Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night Review

Posted on October 5, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to go back into the world of Sword Art Online, one of the greatest franchises of all time. The movies have stuck around with the first arc which is a smart decision since that is still one of the greatest individual arcs in anime history. It’s a great movie with stellar animation and a top tier soundtrack the whole time. You won’t want to miss out on this one as Kirito continues to show why his skills are the real deal.

The movie opens up with Kirito and Asuna taking down the powerful floor 4 boss. The heroes all decide to celebrate and since it’s almost the end of the year, both of the big competitive guilds will even team up for the party. It’s pretty unheard of but that’s a good thing. After all, the players in the Sword Art Online game are literally trapped within it. There is no way out of the game and if you die here, then you die in real life. The only way to end this curse is to clear all 100 floors of the game. It’s an extremely difficult task but it’s one that may even turn impossible if the groups start fighting among each other. Unfortunately there are some villains who are aiming for this. Information leaks that the 5th floor boss drops a legendary guild flag which would completely flip the balance of power. Now one guild may be gunning for that and skipping the party. There is only one way to stop this, Kirito will have to take the boss down and claim the flag but he’ll need to assemble a powerful group of trust worthy fighters. He only has a few hours to do this though.

When you think of the ideal movie, you’re often thinking of something that has a considerable amount of action, top tier character development, and a film that just looks great. Well, this one hits all the boxes and continues Sword Art Online’s streak of having absolutely amazing films. It’s why you can never really count the franchise out, at any point it can just deliver an absolutely insane level of hype. The fact that it’s an AU/prequel doesn’t even phase you because you’re having too much fun here.

Asuna is still more the main character than Kirito since this is in the progressive verse and she looks real good. She has come a long way in her fighting abilities and finally has a more offensive style here. She holds her own against the bosses, Argo, and even her old friend. At times Asuna still has fairly low confidence that can cause her to downplay herself but when the chips are down she definitely shows up. I liked that she came up with a plan of her own to get the rapier back and she also had really clutch moments against the villains. Once in a hostage situation and in another case to prevent a 2 v 1.

It helps that Asuna is a super pleasant person in general so you’re always rooting for her. She is a great character and it’s even fun getting flashbacks of her playing the Tekken homage with her friend. Sword Art Online is one of the few titles where it had an A+ romance for the whole franchise and this movie does well with that too. There isn’t a lot of time for romance here but the beginnings of it are still present and definitely work well.

Meanwhile Kirito looks great as always. He’s the top player that most fear but all respect. When he’s on the stage people can talk tough but nobody is about to fight him. The only exceptions to this are the Laughing Coffin members and unfortunately the film doesn’t give us a fight with them yet. That part was too bad because there are two different times in the film that the matchup is teased but doesn’t deliver. I feel like they are really setting them up to be the big villains in a third film but giving us a small fight here wouldn’t have hurt. That’s probably my only nitpick, teasing the fight twice was just too much. I wanted to see Kirito absolutely waste those guys. I have no doubts on his victory. Even 2 against 1 he would have been too much for them there.

In terms of personality the film also did Kirito justice with how he’s super knowledgeable and tough but not a showoff or anything like that. He may not be the smoothest with day to day interactions but still holds himself well. He’s a charismatic guy and has made quite a few friends. It’s impressive stuff and he definitely holds his part of the film.

Argo gets a rather big role here which was surprising, but nice to see. She doesn’t get as many moments in the spotlight as the other supporting characters but was definitely very important in the Aincrad arc. She knew how to get info and could hold her own in a fight. We rarely ever see her fight so that was another pretty fun thing. She has Wolverine claws and everything. I think it’s clear that she’s not quite as tough as Asuna or Kirito but the fact that she is really fast definitely helps her to avoid traps and such.

Mito also returns from the last film and has a good role here. It’s not a super big one but it’s definitely a critical role as the heroes would have had casualties without her. Her fighting style is still a whole lot of fun to watch and that long whip of hers also means that she can strike at foes from any range. It’s pretty much a direct counter to the final boss of the film. It’s nice to still see Mito mainly being a loner but I wouldn’t be opposed to her joining Kirito and Asuna to make their team a trio. At that point they could really start thinking about soloing more bosses.

Of course I mentioned before but the graphics are super top tier here. There are different fights in the movie and they all look amazing. The final boss definitely has the most spectacle but I would say the best fight in the film was Asuna vs Mito. I always like human vs human type fights because you can really focus on the choreography there. You see all the tactics, expert fighting moves, etc. I really had absolutely no complaints there. Then of course the soundtrack is super awesome as always for the franchise.

In particular the standout theme was for the final boss. What I liked is that it felt completely like a sci-fi boss theme. I’ve been listening to it on repeat for a while now. The boss also has full mechanics and everything that were incorporated into the film like the heroes having to jump over the shockwaves and targeting the circles. Everything about it felt like the people behind the story had really played video games before. It felt like the most accurate boss fight I’ve seen out of any of the movies and of course it’s a great bonus that the whole thing looked spectacular.

When it comes to Sword Art Online your main worry is always that there will be some fanservice or iffy moments but this movie mainly manages to steer clear. There are some super mild stuff but for the most part the movie knows that it’s elite and isn’t bothering with any of that. That’s a massive W in my book I gotta say. There are enough fights to keep the movie moving at a fast pace but of course you also have the drama with the guilds that is fun. The movie makes sure to balance it all while reminding you that at the end of the day this is still a story about Kirito and Asuna. They take the main focus and rightfully so. Without them there wouldn’t be a story after all.

Overall, I highly recommend this film. It’s an extremely epic story and one that you don’t really need any former context to get into. You can just jump into this movie and the story is masterfully told so you won’t be lost or anything like that. You can just sit back and let the narrative guide you. The technical elements are incredible as well and I definitely can’t wait until the next movie. It’s already been 2 years which is a super long wait. The movie industry just isn’t the same without Sword Art Online at the ready.

Overall 9/10

Escape from New York Review

Posted on September 16, 2024 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

This is one of those films that everybody has heard of at some point. It’s a pretty well known thriller from back in the day and having New York as the main setting is always a pretty good idea. I like the idea of the story and this is probably a better way to do the prison break kind of plot than with a standard one. They could have done a little more with the concept but you’ll still have a good time here.

Basically in the future crime has gotten so bad that the world needs more space for the prisons so Manhattan was sacrificed. The entire borough is now used to house all of the criminals. It’s an open air prison without any kind of supervision or police control. The crooks are basically left to their own devices to rule or be ruled. Unfortunately, the government gets sloppy and the president’s plane goes down so he ends up crashing within the city. If he isn’t recovered in less than 24 hours, nuclear weapons will be automatically activated and the world will be doomed. This forces them to send in a guy who used to be a military hero but tuned for some reason appears to be a big criminal now. You can probably guess that there is more to this than meets the eye but he is convinced to help in exchange for a complete pardon. Can he really save the president?

The mission is stacked against Snake (The lead) in a lot of different ways. For starters the government injected him with mini bombs so if he doesn’t save the president within the time frame then he will die. Additionally, chances are very good that the president is already dead with how ruthless the place already is. The odds that he is still okay are super slim but the government won’t care and will still blow Snake up. Snake is also massively outnumbered and will have to be dealing with some really crazy odds. This is also territory that the villains are super familiar with since they’ve had to live here for many years. The situation just keeps getting worse and worse.

Still, Snake couldn’t exactly turn down the job opportunity since he was told in no uncertain terms that he would be obliterated if he said no. This is a government that sanctioned a complete borough prison after all, you can tell that they are not bluffing by any means. Snake makes for a solid lead either way. He’s clearly experiences and knows what he is doing out there. A lesser character would have been absolutely crushed early on by everything happening but he just stays on mission even as characters are blown away right in front of him. He has to put up with a whole lot and you can bet there is basically no gratitude in the end.

As for New York City itself, it really looks like a dystopian backdrop here. There is almost no power since the criminals had to try and work some greenhouse supplies to their benefit with very limited results. Any reasonable person was likely axed off years ago so you’ve only got the crazies at this point. Everyone is extremely insane but at least some are crazy in a helpful way like the cab driver. I would say he was my favorite character from the city dwellers.

He talks about things very nonchalantly but is clearly prepared like when he had the bottles ready to light on fire. He’s been around the block many times and has seen a lot of things. He is clearly scared all of the time but at least he knows a lot of people and how to get around. Even the Duke would probably have a hard time stopping him. The Duke is the head honcho of the whole operation and really calls the shots here. In any situation there will always be one figure who rises to the top amidst the chaos and in this case he was the guy. He doesn’t get to appear quite as much as you would expect though. He’s mentioned a whole lot but it’s really not until the end that he actually shows up. I’d say he live up to the hype reasonably well. You can tell that he’s a real tough character but introducing him early on could have been fun.

This film is definitely more of a thriller than a full action movie either way. Don’t expect a lot of big explosive fight scenes the whole time. Snake can clearly fight and does knock a lot of people out but for the most part this is a stealth mission. He’s got to find the president and so a lot of screentime is really in exploring the city and talking to people to gather intel. I could see this being a really fun video game with how you would explore like that. The desolate ruins of Manhattan with criminals around every corner would really be tense.

The film can be violent at times but not quite as drastic as I would have expected. The film has a fairly dark atmosphere and keeps the tension going but does so without having everything be on screen. You know the situation sucks for everybody within the prison and the film doesn’t have to beat you over the head with the implications of this. You’re curious just what life looks like on the outside but the focus is really on the jail itself which makes sense. Either way there is a ton of corruption as always.

Overall, Escape from New York is just a really interesting film and works well. You’ll be at the edge of your seat the whole time. When I say the film could have done a bit more though, it’s really that the concept of turning a whole city into a prison sounds really interesting to me. I’d like to see a bit more about how it works and that’s where having the Duke show up earlier could help. You’d have to treat the subject carefully but yeah there is a lot of potential there. Here you are really getting a glimpse of the whole thing I’d say. Like Snake you’re really just thrown in there and that does amp up the tension so in that way the decision did make sense.

Overall 7/10

World Trigger Review

Posted on September 12, 2024 by dreager1

World Trigger is one of those titles that was absolutely massive but then had to go on a really long hiatus. It seems like the fans have stuck with it but I would still say it lost a lot of ground. Going back to the original anime series, it was really an elite. This absolutely would have been one of the premiere Jump titles to beat if it had kept on going and ideally if it had stayed weekly as well. It absolutely deserves to be considered as one of the cream of the crop anime titles that balanced out both Shonen action and Shonen sports atmospheres into one excellent product.

The story introduces us to Earth, a world that was completely changed after an alien invasion occurred like 10 years ago. The humans quickly reverse engineered the tech and made a whole government group to combat the threats. In the present, we see one of the main characters named Osamu who is eager to become a full fledged member. Right now he is too low ranked to really be of use in many fights but he has to fight hard for his friend Chika’s sake. Osamu needs to find out what happened to her brother many years ago after he was abducted. Fortunately, an alien known as Kuga shows up one day who has incredible powers. Perhaps if Osamu allies himself with this guy, he will be able to achieve his dreams.

Things are pretty tough on Osamu right from the start due to how the power system works though. For example, Osamu has very low levels of Trion (Spirit energy essentially) so he can’t fire weapons or use swords with the same amount of power and speed that others can. He has a great deal of tactical awareness to be sure but how much that can help in a one on one fight will have to be determined. A great deal of the series is about Osamu trying to improve and this is done through his performance in the actual alien invasion and during the B Wars where he forms a team with Chika and Kuga to rise up.

The series has over 70 episodes which means there is plenty of time for a lot of adventures and character development. I do have to say up front that it is a show which does prove the filler allegations to be true unfortunately. Pretty much every episode is a 9/10 here and the only saga that was not nearly at the same level was the filler arc. It was still good but you could absolutely feel the massive decline in quality. I defend filler sometimes but I couldn’t on this one. I’ll get into that more later on.

One area where the series succeeds on a massive level is with the technical aspects. The soundtrack is one of the best ones that I’ve heard in a long while. Part of what makes it work is that the soundtrack is rather large and has a number of solid themes. So it’s not just one theme to hear over and over the whole time but instead a number of really good tracks that keep on coming. It’s definitely the kind of show where this really helps to enhance the fights and dialogue scenes. Everything becomes 10x more epic with this level of music playing in the background.

The show has a ton of in depth analysis and strategy in every episode so if you had boring music playing then this could get old quickly. The writing is super good so I don’t think it would ever drag the show back but this is the ideal combo. I would actually say this show is the absolute best when it comes to the explanations. The writer clearly thought it all through with a good degree of accuracy. You don’t always have the characters agreeing either which makes for a pretty good extra dimension. For example one character might give one kind of advice and then the next one shuts it down. So the character being critiqued has to consider both options and as the viewer you have to wonder who was actually correct. Naturally I tend to favor the more aggressive options here.

Then we have the animation which is pretty solid. I won’t say it’s absolutely top tier or anything like that but it’s really smooth and streamlined. The anime also really decided to show off in the final B Rank wars fight with a lot of super great animation. There’s one particular cut where 5 people are fighting on screen at once and it was super dynamic. I know it’s really hard to move multiple characters on screen at the same time like that so it definitely ended up being extra fun. The choreography is always there and so this is the kind of animation that will continue to withstand the test of time.

Then you have the large amount of fighting styles and weapons which are all animated well. The fact that all characters have access to the same weapons but have to choose their loadout before a match is pretty fun. It means you can always expect some kind of switchups and plot twists running around. You have to stay 3 steps ahead of all the other characters at all times or you will be doomed.

Okay now lets get into the characters here. World Trigger has an absolutely massive cast with tons of “hype” characters running around. It makes power scaling pretty fun and interesting. In a lot of ways it’s one of those “Any given Sundays” like Football where an upset is always primed to happen. With the exceptions of Jin, Kuga, and maybe two other fighters, the cast feel very equal among the hype talents. Then of course you have Osamu who falls below just about all of them but hey one day with his plans and intellectual prowess perhaps he can make a name for himself. Perhaps…he can control a World Trigger at some point.

First we’ll talk about Tamakoma. Reiji is a solid fighter who has a good amount of strength and is also good at teaching. He really proves himself during the series and while he doesn’t fight all that much, he generally looks good whenever his time to shine does come up. Konami is really the power hitter of the group though and while she also doesn’t get too many fights, her skills are the real deal. The villains are quick to make sure she is distracted during their invasion because they weren’t sure they could handle her. Now that is what I call real screen presence and hype. When even the villains fear you, that’s high praise. She also has one of the better comedic gimmicks with how she always believes everyone. So as a result she gets lied to a whole lot.

Karasuma is another good member. He’s a fun character and I like how he’s always messing with Konami but in terms of overall ability he seems like the weakest of the trio by a fairly significant amount. He’s just not able to keep up with them from what we’ve seen and everything about his toolkit feels painfully standard. Hopefully he’s hiding something.

Jin is one of the combat elites of the series and so it goes without saying that he is amazing in combat. I would say that he is far and aways the most powerful character in the series. Seriously I would say that it is not even close. So to see him taking names here is always a lot of fun. He can see the various paths of the future and act accordingly. This helps him do things from dodging attacks to recommending someone be put on a mission in a few months. The scale of his visions are really impressive and then he also has the best sword skills out there. Right now we can’t really put anyone as being more powerful. There is another S rank but we haven’t actually seen him fight on screen yet. We know that he can fight of course but he has to prove it. Jin is generally a really fun troll who likes to poke fun at everyone and that just makes him a whole lot of fun. I do look forward to seeing if he will ever get a real challenge though.

Now we have Osamu as the main character. He’s not a bad kid but he is far from being one of my favorites. For starters I thought he was way too passive with how he was letting the bullies rough him up in the first episode. He was really just going to keep on letting them pound away at him which is crazy. You have to be able to stand up for yourself in times like that. How can you protect others if you can’t even protect yourself right? It just doesn’t make any real sense there. As the series goes on he gains a little confidence but suffers constant setbacks. Osamu gets careless, makes mistakes, etc. It would help a great deal if he could win some extra fights but the way that he keeps losing is pretty discouraging.

Right now Osamu doesn’t strike me as someone who should even be a B rank agent. It feels like he would not be able to beat any of his classmates and Kuga is basically carrying him to the next level. So I really want to see some significant improvements out of Osamu and that will absolutely start to raise my opinion of him. In the meantime, I’m afraid he’s just not going places.

Then we have Chika who unfortunately has some similar issues. The difference is that she has incredible amounts of power within her. She could blow almost anyone away with her cannon but she’s super timid and also has a thing about not attacking humans. Yeah…that’s definitely not someone you want with you on an away mission where you need combat tested vets. Chika is working on this but until I see her get into a battle and really contribute she won’t be going up just yet.

So it’s very fortunate that we have Kuga running around here. He’s a great fighter with a ton of combat experience and he continues to get better and better in every fight. Now this is the guy that you want to watch your back. Even without Replica he can still fight at a really high level. He cooks a lot of the characters when using a basic trigger, much less his black one. His ability to detect lies is a pretty sound one even if it isn’t really used for combat. He’s also just a fun character who can have good banter with anyone. I definitely look forward to seeing him more.

Hyuse is one of the big invaders who shows up and he’s a solid character. He’s clearly less experienced than some of the other villains as he can bite the bait when insulted. That said, he’s still really good at strategy and has some pretty good abilities. We see that he is able to keep up with Osamu’s plans later on and you could make the case that he surpasses them. He’s a fun wild card to have around. Someone you can’t really predict at all. I definitely really like characters like that and he already adds well to the show’s dynamic.

Shiori is the communicator on the main team so she is always helping coordinate everyone. I would say she is really good at what she does and definitely deserves credit. She keeps the personalities from clashing with each other too much and always keeps control. Her role isn’t one that will often get the spotlight but she still deserves a ton of credit for what she has helped to accomplish.

Rindo is the general boss of Tamakoma but for now we don’t really see him doing much of anything. We know he does a lot of the gruntwork on the back end but I would like to see more out of him. He strikes me as someone who should be really good at tactics so he can probably fight at least to a small amount right? If he can’t fight I admit that I would be rather disappointed. In a world where you can be invaded by aliens at any point, you need to learn at least some defense.

Then we have Replica who is a really good ally to Kuga. This guy doesn’t really show his emotions as a sentient A.I./neighbor of sorts. He really comes in handy quite a bit and gets several big moments. It was always fun to see him on screen and he’s one of the highlights without a doubt. He’s not a character that you can easily replace. I wouldn’t mind replacing Yotaru though. This guy doesn’t really add anything to the show. He’s the comic relief but we have other comedic characters who are a lot funnier. I’m afraid that the kid just didn’t land for me but hey that’s bound to happen sometimes I suppose.

We really haven’t seen Amo doing anything just yet but I do have high hopes for him. He is supposed to be one of the strongest agents in all of Border after all so he really needs to show up here! This is absolutely his chance to make a difference and I am buying into the hype. So keep your eye on this guy.

Tachikawa is another really strong fighter though and he has actually gotten to show off his stuff. The fact that he can fight really well against Jin is definitely some real props right there. His sword skills are good and he’s a fun character. The guy is rather laidback when outside of combat as well, he just takes his orders very seriously. I can’t really fault him for that. His right hand man Izumi is also really good. He was doing well in the battle with the neighbors as well until he was hit by a cheap shot from behind. He should have kept his guard up but yeah he really did well all things considered.

Yuiga doesn’t do as much as the others but we do see why he is known as one of the top snipers in Border. The guy is definitely a great shot and knows how to get around enemy defenses. Likewise with Toma but this is why some of the snipers start to blend into each other. They’re all really good but it can be harder to really show that off compared to fighters where you have all kinds of combos. Snipers are at the end of the day just firing off their guns over and over.

Kazama is a really solid fighter and he is even nice enough to help Osamu out a bit when the main character needed it. Kazama has the right attitude for being in the army and is always really serious. I definitely appreciate having him around and while I think his skills are a step beneath some of the others we were just talking about, he still has a lot of serious skills.

Kikuchihara is strong but I feel like he spends so much time smack talking that he will underperform soon. The guy has a high opinion of himself and that’s good because I like confidence but I feel like he spends more time insulting other characters than just being happy about his own strength. His priorities are flipped and that is what’s going to cost him I’d say. Maybe he just needs to have another fight to impress me.

Midorikawa is a decently good fighter. He actually gave Kuga a run for his money for a while there which takes a lot of talent. He can be mean as a rookie crusher at first but he saw the error of his ways so it’s all good now. Sometimes these things just happen I suppose. He’s not one of my favorites or anything like that but he’s still pretty fun.

One of the better characters is Arashiyama though. His whole squad is one of the most heroic and for that reason they are used a lot in PR and promotional materials within the universe. They help get people excited to join Border and are always professional. it’s not easy to always be ready like that so they definitely get good props. His skills aren’t the best but they’re good enough. He gets the job done.

I would say Kitora is probably the strongest within the group. She moves extremely fast and makes up for her lack of trion with precision shots. I was super impressed when she took on one of the monsters early on and was zipping around the place. While it’s true that her lack of raw power will definitely limit her against the more powerful opponents, she would definitely be a super good ally to have around in any fight. The perfect supporting fighter for sure.

Yosuke is the kind of guy who loves to fight and when he’s battling he goes all out. He’s generally chill but seems to treat the job very nonchalantly. So even murdering his opponents like when he went after Kuga is something he won’t hesitate to do. Yeah, you could say that about some of the other characters as well but Yosuke in particular felt very ruthless with how he went about this. You want to stay on his good side.

As for Miwa, he takes the neighbor situation more personally than any of the other characters. He does have a backstory about this so you understand, but at the same time he’s not the only one who’s been through a lot. I think he could stand to be more reasonable but he’s another fighter who is fun to have around. It’s nice to have a few more antagonistic main characters like this to really shake things up and keep everyone from being too similar to each other.

Ninomiya and Inukai don’t have huge roles here but they definitely represent the top B ranks very well. They think super analytically and completely show up Osamu’s group. There is a reason why they are the top ranks after all and their teamwork was excellent. That whole final fight was super good and they get a lot of credit there. I look forward to seeing more of them in the future. Ema is a solid sniper and he also seems like one of the nicer characters in the series. He goes out of his way to help Chika even if he always has some excuse ready. Then you have his opposite Masato who is super gruff and always fighting very savagely. He doesn’t do much yet but we got to see his high level of skill which already makes him an intriguing character.

Nasu and Kumagai also made for a really solid tag team. The match didn’t start off on a great note for them but they still managed to pull off a good comeback and get some solid points even if they didn’t come in first. They had really good teamwork and fought really creatively. If they had a stronger third member I think they could really make some solid waves in the B rank wars.

Suwa squad may not be one of the strongest groups but Suwa himself is pretty fun. He consistently hits above his paygrade and shows a lot of good strategies. In a way he’s a lot like a stronger version of Osamu. I’d like to continue seeing more of him down the line. The guy is really resourceful and I know that he will continue to improve. He’s got the confidence to match his skills and potential.

Natsume doesn’t do a whole lot here but she’s a nice friend to Chika so I would say she is a good addition to the cast. Hopefully she can brush up on her sniping skills and really became an asset for later on. Now lets talk about some of the management figures who are always fun to see. First we have Kido who is extremely strict. He’s not corrupt by any stretch of the imagination but he does make a lot of decisions I disagree with. He’s willing to have a lot of friction and department battles over black triggers and a neighbor instead of looking at the bigger picture. We nearly had a whole civil war within Border (The agency) near the beginning of the series. So he definitely needs to watch out a bit with that. I do think he makes for a fun character in general though and someone to keep my eye on.

Shinoda is the only boss to actually get to fight in the series which is pretty cool. I’m glad that we have at least one character ready to defend the heroes and make the right calls. Without him standing up to Kido things could have been very different. He was also able to do really well against one of the neighbors. Yeah I definitely like this guy quite a bit, he’s another really fun character.

Kinuta isn’t nearly as tough or intimidating as the other characters but he does seem to really believe in doing the right thing. He cares about keeping everyone safe and just tends to take a really aggressive approach towards making this a reality. While other characters sit back and observe, Kinuta is ready to act. It doesn’t always bring about the best results but it is what it is.

Netsuki and Karasawa are easy to mix up to be honest. It’s not that their designs are super similar but their functions are. They both basically help get the word out and keep public relations at a high level. They are both good at their jobs and trust their instincts even if it means going over some of the bosses’ heads. I can definitely appreciate that because if you are a true pro then you probably know best in the situation. So if you have a strong gut on something then you just have to trust yourself. It’s the way to go here.

Now we have the neighbors from the main invasion. As the leader of the squad, Hyrien is definitely quite powerful. His weapon can easily block others with how many different birds it can summon and the versatility is really impressive. He makes for a fun villain to have to go up against as a result. I like when both the heroes and villains are making big plans the whole time and Hyrien even outsmarts Osamu at one point. One of the scariest things you’ll ever have to go up against is a villain with top tier abilities and smarts. At that point you almost have to just surrender because your odds of winning are not looking very good.

Then we have Enedora who is definitely more of a trash talker. Of course he is also very smart since pretty much 95% of World Trigger characters have above average IQ. His ability to use invisible attacks and strike from the inside is also super impressive. It was fun seeing this guy take on so many challengers and they pretty much got lucky with him. He came very close to absolutely wasting a whole lot of the heroes. Yeah this guy’s a great villain and while he may not get any more big fight scenes in the future, he made his screentime count.

Mira is next and she is another really dangerous fighter. The fact that she can summon portals and more minions is another really dangerous ability. What she lacks in physical ability, she makes up for with long range effectiveness. As long as she was on the board the snipers couldn’t really do anything. She had them pinned down with ease. She is also someone who always keeps the big picture in mind and you have to assume that she will continue to be a really deadly foe in future fights.

Ranbanein is probably the only villain with a really straight forward kind of fighting style. He can shoot massive energy blasts at all times and from different directions. The sheer scale of his firepower is really what makes him incredibly dangerous here. A good hit is really all that he needs to beat just about everyone. He’s really confident and likes to fight so naturally I appreciated the character quite a bit.

Then we have Viza who may be old but the guy still packs a punch. He actually holds his own against Kuga for a long while there. The guy may end up being the smartest member of the villains and the fact that he has a black trigger means he is really recognized as one of the strongest fighters. I liked him more than I expected to. The older characters can sometimes be a bit annoying and all but there were really no problems here. The guy still had a lot of energy and personality the whole time.

Then we have Osamu’s mother who shows up later on. She’s a pretty fun character even though she doesn’t appear much. You can tell that she’s definitely another brainy character so that’s really where Osamu gets it from. I doubt she will ever become all that relevant to the story but it was still nice to see her show up here.

Now we’re into the filler characters! Oh nooooo, well they weren’t that bad. While I was less than impressed with the filler arc itself, the characters definitely did their best. Xeno is just one of those annoying guys who is always talking a really tough game. He fancies himself as some kind of a big shot but he has to take a little girl hostage for most of his screen time. I never really warmed up to the guy much. I feel like he was just trying too hard to look cool and with so many really good characters out there, he could not stand out.

Lilith was better but she’s one of those characters who is a bit oblivious since she’s not exactly human and can be rather soft spoken. She eventually works up the courage to really help out and make a difference with her true powers so I give her more credit than Xeno. It just took a while for Lilith to really get going but at least she has more of an excuse due to her past than Xeno had.

Then we have the big villain Giev. I actually thought he wasn’t bad. He’s one of those villains who admittedly feels rather out of his depth the whole time but he continues to go forward with the mission no matter what. He starts to get punked near the end but at least most of his screentime was good. He had a solid design as well so the guy was definitely memorable at all points in time. Then we have his bot Charon who isn’t nearly as cool as Replica but does make some big moves near the end. At first Charon seems rather forgettable so the second half was a really smart move and definitely boosted the character a lot.

So I mentioned before that the filler arc didn’t really stack up but why not? I would say because you can immediately tell that it’s filler because everything is so forced. The characters are having way more trouble with the villains than they should be. It’s such a much smaller invasion force compared to last time so why are they being overwhelmed? The more you think about it, the less sense that it makes. That is the real problem here. There are also far fewer tactics in play here. Osamu gets his big moment about overloading some barriers but the plan itself was so risky and unlikely to work that it feels like more of a negative. There was a very real chance that he could have just murdered everybody by convincing them to go inside the cages. Not a smart move right there.

I feel like if that was a real story arc, the big A ranks would have taken the villains down immediately in an episode or two. That’s the way that I see it at least. It’s hard to really picture any other kind of outcome here. That’s the best way I can describe it at least. It’s still cool to see the characters fighting more neighbors and all but it’s no substitute for the actual canon stuff.

The show mainly has the big invasion and the B wars as the two story arcs and each one was amazing. Top tier story and a lot going on at all times. It’s why I say it’s like a mix of sports and Shonen jump and I can’t think of any other title like this. Also you can see from above just how big the cast is and that’s considering that there are many characters I didn’t even list. There are several other teams in the wars I didn’t really go into. Watch the show to see them all but the fact that the author can balance all of these characters is super impressive. Good luck learning all the names tho.

Overall, World Trigger is definitely a top tier title. I highly recommend the show whether you are a fun of sports, action, or just like good strategy in general. The show really hits all of its targets here and succeeds in each genre. In a lot of ways I would even say it’s satisfying a niche of sorts with a lot of high tier battles without constant end of the world stakes. A great deal of the battles here are friendly sparring contests but they still really grab your attention. The episodes go by quickly and you’ll be left wanting for more. Fortunately this is where the sequels come in.

Overall 9/10

Electric Dreams Review

Posted on September 2, 2024 by dreager1

Electric Dreams is one of those films that is trying really hard to balance out the comedy and romance perfectly. The problem though is it usually can’t get this just right and leans more on the comedy angle. That’s not necessarily a problem but the romance ends up being very poorly written and even some of the jokes don’t make too much sense. The film is trying very hard but I don’t think the humor has aged particularly well and at times you’re almost wondering what the main conflict of the movie even is. It feels like there wasn’t as much tension/drama as you would expect and it’s not like there is an end of the world threat going on. It just feels a bit aimless.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Miles who is an architect and he helps by planning out different ideas. He is not very tech savvy though and is super behind the times so it’s time to finally buy a computer. He gets one and almost immediately blasts it with some champagne. This causes the computer to turn into a sentient A.I. named Edgar. Edgar can do just about anything and has some really nice musical skills. This attracts a musician named Madeline who falls for Miles and he is rather enjoying the attention so he decides to lie to her about this. Edgar is upset because he likes Madeline and it’s his music so he decides to start causing some havoc. Meanwhile there is already a guy in the band known as Bill who is with Madeline. Which of the 3 guys will be able to claim her?

The first thing you have to realize here is that none of the characters are even remotely likable. Miles is the kind of guy who is mild mannered among the cast except with Madeline where he will yell at her at the drop of a hat. He’s definitely rather rude at times and lying to her about the music the whole time is pretty rough. Yes, he tries to come clean once or twice initially and Madeline doesn’t believe him but what you have to remember is that she’s not very smart at all. Miles continues to lie more and more about basically everything and that’s not a good look for him either. Miles is just not the guy you would really want to hang around. He feels way too sorry for himself and is the kind of guy who would get corrupted by a super computer immediately. The fact that Edgar is dominating him the whole time is crazy.

Miles is also too desperate for Madeline the whole time. Even after going backstage and seeing Bill having his fun with her, Miles is excited for the date coming up? Shouldn’t he talk to Madeline or confront Bill? Bill’s the most random inclusion in the film to be honest because there is really no point for this guy to be here. He’s only here to complicate matters and probably has less than 5 minutes of screentime. His appearance also makes Madeline look bad as a result.

Madeline should have set boundaries and cleared everything up right in that first scene instead of letting Miles be obviously awkward about the whole thing. Madeline is also one of the least intelligent heroines I’ve seen in a while as she misinterprets everything and has no clue what is going on. Yeah you could say that’s part of the comedy to which I would say it’s not very well written comedy. Madeline doesn’t seem particularly loyal or trustworthy with how quickly she gets into relationships. Also, her reaction of grinning when Miles wrecked her big concert (Thanks to Edgar) was completely bizarre.

Imagine someone making a lot of noise during your big performance and you’re just grinning. The alternate answer is that she didn’t hear what was happening, but everyone in the audience could and the conductor could, so is her hearing bad? The issues continue to mount over and over again. So as you can probably guess I wasn’t exactly rooting for the relationship to work out here. Seems like it’ll be really toxic and not be a good long term plan.

Finally you have Edgar who is super whiny the whole time. He wants to know about love and he wants Madeline to be with him but the guy is a program. Why is he so desperate here? He practically starts crying after a while. He has a good time messing with Miles but at the end of the day is unable to finish him off. So much for computer power. At least by the end of the film he figures out a way to expand his reach so instead of just annoying a few characters, now he can annoy the entire planet. That’s definitely one way to make your mark on the world.

It feels like you could have come up with a much more compelling storyline here if you really wanted to. It doesn’t even have to be the usual thriller kind of story where the machines take over. Just have it be a more intense rival that doesn’t whine so much. Give Madeline more agency, cut out Bill, and also make Miles more likable. Basically you just need to switch a whole lot of elements about the film and then this could be a good one. At its core you could say it’s a writing issue. The writing in the movie just isn’t good.

Overall, Electric Dreams is not a particularly good film. It’s a comedic film that is trying too hard and doesn’t end up being very funny. It felt like the movie didn’t exactly know what its end game was for a while there. I’m not saying you had to have some kind of a big and ambitious plot the whole time but the movie absolutely could have done something to stand out more here. The best thing I can say for it is that it does make using the computer really fun the whole time. I liked the graphics and how everything was voice activated. When Edgar turned on a Pac Man simulation to beat up Miles that was also pretty fun. We should have had more of this, direct man vs machine. You may be thinking that it should be easy to just smash the CPU but Miles makes that look like an absolutely impossible challenge the whole time.

Overall 4/10

Pulseman Review

Posted on August 29, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for the world to once again remember the world of Pulseman. This game was pretty fun when I got to play it through the Nintendo Switch Online but I didn’t realize that it got a manga adaption. So that was definitely pretty cool. The concept is really unique and this could have been a proper ongoing but the one shot does its job of getting you interested into the franchise.

The story starts off boldly as a guy falls in love with his computer program. He turns himself into data and they get together and have Pulseman as a kid. In a way he is the link between humanity and the digital world which is a lot of pressure. He is determined to do a good job in this role but then an evil scientist shows up who wants to cause a bunch of trouble. Why is thus doctor evil? Well as he says himself, he just likes being a bad person and as far as villain motivations go, I would say that works well enough. An evil version of Pulseman who takes everything literally will be the hero’s toughest adversary to overcome but defeating him will still still be a walk in the park.

For a oneshot story, there are definitely a whole lot of storylines going on. You’ve got the whole villainess turning good plot, the rivalry with the evil version, betrayals, etc. I’m impressed with how much the story was able to cover in a single chapter like this. It focuses on the critical elements and so it is able to adapt a ton of things without any fluff. It would make you eager to go and play the video game although of course there isn’t a ton of special effects or cutscenes going for the original game. So if you’re playing it for the story then that’s probably not the best idea you could have.

I’s why they should make a remake of Pulseman or make the manga into an ongoing someday. There is just so much potential here. The action scenes were definitely good and the artwork was on point. Each of the character designs were solid and it was easy to tell what was happening. Some of the pages could be a little dense with how much text was on screen the whole time but even with that you would never get lost or anything. The fights do have to go by a bit quickly due to the page count so if we got more chapters then this issue was fixed. The manga smartly decided to just focus on one boss battle here instead of a bunch. Otherwise it wouldn’t have had much time for anything.

I’ve read quite a few Mega Man titles where they try to cram all of the fights into one chapter and ultimately that just means each fight will get maybe one panel with a big splash page. Instead, having one fight that can get more pages is definitely ideal. Either way the story works well with or without context of the game so it’s an easy one to recommend. There’s really no downside to reading a oneshot because of how fast it is. If you don’t like it, then you only used up like 5 minutes tops anyway.

Overall, Pulseman was a good story. I had fun with it and the concept of the character is pretty cool. Some elements I would need to be explained further to really get like exactly what allows a character to materialize in the human world. We got some emotional stuff later on with one girl no longer being able to appear in the human world but she is otherwise uninjured and doesn’t seem to be in danger so just how bad is it? Since Puleman can freely go between both worlds, either way he should be able to visit her, at least that’s how I interpreted that. Perhaps there is more of a downside that I am not considering though. So yeah, definitely check this story out and see what you think. It had even more potential than Mighty No 9 I dare say. I know that’s a bold take though….

Overall 6/10

Battle Beyond the Stars Review

Posted on August 18, 2024 by dreager1

This movie is definitely like a cross between Star Wars and the Seven Samurai. It’s really about recruiting a bunch of people to fight the enemy overlords and then we get to the big climax. It’s a good movie that is bogged down by some terrible writing. This may be the first time I’ve had to say that in a while but yes the writing is absolutely abysmal at times. You’ll see what I mean as we go through this but ultimately I would still give the movie a thumbs up. It may not be the best sci-fi out there but it does a lot of things right.

The film starts off with the evil emperor Sador deciding to take down another planet. This time he is after a peaceful planet that has no real fighting capabilities. They don’t want to go down without a fight though so Shad is sent off into the vast universe to find people who will help fight off the powerful villains. It’s going to be a tough sell because they don’t have any money or priceless artifacts to give up. Anyone who helps out will be doing so out of the goodness of their hearts…yeah. That’s not going to be a great way to get the best help out there but Shad will do his best.

Okay so here’s where the biggest glaring issue of the film comes in. They are absolutely desperate to get some bounty hunters to help. Truly desperate, Shad is asking everyone he meets if they can help. We’re talking from drunk Cowboys to random aliens who share a consciousness. It doesn’t really matter just how good they are, he just needs people. So about halfway into the movie we have Saint-Exmin show up and she is stoked to be a part of the crew. She is begging to join even so that she can fight and even if she dies, then she will have died in the line of duty in an honorable way. It makes a lot of sense so…Shad will let her in right? She is from a warrior race and her entire ship is built for combat.

No, Shad tells her to get lost and thinks she’s annoying. He figures she is weak and they’re better off without her. It’s gotta be one of the dumbest things I’ve heard in a long time. It made absolutely no sense and throughout the film he is a jerk to her for absolutely no reason. Yeah he finally apologizes near the very end but it felt like there must have been a few scenes left on the cutting floor or something. There was absolutely no reason for what he was doing there. It was virtually film breaking because it goes against the entire plot and this is the only time that Shad acts like this. It still makes no sense.

I can’t say I liked Shad much as a main character even aside from that whole thing though. For starters, he is a bit too oblivious about everything. He doesn’t really know anything about romance aside from breeding and is super slow on the uptake. All of the flirting and romance in the movie is painful to watch as a result. You are waiting to just get onto the next plot point each time. Nanelia also doesn’t know much about romance and since she is the main heroine that doesn’t bode well for either of them. Saint-Exmin at least tries to pass on her knowledge so I appreciate that. It may be a bit too bold for some but being bold is the best way to move forward within reason.

Saint-Exmin was actually a solid character. Would have been nice if she wasn’t used for fanservice all the time but her core personality was solid which is what counts. Meanwhile Nanelia wasn’t all that interesting. It felt like she was more of a nothing character who didn’t have any big ambitions or goals of her own. It would have been good if she could have had more to do in the film considering that she is one of the first ones to join in on this whole rebellion.

The characters recruited later on all have more of a role. You’ve got the Cowboy who shows up early on and gets a whole subplot. At first he doesn’t want to fight since he figures its a losing battle and doesn’t want anyone to look up to him but gradually gets his courage back and does really well. He’s someone you can count on when the chips are down even if at first he was really hesitant. That was definitely a pretty uplifting moment for the guy and by the end he was one of the more heroic ones.

My favorite helper was Gelt who is basically the world’s strongest bounty hunter. This guy was a serious threat and definitely not someone to be underestimated. His whole intro is really cool as we learn how everyone else was exterminated. He’s the main reason the heroes can even stand a chance against the main villain. Gelt earned his title and I would definitely be down for a prequel film about this guy. It would definitely be loaded with action and you get the feeling there is more to his past than what he is letting on.

Finally we have the 5 aliens with a shared conscience. They’re not bad, I definitely don’t envy them though. Imagine someone else constantly being in your head 24/7 at all times without any way out of that? That would be absolutely brutal. No privacy taken to the extreme. You could probably use this in some creative ways in a battle series but that’s not exactly what this movie is all about. They do a good job of filling in the last roster slots but that’s about all I would say for these guys.

The film spends so much time recruiting the heroes that we don’t have much time for the villains though. There are some mini villains scattered throughout the film but the main villain himself? He’s more of an obstacle to be defeated than a full fledged villain in his own right. He actually had potential with the solid design and everything but winds up being forgettable. I do think that does a disservice to the film since there was a lot of potential there. It’s another reason why the film doesn’t have good writing to me. It’s not paced correctly with characters being left out and of course I went over the main reason why I didn’t care for the writing. The film is still good and enjoyable all the way of course but yeah you’re left thinking that this could and should have been even better.

The special effects are definitely solid though. I appreciated all of the effects for the lasers and fights. The alien costumes looked good as well. Everything felt like it was crafted very carefully here. Even the ship felt extra real with the various rooms. It reminded me of the Enterprise from Star Trek. The ship basically being sentient with the A.I. was really the cherry on top there. It wasn’t afraid to take shots at the main guy on several occasions for being too timid and messing up on the controls. The ship was right by the way, this guy would choke under pressure every time he was at the command stations. You definitely don’t want him as your captain because he’ll never fire in time.

Overall, This is a film that is fairly memorable which tends to be a good thing. It may not be a match for the top tier sci-fi films out there but it is still at least trying to do something interesting. We got a lot of world building and a bunch of varied characters. I would like to see another film tackle this premise with better writing and it could really be a smash hit. In the meantime this one still has enough whit and good action scenes to keep it on top all the way. That’s definitely nothing to sneeze at, that’s for sure.

Overall 6/10

Mars Attacks! Review

Posted on August 15, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a pretty crazy film that has a lot of fun with itself and the premise. It’s fairly long and gets to really explore a lot of the dynamics of what would happen in a possible alien invasion. While the whole thing is satire, I actually do think a lot of things could play out the way they do in this film. It may lose a little steam by the end as most of the fun parts are in the build up but this is definitely a title that I could recommend.

The film starts by introducing us to a massive amount of characters. You’ve got the president, the army, the advisors, TV reporters, a guy going off to the military, an old lady, people asking for peace, corrupt casino owners, etc. They have so many different plots going on and that’s the fun of it. We find out that aliens from Mars are about to land and so everyone is preparing. Some are nervous, some are thrilled, and the President just wants a good photo op for his ratings. That may seem absurd, but I can picture it. The army of course wants to blast the aliens away but they’re not getting support on that. Unfortunately these aliens are out for blood!

This may seem a bit odd but a lot of times I tend to enjoy building up to a situation even more than the actual payoff. There’s just something really fun about seeing the characters preparing for something and a good movie can really get you right to the absolute peak of intrigue. You just have to see what happens and so the initial fighting and everything is amazing. When I say the film starts to recede by the end, it’s natural to an extent. How can you really top this? The opening of the film can be as comedic and crazy as possible but by the very end it has to start getting a little serious. So the movie is at its best when it is just making fun of everyone. I had a really good time with all of this. I thought it was all good natured fun.

Basically everyone is looking after their own self interests and that seems about right. Others just aren’t smart enough to see any of the big dangers here. When the Martians show up and start blasting everyone, you’re actually happy about it. Humanity just seems so lost in the woods and out of their depths that they absolutely had to be kicked down a notch. They had gotten so complacent in this era of peace that nobody was united or anything. It was really not what you would have expected from the main characters of the universe if it had even just been a few hundred years ago.

I think one of the funnier gags is how the aliens rick them twice though. After the first mass murder event, they actually get the humans to show up and get decimated for a second time. Like are you kidding me? That’s absolutely crazy. They just played on the egos once more and pulled out the W. Like I said, they outplayed us at every corner. Then the final trick was the most embarrassing as they pretended to be a super model to gain access to the president. It was not a very realistic cover up to be honest but I suppose that’s the point. The humans had completely lost their way.

The special effects for the film are actually pretty good. I liked all of the lasers everywhere and the Martians looked funny. This may not have been played very seriously as a whole but the sets and everything could hold their own with an actual disaster film. The writing is also good as a lot of the scenes are genuinely witty so the movie gets full marks there. While the humans were intentionally unlikable, I thought it was done in a way that was legitimately funny so that’s also a big thumbs up.

President James is my favorite character personally. He is just so full of himself and has that loud confidence that I like to see. He’s constantly condescending and really just wants people to say something that he agrees with. It would be real interesting to have someone like him in the White House, that’s for sure. The president’s advisor is a close second though. He just keeps on smoking even as everyone is being blown up. The guy really thinks that it was all a big misunderstanding all the way up to the end. He had some of the best comedic moments because the timing of each scene was absolutely impeccable.

Not every subplot is going to be equally funny of course. The rich lady with her dog was a bit on the weaker side. Basically she’s super ditzy but there’s not a whole lot more to her than that. The old lady who’s going senile is also one that’s fairly generic and not really trying to be different. With such a large cast that is to be expected though. I dare say there are probably at least 20 named characters running around and that really helps you to make the invasion feel real. Films like this should have a large cast and I know it can be hard to balance them but it’s definitely worth the attempt.

The movie doesn’t manage to get by with 0 mistakes though. There is a little animal violence at one point as the aliens do blast a pair of dogs and a bird. The film has them using disintegration rays that are painless and there’s no blood involved so it’s not nearly as bad as the average moment. I would argue it’s still unnecessary though and those don’t really work as jokes. When you tell as many jokes as this film, you are bound to mess up a few times of course but on the whole it did land them more often than not which is the important thing.

I would put this on a fairly high level for an absurd comedy like with Airplane. Now, that is still the greatest comedy of all time and is completely unmatched but this one had that same energy at times with the jokes. The writers had enough knowledge to attack pretty much anyone without ever feeling mean spirited or like it was just targeting one group and I’d say that’s the key to a film like this. As long as you aren’t too sensitive, you’ll be able to have a good laugh at the whole thing.

Overall, Mars Attacks is a pretty fun film. As long as you tend to enjoy humor that borderlines on the absurd then I don’t see you having any problems with this one. Lets face it, we would probably get wrecked by Mars anyway so it’s fun to see them out strategize us at every corner. They were ready for this adventure and were not about to back down. I can definitely respect that. It’s a very long film but one that has a lot happening so you shouldn’t get bored. Trust me, it’s worth the watch.

Overall 7/10

Solo Leveling Review

Posted on August 10, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to talk about one of the biggest Manhwa out there. Solo Leveling really took the world by storm when it came out for the extremely solid artwork and top tier fights. This was a series that definitely held nothing back there and I would say this was consistent throughout its entire run. Even the epilogue managed to throw in a bunch of battles which was definitely cool. It may not have lasted as long as the other big manhwa I’ve read but it holds its own.

The plot follows a guy named Jinwoo who is your every day teenager. His father vanished a while back and his mother is in a coma though so he has to look after his younger sister on his own. In this world there are gates which appear throughout the planet and so hunters are the people who deal with them. When you become of age you can have your power level tested to see just how strong you are. Your power level can’t really change from that point on so it’s really any deal. For example if you are an E rank fighter then the best you can hope for is cleaning up after the real hunters and picking up materials.

Still, you’re better off than those who have no energy since you can still earn some decent money this way. Jinwoo is an E rank and known as the weakest hunter in history. People mock him all the time but he needs money for his mother’s bills so he keeps his head down and gets the job done. One day a dungeon he is in ends up being a little too powerful and almost everyone dies. Jinwoo dies but is them resurrected somehow. He now has video game status windows that appear around him.

In effect Jinwoo is now the first ever hunter who can actually level up and get stronger. His days of being an E class fighter are finally over! As Jinwoo gets stronger though? He feels his humanity beginning to leave him. Does this absolute power come at a price and if so…was he better off being the weakest guy around? They say it’s lonely at the top…time to see if that’s true.

I’m just gonna say it now, the power is obviously worth it! The whole losing humanity plot really starts to vanish early on as well so it’s not really a big deal. It’s good for some quick drama but that’s about it, I wouldn’t think on it too hard. The only real drawback is that he ends up being in way more fights over and over as he takes everyone on but that’s still better than just being immediately murdered. If Jinwoo had stayed weak then everyone would ultimately be dead so that should answer the question on if it was worth it or not.

The character cast is rather small in a way. Technically there are a lot of characters but many of them are one shots or quickly get written out for being too weak. For that reason you don’t really remember too many of them all that much. There are a select few who really stand by until the end but they tend to be the exception. I dare say this is the smallest cast I’ve read for a series of this length but that’s not really a bad thing. The most important thing is having strong villains and a good main character. Fortunately this series has both of those things.

The artwork is top tier like I mentioned before so no worries on that. Each fight gets better and better and you could really just enjoy this as a top quality picture book if you want. It’s one of the few titles where it can almost be hard to imagine how the anime will be able to do it. Still, at the end of the day you know a good enough studio can pull it off as needed. It does have to be a high end studio though. You’d be wincing if an anime adaption ended up using a bunch of stills or anything like that.

The world building in the series is also great which is definitely key. We learn a whole lot about how the ranking system works, the demon realms and how they function, etc. Then as the series goes on you learn even more like who is behind the leveling up system, the true cosmic/demonic forces at work, etc. You get satisfactory answers to basically every question in the series which is really nice to see. Even with a sequel that started pretty much right away, they didn’t decide to just hold off on you here. The sequel will tell its own story but this is really a complete adventure all the way through. It doesn’t end on a massive cliffhanger or anything like that. It’s the kind of ending that can (and did) absolutely lead to a sequel but it doesn’t have to if that makes sense.

This might sound a bit contradictory but while Jinwoo blows past most of the characters and makes them irrelevant there are times when he doesn’t look quite as strong as you expect. There were a few times where he spared with the heroes and didn’t obliterate them the way I was expecting. Yes, it was sparring but the fact that any of them could keep up at all had me a little puzzled. I would argue Jinwoo surpassed everybody even sooner than the series seems to acknowledge this. Maybe I ended up being caught up in the hype I guess.

Either way he is a great character though. You could say that perhaps he is a bit basic but he gets the job done. He has a lot of confidence in himself and even before that, his underdog self wasn’t bad. His internal confrontations with his old self were pretty good. Jinwoo can at times act a little bit too villainous so I can’t cosign just everything that he does but for the most part he is someone you can count on. He has a whole lot of presence.

We’ll go through a bunch of the cast now and who better to start off with than one of the most iconic characters in the series? Beru is easily one of the standout characters here and he is just a blast to root for. His sheer loyalty is awesome on its own and then throw in the fact that the guy can fight and you have a winner. He’s one of the strongest fighters that Jinwoo has by the end of the series and only continues to improve more and more. The fact that he can wipe the floor with over 90% of the verse is really impressive. When you stop and think about how many fighters Jinwoo has in addition to his own skills then you start to appreciate just how broken the main character is. It’s really quite impressive. There are few characters like Jinwoo and it’s why his reputation is absolutely deserved. So having a great captain of the guard like Beru is important so that Jinwoo doesn’t have to waste time with weaker opponents. Beru really keeps these guys in line.

Now lets talk about the S ranks. You know how I was saying earlier how a bunch of them are completely irrelevant? Well you know it’s bad when a bunch of them don’t even have a photo on the wiki and a bunch of others basically didn’t get to do anything. The term S rank ended up getting cheapened early on because of how many of these guys there were. They just couldn’t keep up and in the end even the strongest ones were quickly surpassed without any real effort. Still, there were a few that I liked, so I’ll go into those guys first.

The first one’s a girl actually. Cha is one of the first S rank hunters that we meet and her abilities were definitely considerable. She has good sword skills and overall movement speed. Her gimmick of finding everyone’s natural scent to be gross aside from Jinwoo is definitely an odd character quirk to be sure but it basically stops being a thing after a while. While her abilities get surpassed early on, she maintains a fairly big role for most of the series and was a fun supporting character to have around.

Thomas is an S rank who really does live up to his power the whole time. This guy is near the top of the charts for good reason after all. He is actually able to give Jinwoo a good fight and is relevant for far longer than most fighters. I liked his confidence and while the guy may not always have the best friends around, he is loyal. He’s someone you can count on to have your back at all times. Without him the S ranks would definitely not be the same so he’s someone to keep your eye on.

Liu is another one of the top S ranks to the point where he was a nation hunter but unfortunately he doesn’t get to do a whole lot. He’s caught in that awkward spot where he was introduced but then didn’t get to do anything until it was too late and he could no longer put up a great fight. I think the series should have given him a key fight earlier on to really establish him among the other characters. There’s nothing wrong with his personality after all. He has everything in place to be a quality character and I still liked him but the guy is very forgettable.

Then of course we have Jinwoo’s father who doesn’t get to appear a whole lot but gets a pretty good role when he does show up. The guy is a top rank fighter after all but I didn’t think the reason for him vanishing was all that good. You feel like he could have done more to prepare Jinwoo and the others for the attacks. It’s a fairly common kind of subplot where the series doesn’t convincingly show me why a character vanished for so long. So he is cool and strong but I wasn’t a big fan because of that.

Then we have Jinwoo’s son who is solid enough. I don’t see him being as cool as Jinwoo to be sure but he likes fighting and is a quick study so that’s a good thing. Definitely a lot of potential for that sequel series. In the meantime he gets enough screentime where I can say that he’s good. We have the blueprint so we can see if he continues to be this good later on.

Christopher Reed was one of the cooler S ranks but he also got the unfortunate fate of not really getting a whole lot to do here. He’s really used a lot for shock value and to establish just how dangerous these new villains are. He talks tough and puts up a good off screen fight but ultimately that was game over for him. Still a cool scene though and it was hype enough where you won’t forget him. So he definitely made the most out of his limited appearances.

Go is the chairman of the hunter’s association and so for a while there I was worried that he would end up being all talk despite some early hype. Fortunately that is not the case and we actually get to see him doing things later on. He has a really good fight and was definitely a real likable character. I definitely appreciated seeing him around and he was easy to root for. The guy actually talked sense and was willing to bend some rules to help Jinwoo out. This guy properly understands the stakes here and how to protect the world. If everyone was as smart as he was then there would probably have been less casualties in the series.

Goto was a pretty interesting S rank because he was one of the only ones that I would call a straight up villain. He wants to murder other heroes and so there’s no other real way to frame that. He’s not someone that you could trust to have your back at any point. His abilities were still considerable to be sure though and he was a nice wild card. I thought he was a good character for his role and I tend to appreciate having some dark hunters as a change of pace from the monsters. It’s why I really enjoyed Jinwoo’s first fight against the dark hunters so much. It was just really different from what had happened earlier.

Dongsoo is another example of a dark hunter and definitely not a very smart one. I know I tend to enjoy loyalty in a character even when they’re a villain but this guy was just too much of a punk/bully for me to take him too seriously. The guy was basically asking to get absolutely crushed the whole time. He also loses massive points for the underhanded tricks he used when going after Jinwoo’s sister. That is something that will always lose you a whole lot of points for me. Tricks like that show that you just don’t have much of an honor code here. So yeah I didn’t have any real sympathy for this guy.

Min Byung is definitely one of those tragic characters who didn’t really want to stick around in this dangerous world of being a hunter but ultimately came through when humanity needed him. It can be tough having a strong conscious and doing the right thing but ultimately that’s just how it goes. Definitely a fun character all the way around though and he just seemed like a nice guy. We don’t actually see a whole lot of healers in the series so that skillset was still rather rare.

Then we have Baek who could partially transform into an animal. He gets quite a lot of screentime and was really handy in a fight. He may not have quite been in the top echelon of fighters but the guy was persistent and got his share of wins. I know the series would be too long if everyone got this treatment but this is exactly what a bunch of the other S ranks needed in order to stand out more. They would have really become way more full fledged as a character if that was the case.

Finally to wrap the S ranks up we have Choi. His fire abilities were super handy so he was always fun to have around. The guy gets a big role during the insect arc and was definitely super determined. He could really get a whole lot of opponents all at once. He slowly starts to vanish as the series goes on but had a good impact while he was around. There are many other S ranks of course but most of them don’t get as much of a role.

Joohee is one of the characters from the intro who was a good friend to Jinwoo but ultimately stopped appearing. She was nice enough and always healed him no matter what happened in the dungeons. Ultimately he just kept getting stronger while her trauma didn’t really go away and she retired. I definitely get why, unless you absolutely need to fight in order to survive, only the craziest of souls will go through that whole ordeal. Also there will always be the knowledge that there could be a double dungeon so there isn’t such a thing as a super safe dungeon anymore. I thought she was nice enough so I did miss her a little.

Jinah is Jinwoo’s sister and she’s a fun supporting character. She’s always looking out for him and he knows that she’s got his back. Jinah and Jinwoo have a good bond throughout the series and considering how powerful he gets, it’s nice to know that she is well protected. If anything she gets close to danger a little more than you would expect considering how good his reserves are. You can imagine that this doesn’t go very well for the villain. Jinwoo’s mom is also solid although she gets far less to do.

Igris is another one of Jinwoo’s top fighters and I always like seeing him around. He may start to get surpassed more as the series goes on but he just has such a great design. He will always be known for having one of the best fights against Jinwoo and he does it all with pure technique. He doesn’t have a bunch of fancy skills or super powers or anything like that. Igris just focuses himself and launches devastating attacks the whole time. That’s definitely the way to earn my respect real quick.

Then we have Kamish who is a super powerful dragon, the mightiest beast in the land. He ends up being really handy during the series for quick transportation. The guy had a lot of presence when he first showed up as well. In general he is a fun monster and Jinwoo has a number of super solid ones but this one isn’t often used in a combat way. That tends to be the job for the others like the goblin mage.

Esil was a fun character and whenever she would show up the series would actually allow itself to have a bit of fun. Usually everything was super serious with a bunch of fights and everything but she would add some levity to the scenes. She can fight well enough but never really has to. Esil’s the kind of heroine who can make friends easily and I wouldn’t have minded some slice of life shenanigans in the demon world for a bit although I totally get why the series couldn’t really pause there for very long.

Kim is another one of the characters from pre arc. He wasn’t ready for the opening fight of the series but then again nobody really was. It definitely wasn’t fair how everyone was jumping on him for what happened considering that he had the team take a vote first. He was a good leader all the way through and I thought he was solid overall. He may have left Jinwoo but he did it upon the lead’s request and saved the heroine. So even though he feels guilty early on, he doesn’t have much to be down about. He did what he could.

Then we have Jinho who shows up to try and make the atmosphere light like Esil. He’s the main comic relief but I like how the series handles this. He’s never inept or anything like that. The guy is weak but he knows his limitations and works around them with money and connections. He does a lot of work behind the scenes in setting up a base and working with Jinwoo. The two of them actually become real friends and it’s a pretty nice dynamic. Any scene with him was usually pretty fun.

Antares is definitely one of those big villains you don’t forget. He has an incredible design, great fighting abilities, and a good personality. He was a fun character to see fight throughout and he actually stays as one of the top fighters in the series. You can definitely respect him there even if it takes him a long while to show up. He works well in the final boss type spot and is one of the more memorable villains in the series. So stay patient as you read through the series and wait to see him.

Ashborn is another really solid character. His plans were definitely very detailed and convoluted so you could call him a true genius. In just about any other timeline he probably would have come out on top. He’s got a great design and great powers so you really can’t ask for much more than that. Definitely one of those characters that really pops out of the page the whole time. He also gives us a lot of important lore near the end of the series so you’ll want to get that memorized. He really helped to change the whole game of what was going on.

Baran was definitely the least impressive of the Monarchs to the point where I forgot he even counted as one until checking the wiki. This guy’s okay but not as good as he should be. I suppose he was probably nerfed during the fight but even so, Monarchs tend to set a really high standard and this guy definitely couldn’t keep up with that. He’s a solid villain but definitely not one of the great ones. I won’t really be thinking about this guy much after the initial appearance.

Rakan was a pretty solid villain even if he didn’t go out very well. The guy had a lot of strength and he did have the presence of a Monarch. He’s one of those fighters who was lucky to have a true fight before going up against Jinwoo. You never want to fight the hero first because often times that will end very badly. So this worked out super well for him and helped the guy to stay really memorable the whole time. He also has a good deign so this villain really had everything that you could ask for from an antagonist.

Querehsha isn’t super impressive but again it’s a timing thing. She just took too long to act so Jinwoo had the advantage from the jump here. She had some potential and overall I do think she is a decent villain but not one of the top threats to be sure. Likewise Legia isn’t all that great either. I like his attempts at trickery but the fact that he spends most of his time tied up doesn’t exactly help his case either. How is a Monarch gonna be tied up like this? Definitely not the kind of thing that makes the most compelling case for the character.

Tarnak is more of a whiner than a fighter so I wouldn’t rank him all that high. He has a cool design but doesn’t have the confidence or presence that the stronger fighters have at their disposal. This is what will keep him from really climbing to the top. He’s just not that memorable and doesn’t really have the skills to change any of the outcomes either. So in the end he was just really doomed no matter how you slice it.

Sillad was one of the better villains though. I liked his abilities quite a lot and this guy was strong. He lasted a long while and really pushed Jinwoo. It’s clear that he was really comfortable with his abilities and had long term ambitions. He was really a threat from all sides which is what you would expect from a villain like this. I definitely wasn’t going to forget him afterwards, this guy was really cool. Definitely looking forward to seeing his fight animated some day.

The Architect is another really cool villain with a lot of aura. You never forget that confrontation at the very beginning of the series after all. This guy would strike fear into you immediately. He was an absolute beast in every sense of the word. I love the design and he is one of the most iconic characters in the series for that reason alone. The build up and resolution for this guy was absolutely perfect, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Finally we have Baruka who was a really cool ice elf. Definitely a very blood thirsty villain who would destroy anyone in his path. He was a real threat and really brought Jinwoo to the edge during their fight. The fact that he came closer to murdering Jinwoo than even some of the Monarchs was really impressive. I definitely wasn’t about to forget this villain and you’ll be unable to forget him once you see the guy.

Naturally there are even more characters out there but that’s a good amount to go over. There’s a whole lot that gets to go on in a series that is this massive after all. It was really a super impressive series all the way around. A title like this will ultimately run into a bunch of issues along the way like some scenes of excessive violence and animal violence during its run but fortunately manages to overwhelm this with the sheer flood of good moments. It’s a series I could really recommend to any action fan for sure.

Now some do criticize how each arc can get a little repetitive with the format. It always starts with the heroes running in first and getting demolished, then Jinwoo shows up and saves them with ease. Rinse and repeat for every single arc. I get that this could be annoying but the whole point is that Jinwoo is the ultimate fighter. I don’t really mind because in a power fantasy I would argue that this works really well. For sure it will be more on the annoying side if you aren’t a big fan of Jinwoo though but if you like the guy then you’re all set. The series shows us repeatedly just how good the guy is.

Most of the series is really a bunch of action scenes after all and it’s part of why I love the title so much. I wouldn’t say it has a huge plot either way. Yes, with the lore we definitely get more plot heavy for the back half of the series but the action scenes are absolutely the biggest draw of the series and it delivers on that front. I can’t imagine anybody saying that the series didn’t have enough battles or anything like that. That would be crazy. So in the end I didn’t really have any issues here.

At most, I think Jinwoo maybe went up through the levels a bit too quickly. He hits 100 so fast that they have to show levels after 100 later on. It makes things difficult on the power scaling to be sure. Ultimately once the level ups are removed then the series is able to have a bit more freedom again. I did miss the video game elements though as they appear far less from that point on. Also the ending definitely goes in a very sharp direction. Ultimately I wasn’t a big fan of the ending. I get the logic behind it but I never really enjoy any ending where characters within the story can’t appreciate the full thing. I can’t really say much more without spoilers but it’s not my favorite direction is all. At least the epilogue gave us a fan preview of what things will be like going forward.

Also it gave us more fights which is always worth it. I do really need to underscore that this series absolutely understands the rule of cool and uses it in every single interaction. It’s really a smart way to do it. You could probably pick out an amazing panel in every single chapter. There is always something happening and the pacing is really fast. In general one thing I like about Webtoons is how long each chapter feels. It’s probably in large part due to how much you’re scrolling through the series but it makes the experience really last and that’s a lot of fun. There’s definitely more I could say but if I haven’t won you over by now then it’s not happening. This is absolutely a must read and for once I can say that you don’t have to read it for the plot! Although I recommend that you do since the story is still super enjoyable.

Overall, Solo Leveling is a top tier title in all respects. The art really is as dynamic as everyone says it is and you’re really in for a blast here. While the side cast quickly become irrelevant, they still end up being likable while they are around. Ultimately it is all worth it for the big power fantasy, trust me on that. The sequel is now going so I look forward to seeing how long it lasts and if it can match up to the original. To really appreciate the sequel though you will definitely want to read this one first.

Overall 9/10

Universal Soldier Review

Posted on August 8, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a thriller about knowing when to break your programming and defy orders. It’s got some good messages to be told for sure but in the end this film isn’t all that good. The main character is a little too slow every time so the villain always has the edge. It’s pretty crazy stuff not gonna lie and nobody is smart at all here. It just doesn’t seem like a very practical project even by corrupt government standards.

The movie starts with showing us the end of a big battle and a village was completely destroyed. Squad leader Andrew completely went off the deep end and turned evil. He ends up executing a hostage for no reason and so Luke is forced to take him down. It’s a mutual defeat though and their bodies are brought back to the government for experimentation. They decide to revive these two as mindless soldiers that can be used to handle any threat. They do not feel emotions or any previous memories. In theory they simply obey all orders without question. So they will be a really good unit for any commander and if the test is successful they can mass produce these kinds of soldiers from dead men.

Unfortunately things go sideways as you could have probably guessed immediately. Andrew is still as crazy as ever and enjoys murdering people a little too much. A local reporter named Veronica does some snooping with her partner and Andrew murders the guy even though it is against the rules. So Luc quickly takes her to safety and the government orders Andrew to pursue. But wait Andrew can’t be trusted because he’s already showing clear signs of a personality and violent tendencies right? Yeah the government barely cares at this point so Luc better run real fast.

Luc is still not his old self though so while he has some memories and such he doesn’t have his personality yet. This means…uh oh he basically has amnesia. One trope I never love is when the main character doesn’t know anything and gets into a bunch of misunderstandings. That happens here as he doesn’t know what money is and why he has to pay for food, he doesn’t know what his body is supposed to look like, etc. I don’t even get why we needed this part of the plot. For the most part I don’t think it would change much about the film if he was totally himself. The main villain basically got his whole personality back after all. Luc deserved better.

So the film’s attempts at humor here really didn’t do that well. Meanwhile I didn’t really care for Veronica all that much. You know the type of character they are going for right away. She’s constantly yelling and panicking and making the wrong decisions the whole time. It’s pretty clear that Luc saved her from getting shot but she still complains for a while and it takes a minute before she really gets on board with the fact that he is the only reason she’s alive. I would have thought that was rather obvious to be honest but it is what it is I suppose.

The film tends to be rather excessive on the violence as well. People are really getting blown up here and the villain collects ears from his prey. It’s definitely a good way to show that the guy is a psycho but I don’t think that was really enough justification. Also, the girl in the intro having to see her boyfriend/husband get blown away right in front of her was absolutely crazy. Then after all that she still doesn’t survive? That’s not really a great way to start the film, I was certainly salted the whole time at the very least.

Also considering who the main actor is, I was expecting way more hand to hand fight scenes. We really don’t get much of that at all though. Aside from the gunfights we get a mild skirmish at the start, a little mixup with the cook later on, and then the final fight. They really didn’t make the most out of his talents which is a shame because I know that the fights would have been really good. Perhaps they would have even elevated the film. Without them, you have more time to really focus on all of the other elements of the film which aren’t nearly as solid.

Now on to the government, the film just makes them look way too inept. They often underestimate the villains and get themselves into trouble but this was a bit much. So by this point in the film they already know how absolutely insane the main villain is. This guy absolutely must be stopped at all costs but they will keep using him since he’s the only one who can stop Luc. Okay fine but then they figure they should reset his memories just in case. So they tell him to go inside the freeze room. Andrew first threatens them a bit but suspiciously complies. So the guy walks in there with the needle before the ice can really do anything and naturally he is violently murdered. That’s just really dumb to be honest.

I don’t get why the government couldn’t do more to stop both Luc and Andrew if they were serious to be honest. It’s not even like you’d have to worry about outlasting them because both characters have a massive weakness where they overheat just by existing. So you just keep fighting until the two of them start melting and then you have the massive advantage. Case closed right? That’s also such a random weakness but I am cool with it because I think it’s only fair that a super soldier would have some kind of downside. It’d be a little convenient if there was none.

Aside from the over the top violence and the lack of hand to hand fight scenes the film could have done with more likable characters. Again you’re looking at a duo of a semi mindless main character and a main heroine who doesn’t seem to understand the danger she’s in for a while there. This doesn’t really let the characters have any banter either so while I generally would say that the writing is pretty good here, it’s really nothing to write home about either. It’s trying to survive in spite of the main characters when they should be the ones trying to prop it up.

Overall, Universal Soldier was a bit of a letdown here. I like the idea of the film but it’s not exactly a fun watch and throughout the film you are waiting for the heroes to do more. The government have no idea what’s going on and it feels like the villain has way too much control here. There’s no way he should be making it nearly as far as he does and so in the end everyone looks real bad. Not really a film I would recommend to anyone looking for their quality action title.

Overall 3/10

Naruto Shippuden Review

Posted on July 28, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for one of the most well known anime of all time. This adapts most of the Naruto manga series after all which may be the second most iconic title of all time right after Dragon Ball Z. So the stakes were high and I’ve been watching this show for well over 10 years. Well, it definitely brings back a lot of good memories and it’s adapting a ton of amazing content. Unfortunately I would say that it has the absolute worst pacing and directing I’ve ever seen for a show. At times I would say it’s the kind of show you want to watch on AMV mode because of all the cutaways and stuff that are thrown in but I’ll get into that more later on. Basically though, it is a pretty good show either way.

The show starts by re-introducing us to Naruto who has returned to the Hidden Leaf village after nearly 3 years. He is now ready to help the village out and maybe they can even bring Sasuke back. The village refuses to acknowledge his hard work and they keep him in Genin status but he will prove them wrong. Together with Sakura and Kakashi he goes on his first mission which is to save his old friend Gaara. Gaara has been abducted by the Akatsuki and they aim to extract his tailed beast which will result in the guy’s death. They ultimately want all of the beasts which means that Naruto is in trouble as well but he is still ready to answer the call. Nobody’s going to get in his way!

Of course with 500 episodes you can bet that the plot is going to change a whole lot and this series does cover a very wide variety of arcs. A lot of them are even exclusive to the anime and were not featured in the manga so you should get excited for those….mayyyybe. They can be rather hit or miss but I’ll talk more about the arcs later on. At its core this is a series with a lot of combat action and adventure throughout. You learn valuable lessons about friendship and everything. It’s a series with quite a lot of good values spread throughout the title.

Of course in that time it will also make some slip ups. The series does have its occasional fanservice but it has always been better with this than other titles. It never gets too excessive so for the most part the series stays classy. With such a large amount of episodes, not all of them are perfect but the majority are good. There is of course some animal violence and other pitfalls here but if I was going to recommend an anime to someone, Naruto would be on the higher end since it feels relatively new user friendly despite the length.

Now despite all of this, why do I take shots at the pacing? Well lets look at a few random fights. Take Naruto and friends against Kaguya. The fight starts up and looks good…then we’re interrupted for several episodes for her really drawn out flashback. Okay, we’re back to the present for a few more punches. Then..back to Obito’s backstory. The fight gets interrupted so much. Then after the initial round with Madara we enter a filler season that lasts over 20 episodes and feels like it goes on forever. You’re just waiting for the show to return each time. It would help if the fillers were better but most of them weren’t all that great.

This happens consistently over and over. When the series doesn’t switch to a different plot point, it will usually instead have a scene get super dragged out. This especially happened in some of the earlier arcs like when Sai showed up. We have him and Naruto clashing kunai for such a long period of time that it makes Naruto look extremely wimpy. Instead of dominating the fight or even winning, it ends up being evenly matched which makes no sense. There are lots of zoom ins and reactions as the characters prepare to fight, etc.

Usually One Piece is the title people talk about in terms of something being drawn out but honestly I never had the same level of issues with that title. I would say it comes down to directing. Even when it’s drawn out, you don’t feel it quite as much as in Naruto. In Naruto it’s like everything just stalls and the added scenes don’t try to disguise themselves. So you’re just waiting for something to happen. A ton of episodes would get absolutely brutal with this. It’s why I say the series is lucky that it’s adapting a 9 star title because that hard carries the whole series. Without that, with the way everything is so delayed and such it would have a really hard time staying afloat.

Ultimately what helps to counter this is that the series does have a ton of nostalgia. I could turn it on to a random episode right now and I would have a good time. It does bring back memories and I do feel like they tried. The results may not have always been stellar but it’s not like the show was just phoning it in. The budget behind the show seemed reasonable. For example the animation is solid. There are some episodes that look absolutely top tier and to this day there are some fights that people say should be in the conversation for greatest of all time. Even for the fights that weren’t given the top of the line budget, I would say they looked good. This is a title that had strong fundamentals all the way through.

Then you have the soundtrack which really is excellent. There are a ton of great tracks all throughout the series and some new tunes that don’t even show up until the final saga. The fact that the show was still adding new tunes left and right like this was definitely impressive. I enjoy more tracks in the show than I can even count so you can bet that these definitely help to amp up the source material as well. Good music always goes a long way.

All right now lets dive into the story. So of course the first arc is about rescuing Gaara and it’s a fun way to kick things off. Deidara and Sasori get most of the screentime from the villains side of things. Yeah Itachi and Kisame show up but they’re more of a distraction than anything else. Don’t expect them to be getting any big character development just yet. Seeing Kakashi and Sakura fight was nice since it had been a while since we saw them. To date this might even be Sakura’s best fight as she really handles herself well against Sasori. Definitely a fun matchup while Kakashi doesn’t get to do as much this time. Deidara is a tough matchup for him since he’s always in the sky.

The stakes were high right off the bat and really the only complaint you would have here is that Naruto didn’t really get to look as strong as you might have expected. He’s the 9 Tailed Jinjuriki and after years of training with Jiraiya, he should be a true power hitter right? Well, surprisingly that just wasn’t really the case. He never felt quite as unstoppable as he should have which definitely left me puzzled. In a fair fight I see him losing to both Sasori and Deidara at this point in time which is absolutely crazy.

Naruto makes for a superb main character and the more I watch the show the more I appreciate him. I still have the battle crazy leads like Goku and Ichigo above him but Naruto is well above the average lead. He’s a surprisingly mature character by the end of his journey and he really learned his lessons instead of staying static. A lot of other leads could really look to him for guidance on this. He gives a lot of speeches and also knows when to stop talking and just start fighting. It’s this balance that makes him one of the greats.

Sakura also gets to look really good in Shippuden. Gone are the days where she would have to run away or duck a fight. Now she can fight alongside Naruto and the others. Her strength is really impressive and she gets some really fun fights in the series. Having the ability to heal her own wounds as well is definitely a massive plus on top of all that.

Kakashi is the ever reliable leader as well and definitely looks good here. The whole running out of chakra thing may be a bit of a running gag but jokes aside, he does take care of business. Without him they would have been absolutely doomed more than once. He may not always win, but you can definitely count on him to show up when the chips are down. He is a Sharingan user after all and that is still one of the absolute best weapons in the series.

Might Guy’s always been a fun rival to Kakashi and you can make the case that he was actually significantly stronger than him for most of the series. The 8 inner gates are really no joke and it was great to finally get to see him use them by the end of the series. He jokes around a lot but at the end of the day he is a sensei and one of the stronger fighters in the leaf village. Without him the heroes would really be in trouble.

Tenten doesn’t get a lot to do in the series but she is always ready to be the voice of reason. I appreciated seeing her show up from time to time but I wish she could have gotten stronger. Rock Lee is the more disappointing character here because he had such great showings in the first series. Taking on fighters like Gaara and Kimimaro is still legendary but you can’t really point to any signature fights in part 2. The same goes for Neji who by all accounts is much stronger but he isn’t really given anyone to fight outside of fillers. I suppose again that does make the case for why filler can be really handy. This way you can give fights to the characters who ended up being skipped over.

Chiyo only showed up for the one arc at the beginning but she did well. She made the most out of her screentime and ended up being a really memorable character. Even nowadays people know her well. She really outshined Kankuro who used to be the best puppet user but got surpassed by an incredibly large margin. He never really gets many scenes to make up for this. In comparison Temari also doesn’t do much but is at least relevant for the final parts of the series thanks to her dynamic with Shikamaru.

Gaara has a lot of screentime here so he does well. I do miss the fiery spirit he used to have back when he was an antagonist but he definitely got a ton of character development so I can’t deny that. His sand abilities are absolutely lethal at this point and he became the ruler of a whole country which is no joke. He gets to meet up with Sasuke and is generally one of the most loyal allies to the leaf.

As for the Akatsuki, I always liked Deidara quite a bit. His flair for the dramatic is handled really well. He’s an entertaining character who will keep you on your feet the whole time. His birds are also incredibly dangerous, the fact that he can use them to give fighters like Sasuke and Gaara a tough fight is super impressive. He’s the kind of guy who never gives up until the end so I can definitely respect that.

Sasori isn’t nearly as ambitious of a character but he is still a strong fighter who should not be underestimated. His poison daggers are tough to deal with since he has so many clones. I ended up liking his abilities more than the character itself but he’s decent. At the very least I will ay that he’s iconic, due in part to being in the first arc that everybody has ingrained into their heads.

Then the next arc has the big return of Sasuke which was hype! We’re introduced as Sai who tries to be Sasuke’s replacement but lets just say that he is absolutely not built for this. He’s not even close and falls far short of those high standards. Sasuke actually has been training over the last 3 years so the gap between him and Naruto was absolutely massive. It’s crazy that he could have finished them all off if he wanted to. The arc is fairly short but we got the big Naruto vs Orochimaru battle so that was pretty fun. Orochimaru was ultimately just soo slippery to really be put down for good. He was seriously just having fun in that match. You get the feeling that he would have crushed Naruto if he was really trying.

Sai is a character I never warmed up to. For sure he went through a lot and going through the Root program is crazy but he’s not my kind of character. He never gets all that emotional and his ability to draw anything is not a very offensive type power. It can be used well but for the most part you can never picture him scaling with the top tiers. Taking Naruto to a draw was absolutely a huge fluke and one that I would never expect to see again. He just got supremely lucky there.

Yamato is someone I’ve warmed up to a bit. I think he had a super rocky start but as the series went on he would get more and more emotional. He actually became someone who would defend Naruto so that was nice to see. He tends to be on the wrong side of almost every issue though so he’s not perfect. I will need to see a lot more improvement out of him.

Orochimaru has a lot to do here as you can probably guess. The guy is getting close to needing to switch bodies after all. He probably could have planned things out a bit better but he was dealing with an Uchiha prodigy so that’s not easy. His durability is still very impressive to me. The guy never really goes down. He definitely gets off way too easily in the series though. This guy is psychotic and a mass murderer. He should be in jail at the very least. That part kind of annoys me but ultimately he does deserve his spot as one of the most memorable characters in the series.

Kabuto still works well as the right hand man. He gets a surprising amount of power near the end which was definitely a very impressive power up. By the end he is one of the strongest fighters and while we knew he would be strong, I was still impressed. He is a really fun wild card. I don’t love the character but he absolutely made the final arc better. Without him bringing all of the old characters back it just wouldn’t have been intense.

Sasuke is one of the biggest characters in the series so naturally there is a whole lot to talk about with him. He goes on a journey into the darkness where he sinks further and further as the series goes on. Just when you think he might be getting heroic, something would happen that would send him back. It’s a really tough cycle to be sure but at the end of the day, it’s a mission that he was ready for. He has his share of points and that’s why the battle of ideologies between him and Naruto was really good. He wanted Revolution while Naruto was effectively fighting for the status quo. Both sides have pros and cons to them.

Their rivalry is still one of the best of all times for any series. It’s just super impressive by all accounts. Sasuke is also my favorite character in the series. There are none who are even close. His character is just so deep and you could talk about him for an entire article. He survived one of the toughest experiences imaginable and he didn’t let it break him. If nothing else, you definitely have to look at that amount of fortitude and be impressed. It was really something. Then throw in some of the best attacks and theme musics and it’s a wrap!

The first of the really big filler arcs involves Sora. He’s a kid who is constantly upset and yelling so get ready for that. What I liked about the arc was they constantly played the anger theme which works well for battles but that’s about it. It’s a relatively uninspired arc and one that goes on for too long. There were some cool ideas too like a widespread 3 Tailed Jinjuriki battle but that was not enough to save this one in the end. You can easily tell which arcs are filler or not based on the quality which is kind of crazy. Well maybe not too crazy since in theory the original author knows his characters best but you’d still expect it to be a little closer.

In the following big arc, we get to focus on two more Akatsuki members. Hidan and Kakuzu show up and destroy Asuma so now the Leaf have to avenge him. It’s one of the only times we see a real switch in the team rosters so that was pretty fun. Kakashi vs Kakuzu is a really underrated fight that had a lot of great choreography the whole time. I also liked Hidan vs Shikamaru even though I felt like the hero didn’t stand a chance in that matchup. Then Naruto has his big return which is always super hype. He really got a lot of the best return moments across the series. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised though, such is a hero’s job right?

Hidan is one of the most enjoyable Akatsuki members. He’s always laughing and messing around while destroying everyone. The guy is unhinged and that works really well for his character. Trust me, he’s just a blast and to this day I’m waiting for Jashin to show up. Hidan got his immortality from someone after all. This could really work like in a sequel series or something.

Kakuzu by contrast is much quieter and more of a serious fighter. He wants to complete the mission and that’s it. He’s not really thinking about anything else. His trait of having more than 1 heart is definitely super handy though and the guy can fight in hand to hand. He’s a very well balanced member of the Akatsuki and definitely would have been a tough fight for most of the heroes. I also liked the idea of someone who is immortal being teamed with someone who has multiple lives. I think the second layer to that is how Kakuzu would always murder all of his partners back in the day but there’s no chance of that now.

Ino and Choji are sort of along for the ride in this series. They don’t really get to do much of anything and don’t really have the skills to stay relevant either. They get their moments but don’t expect too much out of them. Asuma get some really solid moments before he goes out though. I always liked his chakra blades, they seem super practical as a weapon. Ultimately he just needed to be stronger to hang in there more but the guy fought well.

Shikamaru gets a super big role in the series. He is still the man with a plan no matter what happens. He may not have the strongest attacks but he can get people to the right spots. I liked him for most of the series although I’m not as big on the character once he starts working for the Hokage. It felt to me like he basically sold out by that point and began getting more and more corrupted. I know that someone has to watch the dark side but above all else you need to trust your Hokage and I don’t feel like Shikamaru did. At times he felt like he knew best which is a dangerous assumption.

The 3 Tails Guren gets a mini filler arc and it wasn’t half bad. I remember the main annoying thing being the heroes being slow to act while the villains would monologue over and over again. Sometimes you just have to break the anime rules and land a hit real quick. I think this arc would probably work better if released as a mini series outside of the main anime. That said, I know filler was necessary to keep the show on the air without further destroying the pacing so it is always worth it. While I may not be the most positive about these things, it’s not like it was terrible or anything.

After this we finally start getting to the big Sasuke arc. He first forms a team with a bunch of new quirky characters and then heads off to go and take down Itachi. It’s a fairly short arc in the grand scheme of things but it was a fun one. I enjoyed seeing the rematch after all this time and it was easily one of the best fights in the series. I also think Sasuke’s group Taka isn’t even that bad. They’re not all stars by any stretch of the imagination but they actually had some decent banter the whole time and contrast with Sasuke pretty well. Sasuke also got a super great theme in this arc which was really good stuff. I loved it whenever that theme would appear.

Itachi is definitely a massive characters. No worries if the backstory confuses you because you’re going to be seeing it a lot. To be direct on this, he is a villain and no matter how many times we see the flashback, he was definitely in the wrong there. He was murdering women and children in his massacre and should have worked with the Hokage to find another way. No matter how you slice it, he took the villainous path. Still, he makes for a solid wild card who really can change the whole direction of the battlefield. He’s one of the most interesting characters in the series and one of the most powerful. The fact that he couldn’t be controlled even by the mass reanimation jutsu was definitely a big point in his favor. He really had backup plans on top of backup plans.

Kisame is not quite as powerful. Despite being partners, I would say they probably had the biggest gap in ability between them. You always got the feeling that Kisame could be destroyed at any moment if Itachi willed it. That’s how powerful he was. Kisame’s true form was still impressive though and he definitely did a lot of damage. As a fast yet powerful fighter, it would be difficult for most heroes to stop him. That’s how it should be too, each member of the Akatsuki should be someone that it either takes an entire team to bring down, or some of the absolute top tier fighters. Anything less just would not match the hype that this villain group got when they showed up.

For example none of the junior fighters like Suigetsu should stand a chance here. I like his confidence and the guy is ready to pick a fight but he’s in a completely different league. A much smaller league if you will. Even the idea of him trying to take on Kisame is funny. I don’t know what Suigetsu would do without Sasuke. His water powers are handy though, he just lacks the physical stats to really make the most of them.

I like him more than Jugo though. Jugo is just a bit too quiet and serious. We already have enough of those characters so he doesn’t really end up adding much to the dynamic at all. I needed characters who could provide banter. I’m not a big fan of Karin either but at least she definitely delivers on that front. When she is around you can bet that there will be a good amount of tough talk at all times. She was all business all the time except when Sasuke was involved. In that case she would break down immediately which really held her back. That gag got old fast.

Then was the big arc that may still be the most iconic in all of Shippuden, the big Pain saga. Pain finally launches his invasion on the hidden leaf and immediately destroys a whole ton of people. The body count is super high and Naruto is basically the only one who can stand against him. It’s always a fun what if to imagine if Sasuke was in town at the time. I thin he would have done really well to put it mildly. Aside from all of the awesome fighting which is of course great, we also get the conclusion to the debate on the cycle of violence. It’s a really well written sequence of scenes with both characters making a true case and then we see how it plays out. Ultimately it’s not like the cycle will ever end, but you can at least hope for the best.

Pain is of course one of the big villains of the series and he’s great all around. From the character design to his skills, this guy was the real deal. Seeing him basically take on an entire village was crazy and to date he has some of the most memorable moments in the series. You never forgot any of Pain’s big moments because that’s how influential the guy was. Each of his different bodies had more and more abilities as well. It was hard to keep track of them all, much less counter each form. That would be near impossible. Definitely a great pick as the leader of the Akatsuki.

While she isn’t mentioned as much, Konan is definitely right up there as well. Her paper abilities are super handy and she almost took down Obito early on. To think that could have seriously changed the trajectory of the series. She may appear to be meek compared to some of the other fighters but once she is in the battle she definitely goes all out. This is also a decent point to mention Jiraiya. Unfortunately I have to say that I’m still not a big fan of the guy. He had a heroic death and all but he had too many character flaws in the end. Those definitely cost him big time.

We get a random flashback arc about the old days here. I suppose people were probably getting nostalgic so it’s not a bad idea but it does sort of wreck the flow a bit. You want to get to the next big adventures after all and this is the only thing left standing in your way. It has to be removed as soon as possible. The arc isn’t super long but it’s still fairly long so you definitely have to wait for a while.

After that we have the Kage Summit, another small arc but a real doozy. Sasuke decides to take on all of the Kages and he actually has them on the defensive. That is absolutely crazy when you think about it. His fight with Danzo was also awesome and this is really the arc where he goes full on villain. Before now he wouldn’t murder innocents or anything like that but now everyone is fair game. He has really changed a whole lot from the Sasuke that we once knew. We also got the big Team 7 reunion which was cool even if it maybe wasn’t quite as big as you might have expected. There is a cool fan animation that heavily extends the fight with Kakashi and Sasuke while one of the Ultimate Ninja Storm games officially extended Naruto’s fight with him. Regardless, it’s a top tier arc.

Danzo is one of those guys who was running around causing trouble for ages so it was nice to finally see him get taken down. Honestly he got away with way too much the whole time. The fact that the Lead Village would look the other way is rather disgraceful if we’re being honest. If Sasuke didn’t take him down I don’t know what would have happened and that’s annoying because it never should have come down to that. It doesn’t make any sense. His skills are the real deal so I will give him that though. The guy has masterful tactics and it makes sense how he could reach the level of Hokage.

The Raikage is another Kage who really earns his station. He is always ready to fight and doesn’t hide behind minions. His speed and power are both off the charts which makes him a top fighter. I like his personality and he is the kind of guy who is always ready to take charge. I may not have agreed with some of his decisions but he was usually on the right side. In fact, he had to be convinced to put Naruto on the shelf when originally he was planning on deploying him to the front lines. That would have been the best plan to take advantage of his abilities.

The Mitsukage gets less to do but she is around. Her lava abilities aren’t bad but I think her main problem is that the technique doesn’t feel as special. You can’t compare it to instant regen, new lives, or invincibility. Her power is just lava and I know that is lethal but it feels like a normal ninjutsu. I wish we could have seen more out of her. Then we have the Tsuchikage who has the cube style. His particle attacks are definitely super impressive so to balance him out, the guy has chronic back pain. Honestly that gag could get annoying sometimes but I get why they needed to nerf him. Now there is a really solid technique.

After that..it’s time for the big war. You could argue that the war itself had a bunch of mini arcs within it as well. Of course you have the long dream saga where each character imagines what the future could be like. Some are simple AUs while one extended one recaps the whole series. That one was unfortunately a bit too ambitious for its own good. With an arc as long as the war, it wasn’t always able to be consistent but there are a ton of super memorable moments to be found here. Madara finally making his move and of course seeing all of the reanimated shinobi was a lot of fun. All big Shonen titles should end with some kind of a huge war because it’s the perfect way to really show off your extended cast. Without that then it’s harder to bring everyone in. So the arc may be controversial but I still thought it was very good. The climax really makes it. You’re seeing the strongest shinobi of all time all going at it. Who can’t help but not get excited at such a prospect right? This is what we came here for, this is why we are Naruto fans.

Madara is a villain who was hyped up for the entire series and I’m glad to say that he absolutely lived up to it. He is a beast in battle and the kind of guy who loves fighting. You already know that would win me over right from the start. This is a villain who shook the entire world with just his name. Now that’s presence, I don’t think there is any other villain with that much aura. It’s a shame how his character ended up going out because he was absolutely cooking everyone. There’s definitely a whole lot more you could have done with the character. Still, he got so much screentime that I can’t complain much.

Then we have Obito who was also a really big threat. Perhaps not as strong as Madara but still a top tier within the verse. You definitely understand his motivations, not just because losing someone is something we can all sympathize with but because of the fact that we got to see Rin die like 100 times throughout the series. I felt bad for her because that flashback would never stop looping. It was absolutely crazy. I do think that Obito got off way too easily in terms of reputation though. I’m glad that the series deals with redemption arcs but this man did hurt a ton of people. Lets not forget that so easily.

Zetsu has a consistent role throughout the series and then he really turns up near the end. He’s actually a rather fun character with how tough he talks the whole time. The guy has a lot of good plans and while it may stretch disbelief at times, hey the guy is patient. He is the ultimate strategist who waits on the sidelines but technically can’t fight at a high level. If he could fight too then the world would really be finished.

Kushina has a solid role as Naruto’s Mom. She was a real fun character and a go getter. It’s a shame that her screentime was so low but she gave him good advice throughout and was a super solid parent. Then you have Minato who also looked really good. We actually got to see him fight a lot which was awesome. He always had a very cool air about him. The guy was also a top tier parent. He ends up being one of the better characters in the series and he definitely has the best reputation as the Yellow Flash. People knew not to mess with him.

The 3rd Hokage doesn’t do much here but I’ll just say that he’s annoying. Every time we get a new flashback, we see how more and more of the problems were all his fault. If he had just stood up and stopped at least one of the internal villains then things could have been very different. It’s hard to be as harsh on the 2nd Hokage since most of his actions were off screen. He seems to be a solid fighter but again we just don’t know a ton about him.

The 1st Hokage is easily the most impressive. You could make a decent case for him being the strongest character in the series. The guy’s abilities were super terrifying. Personally I still have Madara above him but the two were rivals for a good reason. It definitely wasn’t one sided in either direction. The scene where he powers up to freeze all of the Hokage and Sasuke was definitely a true flex and one of the biggest hype moments in the series. It’s hard to imagine him ever going down in the past.

Killer Bee is the only Tailed Beast holder aside from Naruto who gets a big role. He definitely makes the most of it as his debut appearance against Sasuke was definitely a really memorable one. It was nice to see an owner who actually bonded with the beast. Eventually Naruto would do this as well but it would take a long time. Killer Bee’s rapping gimmick also wasn’t that bad to be honest. Not really my thing but the execution was okay.

Hinata doesn’t do much for most of the series but she starts to get a role by the end so I should mention her. My main issue with Hinata is the same as with a bunch of other characters. She is too soft spoken the whole time and needs to assert herself more. This is what keeps me from becoming a big fan. I want to see a Hinata who gets really tough and just starts blasting the enemy. Still, I’d say her fans should be satisfied with her portrayal here.

Side note, it was cool seeing Zabuza and Haku return. They may have appeared super briefly but that was a lot of fun. One old character who shows up a bit is Iruka but I still don’t like the guy. He’s way too harsh on Naruto and wouldn’t even hear the guy out when his wedding day was approaching. I think some people find the dynamic charming with Iruka constantly bashing Naruto and apologizing for him since he assumes that the lead is up to no good. The problem for me is that this gag has the opposite effect. He should trust Naruto completely by now. It’s definitely a big L for Iruka.

The 9 Tails himself gets a ton of character development and it’s fun to see how far he has come. Gone are the days where he would just be yelling and trying to scare everybody. Now he is actually a rather reasonable person which is cool. He supports Naruto and really helps him to improve. It’s a superb dynamic and I like how they build each other up. No matter what, Naruto and the 9 Tails will always have each other as friends.

Finally we have Kaguya and unfortunately the anime does her a disservice. The extra scenes actually make her look worse instead of better which is crazy. She just appears to be too naive and slow on the uptake there. I would have liked her to have fought more and just messed over anyone in her way. She is Kaguya, one of the strongest people in the verse. That shouldn’t be asking for too much right? Great design and everything but the flashback definitely hurts.

After that, the series mainly starts to wind down. We get a quick mini arc for Shikamaru based on his novel, a Sasuke arc for his, a mini arc on picking out presents for Naruto, and episodes for some of the characters as kids. The anime really wanted to make sure you had time to see what the characters were doing in the present which is a nice touch. I mean personally I’m cool with just ending on the big fight but the longer you can extend a series the better and it was worth it to reach 500 episodes. That is an absolutely crazy amount that almost no show nowadays can ever hope to reach. It is simply too impressive.

Even with a review this long there are tons of characters and episodes I didn’t touch on. It’s why watching this show is a true saga. It’s an experience that you can’t complete in a few days. It would be literally impossible to do so. That’s the charm of the series after all. Even I would probably not remember everything if I gave it a re watch so in that way there is always a ton of replay value here. You can try to notice extra easter eggs and lore that you didn’t notice the first time. Then you will have made it to the level of grand Naruto scholar and you can use that as super bragging rights. Of course the next step will be to enter the world of Boruto at some point but that’s a discussion for another day. That is technically a separate series after all so it should be looked on separately as well.

Overall, Naruto Shippuden is one of those titles that I will never forget. It will always be very important to me because of all the memories and the experiences I had with the show. It was a title that lasted a long time and there are very few titles that can keep going for 500 episodes nowadays. It’s lucky for most to reach 100 after all. I would definitely recommend this to any action fan. For a long title like this, you are really given time to know all of the characters and get emotionally invested into the whole thing. That definitely goes a long way and at the end of the day watching this is like watching a big piece of anime history. You owe it to yourself to experience what this global phenomenon was all about. On an episode by episode battle it may not beat the higher tier shows but while those end every 12 episodes, this one will just keep on going and going.

Overall 7/10

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