Akane-banashi Review

Posted on September 13, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for a series about Rakugo. It’s not an art that I was familiar with but essentially it is about telling a story where you play all of the roles. There are not elaborate costumes or any big special effects. You have to pull everything off on your own, including playing any instruments if needed. Having a whole series around this could be tricky since you’re going to need to write a bunch of stories and convincing characters who can pull off all of the roles. I’d say the show does a pretty good job of it. Rakugo is probably not something I’d be very interested in watching in real life, but anime adds that extra pizazz.

The story follows a girl named Akane who is really interested in Rakugo. She grew up idolizing her father’s Rakugo but one day he is suddenly expelled from the profession entirely and his career as a pro died. Akane has spent the last 6 years practicing her craft and aims to prove that her father’s skills were real. She will have to go through many challenges if she wants to be the best, but she is determined to prove herself.

The show definitely amps up the drama with her father to the point where you may even think that he’s dead for a while there. That may have been a little too dark for this one though, the motivation of wanting to prove the critics wrong is good enough. The series is pretty realistic all the way through by also explaining how her father could have joined a different master but just chose not to. It would have been hard to blacklist someone from this career entirely after all but it came down to pride. He didn’t want to succeed in any other way which is completely his decision but honestly to me that just means it wasn’t his life.

Akane feels like someone who would keep on fighting no matter what she had to do. Switching masters is something she would never want, but she wouldn’t just let her career get short changed like that. As someone even brings up, the guy who expelled her father wasn’t even his direct master. I feel like the dad could have pushed back on that. In general I’m just not a really big fan of this guy. I’d also like for him to be way more present in Akane’s life.

The show goes into this and he has his reasons but I didn’t think they were good enough. I’m a much bigger fan of Akane’s mom who is always there to support her. Her role is not huge since there’s not as much she could do here but it’s enough to know that Akane has her in the corner and is someone to talk to.

Akane is fairly young but since she has been training since childhood, it makes sense that she is really good. I was glad that the show really acknowledged this instead of making her a rookie for some reason. There are still plenty of different ways to make challenges for her and the show handles this well. She is absolutely a prodigy but there are other prodigies around as well so the competition will always be fierce.

Akane speaks up for herself and is a very fiery character. While she sometimes does have to play nice because of how formal the environment is, I give her full credit for not just letting the others roll over her. She also doesn’t stay down about anything for too long. All in all, she’s definitely a standout character and one of the best ones in the show. The cast is already getting pretty large with characters being set up for season 2 but so far they’ve mainly been good.

Issho works well as the main villain as well. He certainly does believe in protecting the future of Rakugo and so for him expelling the father wasn’t personal. (Welllllllll future seasons may change that framing a little bit) I don’t think his goals always make sense though. For example he talks about how the art is completely dying and they need to inject new life into it. Then it would make sense to keep as many pros as possible right? Publicly expelling a bunch of trainees and scaring the rest seems like it is absolutely backwards compared to that. Issho’s excuse is that it would water down the sport but that’s just hard to buy into.

Still, the show makes sure not to treat him like some 2 bit criminal. He’s still nice to the press and maintains a solid public figure. The guy even jokes with a reporter that he has to be nice because otherwise who is going to laugh at his stories? Rakugo isn’t always for making the audience laugh but that’s definitely the case in a majority of the stories. So that expelling moment was controversial and a mask off type of instance but it’s not who he usually is. I look forward to his continued rivalry with Akane. Rivalry might be the wrong word but they will certainly be going against each other.

Shiguma is another one of the big Rakugo masters and so he ends up being the one who trains Akane. He’s a bit mixed about this and didn’t want to be taking on any more apprentices but couldn’t really turn her down given the context. He’s a nice guy who doesn’t usually make a bunch of waves but may have to change that now. As the youngest member of his school, Akane is spoiled by all of the characters. If anyone goes after her, it’s not Shiguma’s job to protect her and he made that promise to her mother.

Another character in Akane’s corner is Jumbo. He used to be a bully back when she was growing up but he did mature over the years. Now he does his best to support her dreams and is always there with a kind word. He even talks to her teacher in an effort to help change her mind and let Akane pursue her dreams. He’s a character who doesn’t appear a whole lot but he really does make a difference in these small ways which I appreciated.

Then we have the teacher, Machiko. She has a small but important role here as well. It makes sense to be skeptical about Akane’s decision not to continue with school and to become a Rakugo player instead. There are so many ways that could go badly and Akane is young to be making such a permanent life decision. Still, Machiko keeps an open mind and ends up helping quite a lot.

From Akane’s teammates, Koguma is my least favorite. I do want to underscore that this doesn’t make him a bad character inherently but he’s just less interesting than the others. His gimmick is that he’s usually timid but gets really bold when he’s on stage. He also likes to tell stories by thinking about the lore behind them. So nothing bad there but I feel like Akane has probably already surpassed him.

Hikaru is one of Akane’s rivals and she does have a leg up in being a voice actress. She is used to throwing her voice around and doing all kinds of impressions. That’s an incredibly useful talent to have at her disposal. Some of the others try to use it as a diss but they’re just coping. Akane has the edge in experience so that makes for a pretty good contrast between the two of them. I definitely look forward to her appearing more.

Karashi is Akane’s other big rival and he likes telling a more modern twist on the classic Rakugo stories. It’s an incredibly good idea because telling the same stories over and over is really not a good idea. It’s got to be one of the reasons that Rakugo is dying. Particularly since the stories are all ancient and the characters don’t talk like normal people. It just doesn’t end up making for a particularly engaging product. Karashi is rather full of himself but that’s how a rival should be, so he’s definitely a compelling character.

Kaisei is one of those future rivals. Right now he is so far ahead of Akane that you can’t call it a true rivalry but down the road you can see how they would be fighting it out. He is a bit of an overbearing character who really gets up in your face and he gets away with that because of his talent. We only get to see him perform in a vague way so it’s a bit hard to say just how good he is but based on how he’s presented, he’s the best of the younger performers.

Maikeru hasn’t done much yet but he’s the more senior member of Akane’s teammates. So he clearly has a lot of ability and will be someone that Akane is not able to surpass so easily. Kyouji is another senior member but he gets a much bigger role than the others. He essentially takes on the role of being Akane’s hands on mentor. He walks her through the basics that she wouldn’t have encountered in practice and encourages her to keep up her grades as well. He doesn’t want her to sacrifice things needlessly which is important.

Kyouji is a well balanced character although he doesn’t strike me as being super talented. Naturally that’s not the case but his Rakugo just feels ordinary. Likewise we have Guriko who also helps to tutor Akane but he doesn’t seem to be immensely talented. This is actually building up to a plot point though so that works out. It is rough to be surpassed by someone who just joined the clan so I can get why that would be annoying. That’s the power of a prodigy.

Now as the show went on there are two questions that will come to mind. The first is, how will the show manage to show how skilled each Rakugo master is? The title intentionally avoids showing Issho or the others giving their full performances while we are still watching the trainees going through the motions. That said, it’s just a bit hard to picture how different you can really show the art of Rakugo. The series will have to get real creative there.

The second question is, how come the characters are all stuck to using the same stories over and over? I guess it’s answered to an extent with how Issho really loves tradition but then of course the art is dying out. Imagine if you really love watching a cooking show but they always make the same 10 items? It’s why I really liked Karashi because he had the right idea. Throwing a modern twist into these stories is a great way to get to the audience. It’s something that I’d like to see other characters doing. Maybe not making it modern per say, but switching up some details.

The animation is pretty solid throughout the show. It’s not like you’re going to be able to show off a whole lot here since there aren’t fight scenes but the colors are on point. The character designs work well and you can tell that a lot of attention was put into it. The soundtrack is a little less impressive. Not bad but the opening really didn’t click for me. The themes during the show are good though. So I wouldn’t call this one super memorable but it’s not bad by any means.

This show also shows how important writing is in getting you invested. I’m personally not all that into Rakugo even after watching the series. I tend to prefer the moments around the actual performances because I just enjoy competition. Give me all the tournaments and the trash talking around them. The Rakugo itself just seems a little too basic. I would really need the other actors around because one person trying to play them all would just start to feel a bit cheesy to me. Like I would be cracking a grin even when I’m not supposed to be. The stories aren’t painful or anything, they’re just not super engaging so far.

Overall, I definitely look forward to seeing where the next season goes here. There are going to be a lot of tournaments as Akane tries to move up the ranks and that always means more rivals to overcome. The show has a very pleasant vibe to it and so the episodes go by quickly. It’s definitely going to run into some challenges on how to make the fights stay interesting/how to increase the power levels and so I want to see how that’s handled. You don’t need to be a big fan of Rakugo in order to enjoy this one so that’s a solid credit to the show.

Overall 7/10

Back to Bataan

Posted on September 12, 2026 by dreager1

Back to Bataan is a pretty intense film that’s based on events during WWII that I wasn’t particularly familiar with. So it’s always interesting to learn some new facts like this. Of course the film does take its share of liberties and apparently isn’t going for the 100% accuracy route but it’s not like I can really tell which parts are real or not. As long as you enjoy war films then you should like this one.

The film starts off with the U.S. losing a lot of their morale in their fight against the Japanese over Batann. This is because a lady named Dalisay has been spewing Japanese propaganda over the airways and she was the girlfriend of Andres, one of the U.S. soldiers. It’s disheartening to see that she would turn on them even if it is likely under threat of death. Joseph is trying to keep the forces together but it’s not easy. Then he is told to leave the company for a while in order to execute a top secret mission. He will be working with the Filipino resistance to stop the Japanese from the inside. Can he pull such a thing off?

Obviously the resistance is always going to be on the back foot from the start. They have courage and a whole lot of heart but the government side is always going to have the advantage in ammunition, firepower, and numbers. The only way to win will be a lot of run and gun tactics which is difficult. Still, Joseph is not going to give up and gradually he starts to win over more and more people to their cause. The film is really about this uphill battle and not giving up until the very end.

On the Japanese side we see how they cycle through a bunch of different tactics. First they go with trying to overwhelm the locals through intimidation and wanton murder everywhere. When that doesn’t go so well then they try appeasement by pretending that they will actually let them live peacefully. This illusion doesn’t last very long before they break character and just start murdering again.

There is definitely something to be said for having homefield advantage. Even when the Filipinos were completely outnumbered they were able to find different trails to launch counter attacks and regroup. It’s not the kind of situation you ever want to find yourself in but at least there can be a little solace in knowing that there are some ways to fight back.

Joseph was a solid main character. He was good at getting the most out of his soldiers. In some cases that meant feeding their egos, playing dumb, or taking an aggressive approach. He did whatever he needed to in order to come out on top and that was crucial. I don’t think it will come as a surprise to say that he was the best character here.

Andres steps up as the film goes on but admittedly he wasn’t looking good at the beginning. I don’t think he should have been as shook up as he was upon hearing Dalisay’s voice. Honestly at least it means that she is still alive and I wouldn’t be holding anything against her. It goes without saying that she is not saying these negative things of her own freewill. At one point Andres mentions that she has to know how damaging her words are…and yeah of course she does. Dalisay is trying to stay alive and he should understand that.

There are certain things you should never do even when under the threat of death. Murdering a comrade, leading soldiers into a trap, etc. Talking negatively on the airways though? Ehhhhhh I just don’t see that as being as much of a problem. Obviously it’s a bad thing but would it be worth dying over? Personally I’d be glad that she has found a way to extend her life even if only by a little bit.

Dalisay was courageous on her side and took quite a number of risks. She did whatever she could in order to help on the side but she just didn’t have many opportunities. This film was really about everyone making these kinds of sacrifices. Even a little kid was helping the heroes a lot even when the risks were high. The heroes bump into a school where the teacher helps by dressing wounds and such. In a war everyone has to do their part. There is no time for bickering or deciding to sit it out. You either fight or end up dying.

In a way this war also has a time limit. The resistance needs to last long enough for the U.S. navy to get there. Once they do, then they can bomb the Japanese out of there. Of course there will still be a lot of collateral damage and it won’t be clean but at least the resistance isn’t totally on their own. Now that would have been even more grim.

Overall, World War II was an absolutely grim event and so this film doesn’t have the happiest tone either. The soldiers do their best to find some levity where they can but for the most part they all have to stay focused at all times. Focusing on the Battle of Bataan was a smart move since it doesn’t get nearly as much screentime as other parts of the war. I definitely feel like I got to learn something while watching it and so I would recommend this one to folks. Of course if you are not a big fan of war films or prefer something a bit happier then you’ll want to skip this one. It’s ultimately building towards a happy conclusion but it is a rough journey to get there.

Princess Knight Review

Posted on September 7, 2026 by dreager1

Now this is a really old manga from back in the day. Princess Knight is not a title that I was ever familiar with but it made for a fun read. It plays out a bit like some of the old TinTin comics at least when it comes to the atmosphere and art. The series was not afraid to drastically change the status quo either and so every chapter would really keep you on your toes. You never really knew what was about to happen next. I got to read the series as one giant omnibus so it really felt like a journey.

The story starts off with an angel named Tink messing up during the ceremony to give people hearts so they can be born on Earth. Now a girl named Sapphire has ended up with both the girl and guy hearts. This doesn’t work out very well for her kingdom where girls are not allowed to rule. As a result Sapphire has to pretend to be a man and serves the kingdom as Prince Sapphire. Deep down she wants to just be able to live as a girl though and the charade is difficult to keep up. Additionally, the Duralumin and his trusted right hand man Nylon have their doubts. They think Sapphire is actually a lady and seek to expose her. Can Sapphire continue to evade them and how will Tink take back the extra heart?

Tink’s official mission is to take the male heart away because Sapphire was originally supposed to be a girl. It’s also why the villains are able to suspect that something is up. For all intents and purposes Sapphire is still a girl. She feels like one and all but the male heart gives her more courage and strength than she would otherwise have. Sapphire has a strong commitment to her duties as the prince and so that is why she continues to fight hard all the way to the end.

The character cast isn’t particularly big so this allows each of them to really make their mark in the story. I’d say that Nylon was easily the best villain. He’s one of those bumbling types who is always trying to get the jump on Sapphire but is rarely up to the task. It really shows just how persistent he is though and you just have to respect that. It’s not easy to constantly get up to fight again when you are always losing every fight. I’d even say that the story rewards him a bit as he gets a happier ending than some of the other characters. It’s not like he gets away completely free or anything but at least he has a chance at a solid future.

His boss Dualumin doesn’t actually appear quite as much but worked well enough as the mastermind. He’s just more the type to stay in the background and lets the chips fall where they may. Ultimately this is the kind of series where you have to be proactive though so that plan didn’t work out very well for him. Then you’ve also got the demonic witch who is trying to get her daughter Hecate to the throne. She tries several traps to end Sapphire’s life with so there would be no competition.

It’s pretty rough for her though because in general she is one of the stronger fighters. Unfortunately for her, Angels are a complete counter to her abilities. So Tink who isn’t much of a fighter is able to dispatch her every time. It was nice to see Tink getting some respect there because he started off in a bit of a rocky position. He’s still a rookie after all and isn’t much of a fighter but he was ready to help Saphire out when needed. At first he would only get in the way but then by the end he did well.

I also enjoyed Hecate as a villain. She was certainly a lot more reasonable than her mother. Hecate was no hero by any means but she ended up helping out when their goals aligned. It is something that happens more than once during the adventure. Additionally, she does have real abilities like shapeshifting which comes in handy for all kinds of situations. I would have liked her to have had a bit more screentime.

There was one villain with less screentime though. A goddess shows up near the end who is extremely petty and becomes jealous of Sapphire’s beauty. She is quick to turn people into animals and complain a whole lot. Fortunately Tink is able to talk back to her and rat her out to the elder god. Otherwise she would have crushed everyone since the humans can’t really do anything to a goddess.

So for Tink, with the wins I mentioned earlier I suppose I’ll give him a passing grade. He’s not the most interesting character out there but showed up when it counted. He is overshadowed by Prince Franz though. That guy is essentially the main rival of the series. He helps Sapphire out a whole lot and fell in love with her female disguise. Since Franz thinks that Sapphire is a guy, they have a friendly rivalry at first until they become bitter enemies due to a misunderstanding. Franz is a really upstanding guy and the kind of prince that you want to have in your corner. He continues to fight in order to find the girl that he loves and is the most earnest character in the series.

It was always a blast whenever he would show up. We get another rival in the form of Captain Blood who is also a pretty solid character. He couldn’t help but fall for Sapphire’s charms as well but just has way less screentime. You sort of know that he’s doomed from the start but it was still nice to see another quality character at the ready. He was a strong fighter and even gets a big plot twist by the end of the series. This guy certainly became more important than I would have expected.

Finally we got a third rival in Friebe but she had even less time to appear. In this case she fell for Sapphire when she thought that the knight was a man so that was definitely a big disappointment to her. Still, she handled this like a champ and continued to be helpful instead of spiteful. She became a really good character right away so it’s a shame that she barely got to appear. There was definitely a ton of potential right there for her to have continues to appear.

As for Sapphire, she is a decently good character but loses to the 3 rivals. Some of this may be a bit out of her control but Sapphire’s personality changes a whole lot based on the heart(s) that she is using at the time. As a result there are moments where she is way too helpless. Nylon was actually overpowering her when Sapphire had temporarily turned back into a girl. The personality shifts are a big part of the plot so it may seem a bit harsh to really attack her on this but you definitely need to be a more consistent ruler to rise to the top.

Sapphire was also a nice character from the start but a little too timid. She could have avoided a whole lot of drama if she had told Franz who she was from the start. I’d say that Sapphire is also a bit too easygoing like when she gave all of her riches away to the corrupt soldier that put her in prison. It just felt like she could have fought back a whole lot more if she had really wanted to. None of this makes her a bad character by any means but it does prevent her from being a better one.

The art is solid enough. It definitely does look old and while it is a very authentic style, it doesn’t hold up to any of the modern titles. It has that Sunday Newspaper kind of vibe which is why I compared it to old western comics. This one still has way more plot progression compared to those even if each chapter has more of a slice of life vibe. They just remember to pick up where the last one left off and each plot development really sticks. I’d call this a good comfort read that just about anyone could enjoy. It’s just nice and pleasant all around with a solid amount of humor, action, and adventure.

Overall, If you haven’t heard of Princess Knight before, I can safely say that it is worth a read. The writing is solid and I enjoyed the cast of characters. It all really goes by in the blink of an eye even though the series is close to 700 pages long. The pages are just very clear and easy to read through. Additionally, the concept is pretty interesting. I imagine some modern retellings will give Sapphire a bit more agency so hopefully she can win more important battles and not falter whenever she loses a heart. I wouldn’t mind some more big fights as well.

Overall 6/10

Can’t Buy Me Love Review

Posted on September 7, 2026 by dreager1

Can’t Buy Me Love is one of those romance films where you’re waiting for some kind of twist ending to save it. For example maybe something that prevents the main duo from getting together and the film decides to be a bit subversive about it all. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and this ends up being one of those films that will just have you shaking your head the whole time. There isn’t much to salvage about this one.

The film starts by introducing us to Ronald who is your typical nerd character. He’s extremely introverted and has not been able to get popular at school. He secretly wants to be like the cool guys and go to all the parties/get a girlfriend. One day he sees that his next door neighbor Cindy is in a jam because she ruined her mother’s expensive dress. It will cost $1,000 to buy a new one which is a lot of money for that time period. Ronald offers to buy it for her on the condition that she pretends to be his girlfriend for a month. Cindy is under duress right now because she’s really worried about what her mother will say, so she reluctantly agrees. This will now be the toughest month of her life.

So right away there are a bunch of problems with this premise. Yeah I get how you can get a lot of comedic situations out of this. It’s a classic type of plot that has been done many times before but this situation was not a good move. The fact that Cindy was super pressured into doing this was crazy. It’s much better done in a film like Summer Wars where one character said yes to be nice and there was no blackmail happening.

Now it does set Ronald up as an antagonist right away. He’s willing to go quite far in order to move ahead and the film will even surprise you with how degenerate the guy is. Ronald is the kind of guy who lets the power get to his head immediately. The movie also shows how he doesn’t even see Cindy as real girlfriend material because when she starts to fall for him, he doesn’t even acknowledge it. Yeah maybe he’s a bit oblivious but pair that with all of the future scenes and it makes sense.

He just wants to live a life without morals where he can have relations with whoever he wants. This is not true boyfriend material in the slightest. Ronald also betrays his friends. Not even in a subtle way like eating at a different table, but completely ignoring them, messing up his best friend’s house, etc. The betrayal is quite extreme and then he gets with quite a number of girls before the film’s over. Ronald just goes all the way in each instance and doesn’t know how to have any restraint. The ability to do anything doesn’t mean that you suddenly go and take advantage of every opportunity.

If anything the new status just exposed his true personality. So this guy was a real bad apple for sure and the ending is not deserved. He should have just been totally isolated as a repercussion for what he did. That would have evened out pretty well if you ask me.

Then you have Cindy who isn’t exactly the best character either. I do want to confirm straightaway that she is many times better than Ronald though. Cindy has a lot of status within the school as the top cheerleader and never let it go to her head. She’s just a bit spoiled like when she took her mom’s dress when she was explicitly told not to do that. So Cindy really set herself up for a lot of trouble here. There’s no reason why she should have agreed to Ronald’s demands though because she actually has a long distance boyfriend.

Now that boyfriend doesn’t seem like a great guy but you still can’t be pretending to cheat on him in front of the whole school. That’s a quick way to destroy the reputation of all parties involved. Additionally she is just way too forgiving. This is partially because of how the film had to end out but it was a real shame to see her just absorb all the abuse Ronald threw her way. He did not hold back at all in trying to make her look bad and was quick to cut her down.

He’s the kind of guy who will take anything you share in confidence and blow it up in your face. So if you have any self respect then you’re not even going to be friends with someone after that. Definitely one of the worst romances I’ve seen in a while. This also takes away from the comedic potential of the film. Officially this is meant to be part comedy and you can see all of the jokes that are slipped in but it tends to be a little too mean spirited to actually have fun with.

It’s almost spiteful with how it all plays out. This is like a power fantasy for an introverted person but written from someone who thinks that popularity is inherently bad. Ronald also comes across as being whiny here because it’s not like he was completely alone. He had quite a few friends and they would even play games together at night. They were real friends and then he had a good reputation in the neighborhood like how Cindy’s mom thought he was a responsible young man. He traded that all in and I’d say that speaks volumes about him.

There’s so much more you could say about the romance in general but you get the idea. For a romance to work you need both characters to be solid but as the title went on everyone just looked bad. The worst part is that Cindy made a good faith effort from the start with helping Ronald learn how to dress for success. Then she came up with a good cover story and everything but Ronald was quick to just take everything too far. I suppose he didn’t have great family influences. His parents let his younger brother constantly bully him but of course that whole subplot was also embarrassing for the main character. Surely he can handle some banter with a little kid right?

Overall, This is not a film that I would recommend. It gets way too dramatic and mean spirited the whole time. Definitely a film that will not go down as one of the better ones and I can see why it has been forgotten to time. The film needed major work in order to even be decent. You definitely have to start by fixing the general premise of the film so it starts off a bit lighter and then you shouldn’t make Ronald a total jerk. There are so many ways to make the film fun and you can keep him oblivious without making him a total antagonist. Then you can actually focus more on the comedy. Like there was one funny joke where Ronald’s friends try to enter the party but immediately sit back down when they’re called out. Of course it was hard to be sympathetic to them either since they were girl crazy as well. That’s got to be one of the worst stereotypes. They should be focused on games or something. If they really want to get out there, then they should be going to the gym or something. I gotta just try and focus on the comedy….

Overall 3/10

Stranger Things Review

Posted on August 30, 2026 by dreager1

I would say how hard it is to believe that Stranger Things started 10 years ago but honestly it does feel like a while. It was never my favorite show out there and it took me months to finally check out the final episode. Still, I have completed the journey…and I found it lacking. This is one of those shows that was going the wrong way for a very long time and basically ended on a whimper. I’d say part of the problem is that the issues just tend to snowball and at the end of the day this is a show that is very character driven. So if you don’t like the characters then that’s going to hurt the show immensely.

The show begins with a few kids playing Dungeons & Dragons. For the most part they aren’t very popular at school but at least they have each other. Unfortunately one of them goes missing one day. He has been taken to the other side by some kind of a demonic presence. The adults aren’t going to be helpful in this case and can’t really be trusted. The kids will have to find a way to save him along with their friend El who has psychic powers. The kid who went missing is named Will and so his mother decides to go and find him as well. It won’t be easy without any real leads though. The small town of Hawkins is about to go through some real turmoil.

Now this is a show with 5 seasons so you can bet that a whole lot happens in between. At its core you could say this is like a slow burn alien invasion as the creatures keep trying to get to the surface world. The kids are determined to stop them but at the end of the day….they are just kids. There are limits to what they can really do here. Make no mistake, they are the underdogs. Since psychic powers are real, at least they have that as a trump card. Unfortunately the government is always at the ready to get these powers back so that’s another thing to watch out for. In some ways the government are the most powerful villains here.

There is a whole lot that went wrong with the series so lets start with some of the positives. I will say that the theme song jingle is pretty good. It has that spooky atmosphere to it and is very memorable. I’ll probably still recall the jingle many years from now after hearing it so many times. Even the Netflix sound is something that I automatically connect with Stranger Things at this point. The two are absolutely linked. The special effects aren’t as impressive. The series is often trying to go for realism which often means making everything look grotesque.

The villains tend to look more weird than intimidating. The characters constantly just have their eyes go white when they focus. The series is at its best with the landscapes. The other world looks very apocalyptic in a good way. I’ll also say that the series tends to have some pretty spooky visuals as it goes on. The series noticeably got darker and more violent for the last two seasons. It was definitely trying to grow up with the cast but I’d say it felt more forced than anything.

We did get some pretty good songs though. While not all of them may have been winners, it was fun hearing some retro tunes. One of them in particular got played a lot as it became the main song used to counter the villain’s mind control. Now we’re approaching the end of the positives for the show but it was nice seeing Dungeons & Dragons getting some hype. It’s not a game that I’ve ever been really into but I definitely get the appeal. You just need to really have a lot of time to devote to it.

Now lets get into some of the core issues. First off we have the fact that the story is an absolute mess. The power levels are all over the place with a few demo demons taking on a squad of hardened soldiers with their guns, then going down to kids and noncombatants. It seems rather easy to defeat them and this is a problem that never goes away. The army really should not be having any kind of trouble with them. These guys are absolutely weak. At est you could say that the most powerful demons at the top should be strong but the minions aren’t serious threats.

Then we have the writing which is absolutely abysmal most of the time. All of the characters are rebounding, cheating, acting like jerks, etc. You really can’t trust anyone here. A very fitting moment is in the final episode when the town is trying to recover after all of the craziness. One of the kids is told to make a speech and instead of unifying the town, he decides to give everyone the birdie, make fun of the teachers, and basically just be a general nuisance once again. A lot of these issues all come down to the fact that the kids are not likable at all.

The show also couldn’t resist making a bunch of their characters decide to get ultra modern so you can expect quite a few gay plots. They are around quite a lot in the final season and take up time that could have been used to move the plot forward or give the villains some more fights. Each scene just gets more degenerate and in the time skip ending we have to give characters very specific jobs that didn’t really need to be around. One guy’s going to have to be teaching people about the birds and the bees. After a while it just seems like the show had other priorities above that of the main story and this came at the expense of most of the characters. These subplots are very preachy and are in your face throughout.

Then we have the fact that this is one of those shows which really can’t bear to just have a villain be evil. Vecna is one of the ultimate evils as he tortures children, murders a bunch of people, etc. Suddenly in the final season they try to play the “he’s just misunderstood” card. I also don’t think this was intentional but Will has the absolutely worst strategy in trying to convert him. It almost sounds like he’s rubbing it in as he explains how Vecna was manipulated and used while Vecna is begging him to cut it out. If there’s one good way to make a villain lose all credibility, it’s to make him beg.

I’d say it’s also just another example of how weak the writing is. The characters can be almost unbearable with how annoying and cringe they are the whole time. They just seem like people you would not want to be around and their dialogue gets more juvenile with each season. By the final season you have characters not giving others guns just to be petty, one kid shows up where his whole gimmick is that he’s really crude, etc.

The biggest story issue has to be the cliffhanger before the final season though. The ultimate evil was finally arriving and we had every character squaring up to fight him. It was going to be absolutely epic and intense. Then the next season starts with a big timeskip as the heroes have scattered and have to fight while undercover. Against the monsters right? Wrong! The government somehow plugged the hole and kept the monsters at bay. The whole thing made absolutely no sense and I’d basically consider the cliffhanger to be a plot hole.

Okay lets go into the characters here. First up is Joyce who is definitely all over the place. She is getting over a divorce which hasn’t been easy and then her kid is kidnapped by demons. So I cut her a little slack with how she gets a bit crazier throughout the series. She wants to help but often times the kids leave her out of the plans. Of course it makes sense why they would because she is always panicking about their plans. Then she gets close to Hopper, rebounds with some random guy, then goes back to Hopper after her boyfriend is brutally murdered by demons. I’m already not big on rebounds but when your boyfriend is brutally murdered?? That should make a rebound even more unlikely.

Of course if I go after every rebound then we’d be here all day. The long and short of it is that Joyce is okay but often doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation. She keeps on holding the kids back and doesn’t want them to get into danger but they are in too deep for any of that. There is no way to turn back at this point and so she just needed to be more supportive at this point. At least she is able to use a gun and everything by the end of the series.

Hopper is one of the only other adults who helps out a lot throughout the series. For the most part he tends to be the standout character. At least he can fight and he takes out a bunch of demons, Russian agents, etc. Hopper is also in charge of looking after El and tries to keep her from being too crazy. She tends to go into self sacrifice mode at the drop of a hat. If not for Hopper then she would have been gone pretty early into the series.

If anything it can be annoying seeing the kids try to order him around all the time. He’s the one with actual experience here after all and if anything he still has to bail them out by the end. Considering that he has no powers, Hopper does really well here. Even when he was captured behind enemy lines, Hopper was able to hold his own pretty well. He still needed some help of course but he never cracked.

Then we have Mike who is essentially the main character of the show. You could make a decent case for Joyce or Hopper but I feel like things always end up centering around Mike. Mike does his best to command the group but is still out of his depth the whole time. The romance with El tends to be pretty weak and you could argue that the ending makes it look even worse. Now granted, the show makes it a point to say that the ending is interpretable but in at least one of those he lost out big time. I also think it would have been nice for him to have gotten to fight a bit.

He’s the guy desperately asking for a gun in the final season only to be trolled over it. Not a very nice thing to do when he is legitimately worried and trying to do his best to help out. Mike tends to get a lot of the emotional scenes so you can expect him to cry a whole lot and get upset at other moments. He’s a highly emotional individual and to an extent I suppose that’s true for all of the kids. Mike’s not as bad as most of the others at least. He was mainly able to stay focused on the mission.

Then we have El who had a really tragic backstory. So for that reason I cut her a lot of slack but she could also be pretty annoying in the present. She wants Hopper to trust her more but always gives him a lot of reasons not to trust her. She tends to be gone on training trips a lot so she misses out on the fights. Even by the end of the series she is still having trouble with the villains. A large part of the series would not change at all if she was a normal human with how rarely she is able to win fights. It just felt like a missed opportunity and the other kids always looked dumb for not including her in the offense teams.

The logic was that they wanted to keep her as a trump card but sometimes it’s better to just get someone ready for the fights. The heroes essentially outthought themselves by coming up with these convoluted plans. It was also rather brutal how El forced her final opponent to shoot himself with her powers. I know that she’s not a hero and works as an anti-hero the whole time but it was definitely still a brutal moment. El’s self sacrifice personality is also a problem but at the end of the day I think it all just stems from me not understanding why she wasn’t out there fighting. That was a big missed opportunity if you ask me.

Will suffers from the same power level issues. He ended up absorbing some psychic ability for the final season but mainly just gets dominated in every interaction. Will sort of feels like he fell behind in the group after being kidnapped for so long and then it gets worse when he finds out how the villains have been manipulated. Will just feels a bit too sorry for himself the whole time. Then like I said he flubs the final speech with Vecna and honestly there’s no time to be feeling sorry for the guy. Vecna made his choices, I’m not going to buy into the whole mind control stuff now. I’d even say that Will stopping everyone to talk about his personal preferences could not have come at a worse time. They were all dealing with the end of the world after all.

Dustin is the main comic relief character of the show which means that he gets put into a tough situation once the show gets more and more serious. He tries to get serious along with it but often times this makes Dustin come across as a jerk. He puts his pride before the safety of the team by picking fights with bullies when everyone was counting on him. Dustin gets into a lot of fights in the final season in order to prove himself as one of the key members of the crew and it just doesn’t serve to make him look any better. I wouldn’t say that Dustin ever really recovered from this. He’s better than some of the other characters but looks particularly bad in the final season which is rough since that is the one that is freshest in the viewer’s memory.

Lucas is a pretty safe character. He’s better than most because he doesn’t start a lot of drama and knows how to get the job done. The only times he tends to get really emotional are when Max is in the hospital which makes sense. At the same time I guess the catch is that he doesn’t get much of a character arc. For the most part he is just around for the ride. Nothing wrong with that though. He contributes and gets one of the happier endings in the show. He also got to have one of the smoothest rides as he got beat up and tormented way less than the others. That’s definitely my kind of path if I was a character in the show.

Nancy is a character who is simply too indecisive. She goes through her relationships too quickly and then ultimately decides to ditch them all to be a girl boss. In that form she at least gets to fight giant monsters and talk tough but you never know what stage she will be in. I thought they made her too arrogant past a point like when she kept threatening Steve, Jonathan, and even the conspiracy nut. She’s just too violent I guess but hey at least she fought a giant monster with a shotgun. The guns only really work when the kids are using them. Man….as a sidebar I will say that the various gun/war fight scenes don’t work at all. The constant plot armor will make you dizzy as the villains miss every shot and the heroes make each one.

Jonathan is one of those characters who fell off a cliff in terms of character development. He was always wimpy and whiny but it just kept getting worse. Now he started off by peeping through windows so I guess it was always going to be a rocky road for him but then he went off on a business trip and came back depressed. He sounds half drunk during all of his lines and is constantly starting drama. He easily became one of the worst characters by the end and just never really improved. It’s easy to see why the relationships didn’t work out for him.

Dr. Martin is one of those crazy scientist villains so you can’t expect much out of him. He’s mostly just here to check off that box and we get more scientists later on anyway. They try for a halfhearted redemption arc for him too. Maybe redemption’s the wrong word, but humanizing at the very least. It didn’t work so I consider this guy to still be a 2 dimensional villain in the end.

I already talked about how pathetic Vecna is so we don’t have to get back into it. Needless to say, he’s a great example of how to ruin a villain. He just got less and less intimidating the more that he appeared. Unfortunately his boss, the Mind Fray guy never got to really do anything either. In the end he appears more as a mindless monster. It all comes back down to the heroes being too weak so as a result the villains have to be weak too. It’s a negative spiral that hurts all of the parties involved.

Max is one of the younger main characters and the heroes are already fairly young. She had to go through a lot growing up and it’s molded her into a very tough figure. Lucas helps her come out of this shell and then she has a real trial by fire with how the demons go after her. I appreciate that Max talks a tough game so she does beat most of the other kids. She also had to take a commanding lead in the final season with most of the other kids being busy.

Steve is one of those messy characters who has one too many crushes throughout the show. His whole rivalry with Jonathan honestly just made them both look bad. It’s always going to be hard to become friend with your ex and usually I’d say that you shouldn’t even try. Of course it kind of works out here but I’d argue that all of the relationships would be cooked at that point. Steve is meant to be the tough guy of the group. He’s the only jock surrounded by a bunch of nerds.

So there is some fun potential there but the characters all just take everything way too personally. When he’s not fighting with Jonathan, he’s fighting with Dustin. I think this is supposed to be relatable and all but it would be nice if the characters could have had some more unity. The in fighting is fun as long as the characters don’t take it too far but they all take it super personally throughout.

Robin didn’t join the gang until later on but was a nice foil to Steve. For a while there was nobody to really mess with him so she fills that role in well. Of course she is also used to squeeze in another gay plot which was always the real intention for her character. I appreciate how she always makes every conversation more awkward than the last and that’s saying something with this group. She had more personality than the others and was a bit older so she could hold her own more. I’d at least give her those props.

Murray is one of those crazy conspiracy guys who tends to be fun. They maybe try a bit too hard to make him funny at times but he works better than 90% of the case. He doesn’t become a main character until we’re pretty deep into the show but still makes his scenes count. The heroes definitely would have been doomed without him and he does try to keep them focused which is a really difficult job for anyone.

I don’t really understand why we needed to add Dr. Kay as a character. We already had 4 different mad scientist characters in the series, what’s the point of another one? Her role isn’t even anything unique. She’s another character who wants El and loves talking down to all of her colleagues. Kay gets a ton of hype but she’s just an old lady who gives out a lot of orders. There really isn’t anything for the characters to fear about her. She barely even gets closure by the end so I’d say the character was absolutely filler all the way through.

Of course the biggest filler characters were the psychic runaways from one of the earlier seasons. We had a long subplot about all of them having powers like El. It seemed like this was supposed to go somewhere but the whole storyline dropped off. One of them shows up in the final season to cause some drama but doesn’t ultimately do a whole lot. I feel like the series was tempted to go in a more supernatural direction but then decided it would take away from the horror so they decided to keep El as the only main hero with powers.

I was glad to see those guys go because it just led to more flashbacks of the lab with the kids being experimented on. I definitely didn’t need to see all of that but then that also means the whole subplot was just a waste of time. We were always going to see El’s origin story so we didn’t need to see the parts around that. The show ultimately just gets gritty and violent for no real reason.

I’d also say as a closing note that a big problem with the series is how jaded it is. On the surface this may seem like a classic coming of age story for the kids but on deeper scrutiny I don’t think this is the case. Most of the side characters are bullies and antagonists. The school never makes a move to stop the excessive bullying. You have abusive characters like Max’s brother and then a whole gang that tries to murder Lucas. The whole government is almost explicitly evil in this one and Vecna’s whole point about humanity being easily manipulated is proven right many times over. As the series ends, none of the characters have really learned their lessons either. There just isn’t a lot of sincerity in any the supposed heroes here.

Overall, Stranger Things is definitely not a title that I would recommend. To me the whole thing fell flat. It had a lot of issues like the violence, terrible writing, poor characters, etc. Pretty much every staple of what you’d be worried about in a long running live action title like this one. The good parts were never able to overcome the bad ones. Of course it all does trickle down from the characters so if you like them, then you’d probably like the show. It’s a bit of an oversimplification but that’s really what it boils down to. If you like the characters then by extension you’ll likely appreciate their constant emotional scenes and victory speeches. If you don’t like them, then the scenes feel like empty padding to stretch out the episodes. Multiply those scenes by every episode and that will really determine how good the episodes were. I think you could make a decent video game out of this, but the franchise doesn’t otherwise hold much potential if you ask me.

Overall 2/10

Moonstruck Review

Posted on August 23, 2026 by dreager1

Oh no it’s time for one of those messy romance films where everyone is cheating on each other. Obviously a romance is going to automatically be a bad one when there is cheating involved because that isn’t true love. Cheating immediately shows that there is a rebound and that neither character can be trusted. They have broken their word and honor by engaging in the act right from the start. Even if it’s meant to be a way to show how dramatic these adventures can be or to try for a jaded sense of realism, that’s not going to be enough to save this. It is absolutely possible to have a film that is good in spite of the characters being terrible but this was not that kind of film.

The movie starts off with Loretta finally getting proposed for marriage by her boyfriend. She has been waiting for this moment for a long time after her first marriage fell apart. This is really her chance in order to land a man before she has become too old. Johnny is excited as well but he has to go on a work trip for a while so he heads on out. Unfortunately this gives time for his brother Ronny to show up and this guy falls for Loretta right away. He is determined to get her and unfortunately her willpower may not be all that strong. Can she stay loyal to Johnny?

Well obviously she doesn’t and I wouldn’t even call that a spoiler because she doesn’t even last 5 minutes. Instead she tries to just say they should forget about it and her strategy is to hang out with Ronny but not let things get too serious. It’s a terrible plan right from the start to be honest and she was just being in denial. Once you’ve already crossed the line then there is no way back out. You just have to accept the fact that you’re a terrible person and retreat from all relationships. Johnny certainly didn’t deserve his and keeping it a secret would also be a terribly toxic way of handling things. Loretta was just a really terrible character all the way through. Ronny takes a ton of blame as well but I always put more on the person who is actually in a relationship.

Obviously Ronny broke the unspoken rules about not dating someone who is already dating a family member. He also shouldn’t be going after women who are taken and so there was no saving this character either. Just a poor character all the way through. The only correct option for him would have been to stay away from Loretta. Even if he truly fell head over heels in love with her, e was simply too late and just has to accept that.

Meanwhile Loretta’s father Cosmo is also a terrible character all the way as he decides to cheat on his wife the whole time. She handles this a little too calmly as well by just telling him to stop and things will be fine but he is taking all the blame here for being the one to start the cheating relationship. The guy wasn’t even sorry that he did it, just that he was caught.

Johnny is mostly innocent in all of this but then looks absolutely terrible in accepting the circumstances at the end of the film. A betrayal like this is not something that you just accept and cheer on. The whole ending is laughably bad and while I think that is part of the whole point of the ending, it still makes you shake your head. Johnny wimping out was ultimately for the best as he would have been in a terrible relationship but that’s only with knowledge from being outside the film. From in-universe it is just a bad look all around.

There really aren’t any good characters here. At least Loretta’s mother resisted the advances of one guy who tried to get with her but she was definitely playing with fire by eating with him in the first place. There is nothing wrong with having friends even once you’re married but you really need to be very smart about each interaction. You have to be able to read the other person and make sure that they aren’t going to try and make a move on you because at that point it would be too late to do anything about that. It’s easy to say you have too much willpower to do anything until it ends up happening. I wouldn’t trust any of the characters in this film at all.

In short there just weren’t any really strong elements to the film. Their conversations tended to be on the annoying side and are the kinds of dialogue that just ruin the reputation of romance itself. Characters settling because they are getting old, cheating just so that they can postpone death, etc. It’s basically a combination of all the worst tropes about romance and what some people think it is all about. I definitely tend to prefer the more idealistic version of romance with true love and each person never falling for a rebound. That’s how it is supposed to work after all and this film just wasn’t able to understand that. A relationship is about pure trust and pure love. If you’re settling or still checking out the market afterwards then it’s a bad romance definitionally.

Overall, Moonstruck is definitely one of those films that I would avoid. The romance is pretty terrible, we’re talking on the level of the Titanic here. Maybe even worse than that to be honest with how many pairings there were. There was just no saving any of these characters and the film is reasonably long. That time could have been used to make a good romance instead. I’m all for having a bunch of drama but it has to be the right kind. This one will definitely not go down as a solid title. At least the moon looked nice, it always stands out in the sky.

Overall 2/10

Vera Cruz Review

Posted on August 22, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for a retro western. Well I guess you don’t even need to call it retro because they don’t really make westerns anymore hehe. This was not one of the better ones. The villains get away with way too much the whole time and you re left shaking your head. At best I can say that the ending was decent although one character comes across as looking like a bit of a sucker. He lets things go on for too long just for the sake of his personal pride/honor.

The film starts off by introducing us to two big shot gunmen. The first is Joe, who is one of those guys who believes in might makes right. He will do whatever he wants in order to succeed even if that means constantly betraying folks. He even tells Ben that nobody can be trusted in this world. Then you have Ben who has much more of a strict honor code. He is a lone gun right now thanks to tragic circumstances from his past but doesn’t want to lose himself. Naturally there is a whole lot of tension between the two of them. They are both recruited by a group of fighters who oppose the Mexican government. These guys have actually taken control of a great deal of the country and have the upper hand. Is their money worth choosing the wrong side in this civil war?

While the Mexican civil war is the backdrop for the whole film, I wouldn’t say that it is super important. The film seems to show the Mexican government as being the good guys here and so ideally that is the case but I’m not familiar with the two factions. Within the context of this movie the fighter group definitely appeared to be crooked with all of their underhanded tricks though. The government constantly took the high road even if it backfired several times with hostages being taken.

At one point they had the main characters cornered but unfortunately a bunch of kids ran in and got held hostage. The government should have fired as soon as the villains approached the kids. Hesitating like that is likely why they lost the country in the first place. Throughout the film we are shown the contrast of how Ben is not nearly as ruthless as Joe. I would just say that it’s a bit hollow considering that he is still working with the guy. I don’t give you a whole lot of points for standing by while other villains are doing their thing. That’s just not how this all works.

Ben was also just too passive in general. At one point a girl shows up and pickpockets him. He takes forever to notice and by the time he asks for it back, she has already spent all of the money. Ben ultimately doesn’t mind and falls for her anyway but it makes him look like a real soft touch. Joe really criticizes him for this and it’s the only time that the guy is right. Ben was putting everyone in danger for not being able to control his feelings. Then it all climaxes at the end where he is faced off with an unrepentant villain and still can’t take the shot because he wants them both to be on even playing field. Just not a smart decision.

I can’t say that Joe was much better though. I did think that the way he was constantly grinning throughout the movie was interesting though. It made him look particularly unhinged which I think was the overall point. So that was handled really well. That being said, it will always be hard to root for a villain. Especially one like Joe who is still obsessed with both women and gold. It’s not like he is fighting for some kind of grand cause or anything like that. The guy just wants all of life’s pleasures with no real responsibility.

As I mentioned before, the villains just get away with way too much throughout the film. The way you could have saved Ben’s character would have been to bump a few of them off early on. The two villains ride with a band of thugs who end up getting to the main heroine at one point for a while before the main two break it up. It’s always going to be too late when the main characters get their after contact and just makes them complicit the whole time. The film really could have used a good sheriff character who would show up to take care of these guys. That would have really made a big difference.

I don’t think a film like this was ever going to be great but removing a scene like that would still do a lot of good. The heroine wasn’t even a solid character as she had to use a lot of tricks in order to complete her mission. It’s always an annoying subplot to have to resort to that instead of just taking everyone down with a gun. That’s the most direct way to claiming victory and you always wonder why it doesn’t happen more often. The wild west will always give you plenty of opportunities to pick people off.

Overall, Vera Cruz was definitely not a good wild west title and is one that you will want to stay way from. It takes most of the worst elements of the genre like the general lawlessness of it all and doesn’t add in a lot of strengths to offset the whole thing. As a result the film itself never ends up being all that fun. The old style script is the only thing you can really give the film and that’s not much. I dare say that a film covering the actual civil war would have been much better and more entertaining. That would have ensured more big battles and definitely a more likable set of main characters. If you are ever in a situation where you have the upper hand against a villain, don’t give him time to go for his gun.

Overall 2/10

The Last House Review

Posted on August 22, 2026 by dreager1

This is one of those films that just kept on getting worse and worse the more it went on. The film just didn’t know how to wrap things up and so the situation had to drag out a whole lot. It also made some key mistakes including adding a dog to the picture. That was never going to go over well and sure enough it ended up dooming this adventure. I’d definitely recommend staying far away from this title.

The film starts off with Jason going fishing. He doesn’t do very well but enjoys the sport for how relaxing it can be. A storm is brewing so he heads on home to be with his family. Unfortunately he quickly realizes that there is no way out. Everyone across the planet has now been locked inside of their houses and anyone who was outside is now dead. He has a lot of food at home so he and the rest of the family can last a few months but then it will all be game over. Who is doing this and how can the heroes manage to survive? The odds are not in his favor.

The movie starts off very cryptically but gradually we see what is going on here. It turns out that aliens have shown up. I go with aliens personally but it’s also implied that they came from the ocean. Unfortunately their goals and powers don’t make a whole lot of sense. It’s hard to get too much into the issues without spoilers so I’ll stick to broad strokes. They were able to shut off the gas and electricity right away but still let the heroes access running water and TV for a long time? Somehow people were still running around outside for days/weeks after the genocide so did the aliens get sloppy or are they just sadistic and wanted to let people stay alive longer?

Clearly they have a whole lot of hatred in their hearts for the humans and yet the ending undercuts their stubbornness in a big way. The ending just wasn’t earned and it goes for the wrong moral here as the humans needed to do all they could to crush these things. It’s hard to say exactly how durable they are but you have to give it your best effort. It was the only thing that one of the kids did right in his attempts to escape. I don’t see why you would just allow yourself to be a prisoner forever, that’s no life.

The main characters get a whole lot of plot armor the whole time though as the creatures should have finished them off early on. The only reason they did not is because these were the main characters so it really doesn’t count for much. Most of the characters look bad by the end. The only one who really stayed strong was Jason and even then he has a lot of moments for self doubt. I just give him more credit because he did keep his family alive.

Without him the others would have died early on. He is the one who kept the fight alive and never stopped struggling. His wife was very supportive for a while but gave up at different points in the film. She also joined the two kids in talking about how distant Jason was. Look, I’m not saying Jason was perfect by any means but as a father/husband his number one priority was figuring out a way to stop the creatures. He succeeded and that just came at the expense of his emotions for a while there.

I just find it hard to sympathize with the other characters. The son in particular is annoying with how he makes fun of Jason’s efforts to fix a car which took several years. He could have been gracious about the whole thing instead of immediately throwing cold water on the effort. It was just a really bad look for him. As for the daughter, she is younger for a lot of the film and not really able to do much. By the end of the film she starts acting like the creatures may not be that bad. Clearly she doesn’t remember how they brutally destroyed the jogger outside and have sealed everyone within their homes. It just comes across as dangerously naive to look at the aliens as anything other than mass murderers.

All of that said, what really crushed the film was the subplot about their sick dog. The dog needs medicine or he starts to have a heart attack and unfortunately there is no way to buy more pills as the film goes on. This inevitably leads to some rough scenes and this should not have been in the film. The movie also has the characters get awfully pragmatic about the lack of food coming up and so things get even darker. That was enough to sink the whole film. There is just no getting past that and the film didn’t have to get this grim dark. We also have a lot of animal hunting scenes and one even getting its neck broken just to underscore how dark the whole thing is. Nothing about the film is subtle.

I dare say you have to try all other avenues to the point of death first. I was unconvinced about the attempts to escape the house. Yes the water would block it but you have to keep trying to plug holes in there over and over. It’s a case where you have to assume it would have failed or someone around the world would have tried that but I would have liked to have seen more attempts. Then you also have the later parts of the film where the creature wanders into the house once in a while. That’s when you obviously have to attack and push your way past him.

When we found out that Jason had a gun I was expecting something like that by the end but it ended up all being a red herring. The film feels like a red herring at times with some interesting ideas but nothing comes of them. I wanted to learn what the monsters were doing and where was the government? Surely there were a good amount of people who fought back from outside the houses when the whole situation started. This is a film that desperately needed world building. It was almost 2 hours too so there was plenty of time to do that instead of having constant time skips. The film should have cut quite a few of those out because it also gets less scary when the characters have been surviving just fine for years. That undermines the villains all the way.

A film about everyone being stuck at home is really interesting but you have to think about the premise all the way around so it isn’t easy to stick a bunch of holes in it. The idea is so much better than the execution and it isn’t even close. Maybe Netflix will get it right next time but I have my doubts. If a remake was announced I would still be interested in checking it out though.

Overall, The Last House is definitely a film that will fade in your memory over time. It did not make any of the right decisions and that really limited its potential. In the way you always need to find a way to surpass the odds and deliver a scary product that is still fun. That didn’t happen here and so you can do much better. You won’t want to invest 2 hours into this title that doesn’t even give you a great payoff in the end.

Overall 1/10

Lost Soul Aside Review

Posted on August 1, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for one of those PS5 games that you see everywhere. It always looked pretty fun although I don’t think the cover does it any favors. Almost looks a bit uncanny like an action figure or something. The actual game’s artstyle is more like a typical Final Fantasy adventure though so don’t let the cover fool you. This is a great game but one that could have stood to have more content overall.

The story starts by introducing us to a world where the empire owns its country with an iron fist. The people have risen up through a resistance group known as GLIMMER. The main character is a member of this group and is also a “gifted one” which means that he has super powers. Unfortunately these powers are not enough to turn the tides of battle so he went off to train. Upon his return, the lead ends up meeting an ancient dragon lord named Arena who gives him true power. This would be enough to end the world but then the kingdom is attacked by aliens who are led by Aramon. This guy wants to end the human race and in the process he absorbed the souls of many humans. We now have to stop him as well as the emperor and in particular save the soul of Kaser’s sister.

The plot definitely starts fast here and introduces a whole lot of characters right away. I really enjoyed the fact that there were 3 factions here because it immediately makes things more interesting. Kaser is essentially forced to work with his life long enemies here but knows that they can betray him at any moment. That’s a good amount of tension to be working with here. Ther is also a lot of extra lore through the pages that you pick up along the way but generally I wouldn’t say any of it is too crucial. The main plot is within the game that you’re playing after all.

I will say that the story can get a little slow during the middle part though. You’re really interested in fighting Aramon and the Emperor so when you have to fight a bunch of reskinned bosses you just want to get to the next cutscene. There is an impressive amount of boss battles here with at least 50 but a bunch of them are reused as the game goes on which makes this a little less impressive. The game does leave a little room for a sequel should they ever want to do that.

The strongest aspect of the game is the gameplay though. It plays like a 3D beat em up and you have to use a mix of dodging and blocking to get past the waves of enemies. I spent most of the game blocking but by the end it was incredibly difficult to read the opponent moves so I relied more on dodging. Each style has its set of pros and cons but blocking is best if you are comfortable with the timing. By blocking an opponent’s attack you reduce a lot of their stamina and it also causes them to freeze up for a good chunk of time. This gives you some more free hits right away.

The beginning of the game is when it is the most difficult because you don’t have any arena powers or upgrades yet. Interestingly this is an example of a game that continues to get easier as you go on because your upgrades are incredibly broken. Additionally the game has a great XP system so you are leveling up constantly. The more you die, the stronger upgrades you unlock so I dare say there are even some roguelite elements to this title. I guess everyone wants to add those nowadays. The combat is super smooth and there are so many different attacks that you can use. You can really have a field day equipping all of the fun ones that you want.

Now the game does have an issue with the menus though. I think the devs needed to workshop these a bit more because they are not intuitive at all. There is a whole crafting section of the game and I never used it because I just couldn’t figure it out. The parts you need to make the weapon are unclear and the weapons seemed weaker than the base ones so it seemed pointless. Every weapon I unlocked naturally were also weaker than the base one so I stayed with my starter equipment the whole game. There has to be something that I was missing.

There are also boss rushes and survival challenges but there didn’t seem to be an upside to doing them. I suppose they give you online trophies for completion so down the road they would be useful but not during the campaign. There are too many options in the main menu to choose from and as a result I didn’t pick any. It’s a fairly small deal but the kind of thing that does separate an average game from a top tier one.

I did enjoy how easy it was to acquire money and items though. Now I will mention that the game has a super guide type feature where you can skip any puzzle automatically by talking to a blue diamond. I decided not to do that since it felt cheesy but I guess that’s good if you really don’t like puzzles. Trust me, I’m not a big fan of them but skipping them entirely like that will always be a last ditch effort at best.

This game really had a lot of fun trying out different gameplay styles. For the most part these additions were a bit pointless but they don’t take away from the game. You’ve got skateboardig, mecha fights, aerial combat, grappling, platforming, puzzles, etc. The game was trying to use every kind of gameplay style it could think of. Ultimately it would always go back to the combat you were looking forward to though which is the important part. That is the ultimate highlight of the game after all.

The graphics are pretty good. This may not be a full AAA type title but it holds up well enough. I liked the character designs and the colors are striking. The gameplay itself is particularly colorful. The soundtrack is also pretty good with some really solid tunes. The boss themes definitely will not disappoint. The overall campaign length is around 15 hours too which is fairly solid. There is virtually no replay value though so your best bet is in trying to get all of the trophies. That will definitely take you some time because the game is really relentless on that front. I won’t even try to achieve the platinum in the foreseeable future.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this game. It may be a hard sell for $60, but I got it for $10 thanks to Prime Day. If you can get a price like that for this game then I highly recommend doing so. It’s a steal for that price and either way the gameplay alone is enough to make you want to get this game. If they ever do make a sequel, I’ll definitely be picking that one up.

Overall 8/10

Blue Box Review

Posted on July 19, 2026 by dreager1

Shonen Jump has lost another big title with Blue Box coming to an end. At one point it was thought to be the next king of Jump to replace One Piece. Unfortunately One Piece still has many years left to go so that was not in the cards. Box still had a fairly long runtime though and was a fun enough series. I would say that it did start to lose a lot of steam in the second half but that’s just how these things go sometimes. The series was unable to capture the same high levels of energy of the will they/won’t they once the main two were together.

The series follows a boy named Taiki who is really into Badminton and a girl named Chinatsu who is a star Basketball player. They both attend the same high school although Chinatsu is one grade above Taiki’s. He has always had a big crush on her and they see each other a lot as the first two people in the gym every morning. What he didn’t expect was for Chinatsu to move in with him! Her parents will be away for a while and were friends with his parents so they got permission for her to stay so that she could focus on Basketball. Now Taiki has more opportunities to confess but also feels like this is a bad time to do so. It could make her feel uncomfortable…what should he do?

First off I would say that Taiki is absolutely correct here. He may want to confess and everything but to be honest it would be the wrong call. Her parents are counting on this being a relaxing environment for Chinatsu with no distractions. A confession is absolutely selfish here because it puts her in a bad spot if she says no. A confession can’t have any pressure behind it or else the whole thing just won’t feel right. This naturally does lead to a lot of drama though as Chinatsu also likes Taiki but faces the same struggles. They have a hard time getting on the same page and both have other suitors who appear to be interested.

That is much more of a factor for Taiki though. His childhood best friend, Hina, really likes him. She’s not even very subtle about it but Taiki completely sees her as a friend and is oblivious to every flirtatious moment. Unfortunately his best friend Kyo is a professional gaslighter who makes every situation much harder than it has to be. So there’s a lot going on but in a way that’s what makes the first half really intense. It was just really chaotic with a whole lot of players involved.

So lets go with the weaknesses of the series first. One is that the sport matches star to be more off screen as the series goes on. This was never a sports series first and foremost but we still got some really big battles early on like Taiki vs Haryu. By the end of the series we start skipping major portions of matches and even skip all of Nationals itself. You know, the thing that was Taiki’s goal from the start? That was definitely an annoying moment because it would have been so cool. You could easily have cut some chapters from the side characters to make room for that. Chinatsu’s final competitions at least got some screentime even if I would have liked to have seen more.

The other weakness by the end is that the supporting characters were never as interesting. It is pretty much obligatory that you try to pair up all of the side characters at the end but you don’t have a lot of reason to care about them. Not compared to the main two which is where all of the development had gone to anyway. Most of these characters are basically left with rebound options so it’s not like you could say the romances are particularly strong either. It works well enough you could say but it’s why the first half is much better.

As for the art, it’s not bad. It’s definitely not one of the stronger Shonen Jump titles in that area though. In particular there were two characters who looked way too similar and I would constantly mix them up. Yusa and his brother. Now granted, brothers should look alike but they really appeared to be identical at times. The art is still good enough though so I wouldn’t say that I had any serious issues there.

So lets get into the characters. First up we have Taiki and I was really clowning on him throughout the series. He just couldn’t stop catching Ls as most of the drama was his fault. Pushing Chinatsu away while in public because he got scared of what other people would think was something that happened more than once. To be clear, he was doing this because he thought that is what was best for Chinatsu. It still doesn’t make him look much better.

Then he doesn’t handle the Hina situation very well. He actually started out well by initially rejecting her but then Kyo got in his head and Taiki started to hesitate. Taiki initially knew that he only had eyes for Chinatsu and needed to stick with that. Instead Kyo gave him an analogy about coffee and a lot of other crazy stuff. Ultimately Taiki decides to still be close friends with Hina which allows her to try and make another play. That was probably a moment too far for her and he needed to break things off.

It’s extremely hard to be friends with someone who wants you. Especially when they already know that you like someone else. It comes off as really selfish no matter how you slice it. Taiki just lacks in confidence a whole lot and this carried over right to the end of the series. Even in the last chapters he is still acting like that. It’s partially because he is written as the everyman and there is this idea that guys are always going to be a little passive/nervous around the girl. Perhaps it is realistic to a degree but it doesn’t make him a very strong lead. I needed to see more fire out of him instead of learning the same lessons over and over again.

In comparison Chinatsu is the much better character. She basically has to initiate every interaction between them. She never loses sight of her goals or waves in the slightest no matter who approaches her. I also appreciate how defensive she gets when anyone makes fun of Taiki. She is very quick to fire back and that’s the kind of loyalty you like to see. Chinatsu’s a very well rounded character and continues to excel in Basketball/school even outside of the romance. Taiki may be her goal but he isn’t the only part of her world.

Even as someone who was more on team Hina in terms of character, Chinatsu is one of the best parts of the series. There can be no doubt on that. She even gets her own rival later on in the series which was pretty cool. No, not a rival in love but an actual Basketball rival so I really appreciated that. She’ll likely have to continue leading the relationship with Taiki but is more than willing to always put in the effort there.

As for Hina, well I may have liked her a lot but some of her actions are pretty indefensible. She continues to go after Taiki even once he has a girlfriend which is really not cool. I know that some will say it’s all fair game until marriage but that’s not a very healthy outlook. Do you really want a guy that you can steal away so easily? To be direct, you should give up if the person you are interested in is already taken. Nothing good can come from going down that avenue but there are certainly a lot of bad things that can arise.

Once you have moved on, then it’s possible you will find someone else but it will take time. The series presents at least two more options for Hina after Taiki and both feel like they would have just been emotional rebounds. For that reason I am glad that the series didn’t force anything at the end. The door is left open for this to succeed and it’s certainly implied that she will eventually make a choice but at least it wasn’t instant. Hina was taking her time and that’s important.

Her final character arc of realizing that she actually wasn’t over Taiki was actually a really good one. Aside from the misstep of telling him about it, it makes sense that she couldn’t just snap her fingers and be over him. A lot of times in the movies you will see a character just immediately move on when they are rejected but things don’t tend to move that fast. The feelings will take some time to dissipate.

Then we have Kyo who is a particularly weak supporting character. By the time he starts to get more screentime at the end, it is too little, too late. It felt like he was mainly around to just sabotage Taiki for a while there. I want to be clear that he never did this intentionally but has a bad habit of talking way too much and he always just has the wrong takes. The guy is a bit too quiet otherwise and then in his own romance he ends up being passive. Even in the moments that are supposed to make him likable, they never seemed to land. Ultimately I had to give him a thumbs down.

Taiki’s parents were far better as characters. It’s not like they have a big role but they were consistently solid the whole time. They mostly kept a hands off approach but Taiki’s dad would remind him to always do what’s right. Then the mom would always do her best to help out in the background by prepping for events, supporting Taiki, etc. Chinatsu’s parents are much the same way with her father very reasonably not being a fan of the setup once he found out that Taiki liked her. That’s just responsible parenting after all since that opens the door to a lot of tricky situations. He ultimately allows it but I wouldn’t have faulted him even if he had made Chinatsu move out.

Haryu works well as the first rival. In a way he is the older what if version of Taiki. He got to play at a high level and has a good relationship with his girlfriend. Ultimately he chooses not to pursue Badminton past high school though while Taiki wants to keep going. The parallels are fun and he even starts to get spooked about playing Taiki. He worries that losing to him will forever change their dynamic. That was a bit petty since they’re on the same squad and should still be playing each other a whole lot. Not playing because you’re scared will only hinder your growth in the long run.

His girlfriend Karen is a strong character as well. She was always quick on the uptake and wasn’t as oblivious as most of the other characters. She doesn’t get to appear a lot but makes sure to set strong ground rules for her relationship. With Haryu she explains that this can never be an excuse for either of them to fail. It’s a pretty good rule if you ask me although any real character should never be using something like that as an excuse either way.

Hyodo takes over as a new rival for the end of the series. He’s even more powerful than Haryu and is basically unbeatable. He has done that by making Badminton his life. He has pushed aside all other interests and has no interest in getting a girlfriend. You could say he’s the other extreme as a possible Taiki future. It may be possible to surpass him but is the cost really worth it? It just feels like that is not a good idea. The manga never makes Taiki tempted by this approach though which is a good thing.

Then we have Hyodo’s younger brother Yusa who is also super good at the sport. Initially he also believes that it requires a ton of sacrifice but then learns from Taiki that you can still live your complete life along with it. I’d say he just needed some more screentime. His romance with Hina is pretty weak and came too late to really make anything out of it. He would make for a solid character in a sequel story though. There’s nothing really wrong with him but it just feels like the guy came on too late.

Ayame is another character who was a bit of a late inclusion. Not as late as Chinatsu’s next door neighbor who just exists for potential drama but still pretty late. She basically goes through guys really fast which makes a few of the characters worry. What if she sinks her fangs into Taiki?? The story never goes there though and she’s actually a bit of a romantic as she tries to get Hina and Taiki together. Her own romance plot with Kyo is a bit forced though and doesn’t work so well. I appreciated what she added to the dynamic though.

Finally there is Yumeka who is a solid character. She may not have a ton of screentime but I did think that she made for a solid rival to Chinatsu. Her skills were definitely on point and she really managed to keep up. This also worked as a way to give Chinatsu an extra plot that wasn’t directly tied to Taiki. That was a really strong move all the way and also gave a reason for the show to include more Basketball scenes.

While the story beats are all fairly straightforward from the start, this is not a series that is being built around twists. The whole idea here is that Taiki and Chinatsu will get together and you’re just seeing how that happens. In a way you could say that is true for most romance series. It’s all about the adventure, not really about the ending. So you hope against all odds for the underdog to win but know that it will be futile. I just think sometimes the authors accidentally make the backup love interest more interesting than the main one. Hina was just more fun to have around even if you knew that she was doomed. Such is life and the appeal of the doomed romance.

The series still had a light tone throughout and just makes for an easy read. I’d say that it is a series which can really appeal to anyone. The only way you’d dislike this series is if you really just don’t like romance drama. Drama is basically inevitable for any long running romance series though because that’s how they extend the runtime. Blue Box stays pretty safe throughout though with no character making mistakes that I would deem to be irredeemable. Drama goes too far if a character actually cheats or something like that and fortunately we never even approach that point.

Overall, Blue Box is a good series that I can recommend. The romance is well written and the sports dynamic helps to add in a bit of extra flair as well. The ending isn’t the strongest and on a petty note it was kind of annoying that they couldn’t genuinely end by noticing that the gym was like a blue box. Adding a correction that it was actually orange was wholly unnecessary. I’d say the series will especially work well in a binge format so you should just start reading through the series right away. As long as you enjoy romance and/or sports then you will have a good time here.

Overall 6/10

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