The Last of Us HBO Review: When Change is Best.

The Last of Us is my favourite video game of all time.
However, in recent years my opinion of its continuation has been rather rocky.
First there was The Last of Us Part 2 which, while I loved the gameplay, I thought the story was so poor that it made me lose interest in playing it again all togethor.
Then there was The Last of Us “Remake”, which seemed like an overpriced remaster to me than anything else.
Because of these issue I was having, I was a bit skeptical of how The Last of Us’ HBO adaptation would turn out.
Granted, there were plenty of signs that it would turn out great.
Not only was the creator of Chernobyl, Craig Mazin, behind the project but The Last of Us is also a video game that lends itself really well to be adapted into a cinematic format.
After watching the entire first season, I can say that I should have had more faith because the show is a fantastic adaptation of the video game, with plenty of excellent changes.

The best part of *The Last of Us* adaptation is undoubtedly how it diverges from the original game in interesting ways.

Created by both Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the director of both Part One and Two, the story is almost the same as the original game.
Twenty years after the Cordyceps fungal infection jumped to humans and brought about the apocalypse, ruthless survivor Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) is working as a smuggler, alongside his partner Tess (Anna Torv).
Wanting to get a car to search for his missing brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna), Joel accepts a deal with Marlene (Merle Dandridge), the leader of a revolutionary group known as the Fireflies.
The deal is to escort a spunky, foul-mouted teenager named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) through the infected landscape to safety.

So begins the characters’ journey across a desolate America.

However, when this plan goes awry, and Ellie’s immunity to the Cordyceps Infection is revealed, Joel has to escort her across the country.
As they journey, the two fight off infected, likewise ruthless survivors, and slowly begin to grow closer as a father and daughter.
This father and daughter bond is the heart of The Last of Us so the creators of the show had to get it absolutely right when casting Joel and Ellie.
Thankfully, they did an excellent job with the casting, as Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey bring new depth to the characters.
I will say that I was a bit unsure of Ramsey when starting the show.
I knew from seeing her in Game of Thrones that she could act but the prior performances of hers I had seen never screamed Ellie to me.
Then I saw her first scene in the show and I felt like a fool because she absolutely nails her portrayal of the character.

Ramsey’s first scene was enough to convince me that she was the perfect choice to play Ellie.

These great portrayals of the characters are very faithful to the original game, for the most part.
Oddly enough though, this show is at its best not when it is following the source material but when it is doing something different.
In fact, I would say that the best episodes of the show are the ones where this is the case.
Episode Five, “Endure and Survive”, gives the characters of Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Montreal) a completely new and interesting backstory, while also concluding on a much more explosive fight.
Episode Nine, “When We Are in Need”, expands on David’s (Scott Shepherd) character through showing how he runs his group as a manipulative cult leader, while hinting at his sickening past, making him a much more disturbing character than in the game.
Best of all though is Episode Three, “Long, Long Time,” which gives Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) a completely different, much more emotionally engaging story, which actually rivals Joel and Ellie’s story across the season.

I did not expect Bill and Frank’s story to be this good before watching it.

Honestly, it was when the show actually recreated the game beat-for-beat that we got less interesting episodes.
Take Episode Seven, for example, “Left Behind”, where everything is pretty much the same as the game, except for a downgraded final attack, resulting in an episode that I felt like I said been before because, well, I had, and was thus less interested.
This is not the only issue with the season because the final episode, “Look for the Light”, goes by so fast that it feels a little short.

I feel like the finale would have had more impact if certain scenes had more time to breath.

Not only this but there is a bit of cognitive dissonance with the ending, in my experience.
One thing that I appreciated about the show was how realistic it was.
Joel kills hundreds of people across the game but that is just not realistic to the real world, so they scaled it down for the show.
But Joel’s final decision requires him to become that killing machine so, when it happens in the last episode, it does feel slightly at odds to what came before.
Speaking of being at odds with what came before, it is really weird to watch those terrifying cold opens in the first few episodes, which expand on the nature of the Cordyceps Infection, only for that infection to barely feature in the latter half of the season.

The cold open of Episode One was a fantastic and terrifying addition to the show but it feels weird given the lack of infected later on in the show.

These problems are relatively minor to the show’s successes, however.
They adapted events from the game well and made some incredible changes to the original story.
You want to know how much I liked the changes?
I liked them so much that I am actually now open to seeing how they will adapt Part Two.
Who knows, they might actually make some changes that make me like the story.
As for the adaptation of the first game, though, it is mostly fantastic, being good enough to rank high up with other good video game adaptations, like Arcane and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
It will be interesting to see what is in for The Last of Us franchise going forward.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 123, Hors D’oeuvre Review: Introducing the Most Hated Chainsaw Man Character.

Following the release of Chapter 122 of Chainsaw Man, many readers threw their hats into the ring over what Devil the new Primal Fear that was introduced would be.
Most, including myself, speculated that it was the Death Devil.
However, Chapter 123, ” Hors D’oeuvre”, opens up by revealing that the arriving Primal Fear is actually the Falling Devil.
This answer probably should have been obvious since the Devil just made people fall to their deaths, and a fear of falling is something that pretty much all people have.
Just think about how we all throw out our hands up wildly to catch ourselves whenever we trip.
Of course, falling would be a Primal Fear.
There were actually a few readers who did guess the Devil’s identity but I am certain that absolutley none of these people expected that the Falling Devil would put on a chef’s outfit and start speaking French.
It’s so weird and, once again, only something that an insane mind like Fujimoto’s could come up with.
Let the man cook, I say.
Although, the Falling Devil’s method of cooking is a lot more brutal, considering that she says that she is, “visiting at the request of the resident’s of hell.”
While this is happening, Yoru is continuing to flee, screaming at Asa to snap out of it, confirming that Asa’s earlier suicidal thoughts were a result of the Falling Devil.
This is further confirmed when the Falling Devil seems to trigger a traumatic memory for Asa, which introduces the most hated character in Chainsaw Man.
Yes, even more so than Makima.
Asa flashes back to her time in the orphange after her parents’ deaths.
All she had left was her cat, until the woman who ran the orphange offered to give it a better life.
The woman essentially guilt trips Asa into handing the cat over.
It is in this moment that Asa shows how truly good of a person she is at heart because she informs the woman that the cat’s name is Cambron, and asks her to make him happy.
She throws away her own happiness for the sake of Cambron’s and this makes it all the more infuriating when the next scene reveals that the woman actually drowned Cambron.
A fellow orphan tells Asa that he and his friends saw the cat’s body at the bottom of a river.
When Asa confronts the woman with this information, she is coldly told, “Everyone here lost their family. You can’t be the only one with a family member. Isn’t that unfair?”
No, what’s unfair is tricking a vulnerable girl into giving you her cat so you can murder it and render her entirely alone, all because you were jealous that she had a family member when you didn’t.
It gets even worse when you remember that Asa’s mother died because she saved Cambron.
Not only does this rob Asa of the only family she had left but it also probably deepened her guilt by making her mother’s death feel pointless.
What an evil woman that orphanage director is.
I truly hope this character returns at some point so she can be on the recieving end of some much deserved justice.
Being killed by the Cat Devil would be true karma, for instance.
Getting back to the chapter itself, this traumatic memory Asa is experiencing plays right into the Falling Devil’s hands, as it causes her to suddenly fall upwards.
Asa is only able to stop herself from falling up into the sky because she grabs hold of a railing.
Many others are not so lucky, as the Falling Devil makes them fall up until they disappear into doors, which presumably lead straight into hell.
Given what happened during Denji’s visit there in Part One, I highly doubt anything nice happened to these people.
It would seem that that the Falling Devil’s power is only affecting those with traumatic memories, as she explains, “The lower the heart sinks, the higher the body falls.”
The chapter then ends with Yoru yelling at Asa to not be afraid because she cannot enter her body if she is, paying off the set up from the Bat Devil attack near the beginning of Part Two, where Yoru learned exactly this.
All in all, Hors D’oeuvre is a fantastic Chainsaw Man chapter, which does an excellent job of introducing the Falling Devil and delving further into Asa’s traumatic past.
As for what the future holds, this face off against the Falling Devil is clearly not going to be easy.
She is a Primal Fear, after all; a Devil which has never been killed, just like the Darkness Devil.
What’s worse, there may be more Primal Fears coming if a certain fan theory is to be believed.
This theory, posted by u/winddagger7, states that the seven prisoners who are set to die in the next week represent a Primal Devil travelling to earth, building up to the apocalypse.
However, this theory is too detailed to get into here so if you want to read it you can do so here.
In the end, whether this theory turns out to be true or not, we are certainly in for more insanity in Chainsaw Man and I am all for it.

Scream 6 Review: The Most Brutal Ghostface Yet.

I got back into the Scream franchise a few months after the fifth installment released.
Ever since then, I had been eagerly anticipating Scream 6, to the point that I did not watch any trailers, except for the first one, so I would be going in blind.
However, despite my excitement, I was still prepared for disappointment, considering this would be the first Scream film without Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott.
Her absence in this movie is because of a pay dispute and to that I say she should have been paid what shewas owed as the face of this franchise.
Although, as Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) says in this movie, Sidney deserves a happy ending.
So, if the last we ever see of Sidney Prescott is her surviving in Scream 5, then I will be satisfied with her story.

Sidney’s absence is also explained well enough.

As for Scream 6‘s story, it follows the sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) who have moved to New York following the events of Scream 5, along with siblings Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown).
However, when a new series of Ghostface killings begin, the four are left wondering who to trust, with numerous suspects including the returning Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere), Detective Wayne Bailey (Dermot Mulroney), his daughter and the Carpenter’s roommate Quinn (Lianna Liberato), their neighbour Danny (Josh Sergerra), Mindy’s girlfriend Anika (Devyn Nekoda), and Chad’s roommate Ethan (Jack Champion).
Alongside this large cast comes an even larger body count, with this Ghostface being the scariest in the entire franchise.

Ghostface is absolutley brutal in this movie.

I am so glad that I did not watch any of the trailers after the first because it made for more terrifying surprises.
Speaking of surprises, Scream 6 has by far the best opening scene, since the first one.
It was such a shocking opening and left me wondering just where this film was going.
The film builds from adrenaline rushing scene to anxiety inducing scene, until we finally reach the big third act, which has plenty of great reveals and character development.
I especially enjoyed the development of the Carpenter sisters with Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega doing an excellent job as the characters.

The resolutions to Sam and Tara’s arcs in this movie was great.

As for flaws, there is one very obvious red herring that made me roll my eyes a bit.
Also, the film does stretch believability at times with how many characters survive what should be fatal wounds.
More importantly though, I was not really a fan of Gale’s role in this movie.
She does have some awesome moments but it the way she is presented here went entirely against her ending in Scream 5.
Along with this, it kind of felt like her ending in this movie may have been rewritten, although that’s just a suspicion.

The way Gale is presented as a character in this movie really bothered me.

Other than those few issues, however, Scream 6 is a great time.
It has solid character development and callbacks, as well as some incredibly intense scenes with what has to be the scariest Ghostface of the franchise.
I am already eagerly anticipating Scream 7.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 122, The Prophecies Review: Getting Darker.

After a two week break, Chainsaw Man has returned with Chapter 122, “The Prophecies” and, boy, does it not disappoint.
“The Prophecies” is definitley the darkest chapter of Part Two so far and has a lot of implications for the future of the story.
Rather than begin with where the previous chapter left off, with Asa and Yoru encountering an unknown Devil, the chapter instead begins with Yoshida finally confronting Fami, an event that was foreshadowed all the way back when they had their stare down following the aquarium incident.
Much like he did with Denji, Yoshida attempts to interrogate Fami by buying her some food at a cafe.
This is not good for Yoshida’s wallet however because Fami orders enough to feed an entire class of students, all for herself.
Although, it does make quite a bit of sense for the Famine Devil to be so hungry.
Yoshida is suspicious of how little Fami is doing to hide her identity and uses this as a segue to question her about a prophecy from Nostradamus, a French man who actually lived in the 1500s and was supposedly a seer.
Yoshida recites a part of Nostradamus’ prophecy, stating, “In the seventh month of 1999, a great king of terror will descend.”
Since Chainsaw Man takes place in the 1990s, it is easy to assume that the time of this supposed prophecy is close.
Supporting this is the fact that Yoshida tells Fami that Public Saftey had 30 convicts make a contract with the Future Devil to see when they would die.
All but seven were said to die in July 1999.
Fami then correctly guesses the other seven were prophecised to die this week.
So does this mean that the events of the prophecy will happen in seven days?
The implications for the story become even graver when you know the rest of Nostradamus’ prophecy, which is actually not said in the chapter.
The rest of the prophecy states, “[Shall be] revived the great King of Angoulmois. Before and after, Mars [shall] reign as chance will have it.”
The King of Angoulmois is thought by many to be Genghis Khan, who was a conqueror so maybe this represents the Horseman of Conquest, meaning Nayuta.
However, although that Nayuta theory is a bit dubious, the mention of Mars is almost certainly key because Mars was the Roman God of War, so Fujimoto is most likely using this prophecy to foreshadow Yoru’s importance.
Getting back to Yoshida and Fami, the latter then reveals to Yoshida that forty seconds ago “The first of the Devils who will shepherd the world to the ultimate terror” appeared at an apartment block.
She explains that this Devil is a primal fear, making it at least as strong as the Darkness Devil, but the scene cuts before she can tell Yoshida its name.
We then get the most disturbing scene of the chapter, as we see a couple sitting in their apartment.
The man excitedly tells his partner that he might get a promotion next month, leading to a discussion about the possibility of buying a car, only for the man to suggest, completley out of the blue, that they should both die.
His partner instantly agrees and the two go outside and fling themselves from their apartment to their deaths, along with many other residents in the apartment block.
The full-page panel of these people committing suicide in front of Yoru is highly disturbing.
It also makes me wonder if Asa’s suicidal thoughts in the previous chapter could have been caused by the Devil making these people take their own lives.
Speaking of that Devil, it makes quite the entrance, forming from the corpses of its victims.
Despite having a ruler sword, Yoru realises this is not a fight she can win and runs for both her and Asa’s lives, as the Devil forms behind her in the form of a giant naked woman with multiple hands, bringing “The Prophecies” to a close.
As for what this Devil is, I think the most likely candidate is the Death Devil.
The Suicide Devil is a possibility but I can’t imagine suicide being a primal fear, like say darkness or death.
Plus, the Death Devil is the only member of the Four Horsemen who we have not seen yet.
If this is the Death Devil then Yoru definitley made the right call running away from it because death is definitley the thing humans fear the most so it would undoubtedly be the most powerful Devil.
I think even Denji would struggle against it.
Overall, “Prophecies” is a fantastic chapter for Chainsaw Man.
It sets up a dark future with the inclusion of the Nostradamus’ prophecies and potentially introduces the Death Devil itself.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Review: A Grim Start to Phase Five.

Being the first film in Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it felt like there was a lot riding on Ant-Man: Quantumania going in.
While there were some jems in Phase Four, Spider-Man: Far From Home in particular, the majority of that phase felt aimless and misguided, with way too much of a focus on humor.
Quantumania could have served as a new beginning for the MCU but, unfortunately, it is just more of the same, sometimes in the worst of ways.
Directed by Peyton Reed, the film follows Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) who, after playing a key role in reversing the snap in Endgame, is living a happy and successful life with his girlfriend Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton).
However, after Cassie somehow creates a portal to the Quantum Realm, the three of them, along with Hope’s parents Hank (Michael Douglas) and Janet (Michelle Pteiffer), are sucked inside.
Now in the Quantum Realm, the five have to find a way to escape, while being pursued by the MCU’s next big bad Kang the Conqueror, who Janet has a history with, which she constantly refuses to explain, creating a large amount of frustration for the audience.

Ant-Man must escape the Quantum Realm in this latest film.

Although Quantumania is one of the worst reviewed MCU movies, one thing it has been constantly praised for is Jonathan Majors’ performance as Kang and for good reason.
Majors is excellent as the Conqueror and the film does a fantastic job of building him up to be a threat… which is admittedly diluted by the end, due to the fact that he struggles to defeat Ant-Man.
It’s like if Thanos was defeated by Spider-Man in his first movie appearance.
He would just not be as threatening.
Despite this, I am still interested in the character and what he will bring to the MCU going forward.

Along with Kang, one thing that I heard a lot about before watching Quantumania was the humor, although for the opposite reason.
So many people were saying that the jokes were terrible and robbed many scenes of all tension.
Honestly though, for the first half hour to forty-five minutes, I was not having this issue.
Sure, there were a lot of jokes and not all of them were funny but I never found the humor to be insufferable.
Then MODOK (Corey Stoll) showed up and I understood what everyone was talking about.
I do not say this lightly but MODOK is straight up one of the worst characters in all of the MCU.
Not only does the CGI for him look atrocious but he is also the subject of some of the most unfunny “jokes” I have seen in a long time.
I was literally face palming when awful MODOK “humor” kept interrupting the third act battle.

MODOK should have been removed from the movie. Not only does he look terrible but the writing and attempts at comedy surrounding him all fail spectacularly.

Speaking of that third act battle, there are so many dumb tropes, like characters constantly removing their helmets, villains not killing the heroes when they have them dead to rights, and the ending seemingly concluding on an impactful note only to retcon it at the last moment.
The editing is also so poor by the end that it makes a lot of the action hard to follow.
As well as this, the final battle sees no resolution to any of the characters’ arcs for the simple reason that no character has an arc in this movie.
Well, except for MODOK but his is so abrupt and terrible that I once again had to facepalm in the theater.
As for Scott Lang, the film ends with him being exactly the same person he was in the beginning.
Also, despite the movie being named Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, it felt like Hope was barely in this.
Hank Pym is just there as well and, while I did find Janet’s backstory with Kang to be interesting, it does not go anywhere by the end.
Cassie also represents a problem with the MCU lately and that is just how easy it is to invent futuristic tech.
I mean, in the first Iron Man, Tony Stark had to build his suit under intense pressure while being held captive by terrorists.
Now in Quantumania, we have a teenager just building a portal to the Quantum Realm in a basement, with their skills to do so not being established beforehand.

Cassie is suddenly a genius inventor in this film when I don’t recall her being established as one in the previous *Ant-Man* movies.

So, as you can see by my descriptions, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a mess overall and a rather grim start to Phase Five.
While it does have some good qualities, most notably Jonathan Majors as Kang, the rest of the characters have no arcs, there is a lot of bad humor, and MODOK is the most insufferable comic relief character I have seen in a while.
I do have hope for Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume Three but, beyond that, I would say that the MCU is in trouble if it does not get its act together soon.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 121, Theory of Happiness Review: An Unhappy Chapter.

The cliffhanger of Chapter 120 of Chainsaw Man made me think that we would finally get a reveal of just what is going on with Yoshida.
Instead, we got something kind of funny which, in turn, lead to something much more depressing.
Chapter 121, “Theory of Happiness” begins in the Devil Hunter Club room where Yoshida has got Asa a coffee in the hopes of talking to her.
This makes Asa wonder if he has started to like her since Yoru asked him out.
Yoshida begins the conversation by asking what she was mumbling outside of school.
When Asa explains that she was saying “life is easier on your own,” Yoshida agrees, stating that, while it might be easier to live with another person, there is really no guarantee such a thing will be permanent so a solitary life is less risky.
Yoshida affirming Asa’s “values” makes her believe that the Devil Hunter likes her.
Notice that I put “values” in quotation marks because, despite Asa saying to herself that “life is easier on your own,” everything she does goes against this.
After some reluctance she pursued a friendship with Yuko, then she began to like Denji and was secretly looking forward to going on a second date with him, and now she is anxiously excited at the thought of Yoshida liking her.
Asa is someone who craves social interaction in her life, whether that be friendly or romantic so, even though she claims to want a solitary life, she is just lying to herself.
Such can be seen with Asa’s disappointment when it is revealed that Yoshida actually wants to tell her to stay away from Denji.
The way this is revealed is pretty humurous, as Fujimoto builds up to it with each panel zooming in on Asa and Yoshida’s faces to make you think that Yoshida is about to confess, only for him to say “I want you to stay away from Denji,” in bold, on the next page.
What makes this reveal funnier is how much Yoshida sounds like a jealous lover, not helped by him saying, “you can interpret it however you like.”
His actual reasoning is more likely to be a way to keep Denji’s identity a secret, which the mysterious organization he works for ordered him to do.
However, Yoshida’s change in plan is rather strange.
He was the one who orchestrated the first meeting between Denji and Asa, hoping that if he set them up Denji would have no reason to reveal he was Chainsaw Man.
Now, he is trying to convince Asa to stay away from Denji so what changed?
Maybe he realized that Denji would just want to reveal his identity to Asa anyway, or maybe he became more suspicious of Asa’s power, since he is apparently the only one to notice when Yoru takes over, or maybe it is for some other reason entirely?
Whatever the case, we do not get an answer in this chapter, as the scene then cuts to Denji who is laying on the floor in his apartment, looking depressed after Nayuta convinced him to stay away from Asa.
It is at that moment, however, that Nayuta senses “the nastiest Devil scent I’ve ever smelled.”
She then continuosly slaps Denji’s butt, demanding that he go fight the Devil as Chainsaw Man because she wants to see the fight.
Denji is too sad to fight, until Nayuta points out that a lot of people will like him if he’s Chainsaw Man, even though she will not allow him to get a girlfriend.
We then cut back to Asa, who is walking the streets with Yoru, more depressed than ever.
Yoru actually tries to make Asa feel better about herself but even she looks disturbed at the dark turn Asa’s thoughts take, with her eventually thinking she would be better off dead, heavily implying suicidal thoughts.
It is then that a body crashes down from an apartment building next to Asa in what looks like a suicide.
Yoru immediately takes over Asa’s body, declaring something is wrong, and the two look up to see a bunch of people looking down at them from the apartment building with chillingly emotionless expressions as the chapter ends.
The people staring down at Asa and Yoru really reminded me of the Doll Devils’ power but I do not think this is what it is.
Instead, I think this is most likely going to turn out to be the Suicide Devil.
After all, Asa was just experiencing suicidal thoughts and the man who fell to his death from the building looked like a suicide.
Also the Death Devil is the only horseman we have not seen yet and I feel like the Suicide Devil could be closely connected.
Whatever Devil this turns out to be, Denji is definitley going to try and fight it, which will probably lead to a second confrontation between Yoru and Chainsaw Man.
Overall, “Theory of Happiness” was ironically a rather unhappy chapter, dealing with heavy subject matter like suicical thoughts but I thought Fujimoto handled these subjects well with plenty of realism.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 120, Triangle Review: Control Makes a Dog.

Chapter 119 of Chainsaw Man finally reintroduced Nayuta, a character many of us had been excited to see since the beginning of Part Two.
I, for one, was highly intrigued to see how Denji was raising her, what with the controlling nature of her previous life.
Well, it turned out that Nayuta has quite the controlling streak when it comes to her big brother, as the cliffhanger for Chapter 119 had her attacking Asa when she walked in on her and Denji kissing.
I originally thought that Nayuta was trying to kill Asa but what she actually does in the beginning of Chapter 120, “Triangle”, should have been obvious to me: She turns Asa into a dog.
Not literally of course but Asa is mentally a dog in this moment, barking at Denji and Nayuta’s huskies while Nayuta laughs her head off.
Of course, the character whose past life controlled Denji like a dog in Part One would make Asa a dog in Part Two.
Denji is none too pleased about Nayuta’s actions and demands that she turn Asa back, only for Nayuta to refuse because, “She spit on my property.”
It is readily apparent that, despite Denji’s best efforts, Nayuta still has the controlling aspects of Makima’s character.
This is to expected, however, since Nayuta is literally the Control Devil so being controlling is just in her nature.
As for Denji, he seems to have actually done a good job with Nayuta because he is actually able to talk her down, something he could not do with Makima.
Denji does have to make some concessions to Nayuta in order to free Asa, though.
The first of these is the simple demand of being allowed to eat ice cream every day.
The second is that Denji can no longer be friendly with Asa.
Nayuta does have a good reason for this, however, as she explains that she does not “like her sent,” which probably means she can smell Yoru but does not realize it is the War Devil.
So Nayuta actually does have Denji’s best interests at heart, even though she is a controlling little sister.
Nayuta then explains that she will wipe Asa’s memories to make her think Denji stood her up, and Denji protests this, obviously liking Asa at this point.
In the end, he relents because Nayuta comes first.
Nayuta’s response to this statement is to throw Denji a peace sign, much like Denji does to Kishibe near the end of Part One, again showing how much Nayuta is learning from him.
We then get the final scene of the chapter, where we see Asa standing outside the school, now believing that Denji has stood her up.
Asa then goes full wikipedia article again by detailing every single reason why she is absolutley, totally, one hundred and ten percent not disappointed that Denji forgot their date.
Yoru certainly does not buy Asa’s wikipedia entry excuses and neither does Asa herself, as her posture sags while she is wondering why she is so sad about Denji when she should be focusing on getting her body back.
But then who should show up but none other than the most suspicious character in Chainsaw Man, Yoshida, who offers to keep Asa company, bringing an end to the chapter.
There have been a ton of red flags surrounding Yoshida in Part Two, with him apparently being the only character who can see Yoru’s scars, referencing the Death Devil, and looking up at Fami after everyone escaped the aquarium.
I have seen many theories, from him being the Death Devil himself to him being the fake Chainsaw Man, and I wonder if the next chapter will maybe confirm one of these?
Or, who knows, Yoshida might not have any ulterior motives in this instance and just want to hang out with Asa.
You can never be sure with Fujimoto.
“Triangle” is an intriguing chapter for Chainsaw Man, showing exactly how Denji raising Nayuta has been going and heaping more suspicion upon Yoshida.
It will be interesting to see where these storylines go in the next few chapters.

Dead Space Remake Review: Best Video Game Remake Since Resident Evil 2.

If you were to ask me two months ago which game I was more excited for, The Callisto Protocol or Dead Space, I would have undoubtedly said the former.
The Callisto Protocol was created by the man behind the original Dead Space and seemed set to be a spiritual successor to it, whereas The Dead Space Remake was being put out by EA, and we all know how negative their track record is, what with them essentially putting the franchise on ice for a time because of their bad decision making.
This is why I was so disappointed to find The Callisto Protocol to be a frustrating experience that almost never scared me.
Well, over a month later, The Dead Space Remake finally released and I was happy to discover that I was more terrified in its first ten minutes that I was in the entirety of my time with The Callisto Protocol.
Dead Space 2023 is a truly fantastic game and easily the best remake of a video game since Resident Evil 2.

Turns out the scariest version of *Dead Space* is still *Dead Space.*

Developed by Motive Studio, the game mostly follows the same story as the original.
We play as Isaac Clarke (Gunner Wright), an engineer sent to help fix the mining space station known as the USG Ishimura.
Accompanying him are the chief security officer Zach Hammond (Anthony Alabi) and computer specialist Kendra Daniels (Brigitte Kali Canales), but Isaac’s reasons for traveling to the Ishimura are far more personal than theirs because his girlfriend, Nicole Brennan (Tanya Clarke), is aboard.
However, this supposedly simple repair mission is turned into a horrifying fight for survival when Isaac and his crewmates board the Ishimura and are almost immediately attacked by the reanimated and transformed corpses of the ships crew.
These terrifying monsters are known as the Necromorphs and, although horrifying, Isaac is suited to deal with them, as the only way to defeat the Necromorphs is to sever their limbs.
Using a variety of engineering tools to dispatch these monsters, Isaac both desperately searches for Nicole and a way off the Ishimura.

Isaac explores a somehow infinitley more terrifying Ishimura than in the first game.

That is the premise of Dead Space in a nutshell, and the remake adapts it almost flawlessly, with numerous improvements to the original story.
For starters, Isaac now speaks, with Gunner Wright doing, yet again, a fantastic job as the character.
Many other characters are improved by rewrites in the remake, most notably Nicole and Challus Mercer (Faran Tahir), the latter of whom is quite intimidating in the remake.

Mercer’s introduction in the remake is a standout scene.

There is even an alternate ending that is unlockable in New Game Plus.
All in all, there are a lot of fun changes to the original Dead Space’s story.
However,, there are a few story changes where I felt the original did it better, especially in regards to a certain twist.
That being said, just because I found some of the original story to be better does not mean I consider the story changes to be bad.
I just like some of the original moments better and wish they were kept in.
So, the story is mostly fantastic but what about the gameplay?
Well, the gameplay is pretty much perfect, with every weapon having its own uses in dismembering the Necromorphs.
It is hard to beat the Plasma Cutter, however, and upgrading this and other weapons across the game was a lot of fun.

I never went anywhere without my trusty Plasma Cutter.

Upgrading certainly makes severing the Necromorphs limbs a lot easier too, which is much more gory this time around.
Necromorphs can literally be reduced to bone in this game, making for quite the horrifying sight as they advance towards you.
As if they weren’t already scary enough, with there being numerous examples of horrifying enemy variety.
Just as scary is the Ishimura itself, with it being incredibly atmospheric, thanks in large part to the incredible graphics and sound design.
You never know when a Necromorph is going to jump out of a vent or leap out of a floor grate to eviscerate you.
Certain gameplay segments aboard the ship are also much better than in the original game, mostly due to the update of the zero gravity sections.

The asteroid segment is much funner in the remake than in the original because of how zero gravity gameplay has been updated.

The only problem I had with the gameplay is one glitch I encountered a few times.
It happened when I tried to resume my play through after finishing for the day.
The game would start but the camera would just stay in place and not follow Isaac no matter what I did, meaning I had to reload the game to continue.
This was not a huge problem, however, because it only happened twice, and each time the issue was immediately fixed when I reloaded.
Overall, the Dead Space remake is already one of the best video games of the year.
It has interesting changes to the original story, fantastic gameplay, stellar graphics and sound design and, above all else, it is often terrifying.
I am highly intrigued to see what EA decides to do next with the franchise.
Will they remake Dead Space 2 or go off in another direction?
Either way, I am now along for the horrfying ride.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 119, Thief Review: You Had One Job, Yoru!

I have said it once and I will say it again, “God damn it, Yoru!”
I was excited for Chapter 119 of Chainsaw Man, “Thief”, because all signs pointed to it being the chapter where Nayuta would return to the story.
This turned out to be the case and Tatsuki Fujimoto certainly did not disappoint with her reintroduction.
“Thief” begins with Denji and Asa arriving at his apartment; a building named Tatsuki Apartments, named after Fujimoto himself.
As Denji lets Asa in, he informs her of the rules which will get her killed if she does not follow them.
However, rather than these rules being absurd, the first two are pretty standard stuff: Don’t open any other apartment doors and don’t open the fridge.
The third rule is that Asa should not make out with Denji in front of Nayuta.
This rule in particular is strange because how would Denji know that him kissing a girl is something Nayuta would freak out about?
Has Denji maybe had another girlfriend in the timeskip who Nayuta did not take kindly to?
As for Asa, she is obviously embarrassed by Denji’s insinuation that she wants to make out with him so goes on the offensive, claiming to hate him.
We know this is not the case because she then uses this as an excuse to tell Denji to stay away from her or he will wind up dead.
If Asa did not care about Denji at all then she could just leave him to Yoru.
Asa’s lie about hating Denji causes him to have a bit of downward inner spiral, as he begins to wonder if he stinks like a wet dog.
He turns to ask Asa this only to find that he is not looking at Asa.
The next panel can only be described as a jumpscare, as a grinning Yoru leans in and kisses Denji in what is undoubtedly another attempt to turn him into a weapon.
Yoru screwed up big time, however, because she breaks rule three just as Nayuta shows up after walking the dogs and she sees her making out with her brother.
Nayuta’s response?
To point at Yoru, call her a thief, and send one of the Control Devil’s chains straight through her head, bringing an end to the chapter.
It was great to see Nayuta again and her attack on Yoru was certainly in character.
Of course, the reincarnation of the Control Devil would see Denji as a possession, wanting to keep any girl from stealing her big brother’s attention.
Nayuta even looks like Makima here, with the hair braid.
Yoru really should have followed rule three.
She had one job and she blew it.
The outcome of this will definitley be interesting to see because Yoru will have to recognize Nayuta as the Control Devil now and will certainly have questions about why she is in Denji’s care.
Denji will also probably learn that Asa has a Devil sharing her body when he sees that she survived Nayuta’s attack.
I am eager to see what will happen in two weeks time, when the next chapter is released.
“Thief” was yet another fantastic Chainsaw Man chapter.
It was short but it had a lot of funny little details, like Denji and Nayuta counting their farts each month.
However, it was Nayuta’s return that was the standout in this chapter and I cannot wait to see how she will factor into the future of the story.

Bocchi the Rock Review: Relating to Introverts Everywhere.

A few months back, one of the most hyped up anime of the year, Chainsaw Man, began airing.
While Chainsaw Man certainly did live up to its massive expectations, what was surprising was that there was another anime airing around the same time that seemed to be getting the same level of buzz, despite not having the amount of hype beforehand.
This anime was Bocchi the Rock.
Based off the manga by Aki Hamaji, it felt like this show came out of nowhere, becoming one of the most talked about anime of the year.
Having heard this discussion, I decided to check it out and discovered a charming and often hilarious story that relates to introverts everywhere.

It was surprising to see just how talked about *Bocchi the Rock* became, until I watched it.

Bocchi the Rock follows Hitori Goto (Yoshino Aoyama), a teenage girl who suffers from extreme anxiety when it comes to social interactions.
Wanting to make friends, she decides to learn how to play the guitar, in the hopes that this will provide new opportunities for her to meet people.
Unfortunately, due to her severe introversion, she is unable to approach people for years, until, in a twist of fate, she is approached by drummer Nijika Ijichi (Sayumi Suzushiro), who is desperate for a third member to join her band, known as Kessoku Band.

Nijika quite literally drags Bocchi into being social.

Now with a chance to make friends, Hitori joins the band, meeting the third bandmate, who is the bizarrely aloof Ryo Yamada (Saku Mizuno).
Later being joined by the upbeat Ikuyo Kita (Ikumi Hasegawa), Hitori earns the nickname Bocchi and struggles to fight her introversion in her efforts to help the band to succeed.
These efforts often result in some gut busting humor, including plenty of hysterical fourth wall breaks.

The fourth wall humor in this anime is excellent.

I often found myself pausing at least once per-episode so I could have a good laugh before continuing.
What really shines about Bocchi the Rock, along with the humor, is how relatable Bocchi is as a character.
Having struggled with a bit of social anxiety myself (although not to Bocchi’s extent), Bocchi’s journey to becoming more sociable through Kessoku Band was easy to become invested in and I know this was the same for a lot of other viewers as well.
Bocchi’s relatability makes the high moments of the show shine even brighter, which is most apparent in Episode Eight where one performance had me on the edge of my seat.

The performance in Episode Eight is the best scene in the anime so far.

These performances of Kessoku Band come with some quality animation, which often changes style to suit the situation, whether that be serious or goofy.
The comedy in the goofy style of certain scenes is helped by the voice performances, especially Bocchi’s voice actor, Yoshino Aoyama, who has a truly impressive range.

It’s very impressive that Bocchi’s voice actress managed to do this scene without any voice editing required.

It is not just Bocchi who shines through the comedy though because many of her bandmates also get their funny moments, with Ryo being a standout.
Overall, it is the relatability of Bocchi and how she grows as a character that got me really invested in this show.
Hopefully a season two will be greenlit so we can all cheer Bocchi and Kessoku Band on, while simultaneously laughing at the excellent humor of this anime.