Month: March 2024

Jin-Woo is About to Claim Victims

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews , , , , , , , , , , ,

Solo Leveling Ep 6 Review

Have you ever seen the “You’re a victim” meme? It comes from a SupaHotFire video on YouTube from six years ago, and is best used in situations where a person gets absolutely wrecked. And now that Jin-Woo is no longer the weakest Hunter in all mankind, that’s what will happen to any monsters, or Humans, that get in his way. In this episode, Jin-Woo begins the true start to what will be a long list of people and beasts that he makes victims.

Round 1: Jin-Woo vs Giant Spider

After getting left to die by their so-called party members, Jin-Woo has two options: fight or die. And after facing off against the things he’s fought, the crippling fear that Jin-Woo once felt is not so great. Compared to the demonic statues, a giant spider is nothing.

The fight that follows in the anime seems to take a lot of cues from the likes of Sword Art Online. And that’s not just because it’s produced by the same studio that does SAO. Like Kirito, Jin-Woo’d movements are based around speed and agility. He jumps, dodges, and constantly looks for new angles from which to attack. The way the fight’s animated even evokes some of the frenetic energy of Kirito’s more over the top battles. In other words, it’s pretty fun to watch if you’re into that sort of thing.

Hilariously, by the time it’s over and you see how devoted Jin-Ho is to Jin-Woo, I can’t help but hear Deku, subbed or not. This is the beginning of a beautiful bromance.

Here’s the thing, though: Jin-Woo is not a hero. 

Hwang Dongsuk becomes a Victim

When Dongsuk and his party come back and realize that Jin-Woo and Jin-Ho aren’t dead, they realize they have to cover their tracks. When their attempts to coerce Jin-Ho to kill his newfound bro fail, though, they try to kill Jin-Woo themselves. He no-sells it, but that’s not the issue. The issue is that the System gives him a new quest telling him to kill Dongsuk’s party.

And, if it wasn’t before, what happens next establishes that Jin-Woo is an anti-hero. He might have balked at killing other humans before, but after seeing the worst of humanity in the double-dungeon, he’s ready to respond in kind. Even if the System didn’t threaten to kill him for refusing, Jin-Woo would still kill them. He’s a man whose spent his whole life as a Hunter being a punching bag. Now that he has the power, he’s going to use it. And woe to anyone foolish to make themselves a victim of his. 

Side-note: the music playing as Jin-Woo makes victims is hauntingly beautiful.

This Could be the Start of Something Beautiful

After the ordeal in the dungeon, Jin-Ho and Jin-Woo tell the authorities how the others died in battle, without including the specifics. Even if they did, the law would (hopefully) justify it as self-defense. There’s just one issue: Dongsuk has a younger brother who’s also a Hunter. And from the way he was bragging, he’s likely a big deal. It won’t matter to Jin-Woo, though. He’ll keep getting stronger and survive.

Having been unable to resist the wait, I wound up reading the entire manwha in a few days, and trust me. Things will only get crazier from here. By the time the story is done, Jin-Woo will claim more victims and it will be amazing. This is shaping up to be one of the big anime of the Winter 2024 season!

I Give “The Real Hunt Begins” a 5/5

Ninja Kamui. Like John Wick, but With Ninjas

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Toonami Announcements , , , , , , , , , ,

Ninja Kamui Ep 1 Review

Few things in this world inspire as much awe, and fear, as a ninja. Spies, assassins, boisterous protagonists of some of the greatest Shonen Manga, ninjas are everywhere. And when Toonami announced that they would be coming out with an original series, Ninja Kamui, people took notice. Especially given how the anime involves a former ninja going on a quest to avenge his dead family. It’s like John Wick, but with ninjas.

Joe Higan Wanted a Normal Life

Somwhere in rural America lives Joe Higan, a family man with a happy life. He’s got a beautiful wife, a cheerful son, and a successful farm, and a cool motorcycle. In other words, he’s set up as the man who’s living the peaceful, rural American Dream. However, not everything is as it seems. 

Truth be told, Ninja Kamui is very cagey about who Joe is and what his past was like in the premiere. Throughout the first act, the anime drops hints that Joe is running from something. When news reports of brutal, identical murders across the country start making the rounds, they put him and his wife on edge. They know who is doing them, but they try to reassure themselves that they’ll be fine. 

Then comes the moment when these assassins do come for them. Even with how obvious it was that this would happen, it doesn’t change the fact that the fight that follows is brutal. There’s blood everywhere, heads roll, and Joe’s forced to watch as his wife and son’s dead bodies grow cold on the floor in front of him.

Sunghoo Park Shows off Why he’s so Great

The show’s second act adds a pair of FBI agents working on the attack, sensing it’s connected to the other murders. They’re not wrong, but when the culprits come back to finish the job, they can’t even do anything. There’s a chance that they’ll play a bigger role in the series, if only because they’re named. 

The real highlight of the episode, though, is the moment those assassins come back for a still-alive Joe. If the entire sequence, which is bloody yet has a dark beauty to it, seems similar to Jujutsu Kaisen, there’s a good reason. Sunghoo Park, the man who directed the episode (and runs the studio that made this anime) directed the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen. The results speak for themselves as Higan goes on a rampage, killing his would-be assassins, and saving the man who killed his wife last. 

Higan become the John Wick of Ninjas

The end of the episode only adds on another layer of mystery surrounding Joe Higan. His family’s dead bodies hinted at it, but it isn’t until Joe pulls off his face that we get confirmation: they were wearing high-tech masks. Between this, the military-grade gear his assassins used, and the savviness they have with technology, paints a grim picture about this group. Whoever they are, they’re dangerous.

While the ones who directly killed his family are dead, Higan knows it’s not over, leading to some payoff for a good instance of foreshadowing. Earlier in the episode, Joe found his son playing with an Oni mask, something that he and his wife were uneasy about. Given their killers similarities to Oni, it’s a big hint that they were once part of this same group of ninjas. Seeing Higan pull out an Oni mask out of the secret hole in his house is just confirming what we already knew. That, and that Higan is about to go John Wick on these ninja’s butts.

As far as premieres go, Ninja Kamui does a good job of balancing the thin line needed. It provides the basic setup and premise to use, but at the same time, it leaves enough unanswered to keep people in the dark. And when people are left in the dark about something, they tend to want to know more. What is the name of this group of ninjas? Why did Joe and his wife leave them behind? Those questions will be answered over the course of the next eleven weeks, and I’m looking forward to it. 

I Give “Episode 1” a 5/5