ANIME REVIEW: B THE BEGINNING (SEASON 1)

B The Beginning is an anime currently available on Netflix. It is in the genre of mystery-thriller-esque anime, with characters movig through the stories and a central mystery surrounding it all that ties into everything.

The story follows the main characters of a police force (Royal Investigation Service) that is tasked with solving a string of murders by Killer B. Its main character is Keith, a detective genius. During this investigation, they uncover twists and turns that threaten far more than anyone initially thought.

Without spoiling too much, the main mysteries of the show keep the action enthralling. From how the mysteries are tied together to the impact the characters have, the storyline is very engaging. Although it sometimes falls into anime tropes, watching the story play out is very engaging.

The actual animation is also very good. The fights have a sense of visceral weight to them, and the audios also match here. The characters voices sound like they should match the characters personalities, which is always good. There isn't too much to fault with the presentation of the anime. 

One of the flaws is potentially the characters. Some of the characters and plots arcs are put together too fast or thrown by the wayside in the service to the story. A little more room to breathe would be good. The other thing, which is more off-putting, is that it often tries to do some slapstick or comedy. Sometimes this works, but more often than not it is jarring as the tension in a scene is quickly dissipitated. 

Overall, except for these minor flaws, this is an anime that I would recommend. A solid mystery thriller, this is unlikely to leave you disappointed. 

4 out of 5 B-Class Waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES- OUT OF THE SHADOWS

The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie did not get good reviews. Featuring over-designed turtles, a lack of respect for the TMNT history, and contrived villains and plots, the question becomes should it have gotten a sequel. The answer is no, but the sequeld manages to squeeze over the lowest of bars that was its predecessor.

In this movie, Shredder escapes prison and meets an alien entity Krang. Stockman, Karai, Beebop and Rocksteady are also present in the film. All of this is just window dressing as none of the characters seem to be their for more than fan-service, outside of Krang (as the main protagonist this time). They never get too much development and if left out, wouldn't affect too much.

The over-designed turtles are back and so is April. She is joined by Casey, a cop with an anger-management issues who likes Hockey. He sees the turtles and Shredder escaping, but no-one believes him (for some reason) and he has to become a lone wolf. The turtles also have a hang-up about not being accepted on the surface suddenly, for some reason. But hey, at least there are more fun moments throughout the film. More moments like the elevator rap from the first.

The film has an idenity problem. It can't decide whether the Foot are elite ninja's, cutting through a police station with ease, or simply cannon fodder. Similarly, Michelangelo has a leadership problem but it seems that he never actually leads anyone. Is Shredder a master fighter and big threat, or is he simply a mook now for Krang. The movie seems to switch in scenes between slapstick and serious. 

This isn't to mention that the plot is silly, the only likeable character is April (Megan Fox), and the conflicts are contrived. However, it manages to jump over the bar set by the first movie and the special effects and action scenes are better. And it doesn't insult the source material again and seems to sweep the starting movies lore under the rug as much as possible, which is also a plus.

1.5 out of 5 mutated turtle waffles

BOOK REVIEW: AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1873)

Around the World in 80 Days is a classic book by Jules Verne. In this book, Phileas Fogg attempts to traverse the world in 80 days to win a bet. This is obviously before the age of planes, which makes the timeframe near trivial.

In his journey, he is assisted by a french assistant and other companions he meets on his trip. He is also hindered by a case of mistaken identity and a tensionless game of cat and mouse. His wager is effectively for his fortune, held by the men of the reform club on his wager.

This book is a bit of a classic, but I think it is more for the audacity of the feat at the time. The book is quite tensionless. Things are hardly ever given time to breathe and sink in, as the protagonists seem to jump between crisis and diversions. Even then, most of the obstacles are overcome without any real tension.

In fact, most of the tension here is derived from people acting without sense for the plot. From the mistaked identity, to his assistants unnecessary secrecy and loss of urgency at key times, this book does not organically generate tension. Everytime they are backed into a corner, there is no ingenuity at play. In fact, most of the challenges are overcome by the inexplicable fortune of Mr Fogg.

With modern technology (i.e. airplanes) making the 80 days qiute arbitrary and no sense of danger for the protagonists, this book is quite a slogg to get through. It is well written, but the plot does not hold up with time.

1.5 out of 5 ballooning waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: 9 (2009)

9 is an animated movie. based on an alternate, Skynet-like history. In the movie, humans have been wiped out from the world. Now, a bunch on sentient ragdolls designated by their numbers are trying to survive. Some spoilers ahead.

9 fails to rise above any tropes. This is perhaps its most disappointing trait. While the animation and music is good, the story just feels so generic. Not only that, but any failures by 9 are quickly swept under the rug in the name of plot advancement. In fact, most the ragdolls stupid moves are their simply so the plot can advance.

All the characters are very generic. You have the dumb bruiser, the eccentric inventor, the old man set in his ways, and the naive newcomer determined to change things. The problem is the newcomer has been there for a whole 2 seconds before he is getting everyone to follow him and sacrifice their beliefs for him. This is a very bad example of an author projecting into his work. 

The only problem is that the author projection and plot advancement don't mesh. So the perfect character has to do something stupid to advance the plot, but then it is quickly forgotten about. This movie is a cringe-worthy miss with its simplistic plot, and the monsters are far too scary for most children who wouldn't mind the simplicity.

A definite miss on this one.

1 out of 5 ragging waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: FANTASY DEFENCE (2018)

Fantasy Defence is a 1-2 player co-operative card game that was on Kickstarter. It is by Sweet Lemon Publishing, and is a fast-paced card game where you have to survive and destroy a hoard of enemies. This review will be including the Stone King campaign expansion as well.

The game is quick. In the game, you have a deck of defenders, a bunch of battlements and a deck of enemies trying to break through. There is also a boss enemy you have to defeat, some spells that help you out, and a leader who is quite powerful. Your units can move a limited amount between battlements between the enemy assaults, and you have to either defend the gate or take the loss of health (called morale) for the greater good.

In the game, you have a choice of 2 factions that play very differently. You have the manuevarable elves or the combo-tastic humans. Each plays very differently with just a few changes in the power match-ups of the cards, and it is very well done. However, the problem with the game is that you see your whole deck and the enemy deck every game. Without the Stone King campaign expansion, there is no variety between games. You see the same enemies, same abilities and have the same units availale. This makes the puzzle very static.

However, the Stone King expansion is nearly a must for this. This adds allot of different enemies with different abilities, new units for you to use and events to play through, amongst other spoiler things. The story is really good to play through, with changes between levels to keep things fresh. However, the most important part is that now you can introduce changes (or use a random subset of enemies and defenders) between non-campaign games. One suggestion is that you keep to the story suggestions about which units get replaced, otherwise you may end up with too many low powered units for the big creatures.

The Stone King expansion is a must for this game. Without this, there is very limited plays in the base box before you have seen most the game has to offer. With the expansion, it adds allot of variety and makes it a very smart game. It should have been included in the base box, or at least some variety included in this (i.e. maybe some monsters you deal out of the monster deck) as opposed to just the order of monsters. So be warned, without the Stone King, this game would be a solid pass.

3.5 out of 5 fantastic waffles (with Stone King expansion).

MOVIE REVIEW: BRIGHT (2017)

Bright is a Will Smith movie on Netflix. It is perhaps the most interesting yet one of the worse movies that I have seen yet. It is perhaps a great example of world building and also what not to do with a movie. Spoilers follow.

The good of the movie is the world. It is an interesting, shadow-run-esque world where fantasy creatures are in a modern world. There are hints of the past and conflicts between the races that are left with a mystery but still give you enough details to fuel some speculation. This also tries to deal with things such as racism and prejudice, trying to mirror real-world type events.

So now onto the bad. The biggest problem is definitely Will Smith's character. He is just Will Smith. This is meant to be a character finding his legs after a traumatic experience as a cop, concerned about his family and keeping his pension. Instead, he is cocky, one of the best gun-shooters in the force, and very arrogant. The beginning of the movie shows him protecting his family, but this is forgotten about by the end of the movie. And to be clear, I am not sure how much control Will Smith actually had on his character, but I am not blaming him.

Apart from that, the rest of the movie is a mess. As mentioned before, plot threads are made up like they are important (Will Smith's wife and daughter, Orc prejudice, selling their house and his pensions, etc.) but are then promptly forgotten as Will Smith transforms into a super-competent action hero. Things that should be suprises (such as being a Bright) are ruined early in the movie. And some references are put in for laughs, without considering that in the Bright universe, they don't actually make sense. And then there is that every sentence someone says has at least 2-3 swear words in it.

So overall it is a huge misfire. A Blade Runner-type movie in a modern fantasy-like world sounds interesting, and the backstory in the movie sounds better than the actual movie. Here, the lack of clear characters and plot direction make this movie dead on arrival. In hindsight, the makers of the film need to go back to looking at story structure 101 and write good characters. Also, Will Smith has been phoning in performances so many times now (Suicide Squad as well) that I think he has lost allot of his stock with me.

1 out of 5 Dark Waffles.

TV SHOW REVIEW: TROLLHUNTER (PART 1 and PART 2)

Trollhunter is a Netflix series by Guillermo Del Toro. In it, this sees a young high school student (Jay) become chosen by an amulet of power to command daylight and hunt trolls. All of this is going around his normal high-school life including bully-problems, the girl he likes, etc.

First things first, the animation is really good. There is a real sense of movement and technique to what people do. This doesn't go the route of Dragonball, with the "faster than light" movement things, but instead you are always given a sense of the environment and how each character fights. The lithe characters feel fast, while trolls feel brawny.

The storyline begins with the normal high-school hero story. However, along the way, there are several small twists and turns to it. Although Netflix calls it Parts 1 and 2, there are probably 3 seasons of a normal animated show in here. Each character, although starting as an archetype, has more going on under the surface than first appears.

My only criticism of the show is that it has all to noticeable moments of idiocy by the characters to progress the episode plot, or delay the end of the episode to meet the time quota. This includes regressions by the characters. Thankfully, these are more to do with the threat of the week and don't often affect the overarching global story.

The other thing is the few genuine moments that bring out the feels often are undone quite quickly after. I know it is a kids show, but some actions should be shown to have consequences that stick. These moments sometimes make you face-palm with the moment they have undone.

However, they are only minor complaints. It is a bit of a slow boil to get started until you get to know the depths of the characters a bit more. However, if you have time, I would recommend this.

4 out of 5 rocky waffles.