Magical Girl Of The End/Magical Girl Apocalypse manga [REVIEW] | Pervert Cop VS the Murder Megucas

While we can’t really blame this on “Madoka Magica Effect”, we can’t because this isn’t even trying to lure you …. still, you know that series’ success was bound to spawn magical girl manga like this.

Frankly, this isn’t the more absurd “magical girl but edgy” take, heck, this predates Magical Girls Ops Asuka, which has them weilding realistic firearms and getting PSTD, maybe we’ll do that sometime, but i wanted to do something magical girl related because the new Madoka movie somehow finally released in Japanese theathers not even a week ago.

That said, after all, what do you expect from an action horror manga called Magical Girl Of The End… or Magical Girl Apocalypse,, but i prefer the original title.

Written and illustrated by Kentaro Sato, Magical Girl Of The End begins where most of these shonen horror series do: with a massacre in a Japanese high school class, where an average and distant teen, Kii Kogami, sees a weird gothic lolita dressed humanoid appear and explode people heads like the Fourth Of July, only for the cadavers to rise as zombies, and thing have started going to shit outside too, as a flood of those weird monsters chanting “magical” drops from the sky.

Kii manages to escape the school alongside his childhood friend Tsukune and other survivors, bending together to try escape these “magical girls monsters” as they keep swarming and causing even more death and destruction…..

Continua a leggere

The Autumn-Winter Schedule Declamation As Foretold

Since the last time i announced it, not much has changed, but i’ll reiterate just in case.

Due to my changing IRL situation, i have decided to shift the update schedule to a more “schedule-less” approach, improvising more and adhering more to a “when i can/its done” release philopophy, since i’m focusing more a full lenght kaiju book (among other things)…. but this will not really matter until January 2027, since most of the scheduled work has already been done and ready, like a LOT, so Spooktacular Eight and 12 Days Of Dino Dicember will happen as usual, for example, and EXPRESSO will remaine a staple rubric, as always.

So the proper, fleshed out general new “unschedule” will be posted post Epiphany (since the 12 Days Of Dino Dicember by nature continue up until January 5th), so for now we’ll carry on as usual, more or less.

[EXPRESSO] The Dog Stars (2026) | The Post-Apoca-Bore

Ridley Scott is not thinking about retirement anytime soon, which is commendable, in a way, but between Spielberg arguablu shitting his Jesus aliens pijamas in public and a film like The Dog Stars, i do wonder if might be for the better to simply call it quits.

Mind you, this is a better film than Disclosure Day, you can quote me on that, it is.

And it’s not even “bad” per sé, there is nothing particularly wrong with anything in The Dog Stars, there’s just not much of anything new, original, unique or otherwise that hadn’t already been done to death with the post-apocalypse survival drama.

In 2035 America, a flu pandemic led to civilization collapse, forcing the few survivors to scavenge for food, items, humanity reverting back to being more tribalistic, feral and murderous.

Hig has “dead wife” syndrome and yet tries to help out the few peaceful pockets of humanity he knows, while fending off intruders on the lot he shares with his old friend-survival partner Bangley, and hoping to find a better place somewhere out there…

Again, nothing wrong, but also nothing that engaging either, and i’m not talking about the action and how is all located in the second half of the film, as it doesn’t change the fact it’s all very uninspired and frankly kinda dull, as the plot offers no surprises or compelling narrative, and is as stock and basic as the characters.

All amounting to 2 hours-ish of mediocre, sleepily paced, derivative film that doesn’t hurt to watch or becomes outright boring, but it’s just middling, constantly reeking of “been there, done that”, the good cast (and the very good photography) can only do so much, and regardless, it just feel fueled by the obligation of doing something more than an actual vision.

[EXPRESSO] Ghost: 2 Big To Rig (2026) | Nights Of The Skeletour

Ghost has been one of the biggest modern metal successes, and the first concert film, Rite Here Rite Now, was both a banger and was the more profitable/grossing hard rock limited cinema event release in the US, ever, so you bet your bippy they were gonna do more.

It’s not like there was gonna ever be a lack of live footage, since the band has been active indeed.

Ghost 2 Big To Rig specifically serves to immortalize their two nights performance (the 24^th and 25 of September 2025) in Mexico during their Skeletour, as 2 hours concert film meant to revisit the event or serving as an entry point into the band, as this one doesn’t require previous knowledge of the band’s lore to get the narrative segments… because there aren’t any.

I will admit, i did like the first concert film more, because (aside liking the tracklist in that one better) it did have those goofy funny narrative segments….but on the other hand they never falsely advertised this as having those, quite the opposite, because 2 Big To Rig is instead just a concert film, which takes some moments to show some “behind the scenes” footage of the massive crew setting up the stage, with a technician comment providing the movie subtitle, as he describes the whole thing as “too big to rig, but we do it anyway”.

And honestly, in this case even this being “just” a concert film i feel is enough, because it’s one hell of a show, the camera angles let you also catch many details of the stage, including the costumes and the amazing visuals for the background displays, which might have been impossible to see during the event, depending on your seating.

So yeah, catch this one in theathers if you can, recommended.

[EXPRESSO] Splatoon Raiders NSWITCH2| The Machinist Of Joy

While Splatoon 2 was the only multiplayer competitive game i actually cared “getting gud” at for a while, i also loved the campaigns, as the single player challenges and obstacles kept reminding me of classic Ratchet & Clank games, so i hoped they would eventually do a single player focused spin-off (Splatoon 3 didn’t grab me as much and so i kinda stopped playing it on the regular after a while)… and last year they did announced it, and now here it is, with Splatoon Raiders, the first game of the series to be on Switch 2 (as a console exclusive).

It’s a Splatoon 3 spin-off that has the Deep Cut trio go to inspect a mysterious new island on Salmonoid territory in order to search for treasures, only for the helicopter to crash. They manage to survive on a rig, find a robot that sees tailored made to explore and loot the wilderness of this archipelago, so – with the help of the pilot – decide to keep searching for more treasures as benevolent thieves, hoping the booty will help pay out the immense debt Splatville has amassed.

Gameplay wise, it’s actually more than just them repurposing the Salmon Run mode from Splatoon 2 and 3, it uses that as base but eventually becomes its own thing, while keeping some “trials/challenges” testing-teaching how to use both old and new weapons and subweapons alike, which now can be combined and dual wielded depending on your playstile; plus it looks great, can be fairly challenging and there’s always something rewarding you, in terms of items, gear pieces, custom modifiers, materials for upgrading the base and obtaining new facilities.

Honestly this is exactly what i wanted and expected from a single player focused (though there is local and online co-op) Splatoon game.

[EXPRESSO] Jo Jo Bizarre Adventure: Golden Spirit iOS | The Gachalands

Probably comes as no surprise to anybody that Golden Spirit is another pile of gacha shit… but still, i decided to give this one a try.

Mostly because i haven’t played one of these in a while and because it’s Jojo…. and starting off, gameplay it’s not exactly what i figured it would be from the trailers, and by that i mean it was sold as a “ tactical RPG”, which to me means a Tactics style turn based affair, this is actually a real time autobattler where the more pressing issue is positioning the units, so yeah, it’s another idle self playing borefest, the strategic hook of the Rush mechanic meaning very little, and of course the roster is infested with VERY minor characters, so you can gamble for the ones you really want.

Or hope you can unlock them in event story cutscenes…. some of which even when available will wall off content with 14 hours timers, like the Stardust Crusaders one, because the game starts off with Part 5, Golden Wind, the Jo Jo series taking place in Neaples, Italy and following Giorno Giovanna, the son of Dio Brando, as he fights to overthrow the mafia’s mysterious boss.

Hope you already know everything JoJo because the game never really explains shit, despite starting from Part 5….of 9.

While it mostly looks quite decent, it goes the extra mile of not just reusing frames from the anime for the story scenes (alongside recreating them in various styles), fairly common in itself, but sometimes passing those through an IA filter, making them look worse upon any scrutiny, too.

Its so utterly generic that you could have EASILY slapped another anime license/skin unto it… and i’ll just say it looks identical to a bootleg Jujutsu Kaisen mobile game, Jujutsu Malevolent Shrine.

[EXPRESSO] Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma (2026) | QueerAngela

Freshly released in theathers here, Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma is a classic slasher for the ages… as in, this age, the modern age.

Kris is a queer horror director known for a Psycho remake from the prospective of the shower curtains, that has been tasked with directing the reboot of 80s cult slasher series Camp Miasma (a sort of Friday The 13^th crossed with Sleepaway Camp entity), as she is a notorious superfan, but she struggles under the pressure of her own ambition to do something fresh with it, and especially because of the studio push-back to have actress that played thef inal girl in the original film, Billy Presley, come back.

Kris is adamant about it, and decides to meet up nonetheless with Billy, whom has been pretty much living as a recluse in the same place where the first Camp Miasma film was shot….

Yes, it’s indeed a meta-horror that works both as tribute and satire of the 80s slasher, it’s significance today, how the sexual themes reflected anxieties of the era and how this applies in an age where sexuality is very different, especially from a queer prospective, but while it delivers a lot of kills, gore and hilariously excessive geysers of bloods, and it’s more heavy on comedy that you’d expect.

And while it does have an unique “meta twist” that isn’t quite what you’d expect, it’s also fairly straighforward – and deliberately unsubtle- in tackling the genre as a way of sexual self-discovery and emancipation, sold thanks to the amazing performances of Gillian Anderson and Hannah Heinbinder.

Though at times the pacing could be better, and frankly i would have preferred if it ended a scene earlier than it does, but still, Teenage, Sex And Death At Camp Miasma is quite good.

[EXPRESSO] One Night Only (2026) | The Premarital Gex Purge

I was able to see a preview screening for this one, i was curious, as One Night Only has the unique hook of “What if The Purge was about fucking and framed as a quirky rom com?”.

It’s a ni– it’s an elevator pitch that gets you attention, but immediatly you wonder why is this not a dystopian thriller (or horror thriller), as it takes place in an America where they passed a ban on premarital sex, so single people now can copulate only 1 night of the year, with biochips on their arms to enforce compliance.

One guesses it doesn’t apply to non-hetero people, i do guess because we just have the lesbian roommate of the lead girl saying how this is “a thing for the straights”, not that there’s any thought about the terrifying implications of this (or how masturbation factors in), or any of its themes, as the focus is about Allie and Owen, one in search of romanticism during “Fuck Night”, the other having practically broke with her long time girlfriend hours before.

Even if you could ignore ALL OF THAT (and you won’t), the two leads really have little chemistry and you’ll wonder why in this context they didn’t immediatly fuck, not that you’ll care about these two milquetoast characters.

It’s both too heady and nowhere enough, as it wants to be just a casual meet-cute thing, but ultimately is an incredibly regressive, self-righteous, disgusting little film that’s sex-negative, yet wants to be a raunchy sex comedy…. without actually showing any nudity, that you’ll pine for the days of frigging Porky’s.

The movie itself literally says “being an incel is a badge of honor now”, just in case it didn’t already come off as fascist government propaganda selling “The Sex Purge” as a positive thing.

[EXPRESSO] Sacrifice (2025) | Beer On The Sun

After debutting September 2025 at the Telluride Film Festival (to arguably very little acclaim), Sacrifice, the latest film from director Romain Gavrais (Athena) hit theathers here, to also very little fanfare or much in the way of marketing, despite having indeed an all stars cast of recognizable Hollywood actors

The premise sees a film star, Mike Tyler (Chris Evans), try to make a come back by partecipating in a gala full of powerful people, influencers and the likes, takin place in a old cave-temple situated in a Greek island , with the idea of promoting an enviromental positive message, only for a group of pagan cult terrorists (their young leader played by Anna Taylor Joy) that believe a nearby volcano will erupt, causing an extinction level event, and that the only way to advert that and save humanity requires sacrificing three people.

Mike inadvertedly gets imbroiled into their plans, thinking that this is some sort of performance or that he can get away with it, or captivated because he almost shares the same ideals.

Sacrifice is an interesting idea for a ecosatire drama-comedy about the performative lies of the elite that swears this time he won’t rape the Earth for profit, of “greenwashing” and so on, but after a very good first half that has you intrigued in where the plot’s gonna go… the answer is sadly up its own arse, really, just plodding towards its own premise without really doing nothing of substance with it, as it’s all mostly an exercise in stylistical mixture that doesn’t work out, as it lacks actual political commentary, doesn’t actually develops its own themes, and just feel empty.

It’s not exactly “boring” but i won’t lie, this is a movie held together mostly due to its great performances, though not for lack of trying.

Eepy August Summer Break

As usual, the blog will go on hiatus and resume as usual on the first of September…. well, as i already announced some weeks ago, there will be some relatively big changes coming next year, even though they won’t affect the schedule for the rest of 2026, since a lot has already been done and planned.

I will make a proper post on the 1st of September about that, so in the meantime behave, relax and have fun.

And there are some EXPRESSO reviews that will come out soon anyway, so look forward to those.