Thursday 31 December 2020

2020 recap and 2021 look ahead

So, we're about to come the end of 2020 and... wow... what a year it's been, huh? I doubt I need to go into any detail, but, yeah, this has definitely been an insane year, to say the least. And, like everyone, I hope things go back to normal in 2021 and hopefully this whole pandemic will be behind us. And that's not even mention the many unfortunate losses we that happened this year in things like the celebrities like Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant and so on. I myself wasn't up to much myself this year, and I don't mean in the same way as everyone else because everyone else would have at least had something to do like school or college, but I didn't because I was supposed to have my operation this year, but then the virus happened and then it got cancelled and pushed back, so I don't know when it'll be happening honestly. Hopefully soon though. I also hope that just everyone's okay after what's been happening and hopefully we can all get through this whole thing peacefully from this point onward. But, looking back on this year, a lot has happened to me this year too. I turned 21, I got into a lot of new anime and I was able to binge a lot of new shows and I even reviewed a lot of them like The Legend Of Korra, the animated Star Wars shows and even some of those new animes I discovered. I also feel like I did a lot of good work with my YouTube channel as well as with this blog. I was also glad we got a whole bunch of new Kingdom Hearts stuff this year like Re:Mind and Melody Of Memory and I can't wait for whatever the next game is. And, not only more games, but I also tried to get a lot of the Bring Arts figures and I was able to get a lot. I reviewed all the ones I got and put them all on this. I'm hoping to get the rest from Kingdom Hearts 3 and hopefully I'll have gotten them all in a few months. But the whole main part of this whole year was the terrible position we were all in. A lot of us were in quarantine and so forth for so long and it's honestly a scary thought. I think it goes without saying that I pray that this never happens ever again. There's also the fact that so many things that so many people were excited for got pushed back is also disappointing like movies and conventions and so on. So, yeah, this year has pretty much been a huge disaster. But, I'm still optimistic about 2021. I'm still hoping the vaccine they're talking about will be done soon and hopefully the world can return to normal soon. But, for 2021, beyond the whole virus situation, I'm hoping will have things to normal to the point where we can do things like go back to have cinemas open again and new movies being released because I've really missed doing that. I do clearly want things to be normal to the point where everyone's safe, but, still, I want all that too. And I'm sure that applies to everyone. So, yeah, hopefully we never have to face anything like this again any time in the future. And that's really it. And so, everyone, thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Tuesday 29 December 2020

My top 5 killers in anime

Anime is full of mass murderers and so many of them can be from either the good or evil spectrum. And a lot of these characters can be really entertaining, regardless of their terrible acts. It's just that they're written so well that we still enjoy them as characters. So, for this, I'm counting down my 5 favourites of them all. They can either be a good or bad guy, so long as they have a long record of dealing death, it's allowed. And so, let's begin and I hope you all like this.
5. Light (Death Note):
Starting us off at number 5 is the teenager with a god complex. After finding the Death Note and realising its powers, he set out on a goal to rid the world of evil, never once realising just how evil he had become. Light will mostly pick criminals to kill, but if there's any who stand in his way or might expose him, he'll quickly get to writing down their names too. Plus, his quest to rid the world of evil led to one of the most interesting and well thought out anime of all time.
4. Revy (Black Lagoon):
By far the most deadly of the Lagoon Company, Revy is essentially a one man army who wouldn't hesitate for a minute to put a bullet through a person. After a traumatic childhood, she became a smoking, drinking, foul mouthed gunslinger with some of the best skills with a gun you'll ever see. Whether her opponent is a Nazi, Vampire child or normal gang member, you can bet she'll be there to shoot them to their graves all the same.
3. Wrath (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood):
While all the Homunculi, including Father himself, may be sadistic killers, Wrath, A.K.A, King Bradley, is one of the most skilled. Being a master with any kind of blade, Wrath can slice through pretty much anyone he wants. This was shown many times like when he killed Greed over and over, sliced through a whole bunch of soldiers from Briggs, murdered Buccaneer and Fu and was doing everything he could at the very end to try to kill Scar. While he may have died in the end, there's no denying just how much of a masochist he was.
2. Hisoka (Hunter x Hunter):
Coming in close to number 1 is the deadly magician himself, Hisoka. Having absolutely no other goals beyond fighting and killing whoever he wants, Hisoka will do whatever it takes to find victims to kill. And he can do it in a whole bunch of ways. Either using his own hands, using other people's weapons or using his Nen and cards. Whatever the case, Hisoka will only ever be satisfied in life by just fighting and killing, especially strong enemies.
And my number 1 favourite killer in anime is... Frieza (Dragon Ball):
And finally at number 1 is the merciless tyrant himself, Frieza. Having a kill count like no other, Frieza's list of kills in immeasurable. He's slaughtered countless innocents. He blew up a planet full of Saiyans, tormented and destroyed the Namekian population, and was the one responsible for killing so many of the main characters in the Frieza Saga like Dende, Vegeta and Krillin. Plus, he almost killed Piccolo and did technically destroy all of Earth in Resurrection F until Whis reversed time and Goku stopped him from doing it again. But even after being brought back after the Tournament Of Power, he then went on to killing like shooting Paragus to get Broly to transform. And there's no denying his kill count will only increase over time. And all that is why Frieza is my favourite killer in anime. And so, everyone, those are my picks for my top 5 killers in anime. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Tuesday 22 December 2020

The Mandalorian: Season 2

And so, everyone, the final episode of The Mandalorian: Season 2 dropped on Disney+ two days ago and I'm here to talk about the entire series. I already mentioned a bit of it when Disney announced all their new Marvel and Star Wars projects a few days ago. But, now I'm gonna be giving my thoughts on the entire season from start to finish. What I'm gonna do for this one is the same with my TV show reviews I've been doing recently with going through the season episode by episode and give my thoughts as I go along. So, you all know I really loved the first season. I thought it was absolutely amazing and was probably my favourite thing Disney has ever done with Star Wars. There was so much about it that was amazing and I was really excited to see more. And, thankfully, they delivered. Season 2 is even better in my opinion. Almost everything in it is so exciting and I had a blast with every episode and I was always extremely excited every time there was a new episode every Friday. So, let's begin with the first episode. The first episode is about Mando still with Baby Yoda and he's trying to find a Jedi because at the end of the last season, that other Mandalorian told him to. So, Mando is going from place to place trying to find more and more information about any Jedi that might be out there. And, in the first episode, he's led to Tatooine where he encounters someone with Boba Fett's armour. He wants the armour because he believes it should only be worn by a true Mandalorian. And so, he and the man make a deal that if Mando helps get rid of a Krayt dragon creature that's destroying the town, he'll give it back. And, from there, we get an awesome action scene where Mando teams up with him along with some Sand People and the people of the town to try to kill it and it's really cool. I thought the ending of it in particular was really cool with Mando having to let himself get eaten with a bantha with bombs attached to it. That whole part was really awesome and I love how Jon Favreau was the one who directed this episode too. The fact that another Marvel director, who was also the creator of this show, was the one who directed it just made me really excited and he did a really good job with the episode. He's also the person who wrote the season. Aside from one episode, he's the one who wrote the whole season and the last season too. I thought he did a fantastic job with the action in this episode and the ending was really exciting where we saw Boba Fett looking at Mando who now has his armour. That part was really cool. When I first saw it, I didn't know who it was until some time later when I saw some people were talking about it. The second episode was directed by Peyton Reed, as in the director of the Ant-Man movies. Like I said, it's always cool for me whenever I see a Marvel director works on anything Star Wars like this. Anyway, this was probably my least favourite episode of the season because there really isn't anything of much interest in it. At least compared to the rest of the season. This is about Mando being the escort for some frog alien in exchange for giving him information about any Jedi. The rest of the episode is about them trying to get this alien to a planet while under attack by some in the rebellion. They then crash on some ice planet and Mando then has to fix the ship until they get attacked by some white spider things. This part was pretty cool with Mando and the alien just trying to shoot a bunch of them. And it was cool when the guys from the rebellion showed back up and killed all the spider things for them. That was cool. Overall, a pretty good episode, but probably the lowest of this season for me. The next episode on the other hand is by far one of absolute best episodes ever and it was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard. Mando gets the frog alien to her planet along with her eggs and he gets some information and gets on a boat with some people until they betray him but then he's saved by some other Mandalorians. One of them being Bo-Katan.
As soon as she showed up, I lost my mind. As soon as I saw her armour, I wondered if it was her and it was. I got so excited when she showed up because she's a character from The Clone Wars and Rebels and it was so exciting to me to see her. Anyway, she agrees to give Mando some information about a Jedi if he helps with a job and they do it. We also learn that she's looking for the Darksaber, which Moff Gideon has, as we saw at the end of the last season. Anyway, they do the job and Bo-Katan tells Mando that if he takes Baby Yoda to some planet, there he'll find Ahsoka. And as soon as she said that, I lost my mind even more because they finally confirmed that we were gonna be seeing Ahsoka in live action and I could not have been more excited. This entire episode had me excited from beginning to end. I thought Bryce Dallas Howard did a fantastic job with directing this episode and it was so cool seeing Bo-Katan in live action. I didn't expect to see het at all in this and it was so awesome. And seeing how I recently finished watch all of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels, it just made me more excited. And the ending with Bo-Katan confirming Ahsoka, I can't even describe how excited that made me. I just felt so giddy when she said it. The next episode was directed by Carl Weathers, who's also the person who plays Greef Karga in this show. I love him as this character and he did a really good job with this episode. This about Mando going to meet up with Cara Dune and Greef to help fix his ship and they do but he also helps them infiltrate an imperial base and they eventually end up destroying it. This episode was pretty fun and it was cool with the action because the three of them were having to shoot their way through this place and going through Storm Troopers. It was cool and we got a funny scene with Baby Yoda having to stay in this little school place and then he comes back later on having taken one of the student's food and that was really funny. But the end also shows that one of the people working on Mando's ship put a tracking beacon on it because he's working for Moff Gideon. The next episode was directed and written by Dave Filoni, who I've been hearing about a lot lately with him being a huge worker on Star Wars. Being the person who created Ahsoka, Star Wars: Rebels, is one of the main producers of this show and so on. And I was really excited to see what this episode was about and it's 100% my favourite episode of the whole show. We finally see Ahsoka in live action. Like I said, I know I mentioned this already, but now I can talk about it properly. I was so excited to see her here and it did not disappoint. As soon as she showed up, I could not have been more excited. She's in the first minute of the episode and it's awesome. She's going through guys in a forest and calling out a woman running a village who treats the people terribly and then she disappears. It was so cool. But then Mando shows up to the village and the woman has him try to kill Ahsoka. He goes out to find her and we get an awesome encounter with them with Ahsoka fighting him and Mando trying to talk to her.
We then get a scene where Ahsoka and Baby Yoda are talking in their heads with the Force. And we finally find out what Baby Yoda's name is. It's Grogu. It was so surprising when I heard that and it was so cool. Also, me and a lot of other people have made the joke about how that name sounds just like Goku. But, yeah, it was awesome when we finally found out his name and we got a lot of funny moments from that. Speaking of, Grogu himself throughout the whole season is easily the highlight for so many reasons with being so adorable like in the last season and you can tell that they really wanted to show that. Anyway, Ahsoka then begins to show Mando a bit of Grogu's powers with the Force but she says she won't train him because she's worried about his feelings bringing him to the dark side like it did Anakin, which she even talks about.
Anyway, Mando and her then team up to go against the woman of the village and her soldiers and they win and Ahsoka reveals that she's actually still looking for Thrawn. That was an even bigger shock to me because, with Ahsoka, I sorta already knew she was gonna be in this season because a lot of people have been talking about it for a while, but with the mention of Thrawn, I didn't expect that at all and I couldn't believe it. And this has led a lot of people, myself included, to speculate that maybe she's still looking for Ezra after what happened at the end of Rebels. So the possibility of that happening and seeing both Thrawn and Ezra in live action makes me really excited. As a person who recently finsihed watching Rebels, this was really exciting for me. And the episode ends with Ahsoka telling Mando to take Grogu to some other planet where he might be able to use the Force to call another Jedi to him. Overall, this episode was absolutely amazing. Having finally gotten a live action version of Ahsoka in live action was already incredibly exciting for me, but Dave Filoni himself did a fantastic job directing this episode. There was so much amazing cinematography and imagery and the entire episode was just gorgeous to look at. And, like I said in one of my last posts, I thought Rosario Dawson was amazing as Ashoka. Having, maybe, my favourite Star Wars character ever have her live action debut like this was just a dream come true for me. The next episode was directed by Robert Rodriguez and was really cool. Mando takes Grogu to the planet and Grogu begins to use the Force to contact a Jedi. But then Boba Fett arrives to get his armour from him but then Moff Gideon arrives with his storm troopers so Mando and Boba, along with some woman with Boba, have to team up to defeat them. They do and Boba managed to get his armour. But then Gideon destroys Mando's ship, which was called the Razor Crest by the way, and uses some droids called the Dark Troopers to kidnap Grogu. So Mando then has to go back to Cara again and they have Mayfield from the first season come back because they need his help to break into this imperial base. This episode was pretty fun and I liked how they had Mando and Boba teaming up. They then become a team for the rest of the season. Then the seventh episode was directed by Rick Famuyiwa who directed a couple of episodes in the last season and it opens with Cara getting Mayfield out of prison. We even seen Boba has cleaned up the armour and given it a paint job and it looks awesome.
I like how they brought Mayfield back from that one episode from the first season because they made him so likeable here. I liked him a lot here. Anyway, they get into the place but then Mando has to have his face scanned to get into this computer so we get to see him take his helmet again. That was really surprising. I didn't think he'd do that but at the same time, it's showing that he's willing to do anything for Grogu, even go against his Mandalorian creed because he cared about him so much. We even learn more about Mayfield. Apparently he was an imperial before until he left when he realised the leader he was with didn't care one bit about the men who were killed. So we get a scene that's pretty intense with Mando, Mayfield and the same guy talking at a table where Mando has his helmet off. But then both Mando and Mayfield begin shooting everyone around them. But then we see Boba save them with the episode ending showing that Mando left Moff Gideon a message saying the same thing he said to him in the last season. This episode was a lot of fun and I didn't expect to see Mando take his helmet off. I figured we were only gonna see him take it off once at the end of the season like in the last season. But, like I said, I liked how they made Mayfield really likeable here and it was cool to see him and Mando team up. The final episode of the season was directed by Peyton Reed again and this is definitely a better episode than his last one. This season finale made me really excited and satisfied from beginning to end. Mando and Boba ask Bo-Katan to help them get onto Moff Gideon's ship, they make a plan with a doctor from Gideon's crew and they use an imperial ship to board it. We even see Mando go up against one of the Dark Troopers and it's pretty brutal with how he's just getting tossed around and punched into the wall, but then he sends them into space. I was thinking while watching this part that if that was the end of them, then that was pretty underwhelming with how they were built up, but then they return later. But then we get an amazing fight scene with Mando going up against Gideon who has the Darksaber and Mando uses a spear made of Beskar, as in the super strong metal that his armour is made out of that not even Lightsabers can cut through.
But since Mando defeated Moff Gideon, he's able to wield the Darksaber, which Bo-Katan wanted and is the reason she came on this mission and the only way for her to get it is to defeat Mando in some way. But, also, I just wanna say, it was really, really awesome to see Mando with the Darksaber. Just seeing him walk into the room with Gideon with Grogu in his arm and the Darksaber in his hand. That image was awesome. I wanted to see him with it and it was so cool.
Anyway, Mando tries to give it Bo-Katan, but Gideon tells him about how he can't unless she wins it from him. And that's kinda left unresolved for the rest of the episodes because the Dark Troopers return after Mando sent them into space. And as they're all getting ready to fight them, an X-Wing shows up with someone inside. This part was giving me goose bumps all over because we then see that it's a Jedi because they have a lightsaber and they begin to slice through the Dark Troopers and the whole time, I was wondering who it was gonna be. I had some ideas like maybe it was either Luke or Ezra or Cal Kestis from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. But then, it was revealed to be Luke and I was so exciting when that happened. It was so cool to see him.
I will admit, the C.G.I on him does look a little odd. Like there are moments where the C.G is very noticeable and that is a little distracting, but it's still an awesome scene. Just seeing Mando and Luke talk and then seeing that he's planning to train Grogu. So we see Mando saying goodbye to Grogu and he even takes his helmet off to let him see his face.
I'm not gonna lie, I kinda teared up a bit when this happened. It was just so sad seeing them say goodbye like this. And even R2 shows up and that was awesome and the series ends with them watching as Luke takes Grogu away. This was an incredible finale. Seeing all these characters come together to fight Moff Gideon and his troops was awesome and the ending was absolutely amazing with Mando having the Darksaber and then seeing Luke appear. And this technically means we've had a live action Star Wars show with Luke and Ahsoka in the same show. I had a thought a few months ago that I would love to see them meeting at some point. I would love if that happened at some point. And this entire season was fantastic, with some things being set up for the next season like wondering when Mando and Grogu will see each other again, what they're gonna do with Moff Gideon, how Bo-Katan will get the Darksaber and so on. Plus, there's also the fact that Thrawn was mentioned that could lead to us seeing a live action Ezra, though that'll probably happen in the live action Ahsoka show that was announced recently. And Peyton Reed did an incredible job with directing the season finale. I thought he did an excellent job and it left me wanting so much more. Speaking of setup, we even see an after credit scene in the final episode where Boba Fett takes over Jabba The Hutt's palace and it says "Book Of Boba Feet, coming December 2021."
So that means there's gonna be a live action Boba Fett show too and that's really exciting. I can't wait for all that and this finale cemented that. I can't wait to see all of that. And really, I mainly also can't wait to see more of this show. I have no idea when the next season will be out, but I can't wait for more. So, overall, this season was incredible from start to finish. There was one episode that wasn't as good as the rest, but there wasn't a single bad episode this whole season and every one made me more excited to see the next. And, as a huge Star Wars fan, it gave me so many things I wanted to see and delivered fantastically. The cast is still amazing here, especially Pedro Pascal as Mando who continues to be a fantastic actor for this character. I can't imagine anyone but him in this role and I hope we see him as this character for a long time. And I think Jon Favreau did brilliant work with writing the season. Like I said, he didn't write every episode, Dave Filoni wrote The Jedi with Ahsoka, but Favreau was the writer for the rest of the season and the fact that it's him writing this makes me so excited and happy because, like I said, any time I see a Marvel director working on this, it just makes me so excited. And, really, I just loved this season so much. I highly recommend watching it if you can. And so, everyone that's my review for The Mandalorian: Season 2. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Wednesday 16 December 2020

My favourite villains from different anime

So, this is something I sorta thought to do recently and that's going over different anime series and talking about my favourite villains in different series. I've spoken about a lot of these guys a lot, but also wanted to talk about them in an entry like this and talk about some characters that I may not have spoken about before. And, this will be fairly big because I really wanted to talk about these guys, especially the ones I've never spoken about before. This isn't gonna be a ranking on who's my favourite villain out of all of them, just going through the different franchises and my favourite villain in each one. And so, let's begin and I hope you all like this.
Naruto - Nagato:
Starting us off is the villain I've probably spoken about the most out of all these, Nagato from Naruto. Being, for me, one of the most, if not, the most sympathetic anime villain ever, Nagato's actions in regards to why he chose to do what he did are entirely understandable and you can't help but feel sorry for him, especially when he's explaining his backstory and telling Naruto his motivation. He may have caused so much death, sadness and destruction, but his past does still explain his choices. Some villains like Madara might be more popular and more well-regarded, but I'll always stand by that Nagato is my favourite villain in the whole Naruto franchise.
Fullmetal Alchemist - Father:

This is a bit of a tough one when I went back and thought about it. While I may have said that Father was my favourite villain in all of Fullmetal Alchemist in my list of my favourite villains of the series, when thinking about some of the other villains, especially someone like Wrath, it's a little trickier than I remember. But then I decided that Father really was my favourite. While someone like Wrath was definitely a fantastic villain in the series with having the best action scenes in the show, Father is another level of entertaining. Being the orchestrator of everything that had occurred in the series even before it began, Father was originally the Dwarf In The Flask who desired nothing more than becoming the perfect being. This led to him manipulating Hohenheim to give him a body and sacrificing a kingdom, creating the Homunculi, tricking an entire military so they would be his pawns, killing tons of innocence to make his dream a reality,
Dragon Ball - Frieza:

Dragon Ball has some the most famous villains in anime history, and none have ever lived up to its greatest ever, the space tyrant himself, Frieza. While little to nothing has been revealed about his past aside from one or two mentions here and there, Frieza's charm and charisma is what makes him constantly entertaining. With mocking everyone around him and thinking every being in existence should be beneath him, Frieza makes it a point to make sure whoever he kills is terrified and loves nothing more than annihilating life. Whether it's one or two people he might come across or a literal entire planet, Frieza has no standards for who he'll choose to kill. While he may have had to play something of a hero role during the Tournament Of Power, there's no denying his goal was completely self-serving. And, whenever he appears again, I'll really be looking forward to it.
One Piece - Blackbeard:

Eiichiro Oda has created some of the greatest anime villains of all time in his masterpiece manga series, but probably my favourite out of all of them is the potentially final villain in the whole series, Marshall D. Teach, A.K.A, Blackbeard. This was kind of a tough one for me because I have a lot of favourite villains from this series like Teach, Crocodile, Akainu and so on, but Teach himself made the cut for me. Being built up as the likely final obstacle Luffy will have to face in the series, Teach is one of the most charismatic villains in the series. Formally a member of the Whitebeard pirates, he used his position to hopefully get the Dark-Dark Fruit, which he eventually did and betrayed his captain and crew to become a captain himself. This led to him fighting Ace and handing him over to the marines, invaded Impel Down to recruit new members to his crew, kill Whitebeard and somehow steal Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit powers. While he may not show up much nowadays, there's no denying he'll play a large part towards the end. And given how his goal is the same as Luffy's and many others, to find the One Piece and become the King Of The Pirates, he's gonna be one strong opponent when it's time for Luffy to finally take him down.
Yu Yu Hakusho - Toguro:
The first of a Yoshihiro Togashi villain on here is Yu Yu Hakusho's Toguro. Sure, some villains like Sensui might be more sympathetic, but in terms of the villain in the series that I think is the most entertaining, I'm going with the younger of the Toguro brothers. Being obsessed with strength and wanting to keep his youth, Toguro threw away his humanity to become a strong warrior. This led to him forcing Yusuke and the others into participating in the Dark Tournament, killing Genkai and transforming into a monster with humongous muscles that it took Yusuke suffering deep sorrow just to be able to harm Toguro and then using all his power in his Spirit Gun to finally kill him. And, even, at the end, Toguro was still an entertaining villain with trying to convince Yusuke that strength was all that he needed and he could throw everyone and everything away just to acquire it.
Hunter x Hunter - Meruem:

Another amazing Yoshihiro Togashi villain, Meruem is, in my opinion, not only his best villain, but also his most sympathetic. After his mother gave birth to him to be the king of the Chimera Ants, he set out to devour humans and he did until he met a girl named Komogi, and he began to change and learn the value of life. Despite doing so many terrible things and killing so many innocent people, Meruem still grew to become one of the more tragic anime villains I've ever seen with his relationship with Komogi being especially heart-breaking. And, by the end of the Chimera Ant arc, you can't help but feel sorry for him when he dies 
Yu-Gi-Oh! - Yubel:
I did an entry about this recently. Me counting down my top 5 Yu-Gi-Oh! villains and I placed Yubel as my favourite in the whole Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. Everything I said in that post is still the same. I just find her awesome with everything she did in season 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, her really cool design and Cassandra Lee Morris's performance is really cool, along with some really cool sound design along with it. And everything to do with her plan in the season is really cool to watch.
My Hero Academia - All For One:
Given how My Hero Academia is all about fighting villains, there's tons of bad guys to choose from in the series. But I decided to go with the main one for this one. While someone like Shigaraki might be shown more, All For One is really the big mastermind behind everything. Being a character with multiple quirks, he's accomplished so much like almost killing All Might, forming the League Of Villains, turning Shigaraki into a villain, having Kacchan kidnapped and being partly responsible for destroying most of the city when he and All Might had their fight. I'm really excited to see more of him and I think it would be really cool if he was somehow the final villain, especially if Deku had to fight him at some point.
One-Punch Man - Boros:
One-Punch Man is kind of a weird one because not many of its villains really stand out given how Saitama will usually end up smashing them into nothingness within seconds, but the one that I think is a particular stand out is the final villain of the first season, Boros. He's sorta like Frieza with being a galactic space tyrant looking for a strong opponent worthy of facing him. And for a long time, he searched for one believing a prophecy he once heard about someone out there being capable of fighting him with his full potential. This eventually led him to Earth where he and Saitama proceeded to smash everything around them. While Saitama really was just holding back, the fight between them was mindboggling with the two of them moving so fast that they destroyed everything around them. It's just nuts and it led to one of the most insane final battles in anime I've ever seen.
Bleach - Aizen:
Being by far one of the most popular anime villains ever, Sosuke Aizen is one of the coolest you'll ever see. While we know basically nothing about his past, that doesn't get in the way of showing just how awesome of a villain he is. For the longest time, he was pretending to be like any other Soul Reaper captain, until he betrayed all of them just so he could show just how superior he was to all of them. This involved him killing so many of his fellow Soul Reapers, tormenting them and doing everything he could to show just how powerful he is and how inferior they all are to him. Aizen is also one of the most cunning and smartest villains in anime.
The Seven Deadly Sins - Zeldris:
While most of the Ten Commandments do stand out in their ranks, Zeldris is, in my opinion, the one who stands out the most. Being one of the biggest main villains in the series, Zeldris was imprisoned like the other Commandments for a long time until they were eventually released and begin to use their powers to try to destroy the kingdom. He's done everything he could to show how strong he is compared to his fellow commandments and he even assisted Meliodas when he turned evil and was determined to become the Demon King
Berserk - Griffith/Femto:

This is pretty big spoiler for the Berserk series, but I think Femto is really cool villain. While he may have previously been a human named Griffith, that time has passed ever since his betrayal. As Griffith, he was the leader of mercenaries, became involved in a 100 year war and was close to accomplishing his dream, until he was imprisoned and tortured to the point never recovering. After this, he summoned the God Hand, sacrificed his friends to be eaten by demons so he could become one himself and proceeded to torture Guts in seriously messed up ways. While it's unknown what exactly his plan is now, I'm definitely excited to see it.
Fairy Tail - Acnologia:
And finally, finishing this all off is the final villain of Fairy Tail, Acnologia. I know I may have chosen someone like Faust for my favourite Fairy Tail villain a couple of years ago, but I've changed my mind a lot since then. While someone like Zeref may have been built up more as the final villain, Acnologia was the one that everyone was having to team up against at the very end. Being both a human and dragon, Acnologia is one of the all time strongest characters in the franchise. He's also the one responsible for killing Igneel and destroying so much at the end with his final battle against so many wizards. It even took all of them teaming up, as well as all the Dragon Slayers teaming up just to be able to defeat him once and for all. And so, yeah, those are really my favourite villains from different anime series. And so, everyone, thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Friday 11 December 2020

New Marvel and Star Wars announcements

So, last night, we got a whole bunch of new announcements for more projects to do with Disney working on Marvel and Star Wars and it's kinda insane with the amount of announcements we got. We got a huge amount of stuff announced and I'm so excited for all of it. So, first, let's go over all the Marvel announcements. So, the first thing is that it's announced that the Fantastic Four movie has gone into production and Jon Watts is gonna be the director. I'm honestly amazed by that considering Watts has been the director of the M.C.U Spider-Man movies and now he's also gonna be directing the M.C.U Fantastic Four movie. But it's an amazing idea. He's done an amazing job with those movies and so I have complete faith that he can do this well too. Plus, it'll just be awesome to see the Fantastic Four in the M.C.U finally. So, yeah, I'm so excited for this. Black Panther 2 is also scheduled to be released in July 2022. I'm definitely excited for this, though I'm curious to know who's gonna play T'Challa now that Chadwick Boseman has passed away. I'm sure whoever it'll be will do a great job, I'm just curious to know. We also got the title announcement for the third Ant-Man movie, Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. The biggest bit of news about this is that Kang The Conqueror has been announced as the main villain, so I'm really excited for that and I'm hoping this movie will be like Thor: Ragnarok because the past two have been fun movies, but they're not really some of the best in the M.C.U, so I'm hoping this'll do what Ragnarok did and be the standout one that's a complete blast to watch. So, I'm still extremely excited for this. Captain Marvel 2 is also announced to be released on November 11th 2022. Yeah, I'm pretty excited for this, though I'm hoping they'll be able to make an improvement over the first. I personally do like the first movie, but a lot of people don't and it's not like I can't see why. But I'm hoping they'll make it more exciting. So, I'm still looking forward to this. We also got a whole bunch of Disney+ news like Armour Wars which will be centred around Rhodey trying to stop some enemy of Tony's from getting his hands on some of Tony's tech. So, that's an interesting idea for a show and the fact that it sounds like it'll put more enthesis on Rhodey is really excited. I've always loved Rhodey in the movies and so having his own show is really exciting. And we also got the announcement of an Ironheart show which will star Dominique Throne as the title character. I don't know much about Ironheart, but this could be really cool and could be a cool way of still having some Iron Man in the M.C.U. Then, the show I'm most excited for is Secret Invasion, which will centre around Nick Fury and Talos. I'm curious about this because the Secret Invasion story centres around Skrulls invading the planet and disguising themselves as heroes. But the Skrulls we've seen in the M.C.U are actually good guys, so I'm curious to know how that'll work. And the final announcement for the shows is that Abomination will return in She-Hulk. That's cool. I thought Tim Roth did a good job in the Incredible Hulk and so I'm excited to see what they do with him here. We also got a whole bunch of trailers for things we already knew about.
Now, let's move onto Star Wars. The first is that Andor from Rogue One will be having his own show. That's cool. I mean, the biggest problem everyone has with that movie is that the characters weren't fleshed out at out and were just these action guys who we didn't know about. So having a show revolving around one of the key characters of the cast members could make the experience of the movie more enjoyable. Next is the Bad Batch show. I'm kinda torn about this because the Bad Batch were pretty cool in the seventh season the Clone Wars, but I did occasionally find their part a little boring. But I'm still excited. I'm sure they can do a lot of cool things with it if they make the characters really enjoyable and likeable. So, yeah, I'm not very excited to see this, but it could be cool. Next is The Acolute. I honestly don't know what this is. I don't know what it is in the Star Wars story and I don't know if this will be a show or a movie, but it's gonna be on Disney+ as well, so I don't know what it's about. But it at least sounds interesting, so I'm curious. We also got the announcement of an animated series called Visions. This'll be a bunch of short films and it'll be done by anime creators. That aspect alone has me really interested and excited. It'll be out next year and I think it might be showing different moments in the Star Wars franchise because on Twitter, it says it "celebrates the Star Wars galaxy through the lens of the world's best Japanese anime creators." So, I guess that means it could recreate different moments in the franchise in animation. But the fact that it'll be done by anime creators does have me pretty excited. We also have a movie coming out in 2023 called Rogue Squadron and Patty Jenkins will be the director. We don't know anything about this yet, but the fact that Patty Jenkins is doing it makes me optimistic. Another thing is a show called Rangers Of The New Republic, which will be set at the same time as the Mandalorian. I think this will focus around those guys who show up in the Mandalorian a few times or it could just be a new thing entirely. I don't really know, but it sounds like a cool idea so I'm pretty excited to see what else happens around the time of the Mandalorian. And finally, the one I'm most excited for, we're getting an Ahsoka show. Ahsoka was recently in the Mandalorian: Season 2. I was hoping to save revealing that until I did my review of the season, but now that this has been announced, I had to say it here. Like I've said a lot already, I love Ahsoka and she's one of my favourite Star Wars characters ever. And her appearance in the Mandalorian was amazing. Her episode was definitely my favourite episode so far, Rosario Dawson did an amazing job as the character and seeing her in live action was a dream come true. So having a show all about her and seeing what she's up to will be really interesting. It hasn't been announced when it's happening, but I'm still super pumped for it. And, that's really everything. Overall, all these announcements have me so excited for the future of these franchises and I can't wait to see all of them. And, yeah, everyone, those are all the new Marvel and Star Wars announcements from last night. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Thursday 10 December 2020

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

So, this might be a random review to do all of a sudden, but I decided I really wanted to do it. It's already been two years since this came out and I was able to see it when it came out but I didn't make a review of it. So, to make up for that and since it's been two years since it was released, I decided I was finally gonna make my own review of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. This was being praised by everyone when it came out and it's not hard to see why. This is one of the best comic book movies I have ever seen. It's absolutely amazing and fantastic by every means of the word. If you've heard anything about this movie from anyone, I'm sure you've heard them talking constantly about how amazing it is and they're right. Out of all the things Sony have done with Spider-Man themselves, this is definitely the best. And the fact that this is an animated movie makes it even better. I know I'm probably going overboard with the praise for the film right at the beginning, but, I can't help it. Nonstop praise is what this film deserves. Okay, before I go into any further detail, let's go over the story. What's the story? This is set in the Ultimate universe where Miles Morales is and he's now going this new school that he doesn't really want to be in but his dad does want him to. But Miles prefers to spend time with his uncle, Aaron, but, while with him one night, a radioactive spider bites him and he begins to get the powers of a spider. After his powers begin to appear, he comes across this universe's Spider-Man who's trying to stop Kingpin from activating a machine called a collider. Now Miles has to stop Kingpin from using this collider while also running into other versions of Spider-Man who now all have to team up. That might sound like a typical comic book movie story, but, what elevates this movie so much is that the writing for the story and the characters is so amazing and heartfelt that it feels so original. The movie itself is one of the funniest comic book movies I've ever seen, definitely one of the funniest movies of 2018. There's so many amazing jokes in this and I don't think there was a single dud. One of the best jokes is the running joke about all the different Spider-Men's backstories. Out of all of them that were from a different universe, Gwen Stacy or the other Peter Parker were probably my favourite, but they're all great. Same goes for the cast as well, everyone does a phenomenal job. Personally, my favourite was Shameik Moore as Miles himself. He's just absolutely fantastic as Miles and he did an incredible job, but everyone all around does a great job. The movie's also gorgeous looking. This is one of the most unique looking animated movies I've ever seen. It's kinda like a comic book brought into a C.G.I world while still retaining that comic book look and style to everything. It's kinda hard to explain but it's something I'm honestly kinda blown away by and I loved every second of it. But even beyond the C.G.I itself, the look of everything like the background and all the text writing that appears like in a comic is great to see and is just a fantastic idea. But, in my opinion, what this film does best is heartfelt moments I mentioned. Despite this being a really funny comedy, this is one of the more emotional comic book movies I've ever seen. As well as one of the most heart-warming. The biggest example of this is with Miles and his dad who's a policeman and Miles doesn't really get along with him all that well because he feels like his dad trying to force his life into a direction he doesn't want to go in. And, they kinda butt heads with what his dad wants him to do with his life like going to this new school. And there's a lot of moments between them that really tug at the heartstrings. Especially one scene where they're on opposite sides of a door. In my opinion, that's one of the most heart wrenching moments I've ever seen in a comic book movie. But it's made even more heart-warming with another scene towards the end when they're talking to each other on the phone. And, really, all the things that Miles goes through in this helped make him more and more likeable and gives him a really amazing character arc. The same goes for the other dimension Peter Parker, who's referred to as Peter B. Parker. Sure, he's really funny in this, but I liked him more when we see his interactions with Miles and we see a sorta student mentor like dynamic with the two of them and I loved it. Again, yes, it does have its funny moments, but I liked it the most when it was taken seriously. And it just makes all the characters more likeable and more entertaining. I also loved the dynamic all the different version of Spider-Man had. There's Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham and Peni Parker. As a giant Spider-Man fan, this was a lot of fun to watch and I loved seeing all these different versions and they were all fun to watch. And whether the scene they're in is supposed to be funny or serious, it's always fun to watch them all. The film also help make Miles's arc more powerful because we see his uncle Aaron is a villain called the Prowler. I already knew that before watching this, but seeing it revealed was pretty cool and he was pretty intense as a villain. Especially the scene where he's chasing Miles. And where it gets emotional with him is when Aaron is killed by Kingpin and Miles watches as he dies. It's a really powerful moment and it was a big shock when I first saw it. Speaking of Kingpin himself now actually, he's definitely a villain who's kinda weird for me. This is the one aspect of the movie that isn't as good as the rest of it. This version of his was kinda off and on for me because he does show signs of being sympathetic with his backstory with having lost his family and is now trying to find different versions of them by using the collider. On the other hand through, he occasionally felt a bit generic with being some evil guy sometimes. He wasn't bad, it's just sometimes, he kinda lost a tiny bit of my interest because his scenes made me want to go back to Miles and the others. But, still, he was a cool enough villain and it made for an amazing final fight. The final battle with him and Miles is amazing. I loved everything about this with the different Spider-Men going back to their universes and Kingpin trying to stop Miles from turning the collider off, which starts a fight between the two of them that's kinda insane with them fighting while a whole bunch of craziness is going on around them. Usually, this would be kinda weird and ugly looking as well as insanity done wrong, but this film's climax just does it so well that it's so cool to watch. I've rewatched the fight between Miles and Kingpin so many times already because it's just so cool. Plus, I feel like I need to discuss a super important aspect to the film and that's Stan Lee's cameo. They were able to do a cameo with Stan in this and this was released one month after he passed away two years ago. So, when you watch this and hear his lines like "I'm going to miss him" or "We were friends," it's super tragic and even more touching given the fact that this is all convenient like everyone's already said. It was just really nice to see him in this. The film's end credit scene is also absolutely amazing. Apparently there's a meme going around of the 70's Spider-Man animated show of Spider-Man pointing at himself and so Sony decided to make their own jab at this by having Miguel O'Hara, A.K.A, Spider-Man 2099, talk to that version and have them both pointing at each other and arguing. It's one of the funniest end credit scenes I've ever seen. And, really, this film really is just a perfect masterpiece. I don't think there's a single thing wrong with it and it's amazing by every means of the word. Whether or not this is my favourite Spider-Man movie is kinda hard to say because I think this is tied with Homecoming as far as my favourite Spider-Man movie ever. But that goes to show how amazing both of these are. I just love everything about this movie and I can't wait to see if they do a sequel to this. They probably will and I can't wait to see it. Definitely go see this movie if you haven't already. It's totally worth it. And so, yeah, everyone, that's my review of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Saturday 5 December 2020

My top 5 male anime characters voiced by actresses

So, one of the many things I find impressive about English dub actors or actresses in anime is when they can make their voices sounds like characters of the opposite gender. I always find it impressive when so many of them are able to do that and it helps make some of my favourite English dub performances and some of the best ever. So, I'm gonna count down my top 5 favourite actresses who have voiced male characters. I have definitely spoken about most of these a hundred times already and it's probably getting old just saying these over and over, but I still wanna talk about them as well as some new ones I've never talked about before. And so, let's begin and I hope you all like this.
5. Maxey Whitehead/Alphonse (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood):
Starting us off at number 5 is the second voice for Alphonse Elric, Maxey Whitehead. While Aaron Dismuke may have voiced him in the original Fullmetal Alchemist series, my personal favourite voice for him is Maxey Whitehead in Brotherhood. Not only does she do a great job giving Al a great voice alone, but she also does an amazing job making him sound like a super fun and likeable character. And what I also love is her fun dynamic with Vic Mignogna as Ed.
4. Erica Mendez/Gon (Hunter x Hunter):
Next up is the main character and actress of Hunter x Hunter, Erica Mendez as Gon Freecss. Gon was actually already voiced by Elinor Holt in the original version of Hunter x Hunter, but there's no denying Erica Mendez is definitely the superior voice for him. She not only does a great job with portraying him joyful side, but also with his darker and serious side. Which is pretty integral given how Gon can be kinda brutal and dark sometimes. And when he displays his anger in instances like in the Chimera Ant arc, Erica does a great job showing it. And even before that, throughout the entire rest of the series, she was doing a great job as him.
3.  Cristina Vee/Killua (Hunter x Hunter):
At number 3 is the voice for the young assassin, Cristina Vee as Killua Zoldyck. While Erica Mendez is fantastic as Gon, the one I find more impressive is Cristina Vee's performance as Killua. I was honestly surprised when I found out Killua was voiced by a woman because her voice sounds so convincingly like a boy's that it's practically unrecognisable. I've heard what her voice sounds like normally and so it's incredible how she could make her voice sound like the way it does. And, really, just the different emotions she displays  is great and her interactions with the other cast members is just as fun and impressive.
2. Colleen Clinkenbeard/Luffy (One Piece):
Coming in close to number 1 is the English voice for the Straw Hat captain, Colleen Clinkenbeard as Monkey D. Luffy. Okay now we're getting into the ones I've spoken about before. This is all pretty much exactly the same as I've said before. Overall Colleen Clinkenbeard is just the perfect choice for Luffy. She perfectly captures that kinda crazy side of him but still making him super fun and likeable and never being annoying. She also does a great job capturing that childish side that makes Luffy so much fun to watch. Plus, they've begun dubbing One Piece again after a while. They announced they were last year and now they have and Clinkenbeard is still amazing as Luffy and I can't wait to see her during the Dressrosa arc, which I really hope they do soon.
And my number 1 favourite male anime character voiced by an actress is... Maile Flannigan/Naruto (Naruto):
And finally at number 1 is the one I'm always talking about when it comes to best anime dub actor or actresses, Maile Flannigan as the number one hyperactive knuckleheaded ninja, Naruto. I really don't know what else I can say about this considering I've placed her at number 1 in similar lists like this before, but I guess I can mention this. I recently watched an interview with her about when she got the part and it's pretty cool. And given how the voice sound pretty much on point with how Naruto would and should sound in English, especially given his design and personality. And, really, and personally, I think this is the best anime English voice ever. I know a lot of people don't really like it, but I love it and think it's a great voice that fits the character perfectly. And all that is why Maile Flannigan as Naruto is my favourite  male anime character voiced by an actress. And, so, everyone, those are my picks for my top 5 male anime characters voiced by actresses. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Tuesday 1 December 2020

My top 5 old men in anime

So, in tons of anime, elderly people have different levels of relevance. Whether that's acting as a mentor, a kind figure to the main characters, or just being awesome characters in their own right. And so, I'm gonna count down my top 5 favourites. These will range from the different things I mentioned there and maybe more. These will also be ranked on how I myself like these characters and so on. And so, let's begin and I hope you all like this.
5. Netero (Hunter x Hunter):
Starting us off at number 5 is the former chairman of the Hunter Association, Isaac Netero. While he may have passed away due to his battle with Meruem, there's no denying that Netero was one of the powerful Nen users in all of Hunter x Hunter. Not only could he defeat many opponents easily. He would even go through crazy training methods when he was younger. The only thing that makes himself different from other old men in anime is that he's a bit more ruthless and can do some things in slightly more selfish ways than some others. But none of that made him unlikeable and he was a fun character to watch too, especially his earlier scenes with Gon and Killua.
4. Gran Torino (My Hero Academia):

Up next is the mentor to the Symbol Of Peace, Gran Torino. With a quirk that allows for a boost in speed when he jumps, Gran Torino was All Might's mentor and later went on to do the same for Deku. While his first appearance made him seem like a crazy and senile old man, he's anything but and is one of the most awesome old anime characters ever with what we saw him do in Hosu City when all the Nomu attacked and in Kamino Ward when All Might fought All For One.
3. The Third Hokage (Naruto):

I know when it comes to Naruto, most would pick Jiraiya for something like this, but I've never really understood that considering Jiraiya isn't really old. He was only 52 when he died. As for Third Hokage on the other hand, this wise, old leader of the Leaf Village was Hokage for so long. Sarutobi was not only Hokage, but also the teacher of Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru, who later went on to become the three Legendary Sannin. Over the course of his life, Sarutobi was an amazing Hokage and incredible ninja with learning many Ninjutsus. He was also like a grandfather to many of the people there. Especially to Naruto, which Naruto himself even said.
2. Whitebeard (One Piece):

Coming in close to number 1 is the former strongest man in the world, Whitebeard. Whether or not he ever actually was is up in the air, but given how awesome his abilities were, it wouldn't surprise me if he was when he was still alive. We may not have known Whitebeard very long in One Piece, but he wasted no time showing just how awesome and powerful he really was. With his Tremor-Tremor Fruit, he could create earthquakes and causes huge shockwaves with just a punch in the air. But Whitebeard was also great with just how likeable he was. He treated every one of his crew members like his own son and valued their lives more than anything. And, even towards the end, his love for them was on full display with him invading Marineford to rescue Ace and even went crazy on Akainu after he murdered Ace.
And my number 1 favourite old man in anime is... Master Roshi (Dragon Ball):

And finally at number 1 is the old and perverted hermit of the Dragon Ball universe, Master Roshi. Being over 300 years old, this man has accomplished many things in his life. He learned martial arts from a master of his own, he created the Kamehameha, created the Turtle School Of Martial Arts, trained Goku and Krillin, helped against Frieza's army, was a candidate in the Tournament Of Power and eliminated his own fair share of opponents. And that's not even counting his countless inappropriate actions with being a huge pervert. Whether he's looking through countless magazines, watching ladies on TV, trying to see them in the bathroom or anything like that, Roshi never ceases to be entertaining. And they ever do other things with him in the future, I'd be really excited to see it. I loved how he was one of the members of Universe 7 in the Tournament Of Power, so doing something again soon just makes me excited for what he could be doing again in the future. And all that is why Roshi is my favourite old man in anime. And so, everyone, those are my picks for my top 5 old men in anime. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.