The Saga of Tanya The Evil Review: The Monster in the Form of a Little Girl.

Before I begin the review, I will say that this contains spoilers for a reveal that happens early on, which will work a lot better if you do not know what it is going in. So, if you have not yet watched The Saga of Tanya the Evil, then it’s probably best to avoid this review until you have.

When it comes to picking an anime to watch, there are two features which, if present, will usually make me avoid the show I hear they are in.
These two things are the genre of isekais and character trope of lolis.
I don’t have anything against isekais, it’s just that I have found that they usually do not appeal to me.
Then there are lolis, which I don’t think I even need to explain why I find them to be an automatic avoid requirement for an anime.
However, despite The Saga of Tanya the Evil both being an isekai and having a loli as the main character, I heard great things about it, so I decided to give it a chance and was surprised to find that I loved it.
The isekai aspects of the show only make its premise way more interesting and the loli Tanya (Aoi Yuki) is not sexualised in any way (thank god).

Tanya being a child is wisely used as an often comedic or unnerving juxtaposition with her status as a military leader.

Directed by Yutaku Uemura, and based off the light novels by Carlo Zen, The Saga of Tanya the Evil tells the story of a salaryman in Japan, whose job it is to fire unproductive people at the company he works.
However, he is particularly ruthless and uncaring in his treatment of others, and this leads to a man he fired murderering him by pushing him in front of a train.
Just as he is about to die, the salaryman is confronted by a being who claims to be God, who is dissatisfied with the lack of faith in him.
It is at this time that the salaryman makes the unfortunate decision to declare that he is an atheist and does not believe he is talking to God, dubbing him Being X (Hideaki Tezuka) instead.
This leads to the first of many funny cases of miscommunication where the salaryman’s mocking comments cause Being X to believe that if the salaryman is reincarnated in a harsh situation then he will find faith in God.

And so the salaryman’s isekai journey begins.

Thus, the salaryman is reincarnated as the girl Tanya Degurechaff in an alternate version of Germany, known as the Empire, during a World War One where magic exists.   
Wanting to secure a good life for herself, Tanya enters the military at nine-years-old with the hope of using her experiences from her past life to earn a comfy position safe away from the battlefield.
Only problem is that her constant miscommunication with people, and Being X’s interference keeps pushing her to the front lines.
And it is here the good usage of the isekai genre and loli elements come in, with the isekai storyline creating Tanya’s rivalry with Being X during the conflict, and the loli stature of Tanya creating the amusing display of a little girl as a military leader.
Or, as Erich Rerugen (Shinichiro Miki) would call her, “a monster in the form of a little girl!” 

Tanya’s creepy faces get a lot of animation. Looking at this it’s not hard to understand why Rerugen is so unnerved by her.

It is this “monster” who is by far the most interesting character in the show.
The other characters are good but it’s Tanya who carries the whole thing, with her military genius, often crazy personality, and struggle for her own human autonomy against what is essentially God.
Speaking of that crazy personality though, it does lead to a few technically-not-a-war-crime-because-of-loophole scenarios and, oh, boy, are those dark.
A lot of the military strategy surrounding these events are also quite interesting to sit through, and when it comes to the actual combat of the series, it does not disappoint.
However, the thing I want to praise most about the action is not the animation but the sound design.
Seriously, the sound of the explosions and gunfire is top notch and makes the world of this horrible war feel tangible. 

I found myself often replaying the action scenes just to listen to the glorious sound design.

It is not all action though because the comedy is also well done.
I have already mentioned that Tanya gets into a lot of difficult situations due to miscommunication with her superiors, and it gets funnier every time. 
So, with an intriguing story which is lead by an interesting, morally grey character, featuring great action with terrific sound design, some comedic moments and engaging instances of military strategy, it is easy to recommend The Saga of Tanya the Evil.
It has certainly made me more likely to check out other Isekais in the future… not other animes with lolis though because I’m pretty sure most of those are going to be just as creepy as they appear on the surface.   

My Hero Academia Season Five, Episode Twenty-Four, Tomura Shigaraki: Origin Review: Rise of the Demon King.

If I’m honest, The My Villain Academia Arc has not exactly been handled well in this fifth season of My Hero Academia. 
It’s pretty obvious that Studio Bones just prioritized the heroes development over the villains here, with them rearranging the arc and giving it less time to be fleshed out because of filler episodes and moments beforehand, most of which were to hype up a non-canon movie.
This has made the My Villain Academia storyline a disappointing adaptation, which is extremely unfortunate when you compare it to the greatness of the manga.
You know something went wrong when plenty of people think that the Joint Training Arc was adapted better than the My Villain Academia Arc.
Well, at least I can say that Studio Bones finished the arc well.
The last half of Tenko Shimura: Origin did a fantastic job of adapting Shigaraki’s backstory and, now, Tomoura Shigaraki: Origin has continued this by ending the storyline with even better quality.
I wish the rest of the My Villain Academia Arc had been adapted as well as it was in this episode.
Picking up from the reveal of how Tenko Shimura “accidentally” murdered his family in the previous episode, we see the poor boy walking the crowded streets, filthy and bloody.
Surely someone helps him, right?
Wrong, because as soon as anyone gets a good look at his frightening face they naturally assume a hero can deal with it and abandon the child.
This perfectly points out the flaws in My Hero Academia’s hero society.
The civilian population is so complacent with the system that they full-heartedly believe a hero can solve any problem, and they don’t need to do anything, so they leave a child begging to be saved alone.
Unfortunately for Tenko, and the world at large, the only one with an interest in saving him, for undoubtedly nefarious reasons, is All For One, who stretches out a hand to Tenko, just as All Might did for Izuku at the beginning of the story.
The parralels between our hero and villain are greatly portrayed here.
While Izuku had someone to help him down the path to be a hero, Tenko had someone to manipulate him down the path of a villain.
Tenko did not spend a long time in All For One’s care before the criminal mastermind had convinced him to kill two street thugs who he had restrained himself from killing previously after they harassed him.
This leads to All For One also convincing Tenko to wear the hands of his dead family, now dubbing him Tomura Shigaraki, Tomoura meaning mourning, and Shigaraki being All For One’s own last name.
Now remembering everything about his past, in his present fight with Redestro, Shigaraki reflects on how, in his eyes, what happened was no tragedy.
All of this leads to his awakening, as he crushes the supposed last hand of his dead family, declaring he doesn’t need it anymore, before unlocking his Quirk’s full potential, just as Gigantomachia arrives on the scene.
Redestro’s efforts in using a mecha suit to up his stress does no good, as Shigaraki unleashes a seemingly unending wave of decay in some fantastic animation that really highlights the danger he will pose going forward.
Destroying much of Deika city, Shigaraki leaves Redestro crippled, after the Meta Liberation Army commander is forced to amputate his own legs to stop the decay from killing him when his feet touched the ground.
Although this clearly has an effect on Shigaraki himself, given how his own skin cracks and his hair turns almost a glowing white.
Yet, this destruction is still enough to leave Gigantomachia in a state of shock and cause him to finally submit after seeing how Shigaraki’s liberated and terryifying strength then causes Redestro to sign over leadership of the Meta Liberation Army.
It is here where one of my issues of the episode comes in because, when Redestro submits to Shigaraki’s leadership, Shigaraki says that because he is the CEO of Deternat he must have money to give them, since the League was down on their luck before this moment.
However, because the anime adaptation cut out the beginning of the My Villain Academia Arc, including Redestro’s entire introduction, this information feels very forced and shoved in.
Oh, and Spinner also gets more of his character arc cut.
Seriously, you really have to feel bad for Spinner since this is the arc that turned him from a very forgettable character into a relatable and somewhat interesting one.
Along with this, his character arc shows Shigaraki’s growth through how Spinner starts off questioning his leadership of the League yet by the end of the storyline he is fully devoted to Shigaraki.
Cutting all of this not only makes Spinner a much weaker character, but will also make his actions in the next arc when we get Season Six mean a lot less.
But, hey, not like I expected this episode to actually give Spinner anything, given how much they cut from him before.
Other than these issues though, Tomura Shigaraki: Origin is still a great episode.
Following Redestro’s surrender, we then cut to the League and Shigaraki being touted as the new leaders of the Meta Liberation Army, now named the Paranormal Liberation Front.
Redestro is now fully devoted to Shigaraki, along with Gigantomachia, there is a funny gag about Toga’s clone, Twice’s split personality is still in place, Shigaraki has one of the dead hands left, and Dr Ujiko prepares to experiment on Shigaraki to give him an even bigger upgrade.
And all of this is happening while Izuku is definitley beginning to unlock his own Quirk’s potential, through learning how he will inherit all of the Quirk’s from the previous holders of One For All.
This should make for an interesting fight between Deku and Shigaraki when the two finally face off.
I just hope that such a fight will not get the same treatment as the My Villain Academia Arc.
While I can say that this storyline has been good in the anime, there were so many cuts and it went by so fast that it just does not have the same impact as the manga.
I just hope the next season takes the arc following this seriously because it is by far the best storyline in the entire manga, in my own personal opinion.
Despite my feelings about the My Villain Academia Arc as a whole though, I cannot deny that Studio Bones at least ended it well, with Tomura Shigaraki: Origin being a great finisher for it.

The Suicide Squad Review: James Gunn Knows What He’s Doing.

My opinion on the Suicide Squad movie from 2016 has changed a lot over the years.
When I first saw the trailers for it, I became intrigued by the premise of supervillains being forced to go on covert government operations, so I made sure to read all the comics I could before the film released.
So, when it actually came out, I was already hyped for it and this hype really blinded me about the film’s quality at the time.
I was pretty much in denial and told plenty of people that I thought the film was good.
However, even though years have passed and multiple rewatches allowed me to finally realize the film’s many, many, many faults, it is still a guilty pleasure of mine and I do still think there are good things about it. 

Everyone has a guilt pleasure movie and Suicide Squad (2016) is definitley mine.

So, I was naturally excited for the film’s loosely based sequel, this time titled The Suicide Squad (because that’s not confusing at all), directed by James Gunn.
The only movies of Gunn’s that I have seen are his Guardians of the Galaxy films and I love those, so I was interested to see what Gunn would do with what was obviously going to be a more comedic take on the titular Suicide Squad, although a dark comedic take at that.
What was reassuring to know coming into the film was that Gunn had complete freedom, unlike Suicide Squad 2016’s director David Ayer whose vision for the film was ripped apart in the editing room.
And you know what?
James Gunn naturally pulled it off.
The Suicide Squad is a much better film that its 2016 counterpart, delivering on plenty of exciting, funny, dark, and sometimes even emotional moments with style.
The plot follows Task Force X, who are tasked by the ruthless Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) to infiltrate the fictional country of Corto Maltese and bring an end to the mysterious Project Starfish.

Viola Davis was the perfect casting choice for Amanda Waller in the original Suicide Squad so I was glad to see her return and be just as ruthless.

Leading this version of the squad is Robert DuBois, AKA Bloodsport (Idris Alba), an assassin who put Superman in the ICU with a Kryptonite bullet, and becomes a part of Task Force X’s latest mission to protect his daughter.
So, he’s basically Deadshot.
Despite the two characters being extremely similar, though, I actually do prefer Bloodsport with this film because the bond with his daughter is much more interesting, even with only one scene, and his character arc is actually pretty great.

Bloodsport’s character development in this film is stellar, with him being quite different at the end of the film from how he began.

The rest of the Squad in this film is just as interesting.
We have the ironically named Peace Maker (John Cena), the extrememly messed up Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), the kind hearted thief Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), and the man eating, yet loveable idiot King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone).
Also returning from the previous film is Margot Robbie who is still perfectly cast as Harley Quinn, and Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg.
I would like to signal out Flagg in particular because, even though I do find enjoyment in the original Suicide Squad film, Flagg was not one of these enjoyable things, being quite a bland character.
Well, in The Suicide Squad, this version of Flagg is ten times better, with a fantastic character arc that really made me care for him, hence the emotional parts of the film I mentioned previously.

I never expected to actually like Flagg coming into the film so I was pleasantly surprised with how his character development was handled.

Along with the emotion, another feature this movie pulls off excellently is the comedy, especially the gags of the dark variety.
I burst out into uncomfortable laughter on numerous occasions.
This is easily one of the funniest movies of the year.
It is the characters and their journey that really brings it all togethor though.
I remember back in the first Suicide Squad where one of the characters talked about them being a family, even though they had just met and didn’t really have that much of a bond by that point.
By the end of this film, however, I felt the comradery between the characters completley and wanted to see where they would go in a future film.
How likely this is, I’m not sure because the movie apparently bombed, most likely based off the reputation of its predecessor and, you know… Covid.
That said, I hope the studios see the positive reactions to this film and realize there is a great potential for sequels.
James Gunn did a fantastic job breathing a comedically dark life into The Suicide Squad and I hope to see more of it the future.

My Hero Academia, Season Five, Episode Twenty-Three, Tenko Shimura: Origin Review: Half and Half.

Coming into the latest episode of My Hero Academia Season Five, Episode Twenty-Three, “Tenko Shimura: Origin”, I had my fingers crossed that it would live up to its potential, making it one of the best episodes in the entire series.
After seeing it, can I say that it achieved this?
Well, like Todoroki’s Quirk, it’s half and half.
The first half of “Tenko Shimura: Origin” is honestly a bit dissapointing with its lackluster animation, while the second half definitley lives up to its potential, delivering a fantastic adaptation of the darkest moment from the manga.
Before this, though, there is the already mentioned weaker first half of the episode, where we first see Twice creating a clone of Toga to do a blood transfusion, followed by some Spinner development as he fights the politician Trumpet.
However, since the beginning of Spinner’s entire character arc was cut  from the “My Villain Academia” episode, this is just pay off to scenes that never happened so it lacks impact.
Then there’s the fight between Shigaraki and Redestro, which suffers from feeling overall a bit stiff and limited, although this may come from me comparing it to other fights in the series.
Along with this, the censorship does not really help because it does raise certain plot holes about why Shigaraki is not able to simply decay Redestro, and anime only viewers will probably not have realized that Shigaraki has lost some fingers here.
Also there are some weird moments when Shigaraki has blood all over him, yet in the next shot all this blood is gone.
Kind of reminded me of there not being any blood on the knife in that one The Promised Neverland Season Two episode.
As the fight between Redestro and Shigaraki continues, with Redestro’s stress quirk building, Shigaraki admitting he only wants to destroy, and Gigantomachia arriving on the scene, we finally get the dark second half of the episode that shows Shigaraki’s backstory.
We see his life with his family, and how his father, Kotaru, Nana Shimura’s son, was ruthless in his hatred of heroes for his mother abandoning him to fight All For One, to the point that he abused Tenko whenever he tried to play hero.
This complicated matters when Tenko’s sister, Hana, showed him a picture of their grandmother, inspiring Tenko to be a hero further, only for her to put all the blame on him when she got found out, resulting in more abuse directed at Tenko from Kotaro.
It is at this unfortunate time of high stress that Shigaraki’s Quirk activates while he is hugging the family dog for comfort outside.
This decays the pup and, wow, is it a lot more brutal than I thought it would be.
Yes, there is some censorship when the dog sadly crumbles, but the aftermath is on full bloody display, with chunks lying strewn around a puddle of red.
The horror only grows when Hana comes outside and flees in terror upon seeing what has happened.
Thinking a villain is attacking, Tenko goes to grab her, only for her to decay into a disgusting bloody puddle of human chunks as well.
The shots of Tenko tearing at his face after this, while his hair turns white, are also particularily disturbing.
Now beginning to understand what is happening, Tenko next unleashes his new power on his mother and grandparents for not helping him, causing his mother to die as she falls to pieces trying to reach out and hold her son.
Imagine being Kotaro: You have just read a letter from the mother who abandoned you, and this letter has made you decide to try and be a better parent, only to go outside and see that your son’s new power has gruesomely killed your entire family.
The narration from Nana that she hopes Kotaro lives a happy life makes for a grim overlap to this scene, made even grimmer by Tenko’s subsequent murder of his father.
When Kotaro tries to defend himself from his own son’s attacks, giving him one of his singature scars even though he still pleads for help, Tenko snaps entirely, giving into his murderous impluses completley.
Slamming his hand onto his father’s face, Shigaraki kills him, a disgusting look of pleasure matching his innner thoughts as the itch that was plaguing him for so long finally disipates, bringing a horrifying end to the episode.
This dark reveal of Shigaraki’s past was a fantastic adaptation of the manga.
Everything clicked from the animation, to the voice acting, to the music, bringing the darkest moment of My Hero Academia to terrifying life.
I just wish the first half of the episode was this good.
Still, “Tenko Shimura: Origin” is a great episode for its second half alone, and I do have high hopes for the next one, considering that it will continue to adapt Shigaraki’s backstory and it appears that Studio Bones is willing to put much of their resources into that.

My Hero Academia, Season Five, Episode Twenty-Two, Sadman’s Parade Review: I am Pleasantly Surprised.

In my review for the previous episode of My Hero Academia I said that I would be pleasantly surprised to see Episdoe Twenty-Two of Season Five, “Sadman’s Parade,” adapt the manga in a way that does it justice. 
Well, thankfully, I was indeed pleasantly surprised because “Sadman’s Parade” is a very well done depiction of the chapters it adapts, bringing Twice’s development and the beginning of the fight with Redestro to the screen in various exciting scenes. 
The episode picks up from where “Revival Party” left off, with Toga about to be killed by clones of Twice created by one of the leading members of the Meta Liberation Army, Skeptic. 
Having been unmasked, Twice is undergoing a mental breakdown, horrified because he thinks he is seeing himself trying to kill Toga, and this causes him to recall his past. 
We already knew from previous flashbacks that Twice used his Double Quirk to create clones of himself so he could have friends, only for them to all declare they were the real one and kill each other, making Jin himself wonder if he was the real one at all or just another double. 
This lead to him developing a split personality and eventually joining the Legaue of Villains as Twice. 
However, in this episode we get even more great details. 
We see how, before he resorted to using his doubles for friends, he accidentally hit someone with his bike because they ran out in front of him. 
While not entirely his fault, the man he hit unfotunately had connections to Twice’s workplace, causing his boss to assault and fire him, eventually pushing Twice into his life of crime with his doubles until they caused his mental breakdown.
This is where his saviour, Giran, came in. 
The information broker brought Twice into the League, giving him the family he never had, and it is this motivation for his newfound family that gets Twice moving to save Toga, only for Skeptic’s puppets to break both his arms. 
This was a bad move on Skeptic’s part though because the pain causes Twice to realize that he really is the original Jin Babaigawarwa because he has not melted away like one of his doubles would.
It is this relization, which allows him to unlock the full potential of his quirk, like Toga did last episode, unleashing inifinte doubles in his new ultimate move, the titular Sadman’s Parade, to fight off the Liberation Army, having overcome his trauma. 
“Learn to fear my Quirk,” indeed. 
The animation for Sadman’s Parade is actually quite good, bringing this powerful moment home. 
Before watching the episode, I was afraid that this moment would be composed of entirely still images but there was a fair amount of animation to these infinite Twices. 
Another piece of animation which I was pleased with was the Dabi fight with Geten. 
Like the evolution of Twice’s Quirk, Dabi’s battle with the ice user is quite well animated. 
It also leads to the revelation that Dabi’s own flames eat away at him, meaning that the scars he has across his face and body are likely self inflicted. 
Before this, we also get a closer look at the Meta Libertation Army’s ideology through Geten, showing how deporable they are. 
Geten says that the world they strive to create is one where only those with strong Quirks can prosper above all. 
Kind of creepy to think about what would have happened to Deku if he had remained Quirkless and such a world had come about. 
Dabi seems to share the sentiment of this world view being a terrible idea, calling it a sad ideology and the two begin to fight again.
While this is happening, Shigaraki and Spinner push forward with the help of the army of Twices, only for one double to reach the tower first, confronting Redestro with a double version of the League.
It is a shame that Redestro is much too powerful, laying waste to all of the doubles, with the exception of one Twice clone who runs to Giran’s side, tearfully saying he has nothing to apologise for. 
This is interrupted when the double version of Shigaraki is revealed to have survived, attacking Redestro in a well animated fight scene, where Redestro reveals the origins of Destro and the Liberation Army. 
It is revealed that the term Quirk came from a mother who begged a prejudice crowd to accept her son’s “Quirk”, only for the crowd to kill her. 
Her child was the original Destro, Redestro’s father, and now Redestro believes he has inherited his will, which should allow him to defeat Shigaraki.
This seems to be the case, until the real Shigaraki shows up at the bottom of the tower and disintergrates it with a mere touch. 
As Redestro emerges from the rubble, his Quirk fully acitivated, Shigaraki recognizes him as the boss of the Liberation Army because his strength allowed him to surive the fall, ending the episode. 
On another note, I was a bit disappointed to see Shigaraki not mention that he recognized Redestro from the Detnerat commericals, like in the manga, but Redestro’s introduction was cut so it makes sense why this line was removed. 
In any case, next episode looks to be a great one, what with Gigantomachia now approaching, since the Dr woke him up early this episode, and Shigaraki’s full backstory fast approaching. 
I hope we get this backstory adapted brilliantly in all of its horrific glory because, if it is, it could be one of My Hero Academia’s best episodes.  

My Hero Academia, Season Five, Episode Twenty-One, Revival Party Review: Good for Anime Viewers Disappointing for Manga Readers.

After watching Episode Twenty-One of Season Five for My Hero Academia, “Revival Party,” I saw footage of some storyboard animation done for the episode and contemplated what could have been.
That animation looked great and what we actually got was not up to par.
This is not to say that “Revial Party” is a bad episode, far from it.
In fact, I would say it was a definite step up from the last episode.
However, when compared to the storyboards and the actual My Villain Academia Arc in the manga, this episode just does not live up to that.
For anime only viewers, this is probably not an issue but for manga readers it takes this episode from being good to being disappointing.
It’s not just the animation because the cuts are still really showing here.
Last week they cut out the entire beginning of the arc and also Spinner’s character development.
In “Revial Party” they got rid of a lot of scenes with the Liberation Army, which made Redestro and the rest of them compelling and interesting villains.
In the anime, Redestro feels like a villain of the week, with just basic narration used to give him character, when in the manga he was very well fleshed out and made out to be a big threat.
The same goes for his subordinates so the League fighting them is just not as interesting as it was in the manga, especially when paired with animation that, again, while not bad, just does not live up to what it could have been.
Despite this, I still did enjoy the screentime Toga got, especially with her voice actress Misato Fuken’s work.
Her delivery was great in this episode, especially the “no” line she delivers when one of the Liberation Army leaders Curious asks her for an interview.
What follows is an exploration into Toga’s past, hinting at the mask she put up to hide how she actually was to her peers.
This mask broke when she saw a fellow student (who looks suspiciously like Izuku) get wounded in a fight.
She then attacked this student and drank his blood with a straw in a particularily disturbing image.
Heck, this episode is full of disturbing images of Toga, just look at the one I chose to put up for this review when Toga says she will live a normal life.
This eventually leads to an evolution in Toga’s Quirk, where she gains the ability to use the powers of those whose blood she drinks.
Toga uses this new twist to her Quirk to kill Curious and her followers with Ochako’s Gravity Quirk, sending them high into the sky and then drops them to their deaths.
We also get a look at the beginning of Shigaraki’s Quirk Evolution, as he decays a wave of people without even touching them.
I hope at least when we get to his backstory episode it is done justice.
That is one episode Studio Bones cannot screw up.
As for the other League members, it is mostly build up for the next episode.
We see Dabi’s beginning fight with Geten, which could give us the oppurtunity for some fluid animation later.
Another oppurtunity for this is Twice’s story, where another Liberation army leader, named Skeptic, sends his drones after him and Toga, which is the end of the episode.
I have not seen the next episode yet, so I do not know if these opprtunities for great animation have been taken but, given how the past few episodes has been, I doubt they have.
It would be a pleasant surprise to watch that episode and see the scenes have been done justice.
Overall, “Revial Party” is a pretty good episode of My Hero Academia regardless of its shortcomings.
If you’re an anime only, you probably will not have an issue with it.
If you’re a manga reader, though, that’s another story entirely.

The Wheel of Time Trailer Reaction: Let’s Hope the Wheel Weaves it to be Good.

Warning: This will discuss spoilers for Book One and beyond for the Wheel of Time. So, if you don’t want to know some stuff going into the show then don’t read this.

The Wheel of Time turns and adaptations come and pass.
Well, now Amazon Prime is delivering their own Wheel of Time show developed by Rafe Judkins. 
For those unaware, The Wheel of Time is a 15 book epic fantasy series created and written by Robert Jordan, until his unfortunate passing due to a terminal illness, after which Brandon Sanderson finished the story based on Jordan’s notes. 
I first got into the Wheel of Time based on the recommendation of a book YouTuber I watch named Daniel Greene and have just finished the seventh book in the series, A Crown of Swords.
So far, I am loving this story and its characters, and I was very excited to watch the trailer to get an indication of how the books would be adapted. 
And the trailer did not disappoint, beginning with two important characters, Nynaeve al’Meara (played by Zoë Robins), and Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden).
Nynaeve appears to be training Egwene in the Wisdom ways, and by that I mean tossing her off a damn cliff and into the water.
Following this, we get our first look at Emond’s Field, with the narration of the lines accompanying the beginning of every book playing, “the Wheel of Time turns and ages come and pass.” 
With these lines, we get our first good look at our three ta’veren, Rand al’Thor (Josha Stadowski), Mat Cauthon (Barney Harris), and Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford), and the three of them look great, especially Mat, who really seems to give off the trouble making spirit he has in the books. 

This shot appears to perfectly encapsulate Rand, Mat and Perrin’s personalities. I hope the actors can bring them to life.

There is also some romantic tension between Rand and Egwene setup, which is explored further in the trailer. 
After some traveling shots we get another interesting moment where we see a Warder kissing an Aes Sedai ring, possibly meaning her death in a potential show only storyline I will get into later.
Then we get a shot of Egwene emerging from the water, covered in numerous colours, which is the best shot of the trailer once you understand the symbolism at play. 
It took me watching a breakdown from Daniel Greene to get it but when he hinted at the symbolism it floored me. 
If you read Book Six, Lord of Chaos, you will definitley understand what this brief moment is foreshadowing, especially with the narration about legends.

The foreshadowing in this image for Egwene’s character is truly great.

We then get our first look at Tar Valon, the home of the Aes Sedai, with Dragon Mount in the background and it looks fantastic.
The CGI is truly top notch here. 
Afterwards, we get our first shot of the character the trailer wants you to believe is the protaganist, Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), arriving at Emond’s Field, explaining the one power and how the women of the Aes Sedai use it to protect the world. 
Funny how they show the Red Ajah with Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood) while she narrates about this. 
But what she says is given weight by the showcasing of the Amyrlin Seat, Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo) and her Keeper Leane Sharif (Jennifer Cheon Garcia), who all seems to appear much earlier than they do in the books. 
We also get a lot of displays of the one power, with another Aes Sedai healing Moiraine and one stopping a bunch of arrows thrown at them, with Lan (Daniel Henney), who is Moiraine’s Warder, guarding Nynaeve. 
So, the trailer already seems to be dropping hints at their future relationship. 
A sequence of shots then follow, most importantly from Shadar Logoth, where we see Mat with the cursed dagger and the Mashadar pursuing the characters. 
Then we get Mat looking away from what looks like a dead Aeil in a cage, maybe foreshadowing how Perrin meets Gaul in Book Three, The Dragon Reborn.
Speaking of Perrin, we then see him being confronted by a wolf, most likely Hopper, which has me very excited because I love that storyline from the first book, Perrin being my favourite character in The Wheel of Time so far. 

I can’t wait to see Perrin’s storyline adapted. I wonder if we’ll get to see Elyas and the White Cloaks as well?

Curiously, we then see an almost undressed Rand and Egwene sitting togethor, suggesting they will be a lot more romantic than they were in The Eye of the World. 
Although the narration does hint at this not lasting.
The one narrating this is Tam (Michael McElhatton), Rand’s father. 
We then get a bird’s eye view of Winter’s Night, which transitions perfectly into Aes Sedai saying goodbye to their dead. 
This second shot is not connected to Winter’s Night but it does foreshadow what will happen there. 
We then get our first look at a Myrddraal, looking very creepy, as Lan warns someone, probably Rand, that the Dark One is after him and his freinds.
This is quickly followed by shots of a terrified Mat and suprisingly calm looking Rand being pursued by the Mydraal riding a skull masked horse and leading an army of Trollocs. 
Then we get shots of Nynaeve and Lan stuck in a fight, which takes on intersting meaning when we see the False Dragon Logain (Alexandre Willaume) appearing to break free from his captivity under the Red Ajah. 
Therefore, the people fighting Lan and Nynaeve might be his followers. 
This seems to showcase a brand new storyline for Logain, which I am all for because I am very interested to see where his character will go in the books, especially with how Min prophesied his future glory, whatever that means. 

I am excited to see where Logain will go as a character both in the books and in the show.

I am also guessing that this escape attempt will result in the Aes Sedai death we see the Warder mourning near the beginning of the trailer. 
We then see Siuan telling Moirane that the Last Battle is coming, followed by some fantastic footage of the Trollocs in shadow. 
Coming into the trailer, I was kind of concerned that the Trollocs would look goofy but they actually appear pretty terrifying. 
More fighting shots follow, before we see our characters heading towards a Waygate out in the wilderness.
This is followed by our first clear look at a Myrddraal. with its hairless, eyeless face, and mouth full of serated teeth. 
Like the Trollocs, the Myrddraal looks horrifying and I cannot wait to see more of it. 

Look at how many teeth that Myrddraal has! That’s a whole lot of nope right there.

The final shots of the trailer then show Moiraine channeling against the army of Trollocs controlled by the Myddraal, and Lan fighting alongside her in some epic action shots, as Moiraine calls down a bolt of lightening to end the battle. 
With that, we get the offical logo for The Wheel of Time and a release date, November 19th.
This trailer was great. 
The cast looks well chosen, the CGI and fight scenes look good, it teased an interesting show original storyline with Logain, and even the music of of the trailer is well done, with Lorne Balfe being announced as the series’ composer. 
That last fact is another thing I am pretty excited for because I quite enjoyed his score for the His Dark Materials adaptation.
Overall, though, I can say that I am very excited for The Wheel of Time adaptation after this trailer.
Fingers crossed that these fantastic books can be done justice.  

Choujin X, Chapter Seven, Broiler Review: Where Does the Story go From Here?

In the previous chapter of Choujin X, the cliffhanger was of Tokio about to use his Full Bestifaction transformation for the first time.
There was quite a lot of speculation about what he would look like but the general consensus was that it would be something like the very first panel of the story.
As opposed to that, what Tokio transforms into appears to be a different variant from his initial Choujin transformation at the end of chapter one, only much stronger.
Chapter Seven of Choujin X, Broiler, centers around the aftermath of Tokio’s first transformation, with him using this power to take on the Snake Choujin Nari with Ely in what is both a well drawn and quite funny battle.
The first gag comes right after Tokio deals a good blow to Nari and lunges at her again, naturally assuming that his second punch will have the same effect… only for him to injure his hand in the process, forcing Ely to temporarily take over, but her smoke attacks have no effect.
She is saved by Tokio, who jumps in to save her from getting crushed by Nari and appears to temporarily float, making me wonder if Tokio could grow wings like an actual vulture later on.
He is inexperienced with his beastification form, after all, so there are a lot of areas he could grow in.
Back to the chapter, Ely convinces Tokio that it would be better to fight rather than flee, and Tokio suggests broiling Nari from the inside, hence the same of the chapter.
Running right at her, Tokio has a pretty cool moment for him as he takes on the Snake Choujin with some quips, saying that if she’s still testing him then she should give him his score.
Well, I would think she should score him pretty highly considering how easily he gets the best of her, grabbing a hold of her Medusa hair to fling himself to her mouth and then yank it open, yelling at Ely to broil her.
It was a good plan, if it wasn’t complicated by the fantastic comedic gag of both Tokio and Ely’s powers failing at the exact same time.
Thankfully, the two are saved by a Choujin with incredibly powerful knife powers arriving on the scene.
It’s not clear if this Choujin is a man or woman yet but they make an intimidating first impression as they march towards the badly wounded Nari, telling her they intend her to tell them everything about who hired her.
This knife Choujin user also seems like a very official person, used to rules and regulations, unlike Hoshi, who seemed quite a bit like a super hero when he was introduced back in chapter two.
It will be interesting to see if there could be some conflict between the two.
After capturing Nari and lecturing Ely about escaping from her teacher Monoma, who I assume is the woman Ely was wirth at the beginning of last chapter, the knife choujin then demands to know who Tokio is.
Tokio, however, can only get out his last name before he remembers he has been poisoned by Nari, only being able to say “the ven-” before collapsing.
This causes Ely to think his name is Zaven Kurohara, although I’ve been informed that a more accurate translation may be Dokuga Kurohara, but it’s only one person who I’ve seen say that.
We then get a quick look at a Choujin facility Tokio has been taken to following the battle with Nari, which has a flag with three arrows, possibly refrencing an earlier moment in the chapter when Tokio brought up a story about three arrows before being cut off by Ely.
Waking up, Tokio deleriously shouts that he has to go to school in an exaggerated panel.
Being met by Hoshi, the Choujin explains that they gave Tokio some serumn to deal with the poison and that the Choujin facility he is at is called Yamato Mori, then offering Tokio some apples.
Tokio narrates that this is the sweetest apple has ever tasted while Ely and supposedly Monoma, whose face is still hidden, sneak a peak from outside, brining an end to the chapter.
Broiler is another good chapter for Choujin X, with some great action and especially funny moments.
The question is, where does the story go from here?
Well, I think Sui Ishida has perfectly crafted a situation where Tokio could begin to live a double life.
The Choujins now think his name is Zaven Kurohara, so this could allow him to go back to being Tokio Kurohara at times, without his family figuring out he is a Choujin.
This would make Azuma only person from his true life who knows he is a Choujin , however this could have plenty of unforseen consequences for Tokio.
Many have speculated about Azuma’s potential darker side, which could become more apparent as Tokio begins to move further away from him.
Tokio may state how much he wants to be like Azuma at the beginning of Broiler but by taking action without relying on him he has already taken his first step to seperating from him.
This could eventually push Azuma into the clutches of the masked Choujin who sent Nari after Tokio.
Think of it as a darker version of the friendship between Kaneki and Hide from Tokyo Ghoul. 
Other than these predictions, though, I’m fairly clueless about where the story is going to go from here on out, so it will be interesting to see what Ishida has planned for subsequent chapters.

My Hero Academia, Season Five, Episode 20, My Villain Academia Review: It Begins… Without Really Beginning.

So, the fifth season of My Hero Academia has been interesting to say the least.
The problems fans are having with the anime have been made clear by them since season four, a season I was quite forgiving of and praised highly (although I have not rewatched it since so that could change if I chose to do so).
However, I am not as forgiving with Season Five because these problems have been bothering me.
The adaptation of the first arc, Class 1-A vs 1-B, was adapted quite well apart from a few too many flashbacks.
However, the rest of the season has not been adapted nearly as well.
The Endeavor Agency Arc was put ahead of the highly anticipated My Villain Academia Arc, which will undoubtedly make some scenes in future episodes not very tense because we know which characters will live.
Not only this but some of the episodes in the Endeavor Agency Arc were slowed down to a snail’s pace and there was even a filler episode put in.
Why was all this done?
Well, supposedly it was all for the new My Hero Academia movie, since it has characters from the agency arc and they had to move it forward to have the movie make sense to the viewer.
If this is true, it is a real shame that one of the best storylines from the manga has been pushed to the side for that.
Well, we recently got the begining of this highly praised arc with Episode Twenty of Season Five, “My Villain Academia”, and the problems with the pacing of prior episodes really affects the beginning of said arc which… is not even a beginning at all really.
Directed by Ikurō Satō and Takanori Yano, the episode skips over the first chapter of the My Villain Academia Arc entirely, which is a vital chapter because it sets up key events towards the end of the arc.
Even worse, by removing this chapter, Spinner’s entire character arc is effectively gone now.
This really makes me concerned for how this storyline will continue to be handled.
At least the scenes that were actually adapted from the manga are pretty good.
“My Villain Academia” begins with the League of Villains being attacked by Gigantomachia, All For One’s bodyguard, who wants to test Shigaraki to see if he is fit to be his new master.
Alas, Shigaraki is unworthy in Gigantomachia’s eyes, leading to the League being brought in to meet the creator of the Nomu, Daruma Ujiko, who is the Dr who told Izuku that he didn’t have a Quirk at the beginning of the story.
It is here we get our first peak into Shigaraki’s dark past, as we see how he was rescued by All For One in a flashback who then tells the young boy how he accidentally killed his entire family with his Quirk, presenting him with their hands, which are the hands he wears to this day.
Ujiko then tasks Shigaraki with gaining Gigantomachia’s loyalty in order to achieve his full support, leading to the League returning to Gigantomachia, lead by Shigaraki, who tells the giant bodyguard that his future king is back in a scene that gave me goosebumps.
We then cut to a month and a half later where Shigaraki is still struggling to beat Gigantomachia.
Spinner finally gets some spotlight, narrating about their struggles and how Toga got a new coat, however this detail now feels irrelvant because we didn’t see how much the League was struggling financially at the beginning of the arc, since this was also cut.
Speaking of things being removed, the introduction of Redestro is gone as well, so him calling on the League of Villains to fight his Meta Liberation Army feels kind of abrupt.
He lures the League in by using Giran as bait and threatening to call the heroes down on them if they don’t come to him.
Unfortunately for Redestro, he doesn’t know about Gigantomachia, and Shigaraki plans to use this to his advantage by eventually leading the giant to crush the Meta Liberation Army, planning to get him to submit after he is done.
This brings an end to a good episode, but one that is quite disappointing from a manga reader’s perspective.
There are so many cuts of relevant parts to the story that it feels like the My Villain Academia Arc will probably be nowhere near as impactful as it was in the manga.
I am still excited to see the rest of it and hope it is adapted well.
But, if it is not, I think many of us will be quite bitter that one of the best arcs in My Hero Academia was not done justice because the studio wanted to focus on a movie that isn’t even canon.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End: An Adventure After the Heroes’ Adventure.

I remember scrolling through Reddit a while back and coming across a fan animation for an ongoing manga called Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End of an elf doing a weird dance.
I thought it was funny so I decided to give the first chapter a read and it immediately sucked me in to the point that I binged the whole thing and have been reading every chapter upon its release.
Written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End has one of the most interesting and emotional openings to a story that I have seen in a long time.
We have all seen the typical fantasy story where the hero overcomes the big, evil dark lord, right?
It is by no means original.
However, what is original is to focus an entire story on what happens after this point in the many years following the dark lord’s defeat.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End explores what happens to the fantasy heroes and the world they live in long after they have completed their epic quest.

This is how the first chapter begins, with the hero Himmel and his party of the titular mage Frieren, priest Heiter, and dwarf Eisen, returning from their successful ten year journey to kill the demon king.
After much celebration, the group separate, deciding to meet up again to see a meteor shower that occurs once every 50 years.
Sure enough, 50 years later, Frieren returns to meet up with her party, only to reconnect at the end of Himmel’s life.
In all this time, little has seemed to pass for Frieren as, being an elf, she can live for thousands of years, with the time she spent with the hero party being little more than a blink in her long life.
Yet, despite knowing this, she still finds herself crying at Himmel’s funeral and wondering why  she did not take the time to understand him.
As the years pass, Frieren is eventually tasked with taking on the dying Heiter’s student Fern and Eisen’s former student Stark.
Together, the three of them begin their long journey to a place where souls rest so Frieren can see Himmel again.

The manga mainly follows Frieren, Fern and Stark on their long journey to find Himmel’s soul, going through many, many minor adventures along the way.

Make no mistake, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is mostly a slife of life story, with the adventure of Frieren, Fern and Stark exploring this fantasy world decades after the demon king’s defeat, while occasionally flashing back to Frieren’s time with the hero party.
All of the character’s, whether from Frieren’s current or past party, are fantastic, with a lot of great, funny and emotional moments.
These emotional moments come specifically during the first few chapters, where Frieren has to experience the deaths of many of her old friends who are dying of old age while she continues to live.
It really makes you think about how Frieren’s current adventure with Fern and Stark could also be so fleeting for her.
All those little slice of life adventures they have could become just another blink in Frieren’s eye and that is a sad thing to consider.
Speaking of slice of life, though, this is not all the manga is because there are actually some plot progressing storylines in Frieren’s current journey as well, like the demon arc, one of the early arcs in the story, which has what is easily one of Frieren’s best moments.

Frieren is at her coolest when facing off the demon army lead by Aura the Guillotine.

There are great moments spread out like this across the manga actually, although, there are some parts of the slice of life that are less interesting than others and some of the big storylines do seem to overstay their welcome a bit, like the most current one. 
And that is pretty much my only problem with Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.
I find the rest of it to be a great comedic, sometimes emotional story with good action and artwork.
It is a highly interesting take on what happens after the hero’s journey we are all so familiar with comes to an end.