Anime

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – Season 1 Episodes 1 – 13 Review

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When I started this run-down of the Gundam series I was looking forward to two things in particular: watching all the UC series in order for the first time (and Victory for the first time in general) and finally getting round to re-watching Gundam 00, and it’s time to finally check the second one off the list. I have very fond memories of this show, though I’m interested if its because this was the first Gundam show I watched weekly as it aired and discussed each episode online with other fans or whether the show really is as good as I remember. Judging by the first thirteen episodes though I have a feeling it really is that good, especially the character and mech / mobile suit designs and world building. So, let’s take a look!

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Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Arc (Episodes 14 – 26) Review

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The anime adaptation of Bleach’s final manga arc (I guess that’s still technically accurate…) continued with 13 more episodes of the Thousand Year Blood War arc, not only adapting the manga faithfully but adding brand new scenes created by Tite Kubo himself to plug some plot holes and make sure to add more shine to the Royal Guard for good measure. The only issue is that this is where the arc in the manga took a dramatic down turn that it never corrected out of, instead just offering up some fun fights here and there, and while the new material helps it a bit, a lot of the narrative mistakes are still present here. Want to know more? Read on!

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Dragon Ball – Wedding Dress Filler Arc (Episodes 149 – 153) Review

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The original Dragon Ball series comes to a close with these five filler episodes, and while most of the time its perfectly normal to shudder at the phrase “Filler Arc” this one is actually quite entertaining. I mean I still don’t think it really adds anything beyond seeing Goku and Chi Chi’s wedding at the end (Spoilers? Though it’s sort of in the title of the arc… and my thumbnail…) but if you’re going to artificially add more episodes then this was at least fun and told a mini-story rather than random singular episodes or a really obnoxiously long arc. So let’s take a look and finally close the book on the original DB series!

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Dragon Ball – 23rd Tenkaichi Tournament Arc (Episodes 140 – 148) Review

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It’s time to wrap up the final story arc of the original Dragon Ball series… well, it would be if this was the manga (though that was technically just called “Dragon Ball” the whole way through) but ignoring the post story filler arc, this is the big finale as Goku and Piccolo do battle in one final epic Dragon Ball battle before the beam-fests and teleporty fights that follow in Z. How does it hold up? Why, let’s take a look, shall we?

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Jujutsu Kaisen – Hidden Inventory / Premature Death Arc (Episodes 25 – 29) Review

David HoganLeave a comment

It’s time to squeeze in a quick modern anime review as the new season of Jujutsu Kaisen is nicely split into two arcs and as this one is only five episodes it’s already ended (in fact it ended a couple of weeks ago, actually…) then it made sense to do it now rather than wait for the official end of the season. That being said it’s despite its short length it’s certainly no less important for it, so let’s take a look!

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Dragon Ball – 23rd Tenkaichi Tournament Arc (Episodes 133 – 139) Review

David Hogan2 Comments

After what seems like forever it’s time to wrap up the original Dragon Ball series with the final arc (and that mini filler arc the anime team added afterwards…) What always strikes me about this arc is how it’s the exact opposite of the 22nd TB arc in that there is very nearly no filler whatsoever making it back-to-back fights with little breaks. The one-day tournament is back to actually being a one-day tournament! So let’s take a look at the preliminaries and the opening round, shall we?

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Dragon Ball: The Path to Power Review

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The fourth Dragon Ball film is a real oddity as it was actually created after all 13 Dragon Ball Z films and was released as Dragon Ball GT was airing, meaning there is a noticeable uptick in animation quality; some of the designs were redone, especially Goku as he is literally the Kid Goku from DBGT complete with yellow trousers and pink armbands (at least later in the film), and there are moments of definite Z/GT style “powering up”. Despite all this though it re-adapts the first story arc (again!) but adds in the Red Ribbon Army instead of Pilaf (I’d say “again!” but the RRA here is mostly the characters not used in the previous film) so it definitely fits into the same mould as the three previous DB films, just with higher production values and a longer runtime. Does it work? Let’s take a look!

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Resident Evil: Death Island Review

David HoganLeave a comment

It’s time for another CG Resident Evil movie set within the canon game timeline that will inevitably not actually be mentioned in the games! Hooray! Seriously though, as a die hard Resi fan since day one I do love these as a guilty pleasure and boy oh boy does Death Island play to my fanboy heart: Chris, Jill, Leon, Claire and Rebecca all in one story? Actually following up on character development from Resi 5 and 6? A villain with an actual interesting backstory?! (before becoming a generic villain in the end) Yes for this fan this was a great 90 minutes, if you’re not a fan then… well, let’s take a look…

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Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure Review

David HoganLeave a comment

The third Dragon Ball movie is an odd one as it doesn’t feature any new characters at all but instead takes a good chunk of them from the Red Ribbon Army and 22nd Tenkaichi Tournament arcs and mushes them together, then throws in a new location for a bit of set dressing, plus Chiaotzu is some sort of Emperor now for some reason. The weird thing is that I find it really works, this is far and away my favourite of the four original Dragon Ball films, but then again I love the RRA and 22nd TB arcs, so maybe it’s not that big a shock. Well, either way, let’s take a look!

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Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle Review

David HoganLeave a comment

Dragon Ball’s second theatrical feature sort of picks up from where the last one left off, in that the previous film adapted the first 13 or so episodes of the show / story arc of the manga and this one riffs on the next one, where Goku meets Krillin and they train under Master Roshi… well, then it sort of stops to tell a mostly original story, though adding in a few missed beats from the previous film and of course favourite side-character Lunch, who gets a much different introduction here! Let’s take a look…

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