Wondering what to do with your upcoming free time? Good thing we have some suggestions for what you should be watching, playing, reading, listening to, etc.
Ben’s Anime Pick: My Hero Academia (Final Season) – To say that My Hero Academia, a show that was great from the start and has stayed so for nearly a decade, ended on a high note doesn’t quite do it justice. It didn’t just stick the landing, it hits the ground so goddamn hard everything nearby is obliterated. While watching the final chapter I found myself on the edge of my seat, sobbing, cheering, or sobbing and cheering throughout large chunks (if not entire episodes) of it. I haven’t been moved by a long-running anime like this in nearly two decades. I think that’s because MHA’s biggest strength isn’t action — though the fights are nothing short of astonishing — but its characters; characters who have grown, evolved, and come into their own throughout eight seasons of heroics and heart with a powerful message about believing in ourselves and seeing the best in each other. It isn’t displaying the naive optimism one can find in many other anime though. The villains are just that, but that doesn’t mean they also aren’t humans with dreams and goals who may have been dealt a bad hand. The last time I saw all of these elements blend together in an ending so perfectly was back in 2008 when I first watched Gurren Lagann, my favorite anime of all time. Yeah, the final season of My Hero Academia is that good.
Lauren’s Comic Book Pick: Absolute Batman – Every handful of years a comic reboot/reimagining comes along that tricks me into thinking that this will finally be the time that I stick it out with a title. The last time this was successful — we’re talking interest not peetering out or getting so annoyed with crossover nonsense that I ended up quitting — was New 52 Batman, so it makes sense that a new Batman title reeled me back in. The complete reimagining sure didn’t hurt my levels of intrigue, once I got past Bruce’s ridiculously hulking bodybuilder design (6’9” and 421lbs to be exact) that is mirrored in the fattest bat emblem we’ve ever had. Do I believe that man can fly? No. No matter how much of a genius he is, no matter how detailed they get in how Bruce designed his own wings, it’s still too laughable for me to expect the same level of agility from this man. But I will not be laughing in Batman’s face about it. Because this man from Crime Alley is absolutely terrifying, brutal (though still nonlethal if you don’t think too hard about it) in his takedowns of the people wreaking havoc in his city. A city that he no longer looks down on from his big ass pile of money as trust fund CEO of Wayne Enterprises. No, he’s just a poor kid with a major chip on his shoulder, and best friends who you will recognize as rogue gallery villains of Batman past. Oh, AND A MOM. That’s right, Martha is alive. I may give this comic shit for not even making it 1 issue before Joker got introduced — groan — but I will forgive it if they have this Alfred Pennyworth and this Martha Wayne meet. Please. Also bring Mr. Freeze back, because that level of horror was not at all expected, but so greatly appreciated.
Ben’s Video Game Pick: Terminator 2D: No Fate – This sidescrolling throwback from Bitmap Bureau is a bite-sized love letter to one of the greatest movies ever made: Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I said “bitesized” because a single run can be completed in about 45 minutes, but I also said “single run” because there are multiple endings to unlock through subsequent playthroughs. And while a full run isn’t the same length of the beloved James Cameron film, it does hit all of the iconic action scenes with fun, run-and-gun action. The chases, Sarah Connor’s escape from the hospital, the biker bar (with a brilliant soundtrack easter egg), the infiltration of Cyberdyne, it’s all there. Oh, and we get some extra future war goodness too! Is it the best Terminator game I’ve ever played? No, that’s still Terminator: Resistance Enhanced; but Terminator 2D: No Fate is still a good time and easily worth the (as of now) $30 price tag.
So what do you think about these picks? What content did we miss over the past two weeks while we were spending time with these? Be sure to leave a comment below letting us know about everything (both current and simply new to you) you’ve been consuming lately!
And while you’re here, be sure to check some of the site’s other recent content:
- For better or worse, our “The Greatest Thing About…” podcast has risen from the dead with the release of two episodes recorded 84 years ago: All That Jazz and La La Land.
Middle of the Row 