Kaiju No. 8 Review

Posted on May 9, 2026 by dreager1

Kaiju No. 8 is one of those titles that really took the world by storm. It was a manga that promised to bring in a whole lot of action and Kaiju throughout. Well, I can definitely say that the title delivers on that with nonstop action throughout the series. At the same time, I can understand why some fans were a bit disappointed. If you really enjoyed the opening chapters about Kafka being a part of the cleanup crew and learning how to master his powers, then that was a different series. Me personally? I prefer having high octane action shows so this was more up my alley.

The series begins by introducing us to Kafka who has always wanted to join the defense force. He has the drive for it but unfortunately lacks the skill or the energy for it. Kafka flunks out every year and is forced to stick around as one of the monster cleaners. He comes in after the heroes have beaten the Kaiju and just does his best to get the remains off the street. Well, one day a mini Kaiju goes inside of him and Kafka becomes Kaiju No. 8. Kafka passes the exam this time and can finally fight alongside his childhood friend. Can he keep his new status as a Kaiju secret from the rest of the team or is he absolutely doomed?

The idea of an older main character certainly appealed to folks because it does feel like most of the big action series are about kids or teens. Well, it doesn’t really end up being a big factor here since Kafka acts like a teenager anyway. He certainly has a fun time goofing off but when the villains show up, Kafka is able to lock in. I would say that he’s a good main character even if he may not stand out a whole lot. Essentially he is the kind of character who will make the right decisions and get out there for the fights. He wants to protect his friends and will defy orders in order to accomplish that objective.

In a way his not standing out matches the series a bit where some would say that this one is just a generic battle Shonen by the end. I would say to a large degree that’s true but the execution is really good so that makes up for it. There’s nothing wrong with being generic as long as you’re fun and that’s the approach that Kaiju No. 8 is going for. The art is also really good for this series and that makes a difference. You can feel each hit and there are a ton of memorable shots here. The series is absolutely at its best during the action scenes but the artwork stays consistently good throughout.

Partially because of all the nonstop fighting, the character cast is rather small for a 16 volume series. There are a bunch of side characters running around as part of the Kaiju company of course but in terms of characters who get a real role, well that never expands too much. Perhaps it’s a good thing, this gave us more time for battles after all. Additionally, there are only so many times you can give someone a new Kaiju weapon without it feeling excessive. Anyone without a Kaiju ability was rendered powerless by the end so they would have gotten power creeped out of there anyway.

Reno is a prodigy for example but the limits of the human body are far too low to really give a Kaiju a tough fight. I should differentiate between numbered Kaiju and standard ones though. Standard monsters can absolutely be defeated as they usually are by the company. It just so happens as this series starts that a big villain known as Kaiju No. 9 has been amping them all up to new heights. If not for that then things would be different. We went from having one super Kaiju in 10 years to suddenly having over 7 in one shot.

So Reno is one of the fighters who ends up having to use an experimental Kaiju weapon. While it is not as impressive as Hoshina’s, I would say that it’s pretty good. Reno’s is ice based so he is able to freeze his opponents and keep on fighting. He never quite caught up to Kafka but at least this way he isn’t a liability on the battlefield or anything like that. Reno is able to hold his own and he’s a nice guy in general. His character archetype in these titles doesn’t always get to contribute a lot so this was nice to see.

Kikoru is the main heroine here. Some would argue that Mina takes the role but Kikoru absolutely gets more screentime. At first she has fun mocking Kafka and his efforts but gradually begins to respect him as a father figure. She is the greatest rookie to ever join the defense force and we find out that her parents were both influential figures. In a way she was born for this role and certainly has no problems living up to the hype. Even before she gets a super weapon, Kikoru was dominating fighters left and right. By the time she does get a power up, Kikoru is easily one of the strongest fighters in the series.

She ends up fighting one of the best villains as well so that worked out. In general she has a fun personality. I always like the fiery characters who can banter with the villains. She’s not here to make friends or negotiate with the villains. Kikoru definitely did her mother proud. Her mom only appears in flashbacks but we see how she was also a living legend in her days. With virtually no backup she was able to deal quite a blow to the opposing Kaijus.

Kikoru’s father Isao also gets a decent role although it was a bit smaller than I would have expected. He is a really gruff guy and believes that justice has to be tough sometimes. He pushes this to such an extent that I considered him to be more of a villain throughout the series. Easily the lesser of two evils compared to the Kaiju but anyone who would so quickly sentence his allies to death is definitely not a hero. He has the power to back up his sharp rules though and could have taken out nearly anyone in the series. It’s really impressive how well he did against No. 9 even while he was so much older. If Isao had been in his prime, then he probably would have won.

Gen is yet another prodigy on the hero side. You already see how many prodigies we have right? This is why you couldn’t expand the cast too much farther because the word would probably lose its meaning after a while. Well, Gen can use his eyes to read opponent weak spots as well as almost predict what their next action will be. He has a lazy persona which is the only thing that keeps him from rising up the government ranks. It’s not really something that Gen is interested in anyway though. He just wants to destroy Kaiju and being a platoon leader allows him to really do that without having to hold anything back.

This guy ended up being one of my favorite characters in the series. It may seem at odds with how I typically enjoy characters who are super gung-ho and ready to fight but I do enjoy the lazy ones as well when they are justified with it. If Gen was weak then he would likely end up being a bad character. So he is walking a fine line but that’s just something that will always come with the territory of being this kind of character.

He is rivals with Hoshina who is….another prodigy! Usually it is unheard of to try and fight a Kaiju without a gun but that is exactly what Hoshina does. He relies on his short blades and just tears into them. This requires him to have a great amount of speed and piercing power. A few good hits could take him out of commission permanently. It’s a high stress kind of fighting style and there are probably very few fighters who would have the sheer talent needed to support this kind of style. He does his best to train Kafka and is a good right hand man to Mina.

Hoshina tends to be very serious so the series did a good thing by pairing him up with a very talkative Kaiju. This leads to a whole lot of banter from both sides and it ends up being a fun dynamic. It’s not a dynamic that we get to have around for very long since the series is already starting to wrap up by then but it was still nice to see. Hoshina was one of the first big fighters to appear in the series and he actually remains relevant throughout the whole run.

His boss is Mina who also serves as the goal post for Kafka. She fights using a powerful sniper rifle. Her sheer amount of power means that she can effectively take out a Kaiju from any distance. It does feel like this limits her a bit in battle though because there are only so many ways you can draw her shooting at an opponent. It isn’t like a handgun where she can fire on the go. This one has her stay in one place to ready the giant gun and fire it. For this reason the final arc lets her fight without the gun briefly to remind us that she is a well rounded fighter too. Until that point though, she ends up feeling a bit one note.

While we are told continuously that she is stronger than Hoshina and most of the other characters, you just have a hard time buying into that because of how she doesn’t get to show off her physical abilities more. Either way she is a good character. She makes sure to give Kafka a hard time so that he continues to improve more and more while also always being ready to fight. She will surpass her limits in order to suppress casualties so it’s clear why she is a platoon captain.

There are some other fighters on the hero side but they don’t have fancy Kaiju weapons so they get left in the dust. For example we have Iharu who thinks of himself as Reno’s rival. It’s a nice thought but at the same time the gap between them is simply too vast. He would lose in an instant against Reno because he doesn’t have the speed to compete or even the firepower to put him down. This quickly becomes the case for all of the non Kaiju enhanced fighters. There really needed to be some way to have reduced the gap here.

On the villains side, Kaiju No. 9 may have set the bar too high. He shows up early on and remains as a big villain throughout the series. His whole existence implied a higher form of Kaiju would always be able to talk and strategize. Unfortunately that is dropped after the first 2-3 and then most of them end up being completely mindless. Yes, they have pretty cool designs and awesome powers but they aren’t actually talking. It was too bad because there was a lot of potential there. This also feels like something that the author walked back on because initially it definitely seemed to have been part of the plan. This is a series that needed to keep going to 20+ volumes.

No. 9 is cool but the kind of villain who overcomplicates things. The heroes only have around 5 fighters who can give him a real fight and of those, probably just 2 who have a chance at beating him. He should have attacked straight up with a bunch of his monsters. Alternately he could have picked them off. No. 9 has the ability to shapeshift and tends to appear out of nowhere. The heroes are rarely ever fully mobilized so all he has to do is gradually take them out. There would usually be something to prevent that from happening but no such concept exists here.

The heroes are the underdogs by a wide margin and the author put them in too much of a hole here. There are countless ways to put the heroes out of their misery and instead No. 9 decides to have them all mobilized and then splits up his own forces to get picked off. Definitely a terrible general when you really think about it. I suppose he still came close to winning but it wasn’t exactly due to his own abilities.

No. 10 was another fun villain. This guy liked a good fight and he is the one who ends up partnering with Hoshina. He has a lot of pride and basically acts like one of the humans. This is exactly what I was hoping for. A Kaiju who could hold his own and wasn’t just roaring all the time. He was also really powerful as Kafka had to go all out here. No. 10 does have the misfortune of being one of the first Kaiju to show up so you could make the case that he is technically weaker than most of the numbers. I dunno, he still felt stronger than most to me but it’s hard to scale since he had to fight Kafka directly.

Then we have No. 15 who ends up fighting Kikoru. She really stands out because now we had a Kaiju who not only had character and dialogue but one who was even being manipulated. No. 9 is constantly dangling the lure of parental respect in front of her and shifts the goal posts so that she is always having to keep on fighting. He doesn’t actually care about her and that’s obvious to the reader but No. 15 still hopes that this can somehow happen.

No. 15 then tries using mind games in Kikoru as well. The only other one we see doing that kind of thing is No. 9 himself. So 15 feels like she is really a higher ranked Kaiju and she is incredibly memorable thanks to the design as well. She is like a dark Kikoru. While the other Kaiju could not live up to that, it was at least good to have one more complex villain like this.

These are the scenes that just made you feel like the series had more meat left on the bone. We also have the whole mystery of the Kaiju that gave Kafka his powers and the ghost samurai. It is explained by the end but it’s a bit more on the lackluster side. I just feel like it was shoved into the ending instead of being a cool subplot. Additionally the ending immediately reverses on itself which almost defeats the purpose of the storyline they decided to go with for the samurai in general. The final chapters have quite a few twists to hit you fast and hard with lore so maybe one day we will get a full sequel series.

At the end of the day you shouldn’t think too hard about missed opportunities though. There are no “ifs ands or buts” when you finish a story. It’s all about what was actually on the page and I was still more than satisfied with what we got. This was a great story with solid action throughout and a lot of battles. The fundamentals were all sound. The series may not have the strongest cast or excel in the peace between action segments but that’s exactly why it focused on action so much. You should always play to your strengths.

Overall, Kaiju No. 8 is definitely a great title. While it may have ended rather quickly where you felt like there was a lot of met left on the table, it did still give us a ton of battles. The series also lasted a bit longer than you would have expected and the final fight in particular was really satisfying. Both fighters really would not relent and just kept on getting up over and over. I also liked the ending which could have easily gone sideways. Maybe one day we will get some kind of a sequel series here.

Overall 8/10

Saint Seiya: Rerise of Poseidon Review

Posted on May 3, 2026 by dreager1

This is one of those mini series that feels random but still manages to be hype all the way. The fact that it takes place after the Hades arc is excellent as opposed to it being one of those flashback arcs. This is a chance to finally see some events right after the main series and for that reason it makes sense that Poseidon and his crew are main characters here since Seiya and the gang are not available at the moment. The series ended with 20 chapters which is a nice round number and that works well for a mini series.

The series starts with Hades waking Poseidon up from his slumber and declaring that the god will need to protect Earth for a little while. The goddess Nemesis has decided that she wants to destroy Earth and she has already started creating natural disasters around the planet. Poseidon calls in his faithful Mariners to take her down but she has a group of fighters on her side as well. This is going to be a true battle of gods but time is not on Poseidon’s side. Can he hope to keep up against Nemesis while most of his power is still being sealed by Athena?

One thing I will say about this series that isn’t really a complement is that it’s very formulaic. This feels like the classic Seiya where everybody splits up and fights their opponent. Most of the fights follow the same structure where the hero gets absolutely dominated for a while, then we see the villain’s origin story. After that, we get the hero’s origin story and they get a big power up before winning the fight. There is some variety in the other of the origin stories but that’s about it. So while it’s still hype to see the actual battles, you always tend to know what’s about to happen.

In that respect, things get more interesting once they make it to Nemesis herself. Then the series can have fun messing with the natural order of things and all of the characters begin some fresh battles. Of course by then the series is just about over so that’s the one drawback. I do think the series managed to cover a lot of ground in just 20 chapters though. The chapters tend to be fairly long and filled with action. The series managed to cover a whole lot of origins in that time while also introducing a lot of characters. That takes a good amount of skill. While the writer does have a bit of a bad habit of making a ton of characters all talk and act similar, the origins help to diffuse this a bit. At least they are all put in really different circumstances.

Sorrento was never my favorite Mariner and I feel like the flute really put him at a disadvantage. It’s just not nearly as impressive a weapon as the fighters who use their fists to put everyone into submission. Yes, Sorrento’s flute seems to work on most of the fighters but when it fails, it goes really badly for him. I give him props for deciding to fight even when his opponent was a girl because some of the other fighters were not so practical.

His opponent Musicaterpsich has a really complicated name. Her illusions were fun like with how she summoned Andromeda. Of course I would say this was another lucky break for Sorrento. A physical type of adversary would have crushed him pretty thoroughly. At least illusions are something that you are able to successfully fight with music. She was a solid fighter even if she probably won’t be remembered a whole lot.

Poseidon looks pretty good here. He’s a reasonable guy and does save his fighters more than once. He takes a more active role than Athena. For example one of the villains sends his opponents to a parallel universe where they are living a normal life. Poseidon ends up having to step in personally to save them and I thought that was a really nice touch. He wasn’t going to just let them figure it out. Then he does get his own fight by the end. It all helps him to feel more like a real character and not some figurehead. He’s still not as cool as Hades but the series helped him.

Cadmos is a real beast because he had to take on two of the Mariners at once. He’s hardly the last to do it but he was the first to go on a 2 v 1. It’s also impressive since Kanon is easily the most powerful one. I like this guy’s design and he’s a really powerful fighter. He also has a very tragic backstory like the rest of the enemies. Ultimately there weren’t many ways out for the guy and as strong as he is, I don’t think anyone thought he could ultimately take Kanon down.

Kanon is having a tough time of it throughout the series because he still blames himself for what happened in the Poseidon arc. His lust for power is confusing him and the villains make sure to try and use this against him with visions of Gemini Saga. Kanon even gets beat up by his teammates but this does lead to a full character arc and by the end they have really recognized him as a true teammate. Kanon is a lot of fun to watch and so this was pretty satisfying.

Caca is still the last impressive member of the team. This series tries to rehabilitate the character a little bit but it feels rather half hearted. This is still not the guy that you want watching your back at all. He’s just not going to fight as well and no amount of power ups can help to change that. At least he helped Kanon but that’s all I can say for him.

Krishna is a pretty strong guy who has a legendary defense. As with the rest of the Mariners he is on the back foot for a good chunk of the fight until he gets his power up. He’s definitely a fun character and while you could say that a lot of the characters are written very similarly, it doesn’t take away from him being solid. Perhaps now he could actually give Virgo Shaka a solid fight. It was nice to see his origin here as well as most of the other Mariners.

His opponent Alis was a lot of fun because in a way he was like Pegasus Seiya. This guy was the original Pegasus Knight from legend and has the stats to back it up. I did like the gimmick that the villains were the actual heroes from legends as opposed to being reincarnations or anything like that. It adds a bit of an extra spark to the fights as a whole and keeps things fresh. Alis ended up being my favorite from the big villains.

Baian gets the shaft here a bit compared to the other Mariners. He has to share his opening fight which doesn’t go very well and after that he’s around with the rest of the team for their big wins. He does still have a proper fight but doesn’t stand out as much. I guess he just didn’t have a big character arc unlike most of the others. He’s still solid but feels more like the muscle of the group despite not being the strongest.

In comparison Isaak gets some more memories of his time with Hyoga and Camus. The guy has the most rage against Kanon for his betrayal and just oozes personality in all of his scenes. This guy is pretty central to the plot and it does make him cooler as a result. I just like when you have a character who gets to really show out like this. His design is also really awesome with how they handled the eye scar. Reminds me of Cable from X-Men.

Their opponent Aeneas is also one of the most impressive fighters. Not only does he instantly defeat his two opponents to the point where Poseidon had to bail them out but throughout the fight he had the advantage here. He just kept on getting stronger and stronger until he eventually fell. Ultimately it’s hard to keep up with Saints and Mariners forever since their strength levels are infinite but this guy really put up a great fight.

Then we get the final main challenger in Pollux. This guy is easily one of the strongest fighters in the series. He was able to handle several Mariners and just kept on getting up no matter how many attacks were thrown his way. He was the son of Zeus so it makes sense that his abilities would be high. Just when you think he’s down, he gets back up again. The guy has nonstop confidence and the power to back it up. I was definitely a pretty big fan by the end.

As for Nemesis, well she is a solid villain. We get her origin story about how her best friend Iustitia ended up sympathizing with the Pegasus knight of her time and this caused a lot of chaos. Nemesis had to take a big punishment from Zeus and even then it wasn’t enough to keep their friendship. Iustitia lost everything and Nemesis vowed revenge on the saints. It took her a long while but now in the present she is finally ready. I will say that the Pegasus from the past was really cool. He was able to complete many trials that seemed absolutely impossible to get through and yet nothing would stop him. He was a really good first generation of Pegasus saint before Seiya would show up.

Nemesis does go pretty crazy by the end though. You understand why after the flashback but it’s still not a great look for her. If she had only kept her composure and actually helped her fighters then they probably would have beaten the Mariners. Of course, most main villains don’t actually help so it’s not like she is the first to ditch her fighters. That’s just how it goes most of the time so the heroes have time to get their power ups in.

The artwork is definitely really good and looks just like the original series. The fights are intense and the power ups are all very dramatic. The series can randomly get pretty violent at times like when Pollux was ripped apart. That was an absolutely crazy scene. In some ways because it’s less detailed, it doesn’t feel as bad as other modern titles but it really comes out of nowhere. Needless to say, this is the kind of series that may startle you here and there.

Overall, This was a really fun spinoff. I liked how it actually kept the story going and wasn’t some random side story that won’t matter. This one can in theory be mentioned in the future and have some ramifications. I may be getting my hopes up too high there but at least there is a chance. It also shows how fleshed out the world is where you don’t even need Seiya and pals in order for this to be a big success. If you haven’t checked it out yet, then I definitely recommend changing that. There’s basically nonstop action the whole time and these are basically DBZ characters with their crazy amounts of power.

Overall 8/10

Spy x Family Season 3 Review

Posted on May 3, 2026 by dreager1

Spy x Family has been going on for quite a while now. It definitely looks like this isa title that will be sticking around even if it is at the cost of a fairly slow amount of plot progression. At this point the idea is mainly to enjoy the status quo which works well enough. The main characters are good and we do get some action scenes here. The season is solid as a whole and is a good comfort watch.

There are a few mini arcs in this season but for the most part we have a lot of stand alone adventures. The season kicks off with a disgruntled construction worker deciding to claim some lives and this forces Loid to step in. It’s a fun premiere to set up all of the characters and their personalities. I also like the idea of a random threat just popping up like this so that was well done.

We get a much smaller scale story after that where Fiona and Franky have to team up. Franky is consistently one of the most annoying characters so I definitely felt bad for Fiona here. She really had to put up with his endless flirting and everything. Franky needs to just stay on mission instead of doing too much all the time. Everything works out in the end but mainly I’d give all the credit to Fiona here.

This is probably Fiona’s best season in general because she gets a big fight near the end of the season. Without her, Loid would be dead and the heroes would have suffered a big blow. She really needs to give up on Loid romantically since he is married but otherwise she has developed herself into one of the strongest fighters around. She is really dedicated to clearing the mission and certainly has a high pain tolerance. She’s easily the second best agent only losing out to Loid on his side. Yes, Handler is strong too but I don’t think she’s on the same level.

As for Franky, I don’t really think there is any hope left for him. He is really stuck in the comic relief slot at this point. He may have some big moments here and there but at the same time I don’t really see him making the jump to being one of the top characters. It’s just not happening and his segments really always need another character in order to succeed. They are only marginally better than Bond’s. Anya segments can be hit or miss but at least she has a strong supporting cast to back her up.

She gets a short about a legendary teacher showing up to cause chaos. She is well known for throwing around Tonitrus bolts in order to penalize the various students. If you remember part of the main plot here, enough of those bolts will expel you. They are the opposite of Stella Stars, where getting a certain amount of them will allow you to graduate. So that’s really something to keep in mind and be worried about. One wrong turn and that’s going to be a big problem.

The old lady ends up being decent. Yes, she definitely is super unreasonable and not someone you would want to have on the faculty but at least she will be making sure that everyone stays sharp. I trust that Becky won’t make any mistakes but the other students better watch out. As the main student in the series, Anya can be a true wild card. Sometimes she is wise beyond her years but most of the time she will be falling into every possible trap. If she didn’t have the ability to read minds then she would really be doomed.

She does get one of the mini arcs though as Anya’s school bus is hijacked by terrorists. They are trying to spring some of their comrades but the military police have a 0 tolerance policy for negotiations. These guys appear to be serious about murdering everyone so Anya has to find a way out of this. Loid and Yuri also get involved briefly but for once they can’t claim a lot of credit here. Anya ends up being the definitive factor here even if it wasn’t all intentional. This was a fun mini arc though because there was a clear sense of danger here. Anya got some solid moments and I also was glad that the police didn’t just get completely paralyzed. They were ready to handle things by the book even if it meant some casualties would happen. It’s grim but sort of the way you have to handle things lie this or it would only get worse.

Then we have Loid’s origin story which is another big event. The show makes sure to hide his true name so I assume that will become relevant at some point. I’m curious what the implications would be. No way he’s actually a Desmond but I’m guessing Loid is related to some established character that we know about. Since Loid was a child at the time, it makes his origin even darker. He had to grow up really fast in a war torn environment even when he was just a child. That’s not easy for anybody.

It’s also a real contrast from the expert agent that he is in the present. While Loid sometimes gets overwhelmed, he always solves the case in the present. Loid continues to be one of the best characters in the series although I would have to give Yuri the top spot. The two of them get an actual battle in this season which was intense. Yuri appears to be stronger physically but Loid’s skills are far superior. It’s not even close when the two of them end up having a fight. We’ll see if Yuri can adapt or if that might have been their only fight.

It happens during the final arc of the season where both sides are trying to get to a secret agent. The secrets that he holds are simply too dangerous for anybody to have a hold of them. SSS and WISE both get some hype here as they uncover moles within each other’s organizations and continue to appear to be on par with each other. Neither side is significantly more powerful than the other. It’s still a bit unclear who the real good guys are here. Both organizations seem to be a bit on the shady side. In general I tend to side more with the SSS as the local authorities in the mix but it’s definitely not an easy call.

The new secret agent, Wheeler, was also a fun character. Definitely the best villain and it would be nice to see him again. I get the feeling that this was probably it for him though. Still, he got to show off a lot of great abilities like how he kept the main characters at bay the whole time. That’s not the easiest thing to do considering how outnumbered he was.

There are a few other oneshot stories like Loid having to deal with a jealous co-worker. That one just made me feel like the villain got off way too easily though. He was actively lying and trying to get Loid arrested. If Loid had not been a super spy, he would have been in real trouble. It’s why just scaring this guy doesn’t seem like enough. I know they have to keep a low profile so that does hurt your available options but there surely must have been something that they could have done.

You may be wondering what Yor is doing throughout this season. Well, unfortunately she doesn’t have a whole lot to do here. She has a segment where she gets drunk and tries to pick a fight with Loid but it isn’t her best appearance. Her larger role is when she gets to meet Damian’s mother and even joins a club with her in it. So now Yor is deeper into the main plot even if she doesn’t realize it. I think this should lead to some pretty interesting plots. I would like for Yor to be a little more alert on what’s going n but I suppose that simply isn’t her character.

Yor is still fun but man did she get the shaft in this one. I want some action scenes for her. Both Yor and Loid should get one big action scene in every season if you ask me. So by and large those were most of the adventures. I didn’t include literally each one but there was a lot of variety here. As always the technical elements were pretty good here. The animation is solid and the soundtrack works out well too. The opening isn’t my favorite though. It’s not the kind of intro that you will be playing on repeat or anything like that.

The writing is pretty solid and the pacing is good. I would say that the show has strong fundamentals all around. It just lacks ambition so this is the kind of show you watch passively but you won’t be on the edge of your seat quite yet. The show may prove me wrong with future seasons but I expect it will stay more or less like this for a while. So then it all comes down to the character dynamics and usually they cancel out to this one being a pretty good title. Loid and Yuri segments tend to be great. Bond and Franky segments are weak. Yor and Anya segments can really go either way. There is quite a lot of balance in this kind of setup.

Right now the 2 most interesting subplots are going to revolve around the group that gave Anya and Bond powers as well as who the “good guys” are between WISE and SSS. I expect at some point the series will choose one as the lesser of two evils. In theory the shady group giving people powers will be the final boss that both sides have to unite against. It will be fun once Loid and Yor find out about Anya’s secret but I expect that won’t happen until the very end of the series. Once they find out, there is no returning to the old status quo after all. While the series does have a body count, I would say that it is fairly light toned overall. This is an easy action title you can check out at any time.

Even if we do stay with episodic adventures for a while, I would just like to have a more even distribution of missions. We should always have at least one Yor assassination case and one secret agent case for Loid per season. If you go a whole season without that happening then it feels like something went wrong. Someone is getting too much focus and messing up the balance. If we have to stop having Franky segments, well then so be it. It is worth getting more action from Yor. The whole point of the show is about this family dynamic where everyone has a secret after all so the show needs to focus on that a bit more. Beyond that, it can just continue going on as it has been since each season has resulted in a good time from start to finish.

Overall, Spy x Family continues to churn out more and more episodes. It is impressive how far it has come with 3 seasons and a movie. Not just any title could hope to pull that off. I feel like there is already enough material for a season 4. If you have enjoyed the first two seasons then you should have fun with this one. The 13 episodes go by quickly but they still did manage to get 3 story arcs in there which is pretty impressive. I’ll definitely be around for season 4 when it comes out.

Overall 7/10

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos Review

Posted on April 30, 2026 by dreager1

Fullmetal Alchemist is known as one of the greatest manga and anime titles of all time. No matter what circle you’re in, people talk about this series with a great amount of reverence. Would the movie really be able to live up to such a high reputation? Well, I thought it was a really solid one, I’d say another great addition to the franchise. Now personally, I thought there was quite a lot of action in the title but apparently that’s not the main view. It may not be a ton of punch, punch scenes but there’s always a lot going on. Mix that in with a good story and I’d say that we’re in a good place here.

The series starts with a crook escaping just like in episode one of Brotherhood. Just like with that instance, Edward and Alphonse are clowned by the villain as he escapes. They are then roped into what will be one of the more intricate political problems they have had to deal with. Surely it’s not as bad as finding out that the leader of your country is a biological monster trying to destroy the world right? So they follow a clue into a small country/land that has fallen into ruin. It has the unfortunate luck of being right in the middle of two larger countries which are always fighting each other.

All of the spillover damage constantly ravages this place and its people. They cannot escape either as neither country will allow them passage. So everything sucks down there and it comes as no surprise that this has fueled a bunch of terrorist/resistance fighters. You have one group that wants to liberate the country by picking a side and another that wants to take both of them down. Naturally the former is more realistic but how do you choose? There aren’t a lot of easy answers here and even by the end of the film you can’t say that the situation is resolved. Ed and Alphonse do their best and the film does try to have an optimistic ending but it depends how much you buy into it.

The film is fairly long which is a good thing because there is definitely a whole lot of story going on here. I will say right off the bat that they do a pretty good job of keeping things interesting. Ordinarily you don’t want to be adding a bunch of original characters and making the whole film based on them. Naruto in particular always got a lot of shots taken at it for having the classic princess of the week at every turn. Well, at least in this one the characters are very memorable and have a lot of motivations so it works.

I’ll get into the characters in a second but first I will warn you that Ed and Alphonse look pretty weak as always. That’s nothing new since they lose a ton of fights in the main series as well. For that reason I wasn’t really torn up about that. It would be one thing if they looked out of character or something but looking weak isn’t a really big deal. I was disappointed that Roy doesn’t get any on screen fights this time though. I get that he’s a bit overpowered but cmon, at least show the fire abilities off a little bit. The fact that he gets a fight and it’s off screen is even more puzzling than if he didn’t have any fights.

The animation is really smooth and looks top tier as you would expect. I definitely have no issues with the film on that front. You’ve come to expect nothing less from the series by this point though. Then we have the soundtrack which is decent. I wouldn’t say anything to write home about but it works well enough. So the technical effects are as good as needed.

Now as for the characters. First we have Melvin who is a wanted fugitive. Seems like your classic brawler type but he gets several plot twists in the film. On the surface he just wants to save his sister Julia and get her out of this war torn territory. Seems nice enough minus the violence but it’s not like he really has a whole lot of legal options here since all the governments are against him. Naturally the guy starts to go more and more off the rails as the film goes on. He is absolutely and unapologetically a villain all the way through, nothing ambiguous here.

You could say that he gets a little overconfident though. Honestly the plan wasn’t bad and he got super close to victory. Once he was in reach of the stone, he shouldn’t have been stopped so easily. Although in the original series I also thought that the Philosopher’s stone wasn’t quite as impressive as it was cracked up to be. Yes, it does allow you to do alchemy with no penalty or sacrifice but Ed can already do it without seals. As for the whole equivalent exchange part, there is always something on hand so it doesn’t feel like a big penalty.

We still do get a nice fight at the end though so that was nice. Meanwhile Julia is sort of dragged around the place with everyone wanting her on their side but I was glad that she was standing up for herself by the end. She ultimately chose to help the resistance and wasn’t going to let herself be misled in the meantime. I do feel like the heroes guilt tripped her a bit about the stone though. I get not wanting to create a stone since you need to sacrifice souls to it. 100% on board there. However, once it has already been created, I feel like you may as well use it. Try to build a better tomorrow with it instead of just breaking it. Ultimately the situation evolves to a point where she has no choice but the heroes are way too hesitant about using it.

Then we have Herschel who feels like he didn’t think things through nearly as well as the others. My main problem with him is that the guy feels a bit abrupt in his scenes by the end. He just shows up out of nowhere and while that can work in theory, I just have a hard time seeing his end game play out. Even if Ed and Al weren’t there to stop him, he doesn’t have enough allies to make a big difference. The guy just came off as super crazy and the first villain was a lot more interesting.

Overall, I had a good time with this film though. There were definitely a lot of moving pieces with how many factions were running around. You had werewolves, the armies, etc. If you are looking forward to Ed and Alphonse dominating then this film isn’t for you, but otherwise I would say this is a strong all around title. It’s the kind of film that is pretty accessible even if you’re not familiar with the series because of how detailed the world building here is. You could even use it as a pilot and then watch the main series with how similar the start and setup is to the first episode.

Overall 8/10

One Piece Season 2 Review

Posted on April 4, 2026 by dreager1

One Piece has finally returned! It’s been a really long time since season 1 aired so I’m definitely glad that the show wasn’t cancelled or anything like that. Now that would have been rough. This time we already know season 3 is on the way so that’s a load off. I wouldn’t say that this season quite beats the first one but of course it’s difficult to beat the first meetings for all the characters. We don’t get to see Mihawk this time around but there are a bunch of characters running around.

The story starts with the Strawhats making it to Loguetown to stop by for supplies before continuing on the Grand Line. They are still being pursued by Baroque Works for taking down two of their agents and get even higher priority from the terrorist agency when Luffy runs into the princess of Alabasta. The crew will have to keep her safe while fighting off the various enemies as well as the World Government. The sea is a vast place and so the heroes will get to go to a whole lot of islands and meet a lot of characters. No matter what obstacles head their way, nothing will deter Luffy from being King of the Pirates.

First off the effects are definitely solid like in season 1. I really enjoy seeing the characters use their special abilities like Luffy stretching all over the place and the villains having their own abilities like wax and bombs. The series is not afraid to go all out with the effects which is a good thing because a title like One Piece needs to embrace this. We’re not watching this show to just see some run of the mill pirates adventure.

The soundtrack is also really good. Sadly Buggy isn’t around all that much so his amazing theme doesn’t get to appear as prominently. The rest of the soundtrack is still really good though and you even get the occasional remix. Tony Tony Chopper even got his own theme which I was definitely not expecting. It’s catchy enough. So the technical elements are good here. The only small issue is that like season 1, the camera tends to zoom a little too closely into everyones’ faces. This is the only show I’ve ever seen where it’s so noticeable but granted, I haven’t seen a ton of live action TV shows.

The show manages to cover quite a few islands within the 8 episodes as well. The first one we go to is Loguetown where we get to see Smoker and his assistant Tashigi. Tashigi is given a little more ability in this version as she can actually fight and even defeats someone in a future arc. It was nice to see because she did start with some potential before getting completely written out. This feels like a much more balanced approach to what you would have expected here. Meanwhile Smoker definitely looks strong as always. At this point the Strawhats would really have absolutely no chance of defeating him. None of them have any counters to his smoke. Buggy also got to show up which was definitely a lot of fun.

Then we get the episode introducing us to the giant Whale who sailed with a future member of the Strawhats. Some good foreshadowing there and of course the group gets to take down two more members of Baroque Works. The Strawhats were definitely not doing too bad up to this point although I still have my share of issues with Luffy which I’ll get into later on. Lets just say that he isn’t quite the power hitter that you would have expected him to be.

The highlight episode of the whole season has to be the third one though. We see the heroes head into a town that lays traps for pirates. Most of the crew fall for this but Zoro was ready and now has to take on 100 fighters all by himself. In the show at least he definitely appears to be the strongest Strawhat. I can’t picture any of the others pulling off this feat or anything close to it to be honest. The whole episode has a lot of fighting and is very fast paced. The other members get their fights too of course but Zoro is the highlight. We even see how he is still dealing with what Mihawk told him before about being too weak. Zoro will prove him wrong or die trying.

Then we get to the final two arcs which are a little longer. Little Garden has the heroes meeting up with some giants and unfortunately Baroque Works is around to get in their way as well. In particular Mr. 3 is the big villain here with his wax powers. He is able to basically stick things together and can even create shields that are so powerful that Luffy has a hard time breaking them. That’s a really impressive devil fruit. If not for his getting supremely overconfident, the heroes would have been doomed here. In general the villains just have a whole lot of creative powers and of course the numbers advantage is on their side as well.

The giants look more on the underwhelming side if anything. They may be big but that’s about all that they’ve got. They are shown to not be strong enough to break through the wax which is a really bad anti feat for them. If you can’t even do that, then you’re naturally going to be in a whole world of trouble. Hopefully the giants look more impressive in their next appearances but in general it’s not like they’re my favorite characters anyway so it’s not a big deal.

The final arc has the group going to Drum Kingdom which is probably the most emotional arc of the series. We get nearly a whole episode that barely features the Strawhats as we focus on Tony Tony Chopper and his origin story. It’s handled pretty well and of course the final fight with King Wapol is good. The final episode is always fun because you get to see what the show will use as a proper cliffhanger for season 3. There are a lot of options after all and I have no issues with the one that they chose. We’re definitely in store for a lot of hype.

With all of these strengths, it’s fair to say that the show also has some weaknesses. The biggest one here would have to be Luffy. I think the show just went a little too overboard with having him lose fights. It’s not like he is undefeated in the manga but generally you can count on Luffy to win. He is an inspiring figure and a powerful one who can back up the tough talk. That is why all of the various characters can depend on him in the first place after all.

In the live action series it feels like they cannot count on him. He loses virtually all of his fights. Luffy got crushed by Buggy’s right hand girl in the first episode which was rather embarrassing. Then Vivi defeated him with her dancing skills, one of the Baroque agents beat him with her painting skills, and even Wapol was beating him until Luffy was saved by the Strawhats. You can definitely hit a good balance here but this isn’t it. Luffy still acts really cocky the whole time as he grins 24/7 and says he’ll kick their buts but it comes across as hollow when he is the one being crushed. So how do you fix that? Well, I’d say in the next season Luffy should be racking up the wins and generally overwhelming his opponents. To make up for this, he should be looking dominant.

As it stands, he just seems to be very weak and uses his gum gum powers as a crutch which isn’t really how Luffy should be portrayed. I don’t have any issues with his personality otherwise but he’ll be a lot more endearing when he can back up the tough talk. Meanwhile Zoro looks great as expected, he really dominates his opponents in every fight and has a lot of great scenes. In a way you would think that Zoro was the true captain of the Strawhats. At the very least I couldn’t really tell you different.

Nami does well as always in a support role. She is written out for most of the final arc but is otherwise a big player throughout. I’m looking forward to seeing her get more action scenes down the road. Usopp is one of those characters where how much you like him will depend on how much you can tolerate his lack of bravery. Yes, he will get the job done in the end but generally it is going to take some time to get to that point…in every arc.

Princess Vivi does well in her role. She is a real fighter and gets more than one action scene which was good. She takes a little while to really get on board with the group but that makes sense since they are definitely a very active bunch. I’m definitely cool with her sticking with the crew for a while. Then of course we have Tony Tony Chopper who has never been my favorite character but he’s not bad. Chopper’s dream of being a good doctor is naturally a good one and he can fight when needed. Chopper just needs more experience under his belt so that he can really stand up to the others. He’ll be fun as the team’s animal mascot of sorts but he needs to work hard so he can be seen as a true member of the crew.

Finally there is Sanji who is pretty solid. The show does a good job of not really playing up the flirty part of his persona. So he comes across as a well rounded character with good cooking skills and combat prowess. I like his natural confidence and of course his rivalry with Zoro is always a lot of fun. He adds a whole lot to the dynamic of the main characters so you would want to have him around at all times.

Then we have the villains who tend to be pretty solid within their screentime. Buggy was great in his guest star role. He got to show Luffy who was boss and really take command there. Nico Robin gets a lot of hype throughout the show and it is definitely deserved. She will be a tough fighter to take down, especially if her opponents are not shooting on sight. If they don’t do that then there is really no way to realistically defeat her.

The Baroque Work agents can be more hit or miss. They work well as antagonists but less so as characters. Mr. 3 for example has a cool power but it’s not like his personality is all that interesting. He’s one of those very theatrical guys who likes to do everything his way. His own pride is what gets in the way of claiming victory here.

King Wapol is one of those super petty characters. He is as corrupt as possible and will never even bother to acknowledge someone else’s viewpoint on the matter. He’s the king so that is the only viewpoint that counts. So I may not be the biggest fan but he does have a good design and fights well. He actually had the upper hand for a while there. That makes him stand out at least.

Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine also have fairly big roles. Valentine’s weight abilities are really handy and I would say that makes her one of the stronger members. She was also very confident so that’s a lot of wins all around. Mr. 5 has bombs but there is a decent mount of load time before he can use each one so that limits him a bit. They also don’t seem to be super strong based on their range. They’re just strong enough for him to put up a good fight but that’s about it.

There are a bunch of other side characters running around but these are a lot of the big players. It’s always really cool to see an adaption ongoing like this. Hopefully the series can really make it all the way to Water 7 or Marineford before ending. I’ll be rooting for it all the way. At the end of the day this is a very fun show and that is its biggest strength. The positives certainly outweigh the negatives by quite a lot.

If there’s anything that really keeps the show from reaching the next level it would be the pacing at times though. Luffy being weak is annoying but not the kind of thing that really hurts after all. While the pacing isn’t enough where I would say it’s downright bad or anything, at times the scenes can drag a little bit. You aren’t always at the edge of your seat the way you need to be when a show is going for 1 hour episodes. Generally a 1 hour episode should still feel really fast when you’re having a blast but where were a handful of times here where you would want them to speed through some of the exposition so we could get to the next big moment.

Overall, This One Piece show is a good example of how any title can get a live action show if you have enough dedication. You just gotta go out there and get the job done. It certainly won’t always be easy but you just have to be confident about it. I would recommend this title to anyone looking for a fun action adventure series. You definitely don’t need to be a One Piece fan to enjoy the story. You’ll probably want to watch season 1 first before going onto this one though.

Overall 7/10

World Trigger Season 2 Review

Posted on September 9, 2025 by dreager1

Season 2 of World Trigger starts immediately and I really appreciate that about the show. You never need an episode to get people back into the spirit of things. If they need a review, they can just rewatch the first season again. That’s how I see it at least. As with season 1, season 2 is excellent. The battles, animation, and story are super good. I wish the manga hadn’t had to go on hiatus for so long because it’s clear that this would have been a breakout hit. Dare I say that it may have passed Hunter X Hunter and kept pace with One Piece in popularity? Ah well, it’s all a what if.

The season starts with more aliens deciding to invade the planet. Jin is able to predict their arrival thanks to his side effect and so the government mobilizes all of their forces. With the exception of some B rankers like Osamu and his fellow tournament fighters so this way they would not be distracted. These aliens are from another planet and are aiming to force a fight between Earth and the first enemy so they can get away. Otherwise they are basically given a suicide mission here as Earth would wipe them out. Their main goal is to destroy the big spaceship which would set Earth back at least a year and the heroes have to stop them.

One thing about World Trigger that is quite unique compared to other anime is that Earth gets a whole lot of respect. We aren’t just sitting ducks for the various alien races and can actually hold out own. The biggest invention tat Earth had was the ability to use energy bodies to let its fighters train in life or death situations constantly. This is also handy for the invasions where they can fight with their fake bodies without the risk of death. The automatic bail-out feature ensures a guaranteed survival so it’s as if everyone has two lives.

Around half of the season is for the invasion and usually you’d expect that the second half would falter in comparison but as it is a tournament, that isn’t the case. Those battles are incredibly satisfying as well. They also have a lot of strategy to them and in a way that is really what makes the series stand out. Plenty of big titles have strong action scenes but this one consistently has plans on top of plans. By making the battles a 3 way fight of 4 teammates each, there is always a whole lot going on.

Of course the invasion does have much higher stakes so it would still take the slight win. It’s also nice seeing the most powerful fighters in the verse going at it since generally as good as the students are, they aren’t going to be holding their own against the upperclassmen. Jin himself doesn’t get much action this time but he got to steal the show repeatedly in season 1 so that makes sense. Additionally, his ability to give the Earth time to prepare still makes him the automatic MVP.

Meanwhile in the tournament, there may be times where you feel like the aces could do a little better in the fights but overall the strategies make sense. This is a series where there are power gaps but generally they aren’t crazy. A normal fighter can defeat an elite with the right amount of strategies. The prodigies are able to move a little faster or hit a little harder but it’s not like Superman going up against Green Arrow. So while I can be a bit skeptical when someone like Kuga isn’t shredding 3 ordinary joes, it’s easier to understand than in other titles.

At 12 episodes, the season goes by a lot quicker than the first one which had an incredible amount of episodes. You still feel like a lot of progress is made but of course that’s probably since I love all of the action. The tournament is still ongoing so in that sense it may feel like things haven’t moved a ton but it’s all in how you look at it. I wouldn’t mind if the tournament kept going on for a whole other season.

Now lets look at the characters. First up we have Osamu and he is desperate to look better than last time where he got absolutely crushed. This time he gets to show off what he can do with his new wire traps which are really effective. It was a clever way for him to get around his lack of abilities and he still has the occasional dash to try and crush someone’s shield. While Osamu can be a little too quiet and soft spoken at times, he’s a pretty decent lead. There’s nothing you can do about being weak in this verse as your base trion won’t improve much, so coming up with a smart way around that is a good idea.

Meanwhile Kuga continues to look good as the ace. He has some of the best physical stats in the series and it’s all with a weaker trigger than what he usually had. He is always the power hitter of the group and continues to get more and more adept at using different fighting styles. Technically I would say he has less of a focus here than in other arcs but still makes his presence known at all times.

Chika also gets some good moments with her gun but unfortunately deals with that trauma of hers where she can’t shoot anyone directly. It’s a pretty big issue so hopefully she will be able to bounce back from that soon. Right now it severely limits her and without that, I dare say that Osamu’s group would win every battle with ease. The sheer amount of destructive force that she has is completely through the roof. A few shots would completely bury the whole map.

Hyuse gets his own subplot here as he moves closer to his goal of returning home. Ultimately there won’t be a way for him to do this unless he plays ball and so he prepares to do just that. In the process h has to raise his rank and prepare to join a squad. Anyone who saw season 1 won’t be surprised at his level of ability. The guy can be rather deadpan but is a supremely good fighter and one who knows his limits. That is really what makes him incredibly difficult to defeat. I look forward to him appearing more since that will be real entertaining.

Next up we have Katori Squad. This team is as dysfunctional as it gets and that really ends up hurting them a whole lot. Katori is fun with how aggressive she is and her love of battle. Her skills are definitely considerable but she tends to try doing a little too much on her own and actively ignores the plan. This may work if you have truly unbelievable power but in this kind of setting it’s usually going to be a pretty big L. She is thoroughly embarrassed during the initial match but I give her kudos for trying hard until the end. The teammates are not without fault but she played the biggest role in their defeat.

Rokuro just needed to go about things in a less combative way. I know he was just trying to get his point across but the problem is that he’s really weak. So in this case you had someone strong who was not good at planning and then someone good at planning who wasn’t strong. Sort of like a discount version of Osamu and Kuga. Hopefully they are able to recover from this in the future.

Then we have Kakizaki squad. This team has no real standout fighters and so they try to win with good old fashioned coordination. I would say this team is used to show the limits of that approach. Ultimately you do need an ace if you are going to win. You can have 3 people with the best levels of teamwork ever but if none of them are super skilled, you will eventually lose. Fumika gets props for her quick thinking on how to block Chika’s bullet and force her out of the comfort zone. Meanwhile the other two did well in putting up a consistent fight but they aren’t the most memorable characters. I’d say that’s just a side effect of the team structure.

After that is Ikoma squad. Their leader is not the smartest guy around and just likes being an attacker. So as a result the rest do their best to cover for him. Ikoma can get away with this because he is incredibly skilled. Almost nobody is able to block his sword strike which goes for a very long distance and deals tremendous damage. It’s a technique that few have managed to copy and I like the idea that he just decided to master a pretty basic move that nobody stuck with. I’m not the biggest fan but he did well there.

Mizukami is also good because he has a strong level of confidence that I like to see. Not to say that any of the other teammates don’t have that, but he sticks out a bit more. This team is really good at using multiple shooters and winning the long range battle. It’s an interesting team composition and one that works pretty well. At least they do have an ace although I wouldn’t call this one of the most impressive teams.

Finally we have Oji squad and I really liked these guys. This is a complete strategic team. None of them are aces, but they are all as smart as possible and can still be deceptively skilled. The leader, Oji is definitely the standout character. He tends to be one step ahead of the others and is ready to kill steal at any time. He’s fighting for results, not some misplaced kind of honor. He’s right, in a real battle there are few rules and so he does whatever it takes to win.

Kazuki and Yutaka are also really analytical and work well with Oji. It’s hard to say if they were always like that or Oji helped to mold them into his image. Either way it makes for a team with incredible synergy as well as a solid baseline of skill. I’d like to see more of them in the future. They didn’t have the most unique designs though so I wouldn’t count on a lot more for them, although at the same time the cast is so large that maybe this had to happen. I mainly focused on the big teams for this season but the cast probably has about 100 characters at this point. Coming up with big designs for all of them really has to be a massive challenge.

As for the new aliens, Gatlin is probably my favorite one. He is a supremely good commander who knows how to read a situation and can even handle multiple opponents at once. The fact that he could keep a whole squad on their toes is incredibly impressive and his cannon is also really powerful. He’s a good example of another character who really thinks things through. What makes him rally dangerous is that he’s essentially as strong as an A rank fighter with Osamu’s kind of thinking process.

The rest of the aliens are also pretty solid and each have their own unique personalities. Of course they’re almost all geniuses but this is the kind of series where that’s true of just about everyone. Even the “dumb” characters tend to have above average intelligence which is pretty funny. The aliens have the advantage of being able to call out near endless amounts of foot soldiers while the humans have the advantage of more substantial numbers of real fighters as well as home field advantage.

The animation has been touched up since the first season so you will immediately notice how much flashier it is. The animation is incredibly smooth and the art style works perfectly. It really gets the blood pumping as the characters go at it. The soundtrack is also good with quite a few solid tunes mixed in there. It makes for a powerful combo all the way through.

Overall, World Trigger season 2 is really quite good. That is even an understatement, this is an elite title. I highly recommend it for all anime fans because it’s not every day that you get this level of strategy. It’s one of those things where it is hard to describe this with justice through text alone so you really just need to watch it. I would also say that even if the series never gets a proper ending, the conclusions here are good enough. You still got a great taste of what the concept is all about and of course we do have another season coming up so I’ll be reviewing it at some point. With the tournament still going strong, it’s really a foregone conclusion that season 3 will also be incredible. The writing and strategy ensure that nothing less can happen.

Overall 9/10

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Review

Posted on July 27, 2025 by dreager1

Brotherhood is one of those legendary anime that for an extremely long time was considered to be the best of all time. Even now it is still regarded as one of the overall best and a pinnacle of the anime medium. Now I can finally say that I have seen it as well and it definitely is a great title. After completing it I can see why so many people love the title. Now nothing is going to usurp Yugioh GX as the top anime around the block but this one does earn all of the praise that it receives.

The story revolves around two brothers, Edward and Alphonse. When they mother died an early death, they attempted to use human transmutation in order to bring her back to life. This did not work though as it violates the law of equivalent exchange and Alphonse ended up losing his entire body while Edward lost his leg. Edward then sacrificed his arm in order to retrieve Alphonse’s soul which is now held within an iron body. They decided to become professional alchemists in order to find a way to retrieve Alphonse’s body back. While the dead cannot be brought back to life, surely the body of someone who is still alive is attainable right? The adventures will lead them through a lot of trials in the meantime.

The main trial here involves a group of monsters known as Homunculus. They work for a mysterious figure who intends to do something with the entire planet and has implanted minions in many high ranking positions. Some of these monsters are obvious while others appear to be normal humans until they transform. These monsters are fully immortal which may help Ed/Alphonse’s research but stopping them won’t be easy. Additionally, the government is an authoritarian dictatorship led by King Bradley and there exists a government officer named Roy Mustang who intends to supplant him as the leader one day. He has to walk a fine line of staying true to his code of justice while making enough friends to get up there. Additionally, the shadows of his past continue to haunt him. A genocide was conducted against the Ishvalan people and one of their last survivors, Scar has decided to systematically murder all Alchemists. His plans threaten both the heroes as well as the villains which makes him an ultimate wild card.

There are more factions at play as well which is part of why the series is so long. It does a good job of showing us the motivations of all the groups and giving each character a lot of development. The whole thing is made with a high level of quality so it is no surprise that the series has gotten so popular. You’ll definitely be sucked into the series very quickly. The worldbuilding of how alchemy works is also set up in a simple way from the start so you can follow along. Alchemy is all about equivalent exchange so you can turn iron into a different metal and reshape things into weapons but you can’t turn a potato into a rocket launcher for example. Likewise you can’t bring the dead back to life because what would be equivalent to that?

Well, there are a lot of theories on that within the series and the brothers visit a lot of towns to try and get to the answers. There is one answer that sounds obvious from the start which you could come to with a second of thought as well but is it that simple? Also if it is possible, would it be moral to do so? The heroes find out the secret to the philosopher’s stone early on which makes their lives a whole lot more difficult. When you know how something is made, if it’s immortal then you naturally won’t want to use it if you are trying to stick to your moral high ground. Even once the object already exists, some will not want to use it while others will and that’s another big debate in the series.

Still, when you lose someone important to you then people will try their luck and we see that several times in the series. Everyone believes they will be the one to figure it out and end up paying the price. There is one silver lining which is that you see the truth about alchemy and can do it without using seals or equipment. It’s just a hollow silver lining at times if you sacrificed your sight or body in order to learn it.

The series looks great even after all of these years so the animation has really held up. The fight scenes were really focused with a lot of good movement and choreography. The colors are striking and the whole thing feels like true art. Meanwhile the soundtrack has a lot of variety and a great amount of battle songs. The endings are also catchy as well as the openings. Basically the series has no real weak points on a technical level and it just serves to enhance the series more and more.

It already had great writing and story development so this was the icing on the cake. It’s a very complete story with a satisfying beginning, middle, and ending as well. No cliffhangers here for folks who don’t like those. You are able to watch this all the way to the end and get all of the details. It’s cool to see how far all of the characters (who survived hehe) came from the start of the series to the end of it. There will still be a lot of issues that they have to go through but the main threat is passed.

Now lets talk about the characters. First up we have Edward who makes for a good MC even if he does spend a large portion of the series getting knocked around. He’s hardly the most powerful character in the series and even by the end it’s possible that he wouldn’t crack the top 10 although that may be pushing it. It’s different from the average Shonen adventure where you would expect him to keep on getting power up after power up and quickly ascend to being near the top. Ed is more about slowly getting to his goal.

There are even long stretches of time where he doesn’t even get any action sequences. That can happen with an extended cast of course but it’s definitely very noticeable here. Still, it works out well and he does lock in for the climax when it counts. He’s a good character and I liked him a lot more now than when I originally read the manga back in the day. Ed’s definitely got some spunk to him. The scene where he smashes open a cosmic door to reassure Alphonse was an epic moment.

Meanwhile Alphonse doesn’t get as many fiery moments but gets to show off his good character by how he handles the situation. He literally doesn’t have his body and yet he still manages to have a good attitude and doesn’t whine about it. Alphonse also helps Ed during the fights on several occasions. While he does end up being taken hostage more than once and generally can’t fight as well, it’s the thought that counts. Being an empty suit of armor does mean that he has more weaknesses after all and messing with the circle inside of him will even cause his soul to instantly be destroyed.

Trisha gets the smallest role from the family for obvious reasons. She died early on after all and so we just see her in flashbacks. It would have been nice if she could have appeared more but I guess adding too many flashbacks would potentially weaken the pacing. Her husband Hohenheim gets a lot more to do but I wouldn’t say that I ever ended up being a big fan of the guy. I never bought his excuse for just running out on the kids for so long. He absolutely could have communicated himself a whole lot better. Not even better, the guy didn’t communicate at all.

He gets some credit for his role in the climax but it was still disappointing how he wasn’t there for his family when it counted. Not only could he have prevented the tragedy at the beginning of the series but he could have helped out a lot during the life or death situations at the beginning. No matter how you slice it, he failed the kids when it counted.

Then we have the childhood friend Winry who was always there for the brothers and continued to be a quality character throughout the series. She doesn’t allow herself to just be a hostage/piece to be used by the villains and is quick to get with the program. She really is a great mechanic and ends up being super useful at different points in the series. Without her Ed would have absolutely been dead many times over.

Hughes is a character who doesn’t appear for most of the series and yet he keeps up a prominent role in the story. You could say he was the trigger for a lot of things to happen later on. While I wouldn’t say he was ever my favorite character, he was a good one. A character who made tough choices and lived with them instead of making any excuses. I also appreciated the strong bond that he had with his wife. A super loyal character like that is always fun and he was a good friend you can count on.

His partner Roy really ended up being a huge character in the series and definitely a highlight whenever he would appear. He has fire powers and I would say that he is easily the strongest hero and perhaps the strongest character in the series. Fire is incredibly overpowered in a realistic series like this and it can also completely bypass regeneration. Burn anything long enough and even a philosopher’s stone won’t be able to keep up. The series usually has to keep him far away from the battlefield to prevent him from just taking over and in the climax they had to quickly nerf him.

Roy is a character who did end up having to make a lot of compromises to make it into the top brass. Whether he went too far or not will ultimately be up to you. On the record, I do think he went too far along with all of the heroes who were on his side during the big war. They knew that they were working for a villain and yet they went along with it because those were the orders. Everyone who followed these orders and those who simply ran away are all guilty. They should have stood up for the people being massacred and did something. Sure, it’s good that they are trying to make things right now but it is all a bit late for that.

Also in terms of how things went with one of the villains he was fighting, I think Roy should have been allowed to destroy his opponent. I get the argument that he was going too far and dragging it out, but the villains needed to be eliminated or they would end up being a bigger threat later on. It worked out in this case but letting Roy finish the job would have been cathartic considering everything that he had went through.

Armstrong is one of the big alchemists we meet early on. He’s portrayed as a strong fighter and gets a lot done but surprisingly he doesn’t get much of a serious fight until near the end of the series. It makes scaling him rather difficult but we do know that he is very capable. He’s not my favorite character but he’s not bad by any means. He can just be a bit too passive at times which is why I much prefer his sister Olivier.

Olivier is consistently one of the most aggressive characters in the series and I was on her side at all times. Even when the villains basically call the shots and have operatives everywhere you need to be able to just take them down as needed. She bumps off a number of fighters and then her own soldiers are absolutely crucial to winning the day by the end. Without them the alchemists would have been absolutely doomed. Even without any alchemy of her own, Olivier fights very hard. She’s a lot of fun to watch.

Izumi is another strong fighter and in her case she also has alchemy to back herself up. She would absolutely be considered one of the strongest fighters even by the end since she can fight with and without powers. For the most part she isn’t super active in the story but does have her moments every now and again as the mentor. It goes back to the size of the case again where some characters just don’t have as much of a chance to shine.

Hawkeye is one character who gets a lot of great moments though. She is the best support fighter you could ask for and helps Roy out a ton. She gets all of the most dangerous jobs and gets threatened numerous times but always stays strong. Ultimately she is a normal person with a gun and yet she still does a whole lot of damage. She had a very compelling character arc and backstory. Hawkeye was easily one of the best characters in the series without a doubt.

Major Miles and Captain Buccaneer are two good troops who stood out from Olivier’s forces. Miles really accomplished a lot and accomplished a lot in his position. Meanwhile Buccaneer proved to be more than a large man with bravado and ended up being an incredible asset to the team. He managed to get an absolutely critical hit in the climax against one of the villains and was just a lot of fun to have around.

Then we have the forces from the other country like Ling. He starts out as a rather shady prince. I wouldn’t say he’s the most heroic guy in the world but he does know what it means to lead a country and does that rather well. He protects his troops and fights hard against the villains. His ability to fight in the dark is also handy since he can read chi. He was a lot of fun and he slowly rose up the ranks to be one of the best characters by the end.

I also liked both of his subordinates Lan Fan and Fu. They were extremely loyal and really knew how to fight. In particular Lan Fan gets a whole lot of screentime and makes a lot of sacrifices in order to make sure that he wins in the end. I can definitely appreciate that kind of dedication here. Fu also was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice at any time. May is her own faction as she tries to get to the secret of immortality and is another fun fighter. She is deceptively strong thanks to how agile she is. It makes it extremely difficult to actually tag her in a fight since she can easily dodge most strikes. Since she is a kid compared to the rest of the characters, she is also a bit out of her depth at times although she handles herself better than most would.

For the villains, Tucker gets a pretty small role next to the others. He just got infamous because of the crime that he committed. This guy had absolutely no moral compass and was totally crazy. It was definitely good that somebody bumped him off. There’s the suspicious Dr. Marcoh but at least he was trying to do things for the right reasons although he allowed himself to be used for a bunch of crimes as well. He never became one of my favorite characters but he does his best to atone for things.

From the big villains, Lust ends up getting one of the smaller roles since she doesn’t last for a very long time. Her abilities are good and I did enjoy her presence but by default she ends up being one of the weaker villains. It’s just tough to do much when the others are all constantly appearing so they naturally end up going ahead of her. I do prefer her to Gluttony since she is more strategic though. Gluttony is strong and even has his own powered up mode which most characters lack. That said, he just isn’t very bright.

Perhaps that would have made him too dangerous so this was a way to prevent that. Either way he serves his role as a powerful villain even if he isn’t ready to strategize. Sloth is another villain who isn’t very smart but he is so much more dangerous that it barely matters. He barrels through the characters and really lands punishing blows. His fight against the two Armstrongs was really good and it helps to make his character more memorable. He didn’t appear until late in the series but did well.

Kimblee is a villain who appears extremely early but it takes forever until he fights. He did really well in the role though even if he was often outmatched. The guy is extremely smug but the heroes deal with him a bit easier than you would expect. I liked the guy’s swagger though, he was absolutely full of himself but in a really fun way.

Envy is another character who loves gloating but it’s definitely earned since he bumps off so many characters. The guy is already powerful and then has a super form on top of that. Ultimately he could beat most opponents in the series and mainly just had trouble against the top tiers. I liked how sadistic the guy was and he’s a good example of how to write a really twisted villain. They also nailed his voice when in Envy’s true mode. The voice was just perfect and it’s hard to describe just how awesome it is. He goes on a long speech at the end and it’s just awesome.

Pride is a villain who doesn’t appear until near the end but makes his presence known immediately. He is one of the most powerful villains and his shadows are really hard to beat. That’s why it’s impressive how the author thinks of several ways to take him down. If anything Pride only lasts a while because of a big error the heroes make at one point. Ah well these things happen, but I did enjoy Pride a lot. He was an extremely solid villain.

Then we have Greed who ended up being the best of the villains. The guy has a lot of freewill and doesn’t just listen to orders like the other villains. He does what he wants when he wants to do it and that embodies the trait of Greed very well. Why should he just listen to orders like an ordinary character? He just kept getting better and better so you will want to stay really focused for all of his battles.

King Bradley is another top tier villain and I would go as far as to say the most powerful villain by far. Yes, I put him over Father. Bradley has incredible speed and power. He is able to slice tanks apart and can outpace any alchemist attack. It takes an entire army to slow the guy down and he endures a ton of wounds before going down. He’s an example of why it can be tough to defeat a villain with true conviction because he will fight as hard as any hero would. He is completely evil but written really well as to why he believes what he does. He’s basically loyal to a fault and can just express himself really well.

Of course we have Father as well and the guy had good plans but perhaps falls into the trap of waiting too long? He probably should have taken a more aggressive plan to trap all of the candidates that he needed instead of waiting til the end. His hubris was absolutely his downfall but he was a fun villain as well. I didn’t remember his origin at all until watching the series and thought that it set him up really well. I would have liked a longer climax fight but it was still really satisfying.

Finally we have Scar who starts off amazingly well but does sputter near the end. I would say he is best as a complete villain who keeps everyone on edge compared to being more of an anti hero later on. His ability to destroy anything that he touches is incredibly powerful. It’s super hard to prevent someone from even touching you after all which is why he can potentially defeat any opponent. At the same time, it also means that most of the villains are a rough matchup since they can keep on regenerating so trading blows is advantageous to them.

Scar gets a ton of character development and it is a really well written character arc. So don’t think that he’s poorly written or anything, but I guess I just got used to him as a villain. Some characters simply aren’t as interesting as heroes even though he didn’t do anything wrong per say. He’s still one of the higher characters in the series but as a villain he was fighting for the top rank.

With all of these characters and more fighting for their goals, the series feels like a true epic. It’s why my favorite part of the series is when all of the factions converge at Father’s base and finally meet each other at the same time. It was a great moment and it’s why a series always benefits greatly from having more than two factions. You simply can’t recreate that moment without such a factor.

The series doesn’t have many negatives in general. It completely avoids the fanservice trap which is awesome. It’s why this series is very new viewer friendly. There is some animal violence in the series which can be hard to avoid for a really long title. It’s usually nothing crazy but in a shorter series it could have been trickier. The series can get dark at times but does a good job of not going too far with it. It’s more the implications that can get trickier when you think about them like Tucker’s daughter. Scar had a point with how he resolved the issue but it was a tough situation either way.

For the heroes my only issue would be that at times they are ultra passive. I know that it’s hard to defeat a whole government but when the villain is in front of you then you have to act. You need to step up and do something instead of simply biding time. Things went over well but only thanks to characters like Olivier and Roy moving the story along. I fear that Ed and Alphonse would have been unable to do much to move the status quo forward. I’m sure they would want to do something but they just didn’t even know where to start.

Overall, The series may be well over 50 episodes but you will blast through it with ease. The story arcs are a lot of fun and there are so many great characters. It’s an amazing story all the way through and there just isn’t much to dislike. The characters can be a bit too passive in trying to stop the villains at times but I get how it would be difficult to stop such a large amount of them in this kind of setting. Either way, whether you like action or a good well written thriller, this is a series that I can recommend. It’s also a great launching point for folks who have never seen an anime before because it’s a solid story for any medium.

Overall 8/10

Magilumiere Co. Ltd. Review

Posted on July 20, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for a magical girl series that is using a very scientific approach to the whole thing. It’s definitely a unique way to present the series but in this case a traditional approach probably would have worked better. It was interesting but you know how that word can sometimes be used negatively? That’s how it felt with this one at times where it was an interesting approach but probably should have just gone with a standard one. Still, I would say it was still a good series and it’s one that does flow better if you marathon it. The characters just weren’t given enough room to really get out there and take over.

The series follows a girl named Kana who has been job hunting for a long time. It’s really hard to enter the magical girl business even though she has a fairly strong resume. Well, one day she meets a girl named Hitomi who works for a small startup company. They don’t have a whole lot of frills or resources but they are willing to give her a chance. Kana agrees and now she has joined the quirkiest group out there. In fact Hitomi is the only magical girl there and the group is very small in general. Can Kana learn what it truly means to be a magical girl and save the day?

So I mentioned a scientific approach before, let me explain what I mean by that. So in this universe, magical girls fight using computer algorithms that launch the spells and outfits. Think of it like a robotic suit I guess even if that’s not a full 1-1 comparison. So you will be out in the field as a magical girl and then your computer partner sends you the script to activate a spell. Your wand will have some pre set spells as well but they won’t always work on the opponent so that’s where the adjustments come in. There are many magical girl companies across Japan and the whole thing is very organized.

When a situation occurs, the town or company will call the nearest agency and request aid. If the situation is too big for the nearest agency, then they will ask for additional reinforcements. Naturally Kana’s group doesn’t get many calls since they don’t have the professional relationships in place yet. Additionally, they are seen as rather radical in their approach. They go for safer magics and use precision attacks rather than big blasts. This helps to reduce collateral damage but also means that the whole fight can take much longer. The lack of firepower also means that everyone has to play their roles really well or someone will get hurt. It’s easy to see why not everyone is in a rush to hire these guys.

The series even explains why only girls can transform, it’s a genetic thing. Now one guy in the series does try to challenge this and pays a heavy price. It makes for a very interesting subplot though because he actually has some good points but quickly begins to get way too desperate and unhinged to the point where he wiped away all of the good points in an instant. I guess if humanity is in a last ditch battle for survival, at least we know that this would be an option.

The series ends with a lot of interesting plot threads that could be pursued in a sequel. They still have not found a way to prevent monsters from materializing in the real world. Additionally the magical boy program is clearly possible, now they just need to find a way to do it safely. Then you also have the new style of magic that Kana’s team uses and if that can be leveraged across the world, it would make everything safer. The series ends on a very optimistic level which works nicely. You know that the planet is in good hands since there aren’t any big more threats around. They wrapped up all of the huge plots even if some parts are a bit rushed like a wedding that shows up out of the blue.

The romance is intentionally rushed as part of the gag. In a sense that doesn’t make it inherently bad, but I tend to prefer much longer development times for a huge decision like that. Maybe I didn’t mind as much in this case because it was presented as a gag. The series only has one real romance that is set up for a bit and moves slowly. Otherwise the series doesn’t have a whole lot of time for that. It’s a reasonable length at 17 volumes but the series also has to move quickly with all of the monsters so the character work has to take a back seat.

In my mind the series has two main weaknesses. The first is the character roster. Even by the end I thought they were fairly weak. There are some decent characters here, but I would say there was only one great character. The rest ranged from decent to okay. You don’t really get absorbed into their predicaments and hype scenes as much as you would if they had been super likable characters. Likewise, 90% of the villains are mindless monsters that are meant to be throwaways. The only actual big villain leaves a big impact but I wouldn’t say he was particularly likable either.

The other weakness is the very scientific approach to the magic. Like I mentioned before, it’s just a bit too structured. It sort of takes the “magic” our of the actual concept. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as I like a good sci-fi but it ends up being portrayed so realistically that it ends up being boring. It’s the heroes typing in code which launches the spell and it’s hard to make that look super hype. The series needed more action scenes I’d say. With changes to these two elements the series would have jumped up into the next tier, I feel rather confidently about that.

All right so lets talk about the characters now. First up is Kana who is a bit on the softspoken side. When the series starts, she doesn’t have a lot of information on the magical girl process but is eager to learn. She is always very determined and quickly begins to study on all of this. As the series goes on she begins to gain more and more confidence. It’s a solid character arc and what she lacks in overall power, she makes up for in leadership. She can really be relied upon by the end of the series and her perseverance really paid off.

Her partner Hitomi is the headstrong member of the group but she still feels rather sanitized next to the average character in this archetype. What I mean by that is she is plenty strong and talks tough but it all feels rather corporate. She isn’t actually breaking a bunch of rules or being over the top reckless. It feels like they could have done a whole lot more with her character and then by the end when she is ready to move on, it’s a bit too fast. She was still fun to have around but the character was held back way too much.

Kouji is the captain of the group and likes to dress up as a magical girl as his quirk. He’s a good engineer and can deliver code in a pinch. It feels like he could have been doing a whole lot more during the series though. The guy is presented as a genius and yet he rarely takes to the helm except during the climax. We end up learning a lot about his sad past later on which adds another dimension to the character. The events certainly changed him. He’s fun enough but I would have liked him to have taken a less passive approach.

Kaede is an interesting character as he will take you through an emotional roller coaster throughout the series. You never really know what is going on in his head and he gets to be very important to the plot later on. I give him credit for easily being the most interesting character in the series and he had one of the best non action plots throughout the title. He’s super memorable so I appreciated that and he showed that you could have a big impact even without powers.

Kazuo is okay but has the least impact among the main characters. He’s the computer guy and tends to be super oblivious to anything. He takes his job very seriously which is definitely not a bad thing but he doesn’t have a whole lot of personality beyond that. I would have definitely liked for him to have been doing more and maybe get some big drama plot to put him near the front.

Mei is the best character in the series. She’s the top worker at AST, the big rival company in the series. She likes to fight in a very emotionless way as she performs the optimal action at any time. Naturally the optimal route can sometimes feel a bit harsh to the more emotional characters in the series. It’s also not going to win her any friends but she’s the top in her field for a reason. As the series goes on she begins to open p more and this was a solid character arc.

Additionally I liked AST as a rival. It’s not as if they were bad people or anything. They just really saw this as a business and feel that going by the book is the best way to protect everyone. It’s also hard to disagree with that at times. Their results speak for themselves and the series resists the urge to suddenly make them look really corrupt. Throughout the series this makes for a good rivalry all the way. I would also say their president Kei is better than the main group’s.

Kei is always involved with the business and operations. He makes sure that nothing goes wrong and puts in all the extra effort that is needed. Take him away from the group at any time and things would definitely not be going as well. He’s the leader for a reason and I liked seeing his expertise. He doesn’t just show up in the climax of the series, his impact is always felt. An adult who was also portrayed well as Kenji. He’s the father of one of the main characters and they’ve always had a hard time connecting. Not because he’s a bad guy or anything but he’s just not good at communication and they ended up always being at odds. He does make his share of mistakes in the series but they are never in a nefarious way. I appreciated that.

Sho is one of the big villains in the series and he does well in the role. I would say he just starts to crack a little too much near the end. I was hoping he would handle himself with a bit more dignity than how he was presented. Give him some more hype moments and let him stick to his ideals right to the end. Instead, you just can’t take him seriously by the end no matter how powerful he got. The flashback did a good job of making sure you disliked him because of how evil he was and the main story needed to follow up on that. His final form looked cool though.

Hibiki joins up a bit later as another computer whiz and he was a good character. His expertise definitely helped quite a bit and he also left much more of an impact than the other guy. The fact that he even had a bit of a romance with Sakae also helped him be more memorable. Both characters were definitely fun enough and the main characters could always use more recruits. As the series drew to a close, the group was definitely a lot bigger than they used to be but still small overall.

Alice is a big character in the flashback. She was really nice but definitely to the point of being naive. The fact that she didn’t tell her best friends about what was going on was definitely a crucial mistake and one that really ended up costing her. It felt a bit forced because I don’t see why she wouldn’t have said anything sooner. It really put her in a bad spot all the way. So she was good but definitely ended up causing a lot of damage by dropping her guard.

Akane ends up being a main character by the end. She is a solid new recruit who is very outspoken. So in some ways she’s like the lead in that she is a rookie but starts out of the gate with a lot more confidence which I appreciate. Confidence is always a great trait for any character after all. Then we have Iroha who is more of the scientist type but also very confident and outspoken. They were good members of the team and I wish they could have appeared more or gotten more big solo moments to build up their hype.

As far as the artwork goes, the series looks okay but not great. The art can make you read a bit slowly with how detailed it gets. During action scenes it won’t always look clear and some of the characters can look too similar. So the art isn’t bad but it’s definitely lower than other titles that you may have been used to by this time. It’s not going to be the aspect that enhances the manga so you will be reading for the writing and story.

Overall, This is a good series. I do think the series could have ended up being better than it was but in the end it was good enough. I had a good time with the battles and it is also memorable enough that I won’t be forgetting it. The art wasn’t the strongest that I’ve seen but in the end I can still say that I was satisfied here. It’s not every day that we get a magical girl series after all so you really want to enjoy them while you can. Now the new one on the block is Dandelion so we’ll see how long that one lasts. In the meantime if you have not read through this series yet, you should do that. It was certainly well written and is enjoyable.

Overall 6/10

Blue Lock: Episode Nagi Review

Posted on July 13, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time to talk about the big Blue Lock spinoff that was running for a while. Honestly it’s pretty sad that it ended so soon because it felt like this series still had a lot of gas in the tank. Did it really need to end this soon? To me it just didn’t make sense for things to be so abrupt like that but maybe one day we’ll get more spinoffs. Either way it was definitely a great title and it’s fun to see the extra focus on Nagi. You can even use this to an extent as a way to cover the events of the original series in a quicker way and then cut to the main series after this one’s ending.

The story starts by introducing us to a kid named Nagi. He really likes video games but otherwise doesn’t really have any hobbies in his life. He struggles to get motivated at all and just lives life one hour at a time. Well, one day he is noticed by Reo, a really rich guy. Reo has decided to take the soccer world by storm and wants Nagi on his team after seeing the kid’s ability. Nagi allows himself to be roped into this as it’ll be too much of a hassle to stop Reo each time. Well, soon he finds out that playing soccer is actually really fun and he wants to keep with it. He is even invited to Blue Lock, a program for finding the greatest striker in Japan. Does Nagi have a chance to obtain this title?

So the plot is very similar to the main title and of course we got to see Nagi a lot in the main story. For that reason, a lot of the fights are actually old with many scenes being readapted but we do get some rounds where we hadn’t seen them before. Additionally for the old scenes, we get to see Nagi’s inner voice this time around rather than Isagi’s so that does add an extra dimension to it. At times I would say the inner thoughts don’t totally match the scene though. The series doesn’t always do a great job of making this seamless to the point where you get the feeling that someone on the staff for the spinoff didn’t agree with some plot points. Still, it’s nothing that takes you out of the experience.

The art is really top tier as you’d expect. It holds its own with the main series and really does great with the inking and showing off the various monsters that the characters are capable of. Additionally, you can feel the intensity out of every soccer play. It’s really something that keeps you excited at all times which is really important. The pages really breeze by but since the chapters are longer than the weekly version, you always feel pretty satisfied. The battles are really able to develop a lot and you see what all of the players are capable. It’s definitely not your average soccer experience.

Nagi also makes for a solid character even if he isn’t quite as intense as Isagi is. When Nagi is at his best he can have those intense moments but they aren’t as automatic as Isagi. Nagi still needs a way to get his enthusiasm at different points which can take time. He also loses his way more than once so it’s good that Reo is around to buff him back up. Nagi is definitely someone who relies on Reo a whole lot although by the end of the series he starts to get around this. It is definitely a long way to get to that point but the important thing is that he made it.

Nagi’s sheer athleticism and dominating plays also make him fun to watch on the field. You sometimes forget just how tall the guy is since he’s always slouching. Honestly if he just got some more confidence and could keep it up for longer periods of time, he would be even better. Still, at the end of the day it was a smart move to make him a main character and I’d be curious who would be picked in another spinoff. Rin seems like the obvious pick but there are a lot of good calls.

Meanwhile Reo is also a fun character. The manga gets teased for all the drama but to a large degree I wouldn’t say that it is Reo’s fault most of the time. If anything, you can blame Nagi for a few of the fights like deciding not to team up during the early founds of Blue Lock. That came as a huge shock to Reo and I think anybody would be rather upset by that point. It’s like being betrayed by your best friend. Yeah this is Blue Lock where the strongest survive but it was still very personal.

Reo spends a lot of time being down in the dumps after that but eventually manages to pull himself together. In his defense, he ended up being one of the more skilled players as well. He may not be top 6 like Nagi, but his copy ability really has a lot of versatility to it. While a lot of focus is put into how much of a prodigy Nagi is, it’s worth noting that Reo went from being a spoiled rich kid to one of the best strikers in Japan. That also makes him a prodigy at soccer if you ask me. Considering he was also good at many other things growing up, he was truly a jack of all trades from the very start.

Meanwhile it’s also really fun seeing Isagi from an outsider’s point of view. The guy just seems like an insane monster with how quickly he improves on the field. He goes from being a regular joe to suddenly making moves against guys like Rin. He’s given a whole lot of respect in the series and nearly everyone either fears him or sees him as a super intense rival. That’s not something you could say about just any character and to make up for the fact that he’s not technically around, we get a shadow version of him in Nagi’s head.

The rest of the fighters are also around of course but they don’t get a lot of added context since they’re about the same as in the main series. Bachira is still unpredictable and Rin is still an absolutely dominant force. Some of the best Blue Lockers out there. It was fun to see early views of other characters like Otoya and Karasu who took a while to do much in the main series. You also get the occasional new character like the analytical poker type player. He was a lot of fun so it’s a shame that he was doomed to be locked off. Ultimately due to the format of the series, that’s the fate of a lot of characters.

Another fun thing about being a spinoff here is that outside of Nagi and Reo’s dynamic, the series doesn’t need to spend much time on character interactions. That means we get to really jump into all of the fights right away. It feels a bit like Dragon Ball Heroes in that the fights would almost be constantly back to back like a marathon. That’s how it feels with the soccer games at times. You’re going from fight to fight and the interactions in there are used for character development. Any downtime is usually for Reo and Nagi thinking to themselves about how they could have handled their conversations better. Not saying there is no miscellaneous downtime but it’s definitely minimal and that’s not a bad thing.

It’s just a privilege of being a spinoff and this series understood that perfectly. Since the fundamentals were so solid like having a great cast and artwork, it also meant that the manga was destined for greatness If it could have gone on longer then I dare say it may have hit the elusive 9/10 score like the classic Blue Lock but ultimately I do think it would have needed more time for that. This is a great manga but I would not be able to say that it is downright elite. That’s a very high amount of praise that you really have to work for. Still, there are no real negatives here. The series is a blast the whole time. The trash talk is as good as you’re gonna see it in any title.

Then there is the occasional future foreshadowing going on here as well. We see how Chigiri’s leg continues to get closer to breaking and it’s heavily implied that one more key moment could take him out for the count. There have always been theories that he will break during the world cup and this series only served to strengthen that. Now will it actually happen? Who knows, but it was an interesting angle. It’s also fun to see just how much more reasonable everyone is when Isagi isn’t around. They all act really tough with lots of bravado when he’s in the room but without him even guys like Barou are open to using teamwork. It’s a subtle way of showing just how much control Isagi has over everyone and their playing styles.

Overall, Episode Nagi was really fun. It felt like the series was over in the blink of an eye with less than 40 chapters though. It’s monthly so that’s still a reasonable length but I would have loved for it to have reached 100 chapters. Either way if you like the original series then you’ll love this one as well. They don’t hold back on the action and it has enough new content to keep you interested from cover to cover.

Overall 8/10

My Hero Academia: You’re Next Review

Posted on April 26, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for the next movie in the My Hero series. As the main series edges closer to the end of its run, the movies have to deal with the stronger incarnations of each hero. Will they be able to bring in more quirk fighters to handle the strongest fighters in the verse? Well they do bring in some strong fighters but you do have to suspend a little more disbelief than the last times that these guy can actually hold their own. It’s a great movie with lots of action as you’d expect though.

The movie starts with the heroes taking down some more villains as usual but then they bump into a girl who is being held hostage by a guy who is acting like he’s the new All Might. He calls himself Dark Might and wants to be a new symbol of peace…using fear. His villain organization intends to dominate this world so Deku has to stop them and save the girl. The rest of the heroes are ready to help along with the addition of the mysterious Giulio but is this guy really an ally they can depend on or is he just another criminal to mop up?

Since the power levels are a fairly big thing here lets get into them first. The villains all have rather intense quirks that seem to have no real drawback. You could argue that they basically break the balance of the verse. All Might’s successor, Stars and Stripes, All for One, and One for All are basically the 3 strongest quirks in the verse. Nothing is really on their level as the latter two were built over whole generations while Stars and Stripes is just super busted for no reason. Shigaraki’s decay quirk is also super good but he does have to grab you. The powers these guys have just don’t seem to have any limitations.

For example one girl can look at you and send you into a dream world where you are completely helpless. She could then stab or shoot you and it would be all over. Even Deku with all the other spirits residing within him was unable to break out so it was up to Giulio to do his thing. The idea that his robotic parts can activate on their own and do something was pretty handy but you can see how this power is fairly broken. She would be able to dominate most fighters with ease in any setting.

Then you have the guy who can effectively stop time. He makes a wide area around him slow down to the point of being negligible. Deku had to really go at full power to even stand a chance and the guy being shocked was the only reason it started to work. Seems like it doesn’t drain much stamina with how long the guy can keep this up and of course he can move at normal speeds so he can easily murder you while the time slow is active.

We also have a teleporter who can teleport instantaneously everywhere that he can see. It’s also fairly busted but normal in the sense that every verse has some kind of a teleporter running around. His partner with the telekinesis was probably the most normal one. There is a guy who sets up an RPG land but I was a little unclear on if his power was summoning/reality warping or if that was incidental because the monsters kept getting generated even once he was gone. The sheer infinite numbers of them was intense though.

There is also a guy who can erase quirks like Eraser but it’s a bit different. He shuts off powers over a wide range and then keeps them on if you are next to him. Great in team competitions especially with how wide the range is. It’s impressively deep so it would be really hard for this guy to lose so long as his partners are at least halfway decent. If they let up at all then he is a sitting duck though so it’s good that he’s part of a team.

So these guys are all very powerful with their hax abilities but what about Dark Might? Well, he uses energy coins of sorts which he can use to form energy objects. He can make punches, barriers, etc. It’s a very versatile weapon but he does have to be throwing them around. He has no super strength or speed of his own. The film never quite convinces you why Deku can’t just speedblitz the life out of this guy and end things in a moment. I would say he feels like a downgrade compared to the villains from the previous films.

I was also surprised we didn’t get more of a battle of ideologies with him and Deku. It quickly becomes apparent that this won’t be a thing that happens when Dark Might quickly turned into a generic villain who just wants to conquer the world though. I was surprised they didn’t go for some kind of a justice parallel. At least make Dark Might think that he is the hero of justice before Deku exposes his flaws or something. Instead he’s basically just pure evil the whole time. So I like the concept of the character but thought the execution was off.

Regardless the fight scenes were excellent though. It’s always great to see the big 3 teaming up and in general Deku always provides the best fight scenes with his speed. The fire and ice effects were also solid from his helpers and you can tell that the movie got a really solid budget. They were not holding anything back here which is as it should be. The soundtrack is solid as always too so you definitely had no worries on the technical aspects.

The side characters all get some moments here including the pro heroes. It’s always nice to see them show up and use their signature attacks even just for the acknowledgement that they are around. Always better to have a cameo than to just not appear. Now should they have done a little better in stopping the ship? Probably, but at the same time I do think Deku has long since surpassed all of the pros here so if he was having a hard time then we can buy it a bit more for these guys.

Giulio is the main OC for this film and he’s not bad. I think he gives up a little too quickly though in terms of jumping right to trying to murder the girl. He definitely needed to think of other options. Why not call in the pro heroes? In some cases that’s not always easy but this seemed like one without any real downsides. Surely they would be able to help out a little bit. The guy has a solid character arc and I like his gruff personality but it was still hard to look past the murder attempts. It’s kind of a big deal when you think about it. The heroine here is okay but doesn’t really get much to do. She’s being mind controlled for 99% of the movie and every time she snaps out of it she is kidnapped and mind controlled again. Quite the cycle when you think about it. So not really her fault, but she didn’t have a chance to shine.

When you pop in a movie like this you’re mainly looking forward to the big fight scenes and the film definitely delivers. While there is some down time between fights, it never goes on for too long or anything like that. So you can really sit back and enjoy the fireworks. Power levels are things you contemplate during the movie but they don’t end up hurting a film. I’m just glad that we got the action and that the villains had fairly inventive quirks. You could make a case that they would wash the League of Villains if they fought but it would be interesting to see how all of the hax go up against each other.

Overall, My Hero Academia churns out a lot of consistently great movies and this one is definitely no exception. The action really doesn’t let up and you get to enjoy seeing Deku and friend fight off against the most powerful villains out there. I’ll definitely be eager to see what film comes out next. Hopefully some kind of a crossover with the Vigilantes cast because that would have a ton of potential. If it takes place completely after the main series it would be a good way to expand the world development. In the meantime, definitely check this one out.

Overall 8/10

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