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Dec 7, 2021
Watching this reminded me of another ONA Netlfix released last year called, GREAT PRETENDER. Very similar art style, very similar pacing, very similar premise. A bunch of obscure, no connection criminals work together to outsmart some of the most powerful and dangerous people in their world. The only difference with this one is it that it superpowered based. That foundation definitely gives it its own unique spin that makes it entertaining. Something I noticed with a lot of animated "super hero" shows is that they do not hold back on the gore and this is no exception. In some scenes it heightens the mood, in
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other scenes it seems like too much but the sense of thrill is not lost. I honestly thought the beginning of this was very standard or basic and a bit boring but after the main character drops his friends for the chance at something better the story picks up and takes you along on a ride worth being on. I thought that the powers in this were definitely different and unique fitting the story's circumstances but not too obscure to where you don't think anything they are doing is out of this world or unrealistic. I did find the lack of initial thought into the development of the villains was disappointing but then I later realized it was not needed. If the story was longer then maybe but it was short and to the point. The story is not overally original, the development is not overly deep but this series is relatable and it brings a certain nostalgia if you grew up on super heroes like I did. Definitely worth watching
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 4, 2020
Blue Lock Volume 1 Review: A Hero Who Cares Only About Themselves
Just to be clear I am reviewing Blue Lock by volumes since the whole series is not even close to being finished. That said let's get deep into it.
This manga was my first sports manga/anime viewing and it was with my least favorite sport, soccer.
I have never really gotten why soccer is the number one sport in the entire world but this manga made it all too clear as to why that is. This manga not only builds a fictional Japan that is focused on soccer and claiming the World Cup but also
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uses real life players and soccer knowledge to give this fictional world a sense or realism while also enticing and interesting the reader by its sheer subversion of shonen manga expectations. Famous shonens like One Piece, Naruto, My Hero Academia, and Black Clover all are popular and use the traditional shonen troupe, The "Power of Friendship" or the "Power of Bonds". But this manga wants to turn that troupe upside down, inside out by forcing the MC and the rest of the cast to be selfish in their desires to be the best. There is only one spot at the top and you gotta fight for it together and against each other. This bottom line alone really excited me throughout the first volume. Never have I read a manga that told the MC to be selfish or your dreams are nothing but dreams. That honestly relates to me a lot because I have high ambitions and I have to make sacrifices like these budding kings do and its beautiful to see it drawn in a manga landscape. The story is laid out very cohesively and consecutively so that the story and plot is explained, background is given, the MC is introduced and their primary fault is shown, and the whole reasoning behind this story and why it matters to our world. The supporting cast is an interesting group to say the least, they were not much dived into except for one but I look forward to all of their character development even if it means they won't be in the manga forever because they might get kicked. Another thing I liked a lot about this manga and maybe it is something all sports anime/manga do is developing the MC outside the battlefield. Not with backstory or social interaction but with curiosity. The MC questions himself, his actions, the actions of others and him doing this is probably in tune with a lot of readers who are confused on the concepts introduced in this manga so it is nice to see and feel some mutual growth between the main character and the reader.
There was something that the main teacher of this manga said; "It is nonsensical indeed. But then so is the world. Either you win or you lose.” That quote really hit me in the chest because of just how true it is. This world, our world is undeniably nonsensical and cruel but only those with the tenacity and courage to fight for their dreams and beliefs in it will succeed. That is the message of this manga and that is what you are in store for if you keep reading this manga past chapter four. I really enjoyed the first volume. This is my second time reading the manga because the first time I blew through all of it due to my explosion of interest. Hope this helps you decided to give it a chance. Whether you love soccer, manga, shonen, sports, or fighting for your dreams there is room for everybody to enjoy this piece of art.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 31, 2019
Fairy Tail, the Shounen that Lived
Fairy Tail is the second series created by Hiro Mashima, the creator of Rave Master, a well known anime. Lets get a couple things straight before we dive in. Fairy Tail was originally a comedy manga with action scenes in it and it was NEVER planned to go past a certain point. The ONLY reason it became a full fledged battle Shounen series is because fans seriously requested the continuation of the series past its initial end point, the Fighting Festival arc or the Battle of Fairy Tail arc.
In my opinion Fairy Tail is an overly original magic series
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having a pink haired boy looking for a dragon accompanied by harmless yet hilarious talking blue cat companion. The story capitalizes on a single shounen plot device throughout the series, "The Power of Friendship". This plot device is a double edged sword for the series. It is its core strength and it is the main reason fans fall out of love with it. "The Power of Friendship" is basically a level boosting plot armor that the writer uses to get the main characters out of near unwinnable situations and at the beginning of the series, I have to admit, it is used at least once an arc. Some people call that lazy writing and I somewhat agree and understand where they are coming from but like I said in the beginning this was originally a comedy series with action scenes so I apologize if the writing isn't overly comprehensive and well written. Another double edged sword of the series is the female cast. The female cast consists mostly of beautiful busted women with perfect anatomical bodies but with strong personalities and abilities. In my opinion people find this to be lazy writing because the women are basically "perfect" but that is far from the truth.
The series starts off with a mysterous pink haired boy looking for his father, a dragon, when they have all disappeared off the face of the Earth for at least 100+ years and ends up meeting a young beautiful but wondering woman who wants to join the strongest magical guild in the country, Fairy Tail. It turns out the young boy is apart of said guild and when the two have a quick misadventure together he drags her along with him back to the guild so she can join. The rest of the initial series goes about introducing the main and supporting cast, giving each of the main cast, except for Natsu, the main male character, a character development story arc, and at the end gives the entire guild a development arc that brings all of the initial story together I would say rather amazingly. Between the perfect first anime opening, the inspiring soundtrack, the colorful cast of characters and unexpected strong female leads this anime deserves respect. It has been compared to the Big 3, which are Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece, but unlike the Big 3 has a strong and prominent female cast early or more so than the Big 3 ever could early on in their series. Erza Scarlet and Mirajane Strauss alone could easily main most female characters from the Big 3 but that is an opinion and is debatable to most. All boss battles at the end of an arc are done by Natsu and "The Power of Friendship" is the go to plot device used to "cheaply" finish the fight. I can agree that sequence of events gets repetitive in the first 51-54 episodes but once again this series was never meant to go past that point and was only developing characters and the guild mainly, not the battle system itself as much.
Lets get past the initial duration of the series. After the Fighting Festival arc, the system of big bad guys is introduced setting up at least 3 more arcs for 3 organizations that Fairy Tail will most likely come into contact with are introduced. but spans for 7 more arcs not including 3 filler arcs which are alright at best. In these 7 arcs, new characters are introduced, the world is built upon drastically but not comprehensively, the main cast and supporting cast are throughly developed and the initial main plot point, finding the dragon father is the side plot eclipsed by a lurking evil known only as The Black Wizard Zeref, which nobody can sightly understand until the middle of the story. There is massive foreshadowing but none of the foreshadowing even comes half circle until the middle of the story. Natsu is still the one to finish off the boss of the arc but to compensate or make up for this the writer creates a myriad of abnormally strong characters in each arc that everybody can get a piece of and have their time to shine even the initially weak characters. "The Power of Friendship" plot device is still used but in my opinion is developed to a point where is doesn't feel cheap anymore. It evolves as the story does into "The Power of Feelings". Let me explain what I mean.
In the beginning Natsu would get a power boost for feeling angry that his friends were disrespected or got hurt beyond belief but as the story goes on his friends are a source of strength like a support system. Very similar to the emotional support system Naruto has from his friends in Naruto. How whenever he loses contorl of the Nine-Tails in Part 1 he uses his bonds from his friendships to find strength to control the beast. The cast are basically family because they all have nobody else but each other. They all have been abandoned or lost loved ones young so their friends are everything to them. As someone who grew up as an only child and treated as an outsider by family I understand the importance and power of friendship. Without my friends, I wouldn't be half the man I am today and that may sound cheesy or mushy or corny but its fact. I was given strength by their belief in me to do the right thing and be the right kind of person with no judgement and no expectations. Throughout the story you see this theme of friendship and inspiration used and it drives the story without feeling cheap or corny. To most people though that is "corny" and I get that because most people have families that care about them and they are not alone whether its their mom, dad, uncle, aunt, or cousins they have someone there so the thought of friends inspiring you to be something more like a family seems cartoonish. It is a sad reality that I have accepted but doesn't bring down the quality of this anime.
The fight scenes are not super intricate but they are action packed and paced well. For a magic anime, it is the first anime that I saw is creative in what kind of magic exists in this world due to its comedic origins. Nearly everybody in the main guild plus a handful of others from the other guilds get a backstory, screen time, and character development. Either emotionally, physically, or both. The anime openings are overall ok at best except for 3. The anime endings deserve the true glory. Fairy Tail like all shounens around that time has a time skip and from the timeskip starts a tournament arc. The tournament arc is where most people fans fell off due to the nature of the anime after the timeskip.
Overall this part of the Fairy Tail anime is a mix of comedy, action, small to medium world building and good fights with interesting magic. Anybody with a love for magic based stories will watch at least this part of the anime and like it without much complaint. Those who do complain, in my opinion, complain for subjective reasons with no real support for their complaints as you can clearly see in the review section. This anime was never meant to get past the 1st mile but it did and ended up being compared to the Big 3 which is not something animes were back when this came out. It deserves a 3 episode watch at least
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Aug 29, 2019
I first started reading manga seriously in 2012 so this was one the first mangas I discovered as a young weeb. The only reason I read the first chapter is because the cover looked cool and I was not disappointed. The story is short, simple, and to the point. I honestly expected more from it but when it ended the way it did I was pleasantly happy with how it ended. I would've liked for more chapters but for what I got, I'm not complaining. I recommend this to people still discovering manga and coming into this glorious world of anime. It has really interesting
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but not overly original plot points, a small cast that is easier to remember and care about, and a lurking mystery.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 30, 2018
Mary and The Witch’s Flower is a 2017 Japanese animated film, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, animated by Studio Ponoc, and produced by Yoshiaki Nishimura, founder of Studio Ponoc. This film is based on the novel, The Little Broomstick, by British novelist, Mary Stewart and is Studio Ponoc’s first feature film. This film is about a young girl, Mary, who has moved in with her Aunt Charlotte without her parents due to them being busy working. Mary has always been an overactive yet clumsy child and this breeds doubt in herself. She spends her time exploring the near empty town and getting use to the area
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before she starts school. When she follows two cats into the woods, she stumbles upon a magical flower that turns her lackluster summer into a grand adventure that reveals family secrets and forces Mary to overcome her self doubts. The audience can identify with the hero of the film because she is going through something all young people go through, self-doubt. With an overactive yet clumsy personality she is very relatable to young people particularly.
I identify the genre of this film as a fantasy adventure hybrid due to the mix of elements of fantasy such as witches, magical broomsticks, talking animals, cities or buildings in the sky, supernatural items and the elements of adventure such as exploration, new experiences, and exotic locations. Conventions normally associated with the genres include magic or supernatural powers, no official references to the real world, exploration of exotic locations, and overcoming adversity. This film perfectly adheres to these conventions and uses it the strengthen the film as whole. The main item discussed and sought after in this film is magical in nature, the hero explores an unknown school full of mysteries and secrets, participates in a magical school, and has to overcome their self-doubt to rescue a friend and right a wrong.
The Witch’s Flower or the “Fly by Night” flower is a mysterious blue flower that ends up being highly controversial. It is magic in nature with potentially endless possibilities of application but like most magical items of infinite possibility it is unstable in nature and can only be used in minuscule amounts or destruction and devastation will follow. This prop is instrumental and metaphorical as it gives the hero of the film, Mary Smith, temporary magical abilities, allowing her to discover the magic school in the sky, and is a symbol of power and ambition. The headmaster of the school and the main professor become obsessed with the flower and the power it brings. They attempt to transform humans, non-magical beings, into witches or warlocks through the power of the flower. It is an overly ambitious goal and like all over ambitious dreams it blows up in their face, twice. Originally discovered by Mary’s Aunt Charlotte, the flower once again is a symbol of ambition. Charlotte found the flower and showed it to her headmaster and professor hoping to use it for the advancement of magic but after seeing them obsess over it and perform immoral experiments she lost her ambition and took the flower, losing it in the forest.
I assume that this story takes place in the countryside of Western Europe during the early to mid 1900s due to the scenery, clothes worn by the characters, and the roles of some of the characters. In the English version of this film the characters have British accents and Aunt Charlotte has a maid and a gardener for her house. People in Europe who weren’t wealthy but still had assistance around their big property are rare so I can assume this takes place before World War II, but Mary and Peter’s clothing would depict a more modern period. The historical accuracy of this film is inconsistent, and this fact helps elevate the film. When not worried about the historical or even locational accuracy of a film you can enjoy the small and interesting details of the characters and the settings individually and they can in turn mix and make an even more interesting fantasy setting, which this film does.
Due to the location of the film being ambiguous the director and screenwriter could explore the area in as much depth as possible without making the audience feel like they have been there before or somewhere like there. Granted the scenes bring a sense of familiarity due to almost every person having been exploring in some shape or form in their youth but the location is unknown and in this film is meant to be explored, only adding to the depth of the film when the audience discovers something along with the hero. The college itself is a vast landscape of wonders to be explored. Between the courtyard full of magical inquiries, the main tower full of endless floors and endless rooms, and the recreation center there is more than enough for the audience to be enthralled with. The film at its core is a tale of overcoming adversity. Mary is a regular human girl with no magical abilities who gets thrusted into a world, without the Witch’s Flower, she is unable to handle. Regardless she finds a way to navigate through her problems by staying head strong, believing in herself, and finding the courage to stand up and fight even when the odds are against her with minimal assistance.
The style of the genre of this film influences the mood of the film to be really wonderous. Whether it’s in the small town or the magical school, you are always looking around the screen and asking questions. A good example of this is the introduction scene of Endor College, the magic academy in the film. The college itself is made up of four differently styled buildings, the courtyard is full of interesting aquatic or amphibious creatures lurking and running around. Some of them almost resemble real animals but when you look at them closer, they don’t. This detail helps the audience feel like they have a grasp or understanding of the kind of magical universe they are currently invested in with room for questions. The inside of the main building of the school is in designed to be like a traditional magical school, big and open with lots of floors with lots of rooms and a myriad of students doing different things, travelling through this school by either bubble or a wireless elevator. Another building is a full recreation center packed with students exercising, something you wouldn’t expect in a magic school. All of these elements prioritize wonder and adventure in the audiences’ head and brings more questions than answers.
The inciting incident of the film is when Mary initially goes into the woods, finding the Witch’s Flower. While Mary is exploring, she stumbles upon a black cat that leads her to a gray cat and they lead Mary into a clearing in the woods where the Witch’s Flower is found. Mary finding and picking the flower causes the story to pick up and move fast from that point on. Mary ends up discovering the magic school in the sky, the day after and all her problems begin. This incident introduces the main plot device, introduces two important characters, and is the first scene in the present-day story that makes the film feel like a fantasy. Between walking through unknown woods, following mysterious cats, or finding a pristine blue flower in a field of death, this scene promotes the theme of the film, wonder and mystery.
Some of the greatest difficulties faced when creating this film were the animation and the casting. When I say casting, I mean casting for the original Japanese version. This film was produced by Studio Ponoc and thus was drawn in a very anime-esque style and that style takes an incredible amount of time and effort to draw and animate especially at the quality this film was presented in. Studio Ponoc is the daughter company of the famous Studio Ghibli. Ghibli has been known to produce the most top-quality Japanese animation films for over three decades, having a good amount of their films being in the top 10 grossing films in Japan and in the top 10 grossing anime films in the world. Drawing out and animating a story by a British novelist with only the book as reference material that has a balance of Japanese animation style and Western Europe references must have been time consuming and took a handful of animators. Casting Japanese actors to voice originally English characters must have been challenging to say the least. With only the book as a guide into the personality and behavior of the characters, it must have been difficult to assume the voice of certain characters and finding an actor that matches or exceeds that assumption. Luckily the main characters in this film are female and Japan has an abundance of strong female voice actors.
Two particularly interesting elements of the film were the animation and the source material. When I originally watched this movie in the summer, I did not know that is was based off of a British novel and that fact alone made the entire composition of the film even more interesting. It explained the inspiration for the relative time period but also made the film more captivating because it showed a synchronization of two different cultures, something that is not always evidently seen. Like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, an anime that takes place in a country very similar to early 1900s Germany, it mixes European references and inspiration with Japanese style. I don’t know a lot of films that mix two different cultures in such an effective yet unnoticeable way. The animation like all Studio Ghibli works is a cut above the rest. The way the backgrounds are so lightly yet beautifully drawn allows for the characters who are drawn more boldly and detailed to flow naturally across the scenes, differentiating the items and emphasizing them at the same time. A good example of this when Tib, the black cat, initially leads Mary into the woods. The landscape is very spread out and lightly drawn not looking more detailed than the characters but has its own individuality that separates it from moving people and animals. Mary and Tib are boldly drawn and are obviously separate entities from the background but when they move into the forest and flow by all their lightly drawn counterparts it brings depth to the animation of the film.
Two very important settings in this film are the magic school in the sky and the small country town on the ground. The village is where Mary and Charlotte live and it represents a simple and quaint life, something Mary is trying to escape at the beginning of the film but Charlotte welcomes and is very content with because she has lived a full life and knows of the wonders of the world unlike Mary. The school represents adventure, ambition, and overcoming adversity. Mary stumbles upon the school by accident but is still in need of it at the beginning of the film. Her summer lacks any adventure or excitement and she is having trouble with her self-doubts. The school gives her some adventure and throughout the course of the film she overcomes the challenges presented by the school and the challenges within herself because of the school. Charlotte who is done with most of life and is just living it to enjoy the small things she has left has no place at the school anymore. Even though she use to attend it as a witch, she no longer has magical abilities and no longer has any real interest in the life that she left behind. All her ambition she threw away when she left the school to escape the madness of the staff. I see these two locations as different sides of the same coin like, Mary and Charlotte. They represent different points in your life. You attend well known schools and do ambitious things when you are young and free, but you come to enjoy and appreciate the quaintness of a simple life in a small town as you get older and experience more things. Mary and Charlotte though the same in many ways are in different points of their life and where they spend most of their time in the film represents that.
The most compelling scene in my opinion is the opening scene. You are unaware at the start of the film, but Charlotte is a young witch escaping her school with the “Fly by Night” in tow right after an experiment went horribly wrong. Within the first two minutes of the movie you can already identify the film as a fantasy due to the bodyguards running around looking for Charlotte, turn into flying fish creatures in an instant to pursue her. The lightning of the scene is of a medium distinction. emphasizing the bright and vibrant colors of the fires without completely darkening the scene and leaving room for light from the fires to emphasize shadows nicely. Shadows are prevalent through the scene bringing more depth to the in shambles setting, mixed with the compelling background music that turns from simple accompanying music into a thrilling sound that emphasizes the chase into that turns into a questioning music tone that makes you wonder what happened to the mysterious woman at the end of this scene. The framing is mostly all long shots that sometimes transition into medium shots emphasizing the current peril the young woman is in and her desperate need for escape. The scene has very little dialogue bringing me to believe that the writer and director did not have a lot of collaboration when writing this particular scene. Facial expressions, situations, and events are used to convey importance and meaning rather than words.
I would not call this film the greatest animated film of all time but unlike a lot of animated films this movie is different. It represents two different cultures in its storytelling, has a strong female lead character with room for development, and beautifully adapts a book into a film without chopping out most of original story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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