Fired on Mars (2023)

Very interesting, but not a comedy

Based on other reviews here I believe this show has fallen victim to poor advertising, or a misunderstanding of what "adult animation" means.

This show is not really a comedy, by most measures anyways, it does contain jokes certainly, but that is not the main focus of the show. The show is more of a sci-fi mystery drama, with light humour scattered throughout, and on viewing it solely by that metric I think it's been quite good so far.

This review is being written after watching the first 4 episodes, which I found to be interesting enough to make me want to keep going and understand more of what's going on.

I will concede it's hard for me to say right now if the show is "good". We are only 4 episodes in as I write this, and shows of this sort often live or die by their endings, but the show is "interesting" for certain, that's really the best word for it.

The show has an eerie lonely tone, aided by the music and backgrounds which fill the show with an uncomfortable vibe... as do the series of errors made by our protagonist.

So, I want to talk about our protagonist Jeff for a bit here. Jeff is a fairly average guy by most measures, but he's very self-absorbed without even realizing it. He enjoys meeting people but only talks about himself, he seems very bad taking an interest in others. He has a surprisingly large ego, but it leads him to be totally crushed by even small setbacks, that leads him to make error after error as he tries desperately to find a place he can click into. It's interesting that despite his self absorption he doesn't seem to desire anything more than a fairly standard life, he wants a family and a nice house, and a job that he'll receive admiration for, but that noticeably doesn't put him at the top of the food chain, he's not a cut-throat gunning for an executive role, he just wants a consistent normal life... something I'm guessing he's never really had before, which has lead to his desperation to achieve this goal.

This is a lot to say about a character who I think many people will cast off as "annoying" or even "one note" if they're not trying to analyze him much. But Jeff seems to be an extremely consistently written character who has a consistent and understandable drive, even if it feels like we're missing some critical details about him. Jeff is, to be fair, an annoying person at times, this is on purpose by the scriptwriters, made clear by much of the cast of the show finding him actively annoying, but I think it works well for the show overall. Still, I can understand how this could be a turnoff to viewers... Jeff simply put it not a great guy, and not everyone wants to watch shows about kind of annoying guys.

Overall, if you went into this show expecting something in the vein of something like Family Guy or most "adult animated comedy" for that matter I do think you will be disappointed, this is a frankly dreary and anxiety inducing show, it is not a lighthearted romp you'd watch with your friends.... But it's a very interesting show, that feels like it has something unique and interesting to say, and I plan on finishing the show to see what that is exactly. I'll likely add an update to this review when I do finish the show.

For now I'm giving this show an 8/10, the show does have a few weird moments and things I didn't enjoy, but overall I think it does very little wrong if you're taking it at face value as a sci-fi mystery drama, it's a solid start.

• - - - - - - - - -

To be maybe a bit petty for a moment I want to add a note, and point to one other review on here, called "It's SUCH an original and fun idea! Right?" that was written when (like my review) only the first 4 episodes were available. This review is horribly misleading as whoever wrote it seems to have fully misunderstood a reveal in a particular episode. The review seems to imply the show has an "it was all a dream" type of moment, or that it becomes stuck in a dreaming format, but this is not true, at least of the time of writing this. I feel like this person got to a particular moment, assumed what was happening incorrectly, and then stopped watching and wrote their review. It is quite baffling because what they are complaining about simply does not happen as they describe it at all. Is it impossible something like that could happen? It's not impossible, but as of now it's not the case and I won't judge the show for an ending they "could do" before it even ends.

That '90s Show (2023)

The show is not amazing, but it's not bad... And it has room to grow!

This show isn't too shabby imo.

As a throwback to an era of sitcoms that isn't really around anymore (can't even think of the last time before this where i sat down to watch a *new* sitcom and it had a laugh track), i think this is fun little show. It is not groundbreaking or genre-reimagining, I mean as a sequel to another show it would be hard pressed to be either of those things...

This isn't to say the show couldn't be better, it definitely could be, i wish there were more episodes and more scenes to give us more development and insight into the cast in particular. The scripts could be tidier, and there aren't a lot of stand out "lough out loud" moments. I enjoyed it less for the jokes, and more for the comfortable and laid back sitcom vibes

But overall nearly all of my issues with the show feel like very "season 1" problems... Many good or, even great, shows don't hit their stride in their first season... and i feel like this is a show that has all the pieces it needs in place to become a better show with time and some care from the staff.

More than anything I really hope this doesn't become yet another netflix show that is cancelled after it's first season due to middling ratings (show's need time to grow and find their fans!)

I see many people saying this needs more from the original cast, but frankly I found a lot of the cameos more odd than anything, it felt okay as a handoff in the first episode, and the central returning characters (like Red and Kitty) are more than fine, but some other cameos just feel weeeeeeeird and shoehorned in, I'd like to see this show break away from "That '70s Show" in the future and become more of it's own show, only using cameos and references when it feels natural and relevant, instead of writing stories designed to lead to a cameo or reference

I can definitely see this show not being for everyone, but i think at face value it's a fun enough show to put on and binge on a day off, and I do hope to see more of it in the future.

Kamen Rider Saber: Trio of Deep Sin (2022)

A Shocking Masterpiece

I think Takuro Fukuda is a writer who gets a bad wrap in the Rider fanbase (serving as head writer on the often panned Kamen Rider Ghost, as well as mixed-reviewed Kamen Rider Saber, despite writing only a handful of episodes of the latter himself). However, this movie is a clear example of Fukuda's ability to write amazing, powerful stories. Then, coupled with the amazing, methodical, and impactful directing of Kazuya Kamihoriuchi, we are gifted a masterpiece.

Trio of Deep Sin is not an entirely original movie, I could point to elements it borrows from other Kamen Rider properties, but it's style and intent are wholly its own. Trio of Sin is a devastating yet beautiful gut punch, that personally left me in tears a number of times, and has become a film that I can't stop thinking about days after watching it

To be frank, I do not want to provide a single specific spoiler in this review, this is an incredible movie, and if you are a fan of Kamen Rider, or just *good movies* this is one you should definitely give a watch!

If you haven't seen the show this film serves as a sequel too, I'd say the film is still watchable, but you may be left scratching your head more than the film intended. If you have no intention of watching the show, but do want to watch this movie, I would highly recommend seeking out a summary of the show first.

Urutoraman Ôbu: Kokoro no Daisôji (2016)

Don't Do Clip Shows

Nobody likes clip shows. Even as a kid I hated clip shows. This show is only 25 episodes long, why did they think this was worth doing? It would have been better to air nothing for a week than to air a clip show. I know behind the scenes circumstances can cause these, but seriously, just delay the show for a week, it would be better than putting this out, I always feel like I have to watch clip shows incase they toss in one important thing, and it's such a nuisance.

In the end this episode was totally skippable.

Clip shows are frankly a slap in the face to the audience. This is a great show generally, a top tier show, and I really recommend it, but this episode sucks, I don't get why anyone makes clip shows anymore, before home media it made sense, people would miss things, and sometimes it was a good idea to fill the audience in... But we live in the internet age, no one needs this, even a little kid could just find a YouTube summary or something if they missed an episode.

Pointless.

Kikai Sentai Zenkaijâ (2021)

Zenkaiger is a show that's Full Power Non-stop!

(NOTE: To avoid as many spoilers as possible all of the specific details in this review, such as character names, are all from the first 7 episodes, with some mild allusions to later events. I don't believe there are any SPECIFIC story or character spoilers in this review that are from past the first 5 episodes)

To get some potential bias out of the way, Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger is the first entry in the Super Sentai series that I have ever watched in its entirety. However, this is not to say it was the first sentai I have tried to watch!

I have been a big fan of Sentai's sibling franchise Kamen Rider since 2013, and have given every Sentai series starting with Ressha Sentai ToQger a chance... But time and time again I would fall off of every Sentai I tried, typically the mech fights for me were the undoing of each series.

This may just be a personal issue, but at least in every Sentai from ToQger to Kirameiger the second a mech fight would start my eyes would glaze over, and I'd begin to dread watching every upcoming episode knowing I'd spend up to 5 minutes of every episode bored out of my mind

Zenkaiger, for me anyways, was entirely different.

Zenkaiger is written by Junko Komura, who's previous two sentai (Doubutsu Sentai Zyuouger and Lupinranger VS Patranger) had been some of the one's that had me the most interested, but the mech fights still ultimately killed my interest in them. But immediately Zenkaiger felt different from every other Sentai I had attempted to watch

Zenkaiger is the story of Goshikida Kaito, a young man who's main interest in life is not only to try new things but to be the first person ever to do as many new things as possible! This is in contrast to him living at home above his family's candy shop "Colourful", with his grandmother Yatsude (affectionately referred to as "Yacchan"), with Kaito never straying too far away.

Kaito's parents were inventors who mysteriously vanished while trying to prove the existence of alternate realities, and Kaito has no interest in leaving home (or leaving Yacchan alone) until his parents return.

But one day Kaito's world suddenly expands when it becomes connected to an alternate reality called Kikaitopia! A world full of machine citizens who are ruled over by a cruel dynasty called the "Tojitendo".

The Tojitendo have sealed away all the other worlds in the multiverse into small gear like items, and are now set on conquering our world!

When the world combines a high number of Kikanoids suddenly appear in the human world, and over the course of a few weeks begin new lives in the human world.

Kaito soon finds his parent's secret lab and finds that they were successful in finding other worlds, and finds that they have left behind devices they created that will allow him and 4 others to transform into heroes using the power of "Sentai Gears" items imbued with the power of heroes from other worlds called "Super Sentai".

Over the first 5 episodes Kaito meets and befriends four Kikanoids (Zyuran, Gaon. Magine, and Vroom) as they all become members of this worlds first ever Super Sentai: Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger! (With the assistance of a robot bird named Secchan of course!) Their goal is to liberate the trapped worlds, and to defeat the Tojitendo!

Despite the high stakes and talks of evil rulers, Zenkaiger is first and foremost a lighthearted, character driven comedy show, with jokes that are so consistently creative and over the top that it's difficult to go an episode without smiling or laughing along, all while the characters are so well written that it's character driven and dramatic moments still manage to deliver a lot of gut-punches and tearjerking moments throughout the show's run.

While I must concede the mech fights are still definitely Zenkaiger's weakest point for me, the creativity, charm, and humour that the entire show oozes are still 100% present during the mech fights! This, plus one wonderful twist that the mechs ARE the Kikanoid members of the party, makes the mech fights in Zenkaiger the most engaging I've seen in a Sentai. The fights are silly, full of jokes, and the mechs themselves are characters delivering commentary and one liners throughout it all!

While the mech fights conceptually are still repetitious and I'd say the show would likely be better with more standard, but varied in set-up, toku fights in their place (for me personally anyways), these are mech fights that don't make my eyes glaze over, that I usually actually enjoy, even if I still wish they were just sort of replaced with something else.

There's so many amazing things to talk about in Zenkaiger but I really don't want to spoil the show for people... I haven't even talked about the villains, the amazing personalities of most of the main cast, or even my favourite character in the entire show, Stacy! A character who wasn't even originally intended to be nearly as major a character in the show, but in hindsight without him the show wouldn't have been even half as good as it ended up being!

Overall, if you watch Zenkaiger you're in for a non-stop funny, charming, heartwarming, and occasionally heartbreaking (in a good way I suppose) ride.

I don't know if I've ever been so sad in my life to see a show end, it felt like losing a group of friends I got to see once a week, and it honestly still sort of stings that the show is gone...

I'm not sure if there will ever be another show quite like Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger. If you are a fan of toku, comedy, or character driven works I can not recommend this series enough, it's an incredibly unique show that I think many people will love just as much as I do

Zenkaiger is a show that'll have a special place in my heart full power non-stop for years to come!

Kamen Raidâ Seibâ (2020)

It's not the best. However....

Kamen Rider Saber follows the life of Touma Kamiyama, a young novelist and bookshop owner as he is drawn into a fantastical battle between warring knights, featuring fairy tale settings, dangerous monsters, and all while and meeting a myriad of characters along the way.

Kamen rider Saber is the second Reiwa Era Kamen Rider series and as such you can feel the show trying to find its identity. If you are familiar with Kamen Rider the first episode feels a bit like W or OOO tonally, but it shifts into a tone that reminds me of Kamen Rider Wizard and Super Sentai (please don't be scared off by that comparison though!)

Right now we are a little early into the show's run (I am writing this just a couple hours after watching the fourth episode), so it is difficult to gauge the overall quality of the show, however currently the show has a lot of potential, but is being held back by odd pacing and an upsetting overuse of stock footage.

The main strength of the show as it stands over the writer's previous contribution to the franchise (Kamen Rider Ghost) is the characters and acting. While the characters are still a bit flat everyone has defined personality traits, and no one feels too similar to anyone else. The actors seem like they are having a lot of fun, and in particular I quite like the actor for Touma.

I am a fan of the suits and fights, but this is obviously down to personal taste so your mileage will vary.

This show has a large focus on CGI, I was initially put off by this, and while I would have preferred more practical effects the CGI has frustrated me a lot less than expected, for some reason it just isn't bothering me as much as in other entries of the series. I've seen other people mirror this sentiment, but again your mileage will certainly vary.

The biggest issue in the show is likely the pacing. The show dedicates around 3 full minutes of its 22 minute run time to its "last time on" sequence, opening theme, ending theme, and "next time on" sequence. The show also uses VERY long stock footage for the transformations (think Super Sentai or Power Rangers roll calls), these happen multiple times an episode and can easily eat up around a minute of the episode. These can be irritating but no more so than in Sentai, if you already know Sentai roll calls bother you I doubt these will be any different. It is worth noting though these will likely be toned down somewhat as the show goes on, we've even already seen them skip two transformation sequences in episode 4 to save time.

The plot pacing in this show can be pretty rough, things just sort of happen, and sometimes things just don't happen... Episode 2 is a good example of this, it feels as though the whole episode is spent on fight scenes yet somehow there is also an overbearing amount of exposition, this makes the pace feel all over the place, feeling overwhelming yet somehow uneventful.

At this point is may sound like I am being quite negative about the show, so it's time for the plot twist... I LOVE this show.

Beyond all reason I have found myself completely enamoured with Kamen Rider Saber, and almost none of its issues really bother me very much. It is hard to pinpoint what it is about the show that has me enjoying it so much, but something about its presentation, writing, and tone are just amazingly enjoyable to me. I can't say for sure if this is simply a matter of personal preference or if there is some inexplicable quality to the show that makes it better than the sum of its parts.

As it stands I would suggest anyone hesitant to watch this show to give it a chance, and not to give up on it too early. The last couple episodes have felt like they are speeding the show towards some form of early plot progressions and I am expecting the show to be a very fun ride.

A 7/10 was the highest rating I thought was reasonable to give this show with it's current flaws, if the show improves or my enjoyment fades I may change this number and provide an update.

TL;DR: Give it a chance, and see what you think. I feel like the rating on this show is going to stay fairly low but please don't let that and my complaints scare you off, this show has problems, but it's fun, and maybe fun is all it is, but there's nothing wrong with indulging in something fun from time to time.

Kamen Raidâ Jiô (2018)

There's some good ideas but...

While this is somewhat subjective, to me this show is about as bad as Kamen Rider can be. There's plenty of creative ideas but the plot is incoherent. And the show (in the form of bonus episodes) actually tells its fans to ignore the plot holes before the fans even have time to complain... To me that is a clear sign that they knew the show was flawed and didn't care to fix it. It is obvious little effort is being put into this production, and they're expecting the cameos to carry the show.

This is the first Kamen Rider series since I began watching weekly in 2013 that I have given up on and stopped watching. Even Ghost was more fun to watch than this in my eyes.

I do intend to revisit this series sometime after it ends, and if it's better than I've given it credit for I may change my review. But for now this show is just a mess in my eyes.

(EDIT: 1/10 felt a bit too mean, upped it to a 4/10 which feels more fair, the visuals, music, etc for this show are good along with the effects and fights, it is not a show with no quality control or redeeming features, so a 1 was too low.)