Thanks to Bookstooge for giving me the idea with his MTG cards posts. Not sure I’ll be going over my whole collection of shiny pokemon, but when it comes to this particular one I made a promise I’d post a photo of it, so here it is: Pokemon Go Shadow Shiny Alolan Marowak 😉
Here we go, as promised months ago, in the first part of the review ;). My enthusiasm for Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z hasn’t changed a bit, even though since then I’ve read loads of other shonen titles: Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto, Kaijuu no. 8, My Hero Academia, Bleach, One Piece, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba… I still consider Toriyama’s opus magnum the best ;). Though that doesn’t include the most recent run, Dragon Ball Super, which is so bad I refuse to acknowledge it as canon ;).
So, without further ado, here’s my second part of the highly emotional journey through Toriyama’s famous manga. There are tears, and fist pumps, and everything in between ;).
5.5/10 stars
The first third, concluding the fight between Goku and Freeza, is simply amazing. Loved every bit of it! All stars!!! And it’s actually the only reason this got five stars instead of one.
Because after that first part… well, to be fair, it was probably impossible to top the Goku-Freeza showdown with anything, really. But the rest of the volume is a disappointment, a major slump in terms of both emotional and martial content, with the coincidental return of Freeza and Goku, over a year later, to Earth, just as a setup for the appearance of a mysterious warrior from the future. Trunks must save the day in the absence of Goku, and while the reveal of Trunk’s parentage was a really fun part, the ease with which he dispatched Freeza and his nasty dad was rather jarring. And then we get the forewarning about evil androids soon to be made by a mad scientist, and the decision to wait for them and train hard just doesn’t make any sense. Aargh. That’s just so lazy.
Honestly, I hoped we had seen the last of the Red Ribbon Army a long time ago. Not to mention that the new Terminator vibes are somehow way less alluring than the old Superman vibes 😉
One of the weakest volumes to date, I’m afraid. Still moderately enjoyable, but nowhere near the usual levels I came to expect from Toriyama’s DB and DBZ.
Continue reading “Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball Z (1989 – 1995), part 2”The Book of Boba Fett is premiering in December, so I decided to celebrate the revival of Star Wars gritty un-realism with a themed watercolor :).
Boba Fett, the infamous bounty hunter in a Mandalorian armour, is one of the most iconic characters of the Star Wars universe, and I tried to convey his badass “knight-errant” or perhaps “conquering king” attitude here, in the Wild West setting of Tatooine.
Enjoy!
Sometimes I buy a book just because it’s pretty. It can be something I already read and might never re-read, sometimes it’s a new one for me, often it waits years for its turn. Karel Čapek’s War with the Newts I read almost immediately, and I’m quite certain I’ll be revisiting. If not for a full re-read, then at least to browse the illustrations, as this is one of the best-illustrated books I own, not only because the pictures look pretty, but also because they are fully integrated within the story.
I was additionally motivated when I noticed Jeroen from A Sky of Books and Movies started reviewing Čapek, first R.U.R. and then War with the Newts itself. His review is highly recommended as it puts the book in the context of its times and similar genre fiction. I’ll try to add a bit to that, but I’ll concentrate on my edition, one that is sadly only available to Polish and German-reading audiences.
Author: Karel Čapek
Illustrator: Hans Ticha
Title: War with the Newts / Válka s Mloky in the original Czech, also translated as Salamander Wars, but the Polish title of this edition is Inwazja jaszczurów which literally means Invasion of the Lizards
Format: hardcover
Pages: 368
Series: Świeżym okiem (With a fresh eye…) – yay, there will be more of these beautiful editions, next one – Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Continue reading “Karel Čapek, War with the Newts (1936)”This time, something a bit different :). As some of you know, I have returned to painting and opened an art shop on Etsy and RedBubble earlier this year. A Youtube channel seemed like a natural next step for me, and I’m lucky to have the support of my wonderful family in this new endeavor.
Hope you’ll enjoy my first YT relaxing art video, and I hope you’ll stick around my new channel for next videos, too!
Lastly, big thanks to Wakizashi for tips and encouragement! 😉
Re-enchantment Of The World 