a little better than the execution though. I’m still surprised at how No Name doesn’t get more action scenes with the sword. I really would have changed it so that he had to go through the castle and take out all 10 members on his own. Would have been a great way to show off his skills over a longer period of time. Of course the film would still need to tone down the violence a lot and cut out the horses to really be successful but these are some things I would have done. If the intensity doesn’t bother you then I definitely recommend checking this one out but otherwise you’re better off watching the Kenshin anime.

Overall 3/10

My Hero Academia Season 6 Review

Posted on February 27, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for the next My Hero saga. This one actually came out a while ago but I at least needed to make sure I got the review up before season 7 starts right? The first half is a ton of nonstop action since it picks up right where the last season left off and then we get the Dark Deku stuff in the second half. It all still feels pretty recent in the manga which shows how close the anime has kept up to it. This is another great season and there’s definitely a lot of great stuff to enjoy here.

So yeah we start off pretty quickly with the pro heroes raiding the enemy base. They have finally figured out where the scientist is growing their artificial Nomu fighters and all of the younger heroes are on standby. It’s a good thing that they were around because the League of Villains warp all of their fighters outside right away so this does become the big war right out of the gate. Everyone is here from Shigaraki to Dabi. Are the heroes prepared to take this many fighters down without their #1 hero All Might? Also they have to keep civilian casualties to a minimum which will be difficult when the villains have this amount of firepower at the ready.

First lets quickly go through the technicals. The animation is really solid here. There was no real dropoff at any point this time so you could always count on a lot of high speed choreography and great special effects. The fights here have a lot of impact and the show just looks really good from start to finish. This is a show that had a really solid budget backing it up. Meanwhile there are a lot of good battle themes here. Some of them are definitely used from older seasons but this season also has some new tunes. It’s a good mix as you would expect.

The pacing is really good with each episode keeping you roped in. The Dark Deku arc after the war could have very easily felt a little too scaled down next to all of that action but it’s an arc that made a lot of sense. After the fight Deku realized that keeping all of the kids safe would be extremely difficult with all of the villains gunning for him. So he chooses to go it alone. He doesn’t even remove all contact or anything. He actually does this in collaboration with the police and 3 of the top ranking pro heroes. As in everything Deku does, he made this plan really logically.

It’s why in the second arc I do disagree with the overall moral. A lot of times in shows or movies there will be a big message where the main hero’s friends and family remind him that he’s not alone. He needs to lean on them more and then they can tackle the opponents as one big unit. It’s a really emotional message of course and I get the logic here but it doesn’t work in this setting. The main message here is that Deku should have trusted his classmates and needs to stick around. They can take care of themselves and the school will back them up. So that’s the argument that is being made. I get the case but lets look at the facts here.

The majority of the students can’t fight at a high level. What can a boy who has a hard tail do against fighters who can light up whole city blocks? Froppy can stick her tongue out while Twice can make thousands of clones that are all powerful. These kids just aren’t ready for combat and that’s not even touching on the fact that the school is doubling as a shelter. This means that tons of civilians who can’t fight at all are also trapped in there. It can’t be very reassuring to see the main target of the villains staying there with you.

I raked Deku through the coals for his decision with Eri a while back but this time I have to say that he was 100% correct and the rest of the cast was wrong. He was being selfless in going out on his own because the villains could show up at any point. They have a tracker quirk meaning they can find Deku at any time. His whereabouts are never a secret so his only plan is to let the villains find him. If he stayed at the school then most of their lives would be forfeit because the villains could just launch a bunch of rockets.

There are some valid counter points like All For One using this as a scheme to tire Deku out but my counter would be…what alternative is there? Don’t tell me going back to school is the answer. Additionally, Deku was very efficient on his own. He takes down Lady Nagant and Muscular on his own and saves other people in the process. Those people would all be dead if he wasn’t out in the field. So….I think Deku just justified his position. Also you have to consider the fact that he is doing this as an official operation with a few heroes. It’s perhaps off the books but he hasn’t gone rogue. The whole Dark Deku thing was handled masterfully and so I wish it could have gone on longer.

This is the only arc in the series that I felt was a bit rushed. There’s just so much more you could have done with this plot. Also contrary to what you may be thinking, it’s not like Deku got super edgy either. He’s still the same hero he always was, but is willing to say “No” and actually disagree with All Might now. He still tries to be a symbol of peace and smile for the people that he is saving, there just isn’t much to smile about right now.

The climax is definitely the cheesiest in the series. Mainly because of the power levels at work here. Uh oh, power scaling?? Yeah we’re power scaling here! Realistically the only hero from Class 1-A who could even hope to tag Deku is Bakugou and even then his overall aerial mobility is not in the same league as Deku’s. Deku should be able to easily dodge him and leave. If this was a fight then it would be tougher since Deku would want to restrain them without hurting them but just escaping? He should have been out of range in an instant. So I didn’t buy into the whole fight and how they were somehow fast enough to keep up with him. No shot imo. It was still a fun arc though and had some really fun action scenes. Both Deku fights that I mentioned earlier were animated really well and the fights had a good amount of tension.

I mean, Deku should have beaten her a lot easier as well, but let me not get too much further into the power levels. At the end of the day, the higher a verse’s power levels start to go, the more you are going to find power level issues. It’s a natural evolution of what’s going to happen there, because how could it not right? Shigaraki for example is so broken now because he just has to touch you and he’s dead. So the show does its best to show why he is never able to touch anyone but now he has hypersonic speeds and is one of the fastest characters in the verse with incredible strength and instant regeneration? The heroes should all be dead. I have to be 100% real with you right now, they should all be 6 feet under. The villains are way too broken at this point. Only a bloodlusted Deku should be able to keep up and everyone else is absolute fodder at this point. Even if we count the pros, only Mirko and Endeavor should be able to fight at this level of combat.

I talked about the Dark Deku arc a lot because that one was always a real highlight and fun to discuss but lets talk about the characters now. Deku has really come a long way throughout these seasons. He’s a confident hero now who can make his own plans and doesn’t need All Might’s approval. It’s a subplot in this season of course with how he’s forcing himself to grow up to protect everyone but he’s still a nice guy beneath it all. He never loses sight of himself and that’s what makes him a capable lead. He’s never been super high tier as far as Jump leads are concerned but he’s easy to root for and one of the better heroes here.

Uravity does well to help out the whole time. She is a character where I feel like her power level isn’t nearly high enough to justify her inclusion at this point though. She means well and as a character of course I can’t fault her because she’s simply doing her best. It’s not her fault that I feel like the plot armor is strong here. I may disagree with her stance on the Deku part but at the same time in her position I would want him to be around to do my part in the protection. No matter how large the strength gap is, it would be hard to see someone out there risking their life while you’re at school. She needs to watch out with the Toga stuff though, being a little too sympathetic to a mass murderer can be tricky.

Bakugou looks great here as always. He still knows how to get under Deku’s skin which helps during the dark saga and in general he always gets into the action. He helps out a lot in the fight against Shigaraki even if he’s a little outgunned next to Deku there. Bakugou never gives up and just keeps on swinging which is the important part. I love his confidence, that is what will take him far here and it’s why he is still the best hero out of them all. He took what many would say is a fairly average quirk and trained it up with so much creativity and intensity that he is one of the most powerful heroes in the series. Very impressive I gotta say.

Then we have Kaminari whose role isn’t huge but I did really like his first war contribution. He fights a villain who has electric powers and diffuses the guy’s strongest attack like it was nothing. Now that’s an impressive moment and it was a good way for him to swing above his station. It was the perfect matchup. In general I feel like Kaminari usually doesn’t get many opportunities to shine so that was a good one.

The other heroes all do some stuff as well. Of course they are all there to help Deku but beyond that everyone makes contributions. (Well almost everyone) Yaoyorozu gets to help with stopping Gigantomachia and coming up with the sleeping drugs. I’m not really sure about this working to be honest but it was a creative way to fight. If she ever trained a bit more seriously I could see her being a top threat in the series. The ability to make anything that you can picture/know the construction of is crazy. If someone ever shows her how to make a quirk destroying bullet then the villains would be toast. And Yes I don’t think that’s too drastic. The mass murderers have to live quirkless now? Well that’s just too bad isn’t it? Shouldn’t have been murdering people!

Ida gets a primary role in talking to Deku since he’s the school rep so you can expect a lot out of him. His super speed’s also the real deal, it’s why it would have been nice to see him do a little more against the actual villains. He’s one of the few kids who could have done something. Meanwhile Jiro doesn’t do a ton here but she helps to inspire Kaminari during his big moment since he’s thinking about her the whole time. Froppy provides a little assistance to Uravity but she is completely out of her depth here.

Mina doesn’t look amazing here as she freezes up when the going gets tough but fortunately Kirishima is around to help out. He definitely looks good here as he’s already gotten past all of his doubts a while back. Then we have Todoroki who gets a fairly big role when you consider his family drama. Uh oh, here’s another big topic that I could talk about for a while. I’ll keep it brief here, no matter how many times it is revisited, there is no saving Endeavor. The guy was super abusive and while it’s great that he’s turned over a new leaf, I get why the family doesn’t want to forgive him. Frankly I don’t see how I ever could if I was in their position. The show gets props for not trying to soften this up the more it goes. We still see what an absolute menace he was back in the day. Ultimately one kid basically destroyed himself trying to impress him, his wife was left with advanced PTSD and his other sun got a permanent burn on his face. The others remarkably turned out okay as they tried to just get by.

It’s just a lot of trauma though and so even if Endeavor were to die in battle saving the world that doesn’t really change what happened. His family plot gets a lot of screentime in each season but after a point you sort of get it. I’d say we don’t need more flashbacks on this, lets just have his big fight with Dabi…and I’m kinda rooting for Dabi in this one. As the viewer we know that he really has changed but in universe of course there would be no way of really knowing that.

Meanwhile Hawks has to deal with some ghosts of his past as well. As to his big moment of finishing off an opponent, I want to say for the record that it was 100% justified. He wasn’t hunting some random person or doing anything crazy. He was protecting himself and his allies from a super dangerous villain who would murder them all without batting an eye. Yes, it’s an emotional betrayal from the villain’s POV, but again…just don’t be a villain next time. I can never fault a hero for “betraying” the villains after setting them up because the hero’s job is to save lives. This is the best way to accomplish that goal.

Hawks also gave Twice every chance to give up but it’s clear that he wasn’t going to. Some of these villains are willing to die to protect their beliefs and so that becomes the only option available. Hawks is still a great hero that you can count on all the way through. He likely won’t be as helpful with his injuries for a while but he’s done really good overall. All Might is an example of a character who can’t do a whole lot right now. Without his powers, all he’s got are good motivational speeches and those aren’t really working anymore. I don’t think he looks great here. He really could have handled the situation with Deku a lot better particularly since a part of him should understand what Deku is going for. It felt like he was way more out of the loop than he should have been with his half hearted attempts to reach him.

Meanwhile Eraserhead looks good as always. The guy is always a primary target because of how extremely useful his ability is. Without him nerfing Shigaraki for most of the battle, the heroes would have really been doomed. At this point the power creep has long since surpassed him but I always give him credit for hanging in there and continuing to fight anyway. He’s a very brave fighter and definitely a hero that everyone can look up to. His partner Present Mic also gets to do a lot althoguh he’s never as impressive. It’s not his fault though, the quirk just isn’t very strong. Every villain worth his salt is able to shake it off which is not something that you want to see as a hero.

Gran Torino also doesn’t have a big role here. He’s got speed but at this point so does the big villain Shigaraki. Maybe in his prime Torino could have done better but not now. Ryukyu just deserves a shoutout for being around while never doing anything. She’s one of the top 10 heroes but is always super outgunned. I think the problem is that turning into a dragon just makes you a huge target. It’s not nearly as useful an ability as you would initially think. That’s the problem here.

Midnight is around but doesn’t look great here. Still one of the most bizarre ways to go out. I know it’s realistic and all but still not very satisfying at all and I’m still waiting for a retcon on this. Mt Lady looks good, perhaps a bit too good. Her feats don’t seem like they should be enough to stall Gigantomachia for even an instant but power levels aside she looks good. She hangs on through the pain and does her best at all times.

Then you have Best Jeanist. The guy shows up a little late to the party but he makes sure that his presence is felt. He has a good hero’s speech for when he arrives and his ability is pretty handy. It may not be the flashiest one around but he still does good in combat the whole time. Then you have Mirko who is easily the best adult here. She goes through a whole lot but has one of the most savage fights in the series. She was super outnumbered and going up against some of the strongest fighters in the series and yet she never went down. It’s a shame that she had to take so much damage there as she would have been super useful in the climax otherwise.

Mirko’s always ready to fight and has crazy stats though. She’s easily a standout hero and one of the top 10 fighters who completely lived up to the hype. Without her the heroes would have been in a super bad spot. Also one last hero I forgot to mention is Tokoyami who doesn’t do a ton yet but the situation becomes personal to him since Hawks was his mention. You look forward to seeing more out of his shadow since it does have the potential to be one of the top abilities at some point.

Now lets talk about the villains. First up is Garaki who is the evil scientist. The guy is pretty smart but more on the whiny side so I can’t take him super seriously. He’s not exactly a top fighter after all and he is really carried by the Nomu. Of course he helped invent them so props there but he gets outshined by the other villains. Then we have Mr. Compress who gets the smallest role from the League of Villains. He does get one big moment where he really gets to show off his stuff though. So I won’t be forgetting him anytime soon but it would have been cool if he could have fought more.

Since the show mainly ignores Spinner, I’m gonna do the same. Toga is still a very emotional fighter who is super in denial of how evil she is. All of her arguments against the heroes don’t really make any sense and I can’t feel bad for her. She murdered an old lady after all. The heroes just need to take her down at this point. Now Dabi is a very intense villain. The guy’s motives are interesting and his blue fire really stands out. He’s always been one of the most interesting villains in the series. It’s hard to keep him down at any point because he has so much drive. You’d almost think he was one of the heroes with how hard he keeps fighting, no matter what the odds are. Yeah this is definitely someone to keep your eye on.

Destro is unfortunately a villain who really fell down the rankings. The guy used to be so cool all the time and now he is just a shadow of himself. He’s a complete lackey who just takes orders while whining. There is nothing left of his absolute confidence in the slightest. I used to like him a lot but he’s awful now. Meanwhile Gigantomachia feels like he was nerfed a bit. The guy just isn’t causing the level of destruction that he should be considering how much hype he got. I would have liked him to have done a little more but again the problem is that the villains were too powerful. It seems like being nerfed was the only way to keep things close at all for the heroes.

Not a villain but I will mention that Mirio gets a small role that is pretty fun. It’s surprisingly not built up quite as much as you would expect considering what a big character he is. I suppose there just wasn’t time. Speaking of powerhouses though, we had the return of Muscular which was awesome. It was cool to have a rematch with him and Deku. The victor is rather obvious but I always liked this guy and he still makes for a fun antagonist.

Then we have Lady Nagant. She actually thinks she can hang with Deku? Well that may seem like a stretch but the show does its best to make this a real matchup. I think the problem is just that Deku should be wayyyyy faster than her bullets to the point where they should never be able to land. The fight is intense with the animation though and Nagant has a good backstory. She ends up being a super interesting villain and I would definitely want to see more of her at some point. In a lot of ways she would be the ultimate support fighter for any side because of her crazy range. While the hero is distracted all she needs is one shot and then that’s it.

Twice gets a rather huge role here as we learn more about the guy. His origin story isn’t overly traumatic or anything like that but he’s still been through a whole lot. It hasn’t been an easy journey for him at all. The whole situation feels sad for him because it does seem like he can’t do anything right. He’s also someone who could have easily been a hero if he had fallen in with the right crowd. It just goes to show that sometimes the people you hang around with are the ones you take after. It can be difficult to get out of that cycle.

Finally we have the two big villains. All for One has mostly taken a backseat to Shigaraki for now. At least on the battlefield but he is always making plans. He makes for a good mastermind kind of character but he’s the type of figure where it will all depend based on how he does once it’s actually time to get out there and fight. Anything less than a commanding victory will look bad for him. That may sound harsh but that’s just how it goes.

Then we have Shigaraki. He’s one of those villains you don’t feel bad for but to his credit, he isn’t asking for sympathy anyway. He’s basically embraced his villain status at this point and he’s a very intimidating figure. The fact that he can take on so many heroes at once at this point is crazy. He is basically an evil all might and his new design is very memorable. He’s a villain who has consistently gotten better over the seasons and the author has done a good job with him. You look forward to his next battles.

Overall, My Hero Academia continues to execute on a high level. There are a whole lot of characters running around and longer series always have an edge with the payoff here. My Hero has had plenty of time to build up all of the heroes and villains so it’s a lot of fun to see them mixing it up. The season ends with the next big battle very close to starting up as well so you can bet that season 7 will be another winner. This Stars n Stripes hero looks amazing, should be a real good help against the enemies going forward!

Overall 8/10

Dr. Stone Season 3: New World Review

Posted on February 27, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to look at the latest season of Dr Stone. The crew’s really been on a lot of adventures at this point but their story’s certainly not coming to a close just yet. I feel like this season was a bit weaker than the first two though. The cast isn’t really able to hold up their scenes as well as in other big Jump titles so you’re really counting on the story here which is solid. There’s just nobody on Tsukasa’s level quite yet.

In this season Senku and friends get a mysterious message from WHY-MAN. The strangest part is that he sounds a lot like Senku himself. Is it possible that the main character has been the villain all along? Well he’s going to have to get to the bottom of this quickly and so the crew sets off for the next island. Unfortunately it is ruled by the emperor Ibaru, who commands a weapon that can turn people into stone. This may be the biggest clue into what happened to Earth yet, but it is a very formidable weapon to go up against. Not to mention that this guy is also a genius intellect like Senku. Senku will need one of his crew members to step up in order to beat this guy.

The season is mainly all for this arc. There’s a little bit at the beginning and a bit at the end that might not be part of the direct saga but for all intents and purposes this arc is about the island. It’s a bit of a slow start though because at first the heroes just aren’t able to deal with the weapon. So most of them get turned to stone and then they have to prepare a counter attack. While the heroes have some fighters on their team, they also aren’t very confident that they could walk in and dominate the opponents so for the most part they have to rely on run and gun type tactics.

One strategy they have to infiltrate is to have Kohaku and Ginro pretend to be maidens in waiting for Ibara to take onto the island. It’s almost like a fashions how kind of thing where he picks who he wants to be his next bride. Naturally Ginro is annoying about it the whole time but in general I can never support these kinds of plans because the risk is just way too high. At any point the heroes could be stabbed and then it’s all over. Yeah if they’re turned into stone then there’s still a chance but even that is a massive gamble all the way through. So if you ask me, you need to really come up with something a bit better.

I’d say just storming the island would have been your best bet. Moz is tough to be sure but a gun can take care of him. Where it gets a bit tougher is that Senku’s team doesn’t really want to injure anyone. I get not wanting to murder anyone of course but injuring is going a tad bit too far if you ask me. There’s no real way around that, at least if you want to win. Instead the heroes have to use a lot of convoluted plans in order to stand a chance and by the end I’d argue they basically have to rely on luck. That wouldn’t have been a problem if they had just dashed in guns blazing from the jump.

The climax is solid as always though. Once the final battle starts then we get some solid back and forth with Senku and Ibara. A lot of plans and counter plans are put into motion as they face off. I always like a good mental battle and this one definitely takes advantage of both of their high levels of intellect. That’s what I would like to see for more of the season since there’s a whole lot of potential right there. This really isn’t an action show for the most part so there’s not always a lot of time for it but increasing that just a bit would be good.

In general the animation looks pretty solid but they don’t tend to go all out on the fight scenes as much as you would expect. To me this is a very standard looking show. It’s not bad by any stretch and it has some good cuts but it’s not going to stand out. This would look more like a 2013 type of show than something in the 2020s. It feels relatively low budget where it looks just good enough where it’s not missing frames or anything but on the other hand it just doesn’t go as high as you would would want it to be. It puts more pressure on the writing and story.

The soundtrack is okay but more on the forgettable side. The openings are also more on the sub par side. So yes the technicals are not backing the show up at all. The story is still good like I mentioned and the cast is reasonable but they just don’t shine enough to completely carry the story on its shoulders like that. It needs at least some level of backup that just isn’t there right now. That’s the difference between a great show and a good one.

Of course Senku is a good main character as always. He stays focused on the missoin and always has a plan at the ready. He may not be the most athletic person on the island but he makes up for that with his quick wit and resourcefulness. He’s definitely not someone who will quit early on or put in half the effort. He goes full speed ahead at all times and tends to come away with good results.

Kohaku is a solid heroine as well. She still has her fighting spirit and is always ready to jump into action. Unfortunately she is often told to stay back and her abilities do tend to get surpassed when the going gets tough. It would have been nice to have her get some training and then beat Moz later on but again this isn’t exactly that kind of show. She’s always ready to infuse the characters with some confidence though so I appreciate that.

The old crew of Taiju and Yuzuriha don’t have a whole lot to do here. Yuzuriha is still really good at putting the broken people back together again which is really handy and Taiju provides some muscle but he’s too much of a pacifist to really fight. I wish he would go back on that at least just to help the heroes from time to time. Chrome has a big role though and is a true main character as he comes up with some plans of his own and really helps. He’s done a great job of keeping up with Senku and his knowledge is always growing so fast. He definitely has the next generation in a great place to succeed if he can keep this up. I also just enjoy having him around, there’s something to be said for being a genius who’s most emotional the whole time.

Kinro doesn’t have a huge role here although he does get to show off his spear skills a bit. It’s mainly to hype up Moz but at least the guy tries. As always I don’t like Ginro though. He’s always causing trouble, being comic relief and just not manning up when it’s time to fight. The only good moments he gets tends to be ones that are luck based. If it was up to him then he would already be gone and that’s pretty unfortunate. At the end of the day you need to step up at some point and this kind of character tends to always rank very low for me.

Suika isn’t my favorite character but she is always trying to be helpful. You can absolutely count on her at all times to put in her best effort and really try to take down some enemies. I absolutely respect that all the way through. Gen still has his mind games at the ready but as always I feel like more people see through them than not. The guy is the weirdest worf effect user as I don’t think he ever really got to shine before everyone surpassed him. At this point the power creep has really surpassed him and in a non action show that seems pretty weird to say.

Kaseki doesn’t get a ton to do in particular but he’s always around to help. I like that he just gets the job done with no complaining. Magma gets more of a role than you might figure. Yes he is outclassed by the villains in terms of muscle but he gets a gun at one point and he is useufl in slowing one villain down. He’s like the class bully trying to be a good person now so you appreciate the effort even though he always seems outclassed.

Ukyo doesn’t do a ton but he is able to use his super hearing to help in at least two critical situations. So that’s quality over quantity right there. Nikki is generally supportive throughout the operation as well. Yo actually gets a big role with his gun but I wish he could have ended a bit better. He severely lets his guard down at one point in such a sloppy moment that you have to do a double take. No way he should have lost when he had the complete edge the way that he did before. That was a really low moment for him.

As for the latest member of the crew Ryusui, he’s great as always. We finally have a hero who can really compete on Senku’s level with good ideas and being generally helpful. Not only is he a strategic genius but he has true piloting skills. Ryusui became a relevant character right away and is easily one of the standout characters. He’s a guy with a strong personality which enhances any scene that he is in. Yeah that’s definitely the sign of a good character.

I guess if we’re being technical a hero who is even more recent is Soyuz but I never really cared for the guy all that much. He never remembers anything until it’s too late to be helpful and he spends a lot of the time panicking and sweating. He’s not the man you want to have your back because he just doesn’t have the confidence for it. Now lets talk about the villains since there are quite a few of them around.

First up is Oarashi who is basically the strong man. He’s very skilled in close quarters combat which compensates for the fact that he’s not all that smart. He uses his might to make right and well it’s been a winning strategy for him all these years so why not keep it up right? He’s not all that likable but he’s okay. Then you have Kirisame who gets a fairly big role. She is very talented in a fight after all as she keeps up with Kohaku.

She is strong enough to defend herself and seems reasonable but at the end of the day she works for the villains and doesn’t try to change anything. So she is a villain all the way through but a fun one who you look forward to seeing. Moz is the biggest villain here in a lot of ways, at least on the battlefield. His skills are so good that none of the heroes are able to keep up with him. It would have been interesting to see him fight Tsukasa because otherwise I don’t see how anybody could hope to keep up. That said, the guy does like women a bit too much which is a character trait that will always end up holding you back when it counts. So I appreciate his abilities but don’t really care for him.

The same goes for Ibara. I respect how calculating the guy is. He’s a worthy adversary for any fighter but at the end of the day…..nah he’s not that cool. The anime has fun really showing how scary he can be with different shots though. He tends to turn into some kind of a monster which is really intense. The guy absolutely was prepared all of the time and to be fair, only plot armor is what saves the heroes from him. This guy’s plan really was close to full proof.

Finally for two miscellaneous characters, we have Amaryllis as an extra hero. She has to put up with a whole lot by living on the island but she doesn’t complain. She’s in it for the long game to finally take down Ibara. You feel bad for her because she doesn’t have a lot of options but she doesn’t feel bad for herself. Finally there is Hyoga who was a big villain back in the day. He gets some good moments here and easily the best fight. It’s rough when the power creep shows up but he does hold his own for a while which is impressive in itself.

There are more characters but those are the main ones. It’s actually impressive just how huge the main cast is by this point. It’s why the heroes always have to separate because otherwise there are just so many that they wouldn’t all fit on the ship at one time. The cast will only continue to grow from here so we will see who gets left out and who continues to play a big role.

Overall, Dr Stone is a fun show as always. I’m looking forward to the America arc as that was one of the best parts in the manga. You can expect a whole lot of action there and certainly one of the best villains in the series as well. Yeah that definitely makes for a really potent combo for any franchise If you like adventure and some action then you should have a good time with this one. It would be a bit of an odd jumping on point though. And if you’re already a fan then this delivers with more of the same so it should be a full win all the way. In the end we technically didn’t learn much more in this season but you can bet that will change as we get deeper into the story.

Overall 6/10

	dreager1 on Godzilla vs Water Horse
	dreager1 on Goku vs Blackfire
	dreager1 on Sniper Review
	dreager1 on The Sword in the Stone Re…
	dreager1 on Horimiya Review
	dreager1 on King K Rool vs King Ghido…

DReager1.com

The Ultimate Fighting/Review Site

Tag Archives: Anime Review

Toradora! Review

Lycoris Recoil Review

Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 4 Review

Demon Slayer Season 3: Swordsmith Village Arc Review

Mashle Review

Kimi No Todoke: From Me to You Season 2 Review

Little Witch Academia Review

Sword of the Stranger Review

My Hero Academia Season 6 Review

Dr. Stone Season 3: New World Review

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: