Tag Archives: Slice of Life

Hills of Home Review

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You ever start watching a film and almost immediately start thinking to yourself, “Get this stuff off of my screen!!?” Well that is what happens with this film as it is definitely a thumbs down almost immediately. It makes every kind of mistake in the book as it puts Lassie through way too much. There aren’t really any redeeming values to be had with this film and so it ends up being a heavy thumbs down. Definitely a title that you will want to skip at all costs.

The movie starts by showing us that Lassie is on tough times as she is owned by a rather cruel owner. He traumatizes her into being deathly afraid of the water and fortunately her next owner ends up being a doctor named William. He is kinder but also in a rush and initially tries to sell Lassie off. Fortunately his conscience wins out and he keeps her. William is pretty busy as the only doctor around with a never ending stream of patients. He is getting older too but the guy doesn’t complain about it and just keeps on working as hard as he can. Will he be able to cure Lassie of her fears or is this one mission that will be too difficult even for him?

I won’t say that he’s a perfect character though because he does betray Lassie a few times here. Aside from selling her the first time, he also yells at her at different occasions and isn’t very patient with her fears. You would think as a doctor that he would know how difficult these things can be to get over but instead he doesn’t act all that sympathetic. He’s a fun enough character when it comes to interacting with the other humans, he just doesn’t seem like he’s the biggest dog person.

He’s also not that smart as he lets one of his “friends” get away with not paying him back on a lot of loans and then being tricked with Lassie. For starters that isn’t a good friendship and he probably should have asked for some serious money in the end. He let the guy get off easy despite being a major thorn throughout the whole movie. The guy’s son is an aspiring doctor to be but the path forward is made a lot more difficult because of this guy’s objections. Basically the way I would explain it is that the father is very old fashioned in an annoying way.

The aspiring doctor Tammas is okay but way too soft spoken and doesn’t really stand his ground. He gets pushed around so easily and so I never really grew to like the guy all that much. He’s okay at best but that’s a main problem for the film as a whole. The characters don’t really stick out and can come across as boring. You certainly aren’t all that invested in any of the characters, I can tell you that much. They come and go without a ton of impact.

As for Lassie, well like I said the film is rather brutal to her the whole time. It’s just so mean spirited and you get the feeling that none of the characters really knew how to handle a dog both in and out of the movie. Whether it’s Lassie being forced to lay down and clearly not wanting to or the whole water trauma moments, it’s all rather distasteful and holds the film back in a massive way. Even throwing in the big time skip at the end as if this was an anime could not save the film. That’s because there was no saving it by that point.

The writing itself isn’t terrible I suppose. We have some nice dialogue at times but there just isn’t much of a point to it all. Even for a complete slice of life film, you are expecting some dynamics to keep you interested and things like that. Instead you have nothing to hold your interest until the storms start setting in. Even when characters get sick you find it hard to care because of how unlikable they are.

Put it this way, even if we remove all of the animal violence, this film would have been probably stuck around a 5-6. It’s just not interesting enough and I tend to enjoy old time films like this one. Well, this time it wasn’t enough to carry the film which is a really big blow. In my opinion it’s not very hard to make very compelling characters in a setting like this. You just have to make them likable so they shouldn’t be doing anything crazy.

The movie is also fairly short even if it can feel long at times. So there isn’t a ton to talk about here beyond what we’ve already gone over. I suppose the final thing is that if you live by a road that is submerged during all big storms, you should probably have a better backup route rather than trying to swim through with your horse. That just seems like a terribly dangerous way to do this and there has to be a better way. There just has to be, because with this way people are going to die sometimes. I didn’t blame the big city doctor for panicking because the whole thing seemed absolutely crazy.

Overall, Hills of Home is definitely a film to stay far away from. It’s incredibly mean spirited and doesn’t really have anything to it. All of the characters have moments where they are acting like big jerks and you get the feeling that they all probably hate each other. After all you don’t just forget the comments so quickly. Whether it was one wife blaming the doctor for not doing well enough, another guy saying his new method for knocking out someone was terrible, everyone laughing at him at the bar, etc.; they were all taking some major shots here. Lassie doesn’t really get the respect that she deserves at any point which is a shame.

Overall 2/10

Look Back Review

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I remember reading the manga for this a while back. It’s a pretty fun story although with this writer you are always expecting some kind of a sad twist. All in all this may not be very long at a little under an hour but it tells a complete story and the ending is reasonably satisfying. It was definitely really faithful to the artstyle and atmosphere that the original manga had going for it.

There are really two main characters in the special. First up is Fujino who has always been really good at drawing. She writes little manga strips for the local school newspaper and people always talk about how she could go pro someday. She takes this for granted quite a bit and loves all of the fame but eventually she finds out that she isn’t the best artist. There’s another girl at the school named Kyomoto who draws incredible backgrounds and her shading is on point. This girl is a complete shut-in who never even steps foot outside and yet she is this good. Fujino decides to really grind hard in order to improve her skills but will it really be enough?

As the main character with the most focus, Fujino does a good job of holding up the story. She can be a little full of herself and isn’t always the nicest character but that makes her a fun lead. She’s not good at really expressing herself and will often put on a really tough act as a front. We do see that she had a lot of friends though so her big personality worked well in social settings. Ultimately she experiences a lot of loss and hardship throughout the movie but always manages to get back up. So she may not have been perfect but she is someone you’d want to have as an ally.

Then we have Kyomoto who is a lot more quiet. She has a hard time talking to anybody at all and can definitely be socially awkward. Fujino helps get Kyomoto out of her shell but to an extent Kyomoto still has to get confidence on her own. That’s not really something that anyone else can give you automatically. Kyomoto is content to be the background person who doesn’t really get any recognition. The only real decision Kyomoto makes for herself is when she decides to go to College to learn art even though Fujino keeps telling her it’s a bad idea. It is good that Kyomoto finally made a choice though.

Was it the right one? Well that’s really hard to say. I think Fujino made some good points about how a degree in art doesn’t often help much at all but there are authors and artists who say it was beneficial. So in the end you don’t really know and it’s always important not to use hindsight afterwards to decide. Kyomoto may not have really been my kind of character as much as Fujino since I tend to like the loud, more active characters more. Still it was a nice friendship.

We also briefly do get to see the second timeline where the characters made a different choice. That timeline is naturally a lot better than the main one but alternate realities always tend to appear that way. It was cool to see what might have been but you definitely don’t want to dwell on it too much. I would say the movie has some themes about moving on mixed into all of this. At least that was my main takeaway from this. When bad things happen you just have to keep moving forward.

The animation definitely kept making me think of Chainsaw Man because the author has a very distinct look to the characters where they all look like they never get any sleep. There is something unnerving about all of the designs and that translates pretty well here. Naturally there isn’t much in the way of action scenes here but in general the animation looks solid. The colors aren’t as striking as your average anime as they usually try to make the more mainstream productions a lot more faded for the general audience. It all works well enough with what they’re going for. I was impressed with how well they changed the style for the mini animations inside of the story. That was definitely cool.

Drawing is always one of those skills that looks like a total blast but is really hard to get good at. So I can always appreciate the hard work that goes into being a creator. It was nice to see some quick step by steps in the drawings here like at the very end although of course there isn’t enough time to go into too much detail. It’s a huge commitment and the movie did a good job of showing just how much the characters were missing out on by honing their skills. You really do end up sacrificing just about all of your social life for this.

Overall, This is a pretty short production so at the end of the day it’s not like there is really a ton to go into here. It’s really about a fleeting friendship between two characters where they created memories that they will never forget. Sad moments aside, it’s pretty uplifting for most of the run. I have no issues with the writing or pacing. It’s an easy title to recommend to anyone as well because the storyline is easy to digest and the characters are nice enough. There was a cameo for another one of the writer’s works in the movie theater scene so I look forward to that one getting adapted some day. Hopefully it won’t be too much of a wait.

Overall 7/10

Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 6 Review

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It’s time for some more Natsume! It’s still really impressive to me how the series has lasted this long. 6 seasons is really nothing to sneeze at no matter how you slice it. Season 7 has already started as well so at this rate I’m expecting it to reach season 10 at some point. After all it’s not like the show has any indication that it’s about to end right? The main story could keep us here for a long time and this season actually felt a lot more story focused than previous ones. Maybe I shouldn’t say a lot, but we had very tangible plot developments here which was nice to see.

The basic premise of the story is one that you should be very familiar with by now but basically Natsume is able to see supernatural beings known as Yokai. These creatures are always haunting him and trying to cause a whole lot of trouble on the back-end. They aren’t particularly powerful but the real danger is in their numbers. Eventually a curse will do you in. Fortunately Natsume has befriended a powerful Yokai god named Nyanko. Together they survive and live life while Natsume slowly gives each Yokai back their name through the Book of Friends. Once it is empty, they will finally leave him alone.

The first episode is a fun one to start off with as a Yokai turns Natsume back into being a kid. He doesn’t have his grown up memories at this point and so his friends have to keep him out of danger for a while. Naturally this is a rather difficult task since as a kid he already had confidence issues and gets scared easily. Still, it all works out and it was fun to see a younger Natsume finally get some reassurance about the supernatural. We know in the main timeline he was really on his own for a long while there until he finally got raised by a nice family. It’s definitely going for those emotional vibes and they really hit well here.

In the second episode we have more of what I would call a classic one shot story. Takashi bumps into a Yokai who is in a whole lot of trouble. He is a rock washer and needs to find his apprentice. It follows the formula of Takashi helping a strange monster in need and that’s really it. Nothing wrong with these one shot episodes of course, in a lot of ways they are what got the series to be so big. It can be nice to see Natsume just hanging out and having a good time. I’m just glad this wasn’t the first episode because it would have really lacked impact. For example there isn’t much you could use for emotional value to Natsume here whereas in the first, it’s all about seeing hos his child self would react to the present.

After that we have the return of Shibata. He’s a guy who wasn’t much of a friend to Takashi at all back in the day but is a lot nicer now and sometimes contacts him when supernatural stuff is going on. I rather enjoy Shibata quite a lot as a character because it seems like he is looking out for Natsume in his own way. Making sure that Natsume has friends and is doing okay. In fact, this time he mainly called to hang out but of course this does turn into a haunted episode with Natsume having to dig deep and help out. Friends who are there for you through thick and thin are always important to have around. It was also nice to have Tanuma get a role. He has a really done a good job of cementing himself as one of Takashi’s best friends.

Now we have our first multi part episode adventure. Basically Takashi ends up going to a mansion that is being haunted by 3 ghosts. They used to work for the head of the household but as he grew older, he could no longer see them. So now his daughter is trying to figure out a way to keep him safe without the guy knowing. To this end, she called her friend Natori who is a professional exorcist. Takashi getting involved was really a coincidence. It would technically be easy for Natori to just exorcise these yokai but it’s no as if they are evil. So Takashi begs Natori to give him a chance to talk to them. The clock is ticking!

I liked that this was a return to the dangerous episodes of the series. Natsume could have been in real trouble here since some of the spirits were quite ready to hurt him. We also got a really good jump scare with one of the attendants not being what she appeared to be. Finally there was also the Book of Friends plot being brought back as Natori heard more than Takashi was hoping for. All in all, it was a really high stakes adventure and one that really held up well. Natori also continues to look good as a solid rival character while also being just shady enough where you aren’t sure if Natsume should trust him. Now that’s what adds some intrigue to the case.

After that is more of a low key episode as we see how Natsume met his school friends back in the day. Natsume definitely looked like a real odd ball back then as he wasn’t quite as good as bluffing. So when a yokai would appear Natsume was quite obvious about it. This made things rocky at the start but ultimately it all worked out. Like I said earlier, the emotional episodes that are mainly related to Natsume tend to be the best ones and so this was another really solid episode. It was good to see how things got better for Natsume here and it also gave the school friends a little more depth since I tend to just ignore them most of the time.

Then we go back to a more low key story. A yokai is about to get married and wanted to invite Takashi’s grandmother to the event. Of course she couldn’t but Takashi is happy to go. It’s one of those wholesome episodes and a reminder that sometimes things can just go really well for the crew. Yokai aren’t always shady and evil and that’s really Natsume’s whole argument for why he won’t become an exorcist. He does believe that some Yokai should be helped while others would just exterminate the lot of them. It’s also a topic where it is very difficult to get others to agree. So often times he will end up butting heads with the others if it comes down to that.

Speaking of nice Yokai, the next episode follows that up. There’s a crow type yokai who was real good friends with a human girl but eventually he broke things off because he could tell that she was catching feelings. The problem is that he’s worried she hasn’t properly moved on. Fortunately she sends a wedding invite to him so he will appear and finally close out the matter with her. He will properly congratulate her on finding a real person to marry and Natsume ends up getting dragged into this. It’s a pretty fun story and I agree with the Crow’s logic, just not his methods. It does make sense to establish some boundaries with a human since it’s not like she could ever truly be with a yokai. That being said, he still should have said something instead of just running off.

Ghosting like that is definitely the coward’s way out in the end and definitely not something to be praised. In the end her plan to ensnare him was quite clever as well. She had to take some real big risks for that plan so you were happy for her. The romance may be doomed so the ending is more on the bitter sweet side but as far as romances are, this was actually written really well so I was quite impressed.

After that, we probably have the weakest episode for me. Maybe, I mean it wasn’t bad or anything but there just wasn’t much to it. So Natsume and friends are on vacation at a place called the 4 masks but one of them is a Yokai so humans only see 3 of them. We get some backstory on this and Natsume helps the mask out but I wasn’t quite as invested in this one. It just didn’t feel all that special or interesting and one shot stories at least need some kind of a hook right?

Then we get to the next big 2 part adventure with Natori returning once more. So yes by this point we can really say that Natori is the signifier that things are really getting big. This time a bunch of exorcists from a bunch of clans were called in to get rid of all magic traces from a sorcerer who died. His next of family doesn’t want to deal with all of that. So Natsume helps out with also looking for some notes in particular and along the way Natori finds out more about the Book of Friends. This basically forces Natsume to finally reveal his piece as well. A very important story arc to be sure because now the book is finally in the open. This was the perfect way to end the season if you ignore the bonus episodes. Probably the best episodes in the season I would say.

Now we get to the bonus episodes which scale things back a bit. The first one is about an old man yokai who whistles a good tune and is always on a tree stump. He seems to be forgotten so Natsume brings along someone who used to know him. It’s a pretty nice story. I didn’t care much about the old yokai but the messaging was nice enough. At the end of the day there’s nothing wrong with having a wholesome story every once in a while right?

Then we have the second bonus episode where a girl finds a ring that belongs to a mysterious Owl yokai that approached her. She bumps into Natsume who decides to help her out. It’s pretty fun to see Natsume from an outsider’s perspective here. He looks in control the whole time. Perhaps a bit crazy but he’s no stranger to the occult. I didn’t really care for the Owl though who was immediately rushing to the idea of taking away the girl’s memory despite how hard she worked to help him out. I never like when a character gets their memories taken away and this was no exception. The whole framing of the episode was great though which makes up for not really liking the ending all that much.

So yeah that wraps up the season. Definitely a lot of interesting episodes in there. The biggest revelation was that in one of them, the Yokai mentions bumping into Natsume’s ancestor. He assumed this was Reiko but the Yokai confirmed that it was a man. So now for the first time we have hints to Natsume’s grandfather, assuming that is who the Yokai was talking to. It was a very interesting plot point because there are still a lot of mysteries in the past. So I definitely look forward to seeing how that plays out.

Naturally seeing what Natori does next is also a big item. That guy is truly a wild card and a dangerous one at that. You don’t really know what he’s thinking and while I would say he is a good guy, his ideas of morality do clash with Natsume’s. If he decides to take the book by force then naturally I won’t be able to root for him. One way or another you expect this plot to come to a head soon.

As always the animation is decent but nothing all that great or outstanding. There are no cuts that will really wow you or any bits of animation that are super colorful. It’s really just standard and doing its job for a slice of life show but that’s it. I would like them to improve the budget at some point though. While it’s true that this kind of show doesn’t need great animation, I absolutely would not turn it down either. Likewise the soundtrack is only okay. The theme song is really weak and the main tunes are the same that they have been since season 1. It’s time for the technical aspects to actually improve instead of just coasting along for the ride. In the end it feels like that is all that they are doing after all.

Overall, Natsume’s Book of Friends continues to chug along. I would say this was easily one of the best seasons thanks in large part to the mystery around Natsume’s possible grandfather and Natori finally learning about the book of friends. It feels like this could really go in some interesting directions so we will just have to see how that plays out. If you’re this far into the series then of course you have to check out season 6. if you are a brand new viewer then you can still get what’s going on right away to be honest. That is one of the benefits of being a slice of life show after all.

Overall 7/10

Kimi No Todoke: From Me to You Season 3 Review

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The wholesome anime has returned for a third season! The episode count is super low but given that most of the episodes have extended runtimes I would say it evens out. There’s definitely a lot of drama going on here and for once we can actually start to blame the main guy here. He’s just losing way too much confidence and isn’t turning up the way he should be. It’s a pretty fun third season all in all though and hopefully they announce the next season soon to start wrapping up the story.

The season roughly goes for the structure of focusing on the two leads, giving an episode to Ayane, an episode for Chizu, and then wrapping up with the main duo. All of the characters are always around of course but the focus shifts. This season mainly has the big field trip and then the next Christmas party as the next two big trips. Each of the relationships are going further but that comes with a lot of extra complications and hurt feelings on all ends. There is less time for the wholesome day to day life as this season definitely goes for a more somber vibe. Rather than go by episode I’ll mainly go through each pairing and how the season went for them. I’ll end off with the main duo.

Also let me start by saying that Pin is a superb main character as always. This guy always has the right advice and knows how to give the characters a pep talk right when they need it. Without him they would really be spinning their wheels and not doing much of anything. He’s the guy you want in your corner for exactly this reason and it’s nice that we have a series where the adult character isn’t oblivious or complete comic relief. Pin is a comedy character a lot but when you actually listen to what he is saying, it all tends to be rather profound stuff.

Okay so first lets go with Ryu and Chizu since generally I do think this is the weakest romance out of the 3. This season finally covers the big moment of Ryu confessing and Chizu not really being sure how to handle it. After all, she’s always liked his brother so switching now could be like a rebound? Also she just sees him as a friend and this could end that. I appreciate Ryu being self aware enough to say that he is intending to end their friendship since they can’t progress otherwise. He is betting it all on this after all. So Chizu is under a lot of pressure to readjust how she views Ryu and see if it works.

Obviously this isn’t the final season so things are still in motion but a lot does happen here. At the end of the day, neither one of them are great about being open with their feelings. Ryu does have more of the initiative though in terms of him actually confessing and not backing down from it. He doesn’t play it off as a joke or anything and stays focused. So I respect that part. I have no problems with Ryu as a character. He’s solid enough, the romance itself it a bit harder to buy into though.

Mainly for Chizu’s side here. It’s very similar to a manga I recently reviewed called Lovely Complex. Chizu doesn’t really see Ryu as a romantic interest to the point where she laughs initially. It’s super hard for me to picture her changing her mind suddenly. It always comes across more like she is picking Ryu because the first option didn’t work out and also because he is so desperate. So it’s more out of convenience and being able to keep her friend. Not the worst reasons for starting a romance but yeah I’m definitely considerably less invested in this one compared to the others.

Then we have Ayane and Kento’s plot. So Ayane has been with a lot of guys before but it was more out of a sense of tradition and just hoping maybe she will find the right guy. She’s never actually been in love before so in a way she doesn’t know what it’s even supposed to feel like. That’s why she wanted to really just keep on trying but the guys she picks are always not that good. So now Kento has made his move but she can’t tell if he’s serious or not. Can she even afford to take another risk on a relationship?

Now this is a plot that’s a lot more interesting. For starters, the idea of not knowing what love is even like is definitely depressing but realistic. There are so many films and stories where it feels like the characters just start dating on a whim because it feels right but you can’t tell if they actually love each other. Now here is an instance where that is actually the case and Ayane has been doing this for a long time apparently. It’s definitely an interesting plot and you can also see why she doesn’t know if she can trust Kento.

He’s a super nice guy who is nice to everyone but as a result you can’t really tell if that’s just a mask or not. Maybe he’s just super nice to everybody or she is being played again. In a sense that is what dating is for, to find out about the other person but it’s also pointless if you don’t see a future ahead right away. So we have some real dilemmas here. Meanwhile for Kento, it’s similar. He’s always been a nice guy and genuinely so, so it’s not something that’s easy to turn off. Also there’s nothing wrong with being nice, he just needs to get Ayane to see that he’s being genuine.

Kento is a character who is easy to root for so it also makes for a fun plot in that sense. As the omnipresent audience, we know that both characters are good but of course the view from the ground is way different. Ayane is always defending her friends and keeping them happy so of course you hope that she gets a happy ending too. That just doesn’t have to necessarily include dating.

Finally we have the main pairing. Sawako and Kazehaya have been doing really well so far. Sawako has gained her confidence and Kazehaya is always a good guy. Well, that finally changes here as he gets super scared after almost kissing Sawako. So for most of the season he is avoiding her to an extent and just being really cold. Is he tired or the relationship or something? Sawako has to face all of her fears once again and this is definitely the most forced part of the whole season. Their romance as a whole is still solid but if we just looked at this season in a vacuum then I would say it definitely didn’t go over so well. Kazehaya looks pretty terrible once the plot starts.

He actively pushes her away when she tries to find out what’s going on with him. He never actually explains himself and just continues to put in that distance over and over again. I think the worst part about this is how unnecessary it is. He should have just clearly told her what happened and his worries. The fact that he feels like he can’t confide in her like this is really bad. It should be second nature by now and instead he nearly gets them broken up. The fact that he didn’t think about this at all is definitely a bad look. So Kazehaya purely from season 3 is not a particularly good character.

He makes the wrong decisions over and over again. Meanwhile Sawako looks good as she continues to persist over and over in order to get to the truth. She is really putting in all of the effort in this relationship. Without her then they would definitely be in big trouble. A different main character would have probably gotten all upset and just created more drama. Kazehaya should feel bad about almost kissing her there since it’s not super responsible for being on a trip but shutting himself off like that is crazy.

The Christmas episodes still have their happy moments but they definitely get hampered down a bit by this main plot. It’s also a shame because in life there are no do-overs. They may have made up later on but that’s one party they can’t really take back. At least they didn’t do anything crazy like mess up the gift exchange the way that Chizu did. The whole point of a secret gift exchange is that you don’t know who is getting each present so causing a scene over that is definitely no a good move. It’s the one time you almost feel bad for Joe but he caused so much chaos that I couldn’t help but smirk a little bit.

In terms of the technical elements, the theme song is fairly weak. It’s definitely not one of the catchier tunes. The soundtrack is largely unchanged so it’s not bad. A little quiet without any big time hits but it works well enough for the series. As for the animation, the show looks smooth. I wouldn’t call it particularly high budget but it’s not really going for that angle anyway. As long as the animation is clear then that’s about all that you need for a show like this. There is less time for comedy of course but the show still has some fun jokes here and there. Ultimately it’s hard to avoid for any romance series though. Inevitably the themes will get more serious and there will be less time for the happy days. This one has a good balance though.

At the end of the day one of the strengths of the series is that the characters are all fairly mature. You don’t have the usual misunderstandings and panicking that you might see in another series. Kazehaya is the most immature here but otherwise the dilemmas that the characters are facing are things you will probably see in real life. It makes the stakes feel a lot more personal and really let you jump into what’s going on here. I would probably have liked there to have been time for more fun but that’s pretty hard to do during the dramatic period. So with things being good with Kazehaya again, I look forward to more general fun in the next season. I’m also glad that Sawako’s father started to mellow out a little more here. In general he was a solid character and I’m also glad that he got to spend some holiday time with his daughter. I would have felt bad if he was totally pushed to the side.

Overall, Kimi continues to go strong as a good title. The season really flies by with the limited episode count. I know with the run time is more or less evens out but there is still something nice to say about a season having over 10 episodes you know? While the gap between seasons 2 and 3 wasn’t too bad for me since I started the series late, I hope season 4 doesn’t take nearly as long. I’m ready to see all of the climaxes happen in the anime version and how it all turns out. In the meantime you should check this one out regardless. Wait or not, you don’t want to miss out on the Christmas hype!

Overall 6/10

Shiver Review

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It’s time for a horror anthology in manga format! Now that’s definitely a twist if I’ve ever seen one. I will say that the series definitely does have that spooky vibe the whole time. The stories each do a good job of exploring different fears and really being on the unnerving side. It’s a very disturbing collection and not one I would really recommend to the average manga enjoyer. It can definitely be a little too violent and disturbing but it is probably the most unsettling title you’ll ever read.

The first story is a fairly low key one. So this one guy has a record and his friend always come by to listen to it. She wants to borrow it just for a while but he refuses. He’s just super into the record and doesn’t want anyone to have it. So she promptly steals the record and accidently murders him for it. From there, everyone else wants to hear the record as well and so she continues to be chased. There’s just something about the record that makes you want to hear it. The record was apparently recorded by a famous singer after the singer had already been dead and this seems to have the power to force other corpses to keep on singing as well. There is no escape.

Definitely a spooky story right out of the gate and also why you probably shouldn’t steal stuff. People can go absolutely nuts about their possessions even in the real world. Not something you should die for of course, that’s just where the real horror comes in. I would say this one is scary more for the fact that everyone is hunting you than the actual record though. The record itself is ominous but it seems like you’ll be okay if you let it go. The shop owner lived all these years after all. You just can’t afford to hang onto that thing.

After that we have a story with holes. I remember hearing about this phobia back when I was looking into making homemade cheese chips since quite a number of recipes had a warning about this. I guess holes can be unnerving and I won’t say it’s easy to look at. I don’t think I have the phobia per say but I was making sure not to stare at the characters too hard to find out. Basically this one guy has a next door neighbor who is filled with holes. She seems friendly one moment and then scary the next. He mainly avoids her but this holes disease appears to be contagious and there is a mysterious gardener around. Lets just say this one is even harder to avoid because it’s all happening right next door to the main character. The odds of getting out alive are super slim.

It doesn’t help that his friend is way too greedy and trying to find things out. This just puts them in more and more danger. Half the time in any event it pays to mind your business. If someone is in trouble then of course you gotta help but otherwise it’s not good to be nosy just to be nosy. Particularly with an illness that you don’t really know anything about. I guess he had reason to think something nefarious might be going on but definitely didn’t pick the best routes to uncovering the truth.

Then we have one of the more straight up violent stories. One guy is weirded out when he opens a fashion magazine and there is a really ugly girl inside. Why would she be a model? She looks like an absolutely insane horror jump scare type of monster. His friends who are filming for a movie think it would be brilliant to hire her though. So they pick her up and drive everyone to the forest for the shoot. They can all see that she is no conventionally attractive but don’t seem to be taking it quite as serious as the lead. Maybe they can’t really see her complete fangs and the fact that she’s almost 10 feet?

One thing you will continue to notice as you read through the stories is that the characters rarely act rational. They are all super strange and weird which is part of the horror. So for the main character it makes him/her have some doubts. Maybe the scary stuff is just in the mind? In this story that definitely plays with his head enough to the point where he actually still goes to the forest with the others. Then when the monster starts to actively eat people, it takes too long for him to even try and make a move. Ultimately things do not go well and the story is definitely one of the scariest ones because once they are in the forest you know there is no way out.

After that is definitely the most interesting story and the one they ought to make a movie on. It starts off with a girl hanging herself and then another guy follows suit. The weird thing is after they do this, their large heads appear in the sky like balloons. These balloons begin to spread and soon even people who are alive have their own giant balloons in the sky. These balloons are actively hunting down humans and taking their heads off. If you murder a balloon, you end up destroying the person whose face it was representing. You see the issue already right? You can’t actually destroy these things without ending the human race.

So as the weeks go by, more and more people are defeated. There is no way to go outside to get any food and it’s also just a depressing silence once you are the last ones around. As always some characters look pretty weird with how they just run off to get bumped off but I guess you could say the pressure finally got to them. The main character actually lasts quite a long time but at the end of the day it’s pretty much inevitable that everyone would fall. In a way you could also call this an alien invasion kind of plot. There is just so much more potential here to make it a really long story too.

Next up is a story about marionettes. The main character grew up in a family that relied on these puppet shows for money and stability. Ultimately this went on to an unhealthy degree and the father died after a while and the two songs went their separate ways. One day the main character’s brother returns but he’s a bit off. He has decided to no longer move on his own and instead he has servants who move his limbs for him. How? Through puppet strings. He is married with a kid and that had to be an interesting process. The main character thinks this is all super strange but unfortunately his little sister is super into this and ends up joining the group. You can imagine that this is not good for your bones when you aren’t moving them for so long and sure enough, that is the case but there is also a supernatural presence at work.

This was a pretty good story and definitely another strange one. My only problem and it’s a big problem is that I didn’t like what happened to the main character’s friend. In a lot of these stories it is all about karma and such but she really did nothing wrong. I don’t see why she had to have such a violent end. It felt completely unwarranted to me and just too radical. Ended things on a bit of a sour note there.

Then we have a story about a painter. He’s the best at what he does but one day a lady shows up and explains that she is the most beautiful in the world. So he decides to paint her and thinks he did a good job but she laughs and runs off. The problem is that her beauty is other worldly and now he can’t live normally. He is obsessed with her and runs around trying to find her. Thing is, everyone who draws or paints her ends up dying and he is no exception. He will be the one to finish her off first though.

This is one of the weakest stories. Not much of a hook or climax here and the characters just seemed a little too crazy unprompted. I guess I don’t really see what was so scary about this one except the general horror of meeting a girl who is so beautiful that she takes over your mind. It just felt more on the mean spirited side and desperately needed some kind of a twist about the girl being a demon or something. That could have helped big time.

Then we have a story that is definitely really scary. This one guy has a condition where he is experiencing “Long Dreams”. The dreams get longer and longer every time he goes to sleep. The first time he was asleep, he lived out several weeks, then this turns into years, and eventually he is sleeping for decades. He can’t keep track of what is going on in the real world and the doctor isn’t making much ground. Will he ever end up being okay?

This story is scary for the guy dreaming to be sure. After all if you are stuck in a nightmare then you’re really sunk. What if you die in the dream as well? There are a whole lot of possibilities and none that are particularly good. There is also no way out since you will eventually fall asleep no matter how much you try to resist it. There is just no going against your physical limitations there. I’d also say it’s something you can picture to an extent. Less dramatized of course but a scary situation all around.

Then we have a story about the ancestors curse and it’s the worst one. So this one girl got amnesia somehow so she doesn’t remember her fiancé or anybody. He tries to jog her memory but nothing works so they figure they will take things slow. He takes her over to his place and the whole time she is wondering what could have been so scary that she got amnesia. Well, it’s because his father’s head is connected to a bunch of other heads that go on for generations with no real end. His son will be taking over the family business and needs a descendent right away.

It’s definitely scary although I don’t see how you would get amnesia from that, much less getting it twice. The story itself was quite forced and it definitely has the meanest ending of the lot. Not really something that you want to see here. You were hoping the collection would end with a bang but the strongest stories had already passed by this point. The next one isn’t all that much better either.

The final main story is about a family with an oil addiction. They just can’t help it, they’re always drinking oil and so their bodies are starting to mutate. The main character refuses to do this but her family isn’t giving her much choice and gives her oil while she’s sleeping. She should run away immediately but sticks around too long and the cycle keeps continuing. This story is definitely going for the gross factor as everyone is slimy and the whole town is basically being hit by this. There is no escape to be had by that point.

It’s just such a weird story. I wouldn’t call it scary either to be honest unless you tend to think that gross things are scary. Either way this would definitely be more of a mis for me. There is a super short bonus comic at the end about a girl getting ripped apart but that story was also in bad taste and could definitely be skipped. I’m telling you, the final stories were not trying all that hard!

The art isn’t bad, it’s got a very simple look to it without too many details but it works well for the horror vibes that they are going for. The characters definitely look very memorable the whole time. So I wouldn’t change anything about that. The writing is solid and I would just say the author can sometimes go a little too far with the stories. Tone them down somewhat and there would be a lot of potential here. The ideas themselves are definitely very unique after all.

Overall, Shiver is a pretty scary anthology. I would say it nails the horror genre in ways that would be very difficult for any other title to match. It does feel rather unsettling the whole time. That said, it can just be a little too violent and some areas are much too mean spirited. Horror titles in general have a lot that they have to try and avoid after all. There are many ways in which they can fumble and ultimately I would say this title should be counted among them. If you are going to read it, definitely read at night for maximum impact.

Overall 3/10

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

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It’s time for more magical girl hype, they’ve definitely been making waves lately. This one’s got a more corporate structure to it like Burn the Witch so far and follows a main character who is a genius at the books but a rookie in combat. Will she be able to help the magical girl company become the best in the world or will the limits of her abilities quickly begin to appear? I’ll have a review up for the series as soon as I finish it.

Overall 7/10

Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 5 Review

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It’s time for some more Natsume hype! The series has really stayed strong with 5 seasons and we have season 7 coming out soon so you can expect more reviews soon. It’s the kind of title that can really last for however long the author wants it to. The storyline is fairly basic but allows for more to be brought into the mix whenever it is needed because we still don’t know how big the book of friends is. Until that happens, we have unlimited time here and by this point you should either know if you are a fan or not. It’s more of the same and the series is pretty consistent like that.

Since the show is mainly stand alone we’ll go through each of the episodes. The season itself appears to be pretty short at 11 episodes but there were two bonus ones so that helps to get things back to a normal amount. Natsume is also being thrown onto his back slightly less often nowadays so he is getting better at working with the Yokai but I won’t be satisfied until I see him become really confident. I want him to show off his right hook and really have the respect his power. Natsume clearly has the ability, he only lacks the confidence.

The first episode is fairly light and is sort of a catchup/intro episode for new fans. Natsume encounters a yokai who needs him to find her doll and one that likes acorns. So, being the nice kid that he is, Natsume helps out both yokai even if the one with the doll wasn’t particularly pleasant. Natsume helps out for the love of the game and he will always be there for assistance even if he is being used. That is of course the tricky part which Nyanko warns him about but Natsume just can’t let things be. If he can help out then that’s what he’ll do. There’s not as much of a sense of danger in this episode since Nyanko could realistically solo any of the villains but it’s still a wholesome episode overall.

Now it’s time for another emotional episode. A human gave a yokai his towel when it was raining hard so that she wouldn’t get sick and he left. 50 years have passed and she wants to see him but hasn’t been able to make contact. So she asks Natsume for help and he’s got nothing better to do so why not? Of course the old man is fairly old as you would expect and Natsume can’t exactly say that he was asked to search by a yokai so the guy’s granddaughter thinks he’s a weirdo. Still, Natsume gets the Yokai the closure that she needed. It’s another pretty wholesome episode and fun addition into the lineup. It reminds you how inconvenient it is to be a Yokai with how you’re immortal but can’t really talk to anyone except for very specific circumstances. That has to get old quick.

Next up is a 2 part adventure and this is one of the bigger ones since we have the return of Matoba the exorcist along with Natori. So Natsume’s bad luck prevails as he ends up losing a letter than Matoba sent him so the guy has to show up in person and threaten him for help. Natsume is forced to find a yokai who has infiltrated an exorcists meeting and is trying to murder everyone. If Natsume doesn’t help, his parents will be told the truth about how he can see yokai. Honestly Natsume needs to tell them already or this blackmail will keep on being effective but that time isn’t now. It’s a pretty solid 2 part adventure in part because the addition of Matoba always adds a certain level of danger.

If he finds out about the Book of Friends then he may very well kidnap Natsume or take the book by force. He has the resources and men to do the job. Nyanko is a great guardian in theory with his power levels but he wouldn’t be able to stop a whole army and Matoba knows it. That guy still makes for a really fun villain and I like seeing him around. Then we have Natori who always seems to play second fiddle but at least he’s more aware of what is going on than Natsume. I appreciate that he is always ready to help just in case Natsume needs any assistance. The main character doesn’t even realize that he has this protection in most instances.

After that we have an episode where Taki takes Natsume to her house as quite a few Yokai are around. She helped one out and now more are there and one is even leaving her messages at school. They seem nice enough but you never can tell with Yokai. It’s always fun to see Taki around though as she is easily the best out of the supporting characters at school. It’s a fairly low key episode after the last two with Matoba and is one of those episodes that remind you how a lot of Yokai aren’t actually dangerous. They’re all mysterious but a good number of them are reasonable.

The next episode gets back to the high stakes though. Natsume’s voice is sealed by a pair of Yokai and they are hunting him for some reason. Nyanko is much more powerful than they are but his reaction times are not always the best and he isn’t always on guard. So if Natsume lowers his guard then it’s all over. Fortunately his folks don’t really question the lack of a voice beyond just being a common cold so he got lucky there. I feel like it would be treated as a rather massive deal that your voice is completely gone if you ask me, but I suppose that’s just how it goes sometimes. It was good to see Nyanko step up when it counted though.

It’s back to wholesome times after that though. Natsume and friends head to Tanuma’s inn to relax and hang out. It turns out that a lady he knows there is a Yokai though. She asks Natsume to keep this as a secret and she will move on after the trip is over. She’s always been real kind though and he figures she should stay if she wants to. It’s one of those interesting cases of a Yokai being able to freely interact with humans so I’m guessing she has pretty strong abilities or it could be that the temple background amps her up. Either way it’s a pleasant story.

We get back to the important business after that with a prequel episode where we see how Natori and Matoba first met up. Matoba was as snobbish as ever here as he showed off his abilities but you could also see how he was glad to have someone to talk to. It was a really interesting episode and it’s why either one of these characters would make for a better main character than Natsume. This may seem a bit harsh but Natsume just doesn’t have the same level of backstory or intrigue to keep up with them. It’s definitely tough for Natori knowing that he will never be on Matoba’s level in terms of sheer ability but that’s where creativity comes into play.

After that is more of a standard episode. Natsume runs into a little mushroom yokai that has big dreams to serve a local yokai lord. He needs to get that guy’s attention and clear some tasks so Natsume helps him out. It’s nice of Natsume to help but you can see how this guy is completely out of his depth. The little yokai doesn’t have the size or stature to really do much and it’s not like you change species as you grow older. The lord turns out to be a nice character and isn’t a jerk or anything like that but even if he had completely rejected the mushroom yokai you’d have totally understood.

Now we have another prequel episode and this time it’s more details about how Toko and Shigeru adopted Natsume. We’ve been getting different bits and pieces of Natsume’s background in each of the season and it’s always fun to see more of it. Toko and Shigeru are also pretty solid characters. They may have roles that are fairly low key but they are always eager to help out. The episode is on the low key side but they make for good leads so it ends up being one of the stronger episodes.

After that we have an episode where Natsume gets sick so all of his yokai friends try to find the cure. It’s nice to see everyone banding together to help out like this. It shows how many real friends Natsume has made and he has sure come a long way from the days where he had no friends. It’s really nice to see although the episode itself could be a little boring at times. Episodes where the main character is sick rarely entertain me in any show as it’s just not a gimmick that works for very long. I get the emotion beat they were going for here though.

Then we get to the bonus episodes. The first one is a wholesome episode about a yokai couple who could make super sake cups that would last for one year. The drinks out of them would taste amazing but they are getting old and their powers are waning so they are having one last party. I guess you could say the episode is about their bond and how it stayed really strong. There isn’t a whole lot of story to the episode otherwise but it works well enough as a stand alone.

Finally we have an episode where Natsume is trapped in a hide and seek game. Whenever he falls asleep he falls inside the game and bad things may happen if he’s caught. It works as a fairly spooky episode although it’s still hard to feel too much danger since Natsume can still one punch just about any demon if he puts his mind to it. It ends up having a happy ending and all. It was a good episode and I’d probably put it around the middle of the pack. It did its job here.

That about wraps up the season here. As always it’s a fun show with a wide variety of different stories to tell. Each plot is different and the writer is creative with how many situations come up. At the end of the day it might not be the most exciting show but I can see how it’s viewed as a calming title. You could watch this at night for some wholesome entertainment before turning in. It means it’ll be hard for the show to shift gears into the next level but there’s nothing wrong with just being a good show. Not every show has to be great or amazing after all.

The technical elements may not be great but they’re not bad either. The opening is a little too slow and calm for me but of course this is a calm show with slow pacing. So it makes sense but I would still like a rock theme or something like that. The soundtrack isn’t particularly engaging but it works well enough. The animation is a little on the lackluster side and under most anime but it’s not terrible. The story helps the show out more than the technical elements and so long as the writing stays good this will always be a solid show. I can easily recommend it to anyone which is always a plus.

Overall, You could say that the show is a bit static in regards to all of the characters and the story as a whole but as long as they keep churning out seasons I will be here. At the end of the day I have no big issues with the show as a whole. Natsume and Nyanko are a fun enough duo. Hopefully we get some Reiko flashback episodes in the next season or at least more Matoba episodes since he’s always fun. The show definitely has the foundation to become a full fledged action show if it ever wants to do so but that’s probably more of a pipe dream. As long as you enjoy some fun story telling then I think you’ll enjoy this show. It’s probably best not to binge it and just enjoy a few episodes here and there until you get to the end.

Overall 6/10

Blue Giant Review

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It’s time for a story about Jazz. It’s not a music genre that I’m super familiar with to be honest. I’ve certainly heard my share of Jazz music over the years and I know the general style of it but I couldn’t break it down into any of the sub genres. Forget telling you if someone is in tune or not. So with this series would I really be able to pull that in? Eh, not really musical stuff isn’t really my cup of tea. I love listening to music but analyzing it is a bit out of my wheelhouse. That said, it’s real good stuff all the way. This isn’t a series you follow for the explosive moments or anything like that but it’s a very chill series all around.

The manga starts off by introducing us to a guy named Dai. He’s initially just your average kid trying to find his place in the world. And one day he finds it, the guy loves Jazz. He decides to be the greatest Jazz musician in the world. This is a fairly lofty goal as Jazz isn’t huge in Japan and everyone tells him its a shrinking industry. It’s also not something that you can get good at in a day. It takes years of skilled precision and timing to get good but Dai is willing to risk it all. He will pour his whole life into this, no matter how much money and time he has to sacrifice. Can Dai pull this off?

Blue Giant makes no illusions about the amount of sacrifice you have to be willing to put in to really gain ground like this. It’s almost painful seeing what Dai and his teammate Sawabe had to do for this. Sawabe basically gave up all of his growing years of hanging out with people and going to clubs to work on his piano playing for his whole life. Dai basically sacrificed his relationships and his chance to hang out with his family for this. They’ve made their decisions and stick to it no matter what. Is it worth it? Well, it all depends on how they feel because it’s not so much about the achievements here as it is that they lived their lives free of all barriers.

The series puts a lot of emphasis on how Jazz is very free music. When you do a solo, it is unscripted. You just play from the heart and play whatever you want with all your strength. Now, don’t take that too literally as it still has to sound good of course but generally speaking it’s not like they’re reading off a sheet of music. You have the main song and then the solos. Dai has a lot of raw talent as he’s great at shooting off his piece but initially he’s not so great at the sheet music so he has to put in the work.

Blue Giant is one of those series that I would say is aiming for hyper realism. Generally speaking I wouldn’t say any of the characters are super likable but none of them are bad guys. Like you wouldn’t see them in competition with any average Shonen lead who tends to be larger than life with a personality to boot. These are people you might run into down the street. You might get along and you might not. They have a lot of flaws, can be combative, and are hard to work with. At the end of the day though, you know they are serious about playing Jazz. So if you watch them on the stage you should have a good time.

Like I said before, Dai sacrifices a lot for this dream of his. I do feel like he made mistakes in how all or nothing he was about it though. Dai fully explains his rationale so it’s not like it’s a mystery or anything. Whether you agree with it or not, at least he is up front about it. Specifically I think he should have gone back home at least a little bit though or talked to the girl that he liked rather than ghosting her for ages. Although in this business, it seems like having a girlfriend probably wouldn’t have worked either way since he wants to spend all of his time practicing and studying. It’s basically an obsession for him. He lives only to play and live Jazz.

Meanwhile Sawabe is very similar but I do think he has the work life balance down a bit better. The guy plays with several bands and has grade A talent all the way. It has unfortunately caused him to be extremely arrogant the whole time though. He doesn’t have the best personality like when he was rude to some girls for no reason or denying someone an autograph. Sawabe does start to get better towards the end though. He is a fun jerk to have on the team though, he absolutely elevates the series with his rivalry with Dai. Sawabe is the only one who can really push Dai to this extent. Perhaps at home, Dai’s teacher Yui could but he can’t do anything during the show. Sawabe was the guy for this and I can’t say I liked how his character arc ended at all. That was definitely not satisfying at all.

Then we have Tamada who joins up with the crew late. He is several leagues below the main two characters since he has only been practicing for months while they’ve been doing this for years. The drum may seem simple at first glance compared to the other instruments but it does take an incredible amount of technical skill and ability. It’s not something you can learn super fast either. The series does make sure to mention that he is several tiers below even to the end but his skills do increase real fast so that he can play with the others. I give the guy props for really going after this even if by the end we do see real clearly that he doesn’t have quite the same drive as the other characters. He was nice enough to let Dai crash with him for a while.

There are also several supporting characters around although they all tend to cycle out after a bit since Dai is always on the move. We have Dai’s older brother who is a great guy. No matter how tough things were, he made sure to look after his little bro. Buying Dai a top of the line saxophone even though it meant going into debt for years was really cool. He doesn’t appear very often for sure but the actions speak very loud. Dai knows that he can always count on him no matter what which is awesome.

Then you have the teacher Yui who is a harsh critic but definitely thinks that Dai has potential. He really helps Dai a whole lot in getting started and rolling the ball over. Without him there then Dai definitely would have taken a lot longer at best or completely fizzled out at worst. You have the bar owner who let Dai and friends practice at her place which was super helpful. There is the girl that Dai liked quite a bit although he definitely messed that one up by choosing Jazz over her. Ultimately you can’t have everything.

Between volumes we get flash forwards where the characters talk about Dai and how they enjoyed meeting him. Usually I wouldn’t appreciate these fast forwards because they’re like spoilers to what is going to happen but since this is a non action series I can let it slide. It’s not as crazy as if this was Naruto or something like that. It’s also sometimes the author’s way of letting us know that a character will not be coming back. Whenever they say something like “I never saw Dai again but I can’t forget the first time I met him” then it’s curtains. A lot of these characters won’t be back and it’s interesting to keep track of that. I bet someone out there probably has a list showing which characters are confirmed to be gone or something like that.

Blue Giant is a very somber series at its core though which is fitting for Jazz. Jazz is a very somber kind of music after all that should move you and some types can even bring you to tears. Throughout the series bad things tend to happen to the characters. It’s not always dramatic things but they do add up. You have the dramatic type moments like a physical injury, the emotional ones like finding out the girl you like has moved on, and then mild ones like flunking an exam or having your instrument break. There are always setbacks and Dai has to get through them.

You are left feeling like this risky lifestyle will come back to bite him though. He can barely make enough money to survive and there is no retirement plan. Can he continue to play music when he’s in his 70s? How will he afford rent? You’re thinking about all this stuff when he’s playing and I would say that’s probably the saddest part of this series in a lot of ways. It feels like a lifestyle that’s unattainable and perhaps that’s why the fast forwards are necessary. We at least know that he won’t be poor with the money he’s making but there’s still the twinge of sadness in that we don’t actually see him in the present. How is he really doing? We just don’t know. Then the manga hits him when he’s down at random points like when someone stole his wallet with his entire life’s savings. That was a heavy blow.

The art is good overall. At times it can be a bit hard to make out and some characters look really similar but it does nail the grit of the songs fairly well. You can feel the effort they are plugging into every play. There are a lot of close ups too. I remember for the accident the scene was surprisingly violent as well to really hit you in the feels. Expect a lot of crying as well with Dai forcing himself through things. We even do get a pretty good fight where Dai knocks someone out so that was cool. I’d imagine he is in really good shape from all the running he does to practice for Jazz.

Of course there are sequel series to this one so it’ll be interesting to see how that continues. There are a lot of ways you can go with this of course but in terms of pacing I wonder how long they want to go before he is considered a true pro. Even by the end of this series, everyone calls him a prodigy with a lot of potential but nobody would call him a pro yet. And that’s considering that he is really playing his heart out right now. How much farther does he have to go in order to cross that precipice? There are only so many ways the artist can draw the intense music after all so I’ll be curious to see how they depict this. Maybe his solos will go on for even longer periods of time with his increased lung capacity or something like that.

Overall, Blue Giant is a pretty good series. I had a fun time with it despite how somber it can be. A lot of the pages don’t even really have much text on them as you’re meant to enjoy the music so they make for quick reads. I imagine that the anime version would be a little more immersive since you would actually get to hear the music. You can try and imagine it of course but again since I’m not the biggest Jazz expert that is a bit difficult. Everyone’s always talking about how loud Dai’s Jazz is and I’m definitely not used to that. Either way, whether you enjoy Jazz or not you should be able to have a good time here. Jazz may be the medium for the story but the themes about trying your best at a near impossible task are fairly universal.

Overall 7/10

Layton Mystery Detective Agency: Kat’s Puzzle Solving Files Review

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It’s time for a wholesome mystery title in the Layton universe! This mini series is based on the video game and pretty accurately retells the events. It makes for a good read but I do wish they could have done a little more with the concept. It ends up feeling very by the numbers and I think they could have added a bit more emotion into the end product. If you can’t play the video game (Or just aren’t interested in gaming) then this definitely does the job in terms of telling the story. It’s just not really an attention grabber and I imagine that you won’t really recall the series for very long. It will very quickly fade from your memory and then it will be game over.

The story revolves around a girl named Katrielle Layton who is a star detective! Or at least she sees herself as one but some of the characters are not convinced. She gets called out on this by the pet dog but I don’t think it’s warranted since as far as we can see Katrielle is an expert. She constantly succeeds and is always on top so why would she not be an expert? I’m just a little skeptical about all of this personally. Still, she is determined to make the world a better place and in the process hopefully she can get a lead on the mysterious Professor Layton. Where has he gone and why hasn’t he contacted her at all?

Each story is fairly stand alone and so you really just get to learn a lot about Katrielle and how she solves each case. Her catchphrase of: “This Mystery is History!!!” is pretty great I have to admit. She tends to try and keep everyone guessing by intentionally acting very scatterbrained the whole time. When she obtains a clue she will disguise this by talking about snacks or acting like she didn’t notice anything. It’s not a bad technique in order to keep everyone guessing and lower their guards so I can respect that. You could also argue she is just doing her best to troll Ernest which seems to be a hobby for her.

The main cast is rather small here beyond the main heroine. It’s a short series with only 10 chapters so that makes sense as you can’t afford to develop a whole lot of characters after all. Ultimately Katrielle is already developed really well as listed above so that sets things off on a good note. She’s just fun all in all and sets the manga off on the right tone. Her partner is Ernest who does his best but can never really keep up. By no means is he a bad character though. If anything you feel bad for him because he has a massive crush on Katrielle but she is unaware of it.

Or is she? We already know that she loves to play dumb and with how obvious Ernest is about it, you have to assume that she knows or at least suspects that something up. Such a great detective not being aware of this would definitely be very suspicious. I’m not saying that it is impossible…but yeah I’m skeptical. Either way Ernest always does his best to help. He may rarely be useful but it’s the thought that counts and Katrielle never makes fun of him for this or anything. They do make for a good team.

They also have a talking dog but only the two of them can understand him. It’s hard to tell from the manga perspective if this is supposed to be a serious mystery or just a bit of a quirk. Either way it’s not like he does much. Honestly the Professor Layton stuff isn’t touched upon much either and is treated more like a twist than anything else. You’ll definitely be left in the dark about quite a few things after finishing the series and since a sequel seems unlikely that’s definitely tough.

You’ve also got Katrielle’s rival but she is out of her depth from the jump. I think that’s always the problem about introducing a rival in a mini series like this. There just isn’t much time to establish the rival as a main threat and so what happens is you end up not being able to take the character seriously. After all, she was crushed in her very first appearance so what am I supposed to do with that? Her tough talk will just ring hollow from that point on and being scared of ghosts doesn’t really help her case either. The police detectives don’t get to do as much as you expect here. I felt like they had more of a presence in the game than in the manga.

With 10 chapters that means we get to go through 10 standard cases. With each case being around 30 pages long or less that does mean there isn’t time to do a whole lot here. You will get the start of the crime, an obvious suspect, and then Katrielle saves the day. There’s nothing wrong with the format of course but they probably could have shaken this up a bit more. The best story I would say is the final one. Perhaps that is an easy answer but having Katrielle be suspected of murder is definitely intriguing. That would get you to read the chapter very eagerly. Then of course you have the initial meeting where the agency was formed and that was a pretty good prequel chapter.

The rest tend to be about even and there are no bad chapters. That’s important to note here, this is a series that is very consistent. It may not be winning any awards but it is a very easy read. The art is super clear and I have no issues there either. It may not be super detailed but you can always tell exactly what is happening which is important. I could see this style being an intentional pick to help with the younger crowd who may have a more difficult time with an intricate style.

Overall, This is a fun series but I don’t feel like the author took advantage of the manga medium. It merely recounts the events of the game without adding anything to it. I’m sure there are probably some constraints in terms of not deviating from the story but you could hopefully still get around that with really dynamic camera angles or something. I don’t know exactly the best way to go about that but something to help it reach the next level. Either way it was good though and in the end that’s an important thing. It’s a safe manga that I could recommend to anyone looking for a good time. There is nothing objectionable to be found here and so in the end it’s a good time.

Overall 6/10

Somebody Up There Likes Me

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It’s time for a film about a guy who got quite a few rough breaks. Some of them were situations that he got himself into and others were really out of his control. Still, none of them knocked him all the way out of the fight so he was able to continue going on. At times the film can get a little annoying with the mistakes he made, but all in all I would say it was a good movie. If you like a good boxing drama then this is definitely one to check out.

The movie starts by introducing us to Rocky. No, not Balboa but the original Rocky Graziano. I wasn’t kidding about the rough start either as he grows up in a broken home with an abusive father, then he gets mixed up into a life of crime. Even the army can’t really convert him as Rocky defies everybody. He just has so much aggression and no real outlet for it. Fortunately that leads him to boxing where he can actually fight and get paid for it. Perhaps now he can lead a stable life but the problem is that crimes of the past always come back to haunt you. Will he be able to have a stable relationship or is he about to lose everything?

That’s the tough part about making mistakes, you don’t know when it will be time to collect. You may figure that everyone has forgotten or something like that but this always comes back to bite you eventually and it will usually be at the absolute worst possible time. Why do you think a lot of famous people have crimes show up when they have reached their peak? If you have dirt on somebody, why bother bringing it up while they are still some random joe? You keep it in the back pocket to be used later on. I’m even talking about legitimate grievances you might have with someone. They tend to just stay on the backburner until they can be used. It’s definitely rough but yeah the best thing to do is not make mistakes.

Of course that’s impossible, everyone makes some mistakes. There are certain mistakes you should never make of course but you’ll make a mistake of some kind. So the best thing to do is just try to live as well as you can. This film’s based on a true story and so I’ll try not to be too harsh on the lead here but he definitely did annoy me quite a few times. I think he could have handled the blackmailing a bit better. When someone has blackmail you just need to beat them to the punch. It won’t be easy since obviously the blackmail is gonna be hurtful but at the same time it’s only going to get stronger and stronger if you just leave it alone.

In the end he chooses an option that avoids making the mistake but doesn’t quite go far enough in my opinion. You need to shut down the villain so he can’t do that to anyone else and for that you have to expose him. Rocky makes a tough decision to basically just not say anything and it’s 100% understandable but I still thought it was rather annoying. He is a well meaning guy though and it’s why it was fun to watch him box. He definitely had a real talent for it.

Rocky could certainly be more awkward in the romance scenes though. That subplot I didn’t think was quite as smooth but I could certainly see it being realistic. When fighting is the only thing you know, it’s not as if love is going to come by very easily. You have to learn how to navigate that space from scratch since the banter and attitudes are a lot different. The main heroine was nice and patient the whole time though so she gets credit there. This is where I’d usually say the romance could have been skipped and wasn’t needed in the film but again since it’s based on a true story it’s not like you could really do much about that. If that’s when it happened then of course you have to keep this in order.

So again I don’t know much about the events but the pacing and writing were really solid to me. I definitely didn’t have any problems there. The characters are all fairly reasonable and even the antagonists are well spoken. I still enjoy the fake politeness and the film really covers a good amount in a fairly short amount of time. I could have easily not even realized that this was based on a true story because of how eventful it was as well. In the end this is the kind of title I could really recommend to anyone as just good natured fun.

Also, while it may have been tough to see Rocky have to deal with enough hardships, they were all fair aside from the blackmail. Obviously you sympathize with the lead character and all but when you do a crime you have to do the time. He may have been a changed man from the opening scenes but ultimately he still has to pay for them. None of the punishments were excessive though and that’s really the way that it ought to be. I thought the army and other such figures were all treated really fairly even if they were the antagonists relative to Rocky at times.

Overall, This is a fun film. They definitely give Rocky a whole lot of issues to get through but he never gives up. Ultimately he continues to push through even if he may need some encouragement from time to time. At its core this is an uplifting film about always continuing to stay strong and move forward. I was also not really familiar with the real life person so all of the film’s events were brand new for me. In some ways I actually think that’s the best way to do an auto biographical film. Do them based on fairly well known people but not ones where everyone already know the story. I’m sure a lot of people knew about Rocky, certainly all boxing fans probably did but I didn’t do that made it extra fun.