Toon Talks

  Overview If you have not read last week's review of Season 1 of Hit Monkey, I'd recommend you go do that. In terms of what's new for this Season, Hit Monkey has started a new career in America after the finale of Season 1 requires for him to leave Japan.  What's Changed For this review I will simply give my impressions of this Season compared to Season 1 instead of another character analysis. I will admit that the action, to me, has improved. I cannot quite put my finger on it, whether that was the animation improving or it simply growing on me, but the action scenes seem a whole lot cooler to me now. I also will say that the comedic moments, compared to Season 1, hit less often and less frequently. The overall story is also a bit less compelling than Season 1. I've found myself having to force myself to finish episodes. This is something I did not need to do in Season 1. I enjoy the new cast, however. They are fun characters and have different ways to get your at...

  Overview This is a show that I had zero clue existed, honestly. Background on how I ran into it, my girlfriend and I were scrolling through shows to watch (which is typically how I end up choosing a show to review) and ran into Hit Monkey. Funnily enough, though I have not heard about the show, I already heard about the character through talks of him joining Marvel Rivals. Hit Monkey begins when a hitman is nursed back to help in Japan by a troop of monkeys. This hitman is being tracked down by criminals and when they finally catch up to him, they kill not only him, but the troop as well. Little do these criminals know, one of the monkeys has been learning about the art of killing from the hitman. Now this monkey is coming for revenge. It's a crazy premise, I know. A Monkey, or a Hitman? Honestly, normally a theme comes a bit naturally to me when it comes to these stories, but for Hit Monkey it was a bit different. Though his ghost companion is a bit easier to read, I wanted for ...

  A long break The One Piece anime has been on hiatus since October, this is due to two main factors. One being the anime quickly approaching the manga, which affects things such as pacing and "filler" episodes. In Anime, the shows are typically based off of their comic counterparts which normally have chapters released weekly. Most anime have weekly episodes released and cover more than one chapter's worth of content. This is not a problem for seasonal anime, which have several month-year gaps between seasons that allow for the manga to get significantly ahead of the anime. One Piece, however, is not a seasonal anime and traditionally airs a new episode every week. This makes for the pacing to get a little bad in order for the manga to stay ahead. Once the anime gets close, they historically begin making episodes cover one chapter's worth or even a little less. This makes for dragged out episodes as one chapter is not a lot of content to put into one episode. This br...

  AI Is Taking Over If you've been on the internet at all over the past 5 years, you'd notice the increase of AI in all sorts of forms. From search engines to picture editing, AI has made itself a valuable tool to many everyday people as well as creators. The kid sitting across from you in class and even Disney have both used AI in their work at some point, and the internet is full of AI personalities and bots. AI is now something that you cannot avoid and has proven itself a valuable tool to many. The question arises then, does it belong in animation as well? Ethical Concerns Many artists do not like AI, and this is for good reason. AI art does not just appear from nothing, those machines are not creative. They get inputs and mimic those. The ethical concerns around it is the fact that AI takes real people's work and makes something from it without their consent for less money and quicker. Ultimately, it costs many artists potential money and steals their work. Many artist...

 Overview Transformers One is the origin story of the Transformers' story that many know and love. I finally got to watch it on Netflix when I had some free time. With the fate of their world on the line, a few low class miners on the planet Cybertron set out to find an eternal source of energy for their planet. It proves to not be easy when they learn that there are forces out of their control at play as well. Growing Pains (SPOILERS!!) In this movie, you watch as Optimus Prime and Megatron grow apart throughout their journeys. They begin as close friends and run into more and more conflict as Optimus grows into a leader of hope and Megatron grows into a ruler of power. Both of them are in the direct way of the other becoming the person that they want to be. Megatron for the worse, and Optimus for the better. Ironically, right at the climax you see Megatron quite literally "let go" of Optimus, letting him die in order to become Megatron. It is after this that Optimus Pri...

  Overview If you have not watched Seasons 1 & 2 of Invincible, go catch up then come back here! If you're insistent on not doing that, though, there is a Season 1 & 2 review on this page as well, tune in to that to learn more about the plot. I'm not going over it again lol. This season threw me for a loop, however. I watched Season 3 with my girlfriend as I did with Season 1 & 2 and I must say that this time it feels like we're getting to the meat and potatoes of this story. This is the real Invincible, everything before was just a warmup. We had to pause through the episodes so much just to process what it was that we've seen, or just vent about how whatever character just made us mad. This season had a lot to unpack, but I love where the story is heading. Human or Hero cont. I'm sorry if you were expecting a different little rant, but I love Mark's progression through the Human vs Hero conflict that I had discussed in my Season 1 & 2 review an...