Tag Archives: Shonen

Kaiju No 8 Review

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Kaiju No 8 really became a big thing when the manga came out. One of those titles that was being mentioned everywhere. How could you not like it right? We’re talking giant Kaiju, big action scenes, etc. The anime started off on a rocky note with people doubting the character designs and animations when it was first announced. Could it really capture the manga’s raw art? Well, I think it’s fair to say that the anime isn’t nearly as intense and isn’t leaning as hard into the horror type imagery but still works as a solid adaption. I was satisfied with season 1’s direction both with the animation and soundtrack.

The series starts by introducing us to Kafka who has been trying to join the Defense Force for a very long time but always gets rejected. The guy just has absolutely no luck with this and he’s not getting any younger. This is his last chance now and it’s not looking great but he ends up swallowing a Kaiju and gains super powers. He is now Kaiju No. 8, one of the most powerful monsters in recorded history. If he can hide these powers just right, perhaps he can finally join the group? Kafka’s ultimate goal is to work alongside his childhood fiend Mina who is now near the very top of the organization. Until he fulfills that goal, he will not give up!

Now I will say right off the bat that I know some people were disappointed that Kafka didn’t get to stay as a clean up guy who supports the team rather than being the main fighter himself. I get it, but I have to disagree because it wouldn’t be very exciting. I want to see a lot of fight scenes and the best way to do that is always to have the main character be a top tier fighter. At the end of the day that’s the only way to really proceed. So I’m fine with that part and Kafka makes for a reasonable main character. In terms of personality I wouldn’t say that he’s great or anything but I’d say he is average.

He gets the job done when it counts and has some good moments. I think what really keeps him from rising up is that it never felt like he really tried to achieve his dreams as hard as most leads. He basically gave up for a long while there and while he trained a bit, we just didn’t see that very much. It felt like he was half heartedly chasing his dream to be by Mina’s side for a while there instead of going full blast. Getting the Kaiju powers was basically lucky for him and from then on he had it made. I would have fought the government more near the end but most main characters would have done what Kafka did so I won’t blame him there too hard.

He tries to act like the younger main characters despite being old so in a way the age never really becomes a factor the way you would expect it to. His sidekick Reno is the more interesting character though. He wants to be a big Defense Force hero as well and has been training hard for many years in order to pull this off. He may not have super powers but he is able to unlock a lot of power out of his suit right away. If he wasn’t in a historic year of geniuses then he would have shined even more. He’s a good friend and ultimately Reno is the kind of hero that you definitely want to have on your side.

As a quick interlude here, the series maybe has a little too much fun with making everyone a prodigy. The only other series to do this quite as frequently is World Trigger and I would say that show did a better job of it. It’s just a bit harder to buy in Kaiju No 8 with everyone setting records and dominating. Shouldn’t humanity be doing a little better against the Kaiju with all of these heavy hitters around? And yet, there are other times where you wonder how they have been alive for so long otherwise. Without Kafka stepping in, most of the Defense Force would have been wiped out within the season. So it feels like the series can never really decide on just which team should have the advantage here.

An ongoing plot point is that the villains are getting stronger lately so you could say it’s just an ever increasing amount of power escalation that is going on within both sides. I suppose I can get behind that but I dunno it could have just been set up a little better. Either way with Kafka on the team the world can be saved real fast now. You know that the Defense Force had to be desperate for some kind of trump card with all of their fighters constantly being destroyed all the time. It would be really dumb to try and get in his way right?….right?

Well the government always falls beneath the occasion and of course they try to arrest Kafka. I don’t even know that I need to really go into this to explain why it’s such a bad move but I may as well. So Kafka just saved the entire team from an extremely powerful Kaiju that was going to wipe them out. Clearly Kafka is stronger than everyone in the room and could have murdered all of the humans in the room. The fact that he didn’t, means that he is definitely one of us right? Why hold him at gunpoint and get the guy arrested?

I say this for 2 reasons. First, lets assume that Kafka is actually evil and he’s just trying to gain their trust. Immediately saying you don’t trust Kafka and getting aggressive would just force him to act and murder you all. This is a bad strategy because it fails if you are right. Then if he’s a good guy, threatening him isn’t good either because what that means is he may have to fight you in self defense. Even if he doesn’t wipe anyone out, he’s going to have to go into hiding for a while and may not be able to help as freely. The only real option here would have been to get his help.

I’d also give Hoshina some grief for attempting to destroy him early on for the same logic. Even if you don’t want to take a chance and figure you should murder every Kaiju, only do that once you’ve wiped out all of the obviously evil ones. Otherwise you are risking your life in vain. Hoshina is a great character otherwise though. I like him as a senior rival of sorts. Someone who was a prodigy of the previous generation who can still hold his own against the current characters. In fact by the end of this season he is probably still top 5 among the heroes. I’m not counting Gen yet since he only appeared for under a minute.

Then we have his boss Mina who is a fun character. She is really serious to be sure and definitely doesn’t really do much of anything to help Kafka out. Mina intends to give him the same treatment she gives everyone else so if he wants to be by her side, he will really have to work as hard as possible. Mina might take this a little far but from her perspective Kafka has been disappointing for a long while so I’m cool with her being a little irritated at this point. In the meantime she continues to shred Kaiju left and right. Her projectiles are incredibly powerful to the point where even numbered Kaiju will have a tough time with her attacks.

Mina is strong and fast. She’s really the ideal soldier for the Defense Force and someone who will definitely not be going down anytime soon. Then we have Kikoru who seems like she will be the next generation of Mina. She is another prodigy who is easily excelling past all of her comrades. The way Kikoru fights is different though as she is a close quarters specialist who fights with a big axe. Kikoru continues to excel more and more in the fights despite dealing with some issues from her past.

It probably comes as no surprise when I say that she is the best character in the series. I always like that tough talking kind of character who is always ready to get into fights and mess with everybody. It’s part of what makes her such a fun character. I look forward to seeing her continue to take on more powerful fighters. Right now only Kafka seems to be able to do anything against the top tiers but these characters won’t give up until they can help.

Finally from the humans you have Isao who is the head of the Defense Force. I should say, he is the head of the fighters but there is still an executive council of directors who are basically around to have bad takes and sabotage the whole operation. I like Isao, but exclusively as a villain. It’s always hard for me to acknowledge him as a hero because he’s a bit too extreme. Ripping out Kafka’s rib for example to test if he would go berserk was crazy. Yeah I’d go berserk and take Isao out at that point. He just goes too far even if it is to prove a point. It’s not the way to do things.

I do respect his abilities though. The guy is the leader for a good reason as his abilities are really a clear cut above the rest. He can move with tremendous speed and dominates anyone who makes the mistake of getting in his way. I can picture him taking out almost any other Kaiju with ease. It also helps to have a leader who can fight like this because it instantly wins the respect of anyone who is around him.

There are only two main villains so far. The first one is Kaiju No. 9 who is a mastermind. The guy masters online games with ease and wants to remove Kafka from the board. He’s the only Kaiju who is really seeing the big picture and trying to change the world. So right now he is the villain you are looking at as opposed to the many Kaiju who look imposing but don’t actually have any dialogue or plans beyond just trying to crush the heroes. I’m not super impressed with No. 9 in a strength sense though. It’s the risk of putting in your big villain so early on since he loses to the main character and then sacrifices a bunch of hype.

I liked Kaiju No. 10 but of course he doesn’t actually do much here. The guy technically goes down fast but the design was really memorable and he did have a real character. So that automatically makes him rather memorable as well. The guy was fast and his main mistake was deciding to sacrifice that speed for more power. It’s a gambit that rarely ever works after all and should serve as a cautionary tale for other characters to be more careful.

The fight scenes in the show definitely look great. I like how fast paced the animations are and you can feel the power behind the characters. The coloring is on point as well and so in the end I definitely don’t have any problems there. Like I said at the beginning, it might not get as intense or spooky at times but considering that the anime is going more for your classic action tone, I would say it ends up landing rather well. Then we have the soundtrack which is good. I’m not really a big fan of the ending but the rest of the tracks are fine. The opening is super disappointing animation-wise, but the song isn’t bad. I don’t think it’s quite as good as it could be, but I appreciate the tone they were going for here. That is like something out of a horror title.

The humor can be a bit weak to be honest though. It might be that the characters just haven’t grown on me yet but Kafka just doesn’t handle the jokes very well. When he’s in Kaiju form we have some crude humor which was rough and in human form he maybe tries too hard to still be like a young person. This isn’t a show that is really built around humor though so it’s not a big thing. I also think some jokes are definitely funny like Hoshina messing with Kafka and making fun of the guy.

Right now the cast is rather small so I’ll be looking forward to more of the characters showing up. You already have enough good ones to satisfy me though. The series tries to expand the roles of Kafka’s other teammates but for now I don’t really care about them that much. I think the problem is that they all feel irrelevant already since they just don’t have the abilities needed to help. You could argue that Reno falls into that same camp but it’s already clear that he is improving very quickly so the foreshadowing is there.

Overall, Kaiju No. 8 is a pretty fun show. It may not reach the level of great for me yet but there is a lot of content left to cover and I’m confident that future seasons will be able to break into that territory. There are going to be a ton of battles coming up after all and with the character introductions out of the way, it can really focus on that right from the start. Yes, fans of the series can definitely rest assured that a lot of good things are coming their way. In the meantime I would recommend checking this title out and getting yourself ready for the sequels.

Overall 7/10

Saint Seiya: Next Dimension Review

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Uh oh, it’s time to look at the big Saint Seiya sequel. Basically this series is really trying to see just how far a good fight scene can take you. The story is a mess, the power levels are all over the place, the concepts are all recycled and the ending is terrible. And yet….I would say this is still a very solid series so just how good is the Saint Seiya cast to pull this off? I would think of it as a title of ultimate missed possibilities that tries its best to sabotage itself at every turn but was unable to finish the job. That’s the best way to look at this title and it really makes you think.

After Seiya took out Hades, he has been unable to regain consciousness in the present. In the present, the other Saints head to the past in order to find a way to wake him up. They then get to fight alongside Tenma and relive the events of Lost Canvass but in a very watered down, abridged version of that series. They have unfortunately not stayed sharp in their training and so they have a super hard time against all of the Gold Saints there but they have to keep on trying. The god of time Chronos has some plans of his own but this isn’t Episode G so the series never does much with him. Then meanwhile the angels have shown up to murder Seiya and have to contend with Marin and Shaina. They must be pretty weak eh?

So the series is jumping around a whole lot here. There are over 100 chapters but don’t let that fool you, the series itself is not as long as it sounds. A bunch of chapters are less than 10 pages long and you can often go several chapters without much actual plot progression. This is rough because this is a series that was trying to have a super big and ambitious plot. Without that at the ready, it starts to fall apart a bit. The main complaint the series has is that it’s just recycling ideas from the main Saint Seiya all the time and I have to admit that this is very valid. It basically replays the original series to a T.

The Saints run through the temples as they fight every Gold Saint and then take on the mastermind. We actually do this more than once as the bronze saints run the gambit but then a gold saint does too. There’s not much rhyme or reason to the fights as the bronze saints should be crushing these guys in their sleep but have a super tough time for no reason. The fights tend to be short and just follow the same format over and over and over again. There’s no creativity or originality to be found here at all so you better enjoy the confrontations themselves.

Then of course you have the prequel stuff with Tenma. Again, Lost Canvass did that better but this series tries its best. We get to see Tenma get a lot of fights and Hades gets his moments but there’s just way less time for them to do anything. Episode G, Lost Canvass, and the Saint Seiya Heaven Overture movie all handled their plots better because they had the time for it. This is trying to adapt parts from all 3 at the same time and ends up failing completely as an adaption there. My recommendation is to treat this title as not being canon and then you’re in a good space.

Well in the prequel timeline, Tenma is still a fun character. He may effectively be a watered down Seiya most of the time but he still has ambitions and tries to get stronger to fulfill them. I give him credit for standing up to every villain in his way and never giving up. The previous Hades is a lot more weak willed since he can’t resist the dark powers at all. I suppose it’s good that he at least had the powers so he wasn’t just getting destroyed the whole time.

Dohko and Shion get the biggest roles out of the old Gold Saints to mirror how that was the case in Lost Canvass as well. They’re not bad but do tend to follow the rules a bit too strictly instead of making their own decisions. Shion talks tough but will usually just go along with what Dohko says. Dohko may try to be the rebel but at the end of the day he goes for all of the traditions so I don’t quite buy into that image they were going for. He certainly does look more impressive than the others from a power perspective though and actually fights more than 1 big battle. I like Dohko so seeing him get a big role is always cool.

On the villains side, most of them don’t actually get to have a big role. The various specters are around but they tend to be discarded quickly. The biggest villain is definitely Suikyo who gets to do quite a lot. He used to be a hero and then he went over to the dark side which shocked everybody. His power levels are immense and he has his own very convoluted reasons for working with the villains. You may understand them but good luck on agreeing with them. He’s the kind of character that you just shake your head at because he created the situation that he is now trying to stop.

The most interesting plot is in the present so that’s why it’s a shame that almost the whole series is in the past. Lets take a look at Artemis, she’s Athena’s older sister and someone with a lot of power in her own respect. We could get some interesting dynamics and banter here but unfortunately Athena herself prevents that from happening with how passive she is. She spends the whole series letting every character tell her what an awful person she is, then she has to die again, and finally the other gods bad mouth her in the climax.

I’d like Athena to just get tough and start fighting back by this point. It’s clear that nobody is going to agree with her or help her out at least from the gods so she should try to take them out. If she loses then they’ll end up murdering her but that’s what they’re going to do anyway. I dare say that Athena is probably one of the worst leaders that you can possibly ask for. I can’t think of a more annoying figure to have to serve in a situation like this.

Then we have Apollo who has a cool design and everything but it’s not like he’s any more reasonable. He’s another villain who thinks that humans are pests. No matter how he tries to frame this, the guy is a complete villain. He wants to murder everyone on the Earth so you can’t really get out of that. In this series it feels to me like Athena is the only god who is on the heroes’ side. That’s yet another reason why she should be trying to take them down instead of listening to their whims.

At least Chronos is being helpful in the series even though you know that he absolutely has an angle. At least he’s going to wait and betray the heroes later on so we’ll take what we can get. Marin and Shaina look good in the present even if it doesn’t make sense that they can do anything against fighters of this level. It’s definitely more than a little cheesy and I would have advised the author to not even include them to be honest. At least not in any of the fights.

Seiya really only gets to actually do stuff for about a chapter but it was still nostalgic seeing him around. As always he is one of the only characters who will actually get up and start making some noise while the gods are attacking. A lot of the characters will look the other way or try to buy time but Seiya just does what he has to and I appreciate that. It’s why he is still known as such a legendary main character. Any future story needs to make sure to involve him a lot earlier this time. Like the chapter where the angel shows up to take him out was excellent and then from there the series couldn’t capitalize on this.

Ultimately a big reason for this is because the Seiya plot was actually new content. It wasn’t just the same story beats once more but this time it was a completely original story. Keeping up with more of that would have done a world of good for the story. Like Phoenix Ikki’s first appearance is incredibly awesome because of how it felt different. He shows up talking tough that he would beat the specter and the gold saint. That was really good and as always Ikki is a top tier character. Nobody was able to match that kind of aura.

Andromeda fans can be happy that he appears a lot here but it’s a double edged sword. On one hand, for a decent chunk of the series it’s just him and Tenma running through the temples while the other Saints are still in the present. However, Andromeda tends to lose a lot and doesn’t look even remotely impressive. The fact that Gold Saints are literally one shotting him is absolutely embarrassing. That should not be happening to any of the main characters. He has gone up against gods, why is he falling backwards like this? Like I said before, power levels are thrown out here.

Hyoga and Shiryu don’t get huge roles here compared to the others but you can still be assured that they get their big fights. They struggle at first and then they mount the comeback in exactly the way you would imagine that they would. It may not be original but at least in this way you know exactly what to expect ahead of time. That should be a load off at least although we would all take a new story any day. Hyoga’s entrance wins from the two though as he at least gets to scare off one of the angels which looks real impressive on his end.

Then we have Ophiuchus who shows up as the 13th Gold Saint. I’m not totally sure what the point of him was when we already had Suiryu but this guy gets a ton of hype. He’s the nicest guy out there but also has a super dark side like the Gemini saint. He’s really all over the place and works as a true wild card in a lot of respects because absolutely nobody can trust him. He’ll be fighting at your side one second and then suddenly he will be stabbing you from the back. What can you even do in that kind of circumstance right? I didn’t like him as a character because of how he lacked will power but he makes for a good villain.

I will say that the art is still solid as always. The series really nails the condescending look that the series is known for. Characters will diss each other with their eyes closed which I think is the absolute ultimate level of this. It shows that they are absolutely not messing around and will go to any lengths to mess with the other characters. The fights are also good when they happen although now they tend to be more like one shot fights towards the end of the series. Gone are the days of the longer fights which were always more fun.

Okay so with all of this bashing you may be wondering how this can possibly get a positive score. Well, it all comes down to the source material being that good. Think of it like playing a color swapped version of your favorite video game that promises a secret level at the end of it. Almost everything is old and done already but you’re still having a good time because the old levels are still fun. That’s how this one goes, it may be the same plot developments that you have seen already, but they are good plots.

At this point I’ve watched the first arc of the Saint Seiya series so many times with all of the remakes and adaptions. What’s doing it one more time right? At least in this case there are some slight differences as well which is important to recognize. So it’s not completely old even if in the large scheme of things that is what’s effectively happening here. You do wish that the series would do more but hey it’s still a blast. One thing that really helps is that I didn’t get caught up until later on so I didn’t have to wait nearly as long as the fans who were around since day 1. I know for those guys the wait was certainly more brutal so I get it.

The ending can also make the whole series feel like a waste of time. I’d say it helps that I can just look at Lost Canvass and the Saint Seiya movie to make those canon instead of this series. The hardcore fans may say that is impossible and in a sense it is, but I don’t get tied down quite as tightly by that kind of logic. So if I had a better time with the other story then I’ll still keep it as the real continuation.

Then this series avoided fanservice, any real big holes, and kept up a lot of action. So once again I say if you look at this series objectively without taking the other titles into account, I would call it a great series. It’s hard to look at it in a vacuum since of course this series is a sequel and is intended as such but that’s the best way to look at it. Or as a crazy AU and then you’re able to have more fun with it.

Overall, I tend to be rather desperate for more Saint Seiya content. It’s a franchise that is just way too awesome and interesting to put down. There’s always something cool happening here and the power levels go absolutely crazy. It’s just a lot of fun but this series really squandered all kinds of opportunities. This should have been an extremely easy 9/10 with just the bare minimum amount of effort. It’s clear that the writer just isn’t as engaged with the series at this point though and I have doubts that it can continue with the final 2 arcs. If this is the end of the series…well it definitely ended on a whimper that’s for sure. This will always be known as the series that fell short even if I did have a great time with it overall. Hopefully it can get a really high budget anime adaption which can take some of the spotlight away from the story.

Overall 8/10

Wistoria’s Wand and Sword

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This title is being heralded as the next big Black Clover title and I can see why. It’s looking like absolutely top tier content and is off to a great start. Having to fight off magical users while not having magic of your own always makes for a good premise. The art and characters are on point. I look forward to reviewing this one once it finishes!

Overall 8/10

School Judgment: Gakkyu Hotei Review

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It’s time for a fairly short series that most people probably don’t even remember all that well at this point. It’s a shame that it ended so quickly because a whole series about debates has so much potential. I’ve been watching tons of debates over the last few months as background noise because it tends to be a lot of fun. Just about anything can be debated after all and aside from picking the position you agree with, it’s also just fun to see what tactics both sides use. There are certainly a lot of little tricks of the trade that debaters can use.

The series starts by introducing us to the world whereby everything is solved through debate. In fact, even schools use this system for whenever the classmates are having some disagreements. It’s a very interesting premise and I’d love to hear more about the world building on this but of course the series is over long before that can really come into play. When a disagreement happens, a prosecutor and defender are brought in, sometimes from another school and sometimes from within. You have to have a certain degree of skill first though so that you can obtain the title to legally make your judgments.

Our main character here is Abaku and he is quite good at debating. He can argue for just about anything but his social skills aren’t really that good. He mainly keeps to himself and can be seen as rather rude. Part of this is that he lived through a very infamous incident that the government has been trying to keep on the hush hush. His whole classroom was murdered with the exception of a few other characters. Nobody knows who the murderer is and Abaku aims to solve that mystery. In the meantime he knows that he has to get stronger though.

Now I will say right out of the gate that while I really love the premise, the series doesn’t really take full advantage of this. I would say part of why it was likely axed so quickly is it started out a little too quiet. I would have leaned in hard with a very solid first case to really get the ball rolling. Instead, the cases mainly take place at school with the other kids so the stakes aren’t always super high. More than one case has a full cop out type ending but even in the ones that do not, it’s not exactly an explosive situation.

By the end of the series you likely won’t care for almost any of the kids who just tend to get in the way and even the teacher for making a lot of poor decisions. Instead of focusing so much time on the kids messing around, this was really the change to introduce the big boss. Even if it was as a silhouette or something like that. Now maybe this series was hoping to be more of a Detective Conan type series where it’s a slow burn but even that famous mystery series did start out with quite a few super important cases involving the black organization. It didn’t just jump in with the slice of life titles right out of the gate.

The art is really solid though. It may not be quite as intense as Death Note but the character designs are on point and we do get some intense moments here and there. Mainly the only issue is that the characters are almost all little kids so there is only so much that you can do to try and make them look tough. It’s not exactly an easy thing to pull off. While the series gets really rushed towards the end, the pacing tends to be fast so you’ll never be bored. Something is always happening although with only 3 volumes that is a pretty small sample set anyway.

Abaku is a good main character. I wouldn’t say that he’s great or anything as he tends to be a little too hands off at times but he’s a solid genius. I don’t mind his being a little rude when he’s trying to save the day. He’s doing his job and that doesn’t include having to make friends with everyone. In a way it probably makes things easier not to have friends since they can really be distractions.

Then you have the rival Pine who also functions as the main heroine. Here’s where I’d say the series dropped the ball a bit. She gets a ton of hype as finally being someone on Abaku’s level but he quickly dispatches her. In fact he tends to dispatch everyone he goes up against rather easily. It’s all too straight forward here and I would have much preferred it if he could have had a real fight here. Lets have him lose to one of the big characters to establish just how difficult the debating world is.

I get that Abaku is a genius but he is still a kid. Giving him a loss or two early on would help to scale the characters. There’s one case where an adult actually shows up to debate Abaku directly. That was great, I was thrilled to see an adult take the stage and take names. Unfortunately, even he doesn’t look amazing once Abaku steps in. The guy does better than most, but this would have been the time to have Abaku suffer a devastating loss. It would have also been a very logical way to do power levels in a title like this with the adults naturally being way more powerful than the average fighter.

Skills aside, Pine is nice enough though. It’s very wholesome that she finally got to make some friends here. Her butler/assistant is definitely on the sad side though. One of those annoying comic relief characters with a very suspect gimmick who really shouldn’t be here. There’s just no point to all of that and another good reason to move on from the kids division so we can have the adults fighting each other.

Then you’ve got Tento who really gets himself into some trouble by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the big cases has him as the accused character and his alibi isn’t the best. The kid is rather helpless the whole time and without Abaku being around things would have been dicey for him. He gets a ton of screen time and development though. Towards the end some of the developments for him are a bit rushed to be sure. I can’t say I ever really cared for the guy.

Kotarou is another big rival character who shows up later and someone who is also mixed up in Abaku’s backstory. The problem? Once again we are told how skilled this guy is and how he’s one of the best but as soon as he fights the lead then he folds. It’s like Abaku just can’t lose any matches. It wouldn’t even be so bad except each time part of the hype is that he’s lost to these guys before but now he’s just too powerful. Giving Kotarou a solid win right out of the gate would have been really good, but alas it wasn’t meant to be.

One thing I would have liked seeing the series dive into more would have been the ethics of having to defend someone that you know is guilty. Kotarou for example does a lot of research before taking on a case because he wants to know what’s going on. So that sort of touches on the plot but I wanted something a little deeper. There’s just so much you can really lean into on this front and if the series had done that then maybe it would still be around.

Speaking of plot elements that the series couldn’t go fully into, there’s one mysterious character who is hanging around the whole time. He always acts super mysterious and is in communication with someone. So you know the series is building up to something huge with him but the whole plot ends on a whimper. Yes, we do get to see this guy make a half hearted move towards the end but based on the build up you were expecting something wayyyyyy more massive. Certainly on a completely different level than what we actually got. I generally liked the guy quite a bit but he lost his nerve when it counted which was rough.

School Judgment also got a bit greedy I would say. Based on the premise you would have assumed that the main character and the main heroine would leave the school as soon as their case was completed right? It’s the whole point of being a professional, you go where you are needed and then you are gone. Keeping them here really stunts the growth of the series because we all already know the characters. So now it becomes more of a story of happy adventures rather than meeting a bunch of new characters and getting to have fresh settings. That probably makes it easier on the artist not having to draw new sceneries or characters but for the story it didn’t work so well.

You can definitely tell that the artist was ready for the more intense stories though. The villain always looks so deranged here even when the case ends up not being super huge. When the camera zooms in and you see the demon eyes you know that the main characters are gonna be in a pickle. Unfortunately the series does have some random fanservice mixed in. It’s not a whole lot but it feels very forced into the mix since the characters are all kids here. The series could definitely be a little strange at times which definitely doesn’t do it any favors.

Ultimately School Judgment just needed to stick to its guns more. Give us some more really intense cases outside of the school. Considering how big of a tragedy the murder classroom was, I would expect the rest of the cases to be something similar. The main guy isn’t getting a great amount of practice by beating up on random debaters in such a low risk setting. Yes, some of the cases have some pretty serious allegations to be sure but it’s still not typically life or death. Limiting the series to the school is probably what forced the scenarios in the most. It should have taken place in a court room so there are a variety of cases.

I would definitely love to see another author take a crack at this one but in the real world this time. Just pure debate within the courtroom with both sides making their points. I don’t mind if the judges are still literal babies even if that was super random and out of nowhere. Just allowing for a more broad range of topics would be good. Yeah, it could get dicey if they make any of the cases too intense but I like to think that the series can show some restraint.

Overall, School Judgment had a terrific premise. If it really went into the bloody classroom murder event a little more I think it would have really gripped people’s attention. Instead it decided to go more on the low risk cases for a while to build up the characters. It was a reasonable option but it just took too long and that sealed the deal here. The series feels like a gold mine of wasted potential but at the end of the day it was still a good manga. It does have its share of plot twists and covers a whole lot in 3 volumes. It’s still a title I could certainly recommend to anyone and you can at least see how the premise is really interesting. There just aren’t many series about debating and maybe someday that’ll change. Hopefully some day someone else can try tackling this concept again in a fresh setting.

Overall 6/10

The Legend of Zelda: Oath of Lilto Review

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It’s time for a Legend of Zelda title that is pretty different from a lot of the other ones. For starters, Link isn’t even the main character this time. Instead it’s about a kid who is trained by Link and so we have a lot of original villains and heroes running around. This one plays out like a pretty intense Shonen title from start to finish. At times it can be surprisingly intense to be sure, like a modern version of this would likely have to tone down some stuff. It’s interesting though because the tone tends to be light, it’s just that the violence wouldn’t have been seen as such a problem back then. It’s definitely a relic of its time but one that makes for a memorable read.

The series starts with Lilto being interested in studying the sword. The elder decides to train him for 10 years. After that point the village is attacked by 4 evil fighters who work for Ganon. They want the Triforce and will work to revive the evil lord. Even the elder is quickly defeated by one of the minions who works for the 4 but Lilto is able to draw the Master Sword and fight him off. This comes at the expense of his life though. In the afterlife Lilto trains with Link to better his skills and then has one more shot at life itself. Will he be able to save the world and make a difference or will these monsters be too much for him?

So when I’m talking about shock value and big violence, what am I talking about? Well, in the very first chapter the villains murder a bunch of babies. The murders are actually on screen and it’s super disturbing. Then of course we have people being cleaved in two, animals getting blown up, and it’s clear that this is a very dark world. The villains have a whole lot of influence here and without Link, the world has really gone into a bad place. The series has that light tone I’ve been talking about but mainly because it’s from Lilto’s perspective and the guy has a lot of hope in the future.

If you take a step back and look at it from the perspective of the average person living in the land, I’m sure they would not be feeling so great either. There’s just not a whole lot to feel great about here. It also shows how the world desperately needs Link because without him nothing goes too well. I actually wish Link could have appeared more in this title because he’s such a high quality title. It’s definitely a younger version of link like in the classic Adventure games but he still has his bravery and readyness to do the right thing. He’s patient with Lilto and even ends up being a solid teacher. Link still inspires heroism and taking down the villains even when he’s not the main character.

The main heroine Kalin is a solid enough character. Unfortunately for her she doesn’t have a whole lot of time to do much before getting kidnapped. It’s always tough when your screentime is so low but she was a good person from everything we have seen. Lilto naturally gets a lot more screentime here and does well within his scenes. He’s got a lot of confidence and tries hard. He feels like your classic Shonen lead. He may be out of his depth most of the time but still doesn’t back down from a fight so I can really appreciate that. Lilto gets stronger and stronger as the series goes on so he is eventually able to hold his own here. You might say that he’s a little on the generic side but all of his individual qualities are good so I have no issues here. He can almost feel like a younger Goku but if you know Dragon Quest then I’d say Dai is probably a better comparison.

Gonza is a hero who means well but does have a rather rocky start. He hypes himself up a little too much and as a result his skills really started to suffer. He needs to put more work in and also not sabotage other heroes along the way. So once he goes through his character arc then he’s on point. You never feel that Gonza is really in Lilto’s league but with his bombs and speed he can at least be a good support fighter as necessary.

Kaala is a girl who shows up later on to help the heroes out. She can fight which is always a big deal since there aren’t many good guys around in this era. She has good fundamentals and a solid amount of durability. Ultimately she may not do much against any of the important villains but it was still good to have her around. Without her the heroes would have been more outnumbered and everything. I liked her tough attitude the whole time. Definitely my kind of character there and she would have been even better if she could have had some kind of power up to keep pace with the others.

Haggis is the first of the big villains to make a move. He’s a very confident kind of fighter who thinks that he is above all of the other characters and you can see why. With his abilities he has likely not had a real challenge in some time. Even Lilto is unable to do much against him although there are some asterisks in their first meeting. He works well as a villain. The guy has an intimidating presence the whole time and is the most memorable out of the 4. As a character I can’t say that I care for him as his motives aren’t the best. He may be ambitious to be betraying everyone and trying to even take out Ganon but using Kalin for this doesn’t exactly win him any points.

The other generals look pretty bad though. Keep in mind that when you’re working for villains it’s not like you can ever trust any of them right? You should be looking out for yourself the whole time and making sure you don’t get stabbed in the back. These guys underestimated Haggis way too much and as a result they don’t get to do much of anything here. Even Ganon doesn’t look very good I would say. His plans didn’t work out the way that he wanted them to and in a large way I would say it’s because he also underestimated the other villains. This was his chance to really prove himself and instead he faltered when it counted. In the end the villain roster just wasn’t all that good.

Pretty much the whole series is focused on Haggis though so it was a trade off that the series made. I would say it’s one that worked reasonably well though. He definitely did feel like a very serious villain and I dare say that he really did hold his own. He was winning for most of his screen time after all and fought smart so it’s not like he’s one of those villains who lets it all go to his head.

The art is really excellent for the series though and definitely helps to elevate it to the next level. This is a manga where all of the fights look really intense. It helps that the series is styled on the DBZ type of artwork. All of the character designs and everything look like it as well. It means that even a more comedic character like Gonza looks really intense here. I always love to see this kind of artstyle too. It was really huge during the Beet and Dragon Quest eras. You may not see it as much anymore but trust me, it holds up really well.

The series is fairly short at 15 chapters long and as you can guess it has to get a little rushed towards the end. Put it this way, you have the 4 enemy generals and Ganon. Well, by the time you reach chapter 8 which is over halfway through the series, none of them have been defeated yet. That’ll probably get you thinking a little bit right? The series does its best not to feel too rushed but I would say that it absolutely happens regardless. There just isn’t a way around that. This is the kind of series that easily could have kept on going for another 4-5 volumes and I think that would have really allowed them time to flesh everyone out.

It’s not likely to ever happen but this definitely could make for a solid little anime. You could adapt it all quickly after all and it’s a classic fantasy story so it’s not like it ever goes out of style. Link could definitely use more animations considering how big the video game franchise is. The writing in the series was on point and all of the heroes were likable. I always have to give the author big credit there because that’s not always easy. For example the comic relief hero could have easily been annoying but he has enough solid scenes where you don’t mind the bravado. None of the heroes are written too extreme in either direction.

Then for someone like Kalin, at least she has a role beyond being a damsel in distress. She actually has powers of her own which is part of why the villains want her. While her hype comes at the expense of Ganon, she actively contributes to the story. That’s something I really enjoyed because it was definitely unexpected and it also makes me gain a lot of respect for her as a character as opposed to just sitting there and accepting her fate. Now that would have been a bad look.

Overall, This is definitely a very different take on the Legend of Zelda. If you enjoy the main stories then you should still have a good time here though. Link himself may not be here to take a starring role but the series still plays out in a similar way to as it would if he was there. He’d probably be dominating a little more than Lilto but it’s not like their personalities are completely different either. There’s enough common elements between the two to make it all work. The series goes by fast and while it goes down a bit of a different path than you may have expected due in part to it being rushed, it’s a quality story. It’s held back a bit by some of the shock value and violence but mainly that’s all at the beginning of the series. After that the DBZ action is prioritized a whole lot more which works better. The power levels definitely make you really look at the series different and I’d like the main LoZ games to go into that a bit more. Link is really powerful, it’s just that the game style doesn’t always show it.

Overall 6/10

Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga Review

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It’s time for the return of Blue Exorcist. This series has always been a bit of a mystery to me. On one hand, it’s a big Shonen title where the main character has to fight off his demonic urges and slay demons. It’s very much a classic king of plot but the execution is just so different. Sometimes in a good way but sometimes in a bad way. I’ve never really connected with the series as well as most other big Shonen titles and that doesn’t really change here either. It’s a good season but not great by any means. It’s not quite as interesting as it should be and the action always gets cut off way too quickly. Well, lets dive into this.

Yukio is still jealous of Rin’s abilities and now that he is getting a glimpse of his own demonic potential, he wants power. He continues to try and repress his desires but the facade is starting to crack and he doesn’t want to talk to anyone about it. There’s not much time to think about this though as the Illuminati attacks and kidnaps Kamiki. She is taken by Shima, a double agent working for this group. Naturally the Illuminati is led by Lucifer himself. Note that Lucifer is another son of Satan and brother to Mephisto. This group will be difficult to defeat especially Mephisto sandbagging as always and the Exorcist Order being generally useless. Rin and Yukio will have to take point in rescuing her but can they move on from this big betrayal?

Naturally this is a really huge deal if you have been following the series for a long time although the anime took so long to get up to this point that I wouldn’t be surprised if most people have already heard about this whole thing. It’s not exactly the biggest secret in the series, you know what I mean? The reactions to it are very odd though. The characters get over the betrayal way too easily which is a personal pet peeve of mine. This guy literally broke all of their trust and kidnapped Kamiki so she could be tortured over and over again like in the past by a group that is clearly evil.

I think this is more than a “Do better next time” kind of speech. He should be absolutely demolished, I’d expect him to be destroyed on sight the next time that he is seen. Is that harsh? Yeah maybe but I would also argue that it is absolutely deserved. The characters are constantly using kid gloves on Shima and it doesn’t really make sense. The show goes into the specifics here and throws some more twists into the mix but none of it overrides the fact that Kamiki was very close to being dead. She had her summons get destroyed and while they managed to come back later, she was consistently put in a rough spot.

It’s why undercover operations are often not a good idea. Even if it’s part of a mission, you can’t be putting your allies in danger or sitting back while others are attacked. If you let one person get murdered to save 100, then you are starting to make dangerous decisions that are in villain territory. So I never ended up liking Shima and still blame him for everything. I’m also a little upset at the other characters allowing him back in because that makes no sense to me. Definitely a massive L right there.

Rin also doesn’t look his best here. He’s going through the classic hero issue of not wanting to murder anyone so he holds back a lot but you can always knock someone out without murdering them. It also gets to be a little much when he is also nervous even when fighting mindless monsters. Just take the super slow zombies down, there’s nothing you can really do to save them at this point. It’s also an annoying part of Blue Exorcist because every time we’re primed for a big right with Rin, it either doesn’t happen or he holds back so hard that it’s not a real fight.

Realistically he should be mopping the floor with most of the characters but it just doesn’t happen. He’s also scared of his powers enough where he doesn’t train the way that he’s supposed to. How is he supposed to protect his friends when he’s holding back like this? The whole power system of the series isn’t great either. The prayer chants never seem to work and are incredibly impractical. Unless you have someone like Rin or Kamiki backing you up to buy you time, the villains are going to slam you. It just makes over half of the cast feel rather useless most of the time. Everyone should have some close quarter combat skills or at least a big summon you know?

Okay back to the characters, Yukio is super annoying here as well. Part of this isn’t his fault because the guy’s had to go through the same character arc multiple times since the anime only arc was retconned and of course I remember this from the manga. So it just gets old quick where he is messing up his priorities and becoming a liability. If he would just talk to Rin about what’s going on things would work out better. So I put all of the blame on Yukio since he’s taking himself down the wrong path. It’s not even like the villains are encouraging this, Yukio is really leading himself downhill all on his own.

As for the main heroine Shiemi, right now there’s a lot of drama going on with her. She seems to like Yukio but is starting to like Rin. Possible triangle forming there, we’ll have to see how it goes. For now Shiemi is still way too timid and I would like her to acknowledge her own strength more. Her grass summon is really not that bad and can at least buy her some time. She has no real offensive spells but at least she can play a support role.

In that way she is more balanced than Kamiki. Kamiki has her dual spirits but they don’t even listen to her half the time because they’re tremendously awful characters who refuse to honor any kind of loyalty to her despite having high respect for Kamiki’s mom and put her in big danger. Kamiki has basic spells beyond that but as I pointed out before, this never works anyway so it may as well be a pointless addition. I like Kamiki’s fiery spirit but hopefully she will work with the other heroes more next time and not try to be a loner. Being a loner only works when you have the power to back it up.

Suguro is the only one who actually gives Shima a hard time so I give him massive credit for that. He sticks up for the traitor so that he’s not executed or anything like that but still doesn’t trust him. That’s how it should be, I still don’t get how you could possibly trust him in any context after what happened. That just makes no sense to me. Suguro is really held back by the fact that he can’t fight at all without the talismans so I hope he gets something soon.

Miwa tends to be a bit of an annoying character. Kind of wishy washy and never too sure of himself. Unlike Shiemi he has no great powers to help him out so right now he’s on the lower side from the cast members. Shura doesn’t do much beyond her obligatory teasing of Yukio. She is mainly injured for most of the season and when she is conscious she is being threatened by Mephisto. Honestly she is in such a terrible spot half the time. She needs to find a way to get stronger so she can actually have some freedom.

As the big villain in the Illuminati you’d figure that Lucifer would get a lot of hype but he’s very underwhelming for now. He’s super sickly and constantly coughing up blood and running out of energy. I feel like Mephisto could wipe him out of existence with ease and is just messing around because he can. It looks like the heroes are going to wait until Lucifer finds a cure and can fight at full power before they make their move so the Exorcists are as inept as always. I’ll need to see more of Lucifer to take him seriously.

His main general was one of those fat psycho doctors which doesn’t do his group any justice. That guy was super annoying so I was glad when he was taken out. Definitely one of the worst villains in the series. The backstory for Kamiki’s family was definitely a sad one. This season sure had more of an emotional feel than the last one. No offense to Suguro but his family drama wasn’t nearly as impactful. This one hits a bit harder because of how so much of it felt inevitable with no real escape.

Finally with Mephisto, he is still a solid villain but the kind of figure who could go way down depending on how his plan goes. Right now we don’t really know what he even wants to do. He clearly has enough power to bring the world to its knees so why doesn’t he? He has deals with the shady council of Exorcists but why would he even need such weaklings? We’ll find out in time but if he ends up getting one shotted or the plan doesn’t go well then retroactively it will make him such a terrible villain. Usually the more convoluted and far out your plan is, the more things that can go wrong. So he will really have to convince me here.

In general a lot of the story is still shrouded in secrecy. In part I would say that’s because we’re seeing things from the point of view of the main characters who are out of the loop on everything. We don’t really have any characters who are on the inside to give us full coverage into what’s going on. You like to think that the Exorcists have a bunch of trump cards at their disposal but I have my doubts on this. Right now it just feels like the demons have all of the advantages and the heroes’ only chance is to trust one which is rough. Rin is their only chance.

In terms of animation, the show can look good but it can also be rough at times. It’s clear that this didn’t exactly get a massive budget. It’s a shame because none of the fights look all that amazing. The best battle in the series is probably Rin vs Shima and part of that is probably more for narrative reasons than animation. I’m glad we at least get some action but it again feels like the show could be doing so much more. In the last season the big boss was a giant monster and of course we get more of that here too.

I want the show to just embrace its Shonen roots and give us some massive action scenes. Lets get some really cool feats in here and some awesome stuff you know? At least the soundtrack is really good as always. This is one area where the show has always excelled. I thought the theme song was really catchy and I also like a lot of the individual tracks. My favorite theme from season 1 only shows up like once but the new themes are good too. There’s a solid amount of variety and I felt like this got the biggest budget in the show.

While the show may not always deliver on the action front, I do think it does pretty well on the slice of life and comedy aspects. It’s a show where we actually get to see the heroes in school quite a lot. We see them learning and everything as there tends to be a lot of downtime. The gag of Rin dressing up like Shima was absolutely top tier as well. That gag actually works really well and made for a lot of fun moments. The obligatory beach type episode was also not as fanservicey as it could have been.

In general the show doesn’t go too far into that but some of the outfits are definitely geared in that direction. The romance is on the weaker side though as it all tends to feel a bit melodramatic. I feel like it’s going in a similar direction to Seraph of the End with the characters trying to hold in their emotions and everything but Seraph of the End pulls it off so much better because of how direct it is. This one’s trying to sort of be half in and half out so the romance is more annoying than anything.

Overall, Blue Exorcist had some good fights and plot twists but it’s just hard to get into the series the way the author wants you to. It feels like its just taking too much time to move forward in the plot. The fact that all of the heroes have to work with the villains because they are too weak to oppose him is also annoying. I mean it’s interesting in a sense but there doesn’t seem to be a way for them to surpass Mephisto. The power system of this world just makes that impossible for all of them except Rin who needs to get his head straight. It’s almost like a horror film where the heroes don’t stand a chance. The only other title I can think of like this is Seraph of the End where the heroes are always super doomed but at least the power system is much more supernatural so you could easily write in massive power boosts. We’ll see where the series goes from here though, hopefully Rin can finally start fighting more. There is already an exhausting amount of world building so lets move on to the big plot developments now. Either way the show does go fast though and the characters are entertaining so that will have to do for now.

Overall 6/10

The Elusive Samurai

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The Elusive Samurai is a classic action tale set in the samurai era sort of like Kenshin. The setting reminds me of Dynasty Warriors the most to be honest though with fighting over the land. Old settings like this usually aren’t my thing and the main characters are a bit young so it can be hard to picture them going up against the stronger foes but the battles are definitely solid. The series is also certainly not afraid to get super intense that’s for sure. I’ll have a review up for the series once it’s over. We’ll see if the main character can survive on evasive techniques alone or if it’s time for a big timeskip soon!

Overall 5/10

Call of the Night

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Vampires? Yeah it’s always hard to make a really good adventure revolving around that element and this title is no exception. We’ve got the usual blood sucking here but additionally there aren’t a lot of hype characters to try and counter this. The main guy/heroine definitely aren’t particularly likable yet. If you have an excellent plot like Records of a Fallen Vampire then perhaps you can make it but otherwise you’re in for a tough time. If we start getting a bunch of action scenes then this title may end up improving but for now it feels like it won’t be able to get beyond the premise. I’ll have a review for the series up once I’ve completed it.

Overall 2/10

Blue Lock

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Blue Lock has easily become the definitive Soccer manga and one of the all time definitive sport titles. It holds its own with heavy hitters like Kuroko’s Basketball and Prince of Tennis. We’ll see if it can keep the momentum up and I’ll have a review up once the series is completed.

Overall 9/10

Saint Seiya: Next Dimension

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I definitely have my share of issues with this series like the power levels making no sense and formally making Lost Canvas not canon but it’s still a great Saint Seiya story. It’s got all the action and fights you could want after all. I’ll have a review up for this series when it finishes someday.

Overall 8/10