Tag Archives: Fantasy

Immortals Fenyx Rising Review

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This is one of those games that I passed by in the store 100 times. It’s clear that Ubisoft made a whole lot of copies for this one and unfortunately it doesn’t look like it panned out. You can usually get the game for about $5 which isn’t what you want to see for a big budget title. The writing definitely tends to be a big miss but the gameplay itself is really stellar. So this is a game with a lot of ups and downs but ultimately the gameplay is able to keep this one at a high level.

The game starts with Poseidon begging Zeus to free him from his endless torment. Zeus basically laughs at the idea and he’s busy because all of the gods have been taken down by a villain known as Typhos. Zeus is the last one ready to fight but Poseidon tells him the story of a mortal who may be able to tip the scales of battle. Her name is Fenyx and she is on a quest to save all of the gods. Perhaps if Zeus is amused by this story, he will free Poseidon. Maybe…he tends to shift with his moods at random points. Poseidon will have to risk it all here though and Fenyx is his only chance. She will have to harness all of her abilities to win this one.

So when it comes to the writing, this is definitely a game that isn’t taking itself very seriously. There are jokes in every other line and aside from Fenyx, all the other characters are total jerks. By the time the game does transition into being a more serious title, it’s just a little too late. There are definitely some lines that will get a chuckle out of you but also a lot that will have you rolling your eyes. Your best bet to enjoy the story is if you just really like that kind of annoying character. A character who complains nonstop but has absolute power so everyone just has to roll with it.

The game doesn’t shy away from all the darker parts of the old gods either. Zeus and the others are all basically evil with how many crimes they did so it’s hard to root for them. Typhos may be less sinister as he’s just evil in a basic destroy the world kind of way. Zeus and the others are busy torturing people for life so it’s a little hard to be worse than that.

Like I said, the gameplay is why you are really here though. It has a large hub world like Breath of the Wild, but you can glide at high speeds and have a more generous stamina bar. It lets you navigate the world a little smoother than Link. There is also a ton of content here with the main game being around 20 hours long and the bonus content will probably take you another 10 hours or so on top of that. Not a bad deal for your buck right?

The gameplay is intuitive enough where I had a lot of fun exploring and completing side missions. Not purely for the fun of it but because each power up makes a solid difference. The collectibles expand your health bar, potion inventory, stamina, and attack power. Even with all of those power ups, I still lost my initial attempt against the final boss which shows just how powerful he was. The game never gets absurdly difficult but it will give you a fair challenge. It’s not the kind of game you can just beat with your eyes closed.

The combat is all in 3D so picture any 3D action title. You have your sword, an axe, and a bow to shoot arrows with. I used axes for 90% of the game as they hit harder than swords and can also stun enemies. They are a bit slower but that’s fine. You can roll to dodge enemy attacks or parry them. I never tried parrying in this game because dodging felt a whole lot more natural but it’s worth noting that it is an option. So you want to keep it all in mind.

The game has enough customization where you can really have a very different gameplay style than the next player. Do you go aggressive or focus on parrying? The choice is really yours here. Then the puzzles come in a wide range of different options. They can sometimes be a bit too unclear on what you’re supposed to do but for the most part they aren’t bad. This game is probably the first time I’ve seen a puzzle rush as opposed to a boss rush. I was definitely not expecting that.

The graphics are pretty solid here. The artstyle isn’t my favorite but on the whole the game is clear. I only encountered two glitches and both were purely artistic ones so it’s not like losing save data or something. The soundtrack is more on the generic side though. None of the tracks were particularly impressive and you will forget them as soon as you put the game down.

That’s why the game is fully dependent on the gameplay here. There are a bunch of quality of life features here as well like quick saving anywhere, fast travel, and a super detailed map. I would like it if you could refine the map a bit more in terms of limiting what you want to appear but that’s me being a little greedy. This is still more than what most other games have. The clear progression and really fun action gameplay makes for a dynamite combo. I think you could pull off just about any kind of story with this gameplay because I’m just going to be addicted to the combat. This game was a good example of that as it is a very weak story compared to pretty much any game I’ve played in a long time and yet the experience was still a lot of fun. Not fun enough for me to buy the dlc though.

Overall, This is definitely a pretty unique game. I can definitely say that for better or worse I will certainly remember every bit of it for a very long time. The goo and the bad. I wouldn’t be running to grab a sequel but I certainly wouldn’t avoid it either. If you’re looking for a solid action game with a ton of content to play through, then this is a good one to check out. It will really test all of your abilities.

Overall 8/10

Alice in Wonderland Review

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Alice in Wonderland is a film that I know very well and yet I can’t say that I remembered about half of it. When I think of this story, I remember the Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts. Otherwise most of the in between was foreign to me. So it was nice to see the whole adventure and I can definitely say that it has aged well. It’s a fun story and Alice works well as the main character who has to deal with all of the craziness.

The story starts with Alice being really bored. Her sister is trying to teach her something but Alice has no time for that. She sees a curious rabbit running somewhere and gives chase. This causes her to fall into a whole new world where the normal theories of physics need not apply. The world is dangerous and has a whole lot going on within it. Alice will have to keep her guard up at all times in order to survive. The toughest part will be keeping her sanity though.

Now in a modern remake of this I would expect a lot of sarcastic banter and a lead who would really fight back. In this classic version, Alice does her best to be polite at all times even when the characters are not being the most pleasant towards her. The whole tea party scene is a good example of this as they keep on taking her tea away before she can drink it. The conversations start spiraling early on and it’s clear that they are all insane.

Alice doesn’t really let it get to her although she was ready to leave in several instances. The whole scene is just really bonkers with how nonsensical everyone is acting and that is part of the charm. The whole film has a bit of a weird vibe to it and I would say that is what ultimately got it to be so well known and popular. You won’t forget any of these characters and it is fun enough where people even tend to ignore the ending. You will have been sucked into the adventure.

It’s also worth noting that the film is quite short as it is barely over an hour. As a result the pacing is really good and the film certainly never drags on. The animation is also really incredible considering how old it is. It’s insane to me that a film from the 50s can look better than some animation in the 2020s. That’s the gem of hand drawn animation though. It ages incredibly well and always tends to beat its competitors in the long run.

The music isn’t some of Disney’s strongest though. I don’t think any of the songs here would hit the big time for me. They’re okay I suppose. I wouldn’t call them bad but at the same time I don’t see myself looking any of them up anytime soon. They’re just not going to be quite at that level.

While the tea party is definitely my favorite sequence, the Queen of Hearts part is certainly a classic. How do you defeat someone when they can legally murder you at any point? It adds a lot of stress to Alice’s game when going head to head in croquet here. The Queen may not be the most reasonable character but she works well as a villain. She is always in control and it’s actually okay for her to panic since she is royalty and can do whatever she wants. It’s not like she will ever be on the back foot as a result.

The Cheshire Cat ended up being one of the most remembered characters from the movie. Despite that I wouldn’t say that he has a whole lot of scenes to himself. Still, when the film is this short I suppose that is enough. He is a fun character as well since his near invincibility means that he really has nothing to fear from anybody. He does whatever he wants whenever he wants and that’s just the way that he rolls.

The Rabbit is probably the weakest character in the end. After all he spends almost all of his screentime running and being all scared. He has good reason for this of course but at the same time it doesn’t make him the most compelling character. While a lot of the other characters had less sanity than the rabbit, they also seemed to have a lot of confidence in their own way. It’s not like they were all spending their lives in fear of the Queen.

Alice in Wonderland is a good template of how to have some good world building with minimal time. It doesn’t take long for all of this to be set up. A good fantasy world doesn’t really need a lot of rules and baggage to appear right away. Instead it should be able to do anything and I’d say the film lies up to that. Things don’t make sense to Alice and the viewer but to the characters it clearly does. It’s just a whole other system of logic and that’s all you really need to know.

Overall, Alice in Wonderland is a pretty fun film. I had a good time with it and at the end of the day it is basically simple fun. All of the obstacles she runs into are thought out pretty well. Alice herself could be a little slow on the uptake as she has a very hard time keeping up with all of the craziness that is happening. I would have thought by the halfway point she would already know that she has to assume everyone is crazy. Ah well she’ll get them next time and maybe her sister can join in on the adventure this time. Either way I definitely recommend checking this movie out and seeing for yourself just how advanced the animation was back in the 1950s!

Overall 7/10

Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood Review

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It’s time for a really quick anime special. It’s under 20 minutes so it’s even shorter than some anime episodes so that means the pacing has to be really fast here. It’s a good story and I can’t say that I have any complaints here. I do think the world building is sound enough to make this into a full fledged adventure some day though. That would be a lot of fun to see.

The story takes place in a time where humanity has finally found a way to establish a teleportation station from Earth to a fantasy world. People can travel from planet to planet with ease and even start new lives there. A fair girl named Rinrada decides to travel to Earth while the human Daichi decides to try his luck in the fantasy world. The grass may look greener on the other side to each character but is this actually a good idea or are they about to regret this right away? Technically they can always go back through the gate again if things don’t work out but both of them have too much pride for that.

As a small aside, they probably should have showed a long line by the portal or a bunch of people at the landing zone because I imagine this is a really popular tourist destination. It’s hard to imagine that this kind of tech would exist and almost nobody would use it. This is a small nitpick though, doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Personally, I’d be having a ton of fun in the fantasy world. Earth is cool and all but yeah it doesn’t have cool dragons and stuff like that.

Since the film is short, a lot of the background information has to be inferred rather than outright stated and I appreciate that. This is sort of a back to basics in visual story telling as you will be able to piece everything together if you’re paying attention. Whether it is a phone being passed around, a photo in the background, a character’s voice, etc. It all ties in well and so you get a pretty solid plot twist midway through.

Rinrada has a really hard time getting a job in the human world and so you have to imagine that she wasn’t leveraging her magical abilities well. I tend to think it’s because for whatever reason they are frowned upon or even illegal in the real world but maybe she just took them for granted. Regardless, she keeps a positive attitude and does her best even when she wasn’t able to get an elite job. She has the right attitude to succeed in life. By the end of the film she also realizes that pride for its own sake isn’t a great thing and so she gets a solid ending.

As for Daichi, well I’d argue he was having fun for the entire movie. As soon as he got to the fantasy world he wasted no time in showing off his culinary genius and making friends. Even when he was on his own initially, the guy showed a lot of creativity in finding things to eat and just surviving off the land. You could tell that the fantasy world was a great fit for him over the ordinary mundane nature of the real world. He just didn’t need any of that. You get the feeling that he could have left for the fantasy world on better terms with his Mom over the phone but as part of his character development we can see how he really matured after going to the fantasy world.

The animation looks solid enough here. We even get a quick action scene in there. It’s clearly not a top rate production but the important thing is that it doesn’t look stiff. The song at the end of the special was also good. So the technical elements here are around average. Nothing noteworthy but nothing that would hold it back either which is the main victory. There aren’t a lot of characters here so you can really focus on the main two and what’s going on. If the special had to cram a lot of characters in then that would have been a lot tougher. Even if we had another 20 minutes or so to play with, I’d like to use that to see more of the day to day life of our main characters. The call center seems like it would be a fun area for comedic shenanigans and of course Daichi being in an isekai world has a ton of potential. Maybe you could even squeeze in a scene of him defeating some orcs or something.

Overall, this is a good movie. I don’t think it’ll end up being super memorable due to the length but it’s a good accomplishment to come out with an anime of any size. Maybe with an explosive climax or something but that’s definitely not what this title was going for. So props to the Youtuber for making his dreams a reality here. It’s something that will always be out there as a legacy of sorts. It’s also extremely easy for me to recommend this one as a result because it’s so short that it’s not like you’re putting a lot of time at stake to watch it. Even if it doesn’t end up being your cup of tea, it was less than 20 minutes of your life. It’s not like this is a really ambitious adventure with a ton of stuff happening, but it’s a calm slice of life that just works well.

Overall 7/10

Unico in the Island of Magic Review

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Unico has returned for some more hype. At this point you know the drill with the character and this one isn’t really trying to change up the formula. Unico is brought to a new land where he has to solve some problems and once again awaken his ultimate form. The movie does give us better animation and strong effects this time though so I definitely appreciate that. It’s what I would consider to be a pretty low key movie but one that does have some good action.

The movie starts with Unico being dumped into an island that is about to be under attack by a mad wizard. This guy is turning everyone into toys and Unico barely manages to escape him. It turns out that his sister is a girl named Sheri who has been waiting for him to come back home but something changed him. The wizard Tolby now works for a real demonic spellcastor named Kuruku. This guy has abilities that can barely even be comprehended and so he is always causing mayhem. Can Unico and Sheri put an end to this?

First thing I have to give the film credit for are the designs. Kuruku actually looks rather frightening for a kids film. He is constantly changing shapes and dashing through the air. His energy blasts have the potential to take out any opponent in an instant because of how his matter manipulation works. He is also not someone that can really be reasoned with because he doesn’t care at all about humans. There is no heart to be swayed and so Unico must adopt more violent methods with this guy. It made for a really good climax.

Unfortunately, Tolby looks pretty bad in comparison. He has a more convoluted plan about working for Kuruku and turning everyone into toys so he could learn how to turn them all back. The plan doesn’t really make any sense as it relies on a whole lot of things that just aren’t likely to happen. Tolby should have been teaming up with the heroes from the start in order to stop him. You’ll have a lot of questions on exactly how they met and how Tolby went down this path so quickly but even to the end he just doesn’t do a good job of seeing the big picture.

Tolby is also not particularly good at aiming and so he tends to lose in each of his fights. I did really like the character design though. It really stands out and he definitely looks fancy in that outfit. As a character he really needed more work. He gets a sidekick cat for most of the movie who can be fun though. This cat likes listening to his music and is also a scaredy cat so he will change sides at the drop of a hat. Not someone that you can depend on at all. I was expecting him to turn out to be super heroic by the end but his character doesn’t really change much. I guess Unico can’t win everyone over.

As for Unico, he doesn’t look very good for most of the film but that is to be expected when there is constant amnesia. No matter how much Unico may improve in one adventure, all of the character development is removed by the next. So as a result Unico always has the same character arc of learning how to use his powers and gaining more confidence. That happens here as well and it’s just a really tough road to get to that point. If anything, Unico showing off crazy levels of power at the end can be annoying because then you feel like he should have been doing that the whole time. So in a way it just flips the situation.

The film is definitely aimed a bit younger so at times it might feel a little bit boring. Also every character is constantly yelling, it’s a very loud film. I know some people accuse shows like Black Clover of having a bunch of that, but this movie tops that with ease. Trust me, it can get a little grating after a while and things really have to be spelled out for you. It’s why I was glad that we did have some action scenes later on since those really helped to make the whole film feel more like an event. The film was really not scared to have some scary imagery with the fights as well.

There’s one toy that goes around chomping anyone in its path and actually comes across as real intimidating. Kuruku naturally fits that bill as well and so that is something that does set it aside from the average kid’s adventure. Also as far as kids go, I guess Sheri wasn’t bad. She was rather proactive and kept on going on her quest to save the day. Even being willing to leave Unico behind so that he wouldn’t be in danger. It didn’t work but it’s the thought that counts. We also have a cat who’s related to the Sphinx to help out but she didn’t actually do much. You were waiting for her big moment the whole film and it never came. I liked her enthusiasm as she was always ready to fight but that’s about all that I can say for her.

Overall, If you’ve seen other Unico films then you know what to expect with this one. It’s got more danger than the others but at its core this is a film about friendship and how Unico helps to restore the bonds between people. Unico is someone who is always ready to help out but takes a whole lot of pushing in order to actually begin fighting. The film may not be long but it can feel long as the dialogue isn’t always super interesting so how much you enjoy the film may actually come down to the animation and fights. If that ends up being the case, I dare say that you’ll be in fine hands. The animation has aged really well and just the novelty from that can really help to boost this one up. I’d recommend it if you’re up for a nice story about a little unicorn.

Overall 6/10

The Boy and the Beast Review

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I remember hearing this film’s name a whole lot back in the day. I can’t say I knew a whole lot about it but from the title you can more or less guess the themes. It ends up being a pretty solid film. We get some good action here and a solid amount of character development. It’s well balanced all the way. I was also not expecting the time skip that happens around halfway and it was a really good decision as it led to a more enjoyable status quo for the climax.

The movie starts with a kid named Ren running away from home after his mother died. The father was out of the picture and he didn’t want to go with any of the family members. This leads to him entering the monster world where he ends up becoming Kumatetsu’s apprentice. This guy is one of the two candidates to become the next lord of the world although he always loses to his rival Iozen. He hopes to get stronger and in the meantime Ren also wants power. So he reluctantly joins Kumatetsu and thus begins a strong partnership. However, Iozen’s son Ichirohiko begins to grow jealous. Is some foul play about to occur?

The monster world is pretty interesting. For the most part it is a lot like the human world, just with tournaments of power going on. Because of the similarities, we don’t have to spend a lot of time on world building and can focus on the dynamic with Ren and Kumatetsu. That’s the main draw of the film after all and it works well. For the most part I tend to blame Ren for being a little too bratty for the first half but it is true that Kumatetsu could have handled some of the situations with more tact. Dealing with others may not be his specialty but it is something that he can improve on.

I did enjoy him a lot as a character though. I always tend to enjoy characters who are confident and ready to fight. Kumatetsu is the kind of guy who never backs down and has a lot of determination. He easily could have been the main character here if things had played out a little differently. His ending isn’t my favorite and I would have preferred if the film had gone in a different way but it doesn’t make him look bad at all. He made the sacrifices that he needed to in order to help Ren.

Ren naturally gets much better once he is older and makes up for his earlier scenes of whining a lot. By the end he is totally a good character. He gains a lot of confidence and is also a responsible person. Ren’s not perfect and still flies off the handle a bit too quickly though. Deciding on a whim to live with his father and ditch the monster world did not make any sense and I also think he could have really tried talking to Kumatetsu instead of storming off. He usually gets his act together quickly but it was all a bit rushed and made him look immature.

Also while the film didn’t want to reward the rage out, he should have been allowed to fight Ichirohiko a little bit in order to avenge his master. Having him not even be able to land a single hit because it would put him on the dark side was a little too extreme for me. That just didn’t make sense. Meanwhile Ichirohiko is definitely one of the pettier characters here. One of those guys who is totally cool as long as you’re weaker than him but otherwise he gets jealous really quickly.

His origin wasn’t all that sad so I can’t even say that I felt all that bad for him. He just needed to not become a total bully at the first opportunity. One thing I really respected about his father is that Iozen stayed professional at all times. I don’t think he was ever the biggest fan of Kumatetsu and this definitely showed, but he wasn’t about to stab him in the back or cheat. He would still fight fair and play by all of the rules. If it didn’t work out, then that would be it for him. Just a solid class act the whole time.

The animation is pretty good. The opening may have been a bit too stylized for me but otherwise all of the action scenes are good. The fights are on point and all of the battles really stand out. The music is unfortunately going to sound like a lot of free domain stuff. No songs that you’ll be humming to during the film. None of the tracks are bad but none of them are even slightly memorable.

Ren’s trip to the human world may be a little rushed in general but Kaede made for a solid supporting character. My only gripe with her would be her lack of a survival instinct. Holding Ren’s hand when he was about to fight wasn’t very smart and then talking smack to a giant monster is also not a good idea when you can’t fight. I appreciate her toughness of course but she could have had better tactics here. She was a good friend to Ren and helped out when it counted though. The film also sets up a romance without rushing things so I was fine with that. Pacing is absolutely key with these things. Ren’s father doesn’t get quite as much time so his whole plot feels rather forced but I guess we can just say that he was a good guy in a tough situation.

The ending of the movie is a bit disappointing since it does limit things though. I would have taken things in different directions on several occasions. Both Ren’s ending and Kumatetsu’s were not very good. A sequel can fix both things but this film should have ended in a way that would make it easier and more satisfying. In particular when you build up a great dynamic, you should give it several films for the audience to have fun with instead of just ending it.

Overall, The Boy and the Beast is a pretty good film. It had more action than I was expecting and had good pacing. I do wish we could have gotten a proper match between the apprentices from both candidates though. The climax is more about super abilities and summons so we never have a chance to get that proper choreography. I think it would have been a lot of fun even if Ren would have absolutely had the edge. Ah well, you can’t have every fight. The ending of the movie also isn’t my favorite but a sequel could always change things up and turn out to be a lot of fun so you can’t rule that out.

Overall 7/10

The Fantastic Adventures of Unico Review

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It’s time for the return of Unico in another big adventure. This time we have a feature length movie so there is more time for things to happen but unfortunately I dare say that it was weaker than the pilot. The longer runtime means there is more time for everyone to gang up on Unico and the poor lead just ends up looking like a doormat. We desperately needed a scene where Unico fights back and shows them all what kind of power he has. Meanwhile I dare say that the film actually feels rather dragged out at times so it’s not like the pacing was incredible ither. Yeah this one definitely had some issues.

The story begins with the gods being super petty once again. They don’t like how Unico makes people happy since that should be their job. They fear that Unico’s presence will make their own unnecessary. Initially they think about murdering Unico but are persuaded to instead banish him into the dark realms of the world where nobody else exist. One of the wind spirits instead takes Unico to a place that is still empty but not as desolate, underestimating that a devil named Beezle lives there. Unico decides that the two of them will be friends but Beezle is a tough customer. Will they actually get along? Additionally the second half of the film brings in a cat named Chao who gets mixed up with an evil Baron and an old lady so Unico may be needed here.

I would say one of the problems here is how long is takes for Unico to get along with Beezle. You get what the story is going for with how Beezle will initially put up a fight and cause a whole ruckus but eventually sees the light. It’s a rather standard character arc but not a bad one. The problem is in how long it takes. Unico puts in a whole lot of work over and over again in order to reach Beezle and yet the guy is still trying to stab Unico and throwing him to his doom even near the end.

The film overplays its hand here to the point where Beezle isn’t even remotely likable. It also ends up hurting Unico because he puts up with way too much. There is a big difference between trying to be a nice person and just getting taken advantage of. Unico should not have give Beezle his horn even for a day. That should have been a boundary that Beezle should have had to respect. If the film had done that, it would have showed that Unico had a proper backbone instead of just giving in to whatever Beezle wanted.

It’s also obvious that using his abilities too much would alert the gods but Unico never even thinks about that. Pretty big thing to forget about right? I know Unico is essentially just a little kid so he doesn’t fully know what’s going on but that’s no excuse not to have some basic defenses up and try to keep a low profile. Even when Unico is kidnapped by the wind spirit again at the end, he only makes some half hearted attempts to break free.

So I was definitely not a real Unico fan here. He needs to spend a lot of time working on being a tougher character who doesn’t let anyone push him around. If he can pull that off then I will absolutely gain a lot of respect for him. Meanwhile Beezle is a lost cause like I said before. The fact that he initially wasn’t going to save Unico from drowning is really bad. Yes, Beezle is a kid as well who doesn’t really understand things but this falls more into the realm of common sense.

The character arc itself isn’t a problem, but it’s how long this drags out. That was the real offender here and why I was glad to get a new plot later on. When Chao shows up, we see how she is very carefree and happy. She sings to herself while floating down the river and is just having a grand ole time. When she gets to turn into a human girl thanks to Unico, this goes to her head immediately and she becomes snobby. Another classic character arc but it isn’t dragged out nearly as much so I didn’t mind Chao.

She was a bit too gullible in listening to an obviously shady baron who wasn’t even hiding his nefarious intentions but maybe I’ll cut her a bit of slack since she used to be a cat. This also did lead to getting a fight scene later on so I can appreciate that. Either way this plot was far more interesting than what had been going on in the first half with Beezle.

As for the Baron, it was nice to have a central villain who was actually at the forefront and not just hiding in the arena of the gods. His swordplay wasn’t bad and he definitely gave Unico a good match. I would like to see more action of course but this was good enough for now. It’s clear that the series is big on getting in some good morales at the end of the stories and so any action we get is a bonus. The point is more about Unico helping everyone to become better characters and there’s nothing wrong with that. How effective the character development is will be completely dependent on the pacing at the end of the day. Keep that in check and the rest will follow. The movie is definitely aimed at a pretty young audience though so it makes sense that they would want to keep this basic.

The animation is definitely dated but not bad or anything like that. It’s not meant to be a particularly high budget production or anything like that but still gets the heart of it across. You will also see a cameo from another character in the background at one point which was cool. The soundtrack is more on the weaker side though. Definitely no tunes that will really catch your eye or anything like that. Maybe I should say catch your ear. Ah well, Unico might do better next time.

Overall, Unico didn’t really succeed on this adventure. It definitely straddles the line of being boring at times when the pacing is at its slowest. It’s not a bad film by any means but I don’t think the average viewer is going to get a ton of enjoyment out of it. Unico really needed to be a whole lot bolder in its approach. Throw in some more high stakes or if it can’t due to the target audience, maybe it should have been shorter. That’s always a back handed complement but if you don’t have a ton of story lined up for the film, you don’t need the extra time. Shave off 20 minutes and the film would probably flow a lot more organically. As it stands, I would recommend watching the pilot over this one.

Overall 5/10

Unico: Black Cloud and White Feather Review

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It’s time for an anime pilot that I was really not familiar with at all. Unico is a franchise that I really knew nothing about so it’s always fun to stumble upon a hidden gem like this. It’s a fun film at least with a story that could lend itself to a lot of different events. Don’t expect it to be the next big action blockbuster or anything like that but it is pretty good fun.

The story revolves around a mysterious being known as Unico. He is no ordinary animal, he has the ability to materialize things out of nothing. Unfortunately he is also cursed and must always be removed from being around any humans. He must be alone at all times and must try to push past this. Unfortunately he isn’t always fully aware of what’s going on which makes it a bit harder to stop the curse which is enforced by a goddess who goes around chasing him.

It’s clear that there is a lot of lore going on here in the background but for now we don’t get to see too much of it. This is definitely like a little taser to get you interested in the series. The main plot here is that there is a land where pollution envelops everyone and poisons the people until they die. They have tried to rise up but the central company controlling the pollution is far too powerful. Unico is really the only hope that they have and he must hurry or a little girl will be the next one to die.

With this kind of story my biggest issue is naturally going to be how the town is just sitting there and allowing this to happen. Once you’re at the point where people are dying en masse due to pollution and the government/corporate won’t stop it, then you have to do something about it. You must become a vigilante and do what you can to destroy the facilities because otherwise you’re just going to die without a fight. If Unico hadn’t showed up, that is exactly what would have happened.

The characters are far too passive here. The little girl was nice since she was trying to help out Unico at least. I also won’t blame her for much of anything because ultimately it’s not like she could do much about the situation. She could barely move. Meanwhile the local mouse was nice since he fed Unico even though he was really hungry. The rest of the animals tended to be pretty fierce outside like the hawk that nearly finished Unico off in the intro.

Ideally Unico will be able to master his powers better as the series were to go on and by the end would manage to get some happiness. That will probably mean confronting the gods at some point and I’ll also be curious to learn more about this. In the intro he was best friends with a girl before the evil goddess got him and began the tricks but why did nobody stop her? It seems like the greek gods of old who were always corrupt and annoying so it could be that they were all just evil or apathetic at worst but Unico will hopefully get some backup. On his own he just seems a bit too inexperienced to actually be ready to defeat the system.

In a way the lore might have been too good as you’re almost more interested in seeing the gods and what’s going up there than in the actual story about Unico helping people out. They are almost two completely different genres with the contrast between the two. Meanwhile the animation is solid. It has a good artstyle that ensures this adventure never gets too dated. You can tell that it is an older animation of course but it never looks bad. The ost doesn’t age quite as well with the songs though. They’re a bit on the cheesy side and not super catchy although I wouldn’t call them bad or anything like that.

Overall, This was a fun story. At the end of the day it’s basically the length of an episode so as you can imagine it does end pretty quickly. It’s enough time to solve the main story while leaving a lot of room for the next adventure. If this sounds interesting to you then you should check it out. It’s a fairly original premise and doesn’t drag on or anything like that. At the same time I do think it would need a bit more of a hook to really rise up and break to the next level. Maybe having a supporting character who tries to get Unico his memories back but is constantly fighting the gods. That would be a good subplot but perhaps a bit too intense for the tone that this one is going for.

Overall 6/10

Magilumiere Co. Ltd. Review

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It’s time for a magical girl series that is using a very scientific approach to the whole thing. It’s definitely a unique way to present the series but in this case a traditional approach probably would have worked better. It was interesting but you know how that word can sometimes be used negatively? That’s how it felt with this one at times where it was an interesting approach but probably should have just gone with a standard one. Still, I would say it was still a good series and it’s one that does flow better if you marathon it. The characters just weren’t given enough room to really get out there and take over.

The series follows a girl named Kana who has been job hunting for a long time. It’s really hard to enter the magical girl business even though she has a fairly strong resume. Well, one day she meets a girl named Hitomi who works for a small startup company. They don’t have a whole lot of frills or resources but they are willing to give her a chance. Kana agrees and now she has joined the quirkiest group out there. In fact Hitomi is the only magical girl there and the group is very small in general. Can Kana learn what it truly means to be a magical girl and save the day?

So I mentioned a scientific approach before, let me explain what I mean by that. So in this universe, magical girls fight using computer algorithms that launch the spells and outfits. Think of it like a robotic suit I guess even if that’s not a full 1-1 comparison. So you will be out in the field as a magical girl and then your computer partner sends you the script to activate a spell. Your wand will have some pre set spells as well but they won’t always work on the opponent so that’s where the adjustments come in. There are many magical girl companies across Japan and the whole thing is very organized.

When a situation occurs, the town or company will call the nearest agency and request aid. If the situation is too big for the nearest agency, then they will ask for additional reinforcements. Naturally Kana’s group doesn’t get many calls since they don’t have the professional relationships in place yet. Additionally, they are seen as rather radical in their approach. They go for safer magics and use precision attacks rather than big blasts. This helps to reduce collateral damage but also means that the whole fight can take much longer. The lack of firepower also means that everyone has to play their roles really well or someone will get hurt. It’s easy to see why not everyone is in a rush to hire these guys.

The series even explains why only girls can transform, it’s a genetic thing. Now one guy in the series does try to challenge this and pays a heavy price. It makes for a very interesting subplot though because he actually has some good points but quickly begins to get way too desperate and unhinged to the point where he wiped away all of the good points in an instant. I guess if humanity is in a last ditch battle for survival, at least we know that this would be an option.

The series ends with a lot of interesting plot threads that could be pursued in a sequel. They still have not found a way to prevent monsters from materializing in the real world. Additionally the magical boy program is clearly possible, now they just need to find a way to do it safely. Then you also have the new style of magic that Kana’s team uses and if that can be leveraged across the world, it would make everything safer. The series ends on a very optimistic level which works nicely. You know that the planet is in good hands since there aren’t any big more threats around. They wrapped up all of the huge plots even if some parts are a bit rushed like a wedding that shows up out of the blue.

The romance is intentionally rushed as part of the gag. In a sense that doesn’t make it inherently bad, but I tend to prefer much longer development times for a huge decision like that. Maybe I didn’t mind as much in this case because it was presented as a gag. The series only has one real romance that is set up for a bit and moves slowly. Otherwise the series doesn’t have a whole lot of time for that. It’s a reasonable length at 17 volumes but the series also has to move quickly with all of the monsters so the character work has to take a back seat.

In my mind the series has two main weaknesses. The first is the character roster. Even by the end I thought they were fairly weak. There are some decent characters here, but I would say there was only one great character. The rest ranged from decent to okay. You don’t really get absorbed into their predicaments and hype scenes as much as you would if they had been super likable characters. Likewise, 90% of the villains are mindless monsters that are meant to be throwaways. The only actual big villain leaves a big impact but I wouldn’t say he was particularly likable either.

The other weakness is the very scientific approach to the magic. Like I mentioned before, it’s just a bit too structured. It sort of takes the “magic” our of the actual concept. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as I like a good sci-fi but it ends up being portrayed so realistically that it ends up being boring. It’s the heroes typing in code which launches the spell and it’s hard to make that look super hype. The series needed more action scenes I’d say. With changes to these two elements the series would have jumped up into the next tier, I feel rather confidently about that.

All right so lets talk about the characters now. First up is Kana who is a bit on the softspoken side. When the series starts, she doesn’t have a lot of information on the magical girl process but is eager to learn. She is always very determined and quickly begins to study on all of this. As the series goes on she begins to gain more and more confidence. It’s a solid character arc and what she lacks in overall power, she makes up for in leadership. She can really be relied upon by the end of the series and her perseverance really paid off.

Her partner Hitomi is the headstrong member of the group but she still feels rather sanitized next to the average character in this archetype. What I mean by that is she is plenty strong and talks tough but it all feels rather corporate. She isn’t actually breaking a bunch of rules or being over the top reckless. It feels like they could have done a whole lot more with her character and then by the end when she is ready to move on, it’s a bit too fast. She was still fun to have around but the character was held back way too much.

Kouji is the captain of the group and likes to dress up as a magical girl as his quirk. He’s a good engineer and can deliver code in a pinch. It feels like he could have been doing a whole lot more during the series though. The guy is presented as a genius and yet he rarely takes to the helm except during the climax. We end up learning a lot about his sad past later on which adds another dimension to the character. The events certainly changed him. He’s fun enough but I would have liked him to have taken a less passive approach.

Kaede is an interesting character as he will take you through an emotional roller coaster throughout the series. You never really know what is going on in his head and he gets to be very important to the plot later on. I give him credit for easily being the most interesting character in the series and he had one of the best non action plots throughout the title. He’s super memorable so I appreciated that and he showed that you could have a big impact even without powers.

Kazuo is okay but has the least impact among the main characters. He’s the computer guy and tends to be super oblivious to anything. He takes his job very seriously which is definitely not a bad thing but he doesn’t have a whole lot of personality beyond that. I would have definitely liked for him to have been doing more and maybe get some big drama plot to put him near the front.

Mei is the best character in the series. She’s the top worker at AST, the big rival company in the series. She likes to fight in a very emotionless way as she performs the optimal action at any time. Naturally the optimal route can sometimes feel a bit harsh to the more emotional characters in the series. It’s also not going to win her any friends but she’s the top in her field for a reason. As the series goes on she begins to open p more and this was a solid character arc.

Additionally I liked AST as a rival. It’s not as if they were bad people or anything. They just really saw this as a business and feel that going by the book is the best way to protect everyone. It’s also hard to disagree with that at times. Their results speak for themselves and the series resists the urge to suddenly make them look really corrupt. Throughout the series this makes for a good rivalry all the way. I would also say their president Kei is better than the main group’s.

Kei is always involved with the business and operations. He makes sure that nothing goes wrong and puts in all the extra effort that is needed. Take him away from the group at any time and things would definitely not be going as well. He’s the leader for a reason and I liked seeing his expertise. He doesn’t just show up in the climax of the series, his impact is always felt. An adult who was also portrayed well as Kenji. He’s the father of one of the main characters and they’ve always had a hard time connecting. Not because he’s a bad guy or anything but he’s just not good at communication and they ended up always being at odds. He does make his share of mistakes in the series but they are never in a nefarious way. I appreciated that.

Sho is one of the big villains in the series and he does well in the role. I would say he just starts to crack a little too much near the end. I was hoping he would handle himself with a bit more dignity than how he was presented. Give him some more hype moments and let him stick to his ideals right to the end. Instead, you just can’t take him seriously by the end no matter how powerful he got. The flashback did a good job of making sure you disliked him because of how evil he was and the main story needed to follow up on that. His final form looked cool though.

Hibiki joins up a bit later as another computer whiz and he was a good character. His expertise definitely helped quite a bit and he also left much more of an impact than the other guy. The fact that he even had a bit of a romance with Sakae also helped him be more memorable. Both characters were definitely fun enough and the main characters could always use more recruits. As the series drew to a close, the group was definitely a lot bigger than they used to be but still small overall.

Alice is a big character in the flashback. She was really nice but definitely to the point of being naive. The fact that she didn’t tell her best friends about what was going on was definitely a crucial mistake and one that really ended up costing her. It felt a bit forced because I don’t see why she wouldn’t have said anything sooner. It really put her in a bad spot all the way. So she was good but definitely ended up causing a lot of damage by dropping her guard.

Akane ends up being a main character by the end. She is a solid new recruit who is very outspoken. So in some ways she’s like the lead in that she is a rookie but starts out of the gate with a lot more confidence which I appreciate. Confidence is always a great trait for any character after all. Then we have Iroha who is more of the scientist type but also very confident and outspoken. They were good members of the team and I wish they could have appeared more or gotten more big solo moments to build up their hype.

As far as the artwork goes, the series looks okay but not great. The art can make you read a bit slowly with how detailed it gets. During action scenes it won’t always look clear and some of the characters can look too similar. So the art isn’t bad but it’s definitely lower than other titles that you may have been used to by this time. It’s not going to be the aspect that enhances the manga so you will be reading for the writing and story.

Overall, This is a good series. I do think the series could have ended up being better than it was but in the end it was good enough. I had a good time with the battles and it is also memorable enough that I won’t be forgetting it. The art wasn’t the strongest that I’ve seen but in the end I can still say that I was satisfied here. It’s not every day that we get a magical girl series after all so you really want to enjoy them while you can. Now the new one on the block is Dandelion so we’ll see how long that one lasts. In the meantime if you have not read through this series yet, you should do that. It was certainly well written and is enjoyable.

Overall 6/10

Land of the Lustrous Review

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It’s time for a very unique manga. This series is about a bunch of sentient gemstones living out their lives as normal until eventually one of them starts to get a little inquisitive. I would say initially this is a classic slice of life title but gradually becomes one that’s a bit more philosophical in nature. The gemstones angle does sometimes make it hard to recognize the characters since a lot of them look really similar but you could almost say that ties in with the themes either way. It’s an interesting ride and worth checking out.

The series takes place in the far future long after humanity has been wiped out. The world is now inhabited by a bunch of Gemstones known as the Lustrous as well as their leader, a father/monk sort of fellow. All of the characters are immortal so you can expect a lot of time jumps spanning thousands and thousands of years as the series goes by. They will talk about 100 years ago as if it was the previous day. Our main character here is Phos who is unfortunately a very weak gemstone. Each gemstone is made up of different materials and the weaker a gem is, the less helpful they are.

This is unfortunate for Phos who likes to be involves with everything and is a real go getter. Phos just keeps on breaking on every mission though and is basically the laughing stock of the group although fortunately you could say the gems aren’t too mean about the whole thing. Part of the gems duties is to protect against invading monsters that show up on occasion to kidnap the gemstones. Phos wants to learn more about this and feels like the leader might be keeping things from everyone. Phos doesn’t really have any leads though but one day breaks to pieces for the millionth time and gets reassembled with some weird alien hybrid creature. Now Phos has regeneration and way more strength than before. Will this allow Phos to perhaps understand the monsters and start to put the puzzle pieces together?

You could say that one of the opening debates here is if it’s worth it to rock the boat. Phos is someone who wants to keep on learning and figuring out more about the world. Not just living the same day every day but trying to change tomorrow. Meanwhile most of the other gemstones are perfectly content. Their lives are fairly monotonous in nature but there is nothing unhappy about them. So whether you agree with Phos or not will likely depend on how you feel about life in general. If your life is really happy but you always do the same things and don’t actually know much, would you be satisfied?

It comes down to what the point of life is. When you are immortal and will never die, it can be weird to think about the future. The gems have lived for thousands and thousands of years and will continue to live for untold billions of years. What do you even decide to do when you have that much time? It’s why I would probably be on Phos side. You might as well use all that time to try and uncover new secrets and truths that will give you something to think about. Unfortunately that begins to turn into an obsession with Phos who really ends up losing a whole lot in the process.

The series also does a good job of showing how life would be way different without the concept of death or even pain. When Phos gets shattered, sometimes the characters will just laugh or be amused. They can just put her back together the next day. Whether they break an arm by mistake or fall down and shatter, it’s just not a big deal. Having an argument? Just shatter the gemstone so you can make your point and restore them later. “Death” doesn’t actually mean anything, it’s like taking a nap and so the characters act differently as a result. It’s a series that actually thought through the ramifications of the changes.

Phos is so different from the beginning of the series to the ending that you can barely recognize the characters. Both in terms of looks and personality, Phos is incredibly different. The same is true for most of the characters who change a lot but Phos is definitely the most changed. This is due to some pretty big plot reasons. Ultimately I would say Phos got the short end of the stick here. It’s one of those cases where making life better for everyone else, came at the expense of Phos. Sometimes you live long enough to create change without actually getting to experience it yourself.

Kongo (The monk figure) doesn’t make any of these easy. Now as the series goes on we get some plot reasons on why this is but it doesn’t make you like the character all that much. My biggest problem with him is just how cryptic he is. You get the feeling that he could have tried harder to help the characters out even within his limitations. I know that he can’t just do the impossible but surely throwing a bone here and there would not have been such a big deal. It should have absolutely been doable.

Kongo also tends to sleep a lot which causes the invasions to be more difficult to stop. Kongo is the person who can stop the monsters but even fails at this duty. The toughest part about being immortal would have to be the fact that this guy won’t just talk to you. During the winter most of the gems go into hibernation so only 1-2 stay awake with Kongo and I can’t imagine that he is the most interesting guy to talk to.

Now there are a ton of gems and this is my biggest issue with the series. It is just hard to tell a lot of them apart. You have a few that have really distinct designs like Cinnabar and Bort, but most of them feel rather interchangeable. Their personalities are distinct but then you still have to wait for them to talk to remember who that is. They may all be gemstones but in the thousands of years of living surely they could have come up with headbands or something to differentiate themselves.

To a degree it’s probably also due to the art which is not all that polished. The artwork is okay but can get rather rough during the fight scenes so the action is hard to follow along. It’s a manga that gets very detailed which is good but at the same time it also means that each page is rather hard to follow so you really have to concentrate. It’s not a series that you can read quickly so that does help make sure the length is really solid.

I still did enjoy the series entering the action phase though. Phos had all of the best scenes there while I didn’t care quite as much about the space plot. There is something surreal about the gemstones doing a 180 and trying to live more like humans. Even that seems like it might not end well long term because with immortality, the life of a human may not be super fulfilling. I do think the series does a really good job of showing what life might be like if you were immortal though. There is basically no wars, no violence, or any problems out there.

It’s a nice change of pace from the usual dystopias where people are still fighting anyway. If you really can’t die and you’ll all be living forever, then why would you bother fighting with your neighbors? You might for the first thousand years or so but eventually you see how futile it is. So in this series, everyone basically just gets along and looks on the bright side of things. There are occasional arguments an disagreements but nothing serious or remotely violent. At least until Phos really started digging into things.

I should mention that while the gemstones can’t die conventionally, they can be taken apart to the degree that it doesn’t matter. For example we see that Aechmea, one of the Lunarians would pound gemstones into dust and scatter them across the planet. They were grounded up so thoroughly that putting them together again would be virtually impossible. The characters overlook this a bit quickly or at least that was my initial thought but since in a sense death means something very different to them, I guess it made sense.

In fact, the goal for a bunch of the characters is to finally die. It’s the only way they can know peace after millions and millions of years. It’s actually a rather depressing thought that you could live for so long to the point where you don’t want to be around anymore but being so powerful that you can’t actually die. This gets into more of the final story elements but there is one method for death. You could even say the series is about trying to convince someone to let them have their eternal peace.

It’s a very interesting goal. The series is at its best with these big questions as you ponder what the right way to respond to that situation would be. The series is more on the weaker side when it’s about the romance between one of the gems and the lunarians. It just doesn’t add much to the story and also seems a bit insane considering the history between the two. They also don’t feel emotions in the same way as a human would and so they’re going through the motions but it all feels rather empty. I think the idea was to make some parallels here but I would have focused more on the story itself.

As for the other gems, they all have to basically decide if they will follow Phos or not. It’s not so easy since Phos path will be going directly against Kongo. So they have to decide if they continue to follow the master they have worked with for thousands of years or with one of their colleagues. Neither path has a guaranteed outcome either so it’s all rather high stakes. It does make for some pretty intense battles near the end of the series though and also shows how far Phos has come from the start.

Bort was a really fun character in the series although in this case I liked Bort the most from the intro volumes compared to the ending. Of course this is because Bort gets a lot of character development as well but the vicious, always ready to fight Bort is my favorite version. Bort served as a solid power fighter for the team and someone for Phos to aspire to be like. Bort wasn’t asking the tough questions or trying to figure out life. Instead Bort would just fight off the invaders and keep the peace.

Meanwhile Cinnabar is a gemstone with a unique poison disposition that meant no hanging out with the other gems or even being on most missions. Just being around Cinnabar was dangerous and Phos early goal is to find some way around that. A way for Cinnabar to be freed but that ends up being a very difficult thing to do. It does show how much Phos always cared about everyone even from the beginning. It’s not like the other gems didn’t care but they just wouldn’t think to try and change things up like that.

Most of the important gems end up looking and acting way different in part 2 than in part 1 after the twists and time skips so get prepared for double memorization. Ultimately it’s actually not too important if you memorize all of them as most are not super crucial to the plot but it is definitely impressive if you are able to keep track of them. The cast is surprisingly big for the series by the end of its run.

As for the ending, I can’t say I was a big fan of it. We get some new characters at the very end and I think it’s again for more parallels but it’s just too late for more characters. I’d argue it also just feels a bit depressing. Now you were never going to get a downright happy ending to this series but I could have made do with something in the middle. I was glad that they didn’t cop out on one big decision in the series but they should have ended it there. I would argue that ending the series one volume sooner would have been closer to the ideal ending and would have just been a perfect way to end off. A bit abrupt to be sure but also very clean on the messaging.

Overall, How much you enjoy Land of the Lustrous really will come down to how interesting you find the series to be. Yes there are some action scenes but most of the series is definitely focusing on concepts and such. You have to actually like the sci-fi ideas that are brought up and find the discussions among the gems to be interesting. If you don’t like them then odds are that you won’t like the series. I thought it was a good title that was perhaps held back a little by the art and the uninteresting side characters. I would have heavily reduced the amount of gems around and I think that would have made for a stronger series. It would have given more time to really focus on each one and let us see more into each of their thought processes rather than throwing so many of them into the fold. It would also show just how desolate the world was.

Overall 6/10

Dragon Ball Daima Review

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While we all continue to wait for the return of Dragon Ball Super, we at least got another DB title in the meantime. Daima was marketed as a very different title from the start, it would focus less on the action and be more of a down to Earth story. A return to the tone of classic Dragon Ball with the characters being involved in some crazy situations. It was a pretty interesting idea to be sure but I do miss the action. You can think of it as the third branching path after DBZ with the first being GT and the second being Super. This is another way that things played out after the Buu saga and lets just say that Goku and friends get put through the ringer.

It starts with Goku and Vegeta training as always when someone uses the Dragon Balls to turn all of the Z fighters back into children. They are weaker now and might not be prepared for future enemies. Additionally, Dende has been kidnapped. A helpful soul named Glorio shows up and informs the heroes that they will need to infiltrate the demon realm. This place is split up into 3 worlds and each one has a demon world dragon ball. Upon collecting all 3, the heroes can become adults again and save Dende. It sounds like a simple enough plan but the demon world is not for the faint of heart. Is Goku ready for this?

Well fortunately for him the demon realm isn’t one of the more powerful places. Generally it’s home to a ton of bullies and there are a few strong fighters but nobody that’s really at his level except for the guardians of the Dragon Balls who aren’t malicious. This allows Goku to finally take it easy and have fun a little more since the very universe doesn’t hang in the balance just yet. Although several demon world flunkies do have plans of their own.

The main villain of the series is Gomah and for better or worse he is definitely played for laughs for 90% of the series. He’s constantly crying and throwing tantrums because of how scared he is of Goku and friends. It shows just how far the demon world has fallen from the days of Demon King Dabura. Now there was a guy who really commanded respect. Gomah is just a sad character and your only hope is to find him funny. Because if you don’t then he will just be supremely annoying the whole time.

His partner is Degesu who completes the Team Rocket dynamic. This guy panics a whole lot but at least he has a bit more of an edge to him. He’s not above threatening babies in order to get what he wants. The guy just never backs down, he is always ready for action and that’s the best way to keep things. I just wish he could have gotten a little more to do because his conversations with Arinsu were interesting. Alas, he ends up squandering his potential by sticking with Gomah.

We do get two new Majins in Kuu and Duu but they aren’t particularly good. They’re both characters who don’t really take anything seriously and aren’t all that powerful. Duu actually does get some hype but at the end of the day he’s still not really on the level of the Z fighters. I guess for Demon World standards he is still pretty good though. The guy really likes his chocolate and is always demanding it. Kuu is a bit more responsible and mature at least even if it comes at the expense of his power.

At least Arinsu is fun. She has classic mastermind vibes and while it seems like the show won’t be going in that direction, at least it did add some tension in the show. I would have liked for her to have gotten at least one or two fight scenes but maybe next time. Her plan was a pretty solid one in terms of gathering the Dragon Balls although I would say her wish wasn’t the most inspired.

There were 3 main heroes added to the main cast. First up is Glorio who acts really shady the whole time. The kind of guy you don’t want to let out of your field of vision because you know he will end up back stabbing you at any moment. The guy would not hesitate for one moment. He will just go in there and finish you. As the show goes on he begins to learn the power of friendship though. He’s a decent fighter too, although the show has very messy power levels the whole time so I wouldn’t take that too seriously.

Most importantly, he’s a fun character who actually adds to the dynamic. Likewise Panzy is a fun character. She’s the resident genius of the series who knows how to keep the ships running. She has a good bond with Bulma and saves the group on more than one occasion. Of course it would be nice if she could fight but she still works well as an addition to the supporting cast. With most of the usual main characters stuck at home, you needed someone like that.

There is also a super old Namekian who trolls everyone the whole series but he’s more annoying than anything. I get the joke of this guy actually being super capable but he comes across as irresponsible. He helps out when he feels like it but otherwise doesn’t take a huge role in what’s going on. Then you have the comic relief character who is always dead pan. He can be pretty decent although it’s a bit much to see him constantly talking smack to Vegeta and then nothing happens with him. Vegeta should have clocked him a few times during the series.

From the main cast, I’d say that Piccolo probably gets the shaft here. He is constantly around but doesn’t get his own fights and chokes in his one big moment. It feels like he was added for the Namekian connection but it’s not like that is used a whole lot anyway. I think he could have been cut out and not much would change. I’m tempted to say the same for the Supreme Kai. He has personal lore connections here and knows one of the big villains so that’s all key but the Kai himself doesn’t do much. He mildly helps out in the occasional fight I guess. He just doesn’t feel very supreme.

Naturally it’s fun to see Bulma show up and help out. I do think she was a bit hard on Vegeta at some points though. Goku tends to steal fights to himself and everything so of course Vegeta tries to keep things fair. The show is actually not even that rough for the guy. Don’t count on him taking down the main villain or anything like that but he does still get in a lot of good shots and moments. Vegeta did good even if he is treated as the second fiddle next to Goku. At this point, I suppose that’s just how it has to be though.

As for Goku, he definitely acts a lot more like his kid self here. He really enjoys the situation and is mainly having a blast the whole time. He adapts to the wild life rather quickly and the whole thing is probably nostalgic to a degree since he’s been on many journeys like this before. It’s always fun to see him cut loose a bit but at times he holds back so long that it borderlines on him being a saboteur. The longer you drag a battle out, the more likely it is that someone else will get caught up in it after all.

So what I would say here is that the first 13-15 episodes are basically full on comedy and then we get to a big DBZ type climax. That’s why your enjoyment comes down to the comedy. I’d say Dragon Ball is fairly good on this. There can be some more juvenile moments but on the whole you already know most of the characters and that adds some of the journey to it. You don’t often get to see them all just having fun nowadays so that is a change of pace.

I would just say the show could have done something to make it a tad more energetic. It feels like most of the episodes would revolve around the heroes beating up some random thugs as they planet hop. It would probably have been better to have just gone straight to adventure mode and have them checking out some mountains or something instead. It’s not like the thugs post any kind of threat and it’s less cool to see Goku beating them up and almost boring instead. A lot of the fights really start to blend together.

The battles with the Dragon Ball guardians are a lot of fun but none of the minion fights can say that. The series was also a bit in a corner with how strong Goku and friends are. how can some randoms really take them on? Well, the series tries to convince you that the energy blasters are enough to get the job done and I have a hard time believing that. One episode in particular gets really dramatic as the characters try to survive a whole onslaught and you can’t help but think how easy this whole thing is. A single punch would take them out and yet this takes up a good chunk of an episode.

The first half of the show mainly relied on fake threats like this to keep you busy. At that point you should just lean on the comedy instead. My biggest complaint with the series comes down to the fact that some episodes can almost be a bit boring. The characters carry the episodes as much as possible but you really feel like it should have been way better. This is Dragon Ball after all!

Fortunately the climax does show up with the huge fight scene that spirals through several episodes. It does still have some issues like most of the battle feeling a bit repetitive though. The villain has complete regeneration but is selectively weak from scene to scene. So one moment he can handle Goku at his peak and then he’s getting rocked by fighters in their base form. So the fight has the hero land a ton of punches and energy blasts. Then the villain regenerates. Hero repeats the combo over and over as the villain regenerates over and over. It just makes you not take the fight as seriously after a while.

It’s an interesting way to show off just how powerful a certain artifact in the series is but it doesn’t always make for the best fight. The animation is really good for the battles though. It looks very flashy and the characters are constantly moving at a very high speed. The show does look like a very modern production which is always good. You can easily picture a lot of Youtube videos showing off the fights since you can then sub in your own music and streamline it. The final episodes do feel a whole lot like DBZ even if the enemy isn’t really able to fight back for most of it. It’s a great way to end thing off and it does allow you to end on a high note. At least on my end I can say that the discussions and everything relating to the series jumped up almost 10 times for the final episodes. You could say all of the viewers locked in at that point and I’d include myself with that.

One thing against the series is that the soundtrack is pretty weak though. It’s got very little variety and the tracks that are there aren’t very good. They should have gotten the Bruce Falconer music instead to be honest. There aren’t any Daima tunes that I would end up searching on my own because they just didn’t fit the action or suspense scenes all that well. It feels like a soundtrack aimed for a comedy that forgot to transition to action later on.

We do get a ton of lore within this show so maybe future products will utilize that in some way. Even if the show doesn’t get referenced later on, there’s never anything wrong with having a stand alone title in there. If anything I would say that it should happen a lot more often. Not everything has to be a big canon continuation or something like that. Sometimes it’s fine to just make a side story and have fun with it. I do think Daima could have been a little more high budget and frantic though. The animation was certainly high budget when it came to the big fights but maybe adding more action scenes here and there that didn’t revolve around the heroes knocking everyone out with an easy punch.

Also, I tend to look at it a bit harsher because I’m one of those DBZ fans who really loves all the high octane action and everything like that. I don’t have any real nostalgia for the kid Dragon Ball days in part because I never read it. So that part of Daima would end up being lost on me as a result. My counter would be that it still could have been more interesting and then it would work for all audiences. Since the power levels are the main issue here, I would have just made the wish a little different. Have it time travel the Z fighters’ minds to back when they were kids so they don’t even know each other, much less how to use their powers. Then it would explain why they are having trouble with grunts until the ending. You’d probably have to switch some other things to make it work but that might be a better approach.

Overall, Dragon Ball Daima is a good show but it can feel underwhelming just because of the huge bar that’s been set by the other titles like Super, DBZ, and even GT. The climax does some pretty heavy lifting here to show us Daima’s potential though so I appreciate that. The characters and their banter have to be enough to tide you over for the rest of the show. At the end of the day it is a fairly small title with 20 episodes and in a sense if it doesn’t get a sequel you could basically just call it an AU filler. That said, you have to savor any appearances by Goku and friends because it’s not like they are on TV all that often. So Daima did what it set out to do in keeping Goku at the front of everyone’s minds.

Overall 7/10