Trigun Stampede Review

Posted on May 11, 2024 by dreager1

It’s been a long while since I saw the original Trigun so it was fun to check out this modern remake of it. It’s a very short series so it can’t quite tackle everything that the original could but does well in a compressed kind of way. Directly, I would say that the original did just about everything better than the remake but at the same time it’s been long enough where my memories of the original might be better than my experience was. I see that my review of the original wasn’t exactly glowing back then so it’s always fun to see how things have changed. Regardless, this one does a good job…even if it is CG!

The show starts by introducing us to Vash and Knives. They were raised by a nice lady named Rem but Knives ended up sabotaging the ship and basically causing everyone to die. Vash barely survived the incident and now he has to find Knives and put a stop to him before he hurts anyone else. Along the way Vash also repairs any generator that is run down and needing repairs. See, the world is effectively powered by these things and without them you can’t really get power, water, electricity, etc. You basically die without them. One lady was trying to grow plants so that they could create oxygen but everyone thinks that she is super crazy.

Also, unfortunately Vash is a wanted man with a huge bounty on his head. So he has to always be on the run. Despite this, he has managed to remain as a pacifist for all these years and really tries to never fight if he can help it. Obviously this is not an easy task by any means so definitely kudos to him for doing his best there. The problem is that when he is put into a situation where he needs to fight, he doesn’t always do well. Will Knives end up winning because Vash refuses to do anything?

In a nutshell that is my biggest issue with the remake. I felt that the first show had a much better balance of how Vash should be. Yes, he was a pacifist who never wanted to murder anyone but he was much more willing to fight and at least stop the threat. Knock someone out or capture them at least. Here, he spends a lot of time running around and dodging which lets innocent people get shot or put into harm’s way. Whereas the original Vash was a super prodigy who could stop anyone, this one feels like he gets by on pure luck most of the time. A great example of this is in the very first episodes.

So you have a crazy guy who wants to throw bombs around and destroy the town. Vash is messing around like always but you figure he has a great plan and won’t let anybody get hurt right? I mean he can’t just be acting up like this if he has no plan?….well that’s exactly what happens and it is supremely annoying. This is just disgraceful considering that we are counting on him here. In fact he runs out of bullets and it is only thanks to some quick thinking by Meryl that the town isn’t blown to kingdom come. It may seem like a minor thing but it’s quite major when you think about it.

See, a key part of Vash’s character is that all life is precious. He doesn’t care if you’re a law abiding citizen or a mass murderer, he’s going to try and protect you. He does this by honing his gun skills every day and making sure he is the absolute best so he can win every fight in a non lethal way. In the old show the only exception is Knives who Vash does fully intend to take down for good. He doesn’t have the same drive here at all unfortunately. So with Vash being clowned on here, it undermines his motivation because now he’s not going to actually save everyone. In fact, instead he’s just going to end up causing many more civilian deaths on a high order. This is not the way to go, not at all.

This keeps on happening in the show where it feels like they made Vash too extreme in his pacifism to the point where he’s just enabling the villains after a while and it nearly costs him everything. So while I grew to enjoy him in the old show, I didn’t really care for him here. It just helped to underscore why Wolfwood was a much better character. Wolfwood is the pragmatist here who does what needs to be done. Lets face it, he had a much worse childhood than Vash had. Wolfwood was tortured and experimented on for ages while basically losing everything. He’s blackmailed the whole series and still manages to help people out from time to time.

The biggest difference is that he will actually murder the villains when they are going too far. Wolfwood directly saves a lot of lives this way. Sure he may not be as heroic as Vash but to the people he saves that won’t end up mattering all that much. In a fight I think Vash would probably still have the edge here if he was going all out but if they’re both in character then I’m betting Wolfwood wins more times than not. He’s simply willing to go further and his healing factor is extremely good here. I actually think he seems more powerful than in the original version with how fast he heals from everything. He’s a great character through and through.

Meryl is a solid character here who is very gung ho and always ready for action. She disobeys orders several times in order to help the heroes out which I appreciate. It’s usually a problem if you follow orders too closely because then you lose sight of the forest for the trees. So I’m glad that didn’t happen here as it would have been a real problem. She may not be able to fight at a high level just yet but she does help out on multiple occasions and is a fun character to have around. She does a great job of being the B plot.

Meanwhile her partner Roberto is also a lot of fun. I admit that I can never take him seriously when he pulls the gun out on the more powerful villains but it is a fact that he has more experience than Meryl and helps her out on many occasions. I often disagree with his decisions but he does some of them in order to protect her. He’s rather jaded and seems to have lost faith in humanity a long time ago. It’s easy to see why with how messed up the world is in this series. It almost does seem like humanity is determined to mess up every planet in its way so you can see how that’s a big problem. So at this point he just wants to pick up his paycheck and keep his head down but having a partner like Meryl makes that impossible. They have a great dynamic going there.

From the flashbacks you have Rem who was a very solid character as well. It’s a shame that things didn’t go better for her. You could tell that she did her best to make the right decisions. Ultimately I wouldn’t put any blame on her, sometimes you do everything right and things still end up going badly. That’s just life in a nutshell after all. Finally you have Knives who is as sinister as ever but I did think that the show gave him more points this time around. Yeah he’s the antagonist but when he’s going up against the humans you’re rooting for him because of how crazy they are. It feels like every human immediately goes off the rails as soon as any accountability vanishes.

We see them torturing the plant life and Knives’ fellow friends all the time. Most of the humans don’t seem all that remorseful. We even have a whole episode to show how quickly they turn on Vash and the others when the going gets tough. Humanity can’t be trusted in this series and that’s a running theme. Vash simply chooses to help them out anyway. It definitely underscores what a nice guy he is but sometimes to a fault. Knives’ decision to massacre them all is extreme as well but is it much different than what the humans would do?

To the humans, Knives is simply a sentient plant. They wouldn’t bat an eye in murdering him the way they wouldn’t for a bunch of aliens. So to Knives the perspective is really the same here which makes sense. Whenever you make a villain like this with a solid backstory and make the humans relatively unlikable, it’s a little hard to root against him. Particularly when there are no solutions presented to combat his logic. He’s definitely one of the standout characters here and the show really made him a huge threat here, he’s even more powerful than in the first show.

Hamilton is one of those villains who reminds you why Vash is a little too lenient. If someone didn’t show up things were going to get dicey again. He’s one of the most underwhelming villains though. I couldn’t take him too seriously in a world where Knives and his gang exists. Legato barely gets to do anything in this series and he’s many times better. The guy’s gravity powers are really intense and he’s the kind of character who strikes fear into your heart the moment he appears. That is absolutely the kind of guy you want to have as a big antagonist.

Elendira appears for even less time and leaves more of an impact than Hamilton. I think there’s a whole lot they could do with her moveset. In general Knives’ group are very interesting and I would like to see more of them. You probably need to give Wolfwood and Vash at least one more powerful ally so they aren’t too badly outnumbered though. Otherwise that would really put them in a tough spot.

Then you have the villains who are victims like Rollo and Livio. Rollo is probably the most tragic character in the series. He was only a kid but due to Vash’s carelessness he had to go through a whole lot and really lost his mind. He’s a complete victim because he never had a choice in how his life ended up. Definitely sad all the way. Same for Livio who may have gotten to be older but he was molded since he was a kid so I’d say that the same thing applies to him. If anything he may have gone through even more pain than the other characters. It shows that the villains have to be taken out before they can do this to more people.

Finally there is Zazie who is a great wild card but doesn’t do as much as I would have liked. So you have the humans who crash landed on this planet a while back and the sentient plants who are trying to do their best to survive. There is a third party though, the creatures who already existed on the planet. They are led by Zazie although that might not be the right word. Zazie is the collective consciousness of these creatures and as a result he wields a ton of power. At one point he explains that whoever he decides to help will win the war which is a great speech. And then…Zazie doesn’t do much for the rest of the series. I really wanted to see him get a bigger role, maybe take on Vash and Knives. I suppose in a way you could say that he doesn’t have to do anything since he will exist as long as the planet does but that’s too passive. I want to see him do that because you can’t have one of the best scenes in the show and just vanish. That doesn’t work for me.

Stampede is interesting in how it’s a remake in a lot of ways while also working as a prequel. Now there are some obvious reasons you will note as to why this can’t totally work as a prequel after watching the whole series but the ending does add 2 ways that make it work. So the best way to think of this is as a completely different path that will be leading to new events. It’s as if you started a game and skipped most of the content in an attempt to speed run the final boss. Now the game is catching up so a bunch of the old missions will appear. It’s a really unique way to handle things and all in all I thought it was very interesting. It puts the sequel at a bit of a disadvantage since a lot of the best scenes are already here but I’m curious how it will go.

The series feels a bit darker than the original. The original had time for a lot of light hearted episodes and sequences in addition to the action but here because of the sped up format the series focuses more on the dark backstories for everyone. I feel like there are very few moments where the characters get to just hang out and have a good time. There is always something serious going on. At times the show can go a bit far with all of the violence and dark themes. You have quite a lot of people being tortured or dying some rough deaths. Most of the characters don’t really end up in a happy place by the end.

In fact, most of them have sad endings here. The very ending is actually really sad as well with how things went down. So get ready for a very emotional series. What helps at least is that the series never feels exploitive. It can be really heavy for sure but without overplaying the issue the way other titles were. So brace yourself to be sure but this series is still focusing on having a captivating story first and foremost. Perhaps one where you are rooting for the plants over the humans but that’s all in how you see it.

Now for the animation, a big thing here was that the show was going to be CG. Of course you know that means it won’t look as good as hand drawn but if it can still at least look pretty good in general then that wouldn’t matter right? I can satisfactorily say that it does look sharp. I would still say not as good as any of the hand drawn shows on the market but they tried pretty hard here. They do a good job of showing off Knives’ abilities here for sure. Vash’s arm cannon doesn’t look quite as good but that’s more on the story direction than the animation I would say. There are fun fights here and so in general they did the best with what they had.

For the ost…another forgettable one for the most part. The opening isn’t bad as it reminds me of the Tower of God opening. It fits the tone of the overall show. The tunes aren’t bad and there was one battle theme I liked but they could have gone a little harder on this end I’d say. Give me some really tense tunes and a bunch of opera type music. I think those would have worked really well with the show and made it even more exciting. Especially with the show’s deep themes you could have some Death Note kind of music in there and it would work really well. Maybe next time I suppose.

A final thing to note is the show spends a good amount of time on Vash’s backstory here. More so even than in the original show I’d say as outside of the whole situation with Knives we see how Vash was able to hang out with some humans for a while and how he actually knew peace for a while. It’s easy to forget but as a plant he is effectively immortal and he’s been around for a very long time. That can get awful lonely especially with the level of guilt that he is carrying. It gets really emotional with the group that he hung out with as well especially with so many secrets around. The whole show can get sad a lot of the time and this part is no exception. Again it shows how impressive it is that he is still so cheerful all the time and how he hasn’t broken down yet. I can at least give him that credit.

Overall, Trigun Stampede is a pretty good show. At times it can get a little on the violent side which just makes you mad at Vash every time since he could have done more to prevent these scenarios. Realistically you can’t blame him for everything though, Knives also deserves the lion’s share of the blame at the end of the day because he’s the one putting the gears into motion but Vash should have been better. The show has a good plot and it is very engaging though. The banter between Vash and Wormwood is as good as you might have guessed and I liked how many different parties got involved by the end. It’ll be difficult for a future season to match this one now that a lot of the big plots are completed but there is certainly room for the sequel. A lot of the internal debates like the rights for the sentient plants can continue to be a thing. Of course it does feel like a losing battle as long as the people in high positions tend to be humans. I’d recommend checking this one out and if you like it, then watch the original for the more fleshed out version.

Overall 7/10

Ranking of Kings Review

Posted on May 11, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to take a look at an anime that really became a big deal for a while there. I remember seeing the fights posted a lot as examples of great fights with a lot of fluid animation and I knew some people who were huge Boji fans. It’s definitely a fun fantasy title. One where I was not as sympathetic with some of the characters as the show was hoping I would be but it’s definitely a fun title all the way.

The show introduces us to Prince Boji who is the heir to the throne but he is very weak. Historically weak you can say. Despite his father being the strongest man in the world, Boji has not inherited any of that. In fact you could say that he is one of the weakest fighters in the land. Boji is also deaf and as a result he hasn’t noticed just how much disdain everyone has for him. When his father dies, the queen quickly enacts a vote to make his step brother Daida the king instead. Boji heads off with Kage, a shadow creature he befriended to at least learn some new skills and see the world. What he doesn’t yet realize is that Daida has plans of his own and may not be leading the country down the right path. Will Boji be able to stand up and defend the kingdom that is rightfully his?

It’s a tough position for Boji to be in as soon as the throne is given to Daida. If Boji was super popular among the masses then of course he could just jump back in and stage a revolt but the fact is that most people have sided with Daida. It makes sense to have him as a King when he is so much more skilled and possesses greater power. Boji’s idealism can only take him so far after all. It’s not exactly fair but that’s just how life goes sometimes. Even if he does get strong enough to take down Daida and all of the royal subjects, he would be destroying his own kingdom at that point. So Boji has to find a peaceful solution to all of this.

I should also mention that there are many Kings in the world here. As the title suggests, there is a whole ranking system and there is something odd about it. Something strange always happens involving the number 1 ranked King. Supposedly you are given everything you desire but that sounds a little too good to be true right? Well, it’s something Boji may have to worry about down the road so it’s something to keep in mind. Season 1 covers a whole lot of ground but you can already tell that there are many more stories to be told within this kingdom.

This is also one of those series that has a ton of plot twists around every corner. From your journey in the first episode to the last one you can expect a bunch of the fights to be recontextualized over and over again. The hero and villain of the conflict end up changing as well and so you really can’t trust anyone. It feels like Boji is betrayed in every episode after a while and even if some of those betrayals may not stick, it would give you trust issues. The show does try hard to make most of the characters sympathetic by the end but like I mentioned, it doesn’t really work for most of them. It seems like they could have given Boji an easier time if they handled things differently.

The animation is pretty good so the show lives up to its reputation there. It may not be world shattering in the way that you might hear it mentioned but it does look good. It’s going for very simple character designs which allow for a lot of movement in the fights. It doesn’t have a lot of bright energy type effects but the choreography is always good. You can be sure to see a lot of really good battles here. I’m not as big a fan of the artstyle though. I feel like it makes for more pale colors in general so it won’t stand out as much as say a show from the 90s that does have strong colors. So that part can be a mixed bag. The soundtrack isn’t quite able to keep up though as none of the tunes really stand out. I also wasn’t particularly a fan of either opening but you can’t win them all.

Shows can never resist a giant final boss near the end so you can expect a big battle but the animation still does a good job of showing off the dodging abilities of Boji. The villains have some demon dogs that they use in battle at times which are definitely the weakest of the fights because you feel bad for them the whole time. They’re not quite real dogs but the show definitely straddles the line just a bit there. Not as bad as it could be of course but I could do without those minions all the way through.

Part of the whole premise here of course is how Boji can’t really fight so the question is, will the show go all in on that and have him win with agility or will he just become super OP and broken? Well, I’d say the show does a pretty good job of focusing on his speed. Boji aims for weak points and nerve type blows to win matches in one shot even without physical power. So that was handled well and of course he still does end up being one of the stronger fighters in the end. I actually appreciated how the show focused on giving him a bad matchup constantly. He should be able to handle most of the fighters here so the show gives him the one guy that can just keep healing or the one with enough physical strength to ignore his hits. That was clever.

Okay now lets talk about the characters a bit. First up we have Boji and I will admit that I didn’t really like this guy. As a main character he went too far into the naive aspect. The fact that people would trick him into giving up his clothes over and over again is a pretty terrible look. You definitely feel really bad for him and the show does succeed in making him sympathetic but for the most part I would say that he’s not really main character material. He definitely handles his business when he has to but most of the side characters just end up being better than him in the end.

For example his partner Kage is a lot more interesting. Kage’s backstory is also a lot more emotional. The guy really went through a lot and is also in more danger than Boji on a consistent business. He pretty much has to watch his back at all times because if he doesn’t then it’s all over. His abilities are also pretty interesting with how he can change his shape and really turn any part of himself into a weapon. That’s always a versatile power and while he doesn’t scale as high as the other characters, he is definitely a great friend the whole time.

Then you have Daida who is a solid antagonist. He’s the kind of villain who doesn’t want to take any shortcuts and does a lot of heavy lifting on his own. At one point the villains want him to do something and he refuses which was good since it shows that he has his own honor code. Ultimately he was overpowered and forced to do it anyway but I like that he can stand up to anyone. He’s also reasonably strong even if he’s not super powerful. Either way he is still explicitly an antagonist but he’s one with a good personality who is fun to have on screen.

Hiling is next up and she’s one of those characters with a lot of plot twists but yeah I think she could have handled everything way better. My problem with a character like this is that the plan involves many possible scenarios where Boji and his friends are straight up murdered. At that point the intentions don’t really matter much. So she gets better as the show gets on and I know that she tried hard but I wasn’t fully on board with any of this. She doesn’t really get the thumbs up from me.

She’s still way better than Bosse though who has to be the most annoying character. So of course he is Boji’s father and directly responsible for everything going on. He put Boji in a terrible spot by making him King without giving any other directions and just left him to his own devices. For the rest of his screentime Bosse tends to be a very passive character who won’t lift a finger even when his wife or kids are about to die. This is where he really becomes unforgiveable. The conflict if supposed to be that he’s not sure which side to choose and so he opts not to do anything but of course that is actually choosing a side. Like if villains invade your house and you’re not sure who to help, you’re helping the invaders by not actively defending your spot.

It is even worse because Bosse is easily the strongest character in the entire verse. So his not helping is just such an insult to everyone involved and even right up through to the end he is making the wrong choices. So the guy is definitely annoying and I consider him to be a complete villain all the way through. It’s the only thing that makes sense and even with that he’s not great. I respect his power but that’s about the only thing I respect in the guy. He single handily made everyone’s lives much harder than they had to be.

Even the literal Demon who shows up doesn’t cause as much damage. That guy is a very interesting character though in large part because most of the series feels fairly down to Earth. (Outside of Bosse’s flashback with fighting gods and everything but the point of his origin is how crazy overpowered he is) Sure people have powers and you have an immortal running around but he is easily the most supernatural character of the bunch and shows up rather nonchalantly. I’m definitely expecting the lore to be explored way more coming up but for now he is definitely a very interesting villain.

Miranjo gets a pretty massive role here. Her origin is definitely sad and she went through a lot so it was good that she could bond with Bosse. The problem is more about how she handles this in the present and her plans. There always comes a time where your good intentions just turn into straight villainy and this is one of those times. You can’t root for her or anything because her plans are so extreme. If anything I still blame Bosse more for not actually talking things out with her though. That would have been the right way to approach this instead of being generally useless the whole time.

The way her plot ends is questionable at best though. As a romance the ending doesn’t work at all because of the age gap and the characters barely really knowing each other. Sure they talked a lot as human to mirror but most of that was for deception so it barely counts. If it’s to be more of a nice thing to finally give her protection then I dare say the heroes should have just given her sanctuary and been strong enough to make sure it was followed. This show’s not big on romance either way so it’s not like we’ll likely get many scenes about it but if this is meant to be taken seriously then it’s definitely a weak one already.

After that we have Ouken who is another big villain. He shows just how dangerous regeneration and immortality can be. Also how scary it could be in a sense since you have to live forever no matter what happens. We see Bosse crush him into a ball multiple times and you can’t help but feel like that would actually work really well even though it would be like a torture for Ouken. Being immortal is a massive price to pay and the show’s view is that it’s not worth it which I definitely agree with. Once you become immortal then it is all over. Ouken’s first major fight with the Mad King was definitely a solid way to be introduced though. In general the series did a good job with the seemingly one shot villains who are doomed from the start but still get a solid run of things. It was also a good way to keep some of the heroes busy.

Desha is a fun villain. He’s easily one of the strongest fighters in the world and lives up to the hype. He’s definitely got a heroic spirit to him as well with how reasonable he can be when working with Boji. The guy also risks a whole lot to help Ouken. Desha doesn’t appear a ton throughout the series but he definitely helps when it counts. I hope he will still have a good role in future arcs. His brother Despa isn’t quite as interesting although his lightning ability is handy at least. I appreciated the fact that he could at least fight a bit as opposed to being completely powerless.

Apeas is one of the big 4 warriors and unfortunately I did not really like him by the end. His whole thing is about being super loyal but I would argue that some characters take it too far to the point of not being loyal. It may sound like a contradiction but ultimately it comes down to you being loyal to a person or to a concept. Depending on your answer is how I determine if you are actually loyal or not. His pure combat skills can’t be denied though. He has a lot of physical strength but I’d argue he is surpassed within the same group anyway. Definitely someone you want to be careful about having as an enemy regardless though.

Bebin is another one of the big fighters and he’s solid. He’s a sneaky fighter who always has a few crafty tricks at the ready. So if you’re not careful then you will definitely end up being in trouble. He also has a ton of plot twists running around but one thing you can always trust about him are his snakes. The large one in particular is a good friend to Boji and always looks good. Ultimately Bebin is good but like the queen I feel like his plans are way too risky to the point of almost being like luck at times. I wouldn’t want him to be the one watching over me.

Dorshe is easily the most likable out of the main 4 and I would also argue that he is the strongest. His feats are the best and he really handled himself very well even when he was outnumbered. He’s a fun guy to have around and someone who is truly loyal and doesn’t just act the part. Trust me when I say that makes an absolutely huge difference. There’s not a whole lot to say about him beyond that but that’s not a negative. He’s a simple character who was brought up with the right attitude and as a result he does really well for himself. I can definitely respect that.

Hokuro is someone I’m not as big a fan of. The guy is just way too weak the whole time so even when he’s by your side, it’s not like it’s a really big help necessarily. He calls out Domas and everything but it has less weight since he can’t do much about it. Domas has to be one of the worst characters though. The guy is an absolute traitor no matter how you slice it and there was no way back for him. Right from that moment I knew he could never rebound. Some characters just go too far and have to pay the price.

Either way the big 4 are power creeped rather quickly. By the end of the show there isn’t a whole lot that they are able to do. Ouken is a villain who’s a bit of an exception to the overall power levels because of his immortality but either way he absolutely crushed them. They just didn’t stand a chance against him. By the end of the series it feels like the kingdom is in pretty good shape but of course with the supernatural lore around it will be very easy to write up a group of villains who can really threaten them. So there are a lot of ways that you can take this one.

I also hope that Boji can be a little bolder and more full of life in a sequel. In a lot of ways he is the weak point of the show because he’s just not very interesting as a main character. His fighting style is different but not the most interesting visually. So lets just upgrade him a bit and that should help the show as a whole. From there, just keep on giving us some good fights and maybe introduce a few more characters. A lot of the heroes currently around already have a ton of baggage from the whole choosing sides thing here.

Overall, Ranking of Kings is a good show. I think it’s lacking just enough to keep me from calling it pretty good but it’s worth the watch all the way. You’ll particularly have a good time if you enjoy the old time setting of kings and royalty. Right now most of the characters and organizations are all shady so we’ll see how that goes in the future. I still say that Boji should not trust anyone even with this whole adventure arc out of the way. It feels like the end game will be dealing with the demons and the mystery of being the #1 King but because of that I don’t think it would necessarily be the next arc.

Overall 6/10

Odd Taxi Review

Posted on May 5, 2024 by dreager1

Odd Taxi is one of those shows that I didn’t really know anything about but I remember when it was first announced at some kind of awards show. The teaser was so bad that every reactor I knew was making fun of it. The comments were pretty fun but it seems like a lot of people enjoyed it after the show actually released. Either that or the creators got mad because a lot of the initial reactions were taken down without a trace. Could be that the reactors were covering their tracks though. It’s a pretty unique show that has a fun mystery. I thought it was good, it may not reach the status of very good as I don’t think there is a ton of replay value here but it handles the alternate realistic universe filled with animals concept way better than Beastars ever could.

The show generally follows a walrus named Hiroshi who drives a taxi around town. He picks up various people across the city and lives a generally calm life. He doesn’t get into trouble or take risks and that’s the way that he likes it. Unfortunately, that changes one day when he becomes aware of a missing persons case. A girl has gone missing and unfortunately he is a primary suspect because there are signs pointing to his having driven her right before she vanished. He doesn’t remember….but this is one of those shows where even the main character is a suspect. So we have to determine whether Hiroshi is guilty or not. In the meantime this has gotten the attention of the cops, the yakuza, and even the papparazi. Hiroshi’s quiet life is completely over.

While the mystery is the central focus of the show, this is the kind of title where a lot of plots are balanced at the same time. You can sometimes go whole episodes without the missing persons case being the main focus. For example you’ve also got a failing comedian duo, a girl that Hiroshi has fallen in love with, inter gang battles, one guy’s addiction to mobile games, etc. Another way to look at this could be that the show is more about the city and everyone in it as opposed to just focusing on Hiroshi’s struggles.

Now, the soundtrack isn’t really doing the series any favors. It has to succeed in spite of the songs because they are quite uninspired. The opening is hands down one of the worst that I’ve heard in a while. It might seriously be bottom 5 but that’s a bold statement with how many shows I’ve seen. So for now I’ll just say that it is easily one of the weaker ones and you will want to skip it after seeing it once. Then the ending also doesn’t really work either but at least it has some life to it. The themes within the show aren’t bad but it’s just not really my kind of music. It’s a little too subdued the whole time which is likely the intent based on the style of the show but I wanted something with a little more pop.

The animation is also below average. It’s going for a stylized kind of look but for me that just didn’t work as well as the traditional visuals. Give me something with more color and impact any day. Technical elements usually exist to enhance a show to the next level as opposed to holding it back so that does put this one at a bit of a disadvantage. The show is still good but I dare say this contributed to the show staying there instead of becoming very good.

In a way the story arcs revolve around the characters so I’ll be breaking the story down that way as opposed to the traditional story arcs method. So first lets talk about Kabasawa since he’s one of the more annoying characters. Basically he wants to go viral online and become really famous. So the guy is always taking a lot of pictures and getting himself into trouble with the mafia. It takes him a long while to really get the point and in a way he is supposed to represent the irresponsible streamers that you see everywhere. So the show did a good job of really adapting that kind of person but it also means that naturally this character would not be even remotely likable. Even by the end I didn’t like him and so this wasn’t quite my favorite plot of the bunch.

For a more intense plot, we had the constant fighting between Dobu and Yano. They’re both trying to show off for their boss but this does result in some direct fighting at times. We get to see Dobu a lot more often than Yano and he is a tough gangster. The guy can fight well when he’s cornered and always has a plan. He feels a little less evil than Yano in part because of all the screentime so he gets to mellow out a bit. He makes for a good antagonist who really gives Hiroshi and the others a run for their money. He works best as a full on villain and was always entertaining. I never doubted that he would shoot Hiroshi if the need were to arise.

That said, I liked his rival Yano even more. The way he talks with rhythm and thymes the whole time was pretty cool. He actually had a pretty good theme music which would show up and was the best part of the ost. Yano debuts much later than Dobu but still gets a really good amount of screen-time. I tend to like it when villains are going at each other and this provided another opportunity for that. So all good things here and Yano’s scenes were always really hype.

Then we have the Daimon brothers. One of them is a really corrupt cop who is rather open about this while the other one is really timid and super naive. Good Daimon wants to be a good police officer who opposes evil and fights for justice at all times. His plot ties into the main one the most as this is his big chance but if it means going against his brother then it’ll be tough. You’re eagerly waiting for him to summon his bravery and start doing good but it does take a while. So he gets a good finish here but ultimately I still wouldn’t list him as one of my favorite characters or anything because it took a really long time.

As for bad Daimon, he was usually a lot more entertaining. It’s the way he’s so smug about everything, it’s fun to see him just revel in that as he makes things tough on Hiroshi. This guy isn’t afraid to be petty and so he helps the villains out quite a lot. I don’t feel like he ever got a great reason for helping the villains out but that’s actually a good thing. Sometimes people will just go corrupt easily for some money and influence. It doesn’t all have to tie into some grand sob story that explains everything.

Then we have Hiroshi’s doctor Goriki and his assistant Miho. Miho is a nice enough lady that Hiroshi falls for right away but despite that she has her dark secrets like being a bit of a thief. It’s hard for Hiroshi to get involved here since he isn’t the type to meddle and he’s no sure exactly what’s going on. Ultimately I would say that Miho looks rather bad here. She’s one of those characters who doesn’t have much problem with manipulating someone but then this whole thing started because someone manipulated her so it’s really a whole cycle. Her excuses for being manipulated were pretty bad and ultimately I didn’t think she was a great character.
I liked Goriki a lot though. He could have taken a more proactive approach rather than letting Miho do whatever she wanted though. He seemed to think the optimal thing was to take the loss and move on which is the way to go if you absolutely can’t handle confrontations but I would say overall it isn’t the right thing to do. Sometimes confrontations are inevitable or you will be walked on by everyone else. Goriki is also busy worrying about Hiroshi the whole time but the main character can be rather stubborn about things so this can be difficult.

Then you have Hiroshi’s friend Kakihana who is the most desperate character in the series. He desperately wants a girlfriend even if it means lying on dating apps and borrowing money from shady sources. He will do whatever it takes and gets into trouble on many occasions. It’s always hard to feel bad for him as a result and I don’t feel like he ever made the jump to being a good character. He just holds Hiroshi back and gets the lead into dangerous situations. Kakihana needs to be less desperate and be happy with what he already has.

Then you have the singing plot which is also really important in the show. Yamamoto is the manager of a band of 3 cats who are really popular now. The main singer is Rui while her two backup singers always have to wear masks. Yamamoto has them trying to do everything to hustle up more tickets but the guy is rather shady. He’s one of many people who asks Hiroshi for his dash-cam and seems to know more than he is letting on about the missing girl. Show biz is definitely a dark place as always but he does really well in the role of manager. At the very least, even if it means breaking 1000 laws you can bet that he will work to make the group as popular as possible.

On the surface Rui seems like a really nice person but of course you know that this doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Putting on an act is what the trio do for a living after all, but she’s a fun character to have around. In general I liked all of the singers, they all had an edge to them and were quite competitive which makes sense. You don’t get to this high level by being passive after all. In a way Shiho might be the toughest of the group. She does some illegal stuff in order to get rich which involves being bait so that others can get beat up. It’s definitely not something you would be expecting a celebrity to do.

Also even if she doesn’t love the gig, she’s not exactly running away either so I do give her a lot of responsibility here. Ultimately she wants to live a really wealthy life and seems ready to go with any guy who can give her that luxurious life. Definitely not a great reason to start a relationship though, materialistic end goals like that don’t feel like they will lead to a happy outcome. Finally you have Yuki who is the newest member of the group and fighting hard to make sure that she ends up doing well here. She’s got a lot of spirit which I like and definitely has the work ethic to succeed. Her role is quite sizable and of the 3 she is easily the most likable one.

Then we have the comedy duo Shibagaki and baba whose plot has the least to do with the main one but it ultimately does connect. All of the plots converge at some point or another after all. Basically these guys have been a duo for a long time but Baba has gotten more and more distracted as he starts to pursue other goals while Shibagaki still wants to become the best duo in Japan. The fact is that they continue to lose in early rounds of the comedian championship in every year. So Baba thinks they are just on the way down here. I don’t think they worked well as a duo from the start though, they just didn’t have the banter at the ready.

I also don’t think you can possibly succeed if either member of the duo already has their eyes set on another goal. I put most of the blame here on Baba, I think he should either just have gone and quit from the jump or focused entirely for the final competition. His whole one foot in and one foot out made things really tough on the duo. As for Shibageki, he should have looked into a new partner. It seems like he wasn’t doing particularly well in the comedy circuit either but then he needs to work from the ground up and needs a partner who is ready to start from scratch to. Both of these guys were just too stubborn. It was always fun hearing them on the radio though.

We’d have whole segments where Hiroshi is just driving and listening to these guys. It felt a little like a loading screen and it worked well for the slice of life effect. The show did that well in general, a lot was always going on here but at the same time there were a lot of moments for peace like this. A good portion of the show takes place at night since that is Hiroshi’s normal route and so the vibes are rather solid there.

Then you have Tanaka who is the most deranged character in the series. Initially he just starts out as some kid who is super addicted to mobile games but as the show goes on he gets more and more detached from reality. The guy even grabs a gun and starts threatening people. He’s definitely got strong crazy vibes going at all times. While I have no real sympathy for the guy and just think that he’s nuts, the plot is one of the most engaging in the show. Partially because you know he does have a real chance of actually murdering someone since the show’s atmosphere lends itself well to that. It’s also fun when he actually does have a run in with the Yakuza. He’s definitely a very good wild card who keeps all of the characters guessing.

The most normal character in the show has to be Imai. He’s a super big fan of the idol group and so he buys all of their merchandise and attends the concerts that he can. He doesn’t have much money at all but he really wants to support them. Well, one day he win a big lottery so he can finally have a bunch of money but the Yakuza in town might have something to say about this. This guy isn’t the smartest character in the group which gets him into trouble though. You definitely want to be sure that nobody knows you won the lottery but unfortunately he doesn’t think that far ahead. Imai’s more on the naive side so he makes a whole lot of mistakes here. He was okay but I wish he was a bit tougher.

Now we’ve got Hiroshi’s plot but with the added context of all the other plots which keep involving him since he drives them all around. Hiroshi’s not much of a social guy and so he tries to avoid the spotlight but it’s pretty much impossible given his position. I appreciate the effort but yeah he’s definitely a little in over his head on this one. I thought he made for a good main character with how old and jaded he is though. He doesn’t understand any of the newer trends that the younger characters are talking about and he doesn’t want to understand them. Part of him wants to get out there and start dating while another part of him doesn’t want to risk it.

Then with the whole murder case, Hiroshi is rather cryptic. Does he really not remember what happened or is he hiding something? Throughout the show he talks to someone in his closet which is rather suspicious. Well, either way I can say that the resolutions to the plots are definitely interesting. Hiroshi also starts to show some guts later on like during a few tense chase scenes and when he shows up to rescue Kakihana. He may not always be the bravest character but he is someone that you can count on.

The season also ends with a fairly big cliffhanger depending on how you look at it. You can think of it as more of a “bad end” as opposed to a cliffhanger though and assume that things went the villain’s way. I could definitely picture that. On the other hand you can assume that at some point we will get a season 2 that wraps things up. There is certainly enough material for one but either way that was an explosive way to end things and I was not expecting that so it worked out pretty well.

There are a lot of revelations in general near the end. The biggest twist was also pretty well foreshadowed since in hindsight you can connect a few of the dots that way. They are hidden well enough where I wouldn’t expect just about anyone to guess it right away but it doesn’t feel unfair either since the seeds were there. The twist makes you wonder a bit on how a season 2 would go. It would definitely be interesting to see. In a way I hope it would keep things the way they look after the twist because it makes the most sense but I would totally understand it if the show did not want to do that.

I think one of the cleverest things the show did was introducing the girl’s disappearance right away. It’s treated like a murder the whole time but that’s not confirmed. Still, what it does is give the series a fairly serious vibe right away. This is a show with gangs running around and a lot of tension so you want to make sure that the audience knows bad things can happen to the characters. If there was no danger then the show would not have as much intensity as it does now. Even by the end they don’t cop out on the whole thing. It’s a legitimate plot that keeps on going and isn’t just there for shock value.

In general the story is more focused on a strong plot than shock value which is why I put it on a much higher level than something like Beastars. There can be some violence but it isn’t all that excessive and the show isn’t generally dealing with any super dark themes. It’s just a solid mystery with a lot of things going on. The slow pacing can sometimes approach the point of being a little boring every now and again but you do get sucked in when the mystery is a big focus again. The story itself was strong enough to carry the rest of the show.

Overall, Odd Taxi is a fun show. There is a lot of mystery involved with the plot and the characters can be interesting. The show does have a very low key vibe to it although I wish the animation/soundtrack was better. It’s a show that can keep you engaged on the first run but I don’t think it would hold up well on the rewatch. The pacing could stand to be a little faster since some parts can be a bit more dull especially if you don’t care about the character. Kakihana in particular was just annoying the whole time. There aren’t a ton of mystery anime out there compared to other genre though so if you’re in the mood for a title like that then I would recommend this show. The Taxi is definitely a fun vehicle to revolve the show around.

Overall 6/10

Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens Review

Posted on April 28, 2024 by dreager1

Lets talk about the next big Yugioh series. This one was definitely a real change from the previous Yugioh titles which all had a consistent kind of look to them. At their core they were Shonen Jump type stories while his one was definitely more aimed at kids. Of course we know from experience that this can work out really well like with Cardfight Vanguard and Buddyfight. Fortunately I can confirm that this did work out really well. It’s got a lot of fun moments and there are a good selection of likable main characters. The stakes may be a little lower but there are still a great number of really fun duels here so they will keep your attention the whole time. I was definitely sad to see the series go.

The series is about a kid named Yuga who loves dueling but he feels like it’s missing something. So he ends up installing his own version of dueling into the Goha network computers which installs the game onto everyone’s duel disc. This new form of dueling is called Rush Duels. Basically you draw 5 cards in every turn which opens the way to a lot of combos right out of the gate. It’s a very different kind of duel and as the name would suggest, it’s also a much faster paced way of fighting. Now he is eager to play it with everyone. This makes Yuga a local sensation and everyone at school is either thrilled about the new way to duel or resents him for it. Goha is trying to find a way to remove this new style of dueling as well before it overshadows the classic form of dueling. Can they really stop him?

You might think that this is all a bit much about a new style of dueling that is optional but I can actually picture companies getting upset about this. Like if you suddenly uploaded an optional way to play Street Fighter that Capcom did not approve of. You can bet that they would have some words for you very quickly and likely would not let it stand. That’s just the corporate way. They’re in this to make money, not to make friends and you really can’t convince them otherwise unless you have the money to back it up.

The setting will remind you a little of Yugioh GX with how it all takes place at school. At least the vast majority of the show takes place there. The show mainly starts out as a slice of life title as we are gradually introduced to all of the characters and get to see what kind of deck builds they are running. This intro phase takes a while but that’s fine since we’ve got a little over 90 episodes to work with. It’s similar to Cardfight Vanguard G which had a super long intro phase but it worked out really well because then we knew the characters when it was time for the big action sagas. That’s really the approach that this game went with as well.

So after the pre arc one of the big arcs we get is about the Master Cards. These are the latest gimmick in the Yugioh verse. You could say that the whole concept of Rush Duels counts as the first gimmick but then this would be the second one. You basically merge 3 cards into one super card that takes up the various spaces and has incredible abilities. Nail’s got a master card of his own and absolutely dominates everyone. The heroes have to beat his various lackeys without losing too many rounds or their accounts are forfeit. The whole “You’ll lose your account if you lose” is sort of like the new version of the shadow game. The account issue is thrown in front of the characters multiple times. Fortunately Luke is here to keep the characters from losing but if I were the heroes I’d be getting annoyed pretty fast. That’s a big weakness with the villains actually owning the software that the game’s code runs through.

Also I should mention that the hardware that plays the software are actually real physical objects over in space. For example the Rush Duel settings turned into a giant robot so throughout the series the villains are trying to break it. It’s actually rather surreal because it’s such an odd way for the coding to work. It’s cool though so naturally I’d give it a pass. It also gives us an excuse to have some space moments. There are actually quite a few other sci-fi themes in the show as well. Several characters show up who appear to be aliens. Some of them work for Goha and some are just doing their own thing. They all look almost identical but have their own gimmicks.

It’s random in the best way. Whenever they show up you just have to roll with it and enjoy the duel. I’ll touch on a bunch of the characters in a minute but then there are a ton of more minor characters that I won’t go into. Each of these characters have their own gimmicks though. One of them really loves sushi, one loves dinosaurs, etc. They all duel with their themes in mind and Yugioh is such a big game that you can make an entire deck off of a theme like that. It’s actually impressive and speaks to how many cards there are. The duels themselves may not be as entertaining as the big story based duels but it’s always fun to see how creative the show can get.

After the Master Card debacle you’ve got a lot of mini arcs like being attacked by the hard hat crew (Not their actual names but close enough), a few tournaments thrown into the mix, Luke becoming the Luke Man, and the Goa 6 showing up to basically take over the world/the game. We even get a whole arc where everyone loses their memory of dueling so Luke has to snap them back into their senses. At some point Luke moved from just being the super cool rival to borderline becoming the main character. It’s definitely impressive.

The show is 90+ episodes long though so you do expect a lot of different stories to occur. It gets around the lack of world ending stakes extremely well with this creativity too. So in the end where would I rank the show? Well I think it’s fair to say that it still does lose to most of the classics but I would put it above Vrains and Capsule Monsters. The rest are still a little too impressive to lose. I’d say it speaks more to how great the overall franchise is though as opposed to this one not being up to the task.

Now lets talk about the characters. As the lead Yuga is a fun guy. He’s not quite as untouchable as previous main characters but that works well since it makes him very relatable. He’s just a kid having fun playing his favorite game and there’s definitely nothing wrong with that. I can definitely respect his talent right here and he has a lot of confidence. It does mean that he is overshadowed by the other two members of the main cast who just have more charisma though. All in all, Yuga does a good job of leading the show and is consistently solid for the whole run.

Then we have Luke, the absolute stand out character of the series. You want to talk about an awesome character? Look no further than this guy! He’s awesome in every possible way. The guy has limitless confidence and always looks on the bright side of things. Characters try to sometimes get in his way and wreck the vibe but he doesn’t let it happen. He’s a bit of an unassuming character since most fighters think that the guy is full of hot air and yet he manages to win just about every duel. He is undefeated for almost the entirety of the series and I don’t need to tell you just how impressive that is. Seriously, it’s an absolutely insane feat and he constantly hits above his paygrade. He takes out big enemies that even Yuga wasn’t prepared for.

Luke is a game changer and he’s a big reason as to why I would go ahead and say that this is a great show. Not just a very good one or anything like that but it is legitimately great. Luke can hold his own with any of the previous Yugioh rival characters. He may not take himself as seriously as those other guys but his sill is up there. In fact, you could argue he surpasses the other rivals in one way which is that by the end of the series he is debatably still stronger than the main character and that never really happens.

Then we have Romin as the main heroine and she’s another great character. She’s a great duelist and also has time to be a professional singer on the side. Her cooking skills may not always be out of this world but she is always ready to try something new. She is able to keep up with Luke in terms of being high energy the whole time and so that makes the trio really complete. I would say that like Luke, she is also more interesting than Yuga so it’s one of the only times I can think of where the lead ends up being carried by the other two members of the trio. Nothing wrong with that of course, they’re just helping to elevate the series to the next level.

Romin gets a whole lot of character development like Luke. She has to really decide between music and Yugioh as you can’t really become a pro at both. Both of them have a whole lot of time commitments after all and so she has to make a lot of tough calls. Particularly near the end of the show with some mind wiping going on. All in all, she’s someone that you can count on and is a great member of the main cast.

The 4th member isn’t quite as solid as the main 3 though. We’ve got Gavin next and he’s one of those guys who really follows the rules at all times. This makes him not very reasonable most of the time. He does have his inevitable rebellion mini arc where he starts to break all of the rules but that just takes him too far into the other direction. As DJ G he at least has a cool beat going though. So I give him some props there but yeah he can’t keep up with the main 3 in terms of personality and I would say that the same is true of his dueling abilities as well. He’s a solid duelist but he’s not elite or anything like that.

One guy who sort of joins the main cast a bit later on is Roa and he’s a lot of fun. He’s Romin’s cousin and another great duelist. He’s sort of like a sub rival to Yuga. Luke is of course the primary rival but Roa shows up several times to really put the pressure on as well. His skills are the real deal and his backstory is also emotional. Roa’s been through a lot but he really made a name for himself and continues to move forward. He made no excuses about what he had to go through and is a very well balanced character. He was really solid and definitely ended up as one of the best characters in the series.

After that we’ve got Asana who is rivals with Tiger. Asana is certainly one of the more mature characters. She doesn’t tend to bicker quite as often as the others and she is always ready for a good duel. She’s portrayed as one of the more powerful duelists even if she doesn’t get to duel too often. Her personality works well as a contrast to the rest of the characters. She’s certainly got her quirks as well and they’re unique like naming her work equipment. Whatever works on the path to being the world’s greatest duelist though. The show goes all out by even having a full origin story for her and Tiger. I can’t say I was expecting that but it was handled really well. A little more communication could have stopped all of the misunderstandings though.

As for Tiger, she’s a lot of fun. As Luke’s older sister, it’s no surprise that she is also extremely powerful. She can hold her own against any fighter and even physically she is a beast. She’s always hitting people with that giant weapon she is carrying around. The gag of Luke being scared of her does get old rather quickly though. I wouldn’t say that it holds its own with the other gags at all. The whole time you’re just waiting for Luke to finally get past that and show her why he is the world’s greatest duelist. As good as she is, Luke has surpassed her fairly early on in the series. It was just like a mental block where he couldn’t put that all together when he was going up against her.

Back on the main heroes’ side, we also had Rayne and Rino who would work for the student council president Gavin. I didn’t really care for either of those characters much though. They were more on the boring side and didn’t really add any good banter to the mix. I wouldn’t trust them either as they go through a lot in the show and don’t tend to come out clutch. Whenever they got a duel it would typically be one of the least interesting ones. There’s also a random subplot of Rayne liking Yuga but that never even goes anywhere. I still don’t really know why that was included at all. So these characters you could have cut out of the story and it would not have really changed anything.

Mimi is a fun supporting character. She’s a full adult who even has a kid yet she is able to pass herself off as a student most of the time. That’s definitely impressive and at one point she even finds herself as one of the top staff members at Goha corp. So something is always going on with her and she’s definitely a lot of fun. It would be nice if she could duel more and show everyone the power of an adult but ultimately that’s just not really her role. I’d say that she is one of the more wholesome characters though and I’m glad to have her around. Outside of one episode about Romin trying to cook some food, there isn’t always a lot of time available for the characters to just mess around. So when Mimi shows up, you know the heroes can relax for a while.

Unfortunately Mimi is connected to the most disappointing villain in the series in the leader of Goha. There’s this mask that basically attaches itself to people and runs the corporation. It has a super cool design and always talks tough but ultimately ends up being a bit of a chump. Seriously he’s no real threat and nobody is able to take him seriously. I can’t even take him seriously. The guy can technically fight well but just goes through so much disrespect. His hype just slowly drains away the more the series goes on. Throughout the show I never lost hope that he would turn things around and be the secret final boss or something but unfortunately that never happened. I suppose it just wasn’t to be.

Goha was still a reasonable villain because I like the idea of corporate literally being the main antagonist but they didn’t really adapt with the times. They were tough in pre arc but that was about it. I suppose if you consider the final group as part of Goha then that’s different and technically they are but I consider them to be a bit separate from the actual corporation. I suppose that’s more of a me thing though, it is technically not super logical or anything like that.

Another character related to Goha is Otes. He’s definitely an interesting figure. Sometimes he’s helpful and sometimes he isn’t. His skill level is also hard to determine because sometimes losing is in his best interest so you don’t know when he’s going all out or not. The guy could have definitely talked more to explain things though and his character goes down a very odd direction by the very end of the series. Lets just say that this guy is filled with plot twists and ultimately the final ones do not help his character at all. He drops a whole lot for me but I can at least say that he was interesting. He remained relevant in the series for its entire run which is impressive.

Another character who was around the whole time was Nail but he did lose a lot of hype after the first arc. The guy was a big deal initially because of the super powerful cards that he could use. They were basically legal god cards and nobody else had them. Once everyone got them the battlefield was equaled and Nail couldn’t keep up. Gone were the days of him being the most powerful. He’s still tough but not nearly as imposing. I like his character but he was better as a villain. His poor servant Sebastian definitely goes through a lot of issues as well. I can’t say I really liked the robot though so I didn’t feel too bad for him.

Yuga has his own robot in Kaizo as well. That guy is always being transformed into different objects and hacked so he doesn’t have an easy journey either. The guy isn’t the most heroic though and has quite a lot of issues so you can get why Yuga is always going things to him. I would have liked Kaizo to have more of a real man up moment before the series was over. Even Swirls got his own arc although of course there were big reasons for that. As for the 6 big Goha fighters who showed up later, they’re pretty fun.

You of course have the other Yuga Goha who is solid although there were a few moments where I was pretty much laughing at the guy. He starts off in a super intense way but the more the show goes on the worse he looks. At one point he just loses energy while he’s in the sky and has a sudden crash landing, another time he gets affected by the memory bug and starts acting like a child, etc. It’s really hard to come back from this, specifically as a villain since you need to be able to take the guy seriously. Unfortunately I couldn’t take him seriously after that. There was just no way to pull that off.

Yuro’s a reasonable villain. Outside of Yuga, none of them are all that villainous for long to be honest but he’s a good duelist and a balanced character. So I can’t say that I really had any issues with him. Yujin has more drive so I like that about him. He’s a really enthusiastic kind of character who is always ready to jump in and have a good time. He also has actual hobbies outside of dueling which is always cool. Yuran is the most boring. He’s an okay duelist but there’s nothing all that interesting about him. He’s a bit too quiet and mellow and I need my characters to be bold and outspoken.

Yuka is fun enough. She can actually play baseball really good and gets a whole rivalry out of that. Again, it comes down to having a hobby outside of dueling which is nice. Finally there is Yuo who is quite bold since he actually tries to take power away from the others into his corrupt games. The guy is a strong duelist as well and aside from Luke there are very few who can take him down. He’s not my favorite villain but he does get points for actively acting like a villain and just generally doing whatever he wants. He’s not just here to make friends and have a good time. His priority is claiming his right to power.

For the animation, Yugioh Sevens looks pretty good but it is a bit of a step down from the last few shows. The colors aren’t as string and it just looks a bit cheaper. I’d say that might be more on the character designs than the animation itself but this won’t be winning any awards. It’s still not bad or anything but I just can’t say that it’s very good either. It’s solid enough where it makes for solid visuals and we get some dynamic moments but it’s mostly by the books. I would say that the same is true of the soundtrack either. It’s not like it’s bad or anything but the tunes aren’t all that memorable. The show is certainly not being carried by the technical elements or anything like that. It has to succeed on the writing and story which fortunately are up to the task for this.

The show is just really funny a lot of the time. At the end of the day what you really need in order to make a series successful is either a lot of great action with cool end of the world stakes that keep you on your toes or a great cast of characters that can pull off a low key slice of life type adventure. These characters are able to pull that off and you’ll likely be grinning in each episode. Luke isn’t just the best character because he can duel but also because he’s just really funny. The guy is constantly cracking good jokes with how oblivious he is and how he takes things out of context. At the end of the day he’s the kind of guy that everyone wishes they had as a best friend. That’s the power of being a quality character.

Overall, Yugioh Sevens is a great show. I really enjoyed all of the card games and the character cast is really solid. The show couldn’t have worked nearly as well with a weaker cast so they have to take a lot of credit here. I’d still like to go back to a more traditional artstyle but I will continue checking these out for as long as they want to keep going. I’m always up for more great Yugioh content and they really did well here. If you are a little worried about starting this show, don’t be. It still hits the electric highs that you’ve been expecting from the franchise.

Overall 8/10

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Review

Posted on April 28, 2024 by dreager1

Frieren was a show that definitely got a ton of hype when it was coming out. It’s a fantasy adventure that is a bit different from your average title. It takes place after the hero’s party already saved the world so it’s more of an epilogue with different events that are still going on to bring on the danger. All in all, it’s a rather satisfying show that has a good balance of heart warming/emotional moments as well as some really good action scenes. When the show decides to turn up, it really goes all out with the animation.

The show starts by introducing us to Frieren who was a legendary sorcerer who accompanied the hero Himmel on his quest to destroy the Demon King. They succeeded and the world was saved. They all went off on their own way. We pick the series up 50 years later as Frieren decides to redo the journey one more time to see how the world has changed. Along the way she does does Heiter a favor and decides to train a young girl named Fern. The two of them then meet a warrior in training named Stark. It looks like Frieren has assembled another hero’s party of sorts. There may not be a demon king to vanquish this time around but perhaps they can help Frieren learn what it really means to have emotion.

Frieren’s main conflict here is that as an Elf, she will live for hundreds and hundreds of years. Everyone she meets will inevitably die before her such as he hero’s party that she worked with previously. Some races last long like hers but the Elves definitely take the cake on overall longevity. Elves tend to be very logical and lack emotions as a byproduct of their long lives so while Frieren’s party seemed to have an amazing time, she couldn’t fully appreciate the moments at the time. So in the present, Fern and Stark’s constant banter help Frieren to learn these emotions. You can also give credit to the various supporting characters around.

So in a lot of ways this is about Frieren’s transformation from an emotionless leader into someone who has become more human. I’d say that’s the emotional core of the series and it works well. Frieren even sounds emotionless for most of the show but will sometimes show off a bit of humor and other emotions. Her dry wit works rather well as a contrast here. Above all, it’s also nice to have someone as powerful as her in the lineup. She’s easily the strongest hero alive on the planet right now. She may not be quite as heroic as Himmel but his tendencies have really started to rub off on her so she finds herself being more and more heroic with each day.

Her long years of experience have also helped to spread her reputation around. It’s always nice to see everyone treating her with awe and reverence the whole time. As someone who helped defeat the Demon King, that makes a lot of sense. I’d say this show handles that “Post Game” era better than most other titles that I’ve seen. People didn’t just suddenly forget what happened or anything like that. They’re all still hyper aware of the situation and that’s a good thing. She’s a great lead character, no doubt about it.

Then we have Fern who serves as the prodigy of the group. She is way younger than Frieren and yet she has already become a super talented mage. I don’t see her passing Frieren even by the end of the series but even so, she is a force to be reckoned with. She had to grow up quickly in order to take care of Frieren as well since the lead isn’t always the most responsible for day to day chores. In other ways Fern does show how she’s still a kid though like with her constant arguments with Stark. She really gives him a hard time over every little thing. He never takes anything personal and is a good kid. In a way it’s the only time Fern is able to act like a child which is probably part of why she does it. That, and Stark just gets on her nerves more than anyone else.

As for Stark, he’s the close range fighter of the group. With the other two main characters being long range mages, it is definitely super handy to have a close range specialist at the ready. He lets his guard down a bit and for now I don’t consider him to be in the same league as Fern and Frieren but he is a really fun character who does add to the dynamic. Stark provides a lot of the best gags in the show and he’s also just someone that gives you confidence in the group. He’s straight forward and gets along with people really easily. In that way he feels the most heroic out of the group. Actually, I’d say he straight up is the most heroic. Stark will defend anyone that he can.

The show’s foundation is really solid which opens up pathways to quite a lot of things. The show could have gone down a full slice of life route and it would still be pretty good because the main trio has such a good dynamic. The show also isn’t afraid to just slow down and let the main characters have a fun day off. We get one episode that is pretty much all about Stark’s birthday and Fern trying her best to have a good attitude about the whole thing. There are several other episodes in the show that don’t actually have any fighting involved. This is one of those shows where fights aren’t necessarily guaranteed and that’s definitely not a bad thing. Of course you know I love fights but this series can hold its own in any genre.

So the fact that we have a number of good fights is really a great bonus on top. Each half of the show has at least one major fight that looks great. Like I mentioned earlier, the animation is really solid here. You have a lot of strong/vibrant colors that really stand out at all times. The second half especially has a lot of memorable moments but you won’t have complains with any episode. Meanwhile the soundtrack can be more subdued but one big positive is that each opening is excellent. I really liked the first opening in particular which has a very unique sound design to it.

The first big villain in the show is a demon named Qual who was pretty fun. Basically this guy used to be a really huge deal but in this universe it is hard to stay as a top tier threat. The reason for this is due to the way the magic system works. Basically, the more familiar you are with a certain kind of magic, the easier it is to block. So what happens here is since Qual has been sealed for 50 years, everyone had time to study his magic. Because of that, his ultimate attack is now just a basic attack for the modern day mage. I give Qual credit for quickly adapting to this but ultimately that wasn’t enough to turn the tables. It was a fun way to introduce the viewer to some of the world’s rules while also giving us a fun villain.

The first main arc involves Frieren and friends heading into a town that is trying to make peace with some demons. I appreciated how Frieren said this was a bunch of nonsense from the start and would never work. A demon will always be evil after all and she has a super valid point there. The humans looked rather gullible and they should have let Frieren do her thing. Unfortunately they would have been doomed either way without her but with her then they had a chance. Frieren’s attitude towards destroying all of the demons is a nice change of pace. She definitely won’t be falling for any traps.

The demons all had their own character and personalities too. None of them were throwaways. Well, I guess the closest would be Draht who made the mistake of challenging Frieren to a 1 on 1 fight. She made short work out of him and has quite a few raw moments like that during the show. It’s always really impressive. Aura is one of the big shots here as she is incredibly powerful and gets a good fight with Frieren. The actual ending may be a little anti climactic but the show does its best with the animation and sound design to still keep it hype all the way. Ultimately there was just a big difference in skill level which is what was the main factor here. Aura didn’t really make a mistake so much as she just wasn’t strong enough to win.

Lugner was a solid villain who had a ton of confidence the whole time. I liked his smug disposition and it was certainly deserved considering how powerful he was. The average fighter really didn’t stand a chance against him and his battle with Fern was a lot of fun. This direction of the demons all being rather smug but possessing a dignified air about them is really good. It makes them feel classy even if they are evil the whole time. Finally you have Linie who just likes a good fight. Her ability to copy fighting styles is definitely really handy. I didn’t find her to be quite as impressive as some of the other demons but she can still hold her own in a big fight. If she wasn’t so overconfident she would have done even better.

For the most part that’s it for the demons for now. There are other powerful monsters who have appeared but we’ll need to wait until season 2 for the next big threats. The fact that there are still so many powerful demons out there should have the humans really nervous the whole time but I guess the world is so big that most people are still safe. A lot of people are actually rather nonchalant the whole time despite never knowing when a demon will show up. I suppose that’s just how the world is set up though, you can’t just be living your life in fear right?

Now lets talk about the old hero group and some other characters before we jump into the final big saga of the show. As the legendary hero, Himmel is a pretty fun guy. He’s super heroic and a great hero to have around but it’s not like he’s perfect either. His main weakness is that he can be kind of vain. He loves posing and showing off as the hero. Later on it’s explained that he does this in a way to preserve the legacy of a hero and give people something to believe in but it’s hard to say just how serious that was. For now I’d still assume that he just likes to show off a whole lot and there’s nothing really wrong with it. At most I’m just not sold on his power just yet. He doesn’t actually seem all that impressive in the flashbacks so I’m waiting until we finally see a flashback of how the demon king fight went down.

Eisen is a good supporting character. He is actually strong and can endure just about any blow. His durability is really the selling point here as he can stay in the fight until he delivers the decisive blow. At that point then it is all over for his opponent. Heiter is easily the weakest of the group. He’s a priest who is always drunk and messing around. That’s his whole gimmick but it’s not a good one as he is always getting in the way and this does limit his overall potential. Yeah it’s not portrayed that way exactly and he isn’t treated as a liability but you’d think he would be a little more focused with the stakes being this high. I just couldn’t get behind this character.

Then we have Flamme who was Frieren’s mentor but as far as mentors go she can be a little boring. She doesn’t like violence and wants to spread peace which is all well and good but that’s about the extent of her character. We don’t actually know a lot about her beyond that which isn’t much. More flashbacks could certainly help her character though. Then we have Kraft who is another elf like Frieren. This guy is actually all by himself which seems like it would be really lonely. I’m not sure how he handles it but he actually seems rather good natured so I give him a lot of credit there. It has to be lonely after a while but he definitely doesn’t show it.

Finally you have Sein who temporarily joins the group but I can’t say that he added much to the dynamic so I was okay with him being written out later on. He has some magic abilities of his own and is a good healer but he gets distracted easily and is a big flirt. That’s such a big stereotype and not one of the fun ones so keeping him out is good with me. It seems like he’ll probably return at some point but that could be far into the future so nothing to worry about for now.

Now we get to the point of the big magic exam. At least one member of the party needs to reach the next rank in order to proceed so Fern and Frieren enter the test while Stark finally gets some alone time. The exam has several phases involving teamwork which forces a lot of these crazy mages to team up. Only a few people will end up passing the magic exam so the heroes can’t let their guard down for a second. From capturing birds to travelling into a dungeon and then passing a verbal quiz, every test has the potential to be the end of the road. If this were a straight forward fighting tournament then it would be an easy win but as it stands, there are enough different factors where there are no real guarantees here.

The exams is really an opportunity for a ton of fights and lots of cool moments all around so that was definitely a lot of fun. It’s the best arc of the show for now as we’re also introduced to a number of fun characters. It’s probably the biggest jump in actual characters yet in the series as just about every contestant feels like a person who could show up again in the future. I’d definitely be cool with that since they weren’t bad.

The best new character has to be Ubel. She’s a bit of a riddle right now as she is a serial killer and has a tough aura but she does end up sparing quite a few people. She doesn’t appear to be nearly as bloodthirsty as she lets on. So is this all an act or is she just playing nice for now? It’s just really hard to say either way but she is super entertaining. Her magic abilities are also really handy such as her paralysis and ability to copy your moves if she is able to understand you. Not just anyone can pull that off.

I also like Wirbel who is very similar. He’s murdered many people in the past and is widely regarded as another murderer but in the show he ends up being very reasonable. Murder appears to be a last resort for him. His skills are the real deal and while he doesn’t back down from a fight, he isn’t actively looking to take everyone down. I definitely look forward to seeing a lot more of him in the coming days.

Denken is the oldest contestant in the group. He likes doing things by the book and he makes up for a lack of raw power with absolute experience. He has a plan for everything although plans can only go so far. He doesn’t do great against Frieren in part because when the gap in strength is high enough, no amount of tactics are able to bypass that. He learned this the hard way but it was a good lesson. He has his moments and isn’t bad although he gets overshadowed by mot of the other candidates.

Richter is sort of the opposite here. He’s a lot younger and tends to be more impatient. He does have plans of his own but they do revolve around steamrolling his opponents with pure power which doesn’t always go well. He makes for a good antagonist but he’s not someone I would trust. He would absolutely turn against you for the right incentive. Land is more of a cautious fighter. He tries to keep a wall between him and everyone else at all times but will step in to protect his ally when needed. Ubel definitely dominates him in every interaction and a main reason for that is how Land is a bit of a softie. I like the guy though, he may constantly be lying to himself but the fact that he steps up when needed is a good thing. He’s someone you actually can count on to do his best at all times and to prioritize your safety.

Then you have Lawine and Kanne who are best friends even if they fight a lot. Their abilities complement each other well and they learn a lot while under Frieren’s leadership. I expected them to join Frieren again for the second challenge so it was surprising when they stayed back. I guess it can be awkward when the old friend group shows up but that was their big chance. Individually they’re only okay but as a duo they’re a lot of fun. I always enjoy the friendship banter with all of the insults flying around.

The proctor Sense is okay, but I’m not a big fan of her. I do think that allowing her clone into the exam was a little underhanded especially since she isn’t fighting on the hero’s side. For now I’m not too impressed with her in a power sense either. Certainly the opposite of Serie who finally shows up as the actual strongest fighter in the world. I have Frieren as the strongest hero because Serie is no hero but at this point in time you have no doubt that Serie would win in a fight between them. She’s spent her life in the pursuit of magic and has taken the offensive capabilities of it a lot more seriously than Frieren has. Serie can be openly bias when she is being a proctor but you have to love that confidence.

There are a lot of other characters, particularly in the magic arc but those are the main ones. You’ve got a really good assortment of supporting fighters here and there is already a lot of ground work for a ton of future seasons. There are tons of demons out in the world and the journey to get back to the end point of the adventure should take 10 years according to Frieren. That’s an incredibly long time so yeah this series could be around for a very long time and I’m absolutely cool with that.

Overall, Frieren is a great show and definitely lives up to the hype. It’s a really exciting show during the plot moments and it is a really thought provoking title during the slice of life episodes. The fact that it can succeed so well in two vastly different genres is a testament to the writing in the show. You should definitely watch this if you are looking for a fun adventure title. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Overall 8/10

Shangri-La Frontier Review

Posted on April 27, 2024 by dreager1

Shangri-La Frontier is one of those titles that got a good amount of hype when it was coming out. Not only was it getting the big anime production but there was even a mobile game coming out around that time. Who doesn’t like an action show about a fun VR world right? One thing that did differentiate this one from other titles is how they weren’t stuck in the game this time though. You can actually log out and you don’t die in real life when you die in the game. So it’s more about enjoying the game itself and the series succeeded massively at this. It shows that the writer was able to pull off an engaging story without life or death stakes and that’s very admirable.

The story introduces us to Sunraku (I’m mainly going to use the game names for everyone here to keep things a little more straight forward) who is a “Trash” gamer. Basically that means he intentionally only plays the absolute worst games imaginable so he can have fun mocking them and having a good time. It’s a pretty good strategy the whole time I have to admit. I do the same thing at times, only I still play the high quality stuff too. I can’t imagine limiting myself that hard. Well, one day Shangri-La Frontier comes out and Sunraku decides to give it a try. It’ll be the first “God Tier” game that he’s played so how will this feel?

Well, in a way it feels even better than for the average player. Going from a string of 0/10 games to a 10/10 is just a feeling that’s out of this world. He also happens across one of the legendary bosses in the game, Lycagon. This is such a rare spawn that almost nobody has ever even seen him. Sunraku is destroyed but this causes him to revive with a curse and a unique quest involving a bunny named Emul. Can he clear the quests and solve the mystery of the game or has he finally bit off a challenge that’s simply too big for him? Along the way he meets up with some old associates from other games including Pencilgon and Oikatzo.

One of the key challenges the series would inevitably have here is keeping your interest piqued without the big death stakes. Like I mentioned earlier, the series does well with that and I’d say the main reason is Sunraku as the lead character. He comes off as a fairly overconfident gamer who thinks he can tackle any challenge and it sort of give the show a bit of a sports vibe. Just like you’re engaged in a good game of tennis in Prince of Tennis, you enjoy the boss fights here to see how Sunraku fares. We still get glimpses of the human world from time to time where we actually see him looking at resource guides and browsing online for tips and tricks.

The show is really immersive when we’re inside of the game but I do like these details to show that this is still a video game that exists in a real world. Sunraku won’t always be the first person to discover something, in fact the one exception is the unique quest. So reading up online is something a hardcore player would absolutely be doing. We get to meet his quirky family as well and there’s even a mild romance plot going on in the human world. The absolute best detail though is that Sunraku still occasionally plays some other games. We see him enter a fighting game to practice some moves/unwind and he goes into another game for the occasional meeting.

It all does a lot for the world building. In one episode we even get to meet some of the devs behind Shangri-La which was cool. They haven’t gotten to do a whole lot yet but their banter already makes them likable characters. I have high hopes for their roles in the story coming up soon. There will be balance patches and updates coming into the game soon too so it’ll be fun to see how all of that is handled. Right now Sunraku may have the highest natural talent out of any player in the game but his character’s level isn’t as high as some others so he can still lose fights. In fact we see him lose a decent number of battles which makes sense. Even the best video game player in the world can’t expect to beat very level without dying on his first try.

This isn’t a power fantasy like Sword Art Online (Which is till legendarily hype!) and it’s going for a different vibe. Sunraku is super good at games but it’s for a very realistic reason which is that he stays home and plays video games all day. The guy’s spent his whole life doing this so it makes sense that he would be really good. The same is true for both of his main allies. At most I guess you could say Pencilgon may not make quite as much sense since she is a lot busier with her real life work but hey some people are just really good at games. She’s always a fun character to have around as well.

In terms of production values, I would say the show is very good as well. The soundtrack has a lot of variety to it and is definitely a lot of fun. The themes really help to enhance all of the scenes from slice of life moments to the fights. The Weathermon fight in particular has a lot of fun themes going on there. Both of the opening songs are also exceptional, some of the best I’ve seen in anime. The classic rock really gets you pumped for the action. Meanwhile the animation is also really good. Again, the Weathermon fight has some of the peaks for the series there as it doesn’t give an inch and keeps things moving at a high level. The animation is consistently solid throughout the show though.

Now lets talk about the characters a bit more. Like I said earlier, Sunraku’s a lot of fun and he’s a big reason why the show is so good. I like his overall confidence and how he doesn’t back down from a challenge. Even when he’s outmatched, he just trusts in his overall abilities and reaction times. He reminds me of myself to a large degree I gotta say. It always feels great when he clutches out a great victory and shows why he is still the best. He does a good job of bantering with the rest of the characters and is just a lot of fun the whole time.

He really takes his time about equipping the right items and formulating battle strategies for the fights. We get a lot of insight into his overall personality even outside of the battles. He’s a reasonable guy who has a lot going for him and that makes for an entertaining main character all the way. Then we have Emul who is sort of the sidekick/animal mascot here. She’s okay but a bit bland as far as supporting characters go. Right now I don’t feel like she really adds much to the equation. Yeah she can fight a bit but in terms of comedic potential she doesn’t have a lot yet.

Fortunately Sunraku has two full allies to help carry the load. First up is Pencilgon who definitely likes to think of herself as a leader figure. She has a lot of power and influence within the game thanks to her guild ties. While her circumstances change as the series goes on, she’s always super resourceful so you have no doubt that she will always be near the top. She has a lot of assets and knows how to exploit every rule in the game. Having her on your side is a big deal. While she tends to be a super tough character, she does allow the game to get her a bit emotional at times.

Hey that’s when you know a game is really good after all right? You want to be able to fully immerse yourself in the game and have a good time. I’d like to see her have a real fight with Sunraku at some point. Surprisingly none of the trio have actually fought each other yet and I think that would be a lot of fun. Of course my money is on Sunraku taking them down in the end. Then we have the third member of the team, Oikatzo. The fact that he is a pro gamer is really fun. I don’t remember seeing a character with that job before and it’s nice as a really good reason as to why he can keep up so well. In fact, he still has to play a lot of other games on the side which is probably the only reason why he doesn’t do even better.

Right now it’s fair to say that Sunraku is still better but Oikatzo is a top tier fighter in his own right. I also like that he doesn’t use a weapon and just uses his knuckles to deliver damage to the opponents. I’m more of a sword guy myself but there are definitely some games where I just go weapon-less and enjoy the hand to hand combat. I did that in one of the GBA RPGs a while back because there was some kind of bonus to doing that. While the alliance was temporary you get the feeling that these 3 will constantly be a trio for most of the adventure although inevitably there has to be some kind of tournament where they fight.

Then we have the classmate, Psyger-0. She has a big crush on Sunraku but the guy never notices her. It’s definitely a rather tragic subplot for her and unfortunately she tends to freeze and panic whenever he is around so she is unable to properly confess. Also, the game store they hang out at has a giant poster of Sonic Frontiers so it’s hard to notice anything else when you’re seeing a top quality game like that. Hopefully she will eventually gather her courage but in the meantime at least she gets to see him inside of the game at times. She has a super high leveled character in game which makes her one of the most powerful. It’s definitely a very impressive build even if she can’t get all of the credit for it. I think the account belonged to her sister or something like that, another character who will show up soon.

So I can’t say that I love Psyger-0, I don’t tend to be big fans of the timid characters. I can appreciate that she really takes care of business in-game though. She is actually a really solid player with how she handles the combos and adapts on the fly. The cast actually isn’t that big for the supporting characters beyond that. We do have the various other characters at Rabituza but this is really the only weakness of the series. Right now I don’t really care much about that place. It just feels a little boring and I always want to get back to the main plot. Yeah there are some good gags here occasionally and the place leads to some good fights but I just haven’t had my interest captured yet.

The blacksmith is okay and she’s good at her job but she’s not all that entertaining. Then we have a sword fighter who shows up at the very end of the season and I can’t say that he’s all that good either. The big boss is your average tough guy character but I need to see him fight seriously before I can really appreciate his character. I know this will probably be the area with a big payoff since it’s a super unique quest that only Sunraku has activated so far (Main character hype!!!) but yeah it’s just kind of dull.

The episodes are always more hype when he’s running around the real world. For example the early boss fight with Lycagon was definitely one of the highlights in the show. It was cool to see him struggle for so long against this guy. He may not have been dealing all that much damage but he was fighting hard the whole time regardless. It reminded me of the optional fight against Ganondorf at the very start of Breath of the Wild. It was a good way to introduce us to the skill ceiling in the game.

All of the other boss fights are generally fun as well. We get to see Sunraku take on many different challenges. Then there are also the times where he has to grind up levels against minions or gather collectibles. All things you would expect to see in a game like this. It all leads up to the big Wethermon fight which you could say is the main focus of pretty much the whole season. We get a pretty solid backstory and all but mainly you’re here for the fight and it delivers. It is fair to say that Wethermon is my favorite villain right now.

The guy has a great design and a killer fighting style. I really enjoyed seeing him on screen the whole time and how he just kept on getting up. It’s actually hard to see how this fight will be surpassed any time soon. It felt like an end of series type of boss rather than being so early on. In fact, the devs reference this as he may have even been the strongest out of all the bosses and that’s considering that he was nerfed. So we’ll see how the bosses fare from here.

I have no doubts about the series staying strong though. The character cast has already proven themselves to be strong enough to make any scene entertaining. You don’t even need a top threat to make things exciting. Yeah, I may not care about the lore of the world and all that much so this new professor character could get annoying fast but I have every confidence that the main cast will concentrate more on the gameplay anyway. They’re not the kinds of characters to get distracted all that easily.

At the end of each episode there is a little SLF Mini segment which is kind of retro because I feel like more shows used to do that back in the day. The segment can be hit or miss at times depending on what you enjoy/find funny but all in all I like having it there. In particular I like the ones that show us events we missed or ones that give extra depth to a scene. The comedic ones can be a bit more of a miss but so far there has been a good balance.

Overall, I would definitely recommend checking this show out. Shangri-La Frontier is a great game. The rock music is so good and the show has a great action vibe all the way. It’s sort of like a back to basics kind of show but done with top of the line graphics. I also think it’s a nice change of pace to just have the characters enjoying the virtual world and having a good time. Not every show has to be super traumatic to the main cast at least. I’d say there’s definitely a whole market for more titles like this. Just a fun adventure with great writing and a really solid story. Hopefully they continue the series sooner than later because I am ready for more adventures!

Overall 8/10

Solo Leveling Review

Posted on April 21, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to dive into one of the titles that really made a lot of waves in the anime world. The original story was a pretty big one thanks to its legendary art and nonstop battles so you figure it would have a very smooth transition to anime so long as the budget was good. Fortunately the anime does have great animation so I would say that it is absolutely keeping up with the greats right now. I figure the series will only continue to get better and better as we jump into the future arcs.

The series starts with introducing us to Jin-Woo who is known as the world’s weakest hunter of all time. What are hunters? Well, in this world there are portals that open up all of the time and hunters are the ones who go in to destroy the boss which causes the portal to close. The boss has to be eliminated quickly or the monsters from inside of the portal will crawl out and destroy everyone. A large portion of the people on the planet are Hunters, you get to be tested once you are of age and then your ranking is determined. You are not able to increase or decrease your rank no matter how much you train. So if you are one of the super rare S ranks then you are in luck. You have fame on the level of a top end celebrity and of course your physical abilities are crazy high. If you’re an E rank…well you might be able to tackle the weakest portals and make enough money to be like a part time job.

Well, Jin-Woo is an E rank hunter and a super weak one at that. He’s weaker than the average person and always gets super injured in every dungeon. He has to rely on his friend to heal him every time. Well, one day the dungeon he goes into ends up being a legendary double dungeon so naturally he is murdered. He ends up being revived somehow though and now he has the ability to level up. It’s as if the world has become a video game so he starts out as a modest level 1 but beating enemies allows him to move up quickly. Does he now have the chance to become an S rank fighter??

Right off the bat I can tell you that I always enjoy a classic level up system. It’s amazing in any video game because if I’m stuck somewhere then it just means that I need to apply myself and get some more level ups. At the same time in a TV show it’s really fun to see because I like to watch the character’s skills improve. I can see immediately why this became such a big hit. It’s the kind of premise that is just a whole lot of fun to watch. The action always remains a pretty big part of the focus as well which is definitely key although I enjoy the talking moments as well. This is what I would call a very well rounded series that excels in just about everything.

So you’ve already got good world building and an intriguing premise. Then beyond that, the main character is really good. In his weaker form Jin-Woo was only okay. You felt bad for him when he was getting beat up but at least he was trying. In his more confident mode, he’s suddenly ready to take everyone down. I like his enthusiasm and determination. He has a scene near the end where he even gets confronted with his older self. At times you do feel like he gets super lucky and should be absolutely crushed by the villains but he always gets up which is the important thing. I would also say that the confidence doesn’t corrupt him with one exception.

There is one scene where he bullies one of the executives with a lot of veiled threats and tough talk. It’s the one time that I thought he was really out of line the whole time. It’s not like this was a villain who was threatening his family or anything. I get that threatening him will really make sure that the guy stays in line but it seemed extremely excessive. So that was Jin-Woo’s only bad scene and while it was a doozy, he has so many great moments that he is absolutely still on top.

Also, while this is more of a positive to the show as a whole, I enjoy Jin-Woo’s fighting style. An Assassin build can be a lot of fun with how quick it moves and the amount of lethal attacks up his arsenal. I thought it was a pretty fun mix-up from the usual swordsman class. In a lot of ways it might feel very similar but Jin-Woo does use his stealth skills to great effect. So that part is a big bonus to him.

Like I mentioned before, the animation is definitely great all around. There are a ton of great fights here, I would say they all looked great. In particular I want to say the two best fights were the ones against Taeshik and Igris. The movement was just so clean and this looks like a brand new anime the whole time. No corners were cut here and I can definitely appreciate that. There will be a lot of pressure on season 2 to look this solid as well. We definitely don’t want to see a drop in quality.

Then the show also has a great soundtrack. I would say my favorite track is Dark Aria that shows up when Jin is taking care of the dark hunters who are messing around with the heroes. It works perfectly in the scene and shows just how messed up things are. The opening is naturally really catchy as well and there are a number of other good tunes to be found as well. So this is another area where the show excels.

Aside from all the general action which is awesome, I do have to take a minute to talk about how great the fight was between Jin-Woo and the evil hunters led by Dongsuk. Technically it’s not rare to see the MC taking out other humans in a show like this. In fact you would expect it but there’s something about this fight that feels extra special. I think it’s because before now all of the fights were against monsters. The whole world’s setup is built around that as well. You’re never supposed to fight any other humans and so the attacks and spells are all trained to work on monsters.

Seeing Jin-Woo essentially turn into a boss battle for the villains was really intense. Definitely a reminder why you should absolutely not mess with this guy. Dongsuk and the other evil hunters may not be super memorable as characters but the scene definitely ends up being one of the most memorable parts of the series. Perhaps it’s the ease with which Jin-Woo destroys them all or the fact that he did not hesitate in the fight. At the end it was a battle to the death though so the villains got what was coming to them.

In the fight with Taeshik it’s also intense because this time both fighters are going for the kill. Taeshik is strong in his own right and has been doing this for a really long time so he’s not going to go down as easily. The fight has a lot of back and forth with high stakes the whole time. I’d have been cool with seeing Taeshik showing up more often since he was a fun villain. Also, as evil as he was, you were glad he was around to take down the other villains since the justice system failed everybody. Solo Leveling definitely strikes you as the kind of world that really incentivizes vigilante work.

In terms of violence, the series can definitely be on the high side at times. There’s absolutely a ton of blood flying around as the enemies are being shredded. Limbs are being lost left and right. It never gets mean spirited on the level of Attack on Titan or too civilian focused which would hurt more though. For now I would say it’s a bit excessive but not quite at the point where I would really be cautioning folks or lowering the score. It could stand to hold back a little though. The monsters always get me a little worried to be sure but at least we’re focusing on those and not having any animals running around. The wolf type creatures get me nervous when they’re destroyed but for now the series is good about keeping them fairly differentiated. I’m not even sure exactly what makes that difference for me. It’s probably a mix of realism and emotions. Like the more it acts like an animal or seems to be in prolonged pain then that could do the trick.

So the series is okay on that front right now. I’m also proud to report that the series really does a good job of avoiding fanservice so far. I’m not surprised, this is a series that was always really good about not having just about any of that. Tower of God didn’t have much at all either so I wonder if it’s just a lot rarer for Korean series to focus on that. Definitely another big win for this series so we can focus on the action the whole time. The show also has some time for some horror elements like in the first episode. The Double Dungeon is absolutely terrifying and they did a great job with the statues there. The big one that smiles is an iconic villain to be sure and I look forward to seeing more of him.

The series also has a lot of mystery aspects at the ready right now. We still have no ideas why Jin-Woo has this level up system. We don’t know who is talking to him through the messages or anything about it really. We’re as in the dark as the main character and the rest of the heroes which works really well. I definitely enjoy a good mystery like that. Really gives your mind something to sink its teeth into while you wait for the next fight scene. As for the side characters, some like Hae-In and Gun-Hee haven’t gotten a chance to do much yet. Hae is a promising S rank fighter who seems like she will be a lot of fun to watch. Gun-Hee may be one of those corporate figures but so far he’s actually rather reasonable and someone you can count on.

Jin-Ah is the main character’s sister so she’s around but hasn’t done a whole lot yet. She’s mainly around to humanize Jin-Woo a bit and remind us that he does have a life outside of all the fighting. Jin-Ho is a rich kid who really wants to prove himself to the company and his father. He works well as comic relief to an extent while also being deceptively smart. The guy has a good head on his shoulders and isn’t just along for the ride. He’s a fun character and you feel a little bad that he’s still rather scared of Jin-Woo so far. Hopefully soon their friendship will be more genuine where there aren’t power dynamics at play. He gets major points from me for still striking up a partnership even while he was probably shaking on the inside.

Chi-Yui is a wise mentor type figure from the opening episode. He actually returns after that later on and has a good fight. I give the guy more props than most of the other supporting fighters since he actually listened to Jin-Woo from the start and didn’t want to ditch him. The guy may have taken the situation rather hard but he performed better than around 90% of the characters. He should be proud of himself and he’s a character who has good development by the end.

Then you have Joo-Hee who doesn’t look great. She’s a solid healer who even reached B rank but gets scared easily and can be off of her game. This is not good since in a dungeon you need to be able to trust everyone with your life. Any hesitation can cost you big time. Ultimately she knows her limits though and makes the right move. It may not make her super likable but it’s better than freezing up when it counts.

Finally you have the final boss Igris. This guy was definitely great. Not much in the way of character at the moment but he makes up for that with an absolutely elite design and superb fighting skills. Right now he seems to easily be one of the strongest fighters in the series. There’s just no question about his incredible skills. He was a great choice to close out the season as the last big named fighter.

The show ends with quite a few new plot points to explore and a lot of world building that was already around. Throw in the obvious cliffhanger and you can tell that we’re really just starting this big saga. Even in terms of power level, Jin-Woo is clearly still not close to S rank yet despite how powerful he is. That’s definitely something that should get you really hyped because it shows that there is a lot more ground to cover.

I guess if you needed another weakness for the series, right now the supporting cast isn’t super memorable. As you could tell from my write up above, it’s not like I was really a big fan of any of the other heroes. Some of them have a lot of potential but haven’t done much yet. Gradually you would expect the other characters to do much but just keep in mind that the show is called “Solo Leveling”. It’s not your standard party type show with all of the fighters teaming up. I will say that we will definitely see more cool characters eventually but the cast isn’t generally one of Solo Leveling’s strong suits. That’s why it is important that you like Jin-Woo as the main character to carry the series.

Overall, Solo Leveling is definitely a great series. A lot of the best parts from the original story are still coming up so I’m definitely hyped for when that gets animated. This season did a good job of covering a lot of content though and I don’t really have the main events in the series memorized so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in season 2. Of course the cliffhanger involving the insect island is going to be big and that was an awesome saga in the manwha so I’m really excited for that. If you haven’t seen Solo Leveling yet and are in the mood for a lot of action then you definitely need to check this one out!

Overall 8/10

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

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: The Hinokami Chronicles Review

Posted on March 24, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to look at a game that was great through and through. It goes into way more detail than I would have expected from any adaption. It’s seriously impressive and the combat in the gameplay is good. I won’t say it’s quite on Naruto Ninja Storm’s level or anything like that but I was really satisfied by the end. It’s cool to be reliving all of the big event from the show and they even got the movie in here.

The story revolves around a kid named Tanjiro who needs to destroy the demon mastermind in order to turn his sister back into a human. Along the way he meets up with a bunch of quirky characters who have their own reasons for murdering the demons. Will the humans be able to triumph here or are they going to be quickly destroyed by the overwhelming number of the villains? The demons have regeneration and numbers on their side after all. Destroying humanity isn’t just a pipe dream for them but possibly an inevitability.

So the story is definitely a lot of fun and it has complete voice acting all the way through. In a lot of ways it’s like watching the anime all over again and they actually reanimated all of the scenes with the in game engine. There are 8 chapters in the game and most of them are fairly long except for 1-2 of them. All in all the game should take you around 8 hours give or take which is a solid amount for a fighting game. Then after that you have the vs mode which has endless amounts of replay value in its own right. That is the main focus of the game after all.

This is a 3D fighter so you can use your normal attacks, special moves, and of course your final smash. I often found that the best thing to do was launch the enemy into the air at the end of your combo which allows you to start a second combo. Rather brilliant wouldn’t you agree? The computer has a really hard time breaking out of that one at least. The game can get a little hard near the end, particularly the final level which is a whole league above the rest. Your opponent has constant super armor so you have to time your attacks perfectly. Actually that reminds me of the final level in Tekken 7 a whole lot. Still you will be able to knock it out in the end. You can also go the cheesy route and just auto recover your health. The catch is that you forfeit your right to an S rank if you do that.

The graphics here are very high tier as you would expect. The character models are all on point and you can tell that a whole lot of effort went into this title. The soundtrack is also really good with a lot of tunes grabbed straight out of the anime. It’s all the little things that really help to remind you that this game was a big deal. It wasn’t just thrown together in a few minutes or anything like that. I’d definitely like to see a sequel to this title at some point.

There’s also replay value in the story itself as you can talk to people and complete side missions. You’ll need to do that if you eventually want to obtain the Platinum trophy and I can safely tell you that this is in my bucket list of things to do. Could be a while of course but it’ll always be around. You also have a solid training mode to get used to the controls and other bonuses on the main menu.

After playing as a few of the characters in the story, I can safely say that Rengoku is my favorite character to play as. His fire abilities are really intense and I feel like he has more power behind his strikes than the other characters. I suppose that makes sense though as he is a Hashira and should feel way stronger than the average Demon Slayer. It’s still a shame he couldn’t get more fights in the series but we felt his strength either way.

Overall, Demon Slayer is a great fighting game. It has solid gameplay throughout but it also spent the time to actually come up with a grand story as well and I thought that was fantastic. It went the extra mile to really pack the game full of content and I’d say it worked out. This does stand out among the many anime fighters. At this point the only thing it’s lacking is a larger character roster and I’m confident that the sequel will build that up quite a bit.

Overall 8/10

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Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles Review

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