True Reviews, Updates and Common Sense Opinions
It’s no secret that more and more people are moving away from traditional cable and using stream alternatives to watch their favorite television shows. So I’ve taken it upon myself to try out some of the other options that exist.
Continue reading “Budget friendly tv apps | Is one better than the other?”
Have you binge-watched the Veronica Mars fourth season yet? I did. It’s only eight episodes, but I remember her from my teenage years and thought it may be cool to catch up with an old friend.
Veronica is the friend I’m referring to.
I have to admit, it was nice to see Veronica Mars back in action. However, I also have to admit I was completely perplexed by the number of people that got away with their crimes by the end of the season.
Tread lightly, if you haven’t watched it yet. As you continue to read, I will refer to information that could be considered spoilers below.
One thing I loved about season four of Veronica Mar is that it was very messy. It had a great spiderweb to follow. You had the initial bombing that put everything in motion. Decoy story lines that kept the main story buried so that you couldn’t see the ending coming. And, it dealt with a lot of mature themes that kept the show interesting.
The creators of the show did a great job with maturing the context of Veronica’s life to match where viewers of the show (when it was on in the early 2000s) are currently. It’s like we grew up together only she’s slightly older than me.
But I digress. I noticed a few things about Veronica’s personal life this season. She is not that great with relationships. She’s oblivious to her dad’s health, doesn’t want to get married to Logan at one point, and ruins a cool friendship with a character named Nicole.
I also noticed that the show creators used the way Veronica had sex as a representation of where her emotional state was at the time. When she’s not in the best place emotionally, it’s dark and raunchy. But, if she’s in a good place those scenes don’t exist even though they are implied.
She is still rough. But her mess never really factors into “the mess” of the show.
Spoilers Plot Details Ahead
Okay, quick overview. I’ll stick to important facts. All names are not important to follow the story.
A real estate agent is pushing for a form of gentrification in Neptune. So he, along with his friend from jail, plans to devalue the area so that they can kill spring break and buy up real estate for a low price.
A bomb goes off during spring break in Neptune. It kills a hotel owner, a rude frat guy, a congressman’s brother’s fiance (the brother lost 3 fingers), and a relative of the fictional cartel leader El Despiadado.
A pizza guy is also injured in the process.
There’s a chain reaction to try and solve the mysterious bombings before someone else gets hurt.
Queue Veronica and Keith Mars.
They are commissioned by the congressman to find out who is behind the bombings as he suspects his blackmailer is responsible. But he doesn’t trust the police, because they are short-staffed.
Muggings and sexual assaults are overtaking the area during spring break and when the bomb blows, they are overwhelmed and the chief of police is very prideful which doesn’t help.
Anyway, the cartel sends two henchmen to track down the person responsible for the hotel bomb that killed their family. So the entire show, they are on a chase and never get a lead. But they do run into the congressman who is being stalked and attacked by 2 rednecks (relatives of his brother’s deceased fiance’) about a wedding ring they have no claim to.
They save the congressman’s life for a price and try to kill Veronica Mars at some point because she was snooping around their hotel room. Eventually, they get their guy and head back to Mexico.
The congressman ends up in the hospital, but he survives. He gets his hands dirty during the season, but he also goes on to live his life without consequence for his actions.
The hotel owner’s daughter becomes the protege of Veronica and ends up helping Veronica and Keith figure out who the bomber is and save the sort of.
There’s a big plot twist at the end and it is confusing and bogus. I won’t spoil, but I did not understand why that needed to happen.
It’s like the “good” guys didn’t win at all.
In fact, most of the bad guys, or people who did something shady during the season, never experienced any consequences for their actions. Even when they catch the culprit only one person suffers serious consequences.
Why should you watch Veronica Mars?
Besides the drama that’s played up through the entire story. Some of the happenings in this season show a lot of what happens in neighborhoods that have a great location but undesired occupants.
Think about it, a real estate tycoon moving to build up luxury condos on the beach against the will of the surrounding community. It happens in neighbors every day. The other issues in the season were just distractions.
The truth from this story is consequences bypass the powerful.
I wouldn’t say the season is amazing, but it is entertaining at points. There are a lot of annoying characters, Veronica being one of them at times. However, I need to stress this. Please do not make a spin-off called Mars Investigations.
At the end, it felt like they were trying to spin-off to Veronica’s protege a little bit. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Don’t do it. This is Veronica’s story. Keep it that way.
Have you ever had a moment where you stumble upon something and you have a moment of total satisfaction?
That’s what happened to me when I happened to find BEM on Hulu a few days ago. Right away I thought it reminded me of Juni Taisen: Zodiac War.
The artistic decisions, the dark scenery, and the misdirection are all there. Plus, the soundtrack is amazing! It’s smooth jazz during most times. Then when the action picks up, the jazz is energetic and fast-paced. It’s so attractive.
Of course, I decided to google BEM to find out more about it. By doing so I realized there have been a few iterations of BEM and this 2019 version is just the latest with the original work being titled ‘Humanoid Monster Bem”.
Please forgive me for not knowing in advance.
“You thought you could trust her?” – Bela
Beginning of the story:
You are introduced to a female police officer (Sonia Summers) that arrives in a new town just in time to witness a purse snatching. She begins to chase the thief down and in the process almost gets run over by a car. Luckily a mysterious man in the night, we find out his name is Bem, saves her life.
They both catch up with the thief, but he is dead by way of drowning. With no water to be found in the area, the police begin an actual investigation.
What’s scarier than being haunted by something that you can’t see coming?
Within moments of meeting her new co-workers, it’s clear that Sonia has a code and her partners are a bit more lackadaisical.
The water monster used to be a human, but after drowning he decided to become a “serial drowner of humans”.
In her efforts to find out how the purse snatcher was drowned, she runs into Bem again as he fights the monster in water form.
When back-up arrives, the water monster massacres most of them causing Bem to take action and transform into a monster as well.
After defeating the water monster, Bem runs from Sonia who is chasing him down. He ends up phasing into the wall to escape.
She sits stunned in terror and disbelief.
Why should you watch Bem?
Sonia gives me Akane Tsunemori (Psycho-Pass) vibes. She’s a rookie cop with a clear code, respect for the law, and she’s getting caught up in a situation where the lines are being blurred.
Bem and his two comrades Belo and Bela just want to be humans and think that by doing good deeds and believing in their humanity, they can become humans.
I’ve never watched any of the older renditions, so I enjoyed going through this anime with brand new eyes. I’m expecting this story to be a struggle for Bem, Belo, and Bela to completely turn away from their nature. Plus, Sonia will probably form an alliance with them at some point.
But it looks good in this modern format, so I’m very interested.
Veronica Mars airs on July 26 as a Hulu Original.
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.
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.
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.
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.