Anime

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

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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

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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

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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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Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies Review

David Hogan1 Comment

Before we get to the final chunk of original Dragon Ball episodes I thought I’d better cover the four Dragon Ball movies first, as they all feature Goku as a kid, rather than the taller late teen we see in the final story arc, and they generally adapt the stories we’ve already covered via the main series, just with new antagonists and such. “Curse of the Blood Rubies” (known simply as “The Legend of Shenlong” in Japan) adapts the very first story arc of the series but takes out Pilaf and his gang and inserts a new threat in King Gurumes and his men. How much does this change the story? Not as much as it only being 40 minutes does… Still, let’s take a look at the first of many, many Dragon Ball-related 40-odd minute films and specials!

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Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer Review

David Hogan2 Comments

After a brief break to cover the recently-aired shows we have one last visit to the Cosmic Era of Gundam to go before moving on to our next older anime review chunk and it’s Stargazer, the three 15-minute episode OVA series, or ONA I should say, it was an early example of Original Net Animations! This is my first time watching the “series” as it wasn’t released on DVD here with the rest of SEED so its inclusion with the rest of the SEED Destiny box is my first chance to sit down with it. Turns out it’s pretty good, for a 45 minute story anyway. Let’s take a look!

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One Piece – Wano Arc (Episodes 1045 – 1067) Review

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It’s time for the penultimate One Piece Wano Arc review, as I know the series likes to streeeetch things out but what’s left should fit into one single chunk of episodes, so I’m happy to proclaim this as the second to last. With one or two smaller exceptions this chunk ties up the big fights that aren’t Luffy vs. Kaidou, including some very flashy fight sequences, though as per usual watching it one episode a week made the fights feel like they went on forever… Let’s take a look!

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Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury – Season 2 Review

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I know I said the next Gundam review would be me finishing off my coverage of the Cosmic Era shows, but I do try and get reviews for the seasonal shows out as close as I can to when they aired, so you’ll have to bear-with! That being said I’m always happy to talk more about The Witch from Mercury as although parts of the ending definitely felt rushed the second half / season of the show was once again great, full of fun twists and turns and great visuals and music. Let’s take a closer look!

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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Review

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Ufotable are back for another chunk of Demon Slayer adaptation, but I have to say that this time round I wasn’t as invested. Don’t get me wrong, the animation is still often jaw-dropping but the plot felt so samey to what’s come before that I honestly found myself less and less interested as it went along. How less interested? Let’s take a look!

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