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Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts Review

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All right it’s time to take a look at this fantasy romance manga from a while back. It’s always interesting to be looking at the same title twice in a row like this within such a short time frame. The anime was also pretty faithful to the manga so it’s not like there are a lot of changes here. That said, you can be assured that I will be doing fresh writeups for all of the characters and won’t be reusing anything. This is still a complete review in its own right so that fans of the manga are not left out. Lets jump into this one.

The series starts with the humans offering Sariphi up to the monsters as their latest tribute. The world is divided into the human kingdoms and monster ones. There is a rough peace treaty going on which involves the humans sending a sacrifice every year and the monsters leave them alone. Sariphi is surprised though when the beast king Leonhart says that he won’t eat her and to just go away. He’s never destroyed any of the sacrifices and only keeps the tradition alive so that the peace isn’t lost. When Sariphi refuses to leave, he decides to make her queen but this doesn’t please most of his subjects. They insist on her going through many different trials and challenges to prove her worth. Will she be able to pull this off?

Leonhart doesn’t look great for most of the series because of how much he puts up with here though. He’s the king so why is he letting the followers dictate what he can or cannot do? I would understand if he was a president or someone without absolute power, but he is the King. Moreover, he is the strongest in the kingdom. The way I see it, he should just shove aside anyone who gets in his way. It shouldn’t even be a contest, he just needs to tell them what he wants.

Unfortunately he does have some confidence issues despite his bravado. He has a tragic past involving being part human and so a part of him is always worried that this will come out. It’s unfortunate because this really holds him back in a big way and even by the end of the series everyone is pushing him around. He leans too heavily into trying to be a reasonable, democratic leader which doesn’t work when you’re the King. So while I give him some credit for not being evil and destroying the hostages, I didn’t think he worked very well as the main lead.

As for Sariphi, she’s a solid heroine but definitely one who can be rather naive at times. She readily goes into enemy strongholds to prove herself as the upcoming queen and nearly dies several times. She does not put herself in the best positions to win here. I know that she doesn’t want to make herself a burden to the King but without plot armor, that’s exactly what she would have been doing there. If she died in any of the battles then there would have been no chance for peace. She tends to trust everyone right away which isn’t a good idea in this environment. Early on she was good at reading facial expressions and I thought that might play a bigger role later on but it never really did. So I appreciate her bravery but often times it wasn’t really warranted here.

Anastasia has a very small role but ends up looking a lot more formidable. She has survived a long time by keeping to herself and not making big waves. You get the feeling that she could defend herself if needed though. I liked her quiet confidence here and if anything it’s too bad that she didn’t get more of a role. She’s really good for the info dumps but that’s about it.

Now for a great character we have Lanteveldt. He goes from being a lone wolf type figure to Sariphi’s most reliable attendant. The guy has serious skills and while he isn’t quite the strongest fighter in the kingdom, he always gives it his 100%. I like his confidence and in this case it’s a loud one. The guy will talk tough to anyone and doesn’t back down just because someone else is royalty. This kind of character is always a lot of fun and he elevates the series whenever he appears. He gets some critical fights throughout and even when he loses, he prioritizes protecting Sariphi whenever he can. Now that’s what I call a quality character.

We also have Bennu who does his best to protect Sariphi at all times. He has the abilities of the Phoenix so he is in a good position to do this, but at the end of the day it does take time to transform. So I would say that Lanteveldt is still a bit more reliable in that sense. Also, Sariphi tends to have Bennu wait instead of attacking immediately which also stacks the deck against that character. Not much you can do when your leader says to stand back right?

Ilya thinks of himself as a protector but he looks really bad right out of the gate. He really doesn’t read the situation at all and part of the problem is the way he handled the situation. Even if she was kidnapped by evil monsters, Ilya treated Sariphi so roughly the whole time. There’s no way it would have gone well and she would have resented him regardless. The fact that he refused to listen to her at all was crazy. Yeah he gets his big redemption arc in the end but the guy had so much potential and squandered it immediately.

Now Fenrir at least makes for a very imposing villain. He’s the second strongest character in the series behind Leonhart and the guy has a lot of aura. He does get a little whiny at times and I didn’t buy into the origin story much but he does serve his roll well as a villain. I definitely have to give him that. When he appears, you know that he is going to go all out and he gives us one of the rare fights in the series. Ultimately he may not have been a match for the king but at least he tried to fight him fair and square without cheap tricks.

His right hand man Gleipnir was really solid and definitely one of the standout characters. Now he definitely had a really tough backstory. Things really did not go his way at all and yet the guy continued to stand strong. Once he was saved by Fenrir, he proved to be super loyal and did everything he could to make him the king. The guy was also super powerful in his own right and I dare say he would be 3rd in the series in terms of power level. With his battle IQ I wouldn’t even be shocked if he could dethrone the top two.

Then we have Set as another one of the big villains but he is the kind of guy to use cheap shots the whole time. He plays politics and uses optics to try and take Leonhart down since he knows that victory would be impossible otherwise. Hey, it’s a valid tactic considering how weak the guy is but ultimately I couldn’t take him seriously. His entire plan revolves around all of the guards being mentally weak, the country turning against Leonhart, and Anubis being a big traitor. So in my mind this was not a good plan at all and should have failed right out of the gate. The fact that it didn’t fail basically comes down to luck which is why it was not a great plan. I was just waiting for Set to go down the whole time. Somebody needed to teach him a lesson after all!

Anubis is a character I lost a lot of respect for. I talked about loyalty a lot for Landeveldt and Gleipnir. It’s what made them such great characters because they would follow their leader no matter what. Ultimately the problem with Anubis is that he could not keep that same energy. When the chips were down and the situation got tough, he folded immediately. Not what you want to see out of a character like this. Even though he eventually sees the light, I couldn’t forget this. Whenever a character betrays a close friend like that just because of third party sources or without confronting the guy directly. Anubis doesn’t have a true confrontation with Leonhart before going crazy.

Jormungand is a hero who actually has loyalty and does his best to protect the king. He doesn’t hesitate when the truth of his past comes out and continues to fight. Honestly, it’s rough how many people were quick to turn against Leonhart when he was exposed. He’s still the same guy after all. A lot of them really got lucky with how nice he is because there would be a ton of people in jail after I rose back up to power. A lot of them were actively trying to murder him as well which is downright crazy.

Joz and Galois were fun supporting characters who tested Sariphi. What I liked about their test was that it didn’t involve mortal danger or putting her through a whole lot of risk. They just wanted to assess what her character was like and they did good in that respect. It makes sense as a test and once she passed it, they knew she could be trusted. Anubis could learn more things from this instead of trying to undermine her at every possible opportunity. Then Tetra also got to test Sariphi even if it wasn’t quite an intentional test in the same way. Sariphi still showed that she was a good person at her core. She may have had a hard time establishing boundaries but I did appreciate that she was always there to make the world a better place in any little way that she could. If she could just have a little more confidence to shut characters down in their tracks, that would have been perfect!

The art in the manga is pretty good. It can actually get rather intense during some of the battles. The enemies and heroes are stabbing each other after all so some violence is actually expected here. The backstories can also get rather intense. It’s nothing too crazy and this is still a Shojo but the art was ready for whatever tone the manga wanted to present.

In the end it’s still a bit ironic that the series didn’t land any of the romances since it is a romance title but that’s just how it goes of course. With the main romance it’s still hard to get behind the beast thing. It’s a mix of him just being too much like an animal and Sariphi looking like a kid. Even once Leonhart has his human form, you’re just not given much of a reason for her to have fallen in love with him. If anything it feels more like gratitude for being kept alive which is fine but that feels different from love. Then you have Jormungand with one of the attendants but it feels like a one sided crush for most of the series. Once they finally get together it is just a bit too rushed.

While I can’t quite co-sign any of the romances in this series, I do think it handled the other kinds of relationships well. The different friendships in the series are really solid and I liked the master/student dynamics. There was always a great sense of honor and chivalry to be had here. While I don’t care for old settings as much as being in the city, the world building was handled well. It doesn’t feel like all of the issues got to be handled just yet but you have to assume that the main duo will eventually be going around fixing all of the other kingdoms. Ultimately it’s also not like you can just fix everyone but the world is definitely in a much better spot than it had been in previously.

Overall, This is a manga that is fairly strong in some areas but also weak in others. The main flaw is the romance which is really on the weak side and it’s rough because that is such a focus in the story. I ultimately couldn’t get behind the main pairing and that’s hard to get around. In the end the manga couldn’t surpass this, but it’s not a bad read by any means. I would still be able to recommend it if you’re a real big fan of the Beauty and the Beast since it’s going for those vibes. There are definitely better options for Shojo titles out there which is why you would not likely need to resort to this one.

Overall 5/10

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts Review

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It’s time to take a look at a romance anime from a little while back. This one had a lot of mountains to climb to try and be solid though because right from the jump I had my doubts about the main romance. It’s going for clear Beauty and the Beast vibes here which is admirable about inner beauty and everything but it’s still hard to root for. The main guy is…well he’s a beast and the main heroine looks like a child. Mix that together and this romance is going to be a super hard sell. We’ll see if the anime manages to pull this off or if it can at least succeed in spite of this.

The series introduces us to a girl named Sariphi who has been shipped off to the land of monsters as a human sacrifice. It’s not exactly a great honor, it’s much the opposite. She was an outcast in the realm of humankind and was always treated horribly. At least now she could have a quick death but to her surprise, Leonhart says he will let her go. He actually never eats the human sacrifices and only keeps up the tradition for peace between the realms. He lets them slip out the back and presumably when they go back to the human world they live a brand new life. Sariphi has nothing to go back to though and decides to stick around. This forces Leonhart to name her as his bride to be. She will be queen over the kingdom and this news shocks all of beast kind. Is the King being seduced by the human? Many monsters will have something to say about this.

Naturally it’s not surprising that this would cause a lot of friction. It’s completely unheard of after all since humans and beasts are completely different. At least in this series both are totally humanoid and everything but yeah I’d suspect foul play if I was one of the monsters as well. It’s all just so sudden after all and the King doesn’t really go in depth on explaining his pick. He’s the king so why should he right? But the ole “Because I said so” is never a very convincing argument when you really think about it.

So lets dive into the romance right now. Why wait right? There are two main romance plots here. The first is with Leonhart and Sariphi and yes I could not really get into this. At the end of the day, he is in his beast form for nearly the whole series and she’s still super in love with him here. The problem is to me this just feels more like a gratitude thing. She went from a kingdom where everyone wanted her dead or out of the way to a beast that has made her queen. Naturally she owes him a lot and so she is super thankful to be alive. I don’t think it translates very well into the romance though.

I also just can’t really get past her design which is a little too small and the beast being a beast. So with those 3 factors in play, this was a romance that I was not rooting for. I’m afraid that the show will have to try and succeed in spite of it. The other romance with Amit and Jormungand is better but also still underwhelming. It tends to be a little more on the cringe side at times. Amit is just way too nervous the whole time and can barely have a real conversation with the guy. We would have needed a much longer time frame for this romance to really work at all.

Hey, this series isn’t only about romance though so lets get into the other aspects of the show. As far as the animation goes, I would say it looks reasonable. It’s clearly not a top tier contender or anything like that but I wouldn’t say it’s super cheap or anything either. I suppose it’s what you would call average. It checks off enough boxes as needed and will show up a bit for the fights when they occur. It’s not something that would hurt the show but it’s not something that would help it either.

The soundtrack is mainly forgettable as well. The opening songs aren’t bad though. Not my favorites or anything but they have a good beat to them. The second opening definitely wins from the two in terms of audio. So I give the series some props there. Generally the plot and atmosphere are solid as well. The show can get a bit violent and the sob stories can get rather sad but the series is never too drastic about this. They set up the world and have all of the details in place but don’t go out of their way to make everything too gritty to try and set up your sympathy. I can appreciate that.

The cast of characters is also reasonable. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but much like the rest of the show they fit the bill. Nothing too great or too weak. This series manages to keep up a fairly average level in most areas so I could see this one being a bit forgettable after some years. Ironically what will keep it most memorable is the main romance since you’re not likely to forget that even if it’s not for the greatest of reasons.

As far as Sariphi goes in terms of being the main character, I thought she was okay. She has her brave moments where she steps up to to protect her friends and face off with the villains. Ultimately what hurts her is she can be a little too naive though. For every risk she takes that is good, she will take a few that just put her in too much danger. Going along with the main villain Fenrir at one point is an example of this. She gets lucky a whole lot and I think she should stand up for herself some more.

The fact that she is a human going up against powerful monsters does stack the deck against her but at least she has a powerful Phoenix in Bennu. She should use this beast more since it can be super handy> Those flames will burn anything in their path after all. With the exception of Fenrir and Gleipnir, I think these would be enough to protect her from virtually any character in the series. She just needs to play things a bit more cautiously.

Then we have Leonhart and I’m afraid I’m not a big fan of this guy either. He’s the king, yet he lets himself be pushed around by traditions all of the time. How I see it, if he was a villain then he would ignore everyone and just make Sariphi his queen. Anyone who didn’t like it would just be wiped out. I’m not saying Leonhart needs to wipe anyone out but they should be respecting his authority as King. So if he says that she is going to be the queen then I need everyone else to back off.

Every time they take Leonhart to the table with threats about how she will be kicked out and everything, it’s just super insulting. Ultimately she usually says that she wants to take the challenge and he relents, but it’s not a great look on his end. This is when I need him to man up. He’s one of the wimpier kings that I’ve seen in a series like this. I know that tradition is a big thing but being King gives you the option to toss this away. No matter how many times he roared in the series, he couldn’t make me forget that.

Then you have the super “loyal” butler Anubis. He’s constantly trying to get rid of Sariphi and even thinks about murdering her at one point. This is not the guy that you want to have as your right hand man by any means. Anyone who would even consider murdering the queen to be like that can definitely not be trusted. Like that was just completely insane. Then later on he also doubts Leonhart himself. Yes he ultimately finds his way back to being a decent person but there should be absolutely no doubts. His actions put everyone in danger time and time again. Some would say that true loyalty is being able to make a move against your master and I would argue that it means always making sure they are safe and get what they want.

It’s an oversimplification and there are other factors at play but murdering the queen to be is not one of them. Then we have Ilya who is a terrible character through and through. Where to even start with this guy? He claims to be in love with Sariphi but was never around when she needed him. Then he shows up causing all kinds of damage to “save” her when she was doing just fine. I would get it if she was super beat up, bruised, or seemed off like mind control. The problem is that it was obvious that she was doing find.

He goes as far as to tie her up and everything which makes him look absolutely terrible. I like the drive of wanting to save her but he took it the absolute worst way possible. The instant he was not willing to even hear her out when she was explaining things was when he was completely doomed. You can’t come back from that. He also would not be able to protect her. If they go to the human world she will be murdered and if they wander around, a monster will eventually take them out. He is strong, but he is only human and that is not enough in this world.

If you want a real protector, then you have to go with Bennu. Bennu can have an attitude and is rather slow to protect Sariphi sometimes. But you know what? Bennu is still ready to help when it counts and trusts her completely. That’s the kind of bodyguard you want to have. I’ll take the loyalty any day.

Back to the army forces, we have Jormungand who is a really powerful fighter. He is very serious and always on top of business. I can respect that and his skills are legit. He is very quick to side with the king even after a lot of people start turning on him. This guy has actual loyalty and so he was always a welcome sight. In a lot of ways he’s what Anubis should have been.

Another good loyal character was Lanteveldt. He can be a troublemaker and always keeps everyone on their toes but he will protect Sariphi. He takes on a lot of injuries as the series goes on but never falters. By the end I would say he is one of the stronger characters even if he will never rise to the top. The fact that Fenrir and Leonhart have actual aura blasts and projectiles makes that matchup just plain unfair. Lanteveldt has his quickness and agile moves but at the end of the day those simply aren’t going to be enough to win sometimes. Still one of the best characters though. I like his confidence and you always get bonus points for not just following royalty.

Then we have Joz and Galois who are fairly minor characters but do a good job of testing Sariphi. What I liked about their test is that they weren’t risking lives or doing any of that crazy stuff. No, they just wanted to see how Sariphi would treat those who appeared to be lower in station. And she did very well of course because she’s really not into any of that stuff. Considering her background it makes sense, but even without it she just has a code of ethics that the other characters lack.

She also to show her kindness with the minor character Tetra. Tetra got to see why Sariphi made for a really good queen who would rule with a just hand. It’s definitely not something that you could really say for any of the other ladies who wanted to be queen. Most of them tend to look super petty throughout the series. Tetra is a nice kid, she doesn’t do a whole lot here but it’s always nice to have more allies around. Anastasia is more of a random character who appears near the end but she is able to read the ancient scripts which is handy. Honestly it’s impressive that she has survived so long while being an outsider and not really having any connections. Definitely not something that just anyone could pull off. She has a tough aura to her so even though her role is fairly small, I thought she was fun.

Now we get to some of the big villains. First up there is Gleipnir who is a super good assistant to Fenrir. The guy has unwavering loyalty which is second to none in the series. Fenrir saved him from a very short life filled with nothing but negativity and gave him a solid purpose. Gleipnir was eternally grateful and really honed his skills. In terms of pure skill he is probably the best in the series. I really liked his automatic weapons and I dare say only the top two would be able to defeat him. He would wipe the floor with every other fighter. He’s my second favorite character in the series behind Landeveldt.

As for Fenrir himself, he’s a solid main villain. The guy has a pretty tragic backstory and basically wants to prove that he is actually the best. The thing is that his abilities are nowhere close to Leonhart’s and they never will be due to how the power levels work in this series. The guy wouldn’t have made a good king anyway. I found him to be a bit whiny at times so if he got more screentime then it would probably get even worse. He worked because he didn’t appear for very long and that was probably the best way to do it. Also, his abilities were impressive. The show didn’t have a ton of action scenes so this guy got to help change that.

Finally we have the villain Set who is super petty and only gets as far as he did because the king is too soft. This guy wants to uncover the big conspiracy and set everyone against Leonhart. Great, I get what he is doing here but the thing is that it should not matter at all. Leonhart is the king no matter what shape or form that is. Set could and should have been stopped very early on but of course Anubis fumbled the bag which was the big mistake here. So yeah I never really liked Set and only plot armor let him last as long as he did.

Overall, Sacrificial Princess is a good reminder of why you have to be strict and tough as a King. The role of a King is different from that of a president or governor. A King has absolute power and so you must remind others that you have this power. You never have to be cruel or do anything crazy with this, just make sure that your decisions are respected. Pretty much the whole series only happens because everyone feels like they can talk back to the King and do what they want. Even the minions try murdering him during the climax of the show. That is absolutely crazy. Leonhart’s goals are good but at times he can just be a bit too naive. Ultimately it’s not a bad show or anything but I don’t think there is a whole lot here to capture your attention. I’d keep it near the middle for that reason because without the romance there isn’t a lot left. It’s not part comedy so there isn’t a whole lot of humor here either. The fights are good though when they happen. Ultimately, how much the show catches your attention will be completely dependent on how much you enjoy the characters and the setting. We’ll see if the spinoff/sequel/follow up gets animated at some point.

Overall 5/10

From Here to Eternity Review

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It’s time for a very dramatic war film. Get ready for a lot of unlikable characters running around. It’s a film that will keep you engaged the whole time to be sure but I do think it could have used a few boosts to really make it a very solid title. Maybe more war scenes since surprisingly that doesn’t actually happen until the very end of the film. Most of it is really just setup and a bunch of hazing.

The movie kicks off with Prewitt being transferred over to a new war base. He was unsatisfied at the last posting because he didn’t get the promotion that he felt was deserved. Warden’s job is to see to it that Prewitt joins the army’s boxing club because otherwise his boss will be upset. Prewitt refuses due to an incident that happened back when he was a boxer so now he has to try and stay strong while the army attempts to bully him into submission. Will he be able to stick to his guns or will the army break him? That is really the core plot of the movie and that seems to happen a lot in these titles. Half the time you feel like if these army guys are your allies then you’re already in hot water.

The movie does have a few subplots though but they don’t do much to help the movie. For starters we have Warden getting into an affair with his boss’s wife. Huge fatal mistake right there. As I’ve always said there is no real coming back from cheating and when the Warden made a conscientious effort to get to her, he was already doomed. It’s a shame because he had a lot of entertaining scenes otherwise. He makes for a pretty solid boss. Certainly a corrupt one, but a guy who is very crafty and careful with his wording. Warden knows how to manipulate people and how to stay safe amidst all of the inter army politics.

He prides himself on being a very smart guy so it’s a shame that he makes such a dumb mistake. Ultimately this subplot persists throughout most of the movie until some stuff happens in the climax and he decides to switch goals. Not due to any kind of redemption arc though so his personality hasn’t gotten any better. He’s still not someone you can possibly root for. Naturally the boss’s wife is also pretty bad in having her affairs. Everyone is cheating on someone in this film and it plays a big part in why all of the romances are so weak.

Prewitt has a romance going on too but it’s also not a great one. He falls in love with one of the girls at the club he visits and doesn’t seem to understand that it’s their job to act nice with everyone. He immediately gets super possessive and starts to cause a lot of trouble with everyone. The guy can’t hold his drinks super well and gets really annoying for large parts of the film. Ultimately when the chips are down he doesn’t listen to the girl and runs off which is always a trend in these things.

He only has one friend in the army who has his back, Maggio. Unfortunately Maggio is even worse at holding his liquor and picks a bunch of fights as well. Ultimately this doesn’t end well for the guy which is unfortunate. The film is definitely filled with quite a few tragedies as all of the characters tend to end things off worse than how they started. Most of this is because of drinks or generally just not being great people though.

In general the film’s writing is good. When you take away the individual characters for a moment, you’ve got a strong film about trying to resist everyone forcing you into a path you don’t want to follow. It’s incredibly difficult when everyone is against you and there is all kinds of corruption within the ranks. I do think it would be enough to completely turn you against the army and try to get out of there. If this kind of thing happened to enough folks there would be so many mutiny attempts and the army would really go crazy. It’s always unfortunate to see so many people within the film be okay with it though.

These are theoretically the heroes we’re supposed to be rooting for when the villains attack but it’s hard to do so when you see how cruel they are. This leads to vigilante justice as the film goes on which is really shown to be the only effective way to stop them. You basically have to root for Prewitt because otherwise nothing is going to get done. The ending feels a bit unnecessary as the lead didn’t think things through but the final fight was on point. Felt like a grim ending that happened because it was planned out (Or I guess that’s how it happened in real life perhaps) but the setup in the film really didn’t make any kind of sense. Like going out to try and prove something that didn’t need proving.

Ultimately this is a movie that is really just held back by the characters. They all have significant flaws which keeps them from being likable. Any character who seems nice enough quickly has a film ending flaw before the adventure is over. Whether it be getting drunk the whole time, having a quick temper, not being very smart, cheating, etc. The idea is probably to be as realistic as possible which can be a depressing thought in itself. The film is based on true events to an extent so I was mixed on whether I would give this one a score or not. Ultimately it was about a 50/50 since a lot of events were true but it seems like the names were switched and a bunch of extra stuff was added. Might as well throw it in.

Overall, The movie had some good ideas but ultimately I would have to give it a thumbs down. After a point having a cast filled with unlikable characters will often bring down the film as a whole. The whole thing feels pretty unfair to the main character the whole time and things never really went well for him. Again you’d feel sorrier for him if he was more likable but that’s how it goes. If you really enjoy seeing the inner workings of an army base and what the day to day could look like then you should have a good time here but you can definitely do a lot better with these old war films.

Overall 4/10

Marty Review

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Uh oh, it’s time for a romance film that desperately tries to get you to sympathize with the main character but it doesn’t work. I consider myself a bit of an expert when it comes to the world of romance so I am here to shatter the delusions. I’ve seen hundreds of hours of debate topics and insights into that part of life and I can tell you that this isn’t it. Marty himself ends up bringing down the film somewhat.

All right so we’re introduced to a guy in his 30s who has been having a really hard time finding anybody to be with him. The poor guy is just down on his luck at this point but his mother keeps trying to help him find somebody. His friends aren’t the most helpful either as they’re all single and miserable too. Their days usually consist of them sabotaging each other’s efforts and just being rather sad influences. Still, there’s nothing else to do but one day at one of those meet and greet events he meets a lady named Clara. She was ditched by the guy she came with and he feels bad for her. Along the way he realizes that she is a nice girl. Can this be the one for him?

Okay so there’s a lot of issues here and just about all of them come from Marty’s side. First off, all of the peer pressure stuff is really just an excuse. The fact that he allows himself to constantly go down the wrong paths just because his friends are doing that is absolutely crazy. What happened to taking accountability for yourself? Even to the very end he makes this mistake such as when he doesn’t call Clara because he felt ashamed. The reason this is a big deal is because it’s at the very end of the film. He should have learned his lesson early on but didn’t. To be honest, Clara should have just rejected him and that’s how the film ends.

It brings another plot element into the mix which is that it feels like they’re both settling for each other. Marty doesn’t actually think she’s super attractive. He thinks she is really nice and someone that he can finally talk to which is why he likes her but the fact that he refers to her as someone who is not very attractive is absolutely crazy. Looks aren’t everything in a relationship to put it mildly. However, you do need a high level of physical attractiveness to your partner at the outset. As you both get older that becomes less important but if you start off like this it’ll create more problems. More temptations on both sides and a lot of future issues that snowball from there.

If the film made it clear that he thought she was really attractive and had to hide this for fear of his friends that would be another story. He would still look horrible of course but at least it can work. Just meeting on the personality bit? That could be fine as well if he didn’t constantly say how he had to settle because he was getting older and she felt the same way. You can’t have a healthy relationship if you settle. That’s why there are so many problems out in the world. If the person you’re actually in love with is unavailable then hey that’s tough but instead of settling you should just focus on other hobbies.

The film doesn’t give you much reason for Clara to like Marty either except…she was desperate. The red flags in this relationship continue to grow larger and larger. She just wants to find someone so people can get off her back. Hey, I’m pulling for things to go well for them but it’s not a romance that you could easily root for in this film. Not at all, in fact it just makes this a weak romance. Since the romance is such a large part of the film that hurts as well. If we had a scene of Marty throwing his friends away early on that would have been great. He needed to stand his ground and show that he really cared for Clara. Waiting for the final scene was not a great idea.

Clara also puts up with too much here. She was fully within her rights to reject Marty’s first advance. He was moving a little too quickly and I didn’t think he handled that too well. It was a lot of pressure for her too and he wasn’t very aware of the stress she was under. Another rocky part to their relationship there. I’m glad that she stayed strong though and didn’t give in to the pressure there. She had more willpower than he did to be honest.

I’m afraid the side characters were not immune either. Marty’s aunt is super annoying the whole time as she tries to poison his mother against him. She says how Marty will ditch her and everything. Why should the mother listen to any of this? She’s the one who has been trying to have Marty find a girl and all of a sudden she does a 180 because someone told her to? That was absolutely crazy and completely destroyed both characters. It was very disappointing to have Marty’s Mom bad mouthing Clara as well. That feels like something that would be hard to repair afterwards.

Marty’s so called best friend was also no help and didn’t do anything to encourage the relationship either. Basically the film is a cautionary tale about why you should avoid hanging out with fake friends. Rather than encourage, they will do everything in their power to get in your way and undermine your efforts. Better to go it alone than to risk a social network that will not be beneficial to you. Just about every character in the film is super toxic.

Overall, Marty is a film that’s supposed to be a fun underdog story for a guy who finally finds his girl. The problem is that the message gets real muddy with how everyone is settling and this isn’t exactly true love. “True Love” may be a term that people shy away from but that’s the only kind of love that really counts. Without that, a relationship just isn’t going to go the distance. Don’t be like Marty, things won’t often end quite like this film’s adventure. If you try for every girl around before you eventually settle, it just makes you look desperate and then you will really lose out.

Overall 4/10

Mission: Yozakura Family

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This series is another one that’s off to a fun start. I think the overall premise has a lot of potential right off the bat. The characters are likable and the art is good so at the end of the day that’s a great combo right there. We’ll se how long they’re able to keep the story fresh but at least for right now I would definitely recommend the title and look forward to reviewing it once the series has finished.

Overall 7/10

Alice Adams Review

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Uh oh, I’m on a roll with the negative film reviews. You’d expect a super old 30s romance to be pretty fun and get the automatic win but that’s not the case for this one. The characters are just too unlikable so you’re actively rooting against them here. I didn’t think the heroine deserved to win and all of the characters just made such big mistakes for themselves. There’s just no way to climb back up from how far they fell.

The film starts off by introducing us to the Adams family who are really poor and down on their luck. The father has been sick for ages and while his boss continues to pay his checks, it’s not a lot of money. The mother continues to hound and berate him the whole time about how he has failed the family. Walter continues to waste his money on every kind of vice possible so he’s definitely as irresponsible as possible. Finally you have Alice who is really self conscious about the whole thing and so she is constantly lying in order to trick the people round her into thinking that she is wealthy.

She has kept these lies up for a while but then a guy named Arthur shows up and Alice likes him quite a lot. The guy is fairly wealthy and Alice really doesn’t want him to know the truth. As their relationship gets more serious though it becomes hard to hide this. Can she continue to deceive him all the way until marriage or is this relationship doomed to fall to ruins?

So right from the bat I can’t root for the romance here because a romance built on deception is absolutely not going to go well. I think it’s very difficult to come back from that. Yes, everyone starts off with a bit of a mask when the relationship first starts. That’s normal and I don’t see anything wrong with that. There’s a big difference between that kind of setup and flat out lies though. Alice is straight up lying to Arthur the whole time and about fairly massive stuff. The fact that she was lying to everybody about even mild things also shows how she completely lost the plot.

Sure you could say it’s part of her character development but the problem is that it’s clear she would have kept on lying if she wasn’t caught. This kind of plot works way better if it’s an internal decision where she decides to come clean before being forced to do so. As a result this was just not going to work and it’s really cheesy that Arthur was still okay with the whole thing. It looked really bad by the end as it was coupled with her brother being a crook and her father seemingly stealing from the company he worked for. Arthur shouldn’t have turned around so quickly.

I can appreciate a happy ending of course but it just wasn’t very realistic at all. Arthur comes across as a bit of a pushover there. I won’t fault him for being a nice guy but yeah he could have done some things differently there. I will just say I am glad that he doesn’t walk around immediately believing in the rumors though. That was nice because other guys are the opposite extreme in these films where a rumor starts and they are immediately jumping in and buying into it.

Back to the family, Walter was a particularly disgraceful character as he turned a bad situation into a worse one. Actively stealing money is just awful especially since his father is the one who recommended him for the job. So now he’s making his father out to be a liar and someone who cannot be trusted while also incriminating the whole family. In a small town like this that can be an absolute death sentence to the rest of the characters. This guy was not thinking clearly at all.

Both parents were rather bad characters as well. The mother loses a lot of points for constantly complaining about everything and giving the dad bad advice. Quitting the company that helped pay his sick expenses for months and months is crazy and then wanting to burn the bridge for some quick money? She was definitely thinking about things in the short term. Then he takes a lot of the blame for following along with the advice even when he knew it was no good. I dare say it’s almost worse when you’re in that position because you’re ignoring your conscience. At least for her you can say that she thought it was the right thing to do but since he knows that it’s wrong, that’s bad business.

They’re all just lucky that the business owner was so lenient and forgiving. That was also rather cheesy by the way. So the main characters all got off rather easily and I’m not sure that they actually learned their lessons. The weak character cast is what really hurts this film because for a romance film like this you absolutely need quality characters. Otherwise the whole thing falls apart because it’s not like you have big fight scenes or special effects to make up the difference. The writing itself was good despite the characters since I still like the old style dialogue but it’s almost impressive how the film makes all of the main characters look this bad.

Overall, Don’t use this film as any kind of reference to getting a good romance relationship going. Trust me when I say that it isn’t likely to go smoothly if you follow these steps. A good partner will be patient but when it’s someone that you only just met, you can’t really test them to this extent. The film ends up leaving you rather annoyed by the end which is the wrong feeling for a romantic comedy and so it should have either leaned harder on being a comedy to the point of parody or just made the characters more redeemable. Have Alice give some quick little lies out of nervousness which she is forced to double down on later on as opposed to going over the top and even blaming the maid when things don’t go well. She just went way too far.

Overall 4/10

Call of the Night Review

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It’s time for some vampire stuff running around. Naturally you know that vampires isn’t quite my main genre and this being a romance/slice of life title it doesn’t quite raise the stocks here. Ultimately it is better than the average vampire title but I would still give it a thumbs down in the end. The ending definitely doesn’t work out very well and the characters should have handled things very differently. At least we avoided a decent amount of blood sucking but of course it still does happen sometimes.

The story starts off by introducing us to Ko who is just depressed. On the surface his life seems fine. He is very popular at school and has a lot of friends. His grades are good and so life should be fine but he feels like he has no real purpose. So he wanders around at night and one day bumps into a vampire named Nazuna. She tends to be rather bored with her immortality too and the two decide to become friends. It’s a bit transactional but hey Ko doesn’t mind his blood being drained. Now he would rather hang out with her than continue his daily life but it looks like he’s starting to become part vampire too. Will this complicate his life?

Part of that premise is pretty fun because the idea of walking around outside sounds very enjoyable. In a dream world without crime I’d certainly like to try it sometimes because it’s a whole different environment and the views would be great. I’d never try that in real life though because that’s how you vanish. Yeah statistically speaking you’d be fine but I don’t really take chances like that. So I can see why Ko enjoys this and it’s something different to do. It also feels rather “taboo” in a sense so he finds it exciting since it’s his chance to break the social rules.

The series also handles his depression well. Sometimes you don’t have to be depressed because of some big sob story or a huge event. It could be as simple as you wake up one day and just wonder what you’ve been doing with your life. In a way Ko has been playing a character while at school and has been unable to really be himself. Now with Nazuna he finally has a person who really understands him or at least he feels that way. Of course it does rope him into a lot of trouble but in a way this is what he has been looking for so that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Nazuna is fairly reasonable and won’t drain him dry. That may not be the case for other vampires though so Ko has to watch out. He’s introduced to a whole vampire group of sorts with some girls who think that he’s a liability. Fortunately Nazuna has a lot of clout and physical strength so they aren’t quite able to mess with him in any way like that. Nazuna always has his back which is good. Ko really wants to be a vampire though and may not understand the full gravity of that so a lot of the series is really about this. There are no takebacks after all. Once you’re a vampire you have to avoid the sun and you will be immortal. So if you get bored of being a vampire after 200 years, well that’s tough.

As the series goes on we also find some difficult truths out about becoming a vampire. If the vampire really loves you as you are drained, then they will die so the vampire is turned will be all alone. It’s a risky gambit there especially since Ko thinks he is in love with her but what about Nazuna? You have to assume that the whole concept of love and romance will be very difficult once you have been alive for so long. The feelings are just way different by that point.

The series also spends a lot of time on vampire society as a whole. It’s mainly a big secret from the masses. There are legends and stories but it all gets suppressed rather well and so there are no big wars going on between humans and vampires. This series isn’t really about action so that makes sense although I do wonder a bit how that’s really sustainable. There aren’t a lot of vampires running around as it’s a fairly small group but you still do feel like leaks would be impossible to stop and eventually the government would be aware of what’s going on. Ah well, I guess that’s just how it goes.

The world building is fairly detailed and you could just say that vampires have the edge here. They can drain people in secret and when that person wakes up they likely won’t remember anything. Since the vampires are mainly very responsible the risk isn’t quite as big as it would usually be. If the vampire population starts to grow then this would be more of an issue which is also where part of the concern in turning Ko into one starts to come in.

Akira is Ko’s childhood friend and she is concerned about him the whole time. Ultimately there’s not a whole lot that she is able to do for him so she tends to take a backseat here. I thought she was a good friend though and someone who always wanted to help him out. So I appreciate her dedication there and she was friends with both Ko and Mahiru so she helped keep the balance even when things got a little tense between them. She may not have had the most conclusive ending but her role in the series was certainly rather large.

Mahiru gets a big role too but he’s more on the annoying side the whole time. He is another kid who is really popular at school but is really faking it the whole time. His home isn’t the best environment to grow up with as his brother died a long time ago and the parents never really got over with. He falls in love with one of the vampires named Kiku and that starts him down a dicey path. For starters he wants to really become a vampire and starts to get super jealous of Ko. If he handled this reasonably then I wouldn’t have minded so much but the guy is just super petty about everything. He picks fights and generally seems like a bad natured guy.

I think the series was trying to have a nuanced take about the guy but he just felt really sub par the whole time instead. I couldn’t root for him and while I sympathized a bit with the backstory, it didn’t excuse his actions in the present. So he didn’t have the greatest ending but it’s hard to feel too bad for the guy. He made his choices every step of the way and there’s not much that you can really do about that. At that point it’s really all about what he wants to do.

As for Kiku, you could call her the main villain of the series. Like I said this isn’t an action series first and foremost but when she shows up we do get some real action. She has several fight scenes and proves herself to be one of the most powerful vampires in the series. Her years of experience have really allowed her to hone her skills and it was always fun to see the action scenes happening. As a character I would say she was rather tragic. Basically she really couldn’t understand the concept of love and needed to finally succeed. The problem is that in the wake of this she would keep on turning people and then ditching them which led them to commit crimes and cause a lot of trouble.

She’s irresponsible to put it mildly and definitely deserves to be called a big villain here. It goes without saying that I couldn’t get behind her romance with Mahiru. The age difference is rather massive and while it will eventually get relative once they have turned, it’s definitely not the play right now. This series is all about being a slow burn romance so even Ko and Nazuna’s takes a while but at least that one has a much better build up to it. Nazuna doesn’t have any older memories so she is fairly young relative to the other vampires as well. It makes for a much better dynamic there.

One of the big characters in the series is Anko who is a big vampire hunter. The fact that there is such a profession does at least show that there are a decent amount of vampires out there who re actually evil. I do think this starts to break down the world building about the general public not knowing about these things but for now we will just say that she is super good at her job so she takes them out that fast. She is an interesting character who works as a third party for most of the series. Everyone has to watch out for her.

Her character definitely gets watered down once she turns good but until that point she makes for a very imposing villain. Certainly not someone that you want to mess with. It is a little hard to take her seriously though because you feel like she should stand absolutely no chance against the vampires. They have super speed, super strength, and a whole host of abilities that should be so far above hers that it wouldn’t be a contest. The series does little to convince me otherwise. She would be absolutely blown away as soon as the match started so I don’t see how she has any success here.

The series does invent an interesting weakness system which is that you can destroy a vampire by destroying the item most precious to that person. The main tricky thing about this is it’s really hard to figure this out. In most cases the vampire will figure it out first so they can just hide it somewhere and that’s it. Remember that they can fly and have super speed so finding a good hiding spot will be easy. Just fly to a mountain and drop it off somewhere. Boom, no way Anko will ever find it. So yes this is why I say she’s outgunned.

The first of the vampire cabal is Seri who definitely suffers from the power creep here. She is wrecked in her brief “fight” with Anko which made no sense but it is what it is. She shows up early on to mess with Ko but to give the kid credit he really does only have eyes for Nazuna. I can definitely respect that and it’s part of why I can buy into the romance there way more than the average one. Seri is a nice person though and afterwards acts as a very reliable figure. She treats her followers well too.

Nico is more of a tough vampire or at least she puts up that front. In general all of the members of the group are nice enough. I don’t feel like her role ever got quite as big as the others but it’s fairly relative since again, the series does give everyone their own mini arc during the course of the series. Kabura gets a rather massive role as she is involved in quite a few twists. She can be rather cold to everyone for the most part but Nazuna’s an exception. I wouldn’t say that she’s one of the more likable characters or anything but is definitely useful as someone to deliver a bunch of info dumping.

Midori is another character who tries to mess with Ko at first but quickly gets with the program. She’s not bad although I wouldn’t say her dynamic with her followers is quite as healthy as some of the other characters. In general a lot of the humans who were turned by the vampires really just exist to simp over them now. It’s not a particularly glorifying way to be presented but that’s just how it goes. It’s a rough fate and you hope that more of them can find their own kind of purpose. Like at least one guy know show to talk formally now with all of his m’lady stuff. While he also feels kind of desperate at times, I at least like his personality and that he can even work as a love coach at times.

Kei was a fairly solid character. She may be super busy since she had to raise Ko on her own but she can always tell when something’s bothering him. She is always there for him even without being a hovering kind of character and gives really good advice. Her parenting style works well and I thought she was super reasonable the whole time. If anything Ko’s actions would make most parents panic so she went well above the average there.

Susuki is a random vampire who shows up later on once the series went into its battle phase. She was a prodigy in combat who was really doing good in her opening battle. It’s a shame that she didn’t stick around, I actually think she would have defeated Kiku. Her role may have been small but it definitely left an impact. Azami is another vampire who showed up during the action phase. He can fight rather well but I wouldn’t call him a top tier. For example I think Kiku and Susuki would definitely be able to take him out. He’s a good training mode type fighter though.

Then we have Haruka who is rather desperate. I was glad Ko beat him up. He definitely misuses his vampire abilities and while he may have changed his ways, it’s hard to say. I suppose all of the vampires misuse their abilities in order to feed but the way Haruka did it just feels particularly devious with his mind control going on and everything. That just seems to be something that only a villain would do under normal circumstances right? That’s just me though.

We learn about Haru, Nazuna’s mother later on. I wasn’t a big fan of hers. She is certainly very outgoing and talkative but I do think she could have handled things way better so that Nazuna wouldn’t have been in the dark about everything. Haru is someone who plunged ahead into new adventures and fun all the time without planning ahead and that’s something that can and will often be a big problem the longer you do it.

So there’s quite a large set of characters here. Some interesting ones to be sure but the best ones who came in during the action segment just don’t last long enough. It can also be easy to mix up some characters occasionally because of the art style. In particular a few of the vampires from the cabal look kind of similar. The art is very rough, I would put it under most other manga titles that I’ve read but it’s still readable of course. Since there aren’t many fight scenes it’s not like there is a lot to worry about here.

The ending is one that I was not a fan of as I mentioned before though. It’s just not very satisfying at all and I would have handled things way better. I think you gotta either go with the full sad ending or a very upbeat one but this tries to do a little bit of both and sort of fails on both sides. It’s not one of the worst manga endings or anything like that though, it just could have been a lot better.

In 20 volumes a lot of story certainly happens so you don’t have to worry about a lack of content. There isn’t always a full ongoing plot but there are mini arcs here like different school trips and of course the battle with Kiku. In general those arcs were more fun than the standard slice of life stuff but I suppose it depends on the arc. It’s an interesting slow burn but the vampire stuff just messes it up more than help the series. Some characters like Anko should have held onto the grudge against Kiku the whole time. Bumping her off in a full fight would have been nice considering what she did to Anko’s father. I don’t see how you really get past that.

The series is about emotions a lot of course so I suppose grief and rage are just more examples of those. If the series had fully committed to being an action title then I think things would have gone better. Ultimately it just wasn’t really up my alley. Maybe if they threw in some more comedy that would be another way to go up aside from action scenes. The series takes itself rather seriously and there’s no problem with that necessarily but in general I do prefer rom-coms to rom-drams. Any scene of the characters getting drained or Ko pressuring Nazuna to drain him can be annoying. It’s like peer pressured blood draining. The world also seems like a depressing place in general with vampires draining people at night without their knowledge and the victims who get turned are stuck for eternity in a rather sad existence. In a way because of how seriously all the themes are played, the series isn’t quite able to spin this into a positive.

Ko and Mahiru definitely do their part in bringing the series down a bit. Mahiru because he’s just a pretty bad character and the whole romance is one that just makes you shake your head. Ko because he’s really not that interesting. That may sound harsh for just not being all that interesting but I would have liked him to have had more goals or some kind of definitive character ending. It just feels like he didn’t move on much and in some ways may have regressed with having to keep up a front again. Maybe have him be able to handle Nazuna’s constant stream of suggestive dialogue with some banter. The only time he stops her is when he tries to be romantic which isn’t really the same thing.

Overall, Call of the Night is a fairly big romance title and it’s impressive that it lasted for 20 volumes. Each character gets a whole lot of development so even though the cast isn’t huge, you get to know all of them rather well. If you were to remove the vampire aspect entirely I think the series would work better. Ko would meet people during his nightly adventures and in that way discover a whole new world. The vampire stuff just adds more blood sucking which is never a great idea as those scenes tend to be rather gross. The art can be really rough but it’s not as if that’s a dealbreaker. If you can get past the vampire stuff then you have a reasonable slice of life title here. It may not always be the most engaging but it is a very calm series so you can pick it up and read at any point. For the most part you should be able to easily understand what’s going on.

Overall 4/10

Jewel Robbery Review

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It’s time for an old school heist film that really goes by quickly. It’s a film that lands the humor over rather well and will keep you entertained all the way through. The main character may be no good since she is a cheat through and through but the main thief here makes for an interesting villain. He’s definitely not someone that you want to underestimate or it will be all over. The surreal nature of the whole thing really does wonders for the story.

The movie starts by introducing us to Teri who is super bored and one of those characters who figures that the grass is always greener. She wants some excitement in her life and to break away from how monotone things usually are for her. Her husband is rich but he got his money the legal way. So she has various affairs and flirts a lot with her husband’s younger associate. This is already pretty bad but what gets worse is when the shop is hijacked by a bunch of thieves. The main thief wins her heart over rather quickly. He’s not just any thief though, he likes to rob places while being a gentleman the whole time. So he makes sure that nobody is harmed and even makes some jokes along the way.

He invites Teri to go along with him and for a while there she is a bit skeptical of this but then she figures it might be a good idea. It won’t be easy though as the cops are hot on the trail. Will she decide to go with the thief or ultimately stand up for what’s right and help get the stolen merchandise back? Only time will tell, this is definitely not an easy decision for her at least.

So like I said the film is mainly played for laughs so you aren’t to take these things too seriously. That said, it is the best case scenario if you are the one being robbed. The villains aren’t hurting anyone and you are fully insured so it’s not like you won’t get anything back. Your business won’t be the same ever again though. The thief uses laughing cigarettes to knock people out and he has a flair for the dramatic. His backup plans have backup plans so it is hard to get one over on him. You figure this guy is almost definitely going to win in the end because nobody seems to be on his level. He’s just too quick witted.

You can’t feel quite as bad for the victims of the robberies as you could either since they’re not the best characters either way. For the younger associate, he is going after a married woman so that’s a massive no no right out of the gate. Then for the husband, he’s really letting himself be made a fool out of by his wife the whole time. I liked the well meaning police officer though. He was talking tough throughout the film about how smart and capable he was. I definitely appreciated that. It may not have turned out all that well for him but the confidence was still good. It’s always better to be confident and fail than to not have had the confidence in the first place.

These are also humor scenes that just worked really well within the film’s context. I’m not saying that it’ll be laugh out loud funny but the scenes and writing in the film are consistently clever. We even get quite a few fake outs that are written really well. You’re always left guessing as to what is going to happen next. It’s really impressive just how much influence the thief has and apparently he has dozens of identities to fall back on as well. That is the hallmark of a true pro.

The main cast is fairly small but this is the kind of film that doesn’t need a whole lot of characters. You really just need the thief to punk everyone, the heroine to fall for him, and then the peanut gallery wondering what is going to happen next. The rest of the film is just executed really well with the fun writing and really fast pacing. There is always something going on and it certainly never drags. At most you may just wish it could go on a bit longer with the thief messing with everyone but the length works well. Sometimes you don’t need a film to carry on for very long.

By default the weakest part of the film here is the romance. After all it’s not like you can root for the heroine to get together with the main villain right? That would be a really bad idea. The ending is a bit happier than you might think but we’ll see if it all works out. Either way I doubt this will be getting a sequel any time soon. It just doesn’t seem like the type of film that would since it’s really a standalone story all the way through.

Overall, Jewel Robbery is a pretty fun film and I dare say it’s better than I would have expected. The opening robbery scene really set the tone right from the start with how easily the thieves broke in and took control. I always like it when villains have an honor code to fall back on as well. Naturally it doesn’t make him any less of a villain or anything like that but at least it does make it so that you don’t mind when he is dominating. The guy wanted his money and figured out the most efficient way to do it with minimal effort. You have to give this guy some props in creativity for pulling all of this off like that. If this sounds like a fun time to you then I recommend checking it out right away. You don’t want to wait and then forget all about this title after all. You can also see what you think of the burglary attempt in general. Should it have worked? (I’d say yeah. It seemed to be well thought out)

Overall 7/10

Fever Pitch Review

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All right it’s time for one of those classic rom-com films. It’s definitely got a retro feel to it because at this point the early 200s are actually rather old. It feels rough saying that but it is what it is. The film has some fun moments, there’s always a lot going on here and I do like that it keeps up the energy well. As always with these films, it’s at its best when the film is focusing on the humor rather than the romance. Still the film does keep the main characters more in check than other titles so it’s not like they ever hate each other which is good. That’s usually what makes the romance more on the unrealistic side.

The film starts off by introducing Ben as a super big Red Sox fan. He has really built his entire life around them. Well, one day when he is leading a school tour as the teacher, he meets a lady named Lindsey who is really smart and good with numbers. The kids tease Ben about her and so he decides to actually make a move and asks her out. This basically flies in the face of most titles like this so I have to give him some serious props here. The guy actually has a lot of guts. The two of them start going out but there is one big problem here. They both have very different priorities. Ben still wants to follow the Red Sox across the country and never miss a game while Lindsey is trying hard for a promotion so the two don’t have much time for each other. Can this really work?

Lets start off with the film’s stronger aspects here which are the characters. Both Ben and Lindsey have fairly successful lives going on right now. Neither one of them are creeps or just hopeless in life. They actually feel like real people who have made choices and everything. Lindsey has more corporate success but can be rather lonely. She does have some friends but it’s clear that Ben has the better support network. He may not be doing as well but he still has enough money to go to training camp with his friends and they’re always having a blast. So the romance is adding something extra for both of them but it’s not like their lives revolve around this.

It also makes the drama a bit more realistic since neither person wants to sacrifice parts of their life too easily. So Lindsey brings her laptop to the games and Ben picks the games over dates. Now I would put more of the burden on Ben here though. Lindsey is fighting for an active promotion right now so of course she has to give it her best effort. I absolutely get why she needs to be putting in overtime and everything. For Ben, hey I get that he likes Baseball a lot but he does need to make some concessions here. Baseball has over 100 games, if he’s going to watch them all then he’s not going to be available for her much at all.

He can barely go a day without the games. At one point he decides to skip one to make her feel better so they have a good date and everything but despite saying what a great day it was, he completely flips on this when his friends let him know that he missed the best game ever. He pretty much guilt trips Lindsey at this point when it’s not like it was her fault or anything like that. In this film naturally both characters will be at fault a lot of the time but I would say it was usually Ben’s fault in the end.

Ben’s friends are also solid in general. They actually do give good advice from time to time and their scenes can be funny. At one point for example Ben has them all dancing as a way to compete for who gets to see which game now that he has the season tickets. It gets rather competitive and it’s nice for a change to see the guys hanging out without the topic quickly being about which girl they like or things like that. They’re actually good friends that just have a good time hanging out so that was fun.

Unfortunately the film’s climax doesn’t feel very satisfying on Lindsey’s end. She ends up having to make way more sacrifices and I would have liked a more positive ending there. A lot of times the films like this act as if only one side can win but we could have had a scenario where she gets the promotion, Ben still has the tickets, and they just put in some boundaries/guard rails to keep things from being crazy. That would have been way more reasonable and a better ending. The ending itself could have definitely been worse but it’s just not nearly as good as it could or should have been.

As with any comedy film, I’m not saying that all of the jokes will land but on average you will like more of them than you don’t. The writing is good as well and at least tries to give you some reasons why the two characters would go out. For starters Ben asking her out at the start was a big move since he was more proactive than the average guy. He can still be rather immature at times but since Lindsey is always super serious, you could see her going with him to get back in touch with her inner child. There is actually a lot of time that passes by in the movie as we follow the whole Red Sox season so it also avoids my usual complaints about the romance being really rushed and unrealistic. A lot more care and detail went into this film compared to the usual experience and of course having the sports element in there was also a nice way to add a little boost for me since that’s always fun.

Overall, Fever Pitch is a good movie. It manages to avoid making the drama be too forced and doesn’t go as extreme as other comedy films go. You get the usual formula of the main two getting together, falling apart, and then getting back together but it’s done in a way that actually feels realistic. So by avoiding the usual pitfalls the movie ended up being more effective. The pacing is good and the humor tends to land so I had a good time here. It’s not exactly the kind of movie I would be clamoring to see again or anything like that but if you’re looking for a fairly wholesome romance movie then this is a good one to watch.

Overall 6/10

Millennium Snow Review

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It’s time for a romance series that I had definitely never heard of before. It’s got vampires in it so you already know that the series is setting off some alarm bells for me. Well, in the end it wasn’t that bad but I don’t think there is really much to it. The characters never end up being all that great and it gets really rushed by the end. There was definitely a lot more they could have done with the concept.

The series starts by introducing us to Chiyuki who is very sickly. In fact she is close to death and just barely survives thanks to being bit by a vampire named Toya. He didn’t want to do this since he doesn’t believe in biting people or draining blood but it was an emergency. So now he watches over her to make sure that she doesn’t die too quick and then he will head off to another location. Chiyuki now wants him to fully convert her into a vampire so she can live for 1000 years and finally have good health. Can she convince him to drain her though?

You can probably already guess that I’m not a big fan of that part of the plot. I actually think it’s impressive that Toya refuses to drain anybody and he just allows himself to always be in a weakened state. He’s kept a strong will about this and so it’s too bad that Chiyuki is trying to crack him here. In a way you could say the series is sort of using this as a metaphor and either way it doesn’t make for a great romance plot here. Yeah Chiyuki likes Toya but how much of that is because her life is depending on this? She will only be able to live a long and healthy life if she is turned into a vampire. It’s not a great dynamic there but at least the series does avoid any rebounds this way.

Still, the romance didn’t really work out for me. Then we have the art which is a little on the rougher side. I won’t say that it’s bad or anything like that but it could stand to be smoother or more streamlined. It’s not as good as the average manga is what I would say there. Mix that in with the main character cast already being underwhelming and you can see how this is not a title that would end up competing with the heavy hitters. I can see why it isn’t very well known.

The best character here is probably Kaede even though she showed up fairly late in the adventure. She has always been a very lonely girl who had no friends and this leads to her raising up an animal spirit. Unfortunately she didn’t realize that the words she was feeding it weren’t really doing any good but the fact that she cared about the creature is the important thing. She didn’t get to contribute much to the story but it was always good to see her in the last chapters after she made her debut.

As the main heroine, I would say that Chiyuki stands out a bit for being more unique compared to how you would expect her to be. After all the whole trying to have the main guy make a move is already a bit different and she’s the aggressive one trying to pressure Toya instead of the other way around. I tend to like confident characters so in most cases this would have been an instant win but since in this case it was like her pressuring him into something that he just didn’t want to do, she ended up losing points instead.

As for Toya, he’s not that great either because of his generally low levels of confidence and how he just doesn’t use his abilities well. He has a tough time in multiple situations and you have to remember that he can stop time and do all sorts of cool stuff. So it feels like he is playing the matchup wrong and holding himself back which are massive mistakes to be made here. His rival Ariyoshi’s not much better. This guy is a wolf so he also has some superhuman abilities but at the same time his big weakness is really that he is a big flirt. So he is more outgoing and tough but but the flirty nature holds him back quite a lot. He has a fairly intense backstory and you feel bad for him but he definitely didn’t handle things well.

He’s still better than Kei though. Kei is Chiyuki’s overprotective cousin who gets really extreme like when he locks her in a room. The guy is meant to be sympathetic but he goes way too far so that just is not an option by the end. You’re just rooting for his downfall the whole time. Fortunately he doesn’t appear much but the guy is super petty. Another villain without much screentime is Luis. He shows up near the very end of the series and I feel like there wasn’t much point to his whole character. There’s just no time left in the story for him and when he shows up he is sickly as well so he is quickly written out anyway. It was to add a little danger but the whole thing felt rather force and everyone treated him too well. I don’t care that he’s on his deathbed, he was attacking the main heroine so he’s got to go. It’s not that complicated.

I did like Toya’s attendant Yami though. He was a loyal friend who was always ready to help even if Toya isn’t the easiest guy to work for. Yami may act like a kid most of the time but if anything it feels like he is probably more mature most of the time. So I definitely give him a lot of credit. That about wraps it up for the characters. That’s probably a good thing since we’ve only got 4 volumes to deal with and more characters would mean that things are even more scattered.

Ultimately the series’ weakness is really that it did not get to excel at anything. If any aspect could have been really solid then that would have helped the whole series out but it didn’t really have anything like that. For example there aren’t really any funny gags or comedic characters to help carry the slice of life stuff. Generally I would consider this to be more of a drama. There are a lot of big facial expressions and the series is generally light hearted but I wouldn’t say that it’s very funny. Some good humor would have gone a long way here too so that’s really a shame.

Overall, Millennium Snow is a little below average I’d say. It’s not really a manga that I would spend much time thinking about later on, nor do I think it’ll get a re read at any point in the future. The characters are weak and the art doesn’t help to save it. If you’re looking for a title where there are vampires but not a lot of blood sucking then at least it beats the average there but nah in the end I would have to give this one a thumbs down. It should have either focused a bit more on the romance without throwing in a bunch of side characters and a random villain or it should have just doubled down on action. In the end there just wasn’t much time to do anything and it felt like the series was really lacking direction.

Overall 4/10