EpsilonX Reviews

Space Dandy (2014)

Space Dandy is awesome

[10/10 · 2 March 2014]

Space Dandy is simply awesome. It manages to stand out by focusing more on being entertaining than anything else. Most anime these days focus each episode on continuing an ever-evolving story that spans the whole series. Space Dandy, however, spends each episode telling a self- contained, stand alone story. The basic premise, which is explained in the pilot episode, is that Space Dandy is searching the universe for new aliens to register and earn a reward. Each following episode just shows the crew's encounters with different aliens and situations. Like I said, there isn't much episode-to-episode continuity, but each episode is meant to be extremely enjoyable, and it succeeds there.

As of this writing, the series still isn't over. If anything drastically changes throughout the course of the series, i'll update this review.

Dragon Ball (1995–2003)

Flawed yet extremely enjoyable.

[10/10 · 20 October 2012]

Just about everybody seemed to love Dragon Ball Z as a kid, but I never saw the appeal. From what I could tell, the show consisted of nothing more than people yelling and then fighting so fast it barely looks like they moved. Plus, I never understood why Krillin had six dots on his head but no nose. As the years went by, I heard a few times that I should watch Dragon Ball, since it's like DBZ but it takes place before and the characters weren't super-powered yet. So one day this summer I randomly decided to watch Dragon Ball from the beginning and see how it actually is.

Turns out the characters still are somewhat super-powered, but this is still a very enjoyable, albeit flawed anime series. The story begins with a child named Goku searching for fish, while a blue-haired girl named Bulma finds him on her search for the Dragon Balls, which if you bring all 7 together, will grant you any wish. Goku is also seen to be extraordinarily strong, lifting Bulma's car on the first episode. With a premise as simple as this, there's a lot of room for different styles of episodes, and the series seems to take advantage of this. Some story arcs in the series will revolve around gathering the Dragon Balls, some revolve around martial arts tournaments, and some just revolve around fighting a variety of villains.

The series starts off as more of a light-hearted action/adventure style show with lots of comedy elements, but eventually evolves into more of a serious, action-based series, and even more so in the sequel series, Dragon Ball Z, which is almost purely about the action. However, Dragon Ball is mostly Goku traveling to different locations, searching for the Dragon Balls, meeting a variety of characters along the way that either aid or hinder his journeys. There are a few martial arts tournaments along the way that provide a nice change of pace.

This leads me to one of the main complaints about the series, the pacing. the Red Ribbon Army saga lasts way too long, and often fights are dragged out over a number of episodes, with the longest battle scene lasting a total of 6 episodes. Unfortunately, this problem becomes much worse in Z, where one attack can last multiple episodes. There are also some instances of filler, although aside from the last few episodes (which feel completely pointless and tacked on), I felt they were a welcome addition, adding for some nice episodic side-adventures in-between some of the longer story arcs, which gives a bit of breathing room.

All in all, this is a great series, with a few problems, though those problems aren't all that much of a problem in the grand scheme of things. This is one of the most entertaining shows i've ever seen. I watched through all 153 episodes and never got bored of the series (though I did get annoyed when a certain villain's part of the story dragged on for too long). This says a lot, considering how quickly I get bored of series from time to time. If you want a fun, adventurous series with a lot of humor and great action, this is a great choice.

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

The best one, along with part 2

[10/10 · 5 July 2007]

first off, i'm not sure if there's spoilers, but I figured i should probably check the box anyways. Wow...this movie actually had me getting nervous at points. The only other horror movies to do that were Halloweens 1 and 2. that being said, jason is at his best here (i've seen 1-6 and jason x, will watch 7 and 8 probably tomorrow (i have the box set)). They actually show him before he goes to kill people instead of just showing his hand and the weapon or whatever. Honestly, that bugged me. but it was executed very well in part 2. every second of this movie was awesome. From the opening with jason's grave, to the ending battle against Jason at the camp, I was glued to the screen. I only looked away once, and that was to shift positions on the couch. The plot was well done for a movie of this style, and as annoying as the cop was, i didn't want him to die, unlike in part 5, which had a superb start but the rest....*fart noise* Tommy, along with Ted from part 4, and the red haired kid and the lead girl from part 2 is one of my favorite characters from the franchise. Many creepy moments in this movie, such as when Jason is watching the girl (megan, is it) walk through the cabin and he follows her, and many action moments, such as when he busts through the door and when he causes the RV to crash. The characters were also extremely likable, from the first few seconds I saw the dude with the ripped jeans and earrings (I don't remember his name) I liked him, and his little speech about the Indians cemented him as my favorite character in the movie...his early death didn't really help much though. And, I couldn't stop laughing through the entire paintball scene with that nerdy looking guy in the hat.

While most of the other Friday films just introduced the character then killed him/her off right away, this film actually took time to develop them (not enough time for some characters, but they did good considering its a Friday film) The fact that there's a Camaro helps too. they are cool cars I recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a good slasher.