Jujutsu Kaisen S01E09-11

After the honestly rather hectic information dump of the last couple of episodes, I did feel like the Mahito arc reduces things into a much more... digestible size? It feels a bit more mundane compared to the more rapid-fire pacing of the Demon Womb arc. And the rapid-fire pacing makes it great to see an anime that doesn't dawdle, but I really also do like that this one does give us a lot of time for Yuji, Nanami, Mahito and Junpei to really stand out and develop a bit more slowly. 

Also apparently last year there was some drama with the second season of this anime? I really wasn't aware personally, but then I wasn't looking at news sites too hard.

Episode 9:

• 
  So it is kind of interesting to talk about Yoshino Junpei. After the rapid-fire introduction of characters in the past couple of episodes, the pacing takes a gigantic slow-down to introduce Junpei's life. It really did make me think that Junpei's going to be a major member of the cast. 
• And there's a lot of conversation both in this episode and the next about... how twisted Junpei's worldview is. It's caused by bullying and the circumstances around him, and we get to see the bullying first-hand and it's pretty cruel and really highlights why Junpei was so receptive to Mahito's words. 
• The 'button' speech really exemplifies Junpei's POV, huh? He would press a button that would kill 'everyone who hates [him] without hesitation'. Which leads to one of his first words when he catches up to Mahito being 'how can I do what you do?'
• Heh, 'Human Earthworm 3'.
• We also get the debut of one of the fandom's favourite characters, Nanami Kento. He's the exact opposite of Gojo, being extremely non-goofy (not intentionally goofy, anyway) and professional... but also not actually cruel or mean-spirited. 
• Of course, he is irritated at Gojo, as exemplified by the oft-meme'd panel of him imagining a cartoonish Gojo running through the flowerbeds, but it doesn't mean that Nanami hates Gojo. It's just like someone that's kind of... incompatible. 
• Nanami's title is apparently the 'ex-salaryman sorcerer'. He spent time as a sorcerer, and he spent time as a salaryman, and he found both lives to be miserable. At that point, why not be miserable in something he excels in? 
• Nanami doesn't want to be funny, but by god, he is the master of unintentional stoic humour. Particularly the brick joke about 'moderate effort will suffice' and later on 'time to go all out!'
• I also really appreciate Nanami's worldview. Just because Yuji has survived a couple of life-and-death situations doesn't mean he's suddenly an adult.
• ...apparently, being an adult is to weather hundreds of tiny losses (like the bread you like being removed from a convenience store... a very understandable piss-off moment!) that just sounds a bit real as we grow a bit older. 
• Also, it's great that Nanami instantly has such a kooky yet likable personality, while also making it believable that he'll fall to the Anime Mentor Syndrome(tm) in Gojo Satoru's stead. 
• Action scene! Two creatures that resemble Curses, but are actually the work of Mahito's cursework. What intentionally looked like just disposable lesser curses for Nanami to make into a teaching moment (tm) turns out to be something rather horrific. 
• It's a bit Hunter x Hunter-esque, but Nanami notes that his announcement of his abilities creates a 'pact' that causes his powers to be more effective in battle. I don't actually remember if this will come into play in the future, but it sure does allow some justification for the Bleach-esque power infodump in this show!
  
• Okay, Yuji channeling cursed energy into his fists and double-punching enemies is pretty cool. The description of a 'time lag' and a two-impact blow really does fit into this anime studio's animation style, too, particularly with how much they love the 'impact causes an explosion behind the enemy' deal. 
• Keitei Ken! Divergent Fist!
• Nanami's power allows him to deal immense damage even with a wrapped-up dull blade when he strikes someone at the right intersection of a 7:3 ratio. Something that sounds nonsensical when I type it out, but both the anime and manga make a great show of visualizing these rulers next to where Nanami cuts. 
• And yes, the mutated humans are no longer sentient and the other sorcerers emphasize that they've basically already died during transformation... but Yuji himself doesn't really care for the explanation and is pissed, and Nanami joins him in also being pissed about it. Maximum effort!
• This episode closes with Mahito delivering an exposition about how these specific curses appear -- collective fears of mankind. Not just towards powerful yokai or legends, but towards natural disasters, all but confirming that Jogo is the fear of volcanoes, Hanami is of the forest and Dagon is of the ocean. Hanami himself? Is humanity's fear towards other humans, which is such an interesting concept that you'd think would be saved for a villain much later in the story, but he's basically the second or third one, depending on whether we're counting Sukuna. 
• This episode ends -- and the next one starts -- with Yuji and Ijichi investigating Junpei, having realized he's probably involved thanks to the cameras nearby. 

Episode 10:

• Again, we get a rather extended scene of Junpei's bullying. The previous episode focused specifically on the three guys that get killed in the cinema, who bullied him in the schoolyard, whereas this one has him bullied out of a horror-movie-discussion-club -- this bully would actually show up in later episodes, which I thought was a nice touch. 
• I'm not sure which franchise that the author is criticizing with how "it's less of a horror franchise and more of a sitcom serial", because I don't really get caught up with horror movies. It sounds so specific that it probably is based on a real franchise!
• There's a discussion on semantics (as Mahito himself points out) about the Japanese phrase "the opposite of love is indifference", which actually does sound pretty profound. Again, it really does highlight just how much hatred Junpei has within him, and how he probably wouldn't have ended up like this if people just left him alone. 
• Mahito explains his abilities at two points in this episode -- first when he exposits about his experiments of making people huge or small with Junpei, and later on while he gloats to Nanami in the sewer fight. 
• Mahito basically is able to 'touch' the core, the soul, of a person, and then mould them as he pleases. 
• It really does imply that there's a fair bit of time from Mahito's meeting with Junpei after the theater incident, since we've had multiple conversations between the two, whereas Yuji and Nanami's timeline seems pretty instantaneous from the investigation, to the fight in episode 9, and this operation here... but it ultimately works out, I think. It just felt a bit jarring seeing things out of chronological order, is all. 
• I do like that Ijichi gets a bit more of a role to play in this episode as a more senior member that's just really trying to do his job, but he kinda shares the same competence level as one-brain-cell Itadori Yuji. Their plan to sic the 'Fly Head' cursed spirit on Junpei is actually very well thought-out, in trying to gauge how Junpei is (while giving Yuji an 'in' to befriend Junpei and investigate someone who may or may not be just an innocent person), and of course they cock it up the first chance they get. 
  
• The episode goes back and forth between Nanami and Yuji, but for the Yuji part, I do like that he witnesses Junpei talking to one of his teachers... who is worse than the bullies because he's an adult in a position of authority who ignores the bullying. And we get to see Junpei's internal ranting, which... yeah, you really get the feeling that his frustrations and anger is about to reach a climax and he's about to do something, before Yuji defuses everything with a helpful dumb-shonen-protagonist trick of pulling down the teacher's pants. 
• Mahito faces off against Nanami in the sewer, and I do like how just so cocksure the two of them are. Mahito is overjoyed to have a strong sorcerer to be part of his experiments, while Nanami delivers the eternally badass line of "I hate working overtime".
  
• I also like one of the reasons that causes Nanami to fight a bit harder is the realization that Gojo and Mahito are also the type of super-strong-but-super-carefree kind of personality that he isn't in the mood to entertain.
• Idle Transfiguration, Mu'i Tenpen, is such a... relaxed-sounding name for such a body-horror ability, isn't it? 
• The fight, as usual, is pretty well-animated, with specific attention given to the explosive speed done by Mahito when he's bouncing around and fast motion done by Nanami. I really can't highlight just how much the animation fluidity really does help to make the fight scene feel so much more heavy!
• And then Nanami reaches overtime, and goes full-up Super Saiyan, which is where this episode cliffhangs. 

Episode 11:

• 
  And this episode kind of wraps up Junpei's "fall" to the dark side, with the three episodes doing basically the bare minimum of good pacing highlighting Junpei's terrible life that affects his backstory; his corruption by an evil mentor; and ultimately his friendship with Yuji. It feels like the absolute bare minimum that you need to spend time with a character not to call it 'rushed', I feel.
• Anyway, the fight between Mahito and Nanami kind of ends after a brief showcase of Overtime, and Ratio Technique: Collapse. Very cool usage of the explosive attack that Nanami does, and I do think that it's a very cool sequence of showcasing how badass the villain and the more experienced mentor without having either them die. 
• Again, very heavy Hunter x Hunter vibes with how Nanami gets a power up because of a 'time pact'. I wonder how this works, because I don't really remember if they explained this? We've seen a literal pact between Sukuna and Yuji, yes, but Sukuna's got a consciousness and everything. 
• Poor Ijichi just gets kind of written out of the story as he goes off to catch another Flyhead, allowing Yuji and Junpei to have some one-on-one characterization. He later panics when Nanami realizes over the phone that he and Yuji are separated.
• Not all shonen protagonists are able to really display it well, but Yuji's "dumb earnestness" energy really does shine in-between him just deciding to 'fuck it' and try and be buddies with Junpei, eventually leading to a very brief moment where he considers if his nihilistic worldview is wrong. 
• Geto also goes around doing enigmatic stuff, though the story's pretty clear that he's just observing while the arc revolves around Mahito. 
• I do really like Nanami's observation that Mahito is still in the excitement of rapid growth, which is why he's so cocksure and dangerous, as compared to the more experienced volcanic cursed spirit Jogo. It definitely would make sense that the fear of natural disasters would be felt much, much older compared to the fear of other humans. 
• And then a good chunk of the middle part of the episode involves Junpei's crass but extremely likable mother, Yoshino Nagi, who... she's cool! They do a lot to make her instantly quirky while not doing an over-the-top job about it, but I do like that between Nagi's "bad" parenting of realizing that school's not the perfect fit for Junpei, or Junpei yelling at his mom to stop smoking, and the two of them just... hanging out with a new guest? I really do like the energy between them.
  
• And it's after this fun ice-breaker moment with Mama Nagi that Junpei actually feels like he's got a real friend to talk to, one that isn't a psychotic demon that goes 'yeah, fuck humanity, kill them all'. Yuji doesn't even parrot some condescending bullshit onto Junpei, but gives perhaps one of the better description of "I don't want to lose sight of what a life is, because once I murder, that's it" compared to the lip service that many other manga or comic book heroes do. 
• ...and then of course Nagi gets brutally murdered by the random curse that manifests in their home. 
  
• I feel like the anime/manga does this far more effectively by not showing the gore. We just do a massive, jarring flash-cut from the happy civilian fun times with Nagi and Junpei being wholesome, to a brief shot of Nagi being stalked by the curse, to the very clinical and brutal explanation of the state that Nagi's body is found in.
• The missing half of her body and the organs and whatnot are creepy enough, but the ice bags? Who and why put it there? Was it the curse? And why did it put the ice bags there?
• And then we get the absolutely obvious 'this guy is a creepy manipulator' moment as Mahito is clearly preying and giving Junpei incomplete information, but you could see just how utterly broken Junpei is -- and right after he has a potential epiphany about how not all humans are bad. This is honestly one of the best 'corrupted youth' stories I've read in a while. 
• This leads to Junpei's "Darth Vader" moment, basically, and I didn't catch until watching it in the anime that he wears his mom's jacket. 
• The bully and the teacher from episode 10 are in an award ceremony in an auditorium, and both Mahito and Geto observe as they summon a giant magic curtain-dome over it. Junpei shows up with brand-new curse powers and starts brutalizing the bully, Shota. And it is really obvious that Shota's just some punk-ass that isn't involved in any of this cursed spirit bullshit, but Junpei's so driven by a combination of grief, anger, hatred and Mahito's egging that he doesn't care anymore. 
• Which leads to him facing off against Yuji, and summoning his jellyfish Stand -- I mean, his jellyfish shikigami. Pretty great stuff all around. 
• Now before we close this review off, I do admit that I really would've wished that this supreme development that was given to Junpei was given to one of the actual secondary characters... but oh well! As long as the story is good!

Reviewing Monsters: Palworld, Part 2

Part 2 of my coverage of the monsters of the Pokemon-parody/first-person shooter game Palworld!

To those that are uninitiated, Palworld was released early in 2024 as a combination of a Pokemon-style creature collection with a bunch of resource management, first-person shooter and RPG elements. It also relies a fair bit on a fair amount of deconstruction and black comedy of the whole Pokemon monster-training genre... and it's been an extremely controversial game with loads of vitriol from supporters and detractors alike. 

I think I've said enough about the controversies surrounding the game itself, but I talked a fair bit about the first 35 monsters in the game. I do intend on finishing my coverage of all the monsters in the game, so let's go with another 30-or-so!

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#036: Melpaca

• Pompous Shanks
• Type: Neutral

We have a pink alpaca. And... it sure is an alpaca! You can go around and ride Pals in this game, and Melpaca is one of the many, many different mounts that you can ride. Alpacas are one of those animals that are inherently funny, and having one that's coloured with pink and blue highlights is cute enough to differentiate it from the real-life animal. I otherwise feel that they really could've done more than "it's an alpaca, it's coloured funny, I guess it can kick". 

#037: Eikthyrdeer

• Protector Deer | Antlers of Gold
• Type: Neutral (normal) | Ground (terra)

Eikthyrdeer here is another Pal that's obviously here just to be another mount, though Eikthyrdeer looks visually impressive. I don't particularly care for the 'Terra' version with the rather boring gold-and-white colouration, but the regular one with purples and blue-tipped horns actually looks quite impressive. There's not much to say other than it being a big, impressive monster deer, however -- the PalDeck just notes something about 'the ones with the biggest horns lead the herd' which feels a bit too much like real deer instead of a deer monster. 

#038: Nitewing

• Wings of the Firmament
• Type: Neutral

People compare this a lot as a 'legally distinct Staraptor', or 'Staraptor crossed with Braviary'. I've tried to keep comparisons to Pokemon a minimum unless it's an obvious inspiration, and I think for Nitewing here the critics have a point? It's not that hard to make a big, angry bird of prey look distinct -- Pokemon does it literally every generation -- but Nitewing has the same angry expression and colours as Staraptor, with the major differences being a larger tail and a trip to the salon. Nitewing is likely to be the very first airborne mount you find, and while it does have a strong 'dark, emo' bird look to it, it's not the only big bird we have. 

I do really like the morbid description, though. Nitewing carries newborn Pals to its nest and acts as a surrogate parent to them... but it's all just to fatten them up so Nitewing can hunt them down. That's fucked up!

#039: Ribbuny

• Heart-Melting Smile
• Type: Neutral

A rather simple 'pink animal cartoon mascot' monster design, you wouldn't find Ribbuny out of place as a background character in like a Hello Kitty ripoff or something. Apparently, if its 'tentacles' (which really does remind me of Sylveon) gets caught up, its expression changes to something demonic. In-game, I think this is supposed to be represented by how Ribbuny are normally skittish and will run away from the player, but attack one and all the Ribbuny becomes instantly aggressive to the player. It's a nice touch that I actually think does help to make these Pals feel a bit more interesting. 

#040: Incineram

• Hyena of the Wild | Hyena of the Darkest Night
• Type: Fire/Dark (normal) | Dark (Noct)

This feels like something that every Pokemon-ripoff game tries to put in, a humanoid 'devil'. Pokemon never really does that, with the closest we've gotten being just the hellhound that is Houndoom, and the more goblin-inspired Grimmsnarl. Incineram here is a demonic goat-hyena creature that kidnaps Pals at night, with the PalDeck noting that 'what happens to those poor souls afterwards isn't too hard to imagine'. It's pretty neat for what it is, and I do like the detail of the ribcage bones around its chest.

Incineram Noct, a pure-Dark version, has features and colours that is inspired by Eikthyrdeer up above, which I thought is a really nice touch. Deer actually do look and feel rather sinister, and this demonic satyr-monster being based on deer is a nice little touch! A lot of the variants feel like just palette swaps to bulk up the monster variation, but Incineram here actually feels like there's some effort put in.

#041: Cinnamoth

• Butterfly Promenade
• Type: Grass

It's a moth-creature, but instead of just being a month, the main body is some kind of bunny-fairy  cutesy monster. While I like the antennae-eyebrow-ears being the same colours as the wings, the main body does leave something to be desired, I feel. Even if they wanted to make it pixie-like, this feels like the bare minimum of what you'd do to make a moth fairy. 

I do really find the description rather funny and fits Palworld's deconstructive themes, where Cinnamoth's scales, instead of causing poisoning or paralysis... is actually a fucking drug that gets you high as heck, and there has been arguments between various human associations on whether to market the Cinnamoth or if it's inhumane. Neat. 

#042: Arsox

• Blazing Brute
• Type: Fire

I honestly find that I don't have a whole ton to say to a lot of the 'mount' Pals. It's nice, I guess, to have some different options. Arsox here is a mountain ox that's fire-type, so it's on fire... and... uh... it sure is a fire ox.

Arsox does have a giggle-worthy Paldeck entry: "In ancient times, carnivorous Pals pursued them relentlessly. The Arsox's irrational rage transformed into a raging inferno, which has been passed on to this day." I find that cute. 

#043: Dumud

• Perpetual Procastinator
• Type: Ground

Okay, something a bit more interesting! I've seen poeple handwave this as a Mudkip or Slowpoke ripoff, but I feel like there's enough thought put into Dumud here that it's actually distinct as a mudskipper-based monster that's super-dumb and has a duhhhhhh expression. It's not something unique to Pokemon, and I actually find this one to look quite funny. Dumud's just a slow, silly Pal, and just like Slowpoke, its reaction time is so... dang... slow... that apparently even if it's sliced in half, it wouldn't realize it's dead until the next day. 

...though, yes, that dorsal fin does look like it's lifted directly from Inteleon. It's also kind of out of place, I feel, in Dumud's design, which makes it stand out even more. 

#044: Cawgnito

• Shadowcloaked Schemer
• Type: Dark

Okay, you're cool. Not the most original monster design, no. Combining crows with plague doctor masks is something that I've seen show up a lot, but Cawgnito looks stylish enough. I think it's the fact that he's got wings that fold up like a creepy gothic cloak at rest. I think the only part of him that obviously is an unnatural accessory is the gem necklace, whereas everything else has that Pokemon-esque feel of being part of the anatomy that just happens to resemble cloaks and witch-hats?

A rather 'obvious' design, but one that I kinda like. Interestingly, apparently Cawgnito used to fly in the skies until a heavy rivalry with the Galewing species forced them to roam the ground. 

#045: Leezpunk

• Self-Proclaimed Genius | Self-Proclaimed Fashionista
• Type: Dark (normal) | Fire (ignis)

...speaking of monster designs with anatomy that's obviously accessories... 

Leezpunk is a design that conceptually is very much based on Scraggy and Scrafty -- a bipedal lizard punk that uses its shed skin as an accessory. They go for more of a 'cool' look by having the shed skin actually look like straight-up hoodies instead of resembling 'shed skin being used as a hoodie' that Scrafty have. It looks visually nicer on Leezpunk, but it also feels a fair bit more unnatural? Maybe I'm nitpicking. 

I do like the punk-ish colours, which admittedly has some Toxtricity vibes, but I like the splash of character that their poses have. They always like to maintain a stylish stance, being obssessed with posing. There are two variants, the normal-one being Dark-type and the red one being fire-type. The tail-spines still being yellow on the Ignis while the 'mohawk' (which is part of the hoodie) being differently coloured seems to imply that the change of type is literally only caused by the hoodie, which I thought was neat. 

#046: Loupmoon

• Enraptured by Moonlight
• Type: Dark

Another 'humanoid devil' type of monster, Loupmoon skews a bit more towards Digimon, yeah? I could see this being an Adult-level version of Impmon or something. I tend to not get the most impressed with these kinds of edgy, spiky humanoid monsters, and I don't really care for Loupmoon all that much (especially when Incineram up above is a fair bit more menacing). I also don't really like the bizarre horn that turns into a huge crescent moon, though I do like the variation on being 'weak to the sun', but rather it's allergic to the sun. It won't burn Loupmoon into ashes like a vampire, but it'll make its moon-shaped horn itch like hell. 

#047: Galeclaw

• Proud Courie
• Type: Neutral

It's the Galeclaw that was mentioned a bit before on Cawgnito's description. It sure is a stylized eagle with some nice colours, and, uh... it sure is a bird. Again, I do find the description quite funny. It can fly while holding a human, but it's also prone of letting go when tired, and Galeclaws do this to enoguh trainers that it's the most notable thing about them. 

#048: Robinquill

• Archer of the Forest | Archer of the Sands
• Type: Grass (normal) | Ground (terra)

Yyyyyyeah, this is basically lawyer-friendly Decidueye, isn't it? They did a rather spectacular work at trying to make Robinquil here still feel like Decidueye while also being legally distinct, but that honestly just seems to involve removing every 'owl' aspect of Decidueye while keeping the general silhouette and colours, and also glue on Blaziken's leg-fur onto it. 

While there is enough divergence between 'monster bird' or 'monster wolf' or 'plant lady' that some of the Pokemon being compared to the likes of Staraptor and Lycanroc and Lilligant could be handwaved to just taking common fantasy monster tropes, Robinquill here is way too similar to be anything but a homage. Or a ripoff, if you're feeling less kind. The colours, the archer theme... heck, even having a 'cape' section coloured brown... it also has bows (real, physical bows that it pulls out of nowhere). And... I don't know. I just have such a strong negative reaction to this whole design, especially the 'central' humanoid body. Eh. 

#049: Gorirat

• Jungle Punk
• Type: Neutral

Okay, we're going to some more beastly animal-based monsters. I don't really see too much 'ratty' coming off from this design, unless it's meant to be its face? Gorirat here looks like a rather all right 'hybrid of real-world animals' monster, thoguh at the same time its face looks a bit too much like a Sonic character that it's kind of funny. I don't mind this one. It's simple and neat. Apparently it communicates by sending shockwaves through the ground with its fists.

#050: Beegarde

• Guardian Commander
• Type: Grass

Okay, a lady bee fairy? Neat concept, and an okay design for a fairy! Certainly a lot more memorable than Cinnamoth up above. Again, evolutions are not a thing in this game, so ignore the fact that the entire Beegarde species apparently exists to serve their queen (who's the next one on the dex), and that they are found in the same location and the Beegarde act as sub-boss mobs to the queen, and their design are exactly the same. 

#051: Elizabee

• Empress of the Hive
• Type: Grass

Yeah, right down to having almost the same head design, Elizabee is the queen of the Beegardes, but with a much more regal abdomen-skirt and larger, more angular wings. Both of their Paldeck entries note how the Beegardes are devoted into working for Elizabee, and that there is a 'never ending stream of servants willing to work themselves to the death' to serve Elizabee. But is Elizabee herself a good queen? Is she a tyrant, or is she a nurturing hive-mother? 

Neat, though I honestly wished that they went a bit further with the 'queen bee' theme. 

#052: Grintale

• Marshmallow Body
• Type: Neutral

We're 'homaging' Ghibli studios or Alice in Wonderland or something, with Grintale being a rather archetypical Cheshire Cat with a spiky-toothed grin, scraggly fur and... I actually like Grintale! Its eyes will actually straight-up light up like flashlights, and the splitting tail suggests that Grintale is based on a nekomata. Another fun thing about this creature is that you can ride him and walk around, which is much more fun than all the ungulate options we've seen so far. I like this one. 

#053: Swee

• Curious Floof
• Type: Ice

It's a living mop. It just mops around with its lower body being a mass of fur. Simple design, love the dot eyes and the set of cat/dog ears, and it just functions like a mop since it crawls around and eats microscopic organic matter, and would later shit out whatever gives it no nutrition. It's ice-type for some reason, though.

#054: Sweepa

• Majesty of Fuzz
• Type: Ice

And also no connection and no evolution with the smaller Swee is the big boy Sweepa. Who is bigger, with an adorable cartoon-animal jowls. It's actually large enough to be ridden, another far superior choice to ride around than a boring deer or wolf. You can ride around in a large floofy ball of floofy floofness. 

The game doesn't actually incorporate this and just spawns Sweepa escorted by a bunch of Swee, just like any video game monster, but apparently Sweepa can hide up to 101 Swees inside its hair. Cute!

#055: Chillet

• Dancer on the Plains
• Type: Ice/Dragon

Oh, this one is kinda cute. It's like a ferret or something, but it's icy and also a dragon. Which... honestly kind of fits with Pokemon's own nonsensical definition of what can be a dragon. Which... yeah, both its English and Japanese name are basically mimicking Furret, except, of course, it looks distinct enough that what they primarily share is just their body shape.

I... I don't mind this the look of this one, actually. It stands all right on its own as a design, unlike Robinquill. It apparently moves around by turning its entire body into a wheel and spinning around. Apparently, ancient people tied milk to Chillet and allowed it to spin around to make butter. Okay. 

#056: Univolt

• Swift Deity
• Type: Electric

Hmmm, not the biggest fan of this one, though it might just be the angle that the picture I can find in the internet gives me. Univolt is basically just a lightning unicorn. It's admittedly a fair bit more creative than Pokemon's own Zebstrika, but it also ends up looking a bit more... tacky? I think there's one too many spiky-sharp detailing on the design. Maybe if they had removed the random chest fur, Univolt would've looked a bit better? It's a problem I have with some of Pokemon's own efforts, like Reshiram or Luxray. 

Univolt is another one of the mount Pals in the game, but a lightning-themed one. I do really like the description, which noted that due to Univolt's lightning powers, the ancient humans worshipped Univolts as messengers of the gods... but after witnessing one die (from a lightning bolt, ironically enough), they realized Univolts are just weird-looking horses and began enslaving domesticating them. 

#057: Foxcicle

• Claws of Ice
• Type: Ice

It sure is an ice fox with multiple tails. It's an icy kitsune, and... I don't really have much to say beyond that? I don't actually think that real, mythological kitsune are associated with the snow or ice, so it really is hard for me to say that this isn't trying very obviously to mimic Alolan Ninetales from Pokemon. From a monster concept standpoint it's not terrible, though I wished they had done something more about the kitsune theme. 

#058: Pyrin

• Steed of Flames | Steed of Darkness
• Type: Fire (normal) | Dark (noct)

It's a kirin monster, and depending on the variation, it's either fire-themed or dark-themed. It's a neat enough 'kirin monster', I suppose, even if it's leaning very heavily into the horse aspects of it. It's at least got some beards and super-long eyebrows? It's not super impressive to me, and if not for the name I wouldn't even have guessed that this is supposed to be based on kirins. 

Both of these guys can be mounted, and the Paldeck notes that the Pyrins take extra effort not to accidentally burn its owner, or in Pyrin Noct's case, drag the owner to hell. 

#059: Reindrix

• Beast of Blizzards
• Type: Ice

Yet another moutnable ungulate, I don't quite like Reindrix as much as Eikthyrdeer up above. I'm not sure what exactly makes me not like it. I guess the way its ears and chest-fur kind of seem to all merge together? I do find the icy antlers to look neat, but I'm not the biggest fan of the rest of Reindrix. Apparently, anyone who touches the antlers with bare hands will instantly freeze over and shatter, which is not something that's translated in-game. In-game, Reindrix is a mount that will keep your character cool even in hot areas.

#060: Rayhound

• Electrocharged Zoomies
• Type: Electric

Yet another ridable animal, Rayhound is a hound or a wolf, and is electric-type. It zips around and is as fast as lightning, and in-game this translates to a double jump. Not the biggest fan of this one, I think while Univolt is quite pleasant looking, Rayhound has way too many random 'toy-like' accessories. The giant leg-wings in the forelegs are the ones that make me dislike this one the most (especially since it's already got smaller leg-thunderbolts), the Raichu-ripoff tail, the random lightning crystals off of its cheeks, and the tattoo markings on the body... I dunno. A lightning wolf isn't a bad concept for a monster, but this one tries to do too much, I feel. 

#061: Kitsun

• Guardian of Azure Flame
• Type: Fire

A much cooler kitsune monster than Foxcicle... though this one only has a single bushy tail, but it's themed around will-o-wisps (or shiranui, 'unknown fire'... just straight-up its Japanese name). It's got a wreath of blue flame around its head, some cool tattoo markings on its face, and some fire-cloud-esque fur clumps. Not really much to say beyond that, though out of the 'mounts' that come one after the other, I find Kitsun to look quite pleasant. 

#062: Dazzi

• Born of the Storm
• Type: Electric

It sure is a cloud-genie child. Apparently it's a little shit, too, which that giggling expression probably clued you in. Dazzis will befriend lonely Pals, but the moment these lonely Pals let their guard down, Dazzi will thunderbolt the shit out of them. Pretty okay design for a humanoid 'weather god' type. She could almost pass off as Thundurus's daughter or something. There are some shared concepts with Thundurus and his siblings, but I actually think Dazzi here does stand apart enough and has enough of a personality that I wouldn't call her a straight-up ripoff. 

#063: Lunaris

• Extraterrestrial
• Type: Neutral

Palworld's answer to creatures like Pokemon's Clefairy or Digimon's Vademon is the extraterrestrial Lunaris, which... just goes for 'weird spacesuit furry lady'. I mean, eh. It's not my thing. It's apparently able to mind-control anyone that stares into its eyes... though it's Neutral instead of Dark, which is the Palworld equivalent to Psychic-types. It also uses Ice and Electric type attacks. Definitely not my kind of monster.

I really do like Lunaris's ability, though -- 'Antigravity', where the alien-themed Lunaris is able to manipulate and defy the force of gravity on its trainer. And does the trainer use it to fly, or do insane jumps, or to manipulte antigravity to fight? No, it just increases carrying capacity. That's cute. 

#064: Dinossom

• Guardian of Blossoming Gardens | Guardian of Lightning
• Type: Grass/Dragon (normal) | Electric (lux)

Okay, Goodra-meets-Meganium. Sorry, that's where my mind immediately goes to when I see this creature. Dinossom is one of the game's many dinosaurian enemies, and it's the one that feels the most like a 'reject Pokemon'. The colours of the base Dinossom already looks like Meganium, but the flower on Dinossom's head feels lifted straight from Venusaur or Vileplume -- a pink flower with a yellow 'crown'? I dunno. If they had been a bit more creative with the design I probably wouldn't have mentioned it, but those two 'ears' is lifted straight from Goodra, right? 

Anyway, it sure is a bipedal dinosaur. The base Dinossom is chill unless you anger it, something that's also reflected in-game. Dinossom Lux, apparently, is a Dinossom struck by lightning, surviving, but changed into an Electric-type. There are apparently enough of these to sustain a whole-ass population. Okay, then. 

#065: Surfent

• The Ocean's Wrath | The Desert's Wrath
• Type: Water (normal) | Ground (terra)

And we close this off with the odd, vaguely-Plesiosaur-looking Surfent, the surfing serpent. While the pictures here kind of make them look awkward, in-game they actually do have serpentine necks that make their dinosaurian/serpenting body plan feel a bit more natural. Design-wise it's a pretty all-right sea monster, and the the whole joke is that Surfent is used as surfboards by humans. Okay, then. I like the random orange spikes on Surfent's back. 

On the Surfent Terra version, which can move around on land instead, the spikes are crystal-shaped and much bigger, and it gained a unicorn horn on its forehead. Neat-o. 

#066: Maraith

• Messenger of Death
• Type: Dark

Oh, this one is cool! Maraith is like, some kind of demon sphinx or gryphon or something, being a four-legged lion-cat creature with wings made of blue fire, one of those creepy, mouthless porcelain masks and a blue will-o-wisp on its forehead. The coolest feature that brings this whole design together is that each leg tapers off into a pointy end that makes it seem to stand on tiptoes, which makes the whole design of Maraith just look so much cooler than just 'goth gryphon'. 

Honestly, after having so many rather underwhelming four-legged monsters on this page, Maraith is a refreshing break in actually elevating itself above its concept and looking quite creative and cool. Maraith apparently are drawn to living things that are about to die, which is nicely creepy. 

#067: Digtoise

• Drilling Machine
• Type: Ground

A pretty simple but pleasant monster. You could almost see this as an enemy in Mario or Metroid or something, yeah? Digtoise is a tortoise, but with drills poking out of his shell. He's got an armoured upper jaw and stuff. A simple monster design, and a rather pleasant one, I feel. 

#068: Tombat

• Trickster
• Type: Dark

Tombat's like a weird cat-man magician with bat wings, and it's got three ghostly cat-themed will-o-wisps that follow it around. It feels more like Tombat here should be a character of its own instead of being an entire species of monsters. An interesting design, even if it's not my thing, though I really wished the deck entry gives us some more context on what Tombat is and why it goes around escorted by a bunch of ghostly spirits. I do find Tombat a nice break from all of the quadrupeds I just talked about, for sure. 

#069: Lovander

• Pal on the Prowl 
• Type: Neutral

...and here we go. Pal #69, Lovander, which is probably the other infamous Pal you've heard other than the whole 'you can capture humans' and 'Pals can shoot people with an AK-47'. 

Lovander is basically the Palworld team taking Salazzle from Pokemon, a creature that's somewhat infamous for being described as having a harem of male Salandits -- a behaviour based on some real-world animals. But Lovander takes that design and ramps it up to eleven, giving it accessories that are meant to look provocative -- including long hair, a giant bushy 'bra' and markings that resemble flimsy clothing. It's apparently always 'seeking a night of love', and always chases other Pals around for its 'debauchery', and has even started hunting down humans. Keeping with the whole insistent-debauchery 'joke', Lovander drops items like 'mushroom', 'memory wiping medicine' and 'suspicious juice', adding a whole date rape 'joke' into the regular-rape joke. 

Yeah, I dunno. I guess it's good that they don't actually focus too much on Lovander and that it's just one pal among many, but for the most part Palworld has been pretty good at making its Pals just derivative and not that gross. This one is a bit too much, I feel. 

#070: Flambelle

• Molten Daughter
• Type: Fire

We go from all that unpleasantness to a very simple but adorable little buddy, Flambelle. Who is a cute little child with lava hair. It's basically doing everything that a cute, little-humanoid mascot can do to look cute. Apparently the more a Flambelle cries, the more lava tears it make and reabsorbs in its lower body, and the more powerful it becomes. It's pretty neat-looking. 

One Piece 1112 Review: Stars Align

 One Piece, Chapter 1112: Hard Aspect

It's been a while, huh? I've been super-duper busy, and I hope you guys have been enjoying or at least tolerating the stuff I have lined up for you for my own hiatus. I'll still be up here and there with a couple of articles that I write 'live', but I do hope you guys enjoyed the Palworld reviews, the random Infinite Fusion stuff, and some remastered old articles. 

But we're back with One Piece after a three-week long hiatus, and it's a fun banger to get back to. No sign of the Iron Giant, but I actually don't... I actually don't give a shit anymore, honestly. It's going to show up in the climax and it's honestly a bit telegraphed that it's going to be what helps the Straw Hats get away in the final final part of this arc, and we're just ramping up to the 'darkest hour' in this chapter with all the Gorosei having our heroes at figurative gunpoint. 

Ethanbaron has sliced down all of the Pacifista, and is basically grumbling about how Vegapunk's made a huge, huge mistake by giving the keys to an army of WMD's to a literal child. 

And then... I don't want to downplay this, even though it's a relatively small part of the chapter. But in-between everything that's going on, we get Red King with his mutant neck and his smoking steam gauntlet charging in and about to clash against Franky mid-air, and Franky just one-shots the Vice Admiral with a mighty Strong Right. That's a pretty damn cool panel, and honestly? A pretty damn cool moment in general. So many of the secondary Straw Hats got left in the wayside in terms of having development either in combat in character, and... Franky really got the short end of the stick ever since the timeskip happened. Shit, he doesn't even get anything to do in Egghead even though he's the scientist of the team, so at the very least he gets to take down a Vice Admiral. 

Which... yeah, in the grand scheme of things, Vice Admirals haven't been the most impressive. And by 'not the most impressive', I mean they've not been impressive at all. But it is really nice to see some of our supporting protagonists finally one-shot these guys!

Not to be outdone, Pomsky, the otter Zoan, jumps up to attack our heroes but Bonney just touches him in the face and turns him into a kid, before delivering the mother of all kicks onto his face. Again, that's also very cool! I really do hope that the anime does extend this just a bit so we get a bigger combat moments for characters not part of the Monster Trio. 

Meanwhile, Mars and York made their way to the broadcast room, but it's obviously empty since it's a pre-recorded message. Mars is super angry and just unleashes a gigantic energy beam that blows up a hole through the building, because... uh... apparently that demon bird can just do that. Just launch Hyper Beams, sure, all fully-evolved Pokemon can do that, why the fuck not?

York stops Mars from doing any more damage, however, babbling some reason about how certain floors are super-volatile and will blow up Punk Records. I think the implication is that York's going to die if Punk Records blows up? Or at least, she won't have access to Vegapunk's full database or something? I don't think York's going to redeem herself or anything. There is a strange line, however, that even Mars finds confusing, which is York saying that she "doesn't want to rack up any more sins". 

Interestingly, nearby, Stussy and Kaku are just... talking and noting about how Mars has gone. Kaku is still in a bubble, mocking Stussy for apparently being left behind by the Straw Hats. However, Stussy is apparently pulling a Mr. 2, where she decides to stay behind and carry out this one final mission. Which... okay, cool, I guess? Stussy and Kaku's been so out of the focus that I almost kind of forgot they existed if not for chapter 1111 where Lucci had that brief negotiations with Mars. Again, Lucci's performance as a narrative threat isn't the most impressive, but I do find it interesting sub-plot going around in the background. 

Speaking of characters that aren't the most impressive, we get a short scene where the assembled Straw Hats are discussing how to get the Thousand Sunny out without the help of the Vega-Force 1 that Kizaru blew up. And of course, the reason this will probably work out is probably the iron giant, but... Edison jumps off and blows himself up on the Frontier Dome with a 78% damage or something, so he's about to do something cool, to help our heroes escape. Man, everyone's pulling a Mr. 2 today. 

And finally, we cut back to the Gorosei fighting. Ju Peter is apparently pissed off that everyone's mocking his love of Dune, so he starts creating a huge sucking force that is able of even dragging Dorry and Brogy into his huge, yawning worm mouth. And Luffy just.. runs to a building, slices off a chunk of the tower, and rams it right into Ju Peter's giant worm mouth, leaving an honestly hilarious cartoony impression as his worm mouth gets squished out of shape. 

This, finally, knocks Luffy out of Gear Fifth, which means that this is where he stops fighting on part with the Gorosei. Again, I'm still very ambivalent on how this timer thing works, but I do appreciate that suddenly we're not fighting on par, we're on the back foot again. The giants give Luffy some emergency rations, Hakarl, and just like a Toriko character Luffy bounces back from being weakened straight back into being able to fight. Not Gear Fifth fighting, though. St. Warcury charges in and Luffy unleashes a Gear Third attack, slamming big piggy's head with a glorious Red Roc attack... and I don't think it does anything. It's an attack that stunned Kaido back in the rooftop battle, but while Warcury doesn't seem like he didn't feel it, it's clear that he's shrugging it off while Luffy's clutching his hand in pain. 

...and the rest of the Gorosei are starting to get back on their figurative feet, too. Where Team Usopp is guarding the ship, we get to see that the spider-legs of Saturn are starting to get up. I don't actually know if anyone in their party can stand up to Saturn? I guess if Jinbe and Zoro get back there in time?

Ethanbaron slices down Team Franky's escorts, and we get one of the most metal shots as samurai skeleton centaur Gandhi looms, fully silhouetted other than his glasses, over Bonney, Franky and Atlas while the giants fall around them. Sanji's here, just conveniently offscreen, so we might get that matchup. 

Meanwhile Mars has reverted back into his human form and is slowly walking towards the triangular,     gurgling video transponder snail... and I guess the cliffhanger is whether he'll succeed in stopping the transmission. I do think that there's too much built into this transmission narratively that it won't be just over with Mars crushing it without even encountering any of our heroes, though, so that's not the most exciting cliffhanger... but the rest of the chapter was pretty damn great as the Gorosei's threat starts to ramp up a fair bit more!

Random Notes:

• The cover story has Yamato get some kind of traveling funds from Kin'emon? It's one of those transitional parts of a cover story that isn't the most interesting, though, again, if we're being really honest I don't have much of an interest in this particular cover story. 
• "Hard Aspect" is the angles formed by planets in a horoscope wheel, or a fortune-telling birth chart.
• It is so weird having 'samurai Gandhi' be called a name so boring like Ethan. 
• Oimon and Kasshi had a brief couple of lines earlier in the chapter, but I can't tell if Ethanbaron one-shots them at the end. 
• Guillotine, the guy with a blade on his hat, comments on how 'cruel' Bonney kicking a kiddified Pomsky is, even though they were very willing to execute a young child themselves. We don't see Guillotine by the time Ethanbaron shows up on that side of the battlefield, but Franky, Bonney and a bunch of giants could pack him up easily. 
• Fermented shark, or Hakarl, is a real thing. 

Reviewing Monsters: Palworld, Part 1

So earlier this year the video game Palworld took the world by storm, with a whole ton of comparisons with the Pokemon franchise. It's hardly the first Pokemon clone game out there, but I think a combinatoin of the general attitude towards the lack of polish in the Pokemon franchise's recent entries have caused a whole ton of dissatisfaction towards Nintendo and Game Freak in general. And... I can't even refute this claim. 

Now we've seen so many other game franchises like Yo-Kai Watch and many others being positioned as the "Pokemon Killer", and while I wouldn't go as far as saying that, it is undeniable that Palworld might be one of the most successful in terms of metrics like Steam sales and whatnot. It really is less of a "Pokemon with GUNS" and more of a "Horizon/Ark with Pokemon". But it is a shrewd marketing tactic regardless. There's a lot of bad blood from both supporters and detractors of this game about just how original the designs are, and how much of it is parody versus plagiarism versus some kind of AI-generated variation or something?

The game itself isn't really my cup of tea, but we're not here to review the game, or to debate the similarities or differences with Pokemon, but just talk about monster design! 

__________________________________

#001: Lamball

• Big Floof
• Type: Neutral

We start off with the quasi-mascot of the game, Lamball. He's a lamb, who is also a ball! I think you could easily shrug and say that this is a 'Wooloo ripoff', which is... not the most fair? Pokemon doesn't exactly have a monopoly on round sheep monsters. And there will be some others that are undoubtedly more direct heavily-inspired, but you could just as well as make an argument that Lamball came from one of many other J-RPG games. 

Anyway, as with Pokemon, a lot of the early game monsters are pretty simple enemies. Lamball's whole deal is that he's a round lamb, and, quoting the game's version of a Pokedex, the Paldeck, "this pal has tumbled down to the very bottom of the food chain itself." Pretty cute, pretty simple... which is why I'm going to use Lamball here to explain a bit more about the Pals. 

Pals all have types, which are kind of aggregated from most of Pokemon's types. 'Neutral' stands in for Pokemon's 'Normal'. Pals don't evolve, which I guess is one step to far in the plagiarism thing. The humans in this setting are basically shooter-game protagonists, so they can attack the Pals with guns and spears and swords and whatnot, and Pals can be butchered and killed or harvested... which the game milks for black comedy for all it's worth. And in addition to typical Pokemon-style 'moves', each Pal has a passive ability. Some of them just allows Pals to help out in harvesting or planting or mining (because this game has that as a major mechanic)... but some Pals become equipment. Like Lamball here, who the player can sling over his or her back as a literal sheep-shield as it cries and absorbs bullets. Yep, it's that kind of game. 

#002: Cattiva

• The Cat's Pajamas
• Type: Neutral

Ehhhh. This one doesn't really appeal to me, and without the name, I don't think I could tell you that this is supposed to be a cat monster instead of just a generic mammal monster. You could've told me that Cattiva is supposed to reference some character from Digimon or Yokai Watch or something and I'd shrug. Cattiva here is another early-game Pal, ad the whole joke is that Cattiva is cocky-looking but is in fact weak and cowardly, and 'being toyed with by a Cattiva is the greatest of disgraces'. I mean, sure. 

#003: Chikipi

• Plump & Juicy
• Type: Neutral

Another very simple design, Chikipi is essentially a Cuccoo from the older Zelda games. It's a chicken! Chikipi is literally here as a very easy source for food. And, yes, you kill and eat Pals in this game, though it's not actually mandatory. The game is parody and not mockery, and I'm actually pleasantly surprised that there's still a way to play the game as a straight-up regular Pokemon game (just with guns and farming) and not engage in the more brutal aspects of the game... but, well, where's the fun in that?

Chikipi is noted that it's considered one of the weakest Pals. The Paldeck actually lampshades the fact that 'no matter how many are hunted, they just keep appearing'. Video game mob spawning! Even its 'title' (which all Pals have) in the Paldeck isn't a description about its behaviour, but rather just straight up goes 'plump & juicy'. 

#004: Lifmunk

• Coward of the Steppe
• Type: Grass

Our first non-Neutral Pal is Lifmunk, which is a leaf chipmunk. It's got a giant gemstone on its forehead and a bunch of extra red accessories. This guy feels like it'd be a generic pet in a game like Ragnarok Online or something, or like a cute mascot in a toyline-driven anime. I don't dislike it, but it's one that you could say that it's a Pachirisu ripoff and I'd slowly nod. 

Lifmunk here, by the way, is one of the Pals that you can straight-up equip firearms to, with the Lifmunk's favourite, preferred weapon being a submachine gun. The Paldeck notes that there has been 'more than a few cases where they've killed their master after learning to use weapons'. The wording doesn't imply accidental, so the Lifmunk might've just rebelled and shot their masters dead in cold blood for daring to enslave them. Lifmunks are noted to be as intelligent as a 5-7 year old child, which might sound horrifying but you can straight-up capture human NPCs in this game and enslave them, so this isn't the most fucked-up thing in this game. 

#005: Foxparks

• Revealer of Paths
• Type: Fire

It sure is a fox on fire. A Firefox! It's like Vulpix if Vulpix was given a more realistic-to-a-real-fox appearance, and... yeah, I can actually see why Pokemon went for a more stylized look with them. Foxparks (god, that name's a bit hard to say) has flames wreathing its legs and tail, and apparently are unskilled at controlling fire when it's born. 

It sure is a fire fox! 'Animal on fire' is always one of the least creative way to make a fire monster, and I think that's why Pokemon has actually scaled down on it after the first couple of generations. Foxparks here can actually be wielded by the player as a flamethrower. 

#006: Fuack

• Rowdy Wave Ripper
• Type: Water

I think there was a Fakemon that this is referencing? The one that became Platypet in Temtem, based on a widely-spread leak for Sword and Shield's starters or something? I am convinced that Fuack here is just so that the game developers could make jokes with its name. Yes, yes, it's a pun on 'quack', but tell me you see 'Fuack' and you don't mentally remove one of the vowels.

Anyway, Fuack here is our first Water-type Pal, and apparently body surfs around. I don't really like the look of this one. I think it's the ears, which feels like they belong to a proper mammal instead of the platypus-based Fuack.

#007: Sparkit

• Livewire Tabby
• Type: Electric

And this is our first Electric-type Pal, which I guess is the game's interpretation of a Pikachu clone. Other than the colours and the Raichu tail, though, I guess the designers are smart enough to try not to copy Pikachu at all, and just took 'electric mammal' and tried to make something somewhat distinct. This is more cat-like (it's a 'tabby') and angry-looking than Pikachu, and... I don't really care for this one? Again, it's the ears which looks like weird bumblebee abdomen that are stuck onto his head. 

#008: Tanzee

• Dexterous Primate
• Type: Grass

Oh, hey! It's Grookey! I mean, Pansage! I mean, Tanzee. It's just a green monkey with some leaf parts, and honestly kind of boring... until you realize that Tanzees are another type of Pal that can wield firearms, namely assault rifle. Love the Paldeck description, too. "Long ago, this Pal used long objects like tree branches as weapons. After coming into contact with humans, however, it found something much more effective: guns."

#009: Rooby

• Chief of the Herd
• Type: Fire

So soon after Foxparks? Rooby here is more of an ungulate than a canine, though that tail is rather fox-like. I don't particularly like the look of this one -- I'm not sure if it's the colours, the giant tail, the eyes, or the random bowtie it has. It's lore talks about how Rooby can't get sick, and a diet of eating a piece of charcoal every single day is the secret to its health. And... I kind of wish the design emphasized this a bit. Either the charcoal part or the 'eternal health' part. 

#010: Pengullet

• Ate Too Much
• Type: Water/Ice

Hee hee, I like him. This fat penguin is cute enough and distinct enough from the likes of Piplup, I think. I do like the little blurb about him, too. It's a bird Pal that has evolved so much that its feathers have disappeared, but it still really wants to fly. And... the way it does this? Pengullet's "-ullet" isn't referring to gullet, but BULLET. When your character equips a motherfucking rocket launcher, Pengullets will jump in and voluntarily act as living missiles. 

...that's actually quite creative, and honestly not the most expected out of Pengullet's design. It's a very weird but creative direction to take the 'this animal really wants to fly' gimmick that you'd associate with a penguin. 

#011: Penking

• Pioneer of the Frozen Sea
• Type: Water/Ice

It's a penguin with a bicorn hat and an admiral's coat. And a big puffy neck-thing. Are those part of his biology, or did Penking salvage these somewhere? Pokemon evolution does not exist in this game, and despite being next to each other in the deck, and both being dual Water/Ice types, Penking is explicitly noted to be unrelated to Pengullet. Okay, then!

#012: Jolthog

• Don't Touch | Watch Your Feet
• Type: Electric (Regular) | Ice (Cryst)

This is a more non-stylized version of Togedemaru, taking an 'electric hedgehog' prompt and making the simplest version you could think of. Jolthog is sure a hedgehog with electric spikes! There's really not much to say beyond that, other than the fact that Jolthog is one of those Pals that can be weaponized, this time acting as a lightning grenade. 

Jolthog does have a 'variant', basically Palworld's take on the 'Regional Variants' thing that newer Pokemon games have. Jolthog Cryst is Ice-type instead of Electric-type, and has replaced its yellow-coloured spikes with more impressive ice (or, well, crystal) ones. It's basically the same thing, only instead of a shock grenade, Jolthog Cryst is an ice bomb. I think it's kind of neat, a nice way to incorporate alternate weaponry and a quick extra Pal variant without needing to rig a whole new model. 

#013: Gumoss

• Suddenly Transformed
• Type: Grass/Ground

I kind of like this one! Gumoss could just be waved as a 'plant Ditto' or a 'mud Ditto', but I do like the themes going on here. Slime monsters are a bit common in these RPGs, but Gumoss is more specifically a tree sap creature with some wood and leaves growing up on top of its body. Like the dot eyes and the tongue in the mouth, too, which makes for an adorable look. Gumoss is also dual-type, being Grass/Ground, so it's probably not entirely sap-based, and has some mud mixed into its anatomy? 

Gumoss is noted to interestingly 'lose strength' and eventually 'rot away' if it has nothing to cover its body with, so the plant is a very crucial part of its biology. That's kinda neat. The title, 'suddenly transformed', also leads one to think what a Gumoss used to be before it was transformed. Was it the plant? The mud? Some other Pal? I think he's the first one in this entire list that I actually find creative!

#014: Vixy

• Star of the Step
• Type: Neutral

Vixy is a vixen, or a fox. Again, Pokemon doesn't have a monopoly on 'cute baby fox mascot', but... yeah, this is kind of an Eevee clone, yeah? I really don't have much to say here, it sure is a cute fox -- but there's not a whole ton to say about it other than some little joke that the Vixy are so popular that you'll make an enemy of the entire world if you bully a Vixy. 

#015: Hoocrates

• Purveyor of Wisdom
• Type: Dark

Hoocrates! I like the pun. I also like that this guy looks distinct enough to feel like it's its own thing instead of a straight-up reference to a Pokemon. Hoocrates does remind me of like a Disney character or something, but I can't put my finger as to which one. Hoocrates apparently thinks so much that sometimes he forgets to sleep. He's also our first Dark-type, which is basically an amalgamation of Pokemon's Ghost, Psychic and Dark type. 

#016: Teafant

• Adorable Watering Can
• Type: Neutral

A little teapot shaped like an elephant. Or rather, an elephant that behaves like a teapot. I do really like the design of this, where it does look like a novelty porcelain teapot and I appreciate the fun idea of having a small elephant monster. I think this is the second one I find somewhat creative? I like the little description on the Paldeck that debates on whether it shoots water or snot out of its nose. That's funny. 

#017: Depresso

• Several Sleepless Nights Later
• Type: Dark

Depresso is one of the 'meme' Pals that I became aware of pretty shortly after the game's release, after the chipmunk-with-a-gun. It's basically an anime cat-person, not too dissimilar to Pokemon's Espurr, but it's just... depressed. Or rather, grouchy. It's got a rather neat emo colour scheme, and of course despite being an emo jerk it's actually kindhearted but will only help people if no one sees it. That alone wouldn't have made Depresso here memorable, but its name is a pun on 'espresso depresso' or whatever it is, and Depresso's special skill is to do 'Caffine Inoculation', where it gorges itself on energy drinks and gains super-speed.  

#018: Cremis

• Darling Furball
• Type: Neutral

Another cutie Pokemon, Cremis here is basically an Eevee head glued onto a sheep's body. Based on its description comparing it to Lamball, Cremis is meant to be more sheep than, uh... whatever ambiguous mammal Eevee is? Eh.

#019: Daedream

• Dream Eater
• Type: Dark

Ah, now we're getting somewhere! Daedream has a sick, punny name -- 'daydream' and 'daemon'? Pretty cool! It takes the same basic monster prompt as Drowzee or Munna, being a dream-eating monster, but its design is that of a smirking little sheep-imp with a flowing hair that glitters with stars. It's a pretty fun design overall, and I do find that Daedream's description is pretty cool -- it starts off wholesome, noting that Daedream will put those it likes into sleep, and show them an endless stream of happy dreams. Cute, right? Except those that Daedream afflicts will never wake until they die. At least they die happy, but holy shit!

#020: Rushoar

• Woodland Ruffian
• Type: Ground

Rushoar is a boar that rushes. Not the best pun. It's... it's a boar all right. I don't have much to say. It's Ground-type, and it charges people without thinking. You can ride it. I mean, sure. It sure is a boar. 

#021: Nox

• Dusken Aristrocrat
• Type: Neutral

Another Eevee-adjacent creature, though Nox here at least fits the role of something more akin to Umbreon or Absol in being the cool, regal, dark-creature-of-the-night kind of fantasy? Nox's got a magician's cape, too. That thing doesn't look organic. The description is chilling, noting that people are afraid of Nox hair in one's bedding, since that's a 'one-way-ticket to a never ending night'. What does that mean? Is it a metaphor for death? Will Nox curse you like Daedream does? Is it just eternal darkness, but you can walk around and mind your business just fine? 

#022: Fuddler

• Underground Explorer
• Type: Ground

Another Ground-type monster, this one is based on a mole. A rather weird-looking mole rabbit, and... I confess the proportions of this one isn't the most interesting to me. Apparently, Fuddler here spends most of its time sharpening its claws that sometimes it spends the entire day doing that. That's nothing special, people get lost in doing a single thing and nothing else all the time. 

#023: Killamari

• Emotionless
• Type: Dark

My favourite one out of... well, basically the entire Paldeck, is Killamari. The name itself is already pretty cool, but it's also an adorable squid monster! Look at it. It's like a squid hat, with the two longer capture tentacles looking like those little bands on the side of a hat that you can use to adjust the diameter of the opening. And Killamari's even got a little 'hat' of its own, with the anatomy of a squid's regular body being squashed into that adorable little structure. Those Espurr eyes are just adorable, and the general vibe of this thing is just top-notch cute monster design. 

And, of course, the cherry on the top is its gloriously disturbing description. It flies around like a fucking D&D Mind Flayer or Vargouille, wrapping itself around an enemy's head to suck out their insides, leaving being Pal mummies in the world. 

#024: Mau

• Noble Glimmer | Serene Glimmer
• Type: Dark (Regular) | Ice (Cryst)

You can almost say that this is an Umbreon ripoff, but you're wrong. Mau here actually rips off a rejected beta Pokemon design, Berurun, as a black cat with a bell on its tail. Except that Mau has a more Egyptian-styled colouration and design to it, I think, and I actually do like the little reinvention. Mau also has with it a somewhat tragic backstory, because it's been overhunted by humans who chop off the poor Mau's tails, which are believed to be symbols of good luck. Poor cats!

Mau also has a Mau Cryst ice variation. It looks neat. 

#025: Celaray

• Soaring Skyfish
• Type: Water

Oh, I actually do really like this one. The name, Celeray, is the sort of kinda-forced pun that I really like. But I do like the look of this one, with a face that looks a bit more obviously 'cutesy anime animal' compared to the slightly-more-realistic one that Mantine has. And... yeah, both Celaray and Mantine are both technically flying manta monsters, but flying (or at least breaching) mantas are a perfectly legit monster design prompt. I also really like that Celaray has the impression of being super-fast, and behaves more like some kind of a migratory butterfly that flies around until it finds a mate. 

Palworld doesn't really have a 'Flying' or 'Wind' type, and the latter, I feel, would've been so easy to implement and make into a type that helps to distinguish this game a bit more, typing-wise. Oh, Palworld also has 'gliders' similar to Breath of the Wild, and you can use Celeray as a hang-glider... something that Pokemon actually did with its Generation II manga, a Mantine, 20 Remoraids and a billiard stick. No, I'm not joking. 

#026: Direhowl

• Hunter of the Steppe
• Type: Neutral

It sure is a black-and-white wolf. This looks like the kind of an 'obviously cool' pet that a RPG would give to you and every high school kid would totally vibe with this. It's not a bad thing! I like black wolves. It's just that 'Direhowl' here has a rather uninspired 'randomly generated D&D orc' name, and is basically a Lycanroc with balck hair dye and all the rocks sanded off. If it was a bit less obviously a Lycanroc clone, I feel like I wouldn't have minded it as much. 

It's big enough for you to ride, because mounts are totally a thing in this game, which I actually heartily approve -- it's honestly something that I really wished Pokemon did a lot more. Miraidon's cool and all, but it's rather surprising that we haven't tried to make riding Pokemon something more widely-available with so many larger species out there. 

#027: Tocotoco

• Boom or Bust
• Type: Neutral 

This 'realistically proportioned' Xatu is... is also meant to be a toucan, I think? It's whole deal is that it lays explosive eggs, which is a perfectly fine gimmick for a monster to have. You can even equip a Tocotoco and use it as what's basically a grenade launcher. Which... really makes me confused why it's patterned after Xatu. I do like the concept, but perhaps not the visuals. 

#028: Flopie

• Star of the Flower Beds
• Type: Grass

A cute 'grass fairy' of sorts, and while I'm not too taken about the design of this particular one, I think Pokemon could've done more of these that aren't just straight-up plant creatures. Flopies are floating bunny fairies that kind of float around and go and hang out near vegetation. The pink and green colours are appropriate, evem if they're not the most spectacular. But they're allergic to pollen! They suffer from hay fever! Oh no, poor bunny fairies!

#029: Mozzarina

• Grade-A Beef
• Type: Neutral

It's a fat round cow with anime fangs. I'm not sure why it's named after mozzarella cheese, it produces milk like regular cows. In a bit of a combination of black comedy and lampshade hanging, all Mozzarinas produce milk from udders, regardless of gender. "This mystery may better be left unsolved", says the Paldeck. In addition to probably being a fun little deconstruction, I guess this is so that all Mozzarinas you capture can produce milk and not have half of the species be useless, utility-wise.

#030: Bristla

• Thorny Rose
• Type: Grass
  

Bristla is the angry version of Bellossom, having exactly the same body layout as the Pokemon but replacing all the petals with thorny vines. She's an angry critter, but apparently are friends with the Cinnamoth species and will smile when Cinnamoth drinks its nectar. These sorts of anthro-plant monster designs have always been kinda m'eh to me even in Pokemon, so I don't really have too mich to say about this one.

#031: Gobfin

• Sea Thug | Volcano Thug
• Type: Water (Regular) | Fire (Ignis)

Kind of a simple but charming design, Gobfin is a tiny, short shark goblin-imp. These guys look like they would be early-game humanoid enemies in an RPG, like Warcraft's Murlocs or Elder Scrolls Oblivion's Goblins. Pretty fun model with a big chunky fanged face, and stubby hands. Apparently, it used to be a powerful aquatic Pal, but years of evolution caused it to migrate on land and the evolution severely reduced its size.

The Gobfin Ignis variant is Fire-type, but there's a cheeky gag here. It gained the Fire typing because walking burns a lot of calories, causing it to awaken fire controlling powers. Okay! Also, I would like to note that while the English localizations just add a suffix to the name, the original Japanese version actually gives separate names to all variants -- "Sharkid" and "Sharkamander" for these two guys, for example.

#032: Hangyu

• Bringer of Luck | Glacial Harbinger
• Type: Ground (Regular) | Ice (Cryst)

Creepy! Definitely not something you can do in Pokemon, but I appreciate that the design for Hangyu looks cute enough until you realize the context. I feel I like this design choice much more, since its not just a 90's edgy monster design that looks out of place. I like my Bloodborne and Resident Evil monsters, but not when they get randomly plonked into a chibi anime game.

Hangyu, as its name implies, is a hangman's noose! The 'hair' is the rope that connects it to the wooden scaffolding, and the two giant long noodle arms aee the noose. Interestingly, Hangyu's arms are super powerful and can rip iron apart, and humans use Hangyu as a more brutal torture-execution method. To quote the game itself: "As a particularly cruel form of execution, serious criminals would be strung up in a public square, and a Hangyu would rip off the skin from their bones." Okay! And it'a Ground type, not Dark type, so it's not even spooky or ghostly. It's just very conveniently shaped.

Hangyu Cryst is an ice version of it, and while I find the design less interesting, the description does talk about how sinners would be tied and have their hair torn out by these Hangyu variants. 

#033: Mossanda

• Guardian of the Forest | Inheritor of the Storm
• Type: Grass (Regular) | Electric (Lux)

Kind of Palworld's response to Bewear, no? Big, burly chibi bear with no visible mouth and a giant splotch of colour on the top half? Mossanda is a panda instead of a bear, and it's covered with moss... allegedly. It does admittedly look more like just some green jewels and a poncho. I get that they were going for a far cuter design than the Swamp-Thing-bearman I had in mind when I first saw the name. I actually find this design kinda cute! Not a whole ton to say other than me going over and over about the cuteness of its visual look, but I do like this one.

The Mossanda Lux variant is Electric type, with yellow highlights and a mohawk. I like this one much less than the regular Mossanda.

#034: Woolipop

• Giant Cotton Candy
• Type: Neutral

A candy cake... sheep? Poodle? Ram? An animal of some sort that's based on a dessert. Kinda neat. Apparently, its body is 18 thousand times sweeter than sugar. It uses this as a defense mechanism, causing carnivores that take a bite out of it to pass out from the overwhelming sugary sweetness. Kinda cute, even if we've admittedly had a whole ton of random mammals already, the food theme does kind of make this one stand out a bit.

#035: Caprity

• Walking Farm
• Type: Grass

I feel like he reminds me of Deramon from Digimon. A simple design, a fat goat with a whole-ass shrub on its back. Probably makes it hard for you to spot this one in the overworld. It produces berries naturally, but as a way to attract mates. Kinda neat that they incorporated some quasi-biological reasons for this creature to have evolved a whole shrub on its back.

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Caprity isn't the most exciting Pal to end off this review on, but it's gone on for fairly long enough. I do feel like there's enough variations going on here (as did Temtem and a bunch of other games), but I do think that for Palworld... there's a fair bit too much of actual parodying going on. I think it's all relatively good-natured and the game itself feels different enough... and I honestly do think that the creature collection and battling is hardly the largest part of this game. I do find it fun to talk about this game's bestiary from a lens of "is this parody or ripping off", though hopefully I didn't do too much of it in this review.