I have been a Godzilla fan since I was a kid. So once I heard all the positive buzz surrounding the latest film, Godzilla Minus One, I knew I had to see it. I expected Minus One to be a good film, perhaps even a great one. What I was not expecting was it to be one of the greatest Godzilla movies ever made. It is so good that it may even surpass the 1954 original.
Godzilla Minus One is truly excellent.
Written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, the film is set in post World War Two Japan, and follows former kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki). Having lost everything during the war and stricken with survivors guilt, Shikishima eventually meets a young woman named Noriko (Minami Hamabe), who has adopted a young orphan named Akiko. The three form a makeshift family and, as the years pass, it seems like the horrors of their pasts may fade, until a monster from Shikishima’s past rises from the depths to plunge Japan into horror once more.
Godzilla is truly scary in this movie.
Having read the synopsis I gave of the film’s plot, you are probably assuming that Minus One centers more around the human characters than Godzilla, and you would be right. This is, in fact, usually the case for a Godzilla films However, what separates Minus One from the rest of these movies is that the human characters are all fantastic. In most Godzilla films, we really do not care about the people. At best, there is sometimes one character we can latch onto but, most of the time, we are just waiting for Godzilla to show up and wreck stuff. This is not the case for Minus One, as I found myself caring for each and every one of the characters, which made the action sequences more intense, since I was scared for each of their lives.
This scene was made all the better because of the fact that I cared about the characters.
The last time I had this much investment in a character from a Godzilla movie, it was probably Brian Kranston’s one from the 2014 Godzilla movie, but every other character in that film was pretty bland. Again, this is far from the case with Minus One. I cared about the characters so much that the ending to the film actually had me tearing up, something I have never done in a Godzilla movie before. What adds to the weight these characters have are the excellent themes of PTSD and survivors guilt, along with the scars war leaves on a nation. Shikishima is the perfect encapsulation of these themes, making him my favourite Godzilla protaganist, with the exception of the big G himself.
Shikishima embodies the movie’s themes more than any other character.
Speaking of him, Godzilla is a terrifying presence whenever he is on screen. He is no misunderstood hero like in the recent Legendary films. No, the Godzilla here is more in the vein of the original 1954 version and the Shin Godzilla version. He is a horrifying force of nature who crushes everything and everyone in his destructive wake. His atomic breath is also on par with Shin Godzilla’s in terms of the fear it creates, as it is akin to a nuclear blast.
The atomic breath scene is one of the best in the series.
What helps increase the fear Godzilla generates in this movie is just how fantastic the CGI is for him. Minus One was apparently made with a budget of $15 million dollars and that is absolutely incredible, given that many blockbuster movies have ten times that budget and look considerably worse. The way Godzilla is shot is also great, along with the score throughout the film, which adds to the intensity.
This shot of Godzilla creates both awe and terror.
Considering every aspect of the film, I cannot think of a single flaw with it. Godzilla is terrifying, the human characters are the best they have ever been, the CGI is excellent for the budget, and the themes, score and cinematography are all top notch. I cannot recommend this film enough, especially if you are a Godzilla fan like me. Godzilla Minus One is not only one of the best films of the year, but potentially the greatest Godzilla movie ever made.
David Fincher is just one of those directors you have to pay attention to. He has made some downright incredible films like Seven, Zodiac and The Social Network. Despite his notoriety, I somehow did not hear about his latest film, The Killer, until I learned it was streaming on Netflix. Once I learned about it, though, I immediately sat down to watch it and was rewarded with a film more methodical than its titular killer.
The Killer is another solid film from Fincher.
Starring Michael Fassbender as an unnamed assassin, the movie follows him after a mistake during a hit throws his life into chaos. When this mistake puts the lives of those the Killer cares about in danger, he sets out on a mission of revenge. Fassbender is fantastic as the Killer, with his inner thoughts reminding me a lot of Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. However, just like Bateman, it is all to apparent how the Killer differs from his own opinion of himself, breaking his own rules multiple times and making his situation more complicated. This crafts a character who is absolutely a terrible person but still fascinating to follow.
It is interesting to see how ths killer’s mind works.
The rest of the cast also do a great job, with Tilda Swinton standing out as the Expert. The way the film is shot and edited also adds to the feel of the movie, with the sound mixing being especially impressive whenever the Killer is listening to music. Another thing which often gets brought up in reviews about this movie is one fight scene which, I will admit, is terrifically shot. Although, while I did enjoy this action scene, it does feel a bit at odds with the rest of the movie. Throughout its runtime, The Killer feels like it is a story which could actually happen in the real world so, when you get this big choreographed fight, it admittedly creates a bit of a disconnect.
It’s still a great fight though.
This is only a minor criticism, anyway. Other criticisms I have heard are that the film is too slow-paced and that the ending is pretty anticlimactic. I was not surprised to see these takes after watching The Killer. It is simply a movie, which will not be for everyone due to its pacing and structure. Even I thought the ending could have had more of a punch, though I do understand why it ended the way it did.
Although the way the movie ends is in line with the story Fincher is telling, it does feel like a bit of a let-down, compared to what came before.
Overall, I would say that The Killer is a solid film. Even if it is not for everyone, it has a compelling main character and a great style, as expected of a David Fincher film.
Chainsaw Man‘s 150th chapter, “Dream’s Next Stage” is a short one, yet also very significant based on what happens in it.
The chapter begins with Denji and Nayuta traveling home in the midst of the new Chainsaw Man War.
However, while they walk, they notice that the carnage is perhaps not as bad as it first appeared.
They see ordinary people walking around, using their phones, all the while bodies are being loaded into the back of a truck.
This makes Nayuta speculate that she will have to go back to school tomorrow, which causes Denji to flash back to the normal life he had been living after the Falling Devil attack.
In every single one of the panels Fujimoto shows us, Denji looks depressed but in the present he lies to himself, thinking to Pochita that he is “super happy right now” despite all evidence to the contrary.
Well speak of the literal Devil, Denji thinking of Pochita causes him to appear before him.
This happens when Denji steps on a dead bird as he runs, pararelling Asa’s nightmare of running in an alley full of dead chickens.
The bird then transforms into Pochita in Denji’s mind, and sits up to talk with him.
Pochita agrees with Denji that his dream of living an ordinary life came true, asking Denji what dream he will pursue next.
It iis with this prodding from his old friend that a young version of Denji admits that he wants to be Chainsaw Man.
The implications of this realization are left for later, however, as Denji and Nayuta finally make it back to their apartment, only to find it burning to the ground, supposedly with all of their pets inside.
Denji runs to help, only to be tripped over by none other than Barem who, as expected, was just waiting for Denji to return home.
Barem also claims to have killed Denji’s pets, all to anger him to the point of transforming into Chainsaw Man.
So, Barem has supposedly committed the ultimate sin in all of fiction: Killing someone’s pets.
He and Asa’s orphanage caretaker would really get a long well.
However, what Barem has done is actually way worse than just killing Denji’s pets and burning down his apartment.
When you consider what all of these things meant to Denji, it is an especially heinous act.
The apartment was gifted to Denji by Aki, Meowy belonged to Power, and the dogs belonged to Makima.
These were all important people in Denji’s life, for better or for worse, and Barem just destroyed the apartment and pets which made him think of them.
I honestly believe Barem would have succeeded in angering Denji enough to transform by doing this, had it not been for Fumiko’s arrival.
Turning up with various other Public Saftey Officers, she and her fellow officers pour bullets into Barem to prevent him from transforming.
This only works temporarily, however, because the chapter then ends with the Whip Hybrid showing up and killing the Public Saftey Officers, excluding Fumiko.
So, this means that the Weapons escaped from custody after the war began.
Therefore, I think we can expect the Spear Hybrid and Sugo to appear next chapter.
Although, I still think that Sugo is going to betray the Weapons to help Denji eventually.
Maybe Asa and Yoru might even show up, drawn in by the sound of battle.
I know they are technically aligned with the Weapons through the Chainsaw Man Church, but given that Asa was devestated by the loss of her own cat, she may take particular offence to Barem killing Meowy.
Well, if Barem did kill Meowey, that is.
After all, we don’t see the pets’ bodies so there is always the chance that they survived somehow and Barem is just saying that he killed them to motivate Denji.
I mean, if Fujimoto is ever going to follow through on bringing back Power, I don’t think she would be too happy returning to find her cat had been killed.
We’ll just have to cross our fingers that the pets made it somehow.
Like I said at the beginning of this review, “Dream’s Next Stage” is a significant chapter for Chainsaw Man.
This is not only because it is its 150th chapter but also because of Pochita returned and Denji’s loss of many things which reminded him of his dead friends.
It will be interesting to see how this loss affects him going forward.
In Chapter 148 of Chainsaw Man, we finally saw Asa and Yoru get some big development after a while.
Going into Chapter 149, “Devil’s Choice,” I was hopeful that we would see more of them.
Unfortunately, Fujimoto decided to leave them out of chapter but what we got with Denji and Nayuta was just as good.
The chapter begins with the mad preacher we first saw in Chapter 101 preaching to a crowd who is now much more inclined to listen.
With a burned Chainsaw Devil’s corpse laying in front of him, the preacher urges the crowd to join him in destroying the Chainsaw Man army.
As the crowd chants “Burn Chainsaw Man!” Denji, Nayuta and Fumiko are watching from a nearby alley.
Denji is not concerned, stating he can just transform into Chainsaw Man if the crowd see them but Fumiko points out that this would just turn the people against them.
She promises to protect him and Nayuta but the latter views this as unnecessary because she is strong enough to protect herself, even being willing to kill humans.
Given who Nayuta was in her previous life, this obviously concerns Fumiko, who asks Denji what he has been teaching her.
Denji replies whatever is on educational tv, and the thought of television makes him and Nayuta concerned about their apartment and the pets they have inside.
Fumiko is against them going back, knowing the mob will have gathered outside Denji’s house by now, but Denji and Nayuta completley ignore her.
Fumiko tries to stop them, wanting to shelter them at Public Saftey, only for Nayuta to go on the attack, using her powers as the Control Devil to compel a random elderly woman to attack Fumiko.
The only thing that saves Fumiko is Denji stopping Nayuta… by tickling her.
Nayuta may be the Control Devil but she is still just a child and it is darkly humorous to see Denji stop her murderous actions with such a childish tactic.
Fumiko escapes at Denji’s behest and he then questions Nayuta about whether she really would have killed her.
Nayuta responds that it is normal for Devils to kill humans, suggesting that she and Denji join the Devils so they can live as they like.
Denji attempts to ask about his friends at school but stops himself, instead asking about Nayuta’s.
Denji’s hesitation shows that he really does not have any friends at school, which makes his life pretty tragic when you think about the life he had with Aki and Power before Makima cruelly took it away from him.
Nayuta responds to Denji’s question by saying she is all he needs, her controlling personality coming into form again.
Denji hesitates and this makes Nayuta realize he is thinking about Asa.
Denji says he is thinking about her because they kissed.
Nayuta obviously thinks this is absurd, although it would be pretty par the course for Denji.
His actual reasons for thinking about Asa are pretty sympathetic though.
He reveals to Nayuta that the reason he is thinking about Asa is because their kiss was the only one where he did not get hurt.
This whole situation is actually tragic because what Denji does not realize is that it was Yoru who kissed him, not Asa, and it was to use him.
It will be a pretty tough pill for him to swallow when he inevitably comes to this realization.
After Denji explains his reasoning to Nayuta, she asks him how much she loves Asa, to which Denji measures the distance with his hands.
When Nayuta asks him how much he loves her, Denji’s extends his hands even wider.
Nayuta’s following smug smile is adorable, as is the way she jumps into Denji’s arms, creating a wholesome moment for a character who just tried to murder someone a few pages ago.
The chapter then ends with Nayuta declaring she will not kill humans, telling Denji to “mush!” back home, like one of the huskies they own.
This chapter really illustrates why Kishibe was right to task Denji with raising Nayuta.
With the simple act of loving her, he is able to convince her to let go of her murderous ways, providing the connection that Makima had always wanted.
As for what will happen next chapter, I expect there will be a fight when Denji gets to their apartment, since Fumiko said the mob would be waiting for him.
Granted, I do not know how this fight will play out considering that Fujimoto seems to be holding back on Denji’s transformation for something significant.
Although, maybe Nayuta could just use her power to control the crowd into leaving.
However, if Barem is leading the mob this will make the whole situation much more difficult.
As for Asa and Yoru, I am still interested to see what they are up to.
Yoru will probably be having a field day with her newfound strength and plenty of Chainsaw Man substitutes to kill.
I am eagerly awaiting the moment they reuinte with Denji and he learns of their true nature, whether that happens now or much later in the story.
“Devil’s Choice” is a solid Chainsaw Man chapter, which provides one of the most wholesome sibling moments between Denji and Nayuta.
The previous chapter of Chainsaw Man made me slightly concerned that Fujimoto would skip the fight between Asa and Yoshida.
Well, Chapter 148 “Room 606 Sword” put those fears to rest with its title alone.
It begins from where the previous chapter left off, with Denji being accused of being a wannabe Chainsaw Man by the random old man.
I had figured that this old man would turn out to be someone Denji had met to in the past but it turns out that they have not met and the old man is just being paranoid, which works entirely for the fear of Chainsaw Man Fujimoto has created in his world.
Fumiko tries to difuse the situation by revealing herself as a Public Saftey Agent, only for this to be countered by people saying they saw these agents become Chainsaw Men as well.
A member of the crowd then pulls a gun on Denji, demanding that he show them his chest to make sure he does not have a starter, which Denji will have since he is Chainsaw Man.
If I’m not mistaken, the man who pulls a gun is a Public Saftey Agent himself, based on the suit, so it is interesting to note that not all of them know Denji’s identity.
Quanxi tells the group to run and they do so, with Denji carrying Nayuta.
It is kind of funny to think about Quanxi now protecting Makima’s reincarnation.
The man fires at them but Quanxi easily blocks the bullet with her arm, which does cause Fumiko to look back at her, appearing worried for her.
I am not sure why she would be concerned.
This is Quanxi we’re talking about.
She could take out a rioting crowd without breaking a sweat.
Although, maybe Fumiko looks worried because she and Quanxi are togethor?
I know I could be reading too much into this, given that I’m basing the theory off a single look, but it is possible, considering Quanxi had an entire harem in Part One of the story.
Following this scene, we get the best paneling of the chapter, as Fujimoto draws Quanxi’s bleeding arm in one panel, dripping blood in the next, and then, to end the transition, he shows Asa’s cut off arm.
It is with this fantastic transition that the chapter follows the title’s promise of showing us the fight between Asa and Yoshida.
Much to Yoshida’s shock, his second sword strike does not even cut through Asa’s other arm.
This is because the fear of war has finally kicked in and strengthened Yoru.
Yoshida calls upon the Octopus Devil to help him but it is too late because Asa can now transform weapons without touching them.
She uses this upgrade to finally create the Room 606 Sword.
Yoru then takes control and cuts the Octopus Devil apart in a fantastic panel, which makes me wonder what a lot of people were talking about last chapter when they said Fujimoto’s artwork was losing its edge?
Yoru then attempts to attack Yoshida but her power has become so great that she misjudges the distance and smashes into the wall next to him instead, giving Yoshida enough time to flee.
Yoru then leaps down from her and Asa’s destroyed apartment and finds the recently started Chainsaw Man War has thrown the world into chaos.
The chapter then ends with Yoru breaking out into laughter, declaring that the world finally remembers her.
Is it weird that I feel happy for Yoru because she was scared about being forgotten earlier in Part Two?
I also hope Yoru powering up signifies that we will be getting more of her and Asa in the next few chapters, since they have been put to the side for a bit previously.
As well as this, I am still interested to see if Asa can regenerate her missing arm or not.
Overall, this was short chapter of Chainsaw Man but it was still an exciting one.
Denji, Fumiko and Nayuta are on the run, and Asa and Yoru are now growing in power.
I look forward to seeing where Fujimoto goes with these characters next.
I have been excited for the Avatar: The Last Airbender live action adaptation ever since it was announced in 2018. This was in large part because it seemed like everything required to make a good adaptation was there, namely the original show’s creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, being involved. However, my excitement for the show dimmed slightly when the creators announced that they were leaving the adaptation. Still, I remained optimistic, since it seemed like those behind the adaptation were at least getting the casting right, with actors being hired who looked the part. Seriously, we did not need another The Last Airbender situation where the main characters were changed to be white when the story is set primarily in Asian culture.
The actors look much closer to their animated counterparts this time aroumd.
After seeing the teaser for the show released today, I can say with absolute certainty that this show is going to better than the notoriously awful first adaptation. The teaser begins by showing something we have never seen before, the Fire Nation’s attack on the Southern Air Temple at the beginning of the Hundred Years War. This attack was only something we saw the aftermath of in the original show so it is exciting to know we will see a flashback of the attack. After this, we see the scene from the very first episode, where Aang is discovered in the iceberg. We hear the ice cracking as Katara and Sokka look on and, I have got to say, both Kiawentiio and Ian Ousley look great as the characters. Along with them, the environments also look fantastic, with the next shot of Omashu having excellent CGI, which really brings the city to life from its animated counterpart.
Let’s hope the rest of the show’s CGI looks as good as what the teaser shows
The teaser then reveals Dallus Liu as Zuko, whose scar is thankfully visible in this adaptation, and Paul Sung-Hyung Lee as Iroh. They seem to be boarding their ship, with the Fire Nation soldiers giving Zuko a salute which I am pretty sure is show original. Although I have liked how all of the characters have looked so far in the teaser, it is the next two characters who are shown whom I think look the best. The first of these characters is Ozai, played by Daniel Dae Kim. Not only does Kim look exactly like Ozai but he also appears intimidating, a complete contrast to his lackluster version in the Shyamalan movie where he was just… a regular guy. Ozai’s angry expression in the shot makes me wonder if this is when Zuko criticizes the Fire Nation general, leading to his scarring. The second character who I think looks the best in the teaser is Suki, played by Maria Zhang. The makeup for her Kyoshi Warrior attire is absolutely spot on, and the brief shot we get of her with Sokka makes it appear that the two have good chemistry, which will be important.
Props to the makeup department for making the Kyoshi Warrios look this good.
We then get another great CGI shot, this time of Aang heading to Crescent Island. This is most likely so he can meet with Avatar Roku to learn about Sozen’s Comet, which we also see at the beginning of the trailer. Throughout all of these shots, there has been narration over the teaser stating, “Time… time is a funny thing. The past, the future, it all gets mixed up. There’s only one way to keep it straight. Always remember who you are.” I am pretty sure that this line is adaptation original, and I have heard some people speculate that it is Monk Gyatso saying this. It would make sense for him to be telling Aang this because the Avatar does have a lot of past lives and an uncertain future, making time “mixed up.” Another thing which supports the theory that Gyatso is saying this line to Aang is that our hero is in the next shot, with Gordon Cormier finally being revealed as Aang. Just like every other actor in this teaser, he certainly looks the part. The teaser then gives us a series of shots showing Aang in the burnt forest, Zuko and Ozai’s duel, Aang entering the Avatar State, and even Azula. Azula is played by Elizabeth Yu, and I hope the way she appears in this trailer stops all of the weird criticism she was getting because of one still image released a while back.
I really like the way the fire reflects off Azula’s eyes in this shot.
The final big moment of the teaser, shows Aang, Katara and Sokka taking off on Appa. The CGI for Appa and Momo appears excellent, as the GAang head for Kyoshi Island, which is made evident by the statue of Kyoshi in the distance. And so the teaser comes to an end by showing off the symbols for different forms of bending, followed by the show’s title. Overall, this was a great teaser that did its job of hyping us up for the show. The actors look the part and the CGI looks great. I am already looking forward to seeing more trailers before the show’s release on Netflix on Febuary 22nd.
Attack on Titan has taken us all on quite the journey. Over the span of ten years, and with four seasons, Wit Studio and Mappa have animated Hajime Isayama’s story brilliantly. Now, it’s over. Going into the final episode of Attack on Titan, I was curious to see how I would feel about the ending compared to the manga. When I first read the final chapter, I honestly went back and forth on whether I liked it or not. Then, I sat down and read through it while thinking about what Isayama was trying to say, and I came to the conclusion that the ending was a mixed bag, with plenty of good and bad things about it. It was for this reason that I was hoping the updated ending, which released months later, would fix some of my problems. Unfortunately, the opposite happened, with the extra pages pushing my opinion on that final chapter into a negative direction. I have re-read the series a couple times since then and, while I still love it, my opinion of the ending has only become worse with each read through. All of this made me hope that there would be some changes to the anime’s ending. I knew we would not be getting an anime original ending, but I had my fingers crossed that there would be extra scenes or dialogue to explain some things better. After all, Mappa added an extra scene showing what happened to Grisha’s parents in the previous special episode, which I unfortunately did not get around to reviewing. Seeing that added scene gave me some hope that there would be new additions to the conclusion.
I was glad to see the fate of Eren’s grandparents confirmed in the anime, even if it was tragic.
So, having now seen the final episode of Attack on Titan, do I think the anime improved on the manga’s ending? Yes! Do I like it now? Not exactly, no. In my opinion, the ending still has a lot of problems. However, most of these big issues only appear in the last half hour. The rest of the final episode is mostly great, with incredible animation from Mappa and a fantastic score. This is going to be my largest review by a wide margin, so buckle up. The episode begins where the previous special episode left off, with the Alliance landing on Eren’s gigantic Titan to confront him and stop the Rumbling. Armin quickly realizes he has to transform into the Colossal Titan to try and locate Eren and Zeke but, before he can, he is kidnapped by an okapi Titan created by Ymir. The panels of the okapi sticking its tongue down Armin’s throat to prevent him transforming were already disgusting in the manga, but it’s a million times grosser here. As the okapi takes Armin away, the rest of the Alliance are surrounded by countless Titans, whom Pieck correctly speculates are copies of all the previous Titan Shifters. Back when this happened in the manga, I criticized it for feeling out of nowhere, but in retrospect I think this was actually a pretty cool writing decision on Isayama’s part. Realizing the danger they now face, Pieck goes to kill Eren quickly by attempting to detonate the explosives at his head, but she is stopped by a copy of the Warhammer Titan. Following this, the Alliance are attacked by the copies, including ones of Porco, Marcel and Bertolt, in a thrilling action scene, expertly animated by Mappa. This ends with everyone in the Alliance cornered, about to be killed, when who should show up to save the day but Annie, riding Falco’s flying Titan with Gabi.
It was cool to see Falco flying after the previous episode foreshaodwed it.
Now safe on Falco’s back, the Alliance discusses their next move, and all regretfully agree that their only option is to kill Eren, much to Mikasa’s horror. Circling back to Eren, the Alliance splits up, with Jean and Reiner going to detonate the explosives Pieck wrapped around Eren’s neck; Mikasa, Annie and Connie going to rescue Armin; and Falco, Levi and Gabi continuing to fly above. More amazing animation follows, with the best parts of this section being Pieck’s jet-pack Titan skills, and Mikasa and Annie humorously arguing over which Titan it was that took Armin. This second match goes about as well as first, however, with the Alliance on the ropes again. Armin is watching all of this happen and, standing over his own unconscious body, screams at himself about how useless he often feels. This is probably my favourite voice acting from the final episode, with Marina Inoue giving a fantastic and emotional performance. Although, despite how emotional this scene is, it has nothing on the cliff scene that follows. When I watched the previous special episode, I was disappointed to see this moment was not adapted, and I was desperately hoping that it would be in the final episode. Well, I was not disappointed because this scene is next and it is even more powerful that I imagined it being. The scene shows a group of thousands of people trapped between two kinds of certain death. They can either be crushed by the Rumbling, or they can fall off a cliff to their deaths. As the Rumbling closes in, people are eventually forced off the cliff, one of these people being a mother. With one last, courageous act, the mother passes off her baby before she falls to her death. As the next person holding the baby falls, they also pass the baby on, and on, and on, and on. Countless people all facing their inevitable deaths pass this baby on in what they know will most likely be a futile attempt to save its life. It is one of the most beautiful and horrifying moments in the entire series, and seeing it in the anime made me tear up. The visuals for this scene only add to the emotion, with everything being in black and white with the exception of the mother and her baby. I am almost certain that the way this scene was animated was inspired by the little girl in the red coat from Schindler’s List. This scene is, without a doubt, my favourite in the entire episode.
This is one of the most powerfully emotional scenes in Attack on Titan.
Back with Armin, after some perseverance, he realizes he is in the Paths Dimension and this leads to his meeting with Zeke, who has been trapped ever since Ymir chose to support Eren over him. Zeke has completely lost all motivation to keep going, now believing life to be more pointless than he already did. Armin, however, speaks against this, remembering a time when he, Eren and Mikasa ran to a tree on a hill, comparing it all the wonderful little moments in his life which made it worth living. As a leaf Armin picks from the sand turns into a baseball before Zeke’s eyes, the Beast Titan remembers playing catch with Mr Ksaver and how this was also one of those little moments which made life worth living. This somehow motivates the ghosts of past Titan Shifters to appear and help the two. Armin says this was Zeke’s doing but how Zeke achieved this is never really explained. Unfortunately, there are quite a few things in this final battle which are never explained but I will get to those in a bit. In any case, the past Titans, who knew the Alliance, come back from the dead temporarily to help stop the Rumbling. Among these Titans are Grisha and Kruger, and some fans have questioned their reasons for doing so. For Kruger, I think it makes sense. Yes, he would want to free the Eldians of Paradis, but a full Rumbling would also kill all of the Eldians outside Paradis, which he would be against since he wanted to free them too. As for Grisha, I still find myself confused about his motives. Yes, he did tell Zeke to stop Eren but Zeke later says that Eren showed Grisha something which made him hand over his Titan powers. We never see what this was, and the reason for Grisha giving Eren the Attack and Founding Titans and then later helping the Alliance are a mystery. I just wish there was more of an explanation for Grisha’s actions. As for his son, Zeke decides that, even though he does not believe his euthanization plan was wrong, he would not mind being reborn again. With this fitting decision, Zeke reveals himself to Levi, giving the Scout the chance to cut off his head and stop the Rumbling. While I would have liked it if Zeke had more time to shine in this final episode, his ending is satisfying to me.
It is fitting for Zeke to realize the beauty the world has to offer moments before his death.
Following Zeke’s death, we get another moment which does not make much sense, which is the stopping of the Rumbling. The reasoning for this is that Zeke’s royal blood was key to the Rumbling continuing so killing him stops it, but the only reason royal blood was needed was because Ymir valued it. However, Ymir disobeyed Zeke and sided with Eren so royal blood should not be a factor, anymore. Yet, the Rumbling still stops? Whatever the explanation for this, Armin is freed and Jean blows up the explosives, freeing the source of the Titan powers from Eren’s body, which seeks to reconnect with him. To stop this, Reiner holds the creature down while Armin transforms into the Colossal Titan, blowing Eren’s gigantic Titan form away. In the aftermath of the explosion, the Alliance lands at the fort and the Warriors reunite with their families, only for the creature to still be alive, and for Eren to transform into a Colossal Titan. The creature then sends Titan smoke up to the fort to transform all the Eldians there so they can help it reach Eren. And so, Mikasa, Levi, and the rest of the immune Alliance go to fight Eren, leaving Jean and Connie to their fates. If this had been Jean and Connie’s final scene then it would have been a pretty tragic one, as would Annie reuniting with her father only for him to be immediately transformed. This transformation also crushes a lot of the rapport Mr Leonhart was building with Secretary Muller, which could have had a lot of hope for the future. As Reiner, Annie and Pieck hold the creature back from reaching Eren, Armin fights his old friend off, while Mikasa and Levi rush to them. While they are doing so, Mikasa experiences another headache and seemingly remembers an alternate version of the future Eren showed her, where they ran away together. Honestly, I do not believe Eren would have run away. Sure, I think some part of him may have desired to, but he has always been the kind of guy to stand and fight so I don’t think him running away with Mikasa would have happened, even if she had offered. Still, the scene is pretty emotional, with Eren using this as his goodbye to Mikasa. After this goodbye, Mikasa somehow knows Eren is in the mouth of his Colossal Titan, which is something else I wish was explained but is not. Levi blows a hole through Eren’s mouth and Mikasa leaps through to decapitate Eren and finally end the nightmare of the Rumbling once and for all. Eren’s death is very emotional but I wish the following kiss with Mikasa had occurred in the alternate version of the future he showed her, and not when Eren is dead.
Seriously, the shot of Mikasa kissing Eren’s decapitated head is pretty uncomfortable.
Also, Mikasa remembering the alternate realtiy Eren showed her raises yet another plot hole. In the manga, I was fine with this moment because I thought Eren was showing it to her in the present, but the anime seems to confirm that Eren showed her this alternate future and then erased her memory of it. This should be impossible because Ackermans are immune to Titan powers. As I have shown, there are quite a few plot holes with Attack on Titan’s final battle. However, despite this, I would still say that the final episode has, up until this point, been very good. The animation, soundtrack and action have all been spectacular, and there have been some emotionally powerful moments, most obvious of which is the baby scene. Unfortunately, the episode then gets into adapting Chapter 139 and this is where I think the writing goes downhill. This is mostly because I believe the following scene is the worst in all of Attack on Titan. The scene is a flashback, revealing that Eren brought Armin into the Paths when he was on the boat. The reason I consider this scene to be the worst is because it is full of so many last minute plot twists that are either poorly foreshadowed, problematically written, or recontextualize prior amazing scenes to make them worse. The first of these twists is the reveal of Eren’s motivations. Eren reveals that his plan this entire time was to commit the Rumbling so that the Alliance would kill him and become heroes to the world, allowing them to potentially save Paradis. Was there foreshadowing for this? Yes and no. On the one hand, if you look at Eren’s actions from the previous special episode onwards, it makes sense. Eren allowed the Alliance to come and fight him, rather than stripping them of their Titan powers, and there were multiple points in the final battle where the only explanation for why none of the Alliance died is that Eren deliberately let them live. However, before the first special episode, there are many moments that seemingly contradict Eren’s supposed motives. The most notable of these is at the end of Episode 87, where Eren states in his own inner monlogue that he will “wipe out every last one of ‘em.” Along with these seemingly conflicting motives, Eren’s plan is just too similar to Lelouch from Code Geass for me. In regards to Eren himself, personally, I think it would have been better if his main goal had been a full Rumbling all along. I am not saying that Eren winning should have been the ending. I do believe that the Alliance stopping him was the right call for the story. But I think Eren would have been a much more compelling character if he had stayed true to what we all thought was his original plan. Still, at least this twist had some foreshadowing, which is more than I can say for the next few ones. Following the reveal of Eren’s motives, the next big twist is that the reason Ymir did all of this is because she was in love with her abuser. I hate this reveal. When I read it in the manga, it took what used to be my favourite chapter, Ymir’s backstory, and threw it far away from my top ten chapters. Ymir loving Fritz makes absolutely zero sense. He killed her parents, cut out her tongue, raped her, used her as a weapon in war and then, when she died, fed her corpse to their children. And you are telling me Ymir loved this monster? If we saw Fritz pretending to be kind to Ymir to manipulate her, maybe I could believe it, but we don’t seeing anything like that. He is just completely horrible to her for all of their time together. It really ruins a lot of scenes from Ymir’s backstory for me, like the moment when Fritz says he will “reward” Ymir with his “seed,” while she looks absolutely miserable. This moment made me feel so sorry for Ymir when I first read it, but now I just feel dirty watching it because it makes me wonder if Isayama is trying to say she was secretly happy about it.
The reveal of Ymir’s love for the king is probably my most hated of the twists because of how it pretty much ruined my appreciation for Chapter 122.
In my opinion, there was another, perfectly good explanation which should have been used to explain why Ymir stayed in the Paths for 2,000 years. She loved her children. We see this later on in the episode when she imagines living on with them. This should have been the explanation for Ymir’s actions, not this extremely problematic love for her abuser, which was probably only a twist to justify Mikasa’s abrupt connection with her. This brings me to the next bad twist, which is that Ymir was waiting for Mikasa the entire time. With the exception of Ymir smiling at Mikasa kissing Eren’s decapitated head, there was zero foreshadowing for this. Not only is there no foreshadowing, but we also get no explanation. What we get instead is Eren saying “only Ymir knows” which is a complete cop-out. This was the anime’s chance to give us an answer for something which was missing in the manga and they blew it. Not to mention that mirroring Eren and Mikasa’s relationship with Ymir and King Fritz’s abusive one is very problematic, since Eren and Mikasa are supposed to be the main ship here. The final terrible twist in this scene is the reveal that Eren caused his mother’s death by making Dina walk past Bertolt. There are so many things wrong with this twist. For starters, it’s a retcon. We already had an explanation for why Dina killed Carla. Dina’s final words to Grisha before she was transformed into a Titan were, “No matter what form I take, I promise I’ll come find you.” So, when we saw Dina walk past Bertolt, we were not wondering why she did so because we already knew. Dina sensed Grisha in Shiganshina, went to his house, only to find Carla, and that is when her Titan instincts took over and she ate her. It was a perfect explanation, and to change the meaning of it removes all emotional impact from Dina’s final words, all for the sake of a such a short twist. This leads into my second big issue with the reveal, which is how brief it is. Out of curiosity, I timed how long this twist is focused on before it is forgotten about forever. Do you want to know how long it was? Fourteen seconds. Fourteen seconds spent on a twist which recontextualizes the entire beginning of the story and, as a result, it makes absolutely no sense. Has Eren manipulated the past before? Yes, but there was a very specific set of circumstances which allowed that to happen. Zeke brought Eren into Grisha’s memories using the Founding Titan. Both Eren and Grisha had the Attack Titan, whose ability is to see into the memories of its future successors. This allowed Grisha to see Eren’s memories of visiting his own. And so the two could communicate across timelines through memories. There was no actual physical time travel. Dina did not have the Attack Titan, she was just a regular Titan, so Eren should not be able to order her through memories. Therefore, in order to control her, Eren would have had to physically gone into the past and used the Founding Titan to command her to walk past Bertolt, which is a power that has never been established. Thus, the twist should be impossible, providing probably the biggest plot hole with the ending.
The reveal of Eren causing his mother’s death was just really unnecessary. If you remove it nothing else changes.
So, as I have shown, this scene has a lot of bad twists, but it’s not just the twists that I take issue with because, up next, is without a doubt the most memed scene in Attack on Titan. After Armin punches Eren for how he treated Mikasa and jokes about her finding another man, Eren cries about it, saying he wants her to pine only after him for at least ten years. I knew this scene was coming, and I still cringed into the back of my seat when I watched it. I think a big part of the reason this moment does not land with me is because of how Eren and Mikasa’s relationship has been handled. Sure, there have been a few romantic moments between them. Their final scene togethor in this episode, Eren saying he would wrap Mikasa’s scarf around her at the end of Season Two, and Eren asking Mikasa what he was to her while they were in Marley. However, these three moments are the only times Eren ever showed romantic interest in Mikasa. Otherwise, he’s either treating her like family or treating her badly. Isayama once said in an interview that he wanted to have them kiss in Chapter 50 but he backed out because he was shy to draw it. Well, I think he should have just bit the bullet and drawn it. Have Eren and Mikasa be a couple up until the end of Season Three, then have Eren go off on his own in Season Four, pushing Mikasa away, and then reveal it was to protect her in the final episode. It would have made Eren say how he really feels about Mikasa a lot less jarring. What also would have helped is a change in dialogue because, to be honest, I just do not think I can take lines like this seriously. Another thing I could not take seriously was what happened after Eren’s outburst in the manga. Back in the original Chapter 139, one of the last things Armin said to Eren was, “Thank you. You became a mass murderer for our sake. I promise I won’t let this terrible mistake you’re making be in vain.” This is, without question, one of the most problematic lines in Attack on Titan, since it makes it seem like Armin is condoning Eren’s genocide. I know this is not what Isayama intended but it is what it comes across as, which is why I was overjoyed to find that this scene has been rewritten entirely by Isayama for the anime. Now, Armin actually accepts his role in the Rumbling through how he showed Eren his book, telling his friend that when they die they will both be in hell togethor. It both managed to be moving and did not skirt around the horror of Eren’s actions, like the manga did. So, despite this being the worst scene in Attack on Titan for me, I think it actually ends pretty well in the anime.
No matter your opinion on the ending, I think we can all agree that this line being removed was for the best.
Back in the present, Armin wakes up, remembering everything and learning of Eren’s death. It is following this that we get my second favourite moment of the episode, which is Levi’s final salute. He sees the ghosts of his former comrades and salutes them, a tear sliding down his cheek. Out of all the characters’ endings, this is probably my favourite. Levi is the last man standing of the old guard, living on to carry on the memory and sacrifices of his comrades. More moving moments follow as Jean and Connie see Sasha’s ghost, and Reiner reconciles with his mother. These happy moments do not last long, however, because, as Mikasa begins her journey back to Paradis to bury Eren’s remains, Muller arrives to hold the Eldians at gunpoint, now scared of them again thanks to their prior transformation. It is in this moment that Armin steps up in his role as humanity’s saviour, proclaiming that the Titan powers have vanished and that he is the man who killed Eren Jeager. As for Mikasa, while she is making her way back, she is confronted by the ghost of Ymir, and realizes that she is the one who has been causing her headaches. To me, this is another blotch on Ymir’s character. Not only was there no foreshadowing for Ymir causing Mikasa’s headaches, but it also makes her look bad because if she knew Mikasa would free her eventually then there was no need to subject the world to such hardship. With that, the story then skips to three years in the future, where we see Historia narrating what is happening on Paradis Island in a letter to the Alliance. We see that Historia has married the farmer and had their child, a girl that I personally like to think she named after Freckled Ymir. It is also revealed that Paradis’ army is led by the Jaegerists. Over time, this was something I extremely disliked in the manga because it made Eren look like an idiot. He trusts his friends to convince the rest of the world to make peace with Paradis and yet he left literal facists in charge of the island. However, the anime makes a point to note that Eren was an idiot with too much power so I can let it slide. What I cannot let slide is Historia’s treatment as a character. She had so much potential in the final arc, and I hate how she was paired off with a nobody and then sidelined with a pregancy subplot which amounted to nothing. In my opinion, the writing for Historia’s character post time skip spat in the face of her character development in the Uprising Arc. Think about this, not only does Historia have less screen time than the Warriors’ families in the final arc, but she also has no scenes in the present timeline. All of her scenes are flashbacks. That is how little she mattered in the end. I hated Historia’s role in the final arc back when I first read it, and I am pretty sure I will hate it forever.
Historia deserved so much better than the horrible role she was given in the Final Season.
As for the letter Historia wrote to the Alliance, Reiner is clearly enjoying it, since he sniffs it like a creep. Reiner liking Historia is not unusal for him, but did the final scene of a character who has had an emotionally powerful struggle with PTSD really need to be a joke? Still, I am glad that he lived, along with the rest of the Alliance, who are now going to Paradis as peace envoys, fulfilling the role Eren gave them. We then get what was, originally, the final scene of Attack on Titan, until the extra pages. Mikasa is resting at Eren’s grave on Paradis, at the tree where the story started. Her presence on Paradis is a bit confusing to me, I will admit. I mean, the Jeagerists know Mikasa killed a lot of them, right? Plus, Mikasa is the only Asian person living on Paradis so she would be pretty recognizable. Wouldn’t she be in constant danger? Well, Mikasa clearly feels safe beneath the tree, where she weeps for the loss of Eren. It is at that moment when a bird appears from nowhere and wraps Mikasa’s scarf around her before departing. So did Eren reincarnate into a bird, or this is just a random bird doing it for no reason? Whatever the reason, it does look a bit goofy to me. In regards to Mikasa, as someone who once thought she was one of the best characters in the series, I have slowly found myself disillusioned with her. I still like her, but there are so many missed opportunities to develop her. From her Ackerman lineage, to her relationship with Louise, to her connection with Hizuru, these were all chances to give Mikasa character development. Instead, she just constantly focuses on Eren, right to the very end, even bringing her new family with her to his grave as the years pass. Speaking of this, I now have to get into the adaptation of the extra pages, which is another area I feel like the anime improved upon. In the manga, I hated the reveal that Paradis was destroyed because it looked like it was only about 50 years since the Rumbling, making all of the characters sacrifices pretty pointless. However, the anime updated it to so that the destruction of Paradis happens at least hundreds of years later. This makes me feel a bit better about the whole thing. What makes me feel less better is that the anime kept the implication that Titan powers were coming back, by showing a boy and his dog heading towards Eren’s tree, which has now grown to resemble the same tree where Ymir got her powers 2000 years ago. While this does tie into the themes of the cycle of violence continuing, I personally don’t like that it removes the victory of Titan powers vanishing forever. The cycle of violence continuing is fitting for the story, but I wish Titan powers stayed gone at the end.
In my opinion, hinting that the Titan powers will return takes away from the Alliance’s victory.
So, since my final impression of the ending is a negative one, I surely think the final episode of Attack on Titan is bad, right? Well, no. While there are a lot of things I dislike, the first 50 minutes of the episode are really good, plotholes aside, and there are quite a few improvements from the manga. I even teared up twice, once during the baby scene, and a second time during Levi’s salute. And, of course, the animation, score, and voice acting are all incredible. Overall, I would still say that this final episode is good, despite its many, many short comings. And, despite not liking how Attack on Titan ends, I would still recommend the series. The themes, twists and characters are things I will remember fondly for years to come. Also, having seen the reactions for the final episode from many anime only fans, I know my criticisms of the ending are in the minority. The vast majority of fans seem to have loved this ending, and I am happy that they do. So, as fans of Attack on Titan, no matter our thoughts on the ending, I think we all owe a big thank you to Hajime Isayama, Wit Studio and Mappa for bringing us this amazing anime. Truly, thank you.
After the explosive reveals of Chapter 146, Chapter 147 of Chainsaw Man, “Cremation”, takes a much shorter approach.
The chapter begins from where the previous one left off, where Nayuta revealed Fami’s plan to make both Chainsaw Man and the War Devil super-duper strong so they can kill the Death Devil.
Barem confirms Nayuta’s theory, but he still wants Denji to transform into Chainsaw Man so orders the new Chainsaw Devils to kill Nayuta to force Denji’s hand.
Barem calls her a witch who will one day plunge the world into darkness.
His statement is most likely Fujimoto creating a parralel to his previous oneshot Yogen no Nayuta, which Nayuta is based off.
It could also be him foreshadowing Nayuta’s future role in the story, as someone who will cause the end of the world as Barem predicts.
Motivated by Barem’s prophecy, the Chainsaw Devils rush to attack Denji, Nayuta and Fumiko but they are intercepted by Quanxi.
What follows is a few pages of Quanxi rescuing the three, jumping from a ledge with them, biting Fumiko’s torso so she will heal when she lands and innevitably breaks her legs, and then killing the rest of the Chainsaw Devils after she has healed.
Barem’s following line that Quanxi is “like a manga character come to life” is a pretty humorous fourth wall break from Fujimoto.
Following this, we see that Public Saftey has killed most of the Chainsaw Devils in the area and are now burning their corpses to keep them from regenerating.
Although, given that they were created by contracts with the Fire Devil, burning them might not be the best idea, but we will see.
The chapter then ends with a random old man pointing at Denji and accusing him of being a Chainsaw Man wannabe, offending Denji.
It is funny to think that Denji is probably more offended by being called a “wannabe” than being suspected of being in league with the Devils.
This ending also highlights just how much Fami’s plan is working because it is creating a lot of paranoia among the people, thus creating fear which will make Chainsaw Man stronger.
As for how this man knows Denji, I have no idea.
Maybe he was a background character from a prior chapter in Part Two, or maybe he just saw Denji bragging about Chainsaw Man off screen.
We will probably find out next chapter, when the new Chainsaw Man paranoia probably turns the crowd against Denji.
With Quanxi there, though, I doubt an angry mob could do much.
Quanxi’s presence also will not leave enough room for Denji to transform again.
I think Fujimoto is going to hold off on Denji transforming for a long while yet.
He is probably saving it for a big moment, maybe when Denji meets Asa again.
Speaking of, I was a bit disappointed to see she was not in this chapter.
I want to see how her fight with Yoshida ended.
I hope the fight is not left off screen.
As for the chapter itself, I was surprised to see a lot of criticism directed towards it, both in terms of story direction and artwork.
It sounds like some readers were annoyed there was not much story progression, since we had to wait two weeks for this chapter after such a big one.
This did not bother me, personally, since the action was still good, if brief, and the ending shows off just how well Fami’s plan is going.
I also saw a lot of people criticizing the artwork this chapter, some of them even saying Fujimoto needs to take a break so he can improve his work.
Honestly, the only panel which took me out of the chapter was of the old man first pointing at Denji.
Otherwise, this chapter’s art was pretty good.
Far from Fujimoto’s best but nowhere near bad.
That being said, if Fujimoto does need more breaks between chapters then I am fine with that.
His health should take priority.
Overall, Chapter 147 was a pretty good action chapter, if a little on the short side.
I hope the next chapter has more content, since we have to wait another two weeks for that.
One of my favourite games of 2018 was Insomniac’s Spider-Man. It felt fantastic to swing around New York as the titular web-swinger, fighting criminals and saving people. Along with this, the game also had one of my favourite Spider-Man stories put to screen, with the emotional impact of one scene even making me tear up. The game’s sequel, Miles Morales was also a lot of fun with its new combat features. So, needless to say, I was incredibly excited for Spider-Man 2, especially with the reveal that the main antagonist would be Venom, my favourite Spider-Man villain from when I was a kid. Having now completed the game, I can definitely say that Spider-Man 2 was worth the wait.
Spider-Man 2 delivers a strong Symbiote story.
The game centers around the return of Peter Parker’s (Yuri Lowenthal) friend Harry Osborn (Graham Philips). Supposedly cured of his illness thanks to an entity known as the Symbiote, Harry aims to heal the world with Peter, fulfilling his deceased mother’s dream. However, this plan has to take a backseat with the arrival of Kraven the Hunter (Jim Pirri), a man who begins capturing and hunting the super powered individuals of New York in the hopes of finding an equal.
Kraven also has a pretty killer theme.
This leads to the release of Martin Li (Stephen Oyoung), who Miles (Nadji Jeter) pursues to seek justice for his murdered father. Spider-Man’s intial battles with Kraven also leads to him gaining the Symbiote, as Spider-Man 2 produces its own version of the famous storyline, and does it exceptionally well. I loved how this game handled the Symbiote’s influence over Peter, with Yuri Lowenthall giving an excellent performance as the corrupted Peter As for the game’s villains, Kraven is both a big threat and also has an interesting motive, which results in a great ending for him, story-wise. And then there is Venom (Tony Todd) and, I have got to say, Insomniac knocked it out of the park with their version of him. Not only is Tony Todd excellent as the voice of Venom, but there are also a lot of great surprises surrounding this depiction, which I will not spoil.
Venom’s first appearance in the game is epic.
So Peter Parker’s story with the Symbiote suit is excellent, as are the depictions of Kraven and Venom but what about Miles? Well, his storyline with Martin Li is also one of the best in the entire game, with the way it ends being especially poignant. Unfortunately, apart from this storyline, Miles does not really have anything interesting going on in this game. Not to say that the rest of his content was bad, but it did pale in significance to the rest of the story, with Miles feeling just like he was along for the ride in the third act. This was especially apparent with his role in the final boss fight and the ridiculous looking suit he constructs for no reason.
This “Miles Morales original” is just hilarious to look at, and not in a good way.
Speaking of boss fights, this is where my review turns back to being positive because the bosses in this game are a massive improvement over the first two. There are so many great battles in this game, from the Lizard, to Kraven, to Venom. My two favourites are ones I cannot spoil but, for me, they were the highlights of my playtime; a playtime which, unfortunately, ceased recently. While I do love the main story, I personally found the post game content to be kind of lacking compared to the first game. A lot of the side missions are great but they are pretty easily completed, leaving not much left for me to do, apart from maybe start a new playthrough.
On the plus side, I am confident that a lot of the side missions we get in this game are building to DLC content.
My time with Spider-Man 2 was still a lot of fun though, with a lot of great fighting mechanics and an easy to use leveling up system. My only criticism surrounding the game’s combat is that it just felt a bit too easy at times. By the end of my playthrough, I had not died for hours, practically steamrolling every fight with my overpowered abilities, which left little use for stealth. The only part of the game where stealth is really essential are the Mary-Jane (Laura Bailey) sections, which make their return. Thankfully these sections are much better than they were in the first game, with one chase scene Mary-Jane has being especially thrilling.
The Mary-Jane stealth sections are massively improved from Insomniac’s original Spider-Man.
Still, sneaking around as MJ does not even come close to the joy of swinging around New York City as Peter and Miles. Overall, Spider-Man 2 is a worthy sequel to the first game and Miles Morales. My only major criticisms are Miles’ role towards the end, the ease of combat, and what feels like a lack of post-game content, although that latter criticism could be fixed with DLC content. Aside from my criticisms, the game has fun combat (even if it is too easy at times) a great story with compelling villains, and an excellent rendition of the Symbiote storyline. I look forward to what comes next for Insomniac’s Spider-Man and their eventual Wolverine game.
In 2021, I made a post recommending five webtoons I was reading. One of the webtoons I considered putting in that post was The Spark in Your Eyes by MURO. However, I decided against including it because the story was only really getting started and I wanted to see how it panned out before I recommended it. Eventually, I fell off reading webtoons, and only got back into it recently. One of the webtoons I went back to was The Spark in Your Eyes, which I caught up to in three days, reading all the way up to Chapter 118. After finishing that most recent chapter I definitley regretted not recommending it sooner.
I was really impressed by the story when I returned to this webtoon.
The Spark in Your Eyes is set in the country of Mormeratta which, years ago, defeated and conquered the forces of the North. This was all thanks to the Witch of the Sun, a knight blessed with power from the Sun Goddess. Our male lead is Erkin, a pharmacist from the North whose parents were supposedly murdered by the Witch of the Sun during the war. After learning of his medical skills, Erkin is approached by the knight Griselda for help. The mysterious master of the nearby castle is suffering from an unknown illness and Erkin is the only one who can help them. Erkin accepts, believing that this could allow him to eventually get close to the royal family and thus the Witch of the Sun who killed his parents, allowing him to have his revenge.
Although a gentle man, it is Erkin’s desire for vengance that originally drives him to help the mysterious master.
During his stay at the castle, Erkin meets a maid by the name of Kaya, and the two grow close, eventually catching feelings for one another. There is just one teeny-tiny problem. Kaya is actually Hildegar Aelius, the Witch of the Sun Erkin is searching for. After a chance encounter, she recognises Erkin’s eyes from somewhere, and starts posing as a maid to find out why. So Erkin continues to care for the master of the castle, without knowing she has been with him the whole time, and Hildegar gets to know Erkin, without knowing why she recognises him. What follows is a compelling story with a lot of great art and plenty of tragic backstories. A large part of the story so far has been focused on flashbacks detailing the pasts of characters like Erkin, Terion and especially Hildegar. Her backstory is the most tragic of the lot, as MURO goes into great detail showing how she was taken as a child and then used as a weapon in war, and how badly it has damaged her.
Hildegar has lived an especially difficult life.
It is only with the arrival of Erkin that Hildegar begins to find some happiness in her life, and they have a lot of chemistry. Of course, this chemistry does come with the caveat that Erkin has no idea who Hildegar really is and the fact that he believes the Witch of the Sun killed his parents, so it will be interesting to see what happens when he learns of her true identity.
Any scene with romantic tension between these two also comes with a feeling of dread about what Erkin will do when he learns the truth.
It is not just this conflict which is keeping the story going, however, as there is a lot of political intrigue and mystery. There is also a fair amount of good worldbuilding through the tense relationship between Mormeratta and the North following the war, along with the currently slight exploration into Hildegar’s powers. With a great character dynamic between Erkin and Hildegar, plenty of tragic backstories and interesing mysteries, along with great art to boot, The Spark in Your Eyes is one of my favourite ongoing webtoons at the moment. I highly recommend it.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 