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Jan 2, 2025
The most beautiful anime that will probably never receive a second season.
Don't let the fact that this anime primarily uses CGI fool you- it is likely the BEST that CGI has ever looked in an anime- and the world that Houseki no Kuni resides in is equally as beautiful. Sprawling fields of green, the glistening ocean that surrounds a singular continent- and most of all the wondrous cast of characters all attributed to different kinds of "Gems".
Set sometime in the distant future, Earth has been ravaged by 6 meteorites. Humanity was able to survive the hits of the first 5, but the 6th destroyed most
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of everything- causing the race that ruled to flee into the ocean. Over time, in the deepest recesses of this new world, a new race emerged... An old myth describes ancient Humans who split to survive. Flesh, Bone, and Spirit. Bone, the Gems- immortal creatures made purely of Diamond, Jade, Alexandrite, etc. These creatures protect the Earth under their Master from the people who live on the Moon. The Spirit- Lunarians, striking their attacks to retrieve these Gems as "decorations". The Flesh, a race who has been subjugated on the Moon by the Lunarians.
The worldbuilding in this show is simply amazing. As you continue on, you learn more about the simplistic yet brilliant land that draws you nearer. I loved each and every one of these characters, and how they interact as a big family. Seriously, one of the most adorable anime I've watched. Our main character in this world is Phosphophyllite, the most useless of the Gems. Purpose. Phos is constantly trying to be useful, to find a purpose- to try and be more like her siblings- to be smarter, to be stronger, to be quicker- but with a hardness level of only 3, He breaks at a mere touch. At the ending of the first episode, Phos does receive a goal- to find a new job for Cinnabar, a Gem forced by their power into solitary, lacking PURPOSE aswell.
The fight scenes in this show are also top notch. The designs of the creatures they fight, Lunarians, are a mixture of pure beauty and terror. Every scene flows so well, it's candy for the eye. If you're a fan of this kinda stuff, you certainly wont be dissapointed by what Houseki no Kuni has to offer.
Over the course of this series, CHANGE is also a huge theme. Phos changes for others in many senses of the word- through trauma, he slowly loses the parts of himself that made him him. His joy fades away. Phos also loses parts of himself physically- and by grafting new materials onto himself becomes a stronger version- "but at what cost?" This imagery resonated with me heavily, and is an extremely tragic character study. I won't spoil anymore than that- but this series will BREAK YOU.
All of this culminates in a definite favorite for me. Though, it's been nearly 8 years and no news of a second season... I don't know why. HIGHLY RECCOMENDED!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 1, 2025
Fusion Reborn is EASILY the best Dragon Ball movie so far. It has pretty much everything you could want from one of these.
Taking place somewhere within the Majiin Buu Arc, this movie centers around a disaster in the afterlife. Havoc breaks loose when the culmination of evil thoughts of all humans is concentrated into one being: Janemba.
Transforming the arena into a colorful array of jelly beans, this creature at first seems quite harmless- but back on Earth, the imbalance causes the dead to rise. Old villains return for more, like Frieza (and HITLER???) while Goku fights the reality bending blob.
The fight sequences themselves in these
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movies are really nicely done, and flow well. Janemba can create portals and basically camps Goku. It really kicks up when Goku transforms into SSJ3- and Janemba gets a transformation of his own. Phasing in and out of reality, he wields a blood sword and pushes Goku to the brink. The last section of this movie involves biding time as Goku and Vegeta attempt to get their fusion down right. When they finally do, an epic conclusion sends everything back into place.
This is also the best looking movie since Dead Zone and The Worlds Strongest (some really nice thick line-art). I personally loved this movie, and trudging through some of the more tedious films in this franchise was well worth it. It's comedy is pretty on point with Goten and Trunks, and there's some pretty cute moments with Videl and Gohan. Overall I highly reccomend!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 30, 2024
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
The Mugen Train movie in a 7-episode arc format, with slight changes and an entirely anime original episode at the beginning.
This arc centers around our established cast, three young Demon Slayers on their second mission together- traveling on the Mugen Train with a Hashira. Strange disappearances have been plaguing this strange train, the culprit a demon who infiltrates the dreams of his victims.
The first section of this arc is mostly boring to me, as I didn't really care about the conductor demon nor the dream sequences. The fight against him features some pretty animation and teaming up. What everyone's really here for
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is Rengoku. An image of pure confidence, his smile beams like the Sun itself. Rengoku is the star of the show- and though we don't get very much time to know him, his impact on the viewer and Tanjiro, Inosuke, Zenitsu is massive.
Right when the battle seems won, pure terror looks into our eyes. Akaza, the Upper Three demon has arrived. Rengoku of course, is the only one capable of fighting him. A beautiful clashing of swords and colors, flames made of dragons spiral the arena- blue and red mingle. Seriously, it's been said a million times, but Ufotable is on top when it comes to fight scenes.
Human vs. Demon. Akaza mocks Rengoku for his inherent weakness- as the battle rages on every limb cut off is regenerated, but the Flame Hashira only sustains more injuries. Akaza recognizes that in terms of human strength, Rengokus tenacity propels him to the top. But it's still not enough. As a Demon, Rengoku surely could have surpassed anything- but his ties to humanity circle back as a memory flashes before him. As a child, his mother bestowed upon him the burden of protecting others with complete selflessness. With intense injuries, Rengoku stands with Akazas arm though his chest and yells these words:
"No, mother. I was blessed to have been born to a woman such as you!" In the background, Dawn begins to break. Literally holding the demon in place by constricting his guts, Akaza is forced to rip apart his body and flees into the night. In one last effort, Tanjiro sends his sword hurling into Akazas neck. "Don't run away, you coward!" A preposterous idea. "You idiot, I'm not running away from you... I'm running from the Sun!"
As Rengoku departs his final words upon the three, he gives up the ghost. His smiling face fades into the glistening Sun. Rengoku truly won the battle in death, a symbol of pure undying strength. Though he lost his life, his spirit passes into the students he leaves behind. And though the Sun beams down it's light... our protagonist is enveloped in a deep shadow of despair. But surely, whenever Tanjiro feels he cannot muster any more strength- he will remember to "Set his heart ablaze."
No, it's not anything crazy. It's a generic shonen using tropes you've probably seen before. But it cements itself as one of the brightest and most beautiful fights for me, and very emotional. Highly reccomended.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 30, 2024
This canon special centers around the alternate universe in which the Z fighters fell to the Androids.
Its a depressing story of a world in ruin- Trunks, the son of Vegeta is trained by Gohan, son of Goku. Both Fathers left their sons in hope that they would be the ones able to defeat the Androids.
This movie mostly involves Trunks trying to achieve Super Saiyan form- and a catalyst which finally pushes him to that. The death of Gohan. Overall this was a nice look at what had happened and makes you care about Future Trunks a lil more. I definently would reccomend this as it's
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(the only?) Canon movie.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 29, 2024
Bio Broly, the final Z movie containing him is by far the worst of a shitty batch, and genuinely one of the worst action moves to have plagued my senses. There is pretty much nothing I liked about this movie, and many many things I disliked. It really looks like they ran completely dry of any semblence of an interesting idea to put here. Our cast in this movie is boring, and I didn't like the treatment of any of our characters. This movie does not look good, and it has no memorable soundtracks.
The plot is somehow possibly the most braindead yet. Mr. Satan is
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blackmailed by a kid he fought and beat back in summer camp, and threatens to reveal the fact that Satan wet his pants as a child. To stop this from happening, Satan travels to an Island where artificially created bio monsters wait to jump him. Tagging along is Android 18, who wants money from Satan- along with Goten and Trunks.
Here's the twist: The shaman from the village that Goten and Trunks saved last movie has retrieved DNA from Broly's body and managed to resurrect him into a literal walking steaming pile of yellow shit. Why, you might ask, did this wonderful character make a return for revenge? His entire motive for doing so is because Goten and Trunks stopped the Shaman from sacraficing the village kids to the dinosaur. Brilliant.
The fight itself is really boring, apart from a couple moments of Goten and Trunks teaming together. Android 18 doesn't really do anything, and has to be saved by Krillin. They defeat Broly by splashing him with sea water. That's his fucking weakness. THE FIGHT TAKES PLACE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN.
Terrible movie, I don't see how anyone would enjoy watching this. Not reccomended.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Dec 29, 2024
The second Broly movie is better than the first, but still not without it's flaws.
The plot of this movie is very stupid, (not that I am surprised)- and exactly how Broly found a spaceship intact whilst floating in the debris of a planet blown up trillions of miles away is never explained. I liked that this movie focused on Goten and Trunks, and whilst the comedy is hit or miss there are a few "golden" moments. Like when Trunks takes a fat piss all over Broly. Literally.
Broly is frozen in ice, and his injuries also somehow heal while he is frozen in ice. When Goten,
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Trunks, and Videl search for the Dragon Balls and stumble across a village who is sacrificing their children to appease a dinosaur- Goten's crying triggers the crackhead saiyan to awaken. What ensues is similar to the last movie: Biding time while everyone gets absolutely bodied. This movie wasn't nearly as boring and drawn out as the last, however- and Gohan was pretty badass here. The ending where Goku and his two sons team together to Kamehameha Broly was a very nice touch.
While I didn't like this one too much, fans of Z and Z movies might.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 27, 2024
Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound is an epic action fest with some great moments for our underutilized characters, which is basically Tournament of Power in Z.
Taking place after the defeat of cell, Goku not being present actually benefited a ton. A disappointing formula was always the other characters getting pushed aside so Goku could get the main spotlight (except for Android 13 and Dead Zone, which had amazing group battles). And I get it- these are 50 minute movies and they wanna play it safe. (Lord Slug and Broly LSSJ had slightly different conclusions but were both written incredibly stupid) However the main characters complete
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absence in these fights gives the others a chance to shine too.
A tournament with fighters coming from across the universe is formed, but quickly turns south as a group of aliens starts murdering contestants. Bojack is a genocidal maniac who was held imprisoned by King Kai- however, he was set free after Cell blew up his planet. Along with his gang of 3 others, (who literally don't say anything this whole ass movie) Bojack starts folding the Z fighters. Gohan is really the only one able to stand up to them, and has an insane 1v4.
Goku literally breaking the rules of reality to give his son a pep talk was pretty cool- and holy shit Gohan was cold. He straight up impales and murders Bojack instantly.
This installment was certainly welcome and brought some badass fights. Reccomended.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 27, 2024
Dragon Ball Z: Broly The Legendary Super Saiyan was overrated and boring. I remembered this one being one of the best when I first watched these as a small child, but holy shit did it let me down revisiting.
The movie majorly takes place on "New Planet Vegeta", the place promised to Vegeta by surviving Saiyans. Turned to ruins, the inhabitants are turned to slaves. Turns out, Broly and his dad are EVIL! So the Z fighters battle the Legendary Super Saiyan.
I think a lot of the problem lies within Broly himself- and I get why people like him. He's meant to be the strongest: unrelenting,
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ruthless, he goes after the kid first in the fight, and literally crushes his Father to death. I, however found him to be extremely dull. What could have been a very interesting idea- an outcast Saiyan biding his time on the outskirts of the galaxy to return for his revenge, was executed so poorly. Broly has two modes. Acting bashful and meek, and then an absolute meathead. Seriously? This is what you did with the character? This movie TRIES to be deep, giving him an overly tragic backstory but ultimately fails to deliver on everything it set up. He is just simply boring.
Another glaring problem is just how absolutely dragged out this movie is. Over the course of the entire "fight", Broly takes zero fucking damage. He is literally invincible. No trading blows, no nothing- Vegetas character is that of an absolute bitch here. After giving up all hope, he pleads "Guys, we can't beat him! We should run away!" Then a small arc is given where he regains his confidence, and goes back in to fight Broly. Vegeta manages to send out TWO FUCKING KI BLASTS, and then Trunks comes in to save him. They both get folded once more, and Vegeta instantly goes back to his bitch state.
The entire last 20 minutes of this movie is spent on the same dialogue being repeated as Goku collects energy. Vegeta finally gives in, and gives Goku the little last energy he needs to blow up the whole fucking planet with Broly on it. Using instant transmission to teleport everyone away- then thats it. The movie speedruns to the credits, and ends within 30 seconds of Broly being defeated. This shit was so anticlimactic after what was just endured, and felt so unearned. "Welp, another victory for the boys! ROLL CREDITS"
This shit was not fun to watch both as original DBZ content and just as a fighting anime movie. Would not reccomend.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 27, 2024
Demon Slayer! The shonen slop that most anime fans seem to be split on whether or not it's good.
Set in the Edo period, creatures called Demons (which are literally just vampires. They spread via blood, eat humans, and die in the sunlight) are a superstitious myth.
One day, a young man Tanjiro learns that these monsters are very very real.
Despair. Barely missing death himself, Tanjiros entire family has been brutally murdered- save for his sister. However, she survives as a Demon. In a sibling bond, Nezuko refuses to devour her human brother. After meeting Giyu Tomioka from the Demon Slayer Corps, Tanjiro sets off to find
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the cause of it all, and reverse the curse. Muzan Kitsubuji, the father of Demons!
I think this is a pretty cool premise for a battle shonen, and it does execute this idea well in places. However, it also carries alot of missed potential and just poor writing. The demons are presented as sentient creatures who carry over their personality from their previous life- they can talk and reason. (but most are unable to suppress their desires) For some strange reason, Nezuko is literally infantilized. Despite being the same age(?) As Tanjiro, she is incapable of speech. This is such a bore and I'm incredibly confused as to why this decision was made. A brother sister duo, with Tanjiro fighting to get back her humanity and Nezuko struggling with her own would've been so cool.
Anyways, this season is mostly directionless. It serves for introducing our main characters and showing off some cool Demon fights. It should've been 24 episodes instead of 26, though as it suffers from pacing issues in a couple spots. My favorite arcs are definently the Final Selection, which was actually preformed really well- and the Spider Family.
A few years ago, I remember picking up this series at the library (before it was insanely popular), and immediately being struck by the emotional beginning. It's nothing special- essentially a training arc. But oh boy, Urokodaki's children and their story with Tanjiro hits me in the feels. With no hope, as Nezuko has been asleep for 2 years, Tanjiro trains relentlessly to be able to enter the Final Selection and become a Demon Slayer. Urokodaki never meant for Tanjiro to depart, as every single one of his students has never returned. In the Final Selection, Tanjiro faces the demon which has consumed all those students in a brilliant clash, avenging the Ghosts and setting them free.
What I see alot of people complaining about is Tanjiro's "weakness". Whenever he defeats a demon, he shows sympathy. Shedding tears, and praying for them. To me, however this is beautiful. It's not like Tanjiro is excusing their sins- he cuts them all down without fail. His conviction despite that is what makes me respect him alot.
As for the other characters, this season doesn't really show any of the good ones. To me, Zenitsu and Inosuke are extremely annoying, lacking any semblance of development, and only serving to scream.
We get a glimpse of the Hashira at the end, and you might like their designs!
The real charm of this show is obviously the battles. Beautifully animated sword techniques, with visualizations of flowing water or dancing flames. If nothing else, the pretty colors will certainly have you in awe! The Spider Family was also well written, and a good battle arc.
Overall, some glaring flaws- but a fairly solid simple battle shonen. Reccomended if you're into that!
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 27, 2024
Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13 succeeds in the Z movie formula, creating an exciting and funny watch- definently my favorite so far!
First of all, this movie doesn't attempt to build up any plot or anything (which is a good thing, because the plot usually ended up being very stupidly written)
Instead, it jumps straight into the action, which is what we're really here for. Whilst on a shopping trip, the Z fighters are attacked by Android #14 and #15, (which are the first side villains to have interesting designs)- and later, the true star Android #13 awakens. One thing I disliked about this movie was
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the diminishing of Chi-Chi's role. In the early ones, she actually got some fight scenes- but here she's devolved into just yapping. (And it's not like they couldn't give her some scenes. She fights in the Cooler movie, which was Namek era power levels.) When the city is being destroyed and people dying, she literally tells Gohan to get home and study.
The main villain of this movie was so fucking funny, and definitely made it for me. The one liners, the southern accent- "Don't you lecture me with that $30 dollar haircut!" You thought the best DBZ filler villain was Cooler? Nah. #13 is a fucking unit Chad. When the other Androids are defeated, and he stands in the midst of the Z fighters he just starts laughing even harder.
The fights were really good this time around, as this felt like an actual group boss rush. Overall my favorite so far and reccomended if you liked the others.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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