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CHADtaro Strikes Back

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

RJ Writing Ink’s Recap of Season 1 of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, Pt 2

Welcome back to our three-part recapping of the first season of 100 Girlfriends. In the first part, we met our protagonist, Rentaro Aijo, a boy who just wants to find love only to be rejected over 100 times. It’s then that he learns that he’s destined to meet 100 soulmates in high school, only to learn that if he doesn’t date them all, they will die. Thus, he doesn’t hesitate to make them all his girlfriends and ensure they’re all happy. He currently has three girlfriends: Hakari, the first girl who acts sweet but is a massive pervert. Karane, the insecure tsundere who acts as the group’s straight man. Lastly, there’s Shizuka, the natural-born smol floof who communicates using books and a text-to-speech app due to her shyness. But there are still 97 girlfriends left for Renataro to find and make happy as the story continues.

Girlfriend #4-The Kuudere

The school exam results are being posted, with everyone being eager to see how they did. The one who ends up taking the top spot, though, is Nano Eiai, a kuudere who lives up to her surname by eschewing emotion in favor of logic and efficiency. Unfortunately for her, she winds up being the next of Rentaro’s soulmates, something she tries to reject since she thinks love is meaningless. So Rentaro asks her to go on one date to prove her wrong, with the two heading to an amusement park. Despite Nano not seeing the point behind the rides, the two do end up bonding, and Nano does admit that she had fun.

However, when she still sees the whole thing as meaningless, Rentaro activates his CHADtaro powers. By threatening to burn the photos he took of their date, he makes Nano stop him, proving that, contrary to her beliefs, Nano does care about love and bonds.

Having come to realize how much she has to learn about being human, Nano surrenders to her feelings and becomes Rentaro’s fourth girlfriend.

Water Park Antics

To celebrate their growing group, Hakari suggests they all head to a water park that just opened to get closer with each other. However, things don’t go the way they planned at first. Karane begins getting cold feet due to feeling insecure about her body after seeing how developed Hakari and Nano are. Shizuka gets swept away by the lazy river and winds up stranded on an island when her inner tube breaks. When Nano and Hakari try to get Rentaro to choose who has the best body, he passes out from blood loss.

And when the two try to find a lifeguard, theyre accosted by a trio of gawkers who try hitting on them.

Thankfully, when Karane sees what’s going on, she looks for Rentaro, finds him half-dead, and revives him by mentioning how Hakari and Nani are in trouble.

After the two girls prove they’re both dating the man, the unwanted men back down to Rentaro’s CHADness. After that, Rentaro rescues Shizuka, helps Karane stop feeling insecure about herself, and the group finally enjoys their day out in peace.

Girlfriend #5-The Child(?) Prodigy

At a later date, the group is headed to enjoy a special event in the lunchroom when they pass by a lab. There, Rentaro locks eyes with a beautiful red-head in a lab coat, and gets the familiar zing. However, when he returns the next day, the only person present is a little girl named Kusuri Yakuzen. Kusuri is an example of the child prodigy archetype. She is to chemistry what Tony Stark is to engineering, being an unparalleled genius able to create drugs that defy common sense, like a drug that can magnetize the iron in one’s blood. She also wears diapers since she doesn’t want to be bothered going to the bathroom during an experiment…and gives Rentaro a love potion because she’s in love with him.

Rentaro winds up overdosing on the love potion, though, forcing Kusuri to force-feed him the antidote via mouth-to-mouth. That’s when Rentaro learns that Kusuri is actually the woman he saw yesterday, his senior at age 18, and the chem club’s president/only member. The reason why she looks like she’s 8 is because she was trying to create a drug that could grant immortality, only for it to leave stuck as a kid unless she takes a neutralizer. And contrary to most child prodigies, she’s very friendly, but her eagerness to let others use her drugs made all the other chem members leave. Rentaro, though, doesn’t hesitate to make her his fifth girlfriend and introduce her to the growing family.

It doesn’t take long for Kusuri to accidentally cause chaos, though. Not learning her lesson, she tries again to give Rentaro a love potion, only for the girls to drink it instead. As a result, their minds become focused on kissing Rentaro and they become kiss zombies.

With the drug in danger of permanently destroying their personalities, Rentaro and Kusuri race against time to reverse the effects, leading to even more comedic moments. Thankfully, they manage to cure the others in the nick of time, and everyone happily forgives Kusuri, who finally finds acceptance.

Wait, What Just Happened?

For their next outing, the group goes to this flower park for this event involving a bouquet toss. Whoever catches the bouquet will receive a special prize: a couple’s photoshoot surrounded by the park’s finest flowers! Unfortunately, they face stiff competition in the form of the Gorilla Alliance, whose leader wants the bouquet for herself and her boyfriend. While Karane winds up going toe-to-toe with the leader, Shizuka gets blown into the sky where she manages to catch the bouquet…only to fall back to the ground.

Rentaro catches her in time, though, Karane befriends the leader, and Hakari winds up winning the honor of getting the wedding photoshoot. All seems right with the world…until Hakari drops a bombshell by asking Rentaro to break up with her.

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As it turns out, Hakari’s mother learned that her daughter, an extremely wealthy CEO, was dating a guy who was five-timing on her. Since she’s a good mom, she told her daughter to break up with Rentaro and planned to have her transfer to another school. However, since their situation isn’t typical, and because the whole “the girls will die if they don’t date Rentaro” issue remains in effect, Rentaro and the others cannot allow this to happen. Despite how many resources Hakari’s mom has at her disposal, they all agree to get Hakari back by breaking into the mansion and rescuing her.

And that is where we will be ending part two of this recap. Tune for part three as we see how things turn out as Rentaro meets his sixth soulmate.

Yes, 100 Girlfriends Just Went There

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

RJ Writing Ink’s Recap of Season 1 of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, Pt 3

Last time on 100 Girlfriends, Rentaro continued to meet more soulmates and grow his family of lovers. First, there was Nano Eiai, the kuudere who values logic and efficiency only to discover the value of bonds and emotions. Then, there was Kusuri Yakuzen, the genius chemistry girl who looks young most of the time, but was actually this beautiful 18-year old! Just as the Rentaro Family was enjoying their growing bonds, Hakari asked Rentaro to break up with her. Having learned her daughter was dating a five-timer, her mother decided to forcibly separate the two. Not wanting this to happen, the Rentaro family mounts a daring rescue mission straight out of Mission Impossible, complete with similar music and everything!

Mission: Girlfriend Impossible

As the group arrives at the Hanazono family mansion, they work together to overcome the security and make it inside. Shizuka offers herself up as bait to distract the guard dog, quoting Gandalf in the process. Thankfully, her natural smolness means the dog refuses to harm her, licking her instead. Next, they must get past a hallway with infrared sensors, prompting Kusuri to use a drug that lets someone see in infrared (and only infrared). She was going to use it to apply for a big pharma company, but this was more important. With Rentaro and Karane working together Tom Cruise style, they get past the sensors with minimal issues!

Sadly, as soon as they reach Hakari  they get caught by her mother’s security guards. After that, they are forced to meet face-to-face with Hahari Hanazono, Hakari’s mother at 29 years old.

Hahari’s age is important because it doesn’t just make her an example of the absurdly youthful mother. Hakari is 16 years old, meaning that Hahari had her daughter at the tender age of 13, which in and of itself is terrifying. The reason why is just as tragic, though. When she was 13 and fell in love with Hakari’s father (who was the same age), he was dying from a terminal illness. She was so desperate to have something to remember him by that she used her family’s wealth to artifically inseminate herself with his DNA. Tragically, he died before Hakari was born, leaving Hahari to raise her daughter alone. Which she could do since she was super rich. But she could never replace her deceased lover, and she knew how much Hakari was like her, so she didn’t want her daughter to fall in love with someone who would take advantage of her.

To put it simply, Hahari is being a good parent and trying to look out for her daughter’s well-being. Rentaro is reduced to tears, washing out the eyedrops and letting him see again. And the second he and Hahari’s eyes meet…ZING!

Girlfriend #6-The Absurdly Youthful Mother

Yes, the sixth of Rentaro’s soulmates is the mother of another one of his soulmates. And by this point, it becomes obvious that 100 Girlfriends is different from other harem anime. It’s not afraid to do things that others would find controversial, like pairing up the underage protagonist with an actual mother. As for Hahari, how does she respond to this new feeling?

She was blinded again by love. It takes Karane’s straight-man routine to bring the two to their senses, at which point Hahari still refuses to let Rentaro date her daughter. To prove his sincerity, she forces him to take a lie detector test, even using Karane as a guinea pig to prove its validity. After Karane embarrasses herself at the others expense, Rentaro passes the test so easily that the anime decides to abridge it. However, things grow dire when word reaches them that Hakari is threatening to throw herself out the window!

Karane restrains Hahari so Rentaro can make it in time, and he manages to convince her that ending her life not going to solve anything, only create more misery. Unfortunately, Hakari winds up slipping and falling out anyway. But thanks to Rentaro diving after her and using his CHADtaro powers, he protects her from the impact and manages to land them both in a fountain below, saving their lives.

Seeing him save her daughters life, Hahari is now convinced that Rentaro’s feelings for her daughter are real. Thus, she gives him her blessing to date Hakari. Rentaro, in turn, sees how good of a mom that Hahari is, and vows to make them both happy.  Which means that Hahari now joins the Rentaro Family as girlfriend #6, much to Hakari’s utter exasperation. She now has to share her boyfriend with her own mother! A literal mommy-daughter double whopper!

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And to make it even crazier, the episode she starts dating Rentaro has a special ending dedicated entirely to her and how much she loves Rentaro-Chan! Complete and utter chaos!

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Well, this is Happening Now

Hahari wastes no time in joining in on the family’s antics, allowing them to stay the night so they can bond. And she proves to be as perverted as her daughter is, as she uses the night to try and get closer to her new boyfriend. She dresses up all the girls in pajamas and costumes she has, and then makes Rentaro dress like a girl for her own enjoyment! He winds up fainting from embarassment, and has to be woken up by Nano dressed as a prince like a reverse Sleeping Beauty!

Then, Hahari and Hakari convince all the girls to try and peep on Rentaro while he’s bathing, with Shizuka being the only one who refuses. Both their attempts fail miserably, though, but because she was trying to stop it, Shizuka winds up being the only one who sees by complete accident.

Her lack of emotional maturity aside, though, Hahari is shown to have been deeply scarred by the loss of her first love. It gets to the point where Rentaro has to reassure her it’s not wrong for her to find happiness with someone else, which leads to their first kiss. Get used to it; this is how things will be.

Oh, and Rentaro meets the ghost of Hakari’s father, who’s been watching over the two girls all this time. Having seen how Rentaro has saved them both, Hakari’s father thanks him before finally moving on to the afterlife.

The day after the ordeal, everyone leaves the Hanazono mansion to head to school, with life returning to normal…is what you’d think would happen. Not wanting to be apart from Rentaro, Hahari used her money to buy their entire school, becoming its new chairwoman. All of this just so she can see Rentaro more!!

And with that, we reach the end of the first season of the peak of harem anime, The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You. It’s uncertain whether or not we will cover the next season on here. However, if you haven’t watched this anime yet, I recommend you do. Even if you think that harem anime are trash, the great thing about this series is that it knows it’s trash and embraces it. Every girl in this series is going to be best girl, and you can’t help but admire how absurdly dedicated he is to making his girlfriends happy. If the world had more people willing to do that much for their lovers, there would be no such thing as incels anymore.

And yes, I like this anime. It’s funny.

War of the Rohirrim: the Prequel No One Asked For

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Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim Review

Lord of the Rings is one of the most famous fantasy series of all time. But it’s also a series to which I’ve never fully committed myself. I understand the broader strokes behind it, but the lore is so thick even I’ve found it hard to keep track of everything. Still, I appreciate the impact it’s had on fiction over the last century, and there’s no denying that the Peter Jackson films are the gold standard for the high fantasy genre. Thanks to that, and due to my undying love of anime, I was willing to give the anime film, Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, a chance.

There’s no easy way to say this…it’s not that good of a movie. At least not compared to the Peter Jackson films.

Who Asked for this Film?

Set two hundred years before the events of The Lord of The Rings, War of the Rohirrim is, in a nutshell, the story of how the stronghold of Helm’s Deep got its name. It’s told from the perspective of Héra Hammerhand, daughter of the stronghold’s namesake and a character so important, her name is lost to history. When the arrogant father of her childhood friend, Wulf, tries to seek her hand in marriage to his son, the two dad’s come to blows. When Helm kills Wulf’s father with a single punch, Wulf snaps and vows revenge. What follows is something that TV Tropes describes as amounting to a manchild throwing a huge tantrum because he didn’t get what he wanted.

If my opinion about Wulf as an antagonist doesn’t sound that high, that’s because it isn’t. Wulf is not a great villain in this film, and much of it can be attributed to poor writing. At the start, Wulf goes along with his father’s marriage proposal because he genuinely loves Héra. However, despite father Freca making it obvious that this is a play for the throne, and thus brought his death upon himself, Wulf refuses to acknowledge this fact. More importantly, his feelings of inferiority towards Héra make him take her rejecting the proposal far more personally than he should have. I know no one likes the “it’s not you, it’s me” line, but in this case, it really was Héra. She had no interest in marrying at all, valuing her freedom too much to be tied down. Instead of moving on and trying to find another woman, though, Wulf obsesses over her and lets that love grow into a spiteful hatred. I’ve seen antagonists who were obsessed with revenge and hate before, and Wulf doesn’t bring anything new to it.

Then we have Héra, our main protagonist. Despite appearing in Tolkien’s lore for the series, she’s barely mentioned, to the point where she’s not even named. She is, in essence, a character created solely for the film. And from I’ve seen in the film and what I’ve heard, she was heavily inspired by the strong female leads in Hayao Miyazaki. She does have that type of character down. She’s a strong-willed, independent young woman who is more than capable of taking care of herself, much like of Miyazaki’s female leads. Unfortunately for her, there’s one difference between her and characters like San, Nausicaa, Chihiro, and others. That difference is that, in the context of their stories, their gender is not that big a deal. However, for Héra, her gender is a big deal.

The film establishes early on that, despite being the most capable of Helm’s three kids (the other two are sons) and adored by her father, Hera still faces the sexist views of a medieval world. Ignoring what she has to say is what ends up leading to events playing out as they do in Tolkien’s history. It’s only when people start taking her seriously that she proves capable of saving the people of Rohan from certain destruction. Unfortunately for her, Game of Thrones already beat Héra in the “badass female warrior-leader” department years ago with characters like Danaerys Targaryen and Arya Stark. And Arya has a body count that numbers in the tens of thousands by the time the show ended! Héra’s got nothing on Arya!

Not that Good a Film

It’s not just the story and the characters that I have a problem with, though; it’s the animation. While I cannot deny that the animators did a great job trying to make Middle-Earth as breath-taking as fans remember, when it comes to the characters, they fall short. The way they move is stiff more often than not. Their facial expressions, often a big part of anime, aren’t that deep. And when they do fight (which isn’t as much as you would think), it’s not as exciting as you would think. Ignoring the fact that they had to stick to the established world and how battles are fought, the fights here pale in comparison to the films. As someone who sees animation as a means for us to transcend the limits of live-action, I consider that particularly egregious! Why did they even bother making this an anime film?

On paper, the idea of a Lord of the Rings anime film was a good idea. However, when it comes to the execution, War of the Rohirrim seemed to fall short for me. While some hardcore fans of Tolkien’s world might like it, for a more casual fan, like me, this film doesn’t do much to interest me. If you like Lord of the Rings, it might be worth seeing this in theaters or streaming whenever it’s out. Otherwise, I think you can pass on it.

I Give Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim a 2.5/5

Dan Da Dan’s Ending the Season Like That?!?

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Dan Da Dan  Ep 12 Review

It’s been a wild ride this fall, but the first season of Dan Da Dan is now in the history books. Fortunately, the next season has already been announced to be closer than we thought, and given how this season ends, fans will appreciate it. But before we get to that, we have to go over everything that happens in this season finale. As Momo, Okarun, and Jiji head to exorcise Jiji’s house, Okarun is still trying to get over the fact that he’s jealous of Jiji’s relationship with Momo. If only he could see that Momo doesn’t think of him like that.

We Can’t Hate Jiji!

So, after that whole fiasco with the living mannequins (and convincing Seiko to let the girlfriend live at their house), it looks like the mannequin thing is wrapped up. Unfortunately, Taro the mannequin didn’t have one of Okarun’s missing balls. He was just alive because…reasons.

Some people might want an explanation as to why these two mannequins are alive, but it’s actually funnier to leave people guessing as to why. With all the weirdness in the series, you learn to roll with this sort of thing.

Speaking of rolling with things, Okarun is dead set on keeping Momo’s attention firmly on him. That leads him to spend much of the episode trying to find ways to impress her, only for Jiji’s extroverted attitude to interfere. The worst part is that Ken can’t bring himself to hate the friendly Jiji, either. The young man is so nice that the two even start to bond over their shared interest in the supernatural. However, that doesn’t stop them from butting heads over who is closer to Momo, which is fun to watch.

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Why End Things Here?

What wasn’t fun to watch, though, was the way that the episode decides to end things. And since this is the season finale, it’s going to be generating a lot of controversy.

As Jiji explained, and Momo confirms for herself, his house is haunted by a powerful spirit. So powerful that it even manages to alter the appearance of the structure in a way that they don’t notice at first. However, that’s not the most unsettling part. During the episode, Momo breaks one of the cardinal rules of the horror genre by choosing to try out one of the village’s hot springs alone. Worse, the hot spring she winds up choosing is co-ed, a fact she only becomes aware of when a group of men come barging in. The episode ultimately ends with those same men openly attempting to assault Momo!

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Not a Good Way to End Things

This…was not a good moment for the season to end things. While seeing perverts trying this sort of thing on women isn’t new in the Shonen genre, that doesn’t make the site of it any less horrifying. The fact the anime chooses to end the season without showing how Momo will get out of this only adds to the anxiety it’s going to put fans through. While they can always read the manga, some people prefer only to watch the anime to enjoy the story as it goes along. For that matter, having the anime cover the start of the next big arc only to end the season on such a tense moment seems like a failure to properly pace things out.

As much as I have enjoyed Dan Da Dan, I think that the anime genuinely screwed up by choosing to stop when it did. Not everyone is going to appreciate having to wait months to find out what happens next. It’s only the fact that they don’t have to wait long that may end up bringing them back.

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While it was likely meant to be revealed at the end of the episode, Studio Saru announced that the next season of Dan Da Dan would be coming in July 2025. Relatively speaking, that’s fast for an anime! Hopefully, the season finale won’t end up driving away the fans that the show has worked so hard to gain, as it’s easily one of the best anime of the year. I, for one, am looking forward to getting to see more of it next summer!

I Give “Let’s Go to the Cursed House” a 2.5/5

The Last: Naruto the Movie-A Ten Year Retrospective

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RJ Writing Ink’s Look back on The Last: Naruto the Movie

December 2014, one month since the popular Shonen manga Naruto ended. It was the holiday season, but I only wanted one thing for Christmas that year: to see The Last: Naruto the Movie. I wanted it so badly I bought tickets to see it in theaters despite it being in another state. By fate or by luck, I wound up not needing them, as I was able to watch it somewhere else a few days after Christmas. At the time, I thought the film was a masterpiece, but that was due to riding the emotional high that came with the ending to the manga. Fast-forward ten years later, would I still consider it to be a masterpiece? Wanting to know this, I went back and rewatched it for the first time in years. And I’m happy to say that it’s as good as I remember it being.

A Thrilling Epilogue

Taking place two years after Naruto and Sasuke’s final battle, The Last: Naruto the Movie revolves around two things: saving the world and romance. Right as Hinata is working up the courage to confess to our titular hero, her sister gets kidnapped by a mysterious man named Toneri, who also wants her for some reason. Simultaneously, the Moon begins falling towards the Earth, threatening to wipe out all life on the planet. Sensing the two are connected, the now Hokage Kakashi sends Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Sai, and Shikamaru on a mission to rescue Hinata’s sister, find Toneri, and stop the coming armageddon. However, the mission gets complicated by Toneri’s conitnued pursuit of Hinata and Naruto coming to realize just how much he means to her, and she to him.

There’s no denying that Naruto is one of the all-time Shonen greats, but even its most die-hard fans can admit it had two major shortcomings: lead female heroines and romantic sub-plots. She may not have started out as the main heroine, but it became apparent that many fans preferred Hinata over Sakura. Hinata’s efforts to grow out of her shy and timid nature, as well as her unconditional support for Naruto, endeared her to countless people. In contrast, Sakura started out the series being a flat, uninteresting character who’s only defining trait was her interest in Sasuke. Kishimoto tried to have her grow out of this, but the damage had already been done.

Furthermore, despite the series coming to have many different ships over the years, Kishimoto never capitalized on it due to his embarrassment over writing about romance. As a result, the chief ships found in the series, NaruHina and SasuSaku, the former didn’t get as much focus as it’s supporters wanted, while the latter ended up becoming toxic in nature after Sasuke went AWOL before Naruto finally set him straight.

Being Rushed Didn’t Make it Bad, Ya Know?

To put it simply, The Last was the film team and Kishimoto’s attempts at course correction, but some people say that it came too little, too late. To be fair, they’re not wrong. Looking back, the aftermath of the Invasion of Pain arc would’ve been the perfect chance for Naruto and Hinata to get a relationship upgrade. Hinata had not only fought to protect Naruto from Pain, but she flat-out told him she loved him. Yet nothing came of it, and with everything that followed, that plot thread never had time to be properly addressed. So, yes, the film had to shoehorn the romance in while they had the chance.

Here’s the thing, though: that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad thing. Sometimes, we can do our best when we’re under pressure. And with this being the last chance Kishimoto had to tell how Naruto and Hinata became a couple, he and his team were definitely feeling the pressure! But once he got over his reluctance to write a proper romance, he knocked it out of the park. I fully consider the time Naruto and Hinata spent searching the abandoned Ninja Village together to be their first date, and am prepared to die on that hill! I’m pretty sure I gasped when the moment came when Naruto turned out to be the one to confess his love to Hinata first, rather than the other way around. And that famous kiss that the two of them shared at the end of the movie, as they’re floating in the sky with the moon in the background. *Chef’s kiss* That’s how you do a kiss scene, people! And that’s not even getting into the scenes of their wedding that take up the credits. I started crying tears of joy when I went back to watch it again!

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As sweet as it was to see the two getting the chance to make up for lost time, though, there’s another reason why I think the romantic part of this film works. In a critical scene partway through the film, the group gets trapped in a genjutsu based on their memories. During that time, Naruto winds up seeing many of Hinata’s memories, including a recent conversation she had with Sakura. That memory has Sakura explaining that Naruto has no concept of what romantic love really is. To some, that might not make sense because Naruto has understood what romantic love is. But remember that for all his emotional intelligence at times, Naruto did grow up orphan. Not having his parents around to show him what a romantic relationship looked like probably didn’t do him any favors. Also, the tearjerker section for the TV Tropes page for the movie speculates that, thanks to his lonely childhood, the idea of someone being in love with him was practically a foreign concept. He may have largely gotten over his hard early life, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t still affect him!

ABSOLUTE PEAK FIGHTING!

It wasn’t just the romance that made the movie so enjoyable for me. This is still a Shonen film, and that means that there’s plenty of action to be had. Naruto’s friends and allies working to destroy the falling meteorites before they can wipe out the planet. Hinata holding her own against Toneri’s army of puppets until Toneri himself intervened and captured her. And last, but not least, Naruto fighting against the empowered Toneri on the surface of the Moon. They wound up traveling all the way from Earth to the Moon and fought on its surface with no problems whatsoever. It doesn’t matter if that shouldn’t be possible; it’s cool as can be! And the best part is that that final clash was done to a remix of Naruto’s original theme song. It’s a testament to where our hero has come from and how much he has grown from being a weak outcast to the strongest ninja alive! Ten years later, I still get goosebumps rewatching it!

If I could list at least one major complaint that I have looking back on the film, though, then it would have to be about the film’s main antagonist, Toneri Otsutsuki. When I first watched the film ten years ago, I saw as this poor, misguided young man who thought he was following his ancestor’s wishes by trying to destroy the world. As Hinata discovers for herself, though, that belief was based on his half of the family misunderstanding their ancestor’s wishes. That led to them wiping each other out while Toneri was still a child, leaving him the last person alive on the Moon. And after being defeated and learning how wrong he was, he chooses to exile himself there forever, with not even his puppet servants to keep him company.

My One Gripe (or Two)

As sad as Toneri’s life is, after rewatching the film years later, my sympathy for him has decreased. While he does try to care about Hinata as a person, the way he interacts with her reminded me of an abusive husband, right up to the point where he tries to violate her free will using his own Chakra. That just shows how little he understood other people! And unlike the whole “colony drop” thing, his actions against Hinata and Naruto were all on him. He’s lucky that they were nice enough to save his life when they could’ve simply let him die at the end!

Oh, and I never really liked Naruto’s new appearance in this movie. I don’t like seeing his hair so short! It looks weird to me!

So, the bottom line is that, while it would’ve been better had the series done more to move Naruto and Hinata’s relationship forward, I can’t complain that much about The Last: Naruto the Movie turned out. Ten years since its release, it still remains one of the series best stories. It shows that Kishimoto did have it in him to write a good romance. And while some might see it as a reminder of what we could’ve gotten had he realized this sooner, I’m still happy that we got it at all!

Have Yourself a Slimey Little Christmas

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Slime Diaries Christmas Episode Review

If there are good examples of why you don’t need to be Christian to celebrate Christmas, Japan is one of them. Most of Japan isn’t Christian, but they celebrate the holiday nonetheless for the commercial and romantic aspects. People drink, celebrate, and give gifts to loved ones, with couples getting a lot of focus. That doesn’t mean that the concept of how Christmas is celebrated in the West isn’t unheard of in Japan. A good example of this is in the penultimate episode of Slime Diaries, a slice-of-life spin-off to the popular Isekai anime That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.

With winter having arrived in Tempest in full, Rimuru remembers that it must be close to Christmas time back on Earth. When his friends/citizens/companions get curious, Rimuru ends up introducing the concept of Christmas to Tempest. Never one to pass up a chance to party, the citizens of Tempest eagerly get into the spirit of the holiday. The rest of the episode consists of everyone celebrating Christmas in their own way.

Slime Diaries Christmas

At the D&A Anime blog, we’re big fans of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. It’s not hard to understand why. It’s a member of what I consider the Seven Summits of Isekai, it’s got some of the best world-building in any isekai, and Rimuru might be one of the most OP protagonists in all of anime. And his true form is a slime, one of the most basic enemies you can find in a JRPG. But despite achieving godlike power and getting plenty of chances to show it off in the main anime, anyone who knows Rimuru knows he’s a pretty chill person. All he wants to do is make a place where he can enjoy his second life to the fullest. So, Slime Diaries depicts him and his friends doing just that, with no real tension to be had.

The end result? No real drama, no plot involving everyone having to save Christmas. Just some good people getting to enjoy the holidays together. Shuna cooks a delicious Christmas dinner for everyone at Tempest’s big festival. Resident ms. fanservice Shion shows off in a Sexy Santa outfit, only to tick Rimuru off when she brings up the romantic aspects of the holiday (he was a 37-year-old single man in his first life. It’s a sore subject!) And as soon as she hears about Santa, Millim becomes convinced that she’s going to get a present. This is in spite of the fact that her frequent acts of destruction would be grounds for being a naughty-lister.

However, it makes the moment Rimuru tries to leave her a present, and she mistakes him for Santa pretty funny. Every little kid has tried at least once to stay up and get a look at Santa (including me!)

I Love Santa!

Speaking of the jolly man in the red suit, the episode ends on a very heartwarming moment. Rimuru returns to his office to find a present addressed to him…from Santa.

Full disclosure: I don’t really care if Santa’s real or just a historical saint. What matters is that the legend of Santa provides us with a sense of wonder everyone needs as a kid. Plus, I wouldn’t be surprised if Santa could travel to other universes to give people presents. He’s Santa; it just works.

All in all, this is a pretty fun Christmas episode. No real stakes, no real drama, just a family enjoying themselves like people should.  

Wait, this Guys was Momo’s First Crush?!

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Dan Da Dan Ep 11 Review

Jealousy, envy, coveting; call it what you want, but when we feel it, it’s never a good thing. And right now, Ken Takakura is feeling both jealous…and dejected. When Momo’s old friend and first crush shows up at her doorstep, the poor boy’s already low self-esteem takes an even bigger nosedive. Thankfully, this episode revolves around him getting a reminder of why he shouldn’t be so quick to give up on his feelings. And, in typical Dan Da Dan fashion, it happens in the most hilarious, over-the-top fashion.

Is Jiji’s Gojo’s Long-Lost Cousin?

At the end of the last episode, Momo opens her front door to find a tall, athletic, and handsome young man standing outside. This is Jiji, Momo’s old friend when they were little kids, and, according to her grandma, her first crush. His family moved before middle school, and, to make a long story short, their house is haunted. So haunted that the ghost chased off every medium they hired…or made them kill themselves. Now his folks are in the hospital, and Seiko is the only one who can purge the ghost. But since she’s useless outside their city, Momo will have to do it. That won’t happen until the next episode though.

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The main focus of this episode is the arrival of Jiji and how he affects the status quo. Played by Aleks Le, Jiji is, essentially, a younger, even goofier version of Gojo from JuJutsu Kaisen. Given how goofy Gojo can be, that should tell you what kind of person he is. Between his good looks, his extroverted personality, and charisma, he quickly wins over everyone at school. Even Seiko likes him, though that’s because he compliments how amazing she looks. Momo, though, sees him and finds herself questioning why they were friends to begin with.

It should be noted that Jiji was one of the people who made fun of her for believing in ghosts as a kid, a fact that he deeply regrets. Combined with the possibility that he returned her crush (and may still have one), it’s clear he’s trying to make amends for his past actions. However, Momo just finds him annoying now, preferring a more solemn guy like Ken Takakura…the actor. She still won’t admit that she’s fallen for Ken-Chan.

Speaking of which, poor Okarun’s already low self-esteem takes an even further nosedive here. Jiji is everything that he isn’t, or at least what he thinks he isn’t. And since he’s starting to fall in love with her, that is making him jealous. Rather than get angry and aggressive over it, though, he decides to bow out. While that normally would be the right thing to do, in this case he means to cut himself off from Momo altogether.

Don’t Stop Fighting for Momo, Okarun!

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Love and friendships can be hard when you are young, and with how introverted Ken-Chan can be, it’s understandable that he doesn’t see how good a person he really is. If he higher more self-esteem, he would be able to recognize that Momo’s one-time friend now greatly irritates her with his antics. Fortunately, since he is a protagonist, the universe provides him with the reminder he needs…in the silliest way possible.

Dan Da Dan has shown us many crazy things: aliens of all sorts, ghosts, and more. But I think the sight of an anatomical mannequin running through the streets to find his girlfriend at a dump might be the craziest thing I’ve seen on this show. And that’s counting the race with Turbo Granny! But seeing him be so passionate about reuniting with his love lights a fire in Okarun. Thanks to that, he’s able to overcome his insecurities and fight for his friendship with Momo. Not that he needs to fight for it, mind you. The reason why he and Momo work so well together is because they’re polar opposites. They balance each other out, keep the other grounded. Rest assured, their friendship is stronger than either of them realizes.

Sad to say it, though, but next episode will mark the final episode for this first season of Dan Da Dan. However, with how popular it has proven, it’s going to get a second season. And I look forward to seeing that come to pass.

I Give “First Love” a 3/5

One of those Times When Earth Has Something Aliens Find Useful

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Dan Da Dan Ep 10 Review

The last few episodes of Dan Da Dan have been chaotic for our group of teens. First, Aira’s misguided attempts to seduce Ken lead to a misunderstanding between him and Momo. Then those banana-obsessed aliens come back with minions and try to capture Ken and kill Momo and Aira. And even though they win, every high schooler’s worst nightmare takes place. The entire school sees the girls in their underwear and Ken in his birthday suit!

Time to run damage control.

Damage Control

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After the most embarrassing moment of their lives up to that point, Ken, Momo, and Aira take shelter in the nurse’s office and get spare tracksuits. Thankfully, the nurse is the understanding and supportive type…though I almost lost it when I saw that she gave off the energy of a dominatrix. She had the flogger and everything!

Now comes the real issue: explaining the incident and salvaging their reputations before they have to change schools. Momo’s friends come up with the silliest, but also most believable, explanation in the form of a gladiator fight between the girls over Okarun. To be fair, they’re not wrong to assume there’s a love triangle. We should know by now that there is a love triangle between Momo, Aira, and Okarun, even if Momo and Okarun don’t realize it yet. And while Ken does manage to explain what really happened when she walked in on him and Aira, I didn’t appreciate how she teased him over his reasons for being quiet about exercising. Trying to look cool in front of a person you like is a big deal for someone like Ken, and as light-hearted as it was, her trolling him felt a little mean.

But not as mean as what Aira did to Momo.

RIP Aira’s Popularity

Initially, the trio planned to tell the school that the incident was Momo’s fault, but before Aira can do that, her past actions come back to haunt her. Remember how she spread lies about Momo being promiscuous before? Those lies, combined with what happened, almost incite Aira’s classmates into an angry mob. And Aira, in a moment of character development, fesses up that she started the fake rumors, destroying her popularity.

When we first met Aira, she was the kind of shallow, self-absorbed person who would do something that mean-spirited. And while she’s still a bit full of herself, the fact that she was willing to fess up for the sake of a girl she doesn’t like that much is a sign of positive character development. There might be hope for Aira yet, people! There has to be, though, since they still have to deal with Yokai and Aliens.

Earlier in this episode, Ken theorizes that the reason the Serpoians wanted Turbo Granny’s powers is because the aliens’ tech is useless against all the supernatural forces found on Earth. I’m no stranger to seeing science and magic existing in a shared world, but it’s still pretty cool hearing that ghosts and spirits are acting like a nuclear deterrent against alien invasion. However, at least one alien won’t bother them anymore: The Mantis Shrimp, AKA the Dover Demon, Kappa, and Mr. Peeny-Weeny.

EVER SEEN AN ALIEN ABDUCT A COW?

Somehow, Mantis Shrimp survived their fight, but is so beat up that he passes out right in front of the girls. Everyone feels so sorry for him that they nurse him back to health and feed him, prompting the grateful alien to pledge his loyalty to them. And Dover becomes even more sympathetic when it’s revealed he only took the job to pay for life-saving blood transfusions for his son. I might not approve of him working for the Serpoians, but I think most of us can agree that he’s a good dad! Also, we got this!

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The funniest part, though? It turns out their species’ blood is exactly like cow milk. So we get one of the most over-the-top versions of the classic “Aliens stealing cattle” trope I have ever seen! And it’s made even funnier when Seiko refuses to believe that Mr. Shrimp’s an alien!

….Uh-Oh

This episode is mostly dealing with the falling action and aftermath to last week’s frankly insane experience. However, just when it looks like things might calm down, we get thrown another curve-ball. Momo’s childhood friend, a boy named Jiji, comes over, having been invited by her grandma to stay for reasons. And to make matters worse, Seiko tells Ken that Jiji was Momo’s first crush.

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And with that, our love triangle has become a love…rectangle? Quadrangle? Double-triangle? No matter what it’s called, the look on Ken’s face and the previews for the next episode tell us that the drama’s about to increase. I feel so sorry for Ken right now!

I Give “”Have You Ever Seen a Cattle Mutilation?” a 4/5

Things are About to Get Harder in Daima!

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Dragon Ball Daima Ep 9 Review

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Now that Goku has beaten one of the Tamagami, his name is spreading like wildfire throughout the Demon Realm. This next episode of Daima has us dealing with the aftermath of Goku’s victory and the unwanted attention it provides. And while the episode largely focused on the comedy, we got a hint about something Gomah is looking for, and see the birth of a potential threat to Goku.

Don’t Steal From Goku

Having won the first of the Demon Realm’s Dragon Balls, the gang decides to spend the night in a hotel instead of camping out again. That means that Goku has to put on a disguise to avoid attracting attention thanks to his newfound notoriety. Since it’s Goku, though…it doesn’t last very long. And, just as the others fear, thieves attempt to steal their Dragon Ball. They do succeed for a short time, but thanks to Panzy putting a tracking device on it, and Goku’s intimidation, they get it back pretty quickly.

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The fact that they almost lose the Dragon Ball isn’t the point, though. The point the series is trying to make is that, from here on out, they’re going to need to be a little more careful about their prize. To the best of my knowledge, they didn’t bring a dragon radar, so if they lose it again, it could hard to get it back. And speaking of losing things, guess who lost their own plane due to it getting stolen by bandits.

In a rather hilarious echo of the first group, Vegeta’s group lost their own plane after he beat up a group of bandits. What’s worse is that when Goku’s team catches up to where Vegeta’s team is stuck, they don’t have the room to hold all of them. Thus, any chance of the parties merging gets put on the back burner.

To be fair, it seems like keeping the entire party in two separate groups is a deliberate handicap on the story’s part. If they all joined up into a single group, they would be strong enough to handle everything thrown their ways. Goku, Vegeta, Glorio, Shin, and Piccolo would mow down every enemy in sight, while Bulma and Panzy would invent something capable of getting them straight to King Gomah. No Mr. Warp needed. As for Hybis, he might be more important than he realizes. Here’s why.

Just a Theory. A Dragon Ball Theory!

During this episode, word reaches Gomah that not only have Goku and the others followed him to the Demon Realm, but Goku already beat one of the Tamagami. With his plans to neutralize the potential threat having backfired, the king once again laments being unable to obtain the Evil Third Eye. Described as a powerful artifact lost during the reign of one of Dabura’s predecessors, the Evil Eye is said to grant immense power to anyone who puts in on their forehead. However, I don’t think it’s actually lost. During this episode, it’s revealed that Hybis has this weird, living he found attached to his belt. The fact that this came up right as we heard about the Evil Eye again can’t be a mere coincidence. It’s subtle foreshadowing that this potentially powerful MacGuffin is already in the hero’s hands and they don’t even realize it. If I’m right, then all those years reading One Piece and learning about foreshadowing were worth it!

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Majin…Kuu?

While Vegeta’s party ends the episode with them poised to recover their plane from the bandits, the episode ends by shifting back to Marba and Dr. Arinsu’s attempts to make a clone of Majin Buu. They manage to succeed, combining the Buu fragment with a Saibaman seed. I never thought we’d see the Saibamen again, so this was a big surprise. Unfortunately, then we learn the name that Arinsu gives her new minion: Majin…Kuu.

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I’m sorry, but what? I’m aware that Toriyama liked to name his characters based on puns. However, for the life of me, I can’t figure out if Kuu is meant to be a pun, or just a lame reuse of Buu. I’m really hoping that there’s a pun in there, or that Kuu is just as strong as Buu. Otherwise, the tension of having someone compete for the Dragon Balls will seem a bit pointless.

It now looks like the race is on for the Dragon Balls, and while this episode was relatively slow, not every episode has to be an absolute banger. Comedy is just as much a part of Dragon Ball as action, and since Daima is returning the franchise to its roots, we should expect plenty more comedy.

I Give “Thieves” a 3.5/5

Dragon Ball Daima Dub Coming in January

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It’s been two months now since the start of Dragon Ball Daima, there’s yet to be any dub of it on Crunchyroll. So far, the only dub for the new Dragon Ball series has been in the form of a compilation film that came out for a few days in November, and that only covered the first three episodes. With simuldubbing becoming more and more common in recent years, these two months could feel like years for those who insist on only watching dubbed anime. Granted, many anime still like to get a few episodes out before they start airing the dub to prevent it from being overtaken, but that’s not the point. But the wait for the dub of Daima will only be a few more weeks. In a recent post on their website, Crunchyroll announced that the dub for Dragon Ball Daima will begin January 10th, 2025.

Besides the obvious interest that stems from the dubbing of the new addition of a legendary anime, there’s another reason why people should pay attention to the dub of Daima. Because they’ll be spending most, if not all, of the series stuck in their kid forms, most of the returning characters won’t be voiced by their regular actors. The one exception will be Goku, once again voiced by Stephanie Nadolny. She’s famously provided the dub voice for Kid Goku in most Dragon Ball media. Most of the rest of the kid-ified cast will be voiced by relative newcomers. What makes this exciting (to me, at least) is that it’s giving a new generation of VA’s to leave their marks on the popular franchise. More importantly, if they do well enough, that could lead to them getting more work. With how tough the entertainment business can be, especially for newcomers, landing a potentially high-profile role can go a long way for job prospects.

As for me, I’m just happy to be able to watch the series in dub form come the new year. Having spent my teen years watching the original Dragon Ball in dub form online, it will be nice to get to hear Stephanie Nadolny’s voice again after all this time. And I wholeheartedly support letting my generation of VA’s try their hand at Dragon Ball.