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Dec 4, 2024
Super Dragon Ball Hereos: Meteor Mission! is the 5th installment and FINAL ARC of the Super Dragon Ball Heroes manga story line and is the definitive adaptation of the story from the arcade game it is based on. (There is an anime version too like most the previous arcs).
This time I won't compare the anime and manga version simply because the anime version is not very appealing because of the main antagonist of the arc keep reintroducing himself and the CGI made it hard to watch or remember and the last reason being that there isn't much to compare as the highlights, the fanservice of
...
Heroes, is the most underwhelming his arc.
The story starts of with Kaioshin of Time and the CC warriors noticing very unusual things in Universe 7 to the point they even go to King Kai's planet. There they find the person responsible for what happened: Majin Ozotto, an antagonist introduced in the 2nd manga of Super Dragon Ball Heroes, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission!
He is an antagonist who to no ones surprise can absorb others to get stronger and use their abilities, like Boo. But it is a bit better since Ozotto can transform into those he absorbed and change his ki signature of those he is copying the looks off. Apparently he absorbed people from multiple timelines, the afterlife, dimensions and universes. Oh, and he can make clones of himself. Those the appeal of the Meteor Mission arc is getting all sorts of what if battles with the characters being clones of Ozotto that take the forms of the likes of Movie 7 Androids, Janemba, Baby etc.
A lot of the early fights are just references to either fights we have seen or fights we have seen but with a small twist. Goku Xeno fighting Freeza and Cell has a lot of nods to Goku vs Frieza and Cell in Dragon Ball GT. We see stuff like everyone fighting various androids and beating them in a similar fashion.
The fights in the second arc focus on what the game created may thing people want to see like Vegito vs Gohan but then ends with a final battle to put down the final antagonist.
Some positives first: The artstyle and pacing is good. The fights are generally pleasing to look at and entertaining enough. The references while annoying because you have seen them before and at some point it could get annoying, some of the references are changed enough and have some flavor to make them unique experiences as they play out differently and you see them from different perspectives.
Negatives: I will be honest, the highlights and enjoyable moments didn't really help me enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, the story isn't awful or terrible. The problem is nothing really stands out because most stuff we have either seen before or generally not that interesting. While Ozotto appears smart with appearing like someone who wants to test his powers, there are times he needs to look stupid just so we can have a what if fight. I mean, he let one of the people he absorbed free just so he can let them unlock their hidden powers through battle and then absorb them again. I personally felt confused whether he has now access to the unlocked power even if it was a temporary boost, otherwise he should have always have access to it.
Finally a being that consumes all of realize just doesn't hit as hard as the previous arc who had all timelines at stake through an erasure tournament which got hijacked by an evil wizard god. Even the name of the arc feels underwhelming. The previous arc was called Ultra God Mission. Meteor Mission just doesn't sound as good.
The previous arc ended with Goku vs Xeno Goku with their final power up. This arc has nothing really as hype as Universe Tree Goku, Super Saiyan 4 Vegito, Limit Breaker Super Saiyan 4 etc.
They don't even give Pan any power ups ending the series with Raditz having Super Saiyan 3 and Turtles having Evil Saiyan forms, but Pan not even with a basic Super Saiyan despite being in almost every arc up till this point.
Generally, this is very weak of a conclusion to this video game promotional manga. If you are really desperate for Dragon Ball fights, I guess you can read this manga. Generally, I would not recommend it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 31, 2024
Saint Seiya: Destiny is a one-shot manga which is a sequel to Saint Seiya: Origin which is a two-shot manga prequel to the original story. Thus, to understand the context of this story or be invested in what it has to tell, one has to watch or read Saint Seiya to begin with. As this is a story for the manga, specifically fits only the manga and would make less sense when reading it after watching the anime.
Saint Seiya: Origin focused on the backstory of the Gemini Gold Saint twins. From how they were born to how they became the people they were in the
...
main story. Well, kinda, since there were many time jumps and only a few things were teased also spicing things up with some lore for that fans loved. The problem with that prequel story was, it kinda soured the mouth on Saga's split personality. While in the context of Saint Seiya it can be argued that it could make sense, the other Gemini Gold Saints that were introduced past Saga kinda conflict with that idea and make him a lesser character in the long run. Meanwhile, Kanon got screen time but not much of his character got explored. This is where Saint Seiya: Destiny comes in to flesh him out a bit.
We see him interact with the other higher ranked Mariner Generals and explain some things how Isaak became suspicious of Kanon.
Saint Seiya: Origin was already lacking in content to fully satisfy people who were expecting something from the Gemini Saints' past. The things shown were interesting and did answer what is necessary for the story, it left still a lot to be desired. Saint Seiya: Destiny did not even get that much. It introduced more retcons making a character introduced in Saint Seiya: Origin more important and souring some moments in the Hades Chapter. On top of that, said character has yet to reappear in any future Saint Seiya continuation, thus she exist more as a plot device rather than a character. The Kanon portion of the story is great as it explores more of his plans and mindset. The scene with Isaak while it felt good as Isaac's reason for suspicion is explained.
Like with Saint Seiya: Origin, the art itself is on par with the quality of the Hades Saga of the manga.
All in all, Saint Seiya: Destiny is more damaging than satisfying to the story of Saint Seiya. It has its good part. It told what it wanted to tell and added extra content. But said extra content, which is the Saga part, was the worst part leaving the overall experience with a disappointment. It also made two characters that seemed redeemed appear worse again, tho, with some headcanon one can argue otherwise. If you feel you can tolerate some retcons and already read Saint Seiya: Origin, you might want to read this manga as well or you need to get more Saint Seiya lore. Otherwise, I suggest you skip on this one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 24, 2024
As one of the earliest fighting shonen, Saint Seiya inspired many series to come. It has elements like the Golden Power Up that inspired one in Gundum and might be the thing that someone inspired even the Super Saiyan, it has a tournament arc, has side characters with popularity that exceed the main character and a story structure that is used by shows like Bleach. In particular Bleach resembles a lot on Saint Seiya and can be considered a spiritual successor. Both series have male leads trained by a female character, have to fight people from an organization they are associated with, a traitor subplot
...
and a lot more.
Saint Seiya is about Goddess of War Athena and her warriors referred as Saints who fight for the love and justice of the earth. The enemies range from Saints that abuse their power for evil to literal gods. While this anime is an adaptation of the manga with the same name, it handles things a little differently. As in the anime, the identity of Athena isn't revealed and even the person who is Athena is not aware of it, turning it to a great revelation when it was revealed.
Saints fight with what is called Cosmo. The power to manipulate atoms. With that they are able to destroy, gain abilities such as manipulating elements etc. The stronger the Cosmo, the stronger the character and their ability to change their own faith. There are several ways to increase ones Cosmo. Concepts like spiritualism play a major role, but the most simple way is wearing a certain kind of armor. The armor the saints are wearing are called cloth, which are based on the 88 constellations, and they come in 3 major categories:
- Bronze: The weakest kind of armor, allowing their user to move at mach 1 speed at minimum
- Silver: A rank higher than Bronze, depending on the cloth can move from mach 2 to 8
- Gold: The highest ranked, allowing users to move at the speed of light.
Just wearing a cloth can boost the power of its user to the minimum level they need to be, but like the Zanpakuto in Bleach, the cloth are living and can choose who they think is worthy to be worn by them. In certain situation, the cloth of another character would come to the aid of another. For example, Seiya who is the Pegasus Saint and thus wears Bronze Armor would receive help from the Gold Cloth of Sagittarius allowing him a chance to fight someone above his league. But saints cannot always rely on their armor and thus have to raise their Cosmo through other ways. Sometimes fighting Gold Saint tier opponent's without being able to wear armor where concepts like the seventh sense and spiritualism comes into play. There can be situations where they cannot use their armor as the series continues, there are foes who can pierce them leaving them without protection.
What about the fights? With 88 constellations and thus each being able to use abilities and moves based on that constellation, there are many characters that offer a different potential fights. Tho there are enemies that have similar abilities to our heroes or techniques, the fights bring other things like personal stakes. Examples as showing an enemy the value of friendship and how far people would go or clashing of ideals where neither side is technically wrong. Besides the stakes, fight can range from martial arts hand to hand combat, using abilities to their advantage, exploiting weaknesses of the enemy or teamwork.
A scene I liked personally, without spoiling the details, is when a character remembers a tale on how someone else defeated an enemy he is fighting. What that character did, is replicate the trick only for it to fail as the enemy was prepared for such a tactic. Thus the story would play with expectations making the fights even more engaging.
An advantage what Saint Seiya has over modern fighting shonen is that because of its age, it is not affected by censorship the same way, thus can offer scenes that rival or if not exceed the violence of the manga.
As for characters, this is when Saint Seiya shines the most. The character while all starting selfish and somewhat relatable, as the story goes, they would become more and more of people one would look up to. As they fight for the peace of the world and with honor. Some characters would inspire each other especially after seeing someone risked his life to safe theirs, they would risk their life in a similar fashion to repay them.
Seiya who appeared playful and disrespectful would risk his life several times for the other saints and Athena. Fitting his constellation the Pegasus. The author made him focus mainly fight on hand to hand combat with energy based attacks. Thus making the other lead characters stand out which is a clever way to make them intriguing for the audience.
Shiryu is the Dragon Saint. He has a technique that fills his fist with Cosmo allowing him to hit with a blade-like punch that takes the shape of a dragon which is strong enough to reverse waterfalls. He also has a great defense with his dragon shield which gives him the highest defense of all Bronze Saints. A perfect balance between attack and defense. However, often he would shed away his armor in fights showing that his strength comes from himself and not just from his cloth. As the saying would go, the man makes the armor and not the armor makes the man. Shiryu is the type of character who would put his life on the line to protect what is dear to him often leading him gaining the respect of those he fought.
Shun is the Andromeda Saint. He has two chains that serve as means to attack, defend and trap enemies. While the defense is not as high as Shiryu's shield or lacks the attack potency, he can protect him from enemies from any range and even reach enemies who are several light-years away. He is the only of the main characters who doesn't engage in hand to hand combat but instead fights with chains and flow like Cosmo, thus providing fight scenes with less aggression which fits his character. Shun is a pacifist and doesn't like to hurt others, even going as far as warning his enemies, only killing them when he has no choice.
Hyoga is the Swan Saint and focuses on freezing techniques, thus instead of focusing on destroying atoms by moving them, he focuses on halting their movement aka. slowing them down. He focuses on fighting up on personal or from the distance. His ice abilities come into play in several ways such as halting the movement of his enemies, shielding him from attacks or as projectile attacks. As a character, Hyoga became a saint for his selfish desire and also came as a kind of antagonist on the story, but over the course of the story, he would turn a new leaf. He would become a true saint who learns to learn to cherries the people around him and gets challenged the most for his ideals forcing him to fight those he respects for the name of Athena.
Lastly, Ikki, the older brother of Shun who wears the Phoenix Cloth. The Phoenix Cloth is the only cloth that can repair its name as the name suggest and is the mightiest of the Bronze Cloth. Aside of that, Ikki has a wide range of abilities. He possesses immense physical strength and some level of fire manipulation leading him to have some of the most aggressive fighting scenes. He has other abilities such as shooting the tail-feathers of the Phoenix Cloth like projectiles allowing him to finish off or protect nearby allies from enemies. However, besides physical harming enemies, he has strong illusion based attack allowing him to harm opponents psychologically as well. Thus providing fights that are not limited to simple beat downs but also battles of the mind. As the eldest in the group, he would often be the one who lectures the other bronze warriors. Despite being more of a loner, he can be seen as the closest of an older brother for all of them.
Many anime and manga fail in the regard, despite having on paper unique abilities like manipulating fire or lighting, in many series they serve the same purpose, but as I described these characters fighting styles, one can see that they operate completely different.
As an adaptation, the anime may not be 100% faithful. More than the things surrounding Athena has changed, but it does give more reason to check out both the source and the adaptation delivering a unique experience as neither is necessary superior to the other. With the more lose censorship from the past, fight scenes have a lot more freedom delivering entertaining action scenes. The Silver Saints feel a lot more important as they would not appear very early and get a lot more focus. The motivation of one of the Gold Saints who fought thinking might is right is more noble in this adaptation. And a bit of the past of the mysterious Gold Saint Aiolos gets explored.
Tho the anime does not adapt the whole manga and stops before the final arc, which got later adapted in form of OVAs years alter, it does have a filler arc. By more modern mindset, filler can be considered off-putting, the writers of Toei at the time seemed to be very adapted in the storytelling of Saint Seiya and delivered a very engaging story arc. Tho instead of Saint Seiya's Greek mythology, they implemented Nordic mythology. Probably with the reason of not getting into trouble if the manga add more contradictory events involving these new characters. So depending on how much you like the setting of Saint Seiya and feel like foreign myths could affect your enjoyment, you might make your decision based on that, as that arc will naturally flow to the arc after.
In terms of criticism, there is not much to say. At most some filler scenes could drag on for a bit too long and Toei being Toei would recycle one particular scene involving Shun and Ikki, as the older brother would come to rescue the weaker younger brother. Some of these scenes could come off in the way it is animated as yaoi bait. And despite Toei's best efforts, they could not stick to their guns and eventually do some continuity errors. Tho these are very minor.
Generally, Saint Seiya is a must watch. Especially for those who want to know how the older generation inspired the newer ones.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 23, 2024
Saint Seiya: Origin is a two chapter short story which, as the name implies, is a story that takes place before the events of the Saint Seiya manga. To understand the context of this story or be invested in what it has to tell, one has to watch or read Saint Seiya to begin with. As this is a story for the manga, specifically fits only the manga and would make less sense when reading it after watching the anime.
The story focuses on the origin story of two antagonist of the story, the Gemini Gold Saints Saga and Kanon, as both are twins and thus
...
born at the same day. It answers what the things are that changed Saga to become the villain he is and the mindset of Kanon.
In just two chapters, this story tells a few things of interest and is a decent read. It briefly catches up the reader with the aftermath of the previous war against the God Hades and informs the reader of the Gold Saints of the time, which may disappoint Saint Seiya Lost Canvas readers, as these Gold Saints are not canon to this story. As well as some scenes, between the surviving Saints and the training of the new generation of Saints that can appear as mentors for the main characters of Saint Seiya. It also answers how Doko can tell whether the Specters of Hades army are back or not, and somewhat how it functions.
The story of the main characters of this story starts immediately from their birth, but there will be a lot of jumps and time skips throughout the story.
Depending on your feeling on the story of Saint Seiya and the concept of faith, one would be disappointed on the reason why Saga acts how he acts. As the reasons Evil Saga commits evil can be seen as just, while on the other hand seeing such a dramatic shift in transformation to his character can be seen as a type of curse. The later which seems less excusable since there are other Gemini Saints in side stories or sequel stories that have similar treatment as Saga. Thus it can ruin the interpretation for certain readers on Saga's personality.
Kanon does get about half of the amount of focus of Saga. However, not much about his character gets explored, but certain events that were not shown in the manga were added. Tho they are very minimal and barely noteworthy.
The art itself is on par with the quality of the Hades Saga of the manga.
Generally, the biggest issue is that this origin story leaves a lot to be desired. As the things shown are interesting and do answer what is necessary for the story, it leaves still a lot to be desired. And it seems the author, Kurumada Masami, felt the same way, as in order to get a full experience one should also read the one-shot manga Saint Seiya: Destiny.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 21, 2024
As one of the earliest fighting shonen, Saint Seiya inspired many authors that would produce some of the most popular manga in the industry. In terms of story structure, it resembles Bleach. It has a golden power up that might have inspired many other ones in series such as Dragon Ball or Gundam. It created side characters with depth enough to challenge the popularity of the very main character who suppose to bring the victory home.
As the name suggest, the lead character is a saint called Seiya. Tho he is the main character, he isn't the sole focus of the series. It is about the
...
goddess of war Athena and her knights, referred as saints, who fight for love and justice of the earth. Enemies ranging from saints that abused their powers for evil or enemies that work for gods who want to take over the earth.
As Athena is always reborn in a body of a human, she has to earn her trust of the saints that suppose to fight for her. These include the character who is the namesake of the manga, Seiya, who was forced to become a saint in order to be able to see his sister again. Over the course of the story, the people who became saints by circumstances learn to put their selfish desires behind and get new reasons to fight.
The story also plays with the concept of faith and how those who are saints have to fight against it. Fighting against their believes. Fighting against the loved ones. Earning the respect of others.
One example being that a character who fights as an enemy, believes the person for whom he is fighting is just, as he can tell his true intention. Tho over the course of the story, he would learn that even through the power he has, there was more he could not uncover about that person originally and his eyes opened after seeing the dedication of his opponent.
Like in many fighting shonen, Saint Seiya has a power system. In this case it is called Cosmo. The power to manipulate atoms. With that they are able to destroy, gain abilities such as manipulating elements etc. The stronger the Cosmo, the stronger the character and their ability to change their own faith. There are several ways to increase ones Cosmo. Concepts like spiritualism play a major role, but the most simple way is wearing a certain kind of armor. The armor the saints are wearing are called cloth, which are based on the 88 constellations, and they come in 3 major categories:
- Bronze: The weakest kind of armor, allowing their user to move at mach 1 speed at minimum
- Silver: A rank higher than Bronze, depending on the cloth can move from mach 2 to 8
- Gold: The highest ranked, allowing users to move at the speed of light.
Just wearing a cloth can boost the power of its user to the minimum level they need to be, but like the Zanpakuto in Bleach, the cloth are living and can choose who they think is worthy to be worn by them. In certain situation, the cloth of another character would come to the aid of another. For example, Seiya who is the Pegasus Saint and thus wears Bronze Armor would receive help from the Gold Cloth of Sagittarius allowing him a chance to fight someone above his league. But saints cannot always rely on their armor and thus have to raise their Cosmo through other ways. Sometimes fighting Gold Saint tier opponent's without being able to wear armor where concepts like the seventh sense and spiritualism comes into play. There can be situations where they cannot use their armor as the series continues, there are foes who can pierce them leaving them without protection.
What about the fights? With 88 constellations and thus each being able to use abilities and moves based on that constellation, there are many characters that offer a different potential fights. Tho there are enemies that have similar abilities to our heroes or techniques, the fights bring other things like personal stakes. Examples as showing an enemy the value of friendship and how far people would go or clashing of ideals where neither side is technically wrong. Besides the stakes, fight can range from martial arts hand to hand combat, using abilities to their advantage, exploiting weaknesses of the enemy or teamwork.
A scene I liked personally, without spoiling the details, is when a character remembers a tale on how someone else defeated an enemy he is fighting. What that character did, is replicate the trick only for it to fail as the enemy was prepared for such a tactic. Thus the story would play with expectations making the fights even more engaging.
As for characters, this is when Saint Seiya shines the most. The character while all starting selfish and somewhat relatable, as the story goes, they would become more and more of people one would look up to. As they fight for the peace of the world and with honor. Some characters would inspire each other especially after seeing someone risked his life to safe theirs, they would risk their life in a similar fashion to repay them.
Seiya who appeared playful and disrespectful would risk his life several times for the other saints and Athena. Fitting his constellation the Pegasus. The author made him focus mainly fight on hand to hand combat with energy based attacks. Thus making the other lead characters stand out which is a clever way to make them intriguing for the audience.
Shiryu is the Dragon Saint. He has a technique that fills his fist with Cosmo allowing him to hit with a blade-like punch that takes the shape of a dragon which is strong enough to reverse waterfalls. He also has a great defense with his dragon shield which gives him the highest defense of all Bronze Saints. A perfect balance between attack and defense. However, often he would shed away his armor in fights showing that his strength comes from himself and not just from his cloth. As the saying would go, the man makes the armor and not the armor makes the man. Shiryu is the type of character who would put his life on the line to protect what is dear to him often leading him gaining the respect of those he fought.
Shun is the Andromeda Saint. He has two chains that serve as means to attack, defend and trap enemies. While the defense is not as high as Shiryu's shield or lacks the attack potency, he can protect him from enemies from any range and even reach enemies who are several light-years away. He is the only of the main characters who doesn't engage in hand to hand combat but instead fights with chains and flow like Cosmo, thus providing fight scenes with less aggression which fits his character. Shun is a pacifist and doesn't like to hurt others, even going as far as warning his enemies, only killing them when he has no choice.
Hyoga is the Swan Saint and focuses on freezing techniques, thus instead of focusing on destroying atoms by moving them, he focuses on halting their movement aka. slowing them down. He focuses on fighting up on personal or from the distance. His ice abilities come into play in several ways such as halting the movement of his enemies, shielding him from attacks or as projectile attacks. As a character, Hyoga became a saint for his selfish desire and also came as a kind of antagonist on the story, but over the course of the story, he would turn a new leaf. He would become a true saint who learns to learn to cherries the people around him and gets challenged the most for his ideals forcing him to fight those he respects for the name of Athena.
Lastly, Ikki, the older brother of Shun who wears the Phoenix Cloth. The Phoenix Cloth is the only cloth that can repair its name as the name suggest and is the mightiest of the Bronze Cloth. Aside of that, Ikki has a wide range of abilities. He possesses immense physical strength and some level of fire manipulation leading him to have some of the most aggressive fighting scenes. He has other abilities such as shooting the tail-feathers of the Phoenix Cloth like projectiles allowing him to finish off or protect nearby allies from enemies. However, besides physical harming enemies, he has strong illusion based attack allowing him to harm opponents psychologically as well. Thus providing fights that are not limited to simple beat downs but also battles of the mind. As the eldest in the group, he would often be the one who lectures the other bronze warriors. Despite being more of a loner, he can be seen as the closest of an older brother for all of them.
Many anime and manga fail in the regard, despite having on paper unique abilities like manipulating fire or lighting, in many series they serve the same purpose, but as I described these characters fighting styles, one can see that they operate completely different.
On the topic of brotherhood, the other elderly brother figures would be the Gold Saints. Besides serving as mentors and role models, they would often pass on the baton sacrificing themselves to protect the younger generation as one day these Bronze Saints could become their successor as newer Gold Saints and do the same for those that come after them.
Being a manga from the 80th, the artstyle starts of rather underwhelming by today's standards. However, as it goes, it not only improves but even challenges many manga in terms of quality from today. The amount of detail on the characters and their armor is impressive and usually I do not credit art in my review. Each volume ends with a full design of the armors in their unworn state that takes the form of what it symbolizes, like the Pegasus Cloth looking like a pegasus, and how it looks like when someone wears them with detailed explanation which parts of the armor is on what part of the body. For people who care about these details, it gives a great satisfaction and makes these armors realism. As if they were to exist in real life, they could function like that.
A criticism I have is that the manga concluded but like Bleach it did left a lot of questions open. There were a few continuity as well as one character is claimed to have died and later explained that he survived in a weird way which is hard to explain here without spoiling. And one of the most hyped up fights concluding in a not very satisfactory way.
However, even with these criticisms, doesn't take away the fact all the great things that happened to that point. Not to mention, the story has an ongoing sequel that attempts to solve these issues. Whether if they will or not, that remains to be seen.
If you are a fan of Bleach especially, I highly recommend you to read Saint Seiya. You will not be disappointed.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Feb 22, 2024
Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission is the 4th installment of the Super Dragon Ball Heroes manga story line and is the definitive adaptation of the story from the arcade game it is based on. (There is an anime version too like most the previous arcs).
It is a multidimensional tournament arc where contestants fight stronger versions of characters from various Dragon Ball arcs: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Z movies etc. It is organized by the former Kaioshin of Time, Aeos, who wants to erase all other histories but the main one. Which one of these will be the
...
main one? That will be decided by which team wins. There are various conditions a team can win. Thus is not only strength, cooperation or strategy involved, but also luck. This gives weaker universes a chance to survive.
As it is tradition for Super Dragon Ball Heroes, even establishing the characters are fighting stronger versions of enemies they have beaten in the past, it will take time to get used to seeing someone like Android 18 pushing Goku to Super Saiyan Blue. Some characters who experienced new power ups from the previous arcs will have them in this story, examples as such are:
- Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta going Super Saiyan 4 Limit Breaker
- Super Saiyan Blue Berserk Controlled Vegeta
- Evil Saiyan Turles
In terms of action, it is not much different from the anime counterpart which offers far more as the Super Dragon Ball Heroes story continues. The manga adds more flavor by showing more of the underused characters that cannot really compete with these planetary threats. They react to these ongoing battles. We see team work between established characters to defeat a common threat and more interactions to flash out some of the established characters.
There are even some endearing moments, like the organizer of the tournament teasing Yamcha. Speaking of Yamcha, I think he has some of the most hilarious interactions but also the most respectable moments in this story arc.
Also some of the characters that were established in the previous arcs got even stronger and the manga bothers to give a small explanation indirectly to that.
Regarding characters, I think the manga just flat out beats the anime counterpart. We see more of the mindset of the characters and things of their characters explored we didn't get to see. Turles' character development getting carried over. Disagreements with the teammates Hearts and Cooler. Even the antagonist Aeos who appears as a serious character and wants to fix the timeline has some scenes where she is very playful. Finally we get some insight about the relationship between Aeos and Chrona as well as the backstory of Demigra who will also get involved. Lastly, the fights are more destructive than anything you probably see in the anime, Dragon Ball Super anime and Dragon Ball Super manga.
As far as the fights go, the manga rarely disappointed in terms of action. While some people may consider this a spoiler, I think some major match ups can be often the reason why someone would want to read this story arc. What does Heroes have to offer in terms of match ups?
- Goku vs Xeno Goku
- Xeno Trunks vs Future Gohan
- DBZ Broly vs Jiren
- Goku vs Bardock
- Xeno Gogeta vs Xeno Broly
There are also some highlights worth watching for but I won't mention them. These few fights are just a small taste what is there to look forward to.
Criticism, some of the fights will fall short because of limited promotion. But the most important ones are done well. Also like always, Xeno Goten is just there. There are a few scenes with him but he feels like an afterthought. Same with Xeno Pan. Despite her being a time patroller now, she hasn't gotten any love by Heroes. No Super Saiyan. No special power up. No fight at all. But she does have some really fun moments. Even Xeno Gohan has been shafted in favor to give more screentime to main timeline Gohan. The only Xeno characters that matter are Goku, Vegeta and Trunks.
Overall the manga of Heroes is worth a read. Good action, fun interactions and fan service that won't overstay its welcome.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 1, 2022
Saying Digimon Adventure Movie: Last Evolution Kizuna is bad is putting it nicely. Considering all the weird things that happened with Adventure lately with the addition of the Tri movies, it creates a bunch of movies if those "Movies" or "Specials" are counted as canon to this movie as many things are unexplained like why Genai is a good guy all the sudden.
This movie also seems not to know what exactly it wants as it seems like a love letter at first going as far as showing the 02 kids and giving hints to their dreams that were shown at the end of Digimon Adventure
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2002. But then introduces the concept of Digimon disappearing once the kids become "mature?". It isn't really clear but your partner disappears and that suppose to be the emotional conflict of the story with the main antagonist wanting to let the Chosen Children live forever in their small bubble being always together with their Digimon.
However, the story conflicts with the final goodbye at the end of Digimon Adventure 99 where that concept was explored and the children back then accepted that they won't see their Digimon ever again. So Kizuna feels more like a Digimon Teenage Midlife crisis if anything. The writers probably think they were clever by doing that and handled it god awful.
The movie also shows the kids as Digimon capture police solving issues as a secondary job so to say. Ironically they are so bad at it that they look far more incompetent than they did back when they were a kid. The amount of property damage and how they barely managed to save people from just 1 Digimon is almost comical. And the fact they have to go through all the trouble to open a Digital Gate to bring that 1 Digimon back is far more tedious than the options they had back in 02 where they could easily open a portal with a laptop anywhere and any time. No need to have some stupid countdown to drag out the fight.
The fight in the movie, at least in the early part, was beautiful. Really well animated including the evolution animations and themes. The animation and artstyle are really beautiful, but it just doesn't feel like the Digimon Adventure artstyle but like a generic anime you have seen a billion of times.
Toei being Toei also nostalgia baited the hell out of this movie with Greymon vs Parrotmon, something referencing the best Digimon Movie Our War Game and god knows what else.
If you like pretty colors and need a Digimon Adventure fix, you may like this movie. It has also a hot waifu material if you are in such things. But if you want something with depth that doesn't feel hallow similar to how Tri, you won't get it in this movie. It can't even keep up with Adventure 02's quality. And fails with its message of "growing up" as it feels more like "Stop watching Digimon and get a life" if anything.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Oct 27, 2022
Chibi Maruko-Chan is an anime series focusing on Maruko Sakura and her daily experiences. Usually she would want desire something or has a certain expectation which usually has an unexpected outcome sometimes for the better but often for the worse.
There are a lot of things to relate too as things oneself believed and thought as a child is vastly different than how the world actually works and how adults think as some things Maruko did could be similar to one would have done or has done in the past.
The show provides also great moral lessons, sometimes even neat trivia or tips for children such as
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how to prepare to a field trip.
Each character seem like an archetype but are well written with many acting appropriate of their age.
Maruko Sakura is often naive, selfish and forgetful but there are situations when she is mindful of others' when she notices the errors in her way and doesn't daydream. She is lazy to do stuff that she suppose to do like homework or helping out, but when it comes to fun stuff like preparing for something she looks forward to she is ready to do it. She is often victim of irony in the story like when she prepared for one thing, she ended up forgetting something far more important usually her homework.
Sakiko Sakura is the elder sister and goes to 6st grade. She often gets into fights with Maruko but she is a caring sister often planing out things and taking responsibility. She is also the voice of reason for Maruko in many situations.
Maruko's mom is the most strict member in Maruko's family but often shows that she really cares for her not doing anything with the intention of harming her. But because Maruko often forgets things like telling her parents about school related stuff to prepare, she can't do that much.
Maruko's grandpa is doing anything to get closer and bettering their relationship, often leading him being manipulated by Maruko herself.
Maruko's dad is somewhere in the middle between mother and grandpa. He often jokes around which depending on the situation can lead to a good moment where daughter and father fool around or Maruko getting upset.
Classmates also serve a major role. Maruo is the weird class ref. Hanawa is a fellow pet caretaker who is from a rich family who tries to get a good relationship with the ladies except one. Tama-chan is Maruko's best friend and a very kind girl thinking very positively of Maruko. There are more and listing them all or going in depth would take way too long. And the kind teacher who is oblivious about his decisions can affect students in a certain situation.
While it is nice seeing the characters in their element, the show often shows them outside their element where they are clueless, such examples being when the family go to a French restaurant or Hanawa going to hunt for pets they can take care in class. Even when Sakiko tries to cook a meal for her little sister.
If you are interested in Japanese culture, struggles of Japanese children in the 60th and like a relatable series Chibi Maruko-Chan is the series for you. It is a simple story told in a funny often exaggerated way. It is episodic meaning it can be watched in any order. Rarely anything from the prior episodes will be relevant for what happens in the one after.
A slice of life series with laughter, sadness and consequences... for Maruko-Chan that is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 24, 2022
Kinnikuman: Yomikiri Kassakusen is basically a collection of one shots and 1 two shot short stories giving insight on some events that weren't covered in the manga nor anime like how Broken Jr began to respect Ramenman and how the Blood Brigade came into existence.
For the most part they are stories that hit you emotionally and serious instead of focusing on comedy and thoughtout wrestling fights Kinnikuman is known for.
But the story about Benkiman may be intended to be comedic as it makes fun by explaining something utterly stupid in such a serious manner like how Benkiman helped a child by letting it shit on
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him. Something that suppose to come off as caring but actually comes off as hilarious simply because its a living being shaped like an old toilet.
If you are a Kinnikuman fan, you will certainly enjoy at least some of the stories you read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 23, 2022
Bleach is the spiritual successor to Saint Seiya as they have similar plot structures, story arcs and have pretty characters. The famous Soul Society arc has a similar set up to the Sanctuary arc as the main characters go to rescue an ally from a fraction the main lead suppose to be a part off. And the antagonists not necessary being evil beings but following orders.
Soul Society feels like the Samurai Era of Japan and the Sanctuary has elements of Ancient Greek. The enemies have rankings with Soul Society having low class Shinigami, Seated Officers and the Captains. Sanctuary has the Bronze Saints, Silver
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Saints and the Gold Saints.
There are 12 Gold Saints and the priest which equal 13 while there are 13 Captains in Soul Society which are the strongest of their kind and have individual personalities and desires.
The Arrancar arc is somewhat similar to the Poseidon arc but much longer and the TYBW arc is similar in structure to the Hades Chapters.
What Bleach does have over Saint Seiya is the psychological aspect of characters and it plays a far bigger role. Not to mention, female characters are far more active in Bleach while the original Saint Seiya has only a few strong female characters. Both the main leads are also trained by a female character.
The story is about a highschooler Ichigo Kurosaki receiving Shinigami powers (or Soul Reaper powers) from Rukia Kuchiki who got injured protecting him from a monster called Hollow. These Hollows are spirits of the death that weren't able to pass on the afterlife properly and got corrupted turning into vile monsters that consume the people loved the most or beings with high Spiritual Pressure also referred as Reiatsu.
After the power transfer, Rukia was incapable to do her role as Samurai Ghostbuster on her own and had Ichigo assist her in hunting them down. It is a simple story with a great sense of humor and world building as Ichigo learns more about Hollows and how to deal with them as well as his past. See Rukia adapting to the human world as she pretends to be a human until her powers are back.
But the real story starts with the Soul Society arc the stronghold of the Shinigami is revealed. A lot of things are revealed like the crime Rukia committed and Ichigo's desire to repay her for saving his and his families lives.
Various fighting styles and abilities of Shinigami are being explored like the ability to use special powers with their Swords named Zanpakuto. The high ranked Shinigami know the names of their Zanpakuto and can activate them by shouting said name. While the top tier Shinigami have a more powerful technique called the Bankai, a second release.
While it is a simple rescue mission arc, the reasons characters do what they do is giving it some complex elements and the addition of a murder mystery gives intrigue whether someone is pulling the strings from behind or not.
It also set up a lot of things to come hooking readers for more.
However, what came after Soul Society never meets the same high. There are good moments and sometimes good starts to story arcs, the pay off and the lead up is nowhere near as satisfying as the Soul Society arc. There is a reason why many consider it the peak and say that it falls off after said story arc.
For example the arcs after are much bigger in scale and sometimes have complex themes. However, this ends up the story crumbling in its complexity whether it is bad execution, too much information being required for the reader or flat out being discarded for something less interesting.
Powers in the story start as intriguing and well thought out. While it is complex in some aspects, Kubo did a good job in introducing them. The problem arises with the introduction of unique powers per user. At first abilities are simple to understand like Element Manipulation, Swapping Weapons, Reflecting Attacks or Stat Boosts, but later more complex powers are introduced that are hard to convey as images and the author relies too much on dialogue to infodumb the powers by the user allowing opponent’s to find counter measures because said character was stupid for the plot. It is an issue many shonen with complex powers fail at especially when the author uses them in battles that suppose to be fast paced sacrificing tension for a faster pace.
So when the author decides that he doesn’t explain the power of a character in an action scene, it can come off that what you see on a panel is something symbolic or whatever.
Another problem are plottwist in Bleach. Bleach is known as a series for its amazing unexpected but well set up plottwist. One many fans love so much, they try their best to avoid spoiling or mentioning the name of said character.
However, the overuse of plottwist often fires back since Kubo relies in later points in the story so much on it, it feels like it’s done to subvert your expectation for the sake of subverting expectation. At one point throwing away the intended use of a plot device for something far less interesting for the sake to appear smart, only for it to not mattering or ruining what could have been something vastly more interesting. Another example is playing with supposed established information and changing it to something completely different like a weaker character ending up being far more powerful than expected only for that not mattering in the story.
Even going as far as changing the fighting style of an entire race to something the readers weren’t used to.
Bleach fights started as amazing well thought out and unique ranging from rule of cool to analysing a characters fighting style and using it against them.
Sadly this doesn’t last for long especially in how much power Shinigami have. Shinigami can use spells and the reader doesn’t know what spell who is capable of using. Considering there are 100 destructive spells and 100 defensive spells, any character of the Shinigami force can asspull their way out with a power never mentioned until said point. Not to mention their Zanpakuto abilities and the Bankai. The story also contradicts or give false information what Bankais suppose to be at times which makes you wonder how the regular Zanpakuto ability and the Bankai are related at all.
It gets worse when characters gain additional forms to their Bankai over the course of the story which can give some variety but also can come as another asspull.
The powers becoming complex, something mentioned in a prior section, have also unexpected problems like making the fights a game between two kids saying “Nah ah” or being similar to a kid smashing toys. It will get really repetitive after seeing someone teleport behind someone else “Nothing personal kid” style and either cut through the shoulder or cut off an arm almost every fight.
It gets more stupid when most the enemies the characters are fighting are evil counterparts of oneself in some shape or form.
The manga has also a problem with having way too many characters. Admittedly the power gab between characters are relatively small to something like Dragon Ball meaning a large selection of characters can be useful in battle and even beat a stronger foe. The problem is that each arc introduces at least 8 capable characters and only a fraction gets fleshed out or does something worthwhile.
So it won’t come as no surprise that many of them will get shafted, especially in favor of fan favorite characters like Toshiro Hitsugaya, Byakuya Kuchiki and Zaraki Kenpachi which just happened to be Captain Class Shinigami. There is also Kubo’s favorite character Mayuri Kurotsuchi who solves everything with “science” which ends up being no different than magic in other anime.
Sadly these are side characters and support cast that monopolize most the action away from the main characters which hardly don’t do too much with the exception of Ichigo Kurosaki that affects the plot. Well, and Rukia Kuchiki until after the end of the Soul Society arc where she appears as important but doesn’t have as important of a role.
While this is a massive weakness of Bleach and some characters do end up being clones of each other, there are also a large variety of favorites to choose from and it is almost guaranteed someone will be on your favorites.
Ichigo Kurosaki is a great character for the first portion of Bleach. He has his fears and worries but he acts mature for his age and would overcome his issues to help others out. Over the course of the series he would repeatedly get depressed or mindfucked where he quickly loses his will to fight only to get it back through some bullshit. Being done so often can be a total turn off after you got so invested in him.
Rukia Kuchiki is a strong female character in terms of characterization. While she isn’t the most powerful and does rely on others help, she does keep up and provides critical advice to boost the motivation of her comrades. In the first arc, despite losing her powers, she was treated with equal importance to Ichigo. She also has her own mental struggles like her living up to her brothers expectation, the death of someone she looked up to and whether she is worthy to be saved.
Other main characters Uryu Ishida, Sado Chad Yastora and Orihime Inoue appear as if they will have important roles, but their supposed story arcs don’t fully take advantage of them or just drop them like hot potatoes in favor of Captains. They rarely if any play a major importance in the plot.
Especially Orihime who’s treatment gathered her a massive hater following which in turn created a bunch of whiteknights. This also played a role in the ending where a lot of fans got annoyed so much that they burned their manga collection out of spite.
The captains have their own unique backstories and mindsets, but often are shown as people with wisdom or how their responsibilities affect them, even if at first glance didn’t appear as such.
There are also the antagonist which have their own goals and desires.
The hollows started off as people with deep grudges becoming corrupted but over the course of the series they become generic monsters.
The hollow related antagonist start of as a brutal bunch and violent creatures but the ones later seem more reasonable and some becoming actual allies.
The non hollow related ones have the goal to change the world to their desires, want revenge or just follow someone because they have no choice.
There are some good ones but most are not nearly as interesting as the Shinigami who use swords with super powers.
Overall Bleach is a mixed bag of a manga. The side characters overshadow the main cast almost completely with the exception of Ichigo. The fights change from good to repetitive. And the pay off for being invested in later arcs is lacking.
Even then there are a lot of great characters to get invested in with compelling dialogue and cool looking powers. If you are into waifus and husbandos, you will definitively find someone you enjoy.
Kubo is also great at cinematography to build a great atmosphere and setting, but the overuse of one page and too page panels can be off putting later on.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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