My Hero Academia Review

Posted on August 4, 2024 by dreager1

My Hero Academia just finished today and was one of the last of the big Shonen Jump titans. The only titles with over 400 chapters now are Black Clover and One Piece. It’s hard to even say if any others really have a chance but we’ll have to see. My Hero’s definitely a great title and does feel like a fun next generation of Naruto in some ways. The idea of a series about superheroes is always a good idea and you can bet there were a ton of big fight scenes all the way through. Hopefully we get a sequel series at some point.

The story introduces us to Deku who is one of the few humans who is born without any kind of super power. For the most part, everyone gets a special ability called a quirk and then a lot of people go on to become professional heroes to take down the legions of villains. The number 1 hero is a guy called All Might who is known as the Symbol of Peace. His abilities are so good that he almost single handily ended crime on his own. Unfortunately his powers are nearly at their limit and so he passes on his powers to Deku. This is supposed to be impossible but his quirk is an exception. Now Deku can do his best to become a hero but will he really be able to pull this off?

Deku was always a bookworm and so he knew a lot about various abilities and fighters’ tendencies. This would translate pretty well when he got the abilities because now he could fight efficiently. In a way All Might’s power is too good for a while there as Deku’s body isn’t really able to contain that level of power. He has to hold back a lot even during the big fights because otherwise his own body will be torn apart. So as you can see it is an ability that carried with it an incredible amount of risk and destruction. It is not to be used lightly in any situation. As Deku learns and get older he will be able to use 100% without any issue but that assumes that there is still a world to fight for. The League of Villains are doing their best to make sure that this is not the case.

We start off with a light pre arc but it’s interrupted rather quickly for the first invasion saga as Shigaraki and his friends make their big appearance. From the start Shigaraki is a tough fighter to go up against because with a single grab he can destroy you. Any kind of contact is absolutely fatal so you have to deal with him from afar. They also have a Nomu creature which was able to go toe to toe with All Might for a while. Considering that this is just the first attack from the villains, it is really impressive on all angles. This was a good way to setup the villains but also show what the students could do right from the start. Most of them aren’t really ready to fight but there were a few like Bakugo and Todoroki who were ready from the start.

Then you’ve got the Sports Festival with the big tournament among the heroes. It’s sort of like the Chunin Exams in a sense and a big part of this was about Todoroki finally facing his powers and learning to use them all even after his tragic past. He really went through a whole lot but at the end of the day he pulled it off. His fight with Deku was definitely a highlight and it was also nice see Bakugo take a massive W in his match. His ability is suited for combat really well after all so that’s not exactly a surprise. It goes by real quick for sure but definitely squeezed in a whole lot of content. Characters like Endeavor would continue to have a really big role up through to the end of the series.

It also led to the debut of Stain and his big fight with the heroes. It was a really good part in the series both with the stakes and also what happened. Stain goes around murdering heroes who don’t quite fit into his box of what a true hero is. His rationale doesn’t always make sense but he’s a villain so that’s to be expected. This was Ida’s best role in the series. Usually he’s just the mild mannered class president who follows the rules without any kind of complaint. He does what he needs to and that’s the end of that. In this arc, his brother was taken down by Stain so Ida wanted revenge. Unfortunately we never see that same level of vigor from him again but at least he was really fun to see in this arc. You were definitely rooting for him to do well and it made for a good team based fight to end the arc with.

After that we got more character development for the heroes when they had to team up against the professional heroes. Deku and Bakugo are naturally picked to be teammates since they are worst enemies and it goes about how you would expect it to. Bakugo keeps on causing problems and picking fights there. He goes as far as to say he would rather lose than work with Deku which is definitely a very drastic take. All Might definitely went rather hard on them here too so you really get to see him land some devastating blows. It was a pretty fun set of battles and it’s always nice to see these teamwork fights. You may have some doubts about if the students could actually take on some of these pros but remember that this is for practice. It’s not like the pros are going all out necessarily.

The first big high stakes are for a while is in the forest. The students had went over there to get some experience when they were attacked by the league of villains. This time we were talking full stakes with the villains here to murder all of the kids that they could. Dabi really got to show off more of his abilities this time around and the heroes were really on the back foot for a lot of this. Deku also had his own 1 on 1 fight with Muscular which was real intense. To date that is still one of my favorite fights in the series. I thought it was a perfect way to show off how much stronger Deku has gotten. Naturally he still has a ways to go in order to become the strongest in the verse but the fact that he was overpowering this guy who focuses on strength was super impressive. Already by this point in the series I would say that he could easily defeat any of his fellow students.

Things move pretty quickly from there as we immediately turn the corner to Bakugo getting captured so Deku goes on a rescue mission. This leads All For One to show up and we finally get his big rematch fight with All Might. This is definitely some real good stuff and it’s another top fight in the series. It’s the last time we would ever get to see All Might fight at full power after all so you definitely needed to really savor the experience. It’s easy to see why he was the #1 hero for so long. He was definitely not someone to underestimate. The battle was definitely a turning point since the heroes no longer had a reliable shield behind them. I continued to expect one more stand by Al Might later on since we know he can transform for an instant but I suppose the timing was just too tight. Still, imagine how cool it would be to see him throwing a punch as slim might and at the last second he turns buff to land the full weight of the blow. That’d be awesome.

After that it was finally time to get the hero licenses! I will say this is definitely one part where the humans were always extremely unreasonable. Yes, the licenses are important but at the end of the day these are kids who have been saving everyone time and time again. It was always so annoying when the humans would show up to badmouth them and talk about how they can’t be fighting. Like cmon now, I get this for standard humans but even for them when it’s an emergency and you just saved a bunch of people, I think it’s 100% justified to have used the powers. Just tell the kids they did good and call it a day there.

After that is one of the most pivotal arcs in the series. There is a big villain gang around and they are going to team up with the League of Villains. At the head of this group is Overhaul, a guy who can destroy things and put them back together. He’s one of the darkest villains are he continues to inflict terror upon a little girl named Eri. This was a rough moment for Deku though which I never let him live down. He had a chance to end the arc before it even began by saving Eri but ultimately chooses to step aside. Yes, he was encouraged to do so by Mirio but there are times when you just have to attack and this was one of them. There is no room to back down or anything like that. You have to fight and show why you are the top hero. I could really accept nothing less. Still, Deku does his best to make up for this and we get some real intense battles in the arc. Mirio also comes into his own with some really good showings here.

You’d expect we need some time to calm down after that arc so we get a much smaller one with the Gentle Criminal. This was a really solid mini saga, I had a blast with it. He’s surprisingly very powerful and one of those villains that you can’t really underestimate. He was able to hold his own against Deku and is also very agile. Fact of the matter is he could probably crush most of the pros at this point in time. He gets a good talking to and while he does have to go to jail, you figure he will rehabilitate pretty well. He’s more of a lost soul than a hardened criminal after all.

Following that up is really the last chance for the heroes to have some fun. We get the joint training competition with the other class. Each of the characters get to have their moment to shine and we even have Deku start to learn some new powers. They may have been rather controversial but at the end of the day they are pretty neat. Most of Deku’s powers aren’t ones that will be super useful compared to his main super strength/speed abilities but they certainly don’t hurt either. I’d say the rival school deserved to win more rounds though, they had some really good plans and abilities at the ready.

The villains can’t be left out of the fun for too long though and they actually get their own mini arc to deal with a different villain group. This was pretty fun and it’s something I’d like to see more of in different titles. This is one of the only times I can think of where the villains got a whole saga to themselves to fight it out without any hero interventions. It’s not the literal only time but it’s extremely well and it was definitely a really cool story. It helps that the other villains were all really talented as well. It was to the point where the main villains actually needed a power up of their own to try and launch a counter attack. They ended up stronger and more unified as a result so they would be more of a threat in the next arc.

This would of course be the first big war with Shigaraki and his troops. We have all of the heroes jump in to stop them and it’s a really nice united front. This is one of the massive advantages of being a long running series. You can’t really pull this off to the same effect in one of the short titles because we just wouldn’t really know the characters and it wouldn’t have the same impact. With these characters though, we know them and have been with them for a long while. So it definitely hits a lot harder. The fights are all pretty high tier by this point with all of the characters really knowing how to fight. Definitely a lot of fun all around.

After that was the big tipping point with Deku transforming into Dark Deku. He decides to go it alone and take care of the villains. To be honest that’s pretty much the right call though and while that’s not supposed to be the case, I would argue the series accidentally agrees with me here. Deku takes down several formidable opponents on his own and even wins a battle while he has to protect someone. He’s fully capable of doing this on his own and the rest of the students would just hold him back. Yeah it’s emotional to be seeing them show up with their speeches and all but they are too weak to help. They don’t want to admit to this and I get it but Deku was taking care of business without them. I dare say if they had stayed back then he would have continued doing great things on his own. That is his power, that is why he needs to take the lead. The teamwork approach doesn’t work when he is this much stronger than the others and he surpassed them a long time ago. So the ending of the arc is pretty cheesy but it was still a lot of fun overall.

Finally we have the last arc. The big war against the heroes once again with everyone being involved like last time. This time the heroes decide to really make sure that the villains are all split up so they cannot help each others. It’s a pretty good plan and most of the matchups aren’t that bad. Putting Toga with some of the weaker fighters may not have been a good idea though. I would see Deku and Endeavor winning their matchups but for example Dabi’s another one who would have the clear advantage in his fight. It’s hard to see him losing that round but the heroes were doing the best with what they got. At the end of the day it’s up to the heroes to go plus ultra from there and take everyone out.

It’s quite the ride and with the series being as long as it is, it makes sense that there would be so many sagas. All of the characters really got to change with the times and everything. In general I would say I didn’t really like the ending but big manga endings can be a bit hit or miss at times. This one felt a little too harsh even with the final moment at the end. Still, you should never let an ending get in the way of good content. This is still dozens and dozens of great volumes of material all the way through after all.

What the series always did extremely well was focusing on the fact that this is an optimistic story about heroism. It’s a title you could pick up at any time and have fun with. There are tons of big battles and then also lots of interactions between the cast at school. You really got to know most of the characters and what they were thinking really well.

Naturally it goes without saying that the artwork is really good here. The series always gets a lot of praise for this and it is absolutely deserved. The close ups look real intense to the point of being borderline horror at times. The series does well with each of the tones and always shows a good amount of variety throughout. The writing is on point as well and it’s a series with a very clear premise that is easy to jump into. I expect even 20 years from now people will still be talking about the series. It had a real strong hold on top of the charts after all and was mega popular. People will never really forget this one.

Okay time to really dive into the characters. Get ready because there are certainly a lot of them running around here. No, the Vigilante characters never get to show up and save the day so you do have to relegate those to the spinoff series. It is a shame since at least the main guy could have really helped out a ton considering just how powerful he got by the end. He should seriously be one of the strongest heroes on the planet at this point in time. Still we have lots of other big fighters.

First lets go over some of the staff. Nezu is the principal and while he’s not really a fighter, the guy does have a lot of good tech at his disposal. He comes up with some pretty good designs to slow the enemy down with which isn’t easy. Additionally, he does defend the students at times. I had him pegged as the traitor for a while since he always seemed a little suspect to me but in the end I suppose he was a decent guy. He’s not my favorite character or anything but he does his best.

Then you have whose role as a teacher is bigger than a hero for most of the series due to his powers going away. As a teacher he’s only okay though. It’s pretty clear that he’s a hero who could do almost anything back in his prime so it’s harder to teach the skills. He still serves as a good role model for Deku though. Towards the end of the series he seemed to be losing it a bit though and I was sort of expecting a villain type arc. Not that he would join the villains but he would start to get more and more extreme as he got close to the line. Ultimately that wasn’t really the direction they were going for here.

Eraser Head is a pivotal character in the series. The guy tends to be harsh towards Deku all the time to the point where he even takes a shot at him in the very final chapter but he will always defend his students either way. His ability to take away someone’s quirk is extremely helpful all the way through to the end of the series. After all, most fighters are basically helpless without their quirk. Naturally that isn’t the case for the final boss but that’s one exception out of a whole series of fighting. So it’s still a really good deal if you ask me. He’s a fun character to have around.

Present Mic is Eraser’s foil and you could say the dynamic is a bit like Might Guy and Kakashi. Present Mic has way more fun with everything. He doesn’t take things too seriously and he likes being very loud. We actually do deal with a tragic event that affected both of them in the past but surprisingly that is really only in the spinoff series. So you have to read Vigilante to see the whole story. You can pick up enough here to still understand the context though.

Midnight is definitely more of a sketchy character. Yeah her gimmick is for humor but she’s just not the best kind of role model. Her ability has her conveniently stripping to power up which isn’t great. Although the series itself is actually great about not having much fanservice at all. It’s extremely tame so the series gets huge props for that since a lot of titles just can’t resist. That being said, it doesn’t save Midnight so she still ends up being one of the weaker characters.

Then we have Gran Torino who is a solid mentor type figure. His quirk is actually really handy since it’s basically like a mini version of One For All. He gets your classic super strength and super speed which lets him do a good job of training Deku. It was definitely super useful to have the whole time. You just know he would have been a top tier fighter if he was just a bit younger. As it was he still did a really good job in the series. He was definitely real likable.

The author did a good job of giving just about everyone in Class 1A something to do but to be honest not everyone really turned things around. First up is Kota and I’ve got nothing against the guy but he just wasn’t ever very big. His power isn’t the most useful and so he never got a chance to shine. Sero has his tape which isn’t going to do much against most of the villains. He gets a moment or two but that’s about it for him as well.

Jiro has her sound abilities which are considerably more helpful than some of the others. I’ll give her that and she did good in the festival as well as some of the other events. Her personality is also a lot of fun, she’s not afraid to talk smack with the rest of the fighters. If any of the side characters was going to get a bigger role she would be my pick. Sato by contrast is a character who doesn’t get much to do and doesn’t have much potential. He has super strength but to a fairly low level. Not much is going to happen from that.

Shoji surprisingly gets a bigger role by the end of the series. He will try to help end the monster discrimination but until then there isn’t much for him to do. He doesn’t have any powers that would stop the stronger opponents and so he would be caught lacking in the end. Ojiro is in a similar spot where all he has is a tail. It’s a strong tail but…that’s just not going to be much of a game changer when you get down to it. He seems like a nice guy though.

Now we start getting to the bigger characters. First is Hagakure and in a lot of ways the reason she got big was because everyone thought she was the UA traitor. Her invisibility just made this a done deal. Of course when you look at actual screentime she is near the bottom. I enjoyed her character though even if a lot of that is for reasons outside of the series. I’ll never forget the fun debates about her criminal intent.

A character with actual criminal intent is Mineta though and he is a terrible character by every metric. It’s a shame he wasn’t expelled because the guy was crazy. Unfortunately a lot of series still have the obligatory perv character and that was Mineta’s role here. He would always be around to harass someone and his power’s also rather lame. You were definitely rooting against him in every match.

Then we have Tsuyu whose role isn’t huge either but she is consistent. Unfortunately she was consistent in a very bad way. She would usually have the worst takes on things like saying Deku shouldn’t go to save Bakugo and that it would make him a villain. I really needed her to brush up on what it means to be a hero. Ultimately she isn’t bad or anything like that but definitely not a top tier character by any means.

Aoyama is one of those characters you feel bad for because his own power gives him a bad stomach. That’s just such a cruel twist of fate. He can barely muster off one blast before falling to the ground. I would feel so massively scammed by that point. I’m not a big fan of his though, he likes to be flashy but there isn’t much to his character beyond that. He gets his share of development and big moments but they didn’t do much for his character for me.

Ida as I said earlier looked great during the Stain arc. He was ready to land some punishing blows and that was real impressive. Where he really ended up faltering was the fac that after that he learned the wrong message. Ida never wanted to break the rules again even if people were in danger and that was a shame. He really has a lot of potential too. The thing to always remember is that following the rules is the right thing to do but never check your common sense out by the door. You gotta keep it with you and continue to push forward.

Mina is a fun character and she’s always at a bit of a disadvantage because her acidic powers are super lethal. If someone gets hit with that then they’re probably dying and she has to live with that. So part of the dilemma here is that she has to hold back just enough which is difficult. Still, she always tries hard and gets her share of emotional moments. She steps up even when it’s hard and that’s why I have a lot of respect for her.

Next up on the list is Uravity. She is more of a supporting fighter no matter how many times they tell us about her gunhead martial arts. She should have lost most of her fights in the series. She was a reasonable character for the most part but starts to fall off a cliff as the series ends. She just gets way too emotional about taking down a mass murderer. She did everyone a favor but it’s breaking her down inside. I get being upset, but I jut thought this was a little too much. They should have held back somewhat at least. Her goals aren’t bad but it was annoying to see her fall for the propaganda a bit.

Kaminari strikes me more as the kind of guy who would keep things real. For sure he doesn’t want to murder anyone but if he does end up saving the world then he will take it in stride. It’s what he does and his thunder powers are fun. He has a huge drawback like Aoyama which is that he ends up frying his own brain but at least that’s something he can train at as he gets stronger. You definitely want to get to the point where you don’t have any drawbacks to your power.

Kirishima actually got through those issues on his own. He used to not be strong enough so he would chip and start to fall apart as he fought. Now he has made himself hard and strong enough to the point where that is not a problem. He just takes the whole thing in stride. I like his confidence as well and he ends up being one of the better students. He’s also one of the only ones where you could say he and Bakugo are genuinely friends. That’s a feat in itself.

Tokoyami is another really powerful student. His dark energy bird is definitely tough and the fact that he gets even stronger at night is great since you figure most crimes would take place in that period. It makes him extremely well suited to being a hero, even more than a lot of the other characters without a doubt. He is not the guy that you want to leave on the bench.

Momo has cool powers of her own like being able to make anything she understands the mechanics to. That’s definitely a great ability even if she doesn’t have the stamina to keep it up for too long. She also has good tactical skills which makes her very difficult to defeat and helps her be a good supporting fighter as well. Momo always means well and has a likable personality.

Then we get to Todoroki who is one of the biggest characters in the series. After all the Todoroki family in general has a lot to get through. He had a rough upbringing due to Endeavor breaking their family apart and Todoroki had a hard time using his powers because he didn’t want to glorify his father. Eventually Deku helps him out and from there Todoroki becomes a top tier hero. He’s definitely one of the best characters in the series. I thought he handled his subplot extremely well like a professional. He is always fair about everything and you can count on him to have your back.

Bakugo is the big rival in the series and he always keeps Deku in top form. If Deku slips up even a little bit then Bakugo could end up surpassing him. Bakugo is always rather rude to everyone and that’s the way he aims to be a hero. Even through to the end he’s still yelling at everyone and hasn’t changed as much as you might expect. At least he does respect Deku now. He’s come a long way from being a petty bully and telling Deku to jump off a building. You can bet that those things don’t happen anymore. He may be rude but he’s certainly no bully. Bakugo is a real stand out character and the fact that he gets to be so strong with what I would call an average quirk is super impressive. Mini explosions usually don’t make you the equivalent of an S rank fighter.

Of course then we have Deku, the main character himself. He starts out a bit rough with being super timid the whole time. It takes him a little while but eventually he gets full confidence in himself and starts to take initiative. He has his flubs like the Eri moment but in general he is a good main character. The series is actually rather harsh to him I’d say when we go back to the ending but on the whole at least he got to accomplish a lot. Like with Uravity he does fall into a bit of a trap in terms of being a little too sad about how things turned out with the villains. At the end of the day they made their choice and Deku was forced to make his. Deku tried every possible alternative out first so he should have nothing to feel sad about. He gave it his all and I agreed with the call. Deku’s best mode was Dark Deku though, I’d love to see that return at some point.

Hawks is one of the pro heroes who shows up later on and he’s definitely fun enough. With his feathers he can fly at super speeds and he has a lot of power. He’s one of the most powerful all around heroes as a result. He has to put up with a lot by being an agent for both sides. The amount of intel he gets is really good and he had to put himself in a ton of really dangerous situations to get it. So nothing but respect to the guy, he did good.

Monoma is a really fun character. His copy ability really makes him a threat to any opponent and he also has a ton of confidence. The confidence is really what makes him the great character here because that’s what you love to see in a character. He was always ready to stand up for his class and prove that they were just as good as 1-A. Nobody else really had the gusto to pull that off so I’d say it was a rather big deal. It shows that he had a lot of guts at all times and so he was easy to root for.

Hatsume is a mild character from the support agency but she gets props for being super good at what she does. When the heroes need some kind of gear or equipment she is able to whip it out in no time flat. Nobody else could pull that off and that’s why she is the boss. There is nobody even close to her in terms of technical know-how.

Now lets go into more of the heroes. We’ve got Edgeshot who doesn’t have a huge role for most of the series but becomes absolutely pivotal by the end. He can get into any crack and exploit it. The guy is fast and hard to detect. Considering that he’s one of the top 10 heroes you know he is strong but I really do wish we could have gotten him to fight more. You never really get to see exactly what he can do in a true combat scenario for very long.

Then you have the Suneater who mostly gets overshadowed by his two teammates in the series. He can eat food in order to metamorphize his body which seems like an extremely useful technique to have. He has his share of contributions at the very end of the series but doesn’t do a ton of things on his own so that’s what keeps him from keeping up with some of the others. Also, he’s a bit too nervous and you know how I tend to take points off for that. I need him to show some more absolute confidence!

Nejire is a fun character. I like her lasers and she tends to stand out a lot. She’s another character where I would have liked to have gotten to see her do more. Her fights tend to mainly stay off screen but on camera she would absolutely dominate. You feel like most villains without regeneration wouldn’t be able to do much against her lasers but maybe it is difficult to limit them enough to not absolutely destroy the humans.

Mirio is a character who had a rough start with not saving Eri but at least after that he made this his primary mission. He would save her no matter what and he did a good job of that. Even at the cost of his powers, he really went all in. Surprisingly in the final war he doesn’t do as much as you would expect. I feel like with his abilities he should be a top tier fighter from start to finish. Maybe it just wasn’t a great matchup for him. Either way he does end up being a real fun hero all the way through and does more than a lot of the pros.

Take Wash for instance, what does he even do here? He makes the washing machine sounds but that’s about it. You forget that he’s around half the time which is too bad. Woods is another high tier hero but he really can’t keep up with anyone and is written out real quick. At least he seems like a good hero though so power isn’t everything. Mr. Lady may not be the most powerful hero on the list but she always rises up when necessary. She gets some pretty solid moments near the end where we see her determination. She gets some good props there.

Jeanist is one of those guys who actually gets a good amount of screentime and is strong. What really holds him back though is the fact that it’s hard to take his powers seriously. He can control denim to make something super tight or loose. It’s a good way to trap people but the strongest villains just aren’t going to be tied up for very long. He has a good amount of confidence though so he’s okay. Ryuku is a hero I expected more from though. She’s one of the top 10 and has absolute killer power. That should be enough to easily crush most fighters but she only gets maybe 2-3 battles and we don’t see her much. Felt like the series left a lot of meat on the bone with her.

Gang Orca has a cool design but doesn’t seem like the strongest hero. He didn’t do much at all when Toga was around after all so he lost points there. I know he was helping against the nameless minions but you have to do more than that. Mirko is the perfect example of a pro hero who came in and really took names. She did have the unfortunate habit of losing limbs in most of her fights but this never discouraged her. She would just come right back into the mix and land more blows. She felt like a grownup version of Bakugo. Definitely a great addition to the series and she was an instant scene stealer.

Fatgum had some moments as well. He’s not my favorite character bus his super durability while in fat mode is definitely real handy. You do not want to mess with Fatgum, that’s for sure. Then back to some of the students, we have Shindo who was really cool. He’s a character that I initially did not notice much in the series but then the anime helped bring him to the forefront. He does his best to stop the villains and nearly had Muscular on the ropes so I have to give him that.

Yoarashi is one of those real petty characters. He apologizes after creating a mess of things but the character motivation was rather weak. I almost would have preferred he just stay antagonistic the whole time but I suppose now he can always be used more freely in the future. Then we have Shinso who has been moving around quite a bit. Currently though he will be back with the main class which is handy. The ability to immediately brainwash/control someone is super useful and with how everyone loves talking, you can bet he will be useful for a very long amount of time. He needs someone to respond to him for the ability to activate but with how villains like monologuing that won’t be a problem.

Nighteye is an assistant but one who can move fast and read the future. This actually allowed him to dodge Deku’s strikes which might be a little bit of a stretch. My think with this is even if Nighteye knows where the hits will be, I don’t see him physically being fast enough to do anything about it. He should still be getting absolutely washed in a fight if you ask me. Either way he was a fun character to have around though.

Then we have Endeavor as one of the top tier fighters. He is a super combatant so I want to say that strength is not something that he is lacking. The guy definitely has true skills but the reason I didn’t like him is because of his backstory. Basically he was abusive to his wife and kids. The series goes to great pains to work on the character redemption saga but ultimately it wasn’t enough for him. He just went way too far by that point so there’s no turning back. I’m glad that he’s on the right side now but yeah I had 0 real sympathy for the guy. He created all of the big problems and now has to live with them for however long he lasts.

Star and Stripes is the final big hero here and she ran into the issue of being too powerful. Her ability basically let her alter reality by making anything she says come true. It’s extremely difficult to stop that, in fact you could say it’s borderline impossible. The best way would be to speedblitz her before she could get any orders out but the problem is that she built her body to be All Might level in terms of speed. She always has one rule up to keep herself that way so that plan won’t work. You’ll be shaking your head at how she goes down but either way she is a great character.

Now onto the villains! I want to give a quick shoutout to the villain from chapter 1. He never gets to do much of anything but was pivotal to the series. Without him making a move in the first episode, everything would have turned out super differently. Low key it also seems like a pretty good power and even All Might had a hard time catching up to him.

Lady Nagant is more of a serious villain though. She is dispatched to take out Deku and the fact that her gun strikes can even come close to the guy is super impressive. By this point in the series Deku’s speed is absolutely insane so keeping up with him in any kind of capacity is certainly a trick. She gets a whole backstory which was handled well and I like how her character ended. she was a good character through and through.

Then we have Stain who is always fun. Again, his idea of who is worthy to be a hero can be a bit vague. You’d figure Ida’s brother would have met the criteria but at his core you have to remember that he is still evil. He gets a good moment near the end and in general his abilities are super useful in a fight. If you get paralyzed even just once then it could be all over. He uses blades after all so unless you are wearing some armor then that’s it.

Next we have Mustard who is a fairly minor villain but the guy has a gun which is absolutely crazy here. Most pro heroes aren’t bullet proof so if you get the attack in then it could be super dangerous. The heroes have to take him out real quick each time since he shouldn’t be underestimated. At the end of the day he is just a normal guy with a gun but that’s why he’s so scary. Because you know that someone else could copy him in the future. Then there’s the Nomu. By the end of the series there are a lot of them. I would say that none of them ever manage to surpass the original one from season 1 but a few of them certainly come close. The high end who fought Endeavor comes to mind. Especially since that one could talk, that was a lot of fun.

Another strong fighter is Gigantomachia even if he can be a little too big at times. If he could scale down somewhat then I dare say he would be the bigger threat. It would be harder to lock onto him and everything. He could then appear out of nowhere and deal devastating damage. Yeah that would have been rough. As for the Doctor, not much to say about him. He’s basically your average scientist villain concocting plans and getting in everyone’s way. He’s not what I would call a massive threat or anything like that.

Then you have the Gentle Criminal and like I said before the guy is a lot of fun. I like his fighting style and his gimmick is also pretty neat. It’s not like he is going around murdering anyone either. He knocks out anyone sent to stop him but that’s about it. Meanwhile he has his partner La Brava who handles the tech and his social media. They really make for a good team all the way through.

There aren’t really any other teams though. After that we have Muscular who has a big grudge against Deku after the first fight. Don’t expect him to be just following orders all the time. I like that kind of rebel character so it’s no surprise that I enjoyed his character quite a bit. He ended up beating Spinner for me as an example. Spinner had his whole subplot with the creatures but I felt like it didn’t go anywhere quick enough. Additionally Spinner just wasn’t the smartest character a he let himself be manipulated so easily. Definitely not a good look there at all. He basically became a mindless monster.

Twice was a nice guy. Also a bit gullible but he would always do his best. Now during this writeup I do want to underscore that he is still a villain. He fell in with the wrong crowd and led a life of crime but at the end of the day he still has to take accountability for that. You don’t get a pass just because you were tricked. After all he still knew exactly what he was doing.

Mr. Compress doesn’t get a ton to do but he was a loyal fighter and a pretty good character all around. His abilities were super handy and we even get a brief backstory which wasn’t half bad. I would have liked seeing more of him. Kurogiri is another character who could have used some more screentime. We know about his backstory but like I said before most of it is in the spinoff anyway and not here. Most of this guy’s scenes are all from the very beginning of the series and then he’s gone for a very long time. Teleporting is always super handy though so I liked him but I wish he wasn’t held captive for so long.

Then you have Toga and you have to remember that she is super sadistic and evil. I feel like the manga tries gaslighting you a bit on this with Toga and the others but this isn’t some random victim. Toga was causing a whole lot of destruction throughout the series and had to be stopped. There’s no real way around it, if you don’t stop Toga then it’s all over. She was going to tip the scales before she was defeated. I think she makes for a decent villain when that is how she’s being presented at least. Her blood copying abilities are definitely hard to stop.

Dabi is the standout villain and the best in the series. He was ditched by Endeavor early on and just kept on training. He’s the only character that All for One could not manipulate which already gives him a ton of hype. Factor in that he has the strongest flames and it’s a wrap. He had a rough backstory so I’d say I sympathize with him more than the other villains. In a way they made him too sympathetic at first so they added some stuff to make him go lower again. That’s fine, he’s not someone you are supposed to look up to anyway. He just so happens to have a really cool design and everything

Now we’re at the two big villains. First up is Shigaraki who gets a whole lot of screentime. I didn’t care for his origin story since it involves some animal violence. Miss me with that but it is easy to see how he turned evil. The environment didn’t do much to help him there but by no means is it the old lady’s fault. Later on we get a scene where some people think she should have acted but I reject the premise out of hand. By no means should she have been expected to go and do something about this. Shigaraki continues to get stronger and stronger throughout the series as his ambitions also grew greater. He is a very interesting and well layered villain. I dare say the series wrote themselves into a bit of a hole with how he can destroy anyone by touching them though. It means that none of the fights can have any contact for the most part so they have to work around that. Since he is as fast as All Might later on though, that starts to feel a bit impossible. There are definitely some power level issues there but all in all I liked Shigaraki. His group also know he has their back. They actually stick together and you love to see because I actually like loyalty among villains.

Finally you have All for One from the main villain group. The guy was always so mysterious and doing things from behind the scenes but man did he fall down hard near the end. He was panicking left and right as everyone barreled into him. There was a time near the end where he spends maybe 10-15 chapters getting crushed by everyone. He makes so many mistakes and looks so bad. I still like the villain of course and most crack by the end but this was definitely real drastic. You just couldn’t help but laugh at him a bit as well as he lost all of his charisma. He definitely needed to get out of his old body and that would have helped out a lot. Instead it was time for him to get humbled big time. So fun villain, but Shigaraki is definitely higher.

Then we have the alternate villain group led by Re-Destro. Re-Destro is one of those villains who was amazing at first and then from there he really ended up going down big time. He had a lot of aura and leadership potential but then he squandered it all and became more of a loyal lapdop. No, that was not my Re-Destro! It was a shame to see him lose everything that made him a cool villain. So by the end of the series I can’t say that I was much of a fan. He still had a really awesome intro though.

Curious was one of his big fighters and she was cool. Her fight with Toga was really solid and in a lot of ways you could say she should have won that battle. She played the matchup to near perfection and had counters ready for every tactic. That’s the kind of fighter you absolutely do not want to underestimate or it’s all over. She is one of those villain psychos who has a gimmick and stands by it which I appreciate. Of course the best member of the group is Geten. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of him. His ice is so powerful that he was able to hold his own against Dabi for a while which is absolute insanity. I would say that automatically puts Geten near the top of the verse and that’s probably why they couldn’t show him too much. He would be absolutely dominating everyone who made the mistake of getting in his way.

Rappa is a fairly minor villain in the grand scheme of things but I liked him. He always enjoys a good fight and didn’t want any cheap tricks to get in the way. He was extremely strong but also had an honor code. So you actually didn’t mind when he was winning. He’s still a villain without a doubt but at least he has a purpose/focus. I think it could have been pretty cool to see him go up against Deku at some point.

All of the One for All previous user get to show up in the vestige world and everything so that’s pretty neat. I wouldn’t say we get to know too much about them but we know what we need to. The theory about Backugo from the future may not have panned out but that was fun while it lasted. Imagine having 6 people living rent free in your head though. That could have been a little funny subplot to keep going in the background if the series had just wanted to keep that up.

Finally we have the last two characters who supported Deku a lot. His mom gets several appearances in the series. I wouldn’t say she ever gets to look good here but unfortunately her role didn’t permit much time for that. She’s mainly here to get emotional a whole lot of times. It would have been nice to ser her step into the action like she found a way to improve her quirk or something. Meanwhile Eri is also around as a wild card. I would say she is a true wild card because the whole time you’re waiting to see her use her youth powers again. The way they write around this can be a bit annoying but she still gets to help out as needed. She’s put up with a whole lot as a kid so you can bet that I’m not going to be all that harsh at all.

The series does have a lot of power level issues mainly due to Deku himself. He has the strongest quirk around and continues to grow during the series. He should be crushing most of his competition with ease like All Might used to. There are times like when Toga grabs him that you just have a hard time believing it. Likewise when Shigaraki is fighting and doesn’t manage to grab anyone even with his super speed. The issue is that Deku and Shigaraki are both just way too strong for anyone else and that leaves to some unbalanced environments. Every series has power scaling issues of course but this one tended to appear more drastic because of skilled these two were.

Overall, My Hero Academia is definitely a great series and what Shonen Jump is all about. You’ve got a large cast of fun fighters and a whole lot of battle scenes within it. You’ll be blasting through the series real quickly as you eagerly await what happens next. The pro heroes could never keep up for the most part but at least this paves the way for the kids to become the next wave of heroes. They will do what the grownups could not and really make the world a utopia. It’s a bold goal but they are ready for it. This was definitely quite the writeup and I can assure you that I still left out a bunch of characters and events. If you want the full experience then it’s time to binge the series. Get ready for a real good time!

Overall 8/10

Naruto Shippuden Review

Posted on July 28, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for one of the most well known anime of all time. This adapts most of the Naruto manga series after all which may be the second most iconic title of all time right after Dragon Ball Z. So the stakes were high and I’ve been watching this show for well over 10 years. Well, it definitely brings back a lot of good memories and it’s adapting a ton of amazing content. Unfortunately I would say that it has the absolute worst pacing and directing I’ve ever seen for a show. At times I would say it’s the kind of show you want to watch on AMV mode because of all the cutaways and stuff that are thrown in but I’ll get into that more later on. Basically though, it is a pretty good show either way.

The show starts by re-introducing us to Naruto who has returned to the Hidden Leaf village after nearly 3 years. He is now ready to help the village out and maybe they can even bring Sasuke back. The village refuses to acknowledge his hard work and they keep him in Genin status but he will prove them wrong. Together with Sakura and Kakashi he goes on his first mission which is to save his old friend Gaara. Gaara has been abducted by the Akatsuki and they aim to extract his tailed beast which will result in the guy’s death. They ultimately want all of the beasts which means that Naruto is in trouble as well but he is still ready to answer the call. Nobody’s going to get in his way!

Of course with 500 episodes you can bet that the plot is going to change a whole lot and this series does cover a very wide variety of arcs. A lot of them are even exclusive to the anime and were not featured in the manga so you should get excited for those….mayyyybe. They can be rather hit or miss but I’ll talk more about the arcs later on. At its core this is a series with a lot of combat action and adventure throughout. You learn valuable lessons about friendship and everything. It’s a series with quite a lot of good values spread throughout the title.

Of course in that time it will also make some slip ups. The series does have its occasional fanservice but it has always been better with this than other titles. It never gets too excessive so for the most part the series stays classy. With such a large amount of episodes, not all of them are perfect but the majority are good. There is of course some animal violence and other pitfalls here but if I was going to recommend an anime to someone, Naruto would be on the higher end since it feels relatively new user friendly despite the length.

Now despite all of this, why do I take shots at the pacing? Well lets look at a few random fights. Take Naruto and friends against Kaguya. The fight starts up and looks good…then we’re interrupted for several episodes for her really drawn out flashback. Okay, we’re back to the present for a few more punches. Then..back to Obito’s backstory. The fight gets interrupted so much. Then after the initial round with Madara we enter a filler season that lasts over 20 episodes and feels like it goes on forever. You’re just waiting for the show to return each time. It would help if the fillers were better but most of them weren’t all that great.

This happens consistently over and over. When the series doesn’t switch to a different plot point, it will usually instead have a scene get super dragged out. This especially happened in some of the earlier arcs like when Sai showed up. We have him and Naruto clashing kunai for such a long period of time that it makes Naruto look extremely wimpy. Instead of dominating the fight or even winning, it ends up being evenly matched which makes no sense. There are lots of zoom ins and reactions as the characters prepare to fight, etc.

Usually One Piece is the title people talk about in terms of something being drawn out but honestly I never had the same level of issues with that title. I would say it comes down to directing. Even when it’s drawn out, you don’t feel it quite as much as in Naruto. In Naruto it’s like everything just stalls and the added scenes don’t try to disguise themselves. So you’re just waiting for something to happen. A ton of episodes would get absolutely brutal with this. It’s why I say the series is lucky that it’s adapting a 9 star title because that hard carries the whole series. Without that, with the way everything is so delayed and such it would have a really hard time staying afloat.

Ultimately what helps to counter this is that the series does have a ton of nostalgia. I could turn it on to a random episode right now and I would have a good time. It does bring back memories and I do feel like they tried. The results may not have always been stellar but it’s not like the show was just phoning it in. The budget behind the show seemed reasonable. For example the animation is solid. There are some episodes that look absolutely top tier and to this day there are some fights that people say should be in the conversation for greatest of all time. Even for the fights that weren’t given the top of the line budget, I would say they looked good. This is a title that had strong fundamentals all the way through.

Then you have the soundtrack which really is excellent. There are a ton of great tracks all throughout the series and some new tunes that don’t even show up until the final saga. The fact that the show was still adding new tunes left and right like this was definitely impressive. I enjoy more tracks in the show than I can even count so you can bet that these definitely help to amp up the source material as well. Good music always goes a long way.

All right now lets dive into the story. So of course the first arc is about rescuing Gaara and it’s a fun way to kick things off. Deidara and Sasori get most of the screentime from the villains side of things. Yeah Itachi and Kisame show up but they’re more of a distraction than anything else. Don’t expect them to be getting any big character development just yet. Seeing Kakashi and Sakura fight was nice since it had been a while since we saw them. To date this might even be Sakura’s best fight as she really handles herself well against Sasori. Definitely a fun matchup while Kakashi doesn’t get to do as much this time. Deidara is a tough matchup for him since he’s always in the sky.

The stakes were high right off the bat and really the only complaint you would have here is that Naruto didn’t really get to look as strong as you might have expected. He’s the 9 Tailed Jinjuriki and after years of training with Jiraiya, he should be a true power hitter right? Well, surprisingly that just wasn’t really the case. He never felt quite as unstoppable as he should have which definitely left me puzzled. In a fair fight I see him losing to both Sasori and Deidara at this point in time which is absolutely crazy.

Naruto makes for a superb main character and the more I watch the show the more I appreciate him. I still have the battle crazy leads like Goku and Ichigo above him but Naruto is well above the average lead. He’s a surprisingly mature character by the end of his journey and he really learned his lessons instead of staying static. A lot of other leads could really look to him for guidance on this. He gives a lot of speeches and also knows when to stop talking and just start fighting. It’s this balance that makes him one of the greats.

Sakura also gets to look really good in Shippuden. Gone are the days where she would have to run away or duck a fight. Now she can fight alongside Naruto and the others. Her strength is really impressive and she gets some really fun fights in the series. Having the ability to heal her own wounds as well is definitely a massive plus on top of all that.

Kakashi is the ever reliable leader as well and definitely looks good here. The whole running out of chakra thing may be a bit of a running gag but jokes aside, he does take care of business. Without him they would have been absolutely doomed more than once. He may not always win, but you can definitely count on him to show up when the chips are down. He is a Sharingan user after all and that is still one of the absolute best weapons in the series.

Might Guy’s always been a fun rival to Kakashi and you can make the case that he was actually significantly stronger than him for most of the series. The 8 inner gates are really no joke and it was great to finally get to see him use them by the end of the series. He jokes around a lot but at the end of the day he is a sensei and one of the stronger fighters in the leaf village. Without him the heroes would really be in trouble.

Tenten doesn’t get a lot to do in the series but she is always ready to be the voice of reason. I appreciated seeing her show up from time to time but I wish she could have gotten stronger. Rock Lee is the more disappointing character here because he had such great showings in the first series. Taking on fighters like Gaara and Kimimaro is still legendary but you can’t really point to any signature fights in part 2. The same goes for Neji who by all accounts is much stronger but he isn’t really given anyone to fight outside of fillers. I suppose again that does make the case for why filler can be really handy. This way you can give fights to the characters who ended up being skipped over.

Chiyo only showed up for the one arc at the beginning but she did well. She made the most out of her screentime and ended up being a really memorable character. Even nowadays people know her well. She really outshined Kankuro who used to be the best puppet user but got surpassed by an incredibly large margin. He never really gets many scenes to make up for this. In comparison Temari also doesn’t do much but is at least relevant for the final parts of the series thanks to her dynamic with Shikamaru.

Gaara has a lot of screentime here so he does well. I do miss the fiery spirit he used to have back when he was an antagonist but he definitely got a ton of character development so I can’t deny that. His sand abilities are absolutely lethal at this point and he became the ruler of a whole country which is no joke. He gets to meet up with Sasuke and is generally one of the most loyal allies to the leaf.

As for the Akatsuki, I always liked Deidara quite a bit. His flair for the dramatic is handled really well. He’s an entertaining character who will keep you on your feet the whole time. His birds are also incredibly dangerous, the fact that he can use them to give fighters like Sasuke and Gaara a tough fight is super impressive. He’s the kind of guy who never gives up until the end so I can definitely respect that.

Sasori isn’t nearly as ambitious of a character but he is still a strong fighter who should not be underestimated. His poison daggers are tough to deal with since he has so many clones. I ended up liking his abilities more than the character itself but he’s decent. At the very least I will ay that he’s iconic, due in part to being in the first arc that everybody has ingrained into their heads.

Then the next arc has the big return of Sasuke which was hype! We’re introduced as Sai who tries to be Sasuke’s replacement but lets just say that he is absolutely not built for this. He’s not even close and falls far short of those high standards. Sasuke actually has been training over the last 3 years so the gap between him and Naruto was absolutely massive. It’s crazy that he could have finished them all off if he wanted to. The arc is fairly short but we got the big Naruto vs Orochimaru battle so that was pretty fun. Orochimaru was ultimately just soo slippery to really be put down for good. He was seriously just having fun in that match. You get the feeling that he would have crushed Naruto if he was really trying.

Sai is a character I never warmed up to. For sure he went through a lot and going through the Root program is crazy but he’s not my kind of character. He never gets all that emotional and his ability to draw anything is not a very offensive type power. It can be used well but for the most part you can never picture him scaling with the top tiers. Taking Naruto to a draw was absolutely a huge fluke and one that I would never expect to see again. He just got supremely lucky there.

Yamato is someone I’ve warmed up to a bit. I think he had a super rocky start but as the series went on he would get more and more emotional. He actually became someone who would defend Naruto so that was nice to see. He tends to be on the wrong side of almost every issue though so he’s not perfect. I will need to see a lot more improvement out of him.

Orochimaru has a lot to do here as you can probably guess. The guy is getting close to needing to switch bodies after all. He probably could have planned things out a bit better but he was dealing with an Uchiha prodigy so that’s not easy. His durability is still very impressive to me. The guy never really goes down. He definitely gets off way too easily in the series though. This guy is psychotic and a mass murderer. He should be in jail at the very least. That part kind of annoys me but ultimately he does deserve his spot as one of the most memorable characters in the series.

Kabuto still works well as the right hand man. He gets a surprising amount of power near the end which was definitely a very impressive power up. By the end he is one of the strongest fighters and while we knew he would be strong, I was still impressed. He is a really fun wild card. I don’t love the character but he absolutely made the final arc better. Without him bringing all of the old characters back it just wouldn’t have been intense.

Sasuke is one of the biggest characters in the series so naturally there is a whole lot to talk about with him. He goes on a journey into the darkness where he sinks further and further as the series goes on. Just when you think he might be getting heroic, something would happen that would send him back. It’s a really tough cycle to be sure but at the end of the day, it’s a mission that he was ready for. He has his share of points and that’s why the battle of ideologies between him and Naruto was really good. He wanted Revolution while Naruto was effectively fighting for the status quo. Both sides have pros and cons to them.

Their rivalry is still one of the best of all times for any series. It’s just super impressive by all accounts. Sasuke is also my favorite character in the series. There are none who are even close. His character is just so deep and you could talk about him for an entire article. He survived one of the toughest experiences imaginable and he didn’t let it break him. If nothing else, you definitely have to look at that amount of fortitude and be impressed. It was really something. Then throw in some of the best attacks and theme musics and it’s a wrap!

The first of the really big filler arcs involves Sora. He’s a kid who is constantly upset and yelling so get ready for that. What I liked about the arc was they constantly played the anger theme which works well for battles but that’s about it. It’s a relatively uninspired arc and one that goes on for too long. There were some cool ideas too like a widespread 3 Tailed Jinjuriki battle but that was not enough to save this one in the end. You can easily tell which arcs are filler or not based on the quality which is kind of crazy. Well maybe not too crazy since in theory the original author knows his characters best but you’d still expect it to be a little closer.

In the following big arc, we get to focus on two more Akatsuki members. Hidan and Kakuzu show up and destroy Asuma so now the Leaf have to avenge him. It’s one of the only times we see a real switch in the team rosters so that was pretty fun. Kakashi vs Kakuzu is a really underrated fight that had a lot of great choreography the whole time. I also liked Hidan vs Shikamaru even though I felt like the hero didn’t stand a chance in that matchup. Then Naruto has his big return which is always super hype. He really got a lot of the best return moments across the series. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised though, such is a hero’s job right?

Hidan is one of the most enjoyable Akatsuki members. He’s always laughing and messing around while destroying everyone. The guy is unhinged and that works really well for his character. Trust me, he’s just a blast and to this day I’m waiting for Jashin to show up. Hidan got his immortality from someone after all. This could really work like in a sequel series or something.

Kakuzu by contrast is much quieter and more of a serious fighter. He wants to complete the mission and that’s it. He’s not really thinking about anything else. His trait of having more than 1 heart is definitely super handy though and the guy can fight in hand to hand. He’s a very well balanced member of the Akatsuki and definitely would have been a tough fight for most of the heroes. I also liked the idea of someone who is immortal being teamed with someone who has multiple lives. I think the second layer to that is how Kakuzu would always murder all of his partners back in the day but there’s no chance of that now.

Ino and Choji are sort of along for the ride in this series. They don’t really get to do much of anything and don’t really have the skills to stay relevant either. They get their moments but don’t expect too much out of them. Asuma get some really solid moments before he goes out though. I always liked his chakra blades, they seem super practical as a weapon. Ultimately he just needed to be stronger to hang in there more but the guy fought well.

Shikamaru gets a super big role in the series. He is still the man with a plan no matter what happens. He may not have the strongest attacks but he can get people to the right spots. I liked him for most of the series although I’m not as big on the character once he starts working for the Hokage. It felt to me like he basically sold out by that point and began getting more and more corrupted. I know that someone has to watch the dark side but above all else you need to trust your Hokage and I don’t feel like Shikamaru did. At times he felt like he knew best which is a dangerous assumption.

The 3 Tails Guren gets a mini filler arc and it wasn’t half bad. I remember the main annoying thing being the heroes being slow to act while the villains would monologue over and over again. Sometimes you just have to break the anime rules and land a hit real quick. I think this arc would probably work better if released as a mini series outside of the main anime. That said, I know filler was necessary to keep the show on the air without further destroying the pacing so it is always worth it. While I may not be the most positive about these things, it’s not like it was terrible or anything.

After this we finally start getting to the big Sasuke arc. He first forms a team with a bunch of new quirky characters and then heads off to go and take down Itachi. It’s a fairly short arc in the grand scheme of things but it was a fun one. I enjoyed seeing the rematch after all this time and it was easily one of the best fights in the series. I also think Sasuke’s group Taka isn’t even that bad. They’re not all stars by any stretch of the imagination but they actually had some decent banter the whole time and contrast with Sasuke pretty well. Sasuke also got a super great theme in this arc which was really good stuff. I loved it whenever that theme would appear.

Itachi is definitely a massive characters. No worries if the backstory confuses you because you’re going to be seeing it a lot. To be direct on this, he is a villain and no matter how many times we see the flashback, he was definitely in the wrong there. He was murdering women and children in his massacre and should have worked with the Hokage to find another way. No matter how you slice it, he took the villainous path. Still, he makes for a solid wild card who really can change the whole direction of the battlefield. He’s one of the most interesting characters in the series and one of the most powerful. The fact that he couldn’t be controlled even by the mass reanimation jutsu was definitely a big point in his favor. He really had backup plans on top of backup plans.

Kisame is not quite as powerful. Despite being partners, I would say they probably had the biggest gap in ability between them. You always got the feeling that Kisame could be destroyed at any moment if Itachi willed it. That’s how powerful he was. Kisame’s true form was still impressive though and he definitely did a lot of damage. As a fast yet powerful fighter, it would be difficult for most heroes to stop him. That’s how it should be too, each member of the Akatsuki should be someone that it either takes an entire team to bring down, or some of the absolute top tier fighters. Anything less just would not match the hype that this villain group got when they showed up.

For example none of the junior fighters like Suigetsu should stand a chance here. I like his confidence and the guy is ready to pick a fight but he’s in a completely different league. A much smaller league if you will. Even the idea of him trying to take on Kisame is funny. I don’t know what Suigetsu would do without Sasuke. His water powers are handy though, he just lacks the physical stats to really make the most of them.

I like him more than Jugo though. Jugo is just a bit too quiet and serious. We already have enough of those characters so he doesn’t really end up adding much to the dynamic at all. I needed characters who could provide banter. I’m not a big fan of Karin either but at least she definitely delivers on that front. When she is around you can bet that there will be a good amount of tough talk at all times. She was all business all the time except when Sasuke was involved. In that case she would break down immediately which really held her back. That gag got old fast.

Then was the big arc that may still be the most iconic in all of Shippuden, the big Pain saga. Pain finally launches his invasion on the hidden leaf and immediately destroys a whole ton of people. The body count is super high and Naruto is basically the only one who can stand against him. It’s always a fun what if to imagine if Sasuke was in town at the time. I thin he would have done really well to put it mildly. Aside from all of the awesome fighting which is of course great, we also get the conclusion to the debate on the cycle of violence. It’s a really well written sequence of scenes with both characters making a true case and then we see how it plays out. Ultimately it’s not like the cycle will ever end, but you can at least hope for the best.

Pain is of course one of the big villains of the series and he’s great all around. From the character design to his skills, this guy was the real deal. Seeing him basically take on an entire village was crazy and to date he has some of the most memorable moments in the series. You never forgot any of Pain’s big moments because that’s how influential the guy was. Each of his different bodies had more and more abilities as well. It was hard to keep track of them all, much less counter each form. That would be near impossible. Definitely a great pick as the leader of the Akatsuki.

While she isn’t mentioned as much, Konan is definitely right up there as well. Her paper abilities are super handy and she almost took down Obito early on. To think that could have seriously changed the trajectory of the series. She may appear to be meek compared to some of the other fighters but once she is in the battle she definitely goes all out. This is also a decent point to mention Jiraiya. Unfortunately I have to say that I’m still not a big fan of the guy. He had a heroic death and all but he had too many character flaws in the end. Those definitely cost him big time.

We get a random flashback arc about the old days here. I suppose people were probably getting nostalgic so it’s not a bad idea but it does sort of wreck the flow a bit. You want to get to the next big adventures after all and this is the only thing left standing in your way. It has to be removed as soon as possible. The arc isn’t super long but it’s still fairly long so you definitely have to wait for a while.

After that we have the Kage Summit, another small arc but a real doozy. Sasuke decides to take on all of the Kages and he actually has them on the defensive. That is absolutely crazy when you think about it. His fight with Danzo was also awesome and this is really the arc where he goes full on villain. Before now he wouldn’t murder innocents or anything like that but now everyone is fair game. He has really changed a whole lot from the Sasuke that we once knew. We also got the big Team 7 reunion which was cool even if it maybe wasn’t quite as big as you might have expected. There is a cool fan animation that heavily extends the fight with Kakashi and Sasuke while one of the Ultimate Ninja Storm games officially extended Naruto’s fight with him. Regardless, it’s a top tier arc.

Danzo is one of those guys who was running around causing trouble for ages so it was nice to finally see him get taken down. Honestly he got away with way too much the whole time. The fact that the Lead Village would look the other way is rather disgraceful if we’re being honest. If Sasuke didn’t take him down I don’t know what would have happened and that’s annoying because it never should have come down to that. It doesn’t make any sense. His skills are the real deal so I will give him that though. The guy has masterful tactics and it makes sense how he could reach the level of Hokage.

The Raikage is another Kage who really earns his station. He is always ready to fight and doesn’t hide behind minions. His speed and power are both off the charts which makes him a top fighter. I like his personality and he is the kind of guy who is always ready to take charge. I may not have agreed with some of his decisions but he was usually on the right side. In fact, he had to be convinced to put Naruto on the shelf when originally he was planning on deploying him to the front lines. That would have been the best plan to take advantage of his abilities.

The Mitsukage gets less to do but she is around. Her lava abilities aren’t bad but I think her main problem is that the technique doesn’t feel as special. You can’t compare it to instant regen, new lives, or invincibility. Her power is just lava and I know that is lethal but it feels like a normal ninjutsu. I wish we could have seen more out of her. Then we have the Tsuchikage who has the cube style. His particle attacks are definitely super impressive so to balance him out, the guy has chronic back pain. Honestly that gag could get annoying sometimes but I get why they needed to nerf him. Now there is a really solid technique.

After that..it’s time for the big war. You could argue that the war itself had a bunch of mini arcs within it as well. Of course you have the long dream saga where each character imagines what the future could be like. Some are simple AUs while one extended one recaps the whole series. That one was unfortunately a bit too ambitious for its own good. With an arc as long as the war, it wasn’t always able to be consistent but there are a ton of super memorable moments to be found here. Madara finally making his move and of course seeing all of the reanimated shinobi was a lot of fun. All big Shonen titles should end with some kind of a huge war because it’s the perfect way to really show off your extended cast. Without that then it’s harder to bring everyone in. So the arc may be controversial but I still thought it was very good. The climax really makes it. You’re seeing the strongest shinobi of all time all going at it. Who can’t help but not get excited at such a prospect right? This is what we came here for, this is why we are Naruto fans.

Madara is a villain who was hyped up for the entire series and I’m glad to say that he absolutely lived up to it. He is a beast in battle and the kind of guy who loves fighting. You already know that would win me over right from the start. This is a villain who shook the entire world with just his name. Now that’s presence, I don’t think there is any other villain with that much aura. It’s a shame how his character ended up going out because he was absolutely cooking everyone. There’s definitely a whole lot more you could have done with the character. Still, he got so much screentime that I can’t complain much.

Then we have Obito who was also a really big threat. Perhaps not as strong as Madara but still a top tier within the verse. You definitely understand his motivations, not just because losing someone is something we can all sympathize with but because of the fact that we got to see Rin die like 100 times throughout the series. I felt bad for her because that flashback would never stop looping. It was absolutely crazy. I do think that Obito got off way too easily in terms of reputation though. I’m glad that the series deals with redemption arcs but this man did hurt a ton of people. Lets not forget that so easily.

Zetsu has a consistent role throughout the series and then he really turns up near the end. He’s actually a rather fun character with how tough he talks the whole time. The guy has a lot of good plans and while it may stretch disbelief at times, hey the guy is patient. He is the ultimate strategist who waits on the sidelines but technically can’t fight at a high level. If he could fight too then the world would really be finished.

Kushina has a solid role as Naruto’s Mom. She was a real fun character and a go getter. It’s a shame that her screentime was so low but she gave him good advice throughout and was a super solid parent. Then you have Minato who also looked really good. We actually got to see him fight a lot which was awesome. He always had a very cool air about him. The guy was also a top tier parent. He ends up being one of the better characters in the series and he definitely has the best reputation as the Yellow Flash. People knew not to mess with him.

The 3rd Hokage doesn’t do much here but I’ll just say that he’s annoying. Every time we get a new flashback, we see how more and more of the problems were all his fault. If he had just stood up and stopped at least one of the internal villains then things could have been very different. It’s hard to be as harsh on the 2nd Hokage since most of his actions were off screen. He seems to be a solid fighter but again we just don’t know a ton about him.

The 1st Hokage is easily the most impressive. You could make a decent case for him being the strongest character in the series. The guy’s abilities were super terrifying. Personally I still have Madara above him but the two were rivals for a good reason. It definitely wasn’t one sided in either direction. The scene where he powers up to freeze all of the Hokage and Sasuke was definitely a true flex and one of the biggest hype moments in the series. It’s hard to imagine him ever going down in the past.

Killer Bee is the only Tailed Beast holder aside from Naruto who gets a big role. He definitely makes the most of it as his debut appearance against Sasuke was definitely a really memorable one. It was nice to see an owner who actually bonded with the beast. Eventually Naruto would do this as well but it would take a long time. Killer Bee’s rapping gimmick also wasn’t that bad to be honest. Not really my thing but the execution was okay.

Hinata doesn’t do much for most of the series but she starts to get a role by the end so I should mention her. My main issue with Hinata is the same as with a bunch of other characters. She is too soft spoken the whole time and needs to assert herself more. This is what keeps me from becoming a big fan. I want to see a Hinata who gets really tough and just starts blasting the enemy. Still, I’d say her fans should be satisfied with her portrayal here.

Side note, it was cool seeing Zabuza and Haku return. They may have appeared super briefly but that was a lot of fun. One old character who shows up a bit is Iruka but I still don’t like the guy. He’s way too harsh on Naruto and wouldn’t even hear the guy out when his wedding day was approaching. I think some people find the dynamic charming with Iruka constantly bashing Naruto and apologizing for him since he assumes that the lead is up to no good. The problem for me is that this gag has the opposite effect. He should trust Naruto completely by now. It’s definitely a big L for Iruka.

The 9 Tails himself gets a ton of character development and it’s fun to see how far he has come. Gone are the days where he would just be yelling and trying to scare everybody. Now he is actually a rather reasonable person which is cool. He supports Naruto and really helps him to improve. It’s a superb dynamic and I like how they build each other up. No matter what, Naruto and the 9 Tails will always have each other as friends.

Finally we have Kaguya and unfortunately the anime does her a disservice. The extra scenes actually make her look worse instead of better which is crazy. She just appears to be too naive and slow on the uptake there. I would have liked her to have fought more and just messed over anyone in her way. She is Kaguya, one of the strongest people in the verse. That shouldn’t be asking for too much right? Great design and everything but the flashback definitely hurts.

After that, the series mainly starts to wind down. We get a quick mini arc for Shikamaru based on his novel, a Sasuke arc for his, a mini arc on picking out presents for Naruto, and episodes for some of the characters as kids. The anime really wanted to make sure you had time to see what the characters were doing in the present which is a nice touch. I mean personally I’m cool with just ending on the big fight but the longer you can extend a series the better and it was worth it to reach 500 episodes. That is an absolutely crazy amount that almost no show nowadays can ever hope to reach. It is simply too impressive.

Even with a review this long there are tons of characters and episodes I didn’t touch on. It’s why watching this show is a true saga. It’s an experience that you can’t complete in a few days. It would be literally impossible to do so. That’s the charm of the series after all. Even I would probably not remember everything if I gave it a re watch so in that way there is always a ton of replay value here. You can try to notice extra easter eggs and lore that you didn’t notice the first time. Then you will have made it to the level of grand Naruto scholar and you can use that as super bragging rights. Of course the next step will be to enter the world of Boruto at some point but that’s a discussion for another day. That is technically a separate series after all so it should be looked on separately as well.

Overall, Naruto Shippuden is one of those titles that I will never forget. It will always be very important to me because of all the memories and the experiences I had with the show. It was a title that lasted a long time and there are very few titles that can keep going for 500 episodes nowadays. It’s lucky for most to reach 100 after all. I would definitely recommend this to any action fan. For a long title like this, you are really given time to know all of the characters and get emotionally invested into the whole thing. That definitely goes a long way and at the end of the day watching this is like watching a big piece of anime history. You owe it to yourself to experience what this global phenomenon was all about. On an episode by episode battle it may not beat the higher tier shows but while those end every 12 episodes, this one will just keep on going and going.

Overall 7/10

Kaiju No. 8: B-Side Review

Posted on July 14, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a Kaiju No. 8 spinoff that lasted for a little while. Miniseries like this are always fun to flesh out the side characters with material that we never got to see in the main title. It’s a good idea and I think more manga should do this. I would have liked it to have been longer if anything, but we still got to see 3 different characters and their origins which was fun. They picked really solid characters to do this with. I guess at this point there are just 3 more that I would like to see a full prequel with. Captain Ashiro, and then both of Kikoru’s parents. Maybe someday though.

The first story is the origin for Hoshino. All his life he has trained in the ways of the sword but the problem is that this is seen as very ineffective against Kaiju nowadays. Most of them are just too large so the sword won’t pierce and even for the smaller ones, it seems a lot more efficient to just mow them down with a machine gun. Hoshino really wants to stick to the sword though, that has been his family legacy after all. Finally he is being given a chance by Captain Ashiro. Can he live up to her hopes or is he about to just doom his chances of ever being a true Kaiju hunter?

It’s definitely fun to see Hoshino in the old days and he already had great speed and ability. Honestly I never thought the series made a good case for why guns beat swords. The gun blasts vary based on how much power you can get out of the suit and the way I see it, almost nobody can get a reasonable amount of power out of the suit. So in that case, it ends up feeling like they’re just spinning their wheels there. It’s not a great long term approach at all. So if everyone had swords, at least they could stab into the Kaiju because the power of the suit won’t limit the sword as much as it would a gun. Maybe there are more reasons for not using swords though.

Either way Ashiro made a wise decision in picking Hoshino for her team. He has definitely proven himself a whole lot and he really did good against the Kaiju fighters in the first story. He would go on to consistently be one of the best characters in the series. Following him up would be a tough choice but the series went with Kikoru which makes sense. She is also a prodigy after all. In this case we already know her origin from the main series though so what would the story be about?

The title decides to show us how she ended up picking out her custom weapon. Her normal weapon wasn’t strong enough to pierce the armor of the Kaiju that she was up against in the training exercises so she grabbed an axe and then the rest was history. You could tell that the writer was a little more constrained with this character since we see her a lot in the main story but this was a smart way to get us some more fights and everything. It’s definitely much smaller scale than the first story with the stakes not being as large but it was satisfying to see her rise up to the top.

The Kaiju corp is definitely lucky to have so many prodigies on the team. In some ways it’s why the series reminds me of World Trigger because the heroes have so many different hype characters on the roster. They just keep on coming and so you’d think the enemies might be in a bad spot but fortunately for them, they have a lot of strong fighters too. If they had actually made a move before the heroes grew so powerful, it would probably be curtains by now.

Finally the last story is about Gen and how he was recruited. The guy started out as a…guess what…a huge prodigy! As a kid without a suit he was already powerful enough to take down some of the smaller Kaiju on his own. Mix in the Kaiju suit and now he was basically unstoppable. This guy has the special kaiju eye implants that can let him detect future attacks. So mix that in with his relentless training/ability and he is one of the strongest in the series. I dare say that he easily surpasses both Hoshina and Kikoru in skill. I’d like to see a quick story with a rivalry between those 3 characters to be honest. That would have been a fun way to finish up the series as a bonus story of sorts.

Ultimately I suppose the point of the series is to hype up the main one and get more readers on it. It does a good job with that as each chapter ends with a flash forward to the main series as everyone gets hyped to take on the Kaiju. The monsters don’t stand a chance against the combined might of human ingenuity! The art is definitely really high tier and holds its own with the main series. All of the action scenes are drawn really well and the villains are definitely very imposing. Of course this is before we got to the intelligent Kaiju so they’re basically just classic monsters but the designs are really good.

This is a rare example of an anthology where I liked all of the characters/stories. Usually in formats like this, there will always be at least one that holds the others back but this wasn’t the case here. I guess it goes to show how solid the cast is for the series. Kaiju No 8 has a very small cast of notable characters next to other titles but that’s probably a good thing in this case. It allows each one to stand out way more than they ever would have if they tried introducing too many characters. Still, like I said before there are some other characters around if they want to go and start working on those in another anthology spinoff.

Overall, All 3 stories were really good. The series was really a bunch of nonstop action scenes across the 3 leads which worked perfectly for this one. That’s why you are reading Kaiju No 8 after all. You’re here for all of the fights and the intrigue. The series never holds back on this. The art is still really solid and so this is a must read for any fan of the franchise. Even if you don’t read Kaiju No 8 this works as a solid jumping on point. Then if you enjoyed this prequel, you can jump into the main story right away. That’s a good way to handle things.

Overall 7/10

Mission: Yozakura Family

Posted on July 4, 2024 by dreager1

This series is another one that’s off to a fun start. I think the overall premise has a lot of potential right off the bat. The characters are likable and the art is good so at the end of the day that’s a great combo right there. We’ll se how long they’re able to keep the story fresh but at least for right now I would definitely recommend the title and look forward to reviewing it once the series has finished.

Overall 7/10

Sakamoto Holidays

Posted on July 4, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to return to the world of Sakamoto Days with this spinoff. It’s pretty cool to finally have a new comedic title to check out. So far the humor is handled well and it’s not going for the usual kind of cheap gags. I can definitely respect that and automatically that puts this one above the average title. It was a good read and hopefully they can keep this one going for a long while. I’ll have a review for the series once it ends.

Overall 7/10

Rurouni Kenshin (2023) Review

Posted on June 22, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for another great anime. The Kenshin manga was always top tier so it makes sense that the anime would follow suit. I thought everything about it was real solid. The fight scenes looked good, the sound track is on point, and of course the core story is really good. At the end of the day when you have all of that in your favor then you’re really in for a good time. There’s just nothing to hold it back.

The show starts by introducing us to Kenshin who used to be a powerful warrior that terrorized the land. There was a huge war back in the day with both sides fighting for their own justice. Kenshin’s side won and now they are the government but Kenshin has distanced himself from the group. He chooses to be a Rurouni instead now and no longer fights unless it is to protect someone. He wanders into a nice town where he meets Kaoru. She has a dojo and he decides to relax there and help her out for a while. Unfortunately, his days of being a pacifist are about to run into some turbulence. A bunch of villains are running around who all want to test their might against the legendary fighter. If Kenshin doesn’t fight back, they will end up hurting his new friends. What can he do?

At its core the series is really about Kenshin trying to hold onto his ideals through thick and thin. It’s a good message and the show handles it well. At times Kenshin may hold back a little too much and some villains make a good point that his morals are all well and good but if he lets his friends get hurt because of them then that’s not a worthy tradeoff. Kenshin does have to work on balancing these things which will likely continue to be a theme in the next season.

Right now Kenshin is still a top tier main character though. He’s easy to root for and he has a lot of serious skills. So he’s definitely one of those guys who is able to back up his own tough words far better than most of the others would be able to. When the going gets tough, Kenshin does revert into his violent mode which definitely tends to do the trick in situations like this. I like his overall confidence and good natured spirit. He’s always been one of the higher tier Jump protagonists.

Kaoru is a fairly good heroine although she doesn’t always get a lot to do. Relative to other heroines I would even say that her role is super small. She will usually be around to try and help get Kenshin back into his senses but that’s about it. She is otherwise not really able to fight with any of the big characters so she stays to watch but all in all she’s a nice person. Then there is Yahiko who actually does get some fights to himself. He’s only a kid so it’s not like he can fight all that well but I’ll give him some points for effort. He really does try hard. At times he can be on the annoying side though, especially when he tries to do something without telling Kenshin and then puts himself in a dangerous position for no reason.

As the first rival Sanosuke is a fun character. He very quickly gets power creeped by other characters who show up later but definitely works well as the opening boss. His punches can really land a lot of damage and he has some good battle instincts as well. I generally like him as a character. I feel like he does need a weapon though and not that super heavy one he used in the introduction arc. That thing’s just way too slow to be usable in real life situations. At least to me that seems to be the case. He helps to provide some balance to the team though because he’s much more aggressive and in your face compared to Kenshin.

I want to give a shoutout to Kenshin’s first real opponent. No, not the fake Battosai but Jin-E, a legendary assassin. What I like about this guy is that he was legitimately very skilled. He actually gave Kenshin a good fight and his ability to choke his opponents was really intense. That’s a super good ability to have in combat since your opponent could lose focus for a second and then you win. If not, you at least disrupt his movements which is also a really big deal This guy is mainly forgotten nowadays but to me he will always be the point where the series found its stride and became great.

Then we have Aoshi’s group which was a lot of fun. They all had a lot of loyalty and fairly good backgrounds. What makes them sympathetic is you can easily see how someone would turn out like that. When you’re trained to murder in combat and never learned any other skills then it makes sense that integrating back into society would not be so easy. In particular from the minions I would say Han’nya stood out the most. He really gave Kenshin a tough fight for a while there and even won in their first clash. Yes, it was a quick clash and he had a gimmick but I still remember thinking that was super impressive. Definitely a really solid way to kick off the arc as well.

Of course Aoshi was the main star here and he’s still one of my favorite characters in the series. His sword skills are second to none and he has a solid honor code. He has his objectives and completes them but always does things his way. He’s always willing to talk back to any other villain who is trying to boss him around. Nobody is going to try and exert influence over him. That’s just not how Aoshi operates and I definitely find that to be really admirable. He’s the kind of guy that you really want to be on your team.

Megumi joins the group after this arc as a main supporting character and she fits in really well. I dare say that she adds more to the dynamic than the main heroine at this point. She is always ready for banter and being a healer is really helpful since nobody else has those skills at the moment. It means that she is really irreplaceable within the team. She definitely has a rough background and wasn’t always a hero but considering the circumstances, it’s easy to trust her as a reliable hero now.

Finally as the show began to close we were introduced to Saito who is another all star character. This guy’s abilities are really solid to the point where he really had Kenshin backpedaling. He’s another villain with a good honor code who is willing to do whatever he needs to in order to keep his honor on good ground. I like this kind of character without a doubt. His fight is one of the best ones in the series as well so you aren’t likely to forget him. I’m definitely looking forward to him getting more fights in the upcoming seasons.

There are several other villains and supporting characters at the ready but these were the main ones. The show really covers a lot of ground in these 24 episodes. It always feels good to crack 20 right off the gate so even if you didn’t get a formal season 2, it feels like you had both. That being said, the next season is already confirmed so there are no worries there. In the manga the next segment was the best part of the series so most likely that will be the case here as well but we’ll see.

One thing I really like about the show is how most of the characters actually sound like they’re from the olden days. It reminds me of the old Hollywood kind of dialogue but the Japanese version. There are a lot of terms thrown around and everything relating back to the Bakumatsu period and then you also have all of the characters generally being polite to each other. Even if they naturally don’t mean it, it’s pretty nice to hear. It adds a very refined flavor to the show and it makes the whole experience feel that much more authentic.

Meanwhile the animation is really solid like I said. The fights are really flashy with a good amount of choreography in them. The fighters move fast and each battle feels very epic. I definitely have no complaints here so far and that’s a good thing since it’s a pretty action packed show. If the fights were not up to snuff then that would be a problem. I also give major thumbs up to the soundtrack. There are a number of really good battle themes spread throughout the anime. I had quite a few that I liked and again they fit the very dramatic style of the duels.

In Kenshin, there is a lot of explaining what each attack does in between the techniques which I like as it adds to the analytical part of the show. Both fighters are working on countering each attack as soon as they see it. The cat and mouse mind games are a ton of fun all around. Naturally the season ends with a big cliffhanger as well so you have a lot to look forward to for the next season. There are definitely going to be plenty of battles there and Kenshin will really have to steel his resolve.

Way I see it, since the show takes place in the days of a lot of rampant corruption, you do need to finish off your opponents sometimes. Kenshin has a tendency to spare his foes and hope they go over a new leaf but what’s more likely is they will wait until he is not around and then go take out his friends. That is the big issue for me. For example if Saito didn’t axe off his partners afterwards, they definitely might have tried getting some retaliation and since Kenshin would be out of town, things would have gotten very bad very quickly. In a nutshell, that tends to be my main problem here. Kenshin’s mentality only works when he’s alone but once he chose to make friends and hang out, that starts to put them all in lethal danger.

One last thing I’d add is I do appreciate the quick mini arcs about weak villains because these are chances for Kenshin to show just how crazy strong he is. Like the arc with Sanosuke’s friend who wanted to bomb the capital. We get to see Kenshin from the point of view of the average fighter and naturally he’s a monster. Kenshin doesn’t need to do much in order to stop that guy. I think it’s important to have these minibosses because since Kenshin tends to only fight the strongest warriors around, you can possibly forget just how far above most fighters he is. So seeing him dominate these guys is a good idea. When he takes too long or sandbags, then it also helps make the point of guys like Saito who say that Kenshin is being too soft. One of these mini arcs had a character effectively lose the use of his wrist, possibly for good because Kenshin didn’t go all out. I thought that was a very good callback that the show made use of later on. So you end up feeling like each episode is really important.

Overall, Rurouni Kenshin is a great story that has withstood the test of time. Each episode is a lot of fun and the quality of the episodes is always at a high level. I had a lot of fun going through the show and I’m definitely hyped for the next season. There are already a ton of great villains running around and that number is about to rise even further as we are introduced to the new group. So I’m definitely ready for all that. If you enjoy a good action title then I definitely recommend watching this one. It’s really got all of the fights and quality writing you could ask for.

Overall 8/10

Mashle: Magic and Muscles – The Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc Review

Posted on June 22, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for the return of Mashle. The first season was definitely great with a solid balance of action and comedy. This one follows it up pretty well with more of the same. We finally meet the big villains in this batch so you know that things are getting real. No problem though, the story still makes time for the humor and everything so the balance isn’t lost. In a lot of ways Mashle feels like a retro Shonen Jump title that could have stood in there with the classics like Naruto. It embraces the common Jump scenarios while also having a lot of fun with them.

After the events of the last season, everyone now knows that Mash has no magical abilities. This means that there are a lot of people who resent him and think he should not be allowed to take the Divine Visionary test. An appeal is made to the principal but fortunately Mash is allowed to stay on. The one catch is that the stakes have now been raised. If Mash doesn’t become the Divine Visionary then he will be murdered. There will be no escape for the guy. It’s a pretty tough situation to be in but then again, this only matters if he loses and Mash is confident in himself. We begin the next round of the tournament but of course the villains are also waiting around the corner.

The 12 episodes really go by very quickly here. It feels like the season ended as soon as it had began but I suppose that just talks to the quality of the show. As always Mash is a fun main character. I would say he is even better in this season because he has more tough dialogue with the villains. At one point he declares himself to be the strongest and in general he doesn’t shy away from any fight. It’s great to be strong but it’s even better to know that you’re strong and so I really liked the confidence there.

Innocent Zero is a pretty great villain right from the jump. The guy has big plans, big connections, and he is generally in control the whole time. That’s the kind of thing that you look for in a villain without a doubt. He also has the power to back his tough talk up as he is probably the strongest fighter in the series right now. His time abilities are super intense and then he gets another power up during the season. I was also glad to see him defend Mash during the early court hearing. It may not be for the right reasons but I’ll still take it. Innocent Zero is also a rare villain who may specialize in long distance attacks but can still hold his own against anyone in close quarters. Now that’s a perfect balance.

While we meet all of the visionaries, most of them haven’t had a chance to do anything yet. Ryoh leaves a great impression because he actually seems reasonable and defends Mash the whole time. Why would you possibly want to murder the kid who is you best hope against the villains? They’re all so brainwashed about the whole magic society part that they even go against their own best interests. Now that is a bad look if I’ve ever seen one. So some of the visionaries definitely get docked a bunch of point for this either for being against Mash or just being on the fence about this.

Wahlberg looks good in the fight but I still have to take points away for how he handled the Mash situation. Put it this way, he’s the principal and yet he is letting this whole debate go on. He should have rushed in there real quick and shut the whole thing down. All he has to say is that Mash will continue to be a student here and ask them what they want to do about that. He could likely beat most of them although if it’s a team battle it would probably be tricky. I just think he should have flexed his power a little more and actually tried to make a difference. Otherwise he’s really not using his position to his advantage. The guy’s way too passive which is my problem with him.

Orter is the biggest prosecutor in terms of trying to get Mash murdered. He wants that guy to be absolutely executed right away but fortunately there aren’t any other members who are quite as deranged as he is. This guy actively hires other villains to go and get Mash. You’re looking forward to someone taking him down at some point. Fortunately Rayne is one of the characters who is actually trying to defend Mash and he does a pretty good job of that. His abilities are really good and while I’m a bit surprised that he didn’t crush Margarette harder, I’d say it’s implied that Rayne is still stronger. He’s a divine visionary for a reason after all.

In some ways Kaldo likely seems to be the most impressive. He did really well when testing Mash to see just how good he was. The guy was holding his own with speed and apparently he was even holding back? Yeah that’s not an opponent to take lightly and his sword looks really cool. I definitely look forward to seeing more of him. Of course Mash’s usual friends are still around as well. Lemon actually has her big moment where she makes a big speech and defends Mash’s honor. Finn still does his best and he has a good durability moment where he stays conscious long enough for Mash to show up and save the day.

Lance and Dot take a more active role in helping out as they fight a bit. Dot doesn’t look super impressive but what else is new right? Lance does well at least and even manages to defeat an opponent while reverted to the body of a child. Now that’s a pretty good feat and definitely nothing that Dot could have matched. I still like Lance a lot as a rival even if Mash already left him in the dust big time. He’s never going to catch him at this rate.

For the villains, there were 4 main ones in this season. First up is Margarette who gets a lot of hype early on. In the first encounter with Mash, Mash actually does a big seismic toss throw to take Margarette down for the count but it doesn’t work. When you see Margarette get up without any injuries, that’s the exact moment where you realize that this is no ordinary opponent. It’s a fantastic way to generate some hype right out of the gate. The hype doesn’t stop from there and it’s a really good fight for the two episodes. I may not love Margarette as a character but you can’t deny this level of power.

Carpaccio is more of the twisted villain type. He likes inflicting pain and his ability is perfect for it since he automatically reflects all pain. Super handy, after all who wouldn’t want to be effectively invincible right? His match against Mash is definitely fun and you have to say that it’s probably the worst matchup for the guy. Mash is probably the only character who is crazy strong enough to take the damage each time and then return blows even harder. That would really be pretty much impossible for the rest of the character. I wonder if murdering Carpaccio would just get reversed before he dies or if that’s a way around the power. Either way it would be really risky to try that.

In general the villains have some rather broken abilities here. Sitter Baby is another one of them. He can turn his opponents into babies which dramatically reduces their stats. it’s a real intense power to be sure and all the guy needs to do is quickly smash his opponent or always have a partner. Either way I’d say the heroes basically got lucky here. It easily could have gone sideways very quickly for them here.

Finally you have Cell War who is a really fun villain. His ability itself isn’t quite as broken as the others but he makes up for this with very impressive physical abilities. You feel like anyone other than Mash would have a super hard time trying to block all of the rapid blows. This guy can shoot tons of spikes at you and also use them to make other kinds of weapons. It’s really an endless barrage that just keeps on coming. I thought he was a very impressive villain even if he couldn’t ultimately keep up. Few can keep up with Mash.

As always the soundtrack is super good for Mashle. I think this is one of those things that really helps the anime to keep on elevating things. It’s really cool to know you are always going to have a great track accompanying a great scene. It’s the way to go. The opening also gets real catchy this time and is a big step up over the season 1 theme song which never really caught on for me. The animation is also really solid here. They have fun with the chibi gags which hold up really well and then for the fights there is a whole lot to enjoy. The fights move quickly and have a lot of action to them. The movement is on point and it never slows down.

The technical elements do not betray the series by any means. So now you’ve got great characters, a great story, and the whole thing is completed with the solid humor all throughout the show. I’m definitely hyped for the next season to keep up this momentum. A lot of the upcoming villains already look cool from the brief look we got at them. Also due in part to how the show still lets us have a lot of slice of life moments and comedic scenes, you’re already use to all of the characters. So you want to see them continue to show up and really get some more fights in there. I really enjoyed the climax in the manga and so I bet it’s going to be extremely awesome in the anime as well.

I mentioned that the show goes very quickly and part of that is due to the really fast pacing. There’s always a fight going on or some kind of gag. You aren’t given much time to catch your breath with the fast paced nature of the show. It makes a lot of sense with how chaotic the school is in general. I do think this is a show where bad animation could have hurt it a lot since you do want the spectacle to show off what Mash can do since that is part of the fun. If he didn’t look impressive then it hurts the entire gimmick/concept.

Also, as strong as Mash is, he isn’t quite the strongest in the verse. So that’s another difference from One Punch Man, there are actually enemies who can take this guy down. Mash is given quite a bit of trouble in his fights in this season and can’t do anything against Innocent Zero. So no worries, there is still a lot of danger in this one. There is a bit of plot armor in regards to why the villains don’t just crush everybody right now though. It would have been a simple enough task and then there would have been nobody around to fight them off later on. Zero definitely fumbled the bag right there.

Overall, Mashle continues to ride all of the momentum from the first season to great effect here. It goes even farther than the first season did and I expect we will see similar success with the next season. At first glance you may figure this is just some kind of One Punch knock-off but I can assure you that it definitely has its own identity. As long as you like good action and humor then you should have a really good time here. Mash choking someone with a creampuff is probably the best gag in the series but in general the series is super funny and the jokes tend to really land. It’s a great all around title that does not really have any weaknesses. I’s all positive here.

Overall 8/10

The Day Naruto Became Hokage Review

Posted on June 5, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a piece of Naruto history that was always rather controversial. What if Naruto actually messed up on the biggest day of his life and didn’t make it to his own Hokage coronation ceremony? The thing that he has been striving for his whole life! Surely the reason he couldn’t make it must be absolutely massive like an alien invasion right?….hmmmm. Well it was definitely an intriguing decision that’s for sure. I get it, his fans wanted him to get a nice W here and seeing the biggest moment pulled up from under you is rough. So while I understand it..I’m not affected all that much because I found the reactions to this irl to be rather funny.

So the special starts with everyone getting ready to see Naruto. Hinata heads out for the dry cleaning and Naruto prepares to head out. He will be accompanied by Boruto, one of the biggest stars in the next gen world. That being said, they also need to bring Himawari around and that’s where things get tricky. She wants to bring an animal but Boruto knows she’s just going to make him carry it so he tries to stop her. Unfortunately Himawari doesn’t take this well and starts beating everyone up. It’s definitely emotional, I can see her being a lot of trouble as a kid.

Of course Naruto getting one shotted by her in the special is just for the gag. You see it used as a real feat here and there but lets be for real here. It shouldn’t have done anything to Naruto except maybe make him laugh. I didn’t buy any of this and it was a forced way to have him stay home. You know what I would have done if you needed him to miss the ceremony? Have Himawari say she cooked her first ever ramen so Boruto and Naruto stay home to try it out. That could have been wholesome and worked well.

But this is a special about the vibes and finally wrapping up the journey. I’d say it does a good job with this. It’s only several minutes long so it finishes quickly but you won’t forget the ceremony here. It’s always nice to see a main character reach the end game like Ash Ketchum. Of course I’d have been cool with seeing a big fight scene here but that was never likely. The animation looks good enough and so you’ll have a good time here.

Overall, This is a shorter review but the OVA itself is only like 10 minutes long so it’s not like there’s a whole lot to cover here. It’s a fun little short and that’s really all you need to say about it. If you watched the Naruto series then you owe it to yourself to check this out as a true finale of sorts. If you haven’t seen this yet then you haven’t really completed Naruto’s journey now have you? That’s what you really need to keep in mind here.

Overall 6/10

Mashle: Magic and Muscles Review

Posted on May 18, 2024 by dreager1

You know it’s actually a bit weird to think that Mashle only had 18 volumes. For some reason I figured it had around 30 or so. I guess it was shorter than I thought but it’s fine because the series was jam packed with tons of high quality moments. It hit way above its pay grade the whole time and you could even say it embraces the parody angle even more than One Punch Man did. Mash isn’t quite as invincible as Saitama was by any means but for the most part he still scaled above his opponents. This is definitely an excellent series that I absolutely recommend checking out. It’s a series where I recommend checking out the anime a lot as well since it did a great job of elevating the material even further. Yeah you’re definitely in a great position here.

The series starts off by introducing us to Mash who was born without magic for some reason. In this world it is seen as a curse to not have magic. Like you are not loved by the universe and it’s practically a crime to even exist. Fortunately he is adopted by a nice man who vows to keep him safe but the authorities find out about this. Mash must now enter a magic school and become one of the Divine Visionaries. Only by doing this can he keep his father safe and perhaps end this crazy discrimination against the magic-less users. Is he strong enough to pull this off though? Mash will be fighting the absolute cream of the crop, the strongest magic users to ever exist.

While the characters start coming around later on, most of them are unreasonable at first. It’s crazy how many people are basically jealous of Mash the whole time. They are rooting for his downfall and are no shy about it. They want to take him down for the count no matter what it takes. There are a lot of petty people here but I suppose that is almost to be expected at this point because most settings end up being filled with crazy people while the main character has to prove them wrong. Such is the fate of being the main character.

The artwork here is really good, in fact I would go as far as to say that it’s spectacular. The author absolutely nails both the comedic and action parts of the story. That’s what happens when you have a top tier artist like this at the ready. It holds its own with the upper echelon of Jump titles here. The fights are incredibly satisfying. It’s channeling the energy of the older Jump titles like Kenshin where you had everyone fighting the final boss one by one. They would all go down and then the next fighter would make a move. The fights are easy to follow while the abilities remain very creative and colorful the whole time.

I’d also say the pacing is good. Every chapter has something going for it. Again that could vary between a really hype action scene occurring or maybe it’s a really good gag. Either way the story never just pauses in the middle to leave you hanging. You can be reassured about that. Also while a lot of stories tend to have endings that aren’t all that great, I thought the ending here was pretty fun. It worked well with the themes of the series as being sort of serious if you zoom into the themes but comedic on its face. It’s definitely a fun way to do this.

There’s definitely quite a few arcs in this. The first main part of the story involves getting the stars needed to enter the big tournament coming up to set the stage for the visionaries. This pits Mash up against some steep competition like Dot and Lance at least they were tough back in the day as well as a whole cult group. He has to make sure not to lose himself during these battles either. If he lets his guard down too soon then it’ll all be over for him. Fortunately he’s not the kind of guy to stress about anything. He just eats some cream puffs and gets to work. Definitely one of the bravest fighters out there without a doubt and it helps to have the level of ability that he has. One punch is enough to usually win the day. Quite a few of the characters become main characters by this point and join the good side so a lot happens in the intro.

You may expect that the series gets more and more intense with stronger villains that it would get a lot more serious but that isn’t really the case. Right up through the end the series is still managing a really good balance between comedy and action which is definitely impressive. Most titles would not stand a chance at that or it would feel very weird with the tone but that’s never a problem here. That just shows how good Mash is. The Divine Visionary exams take up a very large part of the series so hopefully you like them but I don’t have many doubts about that.

Mashle does a great job of keeping every challenge fresh and it’s always a lot of fun. Then we jump into the big climax against Innocent Zero and his forces. Like I said before the climax is really great. We’re talking nonstop fights here with a lot of great appearances from everyone involved. Everyone has a part to play and they complete their roles flawlessly. Whether it’s a supporting character who has been around since chapter 1 or a very recent villain, everyone does something here. The whole montage of fighters is really impressive to be sure. One of the best climaxes I’ve read in a while. It makes full use of how many characters have been introduced and fleshed out over the years as well as the increasing power levels here.

At most you could say that it does highlight some power level issues in general though. For example, it feels like there should be no way that half of these characters can survive a single hit from Innocent Zero. At this point the amount of power we’re talking about it crazy after all. You’d expect that Mash himself would murder say Dot or Lance with a single hit if he’s serious and this guy is leagues stronger than Mash. So there may be a little plot armor occurring at different points here that you will have to try and ignore. This is something that happens to any series once the power levels are high enough though so it’s not like it’s a shock. It’s just the way that the ball bounces.

Now lets talk about the characters a bit. First up is Mash who is a very solid main character. He may not take things seriously all the time but he can fight well and ultimately wants to do his pops proud. He has his deep moments when avenging a friend where we see that he notices more than he lets on. So all in all he is definitely the guy you want to have on your side. I would say he balances out the serious and comedic parts of his personality really well. He ends up being funny without being annoying so there really aren’t any big downsides to his character.

Then you have Finn who is one of those really scared characters. For the most part he is not ready to deal with the big threats but eventually gets his man up moment. So naturally you know that I don’t really care for the character too much. I always appreciate it when he steps up as needed but that’s too little and too late to really bump him up the ranks for me. I would need to see that done on a consistent basis.

A better example of a flawed character who is still rather solid is Dot. Dot falls for all the traps and his weakness to girls is a really big one. At the same time he can still fight rather well and always talks tough. So he can actually back himself up and continues to get stronger as the series goes on. He may not be one of the strongest fighters out there but he is a consistent ally who always does his best and he is entertaining. So I give him a thumbs up there.

Lance is an even better fighter. This guy is the genius of the main characters and so he was able to master his craft at an early age. There are very few other fighters who could have managed that. His fighting style is also very direct. He plunges you into the ground with his gravity which is an ability that is really hard to block or dodge. You just have to be even stronger so that the gravity doesn’t affect you. The guy’s main quirk is a bit much so that can hold him back but otherwise he’s solid.

Lemon is the main heroine in a way but she gets a really small role next to her competitors. You can go through just about the whole series and only find a rare handful of moments where she really got something to do. She’s a super minor character all the way around and wasn’t that interesting. Wahlberg may not do much for a large chunk of the series but he is at least rather cool. I don’t think that he’s a great headmaster since he tends to take his time making the right choices. He will ask the other students for their input a little too much and tends to be rather passive. However, I can forgive just about all of this for one big reason, he is strong. At the end of the day, that helps a character overcome many obstacles. So by the end I would say that he was rather solid.

Rayne is one of the first divine visionaries to appear and get to fight. The one catch with that is he doesn’t get as much time to be mysterious and get a lot of hype. Still, his abilities are the real deal and I like him. He’s not quite as much of a stickler about the rules as some of the other characters which I can appreciate. He doesn’t lose sight of the forest for the trees while other characters lose sight of that immediately! My favorite visionary is easily Ryoh though. He’s the light visionary who is really cool and confident in his own abilities. He may brag a lot but that is rather deserved when you consider how strong he is. Why wouldn’t he brag right?

He gets some really good fights in the series as well an left a big impact. His screen time relative to some of the other characters may have been small but he was still a lot of fun. Tom is another fun character who doesn’t appear much. He wants Mash to join in the sports events and it’s easy to see why since Mash is a super athletic star. At the same time, this guy can’t fight so he is written out real quick. Definitely don’t expect much out of him.

Margarette is one of the big antagonists early on and is definitely powerful. I actually forget how close the fight with Mash was. The ability to use sound waves and then shape them into various objects is really impressive. Margarette leaves quite the impression even if I am not a big fan of the character. Carpaccio is someone who has even less of an impression. Cool character and definitely a lot of fun abilities but a very small role. One of those characters who really existed for Mash to beat up but otherwise didn’t have much to do.

Innocent Zero is easily one of the biggest villains in the series. It’s not surprising as he is introduced as the big bad fairly early into the series. His abilities are the real deal and they get more impressive as the climax hits. He’s a really solid villain. Although I feel like I tend to remember him more for his super powerful abilities than as a character. That’s the kind of figure that he is. You’re not thinking about a grand origin story and super ambitious goals but more of a classic final boss kind of figure. It works well enough with him though and he leaves more of an impact than most of the others.

An exception to this is Doom though. He’s the best villain in the series by far. The guy’s another crazy strong fighter but he has a good honor code and is also just a lot more interesting. His fight with Mash felt more personal and his impact on the story was bigger. He was the true benchmark for Mash to compare himself with and serves as the last main opponent before the final boss. Doom got to fight quite a few opponents during the series and always dominated in his matches. Yeah that guy was awesome.

By the end of the series we even get to see the god of the world show up which was certainly interesting. It was another chance for Mashle to showcase its unique form of humor and it felt like something out of One Punch Man. I wouldn’t be shocked if that series pulls off something similar at some point but in the meantime this is really a Mashle exclusive. The god here is fairly powerful to be sure, probably one of the strongest but he’s no Mash. Okay now lets circle back and look at some more of the characters.

Abel is one of the first big villains and he was a whole lot of fun. The guy’s role has aged well and he just makes for a very imposing figure. The series goes into the redemption arcs without too much thought into them which is fitting for a light hearted title. So you may be a bit dubious on everyone being cool with Abel but it is what it is. He’s a solid villain through and through. I also liked his right hand man Abyss a whole lot. That guy is super loyal and he was also a terrific fighter. He really gave Mash a tough run for his money during their initial encounter. I always value loyalty in a character.

They had a number of other fighters on their squad who showed up but for the most part they were all written out after they were dispatched. Back to the visionaries, Orter is another strong member but definitely the most fixated on the rules to becoming a borderline villain. The fact that he is always so eager to execute Mash reflects real poorly on him. Here’s the problem, Mash at the end of the day is someone who is actively working to fight the villains. So taking him down doesn’t help at all except to restore the status quo. It’s my big problem with a character like this who completely loses perspective. So he’s okay as a villain but I wouldn’t acknowledge him as a hero.

Kaldo is a lot more interesting. He doesn’t necessarily approve of Mash in any way but he gives him some advice. Kaldo recognizes the benefit in having another strong fighter on board which immediately makes him a whole lot more interesting. I also like the sword that he uses. I wish he could have appeared a little earlier on so that he could get more fights but he still made the most of his screen time.

Brad is one of those bullies who quickly turned over a new leaf and it’s a good thing that he did or Mash would have really gave him some trouble. He ends up being a reasonably entertaining character in the background but he definitely never gets much of a serious role. Same goes for Regro who did a good job of raising Mash but after that he is really written out. There just isn’t anything for him to really do at that point.

Not all of the visionaries get a ton to do though so I’ll go through a few of these quickly. Renatus is one of those guys who is rather tough with a psychotic streak. He’s definitely interesting but I would have liked to have seen more of him. I can’t say that I liked Agito at all. The guy definitely doesn’t stack up with the others and his being quirky doesn’t end up really being a positive.

I can’t say I remember Sophina or Tsuara much at all to be honest even after refreshing myself on the wiki. So I’m going to list that as a demerit. If I don’t remember you very well then that means there is clearly a big problem here. It’s a shame but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

Meliadoul is an interesting character. She shows up really late to the whole thing but gets a solid role near the end. She’s actually rather tough and I admire her fiery resolve. She is the opposite of Ochoa who is one of the worst characters in the series. Right up through the end he proves himself to not be trustworthy at all and someone who will seek his own safety first. There’s definitely no room for a character like that in these ranks and I wish he could have been more likable. He was good for some of the gags but gets a thumbs down.

Cell War is a fairly cool villain and I definitely like the name. His spikes are hard to dodge and so he is a very powerful fighter all the way through. He’s rather twisted and evil but without overplaying that card. Everything about him is really memorable so you aren’t likely to forget about him anytime soon. Domina was another one of the more impressive villains. His water skills were really good and even by the end of the series he is one of the most powerful members. He is one of those guys where you might not buy into the redemption arc all that much though. You have to suspend a little disbelief there but it was definitely satisfying seeing him show up in the climax so that was cool.

Charles doesn’t quite have the same energy behind him. He’s also rather strong but not as impressive as the last few. I did like Levis a lot though. He’s another villain who is more on the crazy side and fights hard. His ending may not make him look super impressive but for the most part you can count on a tough fight from this guy. Famin is super strong and one of the more twisted villains. It seems like the clown/jester villains always have a bit of an edge to them right? Don’t let this guy’s quirkiness fool you, he’s as deadly as they come and really leaves an impact.

Epidem has one of the most memorable scenes later on because how much of a sucker he proves the heroes to be. The main thing to remember is that if a villain offers you food, you probably shouldn’t take it. That’s like the first lesson everyone learns right? Well, you would think that was the case at least. So his entire fight was really fun. Delisaster is another villain I’m drawing more of a blank on but the design is really solid. It’ll be fun to see all of these villains animated at some point. There are just so many great fights to be had.

Mashle is a series that has tremendous amounts of replay value though. There are so many great fights to be found throughout all of the arcs and like I said the humor is also really good. It takes you back to a nostalgic time in Shonen Jump and it really always keeps a good balance between action and humor. I’d have been cool for the series to have kept on going for a long time. This could have been the next Naruto in terms of impact.

Overall, Mashle is an absolutely elite title. One of the all time greats and definitely a story that you need to read. It’s not every day that we get another big action Shonen like this so you need to check it out right away. The character cast is fun and there are so many fun little references and easter eggs here. The world is really well fleshed out and so you are absolutely engaged in everything that is going on from start to finish. Also if you like cream puffs, this series will likely help you take that to the next level!

Overall 9/10

Slam Dunk Review

Posted on May 12, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to look at one of the best all time Basketball stories out there and it’s one of the best sport titles in general as well. This one was absolutely huge in Japan and rightfully so. There are a ton of really great stories contained within this title and all of the characters get a lot to do. While I may have some issues with the ending, it is tough to have a perfect ending. Nothing will work for everyone after all but it is what it is as far as that’s concerned. The only sport titles I would have above this one are Kuroko’s Basketball, Prince of Tennis, and Blue Lock. I have Slam Dunk as the 4th best all time sports title.

The series follows a guy named Sakuragi who is basically a juvenile delinquent. He gets into a lot of fights in school and everyone absolutely fears him except for his posse and a girl at school named Haruko who treats him normally. He falls in love with her and turns away from his delinquent days. In fact, her brother is a big basketball player and she thinks Sakuragi could do well there. She is also in love with the new rookie Rukawa. All of these reasons cause Sakuragi to join the Basketball team so he can impress her and show the others up. That’s not so easy though and he quickly finds out that the sport is not so easily tamed. He’s a very stubborn kind of guy though and vows not to quit until he’s the best. What started initially as something to impress the girl he likes quickly becomes much more than that as he makes some rivals on the team and starts to really get invested. He really does want to be the best now and eventually score the famous Slam Dunk. Can he pull it off?

One thing that is impressive right out of the gate is how long the series is. There are over 30 volumes here and it’s almost hard to believe because the series goes by so quickly. Some games take a very long time to end after all which is also why the characters all have time to shine. In every big game the author tries to have all 5 starting players have a big role and often times even a few players off the bench will do big things. After all there are more than 5 big players on the team and that number grows as the series goes on.

Initially you really have 3 big players in Sakuragi, Rukawa, and Akagi. Sakuragi can barely play at all so you’ve really just got 2 big players. Then after that we have an ex delinquent show up and before you know it, other big players are jumping on. Then a few of the final years or behind the scenes players get to do their thing. So the team ends up being really well balanced which is nice to see and you get really invested here. You had to see them lose a lot of rounds before they made it to this stage in the game so this is like the big payoff. I will say that the school names tend to blend together though. Sakuragi’s team is Shohoku but other big teams also start with an S. So the best thing to do is memorize the main team’s name so you always know that any other team is their opponent.

The art style is fairly retro but definitely high tier all the way. It’s one of the cleaner art styles that I’ve seen and it has aged incredibly well. You really feel the intensity behind each of the battles. Slam Dunk is the kind of series that has some actual hand to hand battles in addition to what’s on the field so those moments are always fun as well. Sakuragi obviously has experience with his fists and one consistent thing throughout the series is that he is the absolute strongest. In a fight nobody can bring him down and I was glad that this proved to be true the whole way. The odds that there was another basketball player who was just as strong would have been a bit much. A lot of the others can fight and do their best to put up a fight but they’re no Sakuragi.

To make up for this, it takes a long while for Sakuragi to actually get good. If you’re worried about him getting good immediately, don’t be. He doesn’t actually turn the corner until the very end of the series. For a little bit there you’re even worried about just how much he will be able to contribute in the end. He still makes a lot of basic mistakes even by the end but you can absolutely see the progress. He starts by working on rebounds, then free throws, and then finally the ability to go for the slam dunk. You’re even invested enough where you get annoyed when he messes up a play or misses a shot because you are really rooting for his success. That’s the hallmark of a great character.

Now you might be wondering, why don’t I like the ending? Well, it’s virtually impossible to get into that without spoilers but it pulls the kind of ending that I’ve seen several other sport series pull and it never works. The kind of ending I want is a really satisfying one where the team leaves everything on the table. They still have a bright future and no real setbacks outside of a possible loss. I don’t mind the characters losing the big game or anything like that but you shouldn’t stockpile anything on top of that. Still, I can’t deny that it is a very tense climax all the way and one of the best Basketball games in the series.

You may be wondering, with 31 volumes, there has to be more to the plot right? Well, in a small scale yes, there is of course a lot of context and mini subplots going on here that I haven’t mentioned but in a large sense yeah this is the plot. Generally it is about all of the characters uniting to win the big tournament. Along the way there are a lot of different games and it’s not just one tournament. They get to play in all seasons so if they lose one tournament then they have a chance in the next one. Generally the only time limit is that they need to win something before the third years retire because otherwise they won’t get to see the big trophy at the end. Perhaps it is already too late for those guys but Sakuragi is going to do his best to win.

You don’t need much more than that for this kind of series. It’s the same for titles like Kuroko’s Basketball and Prince of Tennis. Playing the game and getting farther and farther is the whole point of the adventure so you don’t need anything more than that. It’s also why the volumes blend together because of the games continuing across them and a lot of them being in the same tournament. The games keep on getting longer and longer too in order to show off how intense the opponents are. In a few chapters you only really get one pass as the teams size each other up.

Okay lets talk about the characters now. There are certainly a good amount of them running around here. First up is Sakuragi and there’s not much more that I need to say about him. He’s a really fun character who always gives the team hope when they are down. He doesn’t scare easy and is the kind of person you want to have your back. He will absolutely defend you all the way. His basic understanding of the game means that he will mistakes and will fall for traps but he is always improving at a very fast rate. So give him time and he will be the best on the field at some point.

His romance plot is a little basic as he falls for Haruko right away and it almost feels like more of a gag than anything else. You can cut him some slack because clearly this isn’t a situation that he is used to and it is a big part of the series to be sure. I just wasn’t really behind the romance on this one. He needed to just focus on the game and the series barely has time for this plot for most of the duration. It’s the vehicle that got him to start Basketball but that’s pretty much the end of its use.

Haruko’s a good character though and she always does her best to be supportive. She does have Sakuragi’s back as a good friend and while she likes Rukawa, she doesn’t act really desperate about it. In fact, it’s easy to forget that she likes him at some points because it is never a really big deal here. It’s just a part of her character plot. Rukawa certainly has no time for any of that since he is busy trying to be the very best Basketball player in the world. Rukawa is a really good rival who can dish it out against anyone. Sakuragi is a very physical kind of guy after all and Rukawa responds in kind. I like his confidence and overwhelming skill.

That said, I do think that he tends to disappear a little here and there when the going gets tough. Towards the end we do have a subplot into that as he is reminded that if he wants to be the best then he should be able to defeat anyone who gets in his way. This does end up lighting a fire underneath Rukawa and he puts up one of his best performances. So while he was generally one of the most impressive players all the way, he really reached his potential by the end. He was definitely a great rival to keep Sakuragi honest the whole time.

Then you have Akagi who is basically the strong man of the group. He is always ready to land a good rebound and he is one of the only people that Sakuragi will always listen to. The lead has a lot of respect for the guy and it’s not just because he’s related to the main heroine. Akagi is a natural leader and while he may get down in the dumps once in a while, he usually keeps his head high and has good advice. He’s the cornerstone of the team and as long as he believes there is a chance, everyone fights really hard.

Of course you also have the coach but my hot take is that he’s not very good. Sure, he will show up every now and again with a good play but for the most part he leaves everyone to their devices. Not a bad idea by any means when you’ve got a lot of talent on your squad but it does mean that I don’t give him much credit when they win. After all he didn’t actually do much about that right? That’s the only way to see this. The assistant Ayako does a better job of making sure that each player has what they need. She does all of her duties smoothly and it shows. There’s also a romance plot with her going on but it’s even less of a focus than Sakuragi’s plot so you can safely ignore it.

Kogure is one of the quieter players on the team but he can still play as needed. The guy doesn’t stand out but what he does have on his side is a lot of experience. He keeps his cool under pressure and can get a few baskets in. He’s a solid example of a supporting character who would help out during crunch time even if he wasn’t an elite. The same is true for Yasuda as well. He always keeps his cool and doesn’t fall for the enemy’s mind games. So if the teams are getting fouled a lot then you can count on him to step in and save the day. Or at least buy some time, you’ll still need someone who can really score.

Mitsui is another fun member of the team who can actually fight pretty hard in real life as well as on the court. He was gone for a while at the start so the team has good reason to be annoyed with him but his skills are definitely the real deal. His three point shots get the team out of a lot of holes. It’s such a huge deal to be able to get those extra points as needed. He may not be the calmest guy and it’s pretty easy to egg him on but when you’re on a team with the wild card Sakuragi, it’s fine to have some attitude issues on the court. They will end up sorting themselves out after all.

Then you have Miyagi who is another solid player. He seems to think of himself as Sakuragi’s rival at times but I wouldn’t quite put him in the same weight class there. He is absolutely a good player and all but I never found him to be outstanding. Hey, you need a full team of 5 to go up against the opponents so he still filled in his spot really well. He was a solid guy to have on board. These are all of the big players on the main team. There are others who ride the bench and get a quick moment here and there but for the most part they won’t be making an impact in the actual game. Now it’s time to look at some of the other players on the rival teams.

First up we have one of the strongest teams in the series so you can bet that they have a stacked lineup. Their lead player is Maki who is basically the best all around player in the series. He can dunk, he can play defense, he has speed, he can do anything. I like his overall confidence and even by the end I don’t think that the rival actually surpassed him. There’s no shame in that though, this guy is seriously the real deal so that is to be expected. He’s not just some obstacle though, he gets a good amount of character beyond that. He’s actually a rather fun guy, he’s just naturally competitive on the court.

His coach Takato is also much better than the main coach although that’s true for all of them so I may as well say that now. This guy actually uses a lot of strategy and puts his team in the best position to win. Kiyota is another tough fighter who has confidence on the level of Sakuragi the whole time and this guy’s actually really good. Of course you can expect that Sakuragi will eventually be better than him but this guy is the more complete player at the moment.

Jin and Takato may not be all star players in the way that the others are but they are always put in to win at the right times. They have specific talents like the 3 point shot for example and the coach has them make a move when Sakuragi’s crew least expects it. Just another example of how important it is to have a great coach. A great coach can single handily change the way a match is going to play out. There’s no doubt of that.

Next up we have the team with Uozumi and Sendoh leading the charge. This was another great tag team. Uozumi really made for a rival to Akagi and had a lot of overall power. In a one on one he would tend to lose to our guy but one benefit of always losing is that you have more to work on down the road. So he kept up his game and now he is fully a match for Akagi, even taking the lead at some points. He’s not a dirty player or anything though and keeps everything above board which I respect. It’s easy to acknowledge him as a solid rival.

Meanwhile Sendoh was a rival for Rukawa and did well there. He does light a fire under Sakuragi as well at times but I would say that Rukawa is his main focus. This is another guy who has a case for being the best overall Basketball player. He puts a lot of effort into every part of his game and once he gets serious it is hard to beat him. His one weakness is that it takes time for him to get serious at some points but it does always happen eventually so that’s important. He’s so good it’s not like there is usually a reason for him to get serious early on.

The next team has Kawata and Fukatsu as the big two. Kawata is a really strong player who relies on his strength all the way. That’s not to say that he can’t make shots but this is his big strength to the point where it takes everything Sakuragi has to stop him. It makes for a great rivalry all the way and he’s definitely a player that you really have to account for. Fukatsu is more of the solid all around type. He calmly manages the ball and gets his whole team involved. Another player that really makes it difficult for the opponents to do much against him. This team is a bit weaker than the others in terms of the big two but it’s fairly relative at this point.

There are naturally a bunch of other players across the rest of the teams. This series has no shortage of them but these are the biggest characters that have a role in the series. They are guys that all left an impact and in general they were all good. There are no characters that I found to be super annoying or anything like that. They all had good roles and kept things interesting.

At no point in the series will you be even remotely bored either. Each of the matches are important and will have you on the edge of your sear. Sport series like this also remind you that victory is never guaranteed either so you really don’t know if they will win or not. It’s different from an action series where the characters have to win to an extent or the series is over. In this case that’s not what is happening. Sure, you can still pick up on trends and everything but it is all executed really well.

Overall, Slam Dunk is an excellent series and definitely one of those titles that you aren’t likely to forget. The games are all really great and the cast is very likable. With 30+ volumes you have plenty of time to get used to all of the characters and see what makes them tick. I would even say it probably has a stronger cast than Kuroko’s Basketball to be honest. So that’s one area where I have to give this one the edge. Whether you like Basketball or not I dare say that you can really appreciate the story. It’s just a great story about competitive nature and also what it means to really be a team.

Overall 9/10

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