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All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 Review

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It’s time for Charlie and the crew to return to the front line one more time. You’d have expected that Charlie’s journey was over after dying but nothing can keep him down for long. The story works pretty well as a sequel with letting all the familiar faces show up. You’ve got some good action and adventure going on here. I’m not going to say that it’s a great film or anything like that but it will keep you entertained and is a fun film all the way around. I had no serious issues with it.

The movie starts off with showing us that Charlie isn’t very happy over in Heaven. He feels like things are just too peaceful and everyone acts too happy. What he wants is the hustle and bustle of Earth that he is used to. He gets his chance when Carface manages to steal Gabriel’s Horn and escapes back to Earth. There is no way to process the recently deceased now and this is only going to get worse. So reluctantly, Heaven sends Charlie back to the real world along with his friend Itchy to reclaim the horn and save everyone. This should be an easy task….except Charlie may not be eager to complete his mission. Oh yes he bumps into a girl dog named Sasha and her owner David. This may complicate things as well.

Charlie wasn’t exactly subtle about his intentions so it’s hard to blame him too much for not taking the mission all that seriously. I suppose the risk may have been low initially since he went as a ghost and couldn’t interact with anyone. Nobody had guessed that the villain Red would come up with collars that could allow Charlie to act as if he was still alive. Charlie still does the right thing when it counts but does need some prodding. In a sense you can say that he needs to personally care about the situation in order to really help. If Sasha wasn’t around then things could have gotten really rocky here.

Still, Charlie’s an entertaining character. His sheer experience and confidence is always fun to watch. He isn’t afraid of the big bouncers at the beginning of the film at all. (Granted, we find out later that he was invisible and intangible but it’s not like Charlie knew that)

His pal Itchy is stuck playing the straight man in all the jokes. He’s not really able to keep up with Charlie’s crazy antics. Itchy was really happy to stay in Heaven and just have a good time but was ultimately dragged into this whole situation thanks to Charlie. By the end Itchy is able to stick up for himself long enough to finally break away from Charlie and live his own life. The two will always be great friends but sometimes you still gotta go on different paths.

Carface isn’t one of the more interesting villains so fortunately he really plays second fiddle here. Obtaining the horn at the beginning was his biggest moment. After that it is really Red’s show all the way. Red makes for a more entertaining villain. He certainly should have been able to claim victory with the big lead he had but in the end you could say that he got a bit cocky. He does have an actual sinister design though so that was impressive. The character himself may not be super memorable but the design certainly helps quite a bit.

As for the heroine Sasha, I’d say she is a pretty decent character. I wish she could have looked tougher though. The film portrays her as the really tough type of heroine and she talks a good game to Charlie but doesn’t really show up as much when the chips are down. Just a few good scenes of her really taking down opponents would have been really good. Instead she’s mainly here to set up the romance which is not handled particularly well at all. Honestly the first impression with Charlie should have been enough to keep them from being an item at all.

She also has to look after David which limits her since he tends to be an annoying character. He ran away from home to be a magician so he seems rather delusional from the start. He’s young but you would still expect him to be a lot wiser with his choices. He definitely caused the parents a whole lot of worry throughout the movie and doesn’t really recognize that he made a mistake for a very long time. It’s not like his skills are all that bad. I liked the classic hiding the ball trick but he wasn’t even able to realize that Charlie’s trick was a whole lot more impressive. This kid has a long way to go.

The animation was reasonably good. I always like the hand drawn style since it is nice and colorful and tends to age well. The film is definitely very expressive the whole time and it is always moving at a really high speed. The soundtrack is more on the hit or miss side but I did like the villain theme. Those tend to always be a whole lot more impressive than the hero tracks here for some reason. The other songs just come across as a bit more generic or otherwise uninspired.

Now the film definitely has a lot of humor and isn’t taking itself super seriously so you should keep that in mind. That said, the film is pretty direct about this from the start. It still does have a body count just due to the nature of the film and there are some intense visuals. It may not be as intense as the first film but you don’t have to worry about this being a boring movie or anything like that. It still has a good script and Charlie is enough of a renegade to keep the film from being all goody goody or anything like that.

Overall, This sequel does a good job of continuing the story with the characters. It’s fun enough even if the film is not the kind of title that will stand out 10 years from now. It’s hard to imagine actually wanting to go back to Earth once you’re in Heaven but the film does portray Charlie as being really unique in that regard. I suppose there’s gotta be one guy who really wants to go the other way. If you really liked the way that the first film ended then you may not be a huge fan of this one on principle but beyond that it is a good standalone story.

Overall 6/10

Sniper 2 Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s still pretty crazy to think that the Sniper series has gotten so many movies. It just never seemed like the kind of franchise to break out in that way but hey that means more action scenes for me. This may seem surprising but the second film actually beats the first one. This one just jumps right into the action and doesn’t try to be as gritty as the first one. The heroes have a job to do and they just get right on it.

The movie starts out with Thomas being recruited by the army for one last mission as a sniper. He points out that he was let go because he lost some fingers in the first film but the army explains that they have nobody better. (Translation: They found someone expendable to put in a crazy dangerous mission!) So Thomas is sent abroad for the latest assassination and this time his partner is Jake. Jake was also a really good sniper but he ended up murdering one of his teammates and so he was taken to jail. If he clears this mission, he can get a pardon so that’s the incentive but Thomas has to be careful. This still might not be someone that he can really trust. That’s a tough doubt to have when you’re in a life or death situation.

Now what some may not like here is that a good chunk of the film actually has absolutely nothing to do with Thomas doing any sniping itself. They take down the main target really quickly. A lot of this ends up being running away from an enemy sniper. So you’re sort of flipping the script here. Thomas finds out that the government has been using him once again so now he has to help Jake get someone out of enemy territory but it won’t be easy. The enemies have a powerful sniper of their own who is really good at making high pressure shots.

There may be some issues where you have to suspend your disbelief quite a bit but that is normal for a thriller. The biggest instance of this absolutely has to be when the characters hijack a bus and then run through a bunch of cars. They break away to run from the enemy soldiers but you don’t see how they could have possibly escaped. Jake is captured quickly so we see that every soldier stops searching even though they knew that they were chasing two guys. Thomas just hides around the corner and nobody goes on to check. Seems a bit farfetched right?

In general you were always going to have a hard time trying to find a way for the two soldiers to go into a super urban environment, bump someone off and then escape. That’s hard to do and so the film doesn’t always make a convincing case for it. Still, the pacing is always good and this is a very explosive film. Someone is basically always shooting at the main characters here. Ultimately Thomas makes for a pretty good character here as well.

I thought the subplot about him not being able to see well would be a bigger deal but surprisingly that plot doesn’t matter after the opening shot. He is basically able to shoot and fight normally. He isn’t the kind of guy who talks too much and just gets the job done. That works pretty well for the main character and his experience really came in handy here.

As for Jake, well I can’t say that I liked his plan. It’s the kind of plan that usually has a 99% chance of failure. Somehow he was able to pull it off here thanks to plot armor and all but that doesn’t make it a good one. He was still a good ally to have and was much better than the spotter from the fist film. Jake is an actual professional who could hold his own in comparison. During the climax he takes down a ton of enemy combatants on his own.

The most annoying character has to be the guy that they are trying to rescue. He’s one of those classic pacifists who talks about how war is bad and everyone who participates in it is terrible. Yeah war is a bad thing of course but not every combatant is in on it. Thomas is here to try and make the world a better place and Jake is actively trying to save this guy. There are times when violence is necessary for the greater good and the absolute stance on how it’s bad is always a bad thing. Sure enough, this guy comes around by the end but it’s a bit late for that. It’s just such an obvious thing to realize that it shouldn’t be an actual twist or anything.

The main heroine here is Sophia and for most of the film I figured she would be the traitor. She is quite helpful and knows the best places to snipe from and where the villains will be at their weakest. Without her the main sniper duo would have had a much tougher time of it. Sophia ends up being a pretty solid character. Definitely someone who is taking an active role in this conflict as opposed to just sitting around watch. This whole adventure is happening in her country after all.

There isn’t much to Sniper 2 beyond being an action title so how much you enjoy it will depend on how much you like that premise. I don’t think it’s inherently a bad thing to be hyper focused like this. For the most part the film isn’t throwing a ton of twists at you and the formula follows a lot of what happened in the first film. When you see the plot description of the film you can guess a lot of what will happen from there. Not every individual twist but the general flow. The character cast is very small as well. If you’re watching for some good gunfights then you’ve come to the right place.

Overall, Sniper 2 is the definition of a classic action film. I thought the execution was pretty good to that end and had a good time watching the film. You won’t be bored or anything. The film can get violent at times but not nearly as much as the first one. This is more nonchalant about the battles so it doesn’t dwell for too long on any one scene. Naturally if you don’t enjoy films about war time situations and fights then you should skip this one but then there wouldn’t have been much to save it in general. I’m not sure I really see any future Sniper films improving further on the formula here but I’ll still be curious to see how they turn out.

Overall 6/10

Flight 7500 Review

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I think a problem that some slow burn films have is that you need to have a great payoff at the end. I love a good setup phase but if there is no big climax then you did something wrong. This film spends an incredible amount of time setting up the characters and establishing an eerie atmosphere only to have no real plan on how to deal with this. As a result we get a very underwhelming climax that will just leave you shaking your head.

The film starts by showing us a bunch of characters getting onto a plane. They are as unlikable as possible and I’ll get into them in a moment. Still, everyone just has to make it through the flight but unfortunately a guy starts bleeding and dies really quickly. There may be some contagion on board now and weird things begin to happen. Flickering lights, spirits and aberrations, etc. Maybe everyone is just getting a little stressed out? They need to simply survive until the end of the film…but will they?

Weird things happening is a fun setup here so we’re still in business. One of the big problems though is in making everyone so unlikable. I know this is usually a tool to help make sure you don’t mind seeing them all die but it feels like this tends to backfire most of the time. There is just usually not a good reason to do this and it does play a part in the film’s failure. Better characters could have really made a difference here.

First you’ve got Jake who doesn’t believe in the capitalist system and wants to steal as many things as possible. He will make money off the grid and live in whatever way he sees fit. No rules can stop him. This guy just looks out for himself and you can probably guess that he will be one of the first ones to go. He’s quite brazen about breaking protocol and there is just nothing good about him.

Then you have Lance who is acting strange the whole time and brings a big briefcase with him. You could blame a lot of the problems on this guy to be honest. He’s not as mean as some of the other characters but does give off a tough vibe from the start. Lance is clearly not here to talk to the other characters at all. Then there is Jacinta and at first it seems like the only bad thing about her is that she’s goth which is a little funny to be honest. Well, after that she does seem to be a little too into death like trying to feel some blood which will just spread the virus if that’s going around. Her speech to Rick also felt a little bit like she was starting to flirt with how their actions don’t matter or how good they were in life.

Definitely a terrible mindset to have. Of course I can’t give Rick any real points either. He just got married and yet he can’t help but stare at Jacinta the whole time? You have to absolutely do better than that. It doesn’t matter how pretty she may be or what her fashion sense is, he literally just got married. Come on now. Rick may not be as bad as some of the other characters but that was not a good look for him.

Meanwhile his wife Liz is constantly complaining about everyone. She panics a whole lot and just finds a way to find faults with everyone. She is never happy and is determined to make this flight a very long one for everyone. You wonder how she and Rick even got together in the first place based on their scenes. He must have really been desperate or she just changed a whole lot.

The staff isn’t free of fault either. One of the main hostesses is Laura and she is actively having an affair with the pilot Pete even though he is married. He has told her that he will get a divorce so they can be together forever and she actually bought this. Of course it doesn’t ultimately matter if that is true or not. He’s still married at the moment so both characters look terrible here.

Then you have Suzy who may by default be the most reasonable character here but even she is a bit iffy. She basically admits that she is only with her current boyfriend because he’s a safe bet. She actually still likes her ex a lot more and so the poor guy doesn’t even know this. That’s just tragic when you really think about it. Suzy probably has the roughest end though so you feel bad for her. When the monster goes after her, absolutely nobody makes a move to help her. They just run away which is insane. You can see how this character cast is completely unlikable right? There are other characters as well but you get the idea of it. The plane tends to feel pretty empty considering how many people are around as well and while this is for the twist later on, it is incredibly forced that nobody comments on this.

So what about the monster? Well, we never really get to see it. There are flashes and you might see an arm but for the most part even by the end you don’t really get a full shot. You’re waiting for things to start happening after all the ominous moments but there is absolutely no payoff. The film has a big twist at the end but it’s just so lame. It’s one of those twists that just seems to exist but there is no reason for it.

It’s a boring ending and I wanted something more direct. The film leads us on with a Shinigami doll so you’re expecting an actual figure for them to fight but that’s not the case. It feels like a Shyamalan and certainly not one of the good ones. The film loses all momentum here and also becomes another one of those titles where everything was pointless. Thanks to the twist, nothing ever really mattered. Every action the characters took was futile and that’s always going to be a sore spot for me. You need to write these things in a way where the actions matter or else the viewing won’t be satisfying, let alone a rewatch.

Overall, I would say this is a movie you will want to skip out on. It’s just not a good title. The film really ends on a whimper and almost forgets that it is supposed to be a horror film by the end. You do get some unnerving visuals although I would say they tend to just be more on the gross side like the one guy who was bleeding a lot. We have a jump scare early on and then the film starts to abandon that as well. It just feels like there was no big plan here so in the end everything just fell apart. It’s a shame because a plane is a great place for a horror moment considering that there is no way out. Better luck next time I suppose.

Overall 4/10

Final Fantasy IX Review

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It feels good to be playing through all of the mainline Final Fantasy titles like this. Final Fantasy IX is definitely one of those great games that has withstood the test of time. The game’s length is impressive and also delivers on great gameplay and a solid story. At the end of the day there is nothing to worry about as it delivers on every aspect of what you would want a video game to do. I highly recommend playing through this one whenever you have the chance.

The story introduces us to Zidane who is a wandering thief. He works with a fake theater troupe who go around robbing from kingdoms and doing whatever they want. Their latest plan is to kidnap princess Garnet but the twist occurs when Zidane finds out that she wants to be kidnapped. Well, the end result is the same now so he manages to get her away from the kingdom where her mother is trying to take over the world or some reason. She even intends to harm princess Garnet so Zidane will need to protect her. He may have finally found the love of his life so his days of being a flirt may be over.

The gameplay is more of a classic Final Fantasy than the last one. You still have active turns so you can’t think for too long about what you want to do but you also don’t have to worry about enemies auto scaling to your level. If an opponent is too difficult then you can run around fighting minions for a while to get your groove back. You learn skills based on your weapons and if you win enough battles then you will master the ability and won’t lose it when you switch weapons. For this reason, I actually didn’t learn the ability to flee a battle until later in the game. It worked out though since it forced me to fight a lot and gain a ton of EXP in the process.

There is a new mechanic in the game known as stealing though. As Zidane, you use this to take something from enemies which is often a potion or some kind of status item. Bosses can drop some really good equipment though so I recommend using this when needed. Also if you use the ability around 700 times then you will be able to use a move that does the max amount of damage possible in the game. (9999) You will need a special piece of equipment to use this but can get is decently early on through synthesis.

I aimed to use steal as much as possible but in the end I didn’t use it enough for the technique to be handy before I completed the game. So maybe this tip isn’t actually all that useful. The main character really his like a tank in normal gameplay anyway so you should be fine. The game is definitely difficult the way any good RPG should be so you will definitely need to stop and train sometimes.

Fortunately the PS5 version lets you speed up the game by 3X so that makes the battles fast. Some of the animations are quite long so otherwise it would have taken longer. The game also has other options like an instant win mode but using those would be as if you weren’t even playing the game so I wouldn’t recommend that. You still want a feeling of pride and accomplishment from completing the title after all.

Meanwhile the graphics are definitely really good. They went all out on the big budget animations but even the in game graphics are really good. The game decides to show off near the very end by doing a long action segment while using the sprites instead of the CG models. Basically the game looks really good at all times. The soundtrack is also really good. I really enjoyed the battle theme. It was a solid remix from previous games and had an excellent start.

I also liked the main boss theme which was really catchy and Kuja had a good theme too. What really stood out was the final boss theme. Like the Jenova theme from FFVII, it starts out slow and then really comes alive. When you hear that fast paced tune come on, it really changes the whole dynamic of the fight. It just gets you really hype the whole time. It felt climactic as the ending should go.

The main game should take you over 30 hours and there is plenty of replay value here. You’ve got a lot of characters to challenge to card fights and tons of side quests and islands to explore. Getting the Platinum for this game would really be quite the ordeal. The trophies don’t exactly look hard but are definitely very hard. You’ll be here for a very long time so you’ve really got a tremendous amount of bang for your buck. It’s what every Final Fantasy fan looks forward to after all.

Then even if you’re just here for the story, it’s a masterpiece as always. Characters have to deal with their origins and what it really means to be alive. You have several fake outs for different characters as well as who the main villain is. A lot of characters all have their own agendas and are given moments to shine. This also may be Bahamut’s best game ever. He is treated as an unstoppable force and while he does get power creeped later on, his initial appearance is crazy hype. You’ve even got a big romance going on here if that’s your thing.

The game also balances the quality of life features well. At first you have to run everywhere, then you get a boat to speed things up, and finally you get a high speed airship. The game makes travelling fun and allows it to get easier as you go through the game. So this was a game that really thought of the player at all times and those little things really matter. There’s also a ton of variance in the kinds of builds you can have with your characters. So your gameplay experience may drastically differ from someone else’s even when using the same characters. You get to fight the way that you want to.

Overall, Final Fantasy IX is definitely an elite game. You’ll realize that early on from just how much fun it is and that feeling never really dies. With this I’ve played well over half of the mainline Final Fantasy titles which definitely feels good. I’m not all the way there yet of course but still making progress. If the long length worries you, I’d just say to pace yourself. A long game is a good thing because it gives you more time to learn about the characters.

Overall 8/0

Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez DELUXE Finals Arc Review

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Cardfight Vanguard has had so many seasons at this point and yet I still remain impressed every time. There are very few franchises that can pull off this kind of high level consistency time and time again. This whole season is for the final rounds of the tournament so you can be sure that there will be a lot of action in just about every episode. This is an elite climax to this phase of the tournament so I can safely say that Cardfight fans are eating well here.

When it comes to the storyline…well there’s not much to say. The top 8 Cardfighters in the world are competing in order to win the championship. Each of them have their own motivations for winning the tournament. They range from just wanting to win, to defeat an old rival, to become a pro, etc. There can only be one winner though and there are no cop outs here. So you have to strap in and see how it goes.

Another thing I really enjoy about Cardfight is that it’s one of the only shows that can pull off an upset. In 99.9% of fiction you immediately know who will win a big fight based on the narrative. You can have a good time watching a fight like Gojo vs Sukuna, Goku vs Jiren, and Godzilla vs the military but at the end of the day you’re generally going to know who is going to win because of the situation. If it’s near the end of a series/movie, well the hero has to win. Not 100% of the time but you’re generally going to be able to guess. Well, Cardfight has uprooted that notion in the past and this season does that as well as my bracket of predictions was essentially tossed out the window.

It was really cool to see and also made the tournament feel a bit more realistic in that regard. Anyone can win a given Cardfight. That’s part of the appeal of the sport, it all comes down to your strategy with the cards that you are dealt. From that point on, anything is possible. Now if you want the end of the world stakes, you’ll have to wait for the next season. The very ending does give you a glimmer of what’s to come and it looks hype. Cardfight is able to nail the sports genre and the end of the world genre so it’s all good by my book.

By this point you should be pretty well acquainted with the animation. If you liked it in the previous seasons then you will like it here as well. I thought it looked pretty sharp and smooth the whole time. It’s not necessarily improved from last season but continues to hold its own. Then we have the soundtrack which is solid as always. Every character has their own tune and there is quite a lot of variety here. I tend to like all of the themes to a degree with some of course being at a higher tier than others.

Now there are a ton of guest star characters from previous seasons. You’ve got old main characters from tons of past seasons in attendance for the tournament. Mainly I’ll be focusing on the people actually involved in the tournament or someone who gets a big duel like Yu-Yu. Yu-Yu has been retired for a long while now as he became a fashion designer but it was still fun to see him duel. It would be nice to see a prior protagonist take a more active role someday though. I always felt that even Aichi wasn’t done full justice when he returned in G. Likewise, I would like to see Yu-Yu fighting to save the world at some point. He is still a skilled duelist though.

The first big battle is between Kagetsu and Ruka. Kagetsu was introduced in the last season as one of the most powerful duelists in history. His skills are incredible and so it was interesting to see him set up against Ruka, a character with the same levels of hype. In fact, Ruka actually defeated him in the past and then she vanished for a while. She gets a lot of backstory in this one and we really find out more about her motivations. She just doesn’t like to be tied down and considers dueling to be something that is always done for fun.

I can appreciate her easy going personality and she’s a fun character to root for. I was rooting for her over Kagetsu but it was close either way. I liked Kagetsu as well but miss his more fiery self from the flashbacks. He has really gone into full on adult mode by this point so he doesn’t typically how as much emotion as he used to. Of course only one character could move on from here and neither of them had very large ambitions outside of the matchup.

Then the next fight was Michiru vs Mirei. It was surprising to see Mirei make it this far into the bracket. She was always known as a powerful fighter but not usually someone you would expect to be in the top 8. Mirei is essentially playing with house money at this point so every extra win will feel good. Meanwhile Michiru is still trying to find fun people to duel against. His goal is simple but always a good one. I was never able to buy into the hype though. He as strong but there are so many characters who were set up to be the strongest that he just folded next to them. It didn’t help that he lost one of his first important duels in the series.

After that we have Suo vs Erika. Erika quickly became one of my favorite characters in the series when she debuted. Her goals of trying to save the future were definitely good ones and she took the necessary actions. Her story is still rather tragic as she had to give up on living with her family so as to avoid any time inconsistencies. I don’t really think that would have been a problem to be honest but in the end she changed her name and aims to become a pro. Winning this tournament will really help her reach that goal.

Meanwhile Suo aims to win to continue polishing his skills. He likes a good duel after all and his powers of darkness as potent as ever. He is not someone who will be going down easily. He doesn’t have much of a story arc going on right now but he’s not a bad character. I always thought he made for a more interesting antagonist than hero though. It is fun to see a hero command the powers of darkness but the cast is so large that he doesn’t really stand out.

Finally we have Akina vs Megumi. Akina is the main character of the series after all so you would expect him to be getting a lot of action. He certainly has a high degree of skill as you would expect. He’s still one of the heaviest hitters on the block. He aims to be a pro so that’s why he has to win this tournament. He can’t afford to lose and fall behind on his dreams. Akina has been a well balanced main character who steps up when needed. He really wants to enjoy his duels and fight at full power throughout but knows to turn it up when the stakes are high.

As for Megumi, she is one of the last fighters of the old era. She has long tried to become one of the world’s strongest but there were always obstacles in her way. Danji is not in this tournament so this is really her best chance to win it all. Will she really be able to pull it off? Well it won’t be an easy task. Megumi is a fun character and at times she does show some fire but I wish she would show this off more often. That would really make her stand out as a fighter.

Then when the first rounds are completed, the semi finals start and then the finals. There are a few intermission episodes in between there but for the most part every episode is about a big battle like this. Since the season already starts off with the top 8 beginning, the show does not have to hold off on the epic nature of the battles from the start. Episode 1 is already dialing things up on a high level. You really can’t go wrong with tournaments.

Between the upset victory and all of the characters being likable, there is really no reason not to love this show. As long as you enjoy the game of Cardfight, then I’d say you will have a really good time here. I’d say to make it even more fun, try and pick someone to root for in every matchup. It makes the duels more exciting when you have a dog in the race. You may expect the main character Akina to win all of his matches but aside from his, you can still have fun betting on the other matches. Everyone has some kind of motivation on why they want to win their fight after all. The motivation you identify with the most can help you make your choice.

There are definitely several moments of foreshadowing for the next season as well. You have a brand new character who seems to be quite powerful and she makes some cryptic statements here. Then at the very end you see the brand new villain. So this helps build the hype even more in addition to the tournament itself. This might end up being the final tournament we get but I wouldn’t mind one more. Something really huge with all of the key characters across each season participating. You’d probably need 24 episodes for that at the least and will have to skip through some fights but I want to see Tohya get back into the picture.

If there is an issue with the series, it would just be that the cast is so large that some of your favorites won’t have time to do anything. At this point it is completely impossible to balance them all in 12 episodes. So each season has to choose some core characters and then ditch the rest. Fortunately there are enough good characters where you should still have a bunch to root for. At least that’s the way I see it. I really enjoyed seeing Erika here but it’s likely that she won’t be doing much at all in the next season. Getting two seasons in a row would be a bit greedy of me to expect.

Each season always adds some new characters as well so I’ll be looking forward to seeing what the new villains are like. Hopefully we should be getting some really serious power creep in here. Akina is definitely ready for action, we’ll have to see if the other characters can follow suit. With the pro leagues close by, it does feel like this saga is coming to a close though. I hope they have a new installment ready to follow it up right away though.

Overall, This was another top tier season and I would definitely recommend checking it out. I’m eager to also get back to the end of the world stakes as well though. Cardfight really excels at both sides of the coin here. If you aren’t watching Cardfight yet then you really need to change that. It’s really amazing how far the series has come. I may bring this up in every season review but the first season in the latest timeline was so rough that I had doubts on the series recovering. Well, it certainly did that in spades. I can essentially expect every season to be a 9 star experience which is really insane.

Overall 9/10

Horimiya Review

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Horimiya is one of those titles where I was always a bit skeptical of the main romance. When I read it through the manga, I was really not convinced. Hori could also be a bit weird with what she was into which didn’t help matters either. That doesn’t really factor in here until the end of the series. Ultimately it’s a fun title but more for the humor and the banter. The romance itself is going to have to be a little more on the weak side. I suppose it does work better than the manga though.

The series starts off by introducing us to Hori who is a really popular girl at school. She has plenty of friends and a lot of the guys all have crushes on her. What they do not know is that she has to take care of her little brother all the time and basically transforms into mom mode while she is at home. One day she ends up running into the shyest kid in school, Miyamura while she is taking care of the kid. Miyamura and Souta (little kid) get along really well and so he starts to come over. He’s also quite different outside of school as he has to hide all his piercings and such while there. A romance begins to blossom, but can they really hide it from their classmates? Should they even bother hiding this?

The contrast from the most popular to least popular students meeting up is certainly a classic one and that’s really what the series is going for here. Thanks to Hori, Miyamura is eventually able to make a lot of friends of his own here. They both have their friend groups with a lot of overlap between the two and so their school days become a lot more fun. The show has to move pretty fast with setting up the romances and development so the pacing here is really fast.

So lets talk about the good parts first. The animation is definitely solid. The colors are sharp and there is always a lot of movement. It all really stands out and gets a lot of credit there. The soundtrack is more on the bland side. It’s not bad or anything but you won’t be humming any of the songs later on. They are good but definitely not game changers. The openings also don’t sound as fast paced and intense as you might have expected.

Horimiya is a pretty fun series where the humor really stands out. I definitely tend to enjoy any scene where her father Kyousuke shows up. Some titles may go a bit too far with the slapstick but I would say this one has a good balance. Hori may throw him around a lot but is still happy to have him around. On the serious note, you do feel like he could have done a better job of being in her life. So there is a lot of resentment in the background as well but at the end of the day his scenes tend to be really funny. He’s able to play a lot of roles depending on when he needs to be serious or not.

Good humor will always get you far in a show like that. Hori’s mom gets far less to do this time around but it’s clear that she has been really supportive and helped get Hori this far. Without her it would have been much more difficult in the early years. Each of the characters contribute to the fun banter and humor of the show though. I’m not saying every joke is going to land but more often than not you can bop along with the jokes.

The weakest plot is Hori wanting Miyamura to be more assertive. This goes back to why I was not the biggest fan of their relationship. Basically she wants him to get upset at her more and even hit her. She’s into some really trippy stuff and he does his best to accommodate her but naturally this is a bit out of his wheelhouse. It felt like a less persistent plot than in the manga but you will be wincing a bit at that. Their dynamic is a whole lot better when that isn’t a factor.

Aside from that plot, Hori is definitely a good main character here. I find it rare to have the main heroine be such a popular person in these romance shows. Usually if anything you would see that from the guy right? It helps allow for more fresh dynamics and she never wavers either. Miyamura is the guy she likes and she doesn’t show real interest in the others. This allows her to have lots of friends without things getting awkward or anything like that.

I definitely appreciated this. Additionally, looking after Souta every day shows how responsible she is. Hori never complains about any of that and managed to still have a really good social life. Now that is impressive I gotta say. As for Miyamura, well he is more of a mixed bag. On one hand, you can definitely see how he had a tough time of things. The guy used to be bullied and then hanging out by himself only served to double down on the issue and everyone left him alone. Thanks to Hori he makes a lot of friends and he’s generally a good person.

In general the only tricky thing for him is how he treats his old best friend: Shindo. Now like I mentioned with Kyousuke, you have to walk a tight line between the humor being funny or just a bit mean spirited. I feel like the dynamic with Sanada always went a little too far. He was Miyamura’s only friend from back in the day and I feel like that should mean a lot. Sanada would look out for him and Miyamura’s past would have been a lot tougher without him. Sanada is just a good dude and while he makes a whole lot of mistakes, it would have been nice to have had a few genuine scenes where Miyamura acknowledged his friendship.

Ah well, Sanada is doomed to be a pure comedy character. Either way I liked him quite a bit and he’s one of the highlights here. Ultimately Miyamura is still a good character too. Even if I have that issue with him, it doesn’t take away from the fact that he is generally there for his friends. While his romance with Hori can get a little odd, there are still no rebounds or anything like that. It is still a romance that I can actually get behind as a result.

The main couple aren’t the only characters with more than one face though. We also have Iura who plays the class clown at school but is then the responsible older brother at home. In a way that’s similar to Hori although she isn’t the comic relief like that. I definitely empathize with Iura’s character the most because these are roles he has to play for a long stretch of time. It’s just easier to play the clown as you can stay relaxed at school and then save the energy for later on. He does a good job of always defending his sister and making sure that she’s okay.

He gets one main episode/segment to himself when helping his sister study and it was a really good episode. Iura is technically around all the time but we rarely get to see a whole lot of him so that was handled well. Then we have Tooru who initially liked Hori but never really stood a chance with Miyamura around. Perhaps he should have made his feelings plain earlier although it wouldn’t have ended up making a difference. He ends up being rather popular anyway with two different characters liking him.

You could even say that his plot is a whole lot more dramatic than the actual main romance. Ultimately he needed to be more confident and stop taking a backseat at every turn. He’s a good guy and takes the loss well so I can respect that. He ends up moving past his initial feelings to be a good friend. That’s not always easy but he pulled it off. Then you have Yuki who is Hori’s best friends and has confidence issues of her own. Mainly she just overthinks things too much. She spends a lot of time helping others out but not really taking into account that she should be looking out for herself as well.

Yuki makes for a good friend although I would have preferred if the show didn’t throw her into the romance drama. It feels like Chika from Kaguya Sama is the only sidekick character to escape all of that. I’d rather Yuki have just been one of the gang rather than jumping into the whole mess. Ultimately she gets a whole lot to do in the series and has to confront her own feelings on more than one occasion. It was not an easy journey but she made it and I would say that she is probably the best out of the heroines.

Then you have Sengoku who grew up with Hori and really got terrorized by her for a very long time. He’s a fun character but you feel bad for him after a while. Hori definitely gave him a bit of a complex and the poor guy can never move forward without being reminded of the past. It makes sense why he would gravitate towards Remi who is basically the opposite of Hori. Remi s way more traditionally girly and gives Sengoku a chance to act a bit more manly. Remi doesn’t always think things through and gets people in trouble like in the opening episode. That first instance made her and Sengoku both look a little rough with how aggressive they were being but they managed to rebound after that. Their romance plot isn’t bad but when neither character is particularly aggressive, you have to be ready for more of a slow burn.

Sakura is a classic case of a character who is too timid and waits until her only possible result in love is defeat. I actually think she had a real shot at landing her guy if she had been direct. Ultimately she beat around the bush too much and it cost her big time. She’s not my kind of character as I would prefer her to have been a lot more outgoing but baking the cookies and such was still a bold move. Then we have Yanagi who is probably the most pointless character in the show. His eyesight’s not that great and removing him from the show wouldn’t change much.

In a way he’s just a stepping stone to get Yuki’s plot to move around. Otherwise he doesn’t have a ton of agency of his own although maybe that’ll change in the next season. I don’t remember too well if he had other stories. Tanihara is a former bully who gets a big redemption arc so he was a lot more important. Ultimately it took time but he was able to get a good connection with Miyamura. A plot like that shouldn’t move too fast so I thought they did a good job on the balance there.

Finally there is Sawada who is a fun character. She gets a good fake out early on and from there continues to be one of the more endearing characters. Sawada is an example of a fun character who gets a lot of good humor but also does have a very serious plot of her own going on in the background. She doesn’t appear as much as you would expect but always manages to be a fun wild card in the dynamic. She can get some good banter with any of the characters even though she initially has to get past some fears.

The cast of characters is wide and varied with a lot of fun ones in there. That’s a key part for any comedy like this. A slice of life show will only be as good as its characters. The show also stays classy and mainly avoids any issues with fanservice and the like. Horimiya has confidence in its character writing to get the job done and so that works out. As for the romance, it can be a bit touch and go depending on the plots. I would say this isn’t the strongest romantic show but it is far better than others. So that’s why it stays fully in the green as a show.

Overall, Horimiya is a pretty fun show. It’s impressive how much they covered in a single season. Yes, the pacing will feel fast but Hori and Miyamura basically get together early on and then they still have time to hang out. The show balances 3-4 different romance plots along with backstories and everything. So it’s all crammed in and you will feel like you saw about 20 episodes. The character developments are important and so this is a show with good production values that I can recommend to anyone. Hori is a great driving force throughout the series as a proactive heroine who knows what she wants and has better communication skills than most of the classic anime characters you will see. The show fully delivers on its share of funny and emotional moments.

Overall 7/10

War Hunt Review

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This is one of those films that really gets into the nitty gritty of how war can really change a person. The soldiers involved in this war are really brought to the brink with one of them completely cracking. Although the film leaves the door open on if he was already broken before the term even started or if the service just widened the gap here.

The film takes place near the end of the Korean war. They are all hoping for peace but in the meantime the US army is tasked with making sure that they don’t lose any ground and that Korea really feels their muscle. Each day without a peace treaty is supposed to feel painful. The main character here is Loomis and he has been assigned to a new squad. Everything seems normal at first, except for on guy named Endore. He routinely goes outside at night on solo missions and seems a little off. Loomis quickly finds out that he is going around murdering enemy soldiers…but what can he do about this?

Now you may be wondering what the issue is. Well, there’s a big difference between taking down enemy soldiers mid combat vs seeking them out at night for private executions. Especially with the war winding down. Endore even runs around their dead bodies for some kind of weird ritual and the whole thing seems crazy. Unfortunately the only advice Loomis gets is to stay away from Endore. Yeah…that’s not very helpful now is it? It’s not like Loomis is a captain after all so he doesn’t have much power.

Adding onto the previous issues is the fact that he ends up twisting his foot and is out of action for a bit. Loomis completely froze up during his first fire fight and had to be saved by Endore. Things really couldn’t get much worse for the lead. Meanwhile there is a kid named Charlie who shows up by the camp. Loomis tries to be friends with him but Endore gets in the way as he doesn’t want Charlie to be having any fun. He seems to be training him as a future soldier of war.

It’s all a rather grim state of affairs. Even when the war is just about over, you still have more characters dying. It’s a mix of letting their guards down and just the tough luck of war. Until things are actually resolved, there is always going to be some danger. The captain did his best to stress this but it still didn’t result in a perfect outcome. You definitely can’t say that the film was trying to glamorize the war at all.

This movie is fairly quick so it all goes by rather quickly. After all there is only one-two main fights here and most of it is about the characters just trying to survive. At one point the Koreans launch a fairly big offensive where they just start bombing everything. They unleash massive amounts of firepower while Loomis and the other soldiers have to hunker down. It’s a tough mental battle as well because you don’t know when the enemies will run out of ammo and stop firing.

I think this probably would have been enough story to fill in the plot but I suppose adding in the crazy soldier helped to add more explosive drama in. It’s really hard to deal with a villain on your side during war time. There just isn’t any time to worry about that. The captain did good in taking decisive action when he had to. Loomis was yelling at him to stop and all but that was a moment of kill or be killed. I don’t believe there was any time to waver there even if it did result in another death. It was regrettable but his hand was forced at that point.

It just would have been nice if they could have saved the kid as well. I don’t think the orphanage life would have been great but Loomis was right that it would still be worlds better than trying to survive in the middle of nowhere on a war torn path. At least the kid would have had a chance and could have learned how to be a kid after that was stolen away from him. Letting Charlie remain in the wilderness definitely added onto the tragedy of the story. Made this into a full on sad ending rather than being ambiguous.

I was surprised that Loomis didn’t really have a big final scene though. After he froze during the first battle, I kind of thought that he would be the one to land the final shot. Show that he was now ready for what war entailed and that could be the mixed message about how war changes everyone in some way. Instead he was mostly helpless at the end anyway. I know it was a tough moment so I’m not trying to blame him too much but he really never got to step up.

Overall, I would definitely recommend War Hunt. It’s a pretty good film. It’s intense without being exploitive or anything like that. You can understand the grim tone and what has happened to the characters without the movie having to go all out in spoon feeding the answers to you. I would also say that the short length of the movie helps prevent it from dragging on. I don’t think you would have benefitted much from an extra 30 minutes as it would have really just been more detailed moments for the plots you already had at the ready.

Overall 6/10

Bye Bye Birdie Review

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The secret trick to a romantic comedy is to forget all about the romance and just make a good comedy. That will work in most situations because that’s actually why the audience is around. Unfortunately this film forgot to really work on the comedy so you’re left with a film that’s just more annoying than anything. It ended up being weaker than I had expected it to be and so this is a film that I would definitely recommend you to skip. The song is also extremely bad.

The film starts off with one of the most obnoxious songs you’ll ever hear. It’s just so extremely slow that just getting through the first few sentences is rough. Fortunately it doesn’t make a big comeback in that exaggerated way again until the end of the film. The plot here is that the legendary singer Birdie has been drafted to the army for a while and everyone is really torn up about this. They will give him a chance to sing one last time before going and for extra publicity he will be kissing one of his fans. They select a girl named Kim who tells her boyfriend that she will be cheating on him but just once so he shouldn’t mind. He’s not thrilled about this but has no self respect and so he reluctantly gets on board. Will all this publicity end up being a curse to the small town in Ohio?

Now you do need to keep in mind that this is primarily a comedy. So you’re going to be hearing a lot of crazy things here but they are portrayed in a much lighter way than they sound. That’s fine, it makes sense but these jokes can be really hard to pull off. You absolutely need top tier execution and the film just didn’t have that so all the characters just look really bad.

First off we have Birdie. He’s one of those guys who just lost his mind due to all the fame and is a total jerk now. He gets drunk and is always running around to cause trouble. His role’s actually not as big as you’d expect though. He’s basically just here to be annoying and cause a lot of trouble for everyone. Hopefully being in the army will help get him into shape and make him a productive member of society. It’s a lot to ask for…but hey it could end up happening.

Then we have Albert who has been dating his secretary Rosie for a while but doesn’t have the guts to tell his mother Mae. As a result he just lets her do whatever she wants, including insulting Rosie directly. Albert has been gaslighting Rosie into thinking that he will confront Mae for a very long time now and it’s never happened. Albert just wants to be famous with his own song but nothing is working out for him. Ultimately Rosie runs off to go flirt with a bunch of guys to make Albert jealous. In the end things eventually work out but Albert looks really bad for the whole adventure. You need guts to make it in Hollywood and so it’s easy to see why he has been struggling.

Meanwhile Rosie needed to have moved on earlier. It’s clear that Albert is not the kind of guy to fight for her and that’s a huge red flag. In a way, part of why he succeeded in the end is because Mae had a rather sudden character arc. If not for that then things could have still been really dicey. I don’t see how Rosie would want to pursue things at that point. I would also say that she really hurt herself in deciding to get drunk and flirty. Immediately looking for a rebound is not a good idea.

As for Mae, well she makes for a good antagonist. The transparent guilt tripping worked well here and I like that she wasn’t very subtle. She didn’t like Rosie and made that known right away. The film needed a good antagonist and she filled that role well. She dominated Albert and Rosie throughout the whole film so they could definitely use some lessons from her on how to stick up for themselves.

Then we have Kim who is unfortunately the weakest character in the film. In a way her character arc hits the hardest because it’s not a completely unpopular opinion the way that it should be. She figures that a quick moment with a celebrity doesn’t count and her boyfriend shouldn’t be so insecure. It’s an advanced class in gaslighting since obviously this is a big deal. She also makes such a big deal about getting kissed by Birdie that it makes the boyfriend look even worse. If Kim was a good character she would have declined the invite right from the start.

Cheating is cheating no matter the circumstance or setting that it is in. Naturally her boyfriend’s decision here is to go rebound with another girl. It’s really incredible how quickly characters will just move on from their current “love” to the next one. Maybe their relationship wasn’t so serious then right? He just comes off like a sucker for most of his appearances and how easily Kim is able to talk him out of his doubts each time.

Kim finally has doubts at the last second but it’s way too late for that. Everyone swooning over Birdie just look bad as well. It’s all just too much even if that’s how things could be back in the day. You need a whole lot more balance than that. All of this could have still worked out if the film was really funny but it wasn’t hitting the right feels here. I needed some good banter or something like that but we never got those scenes. The best moments may have been with Kim’s father and his desperation for fame but even those moments were hit or miss.

Sometimes he was just a little bit too much with how whiny he was. So it really depended on the moment and jokes can easily get overplayed. I think this film could have been a whole lot better if it could just execute the jokes more seamlessly. Of course, that’s easier said than done without any examples. One plot change to make this work would be to change the dynamic so that Albert and Rosie were constantly fighting over who should propose to the other one first. Then that could leave room for more banter and not make Albert look quite as bad in how he was on the back foot during the whole film.

Overall, Bye Bye Birdie was a miss on this one. I had my doubts as soon as the first shot of the movie came in. The rest of it just had a mix of weak characters, fanservice, and not enough humor to really get the movie over the hump. As a result this one definitely lost out on all sides. Better luck next time and all that. You can do a lot better with old time rom-com films so I would recommend looking one of those up instead.

Overall 4/10

The Way We Were Review

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Time for what is apparently a legendary romance film but I am left thinking that it is incredibly overrated. This is one of those jaded romance films where everyone acts absolutely terrible and the characters would have been better off staying single. You gotta wait for the perfect marriage and settling early will usually end up in this kind of scenario. The ending is saddest for the rebounds who are really stuck as being an after thought.

The movie starts off by introducing us to two characters. Katie who is openly joining communist groups and has very unpopular political opinions and Hubbell who basically just enjoys his life and doesn’t think about politics much. We get a lot of contrasting scenes in the beginning where Katie is basically miserable for decades as she makes politics her whole life while Hubbell is having a blast trying out a ton of hobbies. It is a really striking contrast right there. Well, in the present Hubbell is serving a term in the army while working on his books while Katie works in more of a live radio setting while still doing her protests. They meet up again and decide to get together. Can their physical attraction to each other get past all of the numerous red flags that stay in the way?

Usually the answer to that question is going to be no. The reason is because passion can fade over time. Usually one or both people are going to have reduced drives over the years, they will get older and less attractive, etc. There are whole memes about why this is a bad idea and that’s why you can’t fall for someone on physical attraction alone. That’s what crushes and one night stands are made of. A true love goes beyond that to personality and really loving every part of the other person. That doesn’t have to be literal of course as it can be 90% or something even if that’s not ideal. The problem is that these two tick each other off from the start.

For Katie, it’s clear that her politics have a higher place than Hubbell. She feels like his positions and attitude towards current events are wrong and so she would be compromising by not standing up in defiance every time. That is already a dealbreaker. When your side is right and the other is “wrong” then you won’t have true synergy at that point because now you have yourself on a higher pedestal. She doesn’t even try to analyze her worldview and just makes a scene at every party and event. Katie won’t be quiet about this and moreover she will lecture everyone else.

Katie was absolutely not fun at parties. Now, parties aren’t for everyone but if you’re going to marry someone who loves being at parties, then that’s not going to be a good development. Often times people aren’t going to change a whole lot for marriage. She put herself in a bad position and as the film goes on, her position gets worse and worse until there was really no hope left except to go grab a rebound guy to take care of the kid and go from there which is naturally another bad decision.

Meanwhile, as drastic as Katie was, Hubbell is decidedly worse. He is the one who decides to go and cheat on her. Ultimately while fans of his character can try to come up with a number of excuses, the truth is that there are none. Cheating is breaking the covenant of marriage completely. That is much more serious than fights here and there or disagreements. He already made the oath of for better or worse after all. So as annoying as Katie was, Hubbell was the one in the wrong here and ends up being the worst character here.

He ultimately goes for a rebound later on as well. As the ending shows though, Katie and Hubbell still like each other and are basically only kept apart thanks to social customs. It makes the situation even worse for their new partners because they are clearly second fiddle and this comes close to emotional cheating. So that is why both of the main characters are just really terrible the whole time so you can’t root for any of them. The film doesn’t try to hide this though.

The first time they get together is when Katie took advantage of Hubbell while he was extremely drunk and didn’t know what was happening. If the roles were reversed this film would have really been seen as pushing the envelope back in the day. It’s just a terrible way for their relationship to start. Yeah Hubbell made a lot of bad decisions to put himself in that position but Katie was the one to take advantage of this. It is played up in a romantic and even comedic way afterwards but it was a rough scene.

So with the romance already in the toilet, could the film come back from that? Well, this isn’t a comedy so you don’t really have the laughs to balance it out. Instead you have more drama like a bunch of Hollywood figures being taken to court and that puts more friction on the relationship. What I can say for the film is that the pacing’s pretty decent. I didn’t think that the film dragged on or anything even with the characters not being fun. So I think that is definitely a credit to the movie.

By the end of the film it’s hard to say who is having a more enjoyable life. Katie continues to fight a losing battle of talking to the masses but at least has the knowledge that she will never compromise on her beliefs. It’ll be hard for her to make friends as you will always need to watch your jokes and be ready for a political lecture. Meanwhile Hubbell is really well off with continued financial success but knowing that he will always compromise and crumble his beliefs for the easier road. He will do whatever is needed in order to get to the next point which will eat away at his psyche even if he would never admit it, potentially even to himself. As the years go by, he will have wasted them with pointless chatter instead of doing anything.

Overall, This is a pretty dreary film about two people who were just completely incompatible from the start. They are just too different and their lifestyles wouldn’t be fun to each other. Hubbell is clearly content to just lounge around and listen to his friends gossip about everything while Katie would much prefer hanging out 1 on 1 or doing something constructive. It’s why you always need to take these things into account as well when going into a relationship. The only context I would recommend this film to people in would be as a cautionary tale of what not to do when getting ready for marriage. You can’t treat it as the next logical step of dating, it is a completely different beast and you better be sure that you know the other person extremely well. You will never be 100% certain but you had better be careful because it will be one of the most important decisions of your life.

Overall 3/10

Lonely Castle in the Mirror Review

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It’s time for my next adventure into the lonely castle! The manga was pretty fun when I read through it and the movie is a pretty faithful adaption. Naturally they do have to cut out a number of things but that’s normal for basically any movie adaption. They got to the main points and while I would say it is decidedly less intense than the manga version, we still do get a body count in the end.

The movie introduces us to Kokoro who for some reason does not want to go to school. It is apparent that something bad happened to her but we don’t know what. Well, one day a mirror appears in her room and transports her to a castle along with 6 other kids. They are told that this castle will be open for the whole school year but afterwards it will close. However, they have a chance to find a key which will grant one wish based on whoever gets it. Kokoro absolutely has a wish but these kids likely have ambitions of their own. Will they all be able to get along in such an environment? The castle just has one rule, you must not stay past 5 or you will be eaten by a wolf along with everyone else who entered the castle that day.

Pretty high stakes but technically most of the film is fairly upbeat. Kokoro finally gets to interact with kids who aren’t absolutely crazy and this allows her to gather the courage to fight the problems that exist for her back home. She can finally confide in her mother and begin the recovery process. There are some mysteries still going on like how this castle works and where could the key be, but they play second fiddle to Kokoro’s journey. Likewise the other kids don’t have a whole lot of time to their plots as well although they are crammed in at the end.

Technically even in the manga we didn’t see many of their struggles until the end but through their conversations we could get some inklings early on. This one has to go at a very fast pace in order to cover as much as possible. The way it’s ordered can also make the tone clashing a bit tricky at times. The one scene that was most jarring in this way was after the big climax where everyone sits down to talk and they’re all super happy and chipper. It doesn’t feel like there was enough time to be this calm yet.

Now, I assume that the queen of the wolves took certain things into account in order to prevent bad outcomes for any of the kids who participated in this journey but the film doesn’t actually go into detail. For example, Aki by far has the hardest struggle. It’s quite literally more severe than the other kids by several magnitudes and you’re left wondering what options she has for when she gets back to the real world. Since the film doesn’t go into it, I choose to believe that either the villain was devoured by the wolves or she was warped to a place where she was able to avoid the situation and get him locked up or something.

Aki’s plot was definitely a lot darker than anything else in the film though so it really feels unexpected. The film also used a unique animation effect to make those scenes even creepier. Personally I could have done without this plot but at least the film made sure that the worst of it didn’t actually happen and Aki was able to escape. The castle would have looked bad if anything was allowed to happen at the time.

I would say that Kokoro probably had the second hardest journey because of how isolated she was. Having a group of people coming over to your house to presumably beat you up in the best case scenario is already a tough thing to endure. Then mix that with how young she is and it is easy to see how this would be traumatic. The film definitely does a good job of hitting the emotional beats. You’ll be feeling the somber vibes the whole time.

It is also a good explanation for why Kokoro is so timid. I think anyone would be considering the circumstances there. As the film goes on she is able gain more confidence. The rest of the characters don’t really have a lot to do but are mostly reasonable. The most unlikable one is Ureshino. He just tries too hard and spends too much time flirting. While he does end up getting bullied and has a sad story like the rest, he handled it the worst. He eventually gets better but I never really came around on him.

Rion would easily be the best character as he did his best to make Kokoro feel comfortable and would also de-escalate each situation. He essentially played the role of the leader and without him that would have been a much harder journey for everyone else. Subaru probably has the most scenes cut out or at least it feels that way. You get some context clues for what he’s going on but it’s possible that you will mainly recognize this if you read the manga. Same for Rion with how he was essentially pushed to boarding school. You might only have suspicions just based on the movie.

Fuka also doesn’t get a ton to do here but the story of trying to live up to being a prodigy is definitely a classic one. Masamune and his lies getting him into trouble is another abbreviated one that still makes enough sense in the end. The Wolf Queen plot has to move pretty quickly as well. I think one way the film could have improved here would have been to show Rino being suspicious about her much earlier in the film so you can drop little hints here and there. Finally Ms. Kitajima is a big factor throughout the movie and so I’d say the movie paced her appearances really well.

As for the animation, it does have the usual nerf that films get where it doesn’t look as good as a standard anime. That said, it’s still a good product. I did like how the burning wolf really stood out. The flames looked hot and the colors were very striking. It may not be the most fluid project out there but I’d give it a passing grade. The soundtrack is definitely more on the forgettable side. I can’t say that it was particularly solid but it wasn’t bad or anything like that. So the technical areas were all about average here and the film succeeds more on the story beats.

Overall, The Lonely castle is a good film but I do think it was pushing the envelope a little hard with Aki’s plot. Throwing in a scene to see him get taken down would have helped but the film is more about recovery for each character rather than revenge or knocking anyone down. I’d argue that closure is a good part of recovery but ultimately things worked out. It’s the same thing where Kokoro’s bullies don’t get taken down a peg. In a way Kokoro is just given the tools for how to handle situations like that going forward. She also has a bright future coming up now because in the new timeline she’s going to have an ally at the ready right from the start. If you’re up for a really emotional film then you should check this one out. I’d say the movie also makes a good argument for how beneficial it can be to have friends or someone to talk to in order to not have to carry so much baggage on your own. Kokoro would have not had to deal with nearly as much grief as she did if her first friend hadn’t succumbed to peer pressure.

Overall 6/10