The Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Review

Posted on January 27, 2015 by dreager1

The Avengers are one of the most well known superhero teams in comics. They had a film that broke the box office a few years back and they have now had 3 shows to date. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was the best of the three and it is one that ranks very high up in the comic ranks. I definitely say that it is Marvel’s top show and it isn’t likely going to be surpassed anytime soon.

Season 1’s main plot is about the Avengers forming so that they can bring back a large group of super villains who escaped from Shield prisons all across the planet. It’s technically the plot of the show, but it’s mostly used as a backdrop. The season is pretty episodic, but it does begin a lot of plotlines that are explored in those episodes so it’s definitely better than the average pre arc. Ultron, Kang, and Loki all get multiparters as well as the Leader. There may not be much of an overreaching story arc, but most of the episodes have a cliffhanger scene at the very end so the transition from episode to episode is actually pretty great. Season 1 is a lot of fun and you can count on many excellent battles.

Season 2 decided to go for a big plot and one that featured the Skrulls deciding to invade the planet. They have taken many people in powerful positions so they are all set for their bid to conquer the human race. The Avengers have to get past several obstacles and the lack of trust in their teammates to even have a shot at taking down the Skrulls. Other highlights of the series includes the return of Ultron and Kang. It should be noted that the Kree also get a multi parter as they finally make their big move. This season can get a little dicey since we have to miss out on Hulk, Captain America, and Thor for various parts of the season, which makes for a limited roster. The Guardians of the Galaxy do get to appear though, which is pretty intense.

I will admit that I was one of the many Marvel fans who was not a huge fan of the designs for the show when they first popped up. The characters just looked a little off. Thor was actually one of the biggest offenders for me. His build just didn’t seem right and his arms were huge. The hammer looked so small when Thor was holding it and the handle should have been longer. That being said, you get used to it as you watch the show. I wasn’t a huge fan of Captain America’s design compared to United They Stand, but it is still a very good design in its own right. The Abomination was one of the characters who drew the short straw in terms of design.

I don’t know whether this is a result of the character designs or whether it was the overall animation, but the fight scenes were pretty over the top in a great way. Some of the energy blasts looked like they came out of an anime. The action scenes definitely shine in this series and they put most of the other Marvel shows to shame. The first few episodes tried some unique things with the animation, particularly Iron Man’s view from inside the suit. I think that the animation took a bit if a dip after the beginning, but it still looked pretty good overall. Season 2 certainly looks sharp and it was definitely an improvement. I wasn’t sure about this at first, but I definitely am now.

How does it stack up against the Justice League? I am afraid that it is not even remotely close. Justice League wins in all areas, but it should be noted that the show’s roster was comprised of heroes who were far cooler than the Avengers. The Avengers are cool of course, but they are no Justice League. Considering that the Justice League show also happens to be my favorite non anime tv show of all time, this isn’t bad for Avengers. It’s safe to say that no western Marvel show will ever be able to top Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Now, let’s look at the show’s portrayal of the characters.

Iron Man is one of the main characters and he is a pretty good hero. He acts just like what you would expect from him. He is always ready with a witty comeback and his armors are fairly powerful. The show essentially takes all of Stark’s good qualities without bringing in his bad ones. He does a pretty good job of being team leader until he decides to give up the role. His fans should be pretty pleased with this incarnation of him. His battles against Kang and Dr Doom are matches that we have longed for and we finally get to see them play out here.

Captain America is our courageous leader once more. The writers really seem to like him so Cap gets quite a few wins under his belt. Even the mighty Terrax and the Super Skrull are powerless against him. Unfortunately, he misses the first few episodes of the series and a big chunk of them in the second half. This is sad for his fans of course, but he still gets a lot of screen time and he tends to look very good. It is basically a spot on incarnation of the legendary hero.

Thor looks better than he has ever looked in this series. He is portrayed as an intelligent warrior while still keeping his incredible strength and skill. He isn’t crazy about technology, but he is never obnoxious about it. His banter with Tony Stark on the subject can be pretty fun to watch. As with Superman in various DC shows, Thor does lose to an opponent who is weaker than him at times. Luckily this only happens a reasonably few times and he typically looks as strong as he should. He looks like the Thor of the 60’s and that’s a good thing.

Bruce Banner is pretty much a non factor here because the Hulk is in control for the whole series. Bruce only gets a cameo once in a while. As for the Hulk, his portrayal is pretty good here. He is decently smart and a very loyal friend to have. He gets a raw deal in season 2 since he is tricked by the Skrulls and forced to miss a lot of it. He looks pretty strong and he is portrayed as the strongest Avenger in physical strength. He is definitely a likable character.

The Wasp is a lot more cheerful than usual and it works for her character. She isn’t the strongest Avenger, but she can fight when necessary. This is easily the best portrayal of her that I have seen and it will be tough to too this version. Wasp never backs down from a fight and she even takes on the Vision. Even if her chances of victory are slim. Wasp will jump into battle anyway and it is why she is one of the better Avengers.

Antman had a big role in the original Avengers show, but then he began to fade into obscurity. The new Marvel film aims to change that..more for the superhero than for Pym. Pym actually doesn’t end up looking quite as good in EMH. It is to be expected since he isn’t the fearless leader anymore, but he is still an Avenger. He wants to rehabilitate the villains and he puts a lot of effort into this goal. Unfortunately, most of the villains don’t plan on changing sides anytime soon. He starts to think that the Avengers have lost sight of this and coupled with the Ultron incident causes him to leave the team. This causes his character to undergo a radical change as he becomes more of a hot head who tends to act overconfident. While I typically like this kind of character a lot, it comes off as a little forced and it is also hard to take him seriously. Antman was a good character in the show, but he was definitely outshined by the others.

Hawkeye had a tough road since it would be nearly impossible to pass his original animated version. That being said, he’s typically a likable character. It can be sad to see him get tricked and one upped by Black Widow for most of season 1, but he does manage to capture her on occasion. His skill with a bow is as excellent as ever and Hawkeye is always brimming with confidence. He couldn’t pass the original version, but this is still the Hawkeye that I remember. Black Widow is also pretty true to form as no side can really tell if she is working for them or if she has an ulterior motive. Her accent is at its strongest here and she rarely gets to operate with the Avengers since she’s a solo act from start to finish. She’s a pretty good agent, but Hawkeye is actually able to best her when they fight. Black Widow’s never been my favorite character, but she still looked decent here.

Black Panther joins the team pretty early on in the series, but he was never my favorite character. He’s a little too confident and he has no problem hacking into the Avengers mansion when he feels like it. He’s the definition of a “hype” character who constantly insults everyone and belittles them. He may only be human, but he always gets his hits in and he puts his kingdom before the Avengers. A noble gesture I’m sure, but he’s really just a copy of Captain America, but without the leader’s character development.

Ms. Marvel arrives in season 2 and she cannot be trusted as much as the other members since she also works for the government. She was quick to turn on the heroes when the government duties created a conflict. She is just trying to help her country of course, but the whole scene didn’t look very good. Ms. Marvel is a capable heroine who can still fight at the Hulk’s level so that’s pretty good and she is a solid character despite having her flaws. She does get a lot more screen time than the Vision, who is basically thrown in at the last minute. The Vision looks pretty good and very tough when he first appears. He gradually gets weaker, but it never goes too far as he still helps out a lot in the final battles. I didn’t really care for Vision’s big moment where he betrayed the Avengers, but he’s a good hero to have. I just wish that he had turned good in a different scene.

Graviton is the first major villain in the show and it’s why the series started out on a high note. His abilities are very impressive and it’s no stretch to say that he is the strongest villain in the entire series. There are many other powerful opponents who do make this very debatable. He’s a very likable villain and this show made me a fan of him. Seeing him take on the combined might of Thor, Hulk, and the other Avengers is incredible and it’s not something that I shall forget anytime soon. It’s too bad that he never got to appear again, but maybe next time.

Ultron is the villain that everyone was hyped for and he did not disappoint. He got a pretty great two parter when he first appeared and then his return was also pretty great. Naturally, his demise in both appearances is loaded with plot hax, but that’s just because the show did a good job of adapting his character. He looked about as strong as he should and he was thoroughly annihilating the Avengers. He has definitely been a great villain in all incarnations and I believe that Age of Ultron should be able to keep up this tradition.

Kang The Conqueror is probably my third favorite villain in the show so I definitely wanted to put him next to Ultron and Graviton. He may seem like a much weaker villain on the surface, but his tech definitely brings him up to their level. His array of barriers and energy attacks make him a very tough opponent to deal with and you can even say that it is impossible to beat him. He only loses when he lets his guard down and forgets to block or fight back. It’s the fate of being an overwhelmingly powerful villain in the midst of heroes who are strong, but not strong enough to legitimately defeat him.

Red Skull is certainly not as impressive as the first few villains and it’s surprising that it took so many episodes for him to finally appear in the present. He’s fairly generic and he’s definitely not a threat no matter how many inventions he gets a hold of. He does give us one of the better episodes in the series when he assembles his own crew, but it still doesn’t make him a good villain. He wants revenge on Captain America and that sums up his character arc.

Skull’s team consists of quite a few members. Dr. Sampson is one of them and he was not my favorite supporting character anyway. I did appreciate the fact that he didn’t blame the Hulk for what went down at the Cube and he actually dealt with his new powers pretty well. That being said, he’s just not a interesting character. The Falcon’s one shot role is probably disappointing for his fans. He actually had potential to be a good character and he was much better than the Falcon in Avengers Assemble. His appearance was just too short to really get a good grasp of how he was.

One of the final two members was the Winter Soldier. After Bucky vanished when Captain America fell into the ice, he was forced to work for Skull for decades. It’s easily the saddest sub plot in the series and he really didn’t have a choice since he was on his own and they effectively brainwashed him. He tries to atone for this once he gains his freedom back and this is probably the best incarnation of Bucky that we’ve seen so far. He’s pretty noble and you can tell that he is trying to be a better person.

Finally, we have Red Hulk. He gets a few appearances although his role is still not very large. He does get to fight Thor and the Hulk, which shows how powerful he is. I like him as an enemy although he’s not very interesting. Watching him sucker the Avengers into allowing him to join is pretty wince worthy, but a plot twist at the end definitely helps to negate those scenes.

The New Avengers are introduced to the scene in Kang’s big return. The villain managed to destroy the Avengers so an automated protocol quickly gathered up the new heroes. One of them was Luke Cage. He seems to know what he’s doing and his street manner of dealing with his obstacles is a nice change of pace from the politically correct superheroes who help him against the villains. He doesn’t get much of a role and he doubts himself pretty quickly, but Cage still has what it takes to be an Avenger. He’s a step up over Iron Fist, who is still cool, but really has no character development. He appears for a very short period of time and he’s pretty ineffective against Kang. His hand to hand skills are great and they would do well against most opponents, but it was simply a bad mach up against someone like Kang. We also got to see War Machine and I was not impressed. His weapons still look terrible compared to Iron Man’s and he was way too serious when the other heroes were just trying to have a good time. He arguably has more experience in the art of being a super hero than the first two fighters so he needs to lead by example.

Spider Man was also selected for the team and he also got an episode to himself before that so he’s all set on the character development area. He was adapted pretty faithfully as he tells a lot of jokes, but never manages to get hit. He’s the only member of the team who was able to dodge every single one of Kang’s attacks. His spider sense is his weapon and he just uses his jokes to keep the enemy off guard. This is the Spiderman that fans will remember from the good ole days and it’s good to see him getting the respect that he deserves. I was more than satisfied with his portrayal here.

Wolverine also gets to join the team and he’s definitely in character. Unfortunately, this means that he gets animal violence in his scene as he destroys a few dinosaurs. It’s the worst scene in the entire show and you can bet that it hurts his character. It’s hard to root for him after such a scene and he also doesn’t really help a lot when the team is fighting Kang. That just makes it worse since he wasn’t needed in the episode and the heroes still would have gotten the job done.

The Fantastic Four are recurring characters in the background of the show. The Thing gets more of a role than the others since he does join the New Avengers, but he doesn’t look particularly impressive when it comes down to strength. He’s pretty likable and you’ll be satisfied with his portrayal even if he looks like a second rate fighter. Reed Richards looks pretty great as he belittles everyone and puts up a brave front when Galactus appears. Human Torch and Sue Storm don’t get to do a whole lot, but they look pretty decent when they get to appear.

Nick Fury changes a lot as the show goes on. He fights on the front lines more in season 1 and then he turns into the MCU version of Fury in season 2. He’s pretty corrupt as you would expect from a Shield agent, but he has his moments where he can actually be likable. He was a capable leader for Shield (Not going to bother using the periods everywhere) while he was around. Maria Hill steps in for him once the Skrull invasion occurs. She is notably less tolerant with heroes than Fury was and she can definitely be a thorn in the side of the heroes. Hill does mean well and she is definitely a likable Shield agent, but her policy towards the heroes can definitely hold her back.

The Guardians of the Galaxy get to appear and this was before their film so the roster is much different. It’s vastly superior to the normal crowd as we have someone with Green Lantern’s abilities. Groot, Star Lord, and Rocket Raccoon are still around. I’m still not the biggest Rocket fan, but it is always good to see him jump into the action. Groot is simply Groot and still the worst member on the team. Star Lord was pretty reasonable and it was a very fun episode as we saw them match up against the Avengers before fighting Korvac. The Guardians are lucky that Thor was not there since the episode had the potential to be a stomp for the Avengers. Their portrayals all seemed pretty good.

Baron Zemo is another big Cap villain and he gets to team up with the Masters of Evil for a while. He never gets any super powers, but the Norn Stone makes him more of a threat in his final appearance. He’s still not my kind of villain though and he mostly just lives on by backstabbing all of the other villains. The series could do without him.

The Enchantress looks much more formidable than you would expect and she goes toe to toe with the Hulk and Thor in the series. Her magical abilities seem to be very well suited for offense and her speed is impressive. As a character, I’m still not a fan of hers as she always lets romance cloud her better judgment. Getting defeated by Zemo at the end is pretty bad for her and her loss in round 1 was bad as well. She lets her guard down a little too easily considering how powerful she is. Just wiping out her enemies would save her a lot of grief.

The Leader gets a multi part episode towards the beginning of the series, but then he vanishes. This is definitely one of his better portrayals, but he’s still not a great villain. His lack of attack power is just hard to get around. It’s actually why I am not a big fan of the Abomination in this show. He’s constantly portrayed as being much weaker than the Hulk and it undermines the notion that he could actually be a rival to the green Avenger. He never looks good, not even once as the series goes on and this very well could be the worst portrayal of him.

Wonder Man looks a lot different from his counterpart in the first Avenger show. He is always in his energy form and the villains basically have a hold of his life so it’s tough for him to go back to the Avengers. He has his hero moment and he ends on a high note, but he should have kept an open mind about Stark before. (Not that Tony was pretty polite when they met) He may have had a better fate.

Dr Doom gets a brief role in the Skrull arc, but it’s a critical one that really helps the heroes out. He is a political enemy so he still wants the Earth to be in one piece. His armor looks impressive as it can keep up with Tony’s and likewise with his intellect. It was definitely a good portrayal of the villain. He certainly looks better than Loki. Loki’s big two part episode to end season 1 wasn’t very interesting and I can’t say that I cared for any of his appearances. He is a difficult opponent to handle because of his trickery. His design is pretty unique and I’m not sure what the writers were going for, but I suppose that it works.

Galactus finally joins the fray in the final episode and it’s good to see him. He doesn’t actually have a mind this time, which does undermine him as a villain, but he is still pretty strong. It may be his worst portrayal to date, but he’s a decent villain. I just wish that he could have fought back against the heroes instead of just staying there and taking everything that they had to give. His heralds are also pretty souless and weak as small groups of Avengers are able to take them down with ease. It’s the price of filling an episode with so many villains and fights. Power levels have to go out of the window and there can be no form of character development.

Ronan appears for the Kree and he looks pretty good against the Avengers. Thor may not have been there, but he was still keeping the Hulk and Iron Man at bay for a while until Ms. Marvel finally took him down. He looked much better than he did in the FF cartoon. He’s certainly not one of my favorite villains, but he makes for a nice opponent for the heroes. The other notable Kree agent would be Captain Marvell and I really didn’t like that guy. He never knew when to pick a side and he only jumped in at the end once the battle with the Supreme Intelligence was over. His abilities seem pretty interesting, but he’s just not a good character.

Naturally, there are many more villains to be found in the show. We got a healthy amount of them and the only big one that the show missed was probably Count Nefaria. Some of the villains that I didn’t mention include: Purple Man, Whirlwind, The Absorbing Man, the FF villain who looks like an insect, but with a name that’s hard to spell, Bi Beast, and many more. The series is definitely a complete one and it’s one of the few shows with 50+ episodes that I’ve seen in its entirety more than once.

For some reason, the show really loves to throw in the Serpent Society for when they need a throwaway action scene. These guys are constantly breaking out of jail and I’m always sad to see them. They really don’t make for interesting action scenes and they’re extremely weak. It’s hard to picture them ever holding their own against the Avengers and they feel outclassed from start to finish. Their leader gets a bit of a role during the Captain America Escape episode, but I can’t say that I’m a fan of Viper either. She’s just a little too generic for me and she is interchangeable with just about any other villain.

Naturally, the show’s power levels are more than a little wonky. This is certainly a weakness that superhero shows tend to have. Anime spend more time on the power levels or at least manga based ones do. Here, you can go from having the Vision beating up on the Avengers without effort to being crushed by Thor. Iron Man’s durability also comes into question a whole lot as the scenes don’t always make a lot of sense. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s something that you’ll definitely think about as you watch the episodes. A little more speed would definitely come in handy for the Avengers and their enemies.

Unfortunately, the show does end with some loose ends. The main one is definitely the Surtur plot that the show had been hyping up in the background for quite a while. It got a whole episode devoted to the future arc with Beta Ray Bill and Odin. All of it was for naught unfortunately as the series ended. It definitely had a lot of potential so it’s too bad that the series ended when it did.

The show definitely deserves some props for having cliffhangers and new subplots in just about every episode. It’s one of the reasons why the show is able to separate itself from the average show. Including all of the classic plots and new characters, the show was definitely ambitious. It’s epic to think of how many things may have happened if it had reached 4-5 seasons. This really could have been a true rival for Justice League. It’s doubtful that it could have surpassed it, but more episodes would have cemented the show as the ultimate Marvel experience.

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ soundtrack is pretty amazing. It has the greatest theme song for any superhero show and that includes Justice League. It’s by far the greatest western theme song that I’ve heard and it can even match up against anime openings. That’s some great praise for the show and the themes in the episodes also sound good. A lot of western shows seem to believe that a soundtrack is not necessary, but it certainly augments any scene. Whether for better or worse, taking the plunge and adding a lot of good tunes is definitely the right move for a show and Avengers pulled it off.

Overall, Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is a pretty incredible show. It surpassed all of my expectations and it has a lot of replay value. It’s the kind of show that you can easily find yourself re watching since the battles are so much fun. It’s really too bad that this show was cancelled in place of Assemble since it’s many times better. This show had heart, solid animation, a good soundtrack, and the writing was very well done. This is one of those shows that you can possibly consider once in a life time since I have my doubts on whether superhero shows will be able to reach the level of greatness that they once had. Well, we’ll keep our hopes high I suppose. I recommend this to all comic book fans and to anyone that wants to start a good action show. This is definitely the cartoon to watch!

Overall 9/10

Fantastic Four World’s Greatest Heroes Review

Posted on January 10, 2015 by dreager1

Looks like it’s time to review one of the Marvel cartoons that fell under the radar. The Fantastic Four have had several shows, but they’ve never had the same amount of success as the Avengers or the X Men. I’ve seen episodes from two of the other series, but this is the first one where I got to watch the whole series from start to finish. It’s a decent show, but it makes many mistakes, which keeps it from being known as one of the better cartoons. You can certainly see why it was cancelled, but it’s still a good title to check out.

There aren’t any large story arcs in the show. There are plots that continue like villains who go in and out of jail and Dr Doom’s never ending plans to destroy the Fantastic Four once and for all, but nothing to really talk about in the plot selection. A lot of episodes are stand alone fights with the various villains. We also have the Kree subplot as they start to get pretty fed up with the group of heroes. The Fantastic Four antagonize just about everyone that they meet so they have a lot of enemies. Naturally, Dr Doom is at the top of the list.

There are 26 episodes, which is a decent episode count for a series. It’s not a whole lot when you compare it to the other Fantastic Four shows, but cracking the 20 episode barrier is always something to be proud of. That being said, the show was just not as high quality as we have come to expect back in the time that it aired. One of the main problems is actually the animation.

It’s some of the worst animation that I have ever seen for a superhero cartoon. We can make the case that the CGI Spiderman series looked worse, but it was CGI so that’s to be expected. The character designs here are just pretty off putting and the colors can get very chaotic. The show loves to make everything look red or green or blue depending on how the animators are feeling that day. It’s not very pleasing to the eyes and they just seem to be having too much fun trying to make the show unique. Focusing on the fight scenes would have been a better way to have kept the series afloat. I could not get used to this animation no matter how many episodes I saw.

The soundtrack is certainly better, but it’s still not very good. There’s one classic theme that plays whenever they are about to fight and it’s a pretty decent theme for the Fantastic Four. The problem is that the soundtrack is very limited so you’ll be hearing the same theme in just about every episode and typically more than once. It’s a good theme, but (almost) any theme will get old after a number of times. We need variety!

Those two factors hurt the show, but what hurt it even more is the overall cast. The Fantastic Four are known to argue and fight a whole lot, but they take it to a whole new level here. They are constantly talking and there is never a quiet scene in the entire show. Human Torch is like a music box that you just can’t close and he’s always on screen. The others love to contribute as well and the villains play their part. It wouldn’t be a problem if the lines were good, but that’s rarely the case. I’d definitely compare it to Avengers Assemble since just about every line here is supposed to be witty and make you smile. The scary part is that Avengers Assemble actually does a better job with this, but it could just be that I like the characters a little more there. Let’s look at the characters in more detail.

Mr Fantastic is easily the best character in the show. It’s not even close and I also liked the voice that was chosen for him. He really sounds like he’s full of himself and that’s the Reed Richards that I know. He’s always got a plan at the ready and he doesn’t back down. I’ve never seen an incarnation of Mr Fantastic that I did not like and I’m glad to see that this hasn’t changed so far. His powers still aren’t great for combat, but he definitely has his moments.

The Invisible Woman is not bad, but she definitely gives Mr Fantastic a lot of grief during the series. She blames him for the Human Torch’s disappearance at one point, which was fairly unreasonable. One thing that helps to counter this is that she’s easily the strongest member of the team. When she uses her powers effectively, there are few fighters who can really stop her and almost none of those are main FF characters. She runs the business side of the Baxter Building so she tends to talk to the various inhabitants a little more than the others. This means that she has to keep up a pleasant facade from time to time, but the other members know that she is always ready to fight. Sue Storm is probably the only member who can talk back to one of their meaner neighbors.

I’m definitely not a huge Thing fan and he doesn’t do himself any favors here. He’s a pretty nice guy as he just wants to watch his ball games in peace. Unfortunately, the Human Torch will never let that happen so they get into constant arguments. His side plot with Alisha can also drag on a lot since it never goes anywhere. I think there’s no real excuse for the heroes not to cure her blindness and she should also move somewhere that’s a little safer from the Puppet Master. Alisha’s not a bad character, but she’s always been one of my least favorite heroines. She simply doesn’t have a whole lot of character and she naturally doesn’t get any fight scenes. The Thing is the power hitter of the Fantastic Four, but you’d be surprised at how often he still manages to lose fights. The Mole Men’s minions are able to take him down and that was during a rage moment. This certainly isn’t Ben Grimm’s best collection of moments, but the show did adapt his character pretty faithfully. I’ll give the writers some props there.

The Human Torch is unfortunately the most annoying character of the group. For every good line that he has, he’ll have 10 wince worthy ones. The reason for this is the fact that he never stops talking. He continue going on and on until he’s knocked out by a villain. It’s nice to see his confidence and he does pretty well during some of the events, but this version of Johnny Storm is just a little too exaggerated. Naturally, he is given a rather high pitched voice to make him look even worse when he is knocked out. His fire abilities are definitely useful and I would argue that he could defeat the Thing, but there are also a lot of ways around his fire that make him a risky ally to have. He’s typically fun to watch, but he goes overboard way too often to be a really likable character this time.

The Skrulls naturally get to appear and the writers must have really disliked them. They are shown to have little to no actual intelligence. They are very obvious in their attempts to gather intel on the Fantastic Four and they are brushed aside rather easily once the fighting begins. They have never been the toughest of enemies, but they are typically intelligence. They are masters of espionage after all so they wouldn’t make the rookie mistakes that they exhibit in their appearances. It was a pretty good episode though, but their portrayal should have been a little better.

Namor makes a quick appearance in the show and naturally he is rivals with Mr Fantastic. They are constantly getting into arguments and trying to one up the other. Namor is not as bad as you would expect since he is typically a very unlikable character for me. He still shows some of those traits, but the focus is more on him being a leader than on his other qualities. That helps him a lot and he makes for a good guest star. It’s unfortunate for him that he has to ask the surface dwellers for assistance, but the Fantastic Four are always happy to oblige. I was more than satisfied with his portrayal.

Hulk looks pretty good here in his beast form and as Bruce Banner. It’s sad for Bruce since he’s always so close to getting a cure until things just don’t go his way. Considering how smart Reed is, you’d assume that he’d be able to cure him easily. The Hulk’s design isn’t very good, but he definitely looks tough. It’s safe to say that the Thing was completely outmatched in their skirmish and that’s how all of their fights should end up. Bruce Banner gets the short end of the stick as per usual, but his personality was pretty good and he was a likable guest star.

Ronan appears a few times and he has actually defected from the Kree this time. In the comics, that is pretty rare although I don’t necessarily mind the change. It means that he is now free to do as he pleases and he naturally challenges the Fantastic Four. His skill with his hammer is formidable and he has a nice fight against the Human Torch. I’ve never found him to be an incredibly powerful fighter, but against the Fantastic Four I would definitely give him some decent odds in a fight. He’s around the Thing’s level in strength here, if not a little weaker. He gave us one of the better episodes here in the form of a sort of Olympics competition against the Fantastic Four, which was pretty cool. He was definitely one of the better villains in the series.

The Mole Man is probably my least favorite villain in the series. He can’t fight and his design is pretty hard to look at. None of his plans should have any reasonable chance to succeed considering how weak his forces are. Unfortunately, he is one of the more popular Fantastic Four villains so he gets to appear several times. You end up feeling bad for his minions since they’ll never get to see the sun. He has to rely on his wit and cunning to win his fights since his staff can only get him so far. It’s always wince worthy to see him defeat the Fantastic Four.

The Impossible Man is one of those characters that I never like. His reality warping abilities are something that I never want to see in a show so a character whose whole gimmick is related to that is naturally not my kind of character. He mostly just comes to troll the heroes until they trick him into leaving. His episodes are typically more annoying than entertaining. Ant Man made a surprise guest star appearance in this show considering that he typically doesn’t get to be a guest star anywhere. His portrayal was pretty good and he definitely seems to know what he’s doing. There’s not all that much to say about him, but it would be nice to see him fight someday. Fighting minions doesn’t really count, he needs to take on a super villain!

Ironman gets to appear, which is pretty cool. Tony Stark’s portrayal is pretty great since he acts pretty fearless even as the Fantastic Four begin to threaten him. As Iron Man, he definitely proves to be an impressive fighter as you would expect. His armor does get hacked once again, but it is by Dr Doom so it’s pretty excusable. I liked the armor design here, which is a plus and he was definitely one of (if not) the best guest stars on the show. It’s too bad that he didn’t get to return since that would have been pretty cool.

The Super Skrull naturally gets to appear, which is good since he’s a very iconic Fantastic Four villain. I always liked the idea of a guy who had all of their individual abilities and he does not disappoint. He puts up a pretty decent fight and what he makes up for in personality, he makes up for in attitude. He’s never been a very deep character anyway so I hadn’t been expecting all that much. Still, he was a pretty cool villain thanks to his battles and appearance.

The Puppet Master is similar to the Mole Man in that he can’t really fight. He actually has a very overpowered ability, which enables him to control anyone that he has made a statue out of. Techncially, nobody can really counter such a technique so he cannot lose. Plot hax ensues and they get out of his plot, but it’s one of those cases where the writers just made him a little too good. That happens sometimes I suppose, but it’s why you’ve always got to be careful. Even with that ability, he’s just not likable. He’s a really old guy who’s out for vengeance…not a very original story.

She Hulk gets a guest star role and she shows why she is about as strong as the Thing. She is mainly here to remind us why the Thing is so important to the team, but she’s still pretty likable. She was always a pretty good replacement member on the team and she doesn’t rub it in. She’s a team player, but she’s naturally here for the money. It would have been cool for her to have had a real fight with the Thing, but maybe next time. I was just glad to have another guest star.

Terminus is the final villain in the series and it was an interesting decision to end with him. He’s incredibly powerful, but also incredibly slow, which helps to even it out. The heroes quickly despair when they see him until they remember that Reed will think of a plan. So, all of the pressure rests on Reed and it’s thanks to his quick thinking that the heroes survive. Terminus is pretty gullible and I can’t say that I like him, but I do like the idea of a giant mech running around New York. He makes for a good villain.

The Frightful Four appear as a foil to the Fantastic Four. They pretend to be heroes for a while, but we naturally don’t buy that for long. It’s one of the better episodes as they try to humiliate the Fantastic Four on TV until they eventually begin to fight. Mr Fantastic really lets loose and he gets a pretty epic line to end the episode. The members of the Frightful Four are decent. The Wizard is pretty smart after all, but they are rather simple villains. They’re around, but they aren’t on screen long enough to become likable. They make for good villains and that’s about all that you can say for them.

Diablo is a one shot character, but it’s cool to see him try to convince everyone that magic is real. He’s a villain who is hard to take seriously since his powers don’t have many offensive capabilities, but he really tries and that’s the important thing. He definitely isn’t a very interesting villain, but he only appeared once so it wasn’t a real problem. Annihilius is more interesting and I’m not even a fan of the guy. Annihilius also gets to appear in one of the episodes and things aren’t going well for him when his weapon is stolen. Let’s just say that a team up may be in order unless he can snatch the scepter back on his own. He’s not mindless per say, but he’s not one of the Fantastic Four’s more intelligent villains either. He’s a monster who will defend his territory and I guess that will have to be good enough for us. On the bright side, his design is pretty good.

Ultimately, the show definitely had some fun guest stars. It also had some pretty fun episodes like the olympic games and the one with the Frightful Four. From the 26 episodes, I’m sure that at least half of them are pretty good. There were just other episodes that were not so good and ones that were only decent. The problem is that some episodes can toe the line where they almost feel a little boring. It’s partially thanks to the intros as a lot of the episodes begin rather similarly with the Human Torch and Thing fighting. It can just be hard to really get into the feel of the episode, which hurts its chances. The series definitely has no real replay value since you will never care to watch it again. Other big shows like Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Justice League don’t have that problem since you really want to watch them again. That’s probably due to the fact that this show has no good fights. It’s just the way that it was made, but you never feel the blows here. The lack of a plot only serves to amplify this and your first time around will likely be your last.

As far as Marvel cartoons go, this one still does beat Hulk Agents of Smash though so that’s a consolation win. It’s still not a bad show either since I would have given it a quick 4 in that case. It has its pros and cons and they basically cancel out in the long run. Watching an episode shouldn’t be considered as 20 minutes wasted, but it won’t leave you as fulfilled as other shows. Compared to most western shows at the moment, this would probably seem like an all star in comparison. Compared to most Marvel tunes, then it definitely seems to be under average.

Overall, The Fantastic Four were never the World’s Greatest Heroes so the title may have already started firing off some warning bells. The characters can be pretty annoying and it’s really hard to get invested into some of the episodes. They just aren’t very entertaining and the sub par animation does not help its case. That being said, we still do get a lot of fight scenes and we have a decent amount of guest stars. Some episodes are certainly better than others and at its best, the show can still be good. It’s just not very consistent and you are always playing with fire here. I recommend checking this show out if you’ve always wanted to see a new Fantastic Four cartoon, but otherwise I recommend watching the classic 90’s series instead. It’s a more accurate representation of the team and the comics that spawned them. On the bright side, you’ll get to see the Hulk duke it out with the Thing in this show!

Overall 5/10

Digimon Data Squad Review

Posted on January 9, 2015 by dreager1

For a while now, I’ve talked about how Cardfight Vanguard is my 2nd favorite show of all time behind Yugioh GX. Well, I’m going to have to back up a little there because I actually overlooked this show for a while. Data Squad is really the title that has earned second place so Cardfight will have to lower itself to the 3rd spot, which is still pretty respectable. This is definitely the best Digimon series and it hit all the right notes. There aren’t really any major negatives here and it could have gotten a 10 if that spot wasn’t already taken.

The series starts off with a main character who is very different from the former protagonists. He’s always looking for a fight and he beats up whole groups of villains with ease. He picks a fight with an Agumon and he manages to get the match to a tie. He learns that a Digimon group wants to take Agumon back to the Digital World…by destroying him. Marcus (The main character) doesn’t like this and he defends Agumon. Eventually, he joins the group…which was an interesting decision, but I’ll get into that later.

The plot really begins when a little kid by the name of Keenan appears. He was raised in the Digital World so he’s a little wild and the humans decide to eliminate some of the higher ups. Things get pretty hectic and there is a traitor around so Marcus and his team find themselves up against a Mega Level Digimon. This arc is mainly about exploring the Digital World and then the big Digital War against a certain scientist. This arc is very long and it takes up the first 30 or so episodes. There are a lot of twists and turns so I definitely didn’t describe the whole arc, but that’s the jist of it. (You can even divide the arc into mini arcs depending on how you look at it. Pre Arc, Digital World/Keenan Arc, and then Kurata War Arc)

That arc was great, but the next one was just as intense, if not better. It’s a lot shorter though, but the Royal Knights have assembled. The Digital King has ordered them to destroy the human world so Marcus and his allies will now have to fight the toughest Digimon in existence. The irony is that they are supposedly knights of justice so the final bosses actually aren’t villains this time. (Although I’ll still call them villains since they have decided to destroy the Earth. That basically makes them villains right?) It’ll be their toughest fight yet! Before I really talk about the show, let’s look at the characters here, since they are a large factor in why the show is so great. (For the most part)

Marcus is the main character of Digimon Data Squad and he is definitely as epic as you may expect. He’s like Ichigo Kurosaki or Yusuke Urameshi. He’s always looking for a fight and his confidence is unwavering. He doesn’t blindly follow the government and he’s a very loyal friend. He protects Agumon from the Data Squad members even though he had only known him for a few minutes. Marcus even manages to get some good hits in on Thomas when the latter decides to attack Marcus. Marcus also isn’t your average Digi tamer since he can fight on his own.

He has a pretty unique ability that lets him gather Digital DNA in his fist when he strikes a Digimon. Later on, he learns how to harness that power on his own, which makes him just about unstoppable in a fight. He can punch through just about anything and his blows even affect Mega level Digimon. It’s pretty awesome and it lets me take him seriously. It’d be tough for the average main character to talk as big as Marcus since he doesn’t have the physical strength to back it up, but Marcus can. That’s a critical point and Marcus never goes downhill. He may make a mistake or two as the series goes on, but he’s typically consistent in his wise choices. He’s easily one of the best main characters of all time. On a side note, Marcus switches his outfit for the final arc of the series and it’s pretty great. I’ll admit that I had been waiting for that one to show up since I find it to be a lot cooler than his original get up. Just another factor to help him out even more.

Thomas is the rival in this series. He is probably the best rival in the franchise so that’s pretty cool for him. Chris (Who looks a lot like Thomas) is a decently close second though. Thomas is rich so he has used his resources to become a very skilled agent. You could say that he is similar to Bruce Wayne in that respect. He has trained in the art of combat and he is skilled enough to take on a champ without all that much effort. To top it off, Thomas is also a genius. You can see where the Bruce Wayne comparisons come into play right? He’s a pretty fun rival although he’s meant to be very annoying at first. He always plays by the books, which means that he’s just a government lackey at first with no real character development. He gets better with that as the series goes on and he’s a very good character by the end. As a rival, he’s perfect for Marcus.

Yoshino is the main heroine of the series and she’s a pretty tough agent. Before Marcus rode into town, she was the squad’s premier agent since Thomas was typically away on official business. She managed pretty well on her own for all those years even though she doesn’t always look very impressive on screen. She’s pretty likable and I would place her over all of the heroines in the first two series and the one in Frontier. I think Nene and Rika are cooler though so she’s basically in the middle. That’s not bad and she’s about as good as I expected her to be. Maybe a little more so, but just barely. She gets the job done and while she tries to stop Marcus from going on his cool adventures, she doesn’t turn traitor like you night fear and rat him out to the big boss.

Agumon is a pretty good partner for Marcus. He’s technically cooler than the original Agumon, but there’s something about the classic one that makes me hesitate before putting this one higher on the totem pole. The other Agumon just had more heart I suppose and it’s hard to forget him. That being said, this Agumon is pretty good and he’s always ready for a fight. He certainly has his arguments for Marcus, but he’s typically a dependable ally to have. He regards Marcus as his leader so he acts as if he’s his minion for the most part. That just doesn’t apply to meal times where he can go all out. I always knew that it would be tough to pass Agumon’s original Digievolution route, but this Agumon actually succeeded in that task. I like all of the Shining Greymon forms and they really look great. The animators did a good job of bringing these forms to life and we even get to see the Burst Mode in all of its glory.

Gaomon is Thomas’ partner and he’s pretty good. He has the same voice as Might Guy, which can be distracting since it makes it hard to take Gaomon seriously. That being said, he’s still a pretty likable Digimon. Gaomon is definitely loyal to Thomas and he’s always ready to fight. He makes for a nice rival to Agumon. Gaomon also knows how to fight on his own even if his trainer is not present, which is a pretty big advantage over the typical opponent. His evolution forms are very good and I like just about all of them…although his champion form isn’t great. His ultimate and mega forms make up this.

Lalamon is Yoshino’s partner and she is definitely the worst partner from the main three. She can’t really fight that really hurts Yoshino’s chances of being a great fighter. Her champion form is no match for a random Digimon with no experience and it she loses in her first big fight. Lalamon gets her moments as the series goes on of course, but she never reaches the heights that the others do. Her strongest forms still aren’t as impressive as Agumon and Gaomon’s. You can argue that the same thing happened to Renamon’s Mega form since it was no Gallantmon, but at least it was still as impressive as Henry’s ultimate form. Lalamon definitely can’t say the same and she’s too much of a pacifist. She definitely could have used some development.

Keenan is definitely one of the worst characters in the series and I definitely wish that he had been cut out. His whole gimmick doesn’t make any sense. He was raised in the Digital World so his English skills are pretty broken. This means that he ends up talking like Tarzan, which is already a pretty annoying cliche if you ask me. “Me am Keenan” is an example of what a typical line from him is like. Why does this not make sense? Well, all of the Digimon can speak perfect English. I’ve never heard them make a mistake and they barely even use slang. So, Keenan shouldn’t have a problem with the language. Moreover, he’s just really annoying. He doesn’t know whether he should choose to side with the humans or the Digimon and this ends up with him not really being loyal to either side for a while. Marcus has to constantly defeat him until he finally sees the light. Once he is a hero, Keenan is still pretty annoying and I never liked him from start to finish.

Falcomon is Keenan’s partner and he’s not much better. He talks tough, but he’s rather weak. The only impressive moment that he has is his very first appearance and that’s just because the writers were trying to give him a lot of hype. It doesn’t really work and it doesn’t make him likable. Falcomon seems to be the intelligent and refined character from the way that he speaks, but he doesn’t have any really cool moments. It also helps that most of his Digi Evolutions aren’t that good either.

Commander Sampson is the leader of the D.A.T.S group and he can definitely be pretty iffy at times. As it is, I’m pretty suspicious of the group’s overall goal and he’s their leader so that doesn’t help his case. He talks tough to be sure, but he’s a part of the system so he has to listen to his higher ups at times. He’s a decent leader, but he’s definitely not my kind of character and I always side with Marcus against him. Kudamon is Sampson’s partner and he’s decent as well, but not always. He’s pretty skeptical of Marcus and he’s usually the voice of doubt. He does get to fight towards the end of both arcs so he is definitely strong. He’s still not my favorite Digimon, but he’s decent to have around. He beats the knights and the shell Digimon.

Homer Yushima is a fisherman who knows more than he lets on. It’s safe to say that he’s one of the most annoying characters in the series. He constantly taunts Marcus, but he is somehow able to avoid the hero’s punches. This guy could get 100 plot twists and I still wouldn’t like him. He’s just too cryptic and you know that he’s probably doing it on purpose. He could have helped out more if he decided to join the action instead of just fishing all the time.

Merukimon was one of the cooler opponents in the series and he was one of the first Mega level Digimon to battle the heroes. He’s rather large, but he’s still humanoid so that gives him points in my book. He has super strength and some good energy blasts at his disposal so he can give any fighter a run for their money. He rules the Digital World, or at least a fraction of it. Merukimon believes in peace and he tries not to go to war with the humans, but his subordinates and evil humans make this rather difficult. I don’t care for how his character arc ended since I just don’t see him losing so easily, but he had a pretty good run. He’s definitely a Digimon that you can respect.

Gotsumon is Merukimon’s right hand man, but he’s a pretty treacherous opponent. He wants a war to start between the Digimon and the humans. He will do just about anything to start this and I mostly just disregarded him as a comic relief character. That changed when he evolved into Meteormon and had some of the best speed feats of the series. It’s no stretch to say that this guy could be a match for Superman and I gained a lot of respect for him. Now, having a lot of power doesn’t mean that you’ll instantly become a likable character, but I can safely say that it did wonders for this guy.

SaberLeomon is an ally to Merukimon although they don’t always get along. His abilities are considerable and he definitely isn’t going to let the humans get away with doing what they please. He launches an attack on the human world and it’s a pretty epic episode. He’s clobbering the heroes and even Commander Sampson is forced to suggest a retreat. Marcus won’t have any of that, but it’s definitely a pretty cool moment. His end isn’t satisfying as with Merukimon’s fate, but he gave us a great battle and he had a cool personality. He’s like your average Shonen Jump rival and that’s always a good thing.

Gizumon is a robot that Kurata built and he’s part Digimon I believe. It brings up the good ole question of whether a human can build something to surpass anything. We saw in DBZ that Androids can be created who are stronger than Super Saiyans and now we have a robotic Digimon that can surpass a Mega. A single blast from this fighter can disintegrate most Digimon. It’s a little too overpowered if you ask me and it’s really hard to swallow this fact. I don’t think that it can beat a true Mega so it’s tough to see it beating up the heroes. Its speed and power are simply off the charts, but it has no true character development. It’s design is also lacking somewhat in coolness. I wasn’t a huge fan of this thing, but it’s definitely tough.

Belphemon is one of the big foes to appear in the series, but only for a very short amount of time. For the most part, it’s sort of Belphemon, but not really. Let’s just say that he’s not in full control of what he’s doing for about half of his screen time and then his time is pretty limited when he does show up. He’s definitely as cool as ever when he does appear though and I’ve always liked him as a villain. His design is basically perfect for an antagonist since he can fight in any style. Whether short range or long range, his attacks are guaranteed to deal some major damage.

Kurata is one of the most annoying villains in the series and he could be one of the worst in the franchise. He’s made to be a very unlikable character since he’s despicable in just about every way. If that was the aim of the writers, then they certainly succeeded. There just isn’t anything likable about this guy and you’re just waiting for him to be crushed the whole time. The only problem is that he lasts for quite a long time. He’s around for over half the series, which is a pretty impressive feat for a villain. The only other villain that I can think of from the top of my head who has achieved this (In a series with at least 26 episodes and two different arcs) is Aizen, but I’m sure that there are others. He is a brilliant scientist and inventor, but those just aren’t good enough reasons to actually end up liking the character.

Nanami is one of the three humans who have the ability to change into a Digimon. It’s a very handy ability to have and these fighters have an incredible theme that plays whenever they transform. Nanami is a genius so her rival from the main characters is naturally Thomas. She’s definitely a great fighter and her speed is really off the charts. Unlike Kurata, Nanami is a villain that you won’t mind rooting for since she is pretty interesting. I can’t bring myself to root for her since I’m a much bigger Thomas fan, but she isn’t an unlikable villain. It’s also cool to see her have a strategic battle with Thomas…even if she should have won that battle.

Kouki is the next member of the trio and he’s easily my favorite one. He’s Marcus’ rival so I suppose that this makes sense. He’s always eager to battle and his personality is similar to your average Shonen Jump Protagonist or eager rival like Grimmjow. He doesn’t really have any bad scenes and it’s nice to see someone else jump in to fight instead of it just being Marcus all the time. Their punch in the Digital Wormhole was a nice way to start off their arc and he grew on me pretty quickly. I’m hesitant to say that he was the best villain in the series, but I’m thinking that there is actually a strong possibility that he is. Kouki is just great!

Unfortunately, every group has its weak point and this one is no exception. Ivan is the third member of the group and he’s easy the worst one. He’s not very smart and he’s always trying to flirt with Yoshino, but failing epicly. He doesn’t really know how to think yet so he just says all of his thoughts out loud. This results in wince worthy scenes were you just have to hope that he’ll be quickly defeated. His super forms also aren’t quite as cool as Nanami’s or Kouki’s. I could definitely do without this guy and Yoshino deserves a better rival.

Craniamon gets the biggest role from all of the Royal Knights. He has the most impressive fight and he is probably the most likable member as well. He fights with a shield and a double edged blade. (Not really a sword though) His shield is said to be unbreakable so getting past him is very tricky. His one on one fight with Marcus and Agumon was one of the better fights in the series. He eventually learns that it is not right to follow a leader without any questions and his character development definitely carries him to new heights. Not only is he one of the strongest Digimon in the franchise, he’s also one of the more likable ones.

Unfortunately, the rest of the Royal Knights don’t get the same treatment. They have a cool moment where they all show up at once, but they don’t get a lot of development after that. In fact, most of them don’t even get to have climatic fights like Craniamon. Gallantmon looks pretty great in his appearances, but maybe a little too great. The heroes don’t really have an answer for him so one character is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice to turn this into a stalemate. Gallantmon doesn’t return until the very end when the fights are over.

Dynasmon is still a pretty cool figure, but all of his feats were in Frontier. The producers didn’t decide to challenge this and he is mostly relegated to the sideline. Likewise with Magnamon, whose role is very small. It’s interesting to see Magnamon since I’ve always considered him to be of a weaker tier than Royal Knights level. Good for him, but he is probably the weak link of the team…maybe. UltraforceVeedramon could be his rival in terms of power, but I have to say that he just looks a lot tougher. He would have had a really good fight I’m sure and his fans were probably disappointed.

Leopardmon got his own fight at least and his portrayal is…interesting. He’s the only Royal Knight that you could probably call pure evil. Might makes right according to him and he seems rather insane. I hope he is kicked off the team by the others and I have to wonder how he made it in the first place. This guy just seems a few graham crackers short of a smore if you know what I mean. He looks decent, but he also looks a lot weaker than the average Royal Knight.

LoadKnightmon is pretty lucky since he got a big role in Digimon Frontier and then he got a major fight against Thomas in Data Squad. I actually do like the design since it’s very robotic and stream lined. LoadKnightmon looks like he can be a real threat and it’s the kind of design that you might expect from something like Eureka Seven. He definitely doesn’t disappoint while in battle. This is why an extra 5-6 episodes for the series would have been good. If all of the Royal Knights had gotten big battles like LoadKnightmon and Craniamon, the ending would have been even more satisfying.

Omnimon is a perfect example of this since he is easily the strongest Royal Knight. (In theory anyway and I think it’s a safe assumption) He really should have gotten to fight since that would have been really cool. Marcus could have had his ultimate mega form battle with Omnimon and it would have been a battle for the ages. That was a missed opportunity, but I suppose that every show misses a chance somewhere along the line. Hopefully we get that fight someday.

King Drasil is the ultimate boss and his power is basically unlimited. It’s good to see that he can physically fight though since it would have been easy to have made him a high above being. His first form is pretty cool and I also liked his final mode. It wasn’t totally humanoid, but it was close enough so that he could still fight in close quarters combat if he had too. This guy got a lot of hype so it was fun to finally see him once and for all. It was a nice way to end the series.

Spencer Damon is Marcus’ father who vanished prior to the start of the series. He was apparently a nice guy and we learn more and more about him as the series progresses. Like Marcus, he can use digital data to amplify his attacks and do some real damage. He seemed to be even stronger than Marcus since his strength may have been on a planetary level. It’s a shame that we never really get to see him fight seriously on screen. The only time where we come close is in a flashback and the match is mostly off screen. This is one guy who could definitely hold his own series and it would have been cool to have seen him a little more before the series finally ended.

BanchoLeomon is a mysterious Mega Digimon who helps the heroes from time to time, but I definitely didn’t care for him. He’s pretty skilled and he’s a pure hand to hand fighter, but he’s just not my kind of character. An example of this is when he locks the main characters in a hut to train and then he refuses to let them out until they complete their training. You expect a strict instructor in these shows, but he goes too far. See, the Digimon partners of the main characters were getting blown away by some villains at the time and the heroes knew that they couldn’t last much longer. Knowing that, BanchoLeomon still refused to let them out and he didn’t mind letting their lives be snuffed out. Marcus quickly did something about that, but I never let BanchoLeomon off the hook. As far as I am concerned, he’s evil and someone who needs to be stopped.

Now, is D.A.T.S. is evil or just severely misguided? They decide that they have to destroy Digimon as quickly as they appear in the human world so that they don’t cause panic in the streets. Destroying a Digimon merely reverts them back to their baby form though so they aren’t really dead. That being said, you still wonder about this since they’re basically shooting first and asking questions later. The show tries to help them out by explaining that all Digimon go crazy when they go into the real world by mistake so they can’t be reasoned with. That being said, Mega Level Digimon seem to be an exception and likewise with the partners of the main humans. D.A.T.S. was quick to attack Agumon so it makes you wonder how many other heroic Digimon were taken down. They naturally mellowed out since Marcus joined (Since he makes sure to keep them on the side of justice) but it makes you wonder just how good they are. Governments and military groups never seem to be trust worthy in TV shows and this is no exception.

I think that Kurata probably gets away with a little too much during arc 1. He takes down a whole lot of Digimon and he basically forces them to retaliate. You really can’t blame the Digimon for wanting to destroy the Earth since the humans are constantly trying to harm them. Unfortunately, the heroes are ready to stop them so it’s a dicey predicament. The Digimon are in a no win situation since they can decide not to strike back and watch as their allies are defeated or they can attack and get bested by Marcus. So, you can definitely sympathize with these guys and it’s one of the only reasons why you can accept the Royal Knights deciding to destroy Earth. That being said, they are supposed to be completely just heroes so you expect more out of them. Also, where were they when Kurata was attacking the other Digimon? With their extreme speed, they should be able to help out a lot. I’ll assume that they were in statis or something.

Data Squad’s animation is definitely sound. It has a Shonen Jump feel to it that the other series just didn’t have. The previous installments looked good of course, but this one is just that much better. Tamers also had some good animation so it can hold its own, but I’d go as far as to say that Data Squad easily surpasses every other Digimon show in terms of animation. It helps that the fights are really intense here so the animators can take advantage of that of course. I’ll talk about the battles in a short while. Needless to say, the animation really shines throughout the series and especially during the final arc.

Another factor that was in the show’s favor is definitely the soundtrack. Digimon is a franchise that is very well know for its great soundtracks or at least in the English dub of each series. Data Squad takes it up another notch as at least 90% of its themes are fight related. Only 1 other show has managed to pull that off in the past and that was Yugioh GX. You can already tell that Data Squad is in some pretty good company here. From the cliff hanger music to the tense themes, Data Squad just nails them all. Even the “previously on Digimon” scenes become epic as the show plays a great battle theme. There’s never a dull moment in the series and the soundtrack really solidifies that fact.

The action scenes are another thing that separates this show from most anime. The battles are pretty reminiscent of DBZ and they’re very high tier. Digimon Frontier actually started this off since their fights felt like classic DBZ scuffles, but this show just takes it to the next level. The strongest fighters in this series are easily stronger than Frontier’s. (Don’t get the wrong idea, Frontier’s strongest fighters are still immensely powerful, but they would not be able to win this fight) The action scenes are intense regardless of how high tier they are though as the first fights with Marcus against rookies and champions are still exciting. This is thanks to the soundtrack mixed in with the animation. The hand to hand certainly helps since those fights are always excited. Brawling action is great to mix in with beam fights since it makes the battles that much more dynamic. We even get a classic scene where someone catches Marcus’ punch, which is an impressive feat in itself. As far as the power levels go, the top fighters from this series could take out many fighters in Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and maybe even some DBZ fighters. Don’t underestimate these Digimon!

I already mentioned that this is my 2nd favorite show of all time so it probably goes without saying that it beats the other Digimon shows. That being said, they put up an admirable fight. As of this post, the Digimon rankings go: Digimon Data Squad–Digimon Tamers–Digimon Adventure–Digimon Frontier–Digimon Adventure 02–Digimon Fusion. The last two spots do tend to shift around sometimes though as it’s really close. Digimon Adventure 02 had the better writing, but the songs were terrible so it’s a tough call. Data Squad wins in characters, fight scenes, soundtrack, and animation so it’s basically got all of the areas covered. Like I said, it’s just about perfect.

If I had to mention a negative aside from Keenan, it would be that the ending is a little rushed. All of the Royal Knights should have gotten a chance to have a real fight. The series really could have used the extra 4 episodes to reach 52 so that they could fight. 4 episodes would certainly be enough or at least it would be enough to satisfy me. There’s a lot of action that you can fit in those 2 hours. It wasn’t to be though and when a little pacing problem is the show’s biggest concern, you know that you’re doing pretty well. The show gets by without resorting to fanservice tactics, which is another check on its overall score.

Every show has a moment where things get real. That moment where the show jumps from good to great or from mediocre to good depending on the title. The moment where the show peaks and that happens towards the end of arc 1 in this title. When the 3 humans who can biomerge into Digimon appear, that’s when Data Squad went from great to elite. It’s an intense scene and you won’t be able to tear yourself away from the screen when that happens. On a bright note, even the filler episodes are pretty entertaining. The boxer episode comes to mind and there were no big stakes, but it was still a pretty great episode. That’s because the writing for this show is pretty consistent.

Speaking of which, the ending leaves a lot of room for possible sequels. It would be great to see a certain character who’s returned join in on some action and Marcus is only just beginning to unlock his full powers. I would have liked a sequel to this show since the possibilities are really endless. Adventure is finally getting a sequel though so maybe there is still a chance for this show. As far as endings go, Data Squad’s is pretty great and it certainly beats most other titles in that regard. (Naruto)

Overall, Digimon Data Squad is just about perfect. It’s a show that has a lot of replay value and nearly everything went its way. The pacing is pretty good and the animation is sure to help you enjoy the fights a lot. The soundtrack is easily 5 star material and Marcus makes for a great lead. Keenan may not be a good character, but you can definitely overlook him on this epic experience. The show is ironically a few episodes shorter than the other seasons, but that’s okay. Over 40 episodes is still enough time for you to get used to the characters. I definitely recommend this show to any anime fan and especially if you are looking for a title with a lot of fights. It’ll be tough for any show to pass this one and that’s why my top 3 shows of all time are virtually set in stone at this point. 1. Yugioh GX. 2. Digimon Data Squad. 3. Cardfight Vanguard. Everything else can fight for the remaining spots on my top 10. Check this show out and tell me what you think! I’ll have to wait a while before I see Marcus in action again, but that should be pretty epic!

Overall 9/10

Scan 2 Go Review

Posted on December 20, 2014 by dreager1

Scan 2 Go is a show that I started a little over 2 years ago. It was a pretty solid series, but then it was pulled from TV…never to be shown again. Now, it has finally made it to Youtube so I got to blast through the final 7-8 episodes. Let’s just say that this is a great show that really manages to hit it out of the park in several areas. On the surface it’s just another awesome toyetic show, but it decides to go all Gurren Lagann on us in the final 2. This title is pretty obscure so let’s go over the plot first.

There’s a plot? Of course! Kaz Gordan is from Earth and he has three friends. Together, they form Team Jet and they are training to become the best racers in the universe. Scan 2 Go is a futuristic game that lets you mentally synchronize with your (tiny) toy car as you travel across dangerous tracks. The game never really hit it off on Earth, but every other planet is playing it. Kaz convinces his teacher to let Team Jet travel across the universe after he crushes him in a toy car fight. The heroes win tournament after tournament as they meet strange allies and tricky villains. There are many tournaments and training sessions throughout the show, but it’s difficult to call them actual arcs. One of the big story arcs was when the team went to Gurao to train since that’s where they got to bond with their allies. Finally, the team went back to Earth for the universal tournament. The final Grand Prix to decide who the fastest racer in the universe is. Unfortunately….an old enemy has decided to show up as well. There will be much more about that in a moment.

Scan 2 Go’s animation is actually pretty good. To an extent, I expected this, but it really shines during the space battles or really any scene with Ryu. The energy attacks are great and I’m convinced that this show could have pulled off a hand to hand battle scene. How does it stack up against other toyetic shows? I think that the animation is behind Cardfight and Buddyfight, but it beats Tenkai Knights and the original Yugioh series. Animation isn’t typically a gamechanger for a show, but it sure makes the racing scenes more exciting. I can’t say that any episodes had bad animation and that’s always a good thing.

The soundtrack for the show is one of its biggest strengths. There are technically not a whole lot of themes in the show since the old ones just play again and again and again. That’s all right though since they’re so good. From the starting theme, “Scan 1….” so Ryu’s theme, Scan 2 Go’s music selections are intense. The Ryu one is definitely intense and it makes for a very good villain theme. It’s in sharp contrast to the racing theme that typically plays since that one is very fast, but hopeful. Unfortunately, the opening isn’t very good, but this is the kind of show that can get by that thanks to all of its other strengths.

Let’s talk about Ryu. He changed the entire series, which is very impressive. Until he showed up, Kaz just had fun outracing everyone and showing them why his Falgor was the best car in the biz. That all changed when Ryu introduced the notion of racing to destroy the other competitors. His car is the fastest and the strongest in the series so none of the other racers can hope to beat him in a fair race. Luckily, that’s not what he wants anyway. He just wants to destroy the universe! As you can imagine, that was pretty shocking to see in this show. Until then, one could argue that the strongest fighters weren’t even planet busters…so how did we upgrade to universe busting?

Well, Ryu is a living embodiment of a black hole and the power gem that is on his forehead gives him additional power. His car has the ability to instantly regenerate injuries although it may just be Ryu’s ability that transfers to the car since they are fully synchronized. Ryu is so great that he actually pulls off a feat that people have been waiting for DBZ to show. He destroys a moon just by having his car ram into someone else’s. It’s a great scene and it’s pretty tragic since you’re not used to seeing other people get injured in this show. That being said, Ryu goes even farther than that.

Only one character is destroyed in the entire series and you can probably guess who did that. Ryu has a climatic battle with the greatest racer in the universe..or at least, the man who was the greatest racer in the universe. It was a very fun, high budget battle in space and we got to see both of them really put everything on the line. That was easily the darkest episode and the moment where the series had changed forever. It’s hard not to quickly begin to love Ryu as a villain. He toys with all of the heroes and he is the only one who seems to realize that their cars can be used as weapons. After all, they can shoot thunder, make tsunamis, black holes, etc. Why should they only be used in races?

Another reason why the final episodes were so great was because we finall got to see the mysterious council make their move. It really felt like a moment out of Shonen Jump when we got to see Ryu fight these new characters. They all had unique powers and they talked a good game so it was pretty great. I don’t think anyone ever questioned who would win the fight, but it was just fun to see. Ryu’s car also gets to smash through an entire army and it can move so quickly that it turns into a giant meteor.

It doesn’t stop there though as its gravity powers (Or Ryu’s) are enough to push the Moon out of orbit and send it crashing to Earth. Ryu’s universe destroying plan is also rather simple. His car just needs to win one more big race to have enough power to make a black hole big enough to suck everything in. (He absorbs the powers of those he has defeated after all) Naturally, Kaz and friends are here to stop him so it ends up being a 8-12 vs 1 matchup in the final battle. It’s pretty great to see, but the heroes sure look weak and completely out of their league compared to such a fighter.

The heroes are able to let their cars reach FTL speeds as well, although I found Ryu’s feat more impressive since he was doing it on his own. That being said, it’s intense to see them just cruising past planets on their way to victory. I also have to give the show some props since the easy way would have been to just have had Ryu die when they pushed him into the sun. Let’s just say that it’s not enough to stop him. I think that he should have been able to have just left and regrouped somewhere else, but it was pretty much impossible to stop him so they had to end everything somehow. At least the heroes got to try their luck at pushing a moon. It’s a good strength feat since we need to keep in mind that Wonder Woman, Superman, and Martian Manhunter teaming up couldn’t move the moon while the heroes from Gurao were able to move it. (Even more impressive is that the Moon was already crashing so it’s different from pushing a Moon that’s in orbit.) Other heroes come to help after that, but the heroes already got the main job done.

Now, all of this does bring to mind one big concern with the sport and why you have wonder about how safe it is. The show is rather inconsistent in showing just how synchronized you are with the car, but it seems to suggest that you feel the virtual damage that you car does. It’s why the humans will wince or groan with pain after a big attack or end up getting knocked down. They also seem to abandon the real world completely, but is this physical or just mental? At the very least, your conciousness leaves like in Sword Art Online, but other times we see the fighters just appear where the cars are. (Even if it’s thousands of miles away from the arena) So, it’s possible that their physical bodies are able to instantly warp to their cars or they are spirited away during the match. However, they stay at the racetrack at other times to trade insults with the others.

Ultimately, I don’t think that the show could really make up its mind on this. I’ll just think of it as throwing your conciousness into the car, which is why you feel the damage and wind up wherever the car is. After all, we can’t really look at Zero’s battle with Ryu any other way. How else could he breathe in space and follow Ryu there? (Ryu can breathe in space, but he’s not even human so it’s all right) I’ll just add that you can quickly go back to the real world as well or stay there the whole time depending how synched you are with your car. Naturally, this means that mind games work very well in this series.

I still haven’t mentioned what the risk of racing is have I? Well, if you feel the virtual damage, then you are put at great risk. One fighter ended up synching with his car while in space so when the car was blown up, the guy was either blown up with it or he ended up suffocating. Luckily, it seems to be the former. Another guy is obliterated by an energy blast because his car was. There’s no way that you can find this hobby safe and it makes you wonder about all of the one shot characters who got crushed throughout the series. It seems like the virtual damage doesn’t affect you if you don’t have a high synch rate so the throwaway characters might be safe, but it’s still hard to see how this sport is condoned. Maybe that’s why Earth isn’t exactly head over heels for it. Well, that’s enough about how awesome the series is for now, let’s look at the rest of the characters. (Since I basically already talked about Ryu a lot. He’s my favorite character in the series while I have to boot Kaz down to number 2)

Before Ryu took the spot, Kaz had been my favorite character in the series from the very first episode. He’s just awesome and a shining example of how I want my main characters to look. Kaz doesn’t pull any punches whether he’s racing against little kids or old men. In the very first episode he ends up beating his mentor so that he could escape Earth and race in the big leagues. It was pretty cool since the future is luckily safe enough that 10 year old kids can fly around the cosmos unchaperoned. (Unless you count their little robot friend.) Kaz always has a lot of determination and he constantly mentions how he wants to be the Fastest in the Universe. It’s a noble goal to be sure and one to be proud of. He makes quite a few rivals along the way, but he’s never outmatched for very long. His car’s special ability is that it can fly, which actually isn’t one of the better abilities, but it hasn’t failed him yet. While Ryu wields the power of darkness, Kaz holds the power of light and there are only two to three other characters who have wielded a similar power in the past. Zero and one of Kaz’s masters come to mind. Unfortunately, he only uses it a few times throughout the series and surprisingly not in the final fight. That’s a missed opportunity, but it doesn’t stop Kaz from being one of the best main characters out there. I agree with just about all of his decisions and he doesn’t make any huge mistakes throughout the series. No, Kaz is all about the win and then the team..in that order. His Galaxy Falgor is also cooler than almost every other car in the series.

Shiro is the main rival of the series, which guarantees him a spot in the top 5 of the series. He has ice abilities so he can freeze an entire battlefield and stop everyone in their tracks with minimal effort. Unfortunately, he can’t totally control this power and he ends up turning into a wolf sometimes. He seems to be part of a wolf changing species, but he looks pretty human while in..human mode. His car is pretty great since aside from ice abilities, he can also teleport. That is very handy to have in a race and it’s hard to see Shiro ever losing once he gets that power. To an extent..you’d be right, but it’s also partially because his role is lessened a whole lot by that point. By the end, he’s barely in the show anymore aside to just be in the background. No matter, he’s still a pretty great character. The only part of the show where he got to be a little annoying was when he was having a lot of internal drama and he let Ryu play him like a puppet. That was pretty sad, but luckily it was also very brief. Shiro is one of the only racers who can actually give Kaz a fight so he needs to stay in the game!

Zero is known as the greatest racer in the universe and Kaz has always wanted to surpass him. It’s a little sad that they never get to have a proper race since that would have been pretty great. Zero is essentially perfect, which irritates his rivals, but shows why he has so many fans. He doesn’t use any gimmicks or cheap tricks to win as he just races from start to finish. That being said, his decision to fight Ryu may not have been his greatest one. It was an awesome moment since Zero had gotten a whole lot of hype while Ryu was the mysterious son of the black hole. Zero put up a good fight since his car could shoot lasers and he held his own while in space. It was an admirable fight and it was a great way to wrap up his character arc. Let’s just say that I wasn’t going to forget him after that. I’d actually say that he is one of the coolest characters in the show and I’d probably place him at third behind Ryu and Kaz. That final fight certainly did a lot to help me gain respect for him.

Fiona is the main heroine in the series and she has a long lasting rival in Hebina. Her car’s ability is that it can navigate through a race track by using its gliders to look at the stage layout, but the writers probably realized that this wasn’t much of an ability so she gains thunder powers as the series goes on. Those are very useful to be sure so I was glad that she got those new powers. She likes to think that she’s just as good as Kaz in a race, although all of his allies seem to illogically believe that to an extent. Even if Kaz proves them wrong over and over again…their honor is at stake here! She’s definitely better than Myron and Diego, but Shiro would take the number 2 spot on Team Jet…if we decide to count him. She’s definite a pretty likable ally and at least her skills are considerable. She may be top 3 as far as toyetic heroines are concerned, which is a feat in itself.

Diego is the Dex/Bud/Bronx of the show. He’s always eating except when he’s too nervous or upset to do so. His car is pretty slow, but strong. The problem is that there are several other cars that are simply stronger than his, which takes away his only gimmick. How can he hope to win a true race with such a car? Typically, his will power is just that much better than his opponents so he is able to get an extra boost to win the day. I can’t say that I believed many of his wins though and he’s not one of the better allies. He gets a subplot where he feels like he is the weakest member on the team and the sad part is that it’s probably true. Kaz puts a lot of effort into training, but we never see Diego proactively decide to do this. He’s too interested in eating so why should he expect to be strong? It was emotional and all, but he really doesn’t add anything to the show. I still wouldn’t go as far as to say that he’s a bad character though. He’s just not that good.

Myron is one member of Team Jet that I definitely didn’t care for. He’s the smart member of the group, but that doesn’t stop him from still wanting to be one of the fastest racers in the universe. He’s asking for too much if you ask me. His Storm Slazer actually has a pretty good design and it’s gimmick is that it can drive well over ice, sand, and water. It can also drill under the track to hide if necessary. The problem is that Myron is always quick to turn against Kaz since nothing can ever be his fault. He’s worse than Diego and some of the allies from Gurao, which is pretty sad for him. He was definitely a little worse than I could have expected.

Dradd was Kaz’s first rival and he stayed with him until the very end. He has a rivalry with Ryu going on, but he has to get in line since Kaz and Taiga also have beef with the guy. His car’s special ability is that it can hit the ground hard enough to make it jump forward. It’s pretty nifty, but not that practical compared to the other cars. Power is his thing like with Diego and Ryu, but he’s probably second in that category. He talks tough and he is older than Kaz, but he had to start his training from scratch since he had stopped improving. He’s the best member from Gurao. That may not be saying a lot, but his races are fun to watch and I definitely wouldn’t call him a bad character. He’s outmatched against Kaz, but that’s just his bad luck right?

Taiga is Kaz’s second rival and I guess that makes him rivals with Dradd as well to an extent. He races so that he can become better than Zero and then a big rivalry starts with Ryu. He is a good racer, but his will power isn’t so great and he can be manipulated rather easily. He’s not bad, but he tries to act a little too cool at different points and it just doesn’t work. He’s a decent rival, but I’d say that Kaz is clearly superior in a race. I could probably take Taiga a little more seriously if he could have convincingly defeated Diego in the race, but it was a little too close for comfort. He talks really tough the whole series, but he’s usually on the losing end of a race. At least he learned the values of friendship by the end…

I’m starting to realize that the sad characters were not great in this show. I liked Shiro, Zero, Kaz, Fiona, Dradd, and Ryu. That sounds like a lot, but considering how many characters are in the show…that’s a pretty small number. I just ended up not really feeling like the other characters were that good. Kraken is no exception as he is a King who enjoys the game, but it rather overconfident about it. His voice doesn’t help matters at all, but the worst part is that he just doesn’t seem to be that good. His car can shoot large waves of water, which is a pretty great technique, but his car isn’t great on the ground…and that’s where almost all of the races take place. He bonds with the heroes at one point, which gets them all on his side, but he didn’t get me on his side.

Hebina might be the worst member from the Gurao team since she is clearly a villain who just happens to race. Her abilities are not great so she constantly cheats to ensure that she claims victory in her battles. None of the other characters call her out on this half the time and she certainly didn’t earn her spot with the best in the Final Grand Prix. Her theme is also awful and the only piece of music that I didn’t like. It’s not an exaggeration to say that she may be the worst character in the show. Her gimmick is that her car can make illusions so that it looks like her car has multiplied. It’s not very original though since a shadow council member could do that with his car and likewise with Kaz’s original teacher. She’s going to have to do better than that if she wants to be an expert racer and hopefully she becomes likable someday…but the sequel series would really need to change her character to make that possible.

Jack is a cop who also happens to be a racer and he’s definitely not likable. He’s probably the weakest racer from Gurao and it’s hard to even remember what his gimmick is. He definitely has something since his character needs a gimmick, but it probably wasn’t that great. He has a hero moment towards the end of the series where he destroys a meteor, but it just doesn’t make up for a whole series. He needs to just stick to one field and master it instead of dabbling in both. He constantly goes after Hebina, which would be okay if it was just to arrest her, but he doesn’t take his job seriously enough for that. He just likes to give her a hard time. He must have been lucky to have made it to the final grand prix.

Ray is Kaz’s teacher from Earth and he’s pretty cool. His attitude is similar to Kakashi’s in that he is always very confident and mysterious. It’s a little hard to take him seriously since he was defeated in the very first episode of the series and then disappeared until around episode 49, but he quickly made up for this in the final race. His skills are apparently up there with some of the world’s best and that’s pretty cool to see. From Kaz’s three teachers he was definitely the best. Master Hippopo is arguably the strongest master since he’s the leader of the super council and he fought Ryu, but he was certainly not very likable. The only good scene with Hippopo aside from his fight against Ryu was probably his “death” in one of the earlier episodes since Kaz got to have a rage moment as he dueled against Hebina. Now that was intense!

Antares was one of the less interesting members of the main guys. He is a publicity guy first and foremost. He like to always be in the spotlight and he acts as if his races are just shows for his adoring fans. That ultimate comes back to bite him in the final episode. His car’s gimmick is that it can use its tail to do a flip on the track so that it can dodge attacks. It’s pretty useful, but definitely not the greatest bonus for when it comes down to a contest of speed. I just don’t really find him to be that likable and I also doubt his skills.

I have to say that the ending wasn’t great though. I Loved the huge climax and how out there is got, but some parts were still a little disappointing. One part that I was underwhelmed by was Kaz’s big charge against Ryu. He decided that winning on his friends sacrifices wouldn’t be worth it so he attacked Ryu in a rage moment. Unfortunately, he is just thrown to the side and he couldn’t deal any damage. He didn’t even last 5 seconds so that was pretty sad. I also think that they should have just said that Kaz was the winner at the end instead of just saying that all fans of the series were winners. That’s a bit of a cop out right?

Overall, Scan 2 Go is a great show and it’s certainly not one that you’ll want to miss out on. The series mostly doesn’t have a whole lot of stakes in it since it’s just about seeing the heroes race as they get through their challenges, but that definitely changes once Ryu enters the show. Before Ryu’s appearance the show still would have gotten a 7 easily, but his battles gave it the push that it needed to reach the elusive 8. It’s a great experience from start to finish and the visuals as well as the soundtrack only help to enhance that. Kaz is a likable main character and Ryu’s a great villain so you don’t need to worry about the characters dragging it down. Some subplots like Shiro’s origin don’t really go anywhere and we could have done without it, but maybe it’ll be in a sequel at some point. Regardless, the show just wins on all accounts so you definitely want to see it as soon as possible!

Overall 8/10

Slayers Next Review

Posted on November 14, 2014 by dreager1

I have now finished the second installment in the Slayers franchise. The previous title managed to be a pretty good anime as it was a pretty unique title with a main character who wasn’t afraid to deal with collateral damage. The concept may not seem unique to older anime viewers, but there aren’t many fantasy titles that take place in the olden days like this one anymore so it was pretty fresh for me. Slayers Next definitely takes most of the aspects from the first show and brings them to new heights. This works as a double edged blade, but it is definitely another anime worth watching.

The series takes place shortly after the climax of the series finale as Lina and Gourry have split up from the rest of the party. They seem to just be wandering around without much of a goal, but they meet up with Amelia and Zelgadis. Zelgadis still wants to be turned back into a human so he is working for some corrupt dealers. Lina quickly sets him straight and the 4 heroes decide to search for some manuscripts to the Claire Bible. The Claire Bible is supposed to have unlimited knowledge so that should help Zelgadis in his quest. This artifact becomes more and more crucial to their quest as some strong monsters start showing up to destroy Lina. Lina Inverse begins to suspect why they are after her and let’s just say that there are some planetary ramifications involved. The heroes are going to have to grow even stronger if they want to counter this new threat.

Now, you can argue that the Claire Bible arc is the entire show or you can divide it up by having the search for it be the first half while the battle against the monsters is the second half. It’s debatable I suppose, but it’s really just all one arc in my mind. A mysterious figure by the name of Xellos helps to distinguish these parts as he leads them on a lot of wild (filler) goose chases to various parts of the planet in the first half of the series. Also, we can’t forget that this is still Slayers. There are quite a few filler episodes where the cast gets to help liberate kingdoms and solve mysteries as they take a break from the serious dealings with the monsters. Sometimes, a filler episode will even squeeze in a moment or two to add some details to the real plot as they go on their journey.

The series is still pretty light as with the first title with only a quick scene or two where the violence gets ramped up. It never goes overboard as the show keeps it real and that makes the scenes even more surprising. As with the first show, this only occurs at the very end when the climax starts. The body count begins to rise and you can tell that the main villains mean business. Slayers does a good job of knowing when to get serious and when to keep the mood happy and light.

I also have to give the writers credit for their depiction of Lina Inverse. It would have been easy to pull a 1st Hokage or Goku/Gohan where they are always very nice, but instantly become feared amongst their allies when they get serious. I never liked that aspect of a character since it’s okay to intimidate a villain, but your allies shouldn’t fear you. Doesn’t that basically just make you the next villain? Lina’s pals never fear her except for comic relief scenes where they back away. That’s more acceptable since it’s just for laughs anyway and you can tell that they aren’t serious.

Lina starts to question her use of the dark magic from the Lord of Nightmares after she sees a vision, which unfortunately hampers her ability to fight towards the end. At least she still pulls through when the chips are down, but I disagreed with her hesitation from the start. The world may blow up, but it wouldn’t matter anyway since the villain would bring a lot of ruin to the planet as well. Lina is primarily a thief, but she always gets tangled up in these wars since she is a mage of world wide renown and she does have a sense of justice deep down. (Although she doesn’t admit it, which is a plus) The heroes are lucky that she is around since Lina is vastly superior to all of her allies in terms of raw power. We rarely see a main character shooting off blasts that can level cities so casually. (We also see proof of this as seen when she does blow up towns and mountains as opposed to Goku who can’t afford to blow up a planet so the doubters still have a little bit of wiggle room there)

Sadly, the anime does use Lina as an excuse for some fanservice now and again. (For once, I wouldn’t actually blame Lina’s character for it since it’s usually people insulting her, which is hardly her fault) It’s not drastic since Lina’s character is meant to purposely not be able to give us a lot of fanservice so it’s mostly just a lot of chest comments from villains that Lina quickly decimates. Martina is usually the one who initiates this and she also gives us some more fanservice. I’d say that Next definitely has more of this overall than the first season, but it’s still reasonably light compared to most shows. As mentioned, the fanservice is mostly audio based as opposed to the standard visual. (There’s only one or two hot spring scenes that would beg to differ) I’d say that this is preferable, but they are naturally both uncalled for and I’m just glad that they aren’t heavily featured here. It should be noted that there are some brief romance elements to be found here. From the parody Sylphiel to the filler princes, Slayers Next does include a bit of it. The final episode also has a quick moment, but luckily the characters realized that they just panicked and pretended that the whole thing never happened. Forget and Forget is their motto and it worked pretty well.

Gourry is about as likable as he was in the first show. This means that he is a great character 90% of the time, but he still can’t help, but make insulting remarks about Lina’s chest, which quickly drops him down as a character. To be a truly good character, you must be good at least 99% of the time. Gourry is always a little slow on the ball when it comes to just about anything, but it arguably gets even worse in Slayers Next for him. A scene that captures his personality perfectly is when the heroes go to the hot springs. Gourry takes so long to change out of his clothes that everyone is already leaving when he’s getting there. He tries to tell Zelgadis to wait up since he was just about to go in, but he doesn’t listen so Gourry is forced to enjoy the hot springs by himself. It’s hard to tell whether you should cry or laugh since it’s just so sad for the guy. You also have to wonder how long it took him to change since you’d think that the heroes had already been in the hot springs for a while.

Gourry’s also fairly outmatched in this series by just about everyone. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know how to use magic, which is pretty dangerous in this world. He has the famous Sword of Light, but it feels like anyone can just block it or dodge the strikes. So, Gourry doesn’t look very good when it’s battle time, but you do have to admire his determination. He’s typically the first guy to attack and the final one to fall. That speaks highly of his durability and his actual swordsmanship is great. We get a glimpse of how strong Gourry could be if he was serious during the final batch of episodes and he looks very impressive there. If he could learn to fight at that level consciously, he would be a real threat. Technically, the Sword of Light is great since it’s unbreakable and it can block any magical blast. (Within reason) It protects him from all projectiles and one good hit can destroy any monster. Gourry’s main drawback is that he is only a human so it’s hard to block a blast if he’s not prepared for it and he can’t fly. Gourry can only move at normal speeds as well. When he was “awakened” Gourry’s reaction times were the critical change as he could block just about every blast and his raw power seemed to go up. So, his overall ability was not altered very much, he was just able to utilize his abilities to their fullest extent. If he could do that every time…I’m confident that he would be one of the top tier fighters here. At least, he could be the second strongest hero! (Behind Lina)

Zelgadis has certainly changed a lot since his days in the original series. He’s totally used for comedy now and he’s barely serious at all. He’s also shown to be significantly weaker than Lina at this point so he can’t really help when it comes down to a fight. Ironically, he did get a cool new sword, but it’s no Sword of Light and the villains tend to be too fast for him. All of this doesn’t bode too well for him, but you could argue that these developments were not downright terrible for him. No, the worst part is that Zelgadis completely turns against his friends just because he believes that someone can cure him. He betrays them without a second thought even though he knows that he’s working for an evil person. I have to admit that this was going pretty far and while he may have joined up with Lina’s team on good terms by the end…it was a little too late for him. He just went way too far in his quest.

Xellos is easily one of the worst characters in the series. He’s played off as a mysterious fighter who is also incredibly strong, but it worked better for Blues. (Proto Man) Xellos has an extremely nasal voice to continue the franchise’s interesting ensemble of voices, but it’s not enough to make him likable. He likes to troll the heroes, which isn’t terrible in itself, but he does it in an evil way. You can tell that he’s a villain, but the anime tries to play it off like he’s just above such disputes. He humiliates Zelgadis and typically just gets the heroes into trouble, but they still allow him to tag along on the journey. He also makes random romantic advances to keep people quiet, which also makes him pretty tedious. He has a few twists and we discover just how powerful he is, but he still manages to look terrible. After all of the hype, he can barely take on a minion (He needs Lina’s help) and he gets utterly wrecked by the first real villain that he encounters. Sure, he took on an army in a flashback, but flashbacks are like banana peels. They used to be good and now they’ve just spoiled our image of what things could have been. whenever Xellos appeared, I would hope that someone would take him out. The heroes never really tried to do anything about him so it was up to the other villains.

Amelia has stayed pretty true to form in this sequel. As with Gourry and Lina, she really hasn’t changed at all and that’s a good thing. The first episode was a change of pace since she seemed to be more confident in her role as a princess as well as her combat abilities. She may be a little more aggressive and eager to fight here, which can only help her character. She is still a hero of justice and Amelia is easily the most heroic member of the party. (Gourry may be a close second, but Amelia really just wants to help people out. It doesn’t get more heroic than that!) She is the first fighter to finally enhance her hand to hand skills with spirit energy, which is a classic Shonen technique. She can’t really match up against the villains so she is forced to watch on the sidelines with Sylphiel and Zelgadis for the majority of the series. Her determination is simply not enough to close the gap, but she’s still a pretty great character.

Martina has quickly become one of the main characters of the series, but she’s only good in a parodyish way. Sometimes it can be hard not to root for her to defeat Lina so that she can finally have a win, but usually you are just hoping that she will go away. She crushes on people pretty quickly and she worships a made up monster that she thought up during her desperate hours. I do admire the fact that she is always going after Lina, whether it means going through a den of monsters or burning one of the Claire Bible manuscripts. I think the series should think twice before making her a permanent member of the team, but she’s still better than some of the party members that we’ve seen in other series.

I have to wonder what happened to Sylphiel. I’m thinking that the writers must have forgotten about her and how skilled she looked in her debut in the original series. Sylphiel started out her anime history by blocking one of Rezo’s ultimate blasts with a barrier. Not even Lina and Zelgadis’ combined efforts were enough to block this, yet Sylphiel stopped the blast with ease. After that, she has never managed to pull off a decent magic feat again. For most of this series, she just provides the heroes with moral support. Sylphiel does get one good moment where we find out that she knows how to use the Dragon Slave (City Buster) attack, which was a great improvement, but her other abilities are still below average. She is mainly a healer and it seems like she will be sticking to that. I think the writers dropped the ball here since she could have been the ultimate defense fighter with her powerful barriers and healing magic. She’s still a decent character, but she’s probably a little less likable than she could have been. Also, she says “Dear Gourry” instead of “Gourry dear” in this show a lot. I guess it’s because Gourry isn’t usually around, but it’s hard to get used too. She means well, but I’m not sure what she can really bring to the table when a fight draws near. Lina has some healing magic to use in a pinch as well.

Gaav is one of the big villains in this series and he’s pretty great. He’s a villain who relies on his physical attributes while also utilizing his energy blasts. Think of him as an evil Goku and you’ll have the right idea. He’s easily the best villain in the franchise so far and I don’t see him dropping anytime soon. He doesn’t appear until the series is almost over, but he makes his presence known. His end is pretty unsatisfying, but I think it was better than some of the alternate ways that the show could have gone about it.

The Lord of Nightmares is a supremely powerful being who is capable of doing just about anything. She is above all of the other cosmic beings so she can be used as a Deux Ex Machina whenever the need arises. She is known to be a really evil and dangerous figure by reputation, but we find out that she’s not really a bad person. She blows up galaxies and star systems, but she doesn’t do it for any petty reasons. It’s just the natural cycle of life. She will alter her plans if she wishes to do so. She gets a bit of a role in the climax and I was glad that she lived up to the hype. I doubt we’ll ever get to see her seriously fight since it would be impossible for another fighter to match her, but I’ll take this over nothing. She’s easily one of the better cosmic beings since she is at least a reasonable person and she doesn’t drone on about how we can’t change the inevitable.

Phibrizzo is the final villain of the series and he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with. His true form seems like it would have been cool, but we don’t really get to see it in action. Phibrizzo makes the intriguing decision to fight the heroes as a little kid and I can’t say that I appreciate the gesture. This means that we can’t really look forward to any close combat situations with him. He likes to terminate his opponents from afar by simply willing it to be. He has power over death, which makes him very powerful, but not very fun to watch. I didn’t like him as a villain from the get go. As I mentioned, he’s very tough, but that doesn’t make him likable. As far as final bosses go, Slayers could do better. If only Gaav had been the final antagonist..now he was a villain!

Kanzel and Magenta are two of the monsters who challenged Lina and her friends during one of the mini arcs. They were actually relevant to the plot by the end since they had orders to get Lina, but their episodes tended to feel like filler. No matter, these guys were pretty tough and especially Kanzel. Both of them could have easily defeated Lina’s group if they had fought seriously from the beginning. The battle with Kanzel was pretty fun to watch since he could spam his teleporting ability and his defensive capabilities were unbelievable. He was able to take on a Ragna Blade and a Dragon Slave. His design is also pretty great when he enters his super form. Both of these villains were actually pretty likable and I would take them over Phibrizzo.

Halciform is a villain who gets a pretty minor role, but his immortality gives him a fighting chance against Lina. I always felt like anime writers gave immortality a little too much credit. Even if a villain is immortal, they are still vulnerable unless they have instant regeneration. At one point, Gourry slashes Halciform, which destroys him until he regenerates. It takes him a few seconds and they could have gone for a more serious injury that would have slowed him down some more. He also has some magic spells, but it’s nothing that will really be able to take Lina down. I didn’t find Halciform to be that likable, but he was a decent threat as far as one shot villains go.

Zangulus only gets to appear briefly for about 2-3 episodes, but he arrives at a pretty crucial moment. He looks pretty good here as he just wants to fight Gourry and he’s more of a rival than a villain now. He doesn’t resort to cheap tricks and he just wants to have a fair one on one fight. I can’t say that I really cared for him in the previous show, but he’s much better here. It can be a little hard to take him seriously since he’s outclassed powerwise, but he still puts up a good effort. His sword certainly comes in handy as well. His screentime may be limited, but Zangulus certainly makes the most out of it.

Seigram is actually one of the biggest villains in the show. He’s technically just a minion to Gaav, but his abilities speak for themselves. He was strong enough to give Zellos a good fight and he was also outclassing Lina and her friends. It’s hard to land a hit against him since he’s constantly teleporting. It’s sort of like Tobi’s trick from Naruto. He’s a cunning and resourceful villain and I became a fan by the end. He reminds me of The Other from Avengers. He has a cool mask and epic powers so that’s basically all that I needed from him. He’ll probably just be known as one of the more obscure villains as the franchise goes on without him, but he was pretty cool.

The soundtrack is decently good. I’m still not going to say that it’s great, but it fits the fantasy setting that the show is in. You’re certainly going to remember a few tunes by the end of it and they won’t annoy you, which is always a good thing. I’m still not crazy about the theme songs since they do feel rather dated (In terms of sound), but you can tell that the budget for them was also a lot higher than the original show. The characters look very sharp and the openings also have more action, which is great. (There should have been 2 openings since this is a 26 episode show though…)

The animation is also a noticeable step up from the first show. Some episodes may look a little bit like the original, but the climax as well as the first episodes can really show you how the animation has advanced. The colors are a lot brighter/sharper and JC Staff has once again showed us that they are ahead of the curve. Mixing that in with the DBZ effects just makes it incredibly enjoyable to behold. Slayers is able to keep that 90’s feel while bringing in some animation that looks like it’s in the latter 2000’s era.

One area that could come back to bite Slayers are the power levels in the series. Lina continues to learn new spells, but physically she is still just a human. This affects the whole cast since it doesn’t matter how much they train their offensive capabilities if their speed and durability to not improve. As it stands, the heroes get nervous whenever a monster shows up. If a normal monster can give them a good fight, then it’s even harder to see how they can stand up to the higher ups. They were lucky that Phibrizzo decided to take their ultimate attack and that the Lord of Nightmares found the heroes intriguing because things could have gotten very dangerous otherwise. Lina’s attacks deal damage over a pretty wide area, but that’s still not going to cut it against enemies who move at high speeds. We saw Zellos take on one of the commanders in a hyper speed battle and Lina’s group couldn’t even see them half of the time. The heroes simply wouldn’t stand a chance and the opponent wasn’t even one of the high ranking villains. This series certainly had a decent amount of plot hax, but it wasn’t spectacularly obvious. All shows have some plot hax to a degree, but it’s all about minimizing these scenes.

Slayers definitely deserves a lot of credit for the character roster. We have some pretty likable heroes and villains. Since the show lacks some of the advantages that other titles have, it has to make up for it with strong writing and solid characters. (For example, Sword Art Online started out with a huge budget, top notch voice actors, and an amazing soundtrack. Slayers has to start off without any of that) The voices are still a little retro in an unintentional way, but they can make the characters a little more humorous as well. One way to tell whether the characters are really good or not is to pay attention to the filler episodes. There are plenty of them to be found here (Dragon Fishing, Tennis matches, mysteries, etc) and a filler episode can hold up well if the characters as good. If they’re boring or can’t hold their own episodes with a bad plot, (Like Naruto and DBZ without the Saiyans) then they may not be as good as you think. Some of the filler episodes weren’t that good, but the characters always stayed in character and they weren’t as bad as the filler that I am used too.

Overall, Slayers Next is a pretty solid show. I’d basically say that it’s the very definition of a good/fun anime. It was slightly better than the first show, but it’s pretty close. This one had more action, but some of the filler episodes as well as Xellos’ character as a whole kept this from being a stomp. That being said, we’ve moved away from the days of the random mobs and monsters as real threats are always around now. Slayers Next also had a little more fanservice humor, but it was not overdone, which was a very good thing. The soundtrack can hold its own and the animation has improved. As long as Lina and Gourry are the two main characters, we can look forward to fun episodes since they can really hold their own stories. Their interactions are always fun and the voice acting keeps you entertained. I recommend this title to all fantasy fans and viewers who want to see a traditional RPG styled title.

Overall 7/10

Beware The Batman Review

Posted on October 25, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time to see how Beware The Batman fared. It was a pretty original take on the Caped Crusader and the show also had a lot to live up to. Batman already had a few all star series in the form of The Animated Series and Brave and the Bold. Batman Beyond was excellent as well, although Batman didn’t really get to fight that much. Lastly, we can’t forget about The Batman. Does this show manage to take those out? Well, considering the episode disadvantage…it would be quite the feat!

The series actually does have some plots that continue through the series. The first half is mostly stand aloneish, but we get to meet Katana and we are also introduced to Batman’s cast of villains. None of the all stars are here, but maybe that’s a good thing. When was the last time that we got to see Magpie and Anarchy steal the spotlight? Of course, then we’re reminded of Professor Pig and why we would have preferred the Mad Hatter. Anyway, back to the plot! Professor Pig and Mr. Toad are recurring villains, but they don’t have much of a master plan so I would say that Anarchy is the guy who really brings the plot. We also have the League of Assassins, who play a big role in Alfred and Katana’s past.

Towards the second half of the show, we get a subplot where Batman is starting to become a little more vicious as he keeps to himself more since Alfred has left. Harvey Dent has also risen up through the political system and he wants to arrest Batman at all costs. It will award him the promotion that he needs! Meanwhile, Batman’s toughest foe has arrived in the form of Deathstroke. He’s going to need all of his skills if he wants to pull off a victory!

Well, let’s address the elephant in the room. Is it true that the CG-I kept Beware The Batman from being a better show? Absolutely! The animation isn’t very bad and the character models are decent. At the same time, it’s hard to get excited when watching the show because of the stiff animation. A lot of the fight scenes will end up looking similar and the power levels are a mess. The animation just doesn’t let you really get into the episodes. A lot of the intros just don’t capture your attention and you know that the fight scenes won’t be able to match up to the original animated Batman show…which is around 20 years old at this point.

For an example of the power levels, let’s just look at Batman’s fights. He got crushed by Magpie and Anarchy is able to hold his own against him. Then, Batman humiliates Silver Monkey, who is supposed to be an excellent hand to hand fighter. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you think about it. This happens all of the time. There are also a lot of moments where it’s Batman against the cops and the cops should actually win, but we won’t look at that too deeply since plot hax are usually required in those scenarios. Nobody is really able to deal with Gotham PD’s finest after all.

The theme song is pretty lazy. It’s very short and it just doesn’t scream Batman the way that the Brave and the Bold’s intro did. I really liked the credits theme though since it has an epic feeling to it. Now, that could make you pretty excited for the next episode. Inside of the episodes, the music is pretty unmemorable. Usually, the scenes are fairly quiet so you can focus on the sound effects. That’s not a negative per say…but I wouldn’t call it a positive either!

The show also made the intriguing decision not to use any of Batman’s iconic foes like the Joker, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Bane, etc. We don’t even get to have Robin, Batgirl, or some of the others. (Barbara Gordan is here, but she’s so young that we wouldn’t get Batgirl for a very long time) I don’t mind digging out the obscure characters, but it’s better to use them sparingly instead of every episode. Towards the end, they started breaking out some popular fighters like Deathstroke and Killer Croc, but we were already wrapping up. I don’t think including the big villains would have saved the show from being cancelled, but I would have liked to have seen Mr. Freeze and Bane appear at least once. It would make the episodes more fun. As it is, I think Batman has one of the weaker selections of villains so I suppose that the show did what it could.

All right, time for the comparisons. By this point you can probably already tell how the standings go. Beware The Batman get demolished by The Animated Series, Crushed by Beyond, Terminated by Brave and The Bold, and Humiliated by The Batman. I like to think that is easily beats the new Gotham show that is airing, but I won’t count that one since it would be a little too one sided! This Batman show still holds up well as a superhero show, but it just can’t be compared to those other titles. Again, if the show had not been CGI….we may be singing a different tune. (Still in last of course, but it would be closer) Batman also gets a possible romance subplot that arrives out of the blue towards the end of the series. The lady is pretty suspicious, but Batman doesn’t seem to suspect anything yet. I dunno…this all seems fishy and luckily the show ended before something dicey could happen!

Batman’s portrayal is pretty solid for the most part, but there are definitely some iffy moments during the series. One of them is the fact that Batman actually lets his comrades eradicate the memory from one of the villains. This happens near the final episode of the series and it’s pretty awful. Did the writers not read one of the most iconic Justice League arcs in the comics where Batman made a point to prohibit such an action? It’s why he fought the team in the first place. It was pretty out of character for The Dark Knight. Another problem is that he just looks very weak throughout the series. I’m not expecting him to look quite as tough as Superman, but I still expect better. He lets Deathstroke know that he can’t defeat him in a fair fight on more than one occasion. It’s pretty laughable and Batman fans will want to turn off the TV. This isn’t the Batman that we remember!

On the other hand, this Batman had some good traits. When he wasn’t making rookie mistakes or having trouble against foes with 0 hand to hand experience, Batman got to show off a lot of his detective skills. His best showing is probably when he solved the big puzzle that Humpty Dumpty threw him in. That also took place during the part of the show where Batman got a lot meaner since Alfred left. He went pretty far at some points, but I dare say that he looked his best during those moments.

Alfred has changed a lot from his usual appearance. In this show, he’s an ex M-16 agent so he uses his government sources to find out any intel that Batman may have missed. He’s always got his gun at the ready and he even knows some hand to hand techniques. It’s all supposed to show us that he’s actually a pretty epic guy. Unfortunately, he still manages to lose a lot when the going gets tough. He deserted Batman at a rather dicey time to bring on some trouble to an old “pal” of his. His journey didn’t really have a point since he just ends up coming home empty handed and you have to wonder what he was doing. That certainly wasn’t one of his better moves. Seeing Alfred as a “Professional Agent/Fighter” was interesting….but I’m ready for the classic (Post plump) Alfred to return. That’s still his best era.

Katana is basically the Robin of this show, but we see that she will be a little different right from the start. First of all, she is already a good hand to hand fighter when she joins. She gets a lot of hype although she doesn’t actually live up to it. She has a subplot involving the sword that she stole, a romance subplot with a pretty cheap character, and a subplot with someone who may have destroyed her father. So, she is pretty relevant to the plot, but 2/3 of those subplots didn’t go over very well for her. The romance is rather unnecessary here and Katana is always forced to play second fiddle to Batman. She cannot beat just about any enemy on her own and that can be a little sad for fans. If she always needs Batman to be around, then she’s not really helping out all that much. She likes to break the silence during an adventure with the occasional pun, but it typically doesn’t work. I have to say that I wasn’t really a fan of hers by the time the show ended. She got a little too much hype.

Anarchy is one of the more interesting villains and he actually could be the best one in the show. He’s always presenting Batman with some dicey propositions and he forces the hero to play by his script. He’s not amazing at hand to hand combat, but he’s good enough to keep Batman busy for a while. He even fights with Katana at one point. He mostly stays in the shadows and eggs people on though since getting on the front lines isn’t really his style. He gets a whole lot of episodes so if you don’t like him, it’ll be a long ride.

Deathstroke arrives for the final 3 or so episodes and he’s a pretty fun villain to have around. He’s definitely becoming DC’s Deadpool as we’ve seen him animated quite a few times as of late. This incarnation of him is better than the one in Son of Batman, but he still relies on using a lot of cheap tricks instead of just fighting Batman with his own skills. He only attempts a fair fight once and it doesn’t end well, which is why he must rely on his plans for their future encounters. You’ll likely figure out his secret identity right away since a new character joins the fray without any real reason at one point. It’s good to have a villain who isn’t being played by Anarchy so I give him some bonus points for that. As it stands, he’s one of the best villains in the series.

Barbara Gordon’s role increases we we progress through the series. I think that they made her a little too young here though since she’s basically just a kid. There’s not a lot that she can do at this point so she’s currently tech support for the team. She basically skipped the Batgirl phase and became the Oracle right off the bat. Her romance subplot with a random kid in one episode was probably the low point of her appearances in this show. I definitely wasn’t much of a fan. She was all right when solving the puzzles and helping out, but then I would lose the respect when she started to act a little too smug and confident as she forced the Commissioner to do what she wanted to do.

Commissioner Gordon gets a pretty small role in this show. He’s technically around a lot, but he is usually just there to be pushed around by Harvey Dent or get outsmarted by Barbara. He’s a good cop, but he’s just out of his league. At least he knows that Batman is good. (A quick thumbs up is awarded to such characters) He’s pretty true to his usual depiction and Gordon has always been a pretty consistent character.

Harvey Dent gets a rather large role towards the end of the series as he does everything in his power to make life tough for Batman. The police are basically under his control (The special division anyway) and he attacks Batman no matter what the circumstances are. I’m sure that we were all waiting for his transformation into Two Face, but it’s safe to say that the show didn’t have a whole lot of time to show it. He gets a very brief role and he probably would have been more of a factor as a super villain in the next season. Despite that, he was pretty interesting as a corrupt politician. He always knew when it was the right time to insult Batmans or to take out his gun.

Ra’s Al Ghul is really the same as always. He still likes to think that he is the greatest martial artist ever and he does humiliate Batman a few times. That being said, the show made him a little too strong and the heroes can only beat him with a nice spoonful of plot hax. He got a lot of hype and I was glad that he lived up to it, but his ending was pretty unsatisfying. He’s not a very interesting villain, but he’s tough so I give him some credit for that. If he would just lose the accent..it would be perfect!

Lady Shiva is Ra’s right hand man and she looks pretty tough in her appearances. She takes on the combined might of Batman and Katana and she looks consistently good throughout the episodes. You can argue that she does get a little weaker by the end, but I’m sure that it happens to most fighters with these wonky power levels in effect. I’d consider her to be in the top 3 Beware The Batman villains and it’s nice to finally see her on the big screen. We need more serious hand to hand fighters to join the fray! She doesn’t get a whole lot of screentime..but she gets enough to get by.

Killer Croc is the leader of the underworld in Arkham and it’s interesting to think about how he could have broken free from prison at any time. The cops definitely need to step up their game a little. He’s a pretty decent villain and his fight against Batman was probably one of the best fights that we saw in the series. He only appears in two episodes, but he left more of an impression than a lot of the other villains. I wouldn’t mind seeing him a little more although his role was a lot more petty in the second episode.

Magpie doesn’t appear a whole lot, but she’s also fairly tough. Her personality is a little warped since the “accident” changed her, but now she has some super strength and speed on her side. She really does a number on Batman whenever they meet with the Dark Knight usually getting knocked out. She’s a pretty fun villain to watch, but I can’t say that I actually like the character that much. She wants to introduce more romance into the series, but we weren’t having any of that!

Professor Pig is easily one of my least favorite Batman villains and the show really reminded me why he is not one of Batman’s more popular enemies. He just has no point as a character. He borrows some traits from the Joker while retaining a pretty polite attitude, but I don’t find him to be amusing. He’s also pretty weak since he’s overweight and he just likes to carry a big saw or knife. He’s no better than the average thug so he really shouldn’t be a match for the Caped Crusader. How he lasted so long I’ll never know. If his episodes had been replaced with a cooler villain, then that may have even helped the show.

Mr. Toad typically works with Professor Pig and he doesn’t have a lot of character. Towards the end, he forgets his place and thinks of romance briefly, but I think it was mostly in a fake way. Either way, it didn’t exactly do him any favors in my eyes. Ironically, he’s actually tougher than Professor Pig, but I doubt that any of them would admit it any time soon. He’s just another uninteresting villain that I could have done without.

There are some other fighters like Cypher, Silver Monkey, and Man Bat, but they don’t appear all that much or get a lot of personality. A guy by the name of Manhunter shows up and his story is rather dicey for a number of reasons. He vanished for quite a long time and he could have planned out things a little better. Metamorpho also gets a pair of appearances and he’s probably the toughest guy to appear in the series, but he doesn’t get to show off his strength. That’s pretty unfortunate, but without any tough villains…what are we gonna do!

Beware The Batman also has to deal with the fact that Batman is fairly new to the business. I hope that the next show takes place after he has already been a hero for a while like in the Animated Series. That’s the Batman that everyone wants to watch anyway and it’s more fun when you know that Batman has the power of Prep Time! The show already had a number of disadvantages so getting rid of that one definitely could have helped out a little.

The review may have come off a little negative, but the show just made more mistakes than you would expect from a show where Batman’s the main character. There were two pretty strong points to help the show along. One is the writing. The scenarios are pretty well thought out and the Humpty Dumpty episode comes to mind. The plots can be decently engaging even when the situations aren’t very intense and it’s all thanks to the script. Another good part of the show is the fact that we do get a lot of hand to hand fights. In an era where many shows have big DBZ styled fights with epic energy blasts, it can be fun to see a retro hand to hand fight. DBZ always wins, but you can’t have a winner without both sides right? Batman does manage to get knocked out about 2-3 times per episode, but that makes things interesting. Try ordering a slice of pizza every time he gets knocked out…it’ll be a fun wager! A good amount of action can make any show more interesting and this one has a lot of it.

Overall, Beware The Batman is a show that I highly recommend to all Batman viewers. I would naturally recommend that you watch the other titles first, but if you’re a big Batman fan, then I’m guessing that you already have at this point. The others were pretty legendary after all. I may have qualms with the animation and the fact that the series had a lot of filler (or unimportant) episodes despite the fact that it was so short. There wasn’t enough Justice League build up either, which is pretty important for a Batman show. All of the titles that I mentioned earlier had the Justice League or was at least building up to it. This show just didn’t make the effort. Still, now you can tell people that you saw a CGI Batman and the show does manage to contain a lot of action scenes in its own right. It’s certainly of a higher quality than the current Hulk show or even the Pac Man cartoon that is airing. Now, we just need the next Batman show to be announced and we’ll be all set!

Overall 7/10

Slayers Review

Posted on October 6, 2014 by dreager1

There aren’t many TV shows that really deal with the fantasy genre. Or at least, most of the titles I would not consider to be a true fantasy title. A true fantasy title means that the heroes must go to the wilderness or to towns/cities that look as if they were created in the olden days. Of course, this is a risk since it is basically impossible to pull off in a live action movie. An anime can achieve this though and that’s what Slayers sets out to do. It’s like an old fashioned RPG or what Sword Art Online would have been if it came out 20 years ago. It’s a pretty fun anime with its ups and downs.

The story revolves around an experienced sorceress by the name of Lina Inverse. She is always on the lookout for some extra money or jewels to obtain and she doesn’t mind being used as a mercenary to obtain such treasures. She meets up with a gallant bodyguard by the name of Gourry and he decides to escort her to the next town since he thinks that she’s just a little kid. The two of them have many adventures until the plot finally begins.

Rezo, The Red Priest, is one of the strongest beings on Earth. Or at least, one of the strongest humans. He is supposed to be a wise sage from the past, but he seems to be pretty shifty and he tells Lina and Gourry that they possess an item that many villains are after. They will stop at nothing in order to get the object and Lina doesn’t even know which one it is! The heroes may be outgunned here.

The second half of the show’s plot is pretty similar to the first one’s or it at least builds off from it. Lina, Gourry, and some new friends are having a decent time when they find out that someone is attempting to unleash another power on the planet. The culprit responsible for this wants to destroy Lina and her friends because of something they did in the past and he has framed them. Lina cannot earn money freely because of this situation so she has to get to the bottom of this and fast! Luckily, she has made friends with a Prince’s daughter so she does have some more connections now.

It’s an intriguing plot summary, but many of the episodes are pretty episodic so it all works out. The series mostly acts as a comedy/adventure title, but the climax typically adds some more action to the mix. The series is very light toned and the violence is also kept at a very low level so it’s a mainstream title that you can easily recommend to someone else if they are looking for a fantasy title. Things just tend to heat up during the climax. The final batch of episodes is the only place where you will really see a big blood puddle like in Bleach or a character getting stabbed as an instant KO. The rest of the action scenes borrow elements from DBZ while maintaining a hit and run tactic so it is rare that any serious damage is dealt to any of the characters. If a character is burnt, they will typically look more like a Pokemon Trainer when he gets zapped.

So, I would consider the action segment to be a pretty good positive for the show. They’re fun to watch although the comedy can be a bit much at some points. The timing is crucial for such a thing and a character can go from being very powerful to very weak in a short amount of time depending on what genre the show is currently operating on. I’ll likely address this more as we go into the review.

Lina Inverse is the main character and she’s debatably the strongest hero on the planet. She is also one of the strongest beings on the planet not counting the big deities like the Lord of Nightmares. Unfortunately, the comedy tones of the show can make it a little hard to say just how strong she is. Sometimes Lina will casually take on a planet buster and other times she will attempt to run away from your average batch of minions. The inconsistency can definitely be more than a little tricky.

Personality wise, Lina is definitely not your average lead. That’s because she really not even a hero! She just does whatever she wants whenever she sees that there is some money to be earned. One running gag in the series is that she loves to use her Dragon Slave attack, which can instantly wipe out a city. She actually does wipe out a few towns and mountains using this attack and there are typically a lot of casualties. It’s played for laughs of course, but the amount of innocents that she ends up taking down is a pretty large number. At least that does say something for Lina’s abilities. It’s why I always find it a little hard to believe when she just runs away and barely puts up a fight sometimes. Lina typically acts tough and likes to insult Gourry a lot. He makes it pretty easy for her to be honest, but he’s a good guy deep down. Lina is a charismatic lead though so despite her not heroic actions, you can typically root for her. You just shouldn’t look at her as a hero and then you’ll be okay. She’s not the next Medaka or Kirito, but she’s much better than Harayuki and Sailor Moon.

Gourry is Lina’s main sidekick and he’s an “interesting” character. Have you ever met a character that you found pretty entertaining while on screen, but the character was technically pretty bad and you would have to root against him? Gourry’s like Furuichi in this case, but I’m not sure that many of my readers will understand the reference. Gourry spends most of his screen time being pretty unaware of the situation and making rookie mistakes whenever possible. However, he balances this out by also having some moments where he goes a little too far in his teasing about Lina being a little girl. The latter is why I ultimately can’t like Gourry. He acts a little perverted in that sense even if he’s really just not bright enough to fully understand what he’s doing. Ignorance is still no excuse so that ends up dropping Gourry. He’s still a lot of fun to watch when he’s on screen, but it just goes to show that a few bad scenes can really destroy a character.

When he’s a gentleman, Gourry is definitely at his best. He can turn his “hardcore face” on and off very quickly. He gets a rival in the second half of the show so Gourry will have to keep on switching between acting casual and intense in the blink of an eye. “Light come forth!” is his catchphrase and it signals that Gourry is going to use his legendary Sword of Light. While Lina is a magic specialist, Gourry is a more traditional fighter. He uses his swordsmanship to attack opponents and he wasn’t really aware of demons and monsters before the series began. Ultimately, Gourry tries to be a nice guy whenever possible, but things don’t typically work out for him.

Zelgadis starts off as a fairly intense villain and he slowly starts to warm up to the heroes by the halfway mark of the series. His skin is that of a golem’s and he wants to find a way to turn himself back to normal. To do this, he must defeat Rezo and possible use the philosopher’s stone. It’s going to be tough though and his journey could be a long one. He makes for a decently good ally, but I prefer when he meets up with the heroes from time to time instead of travelling with them. He just ends up being the straight man in all of the jokes and he just brings the humor down. He works better as a rival figure than as an ally. He’s definitely one of the better characters in the show though and he’s possibly the only other hero who can fight alongside Lina as a magic master.

Sylphiel joins the cast towards the end of the show and she has known Gourry from back in the day. She’s very soft spoken and is a Hinata type character. If you don’t know about Hinata, just know that Sylphiel always starts off her sentences by saying “Gourry dear” and she typically doesn’t fight when the going gets tough. She did have one really good scene where she blocked a huge blast that Lina and Zelgadis couldn’t stop with their combined effort, but it was just another outlier since she never shows that level of ability again. Towards the end of the show, she can barely muster up a fire arrow, which was a little sad. She’s definitely not my kind of character and she really blew it at the end of the show when she tackled Lina to protect the planet at the cost of her friends. That’s not a good trade off and especially when you realize that the planet likely would have been okay anyway.

Shabranigdo is one of the big villains from the first arc. He gets a whole lot of hype from one of the very first episodes and it never dies down. I was one of the first people to jump on the hype train so I was really hoping that he would end up looking impressive. Luckily, I was not disappointed! His character design is decently similar to Zorc’s and this beast is worthy of the term “Kaiju.” He doesn’t get to fight the heroes while at full power, but he still puts on quite the display. He’s above the usual spectrum of emotions so he’s pretty detached from everyone when he appears. He actually congratulates the heroes at one point so you know that he doesn’t take these things personally. He was easily the best character in the series and I hope that he returns someday.

Rezo is the main villain of the series and he is basically around for the whole series in a sense. The first arc shows how he became mad in his quest to heal his eyes. He decides to resurrect Shabranigdo so that the monster can help him so he naturally crosses paths with the heroes. He’s known to be incredibly powerful, but we don’t get to see him use that many attacks before the arc is over. His design is very interesting and he’s as sinister as they come, but I still preferred Shabranigdo.

Arc 2 changes things as Rezo’s goal switches. The heroes are shocked to see that he is around since the end of Arc 1 was pretty dicey. He decides that the heroes must die and his powers have grown by a considerable amount. Arc 2 was more action packed than the first half so the fights were a lot better and we really got to see his abilities. With a single attack, Rezo was able to take down the entire city and he consistently beats up the main characters with ease. He also grows to be a lot more confident as he challenges Lina to use her strongest attacks on him so that he can prove his superiority. I definitely gained a lot of respect for the character and Arc 2 Rezo is much better than the first half Rezo in just about every area.

Eris worked for Rezo and she was pretty distraught to see him go down the path of evil. Unfortunately, her loyalty to her master is pretty misplaced since it ends up turning her into a warrior for darkness as well. It’s hard to gauge her abilities since she rarely fights, but it would appear that she is a decent sorceress. I can’t say that she is too likable though and her goals are pretty hard to sympathize with. She appears out of nowhere and then gets thrown back out of the spotlight just as quickly.

Amelia is another addition to Lina’s party and it’s safe to say that she’s easily one of the better characters. She’s always talking about justice while striking really dramatic poses. She’s not all talk though since she also has access to a wide variety of light and fire magic spells. She can hold her own in a fight and she can prove to be just as dangerous as Zelgadis and Lina when she’s serious. (Which is very rare I’m afraid) She helps the team to stay light during serious moments and the heroes could really use the firepower. It’s also ironic since she may be the only heroic member of the group besides Gourry until Sylphiel joined up. Amelia is also very polite so she’s really the polar opposite of Lina and she could easily pass for the main heroine of the show if you didn’t know better.

Prince Phil is Amelia’s father and he also strongly believes in Amelia. Their character personalities are very similar, but Amelia pulls it off a lot better than Phil. Phil gets insulted by the heroes a lot since he’s not the prince that they had been expecting, but he has a strong bond with Amelia. A running gag is that he may just be a human, but he can still hold his own against all kinds of monsters and demons. Phil is not to be underestimated and I may not have been a huge fan of him, but he was still a good character. He’s just better in small doses so he shouldn’t appear too much.

Zangulus is Gourry’s rival in the second half of the show and he’s a pretty decent character. He fights with honor and he may be a villain, but he’s not downright evil. He just wants a good fight and you could argue that he basically turns into a hero by the end. It all depends on where he goes from that point of course, but I definitely wouldn’t mind if he stayed as a hero. He’s very determined and he follows the heroes across the whole world until he finally gets his big fight. His sword is able to shoot blasts of wind that are very dangerous and Gourry may have been done for if not for his sword of light.

Vrumugun is Zangulus’s parter and he was a decent character at first, but he quickly dropped after a certain plot twist. He can give Lina a good fight when necessary, but it’s clear who the better fighter is. He doesn’t have much of a personality though since he basically lives for the mission. Even when the heroes are heading to the place that Vrumugun wants them to go, he can’t help but try to fight them some more. He also gets humiliated during a play that the heroes performed, which was pretty sad for him.

One of the negatives for Slayers would be that there can be some heard fanservice. “What’s heard fanservice sir? I don’t believe that’s a real term…” Well, it is now! Basically, “heard fanservice” is when you talk about something fanservicey without actually showing it. For example, Lina gets teased about her chest a lot and I would still consider that to be fanservice in a sense. Luckily, the show does a good job of not really showing it. There are the occasional moments where Gowry will fall on Lina and make a grab, but luckily they are few and far in between. “That time of the month” is also a running gag for about 2-3 episodes, which can get a little old. This is an area where the light nature of the show really helps since the moments are really used for humor. Unfortunately, it’s definitely not my kind of humor, but the show glosses over this as quickly as possible so the scenes don’t last for as long as they could. This does hurt the show, but it won’t actually cripple it. This is nowhere near as bad as many other titles and the 90’s animation also helps since it’s so old school. Shows had more class back then…

The animation for Slayers holds up pretty well. It’s fairly old so you shouldn’t expect it to look like Accel World or something like that, but this show did come during a pretty good time for character designs. The 90s were fun in that respect and all of the characters should be instantly iconic. Memorizing the names is pretty effortless as well since they’re all straightforward. You can see how the show was inspired from DBZ as it shares many of the same sound effects and the energy blasts look fairly similar. One of the fighters even powers up before unleashing his strongest attacks in very DBZish moments.

The soundtrack is good, but I wouldn’t call it great. The tunes aren’t extremely memorable and I mostly just remember the To Be Continued music as well as the title theme. Others I would recognize if I heard them, but I probably couldn’t keep them in mind from my head. They fit in pretty well while you’re watching the show, although I wouldn’t mind if they added some fast paced rock themes. (They would just need to extend some of the fight scenes)

The dub voices definitely need to be mentioned. Most of the dubs in the 80s to 90s can sound a little interesting at times since they are so old at this point. There is typically a lot of gravel or a hoarseness in the voices as the transition wasn’t as smooth as it is now. That being said, Slayers takes it to a new level and you can argue that the voices are the worst or the most unique that you’ve heard before. There’s nothing wrong with Lina’s voice, but let’s take Gourry. He takes the oblivious strong, but not very smart guy voice to a new level. His voice is completely flat and he talks in a way that will purposely make you chuckle. Sylviel’s voice is the kind of voice that you know you would never hear in real life. She doesn’t put emotions into her words and her voice is way too light. Zelgadis talks like he’s half whispering in the first half and his voice ends up being flat as well. Amelia is the opposite as her voice is very high and it can almost sound like screeching. To an extent, I have to imagine that this was done on purpose. Maybe the voice director just thought that it sounded really cool or something. So, it depends on how you use the word “worst.” Technically, I would probably say that it is, but the voices actually help to make the show more entertaining. It fits the comedy undertones of the show so I’m actually glad that the dubbing is not more refined. If it is intentional, then I have to give the show some major props there. It’s an interesting tactic and it’s one that really works out well for the show.

There are several other side characters that I did not mention, but they are pretty unimportant. We had a fish man whose design was creepier than you could imagine. The voice made him appear to be quite the threat. Zelgadis also had two minions and one of them was pretty bold. He mentioned how humans have surpassed monsters and his speech is pretty brilliant as he attacks Shabranigdo. It’s a moment that you can probably imagine ending pretty badly for the guy, but at least he gave it his all I suppose.

Going back to the inconsistent power levels for a second, it can be a little jarring. Lina is able to go up against one of the four legendary priests in one scene and then she’s having trouble with your garden variety monsters in the next one. It appears like Lina just likes to troll her allies sometimes, but it goes a little far. We know that she’s immensely powerful and she somehow seems to know just about every spell so they may as well play it straight. There are quite a few third wall breaking moments to also make sure that the show doesn’t get too serious. It’s pretty interesting since the show is very direct on this approach. Gourry also suffers from this since he is usually an expert swordsman, as seen when he faces his rival, but he can also be pretty helpless at other times. For better or worse, it’s just the kind of show that Slayers is I guess. Every show has its weakness so having a minor one like this isn’t bad.

Overall, Slayers is a pretty fun anime. If not for the chest insults and other bits of mild fanservice, I probably wouldn’t have any issues with the show. It’s a light hearted adventure where it’s easy to get into the show after only a few episodes. It helps to remind me why I miss the 90’s and the show brings back most of the elements that you just don’t get in today’s shows. The cast is pretty likable and the villains are also pretty interesting. The second half definitely ramps up the action and we also get one or two scenes that are decently violent, but it’s a good trade off. (You still will be shocked when one of the characters dies since it just doesn’t feel like Slayers for a while there) Of course, the show can definitely work on its transition between action and comedy. The show needs to be a little more subtle about it since it can wreck the overall power levels. Slayers is a big franchise and this is just the beginning so I’m sure that it won’t be the final review that we’ll see on the blog. I recommend this show if you’re looking for a fun adventure or a nice, retro anime. You should be pretty pleased with the experience and I can see why it is so popular. Time to see if the next show can match this one!

Overall 7/10

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