Dragonball Z ( The Saiyan Saga)

dbz 1   June is here and 2019 is half over. A part of my New Year’s resolution was to bring us more varied reviews. As a kid, I loved cartoons but my childhood friend Violet, like much of what’s brought me to this point, helped me discover something brand new: anime. Blood, tons of fights, flashing lights, and a complex story of complex characters we care about; this was a whole new world for me. It would be much later in later when I’d journey farther into anime ( unsure it was a genre at the time and merely thinking it was just an anomaly) So let’s begin to start the epic saga that is Dragonball Z…

Years after Dragonball ended, Goku defeated Piccolo and the world was safe. He settled down with Chi-chi and had there son Gohan, named after Goku’s grandpa. His old friends are having a get-together at old Master Roshi’s place, so Goku and Gohan set out to meet them. Meanwhile, an alien crash lands on Earth, and searches out Piccolo on accident, mistaking him for someone named “Kakarot”. This alien is a Saiyan named Radditz and he’s looking for his brother- Goku. After kidnapping Gohan, Goku and Piccolo have to team up to face Radditz, just barely beating him but not without a heavy cost. Goku dies and Radditz promises two more Saiyans will  come to earth in search of the mystical Dragonballs in a years time. Goku’s friends: Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Chotzu and Yajarobe train with Kami as Goku had as a child. Piccolo, after seeing the incredible power inside him during the fight against Radditz, takes Gohan for training. Meanwhile Goku journeys  across Snake Way in search of King Kai for training. The time passes and the Saiyans arrive, Vegeta and Nappa, and as promised there powers go far beyond Radditz. With Goku wished back, can the Z fighters last against the terrible duo?

The Saiyan saga is the first season of DBZ and as you’d expect, it’s a bit slower and more adventure based but no less awesome. My favorite character to follow was Piccolo, starting as the villain who begrudgingly helps his enemy out of necessity and develops a heart through helping Gohan. The final fight between Goku and Vegeta will go down as one of anime’s greatest battles but the Radditz and Nappa fights are also pretty badass. The season is a slow burn but it’s a hell of a climax and the characters and adventure are well worth the time. In the end, for new anime fans it’s a must watch. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Letterkenny Season 2

Letterkenny season 2 did nothing to change my mind about this show being weird as hell and making no real sense. Seriously the show is mostly people standing around insulting each other in weird one liners. This may sound insulting or bad, but it isn’t a complaint.

The show is quite honestly mindless fun. It really doesn’t serve much of a point, and each episode is mostly just discussing some random small town event, like ice fishing or the sale of cigarettes from the local natives. The fighting for Wayne from season one is still there as well, which is admittedly also kind of intriguing. It also serves no purpose and mostly isn’t even a plot point, it is just tossed in there for entertainment.

I’m not saying any of this to discourage anyone from watching by the way, in fact I think you should all check it out. I have since moved on to season 3 and I am still having a  good laugh watching. So go, check it out and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Letterkenny Season 1

Every so often a friend will recommend I check out a show, this time a friend said dude check out Letterkenny. So he sent me a YouTube video that was basically just a bunch of female hockey players insulting each other. It was kinda funny tho so I hopped on Hulu and watched season one.

I was left wondering what in the fuck I just watched. There is no real overall story, it simply tells you there are 5000 residents of the town of Letterkenny and these are their problems. The majority off the show is just Wayne, who seems to be the main character, fighting people and just stoically walking around.

The odd thing is despite each episode more or less being independent of the others and it largely being based on one liners of Canadian humor, as the show is a Canadian show that takes place in a fictional town in Ontario, it is really enjoyable. The trailers don’t make it look very good, and they don’t really even explain the show, but give it a few episodes before you decide. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Supernatural Season 14

With Supernatural Ending After Season 15 and me finally catching up and finishing season 14 (Thanks Netflix) I have to say season 14 ended with one of the most exciting endings of them all, Sam, Dean, and Cass surrounded by the dead facing what seems like certain doom. But how we got there was also pretty amazing. We had a lot of ups and downs, we lost loved ones and got to see the return of Papa Winchester, at least briefly.

The real amazing thing here is less than halfway through the season is the loss of Jack, but nobody stays dead. With magic feeding off his soul which will become a huge thing later. We will also see the return of God, which will reveal something many of us have suspected for awhile now, and something our boys have been told for seasons but did not want to see.

I don’t want to spoil it for you, but I was not surprised but I was still a bit pissed about it. Not in a bad way, after all that is what good shows, books and games do. They invoke a response, they get you attached to characters that are real people that do real things and when they do you feel betrayed or happy or whatever just like if your friends had done them. Season 14 does this multiple times, and seeing the end of season 14 it is no surprise the show will end at season 15. While it will end at 15, and there is no way the ending will make a everyone happy, I can say for sure it will go out on top. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

HBO Watchmen teaser

When I heard HBO was rebooting the Watchmen, one of the most important graphic novel stories ever, I was pretty intrigued. While I had no issue with the movie and actually thought it improved some things, I was curious what could be done. The first teaser looks interesting and the dark tone is there. I’m curious if this is meant to be before or after the events of Watchmen, considering the cult of people wearing Rorschach’s mask, I’m leaning towards after. I am curious what they’ll come up with. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Anthony Jeselnik: Fire in the Maternity Ward

For anyone that doesn’t know Anthony Jeselnik:Thoughts and Prayers just a quick heads up, he has a pretty out there and offensive sense of humor, and this latest stand-up is no exception. He covers topics ranging from murder-suicide being the best kind of suicide because as long as you kill your wife or husband it is a victimless crime (his words not mine) to a being a great friend and taking someone for an abortion. Any fan of his, however, would expect nothing less and if you fall into that category you won’t be disappointed. His style of comedy is still as good as it ever was, and it may even be better than his first Netflix Special. This one is worth checking out, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

girl dragon tattoo

I remember hearing about these series of books just as I got into reading in my late teens, mainly because of the disturbing nature of there subject matters. Going into them, I was excited as hell to read them, especially considering the David Fincher movie was right around the corner then. The question is, did it live up to the hype?

Mikael Blomkvist was a well off journalist, publisher, and co owner of a popular magazine until a lawsuit turned his life to shit and nearly destroyed his career overnight. With his career in jeopardy, he figures he has nothing left to lose when he’s summoned to a private meeting with Henrik Vanger, a millionaire with a task for Blomkvist: discover what happened to Harriet Vanger and in return he’ll get the evidence to win his suit and save his career. In this he isn’t alone, crossing paths with anti-social, strange hacker and researcher Lisabeth Salander, who’s dealing with her dark past and present. Can these two solve the dark mystery of what happened to Harriet Vanger?

Before I begin, I only read the first book and haven’t seen any of the movies so my familiarity with the series ends here. The book was pretty fascinating with two interesting lead characters and a lot of twisting back stories in the Vanger family. Salander keeps you’re attention because the first few chapters are slow. On the whole, the mystery is good and there is some really dark shit in it; the ending I feel was disappointing. Also I have to note something that was a bit disorienting. Like Let the Right One In it was translated into English from native Swedish and the sentence structures and wording feels odd and takes getting used to. In the end, I found it to be a solid book worth checking out if you like mysteries or dark thrillers. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Smallville Season 6

Smallville Season 6 is kind of insane honestly. From the start when Clark is stuck in the Phantom Zone until the very end when Lana leaves Lex there is just a ton going on, and in between, we have Clark attempting to stop all the things he unleashed from the Phantom Zone when he escaped. There are a few things I dislike tho.

The first example would be the entire story arc with Zod ends far too quickly. Zod has always been one of Supermans greatest enemies and is also one of his oldest, yet in a few short episodes, we end the whole thing with Zod and move on. This to me was a huge missed opportunity, and while the season was great and entertaining there was no need to rush through Zod.

The set of for season 7 was even worse, not because it wasn’t awesome which it was, but because it sets up Bizarro Superman. How do we start with Zod and end with Bizzaro in one season when each of these could easily have been a season each.

That all aside it was rather nice seeing Green Arrow make his appearance and it is always fun to see Aquaman along with the other heroes that have shown up in the show. All in all, I enjoyed the season but you can see where the yare rushing through some things. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lucifer Season 3

Lucifer season 3 is a bit odd. The ending is on a major cliffhanger, then the show got canceled, we got 2 bonus episodes, then the show got renewed for season 4 by Netflix after a massive save Lucifer campaign.

That being said this season is three things, the longest, the best, and oddest. The oddest because of those bonus episodes. We get a great season, with love and loss, realizations and friendships born and lost and the best ending to any season yet. Then the stand-alone episodes kick in and honestly ruin the ending. They aren’t bad episodes by any means, just after the ending we got they just feel like a tease. The season itself, however, is insanely exciting.

The season itself largely follows Lucifers attempt to discover the Sinnerman an eventually help Cain die, yes Cain as in Cain and Abel. The side of all this is Amenedeil trying to get his wings back, Maze continuing her bounty hunting and Chloe doing the usual. really it is a busy season. This season truly was my favorite despite the bonus episodes kind of ruining the flow. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lucifer Season One

With Lucifer on Netflix, I decided it was time to revisit one of my favorite shows on television. I have a few times visited the difference between Lucifer: Comic Compared to Show and even did a Lucifer 1-3 Impressions but I never really look at each one individually. So this is season one.

The show starts with Lucifer (Tom Ellis) being pulled over by a police officer. This is where we discover that Lucifer Morningstar has the uncanny ability to get people to confess their deepest desires. He uses this to get out of his ticket.

Throughout this season Lucifer will make friends with Chloe Decker (Lauren German) and even manages to get himself onto the police force as her partner, as a sort of civilian consultant. This leads to all sorts of interesting cases where he helps solve murders, as well as him smoking pot at a crime scene which is rather humorous.

The show itself is well written and entertaining, possibly one of the best on television, tho I suppose now it is accurate to say it is one of the best-written shows on Netflix. It is however vastly different from the comics. Weirdly the show also drew harsh criticisms from the group One Million Moms that tried to get the show canceled before it ever aired claiming it was dangerous for it to even exist, tho thankfully that failed miserably. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.