Battle Breakdown - Kiritsugu Emiya vs. Kirei Kotomine (Fate/Zero)

When most people think of major climactic anime fights, it's normally very over-the-top with destructive attacks and big speeches and lots of screaming. While it is often between just two combatants, it's rare that the fight only contains two total hits and no dialogue, and still remain compelling and incredibly interesting. Thankfully, we have one such brawl here today, between two of the most important characters in the Fate series in the first and only fight between Kiritsugu Emiya and Kirei Kotomine in the 2011-2012 anime Fate/Zero.

Deconstructing Heroism (ft. Fate/Zero)

One of the most important elements of the Fate franchise are the characters known as Heroic Spirits: entities from the past, present, future, and alternate realities that come together to fight for the mythical, powerful, Holy Grail. Most times the spirits are indeed heroes of old: King Arthur, Lancelot, Odysseus, Robin Hood, but other times, they're not so great. Each hero carries their own set of ideals and in no better way is that put on display than in the 2011-2012 anime Fate/Zero, where the idea of what it means to be a hero in a world that does not allow for heroes was put to the test.

Battle Breakdown (Hunter x Hunter): Netero vs. Chimera Ant King

Fight scenes are awesome, and some are just so awesome that they deserve a heavy examination to look at what makes them so truly great. One such fight, the one that'll kick off this new series of mine, comes from the 2011 adaptation, Hunter x Hunter, wherein the Chimera Ant King faces off against the 13th Chairman of the Hunter Association, Isaac Netero. If you've never seen the series or read the manga, please stay away. HEAVY SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT!

Hunter x Hunter - A Spectrum of Villainy

They say that a hero is only as strong as their villain, and in the case of Hunter x Hunter, that may very well be the case. Hunter x Hunter, compared to other anime in its genre, boats an incredible roster of villains, each with their own unique motivations, backstories, and abilities. Each of them has their own unique sphere of influence when it comes to the overall narrative, making them even more intriguing and mysterious as to how they'll come into conflict with Gon, Killua, Leorio, or Kurapika. Today, we'll examine each of Hunter x Hunter's major villains and take a look into the wide spectrum of villainy that the story boasts. SPOILERS (FOR AT LEAST THE ANIME) FROM HERE ON. 

In Defense of The Goblet of Fire Movie

After Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban it's widely accepted among Potterheads that the films take a nosedive in terms of book-movie correlation. Massive plot threads are dropped, hundreds of pages worth of material are either condensed, changed or dropped entirely. These are undeniable facts. One of the biggest offenders in this arena is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which, many would argue, makes the most amount of changes, and this makes it the most inferior film of the franchise based off of its adaptation merit. But looking beyond that, it's quite easy to defend the Goblet of Fire as the franchise's truest translation from novel to film.

Bloodborne (Comic) Review

It's rare to see a video-game adaptation succeed in any medium, particularly in movies. Little faith can ever be placed in something transferring mediums, and it oddly enough seems that one of the more difficult things to translate can be within the realm of visual media. But you'd think that translating a video-game to film could be easier than translating it to comic form, where images aren't moving and the reader has no agency in the story. However, where most "adaptations" succeed is not with directly redoing what the video-game has done, but expanding upon it. Such is the case with Titan Comic's Bloodborne.

Dark Souls - The Burden of Legacy

Legacy is a funny thing. Everyone strives to have one. Everyone wants to be remembered, everyone wants to be known as doing something. It's not a bad thing to want, so long as there is something else, something more, that drives you. Maybe you want to be the best racecar driver. If all that's there is the desire to be the best and not prove anything, maybe you're missing something. It's a hollow legacy. Sometimes, these people who have a legacy, who have something they must strive for, are burdened by it. They have to carry a certain weight or prowess about them that; this is seen nowhere better than the 2011 From Software video game, Dark Souls.

The Night Angel Trilogy: Disgust and Hope

Several themes appear and reappear throughout Brent Weeks’ dark fantasy trilogy, The Night Angel, that resonate within characters and story beats: loss, faith, greed, monsters and men, and destiny are just a few. Characters rarely exemplify a single theme or trait; most are molded by many of the themes that cross their paths. As the story allows for several character interactions to take place at any given time, sometimes a single interaction or moment will change the course of a character thematically. However, if there are two themes that are common throughout every single character in the series, it’s the themes of disgust and of hope.

Top 10 Comics of 2017

2017 has effectively come and gone. We came into the year one person and have probably left it a completely different one. It's been an interesting year, especially for me. I've unfortunately (as many readers may have noticed) not been quite as on top of things as I have been in past years. It was a big transitional period in my life this year, and I'm hoping that 2018 will allow me more time to get back to this blog, because I do love writing about various anime, movies, TV shows, and most especially comic books. And if there were always one thing this year I could count on, regardless of quality or quantity, it was my stack of comics week in and week out. 

So today, let's check out my Top 10 Series and Issues of 2017. 

Top 10 Favorite Video Games

I wouldn’t say I’m the most avid gamer in the world, but I do find myself often digging into a game for several hours at a time and not even realizing it. If a game is great, this is one of the easiest things to do without realizing. There’s few things better than getting immersed in the world of a game, or falling in love with some solid gameplay and just having a go at it. Video games provide an excellent resource for people to just hang out and have some fun, or take out some sort of frustration *cough From Software games cough*. And because I’ve been on a bit of a gaming kick recently, I decided there was little better time to talk about my ten favorite games of all time!

Dark Souls III The Ringed City Part 2 Review

*SPOILERS FOR THE RINGED CITY AND DARK SOULS III*

The Dreg Heap was, essentially, one big roller coaster in reverse. Normally, you get the really exciting part at the front end and then the rest of the ride tries to carry that momentum until you come back in the station and tell everyone how awesome the ride is based on the first drop. With the Dreg Heap, the best part is at the end: the twin Demon fight. The beginning is decent, the middle is harrowing, and then the run to the boss bonfire is nightmarish. Is the second half of the DLC any different?

Dark Souls 3 The Ringed City Part 1 Review

*SPOILERS FOR THE DREG HEAP AND DARK SOULS III*
One of the biggest complaints about the Ashes of Ariandel expansion of Dark Souls III is that it was too small and far too contained for it to satisfy anyone who had played through DS3 and had any remaining questions about the story, or just what could happen after we ended the world/ prolonged its existence. The Ringed City seems to come almost in direct response to that, though it doesn’t seem entirely obvious at first.

Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City Hopes/ Expectations

Dark Souls 3, and Dark Souls as a whole, looks to come to an end this month with the final DLC, The Ringed City, on March 27th. There’s already been some buzz that this DLC is massive. Perhaps it’ll match the Artorias DLC or the Bloodborne DLC in size. Surely, if they want to add to the story of Dark Souls III, it’ll need to be. My hope is that it’s huge and then some.

Hunter x Hunter Chat 1

The 2011 version of the Hunter x Hunter anime premiered it's English Dub on Toonami last year. It wasn't the first I'd heard of the series, of course, but I hadn't gotten the chance to watch it and I was looking for a new weekly anime to get into. Plus I just love watching things on Toonami, it's so nostalgic. And so 36 episodes/ three arcs later, it's finally time for me to give my thoughts on this series. In short: it's AWESOME. 

Justice League Dark Review

The latest of the DC Animated films has finally been released and it's probably the strangest of them all in terms of premise. It's placement in the continuity of the universe is also a bit head-tilting, but that's not the real concern here. No, this movie instead focuses on the Justice League Dark, a group of magic-based heroes and anti-heroes that eventually coalesce into a "team" to ward off dark magical foes. Why's it so strange? Well who would've thought this movie would actually be the best of the recent animated films?

Koro Sensei Quest First Impression

Assassination Classroom is my favorite comedy anime. It's got a ton of hilarious moments throughout it's two-season run, lots of heart, some great art, good animation, and it's just all around a blast to watch and think about. Koro Sensei and the rest of E-Class had so many great adventures in the original series, and I was sad to see it go. Thankfully, the good people of Japan decided "hey, that series was fun, let's do more with it!" And so, CHIBIS! 

2017: Another Dud Year in Franchise Movies?

The new year is here, and that means we're about to get a heck of a lot of new movie trailers headed our way. And not just for the summer! Thanks to Deadpool, we'll be seeing big-blockbuster releases pretty early in the year. March alone has three movies that might be worth checking out. That's pretty awesome! And I can't wait...well, if it weren't for 2016, and it how it wasn't the kindest year to big franchise movies

Assassin's Creed #12 Review

You may or may not be surprised at the fact that Assassin's Creed has a comic series, though I doubt many of you won't be shocked at how the series actually has four different comics going on all at once (two are confirmed to be in the same universe, the other is a miniseries, and the fourth is in a manga-style....pretty cool actually!). The main Assassin's Creed series has been running for the better part of a year, focusing almost entirely on characters outside the realm of the game but exploring two of the greatest mysteries from the games: Erudito and the Phoenix Project. They haven't really expounded on those ideas yet, leading this to be a comic almost exclusively to fans of the series. 

Dragon Ball...is Back?!

Part of me is pretty excited for the big news that's been coming from across the Pacific recently while another part of me feels like kind of an idiot. We'll talk about the idiot first just to get it out of the way: last year I asked the question of if Dragon Ball has gone on too long and it seems that nobody really cared and the series has gone on anyway. I also recently talked about "Super" vs. "GT" and how I actually liked the latest arc of "Super," but the follow-up gag episodes have been pretty darn awesome (in particular the Arale and baseball episodes). So maybe it's getting a little more life, but, that was over in Japan. With a bit of a niche Western market. Now, it seems, it's coming back. 

Assassin's Creed: Last Hope for Video-Game Movies

Seems a bit desperate to say that something is the "last hope" of a genre, but I think it's safe to say that the video-game-based part of the film industry is something that has been...lacking...since it's inception. Wreck-It Ralph doesn't count because it isn't technically based on any existing IP, it just has cameos from certain games or characters that do little to advance the story (although Ralph does get overly jealous when Pac-Man shows up, so, maybe that's not entirely true). Point is that video game movies are terrible, and Assassin's Creed is the last straw either way.