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Best of the Best Review

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I’m always up for a good martial arts film. Mix that in with a tournament and that sounds like the recipe for a really good movie. Unfortunately this one doesn’t spend as much time in the tournament as I would have liked. The drama starts to take over instead which isn’t super bad or anything but I wanted more action. The characters could have used some more work too. So it’s a good film instead of being very good.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Grady who suffered a huge shoulder injury a long time ago. This has prevented him from being more involved in tournaments and such. He still knows how to fight but his life feels unfulfilled. Well, one day he gets an invitation to be a part of the USA selections for the big global match against South Korea. Against the advice of his mother, Grady enters and he is selected to be one of the 5 players along with Tommy, Travis, Virgil, and Sonny. Can the 5 of them really defeat the South Koreans though? These guys have been training their whole lives and have unbelievable amounts of power after all. Also one good hit to his weak shoulder and that will be it for Grady.

So right off the bat we do have a good set up here. It’s a classic battle although I would have liked a full tournament bracket instead of it just being two teams of 5. So the first half is really about training, then we get some drama and the fights happen in the climax. That means that the focus of the whole movie is really about the build up and that needs to land. I would say that is a mixed bag though. What missed the most for me was that the characters would do some pretty serious things and it would be brushed aside.

A main example here is Travis. He is the hot head of the team who is constantly picking fights, insulting, and being a general nuisance. He tries picking a fight with Tommy rather late in the game and was also responsible for the big bar brawl. The guy is constantly running his mouth and going for late hits. There is nothing sportsmanlike about him. I tend to like the cocky type of fighter in a movie like this but there’s a big difference between cocky and dirty. I would argue that this guy crosses the line quite often. It was a little hard to buy into his turnaround later because all of the development was off screen.

Likewise for the main villain here. He is fighting super dirty and going for illegal hits in the final round. Then suddenly he has his big change of heart moment and all is forgiven? I just can’t really accept that and the whole ending was extremely cheesy and unsatisfying. I did not like the ending here and would have changed things quite a bit. I would say the message was not even handled well about not being too violent. One character has a way to win the match in the end and chooses to hesitate because of something that happened previously. The two circumstances are completely different though and so this was a bad look.

It does come back to how the film doesn’t handle drama so well. Tommy has a subplot about seeing someone get murdered in the ring and so he is scared to fight too hard. Nothing wrong with that, it’s a classic plot. However, all of his scenes transition into black and white to really show you how somber it all is and the film is extremely heavy handed about this even to the music. Nothing about the film is even remotely subtle. Then we get coach Frank’s origin story which also feels extremely forced and unnecessary. We should have used this time for fighting instead of expanding the sob story’s more and more.

I also thought Frank was just not a good coach. He talks super tough and tries to be in control but at the end of the day he lets the players do whatever they want. One of them storms out? No problem. One of them breaks the rules and goes home? No problem. One guy is throwing dirty blows and antagonizing the others? Eh he’ll look the other way. I would submit that Frank was just not a good coach and he was really just full of hot air. Not like the assistants were any better either though.

There’s the super nervous guy who gets pushed around and leaks documents as soon as there is any pressure. Then there’s the girl with a chip on her shoulder who does a lot of yoga and meditation. Her classes didn’t seem to really do anything and the scenes could be dragged out. I don’t think she did anything to really prove that she was needed as a coach here. Meanwhile there wasn’t time for everyone so I’d say Virgil and Sonny had the least to do from the main 5. They were likable enough though but ultimately weren’t super useful in the tournament. They just needed to fill in the 5 spots.

Now this sounds pretty negative but that’s because the film wasn’t really prepared to handle any of the non action scenes. Fortunately, we are here for the action and that part was really good. I liked the choreography and there was a consistent amount of fighting the whole time. The sound effects were really on point and it was all very fast paced. So you didn’t have too many breaks. It felt fairly realistic as well as these could be matches that you would see on TV. I just wish we got more of the fights especially since you could use that to show off all of the different fighting styles.

It was nice to see a tournament that wasn’t super corrupt or having everyone get murdered for a change though. Yeah there is still a level of danger here but it is a professional tournament. Aside from the ref being blind, it all felt above board. So I could definitely appreciate that. I’d also say the short run time helps with replay value. That said, as long as the original Mortal Kombat exists there isn’t a whole lot of reason to check this one out.

Overall, Best of the Best has a pretty fun concept and the movie should have focused on that a little more. The fact that the tournament feels more like a subplot is just a really bad look. I know on paper you probably want to have some depth but you really don’t need to force it. Sometimes it’s best to just focus on the action scenes and let those speak for themselves.

Overall 6/10

The Cobweb Review

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The Cobweb is one of those films that definitely gets real dramatic. The characters all tend to be pretty bad and so the movie spends more time spinning its wheels than necessary. You could have made a pretty good flick out of this with quality writing and a solid ensemble of characters but in the end it was not to be. By the end of the film I dare say you will be thinking that the ending should be a cliffhanger or something just for the extra drama.

The film takes place at a psychiatric institution where everyone is always at odds with each other. The main character is Dr. Stewart who uses some pretty controversial methods in how he runs the place. He has let the inmates make their own government council so they can talk directly with the heads of the facility. In that form they are able to mount complaints against things they don’t like and also participate in the decision making. The idea is that this will help them also reach a point of more stability by having this control and also learning how to deal with some stress. Everything goes wrong when the topic of window drapes comes up.

The inmates are hoping to have their local painter take care of the job. The head wants to buy professional ones to put up instead. Stewart is with the inmates, the other head of the school doesn’t particularly care, but Stewart’s wife has her own idea for professional ones. Unfortunately Stewart is basically never home so she ends up talking to someone else about this and now we have a bunch of characters who only know chunks of the story. This starts to result in all of the characters cheating on each other and using any trick necessary in order to claim victory. Will the characters manage to stay sane by the end of this?

So lets talk about each of the characters’ mistakes here. First up we have Devanal who is definitely one of the most depraved characters here. He has long since forsaken his mission to help patients get better. He basically skips all of the meetings so he can have a bunch of affairs and be drunk all the time. He makes a big push to get with Stewart’s wife as well and by the end of the movie you feel like he got off way too easily. For one thing, he is married so that makes all of this 100X worse.

It’s already pretty bad to get into a lot of flings, but once it is cheating then that is rock bottom. There’s no such thing as it being a “mistake” either as I see that around a lot. Cheating is a completely conscious decision to do the wrong thing and there’s never any way to justify that. So I had no sympathy for this guy whatsoever and he should have definitely been outed at the meeting.

Then you have the main character Stewart and unfortunately he’s just as bad. He takes his job seriously which is good but he’s always got a short fuse and started off on the wrong foot by blowing up at his wife in the early scene. He basically does nothing to stay close with her and quickly ends up cheating with a colleague. Again, no excuses are good enough for that, you’re basically throwing the whole relationship into the dirt at that point. What really hurts him at the end is that he’s eager to keep on cheating and the girl has to be the one to call it off. So you don’t take anything he takes seriously in the final scene because it wasn’t his choice to stop. That’s such a bad scenario.

Obviously I also take points away from Meg for cheating with him. It’s not just the cheater that you blame in affair but the one who agrees to participate in the act. She knows full well that he is married after all. It’s really not to hard to be loyal and if you have such extraordinarily weak willpower then the next thing is to make sure not to put yourself in bad situations. This means no drinking or hanging out with someone one on one at night. In general that’s good advice for anyone.

Then we have Stewart’s wife Karen and things don’t look good for her either. For starters she seems oblivious to basic facts of the job. She should know better than to be sneaking around the institution and opening doors when there is such a big level of privacy there. I don’t know how she would have forgotten this. Then hanging out with Devanal to spite Steven was a really bad idea. I do think she was fully aware of where that was going and so again she put herself in a bad spot. If Stewart hadn’t said anything about how he has a lot of affairs, it may have gotten even worse.

Putting up the curtains really just made the situation worse. Everyone was quick to get even and continue escalating the circumstances which was not mature in the slightest. I’m not going to knock her any points for the opening drive with Steven though because I’d say that was fully on the kid. It’s definitely a dumb risk to be picking any hitchhikers up when you’re on your own but the kid catching feelings wasn’t really on her.

Then you’ve got Victoria who is fighting in the power struggle for the curtains as well. She has been around for a long time and wants respect but ultimately is quick to fall into the misunderstandings and just make things worse for everyone. She’s a character who should have stuck to her instincts a bit more like in showing the report. As for the patients, most of them don’t have huge roles but the biggest is definitely Steven. I would say he also shows the biggest weakness in Stewart’s idealogy.

Yes, it could help give him more confidence to see his artwork hung up by the windows but any kind of setback or unexpected incident instead ends up setting Steven’s own development back. So it’s extremely high risk with what I would say is low reward. Often times you will remember a bad thing that happened way more than a good thing so this just wasn’t worth it. I would argue the film also makes this clear with how he nearly died. Hopefully Stewart does take this into account. I know he’s continuing the program but maybe they can scale back some of the projects.

Overall, The main problem with the Cobweb is that it ends up making all of the characters supremely unlikable. The idea of a bunch of misunderstandings all combining into a super mess is pretty fun. I think you could even throw in all of the characters trying to get their petty revenges if this was also part comedy. When played completely serious though, I feel like the movie just goes too far. You need someone to root for after all and that’s not going to work with any of the main characters. In the end I would say to just give this one a skip. It doesn’t have a satisfying ending or enough positives to keep it afloat.

Overall 4/10

The Rescuers Down Under Review

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It’s time for the big sequel to the original Rescuers. It’s pretty impressive that they managed to really capture the feel and atmosphere of the first film after such a long break. It’s a film that has definitely aged well and made for a good watch. It’s what I would call a fairly basic animated film. Nothing too fancy but you generally enjoy i either way with no big negatives to stop it.

The movie starts with Cody adventuring through the wilderness and helping animals along the way. Unfortunately he is captured by Percival, a big animal hunter who wants to take down one of the legendary birds in the area. Cody is presumed dead by the authorities so it is up to the Rescue agents to save him this time. They send their best operatives Bernard and Bianca for one last mission. It’s not good timing for Bernard since he was getting ready to propose to Bianca but hey villains don’t wait for a good spot after all. They are greeted by Jake, a guy who is a little too comfortable flirting with Bianca while Bernard is right there. Will Bernard still be able to bring his A game and save Cody or will he be too distracted to be of much help?

Now while this plot is mainly for laughs at Bernard’s expense, it doesn’t make Bianca look particularly good. To an extent you should always be able to know when someone is flirting with you. The fact that for pretty much the whole film she just thinks he is being polite was a little hard to buy. I appreciate Bianca being a super nice character who is always trying to help but even that has limits. A the end of the day, you gotta keep your guard up.

This is also a really bad look for Bernard for not saying anything. He just needed to be direct. I know the guy is always really nervous and has a hard time doing anything but this would have absolutely been the time to change his reputation. He needed to man up and set the record straight. While he’s not as nervous as in the first film, it’s still a pretty big knock against him.

The only one you don’t really blame for this is Jake who has every reason to be oblivious about Bianca already being taken. So yeah that guy just has natural charisma and confidence. He is even quick to cheer Bernard on in the final scene. That may have been sudden and super forced but hey he’s a good sport. I wouldn’t say he’s a great character or anything but he’s entertaining and definitely gives the cast some real energy.

Then we get to the main villain Percival who is actually really good. This guy makes plans and is highly effective at his job. Yeah perhaps tricking a kid isn’t so hard but he still pulled it off. He’s also rather intimidating like when he pointed his gun straight at Cody. It’s the little things like that which you imagine would be a whole lot tougher to do nowadays. This guy was completely unhinged and an absolute danger to all parties involved. He was constantly threatening his animal assistant but unlike other villains you could actually picture those threats as being credible.

It really helps in any movie to have a villain who is a serious threat like this. Whether it’s an animated film for kids or not, you should be able to pull this off. The short length of the film also helps for things to be moving fast at all times. The only part that felt rather forced and a bit drawn out was the subplot with the bird trying to have his back fixed. Ehhh I just didn’t think it was all that funny and I wanted to go back to the main plot. The character himself is pretty fun without a doubt but this didn’t add anything to the film at all. Give me more scenes of Cody working to break out of the facility or the mice getting closer to their goal instead.

Well, the animation is definitely quite solid as you would expect. The movie has a very fast paced/chaotic vibe to it the whole time. The characters are super expressive and the colors are very sharp. It’s the kind of movie that will continue to look really good even 50 years from now. A true feat if I do say so myself. The music is okay, nothing all that special but it’s not as big a focus as in the original movie anyway.

The writing is good so at the end of the day the film nailed the fundamentals. I even enjoyed the setting and Australia is not always the best backdrop. They just did a really good job of making the backgrounds all look fun. I also enjoyed the accents the whole time, I thought they did a really good job with that.

As with the first film, you may question just how effective the animal army can be at times. A lot has to go right for them to even set up the missions since they have to distract the human at the controls every time. This movie goes a bit more in depth on how the missions are set up so it makes sense to spend a few lines on it. This is just the kind of film that you can’t think about too hard. You have to suspend a little disbelief here but I would say it’s honestly not a ton. The film is still smartly written overall so I have no problems here. I do think there is quite a nice opportunity to eventually have the humans get involved though. No reason why they couldn’t right? Humans can understand the animals after all so a joint partnership could work really well. Maybe the villain could be a disgruntled UN agent who doesn’t like the new competition or something like that.

Overall, The Rescuers have maintained an impressive level of quality and consistency here. I would easily be able to recommend this to anyone. It’s just a fun story that doesn’t overstay its welcome and produces a lot of fun characters. The main villain was especially impressive with just how hype they were allowed to make him. He’s a total villain through and through. They just allowed him to have some actual charisma and bravado within that role. I’d definitely be down for more films in this series.

Overall 7/10

The Rescuers Review

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Now lets look at the original rescuing film. Right away you can see that this film has a really bright art style and just looks sharp all around. I can’t say I was super familiar with the movie but it definitely does its job of being a fun adventure film with no real downsides. I had a good time with it and the film really ends up finishing quickly so the pacing is always on point here.

The movie starts with a girl named Penny sending out a call for help as she has been kidnapped by the cruel Medusa. This SOS reaches the rescue organization comprised of mice from all areas around the world. They know that something must be done and so Bianca will be heading out there. She gets to pick who she wants to go with and so she chooses a guy named Bernard. Bernard’s the janitor and has never been out on a mission so he’s extremely nervous. He just doesn’t think that he is really ready for this kind of thing but in the end he doesn’t have much of a choice. They will be flown in by Orville and from there they will really have to prove themselves.

Since the main characters are tiny mice there are naturally a lot of obstacles that they really have to try and get past. By no means is this an easy mission for them. Still, for all of Bernard’s grumbling and nervousness I will give him credit for going through with this. He doesn’t duck out at the first sign of trouble or anything like that. His personality doesn’t work too well for me as the kind of character that I will end up being a big fan of or anything like that but he wasn’t bad.

Bianca’s a lot more fun as she is always having a good time and doing what she can in order to help. She gets bravery from her politeness as she will walk up to anyone to ask some questions. It’s probably not the smartest thing to do from a safety perspective but hey it’s worked out for her so far. She has tons of fans as we see in the opening scene and is respected around the world. She makes for a good team with Bernard even if they do tend to feel outmatched. Technically Medusa would be able to easily crush them in a fight if they were to get within arm’s reach. At that point it would really be all over.

Medusa also makes for a fun villain. For starters she is just so over the top evil. I mean just look at that name. Medusa? Yeah you aren’t going to forget that and then she has the eye shadow and all the visual hallmarks of a villain. She is absolutely in control on the antagonist side and is always pushing around Snoops. I don’t have any sympathy for that guy since he is just standing there and taking it the whole time though. He should have just ran out already and not doing so is his choice.

I’ll give Penny some props for her repeated escape attempts though. She did good at finding holes in the perimeter and making a break for it. Ultimately she would usually not think it through enough but I won’t ask much more out of a little kid. This is still far better than crumbling under pressure and panicking or anything like that. Then there is Orville who is a fun supporting character. He’s generally confident and always ready to lighten the mood. Without him the heroes would definitely not have gotten very far. He may not usually enter the combat arena but he is definitely someone who provides support the whole time. You just feel a lot safer and more secure when he is around. When he is not around, then it’s easier to panic.

He tends to get a lot of the funny dialogue as well. The film has a good sense of humor and sprinkles that into a lot of scenes. Considering that the writing is already really good, that makes for a really good pairing. The pacing is tight and meanwhile the animation is also really good. There is a lot of attention to detail the whole time and it is a very rapid style. You won’t be bored at any point since something is always happening on screen. The music is fairly forgettable though. Nothing that will really make you turn your head or remember it for very long to be honest.

You do feel like the mice should come equipped with some kind of weapons though. Considering that they are often rescuing people from outside threats, shouldn’t they have a means of defending themselves? Since they are mice, by default that means at least 90% of the types of opponents they face will be bigger and stronger than they are. If you ask me, that means they will have to rely on plot armor and luck almost all the time. So if they had some kind of stun dart or something that would be a vast improvement. As a last resort you could also just alert the humans. Perhaps dial 9-11 on a mini phone or something like that. Figuring out a way to rope the humans in would absolutely be a lot safer and likely more effective as well. Perhaps it would feel like copping out on the premise but it’s definitely something you will be thinking about during the film since the main villain has two gators and is also physically strong enough to crush the two mice as needed.

Overall, The Rescuers is a pretty good movie. I had a good amount of fun with it. To an extent I would say there is not a whole lot of depth here and you should be thinking about it more as a classic adventure film. I don’t think there is a lot you would really be analyzing or debating about but at the end of the day as long as the movie was fun, then you’re in a good spot. The Rescuers had a good amount of world building set up so you could easily leverage this into a complete franchise. I’d have pretty high hopes for that.

Overall 7/10

Look Back Review

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I remember reading the manga for this a while back. It’s a pretty fun story although with this writer you are always expecting some kind of a sad twist. All in all this may not be very long at a little under an hour but it tells a complete story and the ending is reasonably satisfying. It was definitely really faithful to the artstyle and atmosphere that the original manga had going for it.

There are really two main characters in the special. First up is Fujino who has always been really good at drawing. She writes little manga strips for the local school newspaper and people always talk about how she could go pro someday. She takes this for granted quite a bit and loves all of the fame but eventually she finds out that she isn’t the best artist. There’s another girl at the school named Kyomoto who draws incredible backgrounds and her shading is on point. This girl is a complete shut-in who never even steps foot outside and yet she is this good. Fujino decides to really grind hard in order to improve her skills but will it really be enough?

As the main character with the most focus, Fujino does a good job of holding up the story. She can be a little full of herself and isn’t always the nicest character but that makes her a fun lead. She’s not good at really expressing herself and will often put on a really tough act as a front. We do see that she had a lot of friends though so her big personality worked well in social settings. Ultimately she experiences a lot of loss and hardship throughout the movie but always manages to get back up. So she may not have been perfect but she is someone you’d want to have as an ally.

Then we have Kyomoto who is a lot more quiet. She has a hard time talking to anybody at all and can definitely be socially awkward. Fujino helps get Kyomoto out of her shell but to an extent Kyomoto still has to get confidence on her own. That’s not really something that anyone else can give you automatically. Kyomoto is content to be the background person who doesn’t really get any recognition. The only real decision Kyomoto makes for herself is when she decides to go to College to learn art even though Fujino keeps telling her it’s a bad idea. It is good that Kyomoto finally made a choice though.

Was it the right one? Well that’s really hard to say. I think Fujino made some good points about how a degree in art doesn’t often help much at all but there are authors and artists who say it was beneficial. So in the end you don’t really know and it’s always important not to use hindsight afterwards to decide. Kyomoto may not have really been my kind of character as much as Fujino since I tend to like the loud, more active characters more. Still it was a nice friendship.

We also briefly do get to see the second timeline where the characters made a different choice. That timeline is naturally a lot better than the main one but alternate realities always tend to appear that way. It was cool to see what might have been but you definitely don’t want to dwell on it too much. I would say the movie has some themes about moving on mixed into all of this. At least that was my main takeaway from this. When bad things happen you just have to keep moving forward.

The animation definitely kept making me think of Chainsaw Man because the author has a very distinct look to the characters where they all look like they never get any sleep. There is something unnerving about all of the designs and that translates pretty well here. Naturally there isn’t much in the way of action scenes here but in general the animation looks solid. The colors aren’t as striking as your average anime as they usually try to make the more mainstream productions a lot more faded for the general audience. It all works well enough with what they’re going for. I was impressed with how well they changed the style for the mini animations inside of the story. That was definitely cool.

Drawing is always one of those skills that looks like a total blast but is really hard to get good at. So I can always appreciate the hard work that goes into being a creator. It was nice to see some quick step by steps in the drawings here like at the very end although of course there isn’t enough time to go into too much detail. It’s a huge commitment and the movie did a good job of showing just how much the characters were missing out on by honing their skills. You really do end up sacrificing just about all of your social life for this.

Overall, This is a pretty short production so at the end of the day it’s not like there is really a ton to go into here. It’s really about a fleeting friendship between two characters where they created memories that they will never forget. Sad moments aside, it’s pretty uplifting for most of the run. I have no issues with the writing or pacing. It’s an easy title to recommend to anyone as well because the storyline is easy to digest and the characters are nice enough. There was a cameo for another one of the writer’s works in the movie theater scene so I look forward to that one getting adapted some day. Hopefully it won’t be too much of a wait.

Overall 7/10

Wistoria: Wand and Sword Review

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It’s time to look at a magic anime that got pretty big real fast. Wistoria is one of those shows that took the world by storm to the point where one person even said you could toss all other anime in the trash. That’s how good Wistoria was. I can say that it lived up to the hype and I would consider it to be a great anime. I’m definitely looking forward to the next seasons and in the meantime I encourage everyone to check it out. It really got the right amount of action and story.

In this world, most people have some level of magical ability. The best of the best rise through the ranks quickly and if you don’t have magic then you are in trouble. At all times there is a cabal of 5-6 master sorcerers who hold up the sky with their magic as it would crash otherwise and bring about the end of everything. Will’s best friend Colette was one of these super geniuses and so they are never able to see each other anymore. Will figures the only way to solve this issue will be if he can improve his skills and ascend to the top of the wizard tower. There’s just one problem, Will has absolutely no magical talents!

Now you might be thinking, where have I heard this before? Mashle, Black Clover, etc. Well that’s not a problem since both of those shows were excellent and this one really keeps up the streak. The high end production values really serve as a great backdrop but at its core the series is succeeding because of the strong cast of characters and story. I would say that it sucks you in right from the first episode. Will’s goal to be able to hang out with his best friend is a solid one and makes things sympathetic right from the start.

Additionally, Will still has a lot of physical talent so it’s not like he’s been slacking off or anything. He has a sword and is able to handle most dungeons on his own. He has the abilities to take on most of the highest ranking students in the school. The only reason his grades lag behind a lot is because the whole school is set up on the basis of magic. So the tests are focused on this in ways where his strength can’t compensate. So Will has to really take down as many monsters as possible in order to prove himself.

Naturally the series has a ton of discrimination which is a staple of any fantasy setting. People can’t stand Will because of the fact that he has no magical powers. They say he shouldn’t be here and the usual stuff. The main teacher tries to crush Will in one of the first episodes and with a few exceptions, all of the students enjoy messing with him as well. Will doesn’t really pay them any mind though and it takes a whole lot of insults and threats of violence to really get him moving. Of course once that point comes up, then he is ready to go to town on them.

I’d say we have 2 main arcs here, the opening tournament and then the dungeon crawl. The tournament comes rather early here so in a way you could say this is how we are really introduced to the characters. Guys like Julius and Sion had already appeared but this is where we got to the heart of their character development. It’s definitely a really fun tournament even if it is short and I like that Will is shown to be very competent and strong from the start. He doesn’t have to find his own way of fighting or anything like that. He just puts all of his skills to the test and goes in swords blazing. The amount of time he is an underdog in the series is extremely short so we get to skip the intro phase in a way and get right to the meat of things.

The peak of the series is in the dungeon crawl though as we get to see Will join the elite team. It’s the best of the best as everyone goes all out to prove themselves. Again, it’s an arc that you would expect to see much later in the series as Will has to reluctantly team up with all of the big rivals and new characters right from the jump. The fast pacing is just a lot of fun because it’s like you are speed running the whole series. You wouldn’t see this from many titles and it’s part of how Wistoria stands out. No worries though, the power ceiling for the series is quite high as there are many other characters to be introduced who are even stronger than the elites.

Like I mentioned before, the animation is really good here. There are a ton of great fight scenes and cuts throughout the series. The different magic spells all look really good and you can feel the power behind each swing. The colors are very vibrant and so this is definitely an anime you can point to when talking about high budget titles. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also good. The theme song is catchy and there are a number of solid tracks. It may not be an absolute home run hit that you talk about for hours and hours but it definitely pulls off its job pretty well.

Now lets get into the characters. First up is Will and he’s a pretty solid main character. The guy is trying hard to achieve his dreams and that’s always good. It’s more of a voice direction thing but I will just say that his voice can be annoying though. It always sounds like he’s close to laughing which ends up feeling condescending to an extent. It’s something I’ve never seen happen to a character before so hopefully it’s cleaned up a little bit for season 2. It’s not technically his personality or anything though so I wouldn’t dock his character any points for that or anything like that. I was surprised that he wasn’t going to initially enter the tournament though. It feels like he underestimates his own abilities quite a bit.

Considering that he doesn’t exactly have unlimited time to reach his best friend, you’d think that he would do every single event in order to climb up. It was the one moment that felt almost out of character for him. Still, the guy stands up to bullies and is always beating up on the villains so how could you not like the guy right?

Then we have the main heroine Colette who is pretty fun. She’s easy to feel bad for because she often tries to get close to Will but trolls stop her from really making it. She’s a strong fighter in her own right as well even if she doesn’t always run to the battlefield. If we ever get more of an arc that is focused on her then I think we’ll see more of that. She was able to beat a Julius clone and did it rather easily after all. I like that she always defends Will and is a sand up character so she is one of the better heroines.

The first rival is Sion and I’d say he is another character that the show did a really good job with. He has fire abilities which is always a must for a rival and the guy has a big ego. He is always running in to cause chaos and deal out a bunch of damage. The guy starts out as a petty bully but we quickly get a whole lot of development for him. I would say that it is all handled really well too. The guy speaks his mind and isn’t afraid to lose a fight if it means getting what he wants. I’d say he has more depth than your average bully and I already see him becoming one of the best characters in the series.

Julius is the first serious villain. He’s rather insane and while he quickly starts to become a better person, you can’t forget that he nearly did try to skewer Will. It’ll take a little longer to take him seriously as a good guy but the guy’s strength is definitely the real deal. He is one of the strongest in the school among the students so even with the others beginning to catch up, I imagine he will stay relevant for a long while.

He will always be in the shadow of Elfaria when it comes to ice users though. She is so far ahead of him that it’s scary. Apparently her skills as a toddler were enough to really be on his level which has to feel like crazy disrespect. She seems like someone who is rather aloof and doesn’t care about much. Still, she is supportive of Will and that’s the only time she shows her more emotional side. I would say that she is already more fun than Colette as a heroine despite how good the other character is. I look forward to finally seeing Elfaria fight at some point.

Wignall is another one of the geniuses in the school but his stocks definitely plummet as the series goes on. The guy is still tough to be sure but I would say he has way more weaknesses than the others. His illusion skills just never feel like they will be as handy as the more classic elements like fire and ice. Those can be used in basically every scenario after all while illusions always have so many rules and limitations. It’s really not a fair competition when you look at it like that. I think he could start to rebound for the next season but for now I’m not all that impressed.

Lihanna is one of the elites who actually lives up to her rep and looks really good. Her lightning fast combat skill is a fun one to watch and so most monsters will get absolutely shredded as soon as the fight starts. If anything, I just wish we could have seen her fight more. For the most part her final action scenes were off screen but we know that she did put in a good fight and lasted for a while. She trusts her gut instincts which is always important and of course she had enough skills to get a top rank in the first place. I look forward to seeing more of her soon.

Rosti is Will’s roommate and he likes messing with Colette. Well, not sure if I should say “messing with” to be honest since he does seem to actually be really possessive. Still, I felt bad for Colette the whole time so I’m waiting for her to take the gloves off and beat him up. For now Rosti is more of a supportive fighter and so I wouldn’t expect any fight scenes. That really does limit his potential a whole lot as well. He is unlikely to become one of the better characters without some massive changes.

Workner is a character I can’t take seriously just yet. He is on Will’s side and defends the kid but at the end of the day he isn’t actually defending him from any of the villains or those who would beat him up. So he’s not much of a friend in the end now is he? I want to see him actually fight and stand up for Will more. Right now it’s just not enough and if anything he doesn’t even believe in Will enough. Sometimes he trusts him to win and sometimes he just doesn’t. I prefer Edward as a character because at least that guy is actually very direct. He just wants Will out of the school no matter what and will do whatever he can in order to achieve this.

Edward is a total villain, there’s no way around that. He’s just a fun villain though so it’s easy to root against him. I’m sure he’ll come around eventually though. For now we haven’t seen many of the actual villains but two do appear in the climax. They already look quite powerful as they decimated a bunch of the teachers so I look forward to how that plays out. They have great designs and superb abilities so I have really high hopes. The monster fights are cool and all but I am definitely ready to be fighting some fellow humanoids here. It’s just a completely different game at that point.

We also briefly see the top tier heroes who were out on the expedition. For now it’s hard to say much about them until the next season occurs. I already like the kid though, he seems like another non magic user which is always a really good sign. You now the guy is going to be ultra powerful. He reminds me of Meliodas from Seven Deadly Sins but without any of the obvious downsides. We also have to see how Elfaria’s teammates fare since they all are naturally getting a ton of hype. There was definitely a whole lot that got set up here so this could end up being a really long running series.

Overall, Wistoria is a great title and I would definitely recommend checking it out. Hopefully the next season comes out sooner than later. Whether you are here for the big action scenes or the strong character interactions, you should be in for a good time. It’s a title that is easy to get into and you can never have too many titles like this. The commoner rising above the status quo and showing that magic isn’t completely necessary is great. Even in video games I always prefer to be a fast swordsman than more of a slow fighter who relies on magic.

Overall 8/10

Space Cowboys Review

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Space Cowboys is one of those films that knows how to have a good time. There are a lot of little jokes throughout the movie and for the most part it’s got a light tone. I would say that it does start to falter a bit during the climax when the film takes itself a little too seriously. Still, it’s a fun enough movie, I would say that it goes by quickly even with the long run time and so you’ll have a good time here.

The movie starts off by showing us Frank and the crew back when they were younger. They were the best crew of pilots you could have out there! They were ready to go into space and everything but Bob messed them over at the last second. Decades have passed and each member is retired and living the good life. That changes when we find out that a Russian satellite is falling. The impact will be disastrous and the U.S. is trying to keep it afloat to prevent all out catastrophe. This forces Bob, who is now a high ranking NASA official to call in Frank. They will have to let bygones be bygones but Frank is only accepting the mission under one condition. His old senior citizen buddies have to be included in the team as well. Bob agrees..but secretly plans to leave them behind.

You could say it’s like a battle of wits here except that while Frank has all the bravado, Bob has all the wits. It can’t be denied that Frank is a total genius and everything but allowing yourself to be tricked by the same guy twice is pretty rough. If not for the vice president getting involved, it was definitely not going to go very well for Frank. I sort of figured Frank would have had some kind of a backup plan but unfortunately that was not to be.

The film’s biggest strength is in the banter though. I like all of the crisp dialogue between the characters as they really take each other to town. They all get along pretty well so they’re able to really go in without anyone taking offense. The only person with actual bad blood is Bob and those arguments tend to be fun as well. The writing is solid here and you should have a smile on for most of it. When the film wants to be funny, the jokes tend to land.

The film’s biggest weakness are the serious plots like I mentioned before. The whole climax is trying really hard to be serious, intense, and dramatic. The main problem is that you just can’t take any of it seriously. It’s all too by the book to be honest and I think they should have played it all more for laughs. Sure, in a way you could say that the whole film was building up to the actual mission so it would need to be serious but I just wasn’t buying it.

Additionally there is a quick romance plot here that doesn’t work either. The film seemed to think that it had to have a romance but otherwise there is no real reason for this to have even started. It really comes out of nowhere with no kind of warning and feels extremely rushed. I don’t think you would have much time for hooking up with the fate of the planet resting in the balance. It’s like the characters in these movies are trying to speedrun romance and that’s not really a successful way to go about things. It really doesn’t work out for her due to a variety of reasons.

It’s safe to say that Frank is the most enjoyable character in the film. He talks tough and never shows his kinder side but the guy made sure that his whole team got to be here. He really went above and beyond for them which is really important. It’s definitely not something that just anyone would do and the rest of the characters know it. It’s why they have such a tight squad, because they really trust each other.

Hawk gets the next biggest role due to a personal subplot he gets as well as the whole romance angle. While I could do without some of that, he’s still a fun guy. He can hold his own with Frank as needed and they both keep each other in check. In comparison, Tank and Jerry don’t have as big a role but they’re always around. They all contrast with each other pretty well for the overall team dynamic. It was fun to see how they all got through the physical exams for this. Les just say a good memory goes a long way.

It did seem like a pretty extreme regimen for the crew though. I assume this is to make sure you can handle the tasks while you are in a space station but typically tests like this go a bit over to really make sure you’re ready. So you could probably hold back a little on the old timers and they’d be fine. Honestly they looked way better than the young cadets. We have two cadets who get to go on the trip with the old timers and they look absolutely awful.

One of them gets a concussion almost immediately and ends up being dead weight. The other one goes crazy and basically starts messing everything up as fast as he can. A supremely annoying characters all the way through and that was one part of the climax that just felt really forced. I had a really hard time buying into that and it would have even been more believable if he was a Russian double agent instead. I definitely wouldn’t have minded seeing more of the big meetings and political fights going on in the background. That could have been a pretty good subplot.

Overall, Space Cowboys is a good film. I would say it had enough weak points for me to keep it from going to the next level but on the whole it’s an entertaining film and that’s really what I’m looking for here. If you like the idea of a group of old friends getting to finally achieve their dreams then this is definitely the film to check out. Even if the climax isn’t the greatest, the film had enough good moments to carry it all through and quick enough pacing where you felt like the movie covered a lot of ground without dragging.

Overall 6/10

Kimi No Todoke: From Me to You Season 3 Review

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The wholesome anime has returned for a third season! The episode count is super low but given that most of the episodes have extended runtimes I would say it evens out. There’s definitely a lot of drama going on here and for once we can actually start to blame the main guy here. He’s just losing way too much confidence and isn’t turning up the way he should be. It’s a pretty fun third season all in all though and hopefully they announce the next season soon to start wrapping up the story.

The season roughly goes for the structure of focusing on the two leads, giving an episode to Ayane, an episode for Chizu, and then wrapping up with the main duo. All of the characters are always around of course but the focus shifts. This season mainly has the big field trip and then the next Christmas party as the next two big trips. Each of the relationships are going further but that comes with a lot of extra complications and hurt feelings on all ends. There is less time for the wholesome day to day life as this season definitely goes for a more somber vibe. Rather than go by episode I’ll mainly go through each pairing and how the season went for them. I’ll end off with the main duo.

Also let me start by saying that Pin is a superb main character as always. This guy always has the right advice and knows how to give the characters a pep talk right when they need it. Without him they would really be spinning their wheels and not doing much of anything. He’s the guy you want in your corner for exactly this reason and it’s nice that we have a series where the adult character isn’t oblivious or complete comic relief. Pin is a comedy character a lot but when you actually listen to what he is saying, it all tends to be rather profound stuff.

Okay so first lets go with Ryu and Chizu since generally I do think this is the weakest romance out of the 3. This season finally covers the big moment of Ryu confessing and Chizu not really being sure how to handle it. After all, she’s always liked his brother so switching now could be like a rebound? Also she just sees him as a friend and this could end that. I appreciate Ryu being self aware enough to say that he is intending to end their friendship since they can’t progress otherwise. He is betting it all on this after all. So Chizu is under a lot of pressure to readjust how she views Ryu and see if it works.

Obviously this isn’t the final season so things are still in motion but a lot does happen here. At the end of the day, neither one of them are great about being open with their feelings. Ryu does have more of the initiative though in terms of him actually confessing and not backing down from it. He doesn’t play it off as a joke or anything and stays focused. So I respect that part. I have no problems with Ryu as a character. He’s solid enough, the romance itself it a bit harder to buy into though.

Mainly for Chizu’s side here. It’s very similar to a manga I recently reviewed called Lovely Complex. Chizu doesn’t really see Ryu as a romantic interest to the point where she laughs initially. It’s super hard for me to picture her changing her mind suddenly. It always comes across more like she is picking Ryu because the first option didn’t work out and also because he is so desperate. So it’s more out of convenience and being able to keep her friend. Not the worst reasons for starting a romance but yeah I’m definitely considerably less invested in this one compared to the others.

Then we have Ayane and Kento’s plot. So Ayane has been with a lot of guys before but it was more out of a sense of tradition and just hoping maybe she will find the right guy. She’s never actually been in love before so in a way she doesn’t know what it’s even supposed to feel like. That’s why she wanted to really just keep on trying but the guys she picks are always not that good. So now Kento has made his move but she can’t tell if he’s serious or not. Can she even afford to take another risk on a relationship?

Now this is a plot that’s a lot more interesting. For starters, the idea of not knowing what love is even like is definitely depressing but realistic. There are so many films and stories where it feels like the characters just start dating on a whim because it feels right but you can’t tell if they actually love each other. Now here is an instance where that is actually the case and Ayane has been doing this for a long time apparently. It’s definitely an interesting plot and you can also see why she doesn’t know if she can trust Kento.

He’s a super nice guy who is nice to everyone but as a result you can’t really tell if that’s just a mask or not. Maybe he’s just super nice to everybody or she is being played again. In a sense that is what dating is for, to find out about the other person but it’s also pointless if you don’t see a future ahead right away. So we have some real dilemmas here. Meanwhile for Kento, it’s similar. He’s always been a nice guy and genuinely so, so it’s not something that’s easy to turn off. Also there’s nothing wrong with being nice, he just needs to get Ayane to see that he’s being genuine.

Kento is a character who is easy to root for so it also makes for a fun plot in that sense. As the omnipresent audience, we know that both characters are good but of course the view from the ground is way different. Ayane is always defending her friends and keeping them happy so of course you hope that she gets a happy ending too. That just doesn’t have to necessarily include dating.

Finally we have the main pairing. Sawako and Kazehaya have been doing really well so far. Sawako has gained her confidence and Kazehaya is always a good guy. Well, that finally changes here as he gets super scared after almost kissing Sawako. So for most of the season he is avoiding her to an extent and just being really cold. Is he tired or the relationship or something? Sawako has to face all of her fears once again and this is definitely the most forced part of the whole season. Their romance as a whole is still solid but if we just looked at this season in a vacuum then I would say it definitely didn’t go over so well. Kazehaya looks pretty terrible once the plot starts.

He actively pushes her away when she tries to find out what’s going on with him. He never actually explains himself and just continues to put in that distance over and over again. I think the worst part about this is how unnecessary it is. He should have just clearly told her what happened and his worries. The fact that he feels like he can’t confide in her like this is really bad. It should be second nature by now and instead he nearly gets them broken up. The fact that he didn’t think about this at all is definitely a bad look. So Kazehaya purely from season 3 is not a particularly good character.

He makes the wrong decisions over and over again. Meanwhile Sawako looks good as she continues to persist over and over in order to get to the truth. She is really putting in all of the effort in this relationship. Without her then they would definitely be in big trouble. A different main character would have probably gotten all upset and just created more drama. Kazehaya should feel bad about almost kissing her there since it’s not super responsible for being on a trip but shutting himself off like that is crazy.

The Christmas episodes still have their happy moments but they definitely get hampered down a bit by this main plot. It’s also a shame because in life there are no do-overs. They may have made up later on but that’s one party they can’t really take back. At least they didn’t do anything crazy like mess up the gift exchange the way that Chizu did. The whole point of a secret gift exchange is that you don’t know who is getting each present so causing a scene over that is definitely no a good move. It’s the one time you almost feel bad for Joe but he caused so much chaos that I couldn’t help but smirk a little bit.

In terms of the technical elements, the theme song is fairly weak. It’s definitely not one of the catchier tunes. The soundtrack is largely unchanged so it’s not bad. A little quiet without any big time hits but it works well enough for the series. As for the animation, the show looks smooth. I wouldn’t call it particularly high budget but it’s not really going for that angle anyway. As long as the animation is clear then that’s about all that you need for a show like this. There is less time for comedy of course but the show still has some fun jokes here and there. Ultimately it’s hard to avoid for any romance series though. Inevitably the themes will get more serious and there will be less time for the happy days. This one has a good balance though.

At the end of the day one of the strengths of the series is that the characters are all fairly mature. You don’t have the usual misunderstandings and panicking that you might see in another series. Kazehaya is the most immature here but otherwise the dilemmas that the characters are facing are things you will probably see in real life. It makes the stakes feel a lot more personal and really let you jump into what’s going on here. I would probably have liked there to have been time for more fun but that’s pretty hard to do during the dramatic period. So with things being good with Kazehaya again, I look forward to more general fun in the next season. I’m also glad that Sawako’s father started to mellow out a little more here. In general he was a solid character and I’m also glad that he got to spend some holiday time with his daughter. I would have felt bad if he was totally pushed to the side.

Overall, Kimi continues to go strong as a good title. The season really flies by with the limited episode count. I know with the run time is more or less evens out but there is still something nice to say about a season having over 10 episodes you know? While the gap between seasons 2 and 3 wasn’t too bad for me since I started the series late, I hope season 4 doesn’t take nearly as long. I’m ready to see all of the climaxes happen in the anime version and how it all turns out. In the meantime you should check this one out regardless. Wait or not, you don’t want to miss out on the Christmas hype!

Overall 6/10

Lovely★Complex Review

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I wasn’t really sure how I should stylize the title here. Should I keep the star? Go with Love Com instead? Lots of options but in the end this one felt right. It’s definitely a very old school romance title with a ton of banter between the main two characters. It’s a bit of an unorthodox romance where the romance seems extremely one-sided for about 90% of the run. I would ultimately say the romance itself didn’t really work but the series has a lot of solid themes and does remain interesting the whole time. It may stumble into cliche after cliche but the series handles them all well enough.

The series follows Risa and Otani as the main characters. Risa is extremely tall while Otani is extremely short and so when they are standing next to each other then the effects of this are even more obvious. As a result they are always insulting each other but instead of getting everyone to see how much they don’t like each other, people think it’s some kind of a comedy routine. Everyone is always rooting for them to get together and even the teacher teases them about their comedy act. What Otani doesn’t realize is that Risa actually does like him. How can she get him to see her feminine side when she is such a giant and they already have this friendship/rivalry going? Well she will end up trying tons of different tactics and we will see how it goes.

So first off we have to dig into this romance here. It’s a bit of a slow burn as it takes a minute for them to get together. The series is over 15 volumes which is pretty impressive for a story like this. What’s even more impressive is that even with this long run time, the side characters largely remain irrelevant. Yeah they’re around and get some drama of their own but for the most part they are always in the back seat. This isn’t like Fruits Basket or Kaguya where we will have whole arcs for the side characters. Mini chunks and all but this is definitely Risa and Otani’s story the whole way through.

I would say the first strike against their romance is how Otani just doesn’t seem to find her attractive pretty much at all during the series. It’s only near the very end where he starts to feel that way a bit but for the most part it tends to come across more like he just doesn’t want her to be with anyone else. He gets jealous when she hangs out with another guy but otherwise he mainly just wants to hang out with her. Even to the end you get the feeling that he sees her more as a close friend and is pressured into doing the more romantic advances. The guy can’t even tell her that he loves her for basically the whole series. The cast tricks him into saying it via recording in the final volume which is a bit of a cop out.

Otani has another moment or two every now and then but it always takes Risa to be crying or totally depressed for him to make a move. I wouldn’t call that the healthiest relationship in the world. What I will give him credit for is not being too easily distracted. He’s a fairly sturdy guy so once he is in the relationship with Risa, then he’s not going to waver. The characters all tease him when crazy shenanigans occur but the guy never even comes close to cheating or even thinking about it. He’s the kind of guy who could go on a trip for months and Risa can easily trust him to do the right thing.

Otani is a really likable character. While the romance may not feel all that believable, we are shown throughout the series that he is a good guy. He helps out anyone who is in his way and doesn’t have to know someone to help them out of a jam. He is ready to fight someone for bullying his friend, helps to stop a girl from being trampled by a mob, takes care of a lady who is sick, etc. He even gives pep talks to people on the Basketball team who are not doing well. These are all massively good traits for a character.

He can be a bit sensitive about his short stature but has way more restraint than other characters. You also have to factor in that he puts up with a whole lot. He’s definitely one of the better characters in the series. As for Risa, well I’ll start with the romance part like with Otani. It’s hard to see how she ended up falling in love with him. Yeah they fight a lot and I know fighting is supposed to get you closer but he didn’t really give her any indication that he was ever interested. In fact, he does the opposite. In terms of looks, she generally goes for taller guys so it wasn’t his appearance that really got to her at first.

I suppose you could say that it was the personality but even then it feels a bit like a stretch. He’s always calling her an idiot and in their banter she is often on the losing side. The other characters even comment from time to time how it’s a bit weird that she doesn’t mind being insulted constantly. This is also the time to bring up that she starts the fights 90% of the time. She will often set up huge expectations for Otani without telling him anything and she inevitably gets upset at him.

One of the worst instances of this is when she tries to confess her feelings but isn’t able to. So as a result he has no idea what she is talking about and she calls him a dummy for a long while. He’s pretty defensive and has a good point. From his point of view during this scene, he bought her tickets to her favorite musician at a local concert and he took her to a private fireworks show since she loves that kind of thing. Her response? She gives him the silent treatment for days because he couldn’t figure out that she liked him.

She pulls this kind of thing so many times. Risa is also dangerously oblivious at times and has terrible instincts. The fact that she wasn’t even bothered by her coworker stealing a kiss while she was asleep is crazy. Then she went with him to a concert as a date afterwards? No matter how you frame it, you shouldn’t be going 1 on 1 with another guy to any kind of event when you already have a boyfriend. The fact that she acted shocked about this was crazy and it really couldn’t be defended.

While she gets annoyed at Otani for being nice to other girls, Risa is the one who drools over other guys from time to time. She even became the leader of the Mighty fanclub for a while there. Yeah she did it to make Otani jealous and mad but she really runs off with her emotions. Even in the literal last volume, she gets jealous of a random classmate that Otani has and throws a whole pity party for herself. Her emotions are just way too fragile the whole time.

I am all for a lot of good banter between characters. I would even argue that the best romances out there generally have a lot of good banter. Look at Nisekoi, Sword Art Online, Disgaea 2, etc. The best ones keep the banter up even after they are together which is pretty rare but possible. So the banter itself is no problem here and it’s even pretty fun. I like that Risa and Otani can joke about being stolen by other people, insult each other, and generally still act like friends the whole time. The thing is, the series spends so much time on this before and after that I would say there are very few genuine romance scenes between them.

I was not convinced at all that Otani was actually in love with Risa by the end. I would also like to see Risa develop a little more trust in him by the end. A great way to do this would have been for her to not have gotten jealous of the classmate by the end. Maybe we could have dove into Otani’s mindset a bit more too. Early on he brings up my exact criticism which is that he just sees Risa as a friend. He really likes hanging out with her and would enjoy doing that for the rest of his life but that he had no romantic feelings for her. That’s pretty definitive, it’s hard for your mindset to suddenly change after that. Sure, it can but the series didn’t develop that well.

Which is ironic since this was a pretty long running romance title. That’s enough about the main duo though. We have the side characters to go through as well, who don’t have as much to do as I mentioned but they should be discussed. First up we have Suzuki who falls for Chiharu early on. He’s a rather timid guy and has a hard time talking about his feelings but he gets his courage up and the two of them really hit it off. Their romance is super peaceful and wholesome in comparison. They never insult each other to the point where he couldn’t even pretend to do this at Chiharu’s request. Chiharu is a super nice and quiet person as well who always does the right thing.

So…they’re both very nice but have virtually 0 personality. I couldn’t really tell you anything about their hobbies or anything like that. They never run into any obstacles or have any troubles. The next couple at least has some drama in Nobuko and Nakao’s pairing. Nobuko serves as Risa’s best friend and is usually sticking up for her when Otani goes too far or gives her advice when she feels Risa isn’t doing anything. Nakao basically just agrees with whatever she says and is always there to defend her. I like his loyalty and the guy is a fun character to have around. Most of his scenes are quick little moments in the background but they’re fun. I would say their plotline had a rather sad end to it.

Nobuko has to be gone for a while to take care of her grandmother and you’d think there would have been a way for Nakao to go with her. Sure he is loyal and can be trusted but that’s gotta just be annoying that they can barely see each other for the foreseeable future. He also had a really hard time talking to her about it which was definitely too timid. That’s when he needed to step up. Still, they were side characters who got to really contribute to the story.

Then we have Haruka who is Risa’s childhood friend. The guy is super tall and has lived all these years to get together with her. Thing is, she doesn’t even see him as a man so there is no chance of that. This character is super annoying because he refuses to accept reality and constantly tries to get together with her. He needs to take a hint and I didn’t like how Risa would always be humoring him. Yeah it’s a comedy but even so she should have shut him down instead of letting the guy continue to insult Otani to the end and try to steal her away one last time. This guy was super desperate.

We also have Mimi who is Otani’s childhood friend and it’s pretty much the same situation with her. She really wants to be with him but knows that she is really tall and not his type. She initially starts by being really tough with Risa and making the threats. Unfortunately Risa doesn’t really do anything about this. Eventually Mimi gets over the situation and stops being a villain but it was another subplot that didn’t make Risa look so good. I do tend to like the strategic characters like Mimi so she did a good job of keeping Otani in the dark all those years. It’s a shame that most of these best friends always turn out to have secret feelings but that’s how it goes I suppose.

Kohori is Risa’s coworker and does his best to get her to return his feelings. The guy comes across as desperate too though because he knows that she already has a boyfriend. Obviously once someone is taken, then that’s that. Instead he continues to try getting her into situations where she will go out with him. As a result you don’t really feel bad for the guy when he gets a lot of bad luck and is always losing out. It’s all played for laughs but yeah not much sympathy for a character like this.

Another character that you can’t really root for is Seiko. He’s one of those characters who moves on rather fast emotionally and crosses boundaries easily. He makes a move on both Otani and Kohori immediately without asking them anything. Stealing a kiss unprompted is always a terrible idea and something that can’t be encouraged or allowed at all. Mix in the fact that he dresses up as a girl and doesn’t tell anyone the truth until later and that creates even more problems. His scenes were definitely problematic from the jump. Anytime he was on screen you knew that someone was about to be in trouble.

You’ve also got Risa’s grandfather who shows up later on to cause some trouble. He really shows up out of nowhere to cause a ton of chaos. The fact that he was willing to work with dangerous people to break up Risa and Otani was crossing a huge line. At that point there was no going back for him. You just can’t retain any dignity after that. His reason for doing this was also super petty. The series tried to show that he did it because of what happened in his past and all but it doesn’t net any extra sympathy from me.

Finally we do have one really solid supporting character to end things off with, Mighty. Mighty is a substitute teacher that is stronger than all the guys and as a result all of the girls follow him. This guy knows how to wield power though and doesn’t succumb to temptations. He has a girlfriend after all and instead he uses his influence to help Risa and Otani out of some tough spots. This guy can always be depended on which is impressive since there is no real reason that he would actually have to help the other characters out. He’s just a good guy no matter how many times they call him shady and everything.

The art isn’t bad. It’s got a very old school vibe to it so in a way you feel the age of the series but the quality is on point. The characters are all easy to distinguish from each other and the series is easy to read which is the important thing. The visual gags like when the characters are smacking each other are also handled well. I wouldn’t say the series is ever laugh out loud funny but you’ll usually have a smile on your face. It is really upbeat despite all of the drama and I appreciate that.

Overall, Lovely Complex is an interesting series. I thought it did really well on the comedy front and the romance was the main part that was lacking. As you get deeper into the series you really start to get engaged by what’s happening but I wouldn’t say that it ever really gets past the negatives. It’s a perfectly reasonable title to check out and you will easily read through each volume but it could have used one or two more to make the characters a little better. You mainly end up feeling bad for Otani a whole lot throughout as it seems like Risa will always be causing a whole lot of drama. If you’re up for a light hearted rom-com that will last you for a while though, this one definitely won’t hurt. Like I said, it will definitely keep your interest the whole time.

Overall 5/10

Frankenstein Created Woman Review

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This poster is massive clickbait. The film is definitely not going in the direction of Frankenstein creating another monster. He does dabble in the souls business though and causes a whole lot of trouble. In the end this turns into a super annoying revenge thriller and so much time is spent on the villains. There is not a satisfying conclusion here and so in the end I have to give the whole production a massive thumbs down. It was just not in a good spot and I was not surprised since Frankenstein is rarely any good.

The film starts off with Hans’ father getting executed and he grows up with the reputation of being the son of a convicted criminal. Hans helps Frankenstein out in the lab, another guy who has been ostracized by society as a whole. Hans does a pretty good job of following the doctor’s lead and helping out when possible. He also liked a lady named Christina who helps her father out at the tavern. Unfortunately she is often picked on and harassed by the locals. One day Hans defends her and fights back so they get revenge by framing him so he is executed as well. Christina bumps herself off so Frankenstein revives her and puts Hans’ soul inside of her. What Frankenstein didn’t realize is that the spirit of vengeance demands blood! The ghost of Hans is now telling Christina that she must destroy all of the oppressors who framed him for death. Can she destroy them all before the cops catch up?

The 3 bullies are terrible characters so you’re totally cool with them being bumped off in painful ways each time. They really didn’t do much to convince you that they deserved anything better. That being said, this is still not helping the movie much because the whole thing is focused on a ton of negativity. It’s a shame how nobody was doing anything about this. Even Christina’s father was not really doing anything to defend her. I don’t care how rich these guys are, you can’t let them mess with your daughter like that. That’s just awful and you really can’t stand for that. The father was one of the worst characters as a result. Not the absolute worst since those 3 still have to take that but he was pretty bad.

I thought Hans could have done a much better job of defending himself to the judge too. You could at least say you weren’t at the scene of the crime if you don’t want to expose the relationship with Christina. Mentioning the relationship probably would have been a good idea though when death is the alternative as she doesn’t want him dead either. Dying definitely ended up breaking down his psyche with how crazy he got later on.

Also, the revenge is slightly less satisfying with Christina allowing the villains to have their way a bit first. Sure, she knows she will have the last laugh but I’d have preferred a much more direct approach where they don’t have a chance to really get any kind of quick victory. They just didn’t deserve to have any kind of positives here. I’m struggling to think of any real likable character in this movie to be honest. Frankenstein’s assistant Hertz knows a lot of dark secrets and never tells anyone. This is portrayed as him being a good friend but instead what it tells me is that he will always look the other way and that is absolutely not a good idea. When people are doing evil things, the right thing to do is to expose them. So yeah Hertz is compromised.

Also while Christina is really the victim of a lot of this, it doesn’t help that she murders herself twice. You feel bad for her and would have hoped that the film could have given her some kind of a happy ending. The whole thing just feels so mean spirited, like there is absolutely no hope out there. That’s really a big downer for the film as a whole. I wouldn’t say it really had any particularly happy segments, at least none that lasted for any real long period of time. Even Hans and Christina finally getting together couldn’t last because the villains were yelling through the window the whole time. That romance was a bit too rushed though and wasn’t needed.

So the movie is bogged down by lots of heavy violence, some fanservice, and generally being more of a depressing picture. Frankenstein makes for a good villain but he doesn’t appear as much as he should. I like that he’s the only character who can talk tough to everyone. Generally he isn’t afraid of anyone and has a really confident demeanor to him. This guy just keeps on going and it’s quite brilliant. You just can’t forget that he’s super evil here. At no point should you think he is sympathetic or heroic because he makes it clear just how many people he is willing to sacrifice for his experiments. He doesn’t even hesitate to let Hans get executed after all.

Overall, This is one of those films that goes all in on the shock value and doesn’t have much else to offer. This town would be absolutely dreadful to live in with pretty much all of the inhabitants being evil. They look forward to executions and look the other way when crimes are happening. None of these guys would be your friends and would backstab you in an instant. It’s also still weird to watch a Frankenstein film that doesn’t even have the monster at all. I suppose you can always do movies with just the scientist but the monster is typically the big draw. It’s why the poster had the girl version but that design never happens either. Instead this is more of a possession slasher movie. Either way it’s not like the movie would have been much better. I’m sure it would still be terrible so my best advice is to stay far away from this film. You really don’t want to get mixed up with this series. When you see Frankenstein in the title and particularly if it’s a Hammer film, run far away!

Overall 2/10