Tag Archives: Sci-Fi

Invisible Invaders Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi film where the aliens decide to finally take out humanity. Trust me I knew this day was coming because humanity definitely was never going to last long against aliens. Aliens are more resilient, skilled, and just generally trickier than humans. These guys are invisible though which makes it even tougher. It’s a good movie with a fairly cheesy ending but on the whole I had a good time here.

The movie starts off with a scientist dying. After that, he suddenly appears in the house of another scientist and explains that his body is being reanimated by an alien. These aliens give the Earth 24 hours to surrender before they take over. The humans don’t believe this of course and so they don’t do anything. After the 24 hours pass, the aliens begin shooting up all of the national landmarks and overwhelming the humans. There doesn’t seem to be a way to stop them because the invisibility means they can get into any secure location or snipe people at will. So America puts all of their hopes on two scientists, Penner and Lamont. Only they can hope to save the day but will they find a solution in time?

Now the humans are rather lucky here in that the aliens have no real weapons. See, apparently Earth’s atmosphere is rather toxic to them so they have to stay invisible and use sabotage to take the edge against the human. Sabotage is in itself still a very good tactic so we shouldn’t underestimate it but that also means it is their only win condition. If the humans can find a way to make them visible then they will be able to end this in a snap. A hard, but achievable task.

Unfortunately one of the scientists is super annoying. Lamont is one of those guys who throws in the towel immediately and complains a whole lot. Seriously this guy is just a nuisance and he goes as far as to start destroying equipment all over the base while he has a tantrum. It’s one thing to figure you have no shot but it’s another to make sure of it like this. He wanted to force a surrender and while the other characters let him off easy, I would have considered that as a complete betrayal and kicked him off the squad. You can’t have someone like that putting you in danger. He never recovered from that.

Penner is actually a good scientist who tries hard the whole time. Even when things look bleak, he continues to fight hard and holds his own. It’s not an easy thing to do but he still does it. He lives up to his reputation as one of the biggest geniuses in the country and ultimately he takes a lot of risks of his own. Then you have the main heroine Phyllis who does her best to assist. She may not be making inventions but she watches over the crew. Mainly the tough part for her is having to deal with some flirting when everyone should have their minds on business. You’d think that they would with the stakes this high right?

The main guy who likes her is Bruce. So he’s from the army and is the one in charge of protecting the scientists. This sometimes means making some hard calls like when he has to murder someone who was in the way. Phyllis gets mad at this but I was 100% on the soldier’s side. She was right there and yet she acts like there was another way. It’s clear that this guy had lost his marbles and he even threatened to shoot the heroes. So Bruce took him out first and saved all of their lives. I don’t get how you can possibly discount that. It’s what happened after all and it’s not like Bruce enjoyed his mission there.

Bruce also takes a whole lot of risks later on as he keeps testing out the weapons on the aliens which results in his having to go out onto the battlefield alone. He’s nearly choked to death on one occasion and barely escapes with his life the other times. So he’s a good guy that doesn’t hold back on his missions. He accomplished his mission and yes there was a body count but it was as a last resort. He was surprisingly weak in a fist fight when one of the other guys went crazy later on though. I expected him to be a lot stronger as a soldier so he really needs to his the gym at some point.

As a final note, the aliens in these invasion films really aren’t very smart sometimes. There’s no reason to even bother giving Earth demands when there’s no chance that they could be met. Instead, use the element of disguise and deal some damage quickly. Wirth all of the aliens being invisible they could launch the ultimate first strike and blow up so many installation all at once that humanity won’t know what do . Plus if they were smart about it, people wouldn’t even be able to guess that it was aliens so they could use these tactics for an extremely long time. Humanity only stands a chance because of plot armor.

Overall, The Invisible Invaders is a good movie. I think it could have stood to be a little more exciting though. Most of the film is about the characters talking things over and trying to find a weakness. The actual confrontations are pretty rare and considering that the aliens are fully sentient, we could have had more hype dialogue with them. Maybe see more of the other governments as well and what they are doing to counter the alien threat. We see that for the most part everyone is getting wrecked but couldn’t some others adjust? These aliens are basically just guys with guns without the invisibility working so if you monitor the entrances and exits you can see when someone shows up and pop them. Well I suppose that’s for more of a thriller film. Either way I would recommend the movie. It’s a quality feature with good writing and pacing so you can’t go wrong there.

Overall 6/10

Space Harrier II Review

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It’s time for a pretty pleasant game. It’s basically like a 3D auto runner you could say. You are always moving at a high speed and the levels go by quickly. It almost feels like RNG with how quickly the enemies attack but technically it is all skill based and you are testing your reaction times. I bet people had to try again a bunch of times before the end.

There’s not really much of a plot until the end to be honest but you have to stop powerful aliens and monsters with your sci-fi gun. What’s more hype than that right? You only have one gun so unlike the last few games this one isn’t very customizable. It’s fully arcade style in that sense as you just have to strike at the opponent enough times for him to go down rather than playing the long game. As it’s a 3D auto runner like I said before, you can only move up, down, left, and right. There are no other dimensions to the game and since you don’t control your speed that does mean you can focus all of your brainpower on blasting at the enemy.

What I found to be the best strategy was to constantly be flying in circles. It always made it very difficult for the enemies to land hits but sometimes it also meant that I would sort of fly into an attack. So you probably shouldn’t start spinning with reckless abandon unless you want to be reusing that rewind feature a lot. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that of course but it’s probably good to win as much as possible. Then there are also lots of buildings and other objects where if you bump into them then you lose as well. There is no health bar in this game, when you get hit you die. That’s all there is to it.

The graphics here definitely look really nice. You could tell that they want all out in this area and the color are striking. I was pretty impressed and in terms of pure visuals it is one of the better Genesis titles. The soundtrack is more on the standard side but it works well enough, I didn’t really have any issues there. In terms of length it’s around an hour or so which isn’t bad. Not one of the longest ones but it works well enough.

I also liked the various boss designs. The game was really creative with them. In a sense every boss does feel the same because the attacks are only different in terms of cosmetics. Either way you have to dodge them all so it doesn’t change much. It does go back to how this game in a sense is a very simple gameplay style because you move and blast. There are no other dimensions to this, no twists and turns. No new mechanics. And it works well for what it is but the one downside is the developers can’t really show off with the bosses.

The final level is crazy though as you have to fight every boss back to back and then the final boss. That’s a lot of time where you can’t afford to get hit and I don’t see how realistic it would be to complete that without taking a shot. Maybe there are extra lives you get or something else that I was missing. If not, my hat’s definitely off to whoever was able to beat this one back in the day. You really did have to be a complete pro gamer to tackle titles like this one.

Overall, Space Harrier II is a pretty fun title. It may not be the best sci-fi game but it will pass the time by. The length is fairly decent and the graphics are colorful. Considering that you can basically play it for free, you really can’t go wrong here. The sci-fi marathon has been a blast but now it’s going to be time to turn my attention to some of the other Genesis titles. We’ll see just how well they stack up next to these last few. If you have the Switch Online you should go ahead and play this one though. A fun way to turn your brain off and just have fun.

Overall 6/10

Alien Storm Review

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This is definitely a weaker Genesis title. It’s a beat em up which is usually awesome but it has some extremely questionable design choices that hold the whole thing back. Like I’m talking design choices that will just have you scratching your head the whole time. Like why is this the case? It has some interesting ideas and I like the final boss but the game could have been better.

Basically you jump in to save the humans from the aliens that are everywhere. The aliens are shapeshifters and have even started turning into humans and different objects. One common object here is a trashcan that the aliens will turn into to get you to lower your guard before they pounce! So you have to still save the normal humans without letting the fakes go. No worries though, none of this is reflected in the gameplay. There is no friendly fire so just blast everything and you’ll only hit the aliens anyway. Most of the game is the 2D beat em up style but some levels at the end will quickly turn 3D where you blast a lot of aliens trying to get onto the screen.

This game is fairly unforgiving as even with rewind I got myself completely doomed on the first playthrough and barely survived on the second. The reason is that your normal attack either goes straight up if you’re playing as the guy or is a flame thrower that doesn’t do much damage if you play as the girl. Why can’t you just blast these aliens straight up? The whole time I’m wondering why the gameplay would be intentionally making it hard for you to hit the opponents. You have to use combos by hitting the normal attack button several times to do a ground move which knocks them out but this costs energy.

You can always call in an air strike or drop a massive nuclear bomb on the enemies to clear the screen but it takes up a ton of energy so you really shouldn’t spam this. If you do run out of energy then it’s tough because even your normal attacks don’t work anymore. When you have no energy, you swing it like a club and hope for the best. The problem is that this does almost no damage and it’s super hard to dodge the enemies.

I should underscore that when I ay it does almost no damage, that technically does mean that it does a little bit. So in theory you actually could beat some enemies like this but not enough to clear a level. Even with rewind I tried every kind of angle to get close to the aliens and it just wasn’t working. Then if you enter a 3D level with no energy, you can only fire a few blasts here and there so there is no way to blast all of the creatures in time. In both cases you are doomed so these are what I’d call complete choke points. Once you’re out of energy then even rewinding won’t save you.

All of this is to say that it’s an extremely difficult game. Perhaps the third playable character would have had a better weapon to use, I didn’t actually play as him. The core issue though is that your normal attack shouldn’t use energy. You should always have an attack that you can use at all times in a beat em up. Otherwise you can’t really focus on just having fun and blasting away at everyone because you’re worried about running out. I definitely think the game needed to improve on this aspect.

The 3D parts were fun at least but in part I admit it’s because they were just easier. These parts felt enjoyable to just be blasting everything as the screen keeps panning left to right. It’s even soothing in a way as it’s all so symmetrical. You know exactly what you will get at all times. It’s also good that it was fun because otherwise the plot really doesn’t exist here. You barely even know why you’re doing all of this. Of course in general you’re saving the world but it’s such a general/basic plot. You are not going to be playing this game for the story.

Now we come to the graphics and I can safely say that the game looks pretty good. I like that we actually see different shops and lots of unique backgrounds. The enemy character models are good and the same goes for the civilians. The music is fast paced and so I don’t have any issues with the technical effects here. The game is fairly short but considering how difficult it is, it’s probably a good thing it wasn’t longer or that would have been really daunting.

Overall, Alien Storm is a game with a fun premise but the gameplay doesn’t live up to this. My main problem stems from the fact that it’s a beat em up where you can’t just have fun knocking out the competition because you’re always worried about your energy and ammo. You should be able to just go in there guns/fists blazing and then fight them. It feels like the game missed out on what I would consider to be the critical point of any beat em up. Why make a game in this genre when you can’t do that? So check this game out and maybe there is some kind of attack option that I missed but otherwise this is not the title that you will want to check out.

Overall 5/10

MUSHA Review

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It’s time for another retro game courtesy of the Nintendo Switch Online. I can safely say that this is a fun title but it doesn’t really stand out all that much compared to the other sci-fi titles that I’ve played. It’s a good game of course but eh it definitely could have been better if you ask me. In the end it needed a little more of a plot or some kind of super unique gimmick.

The gameplay is more of a top down shooter style. You are blasting away at all of the enemies that try to stand in your way. It can be a bit hard to tell when you are dealing damage since the visual indicator isn’t very obvious but keep on blasting and you will take the enemies down in no time. You can keep on switching the way that your robot fires its shots as well so I recommend experimenting until you’ve found the perfect blend for you. There are certainly many different ways to tackle this and you can also alternate between manual and automatic fire.

I found that the best firing method was the 3 guns style. It works well on automatic and you get a lot of coverage while you are moving around. There are wider guns like the 5 way but I felt like they didn’t do as much damage so ironically it was a bit tougher to use that one. I would often find myself being a bit held back there. You lost your extra firepower the more you get hit so it is important to dodge every blow. Seriously one wrong shot can send you all the way back to the basic gun which is the worst possible gun to have. If you’re down to that weapon you can pretty much turn in the towel at that point.

You can of course get the power ups back by hitting the collectibles but surviving that long is the tricky part. The bosses have a ton of health as well and they will drain your HP quickly. Your reaction times are probably the most critical part of the journey since that is what will keep you alive. The graphics are pretty solid for this time frame. The characters look solid and the backgrounds had a good amount of detail to them. The levels are also fairly different so it’s not like the same background is used over and over again or anything like that. Now that would have definitely been pretty lazy.

There isn’t a lot of replay value here but that’s pretty normal for a retro game like this. The main idea is to just complete it as you normally would and then it goes back on the shelf. You can probably have fun creating your own strategies like maybe trying to complete it while only dying 5 times or something like that but for the most part this will just be around for 1 hour. At least it’s an hour of quality content though. The soundtrack isn’t bad, no home run hits but it’s not a weak selection. It works pretty well with the look and feel of the game.

I do think the developers had a fun idea with the gun customizing and it feels like an early concept of what Armored Core would turn into. Customizing your robot can be fun whether it is in game like this one or pre game like the Leynos title. That said, it would also need to be perfected more. Each gun should have some kind of benefit to it and in this case some just felt like downgrades. Why would you ever use 2 guns instead of 3? Maybe one way you could do this is that you sacrifice more armor as you add more guns. That would be pretty fun or you could scale down attack power the way it seemed to work for the 5 way gun. That would make a lot of sense.

Overall, MUSHA is a good game to check out while you have the Switch Online. If you had to pay for it then I wouldn’t be able to recommend it quite as highly but there’s really not much of a downside when it’s free like this. Just jump in and have a lot of fun right? That’s really the way to go about it and a modern remake of this game could have a lot of potential. Even if this may not be the flagship title of the genre, I like the genre enough where it still works out in the end. Blasting away at enemies while zooming around is always a good bit of fun. I’ll do my best to keep on remembering the game at least for the remainder of the year. A true challenge indeed!

Overall 6/10

The Orbital Children Review

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It’s time to look at a quick miniseries. This one originally came out as movies but on Netflix it’s a full TV show so that’s how we’re gonna approach this one. Sci-fi titles are always pretty fun so I was ready for a good time here. The characters are mainly all kids here and it’s played more realistic so don’t expect massive fight scenes or anything but it’s solid enough. The kids are more bearable than I’ve seen them be in other titles so that worked out well enough for me.

In the future space travel has become more normal. In fact it’s so normal that there was a whole generation of people who was born in outer space and are used to living up in a spaceship their whole life. Touya is one of these people and he is one of the last kids like this. The governments of the world have vowed to bring everyone back to Earth because the experiments didn’t work very well. The chips that were planted inside of the kids to allow them to survive have backfired which is why most of them are dead. Touya and another girl in space will be dead soon if nothing changes.

Partially because of this, Touya holds a lot of resentment and doesn’t want to go to Earth. He has become an internet sensation for how rude he is and how fascinated people are at his lifestyle. The guy is a top tier hacker and people enjoy watching him but at the same time this is a big cost to the governments who basically have to keep a lot of systems and supplies ongoing to space basically for a handful of people. One day another tour group of kids is sent up to the space station to talk with Touya and the staff but they are all rocked by space debris. The systems are going offline and the heroes are effectively trapped in space. Can they find a way to get this ship back to Earth? Also…there is a terrorist among the group.

There’s a lot going on here and some may describe the plot slightly differently but I’d say this is effectively what’s going on here. The show is still more of a slice of life than a drama to me even with the stakes though. While the danger ramps up as the show goes on, a good chunk of it is really about the kids talking and gradually getting to understand each other. Touya really wasn’t giving any of them a fair shake at all for a while there but when you’re all trapped in a life or death situation it really gives you a chance to talk things out.

The animation’s good although it’s not great or anything. This isn’t really the kind of show that is trying to show off its animation anyway though so that makes sense. You’re just getting a chance to see the characters interact and some nice space backgrounds. There is one fight between two of the A.I.s that was pretty fun though as they were zooming around the place. It’s the closest thing we get to a big fight scene here. There is one lady who has a gun but you’re not really expecting her to shoot a bunch of kids right? That could have gotten dark quickly but it is the biggest moment of plot armor in the series. There’s no way she should have lost at that point to be honest. The show does excel on its big still shots showing off the different colors and tech though. I do think they went all out there.

There’s not much in the way of fanservice or violence here so I would say it’s a pretty safe series overall. It feels like a title that would be very accessible even to someone who doesn’t watch a lot of anime since the themes are pretty general and it’s not diving too hard into the sci-fi terms. There is some explaining on the microchips and all but it’s nothing too complicated that would throw you for a loop.

As the main character Touya is a solid figure who is able to hold the show. His rudeness helps to set him apart from the other characters and his hacking skills are legitimate. Without him the others would have definitely been dead many times. I also think that his goal makes a whole lot of sense even though it was risky. Basically he wants to revive the ultimate A.I. that went crazy and got taken offline a while back. The reason for it is that the implants that were put into the kids were so advanced that humanity doesn’t know how to fix them. They were created by the A.I. and of course only that A.I. would have a chance at knowing what to do about them.

The risk though is that the A.I. could end the planet or do something drastic. It was operating on levels that humanity could barely even understand which is why they had to pull the plug. Part of the debate though is that the A.I.”failed” in a sense with the implants. Yes it extended the kids’ lives since they would have already been long dead anyway but even if you brought the A.I. back, would it do any better this time? It’s really all a toss up, a gamble if you will. For most people the gamble is absolutely not worth it since if you succeed you only have a chance to save two lives while you put humanity at stake. Touya’s best friend Konoha is the other kid who is dying though so he can’t stop.

I was with Team Touya all the way. Meanwhile Konoha is a nice enough character. She certainly doesn’t want to die but isn’t really fighting as hard as Touya. She’s taking more of a “What will be, will be” approach of just waiting. It’s not a task that just anyone could do though so it’s not like she has a whole lot of say on this. Then there is Taiyo who is sort of like a rival to Touya. This guy is also a hacker but he works for the law and so he does everything legally. This puts him at odds with Touya who is expressly doing illegal things the whole time. My main problem with Taiyo is his priorities.

Even when everyone is danger or the heroes are plummeting to their doom, he insists on arresting Touya. This guy is just way too obsessed and it takes him a really long time to realize that. By the end he’s okay but the guy was a thorn in the heroes’ side for a while. Mina is another online sensation but not on the level of Touya. She has a lot of fun with her streams but has the most annoying catchphrase in the series by far. She starts all of her streams by saying her name 3-4 times and it just feels like an eternity even though it’s only a second or two. She’s really a decent character otherwise but that gimmick alone really hurts her quite a bit.

Hiroshi is one of the youngest kids here and so the guy feels out of his depth the whole time. Being smart is technically his thing but at the same time it just doesn’t come in handy as often as you would expect. Touya and Taiyo are the hackers here so that doesn’t leave as much room for general intelligence. Then we have Nasa who has the biggest role out of all of the adults. She’s easily one of the standout characters here the whole time. She is very dedicated to her goals and puts up with a whole lot.

I’d argue that she is one of the most tragic characters in the series with how much she had to sacrifice to be here. Ultimately she seems like a good person who just disagrees with the others. Of course by the end of this you may feel that is giving her a bit too much credit but I feel like she earns it. From her position, the actions make a lot of sense and you could tell that she cares about everyone.

There are a few other supporting characters in here like the other adults but for the most part they’re just helpless the whole time. Nasa could handle herself well but the other adults would have to just give advice and hope for the best. The kids really outshined them here. There’s a quirky old guy in an alien bunny type suit who helps out a bit but I feel like he barely even needed to be in the show. The A.I.’s owned by the two hackers were pretty fun though.

I would have liked to have seen more footage of the people on Earth talking things over though. Like the budget of having to keep Touya alive with the space station. It sounds like for once the government wasn’t corrupt here as they were helping out a whole lot so it’d be nice to get some screen time of that. I’d also have enjoyed a flashback with the super A.I. It’s a massive plot point after all but we technically don’t get to see a whole lot of it. The poem it left as a cryptic riddle is also a fun plot point but one that is really left up to a lot of interpretation. In the series different groups have different ideas on it and that makes sense. With something so vague you can interpret it in 100 different ways so whichever way fits your goals the most is the one that will win. Because we follow the kids we don’t focus on the thriller aspects quite as much but there is a lot going on in the background.

Overall, The Orbital Children is a fun miniseries. It’s not going to be terribly exciting even with the occasional explosion because it’s not really going for that vibe. I’d still say it’s more about the character development or a type of coming of age story. Either way it should keep you engaged all the way through even if there may not be a ton of replay value this time around. You could probably make a sequel if you wanted to but this is the kind of story with no real loose ends so it would be a sequel just to have one. I don’t really have a problem with that though.

Overall 6/10

Noein: To Your Other Self Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi title dealing with the multiverse so you know that a lot is going on here. It balances out the mystery pretty well. It actually handles the cast well since initially you might be worried that the kids will end up being annoying but there is always some kind of big event happening in each episode. So the plot moves and the main heroine barely even feels like a kid next to the others. She always saw the big picture from the start and this ends up being a pretty interesting watch.

The series starts off by introducing us to Haruka who at first glance is just your average girl trying to live her best life. Her best friend Yu has been having a tough time at home lately with his very strict mother and so he’s decided to run away. Haruka tries to lift his spirits and says she will run away with him but you get the feeling she’s also hoping to talk him out of it. They had made a promise a long time ago that if they ever ran away it would be together though. Then a portal opens up and a mysterious being in a black cloak appears. His name is Karasu and he wants Haruka to come with him.

There’s a lot of mystery in the beginning and unraveling the mysteries is part of the fun so I’ll keep this fairly vague. To just add a little more context though, the show deals with the idea of a multiverse. This planet and Haruka’s life is just one reality out of many. The characters also have to wonder if anything is truly real. Is something real because you can observe and feel it? It’s possible that life itself is an illusion and so they aren’t sure if anything really matter. For now most of the characters have to assume that this is real though and so Haruka is an important figure in the middle of all of this. Different characters need her in order to stabilize their timelines and make it the real one. Haruka doesn’t want to go anywhere but she also doesn’t want to hurt anyone and so it’s a tough balancing act.

The show goes into some of those philosophical discussions that don’t really have an end point because they become circular very quickly. For example the conversation about if anything is real. It’s interesting in the abstract but you can’t prove a negative so after a point what can you really say about it? For example lets say none of us are real and we’re all the figment of someone’s imagination. Well in that case…it shouldn’t affect how you live because everything will be over when you imagine that you’ve died anyway right? Even if there are infinite other versions of you, you can’t do anything about that so you just have to live your life as you always have. Just something that’s always good to keep in mind.

The show goes with the theory of tons of possible futures depending on the present which is definitely the way I prefer it. Even if your future is mapped out, nobody can possibly know how it will play out. If they did, then the future would automatically change with that new knowledge. Lets say someone predicted that too, well it’s a never ending chase sort of like the chicken and the egg. Just like I go with the chicken in that scenario there, I’d say that there is a future that will happen out of the infinite amount but it doesn’t become real until it hits the present which is why destiny is a fairly pointless concept.

The characters try to confuse Haruka with all of these concepts but of course you have to remember that they all have a stake in this so they aren’t the best possible sources. One of the most interesting concepts though was in how Haruka is sort of like a way point. For example, lets say there are 3 different future events, one where a bullet hits her friend, one where it misses her friend, and one where the bullet is never fired. The version that Haruka sees will become the “real” one as it then becomes a solidified point in time. She seems to have the power to choose which path will become the real one and the others will fade away like they never happened.

It’s a pretty cool power but also a high stakes one since it’s hard to know what she will see in advance. She can try to actively forget something and imagine something else but that seems tough. There’s one instance in the show where she is told not to look at someone who is dead because as long as she hasn’t seen it herself, it’s possible that the event can be overwritten with one where he is alive. It’s a very interesting way to weaponize the ability. I do enjoy theory crafting like this which is one of the show’s strengths. See this is how you handle hypotheticals, Godzilla Singular Point could learn some valuable lessons from this.

Back to the characters though, Haruka is a great lead. She doesn’t panic the way that most of the other characters do and in that way she keeps everyone on track. She tends to internalize all of her problems which obviously isn’t healthy but it shows how selfless she is. I think the heroes would be completely lose without her even if Haruka didn’t have any abilities. Haruka just gives them all a lot of inner peace. Also I really enjoyed her unique design. Her eyes are sort of like a cat’s eyes or some kind of half moon. It’s hard to describe but made for a very memorable design.

She’s the only one with this attribute which makes her stand out even more. It’s why for a while there I was expecting some kind of a twist where she’s a demon or supernatural entity or something. That’s not exactly the direction the show goes in though but it had me guessing. Then you have the main guy in Yu who starts off rather bratty the whole time. He whines a whole lot and has trouble saying what he means so he often ends up being rather rude to Haruka.

It’s lucky that she’s so mature and patient with him all of the time because I probably would have just ditched him after a while. Yu wants to be the one to protect Haruka because he likes her but tends to get shown up at every turn by Karasu. It’s just hard for this to not be the inevitable outcome as it is because Karasu is older, more powerful, and has actual powers. How do you possibly compete with that? By the end of the series Yu finally starts to realize that protecting Haruka is the important part and that it doesn’t have to be him. It’s a character arc that feels like an eternity to materialize but better than never.

I do respect the effort he puts in though and he ends up being an entertaining character. Probably not a friend you would want to have in real life, but as a character he’s not bad. He did try to defend Haruka from otherworldly fighters with a small switch blade so he gets points for courage. That’s something the other kids lack and why they are very weak characters.

You have Miho who is really interested in the supernatural but feels very annoying the whole time. In a lot of ways she is the most immature and despite being in a situation with actual crazy stuff going on, she doesn’t seem to take it all very seriously. I think she is trying her best but she’s just too young to get what’s going on. I was always ready for her scenes to end. Then you have Isami whose role never got as big as I would have expected. He’s better than Miho but I still didn’t care for him. He just doesn’t really contribute and his main memorable trait is that he has a crush on the teacher. Not exactly the thing you want to be remembered for.

The same goes for Ai who is another one of the friends hanging out but doesn’t do much. She likes Isami but can’t bring herself to tell him. There just isn’t much time for the romance among the side characters in this show so nothing much happens with that. Another character without much to do is Haruka’s mother Asuka. She gets drunk a lot but that’s really it. She isn’t able to help in any of the battles and is often completely oblivious of what’s going on. That may not be entirely her fault but it just doesn’t do her any favors as a character.

She ends up dragging down Yu’s mother Miyuki with her as well. I enjoyed Miyuki as an antagonist who was really pressuring Yu the whole time but as a hero she’s just not as interesting. The character arc went rather fast as well. Then you have Takuya who was Haruka’s father but he doesn’t do much either. You’d expect a lot out of him since he’s involved with the government group looking into the multiverse but mainly he just tries to plead his case without doing much about anything. The guy just feels very weak the whole time. I think he also could have explained things better to Asuka to get her to actually help out a bit.

Ryoko and Kyoji are the two main researchers trying to find out about the multiverse. I should say that’s Ryoko’s job. Kyoji is mainly just tagging along and helping her out but he doesn’t tend to understand any of this. In fact I would say he’s just here to give the story a way to throw some exposition at us. He always asks Ryoko to explain things so she talks more about the multiverse, the current theories on it, etc. They’re both good characters though. I liked that Ryoko actually understood what was going on and Kyoji’s just a nice guy. He seems like a really loyal ally to have who will risk his life even when he’s outmatched.

Seeing him take out a gun and try to seriously threaten the future beings who have laser blasts and super speed was also pretty funny. You can’t say that the guy didn’t at least try his best to help out at least. Now we get to the future beings. First up is Tobi who isn’t really much of a fighter but she helps out a lot on the tech side. She was easily the most reasonable member of the group who would always try to talk things out. It’s a shame that she couldn’t fight more though.

Does being a strategic genius always have to mean that you can’t fight? She ended up being one of the most likable characters in the group though so I suppose it all worked out well enough. Then you have Atori who was easily the most insane member of the group but practically got lobotomized which affects his personality for the rest of the show. He was extremely annoying as a hero so I kept waiting for him to turn evil again. The guy’s power is the real deal and he gave us one of the best early fights in the series. Atori absolutely enhances the show so he performed well in the role and he even does do some things in the climax.

Makoto barely has a reason to be in the story to be honest. Half of the time you even forget about the whole government angle here but I suppose in some ways this whole situation wouldn’t be happening without this. So fine the guy is necessary but he’s basically your average corporate villain. The guy doesn’t care about the future and can’t really fight but he has a gun and isn’t afraid to use it. I was shocked at how many shots he got off before the heroes ever did anything about it. There can be something amusing about this kind of cheesy villain but he really gets overshadowed.

Kosagi tends to be a very annoying character. She’s way too emotional and can never act logically. Unlike the other heroes and villains in the series, she never had any kind of grand master plan. I would say she doesn’t really end on a high note either and the final nail in the coffin is that she isn’t even very powerful. So mix all of that together and she’s not all that solid. The same is true for Kuina. Another really emotional guy who doesn’t take anything well and as a result makes all of the wrong decisions. I can respect a good villain who is fighting for someone who is even just evil to be evil but when you’re a villain for petty reasons then there is absolutely no hope for you.

Karasu naturally has a rather huge role in the story. He shows up early and remains a central figure in the whole adventure. He is easily the best fighter and is super durable. The guy goes through a lot to protect Noein and often goes against the council. I appreciated his loyalty and the guy just has a very cool demeanor to him. He reminds me a lot of Archer from Fate. Karasu could certainly stand to talk to the characters more and actually explain what’s going on but without him they would have certainly been doomed. You definitely can’t underestimate just how crucial he was. I also tended to enjoy any scene of him bashing Yu and rubbing in his face the difference in their abilities.

Now we can talk about Noein, the best villain in the show. This guy always had such confidence when he would appear and I really liked his design as well. When he came out with the Ray-Man spin move to knock out the characters that was brilliant. On the whole he’s more of a strategist than a fighter though. Sure, Noein can fight but he tends to break his opponents down mentally instead. He was easily my favorite character in the show. Yes, he does get just a little bit whiny at the very end of the series so he doesn’t stick the landing but for every other episode he looked great. This guy always delivers with the mystery and does a lot to help support the show’s creepy atmosphere. It would really not be the same without him. You get the feeling he probably could have ended the series rather early if he didn’t take so long to make his move.

While all of the theory crafting and concepts are a blast to engage with, I would say the show probably has less replay value than other titles as a result. This is a bit of a slow burn where you often do have a major development in each episode but they tend to be twists of sorts. So if you rewatch the show I imagine it will feel rather slow paced without a whole lot of plot progression at times. It’s similar to a mystery where it often won’t hit the same way the second time although there are some exceptions to that.

When the fight scenes occur they do tend to be a lot of fun though. I like the very exaggerated animation techniques they use for the clashes. Characters really go off model and stretch to oblivion while firing off their energy blasts. The movement is fast and the animation is pretty good there in general. I think it sort of helps to masque that this doesn’t feel like a very high budget show. It works well with the creepy atmosphere of the title in general though.

Then you have the soundtrack which actually is pretty great. There are a lot of solid battle themes and general enemy tunes here. It gives the show a very grand feeling to it and you will be remembering the tunes very well by the end. It’s not the largest OST but when your tracks are really solid then that’s all that really matters. Quality over quantity as they say.

Overall, Noein is one of those shows I had never heard of before but it definitely ended up being pretty good. The crazy plot really worked out nicely and made it so I didn’t even have to worry about the annoying kids. Haruka and Yu were really good of course but I never really got on board with the other 3 kids who just felt out of their league the whole time. If anything I think the show could have probably kept on going a little while longer with some of the plots but the abrupt ending is likely intentional. It’s not exactly the end of everything but it’s the end of what we’ll see. So if you see this show around you should definitely check it out. It has that kind of retro aesthetic that you just don’t see anymore.

Overall 7/10

Europa Report Review

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If I had seen this film in the theaters I would have been so disappointed. It’s not thrilling or terrifying. That slogan makes no sense here because it’s anything but that. I found the film to be rather boring with very slow pacing all the way through. Part of the issue is in the found footage way they filmed this, another issue is how they keep jumping around as if this is a poorly directed documentary, but the main issue is that the film just didn’t seem to have much point. It felt like 10 Cloverfield Lane where the whole film is just a set up to the final 5 minutes of the film, only make that the final 60 seconds in this one. So this one was definitely a swing and a miss.

The film starts off halfway with everyone panicking because the cameras are going out. There’s tons of panic and then the screen goes dark as we find out that we lost connection with the space group for over 11 hours and counting. They’re probably dead but then we flash forward to someone saying that they found the tapes so what we’re about to see is the untold story. So then we jump to the beginning where we see that the team is going on a trip to space to find any signs of life on one of the moons near Jupiter. We then flash forward again to the crew getting obliterated and then go back to the start. This time we finally stick to being linear for the most part…but not totally as we’ll cut forward several times for one of the scientists to talk about how scary this was and all of that.

So I had a lot of problems with the film but one of them is all this jumping back and forth because it doesn’t make sense. If the company is finally showing this to people as a documentary, wouldn’t they edit it so this is all chronological? Why show the same scenes multiple times when you’re going back and forth? Sure if you wanted to make the whole thing more dramatic then you could do that but it doesn’t make sense if you’re trying to clearly explain what happened. That’s what I don’t like about the film, the whole story breaks apart the more you start to think about it and that should not be the case.

This is presented in such a way as if it was meant to be a thriller film which takes you out of the immersion because it doesn’t make sense with how this was crafted. I mean the whole thing is pretty hard to buy anyway with how they even got the footage after all this had happened but hey we can endure that I suppose. This is just where you sort of have to draw the line after a bit. Then my other big problem is the whole found footage style of camera work in general.

It’s just not an appealing way to watch the film. The screen is too small and there’s not enough freedom of movement. At least they didn’t throw on shaky cam in addition to that for the most part but this kind of style can at most be bearable if the characters are amazing. If you have a 10 star cast who just dazzle you with their quick wit then maybe you can survive but otherwise with characters that are mainly just generic and a bit lifeless this doesn’t do wonders for them. I need some cinematic camerawork and I needed it right away. The film is losing a lot of points right out of the jump due to this.

Then we come to the main problem which is just that nothing really happens here. The film isn’t even that long but it sure feels long with the crew doing endless safety checks and looking at the monitors. When they finally go outside it’s not like we can see all that much because it’s always very dark and gloomy out there. Yes it’s realistic but most importantly…it’s not that fun to watch. So the film has to take a big L there which is unfortunate. A film’s top priority is to be entertaining to the viewers and so when that goes wrong there really isn’t anything to save the experience. That is absolutely rule number 1.

None of the characters ended up being interesting either. Sometimes I wonder if this is a side effect of the found footage style because in all of those movies everyone tends to come across as really boring which doesn’t make any sense. Sure they tell some jokes here and there, they have disagreements about what to do, but they just barely feel like characters. It feels like the same dynamic you’ve seen in just about any space movie. At the end of the day they get distracted when they see something sparkly and end up getting crushed. Also what kind of a space station doesn’t have a decontaminating room.

That whole sequence made no sense. So some space junk got on one of the guys so he can’t go back onto the ship. Okay….but the whole point of the mission is to land on the planet and do some exploring/mineral gathering. So nobody realized that there was a possibility they would pick up something or touch something contaminated? Cmonnnnnn this just felt like they wanted to go for some drama. The classic moment of one guy having to drift off and slowly die in space is definitely a common one that is used a lot but it’s not something that would enhance a film.

Overall, This was a pretty bad movie if you ask me. Just the fact that it was really boring is enough to doom it but throw everything else in and it’s really a wrap. I did like the visual we got at the end of the film so if they make a sequel that’s an invasion/action thriller title then I would check it out. Otherwise this one tried way too hard to be super low key and while you could do that as a comedy, it doesn’t really work so well as a serious space thriller. There’s just nothing to get thrilled about and seeing the characters start to cry or break down mid documentary makes the whole film feel like it’s trying too hard.

Overall 3/10

Gravity Review

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It’s time for a film about outer space. It goes with the very bold option of trying to have a very small cast but ultimately this was not the way to play it. I like outer space as much as the next guy but for just about any film you need a lot of banter and characters to be trying to outmaneuver each other. Most of this film is really just the main heroine trying to survive and as a result there isn’t a lot going on here.

The movie starts with Matt, an expert at this kind of thing and Ryan, our main heroine who is also an expert at least on the theory level but hasn’t really had to go into space like this before. It’s all going routinely until a big chunk of debris knocks the life out of everybody with Matt and Ryan being the only survivors but very quickly this becomes Ryan’s solo mission. She has to try and get enough systems back online to get back to Earth but it’s not easy as this was never meant to be done by one person. Can she surpass her limits right here and now or is it all over for her?

So the main problem here is basically what I said in the intro. There is only so much that you can do to fill out a whole film with just one character. It works in the anime/light novel format because you have a ton of inner monologue from the main character but in films that doesn’t usually happen. If Ryan was constantly thinking about what to do next, making plans, etc. then that would be a different story. It’s just pretty rare for you to see that in a live action film because it’s really just not the way that the stories are typically crafted. Also the genre is a bit different, it might not be super organic to see her thinking about plans and such when she’s just been thrown into this situation.

I’ll take entertainment over realism so I’d have been cool with it of course. The best part of the film is really the intro because I enjoyed Matt’s character and seeing just how hard he tries to help her out the whole time. He really did his best in a tough situation and never made her feel guilty or anything with what happens to him. So that guy was a standout character all the way. Ryan’s also a solid lead and came through when it counts but since part of the film is really about how this is her first time, she does understandably panic a whole lot more. Ironically Matt would probably make for a worse main character since he would just be silently doing everything and the film would become a silent flick real quick.

I’ve seen a few other films like this where it’s just one character for most of the film and so far they just never really work out. It’s just not a genre (Eh this would probably be considered a sub genre at least right?) that works for me. You do get some nice visuals of space of course. There isn’t much of a soundtrack since space is quiet and all but they tried hard on the technical side. The writing seemed good enough when there was dialogue as well although we just don’t get to see that for very long.

Okay here’s what I’ll say for the film. It’s a terrific writing prompt. It’s interesting to think about what you would do if you were stranded in space and how you would survive. You could absolutely make a whole book series about it as you slowly learn to grow crops/artificial food within the spacecraft, water, etc. Maybe you live for years on your own before people come to rescue you. It would really test your creativity.

It’s just that watching a film about it ends up being super boring. There’s no way around this, you’re not really given anything to wrestle with. No themes to discuss, no dialogue to rate, no fights to enjoy. There isn’t even much variety in scenery since she is stuck in the ship all the time. It just feels like too passive of a viewing experience. I need to be thinking about something, absorbing things so I can be running scenarios in my head. Otherwise it’s sort of like you’re just watching the main character walk around and it’s not super engaging.

Even the review feels a bit repetitive after a while because it’s like I’ve only been talking about one thing the whole time. Well, that’s what watching the film was like. I do want to underscore that it’s not a bad film, I’d just say that it’s not a good one either. It’s perfectly stuck right in the middle unable to move one way or the other. It’s not interesting enough to wow you or anything like that but it doesn’t commit any huge mistakes nor is it overly boring. It’s uneventful but I’ve seen some films that are truly boring and I can tell you that this one shouldn’t be considered to be in that same league.

Overall, Gravity is a film that takes an interesting concept and tries to execute it but it just doesn’t work in a movie context. I think this would be far more interesting to read as a book. If you are really into space or aspire to be an astronaut at some point then this film should hold a lot of extra value because I imagine they did consult with experts on a lot of the science so it’s more or less accurate. It’s a good idea to at least think about what you’ll do if you’re ever stranded. Me though, I plan to stay on Earth for the duration of my life. Space travel or going underwater are both things I’ve never been tempted to try and definitely would never do even if you paid me. I just need the solid Earth beneath me at all times with breathable air. The most dangerous hobby I’m into is competitive eating to be honest.

Overall 5/10

Empire of the Ants Review

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Time for a foe that is just as scary as a spider…an ant! Look you don’t want to mess with Ants for a variety of reasons but one is that they always have numbers on their side. The plot of this film changes quite a bit as the film goes on and the second half in particular is very interesting with the route that was chosen. The ending isn’t quite as hype as the spiders film though but ultimately this one executes at a much higher level.

The movie starts by introducing us to a bunch of characters who are invited onto a private island to see if they want to buy it or invest in it. They are all supposed to be rich people who can afford such a lavish purchase but what the host doesn’t realize is…a good deal of them are not rich or have no interest in buying the property at all. They’re just here to mess around and eat the free food. It also appears that this place is a scam anyway which is why it’s being offered away so aggressively. Unfortunately the danger isn’t merely to the pocket books as harmful chemicals have given the ants an attack boost. They are now massive and can rip people apart with ease. Can our heroes hold their own against these guys or are they doomed?

The film starts out quite poorly with one guy getting a girl alone and attacking her. She barely manages to fend him off but rather than murdering him or having the guy arrested she doesn’t really report this to anyone and just leaves. The guy’s boss also doesn’t do anything so from this point on you’re really just waiting for the ant to eat him. Like come on why are you starting the film like this. The whole intro is a bit slow as the characters all talk but most of them seem to hate each other and there’s a ton of very awkward small talk. It’s awkward by design of course but it does make for a fairly slow pace. Gradually they start to pair up and get along but you’re really just waiting for the ants to show up.

Sure enough they appear to start murdering people one by one. A good chunk of the film is about running around and trying to dodge ants. There are always various forks in the road so the characters will split up and you try to decide which ones made the wrong call. To an extent no route is that safe though so there is a lot of danger every which way. One thing the film does really good about showing though is that the ants are quite smart. They actively make plans and even try guiding the heroes into specific locations. Ants are generally pretty smart and have an advanced system within the tribe and so I’m glad we got to see that.

This part is fairly by the numbers but with so many annoying characters you are glad to see them get taken out. Some are more tragic than others though like an elderly couple that tries to hide in a house. You feel bad because it’s really a rough way to go when you’ve been around for so long. Like you lived to be 80 and then now you’re going to be eaten by ants? Just doesn’t feel right so that adds a tragic element to the film. The deaths can also be a little on the violent side. Not super overdone or anything. I think it’s just that enough of the death is shown so when you add it to how you imagine it would feel to be eaten alive and it’s a really rough picture.

As I mentioned the second half is where things get really interesting though. So the survivors make it over to a nearby town where everyone seems really nice but secretive. They don’t want the heroes to leave the town or anything like that. A little strange…but okay. So the heroes need to get out fast now but they will be up against the full might of the U.S. Government. There are a lot of secrets being held here and the biggest one really comes out of nowhere. It’s definitely an interesting moment though and explains why the place is so unnerving. I thought it was a brilliant twist but this really should have been the bulk of the movie. It’s just got so much potential and I feel like we didn’t stay here long enough.

Honestly if you focus on the second half I do think you could have actually gotten a pretty high score for the film. Remove the most annoying characters as well and treat this like a Twilight Zone episode. I feel like it was almost there, the whole thing was so close to being awesome and it just could not seal the deal. The two halves almost feel like completely different films and you don’t see that very often.

Overall, Empire of the Ants is not a film that I would rank very high. Too many annoying characters everywhere and while the dialogue can be rather funny, I don’t think the writing is great. The twists are a whole lot of fun but you will have some big questions about a few and won’t have time to get the answers. The ending gets really convenient really quickly and just makes the villains look super sloppy as opposed to making the heroes look like geniuses. The moves just should not have worked and so I was real skeptical. Still, I applaud the film taking things in such a different direction because I really did not see that coming. It came as a real big surprise and absolutely elevated the film because if we were just talking about the first half then we would have been in trouble.

Overall 5/10