Tag Archives: review

Tsuritama – It Makes You Want To Fish

No, seriously. Tsuritama makes me want to go fishing and I am terrified of fish, and boats make me nervous (I’m really good at hiding it–but deep down they both freak me out). That’s how great this series is. XD

Best of all? You can watch it on CrunchyRoll right now.

Tsuritama Episodes 1-5

I don’t even know where to start with this show. It’s amazing and I was not expecting it to be–it’s sort of that “Turned out to be Amazing even though I just clicked it for curiosity’s sake” shows.

I can’t remember the last time “trouble” was this adorable.

Funny story though–THIS is the series I thought I’d be watching when I saw Princess Jellyfish a while back. When I first saw the ad for Princess Jellyfish, and read the initial description (before I saw the trailer, mind you), I thought it was about a girl who met an alien Jellyfish Princess who would change her life. Well, replace Alien with Cross-Dresser and you get the same thing–just without all the sci-fi stuff. Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing series and I adored every second, but there was always that slight disappointment that it wasn’t the sci-fi alien plot line I went in for.

Tsuritama provided that. It is exactly what I wanted & man does it deliver. So here we go:

When Yuki gets anxious, it’s symbolized by drowning him in water–when something happens to break him free from his anxiety, he bursts forth from the water. It’s a really amazing effect & one of my favorite parts of the gorgeous animation.

The plot revolves around Haru, an Alien, determined to make Yuki, his new best friend, an amazing fisher to help catch a certain fish he’s after (against the advice of his more sensible sister, Coco–who thinks he can do better). There’s something about saving the world, but we’re still trying to get Yuki to fish, so the save the world plot will have to wait until later. In the meantime, Haru insists on getting help from their classmate Natsuki, who is secretly the Fishing Prince (a title he despises)! Natsuki is reluctant to be seen with the class ‘oddballs’, but eventually relents when he realizes they’re serious about learning. As he teaches Yuki and Haru to fish, we get to see all three boys grow and learn something about not only themselves, but what it means to interact and be friends with other people–whether it’s Haru learning to give people their space, Yuki learning to say what he’s thinking, or Natsuki learning to be patient with others.

And of course, lurking alongside them all, there’s Yamada–the Indian boy with a duck. Unless the opening is lying, he’s our forth main character & I can’t wait for him to start taking more screen time and becoming a full time member of our crew~ He’s already adorable in his own right, and who doesn’t love Tapioca (his duck)? Sadly though, it looks like he’s more involved with the save-the-world side of the plot, so his big parts are probably yet to come.

But all that matters, is Alien!Haru is the most adorable thing ever (he’s like a hyperactive little kid), and we’ve got the makings of bromance amazing-ness. Heck, it’s already there–it just has room to grow, and you know how I love that. I don’t know, but what I like most of all is probably how much I connect to Yuki. He’s socially anxious around new people, and I immediately connected with him–because I know how he feels. I freeze up the same way (though I recover outwardly much faster), and seeing him get over it and past those feelings is great. You really want him to learn how to fish and catch the bass and when he manages to really make friends with Natsuki–it’s just an amazing thing.

Also, not joking. Natsuki teaches them to fish on screen. It really makes you want to go grab a rod and reel. I’m endlessly amazed they made this interesting and fun. XD

Words really don’t do it justice. I’m five episodes in and really excited for more. I’m almost terrified this will be a 12 episode series, because I want more already. I can’t wait to see where the series main plot (you know, save the world) actually goes, and right now I’m loving every minute. If you like some great humorous, feel-good, coming out of your shell story–come right on in. If you just like comedy? Come for that, too. The series is hilarious on top of all the ‘aw’ moments.

It’s got it’s serious side too, though, and there’s one plot line involving Yuki’s grandmother I’m assuming will end in tears–but we’ll see where that goes. It could honestly go either way, though the more gut-punch ending is looking more likely considering how high and happy Yuki has become in five episodes. I look forward to it either way.

Anyway–go watch it.

Also, the opening is absurdly addictive and adorable. The dance they do is so cute!

Edit 7/7/12: I have seen episodes 6-12. Just. Just go watch it. I’d do a post on it, but then I’d have to spoil things for you and I just can’t bring myself to do that. All you need to know is the rest of the series goes completely crazy, but it’s awesome & words really won’t do it justice if I try and explain. Go watch it. Just do it.

Hawk & Dove #8 – Final Issue

This is by far my favorite cover...save for Dove vs Swan maybe.

And Hawk & Dove #8 arrives. The final issue.

Content wise, it ends the ‘Hunter’ arc, making it a solid two-parter.

There’s not much to tell you other than that–it’s got some great action (can we say ‘ninjas’ and monster fight? :D) and a conclusion to the storyline. It felt a tad rushed (you can tell it was meant for more issues before the series was canceled), but both Hank & Dawn get some great last moments with the series.

The most important part: I enjoyed it. It was a good last issue & I suggest picking it up if you can. Give Hawk & Dove a little love! :D

Conclusions

Victory Walk

I don’t care what anyone says, I loved this series. I love the characters Hawk & Dove, and I’ll read anything that features them.

But for this particular case, I think Gates & Liefeld did the characters justice throughout its 8 issue run. They both had their own take on the characters and each brought out something different with them.

I wish the series would have been given more of a chance if only to bring some love to these characters who deserve more time in the spotlight, but sometimes things just don’t work out the way we’d like.

Hawk & Dove was great and I’m happy I got the 8-issues I did. The Trade Paperback is already on Pre-Order & I can’t wait to get my copy. :D

And for those of you who hate on the artwork, or the writing, or whatever all you want–I only have one response: it was a good series & I’m happy to have read it. :) I’m sorry you don’t agree, but that’s how it is. *shrugs*

Also, Dawn & Hank are adorable.

Dawn and Hank.

Future

I plan to continue posting whenever I see Hawk & Dove popping up in the new 52. So, let me know if you spot them and I’ve missed them.

We were promised they’d make some rounds with the other comics, so here’s hoping DC keeps true to that. <3

With that – I love Hawk & Dove. Proudly! :D

Hawk & Dove #7

Hawk & Dove #7: Hunted

The second to last issue of the Hawk & Dove series (insert sobbing here), and another solo for Rob Liefeld writing & drawing. Also worth noting is the new colorist Andrew James Troy.

As for the usual little previews for this issue–you only get one:

This is the only frame that matters.

And now that I’m finished drooling over Dawn from Page 1…let’s continue!

Story

Dawn’s gone crazy after the old break up with Deadman and starts partying it up at the local club scenes. Hank gets dragged along to be her wingman (Ha ha. I love puns, you don’t understand how much I do.) but more ends up her bodyguard when the guys get too fresh. He can’t take watching her like this anymore and drags Dawn out into the alley for a one-on-one intervention.

They argue & have a cute little makeup session before…BAM! Interrupted by our new baddie: The Hunter. He’s out for our Bird-Themed heroes and thus ensues a great fight scene. The Hunter takes a couple souvenirs from our main duo (you have to read it…the one he takes from Hawk is particularly amusing) and the fight is held up by the appearance of newcomer Xyra, and the Hunter leaves.

Turns out there’s a cult that worships hawks and that means Hank, our favorite Hawk, is on their ‘false god’ list. Hank & Dawn team up with Xyra for more information and Hunter retreats to the real big bad who has a bit of a prediction of things to come.

Artwork

Okay, this was the first issue where the art was weak in places. There may have been a cross eyed look here or there and some panels where the coloring seemed a little off with the inking. While most of the book looked great, it was just these few spots that looked slapped together.

I can’t blame them too much, with so many other projects it’d make sense that the canceled series gets the least attention or could hurt motivation. Overall though, these are minor complaints and Liefeld’s art style still holds true and the new colorist did a good job trying to keep the style familiar to previous issues. And hey! We got the pic of Dawn above. That makes up for anything else in the issue. XD (Xyra’s not too bad herself in sweats, either.)

Overall

Good issue and I like where the story is going. I look forward to the last issue and I hope Hawk & Dove gets to go out with a real hitter. Definitely pick this one up if you can. It’s got some good stuff from Dawn & Hank bonding and seeing the stress in their relationship.

Hawk & Dove is still my favorite series of the New DC 52 and I can’t wait for this duo to show up in other titles. :3

Hawk & Dove #6

I love this cover. I'm such a sucker for little things like that. XD

So, I’m a little behind with my review of Hawk & Dove–I was punishing myself with a ‘No Comics’ rule as I worked on things I had put off. Finally getting to read Hawk & Dove was my motivation to finish!

“Batman” & Dove #6, is the first issue with Rob Liefeld going solo with both writing & artwork (With Matt Lackey as the colorist~).

Not only is this issue a crossover with Batman & Robin, but it’s also a self-contained one-shot. So, short & sweet–Actually, this is a great issue to jump in on if you wanted to get into the series.

But I digress (Yes, I’m still very bitter Hawk & Dove was canceled when I love it so).

He is a lot of fun. And how can you not love that grin?

Summary:

Our issue starts out with Hawk chasing down Blockbuster in Gotham. Blockbuster and Hawk duke it out on the building tops until Dove crashes the party–and she’s still in super-agressive mode from the last storyline.

And of course, since this is a crossover (covers never lie, right? :D)–their chase down is interrupted when Robin takes out Hawk for stepping in on their turf.

Hawk doesn’t take it well.

It’s Robin vs Hawk & Dove for as long as it takes Batman to drop down. (Dove telling Robin/Damian off was particularly amusing: “Dove. And you don’t want any piece of me, kid.”)

Yes Hawk, Batman has some moves. XD

As it turns out, Blockbuster was working for a higher up Necromancer–who Batman and Robin were after–so they all team off to confront the big bad.

The bickering between groups is a given, Hawk & Robin being particularly antagonistic to each other–they’re about the same maturity level, so it all works out! :D

There’s a big free for all for magic artifacts, and Blockbuster going wild, and all that fun stuff you get from an action scene.

They take down the big bad, and part ways with Batman acknowledging that Hawk & Dove will be a formidable team in the future (if they survive each other long enough).

Thoughts: I wasn’t sure what I was expecting coming into this issue, but I did like it. You can tell the difference in writing style between Gates & Liefeld almost immediately, and I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But I was eating up the increase of puns in the text–but that’s me.

Hawk is such a dork for a football jock--I love that about him. XD

Artwork wise, it’s continuing to step up issue to issue. Matt Yackey’s coloring is still a perfect match for Liefeld’s pencils & inks and it looks great. It’s bright and colorful without being blinding or too in your face. There were some great shots in this issue–and a spread of The four characters soaring over Gotham was amazing. Loved it!

I think my only comment would be that Damian looked…a tad too old. I’m so used to him being a little pipsqueak that seeing him look about Tim or Dick’s age (and height) was a tad off-putting. On the bright side, his attitude and personality seemed pretty on the mark from what I remember in the old Batman & Robin series, so all good there. *thumbs up*

The most interesting thing about this issue though, was almost all of it was from Hawk’s single point of view. That in itself was an experience–Hawk’s not the brightest toolshed in the box. Never has been, and the thought bubbles fit that. He made puns, obvious observations, and occasionally bad mouthed Batman. (A line about feeling sorry for Robin after a Bat Lecture made me chuckle.)

On Batman’s note, after seeing Hawk & Dove in the Birds of Prey series, I had to remind myself that this was probably the first time they’d seen each other…and it made sense it’d be antagonistic. Hawk & Dove don’t really do the ‘team’ thing outside of their own duo (as we can see how well the Deadman thing turned out–and even in Birds of Prey they sort of did their own thing), so the clash between the characters was a good match up.

I just really loved this frame enough I had to share--Dove looks so pretty here. <3

Final Thoughts: Before Hawk & Dove, Batman was really the only comic-character I was really fond of thanks to the Cartoons and Movies (and my first venture into comics via some Trade Paperbacks I got from Borders XD). So, seeing them together with my Favorite DC Characters was a lot of fun! :D

The only downfall to it all, was that I’m reminded yet again this series was canceled. There’s so much potential for these two in their solo series no matter who is writing them.

But that won’t deter me from hanging in there to the end!

We’ve got two more issues from Rob and I just know they’re going to be good. So check them out & let’s make sure this series goes out with some all time high sales!

*hugs Hawk and Dove*

Hawk & Dove #5

And it’s that time again! Hawk and Dove Issue #5, which happens to be the last issue written by Sterling Gates. As of next month, Liefeld is going solo with both the writing & art (well, solo as accompanied by his awesome inkers and colorists).

Not even going to try this time–expect spoilers all the way to the end of the issue with this one.

This is my favorite panel in the entire series. I don't know why but this one frame of them strolling along is perfection.

Summary:

Hawk & Dove call up Madame Xanadu to seek help for Deadman, but she turns them down. She does, however, give them a tip off to where they can find him. Hawk and Dove hunt down a demon named Gob and rough him up for answers. Hawk and Dove get a few kicks in, and Gob wises up when he realizes that even Peaceful Dove is about to break his face in.

This happens to bother Hank quite a bit, and he pulls Dove aside out of costume for a heart-to-heart. He questions if Boston’s appearance in their lives is what’s causing Dove to go crazy–Deadman hurts the balance of their partnership, so to speak. Dove, naturally, gets rather peeved that Hank is even suggesting that she leave Boston and he relents to continue helping her get the guy back.

They find Condor, and realize that not only did he use up all of Boston’s magic, he also ate his parnter Swan (which naturally pisses off Hank). There’s a fight where he goes on about a Circle and the War Avatars and tries to eat Dove. She fights back, accompanied by a lovely corny speech about the power of Peace and her love for Boston. When she’s cut by Condor’s talon, she pulls the same weird light number she did with Swan back in issue three. Condor goes down, and Deadman is saved.

And then Deadman dumps Dove. End of Issue. I’ll get to that down below. XD

The only thing bad about Swan is that I didn't get more of her.

The Bad

Okay. I think this was the first issue where I really had some issues with the pacing (or at least stopped fangirling enough to admit the series has pacing issues). As much as everyone wants to hurry and get to the Batman arc, I think that this one deserved a little more time to flesh out. This issue could have easily been split up into two to give us a bit more details, history and set up for later arcs concerning the Avatars.

I don’t necessarily need to know a whole lot more about the War avatars and the “Circle” that Condor’s referring to (I get that we should leave some stuff for later), but it would have been nice to see a little more of the set up for Condor’s eating plans & Hawk and Dove tracking them down.

And as much fun as it was for Hank/Hawk to screw up Madame Xanadu’s name in his inner monologue, it would have been better to actually see Hawk & Dove go visit her/call her for info instead of just telling us they did it (and still keep that gorgeous spread of Hawk & Dove running after the Gob…those two pages were great.)

Peace kicks some ass when it wants to.

My only other complaint would be Dove’s light show. Mostly because I had no idea what was going on with that. No, really–I want this to be explained later. If that happens every time she gets a cut, they might want to redo her costume in Kevlar or something.

The Good

Okay, pacing for this arc aside–this was definitely one of the best comics yet (Issue #2 still holding out for favorite). It had a lot of action, the artwork in particular was in top form.

Oh Hank. XD

And I loved Hank’s little “you should break up and not even save him” speech. It was awkward and a little cruel (in an unintentional way, remember Hank’s not the brightest lightbulb), you can tell he’s been holding back about Deadman for a while. I don’t think Hank is interested in Dove romantically (yet), but he’s definitely got an over protective big-brother thing going on that I think is darling. Plus, it’s nice to see them out of costume period. They’ve been in “uniform” pretty much non stop since Swan and Condor crashed the party at the White House, so it’s nice to remember Hank and Dawn are under the Hawk and Dove.

The only time they've agreed on anything ever. (In reference to Dove's light show.)

And of course there were the little things, too. For example, Hawk & Deadman’s reaction to Dove taking out Condor by her lonesome.

After they’ve both spent issues making it clear they can’t stand each other, that one little moment of fellowship was all the more sweeter.

Which leads us to the last issue:

The Break Up

Alright, the first read through, this seemed like it happened way too fast. “Wait! Hank was just talked about them breaking up and now they are!? I call BS!”

Until I put the issue aside and thought about it–and then decided I was really glad I had picked up Justice League Dark for a few issues.

In Justice League Dark, it was pretty clear that Dove and Deadman were on the rocks with their relationship. In the last issue I read with her in it (#2), she was storming out pissed off at him for continuing to try and jump her with other people’s bodies. It occurred to me, that this is what he probably wanted to talk about when he showed up in the first issue asking if it was a bad time to talk.

Inside, Hank is jumping up and down in glee. He never liked that guy. XD

And it was never a good time. Deadman’s probably been wanting to have a serious discussion about their relationship since Issue #1 and has been interrupted by just about everything, including his own kidnapping–where as he said–he had plenty of time to think.

So, while it seemed sudden, after I put it into context, Deadman breaking up with Dawn seemed to fit and was a fairly logical course of action.

What does this mean for Hawk and Dove? Not sure, but now they’re both single and that makes me happy. *cough get them together cough*

Will Deadman continue to be a sore spot? Most likely. Either way, none of that matters because Issue #6 is a crossover with Batman.

What more do you really need to hear? :D

patchwork

patches of the life of liliy