Sakamoto Days Review

Posted on February 22, 2026 by dreager1

Sakamoto Days is one of those titles that jumped out at folks immediately. It was poised to bring in a ton of really creative action scenes with an overpowered main character who could win while using any item. Think of it like John Wick but pushed to more of an absurd level while also being part comedy. This show is able to balance the serious and comedic moments really well so it ended up being an absolutely stellar title. You won’t want to miss out on this one.

The premise involves the legendary assassin known as Sakamoto finally deciding to retire from the hitman life. The reason for this? Well, he fell in love and got married. He’s now a full time family man with a wife and daughter. He manages a local 7-11 type food shop and has put on a ton of weight. He intended to live out a normal life but one day someone puts a huge bounty on his head. Now assassins from all around the world are trying to take him down. He’ll need to stop them, defend his family, and find out who put the hit on his head. Until that bounty is taken down, his peaceful days are over.

Now if you are worried that you won’t see the overpowered Sakamoto from the first scene, no worries he is still around. While his skills have greatly diminished, they are still more than enough for almost every character that he will have to fight in season 1. It may not be enough for The Order, but those guys feel more like late stage bosses from how the show goes in season 1. Although I can tell you that every season is going to be filled with amazing moments! Sakamoto also has the ability to go back into his lean state when he is fighting hard enough as his body remembers the shape.

So you’re going to see him fighting with every day appliances and beating people up with his bare hands. Then for the more serious fighters, he will occasionally use items that feel deadly like a classic pen. Throughout the series you are reminded that he is a true threat and worthy of the bounty. His killer instinct also shows up from time to time although it is mainly directed at the telepath, Shin. Sakamoto balances his life really well and so right away you have a great main character here.

His wife and daughter are also pretty solid although they don’t get to do a whole lot here. His wife’s best scene is one where she technically doesn’t even appear. The context will make more sense when you watch the show. They’re both nice and wholesome though so it’s easy to see why Sakamoto enjoys his current days. He’s living the dream as they say.

The first few episodes mainly start to introduce you to the supporting characters and establish the general tone of the show. So you should know right away if you’re going to like the show or not because it does a really good job with the introductions. The first side character is Shin. They hint at a backstory with him and Sakamoto and I have to admit that this happened so early on that I completely forgot about this later on. He has the ability to read minds which is incredibly handy for an assassin. It’s an ability that has a whole lot of limitations and drawbacks but Shin spends the show working to improve it so that he can be a better fighter.

Shin definitely gets the most character development within the show and it works really well. I liked him from the start but by the end he is easily one of the best characters. In fact, I’d say that he is second only to Nagumo. Shin’s just really likable and a fun underdog since he is pretty much always outmatched in a fight. You can expect that this will continue to be the case for quite a while since the earning curve is really steep. He does take after Sakamoto in how he can make use of the environment during his fights. As long as you like the eager type of character then you’ll be a fan of his.

The next member to be added to the group is Lu. She’s from a famous Chinese mafia family and can fight with her drunken fist. She can be a bit of a scatterbrain but does add a lot to the main dynamic. She has a good rivalry with Shin. Rivalry may be the wrong word here since she isn’t a fighter on his level but they constantly bicker with each other. When the chips are down they will team up though and I tend to enjoy their dialogue quite a bit. They know how to poke fun at each other without going too far. When an insult does go too far, they work to remedy it which happened at one point in this season.

As the series goes on Lu starts to appear less so you want to enjoy her screentime while you can. She’s fun to have around and the main cast definitely wouldn’t be the same without her. Heisuke is the last one to join up although he’s technically not far behind the others in terms of debut. He’s a sniper who tends to be down on his luck when it comes to cash. This is partially because he’s a really generous guy and is always looking out for others. He doesn’t have the usual ruthlessness that you would expect from an assassin. So naturally that works out pretty well with the Sakamoto family and their no killing rule. He’s quickly able to make friends with the others.

Thanks to his position as a sniper though, I would argue that he is always going to be at a disadvantage. Any decent character is going to be a casual bullet timer after all and there are only so many things you can do to get around that. Heisuke tries to shoot bullets onto bullets to mess with the angles but even that is going to be a longshot at actually working. Still, he is definitely a likable guy.

I think calling it an arc may be an overstatement but the first main adventure is when Sakamoto takes his family to the amusement park. What he doesn’t realize is that an assassin named Boiled and a few hand picked goons have arrived to try and take him out. It’s a good way to let all of the main characters get a quick fight and Shin really makes himself useful here. Sakamoto also gets a pretty decent fight with Boiled. I wouldn’t say that Boiled every really stood a chance but he at least doesn’t go down in a single hit or anything. That guy is all about being as intense as possible and it shows in his fighting style. I think he’s a fun character although I would like him more if he was more powerful. Shallow? Perhaps, but the hard boiled lifestyle just works better when you’re incredibly powerful.

The first real adventure is the museum battle. The heroes head to a museum which leads to the lab where people experimented on Shin and gave him some powers. You have a couple of crazy assassins running around here while the Order has also infiltrated to take down the mysterious X. There are quite a number of big names here and it’s cool to see them all. A lot of fights are set up here without too many of them going all the way through. The whole saga is meant to be more of a teaser than anything else I’d say. It’s effective though because you can’t help but get hyped here.

Nagumo is of course the best character in the series and it’s not even close. He is extremely confident at all times and always has a trick up his sleeve. He has big scenes at every part of the show and consistently likes to troll everyone. You immediately get the vibe that he’s a pretty good guy because he could easily murder Sakamoto at any time but chooses not to since they used to be friends. He has a good honor code and also acts as a stand-in for Sakamoto’s wife later on to keep her safe. Nagumo embodies the humor of Sakamoto Days at its best as he blends together being the strongest fighter with also being the funniest.

It’s hard for any Order member to really keep up with him but I will say that Shishiba and Osaragi are still really solid in their own right. Shishiba is one of those really jaded guys who just wants to complete the mission and then go back to his life. Unfortunately things rarely work out for him and Osaragi doesn’t really help. Their dynamic is a fun one as he basically spoils her the whole time and never gets all that upset even when he’s the one messed over. It’s clear that the two of them have a really good friendship going.

One of the big villains to appear here is Kashima who has a really interesting deer mask. The guy is strong and has actual weapons within his body. Certainly not someone that you can afford to underestimate. He gets power cliffed really quickly in the series but I like him well enough. He may have lost his hype but Kashima is still the kind of villain you want on your side because of how loyal he is.

Then we also see a bit of X. He will do more later on in the story but he’s your classic villainous mastermind. His skills put him near the top of the verse and his overall motivations are unknown. He wants to destroy the JAA assassin group but why? He’s certainly making enemies out of basically everyone by going through with this. Well the series will unpack that as it goes on but I have no real complaints with him. This is the kind of villain that motivates his group well. He’s a complete character outside of just being a villain. He even jokes around with the team quite a bit but at no point do they forget that he is the leader.

Seba is a character who is introduced early and is difficult to defeat because of his invisibility suit. It can be hard to plan for his attacks as a result and his base stats are pretty good even without those. He has a rough matchup with Shin since telepathy can get beyond that but still puts in a good effort throughout. In fact, one on one he would have defeated Shin. He makes for a pretty good villain and is definitely memorable.

Then we have Horiguchi who by all accounts is a random one shot villain but I actually liked him quite a lot. His speedblitz against Shin was super impressive and his drugs also make it difficult to stop him. Essentially if he does land a hit on you, then he has a good chance of winning. His drugs mess up the signals within your brain so you start moving in the wrong direction and can have other effects. He was really interesting so that’s why I never forgot about him.

After that we have a short interlude where we meet Wutang, who has come to bring Lu back to the mafia. He clearly can’t defeat Sakamoto’s group on his own so he resorts to gambling. It makes for a fun little arc as the characters have to try and use their abilities to win at games like poker. This is exactly the kind of episode that is good at getting you to learn more about the characters and also let them banter off each other. That’s why I had to give this part a shoutout because it was really fun.

There isn’t too much time for that breather though as we jump right into the action in the next arc. X sends his 4 assassins after the Order as well as Sakamoto. Each of the 4 get their chance to fight but for the most part they are really outmatched. Dump gets some good initial hype for example but gets absolutely crushed in her fight. Saw gets a much longer amount of screentime in his fight but had the weakest opponents. To his credit, he essentially won that fight since he survived but ultimately that was barely even a consolation. He didn’t have a chance at actually surviving in the end.

Minimalist seems to be a really strong guy but had to fight an absolute demon so he didn’t stand a chance. Apart definitely has the biggest role out of the 4 since he wisely decides to do his own thing. It ultimately lets him stick around for a bit and observe more than 1 fight. He was an interesting villain and had more character than the other 3. Still, I did think he was ultimately outshined by most of the other villains around.

This leads right to the next main arc with X and Gaku attacking the JAA base directly. It was fun to see Gaku getting some screentime. He’s one of those total prodigies on the villains team. This guy has super strength and great battle instincts. He’s also really young and yet is able to keep up with the strongest fighters around. It’s clear that he could grow up to be one of the biggest threats if he sticks around. I enjoyed him quite a lot and he rose up to the top. He’s rather chill about the whole assassin thing and still takes time to play his video games and everything.

Takamura also gets some hype from the JAA side. The show positions him as being the absolute strongest character in the series. There’s an argument to be made for that although I would still put Nagumo in that slot. Takamuru makes up for his old age by having precise control over his blade. He can strike in an instant and mask his killing intent to the end. Any scene with him tends to go really hard on the animation and he looks like a real beast. If only he were a bit younger, then he’d probably be invincible.

With that we enter the final arc which is basically a big JAA exam in order to get to their school. Sakamoto needs to get there for intel so he and Shin enter this exam. It’s basically like a multi step tournament and the villains are here to recruit up and coming stars to their organization. This means that things go off the rails real quick. It’s a fun arc that is super fast paced and I always love a good tournament. It may not be a traditional bracket system but works to the same end.

One of the new fighters is Mafuyu, a guy who really doesn’t like germs. He is extremely wary of them and that includes blood from his opponents so the whole job irritates him. Why be an assassin at that point? Well he seems to have an important reason for it. I thought that he was pretty decent but the germs thing just feels like a massive weakness. You’re always going to get dirty in a fight to the death.

Akira is the best member of the new characters here. She is really good at killing her opponents silently. All that she’s lacking is a killer instinct so unless someone draws it out of her, she’s not going to be eliminating her opponents too efficiently. Akira will get better at this though and in the meantime she basically has Sakamoto as a mentor. That’s a good position to be in. From the glimpses we get of her true abilities, you already know that she has a good future ahead of her.

Kanaguri is a guy who really loves movies. Anyone who insults them is immediately sentenced to death. The guy is definitely quirky and extremely insane but that’s true for a lot of the stronger fighters. He’s a good wild card and is also portrayed as being really powerful. Sakamoto won’t be able to just cast him to the side like with some other villains. I’d give Kanaguri a passing grade, he’s just fun to watch.

Toramaru is a big Sakamoto fan to a rather violent degree. She’s certainly picked the right path in being an assassin. Her weapon is really large and she specializes in powerful attacks. That tends to have a hard limit in a series like this where you want speed but as one of the top talents in the tournament, she lives up to the rep. She ends up being more fun than the other two special recruits.

Kaji has super hearing and so that’s a good ability but he doesn’t last quite as long as the others. Or a better way of putting it is that he doesn’t leave as much of an impact even though he is always around. Super hearing just isn’t the most interesting ability out there. His physical stats are really good but of course that’s true for the other characters too. He’s also a bit soft spoken and has a hard time jumping into a conversation. As a result, he’s ticking the wrong boxes and doesn’t go much further.

Finally there is Shinaya who is really cool but can’t really talk at all. There are some twists about this which drastically changes the character. So what I’ll say is that his role is really cool but the character himself can be more on the forgetful side. I like him more as an opponent than as a character.

The animation for the series is really great. There are a lot of big fights here and the animation is always smooth. The colors stand out and while I remember there being some controversy about the animation quality, I had no complaints on this end. It all looked really good to me and I was eagerly awaiting each scene. The soundtrack is generally good although I’m not a big fan of Sakamoto’s main theme. That’s maybe a bit ironic since it is meant to be the big theme that really breaks out but it didn’t fit in for me. Definitely not next to some of the epic battle themes that were around.

Overall, Sakamoto Days is a pretty great series. It really reminds you of the classic Shonen days. You’ve got a really crazy premise right away and the series just leans into it. The action is great and the characters are really fun. I’d say this is the kind of series you can plug in and watch at any time. I’ll definitely be ready for seeing just how fun season 2 can be. The end of this season introduces a bunch of characters all at once and basically ends on a cliffhanger as the story was just starting. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long to arrive.

Overall 8/10

Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 Review

Posted on February 22, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for the return of Kaiju No 8! It feels like they’ve been moving through these seasons pretty quickly if you ask me. Maybe it’s a normal timeline and it just feels that way but it’s still cool to be seeing a bunch of the new villains. The season has got quite a lot of action to it and looks smooth as you would expect. If you like good fight scenes and a bunch of Kaiju then you are definitely going to have a solid time with this one.

The season starts with Kafka and Kikoru being sent to Narumi’s unit for some training. Narumi is a complete prodigy with abilities beyond just about every other human. At this point he may be the strongest hero alive but he is also a slacker and has his own quirks so this won’t be the easiest traineeship. He really takes Kikoru under his wing while Kafkka needs to control his Kaiju form. There isn’t a lot of downtime for Kafka to do this though as Kaiju No. 9 is still seeking him out and seemingly has an endless amount of Kaiju to throw at the cities. Kafka will need to fight hard but are the heroes underestimating this villain?

Kaiju No. 8 is absolutely one of those series where it feels like the heroes never really stand a chance. Yes, they are fighting back but Kaiju No. 9 can seemingly pop out of nowhere and also summon Kaiju at the drop of a hat. There is absolutely nothing to stop him from just summoning them to really populated areas and racking up a huge body count. In fact, he does this to stop a wedding at one point. The heroes always respond as best as they can but they’re always going to be on the defensive.

Then you have the fact that No. 9 is incredibly powerful. Kafka is stronger and Narumi makes it a 50/50 but everyone else is fodder to him at this point. Then he has the ability to create clones? He could easily just destroy everybody like that. The only reason he hasn’t yet is because he’s trying to get Kafka out in the open so he can get the powers of No. 8. 9 is presented as a strategic mastermind but I’m saying that he could go even harder if he really wanted to.

It is nice to have a really good villain like this though. Most of the villains in this series are mindless so whenever one does talk, it is instantly a good thing. There is also a mysterious villain who looks a lot like Kikoru. She hasn’t done much yet but from her few scenes you can tell that she’ll be a winner. Most of the other fighters from the final invasion wave are mindless so they have cool designs but aren’t about to become the next character to really stand out.

As for Kafka, he’s a solid main character as always although it would be nice if he could not be wavering so much here. You get why he would be nervous since the power already overtook him once in season 1. Still, he will be completely doomed without the powers so he just needs to hope for the best. This makes for a good cliffhanger to the season. I would say that as the season ends, Kafka has really come to terms with the fact that his human form is not going to be really helpful in the fights that are to come. He will need to exclusively rely on his monster mode and that’s the best way to go.

Kikoru looks great as you would expect. She consistently shows off her incredible close combat skills and continues to improve. The fact that she has risen to be one of the top 5 strongest heroes in the series without any Kaiju powers is impressive. If you remove the characters who have a Kaiju enhancement then she would be #1. Of course, this is the season where everyone begins to get Kaiju equipment so you can bet that she’ll at least be getting some equipment to be stronger.

I thought this was definitely necessary with how outmatched the humans are like I said before. That being said, I would still give the monsters the edge. Take away the top 3 and the humans are still in rough shape even if they are getting better. The third character I put on the list here is Narumi of course. With his special eyes he can essentially block any attack and has extreme amounts of speed. He immediately dominates in this season and I like his confidence.

Kaiju No. 8 has a really good core cast of main characters. The cast may be rather small since I barely count more minor characters like Iharu, but they do all carry their own weight. Narumi is allowed to slack off because he is simply that skilled and I respect that. When you put in the work and consistently outshine the rest, you should be allowed to get a little special treatment. That just makes sense.

Then we have Hoshina who gets a smaller role in this season. Near the end he finally gets his own Kaiju equipment which makes him relevant again. His speed and knife skills are solid but the first season showed that this definitely had its limits. Now he is in a better position and I also like the banter he gets with his Kaiju partner. Honestly it’d be fun if all of the Kaiju talked for that reason. The dialogue and banter would be really good throughout the season. Hoshina’s fights always tend to be a lot of fun because of his close combat style as well.

Although in general all of the fights look great. The series never disappoints with how fast paced and smooth the animation is. The fights look incredible and there is a lot of variety to them. The soundtrack is also good although I wouldn’t call it excellent. There are at least 1-2 themes that I enjoyed quite a bit in this one. The opening is one that I did not like though. I wasn’t even the biggest fan of the first season’s opening and this one is absolutely a step down.

As for the side characters, well we’ve got Reno who is still doing his best to find a place among the hero forces. It’s really just tough timing for him. Technically speaking Reno is considered a prodigy, but he’s less of one than the other 3 geniuses running around and of course Kafka has his own Kaiju suit. So here Reno is desperate to get more power and finally gets a Kaiju suit. This does give him incredible powers but it goes to his head right away and he has a hard time conquering the suit. Ultimately things go well so he’ll be ready for the next season but in this one he looked pretty bad. The fact that he couldn’t immediately neutralize his opponent Kaiju in a single hit was bad.

His partner Iharu had to help Reno stay in the fight. Iharu isn’t all that interesting and blends together with most of the other side characters who don’t have a Kaiju power. Still, since he saved Reno I guess I’ll give him a slight consolation prize there. It puts him ahead of some of the other characters. The baseline is clear though, you need to get a Kaiju power of your own or you are not going to be able to keep up. That’s basically what this all boils down to.

General Isao looks good as always. We really get to see what he can do here. Ultimately he has to contend with the fact that he’s a lot older than back in the day but Isao still puts up a great fight. The guy has a lot of guts and is not the type to back down from a fight. He was always one of my favorite characters here even if I treat him more like an antagonist. Isao is one of those very strict types who will break a lot of eggs to make an omelet. Without him the army would have been doomed though so you need him around.

Mina is a character who doesn’t get a lot of screentime in this season. She does land a really good sniper shot and is still known as one of the strongest fighters. There just weren’t a lot of opportunities to get her into the action. The season only has 11 episodes after all so it’s not like there is a whole lot of time for everyone. That shouldn’t be a problem in the next season where we’ll pretty much be going into nonstop fight scenes the whole time. You know I’m hyped for that, the more action the better.

This is a series that does thrive quite a lot on the action. I don’t feel like it ever really hit its stride when it comes to the downtime and just having the characters hang out. I like them well enough like I mentioned before but I guess they just don’t have a whole lot of great banter opportunities. I thought Hoshina and his Kaiju partner were immediately more enjoyable and comedic than the main characters. The leads just don’t tend to be all that funny and aren’t charismatic enough to hold their own scenes.

That’s probably slightly what keeps the series from reaching the next level. I think season 3 will bypass this just by having so many crazy awesome fights. Season 2 had a lot of action but was just one step away from the elusive 8. Perhaps that is being harsh on the series but I would say it was pretty good. It’s just not going to stick with you as much as other titles. A lot of anime I will go back and watch various clips and reactions right away but I admittedly have never done that with Kaiju No. 8. Maybe I’ll change that sooner than later.

It does make for a fun thought experiment though because it’s a bit harder for me to put my finger on it compared to some other titles. This is just the best way I can describe it. You almost don’t care about the characters a whole lot outside of the fight scenes. This is perhaps the kind of series that could use some random fillers but I would still like some action. For example we got the special about Hoshina’s day off and it’s not all that entertaining. So more fights with the characters bantering would be the best way to build up their likability further.

Eh that’s a lot of work though. Doubling down on the action is the best way to go. Narumi and Kafka had a very temporary team up fight against No. 9 that was really hype. It was a fairly brief fight scene but we don’t get a whole lot of 2 v 1s in this series so far. That should also change soon and I’m hyped for that since I love a good team up fight. It’ll also solidify No. 9 as a really powerful villain that you can’t simply beat 1 on 1.

Overall, I’m definitely looking forward to checking out the next season for this one. If you like action and giant monsters then you really can’t afford to miss out on this title. It’s the kind of anime that just works really well as a classic action title. It can get a little violent with all of the monsters blowing up and some civilians get caught up in the action but for the most part this one stays very streamlined. The overall vibes of the show tend to be rater happy even with humanity on the brink. Kaiju No. 8 just has that classic Shonen energy where you’re waiting for the heroes to claim victory.

Overall 7/10

Witch Watch Review

Posted on January 17, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for a pretty fun comedic action title. Witch Watch is a manga that ended up being a whole lot more fun than I was expecting it to be. Fortunately I can say that the anime did a great job matching that energy as well. So all in all this is definitely a fun anime to check out and it’s very well rounded. The type of show you can enjoy even if you aren’t really familiar with anime as a medium.

The story follows a girl named Nico. She is a witch and has always had trouble mastering her powers. She spent years being taught by the best and now she has returned to her home town. She will be living at Moi’s house. He has been assigned to be her guardian since he is an ogre and they used to be best friends back in the day. What Moi doesn’t realize is that Nico is in love with him. He is determined to be an amazing bodyguard and has no time to worry about such things. There are many sorcerers out there who want to take Nico away because she is the prophecies witch of thousands. She will grow to be the most powerful being on the planet. This won’t be an easy fight for Moi but along the way they will be making more friends.

Now that sounded like a very action filled synopsis so keep in mind that this is a comedy first. Witch Watch is just good at unapologetically going all in on each genre. So you will have pure comedy episodes on one hand and then you will be going straight into full action on the other. The show always takes itself seriously during these climaxes but knows how to relax once again after that. So it’s easily a lot more well rounded than nearly any of the other shows out there.

The animation is consistently good at all times. It’s very colorful and vibrant. You also really feel the impact of the spells. It’s not going to be the Demon Slayer or anything like that but it gets the job done. On the sound, I do think the little jingle that happens whenever a spell is cast can get old pretty quick. I wouldn’t mind if that was toned down quite a bit for the next season. The soundtrack as a whole is okay but for now this may be the weakest part of the series. There’s definitely nothing that would make my playlist and the openings are only okay.

Where the series is strongest is with the humor and fun atmosphere. As the Moi house gets more and more filled with the new recruits, the show lets us get a lot of fun dynamics to see at play. The episodic nature of the series means that just about everyone gets their time to shine. The cast is a whole lot bigger than you would expect for a comedy series. In a way it reminds me of Gintama and the payoff for this tends to be really good because then you can see all of the characters assemble together when the action part comes in.

The show also goes all in with the gags. For example we have a manga within the series called Uron Mirage which is a big action title. We get a whole episode segment devoted to it which had its own opening and ending. That was a really good attention to detail and helped the whole thing feel more real. It also makes you look forward to each episode because you never know which plot will appear. There are so many going on at once.

For the most part the show is completely episodic though. There may be a 2 parter every now and again but most episodes have 2 or even 3 segments as a result. So you are getting a ton of adventures but they can go by pretty quickly. The actual plot of Nico and her magic won’t be moving forward very much. Just think of this as the introduction arc and also pay attention to the spells Nico can use as you try to picture what she can do with them in an action context. Hint, most of them seem pretty useless in that regard.

For the characters, Moi is a great MC as you’d expect. He’s always good at getting right to business and doesn’t let himself get distracted by matters of the heart. It’s what separates him from a lot of other characters. Additionally, his super strength consistently comes in handy. Some may say that he should be embracing his emotional side more but eh I can see why he holds back. That’s just not him, but as the series goes on he does try to fit in with everyone as best he can. Moi’s just not the best at showing emotions on his face even if he is really happy about something.

At times he may be a bit too studious but honestly you could have far worse traits than that. Then we have Nico who is a solid heroine. You definitely feel bad for her with how hard she tries to get Moi to notice her. It’s just a really uphill battle for her and we start to even learn why this is really the case as the series goes on. Sometimes she will use magic a little too recklessly but her goal is to make everyone happy so you have to take some risks in order to make that happen.

It would be good if she could learn some more spells for self defense though. The dangers are only going to get more intense from here. Kanshi is the next member of the cast to join the Moi household. He may not be as tough as the ogre but he can still put up a decent fight when needed. He tends to be the guy that everyone steps on because of how goofy he is. The poor guy usually can’t catch a break but he’s loyal and everyone can count on him. That’s just how these things go sometimes.

Then we have Keigo who has the toughest magic element since he is fused with Wolf. They are two different personas that share the same body. They also like the same girl so that makes things extra complicated. Keigo suffers from confidence issues since he is just a normal guy while Wolf has super speed and strength nearly on par with Moi. Hopefully Keigo will one day awaken abilities of his own. In the meantime he just has to do his best and he is also still breaking out of his shell like Moi.

Miharu joins the group rather late in the show so he’ll get to do a lot more in season 2. Either way he is my least favorite member of the main group so that works out well enough for me. He’s part vampire so he can drain energy and add it onto his own. He’s certainly powerful but always speaks his mind and doesn’t really have a filter which can get the group into trouble at times. He’ll definitely need to watch that and hopefully he can improve his stamina down the road.

Then we have Nemu who has magic powers like Nico. Hers are much more limited though as she can turn into animals and that’s basically it. Still, it was nice for Nico to have another witch nearby. Initially Nemu liked Moi but now her feelings are confused with Keigo and Wolf. Her episodes always have a lot of very preventable danger scenarios due to her being way too nervous. The episodes work well though and she is a fun supporting character to have around..

The weakest episodes tend to be the ones about Yuri and Kukumi. Yuri is a huge anime/manga fan but works as a teacher and doesn’t want anyone to judge her so she keeps this a secret. Then you have Kukumi who is a really good artist and has been making a fanfic version of Uron Mirage. The two end up becoming best friends and they go on a lot of adventures together. I enjoy the segments about the Uron Mirage series itself but the two girls otherwise have a very limited dynamic. There are only so many gags you can do about Yuri hiding her true power level irl. I’m hoping Yuri will eventually just be bold enough to be a fan out in the open.

Then we have the student council. I enjoy how crazy all of them are. They each represent different character tropes and I’d say that they represent them very well. The most noticeable one is Tenryu who is always holding onto his cap very tightly. This character is easy to root for and is one of the most logical characters next to Moi. He doesn’t let his enthusiasm run away from him and knows how to keep everyone in check. Now that is an underrated skill right there.

There haven’t been too many notable villains yet. One of them was a witch named Ayako who went after Nico. Ultimately her magic may have seemed impressive but her true form wasn’t all that strong. Taking her down wasn’t hard once the heroes could figure out where she was. Ryohei was a little more impressive since his water abilities really had the whole gang wrapped up. That was one time where the vampire actually made himself useful.

It’s clear that the series is holding onto the big villains for now. The heroes are essentially gaining experience by clearing out the weakest fighters. Then the big shots will start to appear in the next season. This way the opening season is really for character meetings and calm times. I’d say that it’s a sound approach and while not every show could execute this plan, Witch Watch certainly did.

Honestly it can even get a little educational at times. Whether it is commentary on running a Youtube channel or how to properly wash your jeans, there is a lot to really focus on here. At the end of the day though, Witch Watch is just a show that’s fun to watch. It may sound simple but not every show can get this kind of cozy atmosphere to really work right out of the gate. At the very least you’d expect the episodes to wildly vary in quality but I generally enjoy just about all of the dynamics. I haven’t seen a comedy balance so well between genres since Hitman Reborn! and Gintama. Of course when the action comes, I won’t have time to miss the comedy because of good those parts are.

Now the show is also part romance but it tends to be played up in a very comedic way. That’ll get serious eventually too but for now it works well enough. I’d say the Moi and Nico ship is a solid one that’s going to have a lot of buildup so it’ll work either way. The Nemu one is probably going to be a lot weaker from what we’ve already seen. She has too tough of a time making up her mind and that’s a recipe for disaster. Still, romance is hardly the central focus of the series so you shouldn’t watch it just for that. Now if you like a sprinkling of romance with your comedy then you’re all set.

Overall, Witch Watch is definitely a series that I recommend. Each episode will string you in with whatever magical situation is about to occur. You can easily sympathize with the different situations there and the unique drawbacks to each spell will make you wonder if they are worth it or not. Don’t watch this one anticipating a grand scheme or anything. At best that would be in the next season and either way I don’t think that will be any time soon. So just enjoy the comedy here and you’ll be just fine.

Overall 7/10

Good Morning, Great Old One Review

Posted on November 16, 2025 by dreager1

Usually when Jump comes out with a oneshot, I expect something that’s maybe 40-50 pages. Well, this one is surprisingly shorter than a weekly chapter so that was really odd. Nothing wrong with a quick adventure of course, but at the same time you are left thinking that they could have done more with the concept. It’s not bad or anything but I don’t think this one is really going to leave a big impact on you. It will have ended just as you were getting into it.

The story starts with a girl watching her favorite youtube videos when an alien creature walks over and asks what she is doing. He doesn’t seem to know much about Earth and its customs. The girl isn’t particularly shocked either and just explains that she doesn’t like going to school which stifles her creativity. Instead she watches Youtube on the beach and skips school whenever she can. Her favorite channel has stopped uploading videos due to an alien invasion though so the alien puts a stop to it and asks if she would like to make a Youtube account with him. It looks like these two are going to be having a lot of fun now.

I suppose if the author ever wants to, he can make a whole series out of this. It seems like it would have a buddy cop kind of feel. Maybe it would transition into being an action series later on since the alien is clearly super powerful. There is a lot of potential here in either case but it’s not like this oneshot could really get into much of that. It could also stay as a full on comedy for all that we know.

The art is quite solid. You can tell that the action scenes would look really good if the author wanted to go in that direction. The character designs are memorable although I can’t say that I love the way the alien looks. Definitely going to be a little hard to market that design but there have been weirder characters in the past. The heroine seems to be the type of character who doesn’t let anything phase her so I suppose that will be part of the comedy dynamic here.

There would be more characters later on but yeah it’s hard to really judge it too much off of 12 pages. I think there is potential here so I’ll put the series right in the middle. I just need to see more for me to really call this a good story. It’s just exceptionally short and I can’t overstate that enough. Maybe this really is some kind of back door pilot and it’ll get a full adventure someday. If so, I like to think that I’ll still remember it at that point.

Overall, This oneshot pretty much felt like a trailer to a manga. There’s not a whole lot going on here and you couldn’t really get a glimpse of what the main plot for an ongoing series would be. It could play out in a few different ways depending on what kind of tone the author wanted to use here. I’d say to check it out while the oneshot is still free on Viz. It’ll only take maybe 5 minutes after all. Otherwise if you just want to wait and see on an eventual series I guess you’ll be rolling the dice on this one. There are technically many oneshots which never get an ongoing series after all.

Overall 5/10

Fighting Girls Review

Posted on August 24, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time to look at a recent one shot from Shonen Jump. It’s always fun when these come out to see just what kind of story can be concluded in one shot. I can safely say that this was a pretty good one all the way through with a fun parallel between the two characters. Naturally you could do a whole lot more with this one if it was a full series but the story still wraps up well enough here. The fights are mainly off screen but I guess that would have taken up a lot of pages.

The story starts by introducing us to Koume who wants to be a great fighter. She is really good and the best in her school until a girl named Tiara moves in and goes on an undefeated streak. Koume finally has a rival and does her best to surpass her but this seems like an impossible goal. Can she really accomplish it? Meanwhile the second half retells the story from Tiara’s point of view. She really wants to be a great fighter as well but unlike Koume, she gets 0 support from her parents. If anything they act as an active obstacle in her way by not getting her equipment and constantly discouraging her. Naturally this starts to affect her confidence and Tiara wonders if maybe she should give up on this career.

This makes for a solid contrast as both characters really have the exact opposite circumstances on their side. They’re both likable characters as well, although I’ll give Tiara the slight edge. It’s hard to root against a character who had the deck completely stacked against her and still managed to make it near the top. That takes a lot of grit and hard work. She also goes through a pretty nasty injury and is able to keep on going.

Tiara is a great example of how perseverance can really carry you a long way. She also worked really hard in order to have the level of talent needed to rise all the way to the top of the rankings. That certainly wasn’t easy. I also appreciated that she didn’t just randomly become the mean rival type. She was still kind the whole way through and never went out of her way to belittle Koume.

Of course Koume is also a solid character as she remains the hopeful underdog the whole time. She is extremely talented as well and only isn’t satisfied because she never wanted to just be second best. We’ll have to wait a while for her to get a proper rematch with Tiara as pros but the gap between them has certainly been reduced a great deal. It’s anyone’s guess who would win in the fight now.

The art is fairly good. It’s a bit rougher than you’d see for most of the big ongoing series but for a one shot that makes sense since it’s not like the artist has been able to draw the characters for a long time. It’s not like the art is bad either, it’s still clear enough to easily read and that’s the important thing. The oneshot is around 70 pages so you can read through it pretty quickly since it isn’t overly wordy. The page count also does let the series get to do a lot within this one chapter.

Now while I did say I understood why we didn’t get to really see the fights here, I do think the story would have absolutely been elevated by having some. When you have a story about fighting, you would expect some level of action right? Often times we just see the aftermath of a fight or maybe the first blow at most. That’s not exactly what I’m looking for when I’m talking about full fights. Seeing the danger up close like that would also help you better understand why some would be against the girls getting involved in such a tough career.

Of course that wasn’t the logic that Tiara’s parents had, but they were mainly just antagonists the whole time anyway. It would have been nice if they could have been more reasonable but sometimes you’re just going to have people who are very two dimensional like that. Tiara could have spent time complaining about it, but instead she just kept on going to work and improving herself.

Overall, This story achieves its objective of giving you an interesting premise for this self contained adventure. You can sympathize with the plight that the two girls have of deciding if they want to continue being pro fighters or not. It’s not as if this is the most popular career in Japan after all and so it’s certainly a risk. However, any job is a risk when you think about it so you might as well go for one that you’re interested in. Aside from Tiara’s parents, the supporting characters are all pretty supportive as well which is nice. Nobody is judging them too harshly for wanting to live out their lives on this path.

Overall 7/10

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Review

Posted on July 14, 2025 by dreager1

For a long time people were hoping that Vigilantes would get an adaption and now it’s finally here! It started off as a fairly street level title that eventually got as big and high tier as the main series. So now it is finally here and they did a great job on the production here. In some ways they have even amplified the source material so that was really appreciated. It’s a pretty solid title that you can jump right into without any issues. Definitely the kind of title that you can recommend with ease.

The series follows a kid named Koichi who always wanted to be a hero but his quirk did not appear to be well suited to it. He can slide along the ground at an accelerated speed but that’s about it. Nothing too flashy and the use cases for this ability aren’t going to be too large. Ah well, he can at least be a vigilante known as the Crawler who helps out his neighborhood. Well one day he runs into a local celebrity known as Pop and a mysterious old man that becomes his master. Now Koichi can actually begin acting more like a true hero but is he just going to get into more trouble by hanging out with these two?

At its core, Vigilantes is about how anybody can make a difference. Being a super powered vigilante is obviously against the rules in this universe, however we see how much good they do on a day to day basis. I would say this series does a great job of showing the positives about vigilantism. They aren’t doing anything super violent here and are saving the people that the pros don’t have time for. Koichi’s neighborhood is not the best to say the least and apparently even the pros often take a long while to get here since nobody’s in the area. That is where the vigilantes come in.

The pro heroes instinctively realize this and for the most part look the other way but technically if the vigilantes are too obvious then they have to be arrested. This season mainly focuses on the new characters though so the heroes will have to wait for a bit longer. We do get a standout fight between Knuckle Duster and Eraserhead at one point though which was a really good battle. Personally I feel like Knuckle should absolutely have the edge in that battle if they were both going all out. He just works as a really good counter to Eraserhead since he has no powers to shut off.

Right away on the technical elements, I would say that the opening song is very catchy. It’s not quite ready to defeat the best MHA main openings but I like it quite a bit. The songs within the show are also good and work with the action. The animation style is also great. It’s going for a bit of a thicker/flashier look than the main series. The details are really on point and the fights are really dynamic. There are a lot of great fights to choose from but the best might be Knuckle against the Bee user. A lot of good strategy and animation blending together there.

The show feels like it covers a lot of ground in just a few episodes and the pacing is just really on point. The characters are also likable which is important for any show even if one character is forgiven way too quickly. Soga is a bully who tries to do more than just beat Pop up before he is stopped by the heroes. Yet, he’s now just back to every day life and that’s it? I just can’t buy into that because there is crashing out and then there is knowingly being about to commit a heinous crime. No matter how you slice it, it makes this character look absolutely awful. He should still be behind bars and mayyybe after 3 seasons I’d consider a redemption arc for him. Ah well, the rest of the characters tend to be solid and this title is in a great position to be My Hero’s replacement for once that show’s final season ends.

Koichi is similar to Deku in some ways but they are still very different characters. Koichi is a bit more confident in himself and proudly shows off his All Might merch and tries to make friends. Things just tend to backfire on him so it’s not easy. I give him a lot of credit for deciding to keep on helping people even when his path to being a hero was really closed off. We also learn more about his backstory which ties into why he isn’t more powerful now. His life could have gone down a very different trajectory but either way the important thing is that he keeps on fighting and plunging forward for as long as it takes. That is the hallmark of a true hero. He just needs to work on being less socially oblivious and he will be all set.

Meanwhile Pop is a character who is also following her passion of singing and performing. She has been doing well and is even a local celebrity but she still wants to aim bigger. Towards the end we find out that she can’t really sing which I was surprised about. I thought she had been singing a lot but I guess she does more bouncing. Her quirk of jumping/moving in the air is a handy one even if it’s not directly a combat related quirk. It’s the type of ability that is versatile enough to work out well in a pinch but at the end of the day she’s just not a fighter so it’s not like she prioritizes mastering her ability. She’s here more for the romance subplot which for now has not really gone anywhere. That works out well enough for me since season 1 always has a lot to cover.

Knuckle easily has the biggest character arc in the show as it is absolutely crucial to what’s going on here. He makes for a real mysterious character and someone who is always ready to put his life on the line. I really liked him and this guy was a stand out character in the series. He would always step forward in a battle and showed that even without a quirk he can go toe to toe with some of the stronger villains in the series. It was all really impressive and any scene with him in it was sure to be a winner. It was good to have an older guy on the squad as well since he kept the other characters sharp.

From the pro heroes, Eraser easily has the biggest role. He hasn’t changed much since the start of the main series which makes sense. He’s still not the most social guy out there but he does his best to live up to his obligations and will also stop any villain in his way. He’s a solid well rounded hero so it was fun to have him around. For the most part the others just make cameos except for Ingenium who gets his share of big moments. The guy’s speed is really intense and he definitely means well. I like his general heroism and while his quirk also has its limitations, he gets around them by having a really good team. He absolutely believes in proper teamwork and this keeps him ahead of the pack. It’s easy to see why he was one of the top heroes.

Captain Celebrity also shows up as a big hero from America. He doesn’t have the strongest moral compass though. Yeah he’ll save the day from villains but he waits until a camera crew is around. If he sees you, he’ll probably save you but otherwise he is not the type of guy to go the extra mile. So characters in the series are very critical of him and I definitely get it. We’re not saying he has to save everyone but he should be doing his best to that standard. Fortunately he is pretty fun to watch in that over the top jerk kind of way. He’s also legitimately very powerful so it’s still better to have him on your side than not to.

His agent is Makoto who also gets a big role here. She wants to find out the true identity of the vigilantes and so she tries to stick close to Koichi to get some intel on what’s going on. She can be very manipulative towards these ends though. At times she feels a bit too deceptive to me the kind of character who will really say anything to suit her own purposes. She’s not corrupt in the way that Celebrity is, but I do have to say that I just would not trust her.

Then you have the vigilante Stendhal who really can’t be trusted. He’s the Punisher kind of vigilante who believes that might makes right and will absolutely devastate any fighter who gets in his way. That’s just the kind of man that he is. His sword skills are really impressive and it’s fun seeing him shake the town up but he is the reason why Vigilantes are illegal. This wanton destruction and murder is an absolute abuse of power. So in a sense he just becomes a villain but at least one that you can basically root for since it’s better that he wins than the actual villains.

The main villain in the season is the mysterious bee user though. I mean her boss is All for One but the guy just talks, she is the one putting plans to action. She is also very confident considering that she openly disobeys him and basically dares the guy to do anything about it. That takes a whole lot of guts and so you can’t say that she does anything half hearted. Her bee ability is also hard to stop because of how many bees she has at her disposal and she can even fight in close quarters combat when needed. She made for a really solid villain as a result.

There are other side characters around as well but for the most part the show did a good job of keeping the cast relatively contained. The series also has enough ties to the main one where you can appreciate the guest stars but it works well on its own too. The bumpers are perhaps a little too basic with how they define terms like “hero” and “villain” though. Not the best use of those screens, I would have preferred some fun illustrations or something.

At the end of the day one of the big strengths of the show is how fun it is. I would say Koichi, Pop, and Knuckle already have a really good team dynamic between the three of them. It’s fun to see them chatting and bantering as they take down all of the big villains. Meanwhile the solid animation can make any enemy encounter memorable. I really liked the brief soccer villain who showed up for example. Seeing all that movement reminded me of what Blue Lock might have looked like and it also makes for a really surreal villain. He’s the kind of villain that you just don’t forget and the show had quite a few other one shots like that who were quite solid.

Overall, My Hero Academia Vigilantes is off to a really fun start here. The episodic nature of the big villains mixed in with the leader in the shadows is a really solid kind of setup. We’ve also already got some threads for the second season like this mysterious super speed villain. That is going to keep the heroes busy for quite a while. Hopefully we get season 2 sooner than later so the hype can continue. In the meantime I definitely recommend checking this one out. It’s a good action show that can really appeal to anyone.

Overall 7/10

Rurouni Kenshin Season 2: Kyoto Disturbance Review

Posted on June 29, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for the return of Rurouni Kenshin. This season begins the build up to the most well known of all the Kenshin sagas. Shishio is here with his elite 10 swords and Kenshin’s sense of justice will be pushed to its limit. Can he manage to defeat them without going back to his killing ways? Winning as a Rurouni will put him at a disadvantage but this is still the way that he wants to win. It will mean potentially getting his friends out of the picture but they won’t let him do that so easily.

The series starts off pretty quickly with Kenshin deciding to head to Kyoto where the action will be. Saito will be there as well to fend off the invaders but first he takes out Kenshin’s friend Sanosuke to prove why Kenshin left him behind. This boxer is going to have to get a whole lot stronger. In general all of Kenshin’s allies have to strengthen themselves in order to be ready for this mission. At the same time, Aoshi has returned and he wants revenge on Kenshin even if it means joining up with the villains. Kenshin’s honor code may be stronger than ever but Aoshi has ditched all of that. At this point all he cares about is getting his revenge. His judgment may be clouded but his abilities are as dangerous as ever so this won’t be easy.

One thing’s clear from the start, Kenshin can’t possibly win this on his own. Naturally he does want to keep everyone out of harm’s way but he’s not really fighting at his best right now and he’s also completely outnumbered. While he could probably defeat any of the 10 swords individually, he wouldn’t stand a chance as a group. It’s also hard to say if he could beat either Shishio or Aoshi one on one. Fortunately Kenshin gets a whole training arc later on which helps him to finally regain his old abilities.

As always, you have to decide if you feel like Kenshin is going too far in his pacifism or if it is admirable that he would sooner die than take a life. Although when hostages are at stake then he is more likely to act. It’s hard for me to directly fault him for that but it can be rough to see him effectively be sandbagging mid fight when people can die at any second. Of course the remedy to this is to get so strong that you can win even while holding back. That is the path that Kenshin must go down.

Meanwhile you have Yahiko who is still trying to be one of the big main characters but just gets in the way the whole time. I know he means well but this is why the kids can be annoying. He knows very well that he shouldn’t be anywhere near the battlefield and yet he still comes to Kyoto with the others. Yahiko is just a kid and even though he has some training under his belt, he’s far too weak to be of any help at this point. It’ll likely be a very long time until that changes either so he really just needs to stay home.

I have the same criticism for Kaoru. She’s not a real fighter and Kenshin left her behind for a reason. Deciding to follow him after that is completely selfish and potentially puts all of their lives in the balance. You just can’t be doing that and of course it puts him in an awkward spot as well. It’s not like he can force her to stay back and he’s generally too polite to be too harsh about the whole thing. But this does mean that he has yet another person that must be protected.

Megumi is probably the smartest member of the side characters. She knows her limits and so she helps with medicinal herbs but isn’t trying to just constantly get Kenshin’s attention like the others. I definitely respect her for that and in general she has the roughest road because you know that for Kenshin she has no chance over Kaoru. He didn’t even give her a personal goodbye like the others and she took it in stride instead of immediately sulking.

Sanosuke is the only guy I can defend when it comes to defying orders. He is still a fighter after all even if he isn’t nearly as strong as Kenshin or Saito. Things work out well for him in that he is able to train and get stronger. So that definitely makes things even easier. Sanosuke has a right to die on the battlefield with the others and at least he will give it his all. So yeah in his case this is just what I would call proper determination. He even gets to contribute at several points in the arc. I look forward to seeing him continue to his best and get stronger still. With all of the sword fighters around, it can be fun to have an old fashioned hand to hand specialist.

Then we have Saito who is easily the best ally to have around. His sword fighting is top tier and he can even match Kenshin. The most impressive moment though was when he crushed Sanosuke in hand to hand combat. When you can defeat a hand to hand specialist in something like this when that’s not even your main weapon of choice, well that is absolutely a flex. He’s a very practical guy and while he is very aggressive, it’s never at the expense of strategy. Saito is even a good judge of character as he knows exactly who to leave the district with later on. Saito can’t be everywhere at once after all and unlike Kenshin, he is tied to the government. So there are limits to how far Saito can go and what he can do. The guy just does his best in maximizing all of it.

We know that he is ultra powerful, but Saito actually doesn’t get a ton of action scenes just yet. So that is something to look forward to. A fight that would be a lot of fun would be him for Aoshi. Both of them are extremely skilled and bloodthirsty after all. Aoshi may be a complete villain at this point but he is certainly an interesting one. I would even say he is more interesting than Shishio at this point in time. You get the feeling that Aoshi could possibly even take him on. We’ll find out the answer to this soon but for now it’s just fun to see how he fears absolutely nobody. Aoshi just does whatever he wants and fights when he pleases. He just lives for revenge now and his skills are sharper than ever.

He even surpasses his clan rather easily. Okina used to be the big leader there and the guy is still strong but I wouldn’t say it was a particularly close fight. Aoshi has reached new limits with his abilities while Okina has gotten old. Age is something that will ultimately defeat the strongest of warriors. The clan was fun to see overall but it’s not like any of them are a big threat to Aoshi. The member with the biggest role is definitely Misao and even then it’s more about her trying to find him and not because she is a deadly fighter. She is still a step up from Yahiko though without a doubt. At least Misao has a ninja background and can absolutely end the various enemies who get in her way. She’s also generally fun so I can overlook her being in the way to an extent. She actually adds some fun banter and humor.

Shishio is the big bad so you know he will be really strong but for now he’s mainly still aura farming. The guy will have to prove himself in the next season but he does enough as the main villain to still be solid. He’s perhaps winging it a little too much with his underlings though as they came pretty close to thinking about turning on him. With his right hand man Sojiro he would still be okay even against the other 9 deadly swords but he really doesn’t have time for any infighting right now. Kenshin and friends would absolutely be glad to have less opponents.

Sojiro has already gotten to prove himself with several really impressive moments. It’s why the guy is already a really fun villain. I tend to like the right hand man villain type who can hold himself at a really high level like this. In another series he could have even ended up being the main villain. So you definitely don’t want to sleep on this guy, even Kenshin was taken by surprise with his high level of skill. Considering how young he is as well, you could say that he is a true prodigy.

Hoji is one of those guys who is loyal to a fault. He’s not a top tier fighter or anything but he would definitely give his life to ensure that Shishio wins. He sees that as his absolute focus in life and will do anything to see it through. Certainly impressive, I can say that much. I ended up liking him more than I expected to by the end. I don’t always love the advisor types but in this case he was convincing enough in the role to get me to take him seriously.

Anji is one of the more honorable villains. At the very least he isn’t going around murdering for fun but it’s always important to keep in mind that he is still fighting on the side of the villains. By allying himself with them, he definitely takes on a large part of the guilt. No amount of grandstanding can change that. He seems like one of the more powerful villain members but we’ll have to see how that shakes out. He definitely seems stronger than Cho for example since that guy was captured pretty quick. He’s also portrayed as more of a rival to Sanosuke while Anji is seen as being above him.

Usui is probably the biggest wildcard among the villains since he is willing to openly go against Shishio and basically dare the guy to make a move. A bold play to be sure and I would even say that Shishio allows too much here. It would be a better look if he had taken Usui down already. I know he wants to conserve strength and all but that would be a way to really ensure that all other villains completely stayed in line. I know right now they do follow his orders without question and all but adding a little more oomph to that is certainly not a bad idea.

The animation is really solid as always. You really feel the various sword clashes between characters and the choreography is on point. The colors really stand out and the sounds do a good job of showing the power behind each blow. meanwhile the soundtrack has a lot of variety and fits the moments well. I wouldn’t say that the opening or ending particularly stands out but it’s not bad either. The show is definitely backed up well on the technical front.

Meanwhile the writing is good as always with the story being very interesting. The arc has a whole lot of fight scenes going on nonstop which is really exciting. This is the kind of story that is always fun even without fights but of course you are always glad to see them appear and take the story to the next level. Yes, definitely no complaints here. I felt like there was a big fight in nearly every episode and even when it was for characters I’m not too engaged with like Misao’s ninjas, it still worked well. The show was trying to get everyone involved including the villagers so I can appreciate the teamwork nature of it all.

Kenshin having to constantly deal with the fallout of his actions is also good. At the end of the day when you live by a strong creed, there will definitely be things that come with that. His mentor was also good at making sure Kenshin stuck by his decisions by even upping the stakes of them. The mentor is the kind of guy who always shows off a really gruff exterior but means well when it counts. I would say he still seems to be considerably stronger than Kenshin at this time so the hero will need more training.

Finally the show still depicts how a fairly simple story can still be super engaging. At its core this is a very simple show. A bunch of terrorists are trying to overthrow the government and Kenshin has to stop them. All of the heroes and villains are known, we’ve already got most of the matchups and the climax is approaching. There isn’t a need for a bunch of twists or mysteries, the show is just very confident in its story and rewards you with the strong banter and matchups. Due to how corrupt the government is, it also allows you to see the villains as more than 2D villains who are just trying to destroy the world. It’s not enough where you’d root for them over Kenshin but it is solid writing all the same.

Overall, Kenshin season 2 was a lot of fun as expected. We still got great fight scenes at every turn and the animation was really solid. I enjoyed the soundtrack quite a lot as well. It’s fair to say that the technical aspects across the whole show are fundamentally really strong. A lot of work goes into every part of it. I’m definitely looking forward to season 3 as it will be adapting the peak of the series. So long as the budget stays high this will be another all star title. It had one of the more satisfying climaxes to an arc in the manga as well.

Overall 8/10

Blue Box Review

Posted on June 8, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for a sports/romance hybrid series. The romance eventually starts to overtake the sports aspect but I would say the series does a good job of keeping it mainly balanced at least in this season. The series got good production values and has fun characters so on the whole I would say it’s pretty good. The romance is handled in a serious way as a slow burn which is always the right approach, even if I may not be the biggest fan of the route it decided to go. You can’t win them all after all.

The series starts off by introducing us to Taiki who is a badminton player. He has strong ambitions of becoming the top player and going to Nationals some day. He has a long ways to go for that goal though as his skills just aren’t there yet. He is a first year player so he has time but he wants to make it to the top as soon as possible. Meanwhile he has a crush on the Basketball veteran Chinatsu. She is in her second year and also trying to get her team to Nationals. Can he accomplish his dream and go out with her? Taiki has to play this carefully or he could make the school environment very awkward. There is one thing in his favor though…due to her parents’ work, she will now be living at his place for the foreseeable future.

Naturally living together can make things a bit easier since he will get to talk to her more, but on the other hand it also makes him a lot more self conscious. After all you can think of it as being a selfish move because she is relying on his household right now. So asking her out in this situation may pressure her to say yes, or if she says no, now the whole thing will be even more awkward. So Taiki has to work through his feelings here and I tend to agree with him on staying silent. It just doesn’t feel like the right time. One of Chinatsu’s friends says Taiki should say something since otherwise it is creepy behavior to be secretly liking her.

I get the logic of the counter but don’t really agree with it. There’s nothing inherently bad about it so long as Taiki has no bad intentions. So long as he stays respectful and within boundaries then not saying anything is still the better call. Living together just brings with it way too many complications to have a relationship, although of course this series would be over if nothing happens so you can expect some shenanigans to occur.

Taiki can at times be a little too scared to move forward which causes other problems though. Particularly in the other main romance of the series which is that his childhood friend Hina likes him. Taiki ends up being put in the middle here where he doesn’t really know how to respond to her confession and then that sends a lot of mixed signals over to Chinatsu. So as you can see there are a lot of very messy storylines going on here but it works well because romance is often messy. It’s all about how you respond to all of these sudden developments that shows your true abilities as a character.

I do appreciate that none of the main 3 characters are the jealous types. You don’t see Taiki freaking out when other guys are talking to Chinatsu and vice versa. Not to say they aren’t a little irritated but they don’t suddenly start freaking out or being all sulky. It’s a more mature take which is nice. There are still boundaries of course but if you don’t trust your love interest then the relationship will never work out from the start anyway. So the series definitely gets that one right.

The series also has quite a few sad moments as well. After all, in matters of love there will always be someone who loses out. In this case there are two girls who like Taiki so one will lose and based on the premise and all promotional artwork for the series, you already know who that is gonna be. The series doesn’t pull any punches with this one when the rejection comes through and breaks her heart. Now for the record, once again I have to say that Taiki handled it very well. He didn’t beat around the bush and just offered a complete declination. It may be hard to hear but at least this way he offered up some closure. If he was half hearted or left any room for something to develop then that would have been a mistake.

So while Taiki can sometimes annoy me with how timid and oblivious he can be, this was something he did well. It’s not like there is ever a perfect way to reject someone without leaving them a bit hurt. That’s just going to happen but you can at least do you best to reduce the sting as much as possible. That’s exactly what he did here so I definitely had no qualms with him. Meanwhile the sport moments often don’t go smoothly for the characters either. They definitely get some reality checks and at the end of the day only one player/team can win it all. So statistically the odds of winning are pretty slim.

The series is definitely an emotional rollercoaster with everything going on. At the end of the day I would say it does have an upbeat tone though. The bad things that happen never overwhelm the positive moments. Nobody is falling off a building or getting a rare disease. The drama we get are personal losses and tragedies but nothing that can’t be undone. I think it would actually change the series tone if they went for any storylines that were a bit too dark and depressing. So for me this is the right amount of drama to bring tears to your eyes but by the final episode you know that you’ve had a good time of it.

The animation is pretty solid for the series and helps to elevate the Badminton scenes. The colors are striking and there is a good amount of movement here. It looks better than what you may have expected for a romance series. So I definitely appreciated that. The soundtrack is a little more on the weaker side though. You’re not really going to remember it all that well by the end. It’s not bad by any means but it just feels more like free domain type music. It doesn’t really do much to elevate the series to the next level.

As for the characters, I already spoke about Taiki a bit. Nice kid who means well but I would definitely like to see him act with more confidence. He allows himself to be manipulated too easily by others and tends to really overthink things which gets him into trouble. In order to improve both in romance as well as his sport journey, he will need to get past that and really reach the next level.

Chinatsu does well as the main heroine. She tends to be fairly quiet and keep to herself. Since the series is from Taiki’s point of view, we don’t see her thoughts quite as much. I do appreciate this though because often times it is good to keep to yourself. Chinatsu is always polite and doing what she needs to without being overly expressive. Definitely no issues on that. I’d say if anything her only weakness can be that even when she’s upset she doesn’t say anything which can just lead to resentment. When you’re upset and it’s a possible misunderstanding then you definitely gotta find a way to clear the air there. A big example is definitely when she has a bit of an unspoken fight with Taiki before Nationals that makes things awkward so they aren’t really able to talk and it leaves her a bit distracted. Of course that’s not a valid excuse during a game but still worth noting.

Then we have Hina as the other heroine and the most tragic part here is always when you have the losing heroine accidentally be written to be more fun than the main one. Hina is easily the best character in the series and a real go getter. While everyone else is being too quiet or nervous to say anything, she just marches up to Taiki and confesses. This is absolutely the best way to go about things. It’s a very old fashioned way of thinking to assume that the guy has to make the first move and you just gotta wait your turn. Hina liked him and decided to just go for it.

Immediately she got my respect there and was a very supportive person otherwise. She still didn’t try any underhanded tactics to get an edge and was honorable the whole time. That’s the kind of character you want to have in your corner. Hopefully things go well for her in the future but I’m not rooting for any rebounds here. Ideally she will just continue to do really well in her career and win at Nationals. That would be a fun way to complete her arc.

Kyo is Taiki’s best friend and usually he’s a decent guy but he does have some of the absolute worst takes possible. He spends a whole lot of his screen time constantly gaslighting Taiki and getting him to make the worst mistakes possible. If he didn’t say anything then Taiki would be in less trouble. The guy is mainly just around to confuse the other characters but hasn’t really had any important moments otherwise. You could take him out of the series and for now it wouldn’t really change anything.

Then we have Haryu who is Taiki’s rival. A strong player all around and his romance journey has mainly been rather smooth. His relationship with Karen is a fun one and they are a good example for Taiki to look at and see how things should be done. Haryu does have a rough moment near the end where he starts to fear Taiki and ducks him during all encounters. That’s not how you want the rival to look, but he eventually gets over it. Ultimately the guy is getting older and may have hit his limits in terms of Badminton skills. Meanwhile Taiki still has an opportunity to be the best that there ever was.

Nagisa is a good friend to Chinatsu but doesn’t get much of a role. I’d say she is mainly around because every main character needs at least one friend at their side so the characters can vent a bit. She tends to be rather straight forward which is good and she talks a lot more than Chinatsu. So if the heroine ever needs any help, she knows where to turn. So while Nagisa doesn’t do a whole lot, just being around is still supportive.

Another minor character is Hyodo who is currently the number one Badminton player. The guy is completely invincible and never loses. Anyone who challenges him is very quickly humbled and that’s the kind of ability you like to see. He quiets everyone down with his overwhelming power. Nobody can hope to easily take him down. His character gimmick is that he tends to take everything literally. Not the most interesting gimmick, but again it’s not like he appears all that much.

Then we have Yusa who is being set up to be Taiki’s more serious rival. The guy beat Taiki at first and then Taiki beat him so they are definitely very close in ability. He makes for a fun antagonist here. He’s not a bad guy or anything but of course he is standing in the way of Taiki’s dreams. The guy appears to be the more emotionless sort for now and is very focused on Badminton itself. That kind of drive is always hard to defeat.

Then we have Ayame who joins up near the end. Her ideas of romance are very different from the rest of the characters so she ends up rocking the boat a lot. She will go out with anyone who asks her out and will then usually break up right afterwards when it doesn’t work out. So for that reason she has a ton of ex-boyfriends but most of them end off on a positive note. Naturally she is there to give Taiki unfortunate ideas instead of just letting him trust his heart. She always means well but yeah Ayame has a lot to learn about romance. That much is clear early on and her meddling causes some really serious problems.

Overall, Blue Box was a fun romance title. I appreciate the fact that the series really goes into detail on the different relationship dynamics instead of jus running through it. We know that the series can take up to 2 years in universe because of the grade system so that leaves time for a really good slow burn. Slow burn romances are often the best way to handle things because it allows the characters to fall for each other organically. So I’ll definitely be ready for season 2 and in the meantime you should check this one out. Just watch out if you are a big Hina fan since things often go rough for her and even the opening animations foreshadow this.

Overall 7/10

One Piece: Adventure of Nebulandia Review

Posted on May 17, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for another big adventure from the Strawhats. This one brings back the Foxy pirates who actually got reasonably popular after their original story arc. That said, it is one of the weaker films in the series mainly because of how low key it is. Everyone gets to appear and have some fun but there isn’t a ton of action in this one. It’s an adventure first and foremost so you will see the characters have to use their smarts to win this time. Pure strength won’t get the job done, not against the master strategist who appears!

The film starts off with the Strawhats having fun as normal and then they land on a fun island. Sanji in particular is super excited because there are a lot of girls there who were stranded and need a ride back. What he didn’t realize is that this was actually Foxy and his gang of henchmen. Some of them were girls but the rest just had good disguises on. They are here to challenge Luffy and friends to a Davyback fight where the loser must have someone join the winner’s crew. Obviously the stakes are way too high to even think of accepting this but Luffy and friends do anyway. After all the worst thing can’t happen as long as they win right? What they don’t realize is that one of Foxy’s new teammates, Komei, is actually a government agent who is here to shut the Strawhats down once and for all. Can they get away from this trap?

The movie’s whole dilemma only stands a chance because the sleepy mushrooms actually affect Luffy. I think it’s debatable on if they would do anything thanks to his immunity though. Sure this isn’t a lethal poison but the sleepiness is still an adverse effect which Luffy’s body should have knocked out. At least if you ask me that would have been the most likely scenario. Still, that’s how they manage to take out the most powerful members of the crew since otherwise Zoro would have ended this in an instant.

It’s pretty in character for Luffy and friends to eat the mushrooms so I don’t have any issues there. It’s just a shame that the rest of the team aren’t really great fighters. It’s why a lot of people say that the Strawhats need to get stronger because only a select few really carry the team at this point. They desperately need to shed that reputation and this film doesn’t help with that. The power levels will also make you sneeze in this film. Like at one point Luffy goes to attack Komei and the guy just slaps some oil onto the boat so Luffy slips.

The whole thing is mega embarrassing and it’s why some people have a hard time thinking of Luffy as a mega powerhouse. I wouldn’t take the scene too seriously but either way it does show that Luffy got absolutely crushed in this fight. Once we get to the serious battle it’s all over fairly quick. Komei is good at planning things out but he’s no big fighter. Once you get past his defenses then it’s really all over for the guy. He’s just not going to be coming back from that.

I did like Komei as the villain though. He gives off the right vibes for a strategic villain like this. Yeah it may be hard to take him seriously at times but he does say all of the right things. I just have the sneaking suspicion that I won’t remember the guy very well after a while so that’s why I can’t call him amazing or anything like that. He’s still better than Dojaku though who just feels like an absolute henchman the whole time. Not the kind of guy who could ever end up being the powerful leader type.

As for Foxy’s group, they were being manipulated the whole time so I wouldn’t say they look good or anything like that. You’d think they would have realized that the new members weren’t what they seemed to be. That may be a little easy to say in hindsight though. Foxy’s slow power is still super broken and overpowered so he could become a real threat if he was ever to return. The rest of his crew are super weak though so he has to carry the team on his own.

The animation in the film is good but again it isn’t trying to do anything fancy here. The animation is going through the motions but this definitely feels like an ordinary episode. he soundtrack doesn’t really have any standout themes either. So it’s all rather ordinary. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but just something to keep in mind. You will not be finding a cinematic experience here. Although for some it probably feels more comfortable that way so this one ends up being easy to plug in at any point.

Overall, It’s nice to see the Strawhats getting to just relax and have fun once in a while. Even with the government threat and all, I imagine it probably feels like a vacation next to the other big battles that they’ve been in. If you enjoy One Piece then you will like this adventure as well. There is nothing to dislike here after all. If they ever bring the Foxy pirates back again, I’d like to see them do a proper competition of sorts without it being interrupted immediately. Maybe do it without the stakes of losing a member so that way you don’t actually know which team would win. It’s a nice way to building tension since of course in a proper fight the Strawhats would obviously win. In a competition it is less certain. Also we really need Zoro to be a main character next time around instead of missing most of the adventure. I get that you don’t want it to be too easy for the heroes but sidelining him like that is definitely not the right answer.

Overall 7/10

Mission: Yozakura Family Review

Posted on January 19, 2025 by dreager1

It’s always a cold day for the manga industry when one of the big Shonen Jump titles ends and that’s what happened here. It lasted for quite a while although for me it feels fairly recent since I didn’t jump onto the series until it was already in the climax. It starts out fun enough and then really started to get good as the plot picked up. By the end I can safely say that it had a really great run. I don’t think it ever returned to its peak after the big timeskip as that is the weaker part of the series but it’s not unheard of for a title to end up having a final arc that can’t beat the older ones. The series would have had a hard time recapturing its peak from right before the timeskip anyway. I’d definitely recommend checking out this series and it actually has a solid romance all the way through.

The series starts by introducing us to Taiyo. He’s a fairly quiet kid who does his schoolwork and keeps on moving without any issue. Unfortunately his parents died in a tragic “accident” and so he was taken in by the Yozakura family. Their head is his close friend Mutsumi and so now they get to hang out a lot. Thing is, they cannot remain as just friends. The family needs Taiyo to marry her and while he is hesitant to do so, he realizes that she will be in more danger if he doesn’t step up to the task. So he agrees to stand by her side and will have to quickly level up as a spy. Additionally, the death of his parents appears to be mixed up in a huge conspiracy that involves the family so he will need to learn more about this.

Right out of the gate you’ve got a pretty fun premise here. There is naturally the potential for lots of fun shenanigans with all of the different family members and all of their quirks. The series starts off as a comedy with different glimpses of action before going down the action path 100%. That’s always a pretty fun way to develop the story and this one’s no different. The romance angle to the plot also works well because since they were to be matched up fairly early, there is no chance for any rebounds or rivals. Both Mutsumi and Taiyo have eyes for nobody else for the duration of the series. There is never a single gag or moment of drama that even causes them to doubt the other one’s affection. The series even had fun with that with a few chapters that was hinting at it only for that to be squashed.

I can safely say that this is one of the better romances in Jump and is absolutely the way to handle it. The romance is slowly developed as the series goes on so nothing is too quick and you get to really understand the characters by then. All of the characters get a whole lot of development as the series goes and one of them in particular had a masterful character arc. Kyoichiro goes from being more of an annoying comedic character to the absolute best character in the series. It’s not even close to be honest. He really steals the show and absolutely elevates the series whenever he is on screen.

So Kyoichiro’s gimmick is that he is extremely protective of Mutsumi. He is obsessed with her to a rather creepy degree as he is constantly spying on her and running around to make sure she is never hurt even just emotionally. He constantly attacks Taiyo because he isn’t ready for Mutsumi to be married yet and so the whole family is constantly beating him up. He gets beaten in almost every chapter and while he picks most of the fights, you have to imagine that it hurts after a while. He is the eldest child of the family though and bears a lot of the responsibility.

So later on once the series enters its serious mode, we really get to see him in a different light. One chapter even did a call back to a bunch of the gags from earlier on and how they were secretly him preparing them for different situations. He plays the goofball as a teaching role a lot of the time and barks a lot louder than his bite. Now does that mean his whole personality is fake? I wouldn’t say so, he just plays up his normal personality to a comedic degree intentionally. He still does work on protecting Mutsumi as his primary task and it involves his childhood. It was effectively the first mission he was ever given.

Kyoichiro is consistently ready to put his life on the line in order to protect the rest of his family members and does this really well. When he is put into a rocky situation he immediately has plans and contingency plans on how to handle this on his own. He is really the perfect example of a character who helps others secretly from the shadows. It’s really quite impressive. Kyoichiro also put a lot of work into perfecting his own skills and is easily one of the most powerful characters in the series. I would even go as far as to say that he is absolutely number 1 among the entire cast. His abilities are just absolutely broken. So his antics may be a bit too much for some people to look past but he really worked out quite nicely for me.

As for the main character Taiyo, in a way you could say he is the one character with the least amount of development. In a way the series tries to keep him as the normal joe throughout the adventure. Everyone else has a lot of quirks and we then see their serious side while Taiyo was serious from the beginning. His whole journey is about protecting Mutsumi no matter what. I guess you could say he gets less shy about showing his affection for her the more the series goes on though which is pretty nice development. He also naturally gets a whole lot stronger as the series goes on and really becomes a top tier fighter.

Mutsumi is a character I expected a bit more from as I kept waiting for the twist where she was a complete fighter as well. It just makes sense that the head would be one of the most powerful people in the room right? It didn’t play out that way but she is still fun. She actually gets one of Kyoichiro’s big traits in terms of obsession. She is obsessed with Taiyo and collects all kinds of merchandise about him which is pretty awesome. I also like that he doesn’t find this weird at all and is just flattered which is how it should be. It’s why they make for a great pair.

Futaba is another one of the older family members and she has developed a whole lot of power. If Kyoichiro’s abilities are about fighting with a lot of technique and poise the whole time, she fights with raw strength to dominate her opponents. For this reason it is hard for any character to go up against her head on. Typically they have to rely on sneaky tricks or poisons. She eventually even becomes a good mentor of sorts who works with the next generation. Because of her power level she is often kept away from the main battles but always lives up to the hype once it is her turn for some action.

Shinzo is definitely one of the more timid members which is a contrast to his raw power. He is great with guns and a consistently solid fighter. He does go through a rough patch for a while there in the series although there were some mind games at play. I don’t find him as interesting as most of the other family members but he’s not bad. I didn’t feel like he ever fully his his stride as one of the crew because his gimmick is much more subdued. In a lot of ways he’s just similar to Taiyo. A good kid who means well and always does his best. Nothing wrong with that of course but he won’t stand out.

Shion in comparison is a really entertaining character. She loves hacking and using her brilliance to mess with people around the world. There is nobody who can really take her on in this realm except for one rival. Shion isn’t the most mature character and definitely does whatever she wants but you need at least one wild card like that the whole time. She keeps the rest of the crew lose along with Kengo. Shion never becomes a close quarters combat specialist or anything like that but she is definitely able to hold her own.

As for Kengo he’s a fun jokester. He gets serious when he has to though and is a slippery character. He’s good for keeping the atmosphere light even if he isn’t the best in a fight. He’s the kind of character you want because he makes the whole dynamic more fun. Without him the team would just lose a whole lot of spark. Kengo also has a lot of good banter with Shion and I like when they team up. They are also the highlight characters once the kids showed up after the timeskip since they could keep the little rascals in check.

Now we have my least favorite member Nanao. It’s not that he’s bad or anything but he’s not as interesting as the others. He really tries to look out for the rest of the family just like the others but does so more from a chemical perspective. He is excellent on using poisons and natural ways to combat outsiders. He has had to deal with that all his life due to a rare blood condition but does a good job of never guilt tripping anyone for that. He just handles it and keeps on moving which I really appreciate. It would be easy to have a whole pity party around that but he doesn’t get down.

Then we have the next generation. First up is Hifumi and he’s not bad but I still do think that the series had a harder time once the kids were the focus. They just aren’t as interesting. She inherited Mutsumi’s obsessive nature and it’s towards her brother Alpha so she is always trying to protect him. She is good at being manipulative and she has one of the strongest powers in the series. For the most part there are not many fighters who can stand against her and this will reduce even more as she gets older. She can have some good banter and will get better as she gets older.

The same mainly applies to Alpha as well. He is a nice enough kid and is fairly skilled but there’s not a lot to him yet. I do like his “evil” mode that he gets into when Hifumi is in danger. He gets real confident and calculated there so I would like that to be his main persona at some point in the future. He does his best to help out and is key in the climax but at the end of the day he is still just a kid so he’s not going to get too far.

Surprisingly we don’t see much of Rei even though she is Mutsumi’s Mom and wife to Moma. Both of those characters had massive roles after all but in the end all we needed to know is that she was a kind person. Moma is someone who gets a whole lot of big moments but ultimately I never liked the guy. He went through some really cruel events and had a rough hand but he still could have done better. Whenever a character has an ultra convoluted plan it ends up being a toss up on if I will agree with it or not. To me, he was just not a great character either way. He did make for a good villain though who really kept everyone on edge.

One of the most terrifying characters as well with how often he would just fully crack. It was always hard to know just what was going on with the guy and since he was also really powerful it’s not like you could let your guard down around him. He may not have been the final villain in the series but he certainly left the greatest impact by far. Definitely someone you will remember once it’s all over.

Keiko and Ban are pretty fun characters since they represent the really old part of the Yozakura family. They went through their own struggles and are now fully retired. Their skills are still on point so none of the villains are ever able to get to them which can be a fun running gag. Maybe it can come off as a bit cheesy as well but I was glad they weren’t getting roped into this because it would just be sad to see them getting injured or anything like that. I’m good with them staying as fun supporting roles from safe positions which is what the manga did.

Tsubomi has to be the most tragic character in the series. She got put through a whole lot over and over again with no way out. I definitely thought the series went a bit too drastic with her because after a while the extra suffering isn’t helping the story at all. So for that reason I didn’t feel bad for certain characters at all because you really can’t talk your way out of that situation at all. It’s just too far gone by then.

While the family makes up the majority of the cast, there are still some supporting characters outside of them. Some of them get a lot of screentime while others do not. For example the most disappointing cast of characters has to be the S rank Spies. The problem is that they come in way too late in the series and so by then the power creep is too high. They get a quick moment and are then written out again. I like the concept but given that the ranking system was established earlier, they should have appeared way sooner too. Also, the final villain group relating to Asa were also rather weak. Most of them were one note and also vanished immediately.

The first character to talk about is Makoto. He’s one of the first villains to show up and is the series first unsuccessful attempt to have a sympathetic villain. He tries to explain why he’s doing what he’s doing and has a whole sob story but I didn’t buy into it. He still did too experimenting and was too evil. He made for a good antagonist but I can’t see him as anything but that. The guy is interesting but the series should have just kept him as full on evil. His group of fighters were also pretty solid. Akai was the most memorable and they definitely did well on the various fights. This also started to introduce the concept of blooming to the series.

Basically it is the power system here. The Yozakura family bloodline allows users to develop special abilities and that’s why everyone wants them. These abilities really range from a whole variety of different techniques but are so dangerous that most people who use the blood end up dying. So these villains are able to use a fraction but start to die if they use too much. It’s an interesting plot point and I do like the idea that not just anyone can use the blood. That would come off as more than a little cheap if you ask me.

Ai was one of the villains but quickly becomes an ally to the main heroes. She is basically like a little kid who was augmented with super villains so it’s nice that she could finally have a wholesome family now. I thought her character was fun enough. She’s not the strongest and I’m not the biggest fan of kid characters but she was still decent. In a way she was like a practice kid for Taiyo and Mutsumi.

Seiji is a detective who helps the heroes out from time to time. It’s pretty cool that they have an informant on the outside but the guy doesn’t end up doing much once the series reaches the serious phase. I expected him to have a much bigger role but I suppose in the end he’s not really a fighter and is more of a support character. Ayaka fits the role as someone who could have introduced a love triangle or been a rival in a less serious series but for Yozakura that wasn’t going to fly. So instead she end up being a fun supporting character but also one who is basically relegated to the comedic chapters. When the serious stuff happens she vanishes as fast as can be. Too bad since she is a spy and can fight.

Asuka is definitely more of an annoying character. He has a big crush on Mutsumi and isn’t shy about it even though he has absolutely no shot with Taiyo around. You’re always rooting on him to get crushed whenever he shows up. Sosuke is the same kind of character. He’s super in love with Mutsumi and wants to marry her but it’s game over for him. Taiyo doesn’t take the guy seriously as a threat and that’s the right approach although I wouldn’t mind him knocking the guy out. At least Asuka stays classy while Sosuke always acts like a creep. Definitely not a quality guy.

Then we have Sui and he’s the most surprising character to be written out. His power level seemed rather high and he helped train Taiyo on how to move fast. Still, he wasn’t around for very long so I ended up missing him. He had a cool personality and was fun to watch. Rin also has a fairly small role even though she is apparently strong enough to have a rivalry of sorts with the Yozakura family. It’s mainly in the comedic moments though so I suppose once the going gets tough, she wouldn’t be able to stack up. Another fun character who brings in some good banter though. Also even if she isn’t the strongest, she can still hold her own.

Kai is one of the characters who shows up later and starts to steal the show. He doesn’t have any real super powers but he is incredibly perceptive. So for that reason he is constantly able to tell when someone is lying. Now the guy does make some massive mistakes so I did lose some respect for him but ultimately through twists and turns he still ended up being fun. Not the best but he always kept things interesting and added a lot of development to Kyoichiro as well. We got several flashbacks but I wouldn’t mind a lengthier flashback story about them.

Shura is one of the S rank spies who shows up later on. Despite a criminally short amount of screen time, she was fun enough to leave an impact at least. Sadly Alexandryu gets a bigger role and he’s much more annoying. Now there’s a guy who could have been written out. His gimmick is one of the worst ones as he constantly tries to pull moves on people who don’t want him. He’s as obnoxious as possible. Finally we get to the final villain Asa. I won’t even go into his unimaginative group of fighters.

Asa is the most wishy washy character of the lot and constantly talks big. I was waiting for him to get blown away the whole time. Technically he’s powerful so I’ll give him that. The series did a really good job of building up to him as the big bad so it would be hard to live up to all of that hype either way. That being said, what they really should have done was make him a fully evil villain. Some villains don’t need all of the extra “Depth” and all of that. Just have him selfishly use the blood for his purposes and don’t try to offer any other explanations. This guy was a full on psych and deserves to be treated as such.

There are more characters but that about wraps up the big ones. In terms of the artwork the series is definitely very good. Towards the end it started to be a little rougher but I assume that’ll be cleaned up in the volume release. The fights had really great shading and you can definitely feel the intensity in the fights. I really had a blast marathoning through the peaks of the series because it’s really hard to put down. The artwork definitely makes it easy to read and supports the writing really well.

The series managed to stay really high quality the whole way through. The series didn’t have any real fanservice and avoided getting too violent or anything like that. Tsubomi’s the one exception where the series went a bit far but the sob stories aren’t too crazy otherwise. The series is also really good on both the comedic and action phases. Now you might need to cut the series some slack on the constant death fake outs. There are a lot of those so that’s why you need to keep in mind that this is still primarily a comedy. Even when things get serious, it’s not likely to have a big body count or anything like that. It’s just not that kind of title.

This is really a fun title about family that just delves into everything. The romance is also really solid like I said before because there are no rebounds or anything either. It’s nice to show such a wholesome romance through and through here without any crazy drama or anything like that. Sometimes you want to see the optimistic take on this and of course seeing the whole family bonding is a great thing. Definitely the kind of uplifting title that works well even if I read most of it while listening to a remix of Infinite’s theme song.

There are a lot of story arcs here and they tend to link well into each other so it’s pretty seamless. That said, Kyoichiro’s disappearance is naturally the best arc in the series. Depending on when that officially starts, the ending of the previous arc has to be up there as well. Still, he does great in group fights and always surpasses the odds. The arc has a whole lot of tension and mystery that just works so well. I already had the series ranked fairly high on the charts for me but this is when it really went up even further and showed Kyoichiro as a fairly top tier character. Having a character like that will always take the series to the next level and that’s what happened here.

Overall, This is definitely a series that I can recommend. The action and characters are really good and the series was long enough to really dive into the main characters. It gets to cover a whole lot of ground and was a lot of fun to read all the way through. You’ll be super engaged in the plot of what’s going on here and will get invested on what’s going on. Even without the high stakes of everybody dying, it shows how a good story can overcome it all. This does a great job of representing the current era of Jump. Ultimately it will have to move on to being known as a past era before long but it was really around for quite a while. I’d be up for some kind of movie event epilogue at some point.

Overall 8/10

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