Quit Laughing, Shijima Review

Posted on August 15, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for a manga oneshot that came out recently. It’s got a pretty interesting premise and definitely succeeds at setting up a full length series down the road if the author ever wants to go there. The artwork is pretty solid and the characters are on point. The adventure also sticks the landing so this one makes all of the right choices throughout.

The title starts off by introducing us to a guy who hasn’t made up his mind on what he wants to do with his future. In a way you could say that he still has some time since he is in high school but everyone else have already decided on their plans. Azumi may fall behind if he doesn’t decide soon. The whole school also idolizes a girl named Shijima who has a nice laugh. People are constantly giving her things for free as a result of her positive energy but Azumi feels like something is wrong about this. Just 1 week ago everyone had been bullying her for the way that her teeth looked. What has changed?

The chapter goes through a whole conspiracy with the town basically deciding to be collectively evil. It’s the kind of experience that would be hard for anyone to accept. Azumi has to deal with the knowledge that he can’t trust anyone and that if he wants to save Shijima, it will pit him against everyone. That’s not an easy choice to make but Azumi is ready for this and has also been in love with her for a long time. Yes, at its core you could say that this story is part romance as well. There is a whole lot of horror along the way as well.

That’s where the art gets to show off. The visuals get really crazy and you almost wonder why Azumi hasn’t gone crazy yet. He’s one of the only ones who is able to see the weird demons running around. There are others who can see them as well but they refuse to talk about it. There is a very eerie atmosphere throughout the story and so I can say that the writer really understands the horror genre well. This is still part Shonen so I wouldn’t expect anything too crazy but to me that was a really fair mix.

Azumi also just works as a great main character. He knows that what the town is doing isn’t right and so he sets off to stop it. He is heavily outnumbered and is making powerful enemies but doesn’t care. He will save Shijima no matter what price he has to pay. The ending even doubles down on this as he will continue trying to save as many people as possible. If this ever did get a full length series I bet it would really be a lot of fun. The world building is already set up really well.

As for Shijima, I get the feeling that she wouldn’t really return. This oneshot was revolving around her but I took it as an example of the kinds of people that Azumi would be helping. She was a solid enough character. While I disagreed with her actions, she was grown up and raised in a way where she wouldn’t have known enough to fight back. From Shijima’s point of view she was doing the right thing so it is hard to fault her for that. She was essentially brainwashed from the start. Shijima still never complained about her lot in life and just went forward as best she could.

A side effect of this is that all of the adults look terrible of course. They are all on board with the corrupt system plaguing the series and don’t bother to ask any questions. They have even created a whole system of money and power around this. Now with a full series I imagine we would get introduced to people who are against the system and those who would rise against it. That’s a good thing but still won’t let these guys out of the woods. No matter what twists and turns come up, we know they were all willing to sacrifice Shijima for what they considered to be the greater good.

The kid also look equally bad. They’re in high school so that’s old enough to know better. I was glad that Azumi didn’t remain friends with the rest of the crew after he found out the truth. Some things are just way too far to ever come back from. As for what this thing is? Well you’ll have to read the oneshot to find out. I’m mainly avoiding mentioning what it is that the whole town/city is complicit in but I’m confident you’ll agree that they are all crazy.

The story isn’t defending it in any way either. It’s really just showing how nobody was ready to stand up to this situation before Azumi showed up. I also wonder if a series is already being planned because you have more characters introduced at the very end of the story who are poised to play a role later on. Definitely an interesting thing to do if this was truly a oneshot adventure right? I’ll be rooting for it to continue at the very least. We can always use more classic hero stories like this one about one guy having to fight to destroy the system.

Overall, This was a pretty good story. There were no weaknesses to it. The story, artwork, and characters were all very good. I can definitely understand why it is getting a lot of praise. The ultimate goal of a oneshot is to get you excited for a full series around this concept and the story absolutely succeeded with that. Every part of it was super interesting and the groundwork is already there. I think Shonen Jump could have a really fun title for the next generation here. In the meantime, read this one so you can get that view count up.

Overall 8/10

Black Clover Review

Posted on August 9, 2026 by dreager1

It’s finally time to take a look at one of the greatest manga titles of all time. Black Clover is one of those titles that you just wanted to keep on going and going for as long as possible. It definitely lasted though so at the end of the day I was pretty satisfied. It has earned its place among the premier Shonen Jump titles like Bleach and Naruto. You’ll want to get on this series as soon as possible.

The story starts by introducing a boy named Asta who was born without any kind of magical abilities. This puts him in a really tough position because in this world magic is everything. People learn to treat people like dirt from a young age based on how much magical energy they have. It’s essentially unheard of to have no magic power. What makes this even worse is that Asta’s childhood friend and rival Yuno is a prodigy with incredible amounts of magic. Asta chooses to fight on though and gets recruited by the Black Bulls. They are a magic guild for misfits and all have some kind of quirk. Now Asta will finally be able to make some friends and can also learn to master his special skill, anti magic.

Now I know what you’re thinking, isn’t anti magic a bit of a cop out? The short answer is yes but it’s worth it because otherwise it would be difficult to show exactly how Asta can hold his own against all of these powerful foes. Anti magic works just like normal magic and can effectively do anything but the biggest draw is that it can cut straight through magical attacks. It essentially nullifies all of them with a direct hit. You can see how valuable this ability is now right?

Of course it wouldn’t be a great ability if the user couldn’t keep up. Fortunately Asta spent his entire life working on his physical abilities to make up for the lack of magic. As a result he can move faster than most and his physical strength continues to impress people throughout the series. Asta tends to win most of his encounters and absolutely crushes those who are obsessed with their magical abilities. If you use them as a crutch then you will definitely be in trouble.

The series has a classic Shonen Jump tone to it so you can expect to have a lot of fun here. There are consistent themes of improving yourself and never giving up. That’s a big part of Asta’s character after all. He never gives up no matter how rough things get for him. Even when he is painfully rejected and has his friends turn against him, Asta continues to fight. “I’m not done yet” becomes one of his catchphrases and it works well. A lot of Shonen leads tend to have unbreakable wills but I would say that even among them Asta tends to stand out. He just takes this to the extreme and it works incredibly well. He’s a big part of why Black Clover is so good.

A top tier series will come down to having an amazing main character after all. You need to have someone you can root for and that is Asta in a nutshell. He is a super well rounded character and is always inspiring to follow. Asta also hopes to be the Wizard King someday so you can expect to see him yelling about that quite a lot. It’s always good to have a central goal and Asta never wavers in it.

There is a pretty big cast of supporting characters and we’ll definitely be getting onto those shortly. Before that I also have to talk about the amazing artwork here. This is one of the absolute best ones that Shonen Jump has to offer. The artwork is strong and has a lot of detail throughout. Each fight scene really works perfectly and this is the kind of story where the chapters absolutely fly by as a result. There is no title that can easily crush this one in the art department.

Clover also does a great job of mainly avoiding fanservice. That is the cast for a lot of the modern Jump titles but is still always worth mentioning. For a title this long it’s not going to be at 0 of course but it’s pretty close to that in the grand scheme of things. The series also isn’t afraid to have some romance but I wouldn’t say it’s one of the strongest titles in that respect. They were actually building up a pretty decent plot with Noelle and Asta but didn’t really close the deal there. In a way that’s a good thing since Asta always had she’s for Sister Lily instead. You probably don’t want to go down the rebound route there so I suppose it makes sense.

As with any long running series there will be some plot threads that don’t feel resolved by the end. This feeling gets magnified when you are reading weekly and then chapter by chapter once it stopped being weekly because you’ll see people commenting about the plots they couldn’t wait to see. This includes some demons that don’t really get closure or backstories that aren’t delved into. It’s going to always be rare to complete every plot in a long series like this though and I was satisfied overall. The series ends with a big battle that I had been waiting for throughout the series after all. If I had any regrets, it is just that we never got to see the big 3 all team up for a fight. Asta, Yuno, and Noelle are consistently shown as a power trio but never actually team up against an opponent in the end. I did think that was a missed opportunity.

Okay now let’s get into the characters. Yuno is the big rival in the series and works as a very subversive kind of character. At first you expect he will turn evil at some point or grow jealous of Asta as the lead goes higher in the ranks. Instead Yuno is supportive throughout the series and it’s why I consider this to be one of the healthiest rivalries in all of Jump. Yuno is the kind of rival you would want to have in real life because he will help build you up instead of knocking you down.

He did grow up together with Asta so it was nice to see that this didn’t suddenly get thrown down the drain just because they became rivals. Yuno continued to be friends with Asta at the same time and it was just a great dynamic. Every time Asta would get a power up, Yuno would answer with one of his own. In general I always felt Asta was a bit stronger thanks to anti magic being a full counter to magic but they were both super powerful. Yuno has that cool air about him that always guaranteed him a high spot in the ranks.

Then we have Noelle as the main heroine of the series. Initially she was unable to control her magic powers which is part of why she was in the Black Bulls. She technically always had a great amount of magic power but without control it would just make her a danger to everyone. As the series goes on she has different people help her out with this and she makes a bunch of friends. It’s a very classic kind of character arc that works really well. I was especially glad to see her keep pace with the other characters all the way through to the end of the series instead of getting left behind.

Her fighting style was a lot of fun with all of the super speed. Speedblitzing tends to be one of the most enjoyable fighting styles to watch and this was no exception. Noelle’s backstory was also handled extremely well from start to finish. It was just the right amount of emotional without being over the top and had great closure by the end as her mom even got brought into the picture.

Acier is mostly a flashback character until the final arc when a bunch of the old characters get brought into the present. It’s not exactly her usual personality but the spell does a good job of keeping their humanity with a new set of moral guidelines. As a result it feels like we still really got to see Acier and her brilliant abilities. That was a lot of fun and Clover is one of those titles where the previous generations could actually hold their own against the modern ones.

Just look at the original Wizard King who continues to be one of the most powerful characters even in the present. He was able to handle one of the original devils and briefly returns to fight another one. He was a lot of fun and I wish we could have seen more of him. It’s hard to juggle every character though so I need to be satisfied with what we got. His assistant Secre also ended p getting a pretty good role in the present. Her locking abilities were really good and could work in more combat situations than you may have expected. She was a fun addition to the team even if she came in a bit later on as well.

Black Clover also had a fully operational legal system at the ready with Damnatio judging criminals. He shows up more than once and is not a fan of Asta. He feels like the anti magic stuff is too far outside of the norm and has to keep the lead in check. It leads to one of the best moments for the Black Bulls as they roll in to save him. I liked Damnatio as an antagonist even if I can never see him as a hero. His sense of justice is far too rigid and ends up being a detriment all of the tie. If he had been at least a little reasonable that could have been different but he never ends up helping. With allies like that, who needs enemies?

Now lets go through the magic knight squads. Nozel is the head of his group and is also involved with Noelle’s backstory. He’s her older brother and does not treat her very well at all. The series tries to walk this back a whole lot later on but it was too late for this guy. I’ll say that the series did a pretty good job of making each character very layered. In many other titles he would have been a one note bully but that wasn’t the case here. Outside of the Noelle context he was a well respected captain and consistently portrayed as a hero. This fault was just big enough where I certainly was not going to be rooting for him anytime soon.

It doesn’t take away from his strength, the guy is definitely a beast in combat. You want him on your side in a fight without a doubt but it would be hard to call someone like that your comrade. This is a criticism you can have for a great deal of the characters. To an extent they all buy into this corrupt system or at least don’t try to overturn it. Even Julius who by and large appears to be a kind wizard king doesn’t upset the status quo. It’s not like this would be an easy challenge but Asta and many others had to put up with a lot of grief that shouldn’t be there. Whether Asta or Yuno became the wizard king, you could count on them changing the status quo completely.

I suppose leaving the kingdom is one way to avoid the issue. Mereoleona is one of the most powerful characters in the series and ultimately she chose to just live in the wilderness. She prefers to be around the beasts and this also helped her to become one with energy. Once she shows up, all of the other fire characters quickly became inferior by comparison. She really stole the show in each fight and was definitely a fantastic character. Mereoleona may have entered the game later than a lot of the other characters but left an immediate impact. I also just tend to really like aggressive characters like her.

Fuegoleon is the actual captain of the fire crew and while he is strong, he doesn’t tend to appear a whole lot. He is written out of the series for a large chunk after losing an arm and even by the end never catches up to Mereoleona. He still looks good though and has more honor than most of the other characters. I also really enjoyed his speech about how there is no shame in being weak, only in remaining so. As with most things in life, there are ways to improve if you put in the effort and he only judges those who never try to improve.

He had a protege named Leopold who was initially set up as another rival to Asta but then ended up vanishing for most of the series. I feel like he was originally meant to have a bigger role and then something happened. I still enjoyed his character and he’s a solid fighter to have around but never quite lived up to his full potential. Partially because of how quickly he was written out, I would not say that he ended up being one of the stronger fighers in the series. He got a last second power up but I didn’t really buy into it.

Then we have Mimosa who likes Asta but she has a lot of competition in this series. I’d say the only issue she runs into is also a lack of screentime. We just don’t get to see her very much and most of her scenes are about Asta. We needed to see more of her motivations and character moments to really get her up the rankings. I ended up preferring Lily and Noelle but at least Mimosa did her best to improve her battle abilities so that she could help Ast out. She ultimately means well.

Now lets talk about some of the Black Bulls. We’ve got Gauche who has a gag about being really close to his sister. I’d say that gag tends to get overplayed right away. The anime would actually try to liven things up and get him to be a bit funnier but in the manga he tends to be one note. Gauche is very strong but from the Black Bulls he tends to be on the weaker side in terms of personality. He actually tried to murder Asta early on for very petty reasons which was really hard to come back from. Certainly not impossible but it was a rough first impression.

Then there is Charmy who has a big backstory based on the lore but we never fully get to see it. I think there were bigger plans for her as well. Her power set is pretty fun though. On one hand she is a berserker and on the other she can bake a lot of tasty food which can completely restore a person’s magical power. In short, she is an incredible ally to have in a support role. She’s someone you can really count on and is just a lot of fun.

Finral is a character who started out a little rough but got a lot better. He starts off with a bit of a doomed romance and tries to ignore these feelings by being a huge flirt all the time. He has a tragic backstory with his brother as well and so there was a lot on his mind. As the series goes on he gets to have more serious moments. His teleportation abilities always had a lot of potential and he got to fully realize them by the end of the series. Finral is a character with no shortage of character development and it was nice to see him improve. It’s not like he’s one of my top characters by the end but without a doubt I can say that he improved in a major way.

Then we have Gordon who unfortunately gets the short end of the stick when it comes to screentime. We never see much of his backstory and he never gets a definitive solo fight. His poison abilities seem to be pretty handy but we just don’t get a lot of exposure to it. Maybe the author had trouble thinking of how to have the poison users fight. He mumbles a bit too much for me and lacks confidence but he’s not the only one in that boat. Grey is another member of the Black Bulls who is super shy.

I was expecting Grey to get more to do as will but that never ended up happening. I suppose even for a series as long as Black Clover there would be some characters who just don’t get to have a ton of screentime. Nothing to do about that I suppose. Grey was a nice enough character but I did want her to show some more confidence by the end. In a series like this about determination and teamwork you really want to see each character go out of their shells by the end.

Nacht is a Black Bull who showed up near the very end but had no confidence issues at all. He is quick to talk smack to the other characters in fact and never wavers there. I liked his shadow powers and he made for a nice wild card. He wasn’t afraid to smack talk the captain and stir up arguments among the group. As one of the original members that just comes with the territory so nobody could really stop him on that front. That’s always a fun way to have a character get into the dynamic. He really brought something fresh to the group.

Then we have Luck who was one of my favorite members of the group. He started to get power creeped a little by the end but for the most part was always ready to fight with everybody. He uses lightning based powers which come with a lot of speed and savagery. Always an incredible combo to have in a fight and he always spurs the other characters into training even harder. He’s a really cheery guy and was also one of the first ones to treat Asta equally. Luck never cared about ranks and such, he’s just not that kind of guy.

His bantering buddy Magna was also a fun character. Now I admit that I always found Magna to be rather weak so I don’t take him too seriously in a fight but he actually gets some pretty big wins in the series. Again I kind of shake my head at those a bit but a win’s a win. Magna’s an old school kind of guy who believes in respect and duking things out fairly. He’s a fun character to have around and tends to get rage baited by Luck a whole lot. He’s one of the central pillars of the group so the team wouldn’t be the same without him.

There is also Vanessa who has powerful abilities as a witch. She can effectively rewrite reality but it does take up some energy. So she isn’t completely invincible but ends up being one of the more powerful characters as a result. I was not expecting to see this kind of ability in one of the heroes so that was pretty cool. She got her own mini arc which is more than some of the other characters can say and ends up being a main supporting character throughout the series.

There’s also Henry but he gets a really small role due in part to how late he joined the crew. Even once he is around, the guy doesn’t appear much since he can’t really be outside. The only way for him to survive is by staying within the Black Bull hideout which limits the amount of screentime potential that he has. I wasn’t a big fan anyway but he definitely has a tragic story. It’s hard to imagine how difficult it would be to have to always be indoors.

Then we have Zora who joins up a bit later in the series but is also a lot of fun. He really likes sticking it to the nobles which is a good way to get revenge. They certainly put his family through a lot after all. While Asta’s form of revenge may be to just live his best life and prove everyone wrong, Zora likes to take more direct revenge. He’s a fun character without a doubt and always a lot of fun to root for. He’s far from being one of the more powerful fighters but makes up for it with his trickery. Zora is also a very loyal ally that you can count on and fits in really well with the group.

Finally we have the captain Yami. People often joke about how he feels like the main character of another series. He gets a lot of power ups as well as a whole lot of lore. He knows all of the big players and remains relevant in all of the arcs right through to the end. It’s easy to root for Yami and he just makes for a really good character. Asta manages to surpass him by the end but until then Yami gets his share of end arc bosses. We also have a super awesome team up with him and Asta against one of the demon triad. It’s always important to have a good mentor figure and Yami absolutely fits the bill there.

He may have set the standard a bit too high for the captains as none of the others can really catch up to him. Dorothy is one of the captains who doesn’t get a lot to do. She has dream type powers which are certainly handy but not quite as formidable or invincible as the other captains. Dorothy never gets a really big fight where she can show her stuff so that was disappointing. Pretty much all of the other captains got more to do.

Take Jack for example. As Yami’s rival this guy gets several fights to himself. I personally never thought he was powerful enough to be Yami’s rival but his swords are sharp. That’s essentially his whole gimmick, he has the sharpest swords possible. It’s hard for any of the other fighters to really keep up with him in a straight fight but since Jack has no other abilities there are a lot of ways to hit him from a distance. By the end Jack started learning how to cut intangible things so that would help a lot but it was almost at the literal end of the series that he got this power.

Charlotte is a strong captain as well and she has a bit of a romance plot going on with Yami. He tends to act oblivious the whole time but you can tell that it’s an act for most of it and he just likes to give her a hard time. She is relatively powerful but is another character who we didn’t get to see fight as much as you’d like. In a way her most impressive abilities showed up while she was evil or losing control. In theory she is way more powerful now but there just weren’t enough big villains to go around. She still got enough fights to show her overall strength as a captain though.

Rill is one of the lucky captains since he gets a full blown fight with Yuno midway through the series. That was a super good battle and showed the kind of abilities that you would expect from a captain. I’d say that Yuno still had the slight advantage overall but it was an extremely close fight. Rill’s ability to draw whatever he wants is a super versatile ability. Drawing tends to be broken in most titles after all so this one was no exception. Personality wise he can be a bit too much like a kid but is not bad overall.

Then we have Vangeance who gets a whole lot to do. He has powers over the trees within nature and is fairly strong. I was never super impressed with him but he is portrayed as being incredibly powerful. Perhaps I ought to put a little more respect on the trees. I was never a big fan of the guy but his role within the series is a good one as it spurs on a whole lot of other plot developments. I also thought he had a pretty cool mask.

Finally you have the Wizard King himself. Julius has powers over time which is absolutely impressive. Definitely the kind of abilities that make him more powerful than almost anyone in the verse. There is really no weakness to this ability and the only way to overpower him involved hostages. One thing I really appreciated about Julius was how ruthless he could be. He had absolutely no mercy towards the villains and would obliterate them without a second thought. His first priority was always to protect his kingdom no matter what.

It was to the point where there were many theories about how he was actually evil. I get it, Julius has that kind of aura about him but sometimes you need that in a hero. He keeps the villains on guard and makes sure that the title of wizard king is one that is feared by all villains. That’s exactly the guy that you want at the helm of your kingdom. For that reason the author had to use different tricks to keep him out of the front lines most of the time.

Then we had some other magic knights who weren’t captains but still had a pretty big role. First up is Langris who really goes crazy during the tournament arc. The whole Black Bulls team had to go in to shut this guy down. There were extenuating circumstances as he usually isn’t that crazy but it definitely made for a really intense moment. Langris also has an incredibly cool ability where he can destroy anything in his line of vision. It’s a rather broken ability to be honest. I can’t say that I ever became a fan of his as the guy is too petty but he made for a good villain.

Alecdora is one of those magic knights with a pretty good design but his role in the series is as small as can be. I suppose you can’t win them all. It was still nice to see the guy though and it helped as a way to flesh out the other guilds. Klaus is another guy who didn’t have a huge role but this way Yuno had more real teammates at his side. Asta quickly gained his respect over time which was also good. Klaus isn’t a particularly strong fighter otherwise.

Sekke is one of the main comic relief characters of the series and to be honest he never really gets past that point. His abilities don’t have much potential in the first place and it’s not like he trains all that much. For that reason it’s actually a good thing that he didn’t improve much because it wouldn’t have really made any sense. He was funny at least and so he does serve his purpose. If he wasn’t funny then that would have been a problem.

Sister Lily is a fun character from the introduction arc. She gets more of a role in the climax than you would expect. I was super satisfied with how her character arc went. She never betrayed her own values while still getting to show off her amped up abilities. There wasn’t a lot to do with her character but that makes sense. She never overstayed her welcome in this way while still helping Asta to move forward.

Other early characters like Kahono and Kiato didn’t get much to do later on but were still instrumental in the opening. Without them around as encouragement the heroes wouldn’t have done so well. They also ended up being fairly memorable despite pretty much being one shot characters so that’s impressive. Keep in mind that there are plenty of other characters throughout the series but it’s hard to cover everyone who shows up. I mainly stick to the really big characters.

There is a clan related to Yami’s backstory near the end for example that has a bunch of members. Most of them don’t really stand out though because they really showed up during the end game. Ryuya was the leader and definitely has one of the bigger roles. He was really good at staying 4 steps ahead even if he didn’t get to fight much. The one with the big combat role was Ichika instead and she was fun to have around. Definitely a bit of an emotional fighter but always keeping pace with the others. I would have liked for her to have debuted a bit earlier so we could have had more banter with her and Asta.

Then we had the bigshot members of the other territories like the Witch Queen and Lolopechka. The Witch Queen felt like a character who would have a bigger role later on but that never really happened. It’s too bad because there was a whole lot of potential right there. Her curses were the real deal after all but it’s hard to say how well she could fight hand to hand. Lolopechka was definitely less of a fighter but had powerful retainers like Gadjah to fight in her stead. I was never a big fan of Lolo but Gadjah was fairly solid. He also came a bit late but was a very stoic character who served his purpose.

Finally there was Liebe who served as Asta’s partner demon. This guy showed up really late considering that most demon partners tend to be around from arc 1 in these kinds of titles. He still ended up being very likable right away. He had a very emotional backstory and just works well with the banter. The only weak point here is his lack of screentime since he really could have stood to have had more screentime.

Now lets go into the villains. First up we have Revchi and Rades who showed up really early on. They were honestly pretty decent as far as intro villains go. Revchi helped Asta really find his fighting spirit while Rades worked as the classic insane kind of villain. It would have been nice if he could fight more instead of hiding behind his zombies the whole time though. Summoner villains usually don’t have a whole lot of long term impact because they fold once you get lose to them.

Then we have Mars who showed up as another strong villain. He actually gets a decent amount of backstory and appears a bit more than you’d expect. I wasn’t as big a fan of his as I expected though. I think he just returned a little too late and should have gotten way more to do throughout the story. It would have worked way better for his character. At least he wasn’t a total oneshot like Ladros. That guy did not end up making any kind of an impact by the end because of how briefly he was around.

The villains from the midnight group were all pretty fun. Vetto probably left the biggest impact because of his spectacular fights. I also just really like it when characters are fighting head on like that. He just moves faster and faster as he adapts to his foes and never relents. Even by the end of the series I would say that he was one of the more fun villains. Simple brute types can really wok well like this.

Sally has less of a combat role since she prefers to do her experiments. I felt like this series didn’t have a whole lot of room for the mad scientist type though so her role was not nearly as big as you would expect. Fana also had a lot of potential with her flame abilities but didn’t get to fight for too long. To make up for that she does have a full backstory though. I thought it was handled pretty well. She still left more of an impact than Valtos. I mainly just remember the guy for getting punched out by Asta. Definitely not someone who is really ready for close quarters combat like that.

Then we have “Licht” who makes for a really good end boss. The guy gets a lot of twists and developments but really was portrayed as a great threat. His abilities are light based which means that they move incredibly fast and are hard to react to. Ultimately this is a character who probably should have died in his arc because the elves never get much to do after this. I felt like there was no point to bringing them back. Same for Rhya who was a really good villain initially and then ends up just being around.

It’s a cautionary tale of why you shouldn’t keep villains around unless you really intend to keep on using them. If you don’t, then letting them end off in a bang is really the way to go. You can make that case for someone like Adramelech who showed up later as well. His character never gets a real conclusion so he could have just been defeated in an earlier fight. It might be that his role was always meant to be very subversive but as a reader I can’t say that it was very satisfying. Letting him be taken out of the picture earlier would have been a good idea.

The demons all tend to leave solid impacts though. Lucius is the final villain of the series and he has a great design. His motivations are pretty fun and there is just a lot that you can do with time based abilities. Towards the end of the series he probably monologues a little too much which buys the heroes time to defeat him. He should have taken them all more seriously but alas that is how a lot of villains end up being defeated. They just believe in their abilities way too much while discounting the powers of the heroes.

Dante is a villain with a cool design but he does fall down somewhat over his goals. Being girl crazy is a trait that will really never help a villain out. Far as I’m concerned it just makes him look really petty the whole time. He was really powerful so I enjoyed his fights but the guy has the weakest personality out of the triad. Vanica is vastly superior with how much set up we got for her vs Noelle. She was also one of those villains who just wouldn’t stand down. Long after the human part was gone, her devil continued to fight more and more.

She was also crazy in all of the right ways that just made her a lot of fun to watch. You’re guaranteed to remember her by the time you’re done with the series. She left an impression and had enough power to back it up. Same with Zenon who continued to fight hard for a long time. His bone powers are really cool and his victory over Yuno was one of the pivotal moments in the series. Yuno is someone who is mainly untouchable for a large chunk of the series so seeing him get beat like that was crazy. Zenon is probably the quietest member of the trio but perhaps the most powerful. I’d say that’s pretty debatable though.

The devils like Lucifero and Megicula were also really solid. Lucifero did become a bit of a meme within the community with how much the heroes were talking down to him though. I think that’s almost unavoidable when you are around for too long though. If you haven’t taken care of business in a few chapters then people are going to clown on you. That’s just a natural effect but his fight was still super cool. The devils all had a lot of aura to them and kept the heroes on the back foot. The same goes for Beelzebub and Zagred.

There were other devils around who were really powerful as well including some that never got to appear in the end. The series just had to wrap up before it had time for them. We still got a ton of content out of this including a whole time skip for the final arcs. Black Clover is ultimately a series that had an incredible run and I was glad to be there for it. There’s naturally a lot more to be said for the series but I’d say that hits all of the main beats.

Black Clover has a tournament arc, the devils arc, and an invasion arc. As long as you like these classic Shonen setups then you will love the series. It handles them all extremely well and the build up is completely unmatched. There is really nothing to dislike about the series and everything to love. It really embodies all of the best traits of Shonen Jump titles and dials them up to 11. I’ve written several editorials about how amazing the series was as a result of this and I could picture myself writing more in the future. Maybe one day we’ll even get a sequel series.

Overall, Black Clover is an exceptional series and one that I would absolutely recommend. You’ll be able to have even more fun now since you can binge the whole series without having to wait week to week. The final chapters in particular were rough since you had to wait months for the next installment. I’ll always remember this one fondly and it’ll be hard to any future title to match this one. This was a top 10 manga of all time after all and I don’t see it getting knocked out of there anytime soon. The anime is coming back in the near future too and I’m expecting another high tier production like last time.

Overall 9/10

Blue Box Review

Posted on July 19, 2026 by dreager1

Shonen Jump has lost another big title with Blue Box coming to an end. At one point it was thought to be the next king of Jump to replace One Piece. Unfortunately One Piece still has many years left to go so that was not in the cards. Box still had a fairly long runtime though and was a fun enough series. I would say that it did start to lose a lot of steam in the second half but that’s just how these things go sometimes. The series was unable to capture the same high levels of energy of the will they/won’t they once the main two were together.

The series follows a boy named Taiki who is really into Badminton and a girl named Chinatsu who is a star Basketball player. They both attend the same high school although Chinatsu is one grade above Taiki’s. He has always had a big crush on her and they see each other a lot as the first two people in the gym every morning. What he didn’t expect was for Chinatsu to move in with him! Her parents will be away for a while and were friends with his parents so they got permission for her to stay so that she could focus on Basketball. Now Taiki has more opportunities to confess but also feels like this is a bad time to do so. It could make her feel uncomfortable…what should he do?

First off I would say that Taiki is absolutely correct here. He may want to confess and everything but to be honest it would be the wrong call. Her parents are counting on this being a relaxing environment for Chinatsu with no distractions. A confession is absolutely selfish here because it puts her in a bad spot if she says no. A confession can’t have any pressure behind it or else the whole thing just won’t feel right. This naturally does lead to a lot of drama though as Chinatsu also likes Taiki but faces the same struggles. They have a hard time getting on the same page and both have other suitors who appear to be interested.

That is much more of a factor for Taiki though. His childhood best friend, Hina, really likes him. She’s not even very subtle about it but Taiki completely sees her as a friend and is oblivious to every flirtatious moment. Unfortunately his best friend Kyo is a professional gaslighter who makes every situation much harder than it has to be. So there’s a lot going on but in a way that’s what makes the first half really intense. It was just really chaotic with a whole lot of players involved.

So lets go with the weaknesses of the series first. One is that the sport matches star to be more off screen as the series goes on. This was never a sports series first and foremost but we still got some really big battles early on like Taiki vs Haryu. By the end of the series we start skipping major portions of matches and even skip all of Nationals itself. You know, the thing that was Taiki’s goal from the start? That was definitely an annoying moment because it would have been so cool. You could easily have cut some chapters from the side characters to make room for that. Chinatsu’s final competitions at least got some screentime even if I would have liked to have seen more.

The other weakness by the end is that the supporting characters were never as interesting. It is pretty much obligatory that you try to pair up all of the side characters at the end but you don’t have a lot of reason to care about them. Not compared to the main two which is where all of the development had gone to anyway. Most of these characters are basically left with rebound options so it’s not like you could say the romances are particularly strong either. It works well enough you could say but it’s why the first half is much better.

As for the art, it’s not bad. It’s definitely not one of the stronger Shonen Jump titles in that area though. In particular there were two characters who looked way too similar and I would constantly mix them up. Yusa and his brother. Now granted, brothers should look alike but they really appeared to be identical at times. The art is still good enough though so I wouldn’t say that I had any serious issues there.

So lets get into the characters. First up we have Taiki and I was really clowning on him throughout the series. He just couldn’t stop catching Ls as most of the drama was his fault. Pushing Chinatsu away while in public because he got scared of what other people would think was something that happened more than once. To be clear, he was doing this because he thought that is what was best for Chinatsu. It still doesn’t make him look much better.

Then he doesn’t handle the Hina situation very well. He actually started out well by initially rejecting her but then Kyo got in his head and Taiki started to hesitate. Taiki initially knew that he only had eyes for Chinatsu and needed to stick with that. Instead Kyo gave him an analogy about coffee and a lot of other crazy stuff. Ultimately Taiki decides to still be close friends with Hina which allows her to try and make another play. That was probably a moment too far for her and he needed to break things off.

It’s extremely hard to be friends with someone who wants you. Especially when they already know that you like someone else. It comes off as really selfish no matter how you slice it. Taiki just lacks in confidence a whole lot and this carried over right to the end of the series. Even in the last chapters he is still acting like that. It’s partially because he is written as the everyman and there is this idea that guys are always going to be a little passive/nervous around the girl. Perhaps it is realistic to a degree but it doesn’t make him a very strong lead. I needed to see more fire out of him instead of learning the same lessons over and over again.

In comparison Chinatsu is the much better character. She basically has to initiate every interaction between them. She never loses sight of her goals or waves in the slightest no matter who approaches her. I also appreciate how defensive she gets when anyone makes fun of Taiki. She is very quick to fire back and that’s the kind of loyalty you like to see. Chinatsu’s a very well rounded character and continues to excel in Basketball/school even outside of the romance. Taiki may be her goal but he isn’t the only part of her world.

Even as someone who was more on team Hina in terms of character, Chinatsu is one of the best parts of the series. There can be no doubt on that. She even gets her own rival later on in the series which was pretty cool. No, not a rival in love but an actual Basketball rival so I really appreciated that. She’ll likely have to continue leading the relationship with Taiki but is more than willing to always put in the effort there.

As for Hina, well I may have liked her a lot but some of her actions are pretty indefensible. She continues to go after Taiki even once he has a girlfriend which is really not cool. I know that some will say it’s all fair game until marriage but that’s not a very healthy outlook. Do you really want a guy that you can steal away so easily? To be direct, you should give up if the person you are interested in is already taken. Nothing good can come from going down that avenue but there are certainly a lot of bad things that can arise.

Once you have moved on, then it’s possible you will find someone else but it will take time. The series presents at least two more options for Hina after Taiki and both feel like they would have just been emotional rebounds. For that reason I am glad that the series didn’t force anything at the end. The door is left open for this to succeed and it’s certainly implied that she will eventually make a choice but at least it wasn’t instant. Hina was taking her time and that’s important.

Her final character arc of realizing that she actually wasn’t over Taiki was actually a really good one. Aside from the misstep of telling him about it, it makes sense that she couldn’t just snap her fingers and be over him. A lot of times in the movies you will see a character just immediately move on when they are rejected but things don’t tend to move that fast. The feelings will take some time to dissipate.

Then we have Kyo who is a particularly weak supporting character. By the time he starts to get more screentime at the end, it is too little, too late. It felt like he was mainly around to just sabotage Taiki for a while there. I want to be clear that he never did this intentionally but has a bad habit of talking way too much and he always just has the wrong takes. The guy is a bit too quiet otherwise and then in his own romance he ends up being passive. Even in the moments that are supposed to make him likable, they never seemed to land. Ultimately I had to give him a thumbs down.

Taiki’s parents were far better as characters. It’s not like they have a big role but they were consistently solid the whole time. They mostly kept a hands off approach but Taiki’s dad would remind him to always do what’s right. Then the mom would always do her best to help out in the background by prepping for events, supporting Taiki, etc. Chinatsu’s parents are much the same way with her father very reasonably not being a fan of the setup once he found out that Taiki liked her. That’s just responsible parenting after all since that opens the door to a lot of tricky situations. He ultimately allows it but I wouldn’t have faulted him even if he had made Chinatsu move out.

Haryu works well as the first rival. In a way he is the older what if version of Taiki. He got to play at a high level and has a good relationship with his girlfriend. Ultimately he chooses not to pursue Badminton past high school though while Taiki wants to keep going. The parallels are fun and he even starts to get spooked about playing Taiki. He worries that losing to him will forever change their dynamic. That was a bit petty since they’re on the same squad and should still be playing each other a whole lot. Not playing because you’re scared will only hinder your growth in the long run.

His girlfriend Karen is a strong character as well. She was always quick on the uptake and wasn’t as oblivious as most of the other characters. She doesn’t get to appear a lot but makes sure to set strong ground rules for her relationship. With Haryu she explains that this can never be an excuse for either of them to fail. It’s a pretty good rule if you ask me although any real character should never be using something like that as an excuse either way.

Hyodo takes over as a new rival for the end of the series. He’s even more powerful than Haryu and is basically unbeatable. He has done that by making Badminton his life. He has pushed aside all other interests and has no interest in getting a girlfriend. You could say he’s the other extreme as a possible Taiki future. It may be possible to surpass him but is the cost really worth it? It just feels like that is not a good idea. The manga never makes Taiki tempted by this approach though which is a good thing.

Then we have Hyodo’s younger brother Yusa who is also super good at the sport. Initially he also believes that it requires a ton of sacrifice but then learns from Taiki that you can still live your complete life along with it. I’d say he just needed some more screentime. His romance with Hina is pretty weak and came too late to really make anything out of it. He would make for a solid character in a sequel story though. There’s nothing really wrong with him but it just feels like the guy came on too late.

Ayame is another character who was a bit of a late inclusion. Not as late as Chinatsu’s next door neighbor who just exists for potential drama but still pretty late. She basically goes through guys really fast which makes a few of the characters worry. What if she sinks her fangs into Taiki?? The story never goes there though and she’s actually a bit of a romantic as she tries to get Hina and Taiki together. Her own romance plot with Kyo is a bit forced though and doesn’t work so well. I appreciated what she added to the dynamic though.

Finally there is Yumeka who is a solid character. She may not have a ton of screentime but I did think that she made for a solid rival to Chinatsu. Her skills were definitely on point and she really managed to keep up. This also worked as a way to give Chinatsu an extra plot that wasn’t directly tied to Taiki. That was a really strong move all the way and also gave a reason for the show to include more Basketball scenes.

While the story beats are all fairly straightforward from the start, this is not a series that is being built around twists. The whole idea here is that Taiki and Chinatsu will get together and you’re just seeing how that happens. In a way you could say that is true for most romance series. It’s all about the adventure, not really about the ending. So you hope against all odds for the underdog to win but know that it will be futile. I just think sometimes the authors accidentally make the backup love interest more interesting than the main one. Hina was just more fun to have around even if you knew that she was doomed. Such is life and the appeal of the doomed romance.

The series still had a light tone throughout and just makes for an easy read. I’d say that it is a series which can really appeal to anyone. The only way you’d dislike this series is if you really just don’t like romance drama. Drama is basically inevitable for any long running romance series though because that’s how they extend the runtime. Blue Box stays pretty safe throughout though with no character making mistakes that I would deem to be irredeemable. Drama goes too far if a character actually cheats or something like that and fortunately we never even approach that point.

Overall, Blue Box is a good series that I can recommend. The romance is well written and the sports dynamic helps to add in a bit of extra flair as well. The ending isn’t the strongest and on a petty note it was kind of annoying that they couldn’t genuinely end by noticing that the gym was like a blue box. Adding a correction that it was actually orange was wholly unnecessary. I’d say the series will especially work well in a binge format so you should just start reading through the series right away. As long as you enjoy romance and/or sports then you will have a good time here.

Overall 6/10

The Elusive Samurai Review

Posted on May 7, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for one of those series that takes place in the really old days of constant warfare and strife. It does still have that Shonen boost though so you can expect a whole lot of big fight scenes all the way through. In theory his could have been really good but the author goes too far into trying to get some hyper realism here while at the same time also bringing in weird supernatural elements. Basically if the series could fall into some kind of hole, it did. This title hits every snag possible and definitely ends up being a title that I would not recommend.

The series begins with Tokiyuki’s family being murdered by Takauji. He runs the whole clan out of the village and assumes a position of political power. Tokiyuki aims to get revenge and restore his clan’s honor but it won’t be easy. Takauji isn’t just the most powerful man on the planet, he is also possessed by a literal demon. This demon allows him to break the minds of his opponents and perform a lot of miracles that are not humanly possible. Tokiyuki will need to take a slow burn approach on this, one that will take many years. Even if it takes his whole life, Tokiyuki will never give up!

This title made it all the way to 25 volumes which is really impressive. I should also mention that there are a ton of time skips within the series but the artist goes out of his way to make sure that none of the character designs change. So when you’re binging this visually, you don’t have to worry about the characters constantly changing even if it does mean that it can be easy to forget just how old they are.

I’ve got more negatives than positives for this series so lets go into the good things first. The artwork is pretty good. While it is often used for really explicit visuals that get crazy, the actual quality is really high up. You’re not going to see a whole lot of titles that can keep up with this one in the long term.

I’d also say that the fight scenes can be really solid. Usually they tend to get ruined by going way too far but the initial clashes are always great. There is also a lot of strategy in the battles and the army fights are done well. It may not be on the level of something like Bleach or Kenshin when it comes to the sword fights but on the whole the fights can be good.

Now on the issues, well of course first we have the ultra violence. This series just tries to push the envelope as far as possible to the point of just being super excessive. People die in all kinds of imaginative ways and in this kind of series you’re really hoping that the first blow destroys you. If you live then things are going to get many times worse for you. The constant bloodshed may remind you why the villains have to be stopped but it doesn’t help that Tokiyuki’s group has a lot of crazies as well.

I feel like there is some kind of narrative hidden within the series about how psychos will take advantage of war to legally murder people. It’s the kind of grim plot that would be right up this title’s alley. There are some good characters here but the cast as a whole is definitely one of the weaker ones. Then of course we also have a considerable amount of animal violence. It just keeps on coming and a ton of horses die throughout. It’s part of why I usually shy away from the old war titles because often times the horses are going to be casualties. Definitely ends up being a real downer.

Another issue is the crude visuals here. It’s sort of like crude humor but not really because these scenes are in no way meant to be funny. Instead it just shows you how far Takauji has fallen. His spit has mind control properties within it and this is used several times. There are so many scenes that will just have you gagging here. Yes, we do have the fart bombs from one of the ninja so there is full on crude humor here as well. Mix it all together and this is a title you won’t be forgetting but certainly not for good reasons. You won’t be able to go a volume without something messed up happening.

There’s an audience for this of course like with good ole Chainsawman which always sounds crazy in the worst ways but generally this is definitely going to be a flop for me. Your strengths as a series would have to be absolutely incredible to overcome all of this. Since the setting isn’t really my thing and the title is too down to earth for crazy DBZ style fights, the situation was not exactly in its favor. That said, the series is so messed up that it is hard to picture any change in situation really working to its favor.

Tokiyuki is definitely a weird main character with how much he loves to be chased. The guy gets all excited about it and especially enjoys when the stakes are life and death. I guess you gotta follow your passions and all. By the end of the series he is known as a really good commander and got a lot of big wins. I dare say the ending will end up being disappointing with how it all plays out but the author was more or less trying to follow the plot of the real events. I’d say he just did it with broad strokes.

Tokiyuki also showed some indecision in the series with how he could not pick one heroine. Whenever that happens it definitely makes you shake your head. I know things were different back then but it’s not the biggest consolation that you can have. Even by the end of the series Tokiyuki isn’t the strongest fighter but his speed really comes in handy. He is able to really hold his own just thanks to that attribute. It’s why I always say that speed is so important. I never ended up becoming a big fan of this guy but at least he did have some solid moments in the series.

As for the final boss Takauji, he has a large presence throughout the series. His crazy gimmick is that he likes to pretend to panic and act like a coward when he is secretly at the top of the foodchain. This guy has plans without plans and so the heroes always have to try and keep their guards up. The series gives him a bit of a cop out by the end although there is a qualifier to it so I appreciated that. I certainly didn’t like Takauji even as a villain because he was too all over the place but I can definitely say that I respected his power. You could throw the whole main cast at him and 9 times out of 10 he would defeat them.

They were all normal humans going up against someone who could take on whole armies with his willpower alone. The series wrote itself into a bit of a hole with how strong they made him. Even by the end a lot of plot armor was needed but the series did try here. None of the other villains ever get close to this guy’s level but that’s always how it was going to be. The series really revolves around Tokiyuki and Takauji, with all the side characters doing their best to help out.

Yorishige serves as the mentor role for the lead. He has the ability to see the future and even has vague cosmic powers. This guy really ends up bailing Tokiyuki out of trouble on more than one occasion. Without him, things would have certainly been darker. While he technically misses out on a good chunk of the series, he remained as one of the more memorable characters. Naturally the series couldn’t resist making him a bit weird as well and the jokes there tend to get old quick. This isn’t really a series that is going to leave you laughing the whole time.

Shizuku takes over as the cosmic fighter for the second half of the series. She is in a tough spot though because she is supposed to try and remain emotionless and ready for any challenge. At the same time she fell in love with Tokiyuki so that makes it difficult for her to live up to this. It would have been good if she could have been more honest about her feelings at an earlier point but better late than never. She is one of the supporting characters who actually ended up being fun all the way through.

Nezu is also a solid character and the main muscle of the army. He is a total prodigy who has been able to fight at a high level ever since he was a child. He is fairly young for a good portion of the first arcs after all and only gets stronger from there. His weakness is in his physical strength which makes sense. He has biological limits no matter how skilled his actual swordplay was. This guy just has no real asterisks, no annoying gimmicks that hurt him or anything like that. So that really helped put a feather in his cap.

Ayako is a strong heroine and I mean that quite literally as the series shows her raw power to be downright inhuman. She can be a bit more awkward than some of the other characters but always tries her best. She is another character who likes Tokiyuki which is something she has to deal with while still entering the front lines every time. I thought she was a pretty solid character in the end. Out of the 3 main heroines she would technically be in last but at least it’s fairly relative.

Genba is a thief who helps Tokiyuki quite a lot throughout the series. He always likes to hide his true expertise under a mask of jokes and comedy. A fairly effective strategy if you ask me. That being said, he could get a bit old at times. Usually it feels like he is just buying time for the main characters to get ready. He’s super useful in a war and someone that you want on your team but as a character he is far from being one of the more entertaining ones.

Fubuki has to be one of the more tragic characters. He goes through a whole lot of strife and turmoil at every corner. The poor guy had to be experimented on and basically had his mind broken. Sure he gets to finally be himself at the very end but you wouldn’t want to have to go through that for any price. The villains who messed with even try to have a mini redemption arc. Not to turn good but basically saying “No hard feelings right?”. The whole thing is swept under the rug way too quickly. I did think that he was a really fun character though. The heroes had desperately needed another fighter in the group as well.

Natsu is Genba’s partner in the story. Initially she was a spy for the villain side but finally came around and became one of the better ninja in the group. By the time she joins it is fairly deep into the series though so I wouldn’t be expecting her to be getting a huge role or anything like that. Still, no complaints on this end. I’d say she was one of the stronger supporting characters.

Shina had a really tough time of things as she took on some fierce injuries. Eventually she was able to fight again with the help of some sword legs. It’s hard to imagine just how difficult it would be to walk around like that but she actually managed to pull it off. Her role isn’t super large but she does end up being a fun character as well. Finally we have Mima who join in as one of the main heroines. The fact that she can actually fight is a big W although she naturally gets weaker the instant that she becomes a good guy. It just seems to be something that happens inevitably to characters when they switch sides. She is also forced to share Tokiyuki which is not exactly a great honor. Either you are the only special one or you’re just another one of the allies.

Tadayoshi is Takuji’s brother and ends up being one of the biggest villains. He may not have a demon power at his disposal or a great amount of physical strength in general but makes up for it with intelligence and strategy. He is always doing his best to stay two steps ahead and is the one guy that Takuji actually listens to. Deep down Tadayoshi knows that he could be betrayed at any moment though. His loyalty runs deep in spite of this.

Sadamune is a villain with incredible archery abilities. His eyes also let him see a great deal in an instant. The villains all seem to have super abilities like this but this is probably the most tame one. Yes, being able to see well is really useful but it’s not on the same level as super strength or anything like that. This guy actually had a real large amount of respect for the main character. They may have been enemies but sometimes you just like to find a strong rival.

Interestingly the heroes also had an expert archer in Kitabatake. This guy could definitely hold his own and was a real inspirational figure on the hero side. I can’t say that I abided his methods though. He essentially believed that might makes right. As long as his men were taking their opponents down, it was not a problem that they were all so murderous the whole time. I fundamentally tend to disagree with this even in the context of war. In particular there was one berserker on his team who was always itching to murder people as violently as possible.

You always want to be careful that you aren’t becoming as bad as the villains. Granted, in this series that would be really difficult. You have a horse monster who is super crazy and then Nagao who was basically an emotionless killing machine. The villains had lots of crazies among their roster although surprisingly they didn’t tend to kill each other off too often. Their underlings though? Yeah they tend to dry in droves throughout this series! It is definitely not the kind of position you want to have here because odds are that you won’t survive it. One villain even starts throwing his own minions at the heroes like rockets.

There are more characters but this handles most of the main ones. The series does involve a lot of nonstop battles amidst the war so you’d think that would make it an instant winner. Instead it reminds you why a series still needs to succeed in the fundamentals. If you abandon those then you really don’t have a chance. I will always give the series credit for lasting so long but ultimately it is going to be near the bottom of the Shonen Jump barrel.

Overall, The Elusive Samurai was not the next Kenshin. If you want a good sword series in the modern day then I hear that Kagurabachi is really good. Otherwise you just need to wait until the next Bleach sequel comes out. The anime could elevate this series by toning things down. It seemed like season 1 was content to go hard but some of the stuff in the manga is so intense that you assume it has to be toned down somewhat. I suppose we’ll find out one way or the other as things move forward.

Overall 2/10

Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo Review

Posted on April 19, 2026 by dreager1

After the ending of Jujutsu Kaisen it was time for a whole new adventure. It’s still not all that common for a big title to get a sequel so quickly so this was really exciting. It was announced as a mini series so you knew it wouldn’t be going on for too long but that was still cool. The title delivers with cool fights and some solid new characters. It does go by quickly though so every time there would be a lore chapter it would feel like precious time was being lost. In the end there are quite a few plot lines that should have kept on going but ultimately this was a good title so I don’t really have any big regrets.

The series picks up many decades after the original Kaisen ending. Most of the old characters are dead or super old. The new generation of Jujutsu sorcerers are far weaker than their predecessors and that is not good because aliens have arrived among us. For now they appear to be friendly but is that really the case? A cold war of sorts is starting and in the meantime a lot of kids are vanishing all over Japan. Yuka and Tsurugi are tasked with finding out what is happening to them. They must take the alien known as Maru with them so that he can learn about humanity. Perhaps aliens and humans can live in harmony?

Kaisen has never been the type of series for easy answers and this one is no exception. We see there are immediately bad actors on both sides who are trying to stoke the flames of war. They aren’t being subtle about this either. They want full on war and as many casualties as possible. Both sides think that this will be necessary in the long run so why not do it now right? One issue that will be hard to get around is that cursed spirits emit the same energy wave as the aliens. So every time the humans exorcise one, it feels like they are attacking the aliens.

Even once the aliens are told that this is the case, they are unconvinced. I don’t really blame them, that seems a little hard to buy even if you were to ask me. This ultimately does lead to a big fight and fortunately the humans do have one secret weapon in their corner through Yuka. She is able to summon the mythical Mahoraga, a being which continues to grow stronger and stronger through combat. The aliens have Dabura though who is a true prodigy and continues to get stronger as well. Makes for a great fight.

The artwork here is really impressive. It does absolutely look better than the original Jujutsu Kaisen and for a sequel that is always a good honor. The fights look incredible and there really is a whole lot of detail in each of the pages. This looks like a monthly manga through and through. You will be impressed from start to finish here without a doubt.

Now lets talk about the characters. First we have Yuka who is very confident and proactive as a sorcerer. She wants to help everyone out and most importantly, she wants to defeat her older brother Tsurugi. Unfortunately she is quite sick and that has made things difficult on her. She doesn’t want to be a burden but the deck has been stacked against her. It makes her optimism all the more inspiring and so she ends up being the standout character here. None of the others come close and you’ll be rooting for her the entire time.

She may not be the strongest fighter but she means well and keeps on training. Her summoning ability also allows her to fight at levels far beyond what she is capable of even if it does come at the expense of her life. Then we have Tsurugi who has to put on a brave face for his sister but the guy has had it rough as well. His cursed energy output isn’t very great and so he has to rely on cursed tools. He doesn’t really know how to reduce the burden on Yuka and so their dynamic isn’t exactly where he would want it to be.

The two of them care for each other a ton but just don’t really know how to show it. He tends to be less forgiving than she is though and so he was the perfect member to really go up against the aliens. He has to make a difficult decision by the end. While you can argue that he makes the right one, it will still come off as a bit annoying considering the price that had to be paid here.

To go more into details on the dilemma, the aliens need a planet to live on. They have been travelling for a very long time and their people are really going to star dying out if they have to search for another planet. Meanwhile the humans don’t really want to give up this planet. If they each decide to take up half of the planet, well that’s going to be extremely difficult and you have to go through all of the countries. So what this ultimately means is that the aliens are going to invade. They may have a sad story but it’s still going to be hard to root against the humans here.

So Maru ends up not being as likable as the series may have meant for him to be. Now the length hurts this part but Maru is initially introduced as a very innocent alien who wants to learn about the human world. As the title goes on, while he does want to help the humans he does pick his own people. This leads to all of the battles of course and it’s an emotional betrayal of sorts. Thing is, he only knew the characters for a very brief amount of time so this doesn’t hit as hard as it would have otherwise.

His power set is fairly confusing with how it can do almost anything but Kaisen likes to be confusing so that’s not necessarily a time crunch thing. It was still cool to see him and Tsurugi going at it. I ultimately thought that Maru made for a good villain but I couldn’t see him as the hero type. The end of the series tries to show that nobody had any hard feelings and it’s all good but I thought that was a bit much. The message is that they were all cogs in the system and so they didn’t take anything personal but when someone is trying to murder you…well that feels personal.

Maru’s brother Cross even gets to be with the group at the end when he was an antagonist the entire time. It’s hard to see why anyone would be all that cool with him. Well, I guess that just shows how open minded everyone was which is a good thing in a sense. Dabura also makes for a really impressive villain even if he’s mostly here for the power levels. He doesn’t get a ton to do beyond that but he is able to leverage his abilities in a way where he could defy the system. I appreciate the fact that he wasn’t just some foot soldier.

His fight with Mahoraga is also the highlight of the series. After all the chapters about concepts and such, it was nice to see a truly long battle like that. It was really impressive. Finally we have Yuji who shows up. The long years have taken their toll on him as he’s a very different character here. Not bad or anything but he’s become more emotionless and doesn’t even fight to save humanity unless it’s dire. He’s been off doing his own thing and doesn’t even jump into the Dabura battle. He helps Maru with a plan to change the situation which is good but the guy feels too passive to me. It sounds like he will continue to act that way now that he will live for hundreds of years so he doesn’t stagnate humanity’s growth or something like that.

I tend to always disagree with this logic. If you have the abilities to save someone then you really ought to use them. Doesn’t matter if it’s for a week or 100 years. You keep fighting until you can’t fight anymore. That’s the only way to really live as a main character here. The ending does offer a lot of hope though. In theory humanity will be in a healthier spot now and just has to worry about infighting among themselves.

Of course that’ll probably happen. The series does go out of its way to show how corrupt both sides are. For the aliens there was a lot of infighting and murdering from the start. Two of the clans had differing systems on how to handle everything and so the stronger one subjugated the weaker ones. For the humans, some were complicit with the whole kidnaping humans thing and it shows that they will always sell out for a good price. You just can’t trust either species and that’s a real shame. They’re obviously still better than the cursed spirits who are definitionally evil but it’s not like either race is going to be selfless. This isn’t really that kind of title even if the ending was certainly an upbeat one.

So while the ending is controversial, I tend to like it. I like happy endings after all. I would still agree with the fact that it was rushed though as one big fight didn’t conclude and others that could have happened afterwards never got a chance. I suppose I just have to be happy for the fights since the series could have easily gone through without any. Now that would have been a real shame. With this high level art quality throughout, it would just feel like a missed opportunity.

In a way I’d compare this series to Pluto. It’s a really interesting mystery of sorts with the kidnapped kids in a grounded setting despite how crazy the world is. We know about demons and all kinds of users with powers but the plot is focused around a few kids in a local context. Then you have the whole alien race plot so the big shots like Yuji have to be looked for. It all leads up to the big, grand battles that were shaped from the opening chapters and how the humans/aliens fundamentally saw things differently. The problem is that you can only do so much in 3 volumes. We spend quite a few in the first volume to set things up but things are still being set up in volume 2 which is where things start to move kind of fast. The Mahoraga fight will always be an absolutely spectacular moment but I wish we could have seen the end to that as well as gotten a proper conclusion to the rest of the plots. Yuji’s whole character feels like a missed opportunity for a lot of good scenes for example.

Overall, A few more volumes would have been nice for the fights and all but we still got new content here which was fun. Yuji has really gotten powerful to the point where nobody can stand up to him anymore. Other outliers like Dabura and Mahoraga show that the rest of the fighters can stay calm because they will never be able to reach that level. There won’t be much point in trying either now that cursed energy itself has changed thanks to the ending. A certain villain even gets a little cameo here. If you haven’t read the original Jujutsu Kaisen then this series will probably feel weird but a recap of sorts is included. So that might get you up to speed enough for this. Maybe a movie will adapt this sequel at some point.

Overall 7/10

My Hero Academia Season 8 Review

Posted on April 5, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time to finally take a look at the final My Hero Academia season. It’s always impressive to not only see a show reach this many seasons but to actually have an ending. We really got a full adaption here which is really cool. The show ends on a solid note here with a lot of closure for all the characters and great action throughout. The season’s a little short with 11 episodes but will eventually be getting a bonus episode to help out with this.

The season picks up right where the last one left off as All Might and Deku continue their fights against Shigaraki and All For One. The results of this fight will be felt across the globe and will determine whether good or evil will emerge triumphant. It’s a lot of pressure but our heroes are ready for this. The season even has time for 3 episodes of epilogue which is rare for any title, but especially for a big Shonen Jump one like this.

With this being the last season, there was naturally going to be a lot of pressure on the animation. Fortunately the show was up to the task on this. The battles are really intense and flashy at all times. The characters are moving at great speeds and you never get lost during it. This is a high quality production all the way and I was glad to see it end on top. The soundtrack is also really good. You’ve got a lot of great tunes throughout including a lot of really classic ones. The technical elements are great as you would expect.

First lets go over the All Might battle. All Might hasn’t had a whole lot to do since the opening seasons since he was depowered. Giving him a mech suit so that he could keep on fighting was definitely a great idea. While it’s true that All For One should still be able to crush All Might, the show does acknowledge this and tries to mitigate that by having All Might constantly bait him into aggressive approaches. It’s also nice to see that side of All Might.

The world remembers him as an ultra heroic force who is always grinning and that much is true, but he is also a man of utmost intensity who does not like to lose. All Might pulls out every trick in the book in order to win and that makes sense. Evil must be defeated at any price. The mech suit also just happens to look really cool which is an added bonus. Stain also shows up to help out although at this point he has a little trouble keeping up. Stain would be able to take on nearly any character but All For One is one of the only ones in the verse that is a direct counter because of his blood arts mastery.

As for All For One, well this is the season where his tough guy facade finally breaks. He begins to panic a whole lot and falls for every single trap. He was a really fun villain for a while but in this season you’re likely just going to be laughing at him. He severely underestimated the heroes and gets relentlessly clowned on for it. They just keep on beating him up throughout the season no matter how many times he tries to pull out a secret power. I would have liked him to go out with a little more dignity at times, but I still can’t say that the appearance itself was bad. He even gets one last jump scare near the end.

We also see his backstory in this one. It’s actually not a sad backstory as we just see how he was a really twisted person from the start. All For One isn’t some misguided soul who took the wrong path, he was actively making the world worse at every step. It’s a strong contrast to Shigaraki who actually had a rough upbringing and things just kept getting worse for him. A good person could have been able to persevere but ultimately that wasn’t going to be Shigaraki’s lot in life.

The main fight is over there of course as we continue the deadlock between Shigaraki and Deku. If Shigaraki touches Deku even once then the fight is his, while Deku has to find a way to overcome Shigaraki’s healing regeneration without murdering him. It’s an incredibly difficult task and the more Deku holds back, the more people are put in danger. Deku is forced to consider some tough decisions here and even gets to go into Shigaraki’s mind to really see the full story of what happened.

By this point in the show you either like Shigaraki or you don’t. For me he is one of those villains who started out weak but did gradually get better in every season. By this point I’d say he is a very strong villain. Even when the heroes do their best to try and turn him good, the villains stays true to his convictions. He wants to destroy everything and as far as he is concerned, that is the end of the story. There is nothing more to his adventure than that. He continues to resist All For One and gives Deku an incredibly strong fight, not many characters can say that.

Deku also does well in the climax here as he finally does what he has to. There are a lot of legitimate complaints about Deku taking too long and putting too many people in danger in the meantime. I tend to agree with that but he gets points for ending the situation. In the end, Deku is a kid who always believed in All Might’s idea of perfect justice. It does make sense that he would have a very hard time going away from that and making a decision that does have some negative effects.

The very end of his epilogue nearly left Deku in a rough spot so I’m glad that it got overturned. That would have been really rough and also just plain undeserved. So this was the much better outcome all around. If they ever make a sequel to MHA, I’d still want Deku to be a primary focus. Doesn’t have to be the main character but I would want him to be getting some action.

Then we have Bakugo who shows up at crunch time to really help out. Without him the heroes would have been doomed. He also has the most impressive quirk by the end of the series. Al For One, All Might, Deku, and Shigaraki all had multiple quirks/stockpiled quirks. Bakugo is hanging in there with them despite only having his natural quirk. That’s extremely impressive and I don’t think we’ll really see any more examples of that any time soon.

He’s also got one of the clearest character arcs in the series. He started out as a huge bully and by the end of the series he has learned to respect the other characters. It doesn’t mean that now he is a huge softy or anything but he’s certainly not telling anyone to go jumping off a building. That’s definitely big time character development. His redemption just works better than some others.

That about wraps up the big battles and then of course we get all of the epilogues. We see how some villains have been fully turned over to the side of good like Gentle Criminal, some are still carrying out their sentences like Nagant, and then others are going to continue with new careers like Spinner and his book. With 3 episodes there is plenty of time to give just about everyone a true ending so that was impressive. If you like any MHA character but didn’t get to see them too much in the climax, then they will probably be somewhere in these last episodes.

On the whole it is a pretty solid ending. We do get a full scene/episode for the Todoroki family at the end and they definitely went through a lot. Dabi is basically doomed to die a very slow death and there is no way to save him. Now that is a total nightmare scenario. The guy was a total villain so that’s just what he gets at this point.

Endeavor will never be back to fighting shape but he is doing his best to turn over a new leaf. I was never a big fan of Endeavor after seeing the past and even these scenes are not enough to really save him. I appreciate the author allowing one of the family members to basically say that he’ll never accept Endeavor and leave. The others are all handling the situation in their own way but it’s for sure that the family will never be quite the singular unit that Endeavor would wish for them to be.

Uravity may have been grieving for Toga way too hard but I suppose everyone deals with death differently. There’s an old lady in the final episodes who sees a kid that is turning to the dark side and she wonders if she could have made a difference if she had helped Shigaraki prior to the start of the series. I think that is pushing herself too hard because that wouldn’t have made a difference (Especially since All For One was watching, not that she would know this) and there’s no way you should be taking responsibility for reaching out to everyone. What happened to Shigaraki was tragic but it doesn’t mean that everyone should have realized this in hindsight.

Either way it is safe to say that the world is now in the safest place that it has ever been. The top heroes are incredibly powerful and also still in the prime of their youth. No villain will be able to challenge them or a long time and so All Might’s dream was achieved. This is the world that he envisioned after all. Villains will still be around and doing their own thing but certainly not to the same level as the League of Villains.

These 8 seasons would really make for a killer marathon watch going from start to finish. In terms of length it feels like the closest thing to when Naruto and Bleach ended. Sure Bleach has the sequel going but the original anime was one the big ones as well. This feels like it’s easily the longest modern gen title to finish all the way. There have been a ton of great moments during the adventure and of course lots of fights. So the final episodes should hit extra hard when you consider that angle as well.

As for this season, if I had to pick a top highlight then naturally it is going to be Bakugo. At the end of the day it is easy to see why he got to be so popular. His explosion quirk is just so much fun to see when animated and the guy really persevered through quite a lot. The best low key moment would belong to Gentle Criminal holding up the whole base like he was Captain Celebrity. He was always a really enjoyable antagonist and I’m glad that they didn’t saddle him with a really dark fate. The stuff he did was certainly not as bad as many of the other villains so he deserved the leniency. There were still a ton of lasting effects to other characters who will never be able to fight as heroes again and so the war felt very legitimate. My small pet peeve would be not getting to see Koichi and friends show up but if I only saw this show then I wouldn’t even know about their existence so that’s not something for the anime to worry about.

Overall, This was definitely a great final season. It wraps everything up and keeps up a good level of intensity. The production values are super high and the cast is a strong one. It’ll be difficult for a sequel to really catch up to this one but of course it is definitely possible. Ideally the sequel will still have a lot of these characters as pros and they show up to help in their grown up forms. I wonder what villain will be chosen to give them a good fight. If you haven’t seen this season yet, then you need to hurry!

Overall 9/10

Sakamoto Days Review

Posted on February 22, 2026 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 8/10

Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 Review

Posted on February 22, 2026 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

Witch Watch Review

Posted on January 17, 2026 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

Good Morning, Great Old One Review

Posted on November 16, 2025 by dreager1

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 5/10

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Tag Archives: Shonen Jump

Quit Laughing, Shijima Review

Black Clover Review

Blue Box Review

The Elusive Samurai Review

Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo Review

My Hero Academia Season 8 Review

Sakamoto Days Review

Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 Review

Witch Watch Review

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