Kingdom Hearts: Drop Dream Distance

Artist: unknown

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance or better known as Kingdom Hearts 3D (KH3D) was initially released for Nintendo 3DS. Which makes one question if the developers purposely made the title have 3 D’s in it because it was being released on the 3DS. But that is not the purpose of this post. Instead I will go over the plot of KH3D and talk about my thoughts and feelings as I played the game.

 

After the events of KHII and Re:Coded Yen Sid wants to prepare for the return of Xehanort (the main antagonist in the series). To prepare he wants to turn Sora and Riku into Master keyblade weilders and unlock the power necessary to defeat Xehanort. Even though Sora with the help of his friends has stopped Xehanort multiple times he still needs to be trained apparently . . . . Anyways for their exam they are sent to seven worlds that are trapped in a sleeping state after being destroyed by the heartless. Their goal is to unlock each world and restore them. 

During the gameplay you switch between playing as Sora and Riku and instead of Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as your companions you have Pokémon I mean Dream Eaters. There are two types of dream eaters: Spirit and Nightmares. Spirit Dream Eaters are allies formed from materials gathered throughout the game. While the nightmares are the ones you fight against; making this the first game in the series where the minions are not Heartless. It's different and makes the game feel new. 

If I am being honest I did miss having Donald and Goofy as my companions even though I give Donald one job he never does it . . . healing me. With the new companions I enjoyed the game mechanics they brought. The more you use them the more abilities Sora and Riku will learn. I just wished I swapped them out more often than I did. Usually the abilities I wanted took a long time to get so I kept the same Spirits with me for most of the game. 

Young Xehanort

During the exam Sora and Riku encountered a young Xehanort being accompanied with Xemnas and Ansem (who are also Xehanorts). We find out that Xehanort can see in the future (I will explain how in a post about χ Back Cover) and send a portion of himself into the dream world to capture Sora and turn him into a Xehanort. In the past few games Xehanort has tried to do the same with Riku, but after many failed attempts he has switched his focus to Sora, mirroring the initial keyblade choice. Apparently, Riku was meant to get the Keyblade in KHI, but sided with the Darkness to escape the island so it was passed to Sora instead. 

During this period Riku finds out he is in Sora's dream; a dream in a dream aka inception. He encounters young Xehanort and tries to free Sora from him. Like any evil mastermind he reveals why he needs Sora to Riku: Young Xehanort was tasked to assemble thirteen incarnations of Xehanort across time into a new Organization XIII. After Riku defeats young Xehanort the revived Master Xehanort arrives and gives exposition about their need to have thirteen seekers of darkness against seven guardians of light to achieve his goal of recreating χ-blade to unlock Kingdom Hearts. Before Sora becomes a Xehanort, Riku is aided by Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Lea (aka Axel) and escape. 

After returning to Yen Sid’s tower, Sora is still unconsious becoming a Xehanort so Riku enters Sora’s dream one more time and rescues him. After he is saved he finds Ansem the Wise, in Sora's dreams. He gives Riku data he left in Sora’s heart. After Riku and Sora’s return. Yen Sid appoints Riku as Keyblade Master and Lea becomes a keyblade wielder. 

Yen Sid explains that Xehanort can use the seven Princesses of Heart (like in KHI) or seven keyblade wielders to make the χ-blade and decided it’s better to gather seven wielders to prevent Xehanort and asks Riku to summon Kairi to be trained as a Keyblade wielder. While that is happening Sora enters the Dream world once more to be with the Spirit Dream Eaters.

Overall, I enjoyed the game. I liked that Riku ended up facing the final boss. I thought it would be Sora because it’s always him and the game made me feel that it would be him because he faced the mid boss of the game. For lore many questions were answered with new questions surfacing. This is the first game without any Final Fantasy Characters which is very sad for me. I knew it was coming, but I liked the mix of Final Fantasy with Disney. I am sad to see them absent like Sora and Kairi's relationship. 

The story is complex and I don’t know how Square Enix keeps this straight. There are details I left out that I hope will not be important in future installments. Knowing the franchise it will be. Anyways, what did you like about this game?

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

Out of all the secret projects being released this year Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was the book I looked forward to the most. Last year I read all the teaser chapters and the inspiration Brandon Sanderson had for each novel and this one seemed the most colorful and I loved what inspired him to write it. His inspiration came by the movie Your Name and the video game Final Fantasy X. Your name is a great movie about two teens switching bodies and trying to solve a mystery while Final Fantasy X follows the protagonist as he helps Yuna (Yumi name being based off of her), a summoner, with her other guardians to release captured souls and defeat sin. This book definitely takes inspiration from both. 

By Botanica

When I read the book it took me a while for it to draw me in, but it did end up sketching itself into my memory forever.

 

If I had to rate this book I would give it a 6.0/10 compared to all of Brandon Sanderson's works with 5.0 being his average. In this post I will go over emotional impact, characters, plot, dialogue / prose, and worldbuilding / magic systems and how they averaged to make this book a 6.0/10 for me.

 

Emotional Impact 5.0/10

The emotional impact between the characters was average for a typical Brandon Sanderson novel. Throughout the book we see Yumi and Painter learn to appreciate each other and turn that into love. It is what you expect from a book that takes inspiration from two love stories. However, there was a point in the book that had the potential to be more emotional impact impactful, but then the next chapter removed it. It was something that was foreshadowed throughout the book and when it happened I was emotional, but after reading the following chapter it made what happened meaningless.

 

Characters 6.0/10

Like I said previously, the emphasis of the book is a love story between Yumi and Painter. They are both late teenagers trying to live in each other's worlds. I thought Painter was a more interesting character than Yumi. We understand why he liked to be alone and how he had to overcome his depression and anxieties. While on the other hand, Yumi at first came across as a Mary Sue but as the story progressed she became her own person with flaws. 

For minor characters I thought Design was fun because she brought more lore to the Cosmere. But the other characters were forgettable. They each were distinctive, but I wouldn't be able to name them until I reread the book.

 

Plot 8.0/10

Usually, in a story where people swap bodies they are separated from each other. However, in this book they stay together. One is a spirit as the other inhabits their body. They live in each other world until they fall asleep then they switch to the other world. I appreciate that they see each other as themselves because that removes some awkwardness. The reason they switched bodies because Yumi agrees to help free a spirit and in order to do so the spirit connected her with Painter. They have to solve the mystery on how to free the spirit while learning each other's magic systems.

 

Dialogue/Prose 5.0/10

I think everyone agrees that Brandon Sanderson doesn’t write a story for Dialogue and Prose. His intent is to tell a story which he does so well. So for Brandon Sanderson this book is average for his style of writing. I personally like it. He makes everything clear and easy to read which give me more time to understand the magic systems he creates. 

 

by BotanicaXu 

Worldbuilding/Magic System 6.0/10

I think this world and its laws were most confusing even with Hoid explaining everything at the end. It is definitely something I am planning on rereading. I don’t want to say anything because of spoilers, but talking to others confirmed that I was not the only one that thought this portrait was confusing.

For the magic system. Painter paints to seal nightmares in canvases hence his name and all the art puns in the post, while Yumi stacks rocks very high in her own art form to call upon spirits to bless the citizens. When the body swap occurs Yumi has to teach Painter how to stack correctly while Painter teaches her how to paint bamboo. Making this magic system unique enough to give this category 6.0/10.

 

In conclusion, If you are a fan of Brandon Sanderson, Your Name, or Final Fantasy X, then I would recommend this book. It is colorful and the art in the book is the best I have seen from Dragonsteel.

First Doctor Revisited: "The Tenth Planet"

I couldn’t finish off the era of the First Doctor without highlighting his exit. So join me and some of my random thoughts from when I watched “The Tenth Planet.”

It was an interesting dynamic, how this story was somewhat Doctor-lite (an interesting contrast to future regeneration episodes). We know why this was, of course, as it’s the same reason regeneration was thought up in the first place. With Hartnell’s health failing, it makes sense that he was absent from chunks of the story. Kind of like how the Doctor was silenced and turned invisible during his encounter with the Toymaker. Compare this to all the Doctor-lite and companion-lite stories of the first Russell T. Davies era. Again, an interesting dynamic to kind of downplay the Doctor’s role. Heck, he didn't really do anything to defeat the Cybermen. They kind of defeated themselves. 

Despite being their first appearance of many, the Cybermen made only minor appearances. I suspect it may have been because of budget constraints or complexity of special effects. They'd go on in future appearances to be one of the most fearsome villains, but in this story couldn’t even go near radiation without human assistance. We didn’t even get any human Cyber-conversions. They alluded to conversion, but none of our humans fell victim to the process. Whether due to budget, special effects, or the imagination of the writers, nothing slowed down the Cybermen. They’d just keep on upgrading and becoming scarier until as recently as “The Power of the Doctor.” And you can bet RTD will bring them back at some point again.

Even though the Cybermen were absent at times, there was still a villain present. Sometimes that villain was the human race. Isn’t that just like Doctor Who? You have this villainous and scary looking alien/robot, but along the way the human race does something stupid that threatens the lives of innocents. Even almost 60 years ago, the Doctor wouldn’t stand for that. Thankfully the human race survived itself back then in the 80s or we wouldn’t be here talking about it today.

And then of course we have the regeneration sequence. The first of many. But modern Who fans ought to also remember an episode that takes place in the moments before the Doctor enters the TARDIS at the end of this episode. Of course, I’m referencing “Twice Upon a Time” when the First Doctor teams up with the Twelfth Doctor. I wrote about this story when it first aired. Maybe it was because there was no enemy alien present in the story, just the two Doctors, but it gave a greater depth to the First Doctor as a character. He’d grown so much since Ian and Barbara forced their way in and now he was forced to change again.

So I guess that concludes the First Doctor era (at least in blog form–we got some First Doctor coming in the podcast). Until we see the First Doctor again, I’ll finish with a line from Thirteen’s regeneration: “Tag, you're it!”

LDS Geeks Podcast #1: Host Introductions

Welcome to episode one of the Latter-Day Saint Geeks Podcast! Get to know three of our hosts in the inaugural episode. Each podcast will have a combination of the three of us and maybe a guest. If you like this first episode, don't forget to subscribe for future episodes.

--Spencer

Eight Moments with Minerva McGonagall

Another year at Hogwarts begins. To celebrate our Hogwarts professors and all teachers returning to work, I wanted to spotlight Minerva McGonagall, headmistress and transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts. So enjoy some of the best moments of McGonagall.

"We'll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend."

I can't remember how exactly this exchanged played out in the book, but in the movie version of Chamber of Secrets, you can tell that McGonagall (and probably all the other teachers too) were tired of Lockhart's pompous nature. Would McGonagall have challenged him to take on Slytherin's monster if she actually thought he knew where the Chamber was? I doubt it. But she definitely used this dark moment to put Gilderoy in his place. Can't stop sassy Minerva.

“Have a biscuit.”

This moment in the book version of Order of the Phoenix is iconic. Just when Harry thinks he’s in the biggest trouble for talking back to Umbridge, McGonagall throws the unexpected curveball. It’s just the beginning of her (mostly) silent protest against Umbridge and it’s a shame that this scene didn’t make it into the movie.

“I wonder how you expect to gain an idea of my usual teaching methods if you continue to interrupt me? You see, I do not generally permit people to talk when I am talking.”

While Umbridge tried to undermine the other teachers, as she slowly took over Hogwarts, some teachers had a hard time (Trelawney) but it was funny to see her get after the likes of McGonagall. Sassy McGonagall is the one who could stand up to Umbridge like no one else could.

“There are several things I’d like to say.”

Occasionally the movie added moments that the book didn’t and it’s beautiful. This is one such moment when McGonagall is defending Trelawney, who she has complained about on more than one occasion. But even this woman, who she perceives to be a fraud, is a human being deserving of respect, despite any personal bias. 

Harry’s Career Counseling

Late in the book version of Order of the Phoenix, prior to the OWL exams, the heads of houses did career counseling with their pupils. And for some reason Umbridge decided to sit in on Harry’s session. Not only was McGonagall supportive of Harry’s career goals, while still giving him stern advice to improve his grade in Potions. But on top of that, she straight up called out Umbridge, who persisted in tearing down Harry’s career aspirations.

"It’s high time your grandmother learned to be proud of the grandson she’s got, rather than the one she thinks she ought to have."

She was known for being strict and everything, but McGonagall was always supportive of her students. Even the ones that weren’t Harry Potter. So this line to Neville was great. At the beginning of the Half-Blood Prince book she was willing to stand up to Neville’s strict grandmother and validate Neville’s strengths. This boy had spent five years being torn down for his weaknesses, so I’m sure the validation was only too welcome.

“I’ve always wanted to use that spell”

Shortly after dueling Snape (in both the movie and the book), McGonagall and the other teachers started putting protection spells around the school. As part of this, McGonagall animated several stone knight statues. As if that moment wasn’t cool enough, the movie version had her start geeking out to Mrs. Weasley about the spell she'd cast. Just another moment the movie improved upon the book.

The Oscausi Charm

In a Crimes of Grindewald flashback, we see a young Minerva (don’t get me started on why McGonagall shouldn’t be there–she literally said in Order of the Phoenix that she’d been at Hogwarts about 39 years) chasing young Leta Lestrange with a Gryffindor girl. Naturally, as Leta had jinxed the girl, McGonagall was trying to be stern, as always. But when the Gryffindor girl gets her voice back and immediately starts complaining, it’s sassy McGonagall that mutes her all over again. 

If you have any favorite McGonagall moments that I’ve missed, make sure you let us know in the comments and/or by sending us a message. Or if you can rationalize (without trashing the Fantastic Beasts movies–I still like them overall) how the heck she was present at 1910s Hogwarts.

Bluey: A Pinnacle of (Family? Everyone's?) Animation

 

Gotta Love Big Beautiful Pictures of a Beautiful Dog Family

    

This is a remarkable time of life. We have access to all the animation of our childhood; whether that be Pokémon, Digimon, Winnie the Pooh, or even Peanuts specials, we can go back to the 90s and relive some of our favorite moments, like Ash meeting Pikachu, Tai wrestling Matt (or maybe you prefer Tai's wrestle with anxiety and fear at the pyramid...), or Winnie the Pooh and Piglet running from heffalumps and woozels. Or maybe you preferred Arthur, Sailor Moon, Gargoyles, or Magic School Bus. Or maybe you were a 2000s kid and watched Naruto or Avatar, or Spongebob, or an 80s kid an loved He-Man or She-ra; or maybe I'm too old to be writing about children's cartoons (I still need to watch Phineas and Ferb). We have access to so much that even now, shows seem so numerous as to be diluted in quality, and we are drowning in a sea of media. We forget the glory days, and we get lost in a blase, wishing for days of nostalgia. That's why Bluey is such a miracle. 

Set in Australia, and begun in 2018, Bluey is a preschool kids show. Except that everyone who loves and adores Bluey the most are not just preschool kids, or even elementary school kids (primary school for our Englishly inclined), but even teenagers, young adults, and of course parents. Children love Bluey. Their parents love Bluey. College students love Bluey. Everyone loves bluey. I bet my mom would love Bluey (you would too, if you saw it). So, what's to love? 

from Magic Xylophone

The first thing you'll notice is the vibrant color palette. This is a beautiful show. Every frame is full of detail, and everything helps paint the story, and the idea of this cozy little dog family. Not only that, but the expression and the movement of the characters is so well-done, that you can't help but appreciate every movement. 

from Sleepytime, a perennial favorite

Of course, you could imply some weakness in the design. It paints everything in a very bright, very "picture perfect" kind of light, which gives this challenge: are they maybe, "too perfect" looking? Of course we all know the ideal version of a dog family, but are they actually "real" and imperfect? Ultimately, that comes down to the animators. Sometimes they portray messy carseats, or a messy playroom, or cracks or leaves or hairs, and they'll put in all the details of a busy family with small children. There are even moments where we enter dreams and the imagination in ways that only animation could. This is a show that's got it.

Lovely "Jupiter" (Holst) theme

The second thing you'll have noticed (because you usually notice things you see first), is the fantastic soundtrack. From covers of the best classical music pieces of all time (and some that are particularly English and Commonwealthy), to their own original music, Bluey really smashes the keyboard. Or maybe it stretches some bowstrings. Most of the soundtrack has an energetic tilt to it, that breathes hope and life, but it also is very capable of taking time to breath. Bluey's soundtrack covers the range of emotion, from joy and manic energy, to calm, and even sadness. You'll find some of the strongest sound direction in television here. Oh, and an opening theme that can technically be conducted in 17/4 time.

Just a random, run of the mill background track, nothing special

However, the third thing you'll notice, and possibly the most powerful, is the depiction of strong, resilient familial and friend relationships. For instance Veranda Santa, an episode where family is over for Christmas, portrays the challenges of having a younger sibling or cousin who doesn't understand things well, but also how toddlers still have raw emotions when we mistreat them. This episode, which is only about six or seven minutes long, is able to convey in such a short time such strong concepts and emotions, even character development, that would make even movies blush. What's remarkable is how they're effective in doing this every single episode. Sure, there will be standouts, including ones where there is no dialogue, or ones that deal with particularly heavy adult issues, but these are all done so consistently with taste and with a brightness of hope, that I can't help but love the direction. This show covers such topics as relationship dynamics, methods of teaching, attitude cultivation, patience, mental health, and that's just scratching the surface. The depth here is deep, and appreciated.

from Veranda Santa

Of course there is another way that this show really shines, and in fact, it goes all the way back to 1995. Without being particular in every respect, the spirit of the show follows so well the ideals of the Family Proclamation, read in general conference by President Gordon B. Hinkley, that I couldn't help but read out this quote:

"Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners."  

-The Family: A Proclamation to the World

While even the religiously inclined would probably be shocked (surprised more like it) if a popular show depicted prayer or worship, the relationships depicted in this show so powerfully enshrine fidelity, love, respect, compassion, and wholesome recreational activities, that it matches so well with the Family Proclamation. As Brigham Young said, 

“[The gospel] embraces all morality, all virtue, all light, all intelligence, all greatness, and all goodness. It introduces a system of laws and ordinances.”

We can carry with us that light that we are able to find, whatever source it may, and incorporate it into our lives. Bluey shows the beautiful love and affection of family, activities and imagination that build and develops kids and adults, and how to live life well. If you haven't given it a watch, or have been wondering about the hype, go and give it a watch. It'll change your life. You can watch it on Disney+ (I know...). 

The Truth Hurts with the Ember Island Players

Welcome again to an unnecessary and bizarre reflection on obscure geek culture references.

This week my reference isn’t too obscure. I’m told the memes directly drawn from this episode of Avatar the Last Airbender are pretty bounteous. We’re talking about “The Ember Island Players,” season 3, episode 17 of AtLA.

In the episode, the Fire Nation acting troupe put on the play that featured all the members of the Avatar squad with very entertaining portrayals. Aang’s carefree and wholesome nature are captured with a high-pitched female actress ala theatrical castings of Peter Pan. Katara is portrayed as overly emotional and desperately clinging to hope, and making sure everyone knows it. Sokka is played as a goofy jokester who is always hungry. Each of these three, and other members of the team are all in denial and disbelief about any resemblance they have to their on-stage counterpart.

Toph and Suki are the only two people who aren’t completely disgusted by what they see on the stage. The characters insist that their personality was completely misunderstood.

Of course, caricatures are hilarious, and snap judgment is something that creates a sort of common language that we can at times understand collectively as a group. Therefore it can be an effective strategy for creating a piece of popular media. I remember going to a dinner theater near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. If you’re from eastern Idaho, you might have heard of Mack’s Inn. The production we saw was “The Phantom of the Grand ol’ Opry.” I loved it, but I’m a sucker comedy musicals. In this show, at one point the phantom sang a ridiculous parody of the popularly stalking-themed classic by The Police, “Every Breath You Take.” He also wore a mask because his face got stuck in a weird position, not because he was born with any unusual condition, or splashed in the face with acid, or whatever the original phantom’s reason was for covering his face.

Anyway, parody and caricature are fun and funny. But what about when it gets personal?

Toph loves every minute of the play, and declares to the team that the truth hurts. She has the sort of concrete thinking that validates the caricatures, and only works in her favor because the actor in her role is a totally stacked dude the size of a tank. Toph is lucky enough to not have any identity issues, although her ability to empathize with the rest of the team, reach a compromise with others is at times impeded by her fiercely rational and stubborn perspective.

People want to be seen in the way they want, although what we want is not always the reality. Our most noticeable characteristics make more sense in the context of our lives, and yet only we are capable of being fully aware of that context. When they are taken out of context, our mannerisms and choices can be made to seem ridiculous and even humiliating. 

Our brains like to make snap judgments. They save energy, and make use of our ability to process a lot of information quickly. Body language, tone of voice, word choice, and overall appearance say things about a person that create an overall impression that we carry without putting in much effort. These are all the building blocks we need to have a caricature for a person. Imagine the theme park portraits that exaggerate a pronounced chin to proportions grown absurdly cartoonish. 

It takes so much more effort to develop a deeper understanding of a person. The Ember Island Players episode works so well because we can see both sides very clearly. The AtLA story is told in such a way that the whole Avatar squad is made up of three-dimensional characters that have their catchphrases and consistent personality quirks, but who also have surprised us, and grown through the challenges of following the Avatar and getting past their hang-ups and weaknesses. 

Katara has good reason to depend heavily upon hope, as she was forced to grow up prematurely after the death of her mom, and the absence of her father in her life. Her mentions of hope are courageous and useful to help keep herself and her team from becoming hopeless in the face of ongoing war. Aang does have a carefree and wholesome personality, but that doesn’t prevent him from challenging his fears and rising up to the call of taking down Fire Lord Ozai. His trickster tendencies are a mask at times that provide a release valve from the weight of his responsibilities of mastering the four elements, and using them to prevent world domination.

Zuko turns out to be one of the most vulnerable characters, in proportion to how outrageously tough he forced himself to be throughout the first two episodes of the show. His dynamic transformation through the series works so well because he is given sufficient attention to set up his descent from the throne of the Fire Nation, to abandoning his father by choice, and finally realizing that he was meant to be Aang’s firebending teacher.

To wrap things up without going into further details of the episode, the play reveals many details and insights into the Avatar team that are not only cringeworthy, but which the team purposely avoids talking about, including unrequited love, and fears about how things might end up at the final battle. The truth does indeed hurt, as there is always chance you will lose the fight. Yet the team’s ability to stay and watch the whole thing says something about their tolerance for discomfort, and their hope that the way things will end will turn out okay. Luckily for them, the show did not follow suit with the play. It was a play put on by the Fire Nation, so of course the Fire Lord had to win in the end.

This episode is wildly creative and fun to watch. I love it when media like stage shows and cartoons mix together. This episode had a lot of moving parts in it that came together really beautifully. What was your favorite moment from the Ember Island Players?

You Need to Read Cradle!

 

artist: u/-cloudsmith-

I was told a few years ago by a trustworthy friend that I should read the series Cradle. I put it on my to-read list on Goodreads (follow me on Goodreads), but I waited years to read the series. To be fair I looked for it at my local library and they didn’t have a copy nor did BYU or any bookstores that I visted. Anyways, recently the author, Will Wight, posted on Twitter that all his ebooks were free for a day because of the upcoming novel (the last book in Cradle). So, I got all eleven books for free and another book from a different series he is writing. Let me tell you, I have enjoyed reading these books to the point that I debated if I should read the newest secret project from Brandon Sanderson or continue the series. I have been upset at myself for taking so long to start reading the series. I should have paid for the books and read them sooner. . . . I blame my friend. It’s his fault for not forcing me to read it sooner.

artist: u/meadblossom

To give you some background about this series; these are self-published and sold on Amazon. That explains why I couldn’t find them in stores or at a local library because they usually don’t support self-published authors. I don’t know the details of why they are self-published nor can I tell that they are. 

artist: unknown

Cradle is Chinese inspired level up fantasy. Imagine a book about the origins of Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan and how they trained to become strong fighters. That is how this series is with an RPG aspect to it. If you like any RPG video games like Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts where the characters get stronger over encounters and training this book is similar. Cradle also gives off an anime feel to it. So, if you like Naruto, Dragon Ball, or any power up Animes then you will like this too.

artist: Uncannyrewind

The story follows Lindon, an underdog, a person that no one in his village would train and give resources to to become stronger because his spiritual energy (madra) is too weak. There is no point in training someone that is crippled. Even though his madra is low his determination is high, and he embarks on adventures to show his worth. 

To frame how weak he is let me explain how the level system works. If a character obtains so much madra they advance to the next rank. While kids around 10 advances to the second stage he is left at the first stage in his mid-teens. Those on a higher level usually defeat the weaker levels easily. Therefore, Lindon is used to losing to 10-year-olds.

What I really enjoy about this series is the main character stays weak and struggles facing his opponents. He relies on stronger characters to face the main antagonist. Each character gets a spotlight and shows how strong they are while he is catching up. I really appreciate it because it relies on other characters’ strengths and weaknesses. Unlike typical anime’s where one character always faces the main boss, this series gives the supporting characters a place to shine.

 

artist: u/sugar_skye

 

I almost forgot to tell you my favorite part of each book. At the end of each novel there is a blooper section where different events could have occurred in the story. It usually makes me laugh. I just wish it was sub-scripted at the end of the chapter where the other event could have occurred instead of the end of the book.

The series is a fun adventure and so far very clean. If this seems like something you would be interested in, you can find all the books on Amazon here.