Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Review

Posted on January 20, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for another Ghostbusters adventure and this one does its best to give everybody some time to shine. It almost feels like a bit of an ensemble cast with how many people are showing up now. Unfortunately one of my least favorite characters gets most of the screentime and keeps on making mistakes in this one. Ghostbusters making mistakes on the job is nothing new though. This is a fairly enjoyable film but one that is lacking the It factor to get higher.

The film starts off with an ice demon taking a bunch of people down for the count and then vanishing. Something mysterious is amidst. Unfortunately the cycle will continue as the orb that it is sealed in gets bought by one of the original Ghostbusters who has become an antique dealer now. As soon as that orb is opened up it could spell the end of the world. Meanwhile Phoebe is being visited by a mysterious ghost and since she has no true friends, she is a little more susceptible to social engineering. Will the Ghostbusters’ biggest weakness be one of their own?

So on the positives it is impressive how much is being juggled here. You have the original trio of Ghostbusters, the new fighters which comprises the 4 from the last film, a new guy who may be the next Firemaster, and the B team led by the social media guy and the girl who has taken more of a scientist angle. So that’s a ton to squeeze in along with all of the fight scenes and ghosts popping up. As a result the film does feel rather busy and it’s a good thing that it’s as long as it was. That said, the best characters tend to be the older Ghostbusters so you just wish they could take the starring role at this point. Even if it feels like a nostalgia cash grab, they would be way better than the kids.

Phoebe has the biggest role here as she has to deal with the fact that she’s still a minor and as a result cannot be a legal Ghostbuster. The government plays the antagonist role here but it really does make sense. It’s a super dangerous job even for adults and this wouldn’t fly anywhere else. Obviously the mayor does have a grudge so this is super personal but the argument itself is sound. Phoebe is there for the whole scene but still blames the rest of the team for not defending her.

The problem is that Phoebe proves them right time and time again with how immature she is. She has a habit of making a bad situation worse over and over and over again. There’s just no stopping her and that’s a very bad thing. The plot of her meeting the ghost is even worse though because she doesn’t know this ghost and yet they become friends really fast. Phoebe trusts her enough to let her into the base and even though the ghost acts really suspicious by going right to the generator, Phoebe doesn’t think anything of it. In fact, she leaves the ghost unattended for the rest of the night as she goes to sleep. Really bad idea right there.

I get the plot of Phoebe feeling lonely but this is still pretty inexcusable. This is a universe much like Frieren where Ghosts are just evil creatures and have to be stopped with no ifs ands or buts. For the nicer ones they get nicer prisons but you’re not just letting any on the loose. It simply isn’t done and so Phoebe needed to take her down right away. Now could Phoebe have won? Probably not, the Ghostbusters equipment continues to be incredibly unreliable, slow, and weak. It’s impressive that they have even lasted this long to be honest. The ghosts can dodge the laser, fly high enough so it doesn’t work, crash into things to get the humans off their tail, etc. Realistically they’re not catching anything with that laser.

Her brother gets the shaft this time which is probably good. He basically tries unsuccessfully to take down the garbage ghost and pays the price. Instead we have a big role for Nadeem who shows up early on. The guy is good at scamming and doing whatever it takes in order to make a quick buck. He may not be the most heroic guy out there but he knows what it takes to survive. So then we get a big plot about how he actually has super powers and it’s not half bad. The guy has a lot of good humor scenes and to be honest you’re rooting for him over the Ghostbusters. He quickly starts to steal the show in every scene that he is in.

It does lead to some wonky power levels but this is Ghostbusters so that’s par for the course. The main ice villain here is fairly decent as he gets cool dialogue and a solid design. He doesn’t look super impressive combat wise but the verse isn’t the strongest. I would have just liked there to have been more effort to defeat him or more reason on why he didn’t just immediately murder everybody with the spikes. Seriously in the climax the heroes go at him with no real plan and have to be bailed out multiple times. I think the “best” part here was when they all tried shooting him with the lasers that they knew didn’t work and then they looked shocked when…they still don’t work.

Gary and Callie have a subplot where they are trying to establish their relationship with the kids and make it way more convoluted and harder than it has to be. If they’re married then he’s the step dad and if they’re not, then he’s just plain ole Gary. It’s that simple and yet the whole time they keep stammering about this and by the end I’m not even totally sure of their status. It sounds to me like they’re still dating but I’m not sure. Either way the advice Callie has is for Gary to be tougher on the kids instead of just being a friend but I would argue this is terrible advice if they aren’t married yet. He would really not have much say and if they are, then sure that’s fine.

Felt like a bit of a waste as far as subplots go though. Still, Gary and Callie are at least fun and more entertaining than the kids. They are a bit useless in the actual Ghostbusting though so hopefully they amp up their skills. It is a bit sad that the kids really do all of the work. Back in the old days everybody had a super big role. As for the old timers, they had some fun moments and it was nice to see them in the mix. They may not be able to keep up as much as they used to, but they do their best.

So all in all this feels like a Ghostbusters through and through. I sort of mean it as a complement but to be honest it’s a soft one. The movie feels fairly interchangeable with the others and it feels like the series hasn’t been able to reclaim the fun vibes of the first title. There are some pretty good jokes here. The movie does manage to be pretty funny but the action scenes aren’t quite as entertaining and the movie has a very hard time keeping a straight face during the serious scenes. It’s like the movie is being really serious but the characters themselves can’t really acknowledge what is going on.

For that reason it should probably lean a bit harder on the comedy angle and really let the action just fade out. We can still have a fun climax of course but handling the tone just right is difficult and seems to be too much of a challenge for this film. We do get a remix of the classic theme at the end which was good though. I was waiting the whole film for that and I’m glad that it didn’t disappoint. They should really try to surpass it with a new song but I’m not holding my breath.

Overall, by the end of the film you will probably agree with the mayor that the Ghostbusters are a danger to society. They cause crazy amounts of collateral damage even dealing with a throwaway ghost like in the first scene. They didn’t plan out the storage well so a lot of the chaos throughout the film is directly their fault. In fact, I’d go as far as to say the whole film is their fault. It doesn’t seem like anybody else would have been able to unlock the seal on the orb and having all of the ghosts in one place is a massive security risk. They do their best with the ghosts but the mayor needs to just create some ghost guns and give them to the cops. I’m sure they’ll end up doing a better job.

Overall 6/10

Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen Review

Posted on January 18, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for one of the edgiest grim dark manga titles of all time. Each chapter tries to keep on one upping itself for a while there. You already know that things won’t end well based on how the main series plays out but the author wants to really show you that absolutely nothing good would happen to Guren. He ends up going through trauma after trauma for the whole series. Definitely one of those titles that had potential but got way too distracted the whole time.

The story follows Guren who is part of the Ichinose family which is considerably under the Hiragi family. Basically they exist to be convenient tools and slaves to be used as needed. Guren doesn’t like this setup and wants to rebel but unfortunately doesn’t have the power to do so. Any attempt ends up with his friends getting tortured and murdered. So he is eventually tamed but his friend Mahiru goes a different path. After years of being tortured forever and ever, she gains the abilities of demons and vampires and breaks free. She has now set the planet on a course for destruction and Guren might be the only one who can stop her. Does he even want to stop her though?

As always you are not rooting for Guren to save the planet here because there is nothing to save. The series makes it absolutely abundantly clear that humanity is extremely evil to an absurd degree. Slavery is completely legal here and the political power of the top brass is so good that they can execute people in the streets as a whim. Almost every member of the main characters are tortured at some point and this seems like a frequent occurrence. You then have random demons abusing the humans and going all Sword Art Online on them. They commit violence of every kind and so again…why should humanity be saved?

This series is even darker than Attack on Titan which takes a whole lot of skill and effort because that series is near the top. Just thinking about how far this goes will make you crazy. I guess the other aspect of this is about how they show how hopeless the world is. It’s one thing for this to be the case currently but then it’s even worse when you know that things won’t get any better. So there are a few factions here. You have the humans and if they win, then the torture and slavery will continue. They are the status quo after all and will continue with the human experimentations forever. The “Heroes” won’t come to help you because they work for the establishment and have hostages to consider.

Then you have the vampires who intend to keep the humans alive as cattle so they can keep on drinking blood forever. Humanity will survive but it won’t be of much use because your quality of life will be absolutely horrible. It won’t be a life worth living. The angels mostly just watch in amusement but will blow up the world if they feel like it. Mahiru meanwhile is also going to end the world so at least in those situations it will all end right away. Finally the demons just want the humans to give into their base desires and cause chaos so you can imagine what a terrible world that would be. So yeah, we just need the planet to go boom already.

Now I will give the series this, the art is very good. It looks a whole lot like the main series and there is a lot of attention to detail on the fights. The action is always easy to follow so it doesn’t get convoluted or anything like that. The art style also does well in keeping up the atmosphere of dread. The series does actually have a solid atmosphere, it would just have needed a whole lot of restraint for the rest of the content instead of going absolutely looney tunes on the whole thing. That would have really made a world of difference.

When it comes to the characters, I can’t say that I liked most of them. Again, most of them are caught up in the cruelty of the world with no way to fight back. It doesn’t inspire a lot of hope within you to see that they’re all just government stooges the whole time. Take Guren for example. He talks a really good game but he’s always getting absolutely dominated by every other character in the series. He has to let them pound away at him because he’s forbidden from fighting back most of the time.

He’s allowed to murder other henchmen but that’s about it. He even has to work for the guy who brutally murders his father and a bunch of his attendants. Guren is forced to do that guys every bidding and even has to kneel. The amount of disrespect he goes through is really something and after a point it’s better to just make a move and die in the process instead of living with that. So that’s why I didn’t like Guren. At the end of the day he played it way too safe and did not make a big difference in the world.

Sayuri is one of his main attendants and I’ll be less harsh on her and the rest of his followers. All of the social pressures on Guren are magnified even more on someone like her who is considered deposable by everyone. She also doesn’t have the power levels needed to fight back. I appreciate that she can stay optimistic throughout all of this but her character arc is definitely tragic. Shigure and Mito are basically the same in that regard.

Shinya at least gets to troll Guren a lot so I appreciate that. He’s one of those guys who is also serious but really has to mask it or of course he will be punished as well. Definitely not a lot of good options for the guy. He was loyal though and for Guren every ally is important in this impossible fight. Norito doesn’t get as big a role as he seems to be in the main series but he was another great ally.

One of the biggest players here is Kureto. He’s the head of the Hiragi clan and one of the most powerful players among the human race. Even he has his betters and so he also puts up with some disrespect but there aren’t many. He also intend to betray these people eventually. It might make sense for him to treat his subordinates a little better as a result but this guy likes the cruelty as well. Ultimately it’s not like he has ever been anywhere close to Mahiru in power and the guy is jealous but you can’t feel all that bad for him.

A character I feel bad for is Shinoa who basically grew up in hell the whole time. Mahiru shielded her as best she could but this still wasn’t 100%. It’s clear that Shinoa is already broken inside by the time this series starts and considering that she’s just a kid, that’s real tragic. The most sympathetic character here is Mahiru though. All she wanted was to be a normal girl in love and ultimately that wasn’t in the cards. At every turn she is attacked by every faction in the book. It’s no wonder that she would join the dark side here. The only way to end this cycle of violence appears to be to destroy the world.

After all when every faction is evil, how would you go about peacefully solving this? It’s just not going to happen and so manipulating everyone to speed up the end of the world seems like the best bet. It’s also really impressive just how powerful she is. I dare say the romance dynamic with her and Guren is actually really interesting as a result. I do think it’s fairly one sided though as she really liked him while Guren seems to be the type who will just manipulate her when convenient. Not the way you really have a healthy dynamic but anytime Mahiru appeared, things would be interesting.

I can also give the manga some credit there, it is an interesting story. It’s not very often that you have this many factions running around and the series balances them well. Likeability aside, there is at least no dull moments in this series. The characters and story continue to move forward as they are thrown into more and more predicaments. The long climax that leads up to the ending is also really exciting. It’s a good reminder that you can create a lot of tension even when you know exactly how the prequel will end.

Why it had to be so extra dark and gritty is a question that will haunt us all for years to come. Even the main series can get depressing but never to this extent. Throw in all of the other issues like random fanservice and this one really fell into every issue possible. It definitely keeps this from being a fun read. Somewhere buried wayyyy deep into the manga is a wholesome school story that would have been a lot of fun. Just Guren and the gang hanging out like normal friends.

We get small glimpses of this like when Guren and his friends played video games before the big climax. Of course even then I’m not sure that the writing would have been up to the task. With all the talk about desires and such, most conversations tended to go down that dicey direction and it showed just how the author was never able to have normal dialogue. It felt like the series had to constantly go down a suggestive path which wasn’t a good idea in the slightest. I’d usually put in suggestions on how to improve the series but in this case that would pretty much mean a complete change to many parts of the premise, situations, etc. It would be a completely different story by the time I was done with it. Perhaps that would be for the best though.

At least we do get some nice cameos and easter eggs for the main series. Yuichiro and Mikaela get some brief appearances where they already appear jaded with the world. One of the top vampires shows up to remind the heroes just how many orders of magnitudes stronger Vampires are than demons. Just as a gentle reminder that there is really no hope of ever surpassing them. You have to let the humans down gently after all and that’s certainly one way to do it. Not like the series wasn’t already twisting the knife on this…

Overall, This is definitely one of those series that you will want to avoid. Stick to your head canon on what happened prior to the main series. Between what is stated and the context clues, you can more or less understand what happened anyway. I’s pretty neat to see the characters in a normal world going to school and stuff but at the same time it’s not like they are able to do this for very long before everything starts to go sideways. So if you’re reading for that then it won’t matter much anyway.

Overall 1/10

A Whisker Away Review

Posted on January 17, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for a true romance film which I can’t say that I had really heard of before. I can safely say it’s one of the better romance titles that I’ve seen in a while. We finally have a main heroine who is really aggressive and going for what she wants instead of just being evasive the whole time. I love the confidence and that sets the film on a good start right from the jump. The movie’s attempts at being more action packed tend to fail but the film tends to be on point when it comes to the romance.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Miyo who is madly in love with Hinode. She does everything she can to get him to notice her like body slamming him, lunging at him, yelling about how she loves him, etc. He apparently told her off many times and so now he just completely ignores her which makes her sad. Fortunately Miyo grabbed a cat mask from a shady cat dealer and so she uses this to become a cat and become friends with Hinode that way. He loves the cat so that is how Miyo gets his love for now but she hopes to one day win as a human too. In the meantime though, is this deal a little too good to be true.

So like I said the weakest part is the whole cat salesman and the action going on over there. It’s pretty out there and weird which is fun because it’s so jarring from the rest of the story but I feel like it goes on for a tad too long by the end of it. We get a fairly long climax of running after the guy, tackling him, etc. The problem is that he seems to be all powerful with how he can shape shift, fly, etc. So the fact that they can do anything to him doesn’t really make sense. You have to suspend a whole lot of disbelief for all of the scenes involving him.

The cat world is interesting but also a little under developed. I guess everyone who gets turned into cats just sort of give up but you’d expect more general chaos and anarchy. Narratively it is satisfying to see the various characters make their declarations and fight back but the whole thing takes itself a little too seriously. I like the angle of Miyo turning into a cat and even the whole mask system and how cats can turn into humans. I would keep that but I would reduce the focus in the climax on the other world.

Back to the main story though, I really liked Miyo as the lead. I appreciated the fact that she always kept up a positive outlook and did her best to stay strong no matter what was going on. She certainly went through a whole lot of hardships and really had to tough it out on her own. Her parents split up and so she’s been trying to be fair to her new stepmom while also guarding herself from being attached. While she plays off her love to Hinode as a bit of a joke, it’s still really serious for her and every rejection hurts.

Through it all she never really takes it out on the other characters. Her loyalty is also nice like when she jumped off of a building to take care of some bullies. I definitely wouldn’t advise doing that for obvious reasons but she wasn’t about to let them bad mouth Hinode. They were sure talking loud to be heard from the roof though. Eventually Miyo isn’t able to get it together and breaks down by the end but she stayed strong for a real long time. Ultimately she’s one of the better main heroines that I’ve seen in a while and I will always give tremendous respect to any character who is able to properly charge forward and speak out her feelings.

I also really liked the step mom Kaoru who was also doing her best. She was trying not to be pushy but was naturally trying to bond with Miyo at least a little. Kaoru did her best throughout and also didn’t let herself get pushed around. When the old mother came to visit, Kaoru stood her ground and fought back really well. She was one of the better developed characters in the film and was a crucial piece in getting things to end well.

Her cat Kinako also ends up getting a pretty sizable role. At first I thought she seemed rather random the whole time but the pieces came together. She is fairly quick on the uptake all things considered and could bluff her way out of situations really well. I would have liked to have seen more of her initial meetups with the various characters instead of the 3 day time skip but it was a very intriguing part of the movie either way.

Then we have Hinode who is a solid guy but probably one of the weaker characters by default. He basically gets embarrassed by Miyo the whole time so he stays away. The guy likes to be quiet and stay out of the limelight which is impossible in this situation. I just have a hard time sympathizing with him when he doesn’t stand up to the bullies or defend Miyo in any way. When some bullies stole her love letter he should have been a bit more forceful and definitely shouldn’t have taken it out on her. That was easily his worst scene.

In his plot, it also seemed reasonable to close down the ceramics shop even though he liked it. Clearly it was not going over very well and his own skills were not enough to keep it afloat. Feelings and platitudes are all well and good but in the end they just weren’t enough. If he really wanted to keep things in place then he needed to work on his skills more. That would really have been the only way for him to have made a difference here. Instead he just got nervous too often and that came back to bite him.

Part of why I could get behind the romance more this time is because there were no rebounds or anything of the sort. Miyo liked Hinode from the start and while he was mainly avoiding her, it’s not like he had anyone else that he liked. It took a very long time so this wasn’t a sudden development either and so this felt like a well crafted romance. We got to really learn about both characters and their trials. I would argue that Miyo faced much harsher and greater challenges the whole time but they both did have their tough times.

Miyo also had a great friend who was really with her through all of the tough times. The friend was definitely not on board with the romance but it makes sense since she was trying to protect Miyo from what she saw as future heartbreak. She really wanted to avoid that at all costs which makes sense. In a way that’s what makes her such a good friend, it’s only natural that you would end up getting upset at the guy who keeps rejecting Miyo.

Meanwhile the animation is pretty solid and smooth. It’s not always the most colorful but it definitely doesn’t hold the film back. I like how fast paced it can all get. Then the soundtrack is solid like you would expect. We get a pair of emotional songs and the overall soundtrack matches the film’s cheerful energy. The movie was definitely on point with all of these technical aspects and the writing so I have no real issues here.

Overall, A Whisker Away is a pretty good film. It’s rare that I say this but it could probably have focused on the romance more and the supernatural less and it could have been even better. That said, it’s a film I would highly recommend you check out because it’s just so much different from your average romance experience. The guy isn’t chasing after the girl and things get all complicated. This time the heroine takes matters into her own hands and it’s just a lot of fun.

Overall 7/10

Drifting Home Review

Posted on January 13, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for an anime film with a lot of drama and big events going on. The kids really had to go through a lot here but at the end of the day they pull through and show what real determination can do. It’s a solid film but this is one of the rare times I’ll say that the film went on too long. They start to retread some of the same story beats multiple times and I even think the whole plot of bringing in the veggie people muddied the overall message. Personally the story could have shaved about 30 minutes off and flowed better.

The story starts by introducing us to Kosuke who has a long history with a girl named Natsumi. She had to live at his place for a while when they were kids but then Kosuke’s grandfather died and the two grew really distant. At school they can barely even talk to each other and Natsumi heads to the abandoned projects to be by herself. Those are the old buildings where they used to live and Kosuke’s friends figure it’ll be fun to treat them as haunted houses and go exploring. Kosuke isn’t thrilled about this but he accompanies them and that causes Reina and her friend to give chase. Suddenly the whole building is seemingly carried away and when the kids get up they realize they are all alone at sea. Their home is just drifting along like a boat and there is nothing in sight across all directions. Are they doomed to die out at sea?

Being stuck out at sea while only being a kid is definitely a rough situation and even more so when the characters don’t get along. The premise works really well with the mystery as you wonder how the characters even got to this point. Was it magic that whisked the characters away or is it all a dream like Natsume says? The hunger and fatigue the characters feel certainly seems to be real but perhaps it is all in their heads. For now they have to treat this as real and try to survive.

This is really the main backdrop for Kosuke and Natsumi trying to be friends again. Throughout the movie we slowly start to see more of the flashback of the final incident that caused them to drift apart. It takes a long while to actually see the scene but you do understand where it’s going fairly early on. A lot of the time it does tend to be Kosuke’s fault as he does tend to say things that he doesn’t mean and gets upset quickly. It felt like he went through many attempts of burning the bridge and often it came at little to no provocation.

He isn’t very good at the whole being a good friend thing. Kosuke is good at taking charge and doing what has to be done though. Jumping onto another building to find snacks was a good idea and he does his best with assuming command. Kosuke isn’t very mature most of the time but neither are most of the others since they’re just kids. There will be a lot of moments that make you cringe for sure but without Kosuke the others would have definitely been doomed.

The kid who is the most mature here is definitely Natsumi. While she makes a critical error near the end, for the most part she is the only one really keeping everyone together. She tries to keep the various personalities from destroying each other and absorbs most of the insults. I would have liked her to have fought back a little more though. She’s always being really mature and just internalizing everything but it also means that the other characters tend to consider it open season on her. Particularly Reina who was always picking fights.

Natsumi was definitely going through a whole lot here. Reina is probably the most petty member of the kids though. She is constantly picking fights in part because she is jealous of Natsumi and wants Kosuke all to herself. Reina is all too eager to blame everything on Natsumi for this reason and holds a grudge for a long time. She is fun for the film because that makes the dynamics more interesting but you would absolutely not want her to be on the ship with you.

Juri is her shy friend who is always around. She’s very timid at first but gradually taps into her inner confidence and does better. It was nice to see her taking charge and not just fading away into the background. I don’t think she got enough time to really be too much of a focus for the most part but either way I would say she was a good character. Taishi tended to get himself into trouble but he’s a friendly guy and someone who gets along well with everybody. He may not take things seriously most of the time but that does help to keep morale up.

Finally there is Yusuru who probably gets the biggest shaft out of all the characters. He doesn’t get to have a proper character arc or anything like that. He’s dependable and always around but that’s about it for him. Feels like the film needed an extra person for some of the stunts and that’s why he is around but otherwise the story didn’t have a role set up for him. That’s a shame but at least he wasn’t bad.

There is the mysterious Noppo kid who is constantly hanging around. He’s quiet and doesn’t do or say much until we get deeper into the film and then his role gets bigger. I wasn’t a big fan of his character, he tends to hold them all back a bit and is way too cryptic about everything. He definitely could have told the heroes more and that would have made the situation a lot easier on the rest of them. There wasn’t a good reason for him to hold back.

He’s also responsible for the main subplot that didn’t really add much to the experience. I still say we don’t need the whole veggie thing but I can’t say much more without spoilers. Lets just say the film introduces a whole concept of a bunch of people and this helps in part to explain the mystery of what happened but not in a super satisfying way. This is one of those films where the mystery itself is a lot more compelling than the resolution. It would have made a lot of sense to have had Natsumi be the conduit for taking everyone into the ocean world because she was unable to move on. This would directly be Kosuke’s fault in a lot of ways and that leads into their character arcs.

All these other characters just negate that to a large extent. The film also has a half dozen climaxes where it looks like things are going to end and then it keeps going. I always say that good films should be longer and bad films should be shorter but while this is a good film, it just started to feel its length. Ideally you don’t want a film to feel like it’s super long because by that point it means that some point of the immersion is gone.

Even the drama was a bit repetitive as it felt like Kosuke and Natsumi would make up, only to fall apart again, and then to repeat those steps over and over again. Even the flashbacks started to loop again. It’s a really good story beat of two old friends reuniting but the movie just didn’t seem to know how to stretch the plot on for too long. They didn’t have enough material for it or something like that.

The music was pretty solid here. I liked a few of the tunes and the animation isn’t bad. It’s nothing super high end or anything but it works well enough for the film. The technical aspects didn’t hold the film back or anything like that. The writing was good as well and the movie did a good job of having the kids find creative ways to survive. Perhaps some scenes may feel like a stretch for the kids but as long as it means they’re doing something I can be on board with that. The less time they spent panicking, the more time they had to be productive.

Overall, This was a good movie. I’d say that the length hurts the replay value and at the end of the day a bunch of kids will never be the most compelling set of characters. That said, the messages are good and the ending is solid. I always like when a film takes a stance on something instead of trying to have it both ways and so the final line was a great idea. Between that and the photos, the movie wasn’t copping out or anything like that. I’d say to check this movie out. It might even give you a bit of nostalgia for when you would hang out as a kid.

Overall 6/10

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review

Posted on January 13, 2025 by dreager1

I was never the biggest fan of Beetlejuice admittedly. It relies a bit too much on shocking humor and gross visuals. That said, it definitely beats the sequel which tried going a little too far into this direction. It had some good humor but for every fun joke, there was another cringe one thrown in. Definitely not the kind of movie that typically uses a whole lot of restraint. They even managed to squeeze in animal violence which I was completely not expecting.

The movie starts off with Lydia hosting her big spooky show where she helps people who need to see ghosts. Her daughter Astrid thinks it’s all fake and wants no part of this so the two have really fallen apart. They are forced back together though when Delia’s husband dies tragically out at sea and she wants everyone at the funeral. Lydia’s manager Rory figures this is his chance to marry her and Lydia has almost no free will of her own so she basically just says yeah. In the supernatural world Betelgeuse is making his move though as he is being chased by his ex-wife Delores and so now’s a good time to marry Lydia again.

He has spent years trying to get her attention and slowly she is starting to see visions of him in the real world. The boundary between life and death has never been weaker. Meanwhile Astrid meets an emotionless hack named Jeremy who is really eager to have a relationship and Astrid is lonely herself so she figures she may as well but she will have to try and keep her composure. Mustn’t show too much emotion herself. There’s definitely a lot going on here.

So right away one of the big issues here is how ugly everyone is in the spirit world. I know that’s part of the point with how you move to the next stage of existence with whatever injuries you died with but even so, this just felt like a bit much. You have people with live fish still eating them, a skeleton that’s constantly gushing out blood and a janitor that is pretty much mid vomit. You’re constantly waiting for the real world to return because every scene in the spirit world is just plain gross. It may be the film’s main gimmick but it definitely could have held back a decent amount here. You basically want to look away whenever they are in this world.

Then for no reason two chickens get eaten and there is quite a lot of violence everywhere. Putting in animals in any context had no purpose being here to be honest. It just doesn’t make any kind of sense so that was annoying. In the real world the characters may have always made the wrong decisions and so they weren’t easy to root for but at least nothing too crazy was happening on screen. Although lets dive into the characters now because they didn’t help the film much either.

First up is Delia who feels like a waste of a character. She’s just way too over the top the whole time with how far into the supernatural bubble she’s fallen into. Her scenes were rarely funny because of how exaggerated they were. then you have Jeremy who is annoying from the jump. It’s obvious that he is trying too hard to be the perfect match for Astrid and the fact that she is buying this at all is what will also have you shaking your head. Astrid is supposed to be the smart one except for when she’s not.

Although while Astrid makes her share of mistakes she could be worse. Lydia is 100X worse and her character has been thoroughly assassinated since the first film. She is so crushed by life that she is willing to let herself get married to Rory just because he asked her. She doesn’t actually love him but is going to go through with it anyway? That’s just terrible and no reasonable main character would ever do that. It’s a massive L against her character and throughout the movie she is being manipulated so easily. It’s easy to see why the family fell apart.

The film doesn’t give us much reason to even feel bad for her either. Since it’s part comedy, it’s not like Rory is even being subtle here. Lydia didn’t trust her feelings and that’s always going to lead you to disaster. As for Rory, well he’s your average villain. He does his job pretty well and considering that his plan would have succeeded if not for Betelgeuse I can’t even say it was a bad plan. It felt like a bad plan but it was working.

As for Betelgeuse, well he’s about as crazy as ever. He fears nothing and treats every part of life like it’s a joke. I suppose to him it is all just a big grand joke though so that makes sense. With his reality warping abilities he can defeat anyone as needed and only loses when he feels like it. It does make the film feel a bit aimless though since everyone is at the mercy of his whims. This even undercuts the main villain of the film.

Delores is the main villain here and she has the ability to suck the life out of someone. Honestly I think that plot point is the only reason why she was even added in the first place. At no point is she even a threat to Betelgeuse and the way she goes out is very lackluster. The film seemed to want to include some tension but couldn’t figure out a way to weaken Betelgeuse and so they just gave up halfway.

There is a lot going on throughout the movie and that’s a good thing I suppose but just about none of the plots have a satisfying conclusion. Everything is just jumbled together and none of the characters are interesting enough to hold their own. The only really fun character was the actor because I like over the top villains like him. That said, it’s not like the guy even did much. Then as far as the comedy is concerned, one of the only really good gags was when Betelgeuse took on Jeremy near the end. Beyond that, there were way more misses than hits this time around.

Overall, Beetlejuice couldn’t really manage to have a solid second film. This film comes across more distasteful than the first one and the film didn’t have enough of a focus. You don’t really get the whole plot of Betelgeuse wanting to marry Lydia because if he was serious about it then they would be married already. The fact that he even caused her to have a kid as a gag is crazy. I know you can just say it’s a comedy over and over again but there still needs to be some kind of a real plot to hold it together. I don’t see how the series can continue without Betelgeuse facing off against an actual threat. Or maybe just write him out, he was gone for large portions of this film anyway. Although…the film wasn’t much better for it so maybe I shouldn’t hold out much hope here.

Overall 3/10

A Christmas Carol (1984) Review

Posted on December 29, 2024 by dreager1

The Christmas Carol is one of those classic stories that has been told many times over the years. It’s a story that will continue to be retold for generations because the whole thing is easy to understand and has a good moral at the end. You can’t ask for much more than that right? This one is a pretty solid adaption, I won’t say it’s the best or anything like that but I didn’t have any issues with it.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Scrooge who runs a really tight ship. He has earned a lot of money over the years and has decided that he won’t see any of it be squandered! No, he will work in a cold office if needed but the money will remain his. Everyone around him tells Scrooge to lighten up but he refuses. He heads home one night only to be visited by the ghost of his old partner. This ghost named Marley is trapped in chains and laments how his fate is already doomed but perhaps Scrooge can still be saved. He threatens Scrooge with visits from 3 supernatural creatures and then fades away. Scrooge aims to stay strong but these ghosts will use every trick in the book in order to get at him. Can Scrooge properly resist such an onslaught??

Now this version of Marley was a bit confusing. In the film they act as though he was a fairly nice guy and even in his speech it sounds as though he did use his money to help people out. So why is he trapped in chains and about to be doomed for all eternity? That part just didn’t seem particularly clear here. In a way they should have mentioned more about him being just as bad as Scrooge and not paying heed to the lessons which is why he’s in chains now.

Well after that the ball is in Scrooge’s court. Of course we all know the story by this point so the fun is in seeing how strong this Scrooge can be. Some of them break down almost immediately and side with the light while others make it to the end. I would say this was one of the tougher Scrooges. He made it midway through the second ghost before really breaking down. This version of the second ghost was also one of the most aggressive ones as he actively threatened Scrooge so you have to keep that in mind as well. Often times the ghosts try to be a little more subtle than that.

Scrooge was basically someone who took things a little too far. Nothing wrong with deciding to live a quiet life of not spending any money if that’s what you want to do. It really just starts to get dicey with how he treats his partner. The reason why Scrooge is a character that still works though is because he’s not too exaggerated. You could argue that the way he treats his partner is the only thing that is objectively bad. He does other things that may not be socially popular but he’s not breaking any rules or actively murdering people. And as he points out during the movie, he was ultimately able to achieve these riches in part due to his lifestyle.

He sacrificed a lot to get to the top such as his relationships and family. He basically became a loner and at the end of the day he doesn’t really have anything important in his life other than money. He’ll end up having a lonely existence and that’ll be that. It is still a little surprising to see how Scrooge is surprised by this outcome though. Surely that was just part of the choices he made right? I’d have expected him to realize that he would be all alone in death since he actively did his best to make sure he had no friends in life.

Meanwhile the families may have all been upset at Scrooge even to the end but it makes sense. From their point of view this change of heart is incredibly sudden. His nephew was really glad at Scrooge’s presence the whole time since he had always held out hope for this but the others will take some time. Ultimately Scrooge is in a good place in the present and now it’ll just be a question of where he draws the line. He has a fortune large enough to completely change many lives but of course he won’t be able to do that for everyone. Then he would run out of money and things would get dicey. For now we can at least be reassured of the fact that he will have a support network and friends to talk to.

As for the ghosts, they were all fun enough. Like I said the second ghost was a lot tougher this time around. He seemed to be the most sinister out of the 3 because he tries to have a nice facade the whole time until it breaks. That makes him incredibly suspicious. Then you’ve got the first ghost who could be a bit sarcastic at times but was trying to get through to Scrooge. Finally the third one is just hear to put some fear into him as normal. This may be a ghost of few words but he gets the job done. Considering how many people in the town are now saved, maybe Marley did deserve to break the chain and get a happy ending too.

Overall, A Christmas Carol is one of those films where you know all of the story beats so the critical factor is really in how well they are executed. I would say the film was handled pretty well overall. I didn’t really have any issues with it here. The whole story plays out well and it’s a classic uplifting kind of tale. I think the next really influential adaption will be another one to have a little fun with the format like Scrooged though. You gotta throw a wild card in there and yes it will be risky but sometimes you really have to take a risk in order to pull something like this off. Without that, the film is limited a bit by just how predictable it is. Still, check this one out and see where you stack it up among all the versions.

Overall 6/10

Bug Ego

Posted on December 8, 2024 by dreager1

This is definitely a very weird manga so far. For now I can’t really say if that’s in a good or a bad way though. Each chapter is certainly a trick but I can already see the series leaning too hard on the same jokes so we’ll have to see if ONE can step it up. I’ll have a review when the series is over.

Overall 5/10

Jujutsu Kaisen Review

Posted on December 7, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to talk about one of the biggest manga endings of the year. Jujutsu Kaisen was a really big Jump title with a lot of action and a whole lot going for it. Its popularity was pretty high and it got a big budget movie and anime to itself. I definitely had a great time with it and I think it’ll be remembered fondly. I may not have been crazy about the ending but at the end of the day the ending is a small part of the experience. This is a series that was with us for a long while and had time to bring in a whole lot of fun plots and battles. You don’t just forget about all of that.

The manga follows a kid named Yuji who is pretty much on his own once his grandfather died. Yuji has always been physically gifted to the point of being a metahuman but is otherwise normal. Well one day some monsters show up and Yuji ends up swallowing a demon finger which seals the demon Sukuna within him. Yuji is now being carefully watched by a group of sorcerers in the Jujutsu world who think that he could end up being a massive threat. Some want to murder Yuji while others want to use him as a valuable asset. Yuji figures he will make the best of things for as long as he can and decides to help fight the evil spirits.

First up we have the pre arc which introduces us to some of the other sorcerers like Megumi, Nobara, and Gojo. The series sets the tone early on by introducing us to another friend who seemed like he was going to be a main character only to get bumped off early. Jujutsu Kaisen is a series where generally speaking nobody is safe. The series starts to walk this back a little towards the end but I would say that the theme i still accurate. In this world you are constantly risking your life and the line towards death is a very narrow one. It’s why several characters talk about the subject, how they would like to go and how they wouldn’t.

Kaisen’s main cast is also a lot of fun so it’s easy to see why fans are saddened that we don’t get to see the dynamic for very long. The big 3 hanging out with Gojo only happens a few times as they are almost always split apart. It’s rough but that’s just how it goes. Fortunately we have a lot of good side characters as well and if you’re really into action then you’re all set because a lot of the series is basically nonstop action. It does get rather text heavy with the abilities though so you better be sure that you can keep up.

I’d say in some ways the first big arc is the tournament against the upper classmen which transitions immediately into one of the more powerful demons challenging them. It’s always cool to see more characters show up and the tournament being a wide range survival type means that we got to see a whole lot of them at once. Todo leaves a fast impression and while some of the characters on the other team ended up being fodders, I was glad to have more opponents. You want to introduce as many characters as you can early on in order to really flesh out the world and I’d say the series did a good job with that. There is a whole lot of lore going on here.

This is even a series that doesn’t always explain everything. There are quite a bit of details that are kept in the background like Kenjaku’s plan where a bunch of people still don’t keep that part straight. Other parts simply aren’t finalized and you jut have to choose your own ending for it. I’ll go more into the ending in general but generally I don’t mind not having every question answered. Leaves more room for you to imagine what probably happened off screen.

After that we have Mahito running around, some more demon attacks and Megumi getting some rare moments to shine and then we jump into the prequel arc about Gojo’s past. This is a pretty massive arc because Gojo has been such a mysterious character so it was nice to learn more about him. It’s fun to see how cocky that guy is. He really hasn’t changed over the years at least on a surface level but by the end you can see how he did crack a little. It feels like he was more genuine before the time skip and now it’s more like a facade. He is a complex character though which leaves room for a whole lot of interpretations which I really enjoy.

Then we get to the famous arc which is Shibuya. This was a terrific arc in the manga and I dare say the anime even elevated it further. Shibuya is an arc that brings all of the characters together and in that way it feels like it is hard to top. (Although impressively enough, I would say that the climax managed to top it) There is a lot of nonstop action here and it’s cool to see all of the big shots going up against each other. It’s the kind of arc that only works because this has been a fairly long series so there was time to introduce all of these characters. It would not have nearly the same impact if we hadn’t known the characters beforehand.

It’s the reward you get for reading along for so long. It’s always risky waiting or a bunch of characters to face off in the end game because you need to keep people sticking around until then and Kaisen pulled it off. Also it is so rare for any series to be taking place in a big city environment so that made me appreciate this even more. Like in Yuji vs Choso we had them using the building in the fight and all of the other battles did something similar like Gojo in the train station. Lets get more manga with the city vibes like this!

Finally we get to the final arc which is the Culling Games. It’s definitely a lot more mixed than Shibuya but the highs are the peak of the series. We get what I would call the really old school type finale of everyone going off to fight Sukuna one at a time. It’s a super hype way to end the series. I may have some issues which I’ll get into later on but this was climactic. Then of course before all of that you had a whole lot of battles. This is basically a giant tournament after all and it’s one that has a ton of convoluted reasons to keep track of.

We even have the government getting involved later on which was definitely interesting. That storyline pretty much just gets dropped but we can assume that they will return and cause more and more trouble until they are either destroyed or the sorcerers are on the back foot. It’s not an ongoing fight that you can really have until one side is wiped out because neither one will budge.

A big positive I have to give the series right away here is that there is a very minimal amount of fanservice. For the most part it just isn’t a factor and that’s great. In general I would say modern manga are a whole lot better with that than they used to be. The story gets to take center stage this way and it is also a good sign that the manga takes itself very seriously. I will always be here to praise that when it happens.

Meanwhile the art is also pretty good. It sometimes has a bit of a rough look but that works with the general vibe that the series is going for. The fights are always clear which is the important part and you really feel the hype. Mix that in with the solid writing and you can see why the series got so big. I’ll say right now that I did really enjoy all of the big exposition and text bubbles here. I tend to enjoy theory crafting and ability explanations so it was all handled well. There are some exceptions from movies and anime but yeah this kind of dialogue I can read all day.

The nonstop nature of the series does mean that there is rarely any downtime. I know a lot of the characters don’t get to talk or hang out too much which can be rough but I can’t say that I minded it. I’m generally more of an action guy myself after all so if this is what had to happen for the battles then I’m all for it. The characters show a lot of stamina considering how long they had to be fighting for.

Now I did have issues with the ending which is a separate matter. Skip these next two paragraphs if you haven’t read the series yet. Begin Spoilers There’s no way Gojo would lose to Sukuna! I still think that whole fight was busted. Yes, Sukuna had a lot of fancy powers and was a serious threat but Gojo was too broken by this point in the fight. The idea of a single slash blindsiding him still has to be one of the worst twists to a fight. It had to be off screen because the author knew nobody would buy that. It just goes against everything we had seen before that point. Yeah I still shake my head just thinking about that. It was not a good idea by any means.

The whole time I was waiting for some kind of a twist but it never happened. In the end Kenjaku’s plan was also rather weak and I don’t totally wrap my head around why he had to wait and become Yuji’s mother to pull it off. I think part of this was waiting on Tengen but it feels like his plan would have been a lot smoother if he just kidnapped Yuji after birth or hid him away. A lot of characters somehow avoiding death in the end was a bit cheesy but I’m definitely more okay with that since I like a happy ending. It just felt like parts of the ending were rather rushed or the author wrote himself into a corner and wasn’t sure how to end it. Most of this could have been ended with a Gojo victory but that’s how it goes I suppose. End Spoilers

Okay so that’s a pretty deep dive into the series itself, now lets talk about the characters. There is a fairly large cast here so buckle yourself in because this is about to get real! I won’t go into literally everybody, you can read the series for that but I’ll at least get into the big figures here and anybody who seems worthy of a writeup. Naturally we will start with the main character himself, Yuji Itadori.

Yuji is one of those main characters who may get overshadowed at times because his abilities are a whole lot simpler than most. Basically he can hit opponents really hard. At least for 99% of the series that is his power. His punches can even rock an opponent’s soul which is really impressive but compare that to characters who need 3 pages worth of text to explain their abilities and you can feel the difference. Of course I like physical abilities so that is A ok with me. He has super durability as well which helps him compensate there.

As a character he is definitely really solid. A good hero who wants to do the right thing and is also able to just unleash on a villain once he’s had enough. He is absolutely willing to down someone like Mahito who is basically unable to turn good. He maybe gets a little overly sentimental at the very end but hey it’s hard to be too down about a character for wanting to spare the enemy. At the end of the day he is a good guy after all.

Then we have the rival Megumi and he is definitely more of a mixed bag. Part of the problem I’d say is that he doesn’t get much screentime and doesn’t feel super impressive. I’d say his summons are a pretty solid matchup for Yuji so in a fight he could stand a chance at least until Shibuya but after that he is probably getting wrecked pretty fast. It would have been good if Megumi could have gotten more scenes at the end to really show his stuff or something like that but in the end that just wasn’t in the cards.

After that we have Nobara to round out the trio. She is a fun character who also suffers from a lack of screentime. Her ability to land a hit on an opponent from any distance as long as she has their DNA is super handy. You could even say that it is a rather broken ability and perhaps that is why she had to be written out. She has a lot of good general confidence as well. So Nobara is definitely fun and helps make the cast more enjoyable. Physically her stats are basically human so she is best used as a support fighter once the others have gotten the villain into a vulnerable state. Then she can spam her abilities from afar to throw him off.

Gojo comes next and that guy is a total MVP of the series. It’s easy to see why he is such a fan favorite because the guy is awesome. His Infinity power is really handy and the guy is basically the embodiment of confidence. How can you not love a character like that right? The author was also very smart in waiting until the very end to have his big fight with Sukuna. As a result it was one of the most anticipated fights in all of manga with a ton of build up. I would argue it’s a fight that can be mentioned in the same breath as Goku vs Frieza, Naruto vs Sasuke, and Luffy vs Kaido as fights that were hyped up for ages and really delivered. it was incredibly climactic and no matter what flaws I had with the aftermath, he actual battle was absolutely top tier.

Seeing this in real time was really incredible. I also really appreciated Gojo’s origin story as a nice window into how he became the man that he is today. I’d ignore every part of the airplane scene since that seemed wildly out of character. Other than that he was shown to be a really caring guy, a good mentor, and someone who you could trust to have your back. Any scene with him in it really flipped the script on the villains. Additionally, I also liked how ruthless he could be with the villains. When it comes to cursed spirits he would just end them and also put the corrupt council on notice that they would be ended as well.

It’s pretty well explained that the society is super corrupt in a lot of ways and so you are glad that Gojo doesn’t just let them do whatever they want. Just the knowledge that he could try to take them down is enough of a deterrent. Unfortunately even then he can’t protect everybody. Another big character in the series is Yaga who generally seems like a nice guy. Unfortunately things don’t go so well with him and he’s a perfect example of one of those characters who has an abrupt end to his character arc that was unexpected. I can’t say that I ever became a big fan of his but he wasn’t bad. Another character to help flesh things out.

Kusakabe is someone who got likable a lot quicker. It’s easy to empathize with him since he’s a fairly ordinary guy trying to stay alive while all of these powerhouses are duking it out. It’s definitely not an enviable position to be in and yet the guy constantly finds himself in a really rough place. He ends up squaring up against the strongest villain in the series more than once. He may not be someone you can count on to win but at least he’ll buy time.

Shoko is more of a meme than anything as she almost never gets to really do anything in the series. She has a lot of potential and her healing is supposed to be top rate but yeah don’t expect her to be appearing too often. I like the concept of her character though. She’s certainly better than the shifty Mei Mei who shows up for profits and then dips as soon as possible. She’s definitely not the most heroic character by a long shot and tends to be more on the annoying side. Her scenes with Ui Ui are particularly brutal. Ui Ui may help out at times but yeah I could do without him.

Two sorcerers who are even pointless though are the sumo wrestler guy and then later on the Kappa. They basically appear for a quick training scene to power someone up but that’s it. You can safely ignore them but I don’t regret their appearing. After all, with the Culling Games we needed a lot of different sorcerers for all of the matchups. So these guys helped to fill in a few of the slots even if there wasn’t a whole lot else going for them.

A sorcerer who appeared later on that actually did leave a good impression was Takaba. This guy loves joking around and has a casual reality warping ability where anything that he finds to be funny can come true. There are likely some limits to this ability even though we don’t actually get to see those. It was a very interesting twist to the final arc as things would just get a lot happier and more comedic when he was around. It also works out pretty well that he showed up near the end since it’s definitely possible that he could have gotten annoying if he was around for too long.

Now Higurama is a real highlight. As soon as he showed up he left a really great impression. I already love court room plots, characters, and scenes. So throwing in a character like that was a really great idea. He actually did make a real difference in the series as well. He’s fairly jaded by the start of his appearances and then warms up near the end. There’s just a whole lot to his character and I’d have liked to have seen more of his abilities. There really just wasn’t time for him to get any more action scenes once we were that deep into the series.

Mai is one of those characters who ended up having a smaller role than I was expecting. She still played a pivotal role in the end but ultimately would not become one of the strongest fighters. I blame her weapon, you’re never going to go all that far with a normal gun. It’s just not a weapon that is meant to take on powerful opponents in any verse. There are very few exceptions and she starts out as a bully anyway so it’s not like she had much time to be a hero.

The rest of her team generally falls into that role. Look at poor Miwa. She basically became a meme and nothing ever went right for her. The manga teases something that will happen near the end and it’s extremely underwhelming. Ultimately you may enjoy her as a character because she is a lot of fun but at the end of the day that’s about all that she has going for her. It would have been nice if she could have gotten one big moment to end things off with.

Todo gets a huge role though and stands out from the others. For starters his clapping teleportation is incredibly useful and even at the end of the series it is generally considered to be one of the best abilities in the verse. The amount of uses that it has is absolutely incredible and beyond that he is just a fun guy to have around. He had a good personality the whole time and always enjoyed a good fight. Those tend to be big green flags for me. Todo also got to be involved in just about all of the big fights which was fortunate.

Meanwhile Maki is another big character and she certainly got a lot of development throughout the series. She started out as a fairly tough fighter but not one of the top tiers. Well, by the end she can hold her head high as one of the big ones. Her physical abilities are great and she’s very no nonsense. It would have been nice to have seen a bit more of her personality post time skip but at the end of the day she still got her share of action. It was always fun to watch her fight.

I do have to put one knock against her though which is when she erased the Zenin clan. Yes the clan was evil but it’s made clear that she completely wiped them out with no exceptions. We see her execute even people who could not fight back and that’s when you start to go from vigilante into full blown villain territory. Kaisen has always been a series where the heroes don’t even try to cling onto a moral high ground so there isn’t much of an uproar about this but I still thought that it was going a little bit too far. It just didn’t leave a good taste to be having a “hero” do all of that. There had to be another way to pull this off.

There are comparisons made to Gojo threatening to murder all of the elders and ultimately another character doing this but the main difference is that all of the elders were involved with what was going on and you can’t say the same for everyone in the Zenin clan. Speaking of Yuta, he certainly gets a pretty big role in the series. He originally started out as a protagonist in Kaisen 0 after all and it was a lot of fun to see him show up here. It was definitely an awesome intro and from there he never looked back.

Yuta is one of the biggest powerhouses of the series after all and by having his own volume first, it really felt like he was a crossover character stepping foot into the main series. You appreciated all of his scenes all the more as a result and the fact that he got to face off with Geto’s body once more. Not Geto himself but the effect was still there.

Panda is given a good amount of hype in his own right but I wasn’t the biggest fan of his. In part it’s because I didn’t find him to be all that impressive in a fight and also because his personality just isn’t as bombastic. It’s one of those cases where there is nothing super wrong with him, he’s just not my kind of character. Hey that has to happen sometimes. Then we have Toge whose ability to make you do whatever he says is extremely handy. As a result he is kept away from the action for pretty much the whole series. It would have been nice for him to have gotten more to do. As it stands I would say he is a good character but there really isn’t much to say about him.

Junpei is one of those characters who was set up for a whole lot of action but ultimately didn’t last too long. That said, I didn’t like him as much as most people did. I appreciated the unexpectedness of his ending but at the same time as a character he was tricked way too easily. It made him look like a grade A sucker. Unfortunately he likely would have been bumped off either way but he didn’t need to make it so easy. That’s something that will always be a huge slight against him.

Then we have Hakari who really debuts late in the series. He got mentioned fairly early on too, but that’s just how it goes. Well he’s a fun character and I like how his ability forces you to play games with him. The visual novel for example was crazy and also just so unique. The author was maybe having a bit more fun than he needed to in terms of all the dialogue and everything but it really did force you to understand what his opponents were going through. Imagine having to remember everything about how to counter the ability when you are in a life or death fight.

Momo is one of those characters who doesn’t get anything to do and it’s easy to see why. She can ride a broom and that’s about it. She was so underwhelming from the start and never really got better. Then you have Kamo and the series sort of started to give him some importance but quickly took it away again. He had potential but just needed to do more to really join the big shots. Even when he got a team up with Maki it just felt like he was holding her back. Muta is the final member of the team who could actually fight and even then he made the worst moves possible.

I have a lot of points against him for betraying the team. His end was just so obvious the whole time and he puts everyone into a lot of trouble. There was no real going back for him from that point so I didn’t like him nearly as much as others. Yuki is a character who had very limited screentime but managed to make it count. I liked her mass ability. It was one of those abilities that is fairly simple but Gege managed to make it a little more intricate. He is certainly good at doing that. Would have been nice if she could have had one more fight though. I say that a lot with these characters and it shows just what a big verse Gege created in such a short amount of time.

Then we have Nanami who was a good intro instructor to Yuji. You don’t figure that he would last too long but he managed to make an impact. He’s one of those general all around types. Nothing too fancy in terms of ability or skill but still above average and enough to hold his own with most of the villains in the series. I was satisfied with the amount of fights and action that he got.

Finally you’ve got Tengen who is just annoying the whole time. He’s a perfect embodiment of all the corruption in the Jujutsu world. He continues to exist on the blood of innocents by sacrificing people which is messed up. When it comes time for a fight, he is powerless against the villains who matter. This guy tends to be a waste of space and you feel no real sympathy for him at all. Not much changes if you remove him from the series to be honest.

On the villains side we have Naoya who actually ends up being a really fun character. He’s the kind of guy who is very stubborn and determined. He keeps on returning over and over to take down the heroes and it is a good trait to have. The guy is a straight up villain and there is nothing ambiguous about him at all. He really works in the role though and was one of the more entertaining villains. That is really tough considering just how many colorful villains there are out there. I wouldn’t have minded if he got to appear even more to be honest.

Then we have Toji who is the best villain in the series. He is basically a human who stays fit and has a heavenly restriction that makes him extremely powerful. It’s a classic case of David and Goliath when he fights Gojo and that is part of the appeal since typically you would expect the hero to be the underdog. It’s why you have an easy time enjoying Toji here because he is using the tactics and planning you would typically expect out of Batman and he really dominates whenever he is on screen. Now here’s a character that I would have absolutely loved to have seen more of in the series. There is just so much to do with him but alas there is only so much time.

He certainly gets more screentime than Haruta which is a good thing. That guy is basically well known for being super weak and petty the whole time. What a thing to be known for right? I don’t even like the guy ironically, he’s just annoying the whole time. He’s also not very powerful and so he always has to rely on getting lucky with the matchups. But hey that’s his power so in a way it is fitting.

Uraume is much more interesting but she doesn’t actually get to appear very much. She’s sort of like Sukuna’s right hand man and her ice abilities are really impressive. Unfortunately most of her fight was off screen but from what we sae, she was very capable. I liked the concept of her a lot.

Then we have Miguel who wasn’t a villain for very long to be honest. That was back in the 0 days and here he shows up as a hero. His role is small but it was pretty cool seeing him show up for the final battle. Everyone got to contribute a little bit. Likewise for Geto who doesn’t appear much in the series at all yet he plays a massive role in it. He introduces a lot of concepts and debates into the series. Ultimately it’s just a bunch of lip service from a mass murderer with crazy ambitions but I always enjoyed the conversations. The guy also did go through a lot which is very clear.

Choso is one of the more fun antagonists with his initial aggression towards Yuji and then their bonds from then on. He was definitely real loyal and his blood powers were very good. Sometimes a big 180 personality shift like that may not work but in his case it did thanks to the circumstances around all of that. It was definitely a moment that the author planned out very well.

From the original villains the one with the smallest role is probably Dagon. He looks the least impressive initially and even by the end I would argue that he is probably the weakest. He does get a good fight and has a cool looking super form but ultimately this guy is more flash than substance. You can’t really put him in the same category as Jogo or Mahito. Those guys slam him every time.

Jogo has the worst luck I’ve seen for a big villain. He has to go up against the two strongest characters in the series. That’s an extremely rough fate and so while he is very powerful, we don’t get to see that very often. He is a very fun character either way though. Ultimately he had his own pride and fought hard til the end. I could definitely respect that and he even had the nice “Be proud” moment so the villain gave him respect as well.

Hanami has the rough luck of fighting Gojo but before that she did a lot of dominating as well. Her plant powers are really fun and she can also fight in hand to hand combat at an extremely high level. Another top tier villain and it reminds you of just how broken the group was. If not for Gojo then they could have easily taken down the Jujutsu society. All of the heroes combined would have really not stood a chance at that point.

Kashimo is one of those famous “Potential Man” characters. He had a really intense intro that caused a lot of people to become big fans of his but ultimately he never lived up to it. His ending was easily one of the most anti climactic ones out there. It’s very easy to make fun of him and hopefully the anime extends the sequence. As rough as it was, ultimately I still liked the guy. He just needed more screen time but still generally had a good personality that was exciting. I also tend to like thunder powers quite a bit.

Then we have Mahito who is one of the biggest villains in the series. The guy made things very personal with Yuji and the series really gave them time to develop this matchup. Both fighters really wanted to murder the other by the end of it. I remember enjoying Mahito enough where I wanted to see him fight Gojo but they barely get to interact at all. Ultimately it’s a terrible matchup for Mahito since it’s not like he can even touch Gojo. That removes his main advantage after all. Mahito is in a lot of ways like the Joker and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a hero vs villain rivalry as solid as this one. Maybe even since the Goku vs Frieza days which sounds pretty crazy but I would argue that either way this was a top tier one. Yuji probably shouldn’t have won in the end when you consider the power imbalance there.

Kenjaku is one of those villains who got worse and worse the more that he appeared. His plan just wasn’t all that great and while the randomness of it was intentional, it just didn’t feel fitting for such a mastermind villain. He really needed a better ending. There are a lot of fun memes due to how it ends as well. Like becoming someone’s mother and giving birth to a big character may have become relevant plot points by the end but it makes you wonder why he did the plan the way that he did. It all feels random once again and takes away major points from his mastermind status. If he had a more graceful end then it probably would have aged his character better.

Finally you have Sukuna who did end up being the final villain. This guy was hyped from the start and the series did a tremendous job with him. It’s not every day that a character gets to live up to the hype and make it to the end but Sukuna actually did this. There’s nothing else you could say except that it is very impressive. Sukuna got a number of super forms and kept pulling out techniques from under the hat. He knew how to really exploit all of the rules of sorcery and bend them to his whim. It made him the perfect final antagonist. I already discussed the matchup before so while I don’t think Sukuna should have lasted as long as he did, it still made for a really exciting climax. I don’t think we’re likely to see one quite as long and packed with characters for a very long time.

Now the series did end with a lot of unresolved plot lines, ideas, and concepts but like I said that’s fine in general. I don’t mind making up my own theories to fill in the blanks. I do think the weirdest one was how the series seemed to be implying that Yuji had some kind of reality warping with the delusions he showed Todo and Choso. For both of those to be coincidences was a real stretch so I didn’t quite buy into Gege’s plan there.

Kaisen is great no matter when you read it but I will say that it will feel a bit different without the live commentary. This is one of those series that was really fun to read live. There were so many twists and turns that generated a ton of discussion and memes. Again I don’t think we’ll be seeing anything quite so elaborate out of a manga again for a very long time aside from One Piece which has been around for so long. Kaisen really got to join the all time greats in how good it was at encouraging debate.

Overall, Jujutsu Kaisen is a great manga. It really nailed all of the big things that I would look for in a manga like solid characters and great fights. It made it to a pretty solid length as well. Naturally I wish it could have kept on going for a longer amount of time but at the end of the day it’s enough to be satisfied with. I would definitely recommend this title. It may be a tad darker than some Shonens but at the end of the day it is still a classic Jump title at heart. It has a lot of good messages and keeps you absolutely engaged the entire time. It’ll be difficult for any of the new up and coming titles to really defeat it.

Overall 8/10

Dark Gathering

Posted on November 9, 2024 by dreager1

Dark Gathering is about a guy who got cursed a while back and evil spirits are constantly attracted to him. He’s made it his mission to just avoid all spirits but that doesn’t work for long and a little girl appears who hunts spirits. Perhaps she can help him overcome his fears. The series is off to a good start so far and manages to tackle the classic spirit hunting business in a new way. I’ll have a review for this series as soon as it is finished.

Overall 7/10

Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 6 Review

Posted on November 8, 2024 by dreager1

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

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