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Review: Chivalry of a Failed Knight

I found Chivalry of a Failed Knight while aimlessly searching for an anime to watch. Sometimes I have a routine and other times I scan for descriptions I like and then chose one.

And to my satisfaction, I enjoyed my time watching all 12 of the episodes available. If you’ve never given this anime a chance and you’re looking for something low key to watch. This is an older anime released in the last 5 years, but think this could be an option.

Story:

We meet a protagonist named Ikki. He’s an F-ranked Blazer in an academy full of skilled students. He’s thought to be the “worst one” because his talent set cannot be measured by the criteria of the academy. But, his fate changes when he inadvertently walks in on a powerful prodigy named Stella while she’s half-dressed. Apparently, they’ve been assigned the same room.

She threatens to eliminate him and challenges him to a duel. The loser will serve a life of servitude to the winner. However, Stella quickly figures out the academy has Ikki all wrong when she loses to him in their fight.

Ikki and Stella end up staying roommates after the fight and also develop feelings for each other. There’s also this weird interaction with his sister, but that gets stomped out pretty quickly when the two (Ikki and Stella) fall in love. They then vowed to meet each other in the final stage of the schools Seven Star Sword Art Festival to determine the strongest knight.

Why you should watch this:

This anime has some interesting character dynamics in it. Ikki’s sister, Shizuku is kind of annoying, but she eases up by the end of the story. Ikki is definitely the glue that holds the story together. His redemption arc is inspiring and truthfully his character going through a lot to stay true to himself and to Stella.

Stella isn’t the most interesting character, but she’s a great support to Ikki when the moment calls for it. There are a bunch of other characters that get involved in Ikki’s development but he mostly makes them better which adds to his appeal.

Overall, the Chivalry of a Failed Knight is a good watch. Ikki’s redemption is great to follow. I actually did some research after I watched it to find out if there was another season coming.

I couldn’t find anything. But, the fact that I even wanted to watch more of Ikki and Stella’s story says a lot. So I suggest you give Chivalry of a Failed Knight a try.

One Punch Man S02, E10 | Justice Siege (review)

Oddly enough, this episode of One Punch man left out Speed-O-Sound Sonic’s monster cell dinner completely. We didn’t get a follow up about him or the actions he took in the previous episode. I was kind of looking forward to seeing what would come of the cooked cells.

Will they enhance Sonics powers more? Will the monster cell enhancement be moot because the potency was cooked out of it? Will Sonic’s metabolism play a part in whether or not the cells even make a difference?

We don’t find out. But, it’s still a pretty good episode.

Spoilers ahead

Saitama doesn’t play a part in this episode, except that he and King are too busy playing video games to hear a distress call from the Hero Association.

Speaking of which, the Hero Association was infiltrated by a transforming monster in the previous episode. This monster brings a message from the Monster Association in the form of one of Gyoro-Gyoro’s eyeball vessels.

They propose a cease-fire and living in harmony with humans. However, that’s just a horrible joke because moments later, the monster holding Gyoro-Gyoro shoots one of the Monster Association executives dead.

In reality, the monsters want the Hero Association to send it’s best heroes to City Z, the Monster Association headquarters, to battle for complete control. They offer a rescue of the kidnapped son of the Hero Association’s financial backer.

This battle is at the request of King Orochi. The plan is to bait the Class S heroes in with the hostage and then go for the kill. While Gyoro-Gyoro explains the plan to the monsters, King Orochi starts pointing our weak monsters and eating them. Do-S is almost the next victim, but Gyoro-Gyoro vouches for her skill set.

One of the monsters at the association meeting kind of favored the Menos from Bleach. I’m just saying.

Menos, Bleach

Child Emperor tries to come up with a plan of action to storm the Monster Association and save the hostage, but Metal Knight just wants to bomb everything to get rid of as much of the monsters at once. They are at an impasse when we cut away.

The news outlets report on the Monster Associations demands and as a result, the entire city is in terror.

Next, we finally get some time with Garou. He’s just waking up from the kick Saitama gave him last episode. He limps to a nearby shed to recuperate but is followed by Death Gatling and a group of other heroes.

One of those heroes kind of looked like Gohan from Dragon Ball Super. He had the same hair cut, glasses and the green jumpsuit. I’m just saying.

Garou is still very injured when he is surrounded by Death Gatling’s group of heroes. He puts up a good fight, but when the episode comes to an end, he is completely surrounded and out of options.

Before the heroes arrived, Garou was talking to the little boy who always lets him read his Heroes Almanac. So perhaps in the next episode, the little boy will step out in defense of Garou, since he doesn’t know him as a villain.

Review: One Punch Man S02, E09 | The Ultimate Dilemma

One Punch Man S02, E09 | The Ultimate Dilemma (review)

I was a little underwhelmed with the latest episode of One Punch Man. It’s for the same reason as always. As soon as I think Saitama is about to show out, he doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, The Ultimate Dilemma set up a lot of plot information this week. But, this week I think we missed out on something that had the potential to be epic.

Spoilers ahead

We pick up where The Resistance of the Strong episode left off. Suiryu on the ground half alive and Saitama looking like the savage that he is. Bakuzan is still in the arena and recognizes Saitama without his disguise on.

After a few words of banter, Bakuzan finishes hyping himself up and begins to attack Saitama. Saitama is taking his time to survey the area and notices a few fighters that he met during the tournament passed out.

Saitama takes a few punches from Bakuzan, but it does nothing to him and with one punch Bakuzan is headless. He actually loses part of his chest too.

Suiryu tries to stop Saitama from going after Gouketsu because he’s overpowered and almost killed him. This only intrigues Saitama more and he goes to find Goukestu.

Earlier I mentioned that we missed out on something epic. This is what I am referring to. The audience does not see Saitama and Goukestu’s confrontation. I guess we are supposed to assume Saitama ran up on him and punched his head off, but I highly doubt it.

Saitama has been looking for a challenge all season long. Are you trying to tell me that he wouldn’t have at least given Goukestu an opportunity to try and fight?

No way.

I did not expect Saitama to no-sell both the Dragon Level Monsters. Plus, the disrespect of not even letting us see the encounter between Goukestu and Saitama is really confusing. He’s supposed to be a former martial arts master.

Should we assume that Saitama’s inevitable confrontation with Garou will be anti-climactic as well?

Something cool did happen though. Suiryu decided he wanted to be a hero and asked to be Saitama’s apprentice!

Oh, joy!

After the events at the arena, King and Saitama run into each other on the barren streets of the city. The Monster Association has retreated to their base and Saitama starts to complain about being bored.

King actually has some very encouraging words for Saitama. They are meant to make him examine himself and understand he still has untapped potential. King is right! Goukestu confirmed that there are stronger monsters out there in the last episode. It was great, even if it was regurgitated from a manga he read.

Garou makes an appearance in this episode.

He has just finished his fight with Watchdog Man and is wounded. When he sees King, he regains some stamina and charges at him full speed. He’s so focused on King that he doesn’t see Saitama, but Saitama sees him and kicks him to the side.

This is the second time Saitama has encountered Garou and he still doesn’t realize that he is the self-proclaimed Human Monster with unmatched martial arts skills. He keeps putting him on the ground with no effort, so why would he?

Garou is left laying in a hole in the wall as a result of the kick from Saitama.

At the end of the episode, Speed-O-Sound Sonic is offered a chance to join the Monster Association by some old acquaintances. He decides to take them up on the offer so that he can rival Saitama.

I wish someone would tell these people consuming monster cells that they won’t gain ultimate power. They should know that they will still be mediocre.

Sonic decides to cook the monster cells so that they will taster better.

Smart.

In the midst of Sonic cooking monster cells, the Monster Association sends the Hero Association a message via an infected human. Monster antenna burst out of his skull and that’s fin.

We’ll see how this progresses next week.

Last episode: One Punch Man S02, E08 | I Need A Hero

Review: The Promised Neverland after 7 episodes

I am really intrigued by The Promised Neverland series. It took me a while to sit down and watch it. Initially, I was disappointed in myself because I was instantly hooked and knew that I should have watched it sooner. But, I quickly got over it because I was able to binge seven episodes to catch up. So that was a plus!

Story:

The Promised Neverland revolves around a group of orphaned children who live carefree in an orphanage being loved, fed, and educated by their house mother, Isabella. Emma, Norman, and Ray are some of the oldest children at the orphanage and they are also the smartest. All of the children dream of getting adopted into loving families. And their house mother assumingly makes that happen for them.

All is well until it is time for the adoption of a six-year-old girl, Conny. Conny always carries a bunny. When that bunny is left behind, it sparks concern for Emma and Norman. They run after Isabella and Conny to return the forgotten bunny. However, they find out that Conny has been murdered and put on ice to be sold to monsters. Monsters who want human flesh and brains to eat. What’s worse is that Isabella is involved with this horror. She is raising them like cattle to be harvested and eaten by monsters.

Terrified at what they’ve found out, Emma and Norman hatch a plan to escape from the orphanage and bring the rest of the children with them to an unknown world that is full of unknown horrors.

Using the help of Ray and two other children, Don and Gilda, they plan an escape. But, they are thwarted by Isabella from the shadows as she bides her time until the next big harvest of children to offer up to ‘The One’.

Why you should watch this:

This anime is insane. In the first three episodes, I was so uneasy. As if selling children isn’t bad enough, we meet a character named Krone who clearly has some sort of personality disorder. She wants to be a “mother” on the farm orphanage and is willing to do anything to get it, including selling these children after using them as allies. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve referred to her as nuts while watching this anime.

The coolest thing about this anime is the main characters ability to strategize and plan their escape while gathering information. Norman is the most level headed protagonist I’ve encountered while watching anime. He constantly finds out negative information and is able to use it to his advantage for the betterment of the escape plan.

Emma is so naive, poor girl. She wants to save every child. I sympathize with her the most. I really do not want to see her soul get crushed if they can’t save everyone.

Ray disappointed me the most. I won’t spoil it, but I haven’t been able to trust him. Even though Norman is still able to make the most out of the situation, Ray is still the wildest card they need to deal with.

Expectations:

I honestly don’t know what to expect. There is still so much information that hasn’t been explained. And this is a 12 episode season and even though season 2 has been announced, I’m going to need some resolution! I suspect we will find out actual information about ‘The One’. The only thing I gathered so far is he/she/it runs the children harvest operation.

I also would like to see how Krone’s help, if she is able to help, comes in to play while Emma, Ray, and Norman attempt to escape. But for some reason, I get the feeling this isn’t a happy ending kind of anime. Then again, there is time for everything to work out.

It’s available on Crunchy Roll, Hulu, Funimatio, and Toonami (weekly) if you want catch up on this show and share your opinion with me.

One Punch Man S02, E08 | I need a hero! (review)

The Resistance of the Strong episode was the best of the season. We only saw fierce adversaries and highly motivated heroes. Saitama has just run away because he’s been discovered as an imposter and then everything that should have happened three episodes ago begins.

Spoiler’s ahead.

During the award ceremony, the administrators of the Martial Arts Tournament decide to finally tell the attendees that there are monsters ravaging the city. This news doesn’t cause as much of a panic as you would think. Maybe that’s because moments later a bunch of crow monsters landed in the center of the fighting stage.

Perhaps everyone got away.

A select few of the participants and the tournament were rounded up to face Gouketsu, a Threat Level Dragon monster. He was once a human, but after being defeated by a monster he was taken to their lair. Goukestu consumed the monster cells and realized his ultimate power.

Remember in the last episode, Gouketsu destroyed Genos.

The monsters have formed the Monster’s Association similar to the Hero Association. And their objectives are as follows.

  • Create terror among humans
  • Secure a hostage from the Hero Association
  • Turn significant humans into monsters.

So, Gouketsu’s only goal is to turn every martial arts participant into a monster. A lot of them decide to do it out of fear and instantly get taken down. This goes with my previous opinion that becoming a monster does not mean you are going to be the best. If you are weak-minded before you turn, you’ll still get wrecked.

Choze, who was beaten last week in the semi-finals by Saitama decides to eat the monster cells and puts on a good showing, but Suiryu puts him down with little effort.

Goukestu is intrigued by Suiryu’s strength and tries to convince him that being a monster will be “fun”. However, Suiryu says now and commences a one-sided battle with Goketsu.

Suiryu ends up with a broken arm, a crushed spirit, and most of all a crushed spirit. He’s being surrounded by Gouketsu’s hench monsters when he spots Bakuzan.

Yay!

Turns out Bakuzan wants to be a monster because he’s seeing Suiryu and everyone else for that matter get ruined by them. So he consumes at least three or four monster cells and condemns Suiryu to die.

Aw!

It seems like Bakuzan literally bit off more than he could chew because he croaked in and fell to the floor moments after declaring that he’d be the strongest being alive.

But hey, Snek and Lightning Max come back from earlier decimation to help Suiryu fight off the henchman. It was a very awesome moment!

Ready to face Gouketsu, Max, Snek, and Suiryu get ready to fight. They even tell Suiryu to run, because their heroes and they are trying to protect him. Unfortunately, Bakuzan woke up from his food coma and rendered all of them helpless.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Everyone is laying on the floor passed out pretty much except for Suiryu. Bakuzan proclaims victory and Gouketsu is pleased to accept him into the Monster’s Association. However, Bakuzan thinks he’s the strongest creature alive.

While all of the monsters are being summoned back to the lair, Bakuzan resists and attacks Gouketsu. Goukestu quickly knocks him and states that Bakuzan may be Threat Level Dragon, but he is still not stronger than him. He’s not even stronger than many other monsters or Class S heroes for that matter.

My theory written above confirmed!

Gouketsu shares the hideout location and tells him to find them when he is ready.

Feeling a bit taken back because he realizes he’s not going to be the strongest, Bakuzan decides to kill Suiryu. He breaks his legs, squashes his body, and tortures him until he screams, “I need a hero!”

This episode is truly about Suiryu, the Resistance of the Strong. After all of his smug talk in the last episode about heroes being worthless and using his strength for his own gain, Suiryu is screaming for a hero. Who comes to the rescue? One Punch Man himself, Saitama!

I can’t wait for this fight next week!

Last episode: One Punch Man S02, E07 | Saitama vs. Suiryu

Review: RobiHachi after 5 episodes

While so far it hasn’t captivated me, I did want to give it a chance because it was listed on Funimation’s “Things to Watch” reel. Usually, when something is listed at the top of the Funimation list, it’s pretty good. However, I’m finding it hard to stay engaged in this one.

Story:

We’re introduced to Robby, a man who ran away from his wealthy family and stole his fathers’ space ship. He wants to be rich without working and borrows money from loan sharks because he wants to invest in business’ that all seem to be scams.

Eventually, he consolidates his loans with one loan shark named, Yang, but because he borrows more money after the consolidation Yang sends a debt collector after him.

The debt collector turns out to be Hatchi. We meet Hatchi briefly after he recovers a bag of money that was stolen from Robby right after he borrowed it. He ends up being the person who is hired to recover that money for Yang from Robby.

While running away from Yang and his “Henchmen” (if you can even call them that) Robby, Hatchi, and Ikki escape into space. Hatchi stays with the group because he’s excited about the unpredictable nature of the journey and Robby just wants to get away from his debtors by reaching Isakandar.

Cool Aspects:

Space Odyessy adventures are always fun. Robby and Hachi seem to find themselves visiting planets around the solar system and inadvertently helping the natives of that planet discover their identity. They also have a bunch of fun and goofy encounters with each other and supporting characters.

Also whenever there is a Mega Zord involved, it’s always a good time. The Zord is introduced as the cosmic entity only to find out that it’s hollow inside and at one point they almost drown inside of it because it isn’t able to adapt.

Expectations:

I have seven episodes left to watch. I’m expecting to find out more about Hachi. He is the mysterious character in the group and has a hidden past that hasn’t been revealed yet. He did mention that he couldn’t or wouldn’t go back home. I’m hoping there is more about that exposed.

At the end of episode five, a group of unknown people are concerned that Robby and Hachi left the solar system. I wonder if they are involved in Hachi’s past or if they are involved in something less interesting like Robby’s debt collectors.

We’ll see.

It’s available on Amazon, Hulu, and Funimation if you want catch up on this show and share your opinion with me.

One Punch Man S02, E07 | Saitama vs. Suiryu (review)

The last two episodes of One Punch Man have been ramping up. I’m having a lot of fun this season even though Saitama has been a non-factor in the Monster Apocalypse that is happening for the entire season. But, things are about to change.

Spoiler’s ahead

The monster’s are overrunning the city, and while the Class S heroes are doing their best to hold on to the city and save its citizens, it is proving to be tough for a lot of them. The only Class S hero that seems to be consistently taking down monsters who are Threat Level Dragon is Tatsumaki aka Terrible Tornado.

Tatsumaki even tells one other Class S hero, Flashy Flash to start acting like his rank because he couldn’t take down a Kraken with ease.

Meanwhile, Saitama, still disguised as Charanko, is prepping for the semi-finals of the Martial Arts Tournament verses Choze, a self-proclaimed perfect specimen. After some boasting, Choze is taken out by Saitama with one punch in the middle of a yawn.

The Holy Order of the Sword is contemplating whether they should involve themselves in the hunt for Garou or let Master Bang and Master Boom take care of it.

During this conversation, Hagiri, a member of the Holy Order, decides to convince his fellow samurai to consume monster cells as he did and surpass their human limitations. However, Atomic Samurai and the others were not easily convinced like Hagiri. This resulted in Atomic Samurai slicing Hagiri’s head off with one swipe.

I noticed that just because you consume the monster cells, does not mean you are guarantee impossible strength. Maybe the person will get a power increase, but that doesn’t stop them from being easily defeated if they were weak before the transformation.

Saitama vs. Suiryu

Finally, Saitama (Charanko) and Suiryu are announced for the finals of the Martial Arts Tournament. Saitama is still being portrayed as the underdog despite convincingly beating all fo his appointment with one punch!

But okay.

Suiryu attacks Saitama with a barrage of kicks that cause his wig to fly in the air. They finally stop for a moment to discuss what they really want out of this tournament.

Suiryu brags about wanting fun and money. Saitama wants to experience Martial Arts and win the cash pot. So Suiryu offers to give Saitama an experience in exchange for a fun fight. It’s a deal until Suiryu starts to criticize Saitama for wanting to be a hero.

Honestly, Suiryu only pointed out what the story has shown thus far. Besides a select few Class S Heroes, a lot of the heroes we come across in One Punch Man are heroes in name only. They haven’t been able to be very effective. But, one could argue that these heroes have heart. For example, Mumen Rider has a lot of heart despite his ineffective fighting skills.

During this fighting match, Suiryu had been faking kicks and blowing Saitama’s wig up. Usually, Saitama could keep the wig on his head. But, he was so annoyed at Suiryu’s remarks that he left the wig come off.

“If all your after is fun, don’t get any stronger” – Saitama

Saitama throws a punch with an intentional miss at Suiryu. The wind from the punch rips Suiryu’s gear to pieces.

As a result of the wig coming off, Saitama is disqualified. The air punch terrified Suiryu and he began to attack Saitama to prove he was better but ended up being knocked out to a hip bump.

Saitama deduced that Martial Arts is, ” just moves that look cool” and ran away so that he wouldn’t be detained by the tournament security.

Though it wasn’t an official lost because of Saitama’s disqualification, Suiryu still acknowledged his own defeat and first loss while sitting in the crater his body created when it hit the wall.

Meanwhile, there’s a new Dragon Level Threat monster in the city. He destroyed Genos and is heading to the Martial Arts Tournament.

Review: One Punch Man S02, E06 | The Monster Uprising

Review: Revisions (Netflix)

I finished watching Revisions on Netflix yesterday. Overall, I enjoyed the journey of the season, but there were definitely some glaring moments that made me roll my eyes and sigh in exasperation.

My exasperation mostly came from Daisuke Dojima, one of the main protagonists. I wanted to like him so bad. His character was voiced by Bryce Papenbrook in the English version. So he sounded just like some of my favorites anime characters. Characters that act as hero and protector seamlessly like Kirito Kirigaya of Sword Art Online and Eren Jaeger of Attack on Titan.

Those characters have their annoying moments as well, but they have more redeeming qualities to offset those moments. Daisuke, like the two characters I just mentioned, fulfilled his destiny but his journey was a bumpy ride.

Spoilers ahead

The Story:

Out of a group of five friends, Daisuke is kidnapped in 2010. He is saved by a woman from the future, Milo. She tells him that he will be the only one who can protect his friends when a threat comes in the future. His destiny is to protect everyone.

This remark stays with Daisuke and as the year’s progress, he looks for the threat that will save everyone from. Seven years later, his friends become alienated due to his overwhelming personality and inability to live in the present.

Eventually, the threat appears in the form of the Revisions. They time-jump Shibuya from 2017 to the year 2388 where a pandemic has killed most of the human race and left any survivors infected and deformed.

The five friends (Daisuke, Keisaku, MariMari, Lu, and Gai) form the SDS tactical force because they are the only ones capable of captaining the String Puppets, the main weapon against the Revisions.

However, Daisuke is unable to fulfill his destiny due to his cockiness and at one point loses hope in his destiny after he loses his best friend in battle. Only when he is able to let go of a preconceived destiny and allow each member of his team, SDS members and supporting cast, was he able to truly protect his friends, save the human race, and return Shibuya back to the year 2017.

Thoughts:

Two episodes into Revisions I thought it would play out a little like Erase. Erase is a story about a man whose life is turned upside down due to sabotage, but he’s able to go back in time somehow to change the events of the past so that the future is different.

However, I quickly realized that Daisuke is not like Satouru, the main character in Erase. Daisuke acts like a complete jerk most of the time and doesn’t hesitate to call himself the leader and the savior despite not even being the best at using the String Puppet gear. His friends are constantly trying to support him, but he makes it hard.

He almost ruined this anime for me. Luckily, he levels out some in the last four episodes on the season. It’s only when he finds out that he’s not really destined to protect everyone and that ARVH, the future organization that Milo works with, made an error and he actually evolves as a character.

Usually, at some point in the show, I have an emotional moment. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any feelings until Keisaku was the main focus.

I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say the anime has a bittersweet feel-good ending until you realize there is more of the story to come.

It seemed like a second season was set up for Revisions. I could be wrong, it might just be a cliff hanger to dismiss any semblance of a happy ending based on the sacrifices made.

I did enjoy Revisions and if Makoto Fukami and Taichi Hashimoto do create another season I’d love to see Daisuke’s character continue to grow in a positive way.

Honorable mention to Oral Cigarette’s who did the opening song for the series. The songs is titled Wagamama de Gomakasanaide and I like it.

One Punch Man S02, E06 | The Monster Uprising (review)

Spoilers ahead

Not a lot happened in this weeks episode of One Punch Man season 2, episode 6: The Monster Uprising. We didn’t see Garou in the main story though he did make a quick appearance after the end credits.

As someone who is enjoying the anime and not relying on the manga content to compare events, I am still waiting for Garou to actually be an ally to the heroes. I’m only convinced because of the way Saitama is.

So far all season, every time someone meets Saitama and witnesses his massive strength, it makes them turn over a new leaf. I’m seeing a recurring theme (King, Blizzard even Sonic if you think about). It could be possible that Garou won’t end up being Saitama’s nemesis, but a great ally.

Back to the main story of this episode.

The Martial Arts Tournament is still going and Saitama’s opponent is Bakuzan. At this point, Bakuzan is painted as a super strong and intimidated character. He convinced the tournament holders to keep the matches going after they found out about the monster uprising outside the walls.

Mind you, the entire reason for Saitama joining the tournament was to experience Martial Arts and earn the money pot at the end. So Saitama tells Bakuzan to show him Martial Arts. But after Bakuzan almost takes off Saitama’s wig, he gets an uppercut to the face and ends up in the ground outside the ring.

Meanwhile, Genos is outside the walls of the tournament being the awesome character he’s turned out to be. He’s once again answered the call of the Heroe’s Association and is saving civilans while destroying monsters.

Fubuki aka Blizzard’s fight continues with Do-s. At this point in the fight, all of Blizzard’s team is under Do-s’ mind control and Blizzard is trying to fend off her attacks. Do-s wants Hurricane aka Tatsumaki (Fubuki’s sister) to come and fight her. But, Do-s wasn’t strong enough and Hurricane’s attacks forced her and the other monsters to fall back.

Back at the tournament, we find out that Suiryu is actually kind of a jerk. During his fight with Sneck he taunts him and pretty much tells him that despite his efforts, he sucks. He also admits that he doesn’t practice and he’s only interested in money. This is the complete opposite of Sneck who works really hard at being a hero and is still subpar. Sneck still tries his hardest and gets knocked down with one shot from Suiryu.

Shame.

However, because of his cockiness this episode, I am really looking forward to his match up with Saitaima!

Last weeks episode: Review: One Punch Man season 2 | Zakkos is some weak sauce

One Punch Man season 2 | Zakkos is some weak sauce (review)

Spoilers ahead!

One Punch Man season 2 episode 5, The Martial Arts Tournament”, continues with the fight between Metal Bat and Garou (The Hero Hunter). They actually have a really good exchange and Garou expresses that Metal Bat stronger but he’s beaten down. Garou takes advantage of Metal Bats exhausted state and knocks him out.

Metal Bat does get one last shot at Garou but his little sister stops the fight. If she hadn’t Garou’s head would have been bashed in. But in order to save her brother, she tells Garou that his family has a rule about violence in front of her. Garou backs off.

I’m beginning to think he has a moral code after all. The only time we’ve seen him pull back during this series is when there is a child present.

Meanwhile, the cities monster threat level has raised from Dragon to Demon. All classes of monsters and heroes are fighting in the street. The Blizzard group does show up but we don’t see Blizzard or her group fight anyone yet.

The Monster Association wants to recruit Garou but he says no. This is weird because his main focus is to be classified as a monster and when he gets the invite, he rips it up and says, “No Thanks”.

He could have been because the monsters inviting him looked terrible and he could clearly beat them. Plus his goal to beat the Class S heroes seems more important to solidify his status versus just getting invited to a group.

My only question is about the Martial Arts Tournament. I’m sure the news of a level Demon threat in the city would travel fast. But, no one in the stadium seems worried about the chaos in the streets.

There are several heroes in or around the tournament that could be useful in the fight against the monsters (including Suiryu, Genos, Snakebite Snek, Bakuzan, and Saitama disguised as Charanko) but they are fighting for honor or watching the fight.

Why aren’t there any rumblings in the stadium that suggest the participants will fight out about the carnage in the city? Shouldn’t the Hero Association be pulling all resources?

Centichrono is still suffocating the city and neurotoxins are spreading. It seems like something they would do.

We do find out the Master Boom and Bang are still hunting Garou and helping out in the field. As a result, they pulled out of the tournament as judges.

But we still find Saitama ready to fight against Zakkos. Both Charanko and Zakkos are classified as weak so they will fight against each other. But because Saitama is actually disguised as Charanko, he beats Zakkos with less than a chop.

The best part of this episode was the tournament announcers excitement when Zakkos went down. They tried to explain it away and then the announcer basically said, “Zakkos is some weak sauce!”

Best moment of the show.

Next week I assume that the crowd favorite Suiryu will meet up with Saitama. After seeing his chop to Zakkos he identified that Saitama as the strongest competitor. However, he is overlooking Bakuzan who is specifically gunning for him.

Review: One Punch Man season 2 | Metal Bat (episode 4)

One Punch Man season 2 | Metal Bat (review)

The latest episode of One Punch Man kept the narrative of the hero hunting monster, Garou. Apparently, as a child, he routed for the evil monsters instead of heroes during their battles on television.

In my review for the last episode, I briefly mentioned that Garou could be misunderstood. Perhaps something happened to him and it made him turn to crime. But, I was proven wrong. He legitimately just liked monsters and wanted to be one.

Fast forward to the present day and we find out that he massacred Master Bangs dojo. So I was wrong, Garou is not turning out to be a sympathetic misguided character.

I always look for the light.

Meanwhile, Saitama is all set to enter the martial arts tournament as Charanko. He’s approached by one of Charanko’s former classmates who turns out to be a complete conceded meathead named Sour Face.

We did learn some important information about Garou. We find out that Garou was defeated and expelled by Master Bang after he went rogue. And we also find out that Sour Face quit the dojo after being defeated by Garou.

This season should be called One Punch Man: Saitama drops knowledge because once again he gave some great soul searching advice. Sour Face was in the middle of insulting Charanko because he was beaten up by Garou, but Saitama calls Charanko brave for going one on one with such a strong opponent.

Of course, Sour Face is so arrogant that he vows to defeat Charanko if they face each other in the tournament.

Back to Garou, he meets up with the little boy who owns the almanac and they discuss a few more heroes before the city issues a warning for a monster and hero fighting.

This turns out to be Class S hero, Metal Bat verses Monster Centichrono. Metal bat is giving everything he has because he’s fought Monster Centisenpai already.

Garou has no regard and challenges Metal Bat to a fight before he even finishes with Centichrono.

No regard for the 1v1.

I could be wrong, but I am still waiting on a saving grace for Garou.

As the episode ends, Metal Bat and Garou lock up.

Last weeks episode: Review: One Punch Man season 2 The Human Monster / The Hunt Begins

One Punch Man season 2 The Human Monster / The Hunt Begins (review)

So I’ve caught up on One Punch Man. We’re in season 2 and I am enjoying the anime. Things are starting off a little slow, but I can tell that they are ramping up. I’m pretty much just waiting for a pinnacle moment to take the series to another level. I’m covering episode 14 and 15 since I’m playing catch up.

The Human Monster, episode 14

We pick back up with Garou pretty much slaughtering all of the villains that the President of the Hero Association invited to a meeting to discuss a pending threat. At this point, we know that Garou wants to be considered a monster. To prove this, he massacres every villain in the room and severely injures a class A hero. We see him in a few random fights with but he knocks them out with no issue.

Meanwhile, Saitama is playing video games that he borrowed from King in the previous episodes. This leaves Genos to fight with Speed O Sound Sonic when he attacks their apartment because he doesn’t want to interrupt Saitama’s gaming.

I can appreciate that.

But the distractions don’t stop with Sonic, because Fubuki aka Blizzard comes to recruit Saitama into her ranks. She is rank 1 in class B. He resists her plan and she tries to intimidate him. But when that doesn’t work they have a brief fight encounter.

During their fight, she experienced less than a fraction of Saitama’s strength before Genos and Sonic’s fight interrupts. After which she finds out that Saitama is super strong because he knocks Sonic out with a Series Sideways Jump shock wave. And she’s drawn to him more when she realizes King and Genos call him sensei. Fubuki ends up baring her soul and telling Saitama about her plan to stay on top of Class B because Class A and Class S are too strong and her sister known as Tornado is better than her too.

I appreciate Saitama during his conversation with Fubuki. He honestly has been dropping gems to everyone he comes across so far. In episode 14 he encourages Genos to focus on getting to the top of Class S. He also encouraged King to train to be the hero he actually desires to be. He ends up doing the same thing with Fubuki. By the end of the episode, she’s enamored and becomes a part of Saitama’s group as well.

The Hunt Begins, episode 15

Saitama finally starts to catch wind of the new villain Garou and decides to investigate by talking with other heroes about their encounter with him. However, he gets sidetracked when he finds out about a tournament offering 3K in prize money.

This episode was better in regards to getting to know Garou. He’s not a likable character at all. He actually comes off a bit weird. He’s sinister at some points when he completely obliterates the Tank Top Master and his group, but then he has a moment where he’s sharing a heroes almanac with a little kid.

By the way, does anyone other than the actual monster in this show die? Because I swore Garou killed Tank Top Master, Tank Top Vegetarian, and Mumen Rider.

Especially Mumem Rider!

Garou debuted a flowing water technique and no one could combat him.

We meet Master Bang and Master Boom briefly and find out they are Garou’s sensei. Master Bang just expelled a student named Charanko to try and stop him from going in the same direction and now he wants to take down his former student. Master Bang and Boom plan to team up to eliminate Garou.

The best part of the episode is when Saitama meeting Garou. Again, he’s as oblivious as he can be because he’s focused on the tournament that he wants to join. But, in order to join a tournament, he has to impersonate Charanko. This results in him buying a wig.

Garou shows up and chops him on the shoulder, which does nothing. But when Saitama returns a chop back to Garou he’s knocked down with ease.

But why? I thought Garou was suppose to be over powered.

At this point, I have seen him decimate a gang with Fist of Flowing Water, deflect a bullet, tank a gunshot wound, and voluntarily take a sword through the hand just get the upper hand in a fight. So I’m thinking okay, here’s a real threat to Saitama.

But then during a totally random encounter, where neither one of them knew who the other was, Saitama completely punks him out. It just threw me off. I laughed but still.

One Punch Man season 2 episode 1 | The Hero’s Return (review)

Oh Saitama, how I’ve missed you and your nonchalant attitude.

I finally watched season 2 episode 1 and I was not disappointed. The show started off a bit slow, but it’s the season opener so that makes since. Then again, we left off in season 1 will a lot of excitement.

At the end of last season, Saitama put almost every hero to shame when he climbed aboard a spaceship and punched through the entire invading crew only to meet a final boss, Boros. He had to dial down his power so that he could have a half decent fight. He had one more fight with Pluton, but finishes him off with one punch.

Back in season 2, we find Saitama and Genos grocery shopping when a huge robot villain shows up. He’s not worried about them though. He wants to test his might against Class S hero, King.

King is a fraud and a clueless Genos begins to fight in his place!

Here’s the thing, Saitama figures this out on his own and follows King home. Apparently, he attracts danger and has never fought in his lift. In fact, Saitama has saved him in the past and that’s how he recognizes him. King has been running from villain fights his entire life. He ends up admitting that he takes credit for other peoples victories because he can’t stand up and face his lies.

This is why Saitama is so cool. Instead of making King (or any of us watching) feel bad about not standing up and taking responsibility for our actions or inaction, he tells him to step up or step off.

In a nice way.

Saitama pretty much says, do you want to be a hero? Because if you do, now is the time to start training and get strong to be the hero everyone praises you as. But, if you are to afraid, just face that and admit it to those who believe in you.

Pretty deep stuff.

Oh yeah! Genos triumphs over the evil robot man and visits his doctor to scavenge the parts for his own upgrades. Plus, there’s a meeting a hero HQ asking villains to help fight the inevitable attack on the earth. Sonic says no off course because he wants to fight Saitama. In the same instance we fight out Fubuki is looking for Saitama as well.

I’m looking forward to next week!

If you are interested in catching up, Hulu has all of season 1 available dubbed and simulcasts every week.


Movie Review | My Hero Academia: Two Heroes

I finally watched My Hero Academia: Two Heroes! It was must see movie for me because I love the anime series and I do highly recommend you watch it. This movie pumped me up even more for the start of season 4 coming in October 2019.

My first impression of the movie is absolutely positive. It was a little too convenient how all of Midoriya classmates ended up on the island for the expo, even though he and All Might were taking a special trip. But I didn’t mind it. It shows that though Izuku Midoriya is the chosen one, his friends still play a huge part in his story.

I also felt at times this movie had pieces of a love letter to All Might. We finally spend some time with young All Might and his friends. We also see him put full trust in Deku and the other heroes in training when he is unable to save the day on his own. Midoriya, true to his character, motivates his team and makes them believe in themselves so that they save the day.

Everything beyond this paragraph is spoiler territory. But before you continue to read, I have a question. Did you see My Hero Academia: Two Heroes? If so, what did you like most?

I want to say I was entirely surprised by everything that happened in the movie. However, I can’t say that. As soon as Melissa Shield and her father David were introduced I thought, okay which one of you are working with the villains?

I was right!

Turns out David Shield, who doesn’t know that Izuku Midoriya has inherited ‘One For All’ from All Might, believed his quirk restoration research could help save All Might.

All Might never told David about his ‘One For All’ quirk and how it’s passed down from person to person. Therefore, all David is thinking about is saving his friend from dying and leaving the planet without its symbol of justice.

David says that Japans crime rate is 6% all because of All Might. So basically David is thinking of the bigger picture, but still acting selfishly because no one asked him to do that.

The entire second act of the movie is based around Midoriya and friends trying to take back the security system and free the citizens and heroes on the island where the expo is being held.

As a result of David’s plan we meet a villain named Wolfram who was hired to fake a hijacking. His goons lock down a special ceremony where All Might and a few other heroes are captured and lock down the entire island as well.

The heroes in training eventually have to fight and it is great! The action and comedy was perfect. If you’ve watched the anime series, you will especially enjoy the comedy aspects.

In the final sequence things get serious. Everyone finds out that David and his assistant staged this hijacking with the villains.

Wolfram, the villain leader, takes the research for himself, the plan backfires and David needs to be saved.

In my opinion, even though he staged the hijacking, David never was a bad guy. Not once did he come off as a mad scientist that needed to be stopped. I actually felt bad for him.

Even during the times when Wolfram tells him that he will forever be tainted by working with the villains, I still thought of him as a victim.

All Might and Midoriya save the day, destroy Wolfram who was infected by ‘All For One’ and rescue David Shield after a double Detroit Smash Plus Ultra.

Spotlight on Bakugou, Todoroki, Uraraka, Melissa Shield, and Lida who played a big part in the battle just before the climax.

I really suggest this movie to anyone. It’s friendly enough with flashbacks and information so that you won’t be completely lost just because it is attached to season 3 of My Hero Academia.

It’s available on DVD via Funimation or for digital streaming on Vudu and Amazon Prime.

Feel free to share your favorite moments of the movie in the comment section below.

-ABD


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