Tag Archives: Shonen Jump

The Elusive Samurai Review

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 5/10

Fighting Girls Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

Rurouni Kenshin Season 2: Kyoto Disturbance Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 8/10