The Place Promised in our Early Days Review

Posted on September 10, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for a dramatic anime film with a lot of feelings going around with the main characters. Unfortunately the film also has a really interesting political plot going on. The only reason I phrase that as a negative is you’ll become a lot more interested in that part which is really just to set the stage for the main adventure. You won’t get any real closure or details on that part which is a bit of a shame.

The movie starts by introducing us to Hiroki and Takuya. They are best friends and have been working together to build a jet. They want to visit the large tower that separates the country of Japan. This is pretty dangerous and against the law though so they have to do this on the sneak. They’re each a genius in their own righ, Takuya is an expert on code while Hiroki is more on the hardware side but they’re both very proficient on both ends. They have a mutual friend named Sayui who wants to tag along as well but one day she vanishes. Both of the boys don’t really know if they want to complete their plane after that and drift away. Years pass and multiple parallel dimensions begin to emerge. Is it time to bring the plane back in?

So I mentioned how the tower has split Japan in two. Well, you’re not going to get a lot more about how this affected the region. We see that half of the country belongs to the U.S. and half of it is for Japan but that’s really the extent of what we know. The tower is being used for experiments to harness energies and matter from other dimensions on but why are they doing this and how did they get such a big headstart? Apparently that half of the country is close to 50 years ahead of our main characters.

I could have followed a whole movie about this as the characters have to wonder if they should even be using this power or if it is perhaps a little too much for any of them to be dealing with. There’s a whole lot of potential right here but instead we go back to the main story. So in a sense, the main story may be better than what it felt like since I couldn’t help but compare it to the larger scale of what was going on. It was just really interesting and why make an alternate history film if you aren’t going to go into it? You could have easily done the whole jetplane plot with a normal timeline if you ask me.

For the main characters, Takuya starts out as a good lead but really begins to falter down the line. He makes the classic blunder of beginning to trust the government a little too much and letting it cloud his judgment. At one point he finds out that someone is being kept asleep in order to protect the planet. Yes, it’s a noble goal if you look at it from a utilitarian point of view but obviously it’s not good for the person who is trapped. This person is even conscious and stuck the whole time although Takuya couldn’t know that.

He goes as far as to nearly sabotage efforts to save this character and really just fell down a whole lot compared to what he used to be like. As a kid he was serious but still had a good head on his shoulders. His technical abilities may have improved but his emotions sure didn’t. I get that he was under a lot of stress but this should be a no brainer. The fate of the world based on some massive assumptions, or saving an innocent person who’s been trapped? The latter has to always win.

So I give Hiroki more of the credit here. He definitely took Sayuri’s disappearance hard and vanished for a while but while he was depressed, he continued to move forward. Once he learned that he had a chance to save the day, he didn’t hesitate and went right back to the project. He was a very earnest guy and is what you’d expect from your average main character. He does what is needed as soon as possible.

As for Sayuri, she was a fun enough character. She always had fun hanging out with the boys and the 3 of them made for good friends. It was nice to see them all getting along without anybody getting jealous or anything like that. It seemed like she initially liked Takuya and even eventually liked Hiroki instead but it’s played in a much more subtle way and didn’t blow up into some annoying romance drama. Trust me that would have been super annoying. Instead, the film lets them all act mature about this.

Sayuri definitely had the hardest trial out of the 3 main characters since she was stuck all by herself in a really desolate place. The way the time worked, she at least didn’t need to eat or anything like that but the loneliness alone is still a killer. So she did well to stay as positive as she did when others would have definitely cracked by the end.

The cast remains pretty small even to the end. There’s a researcher who liked Takuya and of course you had one of the big resistance guys who was always flirting with girls and getting parts for the guys, but that’s about it. The focus here is really on the small, intimate story that is going on despite the huge events taking place in the background. I’m all for focusing on a few characters but the story gets distracted a little too much for me to rank this one higher.

All the parallel worlds business didn’t seem to have much of a point here except to include Sayuri’s plot into the story. It’s an interesting concept but since the film doesn’t have a ton of time to focus on it, it feels like it’s just extra weight. The fact that some guy actually invented how to read into these worlds and come up with new tech is certainly impressive….even if it leaves you with more questions.

The animation is pretty solid here. I don’t think it’s the best work that I’ve seen from this group but it works well enough. It’s not like there are a ton of action scenes that would really let the film show off its stuff or anything like that. The soundtrack is also a bit more on the forgettable side. No song that will really stay in your head or anything like that but the ost works well enough in the moment.

Overall, The adventure was fun enough but you just don’t care about the kids too much. It takes a little while for their plot to really start going and by then you would rather learn more about the government or more about the parallel worlds. The last thing in your head is abuot the kids and to be honest it’s pretty hard to picture them completing the mission anyway. Their jet would have had a tough enough time when they were first building it, but years later? It would just be too out of date by that point. Still, it’s a wholesome story about never giving up and has a soild enough ending even if it does dabble into one thing that I’m never a big fan of. The sacrifice one character makes just erases too much character development for me. So if you’re up for a quick anime adventure you can check this one out, but there are strongr anime movies out there.

Overall 6/10

World Trigger Season 2 Review

Posted on September 9, 2025 by dreager1

Season 2 of World Trigger starts immediately and I really appreciate that about the show. You never need an episode to get people back into the spirit of things. If they need a review, they can just rewatch the first season again. That’s how I see it at least. As with season 1, season 2 is excellent. The battles, animation, and story are super good. I wish the manga hadn’t had to go on hiatus for so long because it’s clear that this would have been a breakout hit. Dare I say that it may have passed Hunter X Hunter and kept pace with One Piece in popularity? Ah well, it’s all a what if.

The season starts with more aliens deciding to invade the planet. Jin is able to predict their arrival thanks to his side effect and so the government mobilizes all of their forces. With the exception of some B rankers like Osamu and his fellow tournament fighters so this way they would not be distracted. These aliens are from another planet and are aiming to force a fight between Earth and the first enemy so they can get away. Otherwise they are basically given a suicide mission here as Earth would wipe them out. Their main goal is to destroy the big spaceship which would set Earth back at least a year and the heroes have to stop them.

One thing about World Trigger that is quite unique compared to other anime is that Earth gets a whole lot of respect. We aren’t just sitting ducks for the various alien races and can actually hold out own. The biggest invention tat Earth had was the ability to use energy bodies to let its fighters train in life or death situations constantly. This is also handy for the invasions where they can fight with their fake bodies without the risk of death. The automatic bail-out feature ensures a guaranteed survival so it’s as if everyone has two lives.

Around half of the season is for the invasion and usually you’d expect that the second half would falter in comparison but as it is a tournament, that isn’t the case. Those battles are incredibly satisfying as well. They also have a lot of strategy to them and in a way that is really what makes the series stand out. Plenty of big titles have strong action scenes but this one consistently has plans on top of plans. By making the battles a 3 way fight of 4 teammates each, there is always a whole lot going on.

Of course the invasion does have much higher stakes so it would still take the slight win. It’s also nice seeing the most powerful fighters in the verse going at it since generally as good as the students are, they aren’t going to be holding their own against the upperclassmen. Jin himself doesn’t get much action this time but he got to steal the show repeatedly in season 1 so that makes sense. Additionally, his ability to give the Earth time to prepare still makes him the automatic MVP.

Meanwhile in the tournament, there may be times where you feel like the aces could do a little better in the fights but overall the strategies make sense. This is a series where there are power gaps but generally they aren’t crazy. A normal fighter can defeat an elite with the right amount of strategies. The prodigies are able to move a little faster or hit a little harder but it’s not like Superman going up against Green Arrow. So while I can be a bit skeptical when someone like Kuga isn’t shredding 3 ordinary joes, it’s easier to understand than in other titles.

At 12 episodes, the season goes by a lot quicker than the first one which had an incredible amount of episodes. You still feel like a lot of progress is made but of course that’s probably since I love all of the action. The tournament is still ongoing so in that sense it may feel like things haven’t moved a ton but it’s all in how you look at it. I wouldn’t mind if the tournament kept going on for a whole other season.

Now lets look at the characters. First up we have Osamu and he is desperate to look better than last time where he got absolutely crushed. This time he gets to show off what he can do with his new wire traps which are really effective. It was a clever way for him to get around his lack of abilities and he still has the occasional dash to try and crush someone’s shield. While Osamu can be a little too quiet and soft spoken at times, he’s a pretty decent lead. There’s nothing you can do about being weak in this verse as your base trion won’t improve much, so coming up with a smart way around that is a good idea.

Meanwhile Kuga continues to look good as the ace. He has some of the best physical stats in the series and it’s all with a weaker trigger than what he usually had. He is always the power hitter of the group and continues to get more and more adept at using different fighting styles. Technically I would say he has less of a focus here than in other arcs but still makes his presence known at all times.

Chika also gets some good moments with her gun but unfortunately deals with that trauma of hers where she can’t shoot anyone directly. It’s a pretty big issue so hopefully she will be able to bounce back from that soon. Right now it severely limits her and without that, I dare say that Osamu’s group would win every battle with ease. The sheer amount of destructive force that she has is completely through the roof. A few shots would completely bury the whole map.

Hyuse gets his own subplot here as he moves closer to his goal of returning home. Ultimately there won’t be a way for him to do this unless he plays ball and so he prepares to do just that. In the process h has to raise his rank and prepare to join a squad. Anyone who saw season 1 won’t be surprised at his level of ability. The guy can be rather deadpan but is a supremely good fighter and one who knows his limits. That is really what makes him incredibly difficult to defeat. I look forward to him appearing more since that will be real entertaining.

Next up we have Katori Squad. This team is as dysfunctional as it gets and that really ends up hurting them a whole lot. Katori is fun with how aggressive she is and her love of battle. Her skills are definitely considerable but she tends to try doing a little too much on her own and actively ignores the plan. This may work if you have truly unbelievable power but in this kind of setting it’s usually going to be a pretty big L. She is thoroughly embarrassed during the initial match but I give her kudos for trying hard until the end. The teammates are not without fault but she played the biggest role in their defeat.

Rokuro just needed to go about things in a less combative way. I know he was just trying to get his point across but the problem is that he’s really weak. So in this case you had someone strong who was not good at planning and then someone good at planning who wasn’t strong. Sort of like a discount version of Osamu and Kuga. Hopefully they are able to recover from this in the future.

Then we have Kakizaki squad. This team has no real standout fighters and so they try to win with good old fashioned coordination. I would say this team is used to show the limits of that approach. Ultimately you do need an ace if you are going to win. You can have 3 people with the best levels of teamwork ever but if none of them are super skilled, you will eventually lose. Fumika gets props for her quick thinking on how to block Chika’s bullet and force her out of the comfort zone. Meanwhile the other two did well in putting up a consistent fight but they aren’t the most memorable characters. I’d say that’s just a side effect of the team structure.

After that is Ikoma squad. Their leader is not the smartest guy around and just likes being an attacker. So as a result the rest do their best to cover for him. Ikoma can get away with this because he is incredibly skilled. Almost nobody is able to block his sword strike which goes for a very long distance and deals tremendous damage. It’s a technique that few have managed to copy and I like the idea that he just decided to master a pretty basic move that nobody stuck with. I’m not the biggest fan but he did well there.

Mizukami is also good because he has a strong level of confidence that I like to see. Not to say that any of the other teammates don’t have that, but he sticks out a bit more. This team is really good at using multiple shooters and winning the long range battle. It’s an interesting team composition and one that works pretty well. At least they do have an ace although I wouldn’t call this one of the most impressive teams.

Finally we have Oji squad and I really liked these guys. This is a complete strategic team. None of them are aces, but they are all as smart as possible and can still be deceptively skilled. The leader, Oji is definitely the standout character. He tends to be one step ahead of the others and is ready to kill steal at any time. He’s fighting for results, not some misplaced kind of honor. He’s right, in a real battle there are few rules and so he does whatever it takes to win.

Kazuki and Yutaka are also really analytical and work well with Oji. It’s hard to say if they were always like that or Oji helped to mold them into his image. Either way it makes for a team with incredible synergy as well as a solid baseline of skill. I’d like to see more of them in the future. They didn’t have the most unique designs though so I wouldn’t count on a lot more for them, although at the same time the cast is so large that maybe this had to happen. I mainly focused on the big teams for this season but the cast probably has about 100 characters at this point. Coming up with big designs for all of them really has to be a massive challenge.

As for the new aliens, Gatlin is probably my favorite one. He is a supremely good commander who knows how to read a situation and can even handle multiple opponents at once. The fact that he could keep a whole squad on their toes is incredibly impressive and his cannon is also really powerful. He’s a good example of another character who really thinks things through. What makes him rally dangerous is that he’s essentially as strong as an A rank fighter with Osamu’s kind of thinking process.

The rest of the aliens are also pretty solid and each have their own unique personalities. Of course they’re almost all geniuses but this is the kind of series where that’s true of just about everyone. Even the “dumb” characters tend to have above average intelligence which is pretty funny. The aliens have the advantage of being able to call out near endless amounts of foot soldiers while the humans have the advantage of more substantial numbers of real fighters as well as home field advantage.

The animation has been touched up since the first season so you will immediately notice how much flashier it is. The animation is incredibly smooth and the art style works perfectly. It really gets the blood pumping as the characters go at it. The soundtrack is also good with quite a few solid tunes mixed in there. It makes for a powerful combo all the way through.

Overall, World Trigger season 2 is really quite good. That is even an understatement, this is an elite title. I highly recommend it for all anime fans because it’s not every day that you get this level of strategy. It’s one of those things where it is hard to describe this with justice through text alone so you really just need to watch it. I would also say that even if the series never gets a proper ending, the conclusions here are good enough. You still got a great taste of what the concept is all about and of course we do have another season coming up so I’ll be reviewing it at some point. With the tournament still going strong, it’s really a foregone conclusion that season 3 will also be incredible. The writing and strategy ensure that nothing less can happen.

Overall 9/10

Loki: Season 2 Review

Posted on September 7, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time to close out the Loki saga over here. Season 1 was pretty fun with a lot of interesting concepts and the TVA actually worked rather well as a centerpiece. This season spends a lot more time, buying time, if that makes sense. As a result it does tend to be a little less exciting and I felt like the season didn’t really hit its stride until the final episode. You almost could have jumped right into that. It’s still a good season and you should definitely check it out if you watched the first one. Just be prepared for some of the slower pacing you’ll have seen in a while.

The last season ended with Loki failing to stop Sylvie from murdering Kang which started a whole chain reaction that changed the TVA. Now nobody even remembers Loki and he’s time spazzing all over the place. He needs to find a way to stop warping through time at random intervals, get everyone to remember the true timeline, and get things back on track. To do this, he will definitely need Mobius on his side and together they will have to convince Sylvie as well. This definitely won’t be easy.

The season is only 6 episodes but technically there isn’t actually a ton to cover. That’s why it does feel like the show tries to start buying time later on which can feel a bit obnoxious. This brings us to the worst character in the series, Timely. This guy takes forever to finish a single sentence and is always super nervous. It’s hard to take him serious even though he’s supposed to be a super genius. He gets the important things wrong anyway after all. I guess maybe it’s better to think of him as a red herring. Not the most flattering way to think about him, but ultimately that’s what he is reduced to.

The show also has to nerf Loki quite a lot in order to extend the chases. For example at one point you have Loki and Mobius trying to track down a defector named Brad. This should be easy. It’s 2 on 1, Brad’s just a normal human, and they have the element of surprise. Even with that, Brad manages to shake them for a good chunk of the episode. Keep in mind that Loki is still a powerful god with magical abilities. Stopping Brad even without hurting him should be absolutely easy. It should in fact be absolutely trivial.

Throughout the show Loki feels like he’s just a human with basic magic powers which feels off. He gets humiliated by Sylvie every time they fight and the rest of the characters don’t treat him like a powerful threat. It’s a classic case of Loki getting weaker the instant he became a protagonist. In one episode Brad just disrespects the guy for a long time. Loki gets the last laugh but you’re hoping he would just knock the guy out after a while.

This season is really aiming to complete his character arc of redemption though. So you could say in a sense that the fact that Loki feels more muzzled is intentional. It does lead up to him looking really good in the final episode which not surprisingly was my favorite one. Loki really got to cut loose there and while I would argue that he made the wrong decision, it was one that was very understandable. He did what he thought he had to. A certain anime named Madoka had the main character make the same choice and ultimately it’s up to everyone else to decide if they accept this or if they will help find another way. Unfortunately I don’t think Loki has any friends who are going to be selfless enough to try and help him here.

So power levels aside, Loki was a fun character here. I enjoyed his dialogue quite a bit and as always he had a great dynamic with Mobius. Mobius is the other standout character here and if anything I wish that his role could have been bigger. Anytime he’s on screen, you know the role is going to be really good. He’s great as being condescending and then sarcastic as the need arises. He’s perfect in the jaded, middle aged dude role. You really believe him when he just seems bored of everything at this point. He has mastered being detached from reality.

As a result you don’t really care about his serious plot of wondering about what his life could have been like. I think he’s at his best when none of that matters to him. If we had to get a new season without Loki, I actually think Mobius could hold his own show. The rest of the supporting characters would have to step it up a little bit though since he was way more charismatic than any of them. None of the others could even come close to his ability.

Ouroboros is one of the characters who gets a lot to do here. He’s one of those tech geniuses who isn’t great as social interactions but gets the job done. He isn’t bad but his array of jokes are a bit limited. He’s really got one gimmick and it will be spammed a lot. So not a bad character, but probably not someone who will make you raise an eyebrow. Ravonna gets a much smaller role than you would expect but she’s okay. My main issue with her would be that she didn’t have much of a grand plan.

It felt like she was easy to manipulate and the way she went out was rather anticlimactic. Ideally she will return with some kind of a power up, but if she never appears again, I will always remember her as being a little overconfident. Miss Minutes was a lot more compelling. She was good at hacking everything and getting in the way of the heroes. If anything you could say that she got off rather easy here. People are too trusting of A.I. and so she could definitely do more in the future. She’s one of those insane villains who can be fun to have around.

Then we have Brad who is a fairly reasonable villain. He’s very cocky and not one of the stronger characters here. What I mean by that is he will very easily be broken by anyone. Loki gets him to crack first, then Miss Minutes cracks him next, and by the end he gets mind controlled. Brad really can’t catch a break, nor does he deserve one. He’s a classic example of a guy who just does whatever he wants and ignores the consequences. Someone who is a good agent but not someone you can count on. The show handles his character well.

As for Sylvie, she was a bit too weak willed for me. She made her big decision in season 1 and at this point I feel like she just needs to stick to it. There’s nothing here that should be particularly surprising to her. She had to know what would happen by removing the cosmic lynchpin and just made the decision that aligned with her morals. I’ll get into this more later on but I would argue that it was actually the right move anyway. Loki was on the wrong side for most of this season and by the end he stumbles onto a new path but otherwise Sylvie would have been right.

So Sylvie falters a bit too easily. She is still a fun villain to have around but the heroes let her be too smug the whole time. They should probably at least try to arrest her in the meantime. I also don’t buy Loki losing to her every time when they fight a bunch in this season. Eventually he ought to find a way to win. We can assume that he did and we don’t get to see those futures but I would have liked the show to have made that clear. Otherwise it’s close to an unchangeable point in time which I always find dubious at best. Sylvie made a nice little life for herself on Earth and should have been satisfied with it.

Then we have He Who Remains, who is a solid villain. I liked him a lot more than in season 1 but the guy is still way too suicidal to be an impressive villain. The fact that he can defeat almost anyone but chooses to die just makes him a bit lame. I get that he’s been around forever and after some thousands of years anyone would want a break but then he should go out on his own terms. Go to a planet that’s about to explode and go with a bang. Don’t just let someone stab you to death. I liked that Loki called him out on it.

The mini theme song is pretty fun as always. I like the eerie music that plays when the Loki logo is being spelled out. It sets the tone nicely for the adventure although it would be nice to have more of a real theme song. The soundtrack doesn’t have many other tunes but this is still enough to be memorable. The visuals are also good, the effects are on point and the battles look good. There isn’t a ton of action here but what we do get is good.

Okay so one of the big debates here was on whether the TVA should prune timelines or not. Kang believes that this is necessary as you have to stop the timelines from splitting or it will introduce more Kangs who will eventually destroy the multiverse. There would just be too many of them to stop. Meanwhile Sylvie believes that doing this is immoral as you are destroying countless universes daily in order to ensure that there is only one sacred timeline. Since a new timeline comes into being for every decision that every person makes, it is quite literally infinite.

Of course it is prioritized to deal with ones that will have a Kang spawning and the TVA exists outside of time so it’s not like they’ll ever be late but it is something that will never end. I tend to be on Sylvie’s case here. The TVA is playing judge, jury, and executioner at the moment. They slaughter more people on a daily basis than anyone else in history. No matter how you slice it, that’s a really bad look. Their overall goals and visions may be ambitious but overall they don’t void this point. If the Kangs do start a war, then you will have to fight them and hope that good prevails.

Due to the way that time travel works, maybe they’d all be dead already if the war was going to come and so they shouldn’t worry about it either. Assigning themselves as the heads of time is certainly an abuse of power. You also have to trust that Kang was telling the truth. So yes I am firmly on Sylvie’s side. Even if saving everyone means they will eventually die, it’s your duty to save as many as possible. In the final episode we get a quick twist that allows Loki to bypass the whole debate but nobody could have predicted that so it doesn’t make Sylvie wrong in hindsight.

The final episode has a lot of Groundhog Day type moments and cool time loop discussions so that’s another reason why the episode ended on a super high note for me. I like the idea of time essentially being used as a rubber band for Loki to check things out and try many kinds of techniques. Ultimately we even get a thousand years+ timeskip so he’s lived more than almost any other character in existence. It’s hard to even wrap your head around that. It’s certainly impressive that he didn’t go crazy from doing all of that. He has definitely matured over the years and hopefully the franchise remembers that he is now a super genius for anything else that he appears in. Also that he can time travel at will and controls the multiverse. That should come in handy for many things…

So if I could make any changes here, it would be to speed up the events of the first 5 episodes into about 2. You can easily do this without stretching everything out. Then you have around 2 episodes for Loki doing a ton of time travelling and exploring ways to solve the situation. Finally you end as normal. I can’t stress enough how much more interesting it was to have Loki on the field than to be talking with Victor and the others about nothing. Maybe find a way for Mobius to go with Loki so we could still have good dialogue and banter the whole time.

Overall, Loki Season 2 has its share of fun moments and I do enjoy the debates on what the right move is. The focus on time travel and its many implications are also a lot of fun. While Loki may not have been on the right side for most of it, it doesn’t take away from the adventure. This show is going for a very cerebral approach and it works more than it doesn’t. It’ll be interesting to see how he loses in the Secret Wars film. However it happens, I’m expecting that I’ll be smirking as I won’t buy any of it but that’s what happens when you make the main character this powerful. Loki should be literally unbeatable now, unless he secretly wants to be defeated or something like that.

Overall 6/10

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Review

Posted on August 30, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for the last of the big Metroid Prime titles before the new one comes out. I was pleasantly surprised that they added way more story to this one than to any of the previous installments. I finally felt like I was playing a true sci-fi epic here so that was a lot of fun. The Wii controls do hold the game back to an extent as that type of gameplay system never quite caught on. Still, I definitely had a real good time here and hopefully Prime 4 is able to keep up with this one.

The story has Samus returning to the Federation to catch up when they are all attacked by an army of Ridley’s men. Oddly they seem to be infected by some kind of dark energy and then Dark Samus herself shows up. She easily conquers the team and then proceeds with her invasion of the whole universe. The only way to stop her will be for Samus to liberate a few key planets and then open a wormhole to stop Dark Samus at the source. This won’t be easy, but Samus will do whatever she has to in order to win.

Like I said before, the plot doesn’t just vanish after the first few cutscenes like in the other games. Here we have actual dialogue and story for the whole adventure. It’s such a novel concept to actually see the federation in action this time and all of the players making their moves. Samus actually having some reliable allies is pretty cool even if you have a good feeling on how the story is about to play out.

The soundtrack is really ominous the whole time with some new tunes for Dark Samus and general tension themes throughout the game. I really enjoyed hearing Ridley’s theme as well. The Metroid saga has definitely done an absolutely incredible job with this and so you will not be surprised at how good it sounds. Additionally the graphics are really solid. Nintendo never cuts any corners here and that definitely shows.

The gameplay may be a bit rough with the motion sensors but the core gameplay itself is still solid. You will have a good time blasting away at enemies. One area where it is far superior to the previous two is that you actually level up your main blaster as you play through the game. So you can easily destroy older enemies as you backtrack through the worlds. The only catch is that the missiles have never been weaker. They are utterly useless in this game since they are weaker than your normal gun so you probably are not going to want to use them for very long. Except for puzzles, I completely stopped using mine.

This game also completely bypasses the end of game collectathon that the first two games had. In this case you would have already gotten most of the batteries just by playing the game naturally. It makes the whole thing feel much more organic and the quick travel here is also much better than in the first two games. So that helps a great deal as well.

It feels like they prioritized having fun this time much more than in the first two games and I appreciated that. After all, you are playing these games in order to have fun right? Having to go back and forth too many times takes away from that and so this area has been greatly improved. I even got over 80% of all collectables while playing through the game which is easily my highest score. The quality of life improvements were off the charts here. It’s why I am hopeful that Prime 4 will keep this up. Additionally I’d love another great story like this but I suppose I shouldn’t get my hopes that high.

In terms of replay value, you can naturally try to go for 100% in order to get the true ending. You can also try beating the game on the new hard mode that you unlock upon completing the game the first time. I can definitely see that being a real challenge with how the gameplay works. FPS titles like this were absolutely made for high difficulties. Hopefully it’s not just that the A.I. become damage sponges and they just get a lot smarter. Part of what made this game a lot easier is that they heavily nerfed how much damage you take from attacks. So I’ll be curious to see what hard mode does to that one.

The length of the base game is long enough to be satisfying though. Even without playing through it a second time, you’ll have gotten your money’s worth. Unless you’re buying an out of print copy, then you may want to hold ff on that. The prices online can get tricky but I got a good price on this one. Guess my main advice while playing the game is to try and just follow the map directions as often as you can and only backtrack when you need to. The longer you wait, the more power ups you will have so it minimizes the amount of times you have to go back and forth. Makes the whole thing far less tedious, especially since this game easily has the longest loading times for opening doors. Villains got a whole lot of cheap shots on me that way.

Overall, Metroid Prime 3 is definitely a pretty good game. On almost any other console it probably would have been a great game since the only thing holding it back are those motion controls. Without those things would be a whole lot easier right out of the gate. Ah well, that’s just how it goes. I would still recommend picking this one up when you have the chance. Get those batteries out of the closet and power up a wii remote. While this isn’t an ideal gameplay setup, the game is much easier than either of the first two Metroid Primes so you should still be just fine.

Overall 7/10

Earth Girls Are Easy Review

Posted on August 4, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for a rather rough romantic comedy. This is the kind of film that comes to mind for most people who aren’t really into the genre. It’s super cheesy and none of the characters are likable. The romance is super rushed and the whole film will make you cringe a whole lot. There just isn’t much here to really enjoy. I appreciate that the film is really having fun messing around here and there is a lot of energy to the film but unfortunately it never quite makes the leap to being good.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Valerie who is currently in a rather frustrating relationship with Ted. He seems to have grown bored of her and pays her 0 mind whenever he is around. She doesn’t realize that he’s been cheating on her for a while now but ends up catching him in the act. She kicks him out and is wondering what to do next when she ends up bumping into a trio of aliens who crash landed in her pool. The main one is named Mac and he quickly takes a liking to her. Well, all 3 are desperate for a girl and like her but Mac ends up being the only one with a serious sideplot. Will Valerie rebound with this alien or will she take Ted back?

I would say the first problem here is how much of a doormat Valerie is. She catches Ted cheating on her and then all it takes is a few nice words from him and she is ready to take him back again? Just a really bad look on her part. You’ll be shaking your head the whole time. This happens multiple times mind you. He yells at her about how the wedding is off and makes a huge scene with the cops…then he acts nice and she takes him back yet again. It’s just such a bad romance.

Of course the goal is to make Ted look as shallow and fake as possible, but the problem is the way that it was executed also makes Valerie look really bad. It’s a lose lose situation as a result and that’s the real problem here. They should have had her not take him back at all and throughout the film he is trying to win her over/take down the aliens. That would have made a lot more sense and wouldn’t have destroyed Valerie’s character as well.

Additionally, the rebound with the alien also doesn’t do her character any favors because it seems like she just doesn’t really know what she wants. She’ll basically take any guy who will give her attention and that’s not how you write a good main character. Her best friend is also able to easily influence her, so it further shows that Valerie doesn’t really have a whole lot of strength of will. She can just be blown away by the tide. That’s true for most of the girls in this film to be honest so it’s not like any of them looked all that good. Her best friend was nice enough but certainly not responsible in the slightest. The kind of person who will always get you into trouble because none of the fun is really planned ahead. The friend just goes off of vibes and instinct which is a recipe for disaster.

The aliens are unfortunately annoying as well. The film decides to go the route of their being brainless. The problem is that this doesn’t really make sense since in the initial scene they seemed normal. Desperate of course since they were talking about girls right from the jump but at least they did have some reason. Once they crash land, they may as well be mindless brutes with how they play around with all of the objects. Them not knowing Earth customs is one thing but they didn’t know anything. They eat Valerie’s fish, make a mess of the whole house, etc. They were super annoying and naturally this meant they were on my bad side from the start.

The film actually tries to give Mac a serious romance plot as well which will also have you shaking your head. It just doesn’t make any kind of sense. The ending is trying to be wholesome but you can’t take it seriously and that is how the whole film plays out. None of the jokes are particularly funny. The only thing I can really say in the film’s defense is that it has quick pacing. There is always a lot going on and it’s not like you are ever going to get bored.

On the flip side, the film does resort to fanservice very often. It’s clear that the writers were not super confident in their own product so they had to go low-brow for most of the film. It feels like a Charlie’s Angels experience at times. Not a good recipe for easy laughs, if anything it just shows you how desperate the film is. It certainly did not win the movie any points and by this part of the film, it’s not like it could really afford to lose any either. All around, a rough time here.

Overall, While the review may sound harsh, this movie just tripped into all of the possible issues it could land on with a rom-com like this. The most important thing you have to do in order to make this film a success is to be funny and unfortunately this one was not funny. The next most important step is to at least have a decent romance and we didn’t get that either. This is the kind of movie that serves as a warning on what not to do in this kind of experience. I would definitely recommend you to stick away from this film, especially if you disagree with the film’s title. I guess if you believe it, the film makes a strong case for this though. The aliens have every girl wanting to be with them even though they can barely talk or do anything. It makes all of the girls in this film look really shallow.

Overall 3/10

Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow/The Blue Night Sagas Review

Posted on July 6, 2025 by dreager1

Yeah that title is a mouthful right? Well in this case each cour got a different subtitle and that’s more or less how they list it on Wikipedia so I figured ehhhhh I’ll write it out like this. Get ready for a pretty long flashback saga thrown in. It’s important to be sure but you’ll probably be more eager to see what is going on in the present so in a sense this will definitely slow your roll quite a bit. We do get more action in this season although I still find myself wanting for more Rin battles. This must be what Edward fans felt like in FMA where you could go 20 episodes without the guy getting a real battle. Some MCs just don’t get all the screentime.

The first half of the season mainly focuses on Shura as we finally see her backstory. She vanishes one day in the present and Rin/Yukio are sent off to find her. There is still a bit of tension here as Yukio is still acting really shady and irrational. Even Rin who is one of the more oblivious guys out there is starting to pick up on this. With Shura being in danger there isn’t a whole lot of time to think about it but the situation will only continue to get worst at this rate. Shura is being controlled by a villain from her past known as Hachiro. Defeating him won’t be easy and it would appear that Shura may die anyway due to a contract. Can she be saved or will the heroes have to make a sacrifice here?

Once your soul is partially owned by a demon then you’re going to be in for a rough time. It really isn’t easy to save Shura as a result and she’s secretly known what was coming up ever since childhood and just didn’t tell anyone so they wouldn’t worry. It’s a heroic mindset so I don’t fault her for that. She probably could have left some kind of word for the rest of the characters so they wouldn’t chase after her but I’m not really sure what kind of wording you could have even tried to say that would have stopped them. Odds are they would see through most lies.

Shura has always been one of the more powerful fighters so it was nice to finally see her in the lead again. For the most part she is no match for Hachiro but she still gets some good action scenes. She is still used a bit for fanservice at times and even this life or death matter couldn’t help but still ship her a bit with Yukio. Definitely a really weak ship especially when Yukio is acting all crazy but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say his actions here really were to help Shura. I like to think that he was totally faking everything he was saying even if it’s lightly implied that to a degree he meant part of it. Forming a pact would grant him more power which is something he desperately wants after all. This arc was able to continue his slow decent into darkness.

I can’t say Hachiro was one of the more interesting villains though. He’s certainly powerful but not particularly ambitious and it’s not like he has a super end game either. He’s someone you don’t want to cross but that’s about it. The heroes are way too lenient the whole time though and should have crushed him at the first opportunity. You will want to roll your eyes by the end of this arc. I would have liked to have seen Rin do more in the fight here but surprisingly he doesn’t play a pivotal role the way you might expect.

Rin still looks really solid throughout the anime though. He is really trying his best both in handling what the past brings in the next arc and even confronting his own feelings for Shiemi. It’s always best to take a pro active approach rather than sulking on the sidelines so that was really good. He may no look as good as he should in the fights by this point in the series but there are asterisks behind some of his worst showings so I cut him a tiny bit of slack here. By the next season I’m hopeful that we will be seeing more of prime Rin since he was down in the dumps for half of this season.

Unfortunately I can’t say that Yukio looks good at all here. At this point he is so jealous over Rin’s abilities that he is trying really dangerous methods to awaken his own. Even risking his life and basically coming close to ending it on the hopes that a life or death situation will manifest his powers. Yukio is willing to go to any level to wake them up including working with the Illuminati which is obviously a bad call. Not to mention pointing a gun at his friend Suguro. By this point in the series Yukio cannot be trusted at all and it’s a shame to see how far he has fallen.

It’s also a drop that has lasted whole seasons by this point so it’s certainly been a while since we’ve gotten to see him as a very heroic figure. Ah well, I guess that just wasn’t in the cards for him this time around. He is without a doubt getting stronger though so he will be hard to deal with. I expect that eventually he will be pulled back into the light, hopefully before he causes too much damage.

Aside from the Shura story, we also get the end of year celebration for the main characters. So we get a classic festival and interpersonal developments with the various characters. Not to mention that Lightning continues to discover more about the blue night massacre which is putting a lot of eyes on him. Lightning is a tough guy and not afraid to ruffle some feathers though, he just continues to work hard on that and doesn’t look back. I think he can be a bit too extreme at times to where he can feel like a villain but I can understand why he is tired of dealing with all the bureaucrats.

One thing to remember about this series is just how corrupt the government is. The “heroes” are working with Mephisto, a legendary demon after all. A lot of the issues they are dealing with in the present are due to crazy unethical experiments in the past. The whole second half of the season deals with a whole lot of that and the government doesn’t seem to have learned their lessons. They are still better than the villains who are trying to destroy everything but by no means are they innocent. You eventually need them to be taken down but right now that’s not really on Rin’s radar. The main characters will stop any evil in front of them but a systematic change is hard to do.

Rin’s various school friends are still around as well of course. Suguro helps Lightning out a lot and as a result he knows a whole lot more about the situation than most of the kids. Of course the more he learns, the more danger he gets put in. This is why Yukio targets him after all and at this point the guy definitely needs to watch his back as well. The villains can come from anywhere after all and Suguro isn’t the most powerful fighter by any means.

Meanwhile Shiemi is still dealing with romance issues. She is just unsure of what love really is and sorting out her feelings has been difficult. I appreciate that she is giving this some real thought rather than falling into anything too quickly. It’s not an easy concept to wrap your head around after all and once you have someone confessing to you, it just gets that much more complicated. It’s as if she’s on the clock now and has to decide much quicker than otherwise. There are so many kinds of feelings you can mistake for love as well so she needs to rule those out. She’s also started taking a route away from being a fighter which is a good decision, although now she’s being forced into a role that might put her in even more danger. Sometimes you just can’t win I suppose.

Shima is still working all the sides and continues to be an interesting wildcard. I can’t say I trust the guy at all though and none of the characters should. When you’re working all of the groups against each other, you have to be extra sure of where his real allegiance is or you will end up getting burned. He’s not the most powerful fighter so Rin could take him in a straight fight but the guy definitely feels like the assassin type so all he needs is a clean shot and he could still be a problem.

Then the second half starts and we have to take a break from the present right when things were getting real interesting. It’s time for Rin to learn the truth about everything that happened in the present. I know this flashback is a real big deal but it is the weakest part of the season in part because of how passive the main characters are. They just allow everything to happen rather than making moves to stop it all.

We see how Shiro grew up and joined the order. How he met a lady named Yuri who would be tasked with watching over Satan and would have a first row seat to how crazy the guy would get. It’s a very twisted dynamic to be sure and who would have guessed that Satan would turn out to be evil?? I would have liked the warning bells to have gone off within the organization a little bit sooner but they’re all just so arrogant and cocky that they could contain him. If there’s one demon you should not underestimate, it would surely be this guy right? Definitely not their best appearance and Satan definitely makes them pay for it.

There are a number of annoying things about the flashback but the would be romance with Shiro and Yuri has to be at the top of it. Ultimately he’s too gruff and stubborn to actually say that he likes her and allows her to keep on seeing Satan and basically sacrifice herself for the mission. Yuri also doesn’t seem to want to be a burden and so she takes on each mission even knowing about the danger. She also begins to care for Satan to a degree which was definitely a mistake. I was glad the series didn’t try to go out of its way to make him seem like a caring guy.

Satan may have started out as a baby but from the start his evil impulses are definitely there. It’s portrayed in a way where he would turn evil no matter who helped to raise him. It’s just in his very DNA and soul. You can’t fix that and I would say this is as clear as that’s going to get. At the same time I would say he loses whatever mystery is left within the guy. We just see him in a vulnerable/weakened position too often to take him seriously. He gets a whole lot of cringe scenes while growing up in the asylum and the fact that the humans were able to placate him for so long is rough. It’s the same thing that happened with Lucifer and I even dare say Mephisto gets hit with this. You can’t take them seriously when Lucifer and Satan are constantly spitting out blood and dying to be reincarnated later on. Then Mephisto takes a gunshot and winds up in the equivalent of the hospital? Yeah he’s probably trolling but cmon now.

Of the 3, Mephisto seems to be the most dangerous with his time manipulation but they all have full weaknesses. Mephisto at this point has been jobbing so hard for so long that I almost wonder if he still remembers how to be a fierce opponent. One thing’s for sure, he’s been playing the long game for a longer time than most other antagonists. He probably gets some kind of record for this. No matter what his end game plan is, I dare say I will find it to be way more convoluted than it needed to be.

I also would say Yuri having kids with him was definitely a mistake. The less said about this ship the better but the whole plot definitely makes you shake your head. Like I said, she took the job way too seriously and her feelings got way too confused the whole time. None of the characters make it out of the flashback saga unscathed. They all make their share of mistakes and all of them seem like self inflicted errors. Any of the characters could have handled it way differently like for Yuri abandoning the order, the Order could have just taken Satan down earlier and worried about the resurrection at another time, Shiro could have stepped in, etc.

The characters really allowed things to get out of hand and of course the ramifications of this are that we got the blue night disaster and all of the current events in Blue Exorcist. This also put Shiro further under Mephisto’s thumb which would really become a life debt. That’s probably one of the toughest things for the heroes in this series which is that they’re basically forced to work for the villains under penalty of death. Rin is really the only hope to shake off these chains if by now he is strong enough to change the world.

The animation for the show is good. Nothing amazing and I don’t think you will be seeing this on lists for best animation but the action works well enough. I expect that once we get a long Rin fight we will get to see the animation explode. When characters have fire powers, it really helps the animation to look extra sharp because the colors work well with the swordplay. If you mess up fire based fight scenes then the studio has a real problem I would say.

As for the soundtrack, they are still using a whole lot of the old tracks from previous seasons so there isn’t much new here. Neither one of the openings are particularly solid. I would say they are okay but definitely not game changers. They really aren’t doing anything innovative here unfortunately. It’s not bad or anything but I do hope they can spice things up a bit in the next season or just use some of the old tracks more. The electronic battle theme and the classic Blue Exorcist themes are right there begging to be used more!

While it feels like we are starting to approach the end of the series, it also feels like the title is dragging its feet a bit. Blue Exorcist has always had some weird pacing issues. It feels like the world is only partially fleshed out. The characters accept some rather odd situations without questioning it. Only Rin seems to know how twisted things are but half the time when he speaks up, Mephisto just threatens him to his face. There is no winning if the world is still ruled by demons and it’ll be interesting to see how Rin finds a solution to this. While trying to obtain more and more power is usually something the villains do, I think it is the heroes who need to crave it this time. That’s the only way they can overthrow the demons and really change things up.

At this point there really should not be much more time for school adventures. I like them as much as the next guy but the world is going crazier and crazier with the demons running amok throughout the country. I need to see some initiative for the heroes as they take them on directly. I also really need to see Rin taking a more prominent role. If they find a way to sideline him again in the next season then I’ll be shaking my head. It’s time for Blue Exorcist to get serious and give us some serious plot progression in the present timeline.

Overall, The season spends a lot of time in the flashback which definitely slows up the pacing. Most of it you can easily guess and piece together from the lore we already had so I think this could have been condensed a whole lot. I just want to know what’s going to happen in the present so the next season has the potential to be the most explosive yet. I would say as always, Blue Exorcist continues to be solid but still lacking things to make it a very good show. It’s a mix of characters and action. The series just has not been ready to turn the corner but perhaps that will change now. If you’re this deep into the series, you should definitely continue in order to stay current. It feels as though the series is starting to approach the climax so I doubt we will be getting another 4 seasons at this point.

Overall 6/10

Land of the Lustrous Review

Posted on July 6, 2025 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review

Posted on July 3, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time to return to the world of the Guardians of the Galaxy where they have to deal with a whole new threat. The films have had their ups and downs to be sure but how would this one wrap things up? Well, unfortunately I would say that it is the weakest one of the 3. The Rocket subplot is a double blow since it introduces animal violence while also writing him out of most of the movie. A very risky call no matter how you slice it since he is such a popular character. Ah well, we still do have a lot of fun banter with the rest of the characters.

The film starts off with the Guardians still being in a rocky spot as Star Lord grieves over not having Gamora around anymore. She died and was replaced with an alternate version of herself that never actually dated him. Now he just gets drunk all day but when the team is suddenly attacked and Rocket gets into critical condition, Star Lord realizes that he has to get his game on. Rocket’s unable to be healed by the usual sci-fi tech because of a bomb inside his chest and so they need to find a way to deactivate it. This may mean going up against the high Evolutionary but the team has never allowed themselves to be deterred before and they aren’t about to start now.

So lets get the dicey parts out of the way first. The High Evolutionary’s whole gimmick is that he experiments on animals in order to evolve them further. He aims to make a new human race that is superior to the old one. So naturally in a film adaption that means that we are seeing a lot of animals in rough states. Several of them were essentially dismantled and are part cyborgs now. Rocket grew up with a bunch of them so we see this quite a bit. Fortunately the surgeries already happened as that would have really pushed the envelope into absolutely terrible stories but it is a really dark plot that to this day you never need in any kind of film. It’s never going to elevate things.

Rocket also had a lot of experiments done on him which were quite painful. It’s a subplot that really drags the film since we cut away to it numerous times. Meanwhile the High Evolutionary looks really bad the whole time. I’m used to him being a fairly poised villain who is in control but here he constantly whines and it out of his depth. He doesn’t seem to be a great super genius and was unable to find Rocket for many years despite the guy being a world famous Guardian. This guy’s utopia didn’t even work as he has actual drug dealers running around.

He says he’ll just start again but why would a new attempt be any different? He feels like he is just completely insane. That’s not a bad thing for a villain necessarily but at the same time I would say that it just doesn’t make sense amidst the wider context. I would argue it makes his whole goal seem weird since he wasn’t even close to succeeding and having Rocket won’t really help with that. he discards all of his test subjects too quickly.

While the film also did a number on Warlock in terms of totally changing his character, at least he was funny. I can see why longtime fans wouldn’t appreciate this version since he’s nothing like the comics/games but at least he looks reasonably strong. I would argue he should have crushed the Guardians with ease though since that team is hardly the strongest one out there. I suppose he just lets his guard down a little too quickly when the going gets tough. With the Sentry coming up, Warlock’s probably not going to be able to stand out quite as much in his next appearance.

Where the film is stronger is in the usual banter. If you liked their discussions in the first two films then you should like them here as well. This team loves to constantly be bashing each other and they’re always doing pranks. For better or worse, you can’t trust your teammates on the small stuff but you can count on them when the stakes are serious. Mantis is always pranking Drax despite his many protests, Star Lord seems like he can’t help but constantly flirt with Gamora, etc. The team is completely dysfunctional but you could say that’s part of the fun.

The only member who is mainly left out is Groot thanks to Rocket being gone the whole time. Still a rough decision I gotta say and they should have kept him awake the whole time and helping out, just have there be a time limit on the bomb or something. From the Guardians I would say Mantis was my favorite character. Yeah she is definitely very immature and gets the team into a lot of trouble but at the same time I would say she cares about the team the most. She is always doing everything she can in order to help the rest out. Her attempts sometimes backfire but it’s the thought that counts.

Gamora is also solid considering how much she has to put up with. She is completely a different person than the old one so it’s really not fair how much pressure they put on her. I was glad that she stuck to her guns and did not let peer pressure win. That would have been a pretty bad look if you ask me. It was also good to have at least one team member who could fight well and keep the team on track. I would say that’s Drax’s role but he still ends up being the team’s jobber for most of the film. He does well against Warlock in the opening fight though so I’ll give him that. He also gets some big moments near the end of the film.

I didn’t care much for Yondu’s replacement but at least he doesn’t appear much. He was being kinda rude to Cosmo for no good reason. Cosmo did good though and reminded viewers why he is one of the most powerful creatures here. His mental abilities are really impressive. Finally we have Star Lord and he does not look good at all here. Getting so drunk and wasted during the intro was really rough. I needed him to step up as the team leader a whole lot sooner than he did. This is supposed to be his team after all, it was time for him to man up and act like it. I already talked about the Gamora stuff but yeah he’s just too desperate. I think he works well as the whiny comic relief in most cases, the serious moments just don’t hit as hard.

The film does a good job of making him funny at least though. I would make the case that the humor in the film tends to land more than it doesn’t. For that reason I would label the film more as a comedy adventure than adding any action to it. We do get some good fight scenes but I would say no great ones. The first fight with Warlock is way too slow and the best fight is the room battle near the end where everyone fights at once. Unfortunately there isn’t a great climax fight this time. I think the reason is because the High Evolutionary can’t really fight so there was no big villain that would force the heroes to team up against him.

While the second film had a lot of faults, it did deliver on a rather big climax which also had Star Lord’s best scene in the MCU. If you take away the Rocket subplot entirely then this film has a clean win over the second film but with it then it does end up sinking more than expected. Ultimately I guess you just can’t beat the original film which had all the fun first meetings. It was probably the funniest as well. In general it’s not possible for every joke in a comedy film to land but I would say most of them did there. A good amount landed in this film as well though.

As for the music, I would say it’s a step down from the first two films. Maybe that means low key the new music eras can’t beat the 80s. That is definitely possible although I tend to like 2000s so maybe it’s just the selection. There were no themes here that felt like they would become iconic or anything like that. They were good enough but not crazy good. Meanwhile we don’t get the usual big stingers at the end of this film so the ending is rather subdued.

Overall, Guardians 3 could have been better. It definitely suffers from having one of the worst MCU villains to date and not having a proper super bad to end the film with. Removing Rocket from most of the film was not a good decision and of course his backstory really ended up hurting the film as well. This was just one negative too many for the film to get around and so that sealed its fate. I think if you go into the film as a fan of the Guardians and just want a fun time you may get the best out of this. If you’re going in as an action fan or a big comic book guy, then you are probably not going to have as good a time here between Warlock and the High Evolutionary.

Overall 4/10

Johnny Mnemonic Review

Posted on June 22, 2025 by dreager1

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 time for one of those sci-fi films that is really all over the place. It’s a dystopia but definitely not the most interesting one out there. I do like that corporate is basically the big villain in all of this but even then I wouldn’t say that it is the big win you might be hoping that it is. That’s just not enough to carry the film and so this won’t be remembered as one of the better sci-fi titles.

Our main character is Johnny and his job is to transport confidential information around. With the internet being incredibly compromised, people rely on humans to traffic the data like this. Johnny puts it in his head and then gives it to the client. He wants out of this gig, but his partner tells him that he will need to do one last job first. The problem is that this latest job has a data size that is way above Johnny’s specs. There is just no way that he can process all of this. So what is he going to do? Well Johnny figures he’ll download it anyway and it should be fine. Unfortunately this job isn’t as straight forward as it appeared and now he’s on the run from the Yakuza. He has a bodyguard named Jane helping him but she is not in the best shape. Yeah this is gonna be rough.

Right from the jump Johnny’s decision is just really dumb here. I know that he’s in a hurry to get out of the business but downloading something into his brain that can’t fit just seems like an easy trip to the grave. It’s not a brave or smart thing to do, it’s just plain dumb. A really foolish move and he is counting on the fact that he doesn’t just die instantly from this. He has a few hours before the brain leakage goes too far but any form of brain leakage obviously brings some risks along with it. So yeah this was a bad idea.

Then Johnny’s partner is super shady from the start so it comes as no surprise to find out that he’s involved with the craziness too. First rule of Dystopias is not to trust anybody. Johnny ends up working with Jane out of necessity but it’s not like he can trust her either. She is very strong and capable but gets a severe case of the shakes all the time. That puts her in a really rough spot for any professional gigs so she is also desperate enough to work with a shady fellow like Johnny. Surely there is no way any romance could bloom out of this right? That would just be poor writing.

It just feels like the story is already pretty forced from the jump with Johnny getting into this mess. There’s just no way he should have stuffed his mind and surely he could have found another job. The people giving him the data also seemed very ill prepared for the villains who showed up later on. You’d think that they would have been more prepared. Ah well, Johnny does his best but I wouldn’t say that he is the most interesting lead character.

Jane is okay and I would even say that the shakes aren’t as bad as the film treats them. Jane’s very first scene has her crushing another bodyguard so clearly she is still strong enough to take out the average fighter. Should shaking really be such a big deal? It feels like in most cases she would still be able to get along just fine even if she will need some breaks here and there. Well, at least she does well as the body guard.

The most interesting villain is the Preacher. He’s a complete nutjob who is a hitman that likes to quote the scriptures the whole time. A real twisted guy but he’s also just such a random addition to the film. Corporate hires him whenever they desperately need some action but the idea that this huge company needs to resort to this is pretty funny. The corporation has so much unbelievable power at their disposal and they still need a secret hitman? It’s not like this is a one time thing either, from the conversation it sounds like they summon him from time to time.

Then for all the hype the Preacher gets, the heroes just run him over during their first encounter. Way to ruin the hype right? It was a very questionable decision as soon as it happened. Preacher does return and gets his share of victims but you still keep remembering the first moment. Naturally the film can get a bit violent so keep that in mind if you’re the squeamish type. The film isn’t holding back with how dark the future gets after all so this is not for the faint of heart.

We also meet a friend of Jane’s, The Spider. This guy doesn’t really like the future. He thinks that things should be done without all the electronics everywhere and he tries to be old school. He was entertaining so I appreciated that. The guy was constantly upset about everything and would really speak his mind. More characters like him could have made the film more interesting. I also did like one of the main villains, Shinji. He had a cool energy whip that could cut through nearly anything. It made him a very deadly fighter and the weapon just looks cool in action. He certainly gets his share of hits in.

I do think the film had some potential here but it’s all convoluted without being super interesting. I like a good mystery and sci-fi babble but it just doesn’t always go anywhere. We have a plot with a lady in the screen with ties to Johnny’s past, a resistance that has been around for a while, and both of those elements don’t appear as much as you would think. It’s the kind of title that has a whole lot of world building and character development behind the scenes but we just don’t get to see it. It probably would have worked better as a full on series.

I would also say that as a future story it should have embraced the fun sci-fi elements a bit more. Bring in more cool weapons like Shinji’s energy whip. Johnny isn’t a super fighter or anything like that so it would make sense for him to be carrying something instead of having to hope that he can deal with these guys in hand to hand combat. When you’re dealing with the future it’s not like you need to stick to some pre-existing ideas.

Overall, I think the film could have been better but it’s not nearly as interesting as you would expect. The film could even be a bit dull at times. The idea of people carrying information in their brains is interesting and dare I even say realistic? I could totally see that being the case in the future. Corporate as the villain was also a good idea but it just goes to show that you need more than ideas. You need proper execution! If you want a good sci-fi film, you should definitely check out something like Sword Art Online instead.

Overall 4/10

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Review

Posted on June 17, 2025 by dreager1

I can definitely see why this one has such a low score compared to the average Marvel production. For the most part this barely even feels like a superhero movie. Whoever decided to make an Ant-Man film that is far less about Scott running around and more about sci-fi lore should have had some second thoughts. All of the film’s issues can be traced back to one thing…..nobody cares about the Quantum realm. It’s got to be one of the more boring settings that I’ve seen in years and feels like it’s trying hard to stand out and instead gets shown up by just about every sci-fi environment before it. Ah well, at least we do have some fun fights.

The film starts off with Scott enjoying life. He helped save the world and his family is back. Things could not be going better for him…well until his daughter gets arrested again. She has been flying further and further off the deep end and it doesn’t help that the rest of Scott’s family almost seem supportive of her getting arrested. When Scott tries to shut this down, they make fun of his book because these are some of the most annoying, pettiest side characters I’ve seen since The Devil Wears Prada. They all seem jealous of Scott saving the world and it’s completely unwarranted since he’s such a nice guy. He’s not being a jerk about it or anything. Ah well, Cassie thought it would be a brilliant idea to send signals to the Quantum Realm and this causes everyone to be warped in there. Can they escape this tyrannical realm before certain twists tear this family apart?

Now you may be thinking that since Scott is basically the only real likable member of the Ant Man family that this film will be a way for everyone else to become tolerable? Well, unfortunately the film only has the opposite effect of that. The Wasp is probably the best out of the main supporting characters but she was actually more fun in the last one. The Quantum Realm brings out the worst in most characters although it brings out the best in one of the antagonists though so I’ll give the film some credit there.

Darren finally returns! The guy gets so much hype and recognition. Every time he shows up, the characters exclaim “Darren!” In a really puzzles but excited way. It’s sort of like when you’re at a party and you finally bump into someone that you know. So that was pretty cool and definitely worked out pretty well. He is now known as MODOK but it’s not like he’s a very serious character so his best scenes are when he takes the visor off. He had the best jokes throughout the movie. Yeah he gets some serious moments by the end but for the most part you will be remembering the laughs. It’s another glimpse of what the film could have been. Imagine a lot of banter between him and Scott above ground. Now that would have been fun.

Scott is still a good main character. He tends to carry his scenes and most of his dialogue is just good fun. He can banter with the best of characters. Scott may not be the best fighter but he’s a good dad just trying to help his family out of a jam. The guy endures quite a lot of damage and punishing blows throughout the movie with no real complaints either. I’d say he’s generally one of the most likable Avengers at this point.

That’s why the Quantum Realm is such a waste. You just don’t really care about Kang’s empire or the resistance group fighting against him. It just feels like the most generic war possible and we don’t get enough out of the characters to really be invested. The backgrounds are more boring than cool and of course the film can’t resist going with the disgusting ooze angle a few times like with the controls or having to drink some to understand the aliens. It really felt like the writers had no idea what to do with this place.

Then this place also destroyed Janet as a character. He was around here for a while and basically got into an affair. You’re hoping the whole time that maybe it wasn’t as bad as you’re thinking, only for rebound guy to confirm it. Janet’s excuse is also the worst possible one as she talks about having needs. That’s the lamest thing I’ve heard in a minute. Her constant secrets are also why everything fell into disarray so this film destroyed any possible character she could have had prior. There is just no coming back from this.

Meanwhile Hank is just way too passive about the whole thing. He’s very chill upon learning about this and then also admits he went on some dates himself. It’s all such weak stuff and then Hank is sidelined for a large part of the film. He does end up helping out with his ants later on but the main problem is that in a film like this there just wasn’t much to do. It’s not even a particularly action packed movie as things don’t really get explosive until the climax. Until then it’s mainly a lot of setup and lore.

Then we have Cassie and a whole lot of this is her fault after all. Shrinking cop cars and breaking the law is bad enough but then messing with the Quantum Realm when she knew Janet had been stuck there for decades. It seems like Cassie was mainly doing this out of curiosity which is not a great motive. It’s not like she was getting ready to save tons of lives or anything like that. Yeah I can’t give her a pass on this either. It’s just such a bad look for her all the way around. Of course by the end she has found a cause worth fighting for and does her best but it’s more like a broken clock finally getting the time right. I need to see some real character development that stuck for her in the next film.

Hope isn’t bad but it feels like she spends a good chunk of the intro to the film just smirking in the background as opposed to actually backing Scott up. I do appreciate that she is always a lot quicker to action though. Her suit is basically always on and she also didn’t panic with her alternate version copies as much. every group needs a good fighter an she does thrive in that role. So I may not be her biggest fan but I do appreciate her in a fight and she is definitely the backup that Scott needed.

As for good ole Kang the Conqueror, he just looks way too wimpy here. Yeah you could say it was part of his plan but his first appearance just makes him look so small and weak. Even once he has the tech back, you’re telling me he couldn’t react fast enough to stop Janet initially? Then having any trouble with Scott later on is rough. You really have two options here. Either his tech isn’t as good as he thinks it is and he never beat the Avengers in the past, or he is an absolutely terrible combatant who squanders his tech the whole time. Either way it is not a good look for him.

I would not be able to take him seriously to handle a big team of fighters so I’m definitely cool with the character being written out. We get two post credit scenes involving him and they’re more funny than anything. Kang really thought he could do something. The guest stars in the second scene were a lot more fun. Especially with one character completely calling Kang out the way I would have in the audience. He just doesn’t look that imposing at all and this film really sealed the deal there.

Overall, This film had its moments but the beginning and ending were easily the best parts. I wanted more of the surface world which always has a lot of fun to it. I usually like a good sci-fi environment but the world building for the Quantum Realm was just way too boring. The film did not do enough to justify its focus within the story. Ultimately that took a big toll on the film and it could have used some more action to keep you interested. There’s really on replay value to be had here or any reason to really watch the film. So for that reason you could probably skip this one and jump to the next film that really counts. Of course if you do plan to watch the movie, it’s not like it is a bad experience or anything so you’ll be fine. Just don’t expect a classic Ant-Man light hearted adventure.

Overall 5/10

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