blmulholland-14261 Reviews

Fallout (2024– )

Not bad, but MASSIVELY overhyped by fans of the games

[5/10 · 5 May 2024]

If you love this because it's a competent live-action adaption of the video game franchise you love, more power to you. I've played one Fallout game, and even that only a short way in. I'm not grading on the nostalgia-kick curve.

This show was 'okay' on some levels. The acting was solid. The effects and aesthetic are nice. It definitely reminds me of the game. Almost too much at times as it almost felt like there were alot of video game references put in that destroyed any sense that this might be a real place or story.

The action is also fine, but nothing special or particularly well done. There seemed to be a certain glee in the gore and shock value of the violence, rather like Walking Dead. This glee seemed really out of place given the messaging of the show.

The character work is the closest thing to interesting going on in the show. Lucy and Maximus each come to the plot with their own brand of naivete, and it is through their eyes that we learn about the world. Lucy I felt was handled better than Maximus, but they were both fine. Nothing exceptional, just fine.

But then we get to the message. There are no more overwrought, overused Hollywood tropes than the hyperviolent movie that pretends it's 'anti-war' because it says so...even as it profits off of war, and the simplistic anticapitalist message...even as the show shamelessly stamps out licensed franchise content from a video game. Is there any LESS self-aware show than Fallout? Name one. You can't do it.

What is particularly galling is the INCREDIBLE lack of subtlety in the tantrum-level messaging in this show. The capitalists aren't just corrupt or selfish in this show, no...they're SO EVIL that they LITERALLY plot the end of the world in order to make money. They effectively plot the deaths of their own families, though the show doesn't seem to realize it. The amount of space and the inclusion of any extended family would be precluded. These folks were plotting the deaths of their own parents, cousins, siblings, and friends. They are so evil, that even Hitler himself wouldn't match up. Hitler after all, loved his Momma.

This level of cartoonishly evil villainry makes the entire plot hard to take at all seriously. But wait...that's not even the funny part. Ultimately, the society they create in the vaults...seems to be relatively classless and moneyless. It's a socialist commune! So this band of arch-fiend capitalists created a socialist paradise? One wonders if the writers of this show even proofread their own script.

Ultimately, a major 'twist' that literally everyone will see coming turns a villain into the unsung heroine. The infamous Moldaver, it turns out, is trying to make 'cold fusion' available to the world. It's an odd choice since 'cold fusion' is a scam and a con in the real world. What's worse, it seems like they already HAVE real fusion in compact, easily portable cells. The world already HAS infinite cheap power! What is she really providing? It was baffling to me why anyone needed to pursue cold fusion in this world.

So look, if you can ignore the comically bad messaging, Fallout isn't terrible. It's not great...or good even. It's okay. But it's REALLY hard to not roll your eyes at the messaging because this show slaps you in the face with EXTREMELY unsubtle messaging in almost every episode after the first one. It's honestly a little hard to watch UNLESS you're a dedicated fan of the video game series and you're here for your Nostalgia-Heroin. If that's what you want...yeah, I think this show delivers. The rating on this thing though is being driven by that, not the real quality of the program which was pretty 'meh' for those wanting it to stand on it's own.

One Piece (1999– )

A children's action cartoon with little value for adults.

[6/10 · 21 February 2024]

I like shonen anime, especially long-running ones. What I like about them are usually two things - fun interesting characters and character development, and second is that most of these anime have elaborate, well thought-out worldbuilding and imaginative magic systems. Very seldomly you get one like Naruto that ALSO has an actual plot, but for the most part the plot is a hook to get you from fight to fight.

One Piece definitely has the fun characters base covered. Each character, especially among the main crew, feels distinctive and interesting. They often have elaborate and dark backstories. If you don't feel for Nami, then you are broken as a human being, I say. In fact, the protagonist, Luffy, may well have the lamest backstory in the entire show. Even relatively minor villains and supporting characters that don't last more than a single arc get intricate character work.

And I have to give One Piece a little bit of loose grading because it definitely tries harder to be a comedy than most shonen. Sure, they all have comic relief, and can get outright goofy at times, but One Piece revels in the goofiness and cartooniness of things. It makes little effort to explain why everyone, not just the protagonist, often seems virtually indestructible like they are cartoon characters. Which...I mean...they are, but they shouldn't act like it.

The place I feel like One Piece really lets me down is the worldbuilding. It's outright lazy. The world is just a random series of islands. The characters travel from island to island and there's always an 'adventure' on each one with exactly the level of difficulty the characters need to level-up. The transition to the next island feels like a video game whose stories are on rails as arbitrary rules always guide the team along a specific path (eg: the logposes).

But the thing that really kills me is the lazyness of the magic system. A good magic system is one with clear and straightforward rules, communicated well to the audience where the story then uses those rules in clever and unexpected ways to advance the plot/character arc. You should NEVER outright break a rule once presented. A good magic system is one like Naruto's chakra or Hunter x Hunter's nen (though HxH fails to capitalize on a well designed system).

Instead, One Piece has 'devil fruits' and 'haki'. First, the fact that you have TWO separate magic systems in the same world is dumb to begin with. Pick a lane. But also, neither of these is particularly interesting. The devil fruits give literally random powers to random people who happen to eat one. The swimming weakness is fun in theory, especially in a world where 99.9% of the planet is sea, but then they introduce Sea Prism Stone that mimics this effect...and it's more common than salt. Imagine if you wrote Superman but then had Kryptonite be EVERYWHERE. Almost everyone has a warehouse full of the stuff. That's boring.

But the real crime of the devil fruits is how unbelievably arbitrary they are and how little the powers really make sense. The author often just layers arbitrary capabilities on that make no sense. For example, a snot devil fruit user has snot that is ... combustible? What? Or sometimes a character uses a power to achieve effects that make little sense. Basically 90% of what Doflamingo does makes little sense given his core ability. Especially given that he's doing about 100 things simultaneously without guidance.

Then there are times when the show breaks it's own rules. It's stated multiple times that if a devil fruit user loses consciousness, their power loses effect. Except...then there's Gecko Moria and Sugar whose abilities persist just fine over years. Are we to believe that they never went to sleep?

Now let's talk Haki. Through the entire first half of the show's run, devil fruits are the ultimate power. Then, suddenly, without so much as a HINT that it was coming, we get CP9 and others wielding a new set of abilities that end up getting named Haki. Suddenly everyone has it, it seems to completely overpower devil fruit powers (except when inconvenient to the story), it seems extremely easy to learn and one suddenly wonders why the rest of the world doesn't have ANY Haki users? The power scaling of the second half of the show makes the first half seem to not make sense.

Now, look...am I being unfair trying to ask for logic from a show that is clearly cartoony and over the top? Maybe. But One Piece lives in the same genre as Naruto and other shows that take this sort of thing more seriously. While One Piece seems to regard all of this as irrelevant and just makes up random stuff as needed for the plot of the moment with little regard to fitting a larger plot narrative or some kind of logical structure. It irritates me.

Now, let me throw the worldbuilding a compliment before I move on. One Piece appears to have constructed the perfect Libertarian commentary backdrop. World Government? An oppressive government that claims to be acting in the name of 'Justice' while using the term in counterintuitive ways that really just mean 'Obedience'? Using the term 'Pirate' to just mean someone wanting to live free and make their own choices rather than conform to others' expectations? I mean...it's pretty clear that alot of that is a Libertarian parable. And I like it, being a sort-of libertarian myself (small L though). But that's just not enough.

I'll end with the plot. I mean...it's shonen. The plot is 'Lets think of an excuse to fight, spend 90% of the fight talking about our character motivations, and then 5% of the fight levelling up, and the other 5% being beaten down to make the level ups dramatic'. That's shonen.

But One Piece is PARTICULARLY egregious in that there really is no plot that I can detect. Each arc actually has a fairly nice plot, but little to nothing ties the arcs together in any coherent way. But like I said...I kind of expect that in shonen.

Ted (2024)

So much funnier than the movies

[8/10 · 15 February 2024]

I remember watching the Ted movies and thinking they were dumb. Seth MacFarlane can be VERY hit or miss on comedy, and Ted the movies were huge misses. This is MUCH better. In fact, I think this might be the best Seth MacFarlane comedy since the first three seasons of Family Guy.

Now, that's not to say it's flawless. The characters are mostly very one dimensional, and the actors portraying the parents in particular seem to be VERY sitcom-y in their portrayals, while Ted and the kids are playing with a different vibe. It creates a disjointedness that broke my immersion several times as I almost waited for the bad laugh track after the parents did anything.

Like the Orville, the 'lessons' of each episode often feel dated. Partly this can be because the show is set in the 1990s for some reason. But Orville was often trying to follow the Star Trek tendency to use scifi for social commentary, and this show tries to follow the standards sitcom formula of baking a 'lesson' into each show...but they feel like lessions/commentary that would have been appropriate to a show filmed 30 years before. There's no edgy or insightful commentary here.

But at the end of the day, a comedy's job is to make you laugh. And this does. Quite well. Surprisingly well given that I kind of viewed Seth MacFarlane as a bit washed up. Family Guy hasn't been funny for decades now. But this is actually legit funny. There's something about a foul-mouthed Teddy Bear that is inherently funny that didn't work in the movies, but works here.

The Pentaverate (2022)

It's good, but it never quite maximizes it's premise

[7/10 · 6 December 2023]

What a GREAT concept. First of all, it's a callback to a previous Mike Myers bit where someone complains about the Pentaverate, but also with conspiracy theorists gaining traction on BOTH sides of the political spectrum, this movie comments on SO MANY related issues in a way that is desperately needed.

But almost every time it's about to make a serious point, Myers drops the ball, either by being too on the nose, or by making the mistake of getting too one-sided. There are times where Myers seems to recognize that his message will resonate best if he makes fun of both sides...but then in some of the most crucial moments, he loses his own insight and just attacks rightward. Which is a shame because what that will do is immediately make the attacked feel defensive and less open to the broader message.

The humor is definitely erratic, but especially in the early episodes, I found myself laughing out loud several times and that's a good sign. The humor can be a bit more sophomoric than it needs to be, but then there are times when it's perfect such as the bar censorship scene. Unfortunately, Myers then doubles down on the concept and tries again with another censorship commentary at a sausage-fest that ... feels contrived and like an attempt to just remind everyone how hard they laughed at that bar scene.

Myers has a long history of playing multiple characters in his movies, rather like Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall in Coming to America, and Myers can be quite good at it. But he also does too much of it in this, and it seriously negatively impacts the quality of the show. Too many cut-away shots of Myers talking to himself. It feels...egotistical. But it also robs the scene of rhythm and energy. It was a mistake. I feel like it might not have been so bad if MULTIPLE of the comedic actors were doing it. Key and Jennifer Saunders definitely have the range for that, but if it was a cast of like 5 people each playing a bunch of roles, maybe this would have been tolerable.

Anyway, this show is better than it's rating. But not ALOT better. It's funny in parts, but inconsistent. It leans too hard on blue humor. The message is almost strong...but muddled. The multiple parts thing is fun...but not fun enough to not get annoying by the 2nd episode. In baseball terms it's one of those really hard hit balls that rockets to the fence...just misses going over, and bounces back for a really impressive single. You know you ALMOST saw an epic home run. But it's just a single at the end of the day.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023)

Scott Pilgrim: Smaller, Longer, and Uncut

[7/10 · 4 December 2023]

If you haven't seen Scott Pilgrim the movie, go watch that. It's better than this in almost every way. While this is good in it's own right, it's significantly LESS good with alot more dead space that feels like time filler.

If I hadn't seen the movie, I might well have been impressed with this show's style and fun. But because of the movie, it feels redundant. Sure, the plot is NOT the same...actually, aside from VERY high level bullet points, it's not even close to the same.

But I still walk away wondering -- why? Why produce a less tight, less clever, less funny, lower budget, cash-grabby version of the movie? Again, not that this series is bad, far from it. There are good jokes. There are good action sequences. The voice acting is good (often the same people from the movie). I don't love the animation style that looks like a mashup of anime and cartoon network's minimalism...but whatever.

Much like the movie (and I presume the comic which I have never read), video game tropes are made real. Just about every superhero sci-fi or magic thing you can think of seems to be real in this world...though without ANY explanation whatsoever. It's like the show is thumbing it's nose at our desire for any of this stuff to make sense.

It has the same humor style as the original. I love the papparazzi. The evil exes get more space to be people and have character arcs, which is nice. There's time travel that comes out of nowhere. It's definitely not bad...it just can't hold a candle to the movie.

Hunter x Hunter (2011–2014)

Like Naruto, without the plot and character

[4/10 · 3 December 2023]

I watched this because I saw a video comparing the magic systems of Naruto and HxH and became intrigued when the reviewer mentioned how heavily Naruto and other Shonen borrow from HxH. I wanted to see the influence for myself, and boy howdy, he was right. The plagiarism/homage is DEEP. And not just the magic system, you can really see the bones of Naruto being directly inspired by aspects of this anime.

However, none of that is to say that this anime is anything like Naruto because Naruto takes almost every idea it lifted and makes it better than it was in HxH. If I didn't know HxH came first, HxH almost feels like Naruto fan-fiction in terms of level of writing. Naruto takes the ideas and weaves a deep interconnected story with real meaning and heart and explores and builds each character into their own tragic epic.

Please believe that I am not exaggerating even a little when I say that most of the minor recurring characters in Naruto are better fleshed out than even the two main protagonists in HxH. There is no real long-term story arc in HxH, just a series of completely unrelated season arcs loosely tied together. And not one of those season arcs is particularly compelling.

The one thing Naruto didn't lift that I really liked in HxH's magic system is that HxH claims that Nen's expression in a person is highly dependent on that person. If you like rainbows, expect rainbow powers. If you collect coins, expect coin related powers. I suspect Kishimoto left this out because it would be too on the nose, but if chakra worked like this, I don't think I'd complain because I'd like to see what an actual professional would have done with it.

Why do I say it like that? Because HxH states it upfront, but at most a COUPLE characters actually have powers related to their backstory or affinities. Killua's lightning, Kurapika's chains...maybe you could argue one or two others, but honestly we go SO LITTLE backstory for most characters that even if it were true, we'd never know. Gon gets a rock-paper-scissors power because...he sees the game played once in season 1. That's it.

That level of amateur/fan-fiction level writing is weaved through six seasons of this anime. Each one is a fount of disappointment and pointlessness. The later seasons start to lean more and more heavily on a disembodied narrator making remarks that feel like a 6-year old wrote them. The action makes so little sense, the animators couldn't portray it visually so they seemed to have just given up and had the narrator tell you what's happening.

Season 1 is the hunter exam, and while interesting to me because you can see the strong parallels to Naruto's chunin exam, the chunin exams shine as the launching point for multiple long term plots and character arcs. The hunter exam is...almost pointless in HxH. No characters really grow. We get introductions and meetings, but that's more because it's the first season. Otherwise it's a season of just random challenges.

Season 2 is just a combat tournament - the laziest of all plots. These things are littered throughout anime, but being common doesn't make it less lazy. The one thing that makes S2 semi-worthwhile is the introduction and explanation of the magic system. But that's really the only thing that happens that is worth caring about.

Season 3 at least has some character relevance in that Kurapika's crusade against the Phantom Troupe gets touched on (but not resolved). But it's not like any of that is done WELL. Kurapika encounters the troupe largely by accident, and has minimal agency in anything he does. The one ALMOST standout moment is when Kurapika is made to choose between his friends and his revenge...and that lasts about 30 seconds. Could have been a great character dilemma, but really wasn't.

Season 4 follows S3 in that it tries to tie in to a character backstory as Gon's father-quest. But really, very little that happens actually has any relevance to Gon or the search for his father. What makes it EXTRA annoying to me are two factors. One, the inconsistency of the video game tropes vs happening in the real world. Two, the completely arbitrary (and never seen again) alternate magic system of the cards. This show's ONE strength is the magic system worldbuilding, and season 4 just substitutes it for a Yu-gi-oh plot that bores and annoys. There's a reason I don't watch Yu-gi-oh, folks. I don't find it interesting. Why would I find it interesting jammed into an anime where it doesn't fit or make sense?

Season 5 almost feels like a filler adventure except it goes on FOREVER. I'm not kidding, it's 61 episodes! I was BEGGING it to be over about 5 episodes in, but it just keeps going and never gets good. Forget good, it never stops being nonsensical! It's incredibly badly written, feels completely out of place, and honestly just feels like an opportunity for artists with furry fetishes to indulge themselves by drawing cat-girls and wolf-men. Killua has a decent character growth moment, but it comes out of nowhere. Gon goes completely bananas over the death of someone he barely knew, despite the fact that other people have died around him in past stories and he didn't react that way.

Season 6 is mercifully brief...and yet was almost the most interesting of the 6 seasons. There's an election subplot that had it been handled by an actual talented writer, could have been an interesting exploration of electoral systems. Instead, the characters all feature nonsensical fake-logic, the outcomes are arbitrary and make no real sense. Just what you'd expect from this trash. There's also a more action-packed adventure with Killua vs his family trying to save Gon...but all of the stuff with his sister comes out of nowhere and the wish rules are so arbitrary as to just be cheating the audience.

So...was it worth it? Honestly, I don't mind that I watched the first two seasons. These were the two that seemed chocked full of the most things that would inspire Naruto items. But again...Naruto does almost every one of them BETTER. And I watched four MORE seasons of garbage for the weakest of reasons. I regret everything. Don't watch this, but do realize that it is the bones that Naruto derives from...but it's just bones. Kishimoto provided the muscle and flesh and feelings and soul. This show has none of that. For christ's sake, it's an action anime and the ACTION isn't even any good.

Upload (2020– )

This is what good sci-fi looks like.

[8/10 · 19 November 2023]

Sci-fi is at it's best when it uses the fantastical to look at the real and mundane. The best Star Trek episodes are commentaries on real world events and issues couched in the fantastical that gets us to think about an issue from an unusual (at least unusual to us) angle because it's not as direct or familiar.

Upload does this better than any sci-fi thing I've seen recently. It critiques alot of different things, but social media seems to be the most consistently in it's crosshairs. There's some tedious anti-capitalism in it for sure, but hey...it's Hollywood, what did you expect?

On top of the commentary though are some nice romantic comedy vibes. The comedy can be quite good. The romance is cute. The acting is solid, though honestly, I feel like they could have done better than Robbie Amell who is fine and all, but seldom elevates things above the words he's given while Andy Allo and Allegra Edwards and the guy playing Luke all elevate the fun with their performances.

My one fear is that I write this as season 3 comes to a close, and really...I felt like season 3 was in a position to close the show out in a pretty satisfying way. And then: cliffhanger! It almost felt like the ending came out of nowhere, and I fear this might be a sign that they might be intent on dragging this out longer than it needs to go. I hope I'm wrong and season 4 comes back strong, but I have a bad taste in my mouth before of that ending.

D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! (2022)

The modern trend in documentaries - make stuff up

[3/10 · 15 November 2023]

Modern documentaries are so easy. You don't even have to do any research anymore. Hunting Hitler, Oak Island, and now this. It's becoming entirely to commonplace.

I stopped watching after two episodes because you can see very early where this is going. This show is chasing one specific suspect - Robert Rackstraw, and it will not consider anyone else or any lack of evidence as being troubling to it's case.

They put huge hopes on lie detector tests, despite the fact that the polygraph is no better than chance. When a lead blows up, they don't even hesitate to ignore that problem. They hang their hopes on tiny insignificant coincidences and try to blow them up as being proof.

I'm viscerally angry at Netflix for carrying tripe like this. This is why I don't watch any 'documentary' with a certain shaped H or D on them anymore because they're just as likely to claim that Megalodon is still alive or that mermaids are real as they are to accidentally cite a real fact. It makes me not want to try other Netflix documentaries.

Love, Death & Robots (2019– )

A nice, solid anthology show...but not as good as it should have been

[7/10 · 14 November 2023]

LDR is an anthology show like Twilight Zone or Black Mirror or Outer Limits. There's a HEAVY sci-fi emphasis, just like in those shows, though LDR is quite heavily biased in favor of animated shorts. I feel like the first season did have a few live action episodes, but I might be misremembering.

The animation can vary from cartoony, to 'uncanny valley' level photorealistic with rather alot of realistic caricatures in between. It's usually very good animation, but often there are lip-synching problems, motion problems, and other things that bring the experience down a notch...but still, quite good and in such a wide range of styles that the whole thing feels very experimental and boundary pushing. So I forgive all of that.

What I'm less inclined to forgive is story. FAR too many of LDR's shorts come down to 'monster scary, monster hunt human, humans die with as much gore as we can fit on the screen'. Which...okay. That's fine. But do we really need so much of it? I haven't done a survey, but I will bet that between a third and half of the episodes fit into just random monster stories. Which is WAY more than is interesting.

Further, part of the cool of a sci-fi anthology show is really exploring the ramifications of some weird concept or idea that couldn't support a whole movie, but can support one really thought-provoking episode of a TV show. And there ARE some of those in here. Just...not enough. This feels less like Twilight Zone or Black Mirror and more like American Horror Story where the arcs are single episodes instead of full seasons. I feel like just saying 'congratulations, you can animate blood and gore. Whoopdie doo. Can we actually insert some story or character too?'

Honestly, most of the best episodes are front-loaded in the first season. I'm not saying ALL. But most. It's also the largest season.

Loki (2021–2023)

The one good MCU Disney+ show so far

[8/10 · 14 November 2023]

Having just finished season 2 of Loki, I've got to say, I'm pleasantly surprised by this show. The other Disney+ MCU programs have ranged from bad (Falcon, Witch) to borderline unwatchable (Ms Marvel, Moon Knight) to actually literally unwatchable (Secret Invasion, She-Hulk).

So to have one be decent, which is what I would have said about Loki Season 1 was already a standout success by comparison. But, while Season 2 was a slow-starter, after watching the finale, I feel SO good about this show now. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Loki is good. Legit good. Apparently it IS possible to create good content at Disney. Whodathunkit?

Season 1 of Loki basically had two main hooks for me - a sort of rapid-pace re-do of Loki's redemption arc from the movies, and the mystery box of the TVA. Sprinkle in some multiversal alternate character version fun, and I had an okay time with season 1. But ... was it exceptional? No. The payoff in the finale about He Who Remains wasn't really good enough to pay off the mystery box, and while Loki falling in love with...literally himself was wonderfully on-point (he really does only love himsef), it really didn't shine. I would have said it was the best of the MCU Disney TV, but I would not have outright recommended it to non-MCU hardcores.

Then came season 2. At first, I was a little disapointed. The show broke some of it's own rules, which is a pet peeve of mine. When you establish the rules of your magic system you should NEVER break those rules. Whether it's technology, fictional physics, or literal magic...it's all a magic system. And this show does. And even hangs a lampshade on it, admitting and rubbing our noses in it's lies without any real explanation.

In the first season, character took precedence over plot. In season 2, plot seemed to steamroller over character. Things happened for seemingly no reason. People did things with little justification. I was losing interest.

Then...that finale. Suddenly we got character arc wrapped up beautifully, visually interesting and stunning effects in a way that was less 'generic sky beam' or 'pointless lightshow' but rather was able to tell a compelling and emotionally powerful story at the climax of the show without uttering a word of exposition.

The thing Marvel has sucked at, even back when it's movies were good, is endings. Most MCU movies have TERRIBLE endings. Sky beams. Hordes of faceless enemies. Portals. They often feel tired and repetitive.

Yet here again was 'save the universe' level stakes, and a CG lightshow, but the setup was clear, the emotion was high, the visuals were different and unique, and that final moment when the view rotates to show a particular Norse metaphor...so perfect. So amazing.

And compelling not just for the visuals, but for Loki's arc. This wasn't him being murdered by Thanos...this was a true and proper ending. I will be FURIOUS if Marvel ruins this ending by trying to do more with Loki. This ending needs to just stand.

That finale makes everything that lead up to it feel stronger in hindsight. Now...was the show perfect? No. I just mentioned some of the defects. There were also rather alot of plotholes, and significant ones that didn't quite make as much sense as I think the show thought. Honestly, the exposition in this thing was bad as they tried to explain a time loop plot in ways that were at times too on the nose, and other times convoluted and incomprehensible.

But what I'm arguing is none of that matters. The character arc is good enough, the wrap-up is good enough...it makes the flaws feel like nitpicks.

Naruto (2002–2007)

IMHO, the best of the long-running shonen 'fighting anime' to date

[8/10 · 30 October 2023]

I'm reviewing this as if Shippuden were part of it because honestly...it is. There's one story.

Look, if you've seen enough anime, you're familiar with the formula that shonen fighting anime have. Dragonballz, One Piece, Bleach, My Hero Academia, Fairy Tail etc. Likeable/fun characters, imaginative world, fights during which the characters talk about their backstories/philosophy/strategy more than they actually fight, loads of filler to pad runtimes, some kind of breakthrough powerup moment or clever strategy to resolve the fight...lather, rinse, repeat.

But IMHO, Naruto does all of that better and tighter than the others...until you get to the climactic story arc where, yes, alot of story threads some together beautifully...but the actual action and story of that arc are unwatchably boring. That ending is the only reason i don't give this a 9/10.

Let's pick some specific things to praise that I think Naruto does better than it's peers.

In most of these things, the power scaling just sort of comes out of nowhere. Not that they don't depict training, but when Midoriya in MHA or Ichigo in Bleach or Luffy in One Piece need more power in a desperate fight...it just sort of HAPPENS for no particular reason than they reach down and need it. In Naruto, the world's magic system is REMARKABLY logical. Every new thing Naruto learns is a logical technique building on and exploiting the rules of the magic system in a way that sounds sensible. New powers seldom just come out of nowhere.

Another thing is the backstory. Every backstory they give you (save for the filler of course) entwines with the overarching plot. You may think that stories about Kakashi's childhood don't matter...but they do. You may think stories about the Uchiha massacre only bear on Sasuke...but there's more than you know. It's really impressive how over time, every little dangling thread ties in. IMHO, this is master class worldbuilding and backstory.

The characters...aren't the best. Naruto himself is dumb so that everyone he meets can justify explaining things a person living in this world should already know...to the audience. But he's a great character unto himself. You will be unnable to help yourself from adoring the various side characters. However...there are two MAJOR characters who are just terrible - Sakura and Sasuke. They're the worst, and the show seems to be in major denial at how bad these two are, and how much they drag down almost every scene they're in. To be fair...Sasuke had potential early on, but the more you get into his arc, the less you'll like him. And not JUST because he does a heel turn...you'll see. But everyone else is wonderful and all have their little character arcs and growth.

The fights are also always action packed and strategic. The show does often cheat with characters just magically having set up their now steretypical log swap jutsu despite no real chance to do so...but usually, the show will recap from another angle to justify it. But especially when protagonists are involved, the fights are surprisingly heady with clever climaxes. It's sometimes as simple as 'main character just wants it more', but not usually.

It's fun, it's humorous, it's got great worldbuilding and backstory. Watch it with your 'filler list' website open so you know which episodes to skip (though honestly they're pretty obvious in this one)...and I am tempted to suggest that you skip the 'Fourth Shinobi War' arc entirely...but the problem is that hidden in that is the actual tying together of plot threads that I found so satisfying. It's just....there's SO MANY episodes of just garbage overpowered gods duking it out to get that story. There's an inverse relationship to how powerful a protagonist can be and how much the audience will 'feel' the stakes...and this show walks RIGHT into that problem face first.

The Promised Neverland (2019–2021)

A very good twist on alot of themes that have been done before

[8/10 · 30 October 2023]

When I first saw this on a list of suggested anime and read the synopsis, I was dismissive. Another anime of kids who are smarter than adults because the adult writers of the show don't know how to write kids. How many times have we seen that?

And yet...this is good. Sure, the kids are WAY too mature for their ages. I don't just mean smart, I mean mature. But the show seems to try hard to also show them as children who are overwhelmed as the illusory layers of safety are pealed back and they realize that the world they live in is terrible.

The first season definitely outshines the second. The premise was clearly only thought out that far. What happens and is revealed in season two feels more like someone explaining the backstory of season 1 than a truly independent story...nor does it particularly satisfy as a resolution.

The first few episodes show the kids struggling and learning, but then, the ending feels rushed and ill-thought out. Both sides sort of get that 'magical genius' thing that shows do when they want their protagonists or antagonists to be smart, but aren't smart enough to write them as smart...so instead, they just sort of 'magically' see through each other's plans. To be fair...that's sort of Norman's character from the beginning, but in season 1, the show at least seems to try to justify his reasoning.

Season 2 also suffers from the problem of 'showing the shark'. In Jaws, the number of scenes showing the shark was originally going to be quite high, but mechanical problems with a mechanical shark in salt water forced Spielberg to IMPLY the shark more than show it...resulting in a more deeply terrifying movie.

Season 1 implies the danger. We only actually catch brief glimpses of the demons. Hell, I spent most of season 1 expecting that there were no demons and we'd find out that the kids misinterpreted what they saw and WE saw the events through their eyes. Which I still think would have been a cooler story.

But the premise of the world is some fun and interesting worldbuilding...but the story that happens in it for season 2 isn't. And that's a problem.

The other problem is that there's too many 'magical' qualities about the demons who otherwise aren't really demons, but just different organisms from humans. But the special blood and so on, drains some of the moral complications the show is trying to explore for me because...well...this magical blood exists that can just solve the problem. It's cheap and easy. I think the show would have benefitted from a messier outcome.

Still good show. Definitely recommend. Better than it's synopsis makes it sound.

Rurouni Kenshin (1996–1998)

Timeless classic of anime

[8/10 · 23 October 2023]

First of all, if you're going to watch Rurouni Kenshin, and you're planning to watch the English dub, MAKE SURE you get the good one. There are two English dubs out there and as I write this, Hulu has the BAD one, and Netflix has the GOOD one. In case this changes, the good one will actually refer to the female lead as Kaoru. The difference in quality is so drastic that if you encounter the bad one, you should just stop watching. The bad one is an absolute abomination.

That having been said, Rurouni Kenshin is outstanding. Like alot of these sort of shonen/fighting anime it's based around bold, brightly defined characters who are fun and comedic. They 'level up' through increasingly challenging encounters. The characters have superhuman levels of skill and/or powers/or gimmicks. The enemy has an elaborate backstory and the fights end up spending half or more of the time exploring these character stories. Fighting anime really isn't about the fights. It's about character stories.

What's unusual about RK is that the main character's power-up arc is mainly about going backwards. He was already a god-tier fighter, but he's thrown some of his skill away to become peaceful, but is pushed ever closer to having to kill again by challenging circumstance. This obscenely powerful, but pacifist protagonist thing is copied ably by Vash the Stampede in Trigun which is also really good...but it also kind of the same story.

It's also neat how the show is ALMOST historically accurate. Some of these people like Saito and Hitokiri Battosai, and others were actual real historical figures. The political backstory is pretty accurate. Of course, then they exagerrate and make it cartoony, but you are in danger of learning stuff about Japanese history if you watch this so...you know, you've been warned.

The first season is mostly episodic until you get to the Oniwaban Group arc. It introduces the characters that will be some of the pillars of season 2. It has a definite kids-show morality to it, but it's fun and the characters are good, so try to look past that.

The real quality is season 2. This is peak Kenshin. The enemies are stronger, but it also is very much about how the experiences of the past molded the villains of the present. It's a clash of two men being scarred by the misfortunes of war and walking different paths thereafter.

Season 3...falls off REALLY badly and has nothing to do with the previous arcs. Honestly, unless you just can't help yourself, skip season 3.

Be aware that there is Samurai X. You should ABSOLUTELY watch Samurai X AFTER you watch the first two seasons of this show. Part of Samurai X is a prequel to this, so you might be thinking you should watch them in story order. DO NOT DO THIS! The Samurai X content is WAYYY darker and will hit harder if you've watched the lighter TV series content first to develop an attachment to the character.

Welcome to Wrexham (2022– )

Uncommonly good documentary for season 1...less so for season 2

[7/10 · 22 October 2023]

I'm writing this while waiting for the next episode near the end of season 2. The first season of this was outstanding and I recommend it to literally everyone.

You don't need to be a sports fan. It has something for everyone. A bit of sports for those who like that, for sure. But Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are legitimately funny guys and their banter and antics would make this funnier than a lot of dedicated comedies you will watch this year.

But the thing I didn't expect is how much the stories about the community of Wrexham resonated. I generally find these sorts of documentaries to be self-indulgent, melodramatic, and tedious. But this one wasn't. Maybe it's because it wasn't ONLY that, or maybe it's done better. I'm not sure. But for the non-sports fan, you will have no difficulty bonding with the people of Wrexham who are frustrated by a prolonged decline in their industrial base and their beloved football/soccer team that is part of the community's identity.

I feel like I'm deep enough into season 2 to say that the second season fails to capture the energy or import of the first. It's not bad. I still like it, but Rob and Ryan feature less, so it's not as funny. It also starts 'trying too hard' to recapture the community interest angle of the first season. The sports story is still there and is quite strong, but if you're not a sports fan, I'd recommend stopping after season 1.

The Awesomes (2013–2015)

A superhero parody that fails to be funny

[5/10 · 22 October 2023]

Superheroes were still hot when this was made. As I write my review having just seen it in 2023, superheroes are starting their collapse (mostly because studios stopped making good ones). But you know what we really haven't had? A truly great superhero parody.

I think part of the reason is because alot of superhero content doesn't take itself seriously to begin with. So most of the parodies just play like slightly less serious superhero movies. Were Guardians of the Galaxy parodies? Was Kick Ass? The Boys? They're certainly funny superhero shows, but are they parodies?

I'd argue the best parody of superheroes was The Tick, which came way too early to be part of this craze. I spread of the classic cartoon of course not the mediocre live action versions.

The Awesomes seems to be trying to be that...but fails. It fails because it's just not funny. If you're going full-parody and you can't even be as funny as superhero fare that takes itself far more seriously, then you have failed at parody. And this does.

Honestly, any further critique almost feels unnecessary. The plot doesn't matter, it's a parody. The voice acting is bland...and if the lines/gags were funny, that would matter...but they aren't...so it doesn't.

One piece of advice - when doing parody in cartoons, make your animation are MORE grounded. This sort of hypersimplistic art is good enough for South Park or The Simpsons as those are just sitcoms. There's no real need for quality art.

But for a parody like this, I feel like you really need to make the audience feel like they're watching something more serious in order to set them up for when you subvert expectations.

Like Archer. The series Archer is a parody of the spy thriller genre, and it's brilliant (until the dream seasons start anyway). One reason is better writing and acting than The Awesomes has, but also, the very 'action hero' art style almost makes you feel like the show is seriously trying to be serious. Which makes the jokes land harder.

Even The Tick itself is somewhat more real in it's art style. Though still more cartoony than Archer, The Tick has people that look a bit more like people and less like ... Charlie Brown.

But that would only matter if the writing were better. Which it's not. I'm generously giving 5 stars. I'm not sure it deserves that. But I appreciate the effort.

Ahsoka (2023– )

Fan Service and little else

[5/10 · 9 October 2023]

If you already have seen Star Wars: Rebels and Clone Wars, and you love these characters and want to see more, this show may well scratch that itch. I'd compare it to Force Awakens in that it does that fan service reasonably well, but does little else well.

I think the show's rating strongly reflects such hardcore fans who wanted to like it because it was Dave Filoni's creation. But honestly, this was badly written, and mediocrely acted. If not for the fan service, it would be getting ranked about at the same level as Book of Boba Tea...ie as a failure.

Let's start with acting. Ray Stevenson and whomever plays his apprentive Shin do very well. They seem competent even when losing to the protagonists, they project menace without being lunatics, and they seem motivated by something subtler than 'Me evil. Want rule and kill.', which honestly seems far too common in the Disney Star Wars era.

The problem is that those two are pretty much the only two to stand out to me. David Tennant's voice acting was fine, but not a standout. The protagonists, Thrawn, and Morgan all seemed...sleepy. There's a difference between a subtle performance and one lacking in energy, and these were the latter. These actors seemed disinterested half the time. Even when they're happy at a reunion or a victory...you don't feel their joy.

I have a particular problem with Lars Mikkelson's Thrawn because of all the characters in this show, he's the one I know from the books. Now, problem 1 is that the writing did Lars no favors. Thrawn's lines are bland, and for a character who supposed to be a stategic genius he pretty much just does what ever Imperial commander does and says 'send in the stormtroopers' or 'launch the TIEs'. The show dresses it up a little to try to make it SOUND cleverer than that...but really, he does nothing innovative or special. But Mikkelson in particular plays Thrawn without the menace. Yes, Thrawn should be calm and collected, but there should be a subtle and constant menace to him that just isn't there. I think Mads Mikkelson would have captured that. Giancarlo Esposito certainly would have.

Let's talk writing. The plot basically revolves around being a continuation of a cartoon most people have never seen. There's an ancient map ... for some reason ... to a far away galaxy where Thrawn went 11 years ago. If this sounds like the Skywalker subplot of Force Awakens, you're not wrong. The explanation, which I got from a friend who had seen Rebels more so than from this show, is that these ancient witches had gone there and everyone just seemed to assume that's where Thrawn also went...because space whales took him there.

Which leads me to a complaint about worldbuilding - much of this plot seems like it was adapted from a fantasy world like Middle Earth. Thrawn is almost presented as some ancient demon trapped in the abyss by a man who sacrificed himself to stop the evil long ago, and the protagonists are involved with witches and ancient artifacts of power and temples to try to pierce to this place and get him back. None of this really 'fits' in a Star Wars universe. Now, after the 7-8-9 trilogy, it's hard to beat Filoni up for this stuff, but isn't part of the point that he and Favreau are meant to move us AWAY from the Abrams/Johnson vision of Star Wars? This feels more like Episodes 7-8-9 than 4-5-6 or 1-2-3.

Except, here's the thing. The ENTIRE plot of this show is about how bad it would be for Thrawn to return, and how terrified EVERYONE is of him...but if you hadn't read the Zahn trilogy of books, I'm not sure any of that would land. Not once do they explain why this guy is a big deal. The show just expects you to know. Fortunately, I did...even if I found their portrayal of it disappointing.

I was really disappointed. This was supposed to be the big Filoni unveiling and I was disappointed. This show feels like fan fiction. And has alot in common with the very thing we're all trying to move away from.

Only Murders in the Building (2021– )

Good but overrated

[7/10 · 7 October 2023]

Only Murders is in exercise in frustration. There are so many aspects of it that SHOULD produce really outstanding content, and yet...it's watchable. I'm still watching 3 seasons later...but this show is like an engine with a timing problem. It's never quite maximizing itself.

The first, and biggest problem is the writing. The murder mysteries generally aren't that well done. You as the viewer are not presented the information you need to 'play along' and try to figure the mystery out for yourself. Which is part of the fun of mysteries, ESPECIALLY multi-episode mysteries where you have time to speculate and talk with friends. Critical information is withheld until the final episode.

The second problem is the comedy. For a show with Steve Martin, and Martin Short as regulars and with guests like Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, you'd expect the comedy to take a front seat...but it really doesn't. The comedy is pretty tame in terms of how funny it is, yet the characters often are very over the top.

Let's talk acting. You will see both spectacularly good acting and spectacularly bad acting on this show...sometimes in the same damn scene. The worst offender is Selena Gomez. This was my first exposure to her, and my god...she's terrible! This woman CANNOT act. Not even a little. She drags down every scene she is. She's often given the wittiest lines...and her timing is dreadful and the jokes don't land. It's honestly painful to watch.

Steve Martin is solid throughout. But seldom spectacular. Martin Short starts out VERY schticky playing an over the top broadway producer, and I found him repellent. But the good news is that he tones it down over time. And as he does a surprisingly good actor emerges from that. Short plays so many of his character loud and big that I was surprised to get quality acting from him.

The guest stars are hit and miss. Nathan Lane and Meryl Streep were the best by far. Streep is Streep. Lane has never been a favorite of mine. Like Short, everything I've seen him do he played so big. But this was excellent.

But some of the others I thought were pretty forgettable. Tina Fey was solid in her role, but nothing memorable. Paul Rudd was supposed to be annoying as the victim in season 3, and he was annoying. But not in a way that was fun or interesting. Matthew Broderick shows up for 20 seconds to play a bizarro version of himself that was basically one gag...and not particularly well executed.

Now, one of the things the show does really well is red herrings. Every season is just a shotgun of red herrings that feel like almost every side character has motive, means, and opportunity. But after a season or two of seeing that the show is REALLY going to withhold critical information until the end, it actually becomes quite easy to ELIMINATE suspects anytime they actually seem to have strong motives. This wasn't as bad with season 1 (the best mystery), but it very much was with seasons 2 and 3 and is something I wish the show would avoid in future seasons. I really hope they start 'playing fair' and presenting the audience with the information they need to solve the mystery and form reasonable hypotheses.

I'm sure it's not possible to replace Selena Gomez at this point...but MAN, nothing would improve this show more than de-emphasizing, or flat out recasting that character. She's really dragging the show down. Martin and Martin bring so much energy to their scenes and then her line arrives and it's just ... recited in the lowest energy way possible. I could get more personality out of an AI bot reading her lines.

Anyway. Overall a solid show...but uneven as heck.

Invader ZIM (2001–2006)

Brilliant but niche comedy

[8/10 · 24 September 2023]

Invader Zim is outstanding, but I want to admit right up front that this is not a show for everybody. There's a heavy reliance on non-squiturs and childish humor in here. But there's also a ton of incredibly creative humorous ideas and one-liners. I don't think it's for everyone but for those who match, you will laugh your little green butt's off.

The funniest character is GIR, the little randomness robot who is meant to help Zim in his mission, but is more lilely to be stuffing his face and watching TV. Zim himself though has more than enough strange misunderstandings and great lines to be memorable forever.

Dib is almost the straight-man. While he certainly does have moments, very few of the show's best lines come from Dib...but many of them follow his attempts to enforce conventional logic on Zim. Everyone else is a fairly minor character.

Invader ZIM: Enter the Florpus (2019 TV Movie)

Mostly feels like Zim, but not as good.

[6/10 · 24 September 2023]

Let's be clear, this movie is not as good as the series. Which is to be expected. These sorts of things seldom are. There definitely are a few good Zimian moments that will feel like the series, but too few and too far between.

I think part of the problem is the runtime. The Zim episodes weren't even full half hours. They were generally one or two specific ideas with a variety of non-sequiturs thrown in. Stretching that to a movie runtime I think hurts because suddenly they have to string what is effectively the premise of a 10-15 minute mini-episode into an hour plus. There's a level of randomness in the connective tissue of this story that it just doesn't feel tight.

But the basic touchstones are there. If you're looking for a little nostalgia juice, this will do a fair job of scratching that itch. Just...don't expect much more than that. And definitely don't introduce someone to Zim with this. Zim is still an overconfident buffoon, GIR is still adorably stupid, Dib is still a melodramatic nitwit, Gaz is still perpetually angry.

I really would have preferred a series of new 10-15 minute mini-episodes. I think that would have worked better.

The Guardians of Justice (Will Save You!) (2022– )

Very bad. Couldn't finish. Didn't care.

[4/10 · 24 September 2023]

I watched 2 episodes. They were terrible. I wanted this formula to work, but it just didn't, and I couldn't stick with it. I'm a former comic collector and the tradition of creating intentionally obvious clones of more famous supers to tell variants of them is a long one in comics. I'd argue nobody does it better than Kurt Busiek in Astro City, which is one of the best comic anthology series in comic book history, tweaking major characters just enough to show other possibilities with them.

When I saw them introducing clear and obvious ripoffs of DC characters, I kind of hoped that's what was happening. Not really. Nothing interesting or creative is done with these alternative versions. At least, not through 2 PAINFULLY bad episodes.

The show lists as a comedy. It's really not. It has less humor than an actual serious superhero movie would, as most superhero movies are littered with gags and comic relief. I didn't laugh or smirk once in two episodes.

The acting is some of the most wooden you'll ever see. Literally no one has any charisma, least of all the lead, wrestler Diamond Dallas Page who looks like he hit the craft services cart pretty hard to prepare for this role. It's very clear that literally nobody in this cast cared about their role/performance. I notice Chris Judge (Stargate SG-1's Teal'c) in this as the President, but he does nothing with the approximately 20 seconds of airtime he gets.

One idea I thought was clever was to intersplice animated sequences to compensate for not having the effects budget to do traditional superhero action. It's an odd and interesting idea. Almost Monty Pythonesque. But the show does very little good with it. Aside from the extended WW3 bit at the beginning of the first episode, most of the spliced in animation is pointless and conveys nothing. I wonder what this idea might have looked like in the hands of better talent.

The show follows a breakneck pace of random interjections and asides that made even someone like me who has a bit of an ADHD personality cringe with how chaotic and difficult to follow it was. It's almost like a live action Family Guy with the constant cutaway gags...except this isn't for gags or extended sequences, but often brief clips or comments from random people saying random things at random times.

The VERY broad outline of the plot is one that had potential. What if Superman was real, the world became EXTREMELY dependent on him, and then he was gone. In this show's case, he committed suicide (allegedly), and a murder mystery almost overshadows the background plot - the collapse of civilization in the sudden absence of an omnipotent benevolent dictator...which is what Superman (aka Marvelous Man) is in this world. It could have been an interesting story. But it feels like background color, taking a backseat to a murder mystery you can't care about because it's so badly executed.

So there were a couple things in this script/project that had potential had they been in the hands of better writing, better acting, better directing, better cinematography....better everything.

Arcane (2021– )

It's good, but it's not a 9/10 like imdb's rating.

[7/10 · 21 September 2023]

I suspect there's a certain amount of rating manipulation going on here. I even see reviews where they conveniently capitalize the name of the game and game developer.

Look, most video game adaptations to live action or even cartoons ends up being terrible. I can count the successes on one hand with fingers left over...and that's AFTER including this one.

I've never played the game. This show's worldbuilding gave me no desire whatsoever to play the game. But this is a solid animated steampunk/fantasy fusion. It's reasonably well scripted and voice acted. The visual style is quite good and while I've seen it before, it's rare enough that it stands out.

But since every other review is gushing praise, let me be the counterweight and say what I didn't love.

First of all, the characters. I didn't really like any of them. I spent almost the entire show wishing there would be a 'red wedding' to clear the cast out so we could start over. Even Vi, the one character who at least SEEMS to have good intentions is a thief, a thug, and feels like a cliche.

The setting and worldbuilding is probably something those familiar with the game loved, but to someone not familiar, it feels arbitrary. Things feel flat and unfinished. I like the general premise of tech and magic being used together, but this show doesn't do anything really interesting with the idea. Just lots of neon glowy stuff that seems to be able to do whatever the plot needs in the moment. It heals. It explodes. It mutates. It transports. It enhances. It provides electricity. It resists control when convenient and gives it up when convenient. It's pretty lazy.

The world seems to be the classic cliche of hyperrich elite and superpoor underclass. It's a cliche employed by countless sci-fi settings, but this one does less with it than most. The two worlds barely interact. It isn't as if one is exploiting the other...they just sort of both exist, separated by a gap with no real thought given.

The mediocre worldbuild really disappointed me because it was based on (what I assumed was) a more expansive source material. Yet this world doesn't feel 'lived in' the way a truly rich world should. Instead it feels flat to me. It just doesn't FEEL like a world with magic and magic-like tech. The specialness of those things only shows up in very specific places as the plot needs rather than feeling organic like this was a real place. I thought the worldbuild would be a STRENGTH given the story's origins, and plot would be the weakness. But it was reversed.

Let me complain about another thing. Now, I can't hit the show too hard on this point because it's pretty standard in these sorts of shows, but it's annoying how inconsistent the magic is in this thing. For example, people affected by the pink drug seem to have almost Flash or Quicksilver levels of superspeed when killing unimportant people...yet are curiously slow when fighting main characters. Same with strength and durability. This is just one example, the fact is nothing works consistently in this show.

But hey, find me a sci-fi/action movie that DOESN'T have that problem. I complain about it here because it was ESPECIALLY noticeable.

Look, I'm not bashing the thing. I'm giving it a 7/10. It's good. It's just not great like most of the other reviews say.

Trigun Stampede (2023– )

Just watch the original

[4/10 · 12 September 2023]

I really wanted to watch the whole thing. I couldn't do it. I made it to episode 7, but this was so bad and the original Trigun was one of my favorite anime growing up. The original had great comedy, great action, great music, great voice acting, great script...about my only complaint was that the pacing was off.

But then there's this thing. A remake that is worse in every way. Now, I know what you're thinking "But surely after all these years, the animation must at least be better". You would be wrong.

As static images, the shading and animation does have some prettyness. And of course the mix-ins of CG look out of place like they always do, but allow for quick, cheap rendering of detailed elements in some places. The problem is the motion. The motion of this series' animation looks extremely 'off'. Now, sure, it's anime, there's always some over the top motion and action. But that's not what I'm talking about. Just the regular motion just looks surreal. The original did better both in comedic moments and action ones.

The voice acting sounds like they're trying to imitate the original and failing pretty badly in some cases. There's little to no energy or emotion. Vash should be a more manic character. Wolfwood and Meryl are off too.

Let's talk characters. The replacement of Millie with this Roberto character is an absolute travesty. One of the things that kept me going is that I was hoping at some point Roberto would get killed off and replace by Millie or something, but it seems unlikely. Meryl's recasting as the junior partner really ruins her. Roberto adds nothing. Wolfwood is a weaker presence.

But Vash himself is the biggest problem. The OG Vash was hypercompetent but hid that competence in an effort to blend in and not seem threatening. This one lacks that. This one seems to lack the heart of the original. Don't get me wrong, they kind of TRY to touch those bases...but it doesn't resonate the way it did with the original. But OG Vash was also provokable. When sufficiently motivated he could be a monster in his own right. This one seems to lack that.

All the mystery is missing as almost everything is revealed right up front, leaving no surprises for the audience. The 'demons' employed by knives aren't as dedicated to what the OG Knives wanted - to force Vash to compromise his morals. The demons of the originals clearly knew and understood their mission from day 1. These...don't seem to. At least not yet.

Even the OG Trigun's one major flaw - pacing, this doesn't do any better. Just go watch the original. I think I'm going to go rewatch it.

Trigun (1998)

Rurouni Kenshin in a space western

[9/10 · 12 September 2023]

The OG Trigun is an outstanding anime, even if it is borrowing heavily from the plotline, structure, and characterizations of Rurouni Kenshin. It's well acted, well animated, well written, with just oodles of iconic characters and moments. There's enough comedy and action for everyone. If you're an anime fan, it's pretty much a mandatory viewing experience.

My one complaint, and the reason I can't give it a 10/10 is erratic pacing. The general framework breaks into sections, the first being sort of a 'getting to know you' phase where Vash, the Insurance Girls, and Wolfwood are introduced, and there's a little ongoing confusion about who Vash really is. The show does SORT OF try to deceive the audience but ... he's also right there in the title sequence, so they don't try very hard.

Then the main plot slowly starts creeping in. We starts to meet some of the 'demons', and we start getting flashbacks. This is where the pacing gets to be a problem. While telling the background slowly over time was probably a good idea, the show delivers little bits of flashback that aren't terribly informative, repeats them liberally, and then takes a couple episodes off from the main plot in order to just shoehorn in the backstory. This mixture didn't work for me.

But generally speaking, the show's so good in so many other ways, I can't complain.

Extraordinary (2023– )

I'm struggling to find negative things to complain about

[9/10 · 11 September 2023]

Put your superhero fatigue aside, because there really aren't any in this comedy/character driven show. In basic form, this is a standard modern coming of age comedy. But then they set it in an almost "My Hero Academia" type world where everyone has a superpower (albeit not always a useful power).

The lead, Jen, is a rare exception. Her lack of power acts as a metaphor for her loser/nonachiever nature as she feels ostracized from the rest of the world. So, okay, they combined two things you've seen before, but there's actually a third thing - superpower parody. This is like The Tick's Civic Minded Five....albeit with alot more 'blue' humor.

The resulting concoction is outstanding. Outstanding humor showing the mundane and unexpected twists on common (and not so common) superpowers. The four main characters are all a bit pathetic, but feel believable and you want them to succeed. And overall, it's pretty competently acted.

If I have one complaint - it's plot. There really isn't one. Which doesn't bother me. This is a character based show. No one needs to be plotting to conquer the world. But I know some people who will HATE that.

But yeah, this is a good show. You'll laugh a ton. It's creative. It's fun.

One Piece (2023– )

Way better than I expected

[7/10 · 9 September 2023]

I've seen several of Netflix's attempts at live action anime and have not been pleased with any of them. Bleach, Death Note, Cowboy Bebop, Rurouni Kenshin - I'm a fan of some of those anime, but did not like the live action. So when a friend told me this one was good, I kind of blew him off. He was right. This one's good.

To be fair, they're covering the easiest parts of the anime story at the moment, the character origin stories and how they put the crew together. Most of the core crew is represented, though not Chopper or the mechanical guy or Nico Robin. At least not yet.

All the origins align pretty closely with the anime...which is unsurprising. Netflix's adaptations have generally been very faithful. There are exceptions, but their attitude seems to be that they understand that these things have very OCD fan bases that will likely be pissed off by too much creative license being taken.

The effects do reasonable credit to the zanyness of the action. The actors are at least in the ballpark of representing who their characters are. I would say that I think some of the acting is a little sedate, but that might just be that it's hard to match the energy of the cartoon with the voice actors. But the actor doing Luffy captures his manic and insane optimism well. I was initially a little put off by the accent, but once I got used to it, the quality of the performance made me stop noticing.

One thing I don't like is something Netflix seems to do on all of these shows. I lack the vocabulary in cinematography to express it, but there's a certain...dreamlike quality to these things that I don't like. I don't know how to articulate it, but if you watch a couple of them, I think you'll know what I mean. Whatever it is - I hate that. It's distracting. It makes every scene feel like a dream or a flashback.

But yeah...overall this was a solid show. I'm not saying it was amazing, but neither was the source material. This captures the best of the source material and I was thoroughly entertained. I just wish more of these Netflix adaptations were that way.