Hogan Reviews

What a fun year for TV it’s been for me. Star Wars has had hit after hit (for different reasons) throughout 2022 and services like Netflix and Amazon Prime unleashed some big hitters in my field of view as well. Throw in some good Anime seasons and this year has been one of the rare ones where some good series have been left off due to having to do just 10, which is great, so honourable mentions to stuff like Umbrella Academy S3, which was still a lot of fun; She-Hulk which was half genuinely funny but half “not really my cup of tea”; Gundam: Witch From Mercury has had some great set up and character development but yet to really get going; and the final two thirds of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, which had an amazing finale but was pretty standard up to the that point… Let’s take a look at which made it!

My Hero Academy’s first half of Season 6 only just ended but it kept me hooked throughout its runtime. I’ve not had the time to read the Manga so it’s been really fun to watch as the heroes get further and further beaten down and things look grim, while some of the villains got some focus and backstory. Admittedly I called the twist with Dabi years ago but it was still fun to see. A lot of the series is starting to lose that “fresh” feeling, but with arcs like this it should be able to keep its momentum up for a while yet. (My review can be found by clicking HERE)

Moon Knight was an odd series as I didn’t know a lot about the character going in and despite officially being part of the MCU it was deliberately kept apart from it so it felt like a stand alone series that just happened to be on Disney Plus. Still, what I did get was a charismatic lead performance and a good look at a very real mental health issue blended with some fun Egyptian God lore and some good fight scenes. Didn’t blow me away like certain Marvel Netflix shows have in the past, but it was still fun. (My review can be found by clicking HERE)

Attack on Titan’s Final Season chugged along for another third but this time it was full of exposition dumps that were genuinely fun and interesting, plus some Titan-on-Titan action, which is always a visual spectacle. The whole “is Eren right?” argument has been fun to follow as well, though I don’t think “committing genocide on everyone else so they don’t try to do it to your people again” is really justifiable, but hey-ho… (My review can be found by clicking HERE)

Tales of the Jedi is on this list solely for the three episodes focusing on a Count Dooku, both as a Jedi Knight and during his fall to the Darkside. For whatever reason I never really thought “why” because as a character Dooku was played as straight evil but seeing what turned him here was great: anger at the rich and powerful politicians holding back the common man but falling under the sway of something far worse without realising it. It was done so well in just three animated shorts as well! Amazing what tight and well written story telling can do… (My review can be found by clicking HERE)

Rings of Power is a prequel set so far back in the past of the Middle Earth series that it’s hard to call it that, but whatever it was it was epic in scope and really fun to watch! I intentionally didn’t review this show as I’m only a casual fan of the Middle Earth series, having only watched the two trilogies of films and not gotten any deeper than that, so I thought I’d avoid trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about or getting criticised for giving it a positive review from hardcore Tolkinites who really took issue with some of the decisions and just take it as something fun to casually watch, and that’s exactly what it was!

Sandman was a great watch and a really fun adaptation of the comics, honestly I could’ve reviewed it but frankly it was so close to the audio drama version of the source material I reviewed last year that it felt overly familiar so I took my time with it, dropping in here and there, and by the time I was finished it felt like the time review it had passed, plus storywise it wouldn’t be very different from my thoughts on the audio version! Still can deny the great acting, visuals and even the fun extra bonus episode tacked onto the end. If you’ve not experienced the story before like I have (in two different formats!) then this is a great way to get into it.

Obi Wan Kenobi felt like it was in development forever, even after it was confirmed to be happening with Ewan himself. When it finally arrived it got off to a slower start than many were expecting but for me anyway it soon picked up and delivered a great story of the titular character’s long journey to “getting his groove back” and becoming the man we see in “A New Hope”… well, not literally given the whole different actors thing, but you know what I mean. They also redid the broken helmet scene with Darth Vader from SW Rebels only in live action, which was very fun. Don’t know if I’d want a season 2 but for what it was it was great weekly TV. (My review can be found by clicking HERE)

Bleach is a personal favourite of mine but the Thousand Year Blood War arc is, in my opinion, the weakest of the bunch so imagine my confused feelings now the adaptation of this final arc has gotten on the way and it’s been given the kind of careful and accurate adaptation that very few series get with the kind of visual flare very few anime ever receive. Pretty much every week I’ve been blown away by some scene or another and even though I know it’s heading in a rather flat direction I can’t help but to be excited to see how some of the crazy fight scenes to come get animated, because to say this anime lifts the source material to new heights would be an understatement. Not sure the Thousand Year Blood War deserves this kind of high level attention, but hell if I didn’t love every second of it. (My review can be found by clicking HERE)

Stranger Things felt like a one-hit wonder for a while, with Seasons 2 and 3 being very good but not a patch on the first one, but for whatever reason Season 4 just clicked again and it was brilliant. Sure one sideplot felt like it didn’t really go any where for the longest time but having a great central villain to “root against” added so much and the newest addition to the cast in Eddie stole the show in some scenes. All that being said the now chart-topping scene of Max running towards an exit with “Running Up That Hill” playing in the background was probably the most I’ve been glued and gripped to the TV in years, that was masterfully done and for that alone it deserves a high place, it’s just there is one more show I feel was more consistently strong… (I watched this during the “dark times” of this site, so I don’t know if/when I’ll get around to reviewing it…)

Andor was a show I had high hopes for given it was less a show about Andor himself and more about the early days of the rebellion, including scenes with Mon Mothma. To my surprise it not only lived up to my expectations but far, far exceeded them, showing a more mature and darker look at the Star Wars universe and having a cast full of multi-layered characters all being really well developed, slowly but surely, including Andor himself. I was hoping Andor would land on this Top 10 but I never expected it to be #1, but I’m thrilled it is! (My review can be found by clicking HERE)