Mega Man 11

It took a while, but I finally got to play Mega Man 11, thereby completing my Mega Man marathon once and for all. After all this waiting, did it live up to my expectations? Well, let's see.

In theory, Mega Man 11 should be exactly what I wanted from a new Mega Man game. I adored MM9 but I was always firmly in the camp of Inti Creates' time with the series being a step back for removing mechanics like the slide and Charge Shot. Mega Man 11 finally brings those mechanics back, and they feel better than ever. Even more, the additions of a story and voice acting really makes MM11 feel like the true sequel to Mega Man 8 (or I guess MM&B). However, in their further attempts to modernize the Mega Man formula, Capcom also introduced a new gameplay mechanic called the Double Gear system. From the start of the game, you can activate boosts to your attack power and speed, but you have to manage those boosts to prevent Mega Man from overheating. I'm going to be blunt here, I'm not a fan of this mechanic, and rarely ever felt the motivation to use it a lot of the time. Brutally hard platformers thrive on their simplicity. Using a simple control scheme makes every challenge, no matter how hard, feel achievable. And this isn't just a Mega Man thing, it applies to the X games, to Super Meat Boy, to Celeste, to I Wanna Be The Guy, to N++, and pretty much every other platformer of this style. The Double Gear system just overcomplicates the control scheme and gives you way too many things to worry about in an already tough game. I really hope it doesn't return for a hypothetical Mega Man 12. The quality of life improvements generally fare a lot better, though. I love that the Rush abilities is tied to their own buttons now, that you can stagger shielded enemies with a Charge Shot, and that you can select an ability with the right joystick. Permanent upgrades in the shop return from Mega Man & Bass, and the addition of challenges and achievements do a way better job at giving the game replay value than pretty much every prior attempt. There are still a few archaic elements though. The lack of auto-saving is a travesty, especially in a game this hard where someone could potentially rage quit (not that it happened to me, thankfully), infinite lives being locked to the easiest difficulty setting only is disappointing, and how the hell is the knockback worse than in the other games?! I'm not even exaggerating, Capcom made the knockback worse and then gave you an upgrade to make it slightly less worse. That's Secret Rings levels of BS.

But ultimately, while I'm mixed on the gameplay itself, Mega Man 11's levels are the real stars of the show. They're pretty long this time around, and do a great job of slowly fleshing out, mixing-and-matching, and fully utilizing the gameplay mechanics that they introduce, while mostly being pretty fair. There wasn't a single Robot Master stage I disliked, and the best ones like Torch Man and Blast Man ranked as some of the series' finest. However, while I mostly like the increased stage length, it means the "Normal" difficulty setting's mere three lives and 2-3 checkpoints is way too punishing and strict even by Mega Man standards. I actually think the difficulty settings are generally better implemented than the ones in MM10, but Capcom probably should've changed the naming a bit. I've heard people call this game's Wily Fortress a bit disappointing, and... really? Like, I get the castles in MM9 and MM10 are a high bar, but most Wily and Sigma Castles have four stages, and the first two Gear Fortress stages are so long and climactic that I found it to be a perfectly solid ending to the game. And besides, given how long Wily Castles would drag on in the NES era, I'm perfectly fine with a slightly shorter one here. As for the bosses, they're mostly solid too. Every boss boasts a lot of attacks, multiple phases where they use a Double Gear, and even i-frames preventing you from stunlocking them. At their best, they're some of the most thrilling and fleshed-out fights in the series, but at their worst, you get the overwhelming chaos of Block Man and Impact Man. The weapons are really great, though. As usual, some are more effective than others, but I didn't find a single one to be a dud. Block Stopper is the definite highlight, a top-notch all-arounder, but I also liked Bounce Ball for being a better version of MM5's Crystal Eye, Tundra Storm for being easily the best screen clearer in the series, and Scramble Thunder for buffing MM9's Plug Ball to a ridiculous degree. The weapons also come with easily my favorite utilization of the Double Gear system, which is that the Power Gear comes with superpowered versions of each of the weapons. Think the charged weapons in MMX but cranked up to eleven.

As far as the general presentation goes, Mega Man 11 is kind of a mixed bag, unfortunately. It's not a bad-looking game visually, the character designs look clean, the backgrounds can look genuinely super nice (especially in Bounce Man and Blast Man's stages), and there are plenty of cute hidden details scattered around. However, when compared to the spritework of MM7 and MM8, the 3D visuals just look a bit more lifeless. The characters are less expressive, the world feels less vibrant, and the environments feel more like static platforming stages than actual locations. Look, I'm not a genwunner who thinks classic Mega Man should only be 8-bit, but there's definitely something lost in the transition to 3D and Mega Man 11 just doesn't do enough to make up for that. MM11 also brings in voice acting, as mentioned prior, and honestly, I thought it was pretty solid. It's great to finally get to hear the classic Mega Man cast with proper, fitting voices, and some of the voice actors really got to have fun with the Robot Masters. Bounce Man was a definite highlight though, his cutesy voice contrasted with the other Robot Masters in the absolute best way. As for the music, easily the most divisive aspect of Mega Man 11, I'd actually argue it's one of my favorites? Mega Man's musical styles having always been based on either rock, synth, or both. An EDM Mega Man soundtrack filled with rave music may not have the iconic 8-bit rock of MM2, but it's by no means unfitting for the series and boasts some of my favorite themes in the whole series. With the eurobeat-esque Fuse Man theme, the somber Tundra Man theme, the energetic Blast Man theme, and of course one of the best Wily Caste Themes in the series, MM11's soundtrack isn't anywhere near being one of the weaker ones to me.

Overall, I liked Mega Man 11. It has its issues with the Double Gear System, uneven visuals, and wild difficulty spikes, but it absolutely nails the level design, boss design, and weapon design in a way several other classic entries don't even come close to reaching.

4/5 Stars

If you're wondering where I'd rank Mega Man 11 compared to the other classic games, here's my list:

1. Mega Man 3
2. Mega Man 7
3. Mega Man 9
4. Mega Man 5
5. Mega Man 8
6. Mega Man 11
7. Mega Man 6
8. Mega Man 4
9. Mega Man 10
10. Mega Man
11. Mega Man 2
12. Mega Man & Bass

Bocchi The Rock (Season 1)

Sometimes I consume a piece of media and I'm adamant that it's going to my favorite of that year. Kirby And The Forgotten Land was always going to be my Game Of The Year, and I was sure that Spy X Family would be my anime of the year. But then Bocchi The Rock happened.

Hitori Gotoh (later nicknamed Bocchi) has crippling social anxiety and learned guitar to make friends in school, to no avail. However, it eventually gets her dragged into an amateur band with students Nijika, Ryo, and Kita. It's a lot like K-On but if Yui was really bad at social interaction, though where that show focused on coming of age and slice of life, Bocchi The Rock focuses more on character growth and the band actually making progress. Bocchi is the obvious highlight, as she not only comes out of her shell throughout the course of the season, making rewarding bits of progress each episode, but every character has their own backstory and bits of depth. Bocchi The Rock does a good job of putting the members of the cast in unique pairings and groups, giving everyone opportunities to have heart-to-hearts and develop their relationships to each other. Like with K-On, the anime doesn't actually have that many performances in it, but the character development in between the songs make them all the more impactful.

I've brought up in several of my other reviews (Celeste and Laid-Back Camp in-particular) that I'm an introvert with anxiety myself, so how does Bocchi The Rock tackle its subject matter? Really well, actually! Bocchi's social anxiety is over-exaggerated for comedic purposes, but the underlying fears remain relatable and hits hard sometimes. Bocchi's friends are perfectly accepting of her struggles and yet are willing to gently nudge her out of her comfort zone. But most of all, Bocchi The Rock doesn't fall into that trap of portraying introversion as an issue, and that all introverts secretly want to make friends too but just have something wrong with them. Where Bocchi wants to make friends but is unable to because of her social anxiety, Ryo is entirely secure in her introversion by comparison. Similarly, Nijika is good in social situations but not always willing to seek them out, comparing to the absolute social butterfly that is Kita. Bocchi The Rock does a fantastic job of showing off the different types of social interaction people can be gravitated towards, as well as how people of those differing personalities can still become great friends.

Aside from that, though, Bocchi The Rock is just really fucking funny. The anime has such an unhinged energy to it, the jokes fly fast and furiously, and the direction is ridiculously creative and inventive. From the way the characters bounce off each other, to Bocchi's many hysterical reaction shots, to the Spongebob-esque mixed media cutaways, to that goddamn fake credits gag, Bocchi The Rock has quite possibly the most creative sense of humor I've seen in a TV show in a very long time. Along with the experimental animation and direction, the presentation as a whole is really polished and well-done. The animation is fluid and expressive even when it's not going absolutely nuts, the character designs are cute while having more of a rock edge compared to those in K-On, and Aoyama Yoshino's voice acting for Bocchi is fantastic, making noises and screams I never thought a human could actually make. 

And then there's the music, holy shit. The madlads at Cloverworks made an entire Kessoku Band album sung by the cast members, with its music being slowly unveiled throughout the season during performances and EDs, and they're all so good! Look, I adore After School Tea Time and I don't want to keep negatively comparing one of my favorite shows of all time to this, but K-On's music is a bit on the fluffy side (Don't Say Lazy excluded) and work best when paired with the anime's big emotional beats. Kessoku Band's songs, on the other hand, are just damn great pieces of music that I could totally listen to outside of the context of the anime. The angsty lyrics, polyrhythmic flow, and grittier feel of Kessoku Band's tracks are definitely more my style, with my favorite being the opening Seisyun Complex, possibly my favorite OP since Vivy's. And the hype of slowly getting new songs from the band over every episode was genuinely fantastic, it was super fun trying to guess who would get to lead the next new track. But that's not even it, Bocchi The Rock also has plenty of songs made entirely for comedic bits, and they're good too!!

Highlights:

Be Right There: This is one of the most chaotic episodes of an already chaotic anime. The gags are especially top-notch, from Bocchi's "identity" popping, to the puppets cutaway, to Double Dark Past, and that's just like the first five minutes. It also does a stellar job at introducing and developing Kita, along with the very fun twist of her being the runaway guitarist, and ended on a surprisingly heartwarming and genuine note.

Flightless Fish: After five episodes, we finally see Kessoku Band play, and it was great! That foot stomp gave me genuine chills. We also got to learn more about Nijika and her sister, and that dam gag was downright inspired.

Bocchi The Rock: This felt like a season finale, yet it was just the eighth episode! We got the big concert the season was building up to, Kikuri met the rest of the cast, Nijika reveals her backstory and realizes Bocchi is guitarhero, and we learn a lot about most of the characters through the afterparty. It really is a strong blend of everything that makes Bocchi The Rock great, from the top-notch humor (Kikuri's concerts slayed me), to the great music (that concert scene was fantastic), to the sweet heart-to-hearts (Nijika and Bocchi's talk at the end really got to me). The attention to detail between the two performances we got to see absolutely floored me too, this episode has one of the best depictions of an out-of-sync concert I've ever seen in any sort of media. I also love how the anime completely dodged any sort of contrived drama about Bocchi keeping her identity a secret. 

Duodecimal Sunset: This was everything I wanted from a penultimate episode, easily rivaling Be Right There as the most balls-to-the-walls episode of the season while also setting up the finale perfectly. The sheer amount of art style shifts, animation bumps, medium breaks, and niche-as-hell references is on another level as we see the band explore the cultural festival, participate in a maid cafe, and prepare for their concert. And the ending where Bocchi sees all of her fans on stage is super heartwarming, at least until Kikuri embarrasses her.

Morning Light Falls On You: Cloverworks doesn't have the best track record with finales from what I've heard, but this was a truly satisfying way to end the season. We have a fun and tense concert sequence, Bocchi pulling off her most badass and idiotic stunts back-to-back, fun hijinks at a music store, three entirely new songs, lots of sweet interactions between the group, and confirmation that Kita is in fact the absolute best.

Overall, Bocchi The Rock is easily my favorite anime of the year and rivals Severance as my favorite show of the year period. Bocchi is such a memorable protagonist and her struggles are super relatable, the music made for Kessoku Band is great, the whole cast is lovable and well-developed, the writing is uproariously funny, and of course, the animation goes absolutely wild in the best way possible. It's been a while since each episode of a season left my jaw on floor in awe (Episode 11 did it three times!), and I think that's the mark of something truly special.

5/5 Stars

My ranking of Bocchi The Rock's episodes is:

1. Bocchi The Rock (Episode 8)
2. Duodecimal Sunset (Episode 11)
3. Be Right There (Episode 3)
4. Morning Light Falls On You (Episode 12)
5. Flightless Fish (Episode 5)
6. Eight Views (Episode 6)
7. Jumping Girl(s) (Episode 4)
8. After Dark (Episode 10)
9. See You Tomorrow (Episode 2)
10. To Your House (Episode 7)
11. Enoshima Escar (Episode 9)
12. Lonely Rolling Bocchi (Episode 1)

Episode Rankings: Batman The Animated Series

Like most episodic shows, Batman: The Animated Series can be a bit uneven in terms of its episode quality, and I really didn't love its soft reboot in The New Batman Adventures. But when it's firing on all cylinders, it goes way above most other Saturday Morning Cartoons, from the way it tackles mature themes, to its willingness to end episodes on downer notes, to its often professional animation and always professional music, to its top-notch interpretations of Batman and his rogues gallery. Don't let its age deter you, it's a must-watch for anyone who even remotely likes superheroes:

1. Mask Of The Phantasm (Movie 1)
2. Baby-Doll (S2.11)
3. Mad Love (S3.21)
4. Harley And Ivy (S1.56)
5. Almost Got 'Im (S1.46)
6. Over The Edge (S3.12)
7. Trial (S2.03)
8. Heart Of Ice (S1.14)
9. Harlequinade (S2.07)
10. The Man Who Killed Batman (S1.51)
11. Two-Face: Part 1 (S1.10)
12. A Bullet For Bullock (S2.02)
13. Judgement Day (S3.24)
14. Robin's Reckoning: Part 2 (S1.33)
15. Joker's Favor (S1.22)
16. Old Wounds (S3.17)
17. Harley's Holiday (S2.16)
18. His Silicon Soul (S1.62)
19. Birds Of A Feather (S1.47)
20. The Clock King (S1.25)
21. Make Em Laugh (S2.18)
22. The Demon's Quest: Part 1 (S1.60)
23. Two-Face: Part 2 (S1.11)
24. Girls' Night Out (S3.20)
25. Second Chance (S2.15)
26. Robin's Reckoning: Part 1 (S1.32)
27. Legends Of The Dark Knights (S3.19)
28. Double Talk (S3.04)
29. Catwalk (S2.09)
30. See No Evil (S1.17)
31. Terror In The Sky (S1.45)
32. Mudslide (S1.52)
33. Perchance To Dream (S1.30)
34. Beware The Gray Ghost (S1.18)
35. Joker's Millions (S3.07)
36. Deep Freeze (S2.19)
37. House & Garden (S2.05)
38. Nothing To Fear (S1.03)
39. I Am The Night (S1.49)
40. Shadow Of The Bat: Part 2 (S1.57)
41. Dreams In Darkness (S1.28)
42. Joker's Wild (S1.41)
43. The Laughing Fish (S1.34)
44. Read My Lips (S1.64)
45. Riddler's Reform (S2.14)
46. On Leather Wings (S1.01)
47. Growing Pains (S3.08)
48. Batman Vs Mr Freeze: SubZero (Movie 2)
49. Holiday Knights (S3.01)
50. Pretty Poison (S1.05)
51. Shadow Of The Bat: Part 1 (S1.57)
52. Fire From Olympus (S1.63)
53. Sideshow (S2.01)
54. Beware The Creeper (S3.23)
55. Feat Of Clay: Part 2 (S1.21)
56. Zatanna (S1.54)
57. Mad As A Hatter (S1.27)
58. If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? (S1.40)
59. The Demon's Quest: Part 2 (S1.61)
60. Fear Of Victory (S1.24)
61. Off Balance (S1.50)
62. POV (S1.07)
63. Lock-Up (S2.17)
64. You Scratch My Back (S3.05)
65. Heart Of Steel: Part 2 (S1.39)
66. Paging The Crime Doctor (S1.53)
67. Chemistry (S3.22)
68. Feat Of Clay: Part 1 (S1.20)
69. Christmas With The Joker (S1.02)
70. Sins Of The Father (S3.02)
71. Batgirl Returns (S2.20)
72. The Cape And Cowl Conspiracy (S1.31)
73. Tyger, Tyger (S1.42)
74. The Cat And The Claw: Part 2 (S1.16)
75. The Strange Secret Of Bruce Wayne (S1.37)
76. Showdown (S2.13)
77. Vendetta (S1.23)
78. Never Fear (S3.06)
79. Bane (S2.10)
80. Eternal Youth (S1.29)
81. The Cat And The Claw: Part 1 (S1.15)
82. Night Of The Ninja (S1.35)
83. Mean Seasons (S3.13)
84. Appointment In Crime Alley (S1.26)
85. It's Never Too Late (S1.12)
86. Day Of The Samurai (S1.44)
87. Blind As A Bat (S1.59)
88. What Is Reality? (S1.48)
89. The Last Laugh (S1.04)
90. The Underdwellers (S1.06) - Hot take: I didn't hate this one, as on the nose as it is, I thought the villain was really despicable
91. Heart Of Steel: Part 1 (S1.38)
92. Torch Song (S3.10)
93. Time Out Of Joint (S2.08)
94. The Mechanic (S1.55)
95. Be A Clown (S1.09)
96. Avatar (S2.04)
97. Cult Of THe Cat (S3.15)
98. The Lion And The Unicorn (S2.12)
99. Prophecy Of Doom (S1.19)
100. Cat Scratch Fever (S1.36)
101. The Terrible Trio (S2.06)
102. Cold Comfort (S3.03)
103. Animal Act (S3.16)
104. Moon Of The Wolf (S1.43)
105. The Ultimate Thrill (S3.11)
106. The Worry Men (S1.65) - Ending a season with shamans and voodoo? What a disappointment.
107. The Forgotten (S1.08) - You lost me at "amnesia plotline"
108. The Demon Within (S3.18)
109. Love Is A Croc (S3.09)
110. I've Got Batman In My Basement (S1.13)
111. Critters (S3.14)

Batman: The Animated Series (Season 3)

Once again, BTAS ends up going through a bit of a soft reboot with its third season, which aired quite a while after the second. But unlike The Adventures Of Batman & Robin, which really just changed the title sequence and gave Robin more screentime, this season's The New Batman Adventures was a much more radical shift, for better or worse.

Let's start with the elephant in the room, The New Batman Adventures boasts an entirely new animation style with entirely new character designs, and I'm not really a fan. There are a few things I like, such as Poison Ivy being all plant, but most of the villain redesigns just aren't as striking as in the first two seasons. And then there's the little things, like the eternally red sky of Gotham, or the fact that almost all the major female characters are bizarrely tiny. The animation itself is still great and fluid, but the art direction feels like a big step-down. Another thing TNBA does differently is that it does actually have some semblance of a story arc. Since the second season, Robin has had a falling-out with Batman and became Nightwing, with the new Robin becoming a much smaller kid named Tim Drake. Throughout the season, we learn more about how this shift happened through flashbacks. Conceptually, this is really cool. I was never a huge Nightwing fan but he's a very interesting character this season, and I liked learning more about his falling out with Batman. However, this story arc comes with its fair share of problems, such as Batman himself coming across as way more of a jerk throughout the season, Tim Drake being kind of a brat, and worst of all, not getting any sort of resolution to the conflict between Nightwing and Batman.

So fine, TNBA's new changes are a bit of a mixed bag, but this is still a Saturday Morning Cartoon at its core, and BTAS's greatest strength has always been the standalone stories. However, even those can feel particularly uneven this season. On the bright side, TNBA shows a willingness to be darker than ever in episodes such as Growing Pains, Over The Edge, and Mad Love. There are still plenty of "villain redemption episodes", with one in particular actually giving said villain a permanent happy ending. And the increase in multi-villain episodes that I praised in Season 2 is maintained this season with episodes like Joker's Millions and Girls' Night Out. There is a lot to love scattered throughout TNBA, and the overall level of quality is still pretty good. However, at its worst, TNBA reaches some of the lowest lows in the whole series. Episodes like Critters and The Demon Within are so tonally disconnected from the rest of the series that they feel like a completely different show, and even worse, episodes like Love Is A Croc and Cold Comfort take villains I previously loved and makes them way worse, whether it's having them go back on their development or putting them in a really out-of-character situation. 

Highlights:

Over The Edge: Even though it's an alternate universe, Over The Edge is still a gripping episode because you finally get to see the breaks in status quo that most Batman stories would never ever allow. Gordon learning about Batman's identity, Batgirl dying, Nightwing getting arrested, the shocking moments just keep on piling on throughout the episode. I also like Bane's portrayal here, way better than in his namesake episode in Season 2. 

Old Wounds: Old Wounds was easily the highlight of this season's Nightwing arc, as we learn why exactly it was that Dick Grayson broke off from Batman, along with how the Bat family learns about each other's identities. It's also the only episode to actually call out and deal with Batman's noticeably grumpier attitude, as part of why Dick leaves is because Batman interrogates someone in front of his family.

Mad Love: Mad Love is a Top 3 episode of Batman: The Animated Series, easily. While several prior episodes explored Harley Quinn's abusive relationship with the Joker, no other episode did it quite as effectively as this one. From Harley's sad backstory, to Joker's very hard-to-watch abuse, to Batman and Harley's fantastic talk, Mad Love had me on the edge of my seat throughout. I'm also not surprised it aired as the series finale because it really had that vibe of everything between Batman, Joker, and Harley coming to a violent head. As a matter of fact, my only gripe with Mad Love is that nothing sticks! Joker somehow survives falling through a smokestack, and Harley's relationship with Joker reverts to how it was before the episode in the otherwise great Creeper episode. This probably could've been a great jumping off point for something like the animated Harley Quinn show, but I guess the writers just haven't crossed that bridge yet.

Judgement Day: While I still kinda wish Mad Love had been the series ender, Judgement Day is still a strong ending and a fantastic episode in its own right. On a plot level, the twist about Two Face's third personality is not only very clever and well-foreshadowed, but it also feels like a mix of emotions: Harvey is finally starting to fight crime again, but his mental health is worse than ever. This episode also works as a summation of the fact that Batman cares about the villains. Unlike the Judge, who will immediately write them off as guilty as death, Batman will stop them as many times as it takes for them to rehabilitate. Does it work? Probably not. But it's part of what makes Batman such an interesting character.

Overall, TNBA is a season with high highs and low lows. When it's firing on all cylinders, it has some of the best episodes in the series, but it also has a fair amount of absolute duds. From the inconsistent new animation style, to the introduction of a story arc that just didn't get the attention it probably needed, TNBA is as uneven a season of TV as you could get.

3/5 Stars

Batman: The Animated Series (Season 2)

The stage has been set. After the lengthy first season of BTAS took its sweet time establishing the world and villains of Gotham, Season 2 is where the series really starts to flesh everything out. Despite an attempt at executive meddling, this is an even better season than the first!

For the second season of BTAS, Fox Kids wanted to give a greater focus to Robin, likely to appeal to the kids. Thus, we got The Adventures Of Batman & Robin, which really tried to shoehorn Robin into every single episode. This could've been a pretty bad limitation on the series, but thankfully, the writers never let Robin overshadow the focus of every episode. Granted, that does mean he tends to stand around making quips a lot of the time, but I'd much rather that than have him repeatedly steal the spotlight from everyone else. And that's a good thing because this season's greatest strength is easily the characters. As mentioned above, Season 2 of BTAS doesn't really have to introduce anyone anymore. There are still some great new antagonists, like Baby Doll, Lock-Up, and especially the Condiment King, but the majority of episodes focus on developing the already existing antagonists like Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Killer Croc, and Riddler. 

There's a common thematic thread within this season about whether or not Batman's rogues gallery is able to reform. Season 1 tried this out with the Penguin in Birds Of A Father, but Season 2 is filled with these kinds of episodes that explore why Batman's villains are the way they are, as well as which ones (if any) would be able to eventually reform. There are also plenty of episodes that deal with why Batman's villains aren't able to reform, from the poor management of Arkham Asylum (Lock-Up) to the effect of Batman himself on the villains (Trial). I'm not entirely sure how intentional this thematic thread was, but it really works for the season's benefit. In theory, it feels like it should get repetitive seeing every villain go through the same conflict, but it manages to shed new light on characters I originally thought to be under-developed pretty much every single time. And maybe it's because of this approach that this season also does a much better job at letting its villains crossover. There are way more episodes with multiple villains, but even the ones that don't tend to have other antagonists get name-dropped or even make cameos. Gotham feels more like a connected place than last season, a big step in the right direction.

Highlights:

A Bullet For Bullock: Bullock is one of my favorite characters. He's a walking talking New Yorker stereotype, and I love him for it, so it was cool to see him get an episode to himself. A Bullet For Bullock does a pretty great job at exploring the character, showing how he affects the people around him, but even better is the atmosphere. This episode has a hard-boiled feel to it, with the snowy Gotham vistas and chill jazz score giving the episode a moody vibe. I love those sequences where Bullock is just going about his day, secretly paranoid that the person after him can jump him at any time. 

Trial: You should know by now that I love these kinds of villain crossover episodes, so it should be no surprise that I loved Trial. It does such a great job at capturing the personalities of most of the villains it shows off in such a short span of time, even giving us a bunch of cute Harlivy moments. But even with all the villains, the true star of the show was Janet Van Dorn, not only having a great character arc but proving herself to be an attorney so good she can dissuade a kangaroo court.

Harlequinade: Harley Quinn is one of my favorite Batman characters because she isn't just pigeon-holed into being the Joker's partner. She has interesting dynamics with other characters like Poison Ivy, the majority of whichever Suicide Squad she ends up joining, and even Batman himself. Harlequinade makes the decision of pairing Harley and Batman for a mission and it really works. I like how Batman is visibly annoyed and frustrated with Harley, but also aware of her abusive relationship with the Joker and subtly sympathetic and protective because of that awareness. And she comes so close to piecing it together this time too...

Baby-Doll: I was not prepared for just how depressing this episode would be. Everyone talks about Heart Of Ice as the emotional high point of BTAS but I spent the entirety of Baby Doll hiding in my blanket out of sheer discomfort and sorrow. The titular character, Mary Dahl, is just such a tragic figure, watching her desperately try to recapture the magic of her show Love That Baby is so hard to watch. The writers really didn't pull their punches with this too, Baby Doll delves into the trauma child actors face and the struggle to reclaim past glory as if it wasn't even a kid's show, and the suicidal implications of Dahl's character kinda shocked me. There's so much more I could rave about too, like Alison LaPlata's voice acting, the execution of the "adult who looks like a kid" trope far surpassing any anime that's attempted the trope, the fact that Baby Doll parallels Batman like all good villains do, the heartwrenching ending, and the amount of compassion Batman shows to the poor thing. Seriously, this might be my favorite BTAS episode, nothing else floored me quite like this one.

Batman & Mr Freeze: SubZero: Okay, I'm gonna be perfectly honest here, this isn't a highlight. Rather, I mostly just wanted to cover all my bases, and since SubZero takes place between Seasons 2 and 3, I wanted to talk about it here. SubZero was a perfectly solid watch, with some fun action, a surprising amount of great Batgirl moments, and a great resolution to Mr Freeze's story as well as a solid farewell to this era of BTAS as a whole. However, it doesn't really work as a movie like Mask Of The Phantasm did. MotP is flat-out a great story that works on its own merits, while SubZero only works as a continuation of BTAS built off the hard work done by Heart Of Ice and Deep Freeze, and thus feels more like a TV special than an actual movie. Also, the CGI is really bad.

Overall, despite an obvious attempt at executive meddling, BTAS manages to solidify its voice by focusing on what works. Season 2 is a fun, consistently well-written, and at times experimental season of BTAS that takes the time to really flesh out Batman's iconic rogues gallery and their relationships to each other.

5/5 Stars

Learning To Love: Kirby And The Amazing Mirror

Kirby is my favorite series of all time, but there has always been two Kirby games that I never really got the hype about: Amazing Mirror and Planet Robobot. Recently, I had decided to play them both again to see if I was missing anything. In Robobot's case, I came away liking it less. The easy collectibles and overall difficulty, along with the mindless yet slow-paced puzzles and many autoscrolling stages made the game a real a chore, and even the initially awesome final boss became a drag once its novelty worn off. But worse of all, I hated that you spend most of the game playing as a worse and less agile version of Kirby in the Robobot Armor. Planet Robobot is still super polished, and I still really like the postgame with Meta Knight, but I'm gonna be perfectly frank here, it's probably one of my least favorite mainline Kirby games now. Amazing Mirror is different, though. Where I have only grown to dislike Robobot more with time, I ended up growing to love Amazing Mirror. Believe it or not, it might actually be one of my favorites now.

So let's start with the stuff I already liked about Amazing Mirror, because there was always a lot to love about the game. The core Kirby gameplay is as polished and fluid as always, especially compared to its predecessor Nightmare In Dream Land. That game was limited by Adventure's single-move abilities, but Amazing Mirror was able to giving all of its copy abilities multiple moves and combos for the first time since Super Star. You can tell the developers at Flagship wanted to put a bit more emphasis on the combat here since the enemies now have a health bar, an addition I find really charming if a bit unnecessary. Speaking of the combat, the one thing I unambiguously loved about Amazing Mirror were the boss fights, which I'd easily call some of the best in the series. Aside from Kracko, almost all of the boss fights are original here, with even Whispy Woods being replaced by his mirror counterpart King Golem, and fights such as Master & Crazy Hand, Dark Mega Titan, Gobbler, and Dark Mind play around with the standard Kirby boss formula through elements such as weaknesses and immunities in a way most other games rarely do. That creative spirit extends into the world as a whole. Since Amazing Mirror takes place outside of Dream Land, in its Mirror World, the entire game is filled with unique settings and locations like the haunted Moonlight Mansion, the interstellar Candy Constellation, and the ancient Radish Ruins. Even more standard biomes like the beach and cave levels feel fresh thanks to Flagship's unique artstyle, as well as their great original themes. I love Kirby's continuity and fanservicey elements, but one of Amazing Mirror's greatest strengths is its decision to not lean into any of that. It's very much its own thing, and I really admire that of it.

But that's all stuff I liked from the start. The reason why Amazing Mirror was one of my least favorite Kirby games was because of its open world structure. If you're not aware of the game, Kirby And The Amazing Mirror takes place in a large interconnected nonlinear world rather than a series of platforming stages like in the rest of the series. It's a really cool concept, and at its best, discovering new rooms and hidden secrets can be really addicting. There's even a multiplayer component that lets you and a bunch of friends link together to go on your own adventures, and even on singleplayer, there are AI Kirbies that will roam around on their own (though the AI is actually really bad, to the point of being absolutely hysterical to watch). It's by no means a perfect execution of the concept, but I really didn't give it the credit it deserved for the stuff it does right. My big problems with Amazing Mirror were three-fold: Certain paths are blocked off behind certain copy abilities which you can lose after a single hit making backtracking for them a chore, you have to go through every door to 100% the game including the two-way ones (as well as open all the chests), and the goal rooms are dead ends made to pad out the game. The latter two complaints, I think, are still valid. If you're diligent, the 100% thing isn't much of an issue but it can still feel frustrating if you miss like a single chest, and being funneled into a goal room if you're not trying to fill out the map can be a bit of a nuisance. However, those are both relative nitpicks that only depend on what kind of playthrough you're going for. The first complaint was easily my biggest, and is also the one that I have absolutely gone back on. I thought that losing your copy ability like that was antithetical to an open-world game, but that showed a fundamental misunderstanding of how Kirby And The Amazing Mirror operates.

Kirby And The Amazing Mirror starts off like your standard Kirby game, funneling you through a fairly linear set of rooms to the game's first boss. There are a few alternate paths you can take, but they're locked behind fairly rare abilities and require a lot of skill to reach. Once you beat the boss, the game completely opens up. You have access to pretty much all of the central hub Rainbow Route, and can really start to tackle things in whichever order you want. The sheer amount of freedom you get is what really makes Amazing Mirror shine, with each new route you discover uncovering at least three more options, and  every world having several entry-and-exit points each of varying difficulties meaning you can pretty much go through the game in any order you want. The wide array of options you have at your disposal makes every playthrough entirely different. If you just want to beat the game normally, you can just go through the worlds in numbered order without much trouble. But if you want a bigger challenge, you could go to World 9 from the very start of the game through ability smuggling, and even beat all the bosses in reverse order. And as you go through the game, you unlock fast travel points that net you free abilities, hearts that increase your health, and maps that show where all the rooms are, making taking those harder paths all the more easier. That aforementioned World 9 exit is even right next to a fast travel spot, so as long as you've unlocked a Missile copy essence, getting there turns from a brutal no-hit run into a cinch. It's like Breath Of The Wild in that aspect. You can pretty much go anywhere you want from the start, but don't expect to be able to make a beeline for Hyrule Castle without getting your ass kicked. And that's ultimately why I didn't like Amazing Mirror at first. I used its open world structure as an excuse to go wherever I wanted, completely oblivious to the fact that I should've probably been getting better at the game before I started going for some of the harder paths.

As a result, I've really changed my tune on Kirby And The Amazing Mirror. It was always a pretty polished game with smooth gameplay, fun bosses, and great presentation, but I've really come to love its open world structure most of all. The sense of freedom and exploration Amazing Mirror offers is enthralling, regardless of if you're playing alone or with friends, and the way it handles its difficulty actually leaves the game open to speedruns, challenge runs, and pretty much any playstyle under the sun. It's still not a perfect game and I stand by wanting a remake or sequel to expand on its structure, but I have been way too harsh on it. At worst, Amazing Mirror is just a few quality of life features away from being truly top-tier.

4/5 Stars

So, since my ranking in the Retrospective hasn't really aged the best, here's a new one. I made a few other small changes, and moving around a few spinoffs, but my biggest change is definitely my new Amazing Mirror placement:

1. Kirby And The Forgotten Land
2. Kirby's Return To Dream Land
3. Kirby Triple Deluxe
4. Kirby's Epic Yarn
5. Kirby Air Ride
6. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards 
7. Kirby Super Star Ultra 
8. Kirby And The Amazing Mirror
9. Kirby Star Allies
10. Kirby's Dream Land 3
11. 3D Classics Kirby's Adventure
12. Kirby And The Rainbow Curse
13. Kirby Planet Robobot
14. Kirby: Nightmare In Dream Land
15. Kirby Canvas Curse
16. Kirby Block Ball
17. Kirby Super Star (SNES original)
18. Kirby Squeak Squad
19. Kirby's Adventure (NES Version)
20. Kirby's Dream Land
21. Kirby Mass Attack
22. Kirby Fighters 2
23. Kirby Tilt And Tumble
24. Kirby's Dream Land 2
25. Kirby's Blowout Blast
26. Kirby Fighters 2
27. Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe
28. Kirby (Super) Star Stacker
29. Kirby Battle Royale
30. Kirby's Dream Course
31. Kirby Fighters Deluxe
32. Kirby Pinball Land
33. Super Kirby Clash
34. Kirby's Avalanche
35. Team Kirby Clash Deluxe

Futari Wa Precure (Series 1)

It's been a few years since I first started watching anime in 2020, and I feel like I've figured out which genres I tend to really vibe with, in particular, slice of life and magical girl shows. I've adored every magical girl anime I saw, from the dark Madoka Magica to the iconic Sailor Moon to the Shonen-esque Kill La Kill to whatever the hell Princess Tutu was, so I thought it's time I delve into one of the most iconic magical girl franchises to date: The Pretty Cure series... and all of its nineteen series. 

Will I be able to make it through what is probably my longest marathon to date? I sure hope so because that mermaid one looks fun as hell. But let's start with the first one, Futari Wa Pretty Cure.

Futari wa Precure is about Nagisa and Honoka, two polar opposite high school students who are both chosen (and by chosen I mean hit in the face with the transformation object) to become magical girls and fight against the forces of the Dark Zone while searching for the Prism Stones. It's honestly not anything super crazy in terms of plot, if you've seen Sailor Moon you'll probably know what to expect, from the group of side villains each with their own arcs to the standalone episodes that conveniently knock side characters out just in time for Nagisa and Honoka to transform without getting found out. Not to say that Futari wa is derivative, though, it does a lot to stand out on its own as a great magical girl anime. For starters, Precure takes place in a city in the early 2000s, which gives it a unique urban flavor. This leads to some pretty creative episodes and settings, like episodes that take place in a museum or aquarium, fights that take place on a train or in a tunnel, or episodes where the Cures try to stop an elevator from falling or get wrapped up in a bank robbery. Futari is also a pretty self-aware anime, frequently making lighthearted jabs at the genre's clichès. It has that Bomberman Jetters vibe where the whole cast, heroes and villains included, makes some really stupid decisions that lead to a ton of hilarious farces and comedic setpieces. Of course, Precure also makes sure to treat itself seriously enough so that the self-awareness never undercuts the moments of genuine triumph and emotion. 

The real highlight of Futari, however, is easily the core dynamic between its two leads, Nagisa and Honoka. It's your pretty standard polar opposites attract deal, with Nagisa being the brash masculine jock and Honoka being the quiet feminine nerd, but it's a trope I'll always be down for, especially when said polar opposites have chemistry this natural. Right from the start, Nagisa and Honoka bounce off each other so well, and watching them form an incredibly strong bond in spite of their differences is incredibly heart-warming to watch. And I'm not even going to try to hide it anymore, the ship potential is off the charts, and that just makes me like them more. It's also funny to think about how the series starts with Nagisa wishing for a boyfriend only to get Honoka. Aside from the main duo, though, the cast is pretty fun. The fairy characters Mipple and Mepple are a bit annoying at first, though the latter's snark fights with Nagisa and both characters' slow but satisfying character development left me liking them a lot in the end. The side villains are super varied and fun to watch, I love how most of Nagisa and Honoka's classmates get a lot of focus and screentime, and Honoka's grandma is like the coolest grandparent I've seen in any anime. The only two characters I really don't like are Pollun, the whiny baby fairy who lacks the development that Mepple had, and Fuji-P, Nagisa's crush, the definition of a forced love interest who only exists so that people think Nagisa is straight. He has no character or depth, his chemistry with Nagisa is nonexistant, and watching her fawn over him becomes a slog very quickly.

Halfway through the season, Nagisa and Honoka manage to flat-out defeat the Dark King, spawning three Dark Seeds that spend the second half trying to resurrect him, completely transforming the season's story. I'll be honest, I don't love this story arc, especially at the start. The villains are really samey and dull, and their unified quirk about being so clueless about humanity so they always come in during important events like a wedding or lacrosse game is more frustrating than interesting. To make things worse, this arc introduces the aforementioned Pollun, who bogged the early episodes of the arc down by repeatedly running away. However, there was still a lot to love from the second half of this season regardless. I liked the decision to have Wisdom get kidnapped as it gave one of my favorite side characters more screentime, the Butler Zakenna gave some much needed comic relief to the otherwise boringly serious villains, Nagisa and Honoka get some of the best bonding moments in the whole show, and the majority of the side characters are as lovable as always. Even when I was frustrated by the main plot, just watching Nagisa and Honoka's class interact was always a fun time. And from episode 37 onward, we got what is easily the best streak of episodes in the series, ranging from hysterical comedy-driven episodes to emotional climaxes to a very satisfying final arc. I felt genuinely sad to see Futari end by the last few episodes, even knowing I'd be getting 17 more seasons of Precure, there was a real sense of finality that rivals shows like Friends and K-On.

On a presentation level, this show is very early 2000s, for better or for worse. Futari has a strong focus on technology, from the urban setting to the fact that Nagisa and Honoka transform by swiping cards on their flip phones which means some of the technology in Futari can feel hilariously dated. Hell, even the flip phone feels like an attempt to cater to the tamagotchi trend of the time. Still, most of the time, as in whenever the show uses 2D animation, Futari looks absolutely beautiful. The linework is sharp, the characters are expressive, and the colors are bold. I especially love the Klonoa-esque Garden Of Light designs, which aside from the fairies themselves are all super creative and fun. However, since this is an early 2000s anime, Toei Animation decided to toss in some CGI every once in a while and it does not look very good (especially the queen, holy crap). Thankfully, this is like once an episode at most so it's never too distracting. What's unambiguously great are the fight scenes though. Unlike in something like Sailor Moon, Precure's fights are hand-to-hand, and they are easily some of the best in the genre. And I'm not even saying this from a "fistfights are cooler than random magic blasts" standpoint. I'm saying this from a "Precure has some of the best fight choreography I've seen in any TV anime to date" standpoint, especially during the big plot-focused episodes. It's also shockingly violent, like the Cures almost die from suffocation in the third episode. As for the music and voice acting, they're pretty good. Nagisa and Honoka's voice actresses sound distinct and, as mentioned above, their chemistry is spot-on. The music is mostly pretty standard peppy fare (though ironically enough I really like Pollun's goofy themes), but it works and the vocal themes are genuinely super catchy. Let's hope the series keeps that up.

Highlights:

Fake Or Real?! An Imposter Pretty Cure On The Loose (episode 14): This is easily one of the funniest episodes of the anime, at the very least of the first half. The concept of two random students announcing that they're Precure is super creative and silly, and I loved that opening where Nagisa and Honoka think someone outed them to the school. The final fight was also pretty great, with the addition of the aforementioned Precure fakers giving it some extra stakes.

A Shocking Date! Kiriya's True Identity (episode 21): Precure sure does know how to pull out all the stops for the really important episodes. Kiriya's True Identity is funny, heartwrenching, and packs some of the best action to date. Being the only antagonist in the first half to consider maybe not being a bad guy, Kiriya is easily the most interesting and sympathetic of the team, which only makes his decision to succumb to his destiny and sacrifice himself all the more gutting. Also Heart To Heart is a banger.

Farewell Mepple And Mipple?! I Don't Like This (episode 26): This is end of the season's first arc and, from what I heard, was originally intended to be the season finale. While I'm glad the season got extended since some of the best episodes are in the second half, this could've really worked as a great ending. Nagisa and Honoka's goodbye to Mepple and Mipple did really get to me even if I knew they were coming back, the final battle with the Evil King is suitably large in scale, and the ending is a nice hook for whatever adventures the duo would have in the future.

First Stage Performance! Don't Lose, Romeo And Juliet (episode 37): I really like episodes that involve Nagisa's classmates so seeing them work together to put on a Romeo And Juliet play made for a really entertaining episode that got to utilize the cast. The sudden genre shift to Romeo and Juliet action movie definitely wasn't expected, but it wasn't unwelcome either.

We Are One! Nagisa And Honoka's Powerful Bond (episode 42): This is apparently the most iconic Futari episode and, yeah, I can absolutely see it. Everything about Episode 42 goes so unnecessarily hard, from the visuals, to the action, to the voice acting. Even if the plot is really just Honoka getting kidnapped and Nagisa trying to save her, the presentation makes it feel like the emotional climax of the series. Because it kinda is, just as the title suggests, it's the ultimate statement of Nagisa and Honoka's bond.

Sing Cherry Blossom Class! The Choir Shows Courage (episode 45): This episode made me sad for some reason. The premise is hysterical, seeing the students try to perform the ED theme to win a chorus competition is super clever and fun to watch. But there's a bittersweet mood to the episode, from the pouring rain to the fact that the ending theme is even used to begin with. More than every before, it feels like the show is coming to an end...

This Is The Worst! Has The Power Of The Stones Been Stolen?! (episode 46): In the course of a single episode, the Seeds Of Darkness managed to completely demolish my expectations of how a magical girl show is supposed to work. Not only did they interrupt a transformation sequence to kidnap Pollun, but it turns out all the time they spent lolly-gagging was so Belzei could take Wisdom's ability. Episode 46 does a good job at setting the stage for the final battle, and seeing Nagisa and Honoka say goodbye to their friends really hits you over the head with the fact that this show is ending (in case the choir episode didn't make it clear enough). And to top it off, it ends with a transformation montage set to Episode 21's Heart To Heart, probably the anime's most hype moment.

Believe In The Future! Believe In Tomorrow! We Won't Let You Say Goodbye! (episode 49): This was a good finale. I liked the decision to set the final battle on Earth instead of in the Dotsuku Zone, the entire graduation sequence was super heartwarming, and Mipple and Mepple leaving once again was a bittersweet way to end off the series. However, it does feel a bit underwhelming compared to their first goodbye. That one had everyone crying and Mepple running after Nagisa calling her name, and this one just had Mepple and Mipple falling asleep. I feel like maybe they should've swapped?

Overall, I really enjoyed Futari Wa Precure. While it suffered from some weak villains, an annoying side character in Pollun, and rough romantic subplots, the strong core relationship between Nagisa and Honoka, lovable school cast, and top-notch action scenes still make this a standout in the magical girl genre. And the last twelve episodes brought it all home for a truly great final stretch.

4/5 Stars