Tag Archives: Thriller

Bendy: Fade to Black Review

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It’s time for a spooky adventure in the Bendy verse. I don’t read very many books nowadays so it’s always fun once I get to jump in again. This is a solid one that is rather low key for a while but then the climax feels like the Bendy games. While parts of the writing may have felt a bit off to me, I was definitely engaged with what was going on. The ending is really worth going through the whole book as it takes the adventure in a bold direction that I was certainly not expecting.

The story starts by introducing us to Rose who is excited to finally be working. She has a job at a local media company where she will be helping out on the Bendy show. Her job is more of a background one as she gets papers ready, delivers coffee, etc. Still, it’s a pretty good way to start an eventual climb into stardom so she is definitely ready for all of this. Unfortunately what she doesn’t realize is that Joey Drew is a rather suspicious fellow. He can seem nice one moment and then completely deranged the next. This may be quirky at first but the problem is that he is legitimately dangerous. If she doesn’t watch her step then it will be all over for her.

Of course if you’ve played the games before then you already know that Bendy has become an evil monster. Well, that may not be exactly accurate but you should play the game to really see the lore as there are a lot of good twists and turns. For simplicity’s sake though I’m going to be calling the main monster Bendy. Bendy destroys all who oppose him and in the game we see how Joey rambles a lot and really went down the wild side. He would do anything to protect his creations and make his show the best in the world. So this is like a prequel where we still see him in the early stages of this. He has his ink machine and is creating monsters.

One thing I liked about Joey here is that he’s unapologetically evil. He’s not saddened by how his creations are doing more harm than good. He’s not talking about regrets or anything like that. Joey just spends the whole book laughing about how great he is and what a success the whole thing is. He has no sense of loyalty and this was always part of the plan. He would destroy everyone in his way because that’s what he does. It’s just refreshing to have a complete villain like this and he has some of the best dialogue in the book.

Unfortunately Rose is unable to be his perfect contrast here. As the lead I don’t think she was able to hold her own or be nearly as interesting. For starters her dialogue makes her sound like a little kid the whole time. I do think this mainly falls on the writer but it’s easy to forget that she’s close to being an adult. Part of her character is about being really optimistic but there are many ways to do that without making her sound like a kid you know? That’s where my problem with her is. She has her big moments where she tries to talk tough to Joey and the others but for the most part she freezes under pressure and just ends up taking the L.

I give her props for doing her best in a rather tough environment but I would have liked a tougher main character. She is considerably better than her little brother though. That kid fell for every trap from Bendy and it didn’t make any sense. He was super annoying the whole time and the whole book would have been way better if he could have at least seen through one trick or two. He was consistently holding everyone back the whole time. I know that he’s a kid but even so, Rose actually warned him in advance about Bendy and the kid still let himself be bossed around.

Her parents didn’t look great here either. Her father has a lot of PTSD from the war so he’s really out of commission the whole time. Her mother tries her best to keep everything secure but seems to have very little sympathy for what Rose was going through. The heroine has done her best for years but one slip up where she lets out a yell and everyone’s upset? They should be upset at her brother for scaring her when they’re all in a tense situation. There are a few supporting characters around as well like the boss of the big media company. He’s a lot of fun. You can bet that Joey won’t be talking to him any kind of way because that guy’s just too good. The secretary also seemed nice enough.

Her friend at the job was nice enough even if he did panic though. Trying to dismantle the ink machine to keep it around was a super bad idea. There’s a random rich kid who shows up at the watch party and it was a bad moment for Rose as she was basically getting mind controlled with ease in there. She had to be rescued which was not a good look at all. You need to be able to get out of a situation like that on your own or you’re really not ready for the big times. I felt bad for one guy who was turned into an ink creature and has to keep on dying. The Bendy-verse definitely gets real dark at times. It was still naive of them to think that Joey would care though.

In the video games it is all about running from the creatures and hiding where you can. This finally becomes a big thing by the end of the book which is my favorite part. There’s a lot of tension here and an actual body count as well. The book really goes hard here and that climax could really be adapted as a full game at some point. Then of course we have the big ending as I mentioned which is really intense. It also makes sense I would say since someone really didn’t have a chance of returning. No power of friendship is going to work here, logically Bendy already had the situation covered.

Overall, The book has a very slow pace for a little while there. You do need to enjoy the mystery and the slow build up because the action doesn’t kick in until the final chapters. That said, I thought the payoff was worth the build up. It did a good job of bringing everything together so I was definitely satisfied here and am ready for more Bendy books. If you’re in the mood for a book with some spooky events scattered within then this is the title for you.

Overall 7/10

The Evil Eye Review

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The Evil Eye is one of those films that is going for the title for style points as opposed to it being really tied to the narrative. It’s a pretty interesting noir title and one that isn’t afraid to get rather absurd at some points as well. The strangeness of the whole film is part of the appeal and it works pretty well. I wouldn’t call it one of the strongest titles in the genre but I had a good time.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Nora who has arrived in Italy to take care of her aunt. Unfortunately her aunt dies almost immediately but not before Nora gets to meet Doctor Marcello and flirt with him a bit. Nora heads outside to let the doctor know about her aunt but ends up getting robbed and knocked out during the fight. When Nora wakes up she sees someone getting murdered and quickly faints again. By the time she wakes up the cops think that she fainted due to having too much to drink. For some reason she smells strongly of alcohol. Marcello frees Nora but doesn’t seem to totally believe her. There is only one possible explanation…Nora is a psychic who can see murders from 10 years in the past! Will she be able to stay alive in the present?

There’s a whole conspiracy going on with the alphabet killer who hasn’t murdered anyone in 10 years and yet Nora might be the next target. While Nora is in a packed area, people tend to vanish when she needs them the most and she is also a bit of a mystery. She flirts with Marcello a whole lot but at the same time doesn’t seem to want to progress their relationship and usually just leaves him frustrated at the door while she goes off to take a nap. The whole romance ends up being rather weak as a result. It leads to Marcello deciding to make his bold move and press the point which could have easily led him straight to jail if Nora wasn’t so accommodating.

I always think that’s going rather far. If Nora doesn’t want to do anything then they have to talk about it, you don’t just make the big move and hope for the best. That’s not how these thing go. Marcello also just seems a bit annoying in general. How are you going to go after the niece of the lady you were watching over on her death bed just like that? You’d figure there would at least be a long mourning period first or something like that. There’s also no real time for this when a murderer is on the loose.

I do tend to enjoy all of the random fake outs and jump scares here though. It feels like people are always sneaking up on Nora. Then you have random flirts running after her and you always know if this person is a fake or not based on how Nora reacts. If she is super scared and backing up then it’s the real deal but if she charges forward and knocks him out then it’s a fake. It almost feels rigged because every time she musters up the courage to do something, it ends up being for nothing.

Nora can also be a bit oblivious at times like with the one guy who is really handsy with her at the diner. Marcello’s also too timid and just plays passive aggressive the whole time instead of telling the guy to knock it off. You have to have the dignity to tell these people off and I also have to give Nora a hard time about this. The whole scene just makes you roll your eyes there.

As for the climax, it’s a bit more low key than I would have thought. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting but I suppose more of a big fight or some kind of fakeout with how odd the rest of the film could be. Instead it’s played rather straight with a twist thrown in there. I do think it would be reasonably difficult to guess who the culprit is though so the film did good there. The cast is small but at the same time the movie still covers its tracks pretty well.

I think the best out of the random segments is when the main heroine wakes up in the hospital and everyone is talking over her as if she is some kind of medical experiment. It’s playing out in such a way where you figure she is dreaming but then the main doctor walks in so she calls for him. Suddenly they’re out on a date in the very next instant so we know that this actually happened. There are a few moments like this where you figure it has to be a dream and instead what happens is this actually played out exactly how it looked. It certainly takes you for a loop but in a fun way.

The film’s music even gets randomly happy at times. Nora will be spooked and someone will have just died and suddenly we have happy music playing in the background. Or she’s getting close to a clue and suddenly she’s at the beach having fun. This film actively avoids using transitions which is why the changes are so sudden. It works well though and shows that the film has a whole lot of range at its disposal and isn’t afraid to switch things up.

Overall, The Evil Eye’s random moments help to give it a bit of an edge in terms of how well you will remember it. At the same time, it feels like this is also done in part because the movie knows that the mystery itself won’t be enough to have this film make it into the big leagues. I’d recommend checking it out but it’s probably not a movie that you will need to check out a second time. One adventure here will be enough.

Overall 6/10

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions Review

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Escape Room 2 immediately makes me think of the second Maze Runner film. Sure the heroes may have survived the room the first time but can they do it a second time? The film does a pretty good job of bringing back the fun elements from the first film and I dare say that it even surpasses the original. There are a lot of great fakeouts here and the stakes definitely go even higher. My only complaint is that some of the characters don’t actually feel like champions.

The basic plot is that Zoey wants to crush the evil organization in charge of the escape rooms once and for all. Ben doesn’t think that this is a good idea but there’s no way he can say no to her so they head on over to NYC. Unfortunately they are mugged almost immediately which leads them to a train. Now if anyone knows the MTA, they know this was a lethal mistake. It’s not sick passengers or train delays that will get the best of them though, the whole car is instead being overloaded with electricity. The other passengers seem upset but not as panicked as they should be. Why? This isn’t their first rodeo! Each character here has won the Escape Room challenge in the past so this time the battle is between champions. Who will win the right to their continued existence this time?

I love the concept of this of course. This time you’re fighting with the cream of the crop and no scrubs allowed. Most of the puzzles are team based challenges so it’s not so much about being left behind but making any mistakes will cost you everything. So everyone should be very strategic since it’s unlikely that someone who was carried the whole time would win. The problem is…in this movie at least two of the characters don’t seem all that smart. So lets talk about the cast real quick.

Of course we know Zoey and Ben from the first film so there’s not much to say about them. They have both proven themselves a lot in the first movie and continue to look good here. I would say Zoey is absolutely smarter than Ben but he can still hold his own and they make for a good team. I wouldn’t say I love their characters or anything but they hold the film rather well. The pressure is more on the newcomers.

First up is Theo who panics a lot right from the jump. He doesn’t want to die here and talks about how unfair the whole thing is but he dies real fast. Now the way he died was a bit unavoidable so I don’t blame him there but he was just way too reckless the whole time. It’s hard to see how he survived the first time when he’s this emotional. You have to keep a cool head at least for a while. Like Zoey has a moment where she panics and grabs a door which activates a trap. That was a huge L but she has the rest of the film as evidence for how she is usually rather smart. (Although the scene did have me convinced that Zoey was a traitor for the rest of the film.)

Theo just didn’t add much. Then we have Brianna who also doesn’t seem ready for this. She doesn’t come up with almost any ideas during the adventure and seems to not have a real plan. She mainly follows the others and does her best there. Brianna’s not bad but again she doesn’t really feel like a champion which is the problem there. She’s not going to be saving anyone.

Nathan is someone who actually does feel like a champion though. He’s confident in his own plans and makes moves as needed. He has his big main character moment where he plunges ahead to solve the puzzle instead of listening to anyone. I actually appreciated that move a lot because it is definitely something that the main character would do if this was his film. He may have been wrong on the conclusion but most of his plan was really solid. He was also ready to jump in and save Rachel when she was in trouble and did so without hesitation. He’s probably the best character in the film I have to say.

Finally there’s Rachel who also has a commanding presence and did well. She has the ability to not feel pain which is pretty cool although in a lot of ways it’s very scary. Not being able to feel what’s happening to you can be a real nightmare depending on the circumstance and she seems to have had a dark past with the first set of Escape Room challenges. She does well in all of the challenges and proves herself as a strong competitor.

So out of the full cast only half of the new fighters live up to the hype. I put that on the film since they just needed to make the challenges a bit harder to show off everyone’s intellect before bumping them off. Kudos for not making anyone too unlikable though. In these films I think it’s important to have the main characters be teaming up instead of fighting with themselves. The puzzles are hard enough without having everyone be duking it out.

Now where the film really shines is the ending. It’s really brilliant all the way with how it ties into the beginning. I didn’t really pick up on any of the clues the first time around which is where I was really impressed. I didn’t read in between the lines and this is probably one of the first times where I didn’t suspect something right away. As the ending starts to play out you do connect the dots but even then, I didn’t to that extent. It’s all really cool and perfectly executed. Sort of like an ending out of Halloween or something but 100X cooler. I’d almost recommend watching the film just for the ending.

In general the whole movie is pretty well balanced though. There are a lot of fun challenges and different backdrops for each of the activities. This makes for a lot of variety and really keeps you on your toes the whole time. Some of the puzzles I do think are a bit much in terms of finding the solution. Like even while the characters are figuring it out you are super skeptical because it doesn’t really make sense. Some of it makes sense to be sure but most of it? Ehhhhhhhh I dunno. It’s Batman’66 levels of logic where he comes to the right answer and in a way it makes sense but it’s such a leap in logic that you’re not really sure how to feel about that.

I still liked all of the concepts and of course there was a NYC level in the game with some acid rain that was really intense. That had to be one of the more painful levels to be sure. Even if you played it perfectly you could expect to be hit by some acid drops. The film mainly avoids things getting too violent though. Some characters get burns and such but it’s actually rather tame. Nothing like the cube movie from a while back where everyone was really getting destroyed. This one lets you just enjoy all of the battles even with the life and death stakes.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this one. I would recommend checking it out for any fans of thrillers out there. It did a great job of following up on the first one and I liked how strong the continuity was. We got actual flashbacks to the first film and everything. Every scene ends up being important by the end so it really wraps everything up well. I definitely recommend watching this film when you have a chance. It’s definitely a unique title that you won’t be forgetting!

Overall 7/10

The Gunfighter Review

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It’s time for a film with a pretty direct name. When you hear the words: “The Gunfighter” you know what’s going to happen right off the bat. This guy’s about to take names and the villains better start hiding. It’s a pretty fun film although I didn’t really care for the ending. I definitely would have fixed that part up a little.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Ringo who is the world’s greatest gunman. He can shoot just about anyone at any range and his speed is so great that nobody can ever beat him to the punch. This is what we call true talent over in the west! Well, he ends up destroying someone in self defense and then heads back to his old town. He wants to meet up with his wife Peggy but Sheriff Mark says she doesn’t want to see him. Ringo doesn’t like this and intends to stay until he can talk with her but he doesn’t have a lot of time. The last guy be bumped off had 3 brothers and they are heading his way. Will Ringo really be able to take these guys down while settling down to be a family man once more?

Ringo has been travelling the world fighting for a very long time so it’s definitely hard to just stop and try to be with the family again. It’s easy to see why Peggy is a bit nervous about meeting him because it would be hard to know if he has really changed or not. It’s certainly been many years and he hasn’t even seen their kid before. It just seems a bit late to try to go through it all again and so she is not really planning to meet him although she is getting pressured by her friends in the town. After all if she doesn’t see him then he won’t be leaving too quickly and the villains will be coming around town.

Ringo is a fun main character though. He doesn’t want to fight but he can certainly end the battles as needed. When someone points a gun at him, Ringo is quickly able o take the guy down. There’s not much you can do about a bullet to the back but in any other kind of scenario, Ringo has this. I do like the running gag of sorts that everybody thinks they can take him though. The guy clearly never gets any peace, there is always some young guy trying to take the title. That’s probably something that would be true for any dangerous profession since everybody would want to get in on the action. All it takes is a lucky shot and you could be famous. Of course then the pressure will be on your head next but none of these characters are really thinking that far along.

It’s the curse of being the strongest after all, you are really on your own. We don’t get a lot of fights here but the film does show us Ringo’s abilities early on. He’s definitely the real deal in a fight. None of the villains are nearly as skilled as he is but this isn’t really that kind of film. All of the villains rely on cheap shots and surprise hits to really hope to stand a chance. They gave up on the battle of skill before it even started.

Meanwhile Mark was a solid supporting character. He was a good friend to Ringo and I would say he was good at his job. It’s easy to see why there was never any trouble in town. He was always running a pretty tight ship. I see a lot of films where the authorities don’t do much of anything in the western so it was a nice change of pace. Like I said, the ending is a bit disappointing though. It doesn’t really feel deserved and while the film was going for a message there, I could have done without it. It’s not a satisfying conclusion after the rest of the adventure, not at all.

Also quick shoutout to the bar owner for being one of the more entertaining characters in the film as well. It’s a dangerous job since everyone is trying to pick fights in your bar and you have to try and be a mediator at times. This guy doesn’t scare easily though and was always pretty involved in the plot. Just a fun character and the world building here was real solid. We got to meet quite a few of the people in town even if their roles were on the smaller side.

Overall, The Gunfighter is a pretty good film all in all. It may have stumbled at the finish but the overall story was very interesting and the cast of characters was solid. In a way it’s not even like a whole lot happened so the film could have easily been boring with the wrong staff. Fortunately they were up to the challenge and the movie went by very quickly. I could definitely recommend it to any wild west fan or anyone just looking for a fun time. The writing and script are both very good here and I would rank it very high up in the genre. It may be low key in terms of action but it still makes the most out of each scene. In the end Ringo’s best plan might have been to show up in town while in a disguise. If nobody suspected that he was some kind of legendary gunfighter then he wouldn’t be getting so many challenges all the time. Before the days of internet and photos I bet it would be really easy to become a different person. Not like you really even had ID in the wild west. Voice would be the toughest part but still not that bad to be honest.

Overall 7/10

Snowpiercer Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Snowpiercer is a film that started out rather solid but got weaker as the film went on. It just wasn’t really able to handle the amount of pressure on its shoulders. The film started to go more into shock value and the whole ending starts to get annoyed. I’ll give the film props for the surprise ending since I didn’t expect it to go so dark with the bear but it works pretty well. Sometimes humanity just isn’t ready for the comeback.

The film introduces us to a world that has entered a new ice age. Humanity has been wiped out with the exception of all the people aboard one long train. This train never stops and continues to circle the planet constantly. The train cars divide the rich from the poor so the rich get an amazing life with everything that they could ever want while the poor struggle to just barely survive. They only get the scraps at best and so Curtis has been waiting a while to launch a full scale rebellion. It’s a risky plan because no rebellion has ever succeeded before. Still, he can’t just continue to live life the way he has been because there is no future to it. So he gathers everyone up and preparers to move forward. Time to see if they can pull this off.

The deck is stacked against the heroes in a lot of ways of course. They have the sheer numbers advantage by a great deal which is their only advantage. The enemies have better equipment and homefield advantage though. Curtis and the others have to learn as they go while the villains have cameras and already know the layout. So that makes things tricky and it turns out that the villains also have some of the best fighters on the ship. As the film goes on we also see just how different life on the rich side is.

The whole film really focuses on the parallels here as the poor don’t have enough food to even survive but the rich are rather wasteful. The poor are unlikely to see any fresh water while the rich have whole pools to have fun with. In general this is the poor vs the rich in a very literal way and it’s fun to watch the main characters try to get to the end of the train. So you may be thinking, what’s the problem?

Well so first up we have the backstory for Curtis that shows up later on. The film wants to show us to a really intense degree how much the main characters had to go through. This involves murder and cannibalism and it felt like a very unnecessary addition to the film. We didn’t need these extra details because their lives sucked enough as it is. Adding these details is just to make the whole movie very grim dark.

Then by the end of the film we find out what happens to the kids. Yeah here we go, the whole film you know it’s going to be something rather sinister and of course that is the case. It’s another messed up subplot and the whole thing is so traumatic that the kid gets brainwashed into this rather quickly. There wasn’t exactly anyone to help the kids out after all. Other characters get limbs chopped off, murdered, etc. The body count in the film is rather high and it’s not afraid to get rather violent at times. The movie is rather brutal and the message is basically that you can’t beat the system. At most you can try for mutually assured destruction which isn’t all that satisfying.

We see that what the main characters are forced to eat is rather gross but that’s the film’s style so you aren’t all that surprised. Basically what it boils down to is that the film overplays its hand tremendously. After a point you get it, it sucks to be poor in this setup. Every revelation after that is just to make the whole situation more and more messed up. The heroes also tend to lower their guard a whole lot during the battles which results in their getting shot. The stakes are a their absolute highest here so you really just have to keep on shooting and fighting back.

One of the most intense fights is definitely when the heroes broke into a gang car and had to start fighting each other. That was definitely real crazy and I have to say I don’t know how they survived for long once the room went dark. It felt like they should all have been immediately slaughtered at that point. It’s good that they weren’t of course but when you can’t even see the opponents that is hard to get around.

As for the villains, well they’re basically ultra evil so there isn’t much to say about them. The main villain is rather psychotic and the fact that Curtis listens to his whole speech for so long and freezes up by the end was crazy. This is the guy at the top, you have to take him down immediately. The whole climax was a bit surreal with the villain not reading the room and Curtis not really doing anything. It is easy to see how this setup worked for so long though since they have so much power. In a way the whole film shouldn’t have been as long as it was.

The only real excuse would be that the villains wanted to have some fun because they were super bored. That could work but otherwise they could have ended this at any point. I haven’t seen a situation so rigged in a while. The film definitely works best when everything was a mystery. I do think the train setting worked well and it’s a very interesting film. Ultimately it just got way too mean spirited by the end and you also start to wonder what the whole point of it all was. I don’t think that the second half really stuck the landing the way that it could have.

Overall, Snowpiercer is definitely a film that’s not for the faint of heart. You’re going to see just how intense an uprising can be and how a lot of casualties really start forming in order for the main characters to even stand a chance. A prequel could be interesting to see more about how the setup was first implemented and the original rebellions. We do know that things won’t end well which takes out some of the fun but I am curious how this started. Of course once the villains have been winning for hundreds of years it is easy to see how they have all of the power but how was this accumulated in the first place? That’s what I would really like to know.

Overall 3/10

Scream Blacula Scream Review

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It’s time for the next Blahhhhhhcula film. The name just makes that joke too easy! But yeah this is not a good film and you likely knew that going into it. It’s another really cheap vampire film that’s doing its best to impress and scare you but instead it has the opposite effect. You will be rolling your eyes at this one and wondering when it’s over. There’s nothing to really like about this film as it squanders any decent ideas that might have been thrown into the mix.

The film starts with the queen of voodoo dying so she quickly forgets to name a successor. It has to come down to a vote now and everyone knows it will be Lisa which infuriates Willis. He decides to do something about this and messes with some bones until he resurrects Blacula. Blacula quickly turns Willis into a vampire and then decides to go on another murder spree. Will anyone be safe from all of these murders? Lisa will need to watch out since she is now the one with the strongest Voodoo energy. If she ends up siding with Blacula then all hope may be lost.

So lets get this out of the way, the film has a ton of the usual blood sucking right out of the gate. You’ll be grimacing the whole time because this is not what you signed up for. Not at all! I mean that sounds like I’m in denial but you can do a vampire film without all of that. These also have to be the longest blood drain scenes that I’ve come across. Seriously there’s just no end to them. They keep going on and on and on. If you ask me personally the best thing to do here would have been to do a quick cut. You get the initial bite and then skip.

Although it’s clear that the film was pretty proud of these scenes for how drawn out they were. Even the moments leading up to the bites, you got zoom ins on the teeth early on. At least some of the victims were asking for it like the random guys trying to bully Blacula in the streets. It was nice to bump them off but we can do better than the classic bite every time. So right off the bat the film was already doomed thanks to this.

Then the characters aren’t smart at all. Lisa already knows that Blacula is murdering people and yet by the end she wants to help him and everything? Noooo that’s not cool. She still seems shocked when he continues to hurt people but he’s been doing that since the very beginning so there’s no excuse there. He didn’t change, he was evil right from the jump. That’s what I’ve been trying to explain the whole time. Also considering her psychic voodoo powers, she still looks very weak the whole time.

She is easily suckered by her friend who turned vampire and then tries to drain her. Shouldn’t Lisa have some kind of supernatural defenses? So that’s a big strike against her character right from the jump. Then after that we’ve also got the fact that she doesn’t immediately end Blacula when she has the doll. Just stab it or put it in a choke hold. Instead she takes ages which nearly costs her.

All right, one slight positive for the film. I really liked the confrontation between Justin and Blacula where we have a really tense talk. Both of them are casually murdering the other one and it’s a very boss moment for Justin. Not a smart one mind you, since Blacula could have murdered him at any point. Still, it showed that he was ready to stand his ground. The film is really reusing this from other titles but it still hit right. It’s the best scene in the film by far.

In general I was glad that the cops got involved as well. They actually get to fight it out with the vampires which was pretty cool. We get some actual battle scenes although the cops have a bad habit of hesitating. Look, these are vampires, you have to just take them out. Use the stake or it will be used against you. I did wonder why they wouldn’t re-use a stake though. For example one guy uses his stake and then gets rushed by a second vampire so he cuts it in half to use a new one. Many cops just gave up once they used their 1 stake and got wrecked.

Just pull it out of the dead body and use it again. It’s still made of wood so I’m confident that it will work as many times as needed. These guys really need to learn basic combat skills. The whole film should have been the general confrontation because that would actually be an original take. The full might of the police force against the personal army of vampires that Blacula built up. That had a lot of potential over the usual stuff.

Instead what the film decided to focus on in terms of being unique is the voodoo witchcraft nonsense. Those scenes are some of the worst. They’re super dragged out as well with everyone hopping around and feeling the vibes. They don’t add anything to the film and instead subtract from it. So really you are always looking forward to the few police/Justin scenes but every time Blacula or the Voodoo stuff is on screen the film falls down quickly. We also get a random animal violence when a bird is destroyed. The film needs to do better!

Overall, If you really enjoy seeing the blood sucking scenes from a vampire film then this is your title. I still can’t think of any title that dragged them out nearly this much. However, there is no other reason to watch this film and waste your time. Blacula is not a series that will go down in history as being anything decent. It was really a full on gimmick from start to finish and one that didn’t find its footing. You could have had some interesting social themes here or given Blacula a real personality beyond just draining people. At times it felt like the film was going to perhaps go down that route and then he just starts murdering everyone again. So the film couldn’t resist going back to its roots of shock value. If we ever get a modern reboot, maybe it could change things.

Overall 1/10

Shakma Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

All right it’s time for a pretty spooooky film. I mean it is basically a horror and the enemy is like a creature so I’d say it fits the bill. The movie is definitely an intense one but suffers from all of the usual issues like animal violence and over the top violence in general. This film will have you wincing almost constantly which as you can imagine, can make it hard for the film itself to succeed.

The film starts off with a bunch of doctors/assistants gearing up for their next big game. They run a sort of dungeons and dragons type game in the hospital. After hours they set up all of the rooms and lock down each of the floors. The professor has a virtual system to keep track of everything and coordinates the efforts as the Gamemaster. The first person to get enough clues and free the princess wins. They’ve been doing this for a long time with no problems but one of the girls accidentally mentions the game in front of one of the new hires. Now he wants to play too but the guy’s not very serious and could hold them back. So the characters decide to give him the role of monster to scare people and afterwards he finds out that he’s missing out on a date by being here. So he intends to sabotage the game so that it goes very quickly but what none of them realize is that a dangerous monster is already on the loose, Shakma! Shakma is aiming to destroy all of them as soon as possible so he must not be underestimated.

So Shakma is a baboon and not the most intimidating one on sight. He is fierce and aggressive but you’re jus wondering what would make him scary. Do you really fear such an opponent as this guy? He tends to murder everyone with a quick bite as the first blow and then once the opponent is on the ground it’s over. It’s technically a pretty impressive combo starter because if he bites the right place then it’s all over. There’s really nothing for the opponent to do. So I sort of get that and acknowledge that he fights smart but I still wouldn’t call him very scary. The concept of the Shakma is scarier like when you see him from a distance or on the poster. You absolutely get it but in practice…eh I don’t think he is ready for the big leagues.

Unfortunately most of the characters are super annoying. These are the kinds of people who will just sit back and watch as someone is being torn apart in front of them. I get panicking and everything like when the chips are down but this is just too much. You need to have some characters to root for and this makes them very unlikable. Take the guy who was trying to sabotage the whole game over a date. It’s an awful look because he asked to be a part of the game early on. Yes, he started to have second thoughts about this but he didn’t voice them soooo…I can’t feel all that bad for him. He just needed to do his best and actually participate.

The professor was the most likable character by far. He had a lot of patience and was doing his best to make the game a success. I imagine that it takes a lot of work to set up the whole program each time. So he gets a whole lot of credit there. You were rooting for him to be the one to defeat Shakma. Meanwhile the rest of the students would just keep on splitting up over and over again. Even right up to the end the final 2 survivors decide to split up again. Are you serious?

I dare say that they make the average horror movie characters look smart in comparison. These guys are making so many mistakes that you start to have trouble keeping track of them all. They just keep on coming one after the other. A lot of times the excuse is that they want to look for one of the other teens who got bumped off since they don’t know that he was bumped off yet. The problem with this is after a point you at least need to let the cops know first. The worst part of the film’s logic here is the phones.

Each time they think about calling the cops, they decide to do something first. No, call the cops first and then keep looking around if you want. Every room should have a phone in the hospital or at least most of them. Where were all of the phones when they were needed?? It doesn’t make any sense at all. I felt like I was just watching madness here after a while. The setting of this film taking place in a hospital makes it so that none of this makes sense.

In fact, what about security in general? Sure this is after hours so the staff aren’t around but you mean to tell me that none of the guards were patrolling these floors during the game? Yeah I have more and more doubts as the film goes on. This just doesn’t mesh with logic. The film was doomed already with all the shock value though. I don’t really see the point of the surgery scene from the intro either. We know they work in a hospital so stuff like that happens, why do we gotta see it? Feels like it was just there as a cheap thrill which is no good.

Overall, Shakma is a classic creature feature film to an extent but all the violence is dialed up to 11. It definitely feels like one of the more violent titles that I’ve seen in a minute. In a way it’s probably because of how drawn out each of the murders are. They just keep on going and going. Then of course you have the live surgeries and everything. Nah this film was definitely not for me and loses out to most of the other creature films. This one did surprise me with how the story ends but that’s more of a thumbs up for me and not something I’d raise the score over. It just showed that the film wasn’t afraid to be rather bold and take things in a different direction.

Overall 1/10

The Lost Boys Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for some vampires. You already know that means the film is starting off at a disadvantage but maybe it can pull through and win anyway? Wellllll…unfortunately that is not the case so I still do have to give this one a thumbs down. The characters tend to be annoying and the film can drag on at some points. The main romance with the teens also doesn’t work so well.

The film starts with Michael, his younger brother Sam, and his mom Lucy moving from a nice place over to the murder capital of the world. They’re staying with Lucy’s father and at this point the goal is really to try and make the best of it. Sam is one of those guys who is very personable and he acclimates to the new place quickly even if it is odd how two kids keep telling him to watch out for vampires. Michael sees an attractive lady who is already taken but since when has that stopped him? He flirts with her which causes the leader of the vampire group, David to show up and mess with him. Michael succumbs to peer pressure immediately and gets turned into a vampire. Can he control his urges and stay on the path of justice?

There’s a lot to unpack here and unfortunately most of it is not good. As the lead character Michael makes too many mistakes. It’s not really good form to go after someone who is already in a relationship. Yeah it’s not the same as someone being married or engaged but at the same time it makes you look desperate. It was clear that Star was leading him on from the jump so the only right answer there is to just dodge the situation entirely. She manipulates him so easily that you’re just shaking your head. Their romance really was bad.

Meanwhile Michael was falling for the illusions each time and then not suspecting that something was wrong about the vampires was a real miss for him as well. He does control the urges well at least and I can tell you right now that I have no issues with taking out any of the villains. As far as I’m concerned that is full self defense and everyone was trying to murder the vampires in order to save the town so there’s no functional difference here. Something to keep in mind since the end of the film is trying to throw a message in and it doesn’t really work.

I liked Sam a lot more than Michael. He’s a likable kid who has a positive outlook. Again, if not for the vampires he was going to get used to the new town real fast. He had a good sense of humor and is also responsible. This is the kind of kid you can count on to make your life easier. He gets a big role along with the two vampire hunters but technically it’s not like he can fight all that much so I wouldn’t expect him to do a lot of damage. The villains are just too powerful.

As for Lucy, she’s definitely a sympathetic character. She’s also been through a lot with the divorce and all. It may be a little fast to get back into the dating game but at least it’s treated like an actual dynamic among adults. It starts off with a basic dinner and nothing crazy. Usually I’d say the romance subplot had no point being in the film but this time I suppose it justified its own existence. It’s still a bit on the weak side but as a character Lucy was solid.

Then you have Max whose role is pretty fun. He is the character you will be thinking about a lot here and some scenes you can see in a different light. So he makes for a fairly solid character, certainly better than the vampire gang led by David who mostly just look like creeps the whole time. They’re not intimidating in a fun way and if anything they’re so overconfident and sloppy that this is what leads to them getting cooked all the time. As long as they remembered basic fighting techniques then they would have been okay here. The problem is they don’t have much of a goal except for spreading chaos.

I would have liked to have seen perspectives from more of the outside world. Not someone about to die but maybe a few locals talking about how people are always getting kidnapped and being murdered which seems weird. The film does establish this place as the biggest murder area in the world but doesn’t follow that up with anything. I’m sure the mayor and the cops would have something to say about that right? Adding them in with a big role would have been really fun.

Just something to give us more time away from the vampires. You already know that nobody can put up a fight against them so the nameless characters are doomed. The film doesn’t keep your attention the way that it should. It throws in quite a few jump scares involving the dogs. It’s a dangerous game since that could have easily tanked the whole movie but fortunately it avoids getting hit with the solid 0-1. The dogs end up looking fairly tough the whole time and Sam’s dog really saves the day more than once. So I appreciate that. Having a dog on screen always speeds up my heart rate a little bit but when you have a happy ending like this then that definitely helps out a whole lot.

Overall, The Lost Boys is a film that had some potential but it doesn’t live up to this in the execution. The comedic elements could have helped to raise everything up but at the end of the day it still focuses more on the vampire stuff than anything else. The characters created too many issues on their own and so in the end what you have here is a film that doesn’t give you much of an incentive to watch it. At least I did like the grandfather. His role was small but the confidence was nice. If the film had doubled down on more of the humor this could have really been a different ballgame.

Overall 3/10

Acts of Vengeance Review

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This is a review of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

All right it’s time for one of those classic thriller stories. This one goes through the motions and is a good film but I wouldn’t say it stands out a lot compared to the competition. It doesn’t have the same level of iconic lines as Taken for example although at the same time…there is a plot reason for this. The ending may not have left me completely satisfied but you will get some good action scenes here.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Frank whose job is to talk a lot. He is the defense attorney for a lot of crazy criminals and he’s really good at his job so he tends to get them off the hook even when they’re guilty. Hey, you can’t blame him, blame the system right? Well that’s easier said than done. One day his wife and kid are murdered and the cops admit that there isn’t much that they can do. There aren’t enough leads and people are getting murdered all the time around there so what are you gonna do? Frank lets people beat him up for a while before finally deciding to take action. He will become a martial arts master and track down the killer. Until he pulls this off, he will never say another word.

The vow of silence is definitely a solid way to show your determination. It does mean that Frank will stop at nothing in order to finish his quest but it can also work as something that holds him back when you think about it. After all, this means that he can’t really question any of the villains or anything like that. He has to rely on their facial expressions and what they start saying. Frank’s physical senses do begin to improve a lot which does help him out here though. It’s also good that his fighting skills worked out well since there are a lot of villains to stop and Fran tends to let them all go.

He plays a very risky game and you could argue that he has to have a lot of plot armor to make it through the trials here. For example, he lets quite a few mafia members leave with their lives but none of them manage to track him down and get the jump on him in time. In real life it feels like crossing the mafia in such an open way would really be a death sentence. Even by the end Frank opts to let the justice system do its thing but there’s no reason to believe he will be alive after the next 48 hours. He’s made too many enemies and not finishing them off puts him in a dicey spot.

I get that the film wanted to go for a positive moral where you know that this guy hasn’t crossed the line but within the film’s context I don’t think that it works out so well. Sometimes when you spare someone like this, all you are doing is dooming other people. Not saying it has to be like that of course but it is definitely one of the big possible outcomes. Then we have the main heroine Alma who is nice enough. She’s perhaps a bit too trusting since she warms up to Frank right away even though the guy should appear to be incredibly suspicious. Their first meeting is him already being rather beat up and having a gun so my first guess wouldn’t necessarily be that he is an upstanding citizen.

There’s a dog in the movie that helps Frank out a lot so that was pretty fun. His skills are definitely really helpful in solving the case. As for the main villain, there’s not a whole lot to say about him. His attempt at sympathy doesn’t work at all. Yes the guy has a tragic backstory but it does nothing to support his actions in the present. If anything you’d think it makes the whole thing worse. This guy should definitely not be trying to go after a child the way that he did. So yeah the villain’s just one of those crazies and he doesn’t do anything to actively elevate the film to the next level. You could switch him out with just about anyone and it doesn’t matter.

Part of the film is effectively a mystery as to who got Frank’s family and it’s sort of a tricky one. On one hand, the cast is extremely small here. So if the killer is a named character then you basically only have 2 real options but if the killer is some random mobster then you may not be as invested. The good news of course is that you don’t know either way until it happens so in that sense it still works well as a mystery that keeps you guessing. The film’s definitely at its best when focusing on the action though. The fight scenes are really solid.

Overall, Acts of Vengeance is a good movie. I liked the way it would use chapters to break up the story and how the quotes would also describe the chapter. Having so much inner monologue may feel like a bit of a cheat to the fact that the main character doesn’t talk much but still I appreciated it since I tend to like dialogue. The more words that are spoken the better, that’s what I’d say here. If you enjoy a good revenge story then you should watch the movie. If it’s not your genre then there’s not much else for the movie to offer you. It’s very straight forward in that way so the ball is really in your court here.

Overall 6/10

Mashle: Magic and Muscles Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 9/10