Natsume’s Book of Friends Review

Posted on March 26, 2023 by dreager1

It’s time to delve into the anime version of Natsume’s Book of Friends. I’ve been reading the manga for a long while now and it’s definitely a slow burn type that could go on for a while. It’s more about the adventure and the different situations Natsume comes across than completing the story but I do think it’ll have a satisfying conclusion once it’s all over. Season 1 starts us off on a fun note with the character introductions. Right now the cast is fairly small so you get to have a lot of focus on Natsume. If you’re looking for a calming title to watch then this one should fit the bill. Each story tends to be rather emotional without being too sad so you are able to feel happy by the end.

The series centers around a kid named Natsume who has the ability to see Yokai. This is not an ability that he wants because it alienates him from the other kids. Of course he learned the hard way not to let the other kids or even adults know that he has this power but it can make for some embarrassing situations like when he has to run away from one. His only solace is to make it to a temple in time and the yokai can’t follow but the problem is that this can happen at any time. Still, he has tried to find a decent balance of this and leads a quiet if uneventful life. One day he comes across a demon in a cat statue known as Nyanko Sensei.

He agrees to help in exchange for eventually consuming Natsume’s soul or something. I forget Nyanko’s actual excuse but it’s one of those excuses where you know he’s not really serious. The yokai actually seems kind of lonely so now he has a friend in Natsume and Nyanko is very powerful so demons can’t mess with Natsume quite as much as they used to. Natsume then finds out that the reason why all of the Yokai are after him is because he has a legendary book of names. See, his grandmother stole a bunch of Yokai names into her book which basically bound them as eternal servants to her. Now this has been passed down to Natsume but he has no intention of ordering them around. He now has a goal, Natsume must return every name back over to the Yokai in order to grant them freedom and allow them to pass on. Some Yokai will happily agree while others may hold a grudge but he knows that this is the right thing to do. Can Natsume get those names back?

In a way you already know the end goal to this now but the series is clever in not letting you know how many names are in the book. So there could be 100 names in there or there could be 1000. We just don’t know. On average Natsume will release 1 name per episode but sometimes he’ll miss one and sometimes there will be multiple names. Either way the progress is steady but it’s like attacking a boss in a video game where the health bar is hidden. You just have to make sure to never lose heart and keep attacking but as a result the journey can be long. I would like the series to eventually say how many names are left but I know that is a narrative limiter in a sense since it puts an end date. No series should have to end until the writer wants it too so there’s no rush on this.

As I mentioned this is a very calm series. Each episode usually revolves around some kind of Yokai dispute or some kind of tragic event that happened to one and so the demon needs closure from Natsume before passing on. During the day Natsume still has to balance his school life and not let anybody know that he has these powers. I do think he could have at least let the heroine know since she was interested and clearly wouldn’t be giving him any grief about it. Well, maybe in the future I suppose. Don’t expect any big action scenes or much of an ongoing story here though because this isn’t that kind of title.

I also wouldn’t really call it a comedy. Sure the characters can have their moments but for the most part a slice of life drama sounds the most fitting and even then I would almost remove the drama part because it just has the wrong connotation to it even though I would say that is technically accurate. You’re here just for the adventures and to take in the atmosphere. As a result it’s going to have a lower ceiling than most shows and I would call it good as opposed to very good but it’s also a very safe show. You can’t imagine anything super questionable happening here and so it should never really dip. It’s a very consistent ride with no real bumps in between.

As a main character Natsume is okay. He’s a bit emotionless at the moment and in large part that’s due to what he had to put up with as a kid. Presumably he should be getting more and more expressive as the show goes on. He can throw a solid punch when necessary though and is a quick runner. He shows traces of a real personality at times but for now he’s more of an empty shell. A guy who does the right thing and acts pleasant but it always feels like a bit of an act. Of course as the viewer we know that he really is a nice guy but he just doesn’t know how to really interact with people yet.

Nyanko is the more entertaining part of the dynamic. My only issue with him is that he’s supposed to be a real bigshot among the Yokai and yet he never seems as impressive as he should be. I’d just like to see him dominating the others more but again this isn’t an action series so those moments would be a bit more limited. He likes to cause trouble and make an uproar but as much as Natsume acts annoyed about it, he’s probably glad to have a break from the endless peace and quiet he once had. Nyanko is always having fun and messing around which adds a whole lot of energy and excitement to the dynamic. He makes the show better just by existing.

Reiko doesn’t really appear in the present but she’s a big part of the story since the whole situation with the book started because of her. She clearly had a lot of talent and ability back in the day to trick so many Yokai. It’s hard to say just how nefarious she was. I don’t think she was oblivious at what stealing their names would mean for the Yokai but she also seems like a trickster who likes to mess around. So if she died suddenly which I think is most likely, then she had probably intended to return all the names before she passed. She just didn’t realize that in a way she was gambling with their futures but of course this is conjecture. We just don’t know much about her yet but I do think that she is fun. Hopefully she isn’t actually dead somehow and shows up one day.

Then you have Jun who is effectively the main heroine here. She suspects that something is off about Natsume and that he can see spirits but of course she can’t prove it. This is the only area where I was annoyed with Natsume because this was a perfect chance to share his secret. He already has Tanuma who basically knows. Of course that is because the guy has a bit of a 6th sense to him as well but I just don’t see the harm in telling Jun. She is quite persistent either way and will keep hounding him until she gets a satisfying answer. Not saying he needs to bow to peer pressure like that and tell her right off the bat but I just feel like he was being vague for no real reason.

Jun’s nice enough and hopefully she sticks around. Tanuma is also good. He’s a fairly quiet guy so he gets along with Natsume well enough. Natsume’s still more of a solo act though so the guy doesn’t appear a ton. Near the end we are introduced to Natori who feels like the only really major character beyond Natsume from the human side. This guy is a famous actor and yet he can also see yokai. He has an odd lizard spirit that runs around him all the time and the guy has a certain edge to him. Whenever he’s around you sort of feel like the overarching plot is starting to move a bit. This is a guy I absolutely wouldn’t trust if I was Natsume but at the same time I would try to use him in order to get some answers. This is the best time to pull that off after all and usually you see villains using heroes so why not try the other way around right?

The soundtrack is a bit on the weaker side. There weren’t really any standout tracks that I was tempted to look up afterwards. It’s not surprising as a calm show will have calm tunes but throwing in some kind of electronic theme would have been nice. The animation is also fairly basic but not bad. It shouldn’t be winning any awards in my book but you can always see what is happening and nothing’s off model. It works well enough to supplement the story and have you going smoothly through each episode. On a technical level the series does what it needs to in order to move on.

The 12 episodes go by really quickly. In a way it all feels like pre arc but that’s sort of the series in a nutshell. It’s basically an anthology series so how much you enjoy each season will likely depend on the cases within it. The stories in here are all fairly solid. There is even some danger on occasion like when Natsume leaves while Nyanko isn’t around and gets attacked. 9 times out of 10 it is never smart to leave without Nyanko but sometimes there isn’t a choice as Nyanko will just drift off on his own. Natsume’s punch always does a lot of damage to Yokai which hasn’t really been delved into yet. At least that is a way out for him, it’s an attack option that he can use as a last resort but he prefers not to use violence.

His family is nice enough. They aren’t his real parents but the two people who take care of him have really done their best. Natsume is still a bit traumatized to an extent so he tries not to worry them at all. He probably tries a little too hard so it’s almost like he’s hiding things from them but you understand the reason for this. The only time he really gets mad at Nyanko is when the cat breaks one of their object. You look forward to seeing him level with these two a bit more in the future. I feel like they would be more understanding than everyone else from his childhood just based on their temperament. Even if they didn’t believe him for example I don’t think they would treat him any differently.

Overall, Natsume’s Book of Friends is a good show. The episodes go by quickly and it’s something that you can plug in and play on the TV at any time. Due to the episodic nature of the show it’s not like you’ll have to try hard to recall what was happening last time. You can just jump into each adventure fresh and take it from there. A show like this could use a big plot or some fights to take it to the next level but it’s comfortable where it is at and executes the premise well. It’s a show that’s hard for me to picture being really disliked. Even if it’s not your cup of tea, at most you might find it boring but probably not bad. For season 2 I would just like to see a stronger opening and a more energetic soundtrack but if not I can still count on some fun stories.

Overall 6/10

Assassination Classroom Season 2 Review

Posted on February 25, 2023 by dreager1

It’s time for the end of the Classroom saga with season 2. We get more action in this one as there are more super powered beings now but the series still blends together the more slice of life adventures with those too. I’ve never been a fan of the way the series ends and so the anime doesn’t really change that but you should have a good enough time here. The animation is still sharp and you will be invested in finding out what happens in the end. Can the characters surpass their limits and stop Koro-sensei from blowing up the planet?

We start things off with some slice of life adventures and a quick fight with Itona as the season kicks off. Itona had been a bit of a recurring villain so he was finally brought into the fold as one of the main characters but of course this also means that he lost his powers in the process so he becomes fully human. It would have been nice if he could have kept his powers even if it would have made Koro’s job of staying alive a lot harder. Now he would really have to be watching his back a lot because all that Itona would need is a single strike to claim victory. Still you get to have fun with the cast before things get real with the Reaper.

The Reaper mini arc is one of the top highlights in the whole series. The reason for this is because he does embody the perfect assassin without super powers. Yes his abilities are so good that they may as well be super abilities but technically he doesn’t have any biological enhancements of alien parts. He’s just using true skill here and he manages to absolutely hold his own against the main characters. That’s really nothing to sneeze at and his fight with Karasuma was great. The arc really gave a glimpse of how the whole show could have been with the cast trying to stop the more powerful assassins.

That said, it also underscores once again how the kids aren’t really ready for the big time. Without Karasuma they would have had absolutely no chance here. He’s just in a completely different league Karma and Nagisa get their moments of taking down stronger opponents but this was something the series could never get past. At the end of the day the kids needed some kind of time skip so that they could have really helped contribute more. More often than not the teachers had to do the heavy lifting here.

We also get more fights with the top scoring rivals from the school led by Gakushu. The rest of his group was never as memorable but he made for a great rival to Karma. The two of them would duke it out a whole lot throughout the series and it was a fun rivalry. The school competitions were always fun and another side to the whole assassin life as they would use their skills academically. Those battles were always fun also because that meant there was less time for Koro-Sensei to appear and mess things up.

This also closed out the plot with the principal Gakuho once and for all. He was definitely a really fun antagonist in the series and will be missed. The fact that he could hold his own against everyone without any powers was crazy. His origin story was definitely a sad one and the guy was absolutely dedicated to making sure that nothing like that would happen again. He pushed himself to the physical and mental limit of what a human could be and it paid dividends. He could pretty much mind control anyone and had a whole lot of influence. That’s not something that you can see just anyone doing and his confidence never wavered. The guy would take any risk if it meant he would win. Still one of the best characters around.

There’s also the subplot with Nagisa’s mom that finally concludes here. She definitely went rather crazy throughout the series so it was nice that she could finally see a bit of reason. I mean it did take a crazy assassin and a burning school to get the message across but hey at least she did change after that and Nagisa could finally have a break. He would need it since we’re approaching the end of the series now and there wouldn’t be many breaks left.

This led into Koro-Sensei’s origin story which is really solid. Basically he wasn’t always a terrible character. Back in the day he was a top assassin who got results and was basically the best in the world. He even trained the Reaper and in a fair fight nobody could beat him. Ultimately he would have continued to be the strongest but he ended up getting attached to one of the researchers, Aguri which gave the villains some leverage and ultimately had him change his ways. He was no longer a ruthless monster who wanted to destroy everybody. Instead he would now be a caring teacher.

The backstory does a good job of establishing why he wanted to be a teacher in the first place and also tying everything together for the climax. It also gives us a massive twist to one of the characters in the series that was always pretty shocking when it happened. Best twist in the series easily and I gained a lot of respect for the character with what she had to put up with the whole time. Just enduring the pain alone without ever letting it show was already a lot to deal with and that’s not even counting the emotional pain. The only thing it doesn’t really do is explain what happened to Koro-Sensei’s personality to the extreme degree that it is in the present.

Did repressing his emotions for so many years cause him to want to just be as extreme as possible to make up for lost time? I don’t believe that it was all an act because there would be no reason for that and it would just feel like a cop out. Regardless while I consider him to be one of the weakest characters in the series in the present, I did like him a lot in the flashback. Sometimes a characters just really falls down I suppose.

After that emotional arc and we wrap up the fights in the present, we approach the end with the big Civil War. The kids have to decide on whether or not they should murder Koro-Sensei. Of course you know that I’m going to be on the side saying not to murder him. Cmon now, that’s just the worst decision you can make. If it comes down to sacrificing one person to save the world then in almost all cases I’m going to just say that it’s time to let the world be destroyed. You don’t trade lives as they say. Additionally there was still a chance that he wouldn’t blow up so you have to take that into consideration as well. I was rooting hard for the no kill team to win this one because of that. It’s just the only way to have a satisfying ending.

I won’t say which team wins but ultimately I wasn’t thrilled with the ending so you can expect that not everything went the way I wanted it too. I feel like it can be hard to ultimately deliver on an ending because after any big adventure there are so many ways a story can conclude. Although while many Jump final arcs tend to get some heat I usually disagree since ending with a big war arc is always the way to go. The war arc here isn’t literally the ending but it’s close enough where it may as well be and that worked out well. In this case it’s just the actual ending that’s the big problem and so for the last episode you’re not quite as invested. You know this could have easily been saved with just a small stinger at the end showing a certain cliffhanger moment. That’s absolutely all I would have needed and I would have been good. A shame that didn’t happen.

As you’d expect the animation is still really sharp here. I’d say one thing that the series does exceptionally well are the really sharp colors for the character designs and action moments. They really do a good job of depicting the pure intensity of the villains and heroes when they are using their assassin techniques. The ost is also good. It has a good amount of variety and I liked several themes there. It may not be the biggest soundtrack out there but it definitely gets the job done.

In general the character cast is good too. Nagisa and Karma are a solid duo as the leads with their banter and rivalry going on. They really help each other to succeed which is important and of course Karma has that classic rival energy of always being ready to pick a fight. Part of what makes this work so well in the school setting is also how he just won’t tolerate bullies…at all. The other characters may play nice but he just jumps in there and gets the job done which I can always appreciate.

The rest of the kids are solid as well. Itona was more interesting as a villain but he’s still reasonably good. Kaede went way up in this season as she got a much bigger role and the rest of the kids are all around to help out as needed. Irina still tends to not do great when it counts but Karasuma always steps up against the big villains. He also helped the kids out even though it would put his job in jeopardy near the end.

Then for the villains we had quite a few really solid ones like the Reaper. That guy’s techniques were crazy good and it makes sense that almost nobody could touch him. He’s really perfected his craft. Shiro wasn’t nearly as solid as a villain even if you do have to give him some props for his dedication. The guy never gave up that’s for sure. He just kept on trying to go after Koro for ages at this point and considering the power difference there, it wasn’t a small feat. I already talked about how great Gakuho was of course.

The series is at its best during the action moments. We get a lot of quality battles and quick choreography. The show tends to be at its weakest during the comedy episodes as the cast just isn’t generally solid enough to hold these up for long. That’s why the show tends to quickly devolve into fanservice and shenanigans like that to pass the time while the serious episodes avoid that. The fanservice isn’t crazy but still fairly frequent at times and it doesn’t help that Koro’s one of the main characters and he usually encourages this quite a bit. Ironically if you cut him out of the whole series then the show instantly is elevated but the whole series revolves around him so at that point you’re really talking about a completely different series.

At the end of the day I stand by my reasoning that the show would have been more solid if the main characters were more grown up rather than being kids the whole time. It just stacked the deck too far against them, particularly with how fast Koro-Sensei was. If anything even most of the villains should have gotten neg diff’d the whole time. Sure Shiro’s cloak had that special substance on it but there are still loads of ways for Koro to have beaten him. The power levels were just set too far apart which meant that things wouldn’t always end in a very satisfying way although I’ll give the show props for mainly not having Koro ever lose in a crazy way that would make no sense with his speed. I do think that they did put a lot of thought into each of his moves.

Overall, Assassination Classroom season 2 mainly picks up right where season 1 left off. If you enjoyed the first season then you will enjoy this one and vice versa. I would still give it the advantage over the first season as we get a lot of the biggest moments here like with the Reaper and the origin story though. It suffers from the same issues as the first but focuses more on the strengths which is good. I don’t think this will ever be remembered as one of the top Shonen Jump titles but it was pretty big while it was going and it is still memorable enough to be remembered even as the years go by. If you haven’t checked it out yet and are looking for a fairly low key slice of life with some action arcs then this should be right up your alley.

Overall 6/10

Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya Review

Posted on February 18, 2023 by dreager1

Saint Seiya is one of those franchises that just keeps getting better and better with age. The fights are always incredible and the characters are timeless. It is really like the original DBZ from back in the day. When Netflix announced a CG series I would say the two reactions I had was “Not CG!!!!” and “Glad we’re getting Seiya back”. At the end of the day I would have preferred some top level animation for a fun reboot but I’ll still take this so we have more content in the franchise. The show actually changes quite a few things up which is why I would call it an alternate retelling. The names are different, some attacks aren’t translated and the government gets involved this time. I actually think the show should continue to change things rather than being a totally straight adaption. It allows the series to really duck the usual comparisons that it would get right away and helps it to stand on its own as a stand alone show. That said I would have liked it if the names had stayed the same since they take a lot of getting used to.

So the series starts off with a Gold Saint appearing in Seiya’s home and kidnapping his sister after taking down some government workers. Seiya and his sister Patricia have the ability of the cosmos which allows them to perform superhuman feats that should be next to impossible. Unfortunately that was not enough to take down a Gold Saint warrior. Those fighters are way too powerful. Years pass by and Seiya figures his sister is dead as he has been unable to get any leads on her or on the mysterious gold saint. That’s when he is taken in by Sienna and her grand father who explain the lore about powerful Saints which will save the goddess Athena from the evil gods. Seiya doesn’t buy any of this hogwash for a second but they explain that it is the only lead to his sister so he’s in. Basically he first has to earn a bronze armor of his own and then he must compete in a tournament with other Saints. The difficult part here is that there is a guy named Vander who wants the power of the Saints for himself to save the world. Seiya and friends will have to watch out for this guy or be crushed in the process.

The season is pretty quick so we don’t really get to the Gold Saints much as this is mainly pre arc. At times it can feel like the series is going a bit fast to tackle everything but it goes at a good speed for the fights which is the important part. I mentioned that there were some changes here so lets look at the biggest one. It’s the inclusion of Vander who believes he is trying to save the world from utter destruction. He’s one of those villains who has some good ideas but unfortunately the heroes don’t really get to talk to him much initially and the guy goes off the deep end very quickly so he can’t be reasoned with.

I understand why he is skeptical to just let the Saints handle everything because what if they lose? In fact the prophecy claims that the Saints will lose this time and Earth will be destroyed so maybe taking matters into his own hands wouldn’t be such a bad idea. In fact he has done quite well so far in building a whole army of Saints which can even overpower Bronze Knights. He did this by himself with a small group so imagine if he had a bunch of real resources at his disposal? The bio engineered Saints have a great supply of cosmos and incredible defenses. They can draw on more power from the generator as needed too. If only Vander could have played ball and tried to meet the Knights in the middle then Earth would have been in great shape for the fights to come. Instead Earth is more defenseless than ever before now.

I also liked seeing the government show up to get some fights although the show could have done better with the power levels. There is one moment where the government shows up in a helicopter/plane and the Saints start talking about how they’ve got no shot and are going to be obliterated..only to destroy it in one shot as always. I don’t care what guns they have on those planes, one good hit from a Saint will break it every time so there is nothing to be afraid of. The characters always seem to think that a vehicle is safe only for a Saint to break it in the next scene. You’re better off on the ground at that rate.

I’ll never be able to take the government or any other human faction seriously against the Saints because they are so outmatched but at the same time it is nice to see them. I do think with the world going into danger soon it makes sense to show the real life impacts f that and that’s something that the show did pretty well. I hope to see this continue more. Also as a side note, I like how Seiya grows actual wings when he powers up his cosmo like a real Pegasus. It is a fun visual that makes a lot of sense if you ask me.

The soundtrack here is pretty solid. The opening is a lot of fun and works as a great remix. It gets you pumped for what’s about to happen. Within the actual show the osts are good too but my only issue so far is that there isn’t a lot of variety. You’re going to be hearing the same songs playing quite a few times the more you go through the episodes. I think just adding a handful of other themes would have helped prevent it from feeling like they were cycling through the same tunes all the time.

As for the graphics, well I would say the CG here is pretty good. It definitely looks like a video game and what enhances this even further is how each character jumps into a pre set animation cycle whenever they go into their final smash. Remember playing Marvel vs Capcom and activating your final smash only for someone to activate theirs a second later so yours does no damage while they get all the hits in. That’s basically what happens here on a number of occasions. Where the animation struggles a bit is during the actual combat. Often times the projectile attacks will look cool but the show doesn’t have a whole lot of choreography for most of the fights. This results in faster battles than you would expect. Battles are very important in Saint Seiya so I’m hoping we can get this upgraded a bit in the second season. Having animation that looks good is really important but having great fights is equally critical.

As always Seiya is a great main character. He is determined to save his sister and fights off all kinds of odds in order to do so. He’s the kind of guy you want to have on your side because he will never give up and he will continue to fight to the last man. He always surpasses his limits and gets a lot of great character development even over the course of these first episodes. He was always willing to defend those in trouble but by the end he has really begun to understand what it means to be a knight of Athena. Can’t wait to see more of him soon.

Meanwhile Andromeda is a girl in this version which was a pretty big deal back in the day. Ultimately her personality isn’t much different though. Perhaps she is a little bolder but that’s about it. Although by default I actually prefer her to the usual version for that reason since Andromeda was never my favorite Saint. She gets her whole plot with Phoenix here but for the most part isn’t winning many big battles outside of that. I should mention right now that Seiya easily steals the show and gets the most to do here, the rest of the Saints aren’t able to do much of anything. I mean they’re strong and we see them do cool things during their debut appearances but Seiya gets almost all of the fights to himself. He’s the guy you call in to fight all the real enemies and it shows what a gap there is between him and everyone else.

Cygnus is extra confident and mean in this one which is nice. He’s got an edge to his fighting style and even comes close to murdering Athena at one point. He does mellow out super quickly though. I think it would have been more effective if he had lost to Phoenix or something which caused him to really change his ways. Alternately I would have just kept him as being really gruff for the whole season and think that would have worked well. Regardless he’s a quality character and a good addition to the team. Definitely someone you don’t want to mess with and he is supposed to be one of the more powerful Saints with how he could keep up with Dragon and Seiya while the others couldn’t.

Dragon has always been one of the most consistent Saints. He has a lot of power as well as great discipline which allows him to attack and defend at the right times. He has his unbreakable shield and unstoppable fist which makes for a tough combo. He gets his big fight here while blind which was always impressive and gave Seiya a good match. Dragon is probably the most honorable member of the Saints and is always determined to fight for justice. He doesn’t like cheap tricks or winning in any way that isn’t 100% fair so it’s easy to like him.

Then we have Phoenix as one of the big bosses for the show. He had a very intense backstory so you can really see how he cracked. The guy was put through the wringer back during his childhood and really never caught a break. The show doesn’t hold back with the ordeals he had to go through and so now he just isn’t the hero that he once was. Of course in part due to the hellish training he had to go through, Phoenix is considerably more powerful than the other bronze saints. It’s always impressive just how strong he is and he never ceases to amaze during the battles. His fights are always cool and he has the best looking attacks. His fire techniques don’t stop and he’s easy to root for even when he isn’t the most heroic out there. That’s just how he rolls.

Meanwhile Sienna makes for a good Athena. She has the most powerful warriors on the planet trying to murder her and yet she doesn’t live her life in fear. She’s doing her best to hang in there and continue to fight the good fight which is admirable. She even gets to use her magic powers to block opponent attacks at times. I still wish she could fight more since Hades and Poseidon have no problem shattering worlds and firing off big energy blasts. You can’t tell me that Athena doesn’t have that kind of power within her somewhere right? Like it wouldn’t make sense that she couldn’t fight because in theory she has more cosmo than almost every other character in the series.

This is where I have to throw in that as always Aiolos is the best Knight here. He understood that murdering a literal baby was wrong and made sure to save her life even though he paid the ultimate price for it. That’s absolutely what you have to do if you consider yourself to be a true hero. I don’t see any of the other Gold Saints doing that to be honest. The Bronze Saints would but you still would expect the Golds to be better. One change this series did to try and make this not feel as bad is there’s a prophecy ~~that the pope made up~~ which says that Athena will lose the war. So he tells them that they should just murder her and fight the war on their own. This plan doesn’t make much sense though because you are just making your side even weaker and will lose by a greater amount now. Cmon that’s just easy match but the Gold Saint have about as much integrity as your average pickpocket so they are easily taken in.

It’s good that we have future arcs where they look good because this is why they always make me just shake my head at how villainous and unreasonable they are the whole time. I’ll at least give Aiolia some props because he is able to listen to reason after Seiya messes him up a bit. He also did seem to save Seiya’s sister although he’s intentionally vague about the whole thing. He really should have at least tried to tell him something about her instead of being cryptic. Would have made things easier later on I would expect. The rest of the Gold Saints are total sellouts as you’d expect.

Same with the Silver Saints to be honest. They show up to get absolutely devastated the whole times. The one who can read minds was fun though because that’s always such a good ability. I always like seeing how the heroes can get around that. Do they have to shut their mind off or just move really quickly? To date Yusuke Urameshi had the absolute best way of dealing with that. Man that series has so many good moments and Seiya is on that level which is why this series is so great. Even the weaker villains like Misty are able to see through basic traps and give the heroes trouble. I do like that because even if they aren’t the nicest folks, they had to go through a lot of diligent training to get to silver rank so it makes sense that they could do this much.

Then you have Shaina who really wants to beat Seiya up. Ultimately her character arc feels a bit rushed as the show gets through her scenes quickly but she’s fun as always. I liked her rivalry with Seiya even if it ends up being one sided very quickly. Seiya just improves too fast for anyone to keep up with him. There is also Marin who trains Seiya but I never liked her quite as much. I think she could have been better at assisting Seiya and giving him backup when needed. She is always using trickery and just overthinking everything though. Just team up with him already and the heroes can have another fighter in their group.

Finally we get to two of the other bronze saints who get a role. First up is Cassios who has a lot of raw strength but that’s all that he has going for him. It’s naturally not going to be enough against someone like Seiya whose punches break the speed barrier and will eventually go faster than light. That’s not the kind of power that you can really hope to deal with easily. He just isn’t that kind of fighter. Then there is Unicorn who has his little rivalry with Seiya as always but unfortunately he doesn’t get a ton of screen time. See I would have liked to have seen him absolutely giving Seiya the work or one quick fight between them. I always thought he was a lot of fun at least but he’s more of a comic relief character here and doesn’t get a big role.

The season ends with a massive cliffhanger that gets you hyped up for what will be coming next. That’s always a good way to end things off so I’m pretty psyched for what will be happening soon. At the end of the day this was a very fun show with a lot of action and quality visuals. Perhaps it isn’t the remake that people had been waiting for but if it had to be CG then doing this alternate version was absolutely the way to go. It keeps you on your toes and takes some interesting approaches to modernizing the story. I just think they should keep doing that in the next seasons too as you then have to keep your guard up to see what will really be happening next.

Overall, Whether you call this series Knights of the Zodiac or Saint Seiya, it will always be a really big franchise. The names can be hard to keep track of so just think of them by the names of their cloth/armors since those never end up changing. The show has no real weak points which is the main reason why I rank it so highly. The story is very engaging and I never got bored while watching this. If anything it just ends way too quickly so you wish there were more episodes right off the bat. Still the series did continue and will keep on going so at least there is nothing to worry about there. It’s certainly one of the upsides about starting a series once it has already been going on for a while. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out, it’s pretty nostalgic to see Seiya’s first fights again and the show isn’t lost in the shadow of the original.

Overall 8/10

Clannad: After Story Review

Posted on January 15, 2023 by dreager1

Clannad: After Story is one of those shows that will start to stress you out near the end. It starts to go towards an ending that you know would absolutely wreck it and you’re just hoping that it doesn’t go that way but a small part of you knows that it could be possible. Well, it doesn’t happen and so you can breathe a sigh of relief. The show does stick the landing and ultimately it’s a good show. I do think it lags behind the original which managed to balance the drama and comedy a lot better. As the After Story this one is a lot more serious throughout with less time for light hearted humor. As expected from this franchise though the emotional scenes definitely do land and this will be a show where you get emotionally invested.

The show starts off with some final school adventures. Enjoy this part of the show while you can because once they leave the school then that’s it. The first episode is sort of the introduction episode for new fans that you often see for season 2s. It’s a chance to get the whole cast hanging out and having fun. It’s a Baseball episode so you’ve also got the sport bonus. It’s a fun way to start up the season and is probably the happiest episode in the saga. Nothing goes wrong, it’s just everyone having a good time bonding over the game. Definitely one of the best executions of the “intro” episode that I’ve seen.

The first real arc involves Tomoya’s friend Youhei as he finally gets his time to shine. Or falter as is the case this time. His sister Mei is really concerned about him because Youhei is still a big troublemaker and doesn’t seem to have matured at all. A lot of time has passed over the years so she was hoping to see some improvement. Youhei figures that he will need a fake girlfriend to trick Mei into thinking that he can look out for himself. None of his female classmates want to help out with this though so the only candidate left is Nagisa’s mom Sanae who doesn’t mind helping out.

The only tricky part is that Youhei doesn’t actually realize that she is the Mom and actually thinks he has a chance. Meanwhile Mei sees through this fairly quick and is discouraged again so she pretends to be going out with Tomoya to test Youhei’s bond but unfortunately he fails at this one because since he’s Tomoya’s best friend he figures that he will look the other way. Everything pretty much blows up at this point and it doesn’t help that Mei wants Tomoya to help her get Youhei back on the soccer team since everything seemed to go wrong as soon as he was kicked off of that club.

Part of the problem though is that the club is as corrupt as they come. The actual members of the club just aren’t good people so there isn’t much benefit in trying to warm up to them. It would have been better if they didn’t even try to help but of course once Mei says she will go Tomoya has to accompany her because these guys can’t be trusted. We do get a big fight there though and then another fight later on between Tomoya and Youhei.

This arc definitely had a lot of serious moments and a lot of dramatic ones as well. The reason I thought that Youhei didn’t look good though is because all of the plans were just bad. For starters, getting a fake girlfriend to convince Mei that he is mature now is just going to have the opposite effect when she inevitably finds out the truth. Even if he could keep the secret, well now he’s living out a lie. His best bet would be to get an actual girlfriend but of course that wasn’t quite in the cards for him either.

He’s always been the most unintelligent member of the cast and so Tomoya ends up tricking him a whole lot but if there was ever a time to rise above that then this would have been it. Instead Youhei makes the wrong call in not speaking up when he knows Mei is way too young for Tomoya. Honestly if the explanation was that he thought it was another prank that would have been way better than his nonreaction here. I would at least have been able to buy that a bit but otherwise he had to make a stand here and shut this down.

Youhei never really came back from that since he doesn’t get much of a role after this. Ultimately he was a good friend to Tomoya and kept him in check over the years but as the resident punching bag of the series it would have been nice if he could have at least looked really good during his big serious arc. That was his chance and he blew it.

Meanwhile I’d also say Mei didn’t look very good here. She could be a bit too forceful in trying to make sure that Youhei matured. At the end of the day it’s something that he has to do on his own and it’s not like you can really force it to happen. Her decision to get him back on the soccer team just ended up causing a whole lot of issues instead of really helping anything out.

It is unfortunate that Tomoyo and the others don’t get much of a role this time but it does work as the after story. It’s a bold approach for sure but when you think of this as the story taking place after the main story has concluded then it makes sense that most of the old characters would be completely written out. Their time in the sun has ended after all.

That said, we do get an alternate reality saga real quick with Kyou and Ryou. So of course Ryou has always liked Tomoya but was way too timid to actually say anything. Well, this time she does say something and he agrees to go out with her basically because he would agree to go out with any girl who worked up the courage to ask him out. That’s how it seems to be at least given how many alternate paths there are. Thing is…he quickly realizes that he actually likes her twin sister Kyou more which makes things complicated.

Kyou’s always liked Tomoya as well but tries to bury these feelings. Having her twin sister going out with him just makes it even harder to hide. Ultimately she wins out and Ryou gets wrecked again but I feel like having both of these involved in the same alternate path made things a little extra tragic. It would have been better if either Ryou got her own alternate universe episode or didn’t do much here. It just makes Tomoya look bad for jumping around so quickly.

Additionally Kyou owed it to her sister not to make a move in that case. Teasing Tomoya on the bench and messing with him was really just a way to get him to fall for her even if she wouldn’t admit it. It’s only natural that she would defeat Ryou once she got serious because she’s more outgoing and attractive while also being able to hold a normal conversation with Tomoya way more than Ryou ever could. But it’s like the bro code, you have to have the sister code as well where you won’t just steal the man like that.

The instant it happened everything was all over because if Tomoya stayed with Ryou then she’d know it was out of pity so the relationship was destroyed right off the bat. This at least allowed them to get more of a role in the season though. Kyou appears a bit anyway as a teacher in the future but Ryou mainly vanishes. Fuuko also appears a bit in the future but her role is really small and I wouldn’t say that it’s too pivotal. It was mostly just a reason to have her around but I miss her supernatural abilities as a ghost. Surprisingly the ghost never got to appear again but I guess that’s because she was back in the world of the living.

We get a mini arc for Misae who is sort of the dorm mother for a bunch of the kids. She was around a bit in season 1 as well so I suppose this was her chance to finally get some real development. It’s a pretty emotional arc that even has some supernatural elements to it. Basically she likes one guy who already has a boyfriend and then a magic guy named Katsuki likes her but it’s hard for him to confess now since Misae was already crushed.

As you can see this is one of those very dramatic arcs. I do think getting together with Katsuki wouldn’t have really worked because the rebound would have been way too quick there. You need time to get over the first love since things didn’t really work out there. It’s interesting to know more about her past but at the end of the day it’s not like she ever ends up being a main character. Think of it as extra world building. Katsuki did the right thing in not confessing initially though. I would defend that as there are times where you shouldn’t “Shoot your shot” and confessing right after someone had a big break up or was rejected is certainly one of those times.

Yukine gets a mini arc as well and if you don’t remember her that’s fine. Her role was eve smaller in season 1 but basically she is always in a small room in the school with some coffee. It turns out that she works as the resident nurse for a bunch of gangs in the area and patches them up whenever they get hurt. As a result everyone likes her because she doesn’t interfere in the fights. Still, her brother was the only one strong enough to stop the fighting entirely and things are getting dicey without him. This leads our hero Tomoya to have to jump in and try fighting.

There are some fun moments here especially the big moment where the brother seemingly appears. This one is less of an emotional arc I’d say and more of a quick action one. The fight is actually played totally straight and has a good amount of tension. It’s clear that Tomoya won’t be able t win with his busted arm but it’s always impressive just how long he lasts considering what he has to deal with. He does well in every sport and challenge even when he can only use one arm.
Now we enter the big part of the series which is the climax to Tomoya and Nagisa’s plot. Well, she is sick once again which is rough because that means that she will have to miss school once again which could prevent her from graduating. Her condition has always been a bit of a mystery as the doctors could not figure out exactly what was wrong with her. This naturally makes things rather tough on Tomoya who can’t possibly enjoy graduation without her. Also if she has to start a whole new year again then that means she will be all by herself this time. He also has to move on and get a job which is where Yoshino comes in handy.

I always thought Yoshino was a good guy and he really comes in handy when it counts here. The guy does his best to show Tomoya the ropes and has his back at every turn. It’s not every day that you find a good friend like that. Yoshino’s speeches also may be a bit on the cheesy side but he does mean every word of them. I was glad that Tomoya never laughed at them because he does owe this guy a lot.

Akio and Sanae are fun supporting characters here as always. Sanae definitely likes to have fun and act as one of the kids along with the main characters. She’s good at alternating between being a motherly figure and a friend and helps quite a lot of the characters in the show. She really came in clutch with helping Tomoya when he was down in the dumps during the show. He really had a rough stretch and during that period she kept going after him until she was able to get him into the clear. It’s not something most characters could have done.

Akio also helps out a lot too of course both verbally and economically. He wants Tomoya to know that he’s here for him and the message is definitely received. I’d say a good part of why Nagisa is able to remain so hopeful throughout everything going on is because she had such supportive parents. It just wouldn’t have been possible without them.

The show definitely goes farther in the timeline than you’d expect but it’s why around half of the show takes place after school. We get to see Tomoya out in the real world working a job and how each character has went on to pursue their dreams. It does mean that the show takes on a much more serious tone for those moments though. There isn’t a whole lot of comedy after the school part is over and things can even get rather dark. It’s why everything was riding on the ending which ultimately is what keeps the show afloat.

You are super invested in everything going on and it’s all emotional but of course that is also why a bad ending would really doom the whole thing. The animation is solid here as expected. I would say it maybe doesn’t feel quite as high budget as the first season which had some really stylish moments for the occasional fight scenes and Chun Li combos. This one has moments like that as well but they tend to be rare and not quite as flashy. Still, it all looks good enough to me. Then for the soundtrack you’ve got all of the classic tunes. The emotional songs definitely fit in with the scenes really well and help to really amp up the atmosphere. I’d definitely give the full soundtrack a thumbs up for sure.

Now I’m going to dive into the more spoilery aspects of the show so skip the next 5 paragraphs if you haven’t seen the show yet. After all with a big emotional show like this you don’t want to know any of the big events before they happen. It would soften the impact of every scene in a big way since you can only experience them once.

All right so here we go. Nagisa is unable to overcome her illness and ends up dying. It was definitely a real tragic moment because you really thought that she would get better this time. She does end up delivering her baby Ushio first though and asks Tomoya to watch out for him. Unfortunately Tomoya gets super depressed to the point where he can’t even interact with the baby and so for several years Nagisa’s parents take care of him instead. I have to say that this made Tomoya look really awful though. You can’t just shut down like that and he basically became his father even though he swore that he never would.

Well, eventually Sanae tricks Tomoya into spending time with his daughter Ushio and the two of them grow close. Tomoya finally reconnects with all of his old friends and becomes a good father…only for Ushio to get the same illness and die. So now Tomoya has lost everything. See, this is where the show would have immediately gone down the tubes for me if it ended like that. There would just be no coming back from this because it would all be way too mean spirited and empty. It would be like the whole adventure was a waste and it was a cruel twist of fate. Tomoya had a theory that Nagisa and Ushio’s lives were dependent on the town so it being changed was what destroyed them.
Well, that wasn’t quite it. It turns out that instead there is an Earth Prime of sorts with the robot and the girl. By sacrificing her life the girl is able to give everyone a fresh start and resets things to the happy timeline where everyone lives and is happily ever after. Every part from Nagisa dying onwards just didn’t happen. It’s a little rough for the robot since he wanted to have fun with her but in a way he is reincarnated to the human world too. It’s all a bit trippy there for sure bit I was a big fan of this one without a doubt. We needed a happy ending and it finally justified that whole plot so I was glad about it.

Otherwise that arc was quickly becoming a train wreck. Tomoya would have lost all my respect in ditching his daughter like that. It would have been such a horrible look for him. Meanwhile his father committed a crime and went to jail which I thought was unexpected but maybe it would at least remind Tomoya not to make the same mistakes. So seeing him go to the dark side anyway was just really off. Even though the timeline reset it still happened so I can’t forget that but at least he got a shot at a second chance.

Meanwhile Ushio was a good character. She had to live without her father for a very long time but she kept a positive attitude about the whole thing and didn’t hold it against Tomoya. She just rode the waves of life and kept it moving. We don’t get to see her too long since the series was nearly ending by the time she showed up but she made an impact in that time.

I didn’t really talk about Nagisa much but I’d say that she’s a good heroine. It’s certainly not her fault that she gets sick a lot and she tries to stay strong throughout all of the sad things happening to her. Having to repeat a year again for the third time just because she was sick probably felt really unfair. Then she does her best to work and support Tomoya during his tough job as well. She never complains and always tries to do the right thing so there’s nothing to really dislike here.

Meanwhile Tomoya definitely made more mistakes this time around. Even in season 1 he wasn’t perfect as I thought some of his pranks could be a bit on the mean side but at least that was more of a humor plot. Here he tends to make more serious mistakes as the show goes on, ones that are a whole lot harder to just wave away. To in the end I have to say that I didn’t like Tomoya, he erased most of the goodwill around his character.

At least I can say something for this show that I rarely say and it’s that the romance here was actually rather solid. At least for the main pairing since Tomoya and Nagisa got a lot of time to interact and build this romance up. It’s certainly way better than the usual rushed type of romances where you feel like it just happened out of nowhere. In context this one took months to develop and at this point they’ve known each other for well over a year. When a show that is part romance manages to execute the romance well you know that it’s going to be in good shape.

In a way the show benefits from not trying to squeeze in a bunch of side romances. That would ultimately just distract from the main one where you want as much development as possible. Since this is the after story we also don’t have to worry about any of the other heroines trying to make a move because at this point they have all accepted that Nagisa and Tomoya are together. So there’s no funny business. It’s just everyone being good supportive friends as the adventures go on. The show is also long enough where you feel like you’ve known the characters a long while and got to see them on their journey. Not all of the characters get a big conclusion but since it’s from Tomoya’s view it makes sense that he wouldn’t see them all complete their dreams. We do get quick glimpses to see where they are at though.
Overall, Clannad: After Story really lives up to its name as being the post game in a way. The characters get to go through their epilogues while you watch. It’s something you almost never see since usually the end of the story is just that…the end. It’s very rare that you get the cast back for a whole other season like this. Maybe a big movie or something but not a full show. In the end the first show still wins just because it is a lot more fun and the school setting just works better but if you saw the original show then you owe it to yourself to watch this one. Even if just to see how the whole robot plot ends since in season 1 it still felt rather pointless by the end. At least now in this season you really see why it was included.

Overall 6/10

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Review

Posted on January 15, 2023 by dreager1

All right it’s finally time to dive into the She Hulk show. I saw this one a while back so the review’s been on the backburner for a while but hey it’s time for the hype. She Hulk is a character that I haven’t actually read a ton of comics for. I’m well aware of her just because she is a big character but this is really the first time seeing her on the main stage for a while. This show is going for a full comedy approach as opposed to more of an action/comedy mix. It can land some of the comedy elements at times but ultimately I would have to say that this is the weakest of the Disney+ shows that I’ve seen and a lot of that is ultimately going to come down to She Hulk herself who makes the villains’ job very easy in the show.

We kick things off with Jennifer grilling Hulk about Captain America and generally being annoying so they both get distracted from the road and a UFO smashes them. Their blood ends up mixing and so Jennifer gains the abilities of the Hulk. She is now the She Hulk and quickly wants to go back and resume her legal career. Hulk wants to train her but she has no time for that and runs off. After defeating Titania her legal career seems to be at an end but fortunately there is one company still willing to hire her as an attorney. They are even building up a whole super hero division. She Hulk accepts of course as this is her last shot but it means that she will have to be representing the Abomination! Additionally there are a group of Keyboard warriors led by HulkKing who want to drag her down into disgrace. Can she stop them?

The series is only 9 episodes long so it goes by really quickly. I thought the first episode was really solid and I liked the start of the last episode a lot but it does tend to fumble a lot midway through the show which prevents it from being higher. Lets tackle this one aspect at a time though. First up I’d say is the comedy for the show which will be hit or miss depending on how much you enjoy the style here. She Hulk breaks the 4th wall a lot which is absolutely her gimmick and those scenes work well enough.

It’s been a while since I watched a show where the character talks to the audience. When the show is trying to be funny within the the 4 walls is when it’s not quite as solid. She jokes around with all of the characters a lot but more often than not they tend to just look concerned because if she is their attorney then all hope might be lost. Crashing the wedding as She Hulk felt petty even if it was to upstage the bully and she hits up the bar quite a few times to drown her sorrows.

At the end of the day She Hulk isn’t one of the most mature heroes and this is how she really gives the villains ammo. So of course one of the big things the keyboard warriors are trying to do is to discredit She Hulk. Well, she has one unfortunate habit that is easy to exploit which is that she’s a huge flirt like James Bond and will have affairs really quick. You can probably imagine what the villains use to get some dirt on her and it’s just a shame that it was so easy. Now on one hand it’s fairly unique to see this happening to a girl as it’s usually a character flaw for a lot of male characters.

Captain Kirk, James Bond, etc, these are the characters you expect to easily get seduced and then open themselves up for blackmail after that. I can’t think of a time I’ve seen this with a main heroine so it’s different…but it doesn’t help her character. It’s a massive shot against her character to be honest as you also can’t picture any relationship working out now because she moves on way too fast. She also has their overconfidence which leads her astray at times.

Hulk tries to help her on several occasions and each time she just waves him off or yells at him with some speeches. Usually they are all incorrect as well like saying that she’s had it harder than the Hulk or that she can control her temper better than him. Both things are demonstrated to be false within the show itself. I would actually say this isn’t bad writing though but you’re actually meant to realize that she is too overconfident at the moment. At least that’s how I interpret it because often times the show will depict how she is a bit out of her depth here.

I like the idea of a superhero show with a lot of court scenes but unfortunately they are few and far between here. I wanted some really extended court scenes with fun back and forth but the only time we really get that is when Daredevil shows up and easily dominates her in the case. I wouldn’t expect anyone to beat him of course but it wasn’t her best moment to be sure. She Hulk is more of a fun character than one that you think is actually a really good attorney. Perhaps the show should just drop the sub title and focus on making this more of a fun action show where she is a hero for hire or something. We’re getting close to that anyway.

Then of course I did like the climax a lot as everything gets really crazy. You have every hero and villain showing up with a bunch of gamma powered fighters ready to mix it up. I thought that the fights were going to be great but unfortunately we don’t get that. What we do get instead is pretty interesting. You probably know a lot about the 4th wall breaking since it was trending everywhere but if not I won’t go into details. It was a cool thing that you could probably only do in a show like this or Deadpool and it works well. As long as you accept it as a fun gag it’s not like it breaks the universe itself because it’s likely also not an ability that she can use at will. Part of me did miss the actual climax that we missed out on though. That actually was going to be a whole lot of fun but now we’ll never really know.

As for the villains here, Titania probably has the most screen time. Unfortunately her power level isn’t remotely close to She Hulk’s so she’s more of a joke here. She almost literally goes down in a single hit initially and it never gets any better for her after that. I was glad when she showed up for the big wedding but unfortunately the fight was super lackluster. You almost forget that you have two fighters with super strength going at it because they fight like humans. Titania deserved a little more than that.

Leap-Frog shows up though and that was cool. We don’t really get to see him fight all that much but I thought that the gags really worked. If you know anything about the character at all then you’ll appreciate the references and how much the show is just going along with this. It was great to see him without a doubt. As for HulkKing, well I liked him on the message boards but that’s about it. His whole group is meant to be a bit of a joke the whole time or at least I’m 99% sure you aren’t meant to take them seriously.

I liked seeing them post online as a sort of poverty version of Reddit though. Having a hero deal with social media could actually be a lot of fun as a whole main focus because there’s a lot to unpack there. It’s only a minor part of this show but I did enjoy those moments. Honestly I would have liked She Hulk to have created a burner account to start defending herself on there and we get a bunch of flame wars. Ah well, maybe another time.

For the most part the episodes tend to have scenes after the credits but it’s a real coin flip as to whether it’ll be something really cool like a reference to the future or more of a gag that ends up becoming rather infamous later on. One dancing scene in particular will probably make you roll your eyes. Any scene with her parents is fun though. There’s at least one after credits scene with her father that was fun. I like how nonchalant they take the whole thing because it makes sense. At this point superpowers are almost normal within the verse if you think about it so why wouldn’t people be more natural at this point right? You just take it in stride and having her parents be so supportive was great.

Hulk looks pretty good here. Even when She Hulk is being rather meant to him, he’s always ready to help. He’s even okay with her representing Abomination even though the way she asked was more like informing him. I’m telling you she tries to be rude almost every chance she gets but Hulk is always willing to take the high road. He also shows up in the climax to help out immediately even though he was light years away. He’s just a great hero as always and has really done well to master his strength and not lose control anymore.

A big guest star that got a lot of hype before the show even came out was Daredevil of course. He gets a lot of good moments here and in particular his introduction was amazing. The theme music that played was really sharp. I have to assume this is from the Daredevil show but the tune is so good that this is one scene I actually replayed quite a few times. He shows off great aerobatics in dodging She Hulk’s attacks and the car she throws. He almost fights a bit like Spider-Man here and shows off how athletic he is.

I think any Daredevil fan should be pleased with how he’s portrayed. He’s excellent in the court room and can hold his own in a fight. Of course She Hulk can beat him at any time she pleases since he’s weak against sound and one clap would take him out but it’s still nice to see him hanging in there. He even makes sure not to attack her at any point in the fight since he knows that she is a fellow hero. So all of that was a lot of fun and you don’t expect great music for live action shows most of the time so it was nice to see this. Of course the Marvel shows have all had really good soundtracks so far so in that sense this wasn’t as surprising.

I really could have done without the romance though. This was rushed even by the usual rushed romance standards. It’s like they met up and got together right away. By this time in the show She Hulk has already liked several characters and of course the same is true for Daredevil in his series. So this is really just a rebound fling for no real reason. Romance is really one of the weak points of the series because none of it ever even comes close to being believable. It just doesn’t work. Was still nice to see Daredevil show up and get some fights though.

She Hulk has another ally in Nikki for when she needs emotional support though. Nikki is a good friend who is always loyal and has She Hulk’s back. She lets her know when things are getting dangerous online even when others tell her not too. So Nikki is someone that’s super dependable and she gets a good role here. There’s another guy who wants to help out in the group but he’s not as smart so he doesn’t get as much to do. At least he has one infiltration mission where he gets to try and help the cause though.

Wong also has some cameo appearances but doesn’t do a whole lot here. I like his overall disdain for court proceedings though. He has magic so he figures he can do whatever he wants and…well he’s not really wrong. As the Sorcerer Supreme he can do a whole lot and it’s hard to ever capture him since he can warp around. I liked how his plot with the Abomination ended up concluding as well.

Meanwhile the Abomination is a bit different than you might expect. He’s really mellowed out a whole lot to the point where he is a pacifist and he has a whole group therapy business going. It’s definitely a big change from how he used to be so unfortunately you shouldn’t expect any big fights out of him as a result but it’s an interesting take. Some of the scenes with him and the therapy sessions drag on for wayyyyyyy too long but as a concept it isn’t bad. The final episode also really makes this plot worth it with how things play out.

While the special effects may have gotten a lot of shade, I thought they worked well. She Hulk looks great in the green form to the point where I would have been cool with her staying in that form 24/7 for the show. The GTA cutscene comparisons were fun but I don’t think that’s even a bad thing per say. Yes it is surreal to see She Hulk walking around like CGI into a live action film but it works and the character model is on point. This is how I would picture She Hulk to look for example.

Now with the fight scenes being underwhelming that’s just a choreography issue. None of the fights tend to have any real damage or feeling behind them. Of course the show mainly has 0 stakes as a comedy so you’re not expecting anything too serious but more hand to hand or damage effects would be good. The best fight was easily between She Hulk and Daredevil and that’s extremely short. The rest of the fights are just missing their impact for the most part.

What the show needed was more of a focus on the ongoing plot or a little more danger. The middle episodes just feel like you could almost cut them and not much would change. It was nice seeing a random case in the middle because you should have that as an attorney series. Defending the immortal guy who kept offing himself to avoid taxes and start a new life was interesting. We needed more cases like that and less romance and wedding stuff. The counseling session also didn’t need to pretty much be a whole episode.

Now if you do want to focus on being a full comedy show then you just need to be funnier. For me a good gauge of how funny something is during the slice of life scenes is whether I would really be able to watch the show on my own and have a good time. She Hulk was really on the fence for that a whole lot of the time. It’s just never as interesting as the other Marvel shows and as a main character Jennifer lags behind the others. She’s great as She Hulk but the human alter ego can’t hold her own stories quite as much.

Maybe it’s in part because the humor can be more based around the romances or awkward moments which doesn’t generate as much of a laugh as things being wacky or fast paced dialogue. Regardless, the action at the beginning and ending isn’t enough to really throw this into the positive side of the fence. I ended up feeling like it’s at about the middle for me. I wouldn’t be tempted to watch it again and there is very little replay value. The episodes are interconnected enough where they aren’t quite stand alone but not connected enough to keep you engaged on the wider story. Of course whether you like it or not will completely depend on how funny you find the show to be.

Like there are so many aspects of being a superhero attorney that you can explore. The whole supers division is a great concept as well but Jennifer is more interested in how more people will date her now that she has a super form than in thinking about the other repercussions more. Like embracing the She Hulk name before people can use it as an insult or how daily life is just so much different now that she has become a celebrity overnight. Exploring all of this could be a show in its own. I always just go back to the first episode which ended perfectly though. She takes out Titania and embraces her role as She Hulk. Marvel’s always been good about removing the secret identity from the equation immediately. Having a really confident She Hulk just take the stage and start winning cases would have been great and we didn’t need to go away from that path to greatness.

Overall, She Hulk took some gambles and that’s good for a show to do. You do want to try new things even if they don’t work but in this case making She Hulk more of a traditionally fun main character may have worked better. I’d say you can drop the constant affairs angle in the next season just like how James Bond has almost completely dropped that in the new movies. Keep in the 4th wall breaking but lets get in some real villains next time or extended cases. You could easily make this more like Detective Conan or Sherlock Holmes where you have a good case that lasts every 2-3 episodes where she has to gather the clues and prove someone’s innocence/guilt. I tend to love court scenes in movies and shows so building a whole show around that would not just be a good idea but a great one. It would immediately raise the show up to the next level.

Overall 5/10

Tiger & Bunny 2 Review

Posted on January 15, 2023 by dreager1

It’s time for the return of Tiger & Bunny. This sequel gets us some new heroes to change the dynamic a bit and we get fights which are always good but ultimately don’t make a ton of progress in the grand scheme of things. At this point it may be fair to say that the series doesn’t intend on actually taking the villain organization down for the count and instead they are planned to be here for the long haul as a constant obstacle for the heroes. Season 2 still doesn’t match the full potential that it could have had as a very slow start holds up its progress but the climax was very solid. Ultimately I would still lean on season 1 being the better season even though this one had the better visuals.

The series starts off with mainly exploring each of the new team dynamics. See, the government in charge of the heroes, in all of their wisdom has decided that heroes shouldn’t be solo anymore. They should all be a part of the buddy system and so everyone is divided up into pairs. Of course Tiger & Bunny are already a team so there is no change for them. In a way it’s a bit embarrassing that they aren’t leading the ranks which causes some disputes but at this point it’s nothing too serious. Tiger & Bunny get along way better than they did in season 1 and I like that their development really stuck. Now when they fight it’s all in good fun and nobody takes anything too personally.

So the first half of the reason really has each team get an episode as they try to work with each other. Unfortunately most of those episodes are on the weaker side and do little to make the characters more likable. One of my main issues with the series has always been that the cast isn’t quite as likable as you would expect. A lot of them are okay and so you can get through the show easily enough but you don’t have many standout characters. Some are better than they used to be like Fire Emblem while others have sharply fallen like Origami Cyclone so it doesn’t feel like a whole lot has changed. There are two new characters, He Is Thomas (I’m just going to be calling him Thomas for the rest of the review) and Mr. Black. Both are characters that are very interesting and had a lot of potential but I didn’t feel like they ever lived up to that.

I’ll break down each of the team up episodes a bit while going over the characters. The first one is about Tiger & Bunny so there’s not too much that needs to be said there. Their characters have already been explored a lot. As always I tend to prefer Bunny as he’s more impulsive and ready to just jump into action. Tiger has the stronger moral compass as he’s been a hero for much longer and wants to do the right thing no matter what. They make for a good team even if Bunny has to hold Tiger up a bit more now that Tiger’s powers are running out sooner. With all that said…it’s still crazy that normal bank robbers can actually give the entire hero cast a run for their money though.

At this point it’s a bit of a running gag but it still just feels a little crazy. These heroes may not all have the strongest of abilities but it should be a simple matter to take these crooks down. It always feels like the show is stalling for time to introduce the heroes but there have to be better ways of doing this than by nerfing them. It’s just not going to be worth it to hurt the hero reputations like this. I suppose it does make things even more believable when Fugan and Mugan are taking heroes down left and right though. Usually each episode ends with them beating up a bunch of other heroes in the background as they get closer to the main series. I do think that this is a compelling plot point as you are waiting for them to appear the whole time. The flash forward at the beginning was also a really good way to set things up even if it takes forever to get back there.

We start to learn more about Mr. Black in the next episode. Basically he’s a guy from a small town who really wants to be a really big hero and is determined to do this as fast as possible. The whole being in a team thing is a huge issue for him because now he has to share the spotlight and he has to team up with Thomas, the most anti social member of the group. Black’s power is also more on the defensive side as he can create barriers but that’s about it. Later on he starts to learn how to weaponize them which is good since you should always be able to convert barriers.

Black gets a lot of screen time but you always feel like his development doesn’t get to the end you were expecting. He does become more of a team player gradually but it takes a whole long while to get there and you don’t feel like he will end up being one of the top heroes anytime soon. He almost starts to come to terms with being more of a support type fighter. He’s not always quick on the uptake and he can try too hard. I just thought Black’s potential was greater than the actual execution but at the same time he is still one of my favorite heroes by default so there’s that.

As for Thomas, he ended up being a little more interesting and rising to the top. Basically he prefers to be a lone hero because he feels like he really can’t trust anyone. We get an origin story which gives us some added context into why that is. He definitely has good reasons for not wanting to team up with anyone and then in the present he is given even more reasons to support this. His telekinetic powers are also very handy even if they have a very hard limit compared to most. He basically can’t lift more than what he can lift normally which does limit just how much he can use these powers. Still, he knows how to fight in hand to hand and has a lot of determination. The show is going for a nice parallel with how Bunny used to be and that works really well.

After that we get to see how Blue Rose and Golden Ryan work as a team. Unfortunately their teamwork isn’t great as you would expect. They tend to disagree about the catchphrases and then Ryan is super jealous of Blue Rose meeting up with Tiger. Now she certainly could have told him why she was meeting with him one on one to avoid the misunderstandings but personally I don’t think that she needed to. Ultimately it’s her private business and you don’t have to tell your work partner everything. Ryan jumps to all the worst conclusions the whole time. At least Bunny took Tiger’s side the whole time and wasn’t doubting him. Sure he may have weakened a bit over time but at the end of the day I do believe Bunny was going to trust Tiger no matter what and it shows how they have been teammates much longer.

Ryan does get a big role in this season as his backstory actually gets expanded on here. The whole climax ends up being a lot more personal for him than you may have expected initially. He easily has one of the most powerful abilities in the series so I would like to see him take more of a center stage role. He is just rarely put in a position where he can succeed though which is unfortunate. He does bounce back from the initial episode though and ultimately looks good. He’s still one of the better heroes.

Blue Rose is also good here as she is slowly but surely starting to get over Tiger. A part of her may not move on for a while but I think she is starting to see that he’s just never going to notice her at this point. She gets a solid role in helping out throughout the series and her ice comes in handy. Her tag team battle with Ryan was definitely good as they both got to use their special talents to slow the villain down. Ultimately you always know that they’re doomed but the attempt is what counts.

Then you have Rock Bison and Origami Cyclone in one of the worst episodes to set up the team. Basically Cyclone is super sensitive about everything so if you get his name wrong then he’s going to sulk a lot. A big issue with Cyclone is that he refuses to actually directly confront Bison about this and instead moves behind his back and acts passive aggressively. Look if you’re upset about the mix-up on the name then just say so. It’s not like Rock Bison is a bully or something. He would absolutely apologize right away and not make the same mistake again. In fact Bison does try to apologize right away and Cyclone just won’t accept it. It makes him look really bad to the point where I ended up putting 100% of the blame on Cyclone. You have to be able to take a joke and keep it moving instead of just being down and out the whole time. That’s not the right way to handle any kind of situation.

As for Bison, I would say he looks a lot better here than in season 1. He mostly just felt like a joke in the first season as he was the power hitter but got absolutely clobbered in every possible fight that he was in. At least here he gets some respect and is trying to even change his image a bit. I think it’ll be some time before I can really say that he’s risen up enough to where I could call him likable, but he’s trying to be better and that’s what counts.

Then we have Sky High and Fire Emblem’s combo episode but this one makes Fire Emblem look bad for the most part. Here’s the issue…he thinks that Sky High is too perfect. He wants the guy to have some flaws so they can talk as equals and know that they have each other’s trust. My common argument to that would be that maybe he doesn’t have any real flaws. Nobody’s perfect of course but it’s not a given that you have to have a big enough flaw that it would ever show up in daily life right? Sky High basically has a perfect life going on for him and he’s very methodical about it. There’s just nothing wrong with it and of course he overhears Fire Emblem gossiping about this to the main heroes and that starts another misunderstanding.

There just didn’t need to be any issues between the two of them. They are the number 1 ranked hero team in the city and I think it would have made a whole lot of sense to have just kept it that way by explaining in the episode that they both get along really well because they just have a good system. That’s all you really need. In this season Fire Emblem is no longer attacking Rock Bison in every scene so he’s automatically better even if the episode wasn’t a great look for him. Sky High is a solid hero as always although I wish he would contribute more in the fights considering that he’s known as the #1 hero. I know it’s popularity based and not by strength but still.

Finally we’re up to the last team which is Dragon Kid and the new heroine Magical Cat. Dragon Kid is eager to leave a good impression as her first time being a mentor and so she tends to be a little overbearing in how she looks after Magical Cat. Cat doesn’t really mind but the issue is that her mother does. Cat’s mother believes that Dragon Kid is doing this on purpose to steal the spotlight and so she encourages Magical Cat to defy orders and do whatever is needed in order to rise up. This is a plot that will actually last for the rest of the series. Mainly my issue with Cat is that she lets herself be ordered around and manipulated like this.

If she would just stick up for Dragon Kid more or make a stand then things wouldn’t escalate so much. It is tough defying your parent like this but Cat knows deep down that Dragon Kid isn’t doing anything super wrong and should have just talked it out with her. For sure there are times when Dragon Kid won’t listen at all which is annoying but for the most part there is usually a chance for some dialogue. Kid ultimately gets better by the end as well so it was mainly a momentary setback and then she starts to be a quality character again. Of course it would help if Cat’s power was more offensive though. It’s totally reasonable not to want her in the front lines when her water powers are so weak and emotionally fueled. If Cat is having a bad day then her powers get even weaker.

Lunatic is still around but unfortunately the show really dropped the ball with him. He used to be such a grand figure in the series but he starts off as being semi retired here and only briefly goes back into the spotlight. The show sort of glossed over the actual retiring part which was unfortunate. I would have liked more of an extended scene on why he chose to retire as opposed to picking up the context pieces ourselves. Then when he gets back out there it’s just way too brief. Lunatic as a character is just fascinating and when the heroes are constantly on the ropes you know that he’s someone else for the villains to fear.

In fact you could say that the heroes can almost start to understand him more when the city turns against the NEXT and they have to choose to continue as vigilantes like Lunatic or retire. It changes the perspective a little bit even if there’s still no way to get around the murders. Lunatic has to be brought in but I wanted more of a fight around ideals instead of the rushed subplot we got here.

After that we start to get into the main plot with Fugan and Mugan showing up to cause chaos. They work for Ouroboros and are commanded by Nicolai. They’re pretty powerful as one of them can absorb attacks and the other one can teleport. It takes a painfully long amount of time for the heroes to figure out how their powers work when at least the teleportation one should have been obvious for a while there. What works about these villains is even after you figure out how the powers work, it can be hard to stop them. Basically you have a tag team that can stop any attack easily with the absorption and then counter quicker than the eye can see due to the teleport. Taking them on individually is your best bet and I recommend taking down the teleporter first.

Unfortunately teamwork isn’t often the heroes’ best trait and Bunny was taken down earlier by a bomber so he wasn’t able to contribute much here until the end. (That bomber episode was a really good oneshot episode though. We got to see Tiger really get upset and go solo as a rogue for a little bit there. I think that could have even worked as a multi part episode) So Mugan and Fugan really start to dominate the heroes rather easily but it makes for a lot of good fights. You may feel like the heroes should do better but then you remember how much trouble they had against normal bank robbers and it all starts to make sense.

The animation for the show has never been my favorite and I would still consider it below average compared to most but they do their best for the fight scenes. The show certainly looks its best during these moments as the sharp colors stand out and you really get to see the super speed of Bunny and Tiger in motion. Sometimes it can be a bit exaggerated because if they actually moved that fast then things would play out very differently in many circumstances. So try to ignore the power level issues as best you can because this show has a lot of them.

Despite the powers I wouldn’t say that I liked either villain much though. Mugan and Fugan were just a little too needy the whole time. One of them was also super unintelligent for some reason and they’re always goofing off until it’s way too late. I can’t say that their boss Nicolai was much better either. He gives the orders and got attached by the end but that’s really about it for him.

The other boss in Sigourney was more interesting but made a whole lot of slip ups. She didn’t handle things as well as she could have. Towards the end she starts getting “Just as planned” moments but they all fall hollow when you remember she’s on plan D by this point. Her ability isn’t the most handy to have because while she can possess people, it leaves her real body completely defenseless. It’s good when hiding in the shadows but won’t help a whole lot in a straight fight.

For some more supporting characters we do have Kaede who gets to show up a bit. Her role isn’t particularly big though but she is starting to get used to her powers a bit more. The tough part about being a copy expert is that you need to have someone on hand with powers to borrow but with the new buddy system that should help a whole lot. I look forward to her appearing as a full hero one of these days. She does need to learn to be a bit more honest with Tiger though. She lies to him on several occasions here. You know that he wouldn’t be on her side with some of her decisions which is why she lies but that’s not a good excuse. She has to face Tiger, not try to deceive him.

There’s also Mattia but that guy tends to be annoying. He doesn’t realize what is going on all around him at all and tends to be oblivious every step of the way. I was actually waiting for him to turn evil the whole series because of how shady he was. I also felt like he never added a whole lot to the series so I question a bit on why he was even added. I know the lab stuff tie in later on but you could have the heroes find out about it as opposed to having this guy as the go between. Agnes also shows up for hero TV but she definitely ended up putting on a lot of weight since the last season. At first I thought it was an animation thing where the character model was off at first but then things stayed that way so it’s an intentional change. I guess that the TV business is just way too stressful after a while but it will take a while to get used to her new design for sure.

Then for the final arc we have two main villains here. The first one is Gregory who has the ability to cause your powers to run wild through physical contact. Specifically he will usually lick the opponent which is certainly a gross way to pull this off. This guy can’t fight so he’s always hiding behind the ability because if he gets out there for even an instant then he would be crushed. It’s why it’s always annoying when he isn’t just taken down right away. He lasts a long while but in part because the government looks awful here the whole time. This guy whines quite a bit as well and so he’s a very weak villain in this series. I never ended up liking him.

Fortunately we had one more villain in Aldun who was way better. Basically this guy was a big villain back in the day but after he was caught, he rotted away in jail for so long that he actually thought he was a hero. So when he’s freed Gregory just pretends that the actual heroes are the villains and quickly convinces Aldun to take them down. Aldun is unfortunately very gullible and it takes him a long while to realize that he’s on the wrong side. By then he’s wide open for a cheap shot. I do like how overwhelmingly powerful he was though. The guy is sort of like an All Might type figure who requires a whole lot of fighters to even come close to him in power. The average fighter would be completely decimated against him.

Now I should note that it was an interesting angle to think that the NEXT were just being infected by a plague instead of a villain’s super ability. I thought that it was a reach for them to think this but fine. Where things got iffier is afterwards when the heroes find out there is a villain with the exact kind of power that seems to be affecting the heroes. Suddenly nobody wants to hear it and the heroes don’t have any real support. This should have been a huge deal and with how often the heroes have saved the day it would have been nice to see the public helping out or even random government guys stepping in.

Instead Ouroboros is so infested into every network that they bury the knowledge and quickly turn the heroes into public enemy number 1. Even the cops get in on it as they start prioritizing taking down the heroes over taking down the villains. That never makes sense in any show that I watch and so of course the same was true here. It’s just annoying to see the priorities completely backwards like this and so Tiger & Bunny are stopped on multiple occasions. Even the heroes are very lackluster in their responses when they should be out there trying to find the villain and taking names. They do to an extent but it always takes a lot of convincing and debating.

It also just worked too well to split up the heroes. Look, the NEXT were still being infected after the groups were split up so if it was a virus then isolating everyone wasn’t doing much good anyway. Naturally crime went up in the main city immediately so how were they going to handle that? The police were so antagonistic and they could never stop a villain before so that won’t help. Villains with powers aren’t going to peacefully leave either so all you’ve done is make the world a more dangerous place but the public readily accepted it. It reminds me of Magneto saying how the humans and mutants would never be fully integrated. All it takes is one bad thing to happen and everyone forgets all the good. That was the case here as well.

At least it wasn’t the whole planet though. Apparently only the main city went crazy as others were still having the heroes so Cat and Thomas were close to going to other cities. It makes you feel like the heroes wouldn’t even want to stay in the city after a while since it’s like they were pretty much being betrayed there. I’d be tempted to leave for good after stopping the villain myself.

The soundtrack is mainly lifted from season 1 with a few new tunes. It’s not the most impressive soundtrack. I’d say that it sounds okay but it could have used some more fast paced action tunes. This may not be a show with an overabundance of flashy action scenes and speed moments but some really solid music like that could still go a long way into helping it become that kind of show. Good music to listen to never hurts a title after all.

Tiger & Bunny 2 shows promises of what the show could be like and if everything was like the climax then this would be an easy 7 star show. It just needs to focus on the big plots and action scenes over the day to day stuff. Some shows can do day to day adventures really well but this one cannot. The opening team up episodes really show this. The characters just aren’t interesting enough to pull it off and as a result those episodes can almost come close to being boring at times. Perhaps really top line visual effects could bump this to the next level as well but that doesn’t happen here.

For season 3 to finally take the next step I’d say that we need a big plot right from the jump and more likable villains. Maybe have a replacement for Lunatic to challenge their sense of justice a bit more. We also don’t need much more bickering from the heroes as they should all be a good unit now. So instead build stories around that like in Justice League or Avengers where they’re a good team and have to stop some kind of challenge. Just making things fast paced with a good story is really all that you need.

Overall, Tiger & Bunny 2 really starts to pick up during the climaxes of each arc but getting there is always the rough part. The villain abilities tend to be cool but not the characters themselves which is another issue. Black and Thomas should really improve the dynamics and I expect to see more of that in effect by the third season. So if everything goes as I figure it can go then I expect the next season will be the best one yet. It would be nice if we could make some legitimate progress on the Ouroboros plot though beyond just taking out a few more members. It depends on if they actually want to have a conclusion to the plot but it would make sense to me. If you like superheroes then this is still a good title to check out but I would recommend watching My Hero Academia first as the definitive superhero anime.

Overall 6/10

Romantic Killer Review

Posted on January 14, 2023 by dreager1

Romantic Killer is a bit of a different romance title but you can probably guess that from the title. The main heroine isn’t going to make things easy and that’s why she refers to herself as the Anti-Heroine. It’s a nice spin on things which you’ll see once I get to the plot. The ending doesn’t drop the ball on this either so it stays true to the plot and I would say this is a pretty good adventure.

So the show starts by introducing us to Anzu who is really having a great life so far. She has a nice pet cat, her collection of video games, and a whole lot of chocolate! Yeah life is pretty much perfect but one day a fairy named Riri infiltrates Anzu’s home and announces that Anzu’s top 3 possessions in life will be taken away from her. Anzu can no longer eat chocolate, her cat has been taken away, and her video games are also gone. The only way to get these back is to fall in love with a guy. Yes, Anzu is being blackmailed into falling in love by this fairy who basically says that she is doing it for Anzu’s own good. Anzu refuses and says she will not get a boyfriend no matter what happen and Riri puts this to the test by using her magic to summon a bunch of guys in the most contrived situations in order to break Anzu. Can she stay strong?

I think part of the big thing that separates this from the other shows is how Anzu is so completely against getting a boyfriend. In a lot of these shows the heroine technically wants to find a guy but it’s either tough to confess her feelings or things just weren’t working well. Here, Anzu is against this but you are supporting her because of the situation.

If a fairy shows up to ruin your life and said you would only get it back by getting a boyfriend, wouldn’t you want to rebel? You want to control your life and how things go but letting yourself get manipulated is not a good idea. You’re completely rooting for Anzu because of this without a doubt. You could even say that there is a tragic angle to this as it means that Anzu really can’t give any of the guys a fair shake as a result. I can’t say I felt bad for them though…this is just how it goes sometimes.

The show’s almost like a competition between Riri and Anzu or you could also think of it like a video game. Every time Anzu stops one guy she is met with an even tougher challenge in the next level. Since Riri has magic it’s also not like there is any chance of this stopping anytime soon. The game is set up against Anzu for sure because there is no end date to this. In theory Anzu could be doomed to not have her possessions forever which is pretty rough to think about. So time is on Riri’s side as Anzu’s resolve could theoretically start to shake the more the days/months/years go on.

It goes without saying that I don’t like Riri for this reason. She is just trying to force Anzu into love which is absolutely the wrong approach. I know Riri is merely an employee working for some really tough bosses who will do whatever they want but Riri still has a choice not to do this. The only possible way I could defend Riri is if she gave Anzu some kind of a chance and a reward to even things out. For example, declaring that Anzu has lost her 3 possessions for a full year and if she makes it through that period without a boyfriend then she will get something extra. I dunno, a million dollars or something. That would really raise the stakes.

I’d say Riri is also annoying because you can’t count on her when the going gets tough. Things get serious near the end of the series as we get a real villain and some life or death stakes and suddenly Riri’s magic isn’t so helpful. Either the wand is dirty or she’s too slow to help but it’s just annoying. Seriously what’s the point of magic if you can only show up in time to annoy everyone?

Riri also sometimes acts against her best interests by getting Anzu into tricky situations that make the other guys a bit wary. I suppose the long con here is getting the other guys jealous enough to make a move but eh…..doesn’t seem worth it. There’s really no point in Riri shapeshifting into a guy except to make things tough on Anzu and cause misunderstandings. At least Riri does one nice thing by the end but that’s about it.

Now for Anzu, well I was quite pleased with her character from the start. You absolutely empathize with her because her top 3 hobbies are very relatable. Who doesn’t like to just enjoy time with their pet, video games, and eating some chocolate on the side? Those are the top 3 hobbies out there and so when they are taken away you can understand her anguish. The fact that she immediately takes such a hard stance against having a boyfriend was brilliant.

Throughout the show she conducts herself well. One thing I appreciated is that she isn’t rude about it. Anzu is quite straight forward about not wanting to get romantically entangled with anyone but is still willing to be their friend and just a nice person in general. It would have been so easy to make the main heroine a jerk but the show doesn’t do that.

Anzu is also potentially putting herself at a disadvantage by letting herself be close to these guys but she just wants to do the right thing and that’s great. Doing the right thing is its own reward after all. Anzu can also fight a little bit as needed even if she doesn’t get to go hand to hand against the main villain. That would have been nice but she stood in there and didn’t give up.

She is also able to talk back to any bullies and defends her friends. We get a quick flashback later on in the series with her best friend Saki and see how Anzu just squashed all of the bad rumors. Anzu doesn’t let any injustice happen on her watch and this continues into the present when she tells off the girls who were going after Tsukasa.

A lot of times when a girl asks if the heroine can let her meet up with the main guy, the heroine relents. Usually it’s a mix of “Well, he’s not my boyfriend so I don’t care.” or “Sure, I don’t see any harm in that.”. This was better as she just said she wouldn’t be a party to any of this and wouldn’t set up anything since Tsukasa obviously didn’t want to hang out with these characters. Anzu speaks her mind which is a big upgrade from many characters.

Her friend Saki doesn’t get a whole lot to do here since most of the show is about Anzu meeting up with the various guys but she did good in her limited screen time. She had a really rough backstory that also shows why she is so close to Anzu now. She really rebounded from how things used to be to still be popular and nice in the present instead of jaded about everyone.

Now lets talk about the guys. As they’re all effectively boss battles, I’ll describe them like video game fighters. I should note that Riri does make sure to mention that she isn’t mind controlling anyone. That would have been a very dubious moment after all so while she dos create circumstances to play matchmaker, the characters all do actually like Anzu of their own accord. This was a good move by the way as all of the romances would have really been doomed otherwise.

Of course I can’t say that I was really on board with any of the romances here either way. I stand with Anzu in staying strong against these guys since the fairy is trying to play matchmaker with blackmail the whole time. So without that then maybe they’d have a chance but nah that’s game over until the deal is over.

So first up we have Tsukasa. He’s the cool guy in school who is mega popular but really cold to any girls that are around. He’s got a tragic backstory and his best asset is the fact that he is always around. Put it this way, Riri flooded his house so now Tsukasa has to live with Anzu for a while. That means since they are together a whole lot there isn’t a way to really avoid him.

It would be difficult not to become friends after that and so keeping the line drawn is the tough part. For Tsukasa it’s easy to see why he falls for Anzu because up until now he’s always been around a lot of very judgmental people. Anzu is the only one who treats him as just an ordinary guy and is super casual around him instead of putting on a persona.

Then you have to also factor in Tsukasa’s childhood tragedy involving a stalker named Yukana. basically Tsukasa was traumatized by her because of how unhinged she was. She would buy him clothes and follow him around and ultimately even drugged him. He was very fortunate that things didn’t escalate past that. So he’s unable to really feel free outside as he doesn’t want her to find him again.

He easily has the most amount of screen time and development so even though there are a few guys here and it’s more of an ensemble show, it’s fair to say that he is the main guy here. The climax even revolves around him so at the end of the day you figure that while he is the first boss battle of the show, he also works as the final boss. Anzu has to be careful around him.

Then we’ve got Junta and his biggest attribute to watch out for is that he’s the Childhood friend. He moved away for a while but he’s back now and is ready to try and make a move. He’s loved Anzu for many years and never got over her but of course she never really noticed this. I mean that’s on Junta for not saying anything though. When you’ve got a crush you have to either silently get over it or let the other party know but staying silent is the only way to really lose.

Junta is great at sports and is a super nice guy. As the nicest member of the guys that is another aspect of his to watch out for. He gives everyone a fair shake but can be stern when needed. He lacks self confidence which may make it easy to give him sympathy points though so that’s something else to watch out for. On one hand, the fact that he’s liked her for years helps in the romance angle because it’s not super sudden like Tsukasa. It’s more of a believable romance even if Anzu never noticed him before.

Of course at the same time ending the plot as an unrequited love while tragic always makes things a bit more compelling as you get to see him slowly accept that just being a normal friend really isn’t that bad. If he was a bit bolder then I would like him more but I rarely like the characters who really aren’t confident like this. He tends to throw in the towel early until he’s given a motivational speech.

Then you have the third main guy here named Hijiri. Well he’s rich which is always a very tempting attribute in any character. If Anzu ends up with him then she will be set for life and will never have to worry about anything ever again. You should never marry for riches of course…but it is probably the single most tempting thing aside from pure love.

Hijiri is used to everyone throwing themselves at him so of course the fact that Anzu isn’t interested at all just makes him want her even more. He has a tough time acting normal though and tends to throw around insults by mistake and can be generally annoying. Showing him how to live life as a normal person is something Anzu might feel instinctively so she has to worry about that. Of course she also has to be careful that she doesn’t just feel bad for him since he’ll be crushed. Pity dates are never a good idea.

Those are all of the main guys. There are a few supporting characters like Tsukasa’s friend Makoto who is around but it’s not like he’s ever involved in the romance. There is one extra guy for romance but his role is really small. His name is Ryuya and he’s really just annoying. He’s another childhood friend who liked Anzu but unlike Junta who was too shy to make a move and stayed quiet, he ended up teasing her a lot because of his crush.

You don’t see that happening as much nowadays but I do remember it being a really big thing for a while where they say you would tease and bully the person you like accidentally because you didn’t know how to interact with them normally. I gotta admit I always thought this was a super lame excuse. Seriously, your way of dealing with your feelings is to be mean to the person you like?

That’s just awful so nah I wasn’t going to root for him. Ryuya is super petty and nearly messes up the reunion for everyone by getting into his feels like this. It’s just not a good look for him at all. Maybe a tiny part of you feels bad for him…but it’s a super tiny part that is almost nonexistent. Anzu didn’t take any of it seriously at least and barely even remembers him so he should have just taken it in stride and kept it moving. They could totally be friends in the present without all the awkwardness but he really makes a spectacle of himself for a while there.

Finally we have some of the supporting characters from Tsukasa’s plot like his sister Arisa. She’s probably the only super nice member of the family. His father is a bit crazy as he blames Tsukasa for everything and unfortunately his mother tends to be a bit more passive about the whole thing. This really forced Tsukasa to have to move out and live on his own.

In part this would help him avoid the stalker but it’s also because he wasn’t getting any real support here. His father seemed to have a very old fashioned idea that if there were issues with a girl then it means that the guy led her on. He never even tries to hear Tsukasa’s side of the story and blames him entirely. This even continues on to the present. I wasn’t expecting him to stay as a villain in the present but it gave Anzu another really good moment.

Considering how much he went through, Tsukasa definitely turned out well. I also can’t say that he really made any big mistakes with how he handled the stalker situation. It’s really hard to know just how to handle something like that but he tried ignoring her, talking to her directly, but nothing would work. With someone like that who is clever enough not to break laws too openly escape can feel like the only real option. Especially since even once the courts get involved it doesn’t deter her.

Yukana is the stalker and the final boss of the series. It was nice to have some action at the end here for sure and when she took out the knife you knew things were going to get intense. It is crazy that with such a big cast, one person can make so many waves but the whole situation is handled pretty realistically. The show is mainly comedic but the whole stalker situation is handled super seriously. Riri at least helped a bit in summoning everyone at one point to deal with some bullies (Who had the least believable redemption arc in the franchise. They looked awful and were actually going to beat up Anzu so they shouldn’t have been forgiven so easily. I thought they should have been arrested personally) but Riri’s reasoning for not taking down Yukana directly was really weak.

Riri does need Anzu alive and well to get the mission completed so Yukana is an active threat. Ergo it should be reasonable to take her down but Riri is not convinced and can’t make a move without that confirmation. It’s definitely annoying and feels a bit contrived since otherwise there would not really be a big climax like this. With magic ending it all would be easy.

The humor in the series works well. I would say that it is rarely laugh out loud levels of funny but you can appreciate the humor. I liked how fake they made the first dating sim look which helped to illustrate just what Anzu thought of the whole thing. A whole show with those graphics could actually be rather fun. You can also appreciate this from the guy’s point of view here as well since they all like her and she just has no interest in returning those feelings.

Think of it like everyone falling for the popular girl in school. Usually in the movies there is the main guy who ends up breaking past the pack and they get together so this show is more like if there was no guy. Everyone here are the bit players in the average movie who are doing their best to get her to notice them and it’s all to no avail. None of their feelings are being returned and that’s just how it goes sometimes.

Meanwhile the animation for the show is good too. I get the feeling that it wouldn’t work too well with a lot of movement because it feels a bit rigid but at the same time the colors really stand out. Everyone has eyes that are really sharp and the colors are on point. For a show like this where there won’t be big action scenes I think it makes sense to focus on the artwork than on pure animation. Because of that the visuals will really age well even several years from now. It’s why all of the screenshots look so sharp here as well. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side though. I really couldn’t recall a single tune by the time the show was over but I want to say that it did work well while watching the show.

There is an interesting gimmick where any bugs are turned into different cakes in the show. It’s super random but I’d say that it works because of that. It’s almost like the show is throwing in some photoshop and you can’t go wrong with that. I guess Anzu needed one weakness as well since otherwise she was shredding all obstacles. So since she is scared of bugs that throws the guys a little lifeline to use.

Overall, Romantic Killer is a pretty fun show and I definitely had a good amount of fun with it. It succeeds by focusing more on the challenge and comedic aspects than the actual romance. The serious stuff was handled well too but to me the comedic moments are when the show is at its best. I’d be down with a season 2 to see how this continues on and if they stick to those fundamentals then I think it would be in good shape. In theory Anzu should still be trying to stay strong and it would focus more on the guys doing their best to win her over. It would make for a fairly unique spin on the whole romance genre and if it balances in the humor like this one did then I think it would be a success. Of course the ending is always really important for a show like this as well so they do need to make sure to stick the landing. I believe the show can pull this off though. The ending here could have easily been dodgy but it wasn’t so that worked out.

Overall 7/10

Mob Psycho 100 III Review

Posted on January 14, 2023 by dreager1

It’s time for the end of Mob Psycho. It’s always a pretty big achievement when an anime completes a full adaption of something. No stopping in the middle, detours, or big breaks. This one just went straight through and now you can recommend it to anyone as a complete story. You just love to see a full success like this and season 3 ends on a great note. I would still say that season 2 is the best one and it’s really hard to top that teleporting fighter but this season continues to operate on a high level with excellent animation, music, and characters. So there’s a lot to like here from start to finish.

The show starts off with more of a casual episode to get you used to what’s going on. You see Mob and Reigen on a more standard adventure with exorcising. It works as a good revisit into the characters before we get to the really serious arc. A good chunk of the series is about The Divine Tree and it’s also the best part of the season so we start off strong right off the bat. Initially starting off as a small plant, this thing starts to grow and grow until it’s an absolutely massive tree that dwarfs everything in sight. It’s mind controlling everybody within the city as well, even those with psychic powers. Its reach continues to grow more and more to the point where it may be a threat to the planet. Mob isn’t too concerned initially but once it starts going at the friends then all bets are off.

I think part of what really worked for this arc is just how ominous it was the whole time. The music gets noticeably more serious during all of the episodes with the tree. The animation does a great job with the lighting to make everything look dark as well and so everyone is suspicious. Whenever someone talks to Mob you have to wonder if they are under mind control or if that is what they are really thinking. This was done really well with Reigen at one point where you just don’t know exactly which way to think. Of course if you are not too sure then leaning towards mind control is the best bet.

The best episode cliffhanger was the one when Mob decides to walk into the Tree so go and have a talk with the main villain. The whole time he sort of figures that it is probably Dimple but he just doesn’t want to believe it. They’ve been friends for so long and it just didn’t make sense to him which makes for a solid dynamic.

In a way the setup may have been too good though because there were a few parts of the arc’s resolution that I found to be a little disappointing. For starters my main issue was that Mob tried a little too hard to be diplomatic here. Lets keep in mind that pretty much the whole city is under control at this point so the villain’s gone very far. He’s turned Mob’s closest friends and family against him including his brother Ritsu and his friend Hanazawa. I was hoping we’d get to the point where Mob decides to just take him out with force.

We do get a big fight scene but not with Mob this time. Mob’s determined to just go in with peace. It is of course an interesting angle but I admit that in this case I didn’t want that. The setup was already so masterful with setting up the stage and how everything was so ominous. So you were ready for the big fight which would be extra personal if the leader really was Dimple as opposed to some random guy at the top of the tree.

The possibilities were all just really great. So yeah I wanted a little more than that. Hanazawa had an excellent intro in this arc though as he stormed in to take the villain down. I liked that he didn’t hesitate at all and just dashed in. A lot of times when someone notices a villain around you get some build up and then maybe in an episode or two he makes it, but here he just zoomed over immediately and got into a big fight. That was great.

The climax does have a big fight involving the tree though so I was glad about that. It did save the climax for me because that fight was spectacular. It also led to a really emotional way to end the arc. One character got himself into a rather sticky situation by holding back for so long though. If he hadn’t done that then the climax fight would have been a whole lot easier. Sometimes you can’t afford to be too nice or things definitely get a little tricky.

After that we get into the only weak part of the season. The kids decide to go on a field trip into space to meet some aliens. It’s an emotional story or at least that’s what they’re going for but it was just a bit boring if anything. This is more about character development but it’s focused on side characters that you don’t really care about. Tome is nice and all but she’s never been a huge character in the series and really just gets overshadowed the whole time.

The rest of the club just aren’t very likable. I guess the guy who has actual telepathy was a little better at least. Having actual psychic abilities is always a really big deal and sets him apart from the rest of the characters. I just would have made the aliens evil or something to spice things up. The arc may not have been as original if it did that but it could have been cooler. This one just feels like filler the whole time but without any really fun character moments or at least humor to get you through.

Fortunately after that we’re right back on track with the big climax to the series. Mob has decided to finally confess to Tsubomi because she is moving away and this is effectively his only chance. The tricky part is that the whole school wants to confess to her. He knew that she was a really popular girl but even he probably underestimated just how popular she was. There’s no way to break through the crowds of people and he doesn’t want to be forgotten so he calls her up to have an official meeting place. Now nothing will stop him from meeting up with her and confessing his feelings. Whether it be a tornado or the entire cast of the series going up against him, he will crush them all!

The final arc really lets you get to see pretty much the entire cast one last time so that was cool. There’s also a whole lot of fights here as everyone gives it their all so that was nice. This feels like a final arc in every way whether it be tying things to the beginning by having Tsubomi return or just having everyone basically give their goodbyes during combat. It’s a nice blend of emotional moments and big fights here even if you know that most of them just do not stand even a small chance at victory.

Now I do have a small issue at the trigger to the arc. Lets just say that it involves Mob getting hit by a car/truck and no matter how distracted he is, I don’t see this playing out the way that he did. Psychic abilities are always such a great barrier to have and when we’ve seen him getting thrown through cities and everything is just feels a bit weird to see something like this lay him out. Of course it was a fantastic cliffhanger to end an episode with and the sound of the lights changing worked really well.

The show does know how to land the emotional moments. As expected the animation here is definitely top tier. The fight at the end of the tree arc is the single best looking fight in the season and you can tell a ton of budget went into that. It’s almost like a big sci-fi Gundam fight with all of the lights shooting out everywhere. We also see some really great durability feats and you can feel the increasing amount of despair and dread as the enemies just won’t let up. The rest of the season also has consistently great visuals for the psychic abilities being thrown around.

The soundtrack doesn’t stand out as much as in season 2 but it’s still a well rounded blend of songs. The opening hasn’t grown on me yet but the ost within the episodes is good. The production values here were definitely on point.

As for the characters, Mob is a solid lead as always. He has definitely learned to voice his feelings a lot more than he used to be able to. He may not be talking up a storm like Reigen or anything like that but he’s not super quiet anymore. He’s even able to help talk other characters through their issues a bit which would have been unheard of back in the day. Perhaps he also needs to learn to draw a limit to when the time for talk is over a little more but it’s still a positive trend for him. His abilities are also still easily the strongest in the verse and it’s one of the reasons why the season isn’t trying to introduce a villain who is stronger at this point. It would be a little hard to buy at this point.

Then Reigen is a great character as always. He still loves to swindle people as much as possible for big money but he always gives Mob a fair shake. They have a great dynamic and he’s someone that Mob can trust when the chips are down. Reigen gets a big role as always and he is pivotal in the climax. He tends to be the comedic highlight of the show and he still is, but he really does well in the serious moments as well. It’s why he is just such a great character.

Hanazawa is also someone who has exceled throughout the series and it’s no different here. He’s the first one to go up against the tree and he also moves in quickly in the final arc. He may tend to be outmatched against some of these villains but he is always training and increasing his abilities. Apparently he made a huge jump in power since the last time we saw him and that’s really impressive. I would love to see a spinoff about him and what he was doing in the meantime. Ultimately he has become the ultimate defender of the planet and does his best to save everyone at all times. You have to respect that and he doesn’t have to worry about holding back or anything like that. He’s just around when you need him.

Ritsu also gets his moments to help out and be supportive here as well. He hasn’t really trained his psychic abilities as much since he mainly wants to lead a normal life but you figure as Mob’s brother he will always have a good amount of power at his disposal if he can unlock it. The anime handles this really cleverly when he appears with a bit of a subversion on what’s happening. That was probably Ritsu’s best moment in the entire series. So he ended on a good note.

Unfortunately I have to say that Dimple could not copy this. He actually went way down for me in this arc. Ultimately I thought he made the wrong decisions here and his reasoning for them was even worse. It’s just hard to overlook what he does here even if he has second thoughts later on. He is strong for sure and I was glad that he got a big role to wrap up his character arc but I have to say that it was a lot different than what I was expecting but not really in a good way. He does get some really good moments here but they just weren’t enough to fully redeem him.

Serizawa’s role here is really small and I’d say that’s due in part to just how the show is going about this. If this season was going all in on the action with some final big threats then I think his role would have been big since he is still rather powerful. Since it was more of an emotional journey though, there just wasn’t much room for him. It’s not like he has known the rest of the cast for very long so there weren’t any opportunities for big speeches and moments for him.

Tome at least got her big role for the 2 episode mini arc but that wasn’t really my favorite part of the series as you saw above so it’s a mixed thing. Tome also felt a little petty with making decisions for everyone by herself. By the end she’s okay but she always was overshadowed by other characters. Mezato gets even less to do here and really just makes an appearance to round up the cast. Goda is fun as always. I feel like the body improvement club gets a moment in every season where they come in to help.

They always get absolutely destroyed but they never give up regardless. That’s what I like about them and they are the best friends a guy could ask for. Tsubomi’s role isn’t all that big. In a sense you can say that the events are happening because of her so the role is big in that sense but her screen time isn’t massive. I still like her as a fun heroine though. She’s very unique with her portrayal and it works really well. She isn’t afraid to reject any suitor who comes her way and she has a whole lot of determination. She is the only one who doesn’t fall for the tree’s traps

This was also established in a previous season when she interrogated Reigen. Tsubomi makes up her own mind and doesn’t let anyone try and trick her. So Mob knows that she will give him a straight answer to his confession. Honesty is the best policy and she is cool with giving a very direct answer at any time. She also keeps her promises even when it’s tough like staying on her bench through a full tornado.

Suzuki gets to appear briefly here which was nice since he was one of the most powerful villains in season 2. He’s definitely still got a lot of power but of course he used all of his reserves in the last season so his abilities took a huge hit in this season. It explains why he doesn’t look quite as impressive here since there’s no way he could already regain 40 years so soon. His son Sho also gets to help out though and it’s nice to see them team up. Ultimately they can’t do much more than just delay the inevitable but every minute helps in this kind of thing.

Finally for the two big villains of the arc, the Divine Tree was actually a really good villain. He has a lot of presence throughout and incredible abilities. Against most opponents the Tree would just be way too much to stop. He’s incredibly impressive and his goal is simple but effective. I was impressed at least since I wouldn’t say that my expectations were super high initially.

Then you’ve got the final boss. I’ll call him “Dark” for now. Dark is an interesting figure and he’s powerful as well as good at the mind games. I thought the show handled his introduction well. I can see how he would effectively be born out of the circumstances because things were rough for him for a while there. From his point of view you also see why he wants to be free. Yeah he’s definitely a villain so you don’t lose sight of that but they do a good job of making him a sympathetic kind of villain. As the final boss he made a lot of sense even if again I would have liked some more action there.

The season definitely goes by really quickly. I suppose that’s what 12 episodes will do to you but it’s also because the writing is so good. Yes I would have liked some more action in here since with these powerful fighters you could really have a lot of great visuals. We even got a glimpse of this with the big Divine Tree fight after all. So don’t go in expecting a ton of action but the show still holds its own with the writing.

Overall, I’d be able to recommend Mob Psycho III to anyone. It’s a great show that completes Mob’s big character arc. He’s really grown up now and is a very changed person from how he started. At its core this series was always going to be about his development and it works well. With a solid supporting cast the show was always going to be a really solid one. Of course I’d be down with a big sequel series one of these days. Who knows, maybe that’s coming at some point.

Overall 8/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard will+Dress Review

Posted on January 14, 2023 by dreager1

Cardfight’s dress series is easily one of the greatest success stories in all of anime. It went from being a show that was barely treading water and a few more iffy moments away from being a flat out bad show to going all the way to elite now. It’s absolutely in the conversation with How I Became Reincarnated as a Slime and Mob Psycho as the biggest improvements for a TV show. This one continues to excel the series up to new heights to the point where it can now compete with the top Vanguard seasons although the short length does hold it back somewhat.

The show starts off with a new girl named Urara showing up. She is brand new to the game of Vanguard but thought that it looked rather cool and Yu-Yu shows her the ropes. Before anyone has a chance to catch their breath, a mysterious guy named Zinki shows up and announces that he is hosting a big tournament. This will determine who are more powerful. The professional duelists or the ones who duel off the record like Yu-Yu’s group. There is even a name for these duelists, “Counter Fighters” and professional fighters are known as “Front Fighters”. Yu-Yu and the gang are always up for some fun duels so they accept the invitations but is this really a friendly competition or is there something more going on behind the scenes? It’s really hard to know for sure. Specifically the heroes invited from Team Blackout are Yu-Yu, Tohya, Megumi, Zakusa, and Tomari. Other fighters involved are Mirei and Haruka as well as the new girl Urara. Naturally there will be new fighters here as well like Taizo, Michiru, and Raika. Can Yu-Yu take all these guys down for the count?

One of the big draws of this season is that the entire thing is a tournament. There are no breaks, slice of life eps, or things to distract from the duels. Instead you have a whole lot of fighters all doing their best to rise to the top and prove that they have what it takes. A tournament is always a fantastic idea to try and get your show to the next level and this one definitely pulled it off. The rules were also fun as it was not your standard single elimination tournament. Instead you play in a type of round robin that continues until you have enough wins to move on. The only downside is that a ton of fights had to be off screen since this season is only 13 episodes. If you remove the first episode which takes place before the tournament then you only have 12 episodes to get through a massive tournament. Round robin style is way longer than single elimination after all so you can see how this would be a big one.

So it is regrettable that so many battles were off screen. If they had made this show 24 episodes instead then it would have really gotten a nice boost even more than what it already got. The only advantage I can think of to the show being so short is that you know each on screen duel is massive so you really get to see how things go. Unfortunately that also means the victor is obvious almost every time but you still have to try and savor the battle for your character even if it may be the only one that he or she gets in the season.

Naturally the animation is really sharp here. The visuals are really good at all times and it helps to make sure that the anime is operating on a high level at all times. A great duel will be even more fun when the animation is stunning after all. They go all out with a lot of the battles here and everything is very streamlined. The character designs are memorable and everyone has a nice color scheme that stands out from the pack so they’re all unique. The soundtrack is also an area where this season really stands out.

Each character has their own theme that plays when they are about to win the duel. Yu-Yu is stuck with his old theme so it is easily the weakest one but everyone else has themes that really pop out while they are dueling. The one that stands out the most by far has to be Raika’s though. His Youthberk song really throws a lot of intensity into the moment and you really can’t count him out. This song plays early on in the season in his first duel against Yu-Yu and I’ve had to listen to that song many times after that. It was a powerful way to kick things off.

There was also a very solid lyrical song that played during the first episode when Zinki recruited the heroes and it helped to set the stage. At the end of the day what the series was lacking was a very dramatic tone and atmosphere that I had come to expect from earlier seasons. Season two of the dress series had some fantastic duels and a great climax but any time the characters weren’t dueling it was not nearly as hype. This season fixed that right off the bat with such high stakes. Then there was another great song that played to signal the end of the round robin portion of the tournament. We got to see each fighter get eliminated and what an emotional moment that was for them. Definitely stuff we hadn’t really seen before.

Yu-Yu is a solid main character here. He’s still a bit timid for my liking but he has slowly started to be a bit bolder. At the very least if someone is trash talking he will respond. His resolve is questioned once again but this time Yu-Yu doesn’t take it quite as hard as he once did. He is still shaken up though and I hope by next season that things like this won’t phase him anymore. He’s been through a lot so I want to see Yu-Yu embrace that more. You also can’t help but feel like his skills aren’t as good as some of the other fighters here despite winning a lot. In general he’s still got a ways to go but at least has made strides in his development. His current outfit is also many miles better than the original one so it’s great to see him getting the clothes upgrade here.

As always Tohya is the best character here but he doesn’t get a ton to do this time. We know that he was cruising through the tournament but most of his duels are off screen which is a shame. He’s a character who got a massive amount of character development over the past two seasons and has retained all of it. It’s always a pleasure to see him and of course he is still one of the strongest characters in the series. He fights with a lot of passion and ferocity. I look forward to him hopefully having a bigger role next season.

Then there’s Megumi who may have been the main heroine for a while but in this season she is mainly replaced by Urara. It’s pretty tough for her the whole time because it does seem like she has hit a bit of a wall. She’s a very good duelist but has been unable to catch up to Danji and has been left behind by Yu-Yu. I could see her getting some kind of a bigger character development arc out of this down the road though. She’s a fun fighter and I expect to see more from her as well.

I’m still not really a big fan of Zakusa though. I get that he can be tough when he wants to be but it’s never really convincing since he is comic relief all the time. If he was serious more often then that would really help big time. As it stands he just isn’t strong enough to pull this off. Then there is Tomari who is a fun character and does her best to help out as well. She is a decent duelist as well and certainly talks tough but feels even more doomed than Megumi most of the time. She would really need a new deck to go much further.

Masanori gets a minor role here as a villain in the shadows but the guy has already overstayed his welcome. It’s no longer possible to take him seriously so I hope Zinki holds onto the master villain role instead of sharing it with Masanori. Zinki is already way more interesting than that guy and he hasn’t really gotten to do much of anything yet. You at least know that he’s powerful and can hold his own in a fight though. That’s the kind of villain you want to have overseeing everything.

Danji surprisingly misses out on the whole thing. The show missed an easy opportunity for a massive upset by having him get taken down by the new villains. I suppose this way he keeps his hype for the next season as one of the strongest duelists though. Mirei and Haruka return but it’s safe to say that the power creep has gone right past them as they don’t look very dominant or imposing in this round. They really just get destroyed in most of the rounds although at least Mirei lasted long enough to make it to the last stage. Honestly she should have been more dominant and crushed Urara if you ask me. Her skills were just so good in the last season. She had bad luck in the seeding with fighting Raika so early on though.

Urara is a fun character even if I think her skills were overhyped. She tries her best and learns quickly so she gets to be on the level of the pros almost immediately but it feels like it should take a little longer to get quite so high up. She’s probably a little too sensitive with her empathic abilities since just seeing others play while being upset can mess her up a bit though. She even gets a bit sensitive while dueling if she is taken out of the zone. I expect her to improve on all of this and ultimately be a tough fighter who can really rise up the ranks of Team Blackout. So as a rookie she has come quite far but is still under some of the more senior members for me.

From the 3 big fighters introduced the first would be Taizo. He seems to be a step below the other two but is still great at what he does. He’s a top ranking pro and he has put everything on the line in order to win this tournament. If he loses then he may have to become rich and take over a company instead while feeling unfulfilled so he can’t let that happen. He takes things a lot less personally than the rest of the duelists and just likes to have a good time so I can really respect him there. It’s nice to see someone who is just embracing the game. Of course Taizo is taking is very seriously and trying to win but he’s not being a jerk about it.

Then you have Raika who in many ways is the biggest character here. He looks up to Michiru who is generally considered to be the strongest player out there but is trying to gain ground quickly. Raika believes that winning is everything and you shouldn’t have fun when you lose. It’s a classic character type that we’ve seen before but he can be a bit whiny at times. In fact I’d say that he whines a whole lot. He works well as a villain but it will take me a while to really get used to the guy as a likable character.

His best episode was easily during the fight against Tohya which is naturally a big highlight of the season in general. Tohya is really the only one who can really understand Raika the whole time and so they actually have a pretty good discussion about their way of battling and winning. Of course Raika isn’t able to hold his end of the conversation quite as well so it’s almost like Tohya is talking to a wall half the time. I can’t deny Raika’s skills though, he is a top duelist and that’s why he does work well as a really imposing villain. He’s also got the best theme in the whole show so he’s a lot of fun to see duel but I’d like him to be a little more confident without the whining.

Finally we have Michiru but he’s actually not as impressive as his reputation. Here’s what it boils down to for me. He’s supposed to be the best and all but he’s more of the quiet type of character. He really likes to analyze the plays and try to console the opponent but he doesn’t have any loud confidence. You always feel like he is doomed to be defeated as the tournament goes on and there’s nothing super interesting about his fighting style. I think what we needed was another duel or two for him to really help and flesh out his character. Especially with it appearing that he will miss most of season 3, he didn’t get to do a whole lot. I think he had potential but is just overwhelming as the big power-house.

There are other fighters in the tournament of course but for the most part they are busy getting absolutely destroyed off screen and don’t really get to do anything. Again, that’s the only rough part about the season being so short. Particularly when you’re going for a tournament plot since usually you need a whole lot more episodes for something like that. Still, I couldn’t walk away from the show feeling anything other than a whole lot of satisfaction. For me the show was elite even with the 13 episodes. It all goes by super quickly after all and the fights were absolutely spectacular.

This tournament was a real shot to the arm for the series and gave it the boost that it needed. If the next season can keep up the momentum then it should be really clear sailing from here on out. It’ll be tough to surpass this season without another tournament of course but at least the way the show ends we are continuing that to an extent. I’m actually not positive on exactly what the rules are going forward since it all seems a bit vague but I’m eager for more duels and in theory the opponents will be even more fierce now.

Overall, Cardfight Will + Dress is a fantastic show and the best yet in this part of the series. I would highly recommend checking this one out even if you aren’t familiar with the series. The whole point of this season is just to get the best of the best so that they can all compete. Is it perhaps a little too soon? Maybe, since we don’t have a massive cast yet, but it’s also a good way to kick things into high gear right away. You’ll be satisfied with how things play out and while some matches you will probably feel could be overturned, each battle just has so much energy. This season is a thrill a minute and that’s the kind of thing you always want to see. I can also say for once that the season is great in all areas as opposed to Tohya having to carry it through the tough times. It’s going to be a long wait until the next season.

Overall 9/10

Pandora Hearts Review

Posted on December 6, 2022 by dreager1

It’s time to experience the world of Pandora Hearts. It was always a very unique title with a whole lot of fantasy and adventure but at times it would get so convoluted that the story couldn’t really move forward. The anime finishes rather early into the series or at least it felt early. It was nostalgic to see the old characters again. I’d still say that it doesn’t end up being one of the stronger titles out there but at the end of the day I’d still call it a good show.

The series follows a kid named Oz who has had a really rough time of things. He is in line to be the King eventually but his father barely ever talks to him. He seems to dislike Oz on a personal level for some reason and no matter what Oz has done, he just never seems to be good enough. As a result Oz seems chronically depressed even if he always forces a smile on his face. One day during a ceremony a group of villains known as the Baskervilles appear and attempt to murder Oz. He ends up falling into the Abyss where he makes a contract with a chain known as Alice. This allows him to return to life rather than being stuck in purgatory but 10 years have passed. There is a lot of mystery about what happened on the fateful day that caused Oz to disappear. Why did his father seem to be in league with the villains and why does Alice have no memories anymore? All of the mysteries appear to converge around Oz’s lineage and so together with his childhood friend Gilbert, he seeks out the answers to these questions.

In a way you could say that the series is part mystery. A lot of characters know much more than they let on but they are always rather dodgy with their answers. Good luck getting a straight answer out of anybody. Everyone here appears to be shady so Oz can’t really trust anyone, not even his best friends. So this also causes him to be even more alone but at the same time part of the theme in the show is about trying to trust people again which is something Oz and Alice both have trouble with.

The show balances out the more serious moments with a lot of humor. The characters will get drunk and run around and we get a decent amount of slapstick humor. Alice certainly enjoys beating people up if they don’t listen to her and there are a lot of antic around. I’d say that the humor lands well and in some ways it even feels a bit nostalgic like an older humor style. While the cast may not be the strongest overall, they all have good dynamics with each other which makes for a lot of good banter.

Another thing the show does well is the soundtrack. It’s got a very grand feel to it like Sword Art Online. There are quite a few operatic themes in here and so it just sounds great on all accounts. It’s definitely a very good strength of the show. Meanwhile the animation is also pretty solid. I wouldn’t say it’s anything amazing but it’s consistent and the fights are on point. I wouldn’t call this an action show even though there are some fight scenes so it’s more about just making sure that the visuals are on point and the show does well there.

One thing the series does not do well is to convince us that Alice (AKA B Rabbit) is one of the strongest Chains out there. So in the Abyss there are a bunch of chains which are effectively monsters. Alice is so advanced that she has a human form and interacts just like a normal person. Everyone is always afraid of her because she basically rules the Abyss. Think of her like Godzilla on Monster Island. He is the unquestioned King. Well, you would expect her to be extremely powerful then and yet she loses so many fights.

There is always an excuse of course like she’s low on energy or Oz isn’t controlling her properly but these are things you would expect her to fight past. If she really is the best then what’s the problem with having a little handicap right? Much like Saber in Fate, I didn’t think Alice actually lived up to the hype. She’s a great character but the power levels in the show just felt a little screwy because of this. If anything Xerxes seemed to have a more useful ability at times since Alice is more about brute force and doesn’t have any hax type powers.

I’d say the other weak point of the show is the actual mystery. Keep in mind that a big chunk of the series is about “The Tragedy Sablier” and you’ll probably hear this phrase at least once an episode. It’s a really big thing and so we get flashbacks and everything but often times you’re more interested in the present. It’s because they really drip feed you things that are happening in the past so after a point you want them to just show you the whole thing or keep it moving. The show is often at its best in the present with the characters having a good time and getting past their personal issues. Each of the main characters have some kind of trauma that they have to get past so focusing on that works really well.

You’ll notice that there are quite a lot of really sad scenes in the show and the OST has a good amount of emotional tracks to reflect that. These scenes are always executed well and you could probably keep the mystery element to a smaller focus and the show would really be able to just focus on the present instead. The lowest point of the show is during one of Alice’s flashbacks where she deals with the other Alice and things get a little rough for one of the cats. One guy even loses an eye in the process. Xerxes and Alice went through a lot back then, that’s for sure.

Now as to the characters, as mentioned earlier Oz is a really good character. For starters I like that he doesn’t feel bad for himself. He’s been through a lot but always puts that big smile on his face so that nobody will worry about him. It works with most of the characters at least. People all handle sadness differently but in general the ones who put on a brave smile and try to keep going always tend to make for the best characters. Then you have characters like Gilbert and Alice who can see through this but they are rare for sure. Oz is always ready to stand up for his friends as well.

He’s definitely not a fighter but will pick up a sword so he can defend his allies and is also not quick to trust others. He’ll say all the right things but always keeps his eyes open and that’s a really smart thing to do. Then we have Alice and while I had the power level issues, I do like her a lot as a character. She’s one of those characters who may have a difficult time speaking her mind without putting in some tough talk but is very attentive. So she’ll notice if something is up right away even if the other characters don’t realize it. Oz would have been in a tough spot without her. I’d argue that she had an even tougher backstory than Oz with everything she had to go through in the Abyss, not even knowing if she would ever get out. That has to be an absolutely frightening prospect. Even if you are the strongest in that realm, being immortal and knowing there is no end in sight while also losing your memories is a raw deal.

Gilbert is Oz’s best friend but the whole thing is a bit awkward for him since he aged 10 years while Oz hasn’t changed at all. Additionally they didn’t part in the best of ways with how the incident went down. Oz is naturally glad just to be back together though and Gilbert is able to warm up and go back to the way he used to be even if it does take some time. It also can’t be quite the same way it used to be now that he’s older. He tends to fight with Alice a lot which makes for some fun scenes. Gilbert also had to make some concessions during these 10 years including leaving the service of Oz’s family for the Nightrays. I was glad that Oz took this in stride because it was a reasonable move. Gilbert needed to get more power and this was the way to do it.

In comparison Oz’s uncle Oscar is not quite as interesting. He didn’t do a ton during these last 10 years and while he is one of the only characters that Oz can really trust, he doesn’t know a lot of the answers that the other characters have. They basically kept him out of the loop so he is rarely all that helpful. He’s a nice guy and all so he’s not bad but you just wish he would be able to contribute a lot more than what he does in the show.

Oz’s sister Ada also gets a decent role here. Naturally the situation is tough on her as well since she was Oz’s younger sister but now she’s so much older. It’s gotta be tough to adapt to that. She’s not really a fighter but she is always ready to help out and stand by Oz’s side which is important. He needs a strong cast around him to make sure he doesn’t break under the strain of everything going on.

Sharon’s got a much bigger role here. She rules over Xerxes as a very mysterious third party. She’s someone who seems to know a whole lot about the tragedy, the abyss, and the Baskervilles so as you can probably guess she rarely ever tells Oz what he wants to know. It’s not that she knows everything, there is plenty that she doesn’t know but the fact that she won’t say what she does understand is why you can’t trust her. I found her and Xerxes to be two of the most suspicious characters in the show.

They can be very helpful and they get a lot of comic relief scenes but that’s not enough to consider them as allies for sure. One of the benefits of this style is that even villains can get comedic moments to try and hide their true evil. It’s an effective ploy in a mystery like this because then you really can’t rule them out. Likewise they could not be the main villains but still have goals that are at odds with the heroes. If Sharon is the planner then Xerxes is the muscle.

He is always sent off to do battle or aid the heroes when things get dangerous. He gets a lot of development here and even a bit of an origin story. It’s the kind of series where everyone is hiding something. Xerxes does come in handy a lot and saves Oz’s life on more than one occasion so whatever his true mission is, you know that Oz is still happy to have him in his corner for the time being.

The Baskervilles make for a very interesting villain group. Their objectives are wrapped in vague shadows but they say Oz is a curse and want him back in the Abyss so something is going on there. They seem to have some kind of cause that they believe in and a flashback gives more depth to this. Part of what helps them as a group is that they all seem to have their own character. They aren’t just mindless minions even if you’re unsure of exactly what their end game is. I guess you can add that as another mystery to the pile.

Never out of mysteries, the show gives us another one with the character Jack. He is one of Oz’s predecessors in the family and for reasons unknown his dead spirit can inhabit Oz’s body and take control of him. While Oz is frail and can’t fight all that well, Jack was known as the greatest member to ever be born into the family. He’s strong and commanding, even the villains will always stop and listen to what he has to say. This doesn’t help Oz’s confidence issues but Jack helps out a lot and he’s definitely one of the best characters in the series. He also tends to be cryptic though and would prefer to just vanish for a while than answer Oz’s questions. So again I would not trust this guy but he’s always cool to see even if his role is small so far.

Then there is Vincent who is up front about being a big villain. He mistreats his maid and comes across as a very intense guy. He’s quite cruel and a big change from Gilbert even though they are brothers. While he will listen to a request from Gilbert, he can ignore everyone else and follows his own agenda. Whatever his end goal is, you know that it’s not good. He makes for an interesting villain as he helps to mix things up even further but hasn’t done a ton yet.

Echo is fairly emotionless but it’s still rough to see her working for Vincent. It would be great if she could strike out on her own and just get away to a happier life. Working for that guy is just plain confusing and she seems like a nice enough character. She just happened to be on the wrong side. One character that is only hear to add more questions is a guy named Rufus. He is one of the dukes and a man of great stature but he spends most of his time messing with the heroes or intentionally spoiling someone’s backstory instead of answering the relevant questions. So he’s intentionally annoying to the characters even though he is someone who could also shed some light on things.

Then we have one of the best characters in the show, Elliot. This guy is great. He’s got a solid honor code and is a really stand up guy. He knows how to fight with a sword and has a very traditional mindset where he will do the right thing no matter how hard it is. He may seem out of his depth at first as a normal guy in a world with a lot of craziness but he always holds his own. He has a good skirmish with the Baskervilles and protects Oz. He may not get along with Oz at all really but he doesn’t let this slow down his sense of justice. That’s how you know that he is a real one. Other characters could have been petty about the whole thing. Unfortunately his role is small so you don’t see him much.

His partner Leo is also around but I was never as big a fan of that guy. He can be a little harsh to Elliot and can’t quite quite as well. His banter isn’t as funny as some of the other characters and so ultimately he doesn’t do anything to really enhance the show. Finally we have Oz’s father who is presented as one of the big villains. We still don’t know exactly why he wants to get rid of Oz but you can bet that his role would continue to get bigger as the series went on. Right now there’s no reason to like him as he just feels like a traitor who is on the wrong side.

So there is a lot going on here. Pandora Hearts builds up quite a large world with a lot of rules and mechanics. At times it feels bigger than what the show can possibly adapt as well which ends up being true since it ended early anyway. I still say that focusing on the present would be more fun but I understand that the mystery is a big part of the experience. One advantage the show has over the manga is it’s much easier to tell characters apart. In the manga quite a few of them look so similar that it’s hard to keep them straight while in the anime you can easily tell who is who. Ultimately I look at the show more favorably than I did the manga. It may not be quite good enough to get to the next level and lacks the replay value that some other shows have but I had a good time here from cover to cover and could easily recommend it. It’ll definitely make you engaged in what’s going on or laugh at the funny moments but either way there is something for everyone.

Overall, Watching Pandora Hearts is like reading half of a mystery novel. You’ve got the setup and all of the questions but the show ends before you can actually get the answers. Maybe one day the show will continue but it seems just old enough and the series just not popular enough to get that chance. You can’t rule out anything anymore though so I’ll just hope that it does return. At least because of this the ending does leave things off on a very intriguing note and you can do your best to fill in the blanks on your own unless you read the manga. I’d still recommend checking out the show. The ost is amazing as I said and it makes for an interesting watch. It’s fairly unique too so it’s got that going for it.

Overall 6/10

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