One Piece 1086 Review: Planetarium

One Piece, Chapter 1086: The Five Elders

This chapter's fan-scans were released around half a week ago, but I purposefully waited on talking about it just to see how the official release handles certain translations. And I think I'm pretty happy that I waited! So yeah, this is a pretty great cliffhanger before a massive break, and one that reveals a bunch of revelations almost a decade in the making. 

A bunch of the earlier pages are just... well, bookkeeping, and I'm happy to breeze through them. Alabasta's people are trying desperately to look for Cobra and Vivi, while multiple people stow away on different ships. Wapol and Vivi snuck away on an Eigis Kingdom ship to meet up with Morgans, an event that the manga had previously lined out to us. Wapol still hasn't told Vivi about Cobra's death yet, though as we learn in the present-day Egghead scenes, that will happen eventually. We get to see Bonney stowing away on a Tajine Kingdom ship, and a wounded Sabo on the Lulusia Kingdom ship. 

And then we get Imu talking to the Gorosei, or the Five Elder Stars... or the Five Elder Planets, as some people have pointed out to be a more accurate translation. The Japanese word 星 (hoshi or sei) was originally used in antiquity to describe any celestial body that's not the sun or the moon -- and if you've seen a night sky, our planets are actually visible in the sky but you won't be able to tell that they're planets instead of stars without training. And since cultures like the Japanese have already given names to planets (they move regularly in the sky, after all, thanks to the rotation) before the world figured out how this whole 'planet' thing works, the term 星 is still used for both 'star' and 'planet', with 惑星 (wakusei) being used if you really want to describe a planet in terms of an orbitting body instead of a celestial body. 

Anyway, they all have planet names, excluding the three 'outer' planets that were discovered in modern times (hundreds of years ago, as opposed to the original five, which were already discovered by ancient civilizations). And I can finally get rid of the nonsense nicknames I have in my head:

• Dreadlocks Pastor is St. Jaygarcia Saturn, and is the Godhead of Science and Defense.
• Tall Forkbeard is St. Marcus Mars, the Godhead Environment
• Giant Beard Man is St. Topman Warcury, the Godhead of Justice
• Gandhi is St. Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, the Godhead of Finance.
• Scarneck McYoung is St. Shepherd Ju Peter (oh god!), the Godhead of Agriculture. 

The Japanese word actually has them be 'War Gods', but the Berserk fan in me absolutely loves the usage of 'Godhead' here. Also, it's rather fun to see how two of them have just the planets straight up (Saturn and Mars), we've got the gloriously punny Ju Peter, the slightly confusing Warcury (War + Mecrury) and then V. Nusjuro, where you really scratch your head where the Venus is until you read the name out loud and then you laugh. 

Also, I love that the Gorosei's titles aren't like the Godhead of... oh, I don't know, war, conquest and subjugation or some shit like that. No, Ethanbaron, the badass Gandhi-looking samurai man is the Godhead of... finance. The Shodai Kitetsu cuts apart balance sheets and debit/credit stuff!

Anyway, we also get the revelation behind Lulusia, and I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It does admittedly make Imu feel a lot less mystical and godlike, because we learn that Imu picked Lulusia to test out a superweapon out of proximity. Imu just picked it just because they like it, and while V. Nus and Warcury did try to tell Imu that it's a populated area, they just shrug and go along with the will of the 'creator of the world'. 

On one hand, it makes Imu scary because they are so callous with casually wiping out an entire kingdom full of people. On the other hand... it's less scary that they didn't just target Lulusia with the intention of pinpointing and murdering Sabo with the aid of some supernatural power... but on the other other hand, some people argued that the shadowed panel of Lulusia being nuked might be Imu's own Future Sight or something, and that they might just not be sharing about Lulusia to the Gorosei. 

Also, Vegapunk notes that they are using Vegapunk's creation, the Mother Frame, which the Gorosei note that this is basically a test drive since they have never used this weapon before. They talk about how Lulusia being a rebellious nation is a bonus instead of the actual goal, and the Gorosei seem enthusiastic at bringing this battle to a quick conclusion with the usage of this weapon.

Also, Imu continues on their obsession with Vivi, 'desiring' her, and I've seen theories run wild with this. Imu has been weird with Vivi ever since the photo seen during their first appearance, and I've seen theories from body-hopping to a creepy romance to just general rivalry against the D. Clan members.

We also briefly see the Marine deploying troops not just to arrest the Shichibukai, but also to quell the rebellion in countries like Tajine and Eigis. Most interestingly, we get to see three more Seraphims being deployed -- which are the missing three from the original batch of Shichibukai. Seraphim Doflamingo, Seraphim Gekko Moriah, and Seraphim Crocodile. There's a lot of debate on whether kid-clone Crocodile is actually a boy or a girl, but we see so little of smol-Croco that it's clearly being kept ambiguous.

Sabo then recaps what happened in Lulusia, where the already-rebelling citizens arrested the vampire-looking king and princess, and was very willing to celebrate Flame Emperor Sabo. Sabo himself isn't too keen on correcting them about his role in Cobra's death, since it's for the good of the Revolutionary, and I wonder if this will come and bite him in the ass later on. Sabo also explains how he basically used a snail-VPN to trick the World Government into thinking he's still on Lulusia when he's already halfway on the journey back to Kamabakka, but... well, while Sabo didn't die, the rest of Lullusia certainly got Death Starred to oblivion, much to the despair of the revolutionaries that Sabo recruited, who saw their families atomized. 

Sabo also says that he sees a dark shadow above Lulusia, so yeah, a Death Star (or a miniature one), or even just some sort of flying dreadnought or battleship seems likely to the identity of this Mother Frame. Ivankov and Dragon speculate on whether this is a Vegapunk creation (which Imu confirms) or an Ancient Weapon, though the jury is still out on whether Vegapunk created it knowing that it's going to be a weapon, or if Vegapunk created, like, the 'framework' of the Mother Frame, or if it's Shaka or York that made the weaponized version out of something that originally was more benign. 

Ivankov also name-drops Imu's potential last name, which is Nerona -- with Ivankov noting that Imu shares their name with one of the 20 Kings (though the wording is specific not to reveal Imu's gender), St. Imu from the Nerona Dynasty. So our final villain is St. Nerona Imu, then? Ivankov also pulls out the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, noting that for the Ope Ope no Mi to be able to grand everlasting life, clearly someone must have tried it, and it's likely that this someone was Imu. 

As if all this wasn't enough, we get the final page that very casually revealed that St. Donquixote Mjosgard has been executed. Like, we see his bloodied corpse straight-up crucified while other Celestial Dragons cheer in the background! There was a bit of ambiguity in some of the early fan translations, but the English official translation using the wording as 'had just been executed' has a ring of finality to it. RIP Mjosgard, at least you died a decent human being. Again, I am all for this longer-established characters being killed left and right, with a bit more finality. One of my big annoyances about the Yonko Saga in general is how ambiguous it was when someone died, that even the ones that did die ended up being 'well, there's still a chance until they properly confirm it!'

But far more interesting than Mjosgard's death is the wacky-ass moon-haired mofo that killed him. What a hilariously stupid-looking hairdo, but I bet this is going to be a character we'll be rooting for as a badass, because this guy is the leader of the God's Knights. Cool! The former ruler of God Valley? Say whaaat? And his name? Saint FIGARLAND Garland. O SHIT!

Figarland is, by the way, essentially all but confirmed by the One Piece Film Red movie to be the family that Shanks likely hails from, which is our big little wink-wink-canon-information hint from that movie just like 'Laugh Tale' from Stampede. And yeah. One of the God's Knights silhouettes in the previous chapters were allegedly speculated to be Shanks, but it might just very well be Garland when he was younger! Which means Garland might be Shanks' dad, or grandpa, or uncle, or something, which is a very fun bit. Again, these recent chapters are really building up a lot of hype for the villains, and I'm all for it!

And in a fun reversal of Shanks's "weakest grand fleet among the Yonko" where he shelters all the weaklings, Garland's first lines of dialogue is something along the lines of "whose who protect subhuman filth are lower than them", so yeah -- we're going to have a major fighter that subscribes and embodies the Tenrhyubito ideals of racial supremacy, and I am all for seeing this guy rising up as a villain!

Anyway, what a mammoth of a chapter! 

Random Notes:

• One Piece is going on a one-month break because Oda is going to get some eye surgery. Get well soon, Oda!
• More about the planetary naming stuff:
• So yeah, to elaborate a bit more, ancient cultures like the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Chinese and Japanese are already aware that five of the 'stars' in the sky move at regular intervals, and have identified Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn as 'special' stars. It's not until the invention of telescopes in the late 1700's that Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were discovered (and Pluto subsequently lost that planet title more recently). The three Ancient Weapons are named after these three more 'modern' planets. 
• In addition, the five 'elder' planets are all named after classical East Asian elements in China and Japan, which may or may not be connected to their superpowers! Mercury is Suisei (Water Star), Venus is Kinsei (Gold/Metal Star), Mars is Kasei (Fire Star), Jupiter is Mokusei (Wood Star), and Saturn is Dosei (Earth/Ground Star).
• If you notice, at least the jobs of V. Nusjuro and Ju Peter are associated with their respective element, with V. Nusjuro being the 'gold planet' in charge of finance, and Ju Peter being the 'wood star' in charge of agriculture.
• If you're curious, the three 'modern' outer planets, due to international influences, use a combination of the international naming scheme and the original one, with Uranus being Ten'ou-sei (Sky King Star; Uranus is the Roman sky titan), Neptune being Kai'ou-sei (Sea King Star, Neptune is the Roman sea god) and Pluto is Mei'ou-sei (Underworld King Star, Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld). 
• An alternate reading for Saint Topman Warcury's last name has been posited as 'Valkury' or 'Valcury', to try and get a pun with 'valkyrie'. This, I think, had the opposite reaction and made some people confused where the planet Mercury is in the name since 'Valkyrie' is such a common fantasy name, whereas Warcury is such a nonsense name that the 'Mercury' part pops up a bit more. 
• God, the name of 'Samurai Gandhi' is... Ethan. That's more hilarious than Ju Peter or Topman, really. 
• Nerona is likely a reference to Emperor Nero, which isn't particularly cheery on what Imu plans to do with what they rule over. 
• There's also a confusion about Mother Frame vs. Mother Flame, and I think Flame does really bring up connotations to the Eternal Fire from the Vegapunk monologue. 
• Another thing that made me glad that I waited for the official release to come out is that some of the fan scanlations omitted 'saint' from half of the Gorosei, causing some confusion on whether some of them aren't Celestial Dragons after all. They all have Saints in the final version. 
• Wapol at least has the brains to sell the news to Morgans about himself running for his life, instead of actually blurting out and selling the news of Imu's existence on an open line. 
• In addition to cameos, we get a cameo of CP-0 agent Gismonda, a.k.a. the guy who never shows up in Wano, as well as Spandam, and Stelly (Sabo's brother) lusting over the poster of Vivi. 
• There is also a line about how 'Crocodile appeared in Emptee Bluffs Island', or Calibali Island, and while it's confusing since it's being shown atop S-Crocodile, it might just be a reference to Crocodile and Daz Bones appearing to accidentally bail Buggy out. 
• There's also a brief couple of scattered lines of Celestial Dragons complaining that they don't have any food, but more hilariously, one says that they 'only have cake to eat', a reference to the famous Marie Antoinette line.

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 [2023]

After several disappointing, or at least relatively messy entries in Marvel's post-Endgame era, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 is an interesting movie. It promises to close off the Guardians of the Galaxy movie series -- a move that seemed final, considering the departure of at least several key people attached to this sub-franchise, namely James Gunn (director), Zoe Saldana (Gamora) and Dave Bautista (Drax). Add that to how the Infinity War/Endgame duology arguably explored a lot and also caused a fair bit of havoc among the Guardian storylines as well, particularly with the second Gamora, and this movie had a lot to deal with. In addition, we've got the introduction of not one, but two prominent antagonists, as well as the exploration of Rocket Raccoon's backstory, catapulting him into basically being the main character of this movie. 

Oh, and the movie still has to offer the typical MCU fare of comedy and action scenes. That's a tall order!

And I tried writing a review for this movie several times, before realizing that short of breaking down every single character, I really don't have that much to say about this movie compared to a lot of the previous entries. I do really think that the tone of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 was what Thor: Love and Thunder tried to do and arguably failed. Where Love and Thunder tried to be all serious with Gorr and turn into irreverent comedy whenever our heroes are around, GOTG 3 is an interesting beast in that it's as wacky as the GOTG material... but the places where it really explores the dark backstories of the villains, we actually get to see our heroes nut up and get utterly pissed, and... in addition to just funnier jokes overall, I do really think that the High Evolutionary's brand of jackassery was really personal, and that was what made him work where a lot of the MCU's post-Thanos villains never had. 

And here's the thing -- the movie explores Rocket Raccoon's backstory as he lapses in and out of a coma after an initial action scene, and we get to see Rocket's growth from a kidnapped laboratory animal into a tortured but hopeful soul, befriending his fellow experimental animals -- the otter Lylla, the rabbit Floor and the walrus Teefs. He's created by the brilliant perfectionist and geneticist, the High Evolutionary, who keeps talking about creating and building a paradise, and Rocket simply just... is happy to help out, eventually finding the one key that allows the High Evolutionary's 'evolution gas' to succeed. And while the High Evolutionary initially looked manic but ultimately well-meaning, things go a bit dark when he ends up selecting Rocket for dissection and the rest of his family for incineration. The High Evolutionary shows nothing but contempt at Rocket and the rest of his 'abominable' batch, despite the fact that, for all his bluster, it was Rocket's genuine ingenuity and innovativeness that fixed what the High Evolutionary couldn't do.

Also, yeah. There's a lot of scenes of torture that the movie only really gets away with because it's CGI animals, but there's definitely a point to be made about this movie being a pretty damn great 'animal cruelty' movie on top of everything. 

In the process of the escape, the High Evolutionary kills Rocket's friends (two die in a crossfire) and that's not to mention the sheer callous amounts of lab animals and uplifted sentient animals that High Evolutionary racks up in his wake. And what a jackass he was at doing it, talking about perfectionism and how he wants to create an 'utopia' while treating his other creations like trash and even blowing up an entire planet just because it has 'imperfections'.

And I guess these two are easily the strongest part of the movie. The High Evolutionary exudes a sense of menace and fanaticism, as well as a personal enmity to one of our heroes (and by proxy, the rest of his buddies) in a way that Gorr and Kang didn't have. The scripting and acting of the High Evolutionary as someone who pretends to be sophisticated, but, in Peter's words, just full of hot air disguised as some over-the-top grand plan... it's a great combination. 

And then we also learn about Rocket's own backstory, which dovetails nicely with everything we've seen him been through throughout the two GOTG movies and the two Avengers movies he's been in, and, again, it's remarkably consistent with how much he tries to drive people away. It's the crux of his conflict with Star-Lord and Drax in the first movie, and it's why he bonded with Yondu in GOTG 2 and Thor in Endgame. 

The movie highlights that Rocket is 'the main character all along, he just never knew it', which... is admittedly a bold statement. However, Rocket is the closest thing that the Guardians movies had to a second protagonist, with Gamora probably being the closest contestant to the role -- though we'll cover her later. It's actually a very natural progression as Rocket goes through his flashback and his near-death experience, and later on just very unabashedly accepts Star-Lord and Groot's hug, and then goes on to confront his tormentor and realizing that he could be better than what High Evolutionary made him.

And then the fact that Rocket managed to beat the High Evolutionary's gravity powers with the gravity boots he made as a lark at the beginning of the movie? That's an understated bit of delicious irony, I feel. And for all of High Evolutionary's talk about originality and whatnot, his big plan is to basically make 'Counter-Earth', a fake version of Earth... meaning that just like the new batches of forcibly-evolved life-forms, for all his bluster, High Evolutionary is just still copying and doing 'rote memorization'. 

The rest of the cast are limited to basically having a character trait that feels naturally explored, and the movie explores most of them by the end of it. Star-Lord and the 'time paradox' Gamora probably get the most prominent scenes, with Star-Lord projecting a lot about his inadequacies as a leader and losing the Gamora that was the 'love of his life' during the events of Infinity War. It is admittedly very unfair to the new Gamora, who never met Star-Lord prior to her time-travel, and by the end of this movie, with some help from Mantis, Peter realizes that he still has some shit to unpack and ends up taking a sabbatical from the Guardians to go to Earth and resolve his unresolved business with his grandfather. There's some nice moments with Mantis (who acts as a nagging but well-meaning sister) and Rocket (who Peter is extremely protective of).

Gamora II's character arc is... it's really kind of sad (but very bold) that the original Gamora is just dead at the climax of Infinity War. It was a death that was played up more for shock value than anything, and while Gamora and Thanos had some great acting in that scene, it's something that kind of felt like it was a bit undercooked, particularly if you're a Gamora fan. 

Of course, we have a brand-new doppelganger from an alternate timeline. Standard comic book stuff, and I absolutely appreciate that the movie doesn't end with Star-Lord and Gamora II getting back together again, because I really do feel like that's a rather old-fashioned mentality of Star-Lord 'winning' back his girlfriend. Gamora II goes through a character arc of realizing that the Guardians are good people after all and becomes less of a jackass throughout the movie. She ends up parting with Star-Lord with respect, but ends up finding her place with the Ravagers. Nice little callback for Stakar Ogord and most of his crew, for sure! It's a neat way to tie off this loose end, especially since Gamora's actress is one of the ones that are confirmed to be done with her involvement with the MCU. I honestly must say that I didn't really care about Gamora all that much throughout this movie, but she did get ample screentime to send her off. 

And then we have the secondary characters -- Drax, Mantis, Nebula, and Groot. Groot basically Groots around the movie with a new buff design, which is nice because I wasn't a fan of the spindly twerp in Endgame. Groot provides some of the movie's more spectacular effects, like Kaiju Groot, or the scene where he unfurls like a dozen guns (that shows up a lot in the trailer), or the tree-wings, or scuttling around as a head... he also speaks, at the end, "I love you guys", which... had to be explained as the audience being 'close enough' to Groot to understand him. Okay, sure.

Drax is an interesting character because despite his major relevance and rivalry with Thanos in the comics, the vast reduction of that rivalry and the 'built to be a weapon' thing had reduced Drax to being mostly either a brute or the butt of 'can't understand metaphors' jokes. And since the 'brute' is never going to be the one that defeats the bad guy, Drax is saddled with being one of the guys that usually gets taken out first in a fight. This movie kind of tries to build up on what Drax had in the first two Guardians movies and Christmas Special, highlighting how Drax, despite his gruff, bloodthirsty nature, is first and foremost a 'dad'. We get an honestly rather heartbreaking scene when Drax sounded absolutely hurt when he realized what a burden Nebula and even Mantis view him. At the end of the movie, Drax ends up staying behind in Knowhere to protect the children, and... it's not as satisfying as some of the other Guardians, but it's an okay end to this character's story. 

Mantis gets a lot more development here, and again, a lot of it has to do with her rising from being 'the weird feelings girl'. She gets a lot of fun scenes and lines as usual ("VIOLENT RAGE!"), and most of her conflict comes from her fight with Nebula, where Nebula gets pissed off when Mantis fucks up one too many times, and really downplays Mantis's usefulness to the team. And I don't know, Mantis causing VIOLENT RAGE and 'you're a kitty cat!' on random soldiers seems useful as shit. But Mantis's true strength is how much she understands people -- she spends most of the movie trying to get Peter to open up about his problems, she is the most defensive and sympathetic with Drax, and later on her big moment is to understand that the Abilisks sent to attack them are just afraid. Mantis also leaves the team at the end of the movie, to 'discover herself', realizing that she's just been following leader after leader -- first Ego, then the Guardians, and somehow this is a very natural development for her character that I didn't see coming.

And Nebula... Nebula's weird. She basically ends up as the de facto responsible adult in the team since Peter's drunk and Rocket's in a coma for most of the movie, and her frustration is palpable. Her story is a bit harder to pinpoint, but it really is nice to see her being integrated seamlessly into the family unit, even if it's as a long-suffering big sister. Having spent most of the offscreen Endgame timeskip with Rocket, I do love just how protective Nebula is of Rocket, and how she even cries at the news that Rocket is fine. There's a nice bit of message about families, too, with Nebula never really discarding Gamora, but also reminding her and putting her in place because she's not willing to give up one family for another. At the end, Nebula basically becomes the governor of Knowhere, which... I really do think that she's probably the one most suited to continue hanging out with Rocket and Groot with the Guardians, but seeing her in a non-combative role after spending her entire MCU career as a weapon pointed at others is nice. 

I didn't really realize it, too, but I do really like that the movie also deconstructs the idea of a 'yolo' team, with the lack of communication between the characters leading to members of their team mistakenly taking risks that they shouldn't -- like Nebula, Drax and Mantis entering the High Evolutionary's ship; Rocket never informing people about the chip in him; Peter being drunk when Adam attacked, Drax and Mantis leaving their post without telling anyone... again, pretty fun stuff, and I do like that the movie does kind of end with all the characters getting something nice to show and 'redeem' themselves. 

And then we have the side-characters! This review is already longer than I intended it to be, but Kraglin and Cosmo, the honourary Guardians, do get a bit to show for themselves. Kraglin goes through a mini-arc of being pissed off at being useless and being unable to use Yondu's arrow, until the climax where Yondu's ghost speaks to him and he finally graduates to being useful. (Driving Knowhere, the head of a goddamn Celestial, to attack the High Evolutionary's ship is also cool). Cosmo gets a bit of a running gag about being angry with Kraglin for the 'bad dog' remark, but otherwise basically fills a similar niche as Groot, being a fun character with a one-note personality and a unique design. Oh, the two of them get to kill one of the two most prominent Hellspawn monsters, which is nice. 

And Adam Warlock... yeah. Promotional material made him up to be super-relevant until the trailers started to switch to the High Evolutionary, and Adam Warlock is a bizarre character to include now that he's no longer connected to Thanos. It is kind of interesting that the movie makes the Sovereign (and Adam, by extension) into being a creation of the High Evolutionary, which is a weird retcon that seems just possible enough considering how minor they are. Adam Warlock himself is basically a big manchild baby who is given Superman powers, and that fight with the Guardians in the beginning of the movie is amazing. 

However, Adam's mother, Ayesha, gets killed almost offhandedly when the High Evolutionary blew up Counter-Earth, and it's kind of a shame, honestly, that Adam's just confused or knocked out for most of the third act. He's just this weird wild card that's fighting everyone until our heroes rescue him, he sees the camaraderie among them, and decides to fly out in the climax to rescue Star-Lord from freezing to death in space. And... I dunno. With Adam and Rocket both having very similar backstories, I really thought that there would be more, but Adam barely interacts with the heroes and he's easily the weakest part of the movie in my opinion. I don't think he's quite as shoehorned in as, oh, America Chavez was, but I would definitely think that the movie would be a much tighter-paced affair without him. There were certainly ways to make him feel more relevant -- either by making him work more closely with High Evolutionary, or to have his redemption tied more to talking with Rocket or someone... but as it is, Adam feels as disjointed as Mantis originally was in GOTG 2. 

Anyway, the movie itself is a rather visual delight. There are a lot of great action scenes, like the Guardians-vs-Adam scene, the depictions of Counter-Earth exploding, Nebula's new super-tech arm, Star-Lord and Groot attacking the scientists, the nasty giant flesh space station of Orgocorp, the hallway battle against hideous giant monsters, Knowhere arriving from the hell out of nowhere, the showcases of High Evolutionary creating big gravity explosions... and, of course, the jokes land and are done rather well. The movie's ending does drag on a bit too long with the dance numbers, but if there's an MCU property that gets a free pass for dance numbers, it's Guardians of the Galaxy. 

And where do we go from here? Well, the movie does provide a 'retirement' exit for Star-Lord (on Earth), Gamora (with the Ravagers), Mantis (off on her own), Drax and Nebula (both in Knowhere), while leaving the door open for them to return. The credits does insist that Star-Lord, at least, will show up down the line, though I suppose it's mostly an actor-contract thing. I do appreciate that their stories were at least wrapped up beforehand, though! And then we get Rocket ascending to the leader of a brand-new Guardians team, which is a pretty organic way to do the 'turning of the guard' thing that I didn't necessarily think any of the Avengers movie really got right. It's also a nice movie that doesn't rely too much on a cheap death to 'close out' the franchise, which I was actually somewhat surprised about. 

Anyway, I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I would, though admittedly a huge factor is due to the already pre-established universe and continuity behind them. It's not a perfect ending, but as a movie that tells the story of Rocket and still manages to deliver satisfying stories for most of the cast, it's a fun one to watch! 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Post-Credits Scene:
  
• 
  The first post-credits scene shows Rocket Raccoon leading the brand-new incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy, saving a village from a stampede of alien beasts -- revealing that the new lineup consists of Groot (in an even larger form), Kraglin, Cosmo, Adam Warlock and one of the rescued kids, Phyla.
• The final post-credits scene has Peter Quill hang out with Jason and complain about their neighbour, while reading about a newspaper about Kevin Bacon's alien abduction, which happened in the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special. 
• Past Movies Continuity:
• Rocket's backstory is alluded to briefly in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie when he mentions being experimented on to Peter, and later flips out at Drax and saying that 'everyone's lost people', and how the Nova Corps are able to identify him as Subject 89P13. In addition, he has always been extremely violent at anyone identifying him as a 'raccoon'. 
• The Sovereign race, Stakar's group of Ravagers, as well as the Abilisks, return from Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. Adam Warlock was 'activated' in the post-credits scene of that movie as well. 
• Peter and Mantis being revealed to be siblings, as well as the aforementioned Kevin Bacon incident, happened in the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special. The Zarg-nut joke between Drax and Mantis also originated there. 
• The events surrounding Gamora's death, as well as Star-Lord's often-mocked 'fuck-up' with Thanos, happened in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
• Recurring background character Howard the Duck, the Broker from Guardians of the Galaxy, and the rockstar from Christmas Special, are seen playing cards with Cosmo and Kraglin. 
• Knowhere is finally identified as the 'head of a god' -- I don't remember if the term Celestial is used, but Knowhere is basically the same type of being as the Celestials from Eternals. 
• Thor's short tenure among the Guardians, seen in Thor: Love and Thunder, is noted in the credits where he has a cameo. Star-Lord also paraphrases Thor's line about how the 'galaxy needs its guardians'. 
• Rocket plays 'Come and Get Your Love' in the post-credits scene as the New Guardians charge into battle, which references the now-iconic introduction of Star-Lord in the first Guardians movie. 
• Movie Superhero Codenames: As with most Guardians movies, everyone's 'superhero codenames' are their real names. Special case goes to High Evolutionary, who becomes an alien and loses his human alter-ego (like Drax); and Rocket Raccoon, who finally and epically adds the 'Raccoon' part of his comic-book counterpart. Previously, he has only been called as 'Rocket' in-universe.
• Favourite Action Scene: Undoubtedly the original fight with Adam Warlock, spanning across Knowhere and showing off the powers of the existing lineup of the Guardians well. Again, I especially appreciate the choreography here and how much they really built up Adam Warlock as essentially a Superman/Vision/Ikaris-type superhuman. Love the new showcases for Nebula and Groot's "power-ups", too. 
• The hallway battle with the full roster of the Guardians fighting against the mutant animals is very cool, too!
• Funniest Line: "I will train it in the ways of the Sovereign... I will train it not to do that." The joke with Peter seriously considering hitting it off with Nebula is also hilarious. 
• Discounting pre-Disney+ TV shows, this movie features the MCU's first uncensored f-bomb... when Peter tells Nebula to "open the fucking door" to the car. Not even in an emotionally intense moment, just for a gag!
• Phyla is the MCU's adaptation of Phyla-Vell, the daughter of the Kree Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) in the comics. 
• Lylla, Teefs and Floor are a reference to Rocket Raccoon's supporting cast from the comics -- Lylla, Wal Rus and Blackjack O'Hare. Out of the three, though, only Lylla really has anything to do with her comic counterpart, with Teefs and Floor having minimal resemblance to their counterparts other than their animal species. 
• The Guardians' blue-and-red colour scheme is taken from the uniforms given to the Guardians in the original run that inspired these characters, right down to the insignias.
• The Guardians flew Knowhere into the middle of the battle similar to the climax of one of the Abnett/Lanning comics that inspired the film's version of the Guardians. 
• Groot's "kaiju" form resembles how Groot looks in the comics before the MCU essentially revised his appearance, which is a much more monstrous tree-monster -- particularly with the jagged 'crown'.
• Stakar's space helmet and the aura around it very much resembles his 'Starhawk' getup from the comics. 
• The High Evolutionary corrects Rocket's accent from British English to American English, which is probably a reference to how outside of the MCU, Rocket is often shown to have a thick Cockney accent. 
• 'Jason' is the name of Peter's father in the comics. Since the movie version changed this to Ego, Jason got shuffled into being Peter's grandfather instead. 

One Piece Anime: Wano Arc, Episodes 1061-1062 (Sanji vs. Queen; Zoro vs. King)

As the Wano country arc really starts to reach its climax, we're going to wrap up some of the major fights! Some pretty great animation is going on in some of these episodes for sure!

This was originally meant to be '1061-1065', but I realized that I rambled on for so much and fanboyed so much for these two episodes that... you know what? Screw it, I'll make these two stand on their own. 

And... I've seen apparently a lot of people complain about the 'Dragon Ball auras' in these series of episodes, but... I don't... I didn't even really find them distracting at all, honestly. They only really ever show up when the characters are like preparing for a clash, and you could really handwave them as a representation of the Haki. As long as the animation looks good, it looks good. 

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Episode 1061:

\\
• Oh yeah. This episode kind of made the rounds when it was released. Sanji vs. Queen!
• 
  Even the opening, with the digital 66 across the screen, the clones in the tanks, and the DNA strands, leading to Germa soldiers shooting up enemies and spreading war... it looks like something out of a much higher-budget sci-fi anime. Seeing the Germa transformation can overlaid in front of it really does highlight the sheer impact of Sanji rejecting his entire destiny, Judge and his bloodline. It's less about stubbornly refusing to use a power-up item like some fans frame this decision to be. Great addition by the anime!
• Also, yeah. We only see him as a jackass dad, but Vinsmoke Judge is a full-blown overlord. Let's not forget that!
• SPARKING QUEEN! Oh yeah, the rapid-fire laser beams look pretty. 
• Oh yeah, Henry Queen looks cool. Them rapid-fire punching each other while blue lightning blasts fill the screen? Pretty badass!
• Winch Queen looks a lot better now! The dynamic shots of Queen spinning Sanji around and bashing him bodily into the paper doors and walls are pretty great. 
• Yeah, the anime team did a really great job animating Sanji's flames when he blows up Queen's cyborg arm!
• "Are you trying to take away my freedom of speech?" Oh, Queen.
• FLANCHET STRIKE! Oh shit, the flames wrapping around Sanji's legs, the zoom-in to his eye, the speedy fiery zip through the screen... pretty cool!
  
• That is a pretty great delivery of Sanji's lines about how maybe without Vinsmoke's technology he might die like a dog, maybe he'll become a soulless machine on his own... but that day is not today, because today he's going to beat the shit out of Queen. 
• Some really great animation for Queen's invisibility! It's not just his outline, but the superimposition of his invisible self does look pretty cool. 
• Yeah, I really don't care for the Osome/Chuuji side-plot, but it does give a very convenient representation of how Sanji hasn't actually thrown away his humanity, yeah?
• We get a flashback of Queen actually asking Osome out and getting rejected. We also get to see more explicitly that Queen stealthed and slapped Osome in the midst of her conversation with Sanji...
• It does beggar the question why Queen doesn't slap Sanji while he's doing it. But I guess the whole 'I want to see the Vinsmoke technology' excuse works here. 
• And then Sanji realizing that some of the Vinsmoke abilities like his exoskeleton can be reduced to just tools in his arsenal? There's a neat message of rejecting your past, but not rejecting everything that comes with it here. 
  
• "IFRIT JAMBE! Faster acceleration! Heavier weight!"
• "Men should never hit women! That has been common sense since the age of the dinosaurs!"
• The jazz music that plays when Sanji first kicks Queen with Ifrit Jambe is pretty damn funky!
• And then the animation becomes super stylized as Queen rises up and Sanji Ifrits Jambe's him to shit with the anatomy-lesson-in-French!
• I wasn't sure about this stylizing when Queen does his initial flexing, but damn, that multi-organ beat-up is pretty damn smooth. 
• Queen gets to mock Sanji a bit, causing this amazing imagery of Sanji imagining himself in a wasteland, with a broken statue of Judge's head looming before him. And then we get Sanji declaring that "I am who I am!", and we get a great flashback to the Baratie arc and the sunlight pouring down on him as the 'iron mask' of his past breaks alongside the giant Judge statue head, before Zeff and the Straw Hats show up in the vision. Amazing!
  
• "I am Black Leg Sanji of the Straw-Hat Pirates!"
• And then we get the epic Wano fight music rising up as Queen unleashes laser barrages, Sanji blitzes forwards and we get a badass kick-down that briefly lights the whole area in black and blue. 
  
• BOUEF BURST!
• We get a scream-off before Queen gets sent off into the distance and out of Onigashima. But not before a very tokusatsu-esque laser explosion! 
• Of course we get a flashback to Sanji taking care of his own rat friends when he rescues Chuuji. 

Episode 1062:

• And we follow it up with Zoro vs. King! Man, this string of episodes are going to get replayed many times, huh. 
• Oh yeah, we just open up with King creating a giant wall of flames, and then Zoro causing the flames to disappear with a slash of his sword. That's like, three or four seconds at most, but damn, what a cool, slick sequence!
• The following clash of blades is also noticeably a lot more fancier-looking than the previous Zoro vs King sequences, and even the pteranodon-cannon fight that follows right afterwards. They really did save up a chunk of their budget for this batch of episodes, huh?
  
• I do really like the flashes of insight as Zoro tries to think on the previous times he's able to cut King, and that the camera just focuses ever so slightly on the fact that the flames are out. 
• Still a very stupid gimmick IMHO, but at least the anime does its best to highlight this as a showcase of Zoro's intelligence in the midst of a battle. 
• I guess it's supposed to be a counterpart to Zoro losing his right arm to Enma's Haki-draining properties every now and then? That's another thing that I felt was a bit more prominent in the anime, too. 
  
  
• Okay, King spinning around as a Looney Tunes tornado before stopping and slashing Zoro in a clash is pretty cool. 
• Santoryu: Ul-Tora Gari! Man, the zoom-in to the Haki lightning there is cool. 
  
• And then Zoro cuts King! With the blood and the red Haki lightning and the green aura around his swords and shit. Man, while I don't really care for the video game weakness factor of King's defeat, from a coolness factor standpoint, that was pretty neat!
• Yeah, that random Beast Pirate that gets Karyudon'd by King really is an idiot for having the bounty about Lunarian information be literally the second thing out of his mouth. 
• Great shot of King being framed in flames as he rips off his mask! And I didn't realize until he transforms into his pteranodon mode that his skin would also be gray in beast mode, considering the pteranodon mode we've seen so far have all been King wrapped up in his gimp suit. 
• King setting himself on fire and spinning around like a UFO is hilarious as shit, though. 
• 
  Yeah, Zoro, saying "you guys have reigned long enough" is unintentionally very offensive to King's Lunarian heritage, huh?
• EN'OU! SANTORYU! RENGOKU! ONI GIRI!
• Oh god, the power-up shot. 
• The charge with the purple aura, then Zoro blasting the aura apart.
• And then like several dozen rapid-fire slashes cutting the screen.
• Then the terrain exploding into cubes.
  
• And then the area between King and Zoro just gets turned into a crater by the sheer shockwave of the attack. 
• And then we have the King flashback, which I do find interesting that the anime adds the little bit of 'flashback to five seconds ago while Zoro is powering up' to see just when King is having this moment of self-introspection. 
• Always gotta love a good 'test subject breaks out from a secure lab' scene. I don't think I've ever gotten tired of one of these. 
• Man, young Kaido kinda looks like a punk. 
• I do really find that these bits of Kaido's backstory to be interesting, and not a day goes by that I don't find it a huge shame that we don't get a full, proper Kaido flashback. Rocks-era spoilers, yeah, I don't really care. But I really do want to get more hints on just why Kaido thinks he wants to change the world, and why. Some vague talk about 'survival of the fittest' really doesn't work here since we barely get to see Kaido's side of things, just King's. 
• Oh, little King blocking bullets with his skin and then rage-charging them is cool!
• 
  I do really like, too, that Kaido basically gave King hope. The same way, say, Luffy gave hope to some of his comrades like Robin or Kin'emon or Kyros or Vivi or whoever. And then we cut this to King roaring that "the world only needs one king!" 
• Oh, King unleashing his fire sword into the sky, the zoom in to his face, before he unleashes that Karyudon attack...
  
• And then the flames charge forwards like a serpent, past the flying rocks, and Zoro has to kick against a rock to dodge the flames... such smooth animation!
• And then King and Zoro clash, as the fiery debris of King's attack fall down around them, one of which cause a giant explosion that engulfs the giant background in red-hot fiery magma, and then they fly through the flames... honestly, this is going to be one hell of a hard episode to decide which shots to screencap because everything's so pretty!
• And then we get King just blitzing across the battlefield so hard that we're just seeing fire slashes all over the place. 
• YAKKODORI! Yeah, that was a very cool clash between the two. Man, this is an episode I'll rewatch for sure.
• UL-TORA GARI! The spinning beyblade Zoro is a bit too ridiculous, but I absolutely love that the clash sends out so much shockwaves that the area behind King got cratered. Holy shit. 
• Okay, some of the blurring effects in the Ul-Tora Gari sequence didn't work out the best, I feel, compared to the rest of this episode. 
• "Why are you blocking? I thought this attack won't harm you!"
• HOLY SHIT KING'S POWER UP. There's just several fast frames of him looking absolutely demonic and engulfed with flames, before we cut away to him spreading his wings wide and swooping in. 
• And then King spins around in the sky, creating several orbiting wheels of flame. This looks so fucking cool! The whirling flames, King being a red star in the midst of it all as we zoom into his face, and then we pan back out to see the sheer scale of destruction he's causing with the winds caused by his wings...
  
• And then King unleashes his Karyudon, and it's like a goddamn orbital laser as the rings just focus together and unleash a beam, which then spread out into goopy string of fiery magma dragons. 
• Does it make sense? King doesn't even have a Devil Fruit. But I don't care, it's fucking cool, his sword is an orbital laser that shoots fire dragons, why the fuck not!
• And then Zoro cuts his way through one of these magma dragons, and then just makes his way and cuts his way through it all just tearing his way into the heart of the storm... it's like a superhero movie, y'know?
  
• And then King unleashes the mother of all Karyudons, pulsing like a Kamehameha beam, and Zoro responds with EN-OU: SANTORYU!'
• The 'ryu' in Zoro's 'Santoryu' is normally written with the kanji for 'flow', which English translators elect to translate as 'style', but for En'ou Santoryu, it's written with the kanji for dragon. 
• Oh boy, the way that Zoro's acceleration just really causes the rubble and his body to stretch out into the background...
• IPPYAKUSANJO!
• And then he just blows up the magma dragon! The other magma dragons dissipate, and King activates a gigantic fiery blade of his own. 
  
• HIRYU JIGOKU!
• Also, yeah, the anime and Nakai Kazuya's intense voice acting is going to forever burn these Zoro techniques and their long names into my head. Previously it had been Ichidai Sanzen Daisansekai and Asura Bakkei: Moja no Tawamure. Now it's En'ou Santoryu: Ippyakusanjo Hiryu Jigoku!
• ...yeah, okay, King's voice actor is making it work, but "Extra Large Karyudon" just isn't quite as badass as "103 Mercies: Dragon Damnation".
• Oh yeah, the Joyboy reference and how King really wants to make Kaido the King of Pirates. That's a thing that happens at the end! I really do like the end of this fight, where there's a melancholic tinge because King has a goal that's... that's so admirable. It's literally the same goal that Zoro and Ace had. It's just that he has to go down because the world with Kaido as the King of Pirates is an apocalypse. Good fight, good fight. I have such a bigger appreciation for King as a character after this episode's equivalent of the manga chapter. 
• Oh yeah. Zoro stating his dreams of not being defeated right after King was a great showcase of their parallel.
• "...I shall become the King of Hell." God fucking damn, Zoro, you cool. 
• Oh shit, Zoro just casually hitting the air, and then zipping back to Onigashima to land in a crater as the shamishen plays in the background and the narrator talks... and the Zorro-style Z slash before the 'to be continued'! Classy.

Anyway, that was my several-hundred-word fanboying over these two episodes. I hope it's coherent. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll rewatch the final fights of the two episodes again! 

Reviewing Monsters: Persona 5, Part 12

So yeah, I cleared Futaba's palace within like three days of the time limit set by the game, so I feel like this is probably the longest 'downtime' in the game I had in-between Palaces? It doesn't hurt that the threat of Medjed, the antagonist of this arc, is nowhere as foreboding as the previous three antagonists. 

Regardless, this means a lot of side-questing for me and going through Confidants. I've maxed out Takemi, Yoshida and Ryuji (hence why he's here), and I maxed out Kasumi's measly five levels (I know I need to get her and a couple others to maximum if I want to play the final arc of Royal) and I have finally dipped my toes into some of the other confidants we meet a bit later into the game. 

I also have kind of been ignoring Mementos because I wanted to power through the story content, which meant that I had like the entire area unlocked by Kaneshiro left unexplored... and in addition to a couple of extra requests given from the confidant missions, I went in with six missions at once. It was a pretty long Mementos session, and I was just continually going back aorth to the Velvet Room to basically try out fusion combinations with random nd fnew Personas I got in Mementos. 

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Seiten Taisei

• Monster Name: N/A
• Arcana: Chariot

So when you reach maximum Confidant with your party members, turns out that their Persona will evolve! Ryuji's Captain Kidd evolves into... Seiten Taisei, the Japanese reading of Sun Wukong's title "Qitian Dasheng" (齊天大聖) or "Great Sage, Equal of Heaven". Sun Wukong, if you don't know who he is, is the protagonist of the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West. (And inspiration to Son Goku, for all of you anime geeks out there). A monkey born from a rock who eventually caught the attention of heaven, Sun Wukong spent the first half of the novel wreaking havoc all across the various planes of hell and heaven, learning 72 transformation skills, stealing a giant pillar that he can shrink into a pole, and stealing and changing the artifacts of the heavens to obtain immortality. After his rampage where he manhandles heaven's troops, the Jade Emperor calls Buddha himself, and imprisons Sun Wukong for 500 years. In the second half of the novel, the monk Tang Sanzang frees Sun Wukong, and teaches him the values of peace. As they travel to India in a pilgrimage, Tang Sanzang would recruit two more companions, the pig demon Zhu Bajie and the river demon Sha Wujing. The group would continue to fight demons that would menace them, intending to consume Tang Sanzang's flesh which could bring immortality. Eventually, the group would reach their destination and obtain the holy scriptures. They would be rewarded and Sun Wukong would ascend to Buddhahood. 

Anyway, keeping in the themes of 'rebels' and 'thieves', Sun Wukong was rebelling against the heavens and the rules laid to him, using his mighty powers to knock everyone around. But there's also a story of redemption and of temperance there, and Ryuji's confidant story, while not a one-on-one, does feature him confronting the people who think he betrayed them and ending up solving the problem through guile and investigation alongside a companion who teaches him how to be better.

Seiten Taisei's design is... basically rock-punk Sun Wukong, yeah? Gigantic crown, loud colours, a cape, some chains around his body... I think there's a neat little visual evolution from Ryuji's initial Captain Kidd. Instead of riding a boat, Seiten Taisei is instead riding on a cloud, just like Sun Wukong is often shown to be riding on. And the cloud has angry eyes! He's holding the Ruyi Jingubang, Wukong's magical size-changing staff. In the story, Wukong sought to find a weapon, but constantly breaks through the weapons offered to him because they were 'too light'. The East Sea Dragon King then presented Wukong with this giant pillar, which weighs 13,5000 catties or almost 8000 kilograms -- hence the graffiti on Seiten Taisei's version of the rod. The rod expands in girth and size when Seiten Taisei attacks, just like how it is in the original Journey to the West. Love the punk aesthetic, too, with both ends of the rod having spikes and nails attached to them. 

Pisaca

• Monster Name: Corpse-Eating Corpse
• Arcana: Death

And first up, we'll start off with probably one of my favourite things on this page, the Pisaca. I'm sorry, this guy looks like he's from Resident Evil or something. Look at this nasty-ass guy! He's a desiccated humanoid with a gigantic mouth that runs down where a mouth should be all the way to the crotch. The entire front part of his body is a big, vertical mouth, and the rest of his humanoid body is this nasty, almost insect-looking texture. Oh, and he's got two weird-ass tentacle eyes that brings to mind a slug or something. Nasty, in all the best ways. 

The Pisaca, or more accurately the Pishacha, are demonic flesh-eating demons in Buddhist and Hindu mythologies. The origin of the Pishacha vary depending on the myths, but are often noted to be the creation of Brahma, and myths note that the Pishachas are evil, monstrous spirits that haunt cremation grounds. They aer described to have bulging veins and protruding red eyes -- the protruding red eyes gets translated by the SMT monster design team as snail eyes, which I thought was an interestingly fun way to make it a bit more distinct than 'just a monster with a big mouth'. 

Pishachas are noted to be able to shapeshift, become invisible, and can possess human beings and cause insanity, and some myths say that anyone who sees a Pishacha is doomed to die within nine months. Thus, certain mantras are done to keep them away, and they are given offerings during certain religious rituals and festivals to keep them sated. Also note that while the Persona description call them as a type of Preta, or Hungry Ghost, I really can't find anything in the myths to connect the two, other than getting offerings and being malicious spirits. 

Lachesis

• Monster Name: N/A
• Arcana: Wheel of Fortune

We talked about Clotho of the three Moirai of Greek legend, or the Sisters of Fate. Whereas Clotho the Spinner spun the thread of fate, it was Lachesis the Allotter who measured the thread of life allotted to every person. Allotter means the 'drawer of lots', and she decides how much time was allowed for each person's thread. After using her rod to measure each person's fated life, some myths also note that Lachesis would be the one to choose a person's destiny. Some myths note that Lachesis will visit babies after three days of their birth to decide their fate. 

I really couldn't say much about Lachesis as a design, though. She sure is a woman with a fancy purple-white hairdo, a full-body jumpsuit thing, a cape, and she's holding a thread. There's a neat bit where the three Fate sisters actually make a full image if you put their official idle poses (and their artworks) side by side, and the pattern on Lachesis's cape is the same on Clotho's skirt and Atropos's, uh... weird hat-thin on her head (I've spoiled myself on what she looks like in this franchise). I do like my Greek mythos, and I appreciate the three Fates being here, but I really can't find much to say about Lachesis that I already haven't said about Clotho. 

Lilim

• Monster Name: Woman Who Brings Ruin
• Arcana: Devil

And now we have Lilim! The Lilim (or Lilin) are seductress demons that reside in hell from ancient Jewish and Mesopotamian folklore. There really isn't too much about them that I can find that isn't from pop culture, unlike the Lilim's mother, the demoness Lilith (who I'm sure will show up eventually). The Lilim are the daughters of Lilith, and are characterized as night spirits who harm children and seduce men, but drain them of their life-essence. 

I really don't have a whole ton to say about the Lilim, because they are always mentioned in passing and in reference to their mother. I do appreciate them making her look more 'modernized' with hot pants and an open shirt, compared to the more medieval, fantasy-looking Succubus design earlier. 

Ara Mitama

• Monster Name: N/A
• Arcana: Chariot

I think this is our last Mitama? I have even less to say about the Mitamas than I do Lachesis. Ara Mitama, as shown by its angry angry face, is one of the four aspects of Shinto thought, and represents aggression, forcefulness, and other angry and passionate emotions. It can lead in a negative direction, sure, but it can also increase one's bravery and endeavours. It's the wild and more untamed side of someone's spirit, the opposite of the more harmonized Nigi Mitama.

Mitra

• Monster Name: N/A
• Arcana: Temperance

NOT to be confused with Mithras, who we covered a bit earlier, that's a Roman guy! Which might or might not be inspired by this guy, who inspired another god in Zoroastrian myths called Mithra! Ain't archaeology and the bleeding of cultures fun, guys? 

Anyway, I got a bit confused reading all about Mitra, Mithra and Mithras (get confused here!), some of which inspired each other, but I think this guy is specifically the version in the Zoroastrian mythology. Mithra is a deity of contracts that was the protector of truth, created by the supreme deity Ahura-Mazda, and would become one of the greatest Yazatas (a term roughly equivalent to deity). In addition to his role as a god of covenants and justice, Mithra is also sometimes revered as a sun god, and is often seen as a sun god that is associated with time as well as seasonal change. Mithra is also one of the three judges at the Chinvat Bridge, who will judge all souls as they pass to the land of the dead. 

The lion-headed figure with a snake wrapped around him is actually something that's associated with the Roman Mithras! Click here, about Arimanius to learn a bit more. The two pictures in the Wikipedia article there basically form the shape of the Persona design, yeah? A man holding two ritual sticks, with a lion head, and a serpent wrapped around him, with wings... that's basically the figures associated with Mithraic worship, yeah?

...which is to say, it's a pretty cool and unexpected design, but boy oh boy I am a bit too tired to talk any more about this without going on a wide, long tangent about how cultures influence each other and end up causing the spread of several similarly-named gods, some of which evolve and change within the myths of their own separate individual cultures!

Bugs

• Monster Name: Killer Teddy Bear
• Arcana: Fool

I haven't actually encountered this guy as a Persona, but she shows up as the monster version of one of the Mementos bosses. I was a bit confused why they referred to her as a 'Bugs' in the Wikis, but it makes sense that 'Bugs' is apparently short for Bugbear... and that informed the design! But we'll talk about Bugbears first. Bugbears are a type of goblin from a lot of English folklore, basically a term that's synonymous with a 'boogeyman' or a 'goblin' or a 'bugaboo'. It's basically a catch-all term for a creepy, terrifying creature that they use to scare children, although some specific medieval England terms do characterize the Bugbear as a monstrous bear that lurked in the woods. Anyway, it's a 'thing that goes bump in the night', all creepy and stuff. 

...and I absolutely love the interpretation of Bugbear by the SMT team as a literal evil bear. Get it? Bug-BEAR? Except this is clearly a nightmare teddy bear, fitting with the 'boogeyman' thing. I've seen so many interpretations of the Bugbear as just... well, a standard goblin, most likely inspired by D&D's take on the Bugbear. 

And, well, I've seen a bunch of creepy teddy bears in my time, but I love the beady yellow eyes that glow so unnaturally, the fangs, the blood splattered around its body... but, of course, the most striking feature is that line running down the Bugs' stomach, exposing the skulls of her victims that she proudly shows off in her belly. Damn, that's a pretty creepy look for a nightmarish monster meant to scare little children!

Unicorn

• Monster Name: Expressionless Beast
• Arcana: Faith

We'll close this with a Persona I got through fusion, and... it's a unicorn! We met the Bicorn as one of the earliest monsters in the game. It sure is a unicorn, it's a horse with a narwhal's horn! It's... it's basically the most basic way you could make a unicorn, although Persona's unicorn is a tad bit angrier with blood-red eyes and a grimace. The text notes some of the most common myths about the unicorn,  like how its horn has miraculous healing properties, and how it can only be ridden by virgin maidens. 

I almost wished that the game design, which had been shown to be a bit more creative in cherry-picking its inspirations, to take some of the weirder unicorn depiction. Like the versions with a cow's body? There's also a lot of 'distortion' about the myth of the unicorn, where the oldest legends focus more on its wildness, whereas later on its association with being companions to pure maidens ended up turning the unicorn into the mildest, sweetest thing ever. Again, I guess it's going to be a bit hard to portray it visually as a monster, but they manage to do it with some of the other deities and mythological creatures that evolve over time. 

Anyway, this sure is a unicorn! Kind of a letdown after Mitra and Bugbear, huh?

Movie Review: Black Adam

Black Adam (2022)

So yeah, I think we have reached that saturation in terms of superhero movies, and with the Marvel Cinematic Universe kind of floundering and just churning out obligatory movies, people are looking at the DC machine to do something. Unfortunately, DC's rather... eclectic movie release order hasn't really done its storytelling any favours, feeling less like a cohesive universe and more of a bunch of independent, standalone stories that sometimes feature a couple of shared actors and characters. It does solve the problem of heavy continuity that alienates a lot of people from jumping into the MCU, but it also means that... well, you really can skip large amounts of DC movies without missing anything too significant. 

That is to say, Black Adam is... it's a solid movie, in the same vein of the second Suicide Squad movie, or the Robert Pattinson The Batman movie. It's also a movie that isn't really 'necessary' watching since a lot of the tropes and story beats in this movie are ones already covered by so many other superhero movies out there -- and especially within the DCEU itself. In the comics, I've always found Black Adam to be fun because, as the movie's promotional material insists, Black Adam is an anti-hero that doesn't think twice about killing his enemies, unlike those squeaky-clean DC superheroes...

...except, y'know, the DCEU has (rather controversially) built itself on the brand that its flaghsip superheroes, Batman and Superman, do kill. Aquaman and both Suicide Squads both had rather violent heroes as well, making it a bit less of an innovation to have it be the core concept for the Black Adam movie. Black Adam's traditional foe, Captain Marvel (or 'Shazam', as we're supposed to call him now) would be a great counterpoint, except other than a brief cameo from the Wizard, there's scant little to tie Black Adam to his traditional nemesis. 

But anyway, I digress. The movie itself is a pretty great distillation and adaptation of Black Adam himself, and it's rather competently done -- most of the action scenes are neat, and the scripting is solid enough without being anything particularly spectacular. Dwayne Johnson is clearly enjoying himself as Black Adam, which I think is pretty important. There is a neat little plot twist that genuinely surprised me in the middle of the movie, while the Justice Society showing up as secondary characters is a fun touch -- though obviously the main bulk of the interesting characterization fall to Dr. Fate and Hawkman. 

I actually don't really care about the supporting civilian cast of Adrianna, Amon and Karim, even though I acknowledge their importance to having Black Adam some civilian mortals from Kahndaq to care about. It's just that their characters are rather flat and one-note and nowhere as funny as the movie thinks they are.

Speaking of which, I would add that while I do appreciate some of the jokes being told, not all of them are funny? I don't think it's quite as bad as the theatrical version of Justice League had, and Black Adam's constant confusion with catchphrases and modern-day sarcasm is neat, but I didn't really care for Amon and Karim's comedy bits. 

We start off in prehistoric times, in 2600 BC, where the tyrant-king Ahk-Ton brutalizes his people and force them to mine Eternium, our plot device items, in order to create the profane artifact known as the Crown of Sabbac, which would allow him to attain great power. We get to see a young boy end up inspiring rebellion and eventually being summoned by the Wizard and granted the power of the gods to be able to transform into a Champion by chanting the word 'Shazam'. 

We then smash-cut to present-day Kahndaq, and it's rather surprising to see it be a bit more... futuristic? The criminal organization Intergang has used its technology and soldiers to essentially oppress the entire nation of Kahndaq, and we follow the family of archaoelogist and rebel Adrianna Tomaz as she goes around looking for the Crown of Sabbac. Again, these characters aren't the most interesting ones, and I wasn't particularly engaged at this part of the movie. Adrianna has a skateboarding son Amon (who obviously befriends Adam later), his dorky brother Karim, the shifty Ishmael and a couple of others. Long story short, some of Adrianna's other friends get killed, Adrianna unleashes Black Adam by reading the incantation, and Black Adam is unleashed upon the soldiers. 

And it is a pretty fun moment as tanks and helicopters start to roll up and attack Black Adam, who seems more baffled than anything as he slaughters all these soldiers. It's a pretty neat action scene, even if I'm not the biggest fan of some of this movie's background music choices, which I think clash rather hard with the tone it's trying to convey. The action scenes are cool to watch, of course, and there's a very fun adrenaline-inducing moment as we see Black Adam use his super-speed, super-strength and lightning bolts to take out the faceless baddies. 

Black Adam is wounded from an Eternium missile and recovers with the Tomaz family, and generally acts all evasive about his history and how they insist that Black Adam needs to be Kahndaq's Champion. 

While Ishmael reveals himself to be alive and basically the leader of Intergang as far as this movie is concerned, we get the arrival of Amanda Waller from the USA, who sends the Justice Society -- comprised of veterans Hawkman and Dr. Fate, as well as two younger ones Atom Smasher and Cyclone -- to stop Black Adam before he destroys Kahndaq and the rest of the world. 

And... the Justice Society members are rather basic. Cyclone doesn't really have a personality beyond being a peppy smart girl, Atom Smasher is the butt of a lot of the jokes because this is his first superhero outing and his gigantification kind of causes a fair bit of collateral damage. Hawkman is a bit more gung-ho at completing his mission, though later on we do get a fair bit of ideological debate between him and Black Adam. Dr. Fate channels all the charisma of Pierce Brosnan, clearly knowing certain ways of how this conflict is going to end, and trying to avoid the worst of it. The CGI for these guys are pretty competent, with Dr. Fate's sparkly, mirror-like magical effects being easily the most impressive.

And while the movie does have a segment where Adrianna calls out the Justice Society for only showing up when Black Adam is wreaking havoc and ignoring Kahndaq when it's being oppressed by Intergang, there... really isn't any huge reconciliation or deconstruction of the Justice Society's stance beyond that. They decide to work with Black Adam, and while there are a couple of fun little moments between Hawkman and Adam about killing enemies, interrogating soldiers and the like, it all takes a backseat when Amon gets kidnapped and everyone important decides to shrug, and decide to put saving the boy as the priority. 

Anyway, Ishmael is the descendant of King Ahk-Ton, which was kind of obvious if you were paying attention to the fact that the two of them were played by the same actor. Ishmael does some evil villain ranting, before we get an honestly rather ridiculously long slow-motion rescue sequence of Black Adam deflecting a bullet. Adam kills Ishmael and the Intergang goons, but wounds Amon in the process (non-fatally, they've got some Nth-Metal stuff on Hawkman's ship) and the guilt-ridden Black Adam flies off to the ruins of the throne of Kahndaq. 

Oh, and in the movie's best moment, Teth-Adam reveals to Adrianna and Hawkman that he wasn't the real Champion, and this was a moment that I thought was pretty cleverly done. The boy in the prologue that was turned into a champion was actually Teth-Adam's son Hurut, and the real Teth-Adam was Hurut's dad, who kept telling him to keep his head down. Hurut was the true, pure, heroic champion that the Wizard chose... and he ended up giving up his powers and giving them to Teth-Adam to save him from certain death at the hands of Ahk-Ton's assassins.

Not the most revolutionary plot twist, but one that really did feel clever, giving Black Adam's "I'm not a hero" insistence a good reason. 

This realization ends up causing Black Adam to give up his power, and the Justice Society takes the now-mortal Teth-Adam into a Task Force X black ops site where he's kept in stasis. However, Dr. Fate's premonitions about Hawkman's death doesn't disappear... and we see that Ishmael's spirit has arrived with the Crown of Sabbac to hell the Rock of Finality. The demons transform him into Sabbac, a muscular demonic being, who... doesn't look anywhere as impressive as any of the other special effects in this movie, I'm sorry. 

Sabbac unleashes some skeleton demons on Kahndaq, and the civilians get an obligatory 'rally a block of people to fight the faceless goons' scene. The Justice Society fighting Sabbac is a bit more fun. Again, the movie focuses mostly on the two adults, Hawkman and Dr. Fate, whose action scenes get a bit more focus. Ultimately, Dr. Fate creates a shield that locks out the other three JSA members and fights Sabbac one-on-one to prevent Hawkman's death, with a very cool speech about how he doesn't see the future anymore and it's liberating. As he uses clones and Nabu seals to knock Sabbac around, Dr. Fate uses his magic to remotely open Teth-Adam's cell, releasing him and giving him a motivational speech. Teth-Adam beats up some soldiers and somehow swims through the Antarctic ocean to reach the surface, before transforming into a full gold-plated Black Adam form. 

Black Adam arrives to fight Sabbac alongside some assistance from Hawkman, and ultimately Black Adam rips Sabbac right in half and stops the big demonic portal in the sky. The Justice Society leaves on good terms with Black Adam. We close the movie with Black Adam sitting on the throne of Kahndaq as the Tomaz family watch him... then decides that it feels wrong. He flies up, destroys the throne, and declares that Kahndaq needs a protector instead of a ruler, adopting the name Black Adam. 

The mid-credits scene show Superman (Henry Cavill's Superman, that is) arriving under Amanda Waller's orders to meet Black Adam, suggesting that they talk. 

And... that's it. It's a pretty okay movie for the first half, even with the rather one-note civilian cast. It's just such a shame that any ideological questions about interfering with another nation, or to keep the status quo, or killing enemies, end up being handwaved aside to 'oh shit, we've got bigger problems'. Sabbac is also a rather weak villain come the end of it, and while we do get a pretty neat action scene between him, Dr. Fate, Hawkman and Black Adam, Sabbac doesn't quite feel as engaging as an antagonist. The movie does a pretty good job at basically building up Black Adam and the basics of his mythos, and it's done rather competently. Not a bad action movie to watch, honestly. 

One Piece 1083 Review: Silhouette-Silhouette no Mi

One Piece, Chapter 1083: The Death of Nefertari Cobra

Man, this Reverie flashback just keeps on giving, huh? We pick up right where we left off, thankfully, with Cobra reacting in shock to the sight of Imu on the throne. Imu addresses Cobra and... we don't really get any sense of whether Imu speaks with a masculine, feminine, robotic, or any kind of voice other than 'intimidating as all hell'. 

Cobra actually identifies the name 'Imu' as one of the first twenty rulers that became the Celestial Dragons, which... Imu themselves (which is the pronoun to use until we get a confirmed gender) deflect this statement with a talk about how curiousity is impertinent, and will not be dignified with an answer. 

Imu then talks about some queries that Cobra and the Gorosei had been discussing last chapter, confirming something that we know -- 'D' is the moniker of their ancient enemy... and that it had cropped up more frequently recently, but it's nothing but a faint echo since those who carry the name don't even know the actual meaning. Which we've seen before with Saul confirming that he had no idea what the 'D' is other than it's important, and most certainly the likes of Luffy on't care to know. 

Imu then rants about a blunder caused by Queen Lili 800 years ago, and how it's comparable to the scholars of Ohara looking for the truth behind the Void Century. Imu also makes it rather explicit that Lili's "incompetence" was what scattered the Poneglyphs all around the world, causing pirates to hunt them down and try to decipher the true history. Imu then quickly goes through another angry rant, about how they wonder if Lili's 'mistake' was, in fact, on purpose. It most assuredly is!

And then as Cobra reacts in shock, we get panels of the five Gorosei pulling out their guns (and Fake Gandhi pulls out the sword, of course) and Cobra basicallty realizes that, yes, he's not going to leave that room alive. 

Imu then continues to talk as Cobra realizes that the Gorosei are gathering around him with weapons drawn, and Imu notes how deliberate Cobra has been in referring to Queen Lili as "Queen Lili of House Nefertari', and demands that Cobra divulge the full name written on the letter. The Gorosei, though, make it clear that Cobra's fate was already sealed the moment he saw Imu... and den name-drops Lili's full name as Nefertari D. Lili. 

Which... yeah. A big bombshell, isn't it? This means that retroactively, Cobra and Vivi are both 'D' members. Nefertari D. Vivi! Man, I am pretty hyped for Vivi rejoining the crew for sure!

And then a weird goopy black tentacle-arrow thing unfurls from somewhere, and impales Cobra right through the gut! It's... I've gone a bit back and forth but the way the two-page spread is laid out, it's really unclear if it's Imu or one of the Gorosei that (presumably) transforms into this mass of black shadows that has an arrow on it. We don't really get a wide shot of the situation...

And then Sabo unleashes the mother of all HIKEN's, enveloping all the Gorosei. He then unleashes another blast of fiery attack called Smothered Mate up the throne at Imu...

And then something weird happens. Imu's eyes seems to distort, and I'm not sure if they just distorted out of rage, or if they are actually transforming. But whatever it is, some kind of jagged black jaw chomps down on Sabo's fire attack. This could very well be Imu himself transforming... or one of the Gorosei members moving quick enough to intercept the attack. 

The very next shot shows five figures, transformed, surrounding the Empty Throne. We don't exactly see Imu, but he could be protected by one of them. And we do see five figures:

• A big blobby guy with long hands that's crawling down from the top of the Throne, which, if it's not Imu, then is one of the Gorosei moving fast enough to cover Imu. 
• An Onigashima-looking horned bull-creature on the left.
• A weird long-necked zombie hag thing with the 'awakening clouds' very visible. Presumably this one if Fake Gandhi?
• A bird with a hideous neck and weird wings.
• A weird figure with tiny wings on his head and what appears to be tusks? The silhouette of this guy reminds me of the one Gorosei with the long beard and long hair. 

And there are theories out there. These five are shadow constructs created by Imu's power. These five are shadow constructs created by one of the Gorosei's power. They are all mythical Zoans. They are all mythical Zoans mixed with other powers.

But really, it's pretty obvious to me that these are all just the Gorosei, transformed, all of whom are Devil Fruit users. The jury's out whether they're all Zoans (bird boy and awakening-clouds guy probably are) and they could be Logias or Paramecias, too. But the middle-left panel of Sabo and Cobra running away while the silhouettes of the Gorosei chasing them has an additional set of eyes on a 'menacing' background which I assume represents Imu. 

And... yeah, I know, Wano was a arc with a whole lot of Zoans, but those are Ancient Zoans and I would definitely believe that this are all Mythical Zoans, if they all are Zoans. There's also debate if the blackness surrounding them are literal, or if it's just a narrative device intentionally keeping them in the dark until it is time to actually reveal them, similar to the Numbers during the Wano arc. I could see this going either way.

Anyway, this is easily the hype-est of the revelations in this already high-tension chapter. We get to see the Den Den Mushi on the wall that takes a picture of Sabo for the newspapers, so there's that plot point covered. Sabo and Cobra quickly bond over them knowing Luffy, before Sabo tries to escape with Cobra. Cobra tells Sabo to give a message to Luffy -- that they're both sharing the moniker 'D'. We get a brief flashback of Sabo talking to little Luffy and little Ace, and they joke about Sabo getting the 'D' middle-name as SaD. Bo. 

And then the weird shadow-arrow tentacle thing pierces through Sabo and Cobra again, which I think is the final, mortal blow that finally ends Cobra's life. Cobra stands up and seems to block another attack from hitting Sabo, while reading Nefertari D. Lili's letter. 

Oh, while all of this is going on we tie another loose end from what we found has happened in the present day. Somehow, of all people, Wapol witnessed everything from a hole in the wall, and realizes how fucked he would be if the World Government finds him. Wapol reminds us why he's a terrible person by saying that it's a good thing that 'Cobra the Senile' died, but then he runs off. 

We get a brief check-in in the Grand Round Table where the other kings (other than Riku and Neptune, who are suspicious) talk about Cobra and Wapol's confirmed absence, and King Hamburger thinks this is because Cobra has done what he needed to do when he gave the speech about the dissolution of the Shichibukai.

There's also a brief check-in with Shirahoshi, who wonders where Vivi is... and Vivi has found herself abducted by CP-0, leading to a nice re-introduction to Kalifa and Jabra.  Kalifa notes that the government is planning to 'disappear' her, and that she might live the rest of her life as a pet (hopefully as a prisoner instead of a Celestial Dragon's literal pet), but Vivi was far more concerned about Shirahoshi's well-being than her own. 

Jabra also delivers two very important pieces of information. Sai and Leo announced themselves boldly as members of the Straw Hat Fleet. Retroactively, this is probably another factor in what made Luffy be considered a Yonko since he's revealed to have a fleet. Meanwhile, explaining how Morley managed to ninja away and rescue Kuma when we last saw him fighting Ryokugyu, turns out that Fujitora's actions had helped the Revolutionaries free slaves, causing a fight between him and Ryokugyu. It's interesting that this is a way to give the Revolutionaries a win while still keeping the Admirals relatively 'hyped up' in terms of power, since they found it difficult to act -- first because they fought in Marie Geoise and can't use large-scale attacks, second because Fujitora wanted to free the slaves, and third because of this literal infighting. 

After getting this information, Vivi seems to start to concoct a plan to escape, so it's nice to see that she's not completely helpless. Something else saves her, though -- the chapter ends in a rather comedic tone as Wapol bursts through the room, munching through everything and Vivi ends up hanging on to Wapol in the midst of it all. The silly CP-0 agents are too busy being dumbfounded by the bizarre appearance of a metal-jawed hippo man literally eating through the wall. The punchline of this chapter is Wapol's wife, Ms. Universe, being shocked at what he thinks is Wapol eloping with a young mistress.... a bit of a jarring scene compared to the rest of the chapter, but... eh. 

Random Notes:

• Imu addresses Cobra referring to themselves as 'Mu', which, in addition to being a shortened form of Imu, could also mean alternately 'void' or 'dream'.
• If Imu is truly one of the original 20 kings (and they definitely is) then Imu most likely had the Op Op Fruit's immortal surgery done on them.
• I guess Imu is not Lili, then, and that rather intimidating panel of Lili from the previous chapter is just a misdirection. 
• Fake Gandhi is definitely holding the Shodai Kitetsu, isn't he? That hilt is kind of a dead ringer with the Sandai Kitetsu. 
• Smothered Mate is a checkmate delivered by a knight in which the mated king is unable to move because it is completely surrounded (or smothered) by its own pieces. Presumably, if Sabo actually kills Imu, it's because Imu is unable to move because the Gorosei are all around him.
• A lot of the speculation is that the Gorosei and Imu are all non-combatants, and the combatants in the 'final arc' is going to be left to the God's Knights... but realistically, other than the possible 'Shanks's brother/father', I would really care more about the Gorosei being opponents. We've seen them in the background for so long, it would be nice if they get to fight!
• So assuming we eliminate the three Ancient Weapons (Pluto/Pluton, Uranus, Neptune/Poseidon) are the Gorosei members just called Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn? With Imu perhaps representing Earth? 
• Screaming demon-humanoid Gorosei, the second on the left, is creepy. 
• Casually having a Den Den Mushi on the wall, in a room where Imu regularly hangs out in, just sounds like the recipe for a serious security breach. 
• There is a joke that Sa D. Bo can be written as "Sad. Bo" or "Sad Boi", the opposite to Joy Boy. Funny as it is, I don't think this very English-specific joke is going to work. 
• How the hell does the Kano Kingdom not get into trouble, when Sai, the bodyguard to the Kano Kingdom, proclaims himself as an underling of the Straw Hats?
• I mean, Don Chinjao also has an active bounty, and he was still actively serving the Kano Kingdom even during the events of Dressrosa. I guess Kano's just weird. 
• So the injuries we saw Fujitora have in the scene where he goes off to arrest the Shichibukai is given to him by Ryokugyu, since both him and Karasu were still 'clean' when we last saw them?