Anime Blog

XENOVERSE 3! XENOVERSE 3 IS REAL!!!

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

The legends are true! XENOVERSE 3 is real!

A few months ago, Bandai Namco revealed that they were working on a new Dragon Ball game under the code name โ€œAge 1000.โ€ That name generated a lot of buzz in the fandom, especially amongst the most hardcore fans, for good reason. As I explained in an article, Age 1000 is the setting for the now-defunct MMORPG, Dragon Ball Online. While the game never officially made it out of Asia, a lot of its DNA would serve as the basis for two other games, Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. I speculated that Age 1000 was meant to be a spiritual remake of DBO, but it seems I underestimated Bandai. On April 19th, 2026, Bandai revealed to the world that Age 1000 was, in fact, a cover for a game ten years in the making: Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3.

Ten Years…Good Times

First released back in 2015 with a follow-up released a year later, the Xenoverse games seem to have maintained a steady popularity despite being over a decade old. With its ability to create characters based on the five most prominent races in the franchise (Human, Saiyan, Namkeian, Majin, and Frieza’s people), the chance to experience the story of Dragon Ball from Z onwards as self-inserts, and online competitive play, the games have remained fairly popular despite being a decade old. It also helps that Xenoverse 2 has regularly recieved updates and DLC. But for years, fans have been wondering when, or even if, there would be a third game to the series, to the point that it became something of a myth in the fandom. It seems that all that waiting is about to pay off, though, as Xenoverse 3 has now been confirmed, and it seems to be the overtly similiar to the premise of Dragon Ball Online out of the games.

What Happens in the Trailer

This announcement trailer doesn’t reveal much in the way of what the story is about, instead focusing on the setting and time it takes place in. As the code name suggested, the game takes place in the year Age 1000, two hundred years after the end of the original manga. The already pretty high-tech world of the series has only grown even more advanced, with holographic billboards now being commonplace. Even better, the diverse population of the previous games has carried over, as we can see characters that are Human, Saiyan, Namkeian (Piccolo), Android, and even a girl from the Demon Realm as a J-Pop artist promoting her new song. More importantly, instead of the Time Patrol, we have something called the Great Saiyan Squad. A clear nod to the late Toriyama’s love for the Tokukatsu genre, the GSS seems like a continuation of what Gohan started as the Great Saiyaman. The fact its members, including the white-haired boy from the first teaser, all wear similar outfits pretty much confirms it.

The thing that everyone is talking the most about, though, isn’t even the fact that this game is the long-awaited Xenoverse 3. It’s the fact that woman sitting behind the chair for the heroes is none other than Bulma. And that has left a lot of people confused.

How is Bulma Still Alive?!?

At this point, it will have been over 200 years since Goku left to train Uub at the end of the manga and Z anime. The longest a human being has been confirmed to live in real life is 122 years, and that’s likely to increase as medical research improves. Even factoring in how much more advanced the world of Dragon Ball is, the idea of a human living into their 200s seems like a stretch. Add in the fact that Bulma looks like she’s hardly aged from her mid-30s, fans are rightfully asking how she’s not only alive, but still so young-looking.

The current leading theory is that Bulma decided to bite the bullet one day and asked Shenron to give her eternal youth. Or, alternatively, Shenron got tired of her using him to take a few years off her life and just decided to give it to her to get her to leave him alone. I speculated that it isn’t even Bulma at all, but one of her and Vegeta’s descendants, but apparently it’s been confirmed that that is Bulma!

How she’s alive is still anyone’s guess, but I am enjoying seeing the theories about it amongst the Dragon Ball-related discord servers I’m a part of. There’s also the fact that she now has an angelic halo around her like Whis and the other Angels which only thickens the plot. Regardless of how it happened, I’m eager to learn how Bulma got this way, and I’m eager to see how the world became this way.

Xenoverse 3 releases in 2027, but it’s already available for wishlisting on Steam and the major consoles. Hopefully, the player base for Xenoverse 2 will start wishlisting it, because I’m looking forward to playing it! I better start coming up with names for my characters!

Rimuru Got Invited to Join the Isekai UN

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

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 4 Review

You know whatโ€™s one of my favorite things about Slime Tensura? Itโ€™s not the fighting, or the power-scaling, or the fanservice. Itโ€™s the politics. As the series has progressed and Rimuru becomes more important, the story shifts away from fighting to dealing with nation-building as the human-turned-slime works to build a world for humans and monsters to live in peace. And that means that thereโ€™s going to be people taking advantage of him and trying to take him down, and heโ€™s got to put them in their place. Case in point, the Rozzo family has just used their influence on the nations to the west to invite Rimuru to join their international club as part of a plan to get him under their control. But they donโ€™t know who theyโ€™re messing with.

So after they managed to send Team Green Fury packing, the avatar quartet, humorously, didnโ€™t stop there. They liked hunting adventurers so much that they got carried away and went on an absolute tear, to the point that people are calling them the โ€œDungeon Dominators.โ€ Unfortunately for them, that lands them in hot water for neglecting their other roles, with Millim being the first to suffer. It turns out she snuck off to Tempest to get out of her Demon Lord duties, leading to Frey to have to drag her back home to do her homework.

Poor Millim! I know how you feel about hating homework! And shame on her friends for selling her out like that. At least Rimuru gets some karma when Shuna realizes heโ€™s been goofing off in the Dungeon.

But with that out of the way, Rimuru has to face the more important task at hand: the Rozzo family and the Western Council.

Made up of the human nations located to the west of the Jura Forest, the Council of the West is sort of like a fusion of the real-life United Nations and groups such as NATO. Theyโ€™re an economic and political alliance meant to help the whole of humanity prosper, and the rise of the Monster nation of Tempest has been of great concern to them. Unfortunately, much like the UN, their effectiveness and competency vary a lot.

The latter half of the episode is all about the Council members arguing about whether to invite Tempest to join. Can they be trusted? Whatโ€™s to stop Rimuru from wiping them all out? How can we use them for our own benefit? Some of them even question if Rimuru is as strong as they say he is. Hinata was invited to serve as a witness on Rimuruโ€™s behalf, but her thoughts are exactly what the viewers are meant to feel about this: not impressed. Itโ€™s clear that theyโ€™re only thinking about their own interests and looking down on Rimuru. It becomes even more apparent when they suggest inviting Tempesr to join so its military power can serve as a check on the Eastern Empire, a name that keeps popping up in conversations lately.

Even if Mariabelโ€™s monologues didnโ€™t confirm it, itโ€™s pretty obvious that the Council is being puppeted by the Rozzo family with the way they talk. The manipulation becomes even more apparent when Hinata is approached by the Prince of Englassia and asked to serve as his bodyguard and fight Rimuru if the time comes.

Those fools know not what they are doing. They’re lucky that Rimuru is so chill, or else he would torch them all. Hinata was right to bail out of this.

So, Rimuru and the others are getting invited by the Council to see if they will let him join. Given how useless they were, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes one look at them and says “Nah, we’re good!” Good thing that they’re leaving Shion behind! If she went and someone insulted Rimuru, she would level the city.

I Give “Invitation” a 4/5

This Little Girl is a Problem

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

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 3 Review

Iโ€™m pretty sure Iโ€™ve talked everyoneโ€™s ears off about how much I hate Witch, AKA Bitch, Whore, and formerly known as Malty S. Melromarc. Sheโ€™s everything wrong with elitist mindsets rolled into an ugly package thatโ€™s so easy to despise. The good news is that she also matches Cersei Lannister in terms of idiocy, so if you know her game, itโ€™s easy to beat her. Can you imagine if Witch was as smart as she thinks she is and how screwed the world would be? Well, Rimuru may not know it yet, but he might have just made an enemy out of someone with the same mindset and the competency to back it up: Mariabel Rozzo.

Mariabel of Greed

So, the OP and ED for this season of Slime Tensura have put a lot of emphasis on the girl known as Mariabel. In anime, that typically means that theyโ€™re important to the plot. Plus thereโ€™s also the fact that weโ€™ve seen Mariabel always hanging around her grandfather, AKA the one who orchestrated that stunt with the merchants in the last season. Their plan was to con Rimuru into a situation where heโ€™d owe them a favor, but he was too smart for that. Itโ€™s not the old man thatโ€™s the problem, though; itโ€™s Mariabel. Sheโ€™s a reincarnator like Rimuru.

Whereas our lovable slime was a working man on Earth, Mariabel was the opposite. She was born into the upper crust of European aristocracy, and she did not let her gender get in the way of her Littlefinger arc. She spent her entire life amassing wealth and power from the shadows until she ruled Europe from behind the scenes! The anime even implies that she profited off World War I, AKA the most pointless war in human history. That’s how you know that sheโ€™s evil. And she managed to die of old age, before getting reborn in the Tensura world as a baby princess. And she got a terrifying unique skill to boot: Greed.

Remember how Rimuru has that unique skill, Gluttony, lets him eat and gain the abilities of anyone he wants? Mariabelโ€™s Greed lets her use other peopleโ€™s desires to brainwash them. And the more the target wants, the easier it is to control them! By the time she was out of diapers, she had already brainwashed most of her house, until finally she became the right-hand of her grandfather, Granbell Rozzo, the thousand-year-old founder of the Kingdom of the Siltrosso and, like I said, the puppet master behind that merchant stunt!

Rozzoโ€™s ultimate goal is, at first glance, actually pretty noble. He doesnโ€™t want normal humans to live in a world ruled by monsters and Demon Lords, so heโ€™s been pulling strings in the west to create a place where humans can live in peace. And Rimuruโ€™s idea of a world where all races can live in peace is getting in the way of that. Hence the whole scheme with the merchants. And while I donโ€™t entirely get it, Iโ€™m pretty sure the Rozzoโ€™s and Yuuki are the ones funding Team Green Fury, AKA the guys cheesing their way through the Tempest Dungeon. So, they have to be dealt with.

Thereโ€™s just one problem: Rimuru, Veldora, Ramiris, and Millimโ€™s avatar bodies suck!

Avatar Team PWNS CHUMPS

We saw how the newly formed Avatar Team got their butts whooped at the end of the last episode, but this episode gives us an even better look at why. Not only are the Demon Lords and Veldora weak in their artificial bodies, but their teamwork stinks! Theyโ€™re so used to being so OP that they can solo everything that they donโ€™t know how to fight in a team. So while Kurobe makes them some sweet armor, Rimuru has them go through some intense training. Since theyโ€™re basically operating like the typical RPG team, they also have to learn teamwork. Which is good, since they could stand to learn that.

Rimuruโ€™s plan ultimately works, and the timing couldnโ€™t have been better. Green Fury was about to beat the 49th floor. So it was time for the admins to assert their authority.

I have to admit, it was nice seeing the Avatar Team put a stop to Green Fury before they could ruin everything. Hopefully, they can patch things so that no one else can use that exploit any further. As a gamer, I understand how much that sucks, but itโ€™s better to win without resorting to cheap tricks like that. Good riddance, Green Fury!

The real problem, though, remains Mariabel. With her familyโ€™s plan with the merchants having backfired and Rimuru suspicious of Yuuki of the Free Guild, Mariabelโ€™s going to change tactics. She plans to invite Rimuru to the West to the Council so she can get him alone and try to use Greed on him to turn him into her puppet. Little does she know that sheโ€™s grasping at straws, because a.) Rimuru is our protagonist, and has that protagonist plot armor; b.) heโ€™s Rimuru. Heโ€™s got GOAT status. Heโ€™ll be fine! In fact, I say he should accept the invitation just so we can see him embarrass her! But that doesn’t make her less of a threat. She managed to kill the merchant who organized that fuss under Souei’s nose!

I Give “The Avatar Team is Formed” a 3.5/5

Nami’s Misadventures in LEGOland!

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

One Piece Ep 1157 Review

If youโ€™re a fan of the One Piece anime, then youโ€™ve probably heard people complain about one thing: the pacing. It is notoriously slow when it comes to adapting the story of the manga, which is a consequence of it starting in an age when anime filler was necessary to keep something from overtaking its source material. Thatโ€™s why one of the biggest selling points of the new seasonal format has been the expectations of improved pacing. Less filler, more of the actual story, as some fans had hoped. However, it feels as though those hopes were dashed with the showโ€™s second episode since its return, as Toei is still relying on the same tricks as before: padding the episodes out and making parts of the story longer than necessary.

LEGO’S?!?

On the last piece of One Piece, the Giant and Straw Hat pirates were all celebrating their escape from Egghead Island with a party. The next thing we know, Nami is waking up someplace made out of LEGO in an outfit she doesnโ€™t remember putting on. And trust me, manga readers were just as confused about this as the people watching the anime probably were. Things only managed to get even stranger when the episode starts off with some people in the vicinity are talking about some kind of trouble with one of the local deities. What should catch everyoneโ€™s attention, though, is the name they give to the giant tree in this blocky kingdom: Yddragsil. Thatโ€™s the name of the cosmically-sized tree from Norse mythology that connects the worlds together.

One thing that Oda seems to like doing, and is very skilled, is foreshadowing well ahead of time. If the name of someone or someplace weโ€™ve never heard of before gets mentioned, that means that its going to be important at some point in the future. And as manga readers were quick to figure out, Nami had somehow woken up someplace thatโ€™s tied to Elbaph, if not Elbaph itself. The clothes and name of the tree were a dead giveaway, but what I really like is how the whole place is built out of LEGOs. LEGOโ€™s from Denmark, AKA the region of the world where Vikings came from; it makes sense.

What didnโ€™t make sense, though, was how massive the animals were. No sooner had Nami woken up than she was being attacked by bees twice her size! Iโ€™m able to tolerate bees, but stinging insects are enough to make me run for the hills! Thankfully, she and Zeus are able to roast them, no problem. But then theyโ€™re attacked by a giant hedgehog!

This is where I noticed how those complaints about the pacing began to resurface on social media. In the manga, Nami getting chased by that hedgehog takes up half a page, at best. The anime translates that into a full minute of her running around this blocky castle before she runs into Usopp and saves him from a giant cat. And from there the entire episode more or less revolves around them trying to get away until the Monster Trio of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji save their bacon.

The Animation is Still Good

Say what you want about the whole thing, but at least the animation is still amazing. Iโ€™m little surprised at the fact that theyโ€™re choosing to make an eye catch just for this blocky kingdom. It feels unnecessary considering how theyโ€™re likely not to be in it for that long!

So like Nami and Usopp, the Monster Trio has no idea where they are or how they got there. But they donโ€™t really care. If someone was dumb enough to put them in this place, then whatever happens next is on them. Besides, Luffy and Usopp are too excited about Elbaph to be worried.

I know that this first half of the season is only about 12-13 episodes, so you might be worried about this taking up too much time. But donโ€™t worry, you guys. By my estimations, the group will be out of this Block Kingdom inโ€ฆtwo episodes.

I Give “Nami in a Fix! An Adventure in Block Kingdom” a 3/5

El-balph! El-baph! LAND OF THE GIANTS!

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

One Piece Ep 1156 Review

Sorry Iโ€™m late, everyone, but Iโ€™m ready to get this voyage underway! I wouldnโ€™t miss One Piece for all the money in the world!

I know that the founders of this blog arenโ€™t the biggest of fans of One Piece, but as their primary writer, Iโ€™m an absolutely massive fan. Iโ€™ve talked about it a lot on D&A Anime Blog. Iโ€™ve gushed about the live-action series and other big pieces of news about the franchise. And on my personal blog, Iโ€™ve been reviewing each chapter of the manga since partway through the Wano Country Arc! But with the anime having gone seasonal, I decided that now was the best time for me to try my hand at reviewing the anime. This will be the first time Iโ€™ve reviewed an anime of something whose manga Iโ€™m concurrently covering, but itโ€™s going to be worth it. Whether youโ€™re a long-time fan of the series or a newcomer, you might have picked a great time to come aboard, because we are about to arrive at a location so awesome, so amazing, so mind-bendingly cool, that nothing short of finding the One Piece itself can compare! The story that Oda has wanted to tell since he was a little kid is here. The story of ELBAPH!!

Full disclosure: if youโ€™re a newcomer, there are going to be a lot things thrown at you that I donโ€™t have time to explain. In that case, either go read the manga or go find one of the many, many people on YouTube who can recap and explain the series. Otherwise, Iโ€™ll just assume youโ€™re caught up so I can enjoy myself!

After a brief flashback to the end of the Little Garden Arc where Luffy and Usopp resolve to one day visit Elbaph, the episode returns us to the present day. The Straw Hats, Giant Warrior Pirates, Lillith, Bonney and Kuma have just escaped from Egghead Island and are on their way to Elbaph, so theyโ€™re celebrating by partying. Itโ€™s pretty much a law that the Straw Hats end an arc with a party. What I wasnโ€™t expecting, though, and soemthing that was totally original to the anime was getting to hear Brook play โ€œNew World.โ€ There are a lot of good songs in One Piece, but New World has to be one of my favorites. Upbeat, exciting, and optimistic, it encapsulates the positive messages that the series sends us. That, and itโ€™s a pretty good bop.

The Barto Club Screws Up

The episode then cuts away to another series tradition that accompanies the start of a new arc: checking up on events around the world. Oda is great when it comes to world-building, and moments where he takes the focus away from the main characters remind us of that by showing that the world doesnโ€™t revolve entirely around what they do. In this case, it picks up with one of Luffyโ€™s allies/biggest fans, the Barto Club, and one of his greatest enemies, the Blackbeard Pirates.

So, after they parted ways with Luffy, Bartolomeo and his crew went to a particular island to sell some Straw Hat pirate merch. However, they chose to go to an island under Shanksโ€™ protection, and they refused to buy anything. In response, Barto torched their flag, leading to Shanks to give them a butt-whooping. And then he decided to test/troll them by ordering Barto to make Luffy drink poison or else their lives were forfeit. And you can guess where this is going.

Anyone who has been with One Piece long enough knew that Shanks was just messing with Barto. He just wanted to make sure that Luffyโ€™s followers werenโ€™t some fair-weather friends, and Barto passed the vibe check. But Yassop still destroyed their ship. They had a reputation to keep up.

Iโ€™m sure theyโ€™ll be fine!

Blackbeard is Nearing his Endgame

Meanwhile, back on Pirate Island, Blackbeard isnโ€™t happy that the Marines managed to raid the place and rescue Koby while he was gone. However, his crew points out that heโ€™s now in an arguably better position. Not only do they have Luffy’s grandpa and hero of the Marines, Garp, prisoner, but they also raided Big Momโ€™s territory and abducted Pudding. And with Caribou newly arrived and ready to spill everything he knows about the locations of two of the three Ancient Weapons, things are about to get a lot worse.

I think I mentioned it on my blog when reviewing the chapter, but Iโ€™m going to say it here: Blackbeard is being set up as the final enemy that Luffy must face to become King of the Pirates. Once he knows where and who the Ancient Weapons are, heโ€™s going to try to seize them. That means that nations with people that the Straw Hats call friends will be in harmโ€™s way. Add in the fact that Teach now has Luffyโ€™s grandpa and Sanjiโ€™s ex-fiancรฉ prisoner, as well as what he did to Ace, the Straw Hats have all the motivation they need to go to war with the Blackbeard Pirates. Unfortunately, this will mark the last point for a while where the anime doesnโ€™t focus on anything outside of their next destination (not counting flashbacks.)

Speaking of which, where are the Straw Hats?

Where did half the Straw Hats Go?

When I read the chapters where the Giants woke up to find half the Straw Hat Pirates and their ship missing, I was as confused as everyone else. How the heck did they get separated from everyone else? Then it got even weirder when Nami woke up in a place that looked suspiciously like it was made out of LEGOโ€ฆand wearing an entirely different outfit. None of us knew if she was tripping from the alcohol, or if this was a detour from Elbaph. If it had been the latter, though, I think the fans wouldโ€™ve lost it! And then we had to wait an entire week (or two) to find out what was happening. Thankfully, the anime will be sticking to a weekly release schedule, so anime only people donโ€™t have to worry about that!

This was a good start to the return of One Piece, if you ask me. I have been reading the manga for years, and I can say that you guys are in for something very special. Welcome to the Elbaph arc, everyone! Hope you enjoy the trip!

I Give “The Long-sought Elbaph! The Big Reunion Banquet” a 3/5

You’ll Never Guess Who is Sentenced to be a Hero

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

Sentenced to be a Hero Ep 12 Review

I normally donโ€™t regret learning about spoilers. When Iโ€™m really into something, I want to learn as much about it as possible, not caring if it ruins the journey. But there are some instances where even I acknowledge that spoiling myself is going to ruin how Iโ€™ll react to it. And in this case, the season finale of Sentenced to be a Hero is making me regret looking up what happens on TV Tropes. Because I was barely able to watch what happened to Kivia.

Also, I just want to say that this was the only episode of the season that failed to be simul-dubbed, and I feel disappointed by that fact. So close!

The Fight is Over…

So, the fight for Ioff has ended, with the Hero Unit once again managing to pull off a successful suicide mission. And while Teoritta is feeling great about herself, that good feeling is soon squashed when she and Xylo come back and run into Iri, AKA Spriggan. Using their human disguise, Spriggan comes dangerously close to killing Teoritta, and while they drive the demon lord off, it leaves the goddess and Xylo shaken. She only made it out because she blocked the attack with a dagger Xylo bought her; dumb luck! And while she immediately goes back to her cheerful self afterwards, I think sheโ€™s just putting on a front. She asks Xylo to train her to fight after this, and I donโ€™t think Xylo will object. He wonโ€™t always be there to protect her, so itโ€™s better that she can handle herself.

The good news is that Spriggan isnโ€™t coming back again. Rhyno makes certain of this by killing them himself. But while doing so, he proceeds to monologue about who he really is: the Demon Lord, Puck Puca. Like Spriggan, heโ€™s possessing Rhynoโ€™s body and is using it hunt his own kind.

Full disclosure: I already knew this. But even if I didnโ€™t, I would say it explains a lot. He acts so unethically because heโ€™s having to learn what ethics are from scratch. And while the idealist in me makes me think that this is proof that the Demon Blight can be good, Iโ€™m not getting my hopes up. Rhyno/Puck all but admit that theyโ€™re killing their own kind for the love of the game. That doesnโ€™t make him a good person, just a psycho whoโ€™s conveniently on the protagonistโ€™s side. In all honesty, I think I would trust Boojum more than Rhyno.

Speaking of Boojum, he turns out to be alive, having swapped himself out for a double. Which means that weโ€™re likely going to see him again in the future.

…But the Victory is Hollow

In the present, though, this victory turns out to be very hollow. As the Hero Unit is resting, Frenci comes to them and drops a bombshell: the capital city of the kingdom has fallen. The attack on Ioff was just a diversion! And this is soul crushing to hear. After spending an entire season watching the protagonists make small, but meaningful, wins, theyโ€™re all undone by this gut punch. Itโ€™s enough to make someone want to give up and throw in the towel, like Kiviaโ€™s uncle.

Like i said at the start, I already knew going into this episode what was about to happen. I made the mistake of reading the files on TV Tropes and regret it. Because it made watching the parts of the episode about Kivia almost unbearable to watch.

Kivia…

Just as Kivia feared, her beloved uncle is a Coexister. He gives this whole spiel about how humanity will lose the war, and how their only way to survive is to become the Demon Blightโ€™s slaves. I have heard all those arguments before in other works, and I didnโ€™t buy them then, and neither does Kivia. So he kills her lieutenant, and then she kills him. And then she gets arrested and accused of being a traitor and everything else that her uncle was doing.

This is the sad part about Kivia, in my opinion: sheโ€™s too nice for her own good. She only told one other person what she knew and then brought them as a witness, which got him killed and deprived her of the evidence she needed to show she was justified. Had she been a bit more savvy, she should have told as many of her men as possible and had them spread the word in case this happened. At least that way she would get the benefit of the doubt. Instead, sheโ€™s hauled off as a traitor and doesnโ€™t even get the chance to defend herself in a trial.

I feel so bad seeing what happens to Kivia, but I also canโ€™t help but note the irony. When we first met her, she automatically assumed the worst about Xylo without giving him the benefit of the doubt . She eventually learned and acknowledged that she was wrong, but she never wrapped her mind about how not everyone on her side was working in the best interests of mankind. That led her to this moment, and now she has a choice to make: deathโ€ฆor death.

Wait…That’s how they Become Heroes?

The final third of this episode is devoted to Kivia being visited by the priest Kafzen in her cell, where sheโ€™s offered a choice: she can be executed as a traitor, orโ€ฆshe can become a Hero. This is where we learn something very disturbing. It turns out that the Heroes are not people sentenced to die and be revived forever. They are people who have already died and then revived by the First Goddess. She then holds onto all of their memories for as long as she can, but whenever they die, she loses some of those memories!

This is honestly messed up, in my opinion. I have seen anime where people can come back from the dead before, but the implication that Xylo and the others may not even remember that theyโ€™re already dead is sickening. Not to mention how it makes Frenciโ€™s efforts to get Xylo a pardon might be pointless. For all we know, removing whatever spell that makes him a Hero could mean heโ€™ll die for good!

If that wasnโ€™t bad enough, we then learn that the First Goddessโ€™ power is finite. She only has room to revive one more person, and thatโ€™s it. Which means that the trump card of humanity is already being strained to the breaking point.

The episode, and the season, end with Kivia making her choice: she will become a Hero and keep fighting. No positive ending for anyone involved. But what an ending!

I must admit, I did start to get a little bored with the show at some point, but I never truly stopped loving it. Itโ€™s just too compelling a story for me to want to quit. And the fact that it was animated by the people who gave us the best parts of Mushoku Tensei was the best part. Iโ€™m glad to know that weโ€™re getting a second season in the future, and if Iโ€™m still here, I look forward to reviewing it.

I Give “Sentence: Aid in Evacuation of Ioff Cheg Port 3” a 4.5/5

YUTA OKKOTSU IS THE GOAT

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

Jujutsu Kaisen S3 Ep 12 Review

If you werenโ€™t allowed to pick Satoru Gojo, who in Jujutsu Kaisen would you consider the GOAT? I donโ€™t know if itโ€™s possible to settle on a single GOAT, as season three of the show has given us multiple contenders for the title. Maki managed to wipe out her entire clan of frauds. Higuruma was a newbie as a sorcerer but managed to become one of the top players in the Culling Game. Takabaโ€™s rule of funny technique could give even Gojo a hard time! But if you ask me, I think the season finale showed us that the biggest GOAT is Yuta Okkotsu. He not only heads to the colony with four of the heaviest hitters of the Culling Game thus far, he also manages to beat all of them by himself by the time the credits roll!

If youโ€™re an anime fan, then you know that when a series chooses to skip the OP, that means it needs the extra runtime for something big. And Jujutsu Kaisen is no exception, as it starts right where we last left off: with Yuta killing one of the four sorcerers that had the Sendai colony stuck in a stalemate. This wasnโ€™t any sorcerer, either; this was a reincarnated sorcerer who was so powerful that, 2,000 years ago, he managed to conquer all of Japan. And the series still decided that it wasnโ€™t worth showing us how Yuta killed him. And that is only the end of the last episode and the start of this one.

The rest of the episode can best be described as Yuta running a gauntlet of boss fights against the other three bigshots of Sendai Colony: Kurourushi, a cockroach cursed spirit, Uro, an incarnated sorcerer who can manipulate the space of the sky like solid matter, and Ishigori, another incarnation whose pompadour doubles as a cursed energy cannon. Each of them could the subject of a fight that lasts an entire episode, and Yuta fights them all in just one.

If youโ€™ve seen Jujutsu Kaisen 0, you already know this, but even if you havenโ€™t, this episode is meant to confirm what the season premiere implied: Yuta Okkotsu is that guy. Next to Gojo, he is the strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern-day, and this episode demonstrates it. His reserves of cursed energy are practically off the charts, his innate technique allows him to copy other peopleโ€™s techniques, and if that wasnโ€™t enough, he never has to fight alone. Heโ€™s got Rika, the cursed spirit left behind by his childhood sweetheart of the same name after the events of JJK 0. Add in the fact that heโ€™s distantly related to Gojo himself, is it any wonder why Yuta is the GOAT of Yujiโ€™s generation?

He defeats the cockroach spirit Kurourushi by giving it a mouth-to-mouth Reversed Curse Technique.

He fights Uro, who has it out for him because of something his ancestor did. Then he fights the battle-crazed Ishigori. And then he almost fights the latter two in a three-way domain expansion thatโ€™s only stopped by the return of the cockroach.

And during the entire episode, the anime doesnโ€™t let up on the incredible animation that weโ€™ve come to expect this season. All of it eventually boils down to an epic one-on-one between Yuta and Ishigori, all to the OP of the season, Aizo. When an anime chooses to use its OP or ED in the middle of the episode, you know that things have gotten serious!

https://twitter.com/eagle97jjk/status/2037198355273834776?s=20

In the end, Yuta manages to beat all of them. But since heโ€™s such a nice guy, he doesnโ€™t kill Uro or Ishigori, just taking their points. GOAT status, confirmed.

Sadly, this is where season three of Jujutsu Kaisen comes to an end. Even worse, we likely have to wait a year for the second half of the Culling Game. It feels more than a little cruel to know that we have to wait that long, but maybe thatโ€™s why the anime chose to end things here. They wanted to give us absolute peak before we had to wait. Itโ€™s sad, but we have to give great shows like this time to cook. Plus, this season already managed to leave its mark in pop culture, from the stunning animation to the memes that it inspired. The Game shall continue, but until then, we have other shows to watch!

I Give “Sendai Colony” a 5/5

Great Rimuru has Returned to us!!!

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

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 1 Review

RIMURU-SAMA, WE MISSED YOU!!! ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ

If you remember all my reviews of Mushoku Tensei, then you remember my concept of the Seven Summits of Isekai. They’re the series that I consider to be the pinnacle of the genre that has become so prevalent over the last decade. And while I still have a soft spot for Shield Hero and Mushoku Tensei, we here at the D&A Anime Blog are huge fans of one isekai above all others: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. It’s got an amazing world, great and lovable characters, and Rimuru might be one of the most OP, broken protagonists in all of fiction. So it is with great fanfare that we welcome back Lord Rimuru as we begin the first cours for the monumental fourth season of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime!

It’s been a while since the Great Festival where the nation of Tempest made its grand debut on the world stage. And for Rimuru and his friends and allies, life couldn’t be better! His plans to build a magic-powered train system are progressing nicely. More and more humans are visiting or living in Tempest, making the idea of human- monster coexistence more of a reality. Rimuruโ€™s beloved students are now attending class in Tempest and away from Yuuki, with Hinata serving as a guest teacher. And, as crazy as it sounds, Shion managed to make a tea he can actually drink!

All of it adds up to Rimuru being able to enjoy a happy and fulfilling life. Except for one problem: their new Dungeon isn’t working.

The Tempest Dungeon is Like Dark Souls

Despite all the advertising and work they put into it, too many newbie adventurers keep trying to take on the Dungeon. They’re getting lost, starving, or owned by even the most basic of monsters. At this rate, the Tempest Dungeon will be a financial flop! All of this is leading adventurers to lash out at the citizens of Tempest and say their Dungeon is unfair. Something has to be done, and it’s the kind of thing that a gamer can fix. A gamer like Masayuki.

Gamers Rule

I already enjoy the fact that the world of Slime Tensura has a lot of gaming mechanics, as that serves as the basis for a lot of isekai. However, it made me so happy to see the mild-mannered hero Masayuki come up with the solutions they need. Quick-save points, loot drops from monsters, tutorial lessons and rest stops! It’s everything that goes into making a good video game, and the best games are the ones that show you how to play without holding your hand.

Rimuru and Mjรถllmile take it one step further. They put out ads saying that anyone who makes it halfway through the Dungeon or beats the whole thing will win a hefty cash prize.

Their little advertising campaign works perfectly. More adventurers start pouring into Tempest, eager to get the chance to win money and fame, solving the financial problems of the Dungeon. Though I can’t but feel like they’re overlooking one crucial: what if someone actually does beat the entire Dungeon? Getting past Veldora seems too absurd to consider, but if reading shonen manga has taught me anything, there’s always going to be someone who will wind up doing the impossible. They’re gonna have to eat their words when that happens!

That issue aside, as a gamer, I applaud what they are doing with the Dungeon. As a gamer, I can tell you that having a tutorial and training courses can mean the difference between winning a game or getting owned like a scrub. That, and I like the concept altogether.

Haters Gonna Hate

It’s not all sunshine and flowers, though. Whenever someone is riding high, there’s always a pack of haters ready to take them down. And Rimuru has been dealing with plenty of haters. Falmuth, Clayman, the Seven Luminaries, and now, the Rozzo family. Introduced during the last season, they’re a secret cabal thats trying to dominate the human world from the shadows loek they’re the Templars or Illuminati. And the Jura-Tempest Federation is getting in the way of that, so they’ve been trying to take them down. So far, their plans haven’t worked, but that doesn’t make them any less of a problem. Fortunately, this is Rimuru weโ€™re talking about; heโ€™ll be fine.

This was a good, solid start to the long-awaited fourth season of Slime Tensura. I know not everyone is interested in the more mundane aspects of world-building and just wants to see more fights, but it’s those aspects that make the series so entertaining. A lot of isekai only do the bare bones when it comes to developing their worlds, but Slime Tensura is one of the ones that is a cut above the rest. That, and its sense of humor and fanservice are pretty good!

I give โ€œNew Daysโ€ a 3.5/5

The Mad Dog is Returning to Mushoku Tensei

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

A Look at the New Trailer for Season 3 of Mushoku Tensei

Mushoku Tensei is coming back for its third season this July, and that means weโ€™re getting into one of, if not the most important arcs, in the entire story. No spoilers from me, though! That would ruin the fun! However, our latest look at what comes next has confirmed that we are getting one arc that some people were worried weโ€™d miss. And it has to do with the most divisive and controversial girl in the series: Eris Greyrat.

I could go on another tangent about how Eris messed up big time by sleeping with Rudy and then leaving him to go on her training arc, but I think I made my opinion on the matter clear. She screwed up, and when she reunites with Rudy, she is going to have to spend a long time making amends for breaking his heart and leaving him depressed for three years. Instead, letโ€™s just focus on what this trailer revealed: weโ€™re going to see Erisโ€™ training arc.

In the anime, the last time we actually saw Eris, she and Ghislaine had left to train and get stronger. Eris had realized that she was too dependent on Rudeus for her own good, and that she wanted to be strong enough to protect him like he had been doing the same for her. With that goal in mind, and wanting to beat the snot out of Orsted, the two women head to the best place for a swordsman to train: the Sword Sanctum, home of the Sword God Style of swordsmanship. And, save for that quick cameo at the end of season two, that was the last time we saw Erisโ€ฆin the anime.

What did Eris do on her Training Arc

Since the anime focuses on the story of Rudeus, it never really shows us what has happened to Eris while Rudy has been living his life. In the light novels and manga adaptation, though, readers periodically get glimpses into what Erisโ€™ life of training at the Sword Santcum is like. She even gets a brief spin-off manga chronicling part of her time there and the adventures she went on. As is the case with a lot of Mushoku Tensei, though, there are going to be gaps during which we know nothing about the lives of the characters, but thatโ€™s not a bad thing. And while we donโ€™t know how much of her time at the Sanctum that the anime will cover, the trailer shows that itโ€™s including the most important parts. That includes the people that she meets, several of whom become important or recurring characters in the story from this point forward. In fact, weโ€™ve already seen one of them back in season two.

Remember that time Linia and Pursena holed up in their room during the mating season of the Beast People and made Rudy fight off all their suitors? And then Badigadi showed up looking for a fight with Rudy? Right before Rudy got his first challenge, we saw a young, blue-haired woman looking at him. That same woman appears in this trailer for the Sword Sanctum arc as someone who knows Eris.

This is Nina Farion, another student training at the Sword Sanctum, and she and Eris come to have an interesting history. I canโ€™t spoil too much about what happens, but letโ€™s just say that Eris’s showing up has a major impact on Ninaโ€™s life, for both better and for worse.

While I canโ€™t speak about how the rest of the fandom views Eris, I think a good chunk of us were probably hoping that the anime would cover her time at the Sword Sanctum. Given how she left Rudy to train there, it’s too important part of the story to simply gloss over! As for whether this will be a special episode like what we got for Sylphie or take place over multiple episodes, that is left up in the air. Regardless, Iโ€™m looking forward to seeing this gets adapted by the anime. And Iโ€™m looking forward to the return of Mushoku Tensei.

The OG Dub VA for Luffy Returns as Joy Boy

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

They’re Bringing Back the OG VA for Luffy for One Piece

After all of these years, the OG dub VA for Monkey D. Luffy is getting some recognition.

These days, itโ€™s hard to imagine a world in which One Piece isnโ€™t one of the most popular media franchises in the world. But like anything great, it didnโ€™t start off that way. Itโ€™s taken decades for One Piece to become the globally mainstream hit it is now, and I think that part of the reason why it is that way is due to how bad its initial debut in the West was. The people who enjoy the English dub tend to think of the ongoing Funimation (now Crunchyroll) dub of One Piece, but like Dragon Ball and other anime that came westward in the 90s and 2000s, there were other English dubs. It just so happens that the OG dub of One Piece is infamously considered one of the worst ever made: the One Piece 4Kids dub.

Anyone Remember 4Kids?

Before the rise of Funimation, 4Kids Entertainment was the premier company when it came to localizing anime in the West. From the original Pokemon anime to Yu-Gi-Oh! and its numerous sequel series, 4Kids was once the king of anime. I was one of the kids who grew up loving everything they did, but looking back on it now, you can tell just how much they changed things for their audiences. The shows they dubbed were subjected to a lot of censorship and changes meant to make them what they deemed to be suitable for kids because they thought it was what was best for them. In doing so, though, they removed a lot of the tension and stakes that made the shows so compelling, with questionable results. They could get away with in Pokemon since it was meant for kids, but it starts becoming noticeable in shows like Yu-Gi-Oh! And then came the show that would ruin them: One Piece.

And they never wanted to do it in the first place.

4Kids didn’t know what it was doing

4Kids never had any intention of dubbing One Piece in the first place. The only reason that they did it is because it was part of a package deal they got with Toei that included shows that they actually wanted. They didnโ€™t know anything about it going in, and when they saw all the more mature themes (smoking, death, fanservice) and said โ€œwe canโ€™t show this to our demographic!โ€ So they censored like they never censored beforeโ€ฆwith disastrous results.

Thereโ€™s a reason why the 4Kids dub of One Piece is considered one of the worst dubs of all time, and if you grew up watching it, find it on dvd, or find it online, youโ€™ll understand why. All the blood was removed, alcohol was replaced with other drinks, they removed the guns or replaced with ridiculous props. Not to mention just how bad the voice acting was. I didnโ€™t realize it as a kid, but it was absolutely terrible! And worst of all was how they cut out key moments from the story. I didnโ€™t even know until years later about Laboon or Little Garden because they were outright removed!

Ultimately, their attempt to dub One Piece the beginning of the end for 4Kids. It was so poorly received that their reputation would never fully recover, and several years, the company went belly up. Now all that remains is the memory of it and the dubs they left behind. As for One Piece, Funimation would eventually take up the role of dubbing it, but it would take years for them to undo the damage. These days, the English dub is in a much better position, but Iโ€™m willing to bet that there are plenty of fans that prefer sub over dub partly due to what 4Kids did. Honestly, I donโ€™t blame them. I look back on the 4Kids dub, and realize just how bad it really was.

The sad irony? I actually stopped initially watching One Piece after the 4Kids dub ended.

At Least 4Kids Introduced me to One Piece

I was only ten years old when I started watching One Piece, and I had no idea just how bad a hand I had gotten with it. Even with all the censoring and changes, One Piece still looked so cool to me, to the point where I started going around wearing the closest thing I could find to Luffyโ€™s straw hat. And when it ended and I think Toonami switched to the Funimation dub, I was so confused that I walked away from it altogether. Again, I was just a kid who didnโ€™t know any better. Plus, I wasnโ€™t able to find ways to watch the anime and read the manga until I was in high school, so there wasnโ€™t much that I could do. Yet despite knowing how bad I got it, I canโ€™t truly bring myself to hate the 4Kids dub of One Piece, if only because it was how I got into the series in the first place. Which is why this next bit of news brings a smile to my face.

It will have likely already passed by then, but on March 24th, for the first time ever, the dub of the One Piece anime will be caught up to the subbed. For decades, fans have had to deal with the fact that the English dub remained dozens, even hundreds, of episodes behind the subbed version. That alone is a big win. But it just got even bigger: theyโ€™re bringing back the original dub VA for Luffy.

In one of the final batches of episodes before the anime went seasonal, One Piece introduced us to the voice of Joy Boy, a legendary figure in the lore of the series who was said to be the first pirate, and the last person to wield the powers that Luffy now has. In a fun twist, the Seiyuu for Joy Boy is Uraka Takano, the original voice of Luffy. Most people donโ€™t know this, but there was actually an OVA of One Piece released in 1998, predating the Toei series and with different animation and voices. So itโ€™s poetic to have Joy Boy voiced by the OG Luffy.

The dub seems to have taken a similar stance on the matter, as it was announced that the English voice actor for Joy Boy is Erica Schroeder, aka the original English voice for Luffy from the 4Kids days.

I canโ€™t help but smile at this small tribute to what came before it. Even if it was one of the worst dubs of anime in history, 4Kids is still a part of the history of One Piece. Itโ€™s how I fell in love with One Piece in the first place, so I at least respect it for that. Getting to hear the OG voice of Luffy is going to be something that I hope makes me very happy, and Iโ€™m glad that itโ€™s getting acknowledged.

Plus, for all its faults, yjere was one thing that 4Kids did right by One Piece: the opening rap. Say what you want about everything else, but that rap song isnโ€™t half bad.