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

One Piece: Heart of Gold Review

Posted on December 29, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a One Piece adventure! Generally I’ve enjoyed all of the One Piece movies and this one’s no exception. I would say it is one of the weakest titles in the franchise as it can’t really keep up on a story or battle basis. Still, you’ll be entertained which is the important part and it’s always fun to see the gang in new situations.

The story starts with the Strawhats coming across a girl who has just escaped from a bunch of other pirates. She has a piece of gold with her that will enable her to find a hidden city. The main characters are pirates so this sounds like a good time to them. They all end up getting sucked into a giant fish where the island is being hidden. Can Luffy and friends secure the treasure and get out or have they just stumbled onto a massive conspiracy?

This is a classic adventure which feels like a return to the original One Piece days. The nostalgia adds a nice boost to things and the film also does out of its way to try and give everyone something to do. I’d say the main exception is Franky but you had Chopper blocking projectiles and Brook even got to play the piano. Naturally Zoro and Sanji get to have their big fights at the end while Luffy takes on the big shot. Now there are some power level issues here but you would probably expect that from the jump. Mad is strong but nowhere near the level he would need to be in order to take down someone like Luffy.

The film extends things a bit to make it exciting. I can sort of look the other way, it’s not going to hurt the score or anything but seeing Luffy struggle with some chains was definitely rough. That’s not something that I would expect out of him at this stage in the game. Personality wise the Strawhats all looked good though with the exception of Sanji. For Sanji they really leaned into his more pervy side here so he was definitely taking L after L the whole time. I would have liked him to have done better but I’m not the biggest fan of his anyway.

Now for the new characters, the main one here is Olga who is basically a kid who says her thoughts out loud. It’s a classic gimmick that you see from time to time in different titles and I’d say it’s not a bad one. There isn’t much to her beyond this but her character design is memorable and she has a tough personality so she automatically beats a bunch of the other film OCs. Now if she could just fight then she would really rise up.

Mad is a fairly generic villain. He basically wants treasure and likes a good fight. Nothing particularly bad about him but I don’t think anyone will be talking about the guy after a few years. The chains ability is really handy though and it was nice to see animated. There aren’t a ton of chain users out there so I always like to see another user. If the chains themselves were stronger I could definitely see this guy being a top fighter.

Meanwhile the animation is good but nothing amazing. The chain fights are really the only times when the film is actively flexing. Beyond that it’s fairly standard stuff. Better than what you’ll see in the average mainstream movie but not quite near where you’d expect the anime movies to be at. I did like the effect they used for when Luffy was using observation haki though. The red eyes really looked menacing. In terms of soundtrack, not really any big knockout tunes to change things up. The main themes are good enough though. That’s sort of the feel of the whole movie. It’s all good enough without actively trying to be the best or anything more than that. So it’s a pretty good time and you will have fun with it but then it will blend with the background.

The best character here is definitely Zoro and I dare say that will be the reaction of just about anyone who checks out the film. He gets his fight and dominates from start to finish. There is no point where you think he will be on the losing side or anything like that. He even gives a nice speech the whole time and you wouldn’t be surprised if he was actually stronger than Luffy. The guy definitely carries that level of confidence after all.

In terms of the general story, it may be a stretch to have someone from CP0 losing to the new villain but I know it’s a quick way to build up some hype. The film needs an ultimate treasure and so having a secret elixir or immortality is one way to do it. It’s perhaps a little too overpowered though considering there are basically no side effects and it doesn’t seem all that hard to mass produce. It certainly works well in upping the stakes and everything but yeah the world government would be all over that in a heart beat.

Overall, The idea of a movie to set up another movie is pretty interesting. That’s such a bold movie that I can respect it. One Piece Film Gold definitely looks way more impressive and is also the better movie but this is a good title all around. You do have to ignore the fact that the heroes could have ended this film within 5 minutes when the villains showed up due to the gap in power though. I would recommend it if you like One Piece or generally if you like a good adventure film. It’s a very stand alone adventure and only a few cameos will just feel meaningless to someone who is not a fan. The story’s framework and the general plot are both straight forward enough where this won’t be confusing or anything like that.

Overall 7/10

Jujutsu Kaisen Review

Posted on December 7, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to talk about one of the biggest manga endings of the year. Jujutsu Kaisen was a really big Jump title with a lot of action and a whole lot going for it. Its popularity was pretty high and it got a big budget movie and anime to itself. I definitely had a great time with it and I think it’ll be remembered fondly. I may not have been crazy about the ending but at the end of the day the ending is a small part of the experience. This is a series that was with us for a long while and had time to bring in a whole lot of fun plots and battles. You don’t just forget about all of that.

The manga follows a kid named Yuji who is pretty much on his own once his grandfather died. Yuji has always been physically gifted to the point of being a metahuman but is otherwise normal. Well one day some monsters show up and Yuji ends up swallowing a demon finger which seals the demon Sukuna within him. Yuji is now being carefully watched by a group of sorcerers in the Jujutsu world who think that he could end up being a massive threat. Some want to murder Yuji while others want to use him as a valuable asset. Yuji figures he will make the best of things for as long as he can and decides to help fight the evil spirits.

First up we have the pre arc which introduces us to some of the other sorcerers like Megumi, Nobara, and Gojo. The series sets the tone early on by introducing us to another friend who seemed like he was going to be a main character only to get bumped off early. Jujutsu Kaisen is a series where generally speaking nobody is safe. The series starts to walk this back a little towards the end but I would say that the theme i still accurate. In this world you are constantly risking your life and the line towards death is a very narrow one. It’s why several characters talk about the subject, how they would like to go and how they wouldn’t.

Kaisen’s main cast is also a lot of fun so it’s easy to see why fans are saddened that we don’t get to see the dynamic for very long. The big 3 hanging out with Gojo only happens a few times as they are almost always split apart. It’s rough but that’s just how it goes. Fortunately we have a lot of good side characters as well and if you’re really into action then you’re all set because a lot of the series is basically nonstop action. It does get rather text heavy with the abilities though so you better be sure that you can keep up.

I’d say in some ways the first big arc is the tournament against the upper classmen which transitions immediately into one of the more powerful demons challenging them. It’s always cool to see more characters show up and the tournament being a wide range survival type means that we got to see a whole lot of them at once. Todo leaves a fast impression and while some of the characters on the other team ended up being fodders, I was glad to have more opponents. You want to introduce as many characters as you can early on in order to really flesh out the world and I’d say the series did a good job with that. There is a whole lot of lore going on here.

This is even a series that doesn’t always explain everything. There are quite a bit of details that are kept in the background like Kenjaku’s plan where a bunch of people still don’t keep that part straight. Other parts simply aren’t finalized and you jut have to choose your own ending for it. I’ll go more into the ending in general but generally I don’t mind not having every question answered. Leaves more room for you to imagine what probably happened off screen.

After that we have Mahito running around, some more demon attacks and Megumi getting some rare moments to shine and then we jump into the prequel arc about Gojo’s past. This is a pretty massive arc because Gojo has been such a mysterious character so it was nice to learn more about him. It’s fun to see how cocky that guy is. He really hasn’t changed over the years at least on a surface level but by the end you can see how he did crack a little. It feels like he was more genuine before the time skip and now it’s more like a facade. He is a complex character though which leaves room for a whole lot of interpretations which I really enjoy.

Then we get to the famous arc which is Shibuya. This was a terrific arc in the manga and I dare say the anime even elevated it further. Shibuya is an arc that brings all of the characters together and in that way it feels like it is hard to top. (Although impressively enough, I would say that the climax managed to top it) There is a lot of nonstop action here and it’s cool to see all of the big shots going up against each other. It’s the kind of arc that only works because this has been a fairly long series so there was time to introduce all of these characters. It would not have nearly the same impact if we hadn’t known the characters beforehand.

It’s the reward you get for reading along for so long. It’s always risky waiting or a bunch of characters to face off in the end game because you need to keep people sticking around until then and Kaisen pulled it off. Also it is so rare for any series to be taking place in a big city environment so that made me appreciate this even more. Like in Yuji vs Choso we had them using the building in the fight and all of the other battles did something similar like Gojo in the train station. Lets get more manga with the city vibes like this!

Finally we get to the final arc which is the Culling Games. It’s definitely a lot more mixed than Shibuya but the highs are the peak of the series. We get what I would call the really old school type finale of everyone going off to fight Sukuna one at a time. It’s a super hype way to end the series. I may have some issues which I’ll get into later on but this was climactic. Then of course before all of that you had a whole lot of battles. This is basically a giant tournament after all and it’s one that has a ton of convoluted reasons to keep track of.

We even have the government getting involved later on which was definitely interesting. That storyline pretty much just gets dropped but we can assume that they will return and cause more and more trouble until they are either destroyed or the sorcerers are on the back foot. It’s not an ongoing fight that you can really have until one side is wiped out because neither one will budge.

A big positive I have to give the series right away here is that there is a very minimal amount of fanservice. For the most part it just isn’t a factor and that’s great. In general I would say modern manga are a whole lot better with that than they used to be. The story gets to take center stage this way and it is also a good sign that the manga takes itself very seriously. I will always be here to praise that when it happens.

Meanwhile the art is also pretty good. It sometimes has a bit of a rough look but that works with the general vibe that the series is going for. The fights are always clear which is the important part and you really feel the hype. Mix that in with the solid writing and you can see why the series got so big. I’ll say right now that I did really enjoy all of the big exposition and text bubbles here. I tend to enjoy theory crafting and ability explanations so it was all handled well. There are some exceptions from movies and anime but yeah this kind of dialogue I can read all day.

The nonstop nature of the series does mean that there is rarely any downtime. I know a lot of the characters don’t get to talk or hang out too much which can be rough but I can’t say that I minded it. I’m generally more of an action guy myself after all so if this is what had to happen for the battles then I’m all for it. The characters show a lot of stamina considering how long they had to be fighting for.

Now I did have issues with the ending which is a separate matter. Skip these next two paragraphs if you haven’t read the series yet. Begin Spoilers There’s no way Gojo would lose to Sukuna! I still think that whole fight was busted. Yes, Sukuna had a lot of fancy powers and was a serious threat but Gojo was too broken by this point in the fight. The idea of a single slash blindsiding him still has to be one of the worst twists to a fight. It had to be off screen because the author knew nobody would buy that. It just goes against everything we had seen before that point. Yeah I still shake my head just thinking about that. It was not a good idea by any means.

The whole time I was waiting for some kind of a twist but it never happened. In the end Kenjaku’s plan was also rather weak and I don’t totally wrap my head around why he had to wait and become Yuji’s mother to pull it off. I think part of this was waiting on Tengen but it feels like his plan would have been a lot smoother if he just kidnapped Yuji after birth or hid him away. A lot of characters somehow avoiding death in the end was a bit cheesy but I’m definitely more okay with that since I like a happy ending. It just felt like parts of the ending were rather rushed or the author wrote himself into a corner and wasn’t sure how to end it. Most of this could have been ended with a Gojo victory but that’s how it goes I suppose. End Spoilers

Okay so that’s a pretty deep dive into the series itself, now lets talk about the characters. There is a fairly large cast here so buckle yourself in because this is about to get real! I won’t go into literally everybody, you can read the series for that but I’ll at least get into the big figures here and anybody who seems worthy of a writeup. Naturally we will start with the main character himself, Yuji Itadori.

Yuji is one of those main characters who may get overshadowed at times because his abilities are a whole lot simpler than most. Basically he can hit opponents really hard. At least for 99% of the series that is his power. His punches can even rock an opponent’s soul which is really impressive but compare that to characters who need 3 pages worth of text to explain their abilities and you can feel the difference. Of course I like physical abilities so that is A ok with me. He has super durability as well which helps him compensate there.

As a character he is definitely really solid. A good hero who wants to do the right thing and is also able to just unleash on a villain once he’s had enough. He is absolutely willing to down someone like Mahito who is basically unable to turn good. He maybe gets a little overly sentimental at the very end but hey it’s hard to be too down about a character for wanting to spare the enemy. At the end of the day he is a good guy after all.

Then we have the rival Megumi and he is definitely more of a mixed bag. Part of the problem I’d say is that he doesn’t get much screentime and doesn’t feel super impressive. I’d say his summons are a pretty solid matchup for Yuji so in a fight he could stand a chance at least until Shibuya but after that he is probably getting wrecked pretty fast. It would have been good if Megumi could have gotten more scenes at the end to really show his stuff or something like that but in the end that just wasn’t in the cards.

After that we have Nobara to round out the trio. She is a fun character who also suffers from a lack of screentime. Her ability to land a hit on an opponent from any distance as long as she has their DNA is super handy. You could even say that it is a rather broken ability and perhaps that is why she had to be written out. She has a lot of good general confidence as well. So Nobara is definitely fun and helps make the cast more enjoyable. Physically her stats are basically human so she is best used as a support fighter once the others have gotten the villain into a vulnerable state. Then she can spam her abilities from afar to throw him off.

Gojo comes next and that guy is a total MVP of the series. It’s easy to see why he is such a fan favorite because the guy is awesome. His Infinity power is really handy and the guy is basically the embodiment of confidence. How can you not love a character like that right? The author was also very smart in waiting until the very end to have his big fight with Sukuna. As a result it was one of the most anticipated fights in all of manga with a ton of build up. I would argue it’s a fight that can be mentioned in the same breath as Goku vs Frieza, Naruto vs Sasuke, and Luffy vs Kaido as fights that were hyped up for ages and really delivered. it was incredibly climactic and no matter what flaws I had with the aftermath, he actual battle was absolutely top tier.

Seeing this in real time was really incredible. I also really appreciated Gojo’s origin story as a nice window into how he became the man that he is today. I’d ignore every part of the airplane scene since that seemed wildly out of character. Other than that he was shown to be a really caring guy, a good mentor, and someone who you could trust to have your back. Any scene with him in it really flipped the script on the villains. Additionally, I also liked how ruthless he could be with the villains. When it comes to cursed spirits he would just end them and also put the corrupt council on notice that they would be ended as well.

It’s pretty well explained that the society is super corrupt in a lot of ways and so you are glad that Gojo doesn’t just let them do whatever they want. Just the knowledge that he could try to take them down is enough of a deterrent. Unfortunately even then he can’t protect everybody. Another big character in the series is Yaga who generally seems like a nice guy. Unfortunately things don’t go so well with him and he’s a perfect example of one of those characters who has an abrupt end to his character arc that was unexpected. I can’t say that I ever became a big fan of his but he wasn’t bad. Another character to help flesh things out.

Kusakabe is someone who got likable a lot quicker. It’s easy to empathize with him since he’s a fairly ordinary guy trying to stay alive while all of these powerhouses are duking it out. It’s definitely not an enviable position to be in and yet the guy constantly finds himself in a really rough place. He ends up squaring up against the strongest villain in the series more than once. He may not be someone you can count on to win but at least he’ll buy time.

Shoko is more of a meme than anything as she almost never gets to really do anything in the series. She has a lot of potential and her healing is supposed to be top rate but yeah don’t expect her to be appearing too often. I like the concept of her character though. She’s certainly better than the shifty Mei Mei who shows up for profits and then dips as soon as possible. She’s definitely not the most heroic character by a long shot and tends to be more on the annoying side. Her scenes with Ui Ui are particularly brutal. Ui Ui may help out at times but yeah I could do without him.

Two sorcerers who are even pointless though are the sumo wrestler guy and then later on the Kappa. They basically appear for a quick training scene to power someone up but that’s it. You can safely ignore them but I don’t regret their appearing. After all, with the Culling Games we needed a lot of different sorcerers for all of the matchups. So these guys helped to fill in a few of the slots even if there wasn’t a whole lot else going for them.

A sorcerer who appeared later on that actually did leave a good impression was Takaba. This guy loves joking around and has a casual reality warping ability where anything that he finds to be funny can come true. There are likely some limits to this ability even though we don’t actually get to see those. It was a very interesting twist to the final arc as things would just get a lot happier and more comedic when he was around. It also works out pretty well that he showed up near the end since it’s definitely possible that he could have gotten annoying if he was around for too long.

Now Higurama is a real highlight. As soon as he showed up he left a really great impression. I already love court room plots, characters, and scenes. So throwing in a character like that was a really great idea. He actually did make a real difference in the series as well. He’s fairly jaded by the start of his appearances and then warms up near the end. There’s just a whole lot to his character and I’d have liked to have seen more of his abilities. There really just wasn’t time for him to get any more action scenes once we were that deep into the series.

Mai is one of those characters who ended up having a smaller role than I was expecting. She still played a pivotal role in the end but ultimately would not become one of the strongest fighters. I blame her weapon, you’re never going to go all that far with a normal gun. It’s just not a weapon that is meant to take on powerful opponents in any verse. There are very few exceptions and she starts out as a bully anyway so it’s not like she had much time to be a hero.

The rest of her team generally falls into that role. Look at poor Miwa. She basically became a meme and nothing ever went right for her. The manga teases something that will happen near the end and it’s extremely underwhelming. Ultimately you may enjoy her as a character because she is a lot of fun but at the end of the day that’s about all that she has going for her. It would have been nice if she could have gotten one big moment to end things off with.

Todo gets a huge role though and stands out from the others. For starters his clapping teleportation is incredibly useful and even at the end of the series it is generally considered to be one of the best abilities in the verse. The amount of uses that it has is absolutely incredible and beyond that he is just a fun guy to have around. He had a good personality the whole time and always enjoyed a good fight. Those tend to be big green flags for me. Todo also got to be involved in just about all of the big fights which was fortunate.

Meanwhile Maki is another big character and she certainly got a lot of development throughout the series. She started out as a fairly tough fighter but not one of the top tiers. Well, by the end she can hold her head high as one of the big ones. Her physical abilities are great and she’s very no nonsense. It would have been nice to have seen a bit more of her personality post time skip but at the end of the day she still got her share of action. It was always fun to watch her fight.

I do have to put one knock against her though which is when she erased the Zenin clan. Yes the clan was evil but it’s made clear that she completely wiped them out with no exceptions. We see her execute even people who could not fight back and that’s when you start to go from vigilante into full blown villain territory. Kaisen has always been a series where the heroes don’t even try to cling onto a moral high ground so there isn’t much of an uproar about this but I still thought that it was going a little bit too far. It just didn’t leave a good taste to be having a “hero” do all of that. There had to be another way to pull this off.

There are comparisons made to Gojo threatening to murder all of the elders and ultimately another character doing this but the main difference is that all of the elders were involved with what was going on and you can’t say the same for everyone in the Zenin clan. Speaking of Yuta, he certainly gets a pretty big role in the series. He originally started out as a protagonist in Kaisen 0 after all and it was a lot of fun to see him show up here. It was definitely an awesome intro and from there he never looked back.

Yuta is one of the biggest powerhouses of the series after all and by having his own volume first, it really felt like he was a crossover character stepping foot into the main series. You appreciated all of his scenes all the more as a result and the fact that he got to face off with Geto’s body once more. Not Geto himself but the effect was still there.

Panda is given a good amount of hype in his own right but I wasn’t the biggest fan of his. In part it’s because I didn’t find him to be all that impressive in a fight and also because his personality just isn’t as bombastic. It’s one of those cases where there is nothing super wrong with him, he’s just not my kind of character. Hey that has to happen sometimes. Then we have Toge whose ability to make you do whatever he says is extremely handy. As a result he is kept away from the action for pretty much the whole series. It would have been nice for him to have gotten more to do. As it stands I would say he is a good character but there really isn’t much to say about him.

Junpei is one of those characters who was set up for a whole lot of action but ultimately didn’t last too long. That said, I didn’t like him as much as most people did. I appreciated the unexpectedness of his ending but at the same time as a character he was tricked way too easily. It made him look like a grade A sucker. Unfortunately he likely would have been bumped off either way but he didn’t need to make it so easy. That’s something that will always be a huge slight against him.

Then we have Hakari who really debuts late in the series. He got mentioned fairly early on too, but that’s just how it goes. Well he’s a fun character and I like how his ability forces you to play games with him. The visual novel for example was crazy and also just so unique. The author was maybe having a bit more fun than he needed to in terms of all the dialogue and everything but it really did force you to understand what his opponents were going through. Imagine having to remember everything about how to counter the ability when you are in a life or death fight.

Momo is one of those characters who doesn’t get anything to do and it’s easy to see why. She can ride a broom and that’s about it. She was so underwhelming from the start and never really got better. Then you have Kamo and the series sort of started to give him some importance but quickly took it away again. He had potential but just needed to do more to really join the big shots. Even when he got a team up with Maki it just felt like he was holding her back. Muta is the final member of the team who could actually fight and even then he made the worst moves possible.

I have a lot of points against him for betraying the team. His end was just so obvious the whole time and he puts everyone into a lot of trouble. There was no real going back for him from that point so I didn’t like him nearly as much as others. Yuki is a character who had very limited screentime but managed to make it count. I liked her mass ability. It was one of those abilities that is fairly simple but Gege managed to make it a little more intricate. He is certainly good at doing that. Would have been nice if she could have had one more fight though. I say that a lot with these characters and it shows just what a big verse Gege created in such a short amount of time.

Then we have Nanami who was a good intro instructor to Yuji. You don’t figure that he would last too long but he managed to make an impact. He’s one of those general all around types. Nothing too fancy in terms of ability or skill but still above average and enough to hold his own with most of the villains in the series. I was satisfied with the amount of fights and action that he got.

Finally you’ve got Tengen who is just annoying the whole time. He’s a perfect embodiment of all the corruption in the Jujutsu world. He continues to exist on the blood of innocents by sacrificing people which is messed up. When it comes time for a fight, he is powerless against the villains who matter. This guy tends to be a waste of space and you feel no real sympathy for him at all. Not much changes if you remove him from the series to be honest.

On the villains side we have Naoya who actually ends up being a really fun character. He’s the kind of guy who is very stubborn and determined. He keeps on returning over and over to take down the heroes and it is a good trait to have. The guy is a straight up villain and there is nothing ambiguous about him at all. He really works in the role though and was one of the more entertaining villains. That is really tough considering just how many colorful villains there are out there. I wouldn’t have minded if he got to appear even more to be honest.

Then we have Toji who is the best villain in the series. He is basically a human who stays fit and has a heavenly restriction that makes him extremely powerful. It’s a classic case of David and Goliath when he fights Gojo and that is part of the appeal since typically you would expect the hero to be the underdog. It’s why you have an easy time enjoying Toji here because he is using the tactics and planning you would typically expect out of Batman and he really dominates whenever he is on screen. Now here’s a character that I would have absolutely loved to have seen more of in the series. There is just so much to do with him but alas there is only so much time.

He certainly gets more screentime than Haruta which is a good thing. That guy is basically well known for being super weak and petty the whole time. What a thing to be known for right? I don’t even like the guy ironically, he’s just annoying the whole time. He’s also not very powerful and so he always has to rely on getting lucky with the matchups. But hey that’s his power so in a way it is fitting.

Uraume is much more interesting but she doesn’t actually get to appear very much. She’s sort of like Sukuna’s right hand man and her ice abilities are really impressive. Unfortunately most of her fight was off screen but from what we sae, she was very capable. I liked the concept of her a lot.

Then we have Miguel who wasn’t a villain for very long to be honest. That was back in the 0 days and here he shows up as a hero. His role is small but it was pretty cool seeing him show up for the final battle. Everyone got to contribute a little bit. Likewise for Geto who doesn’t appear much in the series at all yet he plays a massive role in it. He introduces a lot of concepts and debates into the series. Ultimately it’s just a bunch of lip service from a mass murderer with crazy ambitions but I always enjoyed the conversations. The guy also did go through a lot which is very clear.

Choso is one of the more fun antagonists with his initial aggression towards Yuji and then their bonds from then on. He was definitely real loyal and his blood powers were very good. Sometimes a big 180 personality shift like that may not work but in his case it did thanks to the circumstances around all of that. It was definitely a moment that the author planned out very well.

From the original villains the one with the smallest role is probably Dagon. He looks the least impressive initially and even by the end I would argue that he is probably the weakest. He does get a good fight and has a cool looking super form but ultimately this guy is more flash than substance. You can’t really put him in the same category as Jogo or Mahito. Those guys slam him every time.

Jogo has the worst luck I’ve seen for a big villain. He has to go up against the two strongest characters in the series. That’s an extremely rough fate and so while he is very powerful, we don’t get to see that very often. He is a very fun character either way though. Ultimately he had his own pride and fought hard til the end. I could definitely respect that and he even had the nice “Be proud” moment so the villain gave him respect as well.

Hanami has the rough luck of fighting Gojo but before that she did a lot of dominating as well. Her plant powers are really fun and she can also fight in hand to hand combat at an extremely high level. Another top tier villain and it reminds you of just how broken the group was. If not for Gojo then they could have easily taken down the Jujutsu society. All of the heroes combined would have really not stood a chance at that point.

Kashimo is one of those famous “Potential Man” characters. He had a really intense intro that caused a lot of people to become big fans of his but ultimately he never lived up to it. His ending was easily one of the most anti climactic ones out there. It’s very easy to make fun of him and hopefully the anime extends the sequence. As rough as it was, ultimately I still liked the guy. He just needed more screen time but still generally had a good personality that was exciting. I also tend to like thunder powers quite a bit.

Then we have Mahito who is one of the biggest villains in the series. The guy made things very personal with Yuji and the series really gave them time to develop this matchup. Both fighters really wanted to murder the other by the end of it. I remember enjoying Mahito enough where I wanted to see him fight Gojo but they barely get to interact at all. Ultimately it’s a terrible matchup for Mahito since it’s not like he can even touch Gojo. That removes his main advantage after all. Mahito is in a lot of ways like the Joker and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a hero vs villain rivalry as solid as this one. Maybe even since the Goku vs Frieza days which sounds pretty crazy but I would argue that either way this was a top tier one. Yuji probably shouldn’t have won in the end when you consider the power imbalance there.

Kenjaku is one of those villains who got worse and worse the more that he appeared. His plan just wasn’t all that great and while the randomness of it was intentional, it just didn’t feel fitting for such a mastermind villain. He really needed a better ending. There are a lot of fun memes due to how it ends as well. Like becoming someone’s mother and giving birth to a big character may have become relevant plot points by the end but it makes you wonder why he did the plan the way that he did. It all feels random once again and takes away major points from his mastermind status. If he had a more graceful end then it probably would have aged his character better.

Finally you have Sukuna who did end up being the final villain. This guy was hyped from the start and the series did a tremendous job with him. It’s not every day that a character gets to live up to the hype and make it to the end but Sukuna actually did this. There’s nothing else you could say except that it is very impressive. Sukuna got a number of super forms and kept pulling out techniques from under the hat. He knew how to really exploit all of the rules of sorcery and bend them to his whim. It made him the perfect final antagonist. I already discussed the matchup before so while I don’t think Sukuna should have lasted as long as he did, it still made for a really exciting climax. I don’t think we’re likely to see one quite as long and packed with characters for a very long time.

Now the series did end with a lot of unresolved plot lines, ideas, and concepts but like I said that’s fine in general. I don’t mind making up my own theories to fill in the blanks. I do think the weirdest one was how the series seemed to be implying that Yuji had some kind of reality warping with the delusions he showed Todo and Choso. For both of those to be coincidences was a real stretch so I didn’t quite buy into Gege’s plan there.

Kaisen is great no matter when you read it but I will say that it will feel a bit different without the live commentary. This is one of those series that was really fun to read live. There were so many twists and turns that generated a ton of discussion and memes. Again I don’t think we’ll be seeing anything quite so elaborate out of a manga again for a very long time aside from One Piece which has been around for so long. Kaisen really got to join the all time greats in how good it was at encouraging debate.

Overall, Jujutsu Kaisen is a great manga. It really nailed all of the big things that I would look for in a manga like solid characters and great fights. It made it to a pretty solid length as well. Naturally I wish it could have kept on going for a longer amount of time but at the end of the day it’s enough to be satisfied with. I would definitely recommend this title. It may be a tad darker than some Shonens but at the end of the day it is still a classic Jump title at heart. It has a lot of good messages and keeps you absolutely engaged the entire time. It’ll be difficult for any of the new up and coming titles to really defeat it.

Overall 8/10

World Trigger Review

Posted on September 12, 2024 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 9/10

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