Reviewing Monsters: The Legend of Zelda - Minish Cap, Part 2

The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap

Part two of my coverage of Minish Cap enemies. Originally meant to be a single article, I cut it into two articles because of length. 

Ghini: We start this half of the article off with yet another returning enemy -- good ol' Ghinis! Ghinis are still one-eyed spherical ghosts that stick their tongues out at you. In an attack that I don't remember seeing in games prior to this, Ghinis will wrap Link with their tail and lick Link. Okay, sure!

Gibdo: Gibdos make their apperance here, and I like how the Gibdo in the Minish Cap really does look like someone in a cheap Halloween's costume, with those sausage fingers poking out of the bandages as it moves threateningly towards us. While Zelda has never been the most realistic game out there, it does make TMC Gibdo look a bit more different. As with traditional 2D Gibdos, burning off their bandages will turn them into Stalfos... which begs the question, though, where did the flesh in the fingers come from? 

Door Mimic: Ah, more mimics! They pretend to be gateways that are locked by small keys, but when Link approaches them the door sections slam down on Link, before retracting back up with a chain. I found this so hilarious, and felt a lot more elaborate than the traditional 2D Door Mimics, which are just... doors. 

Rock Chuchu: Another Chuchu variant! It's the Red Chuchu who has a layer of rock that surrounds their head like a helmet. They don't actually have any lava powers, but the imagery definitely evocates something volcanic! While they don't actually need a specific item to defeat, their rock helmet are susceptible to Link's "Pot-splitter" sword technique. 

Wisp: These are basically Bubbles from the traditional games, but have been named as 'Wisps' here both in the Japanese and the English versions. They're skulls with little flaming balls that float around, and will 'curse' Link to be unable to hold his sword, similar to Majora's Mask Bubbles. Nothing too interesting to otherwise say about this, though. 

Cloud Piranha: One new area that the franchise first explored here is the Cloud Tops, where Link travels to a realm above the clouds. This was years before Skyward Sword made a whole game out of it! And apparently, the clouds are infested with Cloud Piranhas! They're fishes with a metallic covering over their upper body -- and in Jaws style, their fins show above the surface before they jump and try to bite Link. Nothing in its anatomy tells us why it's living in the clouds, or how they swim in the clouds. In a fun bit, Link can trick them into jumping out and falling off of the clouds themselves, presumably causing a massive shock that an angry, chomping sky-fish fell down from the sky.

Lakitu: This one is definitely a Mario enemy, although it does make sense why the Lakitu show up in the Cloud Tops. They sure are spherical blob dudes hanging on clouds that launch lightning bolts at Link! They hide within their clouds if Link gets too close, so he needs to snipe them from afar with ranged weapons. I tend to not have much to say about these sort of 'hey, it sure is a blob' style of enemies. 

Bombarossa: Are these Mario enemies, too? They might be? They're more hazards than anything, being very angry and threatening-looking floating bombs with two huge spikes on the sides of their heads. They show up mostly in the Cloud Top areas. It's honestly kind of a shame that in all of the sky or cloud-themed areas in Minish Cap, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, we don't really get a whole ton of sky-themed enemies. 

 

Ice Wizzrobe & Fire Wizzrobe: Variants of the Wizzrobe enemy that utilize their specific enemies. I do like that their Gandalf hats actually change depending on their element -- Ice Wizzrobes's hats are frozen over, whereas Fire Wizzrobe has a small bonfire in place of a hat. Minish Cap doesn't quite utilize fire or ice gimmicks like some other Zelda games do, so the two elemental Wizzrobes' effects basically affect speed -- Ice Wizzrobes freeze Link in place, while Fire Wizzrobes will cause Link to get so hot that his speed increases, which is an interesting debuff. 

Minibosses:

Madderpillar: We're entering the realm of the mini-bosses and bosses now, and we'll be listing all the minibosses in rough order first! While I do still think that the Minish-sized enemies are severely under-represented, there are at least an almost-even split between regular-sized bosses and Minish-sized bosses. The Madderpillar is our first miniboss, and it's... it's a huge cartoon caterpillar with extremely large snake-like eyes, and a huge Caterpie-esque nose that shoots out string at you. As the miniboss of the Deepwood Temple, the way to beat the Madderpillar is more or less similar to other worm bosses in 2D games, though Link needs to first hit the Madderpillar's clown nose first before hitting the heart that appears on the other end of the Madderpillar's body. Madderpillars will later constantly show up as minibosses in other Minish dungeons.

Big Blue Chuchu: An upgrade over the very first dungeon boss (who we'll cover later), the Big Blue Chuchu is a regular-sized Blue Chuchu fought as a Minish. Again, this is the sort that I want! The Chuchus are adorable and laughably easy to defeat as a big ol' Hylian, but when you're tiny they suddenly become bosses! Not a whole ton to say about this one, it's basically a repeat of the Big Green Chuchu fight below (which we'll cover there) except this big blue boy intermittently emits electricity. 

Dark Nut: The Dark Nuts (parsed as two words only in this game) show up several times both as dungeon and overworld minibosses, and there are two variants -- a greenish-metallic one and a white-and-red one. Being broad-shouldered and having a cape, these Dark Nuts, once more, take cues from their Wind Waker counterpart. I don't really have too much to say about the Dark Nut, though -- they're pretty standard humanoid enemies that hit a bit harder and have shields, but they're not really all that interesting to talk about. Which is a shame because...

Ball and Chain Soldier: ...every other miniboss afterwards are humanoid enemies. I suppose there's a neat theme that all the recurring enemies are elite minibosses, but it also leaves me very little to talk about. Good ol' Ball and Chain Soldier is such a classic in 2D games that I don't mind it showing up here. 

Red Dark Nut: Oh, hey, it's the Dark Nut again, but it's red! In addition to its fancier shield, the fight against reddy here is a bit more complicated because he can knock you off of the platform, just like the ALTTP Moldorm boss. Otherwise, eh. All these humanoid minibosses will show up in the final dungeon, which I suppose is a nice touch. 

Black Knight: Also basically a Dark Nut with black armour, this one is just straight-up called 'Black Knight', and he shows up with two Red Dark Nuts as the penultimate enemy of the game. It sure is a knight!

Bosses:

Big Green Chuchu: With that out of the way, we get the bosses! The boss of Deepwood Temple, as spoiled by Big Blue Chuchu up there... is a Big Green Chuchu! Again, you've been spending time as a regular-sized human beating up Chuchus with impunity, but when you're the size of Thumbelina they suddenly become a threat! Again, I really love the manic-looking eyes and huge dumb grin of the Wind Waker variant of the Chuchus. The fight here is kind of funny -- Link uses the Gust Jar to keep blowing on the Chuchu's lower body, causing its top-heavy head to fall over and exposing its noggin to Link. 

Gleerok: The boss of the Cave of Flames, Gleerok here is an interesting one! Its name is a pun on the original Legend of Zelda boss Gleeok (who's a three-headed dragon) but in practice, Gleerok resembles Trinexx or Turtle-Rock more, being a giant turtle with a rocky shell and a serpentine head. Gleerok lives inside a lava pool, though, and I really like the contrast between its pale white-and-blue serpentine head and the massive volcano it's got on its back. 

An interesting mechanic here is that you need to flip the Gleerok's lava shell off and around, exposing the yellow bit on its shell for you to beat. Being a lava boss, Gleerok can also cause the lava pools around him to expand and contract during the fight. Not too interesting as a fight, but definitely a very pretty and well-themed boss. 

Mazaal: An interesting one! Mazaal backstory is that it's actually a weapon constructed by the Wind Tribe to repel enemies. It's a vaguely Aztec-inspired robotic head and (not seen in this figurine) two giant arms, making it look like a variant of Ocarina's Bongo Bongo of sorts. The head and arms are detached from each other, and Link needs to hit the weak points on the arms to cause the head to fall down, and then hit the head to properly damage Mazaal by shrinking down and going into that robotic mouth. 

And when we are shrunken down, we actually get to see Mazaal's... 'true' form? I think? Or maybe it's the equivalent to antibodies? It's a huge angry floating eyeball with a robotic hat and two pincers. This mini-Mazaal will be the one that boots Link out of Mazaal to continue the human-sized fight. Later on, Mazaal gains the ability to shoot shrinking beams as well. A bit of a weird one, but pretty unique!

Big Octorok: Just like the Big Chuchus, the Big Octorok is a regular Octorok you fight in the Minish dungeon of Temple of Dropletes -- though this Octorok has some flowers and plants overgrown on its body. Big Octorok ends up swallowing the plot device called Water Element, allowing it to control ice and freeze itself and the area around it to protect itself from Link's attack. The bulb of the flower ends up being the weak point Link needs to beat up, which begs the question... is it part of this Octorok's anatomy? Or is it some sort of symbiotic or parasitic plant, which is why hitting it causes the Octorok to take damage? I think between the ice powers and the ability to suck Link does make Big Octorok a lot more interesting than it actually is. 

Gyorg Pair: Oh man, yeah, I remember these guys. The Gyorg Pair has nothing to really do with Majora's Mask's Gyorg, other than being fishes. The Gyorg Pair are a pair of giant manta rays that live in the clouds, acting as the dual boss of the Palace of Winds. The female Gyorg is a giant, airplane-sized one with eight eyes, while the male one is the smaller one that flies around the female with four eyes spread across its body. Real manta rays don't actually have this extreme degree of sexual dimorphism, and it resembles anglerfishes more than anything. 

The fight involves trying to solve a puzzle with the Gyorgs' eyes which open and close intermittently, but the simple fact that the Gyorgs are flying over the skies of Hyrule and the fight involves Link jumping back and forth mid-air from the larger female onto the smaller male does make the Gyorg Pair fight a lot more dynamic and memorable than it is. 

Vaati: My original writeup for this was a lot longer and I realized I'm just elaborating on how the boss fight goes and Vaati's many sorcerer-style atttacks. That's not really what this article is all about! I'm supposed to be reviewing monsters! Vaati, the final boss of the game, is fought in multiple forms, because of course a Zelda boss has multiple forms. The first form is Vaati Reborn, which is... it's a pretty generic evil J-RPG humanoid overlord. The interesting bit about this fight is Vaati is almost invulnerable, but a swarm of tiny eyeball-creatures that float around him causes the giant eyeball on his cloak to open. Wonder if this is supposed to represent anything, or if it's just a neat game mechanic? 

The second form is Vaati Transfigured, which still looks somewhat solid with tiny bat wings and a giant pair of horns. Just like before, the lesser eyeballs (shown here) are the weakness. I do like that the final boss form is a giant eyeball instead of a humanoid for sure! Vaati's final form is Vaati's Wrath, where apparently his form has been so destroyed that he's not even a solid sphere anymore but rather an amorphous mass of fog. This form is especially based on Dethl/Nightmare from Link's Awakening, being a giant eyeball with orbs trailing behind him and sometimes forming claws -- though the figurine doesn't show the long claw-hands. The arms have little Minish doors that Link needs to sneak into. 

Anyway, I always never have too much to talk about these final form enemies in a J-RPG game, since they always felt pretty... samey to me? They certainly look imposing, and in Vaati's case I appreciate that the final form is the giant amorphous demon-blob instead of the tired trope of a humanoid demon king or whatnot, but Vaati himself is kind of a very flat character so I can't really get excited for him. 

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Anyway, that's Minish Cap done! As I mentioned before, it's visually one of my favourite Zelda games. I'll be doing a bunch more Zelda in the near future -- I've never done A Link Between Worlds either, and I'm about halfway through Skyward Sword and will be excited to talk about that. I'll probably do a bunch of other shorter games in the near future as well, maybe I'll do a Metroid one? The problem with Metroid is that I've never actually completed a Metroid game other than Metroid Prime 3... depending on how I feel, I might start one of the Final Fantasy games in the near future as well. We'll see. 

At some point late next year I'll probably do either Final Fantasy IX or XII, depending on which one I like to play more. Things are going to probably slow down quite a bit in the first couple of months next year, but the reviewing monster segments will probably still update rather periodically. 

One Piece 1031 Review: Payoff

One Piece, Chapter 1031: Warrior of Science

Okay, this is a good one. It still doesn't wash off the stink of the whole Kin'emon surviving in the most anticlimactic way from the previous chapter, but we finally get some payoff to some of the character build-up that we've been teased so much all throughout the series. 

And it's all about Sanji. Sanji's been a character that's... been taken in an interesting way. Any discussion about Sanji inevitably brings in the comparison with the more straightforward no-nonsense name-taking enemy-killing badass Zoro, because the fandom and the manga itself has this notion of Zoro-vs-Sanji ingrained within them. I've never really cared all that much about the rivalry, because I can appreciate both types of characters -- the one-note action hero that broods and makes badass one-liners is as cool of a character as a hero that angsts about morality and choice and gets to be comedic every now and then. And while I've criticized Whole Cake Island as a whole; Sanji's portrayal and all the character development we got out of him is still one of the highlights of that story. 

So yeah, it's definitely fun to see some payoff to the fact that Sanji's entire post-timeskip career has been nothing but him doubting himself, his self-worth, and generally being arguably portrayed as far less impressive than his fellow 'wing of the pirate king'. No one ever outright compares them side-by-side other than their constant gag about bounties, but the fandom has been pretty vocal that Zoro's huge moments have been joining Luffy in fighting two Yonko... while Sanji's huge moment was baking a cake. Even in this arc, we've had so many fake-outs with who Sanji's going to fight, and the Black Maria moment that was so controversial among the fandom (which I'd argue is actually a good moment if you stop and look at it... but, again, the comparison here is with The Roof, so). 

So I'm going to start off this review/recap with the final five or six pages of the chapter. Sanji is being yelled at by a bunch of geisha, who are all gathered around a bleeding lady. One of the geisha yell at Sanji, noting that he was the only one there, and that whatever transpired, a geisha got injured so badly that she's bleeding. And Sanji is even more conflicted about the transformation going on with his body, remembering just how utterly disgusted about the idea of someone beating a woman -- comparing it to one of the worst things that his vile robotic brothers did. Sanji himself claims to have no memory of the specific moment, but the fact that the woman was looking at him with fear is enough for him. 

A great little visual nod that I missed during my first readthrough is that all throughout the sequence, Sanji's been so transformed by the Raid Suit that his eyebrows is actually curled the other way, now, just like his brothers. Just look at the comparison between Sanji's face and the close-up to the Germa 66 flashback!

And we get a very cool badass moment as Sanji faces off against Queen. It's not about the fact that he hit the geisha, I think -- not really. It's more about the fact that he's potentially turning into the same sort of monster like Ichiji, Niji and Yonji. Even the potential of turning into something like his brothers scares Sanji so much. I love the monologue that happens immediately afterwards -- him asking Luffy in his mind whether he'd prefer a mindless killing machine at an order, or a weak, flawed flesh-and-blood man who turns into a helpless wreck whenever he faces a woman.

It's such a great moment, I feel, that Sanji actually does recognize his weakness. That he recognizes that he is, in some way, a huge liability thanks to his emotions. Sure, I'd argue that him being willing to call on his allies for help -- like Robin during the Black Maria sequence -- is positive character development in a way... but Sanji could also view his emotions as a liability. He was incapacitated by nosebleeds during New Fishman Island -- and while I don't want to do comparisons, Zoro was slicing up Hody Jones and nearly ended the arc prematurely. His whole family business and sentimentality and lack of communication is what led to our heroes being detoured into the whole Whole Cake Island thing, and he took so long to figure his shit out that he even fought Luffy.

And yet. And yet, despite all this, despite the potential of becoming a useful tool to the King of the Pirates, Sanji made a decision -- and as he pulls out his Raid Suit can, he crushes it in front of Queen. Whatever happens, it's not worth losing his emotions, his true sense of self, losing who he really is. A genuinely amazing moment, and I feel like it's a pretty well-done payoff to Sanji's own flip-flopping throughout the post-timeskip era. 

(Of course, we get 'farewell, women's bath' tossed into Sanji's monologue, which is hilarious)

But that's not all! Sanji calls Zoro with a transponder snail that he snuck into Zoro's clothes, and he gives Zoro a pretty cool line. Sanji tells Zoro how they're going to win -- a fact that neither of them even argues for a moment -- but asks Zoro that if he's not in his right mind after all this, he wants Zoro to kill Sanji. There's a great bit of bro-bonding moment where Zoro acknowledges how out of place the request is, but realizes how serious Sanji must be to make such a request, and promises to end Sanji if he should change. Such a great moment for the two. 

And we get the implication of Sanji being able to use Stealth Black's invisibility technique even without the raid suit... by using Hell's Memories, that one move from New Fishman Island that he learned while under Ivankov's tutelage and we never really get to see afterwards. Is that how he activates his Raid Suit powers, now? Very interested to see how this ends, and I kind of want to see Sanji fight Queen in the next chapter. 

There's some other stuff going in here too. A lot of people think that a handful of pages of Law and Kid doing a combo attack is going to get rid of a character like Big Mom, but awakening or no awakening, I've never seen that as the definitive end of Big Mom -- more of a showcase of what the Supernovas can do with their awakening. I do like that we just casually get the name of Kid's devil fruit here (it's been previously revealed in a databook or something) and I love Law trying to so casually fish for information about Kid's power. 

Big Mom is ripping the souls out of random Beast Pirate goons, and even notes that he's ripping a year out of his own lifespan, transforming and growing bigger and scarier. It's a pretty cool power boost, and Big Mom notes that she's not felt this kind of pain in decades. A genuinely pretty cool moment for another character who hasn't gotten the best showcase in the past couple dozen chapters -- Big mom actually feels threatening again, and I'm a huge fan of that. 

Even more interesting is that singular page we get of Brook and Robin fending off CP0. The Mink musketeers who got royally beaten up by Kaido and Jack are trying to hold them off, but Robin identifies the mask-wearing members of CP0 as the most elite. Are we going to get a proper Brook fight, then? Interesting!

We also get Apoo vs Drake, which is a bit more of a minor sequence. Drake gives a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure style recap of the peculiarities of Apoo's devil fruit (it's also based on Apoo's sight) and point-blank refuses the alliance with Apoo. I do like Apoo trying to get Yamato to join up and basically just being a massive backstabber that tries to gain allies, but Yamato also really doesn't give two shits. We get some fights as Yamato is out of the loop in regards to Drake's defection, but ultimately it ends up with Apoo and the Numbers chasing Yamato, and Drake chasing Apoo. Eh is my response; Apoo's fun but not that interesting, and I really could care less about the Numbers. 

Reviewing Monsters: The Legend of Zelda - Minish Cap, Part 1

The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap

"Minish" as in "mini", get it? Low-key another one of my favourite Zelda games in terms of aesthetic, Minish Cap was released for the Game Boy Advanced, and the twelfth entry in the series. In this version of Hyrule, Link has to save Hyrule from the clutches of the evil lord Vaati who released monsters into Hyrule and turned Princess Zelda into a statue. Link finds allies in a talking hat called Ezlo, who can shrink Link down into the size of the legendary Picori people -- a fairy-like lilliputian race that can only be seen by children. 

So yeah, that's the gimmick of this game -- some parts of the game feature Link as he's 'shrunk down', so you go full Ant-Man against enemies like spiders and rats and whatnot. More interestingly for me, though, Minish Cap is a 2D Zelda game that doesn't just take inspiration from the previous 2D games, but also the 3D games.

I swore I did a review of this game's monsters years ago, but apparently I haven't! And since Skyward Sword is taking much longer than I expected to complete, I'll do this first. 

Business Scrub: The first 'enemy' we meet is the Business Scrub, basically a 2D-ized version of the Deku Scrubs from Ocarina/Majora. It's not the first time the races that originated in Ocarina of Time was represented in 2D form; I'm pretty sure the Oracle games I've never played had Gorons and whatnot, but it's the 2D GBA-era art-style that really makes me adore this game. I don't think I have too much to say about the Business Scrub that I haven't said before. They only really shoot their Deku Nut projectiles at you in your very first encounter, as a tutorial for shield-blocking. 

Octorok: A lot of the classic 2D enemies return and, as far as these basic enemies go, there's not a whole ton that changed. Octoroks are still land-dwelling octopi that crawl around and shoot rocks at you. The blue ones are a bit more powerful and show up later on in the game. 

Crow & Takkuri: The Crows (blue) are another returning enemy from 2D games. But the Takkuri (red ones) come from Majora's Mask, but are not deformed here and are just red-coloured crows. Again, they behave mostly similarly to their previous 2D counterparts, hiding around in trees and divebombing Link. The Takkuri, like their Majora's Mask counterpart, will knock rupees off of Link, and at one point steal a plot-relevant item. 

Chuchu: Easily the most memorable design from Minish Cap to me are their adorable Chuchus. I think these are taken from Wind Waker's design specifically? I never played Wind Waker. Cylindrical, oblong slime buddies with two googly eyes and a slit mouth, this design of the Chuchu is easily the cutest and the most 'original' in my opinion.

Since I'm showing the collectible 'figurines' in-game, I'll talk about the three variants all at once. The Green Chuchu are the cutest and the ones that show up the earliest in the game. Red Chuchu show up a bit later, and are able to burrow underground and attack Link from there. Blue Chuchu are able to surround themselves with electricity, making them immune to physical attacks and forcing you to shoot them with arrows or boomerangs. In typical RPG-slime enemy fashion, we get a bunch of 'elite' Chuchus. 

Acro-Bandit: A new enemy now! This was years before 'Despicable Me' and their highly-profitable Minions came out, so the resemblance is actually a bit of a hilarious coincidence. The Acro-bandits are... moles, I guess? Stylized moles that pop up and climb up on each other. Link needs to shield-bash them to topple the tall formation, and must kill all five in one go -- otherwise the survivors will burrow down and pop up as a quintet once more. Do they just have a store of Acro-Bandits deep underground, or do they just regenerate their buddies like some sort of twisted symbiote? Kind of reminds me of the Hokkubokku from previous games, although the Acro-Bandits are a bit cuter. 

Sluggula: I think this is our first 'mini' enemy? The Sluggula in this game, therefore, are just literal regular slugs that Link meets when shrunken. This means that TMC Sluggulas look a lot more mundane than the more mutated vibe of ALTTP's Sluggulas. They're simple enemies, but sometimes they hide on the ceilings of rooms to drop down and try to ambush Link. Despite being snails, the animation with a Sluggula's death involves Link flipping them over and only a second strike to their unprotected underbelly will kill them. It's a slug boy! 

Puffstool: Another enemy that Link encounters while minish-sized is the Puffstool, which... it's just a Super Mario Bros Goomba! With the walnut anatomy changed into mushroom anatomy! They waddle around, jump up and down to spread mushroom spores around, and initially they're just utterly invulnerable until Link gets the 'Gust Jar' item to blow away their spores. Again, just like the Sluggulas, these are just regular mushroom-sized monsters that just happen to be sentient. 

Mulldozer: Yet another Minish-sized enemy, these guys kind of resemble Bombchus? Bombchus crossed with ladybugs? Whatever they are, they are simple bugs that charge around a lot, trying to ram onto Link. Pretty simple enemy -- the blue variant shows up later and is stronger. They're new, but I really don't have too much to say about this one. 

Pesto: These ones are a bit cooler!  They're weird fly-looking bugs that only have a single eyeball, but have markings behind them that give the impression of a housefly's two characteristically large compound eyes. It's a bit hard to realize, but the Pestos actually have a vaguely bipedal body, looking like a cartoon insect. The blue ones, as usual, are the stronger variant, and they will lift up rocks and toss them at you. I like them, but I also vaguely remember them to be very, very irritating. 

Spiny Beetle: Back to the 'regular size' enemies are the Spiny Beetles (not actually beetles in the original Japanese). As usual, they hide under grass bushes (stronger ones hide under rocks), and are vulnerable only after you remove their camouflage. There's an actual face with lips underneath, which makes it look a lot less beetle-esque compared to its previous counterparts. 

Keese: Another classic 2D Zelda enemy are the Keese. They're bats, they behave like bats, and they still look as simplified as their counterparts in the GBC games. Not much to say here, it sure is a classic. 

Peahat: I'm doing this in the order that we roughly encounter in the game, if you guys are wondering. And the Peahats are... they're kind of interesting! They're still plants that helicopter all around the screen with their flower-petals, but in addition to sharing the Ocarina/Majora Peahat's lower spike-blades, the Peahats in Minish Cap actually have a 'face' similar to the Deku Scrubs! They don't actually shoot anything out of the projetile-looking mouths, but it's so interesting considering how Peahats have almost always been portrayed as just faceless flying plants. 

In combat, the Peahats have a bunch of vulnerabilities. The weaker and more predictable red Peahats can be taken out with the Gust Jar (you blow the poor flying plants around) or by slicing their helicopter-petals with the Boomerang. The stronger blue Peahats are heavier and immune to the Gust Jar, and you need to use arrows.

Tektite: An interesting one, though, is the Tektite. They certainly look more angular and insectoid compared to the 'fleshy eyeball with bug legs' look from most other 2D games, but they're not quite the very buggy monster from Ocarina either. I know a lot of this does seem like me just comparing the monsters to their appearances from other games, but that's what happens when the bestiary is comprised of almost 70% returning monsters. Not that I'm complaining, though -- the opposite is exactly my biggest complaint about Breath of the Wild, which exorcised so much of the 'classic' bestiary that it didn't really feel like Hyrule anymore. Anyway, Tektites still jump around; blue ones are more powerful, as usual. 

Keaton: Now this is interesting! I don't remember any other monster called 'Keatons' other than the helpful kitsune-inspired fox spirits from Majora's Mask. But here, Keatons take the place of enemies like the Goriya or Zazak as a beast-man that runs around and poke you with their swords. Other than the ability shared with the Takkuri of knocking rupees off of you, though, I don't think there's anything special to them other than the fact that they're fox-men bandits. Which, by the way, is cool! We've never really had fox-men before, and new variations of monsters most certainly bring

Helmasaur: Another one that resembles their previous 2D appearances, I do really like that the added pixels allow them to really hammer home that the Helmasaurs have a lance-shaped helmet to pierce you with. Also makes it a bit more obvious that it's an ambiguous-looking blob-creature, because the original Japanese name had nothing to do with dinosaurs at all. As usual, you need a specific item to knock off the mask -- the Gust Jar again, in this case, since this game lacks the traditional Hookshot. 

Spiny Chuchu: Our first Chuchu variant, the Spiny Chuchu (and a lot of the recent monsters above him) first appear in Mt. Crenel. The Spiny Chuchu is... well, he's got the regular Chuchu body shape, but he's spiky! Like a barbed metal ball! The Spiny Chuchu needs to be stunned with a bomb to stop it from transforming into a spiky ball, exposing his vulnerability. A lot of these variants on a regular monster archetype don't really ever reoccur, which, I feel, makes games that take the time to focus on a certain archetype and explore them something I appreciate a fair bit. 

Bob-omb: This one is a Mario enemy or something, isn't it? I remember that it showed up in Link's Awakening. Not much to say, it sure is a bomb that walks and can blow up on you. 

Spiked Beetle: Yet another returning enemy that functions mostly the same, Spiked Beetles are, well, Mario mushrooms with spikes and chubby hands. They also have eyeballs encased in the darkness of their shell, which is a visual I like. The Spiked Beetle have never really been all that memorable among 2D Zelda enemies to me, but I definitely go 'oh yeah, these guys' whenever they show up. 

Rupee Like: The actual Like Likes don't actually show up until a fair bit later in the game! But they make their debut in Four Swords; and Minish Cap, being a quasi-prequel to that game, also features Rupee Likes. It's a very, very fun concept -- the Rupee Like hides its entire body underground, only exposing its anglerfish-esque lure, which, of course, is the most valuable thing any self-respecting RPG game player can find -- money! And then it pops up, strangles Link like the gross, ambiguous, fleshy creature that it is, and steals Link's money instead. I love this. It honestly feels like a believable adaptation in a made-up fantasy monster!

 

Rollobite: A cool if simple one! Rollobites are basically giant pillbug beetles, but with a single cyclopean eye because of Zelda logic. A fun thing about them is that they're actually necessary for you to progress through the game -- they curl up into indestructible balls and you need to pick them up and use them to plug up holes and stuff. 

Despite what you think, though, Rollobites are actually enemies fought by Link in regular human-sized form. (One of my biggest complaints about Minish Cap is that the 'shrinking' gimmick was never realized as well as any of the other games' respective gimmicks, basically amounting to a couple of dedicated maps but minimally incorporated elsewhere.)

Baby Cuccoo: Regular Cuccoos still do their basic Zelda 'beat it up and it will summon an Indestructible Cuccoo Revenge Swarm of Ultimate Doom' thing, but Baby Cuccoos actually end up as actual enemies in this game, menacing Link in his Minish form. You can't kill or even hurt them! This is actually what I was talking about in terms of making things interesting -- there are two bosses that are 'regular enemies, but even more dangerous because they're giants'. How cool would it be to have giant versions of like, Tektites or Spiny Beetles or Rollobites or Like Likes as bosses? Or even as stage hazards?  

Moblins: Coming in 'Spear' and 'Bow' variants, and each coming in red and blue variants, the Moblins show up here in their muscle-bound pig-men appearance from Wind Waker. The line between all the 'blins have really been kind of blurred to me, but while my mental image of them have always been fat, stocky pig-men, I do like just how much more threatening the broad-shouldered Wind Waker Moblins looked. Not a whole ton to say here, a fair amount of them show up -- particularly in areas related to the main villain Vaati. 

Beetle: A returning enemy from Link's Awakening! The Beetles have a bit of a gimmick -- they will sometimes pop up when Link uses his sword to cut grass and grapple Link, causing him to be unable to use any items. An annoyance while exploring the overworld, but could be deadly if you happen to be fighting Moblins or Peahats or whatever. 

Rope: It's actually kind of surprising how relatively late Ropes show up, considering they are one of the first enemies seen in the original game, or in ALTTP. Anyway, they're fast snakes! They look identical to the regular shape of 2D Ropes! Not much else to say. 

Eyegore: A bit more wider and pillar-like than the traditional ALTTP Eyegore, these versions are static and unable to move other than to rotate around, and scattered across the Castor Wilds. They actually function more like traps more than enemies (and we don't cover traps here), but Link needes to sometimes kill them to open pathways. Not a whole ton to say here, you need to shoot arrows multiple times into its giant eyeball. 

Leever: Another staple, and another one that's just a more-defined version of its previous 2D appearances. They pop up out of the ground and spin around trying to stab you. Not a whole ton to say; as usual the blue ones show up later as a more powerful variant. 

Armos: Yet another returning enemy, and looking almost identical to the very original The Legend of Zelda Armoses. They're hopping statutes with spears, shields and singular eyeballs... the twist here is that sometimes, to activate them, Link needs to turn into Minish size to push a button inside their head. Very happy to see all these classic enemies back, but I don't have a ton to say. 

Stalfos: The two variants of good ol' Stalfos actually behave somewhat differently. The Blue Stalfos are the weaker ones, and they jump into the air and try to catch Link similar to a Tektite. Because this game really likes the Gust Jar gimmick, Link can suck their skulls in, and then launch them back to shatter the rest of the Stalfos's body. The red version doesn't do the jumping thing, but instead spins around like a goddamn Beyblade and launch spare bones at Link. Neat!

Spark: These bastards! The only 'trap' that seems to have any sort of personality are the Sparks, previously called 'Anti-Fairies' in the localizations of Link's Awakening. I like the smarmy faces that these floating, glowing traps have. 

Wallmaster & Floormaster: Based on their Wind Waker appearance, I really do like how the Wallmasters and Floormasters look in this game. Giant shadowy hands that are bordered by a glowing, eldritch energy? It looks so much more... wrong compared to just a giant disembodied fleshy hand. The Wallmasters fall down from the ceiling and grab Link and deposit them in the beginning of dungeons; whereas the Floormasters bob around on the floor. The Floormasters will still deposit Link in the beginning of the dungeons, but you can murder them with arrows first. 

Moldorm: Okay, the Moldorms have gotten a bit of a revamp. Normally they have two giant googly eyes on their head, but I guess they're trying to make the Moldorms in Minish Cap look a bit more biologically weird? Which is why instead of having a head that's just a hamburger with googly eyes, Minish Cap Moldorm has a sunken-in groove with a singular eyeball in the middle of it. I guess those yellow tips are supposed to be mandibles as well? Significantly less cute than the ALTTP/LA Moldorm! But still very recognizably a Moldorm. 

Also, this specific creature is called 'Tail' in the original Japanese. Keep that in mind in a bit. 

Wizzrobe: They're green, and interestingly, look a lot more lankier compared to traditional 2D Wizzrobes, which are either fat wizard-men or have really poofy robes. Minish Cap Wizzrobes are green and look more like evil versions of Gandalf. They still maintain the great visual of the two glowing eyes under the shadow of their hat, which I really do like. Functioning as a bit of a pseudo-mini-boss in these games, the Wizzrobes appear in groups, and they can teleport around the room. 

Like Like: Here's good ol' Like Like! It looks like how it usually looks, but like the Rupee Like, this incarnation of the gross undulating monster can hide underground and jump up to ambush Link. As usual, they eat shields!

Golden Tektite, Golden Octorok & Golden Rope: Special golden enemies that drop a ton of rupees after you kill them, they are stronger versions of their 'basic' counterparts, but are encountered only after certain collectible Kinstones are triggered by you. Not a whole ton to say, other than that. Neat little inclusion, though!

Moldworm: And here we go with 'Moldworm'! Or, well, the original Moldorm from The Legend of Zelda! The original Moldworm/Moldworm is just a giant earthworm with no other features, and later on most of the enemies in the franchise called 'Tail' ends up borrowing the English name 'Moldorm' to connect the bestiaries with the previous games. Which raises a problem when both of them show up in the same game!

Anyway, Moldworm here are just literally earthworms that Link encounters as a Minish. They're not quite your regular earthworms, though, since they have giant, gaping mouths with surprisingly supple lips. They will actually eat Link, shit Link out from their backsides, and the worm-poop would cause all those Pesto enemies to get more attracted to Link and attack him more. I mean, yes, that's how earthworms move through the ground, but I like the sheer hilarity that this enemy essentially eats and shits you out and that's somehow one of the more deadly things. 

Scissors Beetle: Another Minish-sized enemy, the Scissors Beetle look pretty cool mostly because they look colourful. Golden body, red legs, blue pincers... pretty cool! They also act as kinda pseudo-minibosses in some locations. Despite their name, they can detach their pincers and launch them like a boomerang! Real beetles can't do that! The pincers also function like shields when they're attached to the beetle itself, so Link has to wait for the detachable boomerang horns to be launched at him before he beats up the beetle. Weird!

________________________________________

I think that's a nice place to cut it short, right? I'll have part two out soon, where we cover the rest of the bestiary and all the bosses!

One Piece Anime: Wano Arc, Episodes 941-955

Yet another batch of my commentary of the One Piece anime! Not really much to say here, on with the commentary. 

I have been a bit more glib about manga spoilers, but I feel like it's going to be a bit hard. So SPOILER WARNING for the manga -- I'll try not to be too specific, but I'll be dropping some spoilers to things that are revealed around the time of the raid's beginning. 

Episode 941:

• 
  I still find how clever it is how the manga ties together Smile (which we know that Kaidou's people are having) with how the people of Ebisu Town are constantly smiling and laughing. It's in our face all the while, and I really didn't catch it until this revelation in the manga's equivalent of this episode.
• Kanjurou mourns and cries about what a blunder it is for him not noticing Yasuie's real identity, and that he should commit seppuku. Innocuous enough, but like so many of Kanjurou's lines in this segment of the Wano Arc, his true motivations add such a neat layer to this line. 
• God damn, that shot of Luffy being absolutely pissed off when he delivers the line "no one deserves to be laughed at as they die."
• Random Pandaman cameo among the Gifters in Shinobu's explanation! 
• MOTHER FUCKER THAT TOAD OIL SCENE IS SO SAD. That's the most heartbreaking of everything that's been going on -- Yasu's death is sad enough as it is, the SMILE backstory is horrifying, but Toko crying as she dabs on the toad oil that the audience knows is just Usopp's bogus medicine on Yasu's corpse... my god that tugs at the heart strings so much. 
• Yeah, if there was any doubt that the anime improves on the manga so much, this definitely hit me with much less emotional impact in the manga. I don't think I was indifferent, but I was definitely like 'oh, they made a character I don't care about into an impactful death'. With the anime buildup and execution, Yasu's death is  pretty much the highlight of this act of Wano. 
• So, yeah. I knew it was coming, but Zoro and Sanji jumping in to block Orochi's bullet from hitting Toko is extra cathartic because of all this buildup.

Episode 942:

• This episode's mostly the Zoro/Sanji team-up hype, but, again, all the buildup does give this a huge sense of catharsis. 
• Zoro straight-up was going to kill Orochi with that Phoenix Pound Cannon, if Kyoshiro hadn't jumped in. This single act (which happened in the manga, but I forgot about) has made Kyoshiro a lot more impressive in my eyes. Also, in hindsight, it also saved the Onigashima raid plan, since without Orochi, there wouldn't be a party in Onigashima. 
• Yeah, that shot of Franky's grinning face with one of his eyes glowing like the goddamn Terminator is still badass. 
• Okay, that shot with Zoro backlit with Nami's lightning is even more badass than Franky. 
• There's a series of the Straw Hats doing their attacks in front of painting-style vignettes. That's pretty neat. 
• Speaking of clever twists, we get the Kamazo/Killer reveal. So this is why Killer got sent to the prison -- it's as punishment for failing Orochi's assassination mission!

Episode 943:

• Zoro vs. Kyoshiro! Sanji vs. Drake! These fights get extended, with a particularly cool shot from a distance as Zoro and Sanji both does attacks that slam down to the ground. There's also black lightning when Zoro clashes with Kyoshiro, which I think symbolizes clashing Haki in the anime?
• "JIGOKU BIWA!" -proceeds to machinegun Zoro- bless you, Benten. 
• The Oniwabanshu actually get to do stuff! The weird Kortopi-looking guy shoots arrows out of his hat. Fuujin can shoot out Rasengans! Daikoku is basically the most vocal of the Oniwabanshu throughout Yasu's execution. 
• Law gets a pretty badass samurai entrance! 
• Drake didn't get as dominated as Page One was, but yeah, Sanji totally knocked him down with that Diable Jambe barrage.  
• Okay, the Sanji/Zoro/Hiyori bit near the end of the episode is far, far more hilarious than it has any right to be. "But I have the higher bounty!"
• Oh. Right. Big Mom. -sigh-

Episode 944:

• A lot of the slower, more oddly-paced parts of Wano have effectively been redeemed in my eyes as some of the best One Piece moments ever. But rampaging, amnesiac Big Mom is still easily the black mark of this arc. 
• I really do have a newfound appreciation for the Kin'emon/Ashura fight. In the manga it's this interesting distraction that happens in the background, but we eventually just brush it aside after a bit of a scuffle to get the Scabbards on the same page. It's a dick move on Kin'emon's part, and he admits it! But here, knowing that Kin'emon actually deliberately set Ashura's bandits into fighting with Holdem's faction, and later owning it up to Ashura... it also kind of shows that Kin'emon is actually at least a half-decent tactician, while showing the destruction of Atamayama shows the destructive extent of his plan.
• Okay, I did like that change of colours when Queen transforms into a Brachiosaur. 

Episode 945:

• I do appreciate that while Luffy's pretty blasé and hotheaded in terms of fighting Queen, he's actually genuinely treating Big Mom as a serious threat. Now if only the story would actually do so consistently... 
• A brachiosaurus that jumps into the air to rocket down like a cannon upon his foes is a ridiculous enough image in the manga. But animated? Bless you, One Piece, for making your dinosaurs so fucking weird. 
• Poor, poor Queen. I almost feel sorry for the guy!
• Caribou and Raizou are actually shown taking out the guards and the communications unit that would've alerted Kaidou. Neat! I have a huge appreciation whenever these shorter moments are actually shown instead of just told offhandedly after the sequence is over. 
• While I'm not a huge fan of Big Mom's oshiruko rampage, that's some hilarious usage of music when it trails off as Big Mom opens the empty pot. 
• "Oh yeah! I'm disguised as a samurai now! She doesn't recognize me!" Funniest line in this entire manga. 

Episode 946:

• Okay, Luffy ripping off the bomb collars get an unexpectedly badass animation. 
• The transition between the badass delivery of "COME! YONKO!" and Big Mom slapping Luffy and Hyo so hard they faceplant into a wall is always hilarious to me. 
• They also really play up 'Hyo dies (??!)' segment with sad music and a cutaway to the advertisement eyecatcher which doesn't have music. This joke kind of fell flat for me, but I appreciate the effort. 
• Hyogoro's four Yakuza boss buddies actually make minor appearances as Luffy and Big Mom run around the prison. This is the natural sort of filler to slot in this segment of the story, though, isn't it?
• That shot of Queen mid-Brachio-Bomber with a red glint is way cooler than it has any right to be. So is the black-and-white shot of Big Mom and Queen clashing. 
  
  

Episode 947:

• Thank god the amnesia plot's over. Still don't like it. 
• Raizou and Caribou fucking up the communications network really helped to give Luffy an excuse to beat the shit out of everyone, huh?
  
• It's just a short sequence, ultimately, but I really did appreciate the prisoners being so broken that they're unable to even envision that things might get better after the revolution. 
• I don't remember if Babanuki's explanation about why they kept him alive for so long is in the manga (Orochi wanted him to be executed in a very specific way) but I appreciate the explanation regardless. 

Episode 948:

• We actually get an extended fight! Raizou vs. Solitaire! It helps to give a bit more oomph to Raizou delivering Kawamatsu's swords, but we also get to see Raizou's ninja arts that we very rarely see up until the raid. He gets to to some Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!
• I 100% forgot Kawamatsu introduces himself as a sumo-fighter and does some sumo stuff before he pulls out his sword. 
• Holy shit, the anime made Kawamatsu's relatively simple Kappa-style slash look so god damn cool just by adding some exploding cubes and a whole lot of spinning. 
• Another scene that's very cool both in the manga and anime are the members of the Akazaya Nine (and Hyogoro) showing off their true identity to raise the morale of the Udon prisoners. 
• Okay, Kiku's mask and her delivery about 'you need to keep your mouths shut' is badass.
• We get an extra and utterly inconsequential scene of Zoro and Hiyori being followed by a ninja. It's also extremely gorgeous with great music and colours for no real reason. I can't get mad at filler if it's so goddamned pretty.
• Chopper gets to do a bit more stuff, like punching people in the face and doing a combo attack with Luffy. 

Episode 949:

• Kiku gets a bunch of extra named attacks in the anime!
• The essence of the scene is the same, but Kid and Killer breaking out, and Kid's frustration about the whole situation and being considered "Luffy's friend" is given more time to sink in than the one off-handed panel that the manga gave us. 
• It's a typical 'stand up and fight, you fuckers' speech, but I did really like the delivery of Luffy's voice actor in this one. I also didn't remember Luffy pointing at Babanuki and Solitaire and going "you guys, take care of the rest". That's badass. 

Episode 950:

• Luffy asking Kid to join his fight isn't shown in the manga, but is alluded to in a later chapter, I think? Well, regardless, the whole Kid-in-prison stuff actually felt like a bit of an arc. I like it a  lot better than its manga counterpart.
• Ashura Doji showing Kin'emon and Inuarashi the giant graveyard filled with the dead samurai who couldn't wait is always a sobering moment for me. In these sort of Shonen manga things always tend to go according to what's convenient for the hero, but I did like that this sequence acknowledges that there are a lot of sacrifices in the way -- even if the sacrifices are of faceless samurai. 
• Some really great 'bloodless carnage' as Ashura Doji looks at the souls and lives rising into the blood-red sky as his comrades die. The Wano arc has been great at showing a lot of death without making it graphpic. 
• Yeah, Luffy's tough-love mentoring and goading of Momonosuke to get him to have more self-confidence did start from this part of the arc, huh. They also play up the massive distrust towards pirates and why Momonosuke is needed a lot better in the anime. 

Episode 951:

• The first half of the episode is almost entirely filler! Zoro and Hiyori running away from Orochi ninjas! Kind of a sensible filler and a follow-up to the whole Zoro-vs-Kamazou thing, but, again, other than some sick animation and showing off Zoro as a badass, this episode is kind of just filler. What absolutely pretty filler, though. 
• Out of the ninjas, the ones that is named character is the Whiscash-riding Fuujin. The giant catfishes can move through ground! He has glowing swords and can apparently use wind-style ninjutsu -- that's what I'm assuming are ninja skills are until proven otherwise. Obviously, Zoro one-shots Fujin, but at least he's a named guy.
• We also get actual blood in this episode! Lots of blood! Haven't seen blood in a while! 
• The pretty Zoro-vs-ninjas stuff is nice, but then we get a bunch of recap flashbacks to the Tonoyasu/Toko stuff. Which... I get it, it's not that much, but it's pretty noticeable.
• I like those Wano-style wanted posters a lot. 
• I also really like Bepo. He doesn't get a lot to do, but I love every time he shows up. 

Episode 952:

• So did Kanjurou actually bury Yasuie's body? 
• Another pretty long replaying of Yasuie's death and his mocking of Orochi in this episode. It's a great scene, I get that, but I feel like showing the entirety of it over and over again does kind of make it lose part of its impact. 
• Brook pretending to be a ghost attached to Usopp and Robin while they make the EEEEH face is still one of the funniest scenes in Wano. 
• Zoro vs Gyukimaru is actually animated! That thrust causing shockwaves through the air that felled Gyukimaru is yet another in a long list of badass Wano Zoro scenes. 
• Kawamatsu gets to be a badass with that sword toss! I do like that Zoro immediately recognizes him as a fishman, while "Gyukimaru", I guess, didn't have his Wanyudo devil fruit when he hung out with Kawamatsu in the past. 

Episode 953:

• Kaidou vs. Big Mom! It's a mostly offscreen fight in the manga, and here we just get an Ikoku against Raimei Hakkei, and then they do a bunch of clashes in the air, but it's still pretty damn badass, you know? 
• That series of shots of Kaidou and Big Mom undulating while roaring as they ready their weapons, leading to the splitting of the heavens, is pretty badass. The animation team also went ham with the black-and-white Conqueror's Haki lightning. 
• What is that UEEENHH sound Queen makes when he gets called out?
• The four named yakuza bosses in the prison are kind of the perfect characters to flesh out without having to worry that it'll impact the story, huh? It also allows them to actually feel like they're doing something in the background to help out. 
• I like that during Kin'emon and Raizou talking to each other, we get a little bit from Inuarashi going "wait, Kawamatsu is there?!"
• Seeing Hiyori explain it twenty years or so later, it's heartwarming -- she left Kawamatsu to prevent him from dying of starvation because he gave all the food to Hiyori; but god damn how long did Kawamatsu have to deal with the pain of losing Oden's daughter, losing the one mission he's left to do? The next episode even makes it clear that Kawamatsu very nearly committed seppuku. Thank goodness that didn't happen, but still...
• Hell yea Kawamatsu and Zoro team-up. 

Episode 954:

• The Kawamatsu/Onimaru flashback have always felt like a distraction when I read this weekly, but whether watching it in the anime or during my reread of the Wano arc, it now feels like a pretty important world-building bit. I don't really have a whole ton to say other than 'awww' throughout this whole episode. 
• I don't remember if the Bingo/Bungo/Bongo trio is actually involved in the manga's version of the events, but even if they are, their role is definitely extended more to give an antagonist to Kawamatsu's story. 
• We get a brief animation of Oden in silhouette cutting Kaidou here. They really basically have revealed what Oden looks like at this point to the anime watchers, yeah?

Episode 955:

• God damn that shot of Ryuma is pretty, tho.
• I don't know if it's just them giving the scenes time to sink in or if they reworked the dialogue, but I felt like Law's subplot felt a bit less awkwardly-paced than how it went in the manga. It's also a bit more explicit that Law beat Hawkins in a battle here as well. 
• The anime makes the identity of Law's ally a lot more obvious. It's a short frame, but you can clearly see the distinctive hair. 
• That's a neat static-y effect when Hawkins recalls how Apoo's a traitor. 
• Notice that everyone says "I get it" when discussing the change in the Habu Port code but only Kin'emon explains it. That's actually a pretty clever bit of foreshadowing for a future plot point. 
• Right, Apoo is a fast-talking rapper! It comes off so much more clearly in the anime! 
• I love how utterly irreverent Kaidou and Big Mom are as they announce their alliance. I bet the audience's reaction was more or less the same as Queen's. I know mine was, back when I read this scene in the manga. 

Next up we'll do around 10-15 episodes again!