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Manga Monday: Little Battlers Experience Volume #1 A Perfect Starter Manga
I was at my LCS a few weeks back and found this manga among their relatively small section. Little Battlers Experience has been like finding a small new world. I read the first volume and wondered why I had never heard of the series because it seemed like a perfect mainstream series to make into a million offshoots. Upon further research, that is pretty much the case.
Littler Battlers Experience, LBX for short, came out in 2011 (a decade ago!). However, it is pretty tough to say what the initial idea was. Wiki claims the series is based off of a game developed by Level 5 (one of my favorite video game studios). The first game came out on PSP in June of 2011. The manga predates that by 5 months. But maybe Level 5 wanted a manga out to introduce kids to the series before the game’s release? The anime came out in March of the same year, both predating the original game. By my calculations, there’s no ongoing anime, but a series called LBX Girls just wrapped up their first season. It has spawned several video games, spin off mangas and anime adaptions.
So, what is Little Battlers Experience? This game came out late in what I call the “kids anime” genre. Think Pokemon, Digimon and even Bakugan. A lot of those animes came out in the late 90’s and early 2000s. Most kid animes did not take off after that time period. Bakugan is probably an exception, coming out in 2007. And it just missed the DS/3DS revival. Yokai Watch kind of became the next generation’s Pokemon in a way. The DS and 3DS helped give a lot these made for kids animes a place to branch off into games. LBX tells the story of how little robots were built for kids to battle with. They’re customizable robots and the stages are cardboard dioramas. Our main character’s, Van, father was a creator of LBXs. He would die in a tragic airplane accident. 5 years later a woman holding a mysterious briefcase shows up being chased by 3 men. She hands the briefcase to Van and tells him to run. The briefcase is revealed to have an LBX created by Van’s father. Later it is also discovered that Van’s father hid a blueprint to an unlimited energy source in the robot. Van’s father is also alive and being held captivate by the evil organization introduced earlier. Van must win a tournament to claim the key needed for the infinite energy machine. For exchange of the key, the organization will release Van’s father.
The story is nothing special or groundbreaking, but it does not need to be. The manga is mostly for kids and to help sell the video game. On that front, I think it does a fine job. The art is good, the characters are likable but not really unique and the story doesn’t drag on. In fact, one of my complaints is the story progresses pretty quickly. Another knock is that, for now, the characters are only passable. The good guys are heroic with reckless abandonment and the villains are corny levels of cliché. This won’t matter to kids who are just enjoying robots killing each other. Volume 1 is fine as far as the setting, the scope, and grand scheme of the story. I feel like volume #2 may help in those departments as the LBX tournament is about to start.
But on the plus side, this is a great starter manga for kids. It only ran 6 volumes so it should be easy to collect. It is pretty action pack to keep the kids’ attention. The battlers are similar to Pokemon or any of those kind of mangas. There’s no foul language, no blood and guts, no perverted comments or degrading of women. It is just a good, clean fun manga.
Recap: To reiterate, this a fun manga if you are into series like Pokemon, Zatch Bell or anything that seems similar to those. If you like those adventures, you’ll feel right at home with this one.
Action: This manga has action in every chapter. And its robot action too!
Romance: No hints of romance currently.
Plot: Again, this is a kids series. The plot is deeper than say Pokemon, but it is not the main draw here.
Characters: I like the characters. Right now, they are all pretty stereotypical. We have the stubborn hero, the jaded grandson, the cartoon villain, the buddies through it all pals. But they are likable and well written for what they are.
The World: The world is like ours, but with mini fighting robots.
Humor: This isn’t your typical edgy humor Shonen but it has moments of being funny.
Verdict: 7 out of 10. It is not perfect but I enjoyed my time with it. My LCS has 2-4. I’ll probably pick them up at some point. I recommend checking this one out for sure if it sounds interesting to you.
To Your Eternity Episode 1-2 Anime Review
To Your Eternity was an anime I was hyped for. The description was vague but enticing. It also is set up very similarly to animes I’ve loved from past seasons such as Dr. Stone and Somali and the Forest Guardian. It takes place in a secluded area not bogged down by a million characters and subplots. This leaves a lot to the mind to wonder and for the show to connect those dots as we go.
The first episode centers around an orb. Yes, an orb. But not just any orb. A presumed god’s orb. God tosses the orb down to Earth where it takes the shapes of things around it. First it becomes a rock. Then it takes the form of a dead wolf who can revive itself. As a clone of the dead wolf, the orb returns to the wolf’s owner. This is where one of the most gripping and well shot episodes of anime occur.
Episode 1 is really good. Like amazingly good. The wolf’s owner is stranded in a winter cabin. The elders of his tribe are long dead. He was left in charge of them while the rest of the tribe set off to find paradise. One by one, the elders died until it was him and his wolf, Joaan, remaining. Tired of sitting in one place and busy dreaming of the paradise his tribe discovered, the nameless boy and the orb disguised as Joaan set out to face the harsh, hazardous winter conditions.
As the days pass and the scenes progress, it becomes painstakingly clear the nameless boy wont survive the trek. His extremities freeze turning inhumanely red. His fate is sealed when the ice breaks beneath his feet. This not only intensifies his frost bite. He also suffers from cuts that break the flesh, causing constant blood loss. His delusions are cast away when he finds the remains of his tribe’s wagon and what appears to be makeshift tombstones seemingly cementing the fact they never made it to the promise land of fruits and paradise.
It’s around this time this anime really starts to kick in. The nameless boy comes to term with his own mortality. He realizes he has been having pretend conversations with his wolf and that he will never cross the giant mountain. Reluctantly, the boy and the wolf turn back around and retreat to their cabin. It doesn’t take more than 24 hours for the pain, infection and fever to sap the life from the young boy who was so full of hope and life a mere week ago.
His death is hauntingly slow and dawdles ghastly like. The show appears in no rush to give the boy the peace he deserves. And perhaps that’s what’s so compelling about this episode. The viewers know almost immediately the boy will die and yet the show spends 20 minutes making you love him, root for him and believe in his journey. Almost as if to get our guard down in some sick twist of fate. But it never left my mind. Each animation drawing him nearer to his inevitable death seemed like ferocious roars echoing against the snowscape. And as he crashes out of his bed and onto cold wooded floor, he crawls himself to his chair claiming he doesn’t want to be lying down when the others make their faithful return. He dies in his chair seconds later. And, against his dying wishes, plummets to the floor in one final defeat. The orbbed wolf pulls at his clothes out of desperation, or maybe sadness, hoping their pseudo owner would jump back up like he had done all week. No use. And just like that the transformation occurs. The orb ditches its wolf fur in exchange for human limbs, mirroring the appearance of the dead and nameless boy. He returns the fallen one to his chair upright and leaves the cabin for the final time.
Now, the only real knock I have against this episode is that it is cliche at times. Viewers will know the boy’s fate the second he is on screen thanks to a previous scene. For the orb to go from the initial rock to the appearance of a wolf, the wolf had to die. For the orb to transform once more, it require a sacrifice so to speak. Still, even with that said, there’s still some unsolved mysteries. For starters, when the boy finally teaches the orb version of the wolf how to eat, the wolf roars back at him “See”. Instead of acknowledging the talking wolf, the boy says “You can eat.” He is more dumbfounded by the fact the wolf can eat instead of the fact it spoke. Jessica said maybe his old dog couldn’t eat.
This is possible because the wolf was clearly dying when we met him. Did the boy know this though? That’s unclear. However, when the boy mentally cracks he says something along the lines of how he was having imaginary conversations with the wolf. So, theres a chance this scene never happened in the first place.
Episode 2, for better or worse, is a complete tonal shift. The orb is completely in the background as the narrative turns its focus to a small girl named March. This episode plays out like it is straight out of a Japanese folklore. Ever so often a village is selected and from there an untarnished girl from that village is chosen to be fed to the God of Prosperity. Enter March. She is treated to a royal fest and then tells her family bye for the last time. Only half way up the mountain she escapes her escort and makes a run for it. After tumbling face first down the mountain she runs into the orb still possessing the nameless one. He is devoid of manners or simple human skills. He is completely unlikable as opposed to his wolf form which actually had redeemable qualities. This is more or less how the episode ends.
Dont get me wrong, I liked March and this episode. All the characters introduced were pretty cool. There are more moral philosophies on display. The theme of coming face to face with your inevitable death continues to be a main focal point to juxtapose with the main character who can just revive himself over and over. But this episode seems completely disjointed from the first. It leaves me asking where is the show going. It loses the intimate charm the first episode had but gains charm in ways I cant explain at the moment. All in all it truly felt like watching two different animes.
That isnt enough to make we disappointed or want to drop it. I just felt it was worth noting. As a result, I will be scoring each of the first two episodes.
Episode #1: 9 out of 10. A truly magical experience that fell just short of perfection.
Episode #2: 8 out of 10. It loses what made the first episode so special, but found it’s on way to feel unique.
This anime is totally worth a watch. And I’ve been saying all week, I will go back and try to add pictures and fix any typos. I wrote this at work over the course of the last 6 hours in spurts.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Cool Things Are Coming Soon!
Hey guys, No reviews for today. I’ve watched the first three episodes of ODD Taxi on Crunchyroll but I have not had the time to write all my thoughts down since I was seeing my aunt who was down from Michigan. Here’s an excerpt though it is not final and may be revised between now and when it is published.
Taxi Driver vibes are hard to fend off as our main character’s occupation is taxi driving. However, were far too early to truly understand the main character’s, Odokawa, reason behind taxi driving. Though we do know he is sarcastic and brutally honest. He rarely leaves to doubt what’s on his mind. No, he’s not likeable and you’d have to have his sadistic sense of humor to love him. Yet, over time you find yourself rooting for him. I dont know if I would say he becomes more noble or more relatable (I really want to say he becomes more humanized since all the characters are animal.)
Jessica and I plan to start watching Tokyo Revengers and To You Eternity very soon.
Tonight we are going to do an A Hat in Time Randomizer stream. I’ll blog more about later but if it sounds interesting. Hop over to our Youtube channel here.
I really hope more of readers will gravitate to the Youtube streams and vise versa.
Anyway, look out for more anime reviews real soon. (Tomorrow is the NFL draft. Hopefully I can get stuff done before it starts.)!
Thanks for reading and have a nice day.
ODD TAXI Episode 1-3 Anime Review
At first glance, I was ready to write this anime off as a weird and almost budget title, as nothing impressed me within in the first minute or so. But as this show went on, man did it catch fire.
Taxi Driver vibes are hard to fend off as our main character’s occupation is taxi driving. However, were far too early to truly understand the main character’s, Odokawa, reason behind taxi driving. Though we do know he is sarcastic and brutally honest. He rarely leaves to doubt what’s on his mind. No, he’s not likeable and you’d have to have his sadistic sense of humor to love him. Yet, over time you find yourself rooting for him. I dont know if I would say he becomes more noble or more relatable (I really want to say he becomes more humanized since all the characters are animal.)
With early thoughts out of the way, let’s jump into the plot. A teenage girl has disappeared. She was last seen getting into Odokawa’s taxi and was not seen again. Of course suspension is turned onto Odokawa following the news. However, there’s a baboon named Dobu who is a gangster. Some people believe he is the one who kidnaps her. Dobu is interested in talking with Odokawa because Dobu believes Odokawa kidnapped the girl and Dobu is being set up. Dobu’s boss also has interest in finding the girl and hires him to do some snooping on Odokawa to get to the bottom of it.
So, more or less, that’s the plot. Why did this girl get in Odokawa’s taxi? Why is she hiding from her father? How does the mob tie into all this? Not to mention wondering how all the side characters fit into the puzzle. There’s an alpaca nurse who is believed to have stole a ton of drugs from the pharmacy. Odokawa’s buddy, Kakihana the gibbon. And the latest development, a girl band lead by a trio of puddles. Their agents are sneaking around in the background. And a radio duo are trying to navigate their careers.
What’s makes this show so darn exhilarating is, first and for most, the main plot. This show is not afraid of some really cool scenes. Such as when Dobu gets in Odokawa’s taxi and tells him to drive while he holds him at gun point. On top of the mystery and noir genres being perfectly executed, theres all the background subplots. On top of the main genres, we have a slice of life, a buddy film, flashes of musical, and so many other genres and plots flawlessly being weaved together. The characters are not only very well written, they are well performed as well. Most of the dialogue is so fluid and smooth. It’s like watching Pulp Fiction meets Taxi Driver and for that, I think we can call this one heck of a ride.
Of the animes I’ve seen this season, this one has been my favorite for sure. I can’t wait for more episodes to roll out. This one was very hard to review. It does not fit in a generic mold. It’s unlike most animes I’ve seen. It has so many highlights it is hard to pick a favorite aspect. Yet, at the same time, there’s so many mysteries. It is hard to gauge how good the characters are right now. Will the subplots have pay offs? There’s a lot still up in the air. With that said:
Score: 9.5 out of 10 (For now)
Watch it on Crunchyroll now: https://www.crunchyroll.com/oddtaxi/episode-1-the-eccentric-driver-810846
Next up is probably To Your Eternity.
Manga Monday Haul #2
I think this is our second manga haul. These are some of our newest pickups and I’ll do some later ones that are like retroactive pick ups. So let’s get right into it.
These mangas are Gantz Volume #1, No Longer Human and Smashed. No Longer Human and Smashed are both from the mind of Junji Ito, one of the most respected horror mangaka. Gantz sounds like a trip and a half. I’m just going to quote Wikipedia on this one, because, honestly, they said it best. “It tells the story of Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato, both of whom died in a train accident and become part of a semi-posthumous “game” in which they and several other recently deceased people are forced to hunt down and kill aliens armed with a handful of futuristic items, equipment, and weaponry.” Like what!? This manga sounds insane. Smashed seems to be a collection of stories by Junji Ito including I Don’t Want to be a Ghost, Death Row Doorbell, and Smashed.
AOI House is an original English Manga about two guys that start living in a dorm with girls who are fans of yaoi. Blade of the Immortal follows the story of Manji who kill 1,000 evil men to become mortal again. It sounds kick butt and I bet my brother would enjoy it a lot. The Promised Neverland is a book Jessica has been looking for for a while now. The story revolves around orphaned kids as they learn the truth behind their purpose. I assume there is some level of magic elements in it.
So there you have it. These books were traded in to our work so we picked them up while we could. Be on the look out for more Manga Monday reviews and hauls!
DON’T TOY WITH ME, MISS NAGATORO Episodes #1 & #2 Anime Review
A new season of anime is upon us. The first one we will be reviewing is DON’T TOY WITH ME, MISS NAGATORO.
I’m going to be completely honest here. This anime straddles the line of cute and enjoyable to unwatchable all through out the first two episodes. The story centers almost exclusively around the two main characters: Nagatoro and Naoto Hachioji. Hachioji is an awkward introvert who mostly seeks to avoid attention from his fellow classmates. Nagatoro gets off to bullying Hachioji. Why she enjoys pestering him is still open for interpretation. Something cool the show did was it did not show any character’s (except for Hachioji’s) eyes until the 5 and half minute maker. Of course, Nagatoro’s eyes are the ones we see.
Hachioji explains why we don’t see the other students’ eyes. He says “Look away, close my mind” (at the 20:06 minute marker of Episode #1). All these students have bullied him throughout his life over his mangas and drawing. So, when we are introduced to Nagatoro and we see her eyes, I assumed she was going to be nice. Boy, was I wrong.
And that’s where my problems begin. She straight up bullies him. I sat through the second episode hoping the characters would become a tad bit more complex. Meh. There is a cafe scene that gives me hope the two will develop. However, for now, be prepared. Both of these characters are hard to root for.
Nagatoro is very harsh. She degrades him, mocks him, inflicts physical and mental abuse to him. I won’t even go into detail over some of the stuff she does to him but most of it is sexual abuse or at least taunting him. Which is what makes it so hard to watch. It is more than teasing, it is dehumanizing in a lot of way. If Hachioji could defend himself or create a line in the sand, I feel like we might get somewhere. For now, he is stuck in this mindset of “eww, she’s so mean” but also “ahhh, a cute girl”. Because he has been bullied his whole life, he tolerates her behavior.
It’s interesting to say the least. The animation is great. The sound effects and visual gags are highly entertaining. Some of the scenarios they find themselves in are innocent but still have high sexual undertones. These can be okay. For example, the vampire subplot was fine before she fell and groped him. She then used this as a chance to beat him down by mocking him saying that was the first time a girl touched him. Scenes start off fine and quickly cross a line. And based off of Hachioji’s body language it is hard to tell if he enjoys it or is too scared or nervous to ask her to stop. And Nagatoro’s outward demeanor makes it hard to gauge if she hurting him out of in
I can get the appeal of this anime. Again, it can look great and be funny. A socially awkward male lead combined with a cute and confident female do create a pretty unique working dynamic at times. Some of the teasing is entertaining. And again, the cafe scene gives hope for something deeper.
Still, as of the first two episodes this is a unique rom com that occasionally rises above mediocrity. The relationship between Nagatoro and Hachioji is different and interesting enough that’ll keep checking this one out and see if it becomes a guilty pleasure or slog to get through.
Score: 6 out of 10 (For now)
Watch it on Crunchyroll now: https://www.crunchyroll.com/dont-toy-with-me-miss-nagatoro/episode-1-senpai-is-a-bit-senpai-dont-you-ever-get-angry-811065
Next up, we review the first three episodes of Odd Taxi (spoiler alert- I love that one!)
Highlighting Humble Bundle Video Games! (Ultimate Chicken Horse, Summer in Mara, ABZU and a ton of Lego Games!)
Hey guys, Humble Bundle has 4 pretty solid video game bundles going on right now.
For those of you who don’t know, Humble Bundle is a pretty awesome website that sells mostly software bundles. These softwares can range from video games to editing software. Through Humble Bundle alone, I have got Sony Vegas 15, RPG Maker VX, and plenty of awesome games. So it is certainly worth looking at. My brother, who introduced me to Humble Bundle, says he stopped using once they started offering more then just games. He said they never featured game bundles anymore. Well, this week highlights why it is important to pop in every once in a while. That said, each bundle will have a priced tier. It is pay what you want to pay but there are incentives in the form of (video games in this instance) to motivate you to buy the highest tier. You determine how your money is spent, as it can be divided among the publisher, charity, and Humble Bundle themselves.
We will get started with the Spring into VR Bundle. I personally have no way of playing VR, but I might buy a tier to stash the games for later. This bundle is one of the more expensive ones. The $1 tier only has one game, Detached. The tiers then jump up $14.82. The games are as follows Star Trek: Bridge Crew, Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality, Swords of Gurrah, and Espire 1: VR Operative. Some solid titles, but nothing that really blows me away. This isn’t a good deal though because for just 18 cents more, you can get the next tier. At the $15 tier you can get Job Simulator, Sairento VR, and Borderlands 2 VR. Job Simulator looks interesting but I’m not sold on it. Sairento looks neat and Borderlands 2 is Bonderlands 2, which is to say its pretty darn good.
Verdict: If you are going to shop this Bundle, either grab the $1 or the $15 bundle. There’s no sense in just getting the $14.82 bundle.
Link: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/spring-into-vr-bundle?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_1_layout_type_threes_tile_index_1_c_springintovrbundle_bundle
Approximate Time Remaining to Claim Bundle: 1 Day 23 Hours
Next up, let’s look at the New Couch Classics Bundle. Door Kickers: Action Squad starts off this bundle as the lone representative in the $1 dollar tier. For one dollar, this game looks solid enough, bragging about
- High detail retro graphics
- 6 playable characters, each with unique gameplay and level up options
- Unique in-game Strategic Abilities system
- 84 non linear levels to complete
- 60 weapons and gear items
- 20+ enemy types and 4 mission objectives
- Zombie invasion mode allowing you to play the game again in a new way
- Couch and Online Cooperative Multiplayer
Pulled Straight From the Humble Bundle Page
Moving up to the $8.07 tier, this bundle really picks up the heat. Ultimate Chicken Horse, Nine Parchments and 20XX is probably the best single tier so far. Nine Parchments doesn’t have a description so based off the video it looks like a top down co-op RPG. Ultimate Chicken Horse is probably the game I’m most interested in all of today’s bundles. It plays like a Super Mario Maker game. Someone designs over-the-top 2D platforming stages and then parties of players can attempt to navigate the thought provoking and death defying courses. 20XX looks like a recreation of the Megaman franchise with modern rogue influence game philosophy. The highest tier here is $10. Not bad. Wargroove, Lethal League and Biped come included in this tier. Wargroove looks like a solid tactical RPG but I don’t really have much experience in the genre. Lethal League Blaze is a unique looking fighting game where you try to defeat each other using an anti-gravity ball. Certainly looks worth checking out if you want a different style fighting game. Lastly is Biped. Biped is a potential sleeper hit. The game is a physics based 3D Co-Op adventure game. This has a Wes & Jess stream written all over it. I will probably be picking this one up.
Verdict: Personally, I’m looking at the 8 dollar tier but Bipeds alone could easily sway me into the $10 tier. Either are a great value here.
Link: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/new-couch-classics?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_1_layout_type_threes_tile_index_2_c_newcouchclassics_bundle
Approximate Time Remaining to Claim Bundle: 8 Days 23 Hours
![Amazon.com: Ultimate Chicken Horse - Nintendo Switch [Digital Code]: Video Games](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71KOgQQus0L._SL1500_.jpg)
Next up is the Lego Built to Bundle. In the $1 tier we have The Lego NINJAGO Movie Video Game. In the $9.50 tier we have Lego Worlds, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 Deluxe, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers and LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. Lastly, in the $10 tier we have LEGO DC Super Villains Deluxe Edition and LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Premium Edition. Honestly, I have not played a single one of these LEGO games but I have played LEGO games in the past such as Lego City Undercover and the Lego Star Wars Games on PS2. This bundle is an amazing value if you like: the Lego games, any of the licensed properties such as Ninjago or Batman, or want some fun couch co-op or family fun games. I honestly don’t think you can go wrong.
Verdict: If you fall into any of the “likes” above, go ahead and get the $10 bundle. The value is insane and you know what you’re getting because these games are going to be the same quality throughout.
Link: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/lego-built-to-bundle?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_1_layout_type_threes_tile_index_3_c_legobuilttobundle_bundle
Approximate Time Remaining to Claim Bundle: 10 Days 23 Hours
The last bundle for us to look at today is the Down to Earth Bundle. This is the bundle I was originally going to do a write up on before I noticed all 4 bundles were pretty great on their on. Like most of the previous bundles, this bundle starts off with a strong $1 tier. Figment is super interesting action adventure game set in the depths of the mind giving the game a unique level design. Yono and the Celestial Elephants is a fun looking action puzzle game. I’ve had my eye on it for a while now. Up next, the $11.88 tier. Personally, this tier looks a little weak to me. Abzu is probably the headliner here. It looks gorgeous. ARIDA: Backland’s Awakening looks kinda budgety. Never Alone looks like it plays like Limbo. Moving up to the $14 tier.
This is such a hard tier to gauge. Beyond Blue looks great graphically but I don’t know if the gameplay excites me enough. Lost Ember is a game that allows you to explore Earth by playing as any creature you come across. Sounds amazing. The last game is Summer in Mara. I remember following this game on Kickstarter. You play as a young girl exploring an island. The game will look amazing to Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon fans. As the core gameplay is tending to your island. You will have to grow crops, explore the sea, and traverse the land. Summer in Mara is the game that is tempting me the most.
Verdict: The high end games here are very genre dependent. Even though a lot of the games (ABZU, Lost Ember, and Summer in Mara) all look good, they may not be up your alley. You’ll just have to check them out for you.
Link: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/earth-day-bundle?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_2_layout_type_threes_tile_index_1_c_earthday_bundle
Approximate Time Remaining to Claim Bundle: 3 Days 23 Hours
So those are the games. Let me know if any of these look interesting to you and what bundles you’ll be checking out.
Best Bundle for the value: Lego’s $10 tier. Couch Co-Op’s $10 tier. Down to Earth $1 tier.
Games to check out: Summer in Mara, Ultimate Chicken Horse, Biped, Yono and the Celestial Elephants, any of the Lego games and ABZU.
So there’s just a few of my thoughts. Thank you guys for reading! Have a great day!
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions. Season #1 Anime Review
Love, Chunibyu & Other Delusions is an anime currently airing on Netflix. It revolves around a cast of characters, but centers mostly on the awkward romantic scenarios the main leads find themselves in. The anime is based on a light novel of the same name.
I believe there are two ways to resonate with this anime. The first is by connecting with the male lead, Yuuta Togashi. Togashi falls under the subcategory of a Chunibyo. I’ll leave it up to Wikipedia to define this one. “Chūnibyō (中二病) is a colloquial Japanese term typically used to describe early teens who had grandiose delusions, who desperately wants to stand out they convinced themselves with hidden knowledge or secret powers” (Straight from our overlord Wikipedia.) Read the article here.
He was the amazing Dark Flame Master in middle school. Of course, this was a persona conjured up in his head. During his younger years, this altered identity served as a way to stand out. It was a form of self expression. By all accounts, middle school was my least favorite stent in school (of elementary, middle, and high school in the States). I certainly could relate to feeling isolated in middle school. It is just an awkward phase for most of us. As Yuuta ages and matures, he begins high school. He throws away all his drawings, clothes, and equipment of his alter ego, the Dark Flame Master. He starts high school with a new outlook on life. He is tired of being nerdy, lame, and just generally uncool. He even goes as far as to join a high school with no students from his middle school. Again, I think most people see high school, or any change of scenery, as a shot to reinvent themselves. We will continue talking about Yuuta soon. But for now, let’s look at the same story through Takanashi’s eyes.
Rikka Takanashi is the other lead. She also was a chunibyo in her middle school years. However, as she transitioned to high school she did not want to change. She wanted to live in this fantasy world that the kids created. As the story progresses Togashi constantly questions why she refuses to grow up and why she is so immature. As we learn more about Takanashi, we see that her dad died a short while ago. This personally stunted her. As her made up persona, a servant of the Tyrant’s eye, she seeks out the Dark Flame Master in her search for her dead father.
Takanashi is extremely relatable in her own way. Sure, not everyone has lost their parent or even a loved one. But, still, we all cling to things that make us happy or give us hope. We’ve all liked something that was embarrassing (i.e. a guilty pleasure). And for those of you that have lost someone, I am sure this anime hits home on a different level.
I love the juxtaposition of how simple the problems seem on the surface, but how complex they are on a deeper level. When I was first watching this anime, I thought it was a cute, light hearted, funny yet kind of weird anime. As it developed, I found it to be light hearted and fun at times, but serious and thought provoking when it needed to be.
The main conflict of the anime is that Takanashi refuses to let Yuuta leave his past behind. She constantly addresses him as the Dark Flame Master and gets him tangled up in her fights with her older sister and rival girls.
Another wonderful aspect of the anime is the fight scenes. Yes, you heard that right. A slice of life, coming of age, rom-com has massive, over the top, imaginative fight scenes. Remember, all the characters are chunibyos. They all have magical powered personas. This allows them to use completely crazy and vicious attacks on one another. Just check this out.
As you can see they are fighting with umbrellas and spoon ladles in a park. There’s plenty more scenes like this. As a result, I think this could be a good segue anime for viewers that prefer more Shonen animes or just your typical fighting style animes. The anime will constantly blur the lines between genres. Some episodes will start out as a slice of life schoolyard anime. Ten minutes later it is a supernatural magic thriller. That’s an aspect of the anime I really appreciate.
With that in mind, I really enjoyed this anime. I highly recommend this anime to most people. It teeters the line of a cutesy waifu anime and a deep psychological action anime. The romance between Togashi and Takanashi is really interesting. I never found myself rooting for them but they do almost complete each other in a way. Give this anime a chance and see what you think.
It felt good to make a blog post again. I can’t promise uploads at normal pace right now, but as always, I am working towards that goal. Thank you anyone who read this. Feel free to follow the blog and keep an eye out for some of the things we have going on very soon!
Thanks again for reading! Have a great day!
Manga Monday Immortal Rain Volume #1
I picked up my copy of Immortal Rain Volume #1 last year for $1.50. I finally decided to bust this bad boy out. Immortal Rain originally came out in 1999, came stateside in 2004 thanks to TokyoPop and ran for 11 Volumes.
Plot- Rain Jewlitt is immortal. He has lived for 624 years. He is now known as Methuselah, which to my understanding is the longest living person recorded in the bible. Needless to say, his body is highly desired by many because it holds the secret to immortality. However, the secret of immortality is not the motivation behind Machika Balfatin. A young want-to-be assassin. Rain is the one bounty her, her being Machika, grandfather could not slay. Her grandfather was known as the Grim Reaper. I could see some similarities to Rebirth (Read our review of Rebirth #1 here), a couple in fact. For starters, the male leads are immortal. The female leads want to kill the male leads to avenge their fallen family members. Both the male leads want to die. I’m sure there’s more, but those are the ones that jump out to me. Rain, for someone who is immortal, keeps getting taken captivate. Machika bails him out of his captivity twice, yet Rain saves Machika from potential assailants twice. By the end of the first volume they have formed a team in order to reverse Rain’s immortality. This would allow Rain to finally die and for Machika to be the one to kill him.
Characters– We really addressed the two main characters already, so I am not sure how much time we will spend here. I’ll dive a little deeper though. Machika’s character is rather simple, yet very admirable. She fights hard and has a big heart. She just wants to honor her grandfather. Rain, however, is a very deep, well written character. It is not that his character is really original, again he is the same as Deshwitat from Rebirth, but he is done to near perfection. He openly warns all the characters that want his immortality that they should dread the curse instead. This is a classic grass is not greener. So many characters are either scared of death or are looking to revive dead family members. Rain cautions that if they or their loved one gain immortality, that that person will live a lonely, bitter existence, implying they outlive their loved ones. Also, adding to the complexity, Machika’s grandfather and Rain also had a brotherly rivalry. When her grandfather passed, Rain would place flowers on his grave. At times this is a pretty surface level, typical shoenen level of mindless and fun adventure. At other times, there are deep, provoking dialogues, relationships, and moments that make it more memorable than the average adventure manga.
The World– The world is like Dragon Ball Z in that I cannot truly nail the setting. At parts, this feels like a premodern civilization manga and then there are fully realized cities. Outside of that, angels may play a part in the larger story. Which is atypical. Of course, one character is immortal. These are just a few outliers for an otherwise normal world.
This is a book I have to just suggest you read on your own. Warning, the language is the most harsh out of any manga we’ve reviewed so (If that is a concern for you or anyone you know.). It does have the F word and the B word which is bit more harsh than the usual D or H words. Outside of that, there is violence, but nothing graphic. There are certainly moments where the manga feels like just another fantasy novel. Sometimes the characters, the dialogue, and the settings feel uninspired. Other scenes really come together. I bought this book for less than 2 dollars and will gladly buy following issues for that much.
I give the book a 7.5 out of 10. The book lacks consist greatness nor is anything completely original. Still, it is done in an enjoyable manner that has very strong moments that redeem it as a whole. (It is kind of like this review.)
![Reacting to the Pokemon Legends: Arceus Trailer[Pokemon Week]](https://dahubbz.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/pokemonlegendsarceus_feb_en_us.jpg?w=90&h=70&crop=1 "Reacting to the Pokemon Legends: Arceus Trailer[Pokemon Week]")
Reacting to the Pokemon Legends: Arceus Trailer[Pokemon Week]
Pokemon Week, and the 25th Anniversary of Pokemon, continues!
I watched this trailer last weekend and was really enthralled with it at first. My brother asked me if I watched the two reveals for Pokemon yet. My first question was, “Wait, two reveals?”. I knew about the Gen 4 remakes but what was this second reveal? He pulled out his phone and I heard the opening that talks about the early days of Sinnoh and thought this was the Gen 4 Remakes. I was blown away!
I was a big advocate that Gen 8 was not going to be groundbreaking. I started saying that following GameFreak announcing they were done with the 3DS and moving on to the Switch. Not to use that as an excuse, I just knew Gamefreak would play it relatively safe. So I wasn’t surprised SwSh felt like DLC to Sun and Moon. But seeing this open world, BOTW inspired level design had me hyped for the remakes. Obviously, I found out this was a spin off or something. I’m not even sure, honestly.
I’ve watched the trailer about 2 or 3 times since Sunday and I’ve been gradually getting less and less impressed. Now, that is not to say I am not hyped (is this a double negative? Either way, I am still hyped). Gamefreak is trying to reinvent the wheel and do something pretty unique for the Pokemon franchise. Though, still, the flaws are glaring.
The frame rate is horrible for the wild Pokemons, the battles look like they will take some getting use to (as no battle interface was shown.), and graphics still aren’t knocking anyone dead.
Some of this can be fixed, of course. But the release date is relatively close for how unfinished this looked. Now, I’m not a game developer, but there is a worry, with Gamefreak’s recent reputation, that the quality isn’t going to improve between now and the release. I think that is a bit overblown but probably not wildly inaccurate.
I think Gamefreak could have something special on their hands. The hype for this Pokemon format is there. They need to not mess this up. So, at the end of the day, this is the same as the Gen 4 remakes. The hype machine is ringing off the hook. Now the ball is in GameFreak’s court to really blow us away.
Here’s to hoping!
Thanks for reading and have a great day.
Da_Hubbz 