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After Nayuta’s fate was once again left uncertain in Chapter 155 of Chainsaw Man, I had no idea where the story was going to end up.
Well, I certainly did not expect what Chapter 156 gave us.
First of all, when looking at the chapter’s title, “Whup Whup Whup Whup Bzzz Split Split”, I was a little baffled.
Yes, Fujimoto is known for getting creative with his titles, but I wondered what exactly that supposed nonsense could mean.
I did not have to wait long to find out.
The chapter begins with Denji in his hospital room being confronted by Yoshida, who reveals that Denji has been asleep for a week.
He also has no idea what happened to Nayuta, so we are still left in the dark on her fate.
The Darkness Devil must be getting stronger from that.
Joking aside, Denji tries to get up but collapses and is berated by Yoshida for refusing to live a normal life.
He leaves the room and, after Denji falls unconscious, it is revealed that Public Safety plan to dismember him.
Now, I’m doubly curious about what happened to Kishibe because I refuse to believe he would be willing to have this happen to Denji after his actions at the end of Part One.
Well, Kishibe is not there.
Unfortunately, Fumiko is.
As if she could not get any more unlikable, Fumiko wants to pluck some nails and hair from Denji before he is dismembered to add to her “collection.”
Yeah, I’m now 99% sure the sob story she told Denji was a complete fabrication.
As for Denji himself, we see him having another dream about Pochita.
Denji tells his old friend how he has to save Nayuta, only for Pochita to chillingly reply, “How can you do that without your legs?”
The chapter then cuts to reveal Denji on an operating table, his legs being amputated by surgeons.
And so the disturbing meaning of the bizarre title is revealed.
While “Whup Whup Whup Whup Bzzz Split Split” might sound like nonsense, it is actually the sound of Denji being dismembered.
Even more sickening, it appears that the surgeons have amputated Denji’s limbs multiple times.
The lead surgeon says they have amputated “right leg 26” and will amputate “right leg 27” next.
This whole “surgery” also reminds me a lot of what happened to Sun in Fire Punch.
It is always nice to see Fujimoto making callbacks to his prior works, even if those callbacks are disturbing.
I have to wonder why Public Safety are subjecting Denji to such torture, though.
Is it just so they can keep him from escaping or is there some other reason?
Public Safety’s whole motivation in Part Two is one of the story’s biggest mysteries right now.
Another mystery going on at the moment is where exactly Asa and Yoru are, but Fujimoto may be just about to reveal that.
The Devil Hunter guarding Denji during the operation states that he is being held in the Tokyo Devil Detention Center, which is so secure that, “It would take a war to compromise this facility’s safety.”
The chapter then ends on the panel of a woman’s legs facing the prison, with the implication being that whoever this person is will save Denji.
Given the mention of a “war” being the only thing that could breach the facility, Asa and Yoru seem to be the most likely candidates.
It would be great to see them again, and perhaps Fami put them on Denji’s trail in the week that passed.
However, there is always the possibility that Fujimoto is trying to trick us into thinking it’s Asa.
Another candidate being thrown around is Reze.
She is the only Devil Hybrid missing, would have a motive to save Denji, and the “war” foreshadowing would still apply to her since she is the Bomb Hybrid.
Although, if I had to choose between the two, I would want it to be Asa since I am more emotionally attached to her character.
Reze is still great and I want her to come back, but I would rather see what Asa has been up to first.
Or, who knows, maybe the person coming to save Denji is Kishibe in a dress?
Hey, it could happen.
This is Fujimoto we’re talking about.
Overall, Chapter 156 is a disturbing read but for the right reasons.
What is even better about it is that there is only a week until the next chapter, so we will not have to wait long to see who Denji’s savior will be.
Asa, Reze or Kishibe in a dress?
Take your pick.
When the Netflix live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender was first announced, I was cautiously optimistic about it. This optimism faltered a bit when the creators of the original show departed, but my hopes started climbing again when I saw the trailers, which were quite good. Well, the show is out and the consensus is in. Turns out, the fandom is as divided as the two tribes in “The Great Divide” episode.
I have seen plenty of people hating and liking the adaption.
As for me, I quite enjoyed Netflix’s adaptation of Avatar. Is it as good as the original? No, but it was never going to be. Going into the show, I wanted a retelling of the story with changes that stuck true to the soul of the original and, for the most part, I got that. Like the cartoon, the adaptation follows Aang (Gordon Comier) who, as the Avatar, is the only one who can master all four elements of Water, Earth, Fire and Air. However, after being frozen in ice for a hundred years, he awakens to find that, in his absence, the Fire Nation has been waging war on the world and killed all of the Air Nomads.
The depiction of the Air Nomad genocide was grim but thankfully pulled its punches where it needed to.
Teaming up with Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley) from the Water Tribe, Aang sets out of a journey to master all the elements to save the world, all the while being pursued by the disgraced Prince Zuko (Dallus Liu) and his tea loving uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee). For the most part, I would say that the actors chosen to play these iconic characters do a good job portraying them. My favorites of the bunch were definitely Ousley as Sokka, Liu as Zuko, Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh, Daniel Dae Kim as Ozai, and Ken Leung as Zhao. Ousley in particular is excellent as Sokka who, while some of his character growth is unfortunately cut, still portrays the character with a lot of spirit and humor.
Ousley was, in my opinion, the perfect casting for Sokka.
The comedy of the adaptation is definitely in keeping with the original, with a lot of great laughs from both Sokka and the interactions between Zuko and Iroh. The maintaining of this humor was good to see since this adaptation is darker than the original cartoon, what with the showing of the genocide. The series also has plenty of good emotional moments, with the hardest hitting being an added scene at Lu Ten’s funeral. This scene had me tearing up, although I will admit that this was mostly due to the context I had as a fan of the original show.
The added scene between Zuko and Iroh will leave fans in tears.
So, the adaptation definitely maintains the soul of the original in regard to its tone with the good mixture of humorous, dark and emotional moments. Where it deviates from the original is what I was most interested to see going in. I wanted to see how the writers would introduce characters in different places and blend them into other storylines. I think the writers nailed this in some areas and failed in others. For example, I think episodes three and four did the mixing of different storylines and characters to create a new and cohesive storyline excellently. However, I think the writers also dropped the ball with it, as Episode Five feels quite disjointed and like things were only added for fan service reasons, rather than them being necessary.
Hei Bai’s storyline takes a considerable drop in quality.
I would not say that Episode Five is the weakest episode, though. No, I think the first episode is, what with its constant clunky exposition. This clunky exposition is an issue which sadly persists throughout the season, and I hope future seasons can improve upon it. Another thing I hope they improve upon is the CGI. Don’t get me wrong, the CGI is not bad. There are a lot of moments of fantastic computer-generated environments across the season. It’s just that sometimes, when the actors interact with these environments, I could clearly tell that they were looking at a green screen.
Some moments in the season definitely could have used more work in the CGI department.
And then there are a few things that the adaptation did which I just think were straight up bad ideas. The first of these is the portrayal of Roku (C.S Lee). He is the first past Avatar we see in the original show, and he is by far the most important as he warns Aang about Sozin’s Comet. In the adaptation, however, he is overshadowed in importance by Kyoshi (Yvonne Chapman) and Kuruk (Meegwun Fairbrother), and he feels completely different from the Roku of the original. The second, and by far the worst thing the adaptation did was Aang not learning Water Bending. Seriously, this season is an adaptation of Book One. You know, the book named Water. Each season of the show focuses on Aang learning an element. Book One is water, Book Two is earth, and Book Three is fire. Aang not learning to Water Bend is honestly baffling to me.
The Avatar is supposed to learn to bend the elements, yet Aang takes no time to do so, even when there clearly is.
Aang is probably going to learn to Water Bend in between now and the next season, and I really hope the show does not do the same for earth and fire. Still, there are a couple of changes that I think are actually improvements the original show. Having Zuko’s crew be the division he saved, and having Han be an actually pretty nice guy were both great decisions. So, with plenty of positives and negatives in this first season, it is easy to see why the fandom is divided. For me, I would say that I am satisfied with this adaptation, so far. Yes, there are some questionable deviations but there are also plenty of good changes as well, and the soul of the original show is still there. I look forward to seeing the next season of this adaptation and hope they can improve upon it.
Growing up, the Total Drama series was a cartoon I greatly enjoyed. I had a lot of fun going into every episode guessing which contestant would be voted off. So, when I learned that the series had been revived with a reboot in 2023, I decided that it would be fun to rank the seasons, including the newest one. Unfortunately, distribution for the reboot has been quite poor. I found it immensely difficult to watch in New Zealand. Well, after a lot of searching, I finally watched the new season and will now rank it alongside the others. Before we begin, however, I have to state a few things. First, I will not be ranking any of the Total Dramarama seasons. That is a show I refuse to watch on basic principle. Second, this ranking will contain spoilers so make sure you have watched all of the seasons before you read it. With those things made clear, let’s begin the ranking.
8. Total Drama All Stars.
All Stars is, without a doubt, the worst season of Total Drama and this is a shame because of how much potential it had. I mean, a season where the old cast and the new cast compete for the million dollars while forging alliances and rivalries with one another? That sounds great. However, what sounds great in concept does not play out well in reality. For starters, the new cast had only been around for a single 13-episode season. Therefore, the viewers would obviously care more about the old cast, who we had got to know for three 26-episode seasons. Another issue is thatthe new and old characters rarely interact in meaningful ways. They mostly just stick to their own original groups, with the only significant interactions resulting from Sierra obsessing over Cameron, and Courtney getting together with Scott. The former is unbearable to watch, and the latter is ruined in the infamous “Sundae Muddy Sundae” episode, which is one of the worst episodes in all of Total Drama because of how it derails Courtney’s character just to get her eliminated. Unfortunately, character assassination is the norm for All Stars, as many characters are completely different from their former selves. Duncan cares way too much about what other people think of him, Gwen’s feelings about cheating with Duncan are constantly contradicting themselves, and Alejandro and Heather both make unusually stupid decisions which lead to their eliminations. These moronic choices are sadly widespread among the characters. It appears that a lot of them drank stupid juice before their time on All Stars, and most of this is because of the worst character in the entire season: Mal. Mal is the evil alternate personality of Mike and is one of the worst antagonists in the entire series. All he does is break stuff with seemingly no plan, and it feels like the only way the writers could think to make him seem evil was to just give him an edgy appearance and dialogue. Mal is such a terribly written villain that the writers literally had to make the other characters stupider just so he would not get caught. Alejandro reveals he has a video of Mal’s crimes to his face, and Zoe and Cameron somehow do not realize Mike has been taken over by an evil personality, despite them knowing him very well. Then there is the whole journey through Mike’s subconscious, which is just a massive eyeroll of a storyline because Total Drama is supposed to be a reality show. How are the cameras getting into Mike’s subconscious? Even worse is how this builds into the finale, “The Final Wreck-ening”, which is the most anti-climactic season finale of the series. Mal is literally defeated with the press of a button. This season (and the following one) also has Chris at his absolute worst, with him being shown to starve his interns. All Stars fails to live up to its potential, while having constant character assassinations, and whatever good storylines it does have are ruined in the “Sundae Muddy Sundae” episode. It is, without question, the worst Total Drama season.
7. Total Drama Pahkitew Island.
All Stars may be the worst Total Drama season, but Pahkitew Island is not far behind it. The main reason this season is so terrible is the cast. Pahkitew Island has the worst original cast of any of the seasons and this is in large part due to the stereotypes these characters are based off. Now, were the characters in the original Total Drama Island based off stereotypes? Yes, but the thing is that these characters were more than just their stereotypes. In Pahkitew Island, the stereotype is usually the contestant’s sole defining trait. Leonard thinks he is a wizard and that is it, Ella acts like a Disney princess and that is it, Sugar is a Honey Boo Boo parody and that is it. Also, notice how absurd those characteristics sound? Well, this is another problem with Pahkitew Island’s characters because it feels like the writers ran out of teen stereotypes so they just gave the contestants the most extreme traits that they could think of. All of this ultimately results in characters who are absurd while somehow also being boring. Even some of the characters who start off well, like Dave and Scarlett, are eventually turned into insufferable over-the-top villains. By the end, there were only four characters in the entire cast who I liked, these being Sky, Samey, Jasmine and Shawn, but Sky is just okay, and Samey was eliminated before she could realize her potential. Shawn and Jasmine, on the other hand, are the shining lights of Pahkitew Island. Shawn’s constant fear of the zombie apocalypse is always funny, and Jasmine is likeable from the get-go, as shown by her taking Samey under her wing. Her and Shawn also somehow work together as a couple and their growth across the season is satisfying to watch. Jasmine learns to accept Shawn’s weirdness, and Shawn learns to put his fear of zombies aside for Jasmine. Had it not been for these two characters then Pahkitew Island very well could have been the worst season in my eyes, for there are many other bad qualities about it. Chris continues to be a psychopath, both starving the contestants and giving them food poisoning. He even goes so far as to not care if they die when Scarlett takes the island hostage. Speaking of the island, just like in All Stars, the season fails at most of its concepts which actually had potential. In Episode Ten, “Scarlett Fever”, it is revealed that the entire island is mechanical. If this had been known from the beginning, it could have given Pahkitew Island a unique flair. Instead, the mechanical nature of the island is revealed far too late for it to have any meaningful impact, leaving us with fairly standard challenges competed by a mostly terrible cast. In the end, all I can say about Pahkitew Island is thank God for Shawn and Jasime because this season would have been a whole lot worse without them.
6. Total Drama Action.
I just want to make clear that there is a massive leap in quality between Pahkitew Island and Total Drama Action. While Pahkitew Island is a bad season, I would say that Action is a pretty good one. That being said, I was surprised to find this season ranking so low because it used to be my favorite as a kid. This was mostly because of the challenges since, as someone who loves movies, the film-based challenges really appealed to me back then. They definitely still appeal to me now, with challenges like the superhero contest, the murder mystery, the rock star biopic, and the animal-buddy competition being some of my favorites in all of Total Drama. Another thing Action does a great job of is giving characters who did not have enough screen time in the first season more time to shine. Characters like Lindsay, Harold, Courtney, Justin and Beth get way more to do in Action. This is especially the case for Beth, who makes it all the way to the finale with Duncan. However, this is where some of my issues come in because, although I like Beth, she is just not strong enough of a character to be a finalist, and her character dynamic with Duncan is poor, making for a bit of a disappointing finale. It honestly felt like the writers were setting up Lindsay or Harold to be finalists more than Beth. The finale would have been way better if it had been those two characters going against each other, or one of them against Duncan. Unfortunately, this is not the only issue because Action does treat quite a few of its characters poorly. Lindsay accidentally voting herself off was embarrassing and Owen’s return near the end of the season was pointless. Worst of all is the treatment of Trent. Apparently, Cartoon Network wanted Gwen and Duncan to get together but, in order to do that, the writers had to break up Gwen and Trent. They decided to do this by making Trent go nuts, forcing Gwen to break up with him. This came at the cost of Trent’s entire character, as he started throwing challenges for her. He was also bizarrely given a sudden obsession with the number nine, which the writers acted like he always had, when he clearly never did until this season. There are other bits of character derailment in this season, but Trent definitely gets it the worst. All of that being said, there is still a lot to like about Total Drama Action. As I said, many of the challenges are favorites of mine, a lot of the characters were given chances to shine that they were not before and, although the finale is a bit of a let-down, it does have a pretty good arc for Chris and Chef’s friendship. Action may not be as good as I remembered it being, but it does have a lot to like.
5. Total Drama Revenge of the Island.
After World Tour, the writers decided to take a risk by returning to Camp Wawanakwa with a brand-new cast. This was the series’ first attempt at a new cast after the original and, honestly, I think they did a pretty good job. Almost all of the characters have distinct personalities, whether I liked them or not. I say “almost” because Staci cannot even be called a character, as she is just the trait of insufferably repeating lies about her family. Although, to be fair, Staci was created to be this way since she is the first to be eliminated. Aside from her, every contestant has plenty of defining characteristics. This does become an issue with how short the season is, however. At the beginning of the season, I was the most interested in Dawn and B. This was because they had interesting personalities, but they were both eliminated before they could be explored further. If Revenge of the Island had been the length of prior seasons, instead of just 13 episodes, we could have got more time to know the characters. Thankfully, the ones who make it further into the season, like Brick, Zoe, Cameron, Lightning, Scott and Jo, all prove to be interesting. Along with this, the setting of Camp Wawanakwa is well defined, with it feeling both nostalgic, due to it being the setting from Season One, and new, due to the toxic waste affecting the island. This leads to quite a few interesting challenges where the mutated animals prove to be a threat. At the same time, this does impact Chris’ character negatively, since he intentionally used the island as toxic waste dump. He had been growing progressively crueler in Action and World Tour, but Revenge was the first season to take it too far with his character, and All Stars and Pahkitew Island unfortunately made him worse. So, there is a lot to like and dislike about Revenge of the Island. It has an interesting cast and an interesting setting, but the short length of the season means we don’t get to know many of the characters as much as I would have liked, and this was the first season to really character assassinate Chris. So, why is it above Action then? Well, because of the finale, “Brain vs. Brawn: The Ultimate Showdown.” The rivalry between Cameron and Lightning was built up pretty well before the finale, and the episode’s focus on the theme of brain vs. brawn made for a compelling final fight. It makes for a great underdog story when Cameron actually wins, if that is the ending you see based on whatever country you are watching it. Also, the season ends with Chris getting blown up and then arrested for his crimes so that is satisfying. In the end, the finale of Revenge of the Island was much more gratifying than Action’s and that was enough to push it up to number four on this list, despite the season’s issues.
4. Total Drama Island Reboot.
I know the reboot is technically two seasons, but I decided to rank them together since I watched them back-to-back. After so many years absent, Total Drama made its return to the island with another set of brand-new contestants to compete for the million dollars. Thankfully, this new cast is great, and we get to know each and every one of them. Some are done better than others but, overall, they all make an impression. Julia, Bowie, and M.K make for compelling antagonists, especially Julia who is delightfully cunning in her manipulation. As for the more positive characters, Raj and Wayne’s friendship is endlessly endearing, Damien has an excellent arc in the first half of the reboot, and Zee’s laidback personality gets a lot of laughs. The funniest character of the season for me though, has to be Scary Girl. Every morbid thing that comes out of her mouth made me laugh, and I hope she gets more to do in a hypothetical third season (along with Damien). So, the new characters are pretty great, but what about the old ones of Chris and Chef? Well, Chris is voiced by Terry McGurrin instead of Christian Potenza, but his new voice actor does a great job of playing the character. Chris is still psychopathically cruel in the reboot but, what makes this more acceptable is Chef, who seems quite different from prior seasons. In the reboot, he is often concerned about the condition of the campers, making him a great contrast to Chris, with the two playing off each other well. Speaking of playing, the challenges in the reboot are all mostly fun, with them creating a lot of interesting character interactions. As for the two finales we get in the reboot, both are solid. Priya makes for a good winner, although I honestly would have preferred Bowie. As for Wayne, he is also a good winner, but I do wish he got more screen time before his victory. One downside to these victors is that, unfortunately, there is no alternate ending where we get to see someone else win. I would have liked to see what would happen if Bowie, Julia or Caleb won. Sadly, this is not my only issue. For starters, in the second half of the reboot, there is a romantic storyline between Priya and Caleb, which takes up too much time and simply goes on for far too long. I liked it in the beginning but it more than overstayed its welcome. If it had ended just two or three episodes prior, then I think this storyline would have been received a lot better. I honestly don’t think there’s a way Episode Five could have been well received, though. Fart humor has always been a part of Total Drama, for better and mostly for worse, but this is by far the worst use of it. “Jurassic Fart” is so painfully unfunny to watch that it ranks right up there with “Sundae Muddy Sundae” as one of Total Drama’s worst episodes. It is these things that hold the reboot back from taking a higher spot in the ranking. However, as stated, there is still a lot to love about it, like the new characters and a much more bearable Chris thanks to his and Chef’s new dynamic. I hope we get a Season Three of the reboot because I would like to see more of these characters.
3. Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race.
Growing up, my family and I used to love watching The Amazing Race. It was one of my favorite reality shows as a kid, so I was pretty much guaranteed to like The Ridonculous Race. Unless of course it was botched to the same degree as All Stars and Pahkitew were. Thankfully, this Total Drama spin-off show is great, as a cast of 18 teams travel around the world and compete in challenges for one million dollars, all guided by Don, the new host. This cast is almost entirely new, with only a few characters from prior seasons returning. But, wow, do the writers do these old characters justice. Geoff is as fun as he was in Island, and his friend Brody increases this fun to make them an especially enjoyable team to watch. Then, there is Noah, whose character continues to improve from World Tour. His friendship with Owen is charming and his growing romantic relationship with Emma is endearing. And then there’s Leonard who… okay, why the hell is this insufferable character back? Just so they could have someone to boot off first? Okay. Yeah, not gonna lie, a lot of the early boots are pretty meh characters, and some of the other teams definitely overstay their welcome, most notably the Daters, Ryan and Stephanie. However, for every meh team there is a great one. The Sisters grow more likeable with each episode, the Father and Son are great, the Rockers are a lot of fun, and the Goths are endlessly hilarious. Then there are the Ice Dancers, Jacques and Josee, who are among the best villains in the series, right alongside Heather, Alejandro and Julia. Their rivalry with the Police Cadets is also fun to see play out. As for the Police Cadets themselves, MacArthur’s general craziness gets a lot of laughs, and Sanders plays off this well as the straight man to her partner’s insanity. As for the finale, it is a pretty good one. The Ice Dancer’s elimination is extremely cathartic, given all of the cheating they have done, and the ending where the Police Cadets win is satisfying. My criticism come with the other team of finalists, the Surfer Dudes. While Geoff and Brody are deserving of winning, I cannot help but feel like Emma and Kitty would have been better finalists. That is not a huge criticism, though, more of a nit-pick based on preference. The finale of the Ridonculous Race is a more than satisfactory conclusion to a great parody of The Amazing Race.
2. Total Drama Island.
The original season of the show, I had just as much fun rewatching Total Drama Island as I did seeing it for the first time when I was a kid all those years ago. The original cast is by far the most iconic, with Chris McLean and Chef Hatchet welcoming 22 contestants to Camp Wawanakwa for the first time. Each of these campers are based off teen stereotypes but, like I said when I was talking about Pahkitew Island, there is more to them than that. Duncan, despite being a bad boy, has a softer side to him. Owen may be a fart joke machine, but he also has a heart of gold. Gwen is the goth girl with a fierce streak, who is also a loyal friend when the other characters push past her walls. Unless of course that character is Heather, who breaks down those walls with a sledgehammer of meanness. Heather’s title as the Queen of Mean is perfect for her this season, as she plays the role of the antagonist we all love to hate, and then cheer at her inevitable downfall. Almost all of the characters are fantastic, except for a few of them, like Katie and Sadie who take the title of the most annoying Total Drama characters for me. But, aside from them, and a few others, the cast of the original Total Drama Island is great. Izzy, Lindsay, DJ, Geoff, Bridget, Leshawna, Harold, Courtney, all of these characters and more are memorable. Even Chris and Chef are at their best in this first season, with them actually seeming to care about the camper’s safety (even if it was just to avoid a lawsuit). These memorable characters all make the first season more interesting when they are pushed to their limits in the challenges, resulting in various great episodes like, “Dodgebrawl”, “Paintball Deer Hunter”, “Hook, Line & Screamer”, and the finale “The Very Last Episode, Really!” Speaking of that finale, it was great to see Owen and Gwen go head-to-head, even if I prefer Gwen as the winner to Owen. The extra episode “Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island” may be the best episode of the bunch, with it perfectly setting up the events of Action. Overall, this first season is great, with my only criticism being a couple of inconsistencies and a few ridiculously unfair eliminations, most notably Leshawna’s. Otherwise, this is one of the best seasons. Total Drama Island was the beginning of this series, and it started it off with a bang.
1. Total Drama World Tour.
When I decided to make a list ranking the Total Drama seasons, I knew which season was going to take the top spot. Sure enough, when I finished my rewatch, Total Drama World Tour was my favorite. This is hardly an unpopular opinion, as many other fans of the series also have World Tour as their number one. It is a position the season has more than earned. The first season to take its contestants around the world, World Tour stands out from the rest of the series with a unique feature. This feature is Chris requiring the contestants to sing to progress, resulting in numerous fantastic songs, such as “Come Fly with Us”, “Gwen’s Face”, “Condor”, “This is How We Will End It,” and many, many more. Along with these great songs, the characters singing them are also highlights. World Tour continues what Action started by giving previously minor charactersmore time to develop, namely Noah, Tyler, and especially Cody. Speaking of Cody, he comes with an attachment this season, since Chris adds two new contestants, Sierra and Alejandro. At first, Sierra was annoying and creepy, but she grew on me by the end. As for Alejandro, he is, without question, the most intelligent antagonist in the entire series. His rivalry and simultaneous romantic chemistry with Heather is also fantastic. Speaking of the Queen of Mean herself, the writers of World Tour did the impossible by making me cheer for her against Alejandro. Turning Heather from the manipulative antagonist of the first season into the anti-hero of the third was a great idea which more than paid off. This resulted in the season finale, “Hawaiian Punch”, being the most satisfying finale of the entire series for me. Watching Heather kick Alejandro where it hurts, slide him off the mountain, and then drop her sacrifice into the volcano to win the million was immensely gratifying. And, again, Heather was a character I and many others despised in Island. Her transformation into this anti-hero figure in World Tour made Heather my favorite character in all of Total Drama. All of these great qualities combine to make World Tour the best season in my eyes. However, despite this, I would still not say it is a perfect season because there are a few issues I have. For starters, the character of Blainley really served no purpose in this season, given that she’s brought into the competition late and eliminated just a few episodes after. You could remove her from the plot and nothing significant would change. At least it’s fun to laugh at her expense during the “Her Real Name Isn’t Blainley” song. The second issue I have with World Tour is its portrayal of cheating. Bridget is forgiven by Geoff for trying to cheat on him with Alejandro way too quickly. Then there is the infamous Gwen, Duncan and Courtney love triangle. I have already gone over how this plotline led to the derailment of Trent’s character in Total Drama Action but, in this season, it weakens Gwen’s character as well by painting her as a hypocrite. Gwen was distraught when she thought Trent cheated on her in Island, yet she kisses Duncan when she’s friends with Courtney. Honestly, I thought the show was doing a good job building a friendship between Gwen and Courtney, until they brought Duncan back and the love triangle with it. If anything, though, the fact that I name these issues and still proclaim World Tour as my favorite season of Total Drama should show how fantastic the rest of this season is. It is so good that I am able to ignore its issues and enjoy myself. Out of all the seasons, Total Drama World Tour is the undisputed best for me. But I hope to see more seasons in the future. Fingers crossed that the reboot will be continued, with better distribution this time.
The previous chapter of Chainsaw Man left Nayuta’s survival up in the air.
Going into Chapter 155, “The Old Me” I was interested to see what the resolution would be, only to be meet with another cliffhanger concerning Nayuta’s fate.
The chapter begins with some members of the angry mob regaining their senses, not wanting to attack Nayuta because she’s a kid.
Of course, Barem has to ruin this positive change, as he puts the gun to his head, pretending that Nayuta is trying to make him kill himself.
This turns the mob against Nayuta again, and they all lunge at her, right as her and Denji’s burning apartment collapses.
The chapter then transitions into a flashback from Nayuta’s perspective, showing what happened when Denji first took her in.
We see that Nayuta looked into Denji’s memories while he slept and learned of her past life as Makima.
Wanting to know who she was, Nayuta decided to continue Makima’s plan of making Denji happy and then destroying that happiness.
Fortunately, Denji’s role as a big brother in Nayuta’s life changed her for the better, as we see her running with Denji and their dogs, an adorable smile on her face.
The chapter then changes to Denji’s perspective of the flashback, with him reassuring Nayuta that they are family one night.
This memory causes Denji’s negative emotions to emerge, with a younger version of himself appearing out of the darkness to remind Denji that he told Nayuta he no longer needed her.
“There’s no way I could ever have a family,” the younger Denji says. “I mean, I killed my own dad.”
Denji killing his own father is what haunts him the most, and he is clearly still traumatized from how Makima weaponized this against him.
The chapter then ends with Denji waking up in a hospital, with Nayuta’s fate once again left up in the air.
I have to hope that Nayuta is alive, considering that I don’t think even Fujimoto would kill her off screen.
There is also the mystery of where exactly the story goes now.
Since the mob saw Denji transform, is the whole world going to know he’s Chainsaw Man now?
Is Denji in the custody of Public Safety, or just in a regular hospital?
And what happened to Asa and Yoru after they got that power-up?
Those two have been gone for what feels like forever.
We will have to wait for the next chapter to hopefully find out some of these questions.
“The Old Me” is another short chapter, but it still does a good of characterizing Nayuta, and how Denji’s influence has changed her for the better.
Let’s just hope she survived.
There have been a lot of breaks with Chainsaw Man Part Two but, thankfully, there was not one between Chapters 153 and 154, “Chainsaw Man Hunters” and “All Pets.”
They are, as usual, brief chapters, although they both highlight the characters.
In particular, Chapter 153 shows how great of a character Nayuta is, while Chapter 154 shows how useless Fumiko is.
Chapter 154, “Chainsaw Man Hunters” begins in the aftermath of Denji defeating the Weapons.
Now severely wounded, he faces another threat, this being the ire of the public.
As expected, many of them are terrified of him now because of the attacking Chainsaw Man clones.
Despite Nayuta and Fumiko’s protests, the angry mob attacks Denji, throwing a net of barb wire over him and then attempting to set him on fire.
Fujimoto has done an excellent job of showing how the public has turned against Chainsaw Man out of fear.
They do not listen to reason, many of them wanting to save their own loved ones, and when Denji defends himself, it only cements his danger in their minds.
The woman who led Nayuta away in the previous chapter attempts to get her to safety, but Nayuta protests, declaring Chainsaw Man her family.
The woman insists he is not her family anymore, calling Denji a “thing” as we see a panel of him being brutalized by the mob while laughing.
We then get my favorite panels of the chapter, where the mention of family causes Nayuta to remember Denji displaying just how much he loved her in a previous chapter.
Nayuta’s decision to save her family is clear as day in the following panel, and she uses her control powers to take over the mind of the woman trying to pull her away.
The chapter then ends with the controlled woman and Nayuta screaming, “Run Chainsaw Man!”
“Chainsaw Man Hunters” is a solid chapter, which elevated my love for Nayuta’s character.
However, if Chapter 153 made me love Nayuta more, Chapter 154 brought my opinion of Fumiko to rock bottom.
Beginning with Nayuta taking over more people to help Denji, Chapter 154 “All Pets” has her turn to help from Fumiko next.
However, Fumiko is completely unwilling to help, stating that “risking my life falls outside the scope of my job.”
Newsflash, Fumiko: If you’re not prepared to risk your life defending someone, then you should not be a bodyguard in the first place.
If this were not bad enough, Fumiko makes herself look even worse by dismissing Nayuta declaring that her family just died.
“Weren’t they just pets?” she asks Nayuta, without a shred of sympathy, before making her escape.
After that display, I would say that Nayuta calling Fumiko a “diarrhea woman” is completely fair (and also hilarious).
But seriously, what has Fumiko even done at this point?
She groped Denji when they first met without his consent and has proven to be a spectacularly terrible bodyguard.
She did not help Denji during the karaoke brawl for most of the fight, spied on him taking a dump, and now abandoned him and Nayuta with barely any effort to help them.
And yet she claimed in a previous chapter that she could protect them?
If I was Yoshida, you can bet Fumiko would be out of a job with her awful track record.
Unless Fumiko leaving is some kind of bait and switch (which I doubt considering her harsh words to Nayuta), then she is easily Chainsaw Man‘s most useless character.
With Fumiko now gone, Nayuta loses control of the crowd, and they quickly turn on her, with an injured Barem stoking the flames.
Before being completely surrounded, Nayuta manages to get control of one person to rescue Denji, using this person to tell him he was wrong about not needing her.
I do have a hard time believing Denji could get away when he was completely surrounded before, but I guess the crowd’s attention had turned towards Nayuta.
The Control Devil’s last stand then begins, with Nayuta taking over more people to defend herself.
It is not enough, however, and she is quickly overwhelmed.
In a last attempt to save herself, Nayuta screams that she is just a kid.
Thankfully, the angry mob has just enough morality left to hesitate.
Barem, on the other hand, has no such morality, aiming a gun at Nayuta.
“All Pets” then ends, leaving Nayuta’s fate up in the air for another two-week break.
For these past two weeks, I have been wondering if Nayuta will survive.
I hope so because she is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
Although, Fujimoto has certainly not been afraid of killing beloved characters before, and Nayuta’s last words to Denji really felt like a goodbye, so it could happen.
When we get the next chapter tomorrow, I will have my fingers crossed that someone will save her.
Who knows, maybe Asa and Yoru will finally return to save Yoru’s sister?
If Barem does kill Nayuta though, I will be all abord the “Denji better kill him” train.
“Chainsaw-Man Hunters” and “All Pets” are both enjoyable chapters for how brief they are.
I would say I prefer Chapter 153 because of how great Nayuta was, while Chapter 154 made me wonder what the point of Fumiko’s character was.
I hope Nayuta survives in the next chapter, tomorrow.
I first became aware of Vivienne Medrano (Viziepop) when YouTube recommended me the Helluva Boss pilot. After binging the web series, I moved onto the Hazbin Hotel pilot and was surprised by the fanbase it had amassed, despite only having a single episode. Due to the pilot’s popularity, Viziepop was able to get the series picked up by A24, with it eventually airing on Amazon Prime; the final two episodes having aired yesterday. I have to admit, it is quite inspiring to hear of all the hard work it took to get Hazbin Hotel to the point it is now, and Viziepop and her team have definitely earned the show’s success.
It took over four years for the show to air after the pilot released.
But, after so much hype for it, how is the actual series? Hazbin Hotel follows the Princess of Hell, Charlie Morningstar (Erika Henningsen), who wants to stop Heaven’s yearly Extermination of sinners. Her plan is to start the titular Hazbin Hotel, a place dedicated to redeeming sinners so that the Angels will not have to kill them. Helping Charlie is her girlfriend Vaggie (Stephanie Beatriz), Hell’s biggest porn star Angel Dust (Blake Roman), the mysterious Radio Demon Alastor (Amir Talai), his servants Husk (Keith David) and Nifty (Kimiko Glenn), and the snake demon Sir Pentious (Alex Brightman). The story follows these and many other characters in Hell’s misadventures, and almost each and every one of them are well designed and interesting. My favorites of the bunch is definitely Alastor as, just like in the pilot, his sketchy nature and unclear motives mix excellently with his entertaining personality.
I look forward to finally knowing what Alastor’s motives are in future seasons.
But by far the best part of Hazbin Hotel are the musical numbers. Yes, the series is a musical and pretty much every number is a hit. Songs like “Happy Day in Hell”, “Stayed Gone”, and my personal favorite “Loser” are all excellent and they played in my head for days after first hearing them. It got to the point that, every time an episode was about to air, I looked forward to hearing what the next musical number would be.
“Loser” is very catchy with a great message about accepting yourself.
These vibrant characters and fun musical numbers are aided by mostly solid animation throughout. There are a few dips in quality, like in the first episode where Vaggie disappears from where she was standing beside Charlie. Aside from this and a few other issues, the animation is quite well done, especially in Episode Eight when the action pops off. One thing I was worried about going into Hazbin Hotel was the humor. Although I laughed at a few of the jokes in the first couple Helluva Boss episodes, it has been a long time since I laughed at any of the humor in recent episodes. It just felt most of the jokes just boiled down to demons swearing and saying sexual things, so I was worried Hazbin Hotel’s humor would be the same. Thankfully, the comedy in the series mostly lands, with the jokes surrounding Nifty’s craziness always making me bust a gut laughing.
Nifty creeping out everyone around her will never not be funny.
Unfortunately, even though the humor works, this does not mean Hazbin Hotel is without its issues, especially when it comes to the pacing. I would argue that the first season’s eight-episode length is its biggest issue. Because of this short time to tell the story, it feels like we are missing multiple moments of character development. Angel’s self-improvement mostly happens off screen, and Charlie acts like she trusts Alastor one episode and distrusts him the next. Along with this, characters like Carmilla Carmine (Daphne Rubin-Vega) and Emily (Shoba Narayan) get these big emotional beats when we are just getting to know them and don’t have time to adjust.
The pacing of the show often feels rushed.
If Hazbin Hotel had got twelve or thirteen episodes, like most animated shows these days, I think the quality of the story could have been a lot better. Hopefully with the series’ impressive success, it will convince A24 and Amazon Prime to greenlight more episodes for Season Two so this problem will not be repeated. Other than the pacing, I quite enjoyed Hazbin Hotel. The characters are great, the humor usually lands and, of course, the musical numbers are catchy as all hell, pun intended. I’m already looking forward to Season Two and hope it can improve upon the issues of the first.
The first trailer for Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender did an amazing job of hyping up fans for the show. Now, we finally have the second trailer, which easily topped it. The first part of the trailer seems to be narrated by Monk Gyatso, who we then appear to see briefly fighting Fire Lord Sozin during the Air Nomad genocide. From the brief shot we get, it looks like Gyatso has subdued many attacking Fire Benders before Sozin intervenes. Seeing Gyatso’s last stand will be a great addition, since we did not get to see it in the original cartoon.
I am curious to see if this will be the first scene of the show, or a flashback when Aang visits the Southern Air Temple.
The trailer then shows Aang being freed from the iceberg, which is much more explosive than in the cartoon’s first episode. The music from the original show also kicks in here, bringing a comforting feeling of nostalgia. From here, we get a brief look at the performances we will be getting for the show. Kiawentiio sounds good as Katara, and Ian Ousley seems to be a perfect live-action Sokka, with his bits of comic relief. Dallas Liu also looks great as Zuko, and we get shots of him rescuing Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Iroh. We also see Azula using a bow and arrow, which is interesting because I don’t think she ever used one in the original show. They could just be holding off on showing her blue fire until the second season. As for Gordon Cormier, he seems to play Aang’s uncertainty of his destiny well, as we see him being comforted by a wonderfully animated Appa. Momo also looks great when he jumps on Sokka’s head in another solid comedic bit.
The humor of the show looks to be on point.
The trailer then shows us brief shots of many characters from the original. We see June, Hei Bai, Zhao, and Aang fighting alongside the Blue Spirit. There are even hints of some of the conjoining storylines we will get in Netflix’s version of the story. For example, we see Aang flying with Teo but, rather than being at the Northern Air Temple, they are clearly in Omashu, where Bumi’s storyline takes place.
I hope the shortened or condensed storylines still work.
Speaking of Bumi, we also see him briefly fighting with Aang. The shot of him doing this is intercut with many other action shots, which flow togethor beautifully in a fantastically edited moment. It’s the best moment of the trailer, which shows off the fighting styles of characters like Bumi, Aang, Zuko, Katara, Sokka and Jet perfectly.
The last few action shots are perfectly edited together.
The trailer then ends with the iconic music playing over Aang going into the Avatar State at the Southern Air Temple. The first trailer for Netflix’s Avatar was great, but this second trailer brought my excitement to a whole other level. My only criticism is that there is one CGI shot of Aang accidentally Airbending himself into a statue which looked a bit dodgy.
Something about the physics of Aang’s body hitting the statue here just didn’t look right to me.
Otherwise, this trailer was perfect. The CGI was mostly pretty good, the acting looks fun, and the action was edited to flow into the trailer nicely. I am now more excited for this show than ever. February 22nd cannot come soon enough.
Chapter 151 of Chainsaw Man ended on the ominous note of Denji laughing after finally transforming into the titular Devil.
The disturbing feeling this cliffhanger left us on definitely builds well into Chapter 152, Massage, where we see Denji’s complete mental breakdown.
The chapter begins with a panel showing off Chainsaw Man in his demented glory, before revealing that there were plenty of witnesses to the transformation.
These witnesses think Denji is just another Chainsaw Man wannabe, but I think this impression is definitely proven wrong to them by the end.
Having got what they wanted, the Weapons release Fumiko and begin their own transformations.
As this is happening, Nayuta tries to get Denji to run away with her, but he callously tells her to get out of his way.
The panel of Nayuta’s shocked expression when Denji says this is excellently drawn by Fujimoto.
Nayuta is led away by a woman in the crowd and Denji begins talking to Pochita again.
He states that he is the worst because, despite his apartment being burned down with his pets supposedly inside, he still feels “like a million bucks’ because he gets to be Chainsaw Man again.
What follows is, unfortunately, a messily drawn fight.
Before this point in the chapter, the art was actually really good, but when it gets to the action it is pretty hard to tell what is going on.
Perhaps Fujimoto wanted to make the fight chaotic to show the danger of Denji’s transformation?
If that was his intent, I would say that he did too good of a job.
Still, despite this fight being hard to understand in certain panels, I would still not call it bad because we can get the general gist of it.
Denji is stabbed from behind by the Spear Hybrid but then bisects the both of them so he can start to eat him.
When the Whip Hybrid tries to intervene, Denji does the same to her, while she begs Sugo to help.
It is kind of funny seeing the Weapons be so overconfident in the previous chapters, only to now be dealt a hand of extremely bloody revenge.
Sugo does attempt to fight Denji, but this goes as well as you would expect, with both impaling each other, although this clearly affects Sugo more than Denji.
Nayuta tries one more time to convince Denji to flee with her, but Denji instead says she should not be around him anymore, resulting in another gutting panel of Nayuta’s reaction.
Denji then compares the fight he is having to a massage, “where it hurts just right, and damn do I feel good!”
A chapter then ends on Denji’s maniacal laughter for the second time.
“Massage” is yet another great chapter for Chainsaw Man.
My only issue is that some of the action is hard to follow.
Otherwise, it delivers both satisfying karma for the Weapons, and gut-wrenching moments of Denji pushing Nayuta away.
This likely will not end well, considering it was Denji’s influence which stopped her from becoming another Makima.
There is also the question of what will happen to the Weapons.
Barem is still yet to jump into the fight, and the Whip and Spear Hybrids could be in danger of disappearing forever.
Keep in mind that Chainsaw Man’s power is to erase what he eats from history, and Denji did start eating them.
However, he ate Makima and this only reincarnated her, so we will have to wait and see what happens to the Weapons.
As for Denji, he seems to have completely lost his mind and is powered up by the public’s fear of Chainsaw Man.
This would be the perfect time to bring Asa and Yoru into the conflict.
They could be drawn in by the sound of battle and be the only ones capable of fighting Denji, considering they have also been powered up by the fear of war.
We will have to wait and see if this happens though.
Overall, “Massage” is another good chapter, which delivers satisfying, if a little hard to follow action.
In 1972, a plane flying a rugby team from Uruguay to Chile crashed in the Andes Mountains. The survivors hoped for a quick rescue but, as days turned into weeks, they began to realize a rescue would not be coming. Stuck in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet, with freezing temperatures and a quickly dwindling food supply, the survivors had to do the unthinkable to survive. Directed by J. A. Bayona, Society of the Snow tells the true story of this tragic event, resulting in a film that is both haunting and somehow inspiring.
The fact that this is a true story makes the events of the film even more impactful.
When a film is based around real life tragedies, it is important to honor the real people involved, and Society of the Snow does this better than any other film I have seen. The actual survivors who saw and, in some cases, actually had small roles in the movie, have praised it for its mostly accurate take on the events. It is easy to see why because it is not just the survivors who are honored in Society of the Snow, but also those who tragically passed in the disaster. This led to an unexpected subversion in the film, which caught me completely off guard, even though I had already heard the true story of the Andes crash before. What helped sell the respect being paid to both the survivors and the victims were the fantastic performances.
Everyone in Society of the Snow does an excellent job.
The ones who truly shined for me were Enzo Vogrincic as Numa Turcatti, Augustín Pardella as Nando Parrado, Matías Recalt, as Roberto Canessa, and Esteban Bigliardi as Javier Methol. The performances were so great that it left me tearing up at two specific points. Many of the actors were newcomers as well, making their performances all the more impressive. Along with the acting, what also sells the harrowing events of this true story is the fantastic cinematography. The extreme wide shots of the landscape help convey just how cut off from the rest of the world the survivors of the crash were.
Shots like these really show how dire the survivors’ situation was.
The depictions of what they endured and had to do to survive is haunting, yet also inspiring when we see the camaraderie between the survivors and their heroic actions towards the end of the film. From beginning to end, Society of the Snow is a fantastic movie, which I would claim is one of the greatest depictions of a real-life tragedy ever put to film. It left me feeling haunted, inspired, but also feeling like the movie had honored both the survivors and the victims perfectly. Check it out on Netflix if you have not seen it yet.
Willa Wonka is an iconic character who has appeared in a few films over the decades, some beloved, some less so. With a lot of prequels coming out these days to unnecessarily explain things we did not need answers to, it is understandable to hear about Wonka and get a feeling of dread. This feeling lessened for me, though, when I learned Paul King was directing. He directed the two Paddington films and those were both charming films. In fact, that is the perfect word to describe Wonka: Charming.
King was probably the best person to direct this film, as he clearly understood the wonder of the original.
The film follows the younger Willy Wonka (Timothee Chalamet) as he sets out to begin his chocolate making career, only to meet adversity at every turn. He quickly finds himself in debt to a pair of swindlers, his attempts to sell chocolate are sabotaged by the Chocolate Cartel, and his chocolate is consistently be stolen by an Oompa Loompa (Hugh Grant) out to be repaid. With help from a young girl named Noodle (Calah Lane), Wonka sets out to use his chocolate making skills to create a life for himself and his newfound friends. What follows is, as said, a charming film with solid musical numbers and a lot of good laughs. In particular, I found the physical humor of the corrupt chief of police (Keegan-Michael Key) to get the best laughs.
Key’s chocolate addicted policeman provides quite a few chuckles visually.
As for the rest of the cast, Chalamet does a great job as this younger version of Willy Wonka, showing off the character’s optimism and chocolate-making genius. Lane also brings a lot of charm as Noodle, as do the actors playing the trio in the Chocolate Cartel. They are catoonishly evil but I do not mean that as a criticism. Their over-the-top performances perfectly suit the wacky world they live in, and contrasts Wonka’s own wacky goodness nicely.
The villains are over the top but the good kind.
All of this results in a fun film for the family, which can be enjoyed by adults just as much as kids. The performances are good, the musical numbers are entertaining, and there are a lot of good laughs to be had. I honestly would not mind seeing another film following this take on Willy Wonka.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 