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Hey guys, it's Marvelous Joe at the top of the
episode to remind you that Spider-Man No Way

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Home is coming out in a few weeks! To celebrate,
we've partnered with cufflinks.com to run a

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00:00:10,857 --> 00:00:15,778
fun Spider-Man contest for you listeners. We're
giving away a Spider-Man tie, and all you have

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00:00:15,798 --> 00:00:21,720
to do to win is visit dynamicduel.com slash
Spider-Man, which is linked in the show notes.

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00:00:22,100 --> 00:00:26,898
Click on what you think is the coolest Spider-Man
product you see. and use the Twitter share

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00:00:26,938 --> 00:00:33,340
button on that product's page to create a tweet
tagging cufflinks.com and dynamic underscore

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00:00:33,420 --> 00:00:38,801
duel. A random twitter share will be selected
to win the tie announced during our review

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00:00:38,861 --> 00:00:45,043
of Spider-Man No Way Home on December 21st.
There will be only one winner, but all listeners

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00:00:45,083 --> 00:00:51,345
get 15% off their orders at cufflinks.com this
entire month when you use promo code DUEL15

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00:00:51,565 --> 00:00:57,796
that's D-U-E-L-1-5 at checkout. Get something
for the holiday season, perhaps a Spider-Man

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00:00:57,836 --> 00:01:01,900
something, so you can wear it to the movie,
and be the most stylish person in the theater

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00:01:02,281 --> 00:01:06,585
and the multiverse. Visit cufflinks.com right
now. And on with the show!

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duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review
superhero films and debate the superiority

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between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters
in stat-based battle simulations. I'm Marvelous

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Joe. And I'm his twin brother, Johnny DC. And
in this episode, we are going to review the

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Hulu and Marvel original series, Hit Monkey,
which debuted just a few weeks ago. It is much

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better than its concept suggests. If you guys
listen to our last episode where we pit Hitmonkey

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in a fight against the Wonder Twins monkey,
Gleek, you know just how tragic and deep the

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character of Hitmonkey could be. And I found
the show to be the same way, so I'm really

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excited to talk about it. Yeah, me too. I watched
the show during quarantine when I had COVID.

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I watched the whole thing in like three days.
I just really, really liked it. Hitmonkey is

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probably like my number one favorite Marvel
character of all time now. Really? Yeah. That's

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weird. He's cool. But before we discuss the
show, we're going to break down the comic book

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movie news to have come out in the past week.
We got a first look at Spider-Man Across the

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Spider-Verse Part 1, which is pretty interesting.
We're also going to discuss the Peacemaker

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HBO series official trailer. And we just learned
that the DC characters, the Metal Men, will

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be getting their own animated feature film.
So we'll talk about that. As always, we list

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our segment times in our episode description.
So feel free to check out the show notes if

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you want to skip ahead to a particular topic.
And just a reminder guys that right now we

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have a Facebook fundraiser going on for the
Christmas season with the HealthWell Foundation,

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which is a non-profit dedicated to improving
access to care for America's underinsured.

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When health insurance is not enough, they fill
the gap by assisting with copays, premiums,

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deductibles, and out-of-pocket expenses through
their crowd-sourced disease-related funds.

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Yeah, so far we've raised $100, I think $80
on Facebook. and $20 on Instagram, you could

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donate on either platform. So make sure to check
out our profiles if you would like to donate.

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You can donate any amount from now until Christmas
Day. And at the end of this month, we'll award

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two randomly selected donors with a dynamic
duel Marvel versus DC card game. Let's show

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the Healthwell Foundation how generous and charitable
dynamic duel listeners can be. Please donate

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in this giving season again via Facebook or
Instagram. And we want to give a quick shout

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out to, uh, Poole Verene, who I think is the
guy who got the first Deadpool movie greenlit.

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He left us a review on Apple podcasts. So thank
you so much for doing that. Oh, we also want

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to give a quick congratulations to one of our
patrons, Jacob Bell, who recently got married.

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Hopefully you're not listening to this right
now and you're just enjoying your honeymoon.

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But once you get around to this, congrats, man.
But with that out of the way, quick to the

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no prize. A no prize is an award that Marvel
used to give out up until the 90s to fans.

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Our version, the dynamic duel no prize, is a
digital award that we post on social media

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that I personally draw for those who we feel
gave the best answer to our question of the

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week. Last week's question was, who was your
favorite DC or Marvel animal hero and why?

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And we asked that because not only did we have
an animal based duel last week, we also talked

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about the trailer for the DC league of super
pets. We got a few answers here. Let's go ahead

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and run down our honorable mentions as well
as the no prize winner. Our first honorable

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mention goes to Miggy Methengian who said, Hey
guys, this is Miggy and my favorite DC animal

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hero is Gorilla Greg, the nephew of Gorilla
Grodd. I've been reading the Teen Titans Academy,

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like recent series, and I've been really enjoying
it. And one of the recent stories was about

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kind of like his relationship with Grodd. And
I think that's just always really interesting

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when the like relative is kind of a bad guy
and the hero is a hero. Oh man, when a hero

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is a hero, that's the best thing. I haven't
read Teen Titans Academy, but the title looks

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really cool. As Red X, Gorilla Greg, a whole
bunch of others, I've been meaning to pick

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it up. So hearing Miggy, one of our most avid
comic fans on our Patreon Discord, praise the

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character. That's enough of a recommendation
for me. Did you mention Gorilla Greg in our

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Gorilla Grodd vs. Psylocke episode? No, no,
he's a new character. Okay, cool. Benjamin

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Alvis who said, I think mine is gonna be just
like everyone else's Spider-ham, of course

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I'm recently reading the spider-getting comic
and he's hilarious in that. These isn't overall

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like the best Like just animal character in
Marvel or DC That's it. Bye. I've always been

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especially partial to spider-ham myself just
being that he's like the most blatant like

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loony tunes animal character of the entire bunch
You know He has his spider nonsense powers

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and like the whole universe with those Animal
tune Marvel characters is just so clever and

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fantastic and charming as hell if you guys don't
know much about spider-ham other than perhaps

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the spider verse movie Definitely check out
our what's it versus spider-ham duel episode

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where we find out who'd win in a fight between
him and the flashes pet turtle Yeah, like I

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mentioned last episode, that's still one of
my favorite duel episodes that we've ever done.

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Good answer, Benjamin. Our final honorable mention
goes to CJ Kraft, who said, Hey guys, CJ Kraft

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here. My favorite comic book animal would have
to be Howard the Dark, hands down. He's actually

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my favorite comic book character of all time.
I just love how he's always felt like an outsider

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in the world he lives in, and still has an insanely
sharp wit and sarcasm to go with it. I just,

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I think he's the best. And, eh. Howard the Duck
all the way. Howard for president. Now this

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may be a little known fact. I'm sure CJ knows
this, but there was a mock campaign for Howard

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the Duck to win the presidency back in 1976.
And it was like part of the Marvel's fan club

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and everything like that. They gave out pins
that said Howard for president. It was pretty

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awesome. I wonder if anyone actually wrote his
name in. I'm sure he got a few votes, you know,

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way back in the day. That's funny. That's interesting.
Howard the Duck is so unique, so hilarious.

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He has the most trippy, bizarre, hilarious adventures
out of almost any Marvel character out there.

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I keep doing this, but if you guys don't know
much about him, check out our Detective Chimp

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versus Howard the Duck episode. We wanna give
a quick shout out to Michael Harrold, who took

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the time to visit our website and record an
answer. But the winner of this week's No Prize

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is Jose Marcial, AKA DC Joe, who said... Easily,
easily has to be Detective Chimp. He's a detective.

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Two, he's a chimp. Three, he's just really well
written, very clever, very witty. Four, he

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owns a bar filled with a bunch of magical beings.
Five, he's part of the Justice League dark.

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What other animal is part of a big group like
that with big names such as Wonder Woman, Zatanna?

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Need I say more? Yeah, Detective Chimp has a
ton of fans out there. Some of them even argue

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DC stands for Detective Chimp. He is like the
Sherlock Holmes of DC Comics. He's just a total

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detective badass, and he's a monkey. His bar
is called Oblivion Bar. He got that from the

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hero Night Master. And yeah, it's the hangout
for all of DC's magic users, you know, from

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bottom of the barrel to the elite. It's like
the coolest hangout in DC. Now, we didn't just

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give DC Joe this award because this is our Hit
Monkey review episode, did we? No, no, I actually

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really liked his reasoning. He came up with
ample reasons, and they're all legit. I love

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seeing Detective Chimp in the comics, especially
now that he has the Night Master sword and

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everything like that. The character is just
awesome. So congrats once again to DC Joe for

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winning this week's No Prize. If you the listener
want a shot at winning your own No Prize, stay

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tuned to later on this episode when we'll be
asking another Question of the Week. And now

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that that's done, on to the news!

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Alright, on December 4th we got our first look
at the sequel to Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse,

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which will be called Spider-Man Across the Universe.
Part 1. Part 1, that's big news. It's gonna

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be a two parter where we see Miles Morales Spider-Man
journey across the Spider-Verse. Instead of

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having other Spider-Men come to his home dimension,
he's gonna leave and visit other Spider-Men,

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apparently prompted by a visit from Spider-Gwen,
who shows up in this first look. It's like

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the next movie starts off right where the last
movie ended. Yeah, dude, what a surprise this

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whole thing was. Not only did this like first
look come out of nowhere, but for it to be

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like part one of part two, it's just exciting.
And like the first one was so good. So to have

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this one start right where that one left off,
I'm really looking forward to this even as

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a DC guy. Yeah. And we have a long time to wait
because this movie doesn't come out until October

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of 2022, but I'm guessing that they released
this first look now. because it's going to

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be attached to the Spider-Man No Way Home movie,
which comes out in a few weeks. In the after

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credits scene of Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse,
we got our first look at Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Man,

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also known as Spider-Man 2099. He pops up in
this trailer as we see Miles travel through

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these dimensional gateways into this very like
kind of four color type world, and he's like

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swinging around amidst all the chaos, and he
gets like webnapped by Spider-Man 2099, who

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of course is being voiced by Oscar Isaac. as
he was in the last movie. I'm really excited

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to see where this is gonna go. I hope we get
the same cast of characters from the last movie,

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as well as some new Spider-Man to join the fray.
Well, what other Spider-Man would you wanna

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see? Oh, I'd love to see Jessica Drew's Spider-Woman,
Silk, Scarlet Spider would be cool. I would

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love to see the Mecha Spider-Man, controlled
by Spiderman. I think that'd be cool. That

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would be cool. Isn't there like a punk rock
Spider-Man too, with like a mohawk? Yeah, Spider-Punk.

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There's a whole bunch of characters they could
introduce here. And the story seems like it's

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gonna be epic considering, you know, it's a
two parter. I don't love two parters. It just

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basically gives away that this movie is gonna
end on a cliffhanger. Which is always a little

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bit disappointing. But usually we do get some
pretty awesome stories that way. Yeah, I mean,

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Long Halloween part one was cool. Dune part
one was cool. Kill Bill volume one was cool.

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It's not always bad. That's true. Avengers Infinity
War. There you go. Again, we have a ways to

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go before this movie comes out next year. but
you know, the hype is already building. I'm

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sure this is all just a marketing tool to get
people excited to go see the upcoming Spider-Man

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movie. I have a theory that the actor who plays
Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse movies does

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his voice. His name is Shamique Moore, I think
is actually gonna be in the No Way Home movie.

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At least I think that'd be really cool if he
was. And maybe that's why they're releasing

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this now. Oh, maybe. I mean, there's definitely
a huge surprise coming for No Way Home. They

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recently announced that critics- and the early
screenings for No Way Home would only be screened

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the first 40 minutes. So they don't even get
to review the full film. Oh shit. Yeah. Wow.

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That's crazy. That's never happened before.
If I were a critic, I'd be pissed off. Oh yeah,

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totally. But as a fan, that's like super intriguing.
Yeah, for sure. But all this talk about Spider-Man

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and the different Spider-Men, that brings us
to our question of the week.

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Which Spider-Man or Spider-Woman character is
your favorite in the Spider-Verse, and why?

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A lot of options to choose from here. I don't
envy you guys the decision, but we'd love to

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hear what you think. Yeah, record your answer
at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone

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00:12:50,959 --> 00:12:55,603
button in the bottom right hand corner, which
will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your

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00:12:55,643 --> 00:12:59,947
message could be up to 30 seconds long, and
don't forget to leave your name in case we

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00:12:59,987 --> 00:13:04,630
include you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite
answer, and draw that person a dynamic duel

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00:13:04,670 --> 00:13:10,054
no prize that will post to social media. Be
sure to answer before December 11th. Moving

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on to DC news, we got a new official trailer
for Peacemaker, which is an upcoming HBO Max

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television series that's a spin off of James
Gunn's The Suicide Squad film that came out

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earlier this year. Now when The Suicide Squad
came out, people were kind of left wondering

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like, of all those characters, why would you
want to make a TV show based on Peacemaker?

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who was kind of a dick character that was hard
to like, right? Like Bloodsport would have

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been cool, Ratcatcher 2 would have been cool
as a TV show, all of them would have been cool.

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Not everyone loved Peacemaker. But with these
trailers, they're really making John Cena's

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Peacemaker likeable, not only with the hilariousness
of the jokes, but it definitely looks like

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they're going with a sympathetic and redemptive
direction for the character. Yeah, I mean in

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the Suicide Squad movie he said he'll fight
for peace and he doesn't care how many men

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women and children He has to kill to get it
and in this trailer. He's like well, I'm starting

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to have feelings So, you know, he's like growing
as a character. We see him have kind of a crisis

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of conscience Yeah, yeah And in the movie it
was alluded to the fact that he had a shitty

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relationship with his father We actually get
to see his father in this show. He's being

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played by Robert Patrick It seems like you know
a real douchey dad. It's perfect casting though.

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You gotta say Absolutely, absolutely. It looks
like his arc will pretty much be summed up

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by when he's talking to his father in prison
saying, You know, maybe he's more of a grower,

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not a show-er. And he's like, you're comparing
yourself to a chode! He's like, but not in

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a bad way, you know? It's like an individuel
you don't like and then you learn to like and

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I feel like as audience members We're all gonna
learn to love Peacemaker because again this

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show just looks like it's gonna be super funny
Everyone from vigilante to eagerly, you know

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to everyone else he works with It looks like
it's gonna be really good times. It's being

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described as the office with superheroes, and
I'm all for that. I'm sold. I really love the

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opening part where one of his handlers like,
that bird better not shit all over the back

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seat. And he's like, you can't house train an
eagle. It destroys their spirit or something

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like that. I also really liked the part at the
end when he straps a grenade to a Russian missile.

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And she's like, why don't you just use the grenade?
And he's like, grenade kills like two people

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tops. And she's like, how many people does that
kill? And he's like, I don't know. I just made

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it this morning. There was a weird part in the
trailer where they asked Peacemaker to kill

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a group of kids because the country needs a
son of a bitch or something like that. Yeah,

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and they're the only one he has. Yeah, that
was kind of weird. Who knows where this show

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is gonna go? It does look like there's like
some aliens here or something. We don't know.

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Maybe it'll be like Doom Patrol and just super
out there. It does look like it's gonna be

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like the next funniest show to Doom Patrol for
DC on HBO Max. It also looks like it has a

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much higher budget than Doom Patrol though,
which is super exciting. Yeah, the series comes

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out pretty soon in just a month. Actually, it
starts in January, so we'll be reviewing it

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before long. I'm glad to be kicking off 2022
with the show. It'll be good times. Also coming

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out next year is DC League of Superpets, which
is being made by Warner's animation group,

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which is also making an animated version of
DC's Metal Men, which if you don't know anything

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about the metal men, this doctor named Will
Magnus created something called a response,

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Omer, which brings sentience to inanimate Objects
like metal which create these metal men all

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with their different personalities I think it's
a fantastic property to bring to the silver

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screen and you know It'll be exciting to see
what they look like animated I think I would

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have preferred to have seen this in live-action
though. The special effects would have been

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amazing That's that's true But I think this
would be something much more family-friendly

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and you know much more comedic and I think that's
fine I think the middleman could totally work

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in that direction That's very true. Did you
ever see that animated movie called robots

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with Ewan McGregor and Robin Williams and Halle
Berry? I did. Yeah. I feel like I get a strong

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metal man vibe from that movie. So if this upcoming
film is anything like that, I'll be all for

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it. Well, the film is going to be directed by
Ron Clements and John Musker, who are like

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the writers, producers, and directors behind
some of Disney's biggest animated hits, like

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the little mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, treasure
planet, Moana. Oh wow. Yeah, this is their

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first project for Warner Brothers, and it's
a DC project. Apparently, there's gonna be

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a lot more animated DC projects coming to the
big screen as Warner's animation group expands.

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The film is being written by Celeste Ballard,
who also wrote, most recently, Space Jam A

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New Legacy. Was that any good? It was not terrible.
I think it was better than the first Space

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Jam, which has not aged well. I saw that recently.
I was like, why did I like this movie as a

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kid? But no, I got super stoked once I saw this
news and I'm really looking forward to it.

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We don't know when it's going to come out yet.
Probably sometime in 2023. I imagine so. Yeah,

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I bet Warner's animation group will probably
release like one animated DC film a year, I'm

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guessing starting with DC League of Superpets.
And then you know, they'll follow that up with

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Metal Man the year after. And I'm really looking
forward to seeing what other you know, DC properties

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they'll bring to the big screen via animation.
I'm hoping the animation gets as good as into

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the Spider-Verse. I doubt it because that's
just amazing, but fingers crossed. You know,

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Sony has shown us what can be done with the
medium. That's true. Here's hoping. But I think

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that does it for all the news for this episode,
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this episode. Now let's go ahead and get into
our main event where we review the Hulu and

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Marvel original animated show, Hit Monkey.

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Okay, Hit Monkey is an animated series on Hulu
created by Josh Gordon and Will Speck and directed

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by Neil Holman. It stars Fred Tataskior, Jason
Sudeikis, Olivia Munn, and George Takei. It's

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one of two Marvel animated projects that managed
to survive Marvel Television's transition under

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the Marvel Studios umbrella, the other show
being Modok, which we reviewed a few months

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ago. Of the two shows, Hit Monkey is definitely
the better written show. though I'll say it's

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not as funny despite having one of the most
ridiculous premises in all of Marvel Comics.

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For those who haven't seen Hitmonkey Season
1, stop listening, go watch the show, then

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come back and listen to this review because
we'll be discussing spoilers, and the story

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does have a surprising amount of complexity
for its rather simple concept. I definitely

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recommend the show to anyone who is remotely
curious about it because it definitely works

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on a variety of levels. Yeah, I did not even
know Hitmonkey existed a few months back, and

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I was pleasantly surprised by this show. I actually
liked it a lot more than Modok. It wasn't as

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funny because I don't think it was meant to
be. It's not a comedy, I don't think. It's

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meant to be a badass action show, which I thought
it totally was. I thought it delivered action-wise

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in spades. I think the marketing for the show
kind of made it seem like a shallow comedy,

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but it's not that. I mean, it sure had some
funny parts. but it's also very emotional in

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some parts and very intellectual in the complexity
of its central plot and very violent and action

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focused, like you said. It's a lot of different
things and has way more nuance and depth than

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most people I think would probably believe.
It's like very Tarantino in its story, very

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low budget anime in its style. You know, I laughed,
I cried, I pumped my fist, and most importantly,

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I had a good time. It's kind of like animated
grindhouse in a way in terms of its level of

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violence and its animation quality. And we've
seen examples of that in other films and shows

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like Take Suicide Squad, Hell to Pay. But this
was better than that. I think it's the violence

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and the music that really gave the show this
grindhouse feel to it. The music was fantastic.

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I think the show actually was more violent in
its first half than its second. I was kind

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of like missing some of that like, holy shit
kind of moments later on. Yeah, where they

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like saw a woman in half. Yeah, that was nuts.
This is definitely a TVMA cartoon, you know,

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definitely not for the youngsters. Was the comic
this violent? Uh, well, not in the sense that

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it was showing people saw it in half, you know,
but there was a lot of blood. It was fairly

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violent. I'm actually really surprised that
Marvel would publish something of this caliber.

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To me, this is almost something more like vertigo.
Yeah, that's actually an apt statement. You

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know, Marvel tends to stick pretty much within
its wheelhouse. and Hitmonkey is kind of high

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concept, disguised as a low concept character,
you know? And you know, when he's like guest

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starring in the Deadpool comics, it has a much
different tone than his original series. The

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original comic book series really played it
straight, and it did feel very vertigo. When

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he shows up like in the main Marvel universe
and like other heroes don't know what to think

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about him, it gets kind of silly. But Hitmonkey
definitely works best on his own. And to think

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that we actually almost didn't review this show.
I know, yeah, this is definitely like a last

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minute decision to review this, but I'm totally
glad we are. That being said, it's not perfect.

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Marvel obviously didn't pour a lot of money
into this project, and I think it shows visually.

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A lot of the animation is just a step up from
storyboards, evidenced by the simple character

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design and low framerate in many of the scenes.
It seems they did focus on one or two eye-popping

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action pieces for each episode. But like, if
there were more action scenes than that in

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an episode, it more than likely happened off
camera or in static splash pages with minimal

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motion. You know like all those cheap animation
tricks that a lot of anime uses to save money?

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Yeah, yeah. I think if you are a fan of anime,
you'll have an easier time digesting the animation

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in this show. And if you're not used to anime
conventions, I think you're largely going to

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wonder what the hell is wrong with all the visuals.
Because Disney, this is not. No, yeah, this

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is a far cry from like, what if. Right. It's
a much cheaper approach. Which is surprising

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because the animation in Modok was like freaking
spectacular. Oh, yeah. I really wish they had

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put more money into this show and made it look
like one of those higher end animes, because

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I think that's what the story of Hitmonkey deserves.
I agree that this show probably could have

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looked better, like, you know, something from
like Miyazaki or something like that. But I

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think for what it is, It definitely succeeds
still in telling a really good story. Personally,

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I always prioritize writing over arts, especially
when it comes to animation and comic books.

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I think as long as it tells a good story, I'm
willing to forgive some poor animation or some

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poor drawings when it comes to a comic. But
I also think about what this could have been

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despite how good the story was. I'd like to
see season two, if there is a season two, get

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a budget increase. Because I've seen some amazing
anime visuals. and the prospect of something

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like that being applied to Hitmonkey gets me
really excited. Oh yeah, me too. In addition

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to the cheap animation, there were also some
story contrivances that seemed to emerge from

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the season's central plot, which was a conspiracy
surrounding Japan's prime minister election.

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The story twists and tangles throughout Japan
from its prisons to its high-rises, temples

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to back alleys, and it sometimes makes one or
two turns where it didn't need to, or purposely

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misleads, or leaves things to be inferred without
explanation. These story stumbles are relatively

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minor, given how impressive the overarching
narrative is, but it did leave me confused

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occasionally. The series does a fantastic job
of hiding these flaws, however. Like after

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a while, I barely even noticed the animation,
and I stopped noticing the plot holes, because

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outside of any sort of tangible criticism you
can have of the show, when something is cool,

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you can feel it. It's this hard to quantify.
quality that your gut recognizes, like when

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you see a monkey surf an assassin into the pavement
in Tokyo's neon streets, or when he dons some

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sunglasses while surrounded by bloody corpses
in the still mountain snow, it's this excitement

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that you feel that comes when you watch something
truly unique in a genre where you think you've

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seen it all. I could only think of a handful
of other projects I've seen within Marvel and

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DC that have been this stylish. Like Into the
Spider-Verse comes to mind, but honestly I'm

301
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having trouble thinking of another example.
I love the style of the show, I love so many

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things about this show, which is somewhat surprising
because when you think about this on a surface

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level, what the show could have been, like it
could have been a disaster. And to its credit,

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like the initial comic book series, the show
takes its tongue-in-cheek premise and plays

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it straight. And sure you'll have scenes where
the monkey is getting drunk in a casino or

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fighting a vengeful Japanese ghost lady, but
at the heart of the show is its characters,

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who feel real. They're solidly developed, they
have believable motivations, and you could

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actually connect with them despite the seeming
ridiculousness. Yeah, yeah, all of the characters

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were amazing. And I think the connection you
made with them really helped sell the stakes

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because there were moments during the show where
some of these characters died that was truly

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surprising. Yeah, tragic, like I felt things
when I watched this show. And while that sounds

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00:27:26,492 --> 00:27:31,260
like a simple statement, I don't mean for it
to be. It's not often that media draws genuine

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00:27:31,300 --> 00:27:36,565
reactions from its audience. Yeah, it's a sign
of good art. Right, right. But speaking of

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the characters, let's go ahead and talk about
them more in our character breakdown. Now,

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00:27:40,768 --> 00:27:45,752
Hitmonkey was played by Fred Tataskior, I think
I'm pronouncing that right. He's the same voice

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00:27:45,812 --> 00:27:51,297
actor that does Taz, the Tasmanian devil. He
did the Hulk in a few cartoons, as well as

317
00:27:51,437 --> 00:27:55,680
provide the voice for Yosemite Sam, among a
plethora of other characters. He's a really

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00:27:55,740 --> 00:28:00,723
prolific voice actor. and I'm really impressed
with the job he did providing the voice of

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00:28:00,783 --> 00:28:06,085
this monkey. Who doesn't have a voice who just
makes monkey noises? Right. Exactly. You know,

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it was a lot of like, oh, kind of stuff. But
it was believable, honestly. Yeah. Sounded

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00:28:11,027 --> 00:28:17,150
legit. The character of Hitmonkey is an angry
but honorable figure who comes to recognize

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00:28:17,190 --> 00:28:22,012
through the course of the season that although
he hates killing and really just wants to live

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00:28:22,052 --> 00:28:28,627
in solitude with those he loves, he has this
rage within him. this beast that demands justice.

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00:28:29,087 --> 00:28:35,510
So he's a reluctant, pretty tragic assassin,
but he fulfills his destiny as a killer of

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00:28:35,570 --> 00:28:40,773
killers with the help of Bryce who supports
him and the spirit of his former tribe leader

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00:28:40,873 --> 00:28:46,716
who ultimately gives Hitmonkey his blessing.
Though Hitmonkey will likely never fully embrace

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00:28:46,756 --> 00:28:51,162
his assassin role in this show as much as he
does in the comics, I think he was able to

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00:28:51,202 --> 00:28:55,805
embrace some of that cool factor that the assassin
lifestyle has to offer through simple things

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00:28:55,845 --> 00:29:01,208
like his sunglasses and tailored suit. Yeah,
for a monkey, he even got like a girl to like

330
00:29:01,248 --> 00:29:06,671
him, Akiko. Yeah, I mean, in the comics, it's
much more overt. Like he's often seen walking

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around holding a martini with a bunch of women
surrounding him, you know, sitting in the club,

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00:29:11,414 --> 00:29:15,896
things like that. I'm not sure this version
of the character will ever be truly like that,

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where he's a little bit more detached. This
version of the character is much more true

334
00:29:19,674 --> 00:29:23,915
to the essence of those original comic book
stories and not really the parody that he became

335
00:29:23,955 --> 00:29:30,397
later on in the Deadpool comics. I don't know.
I'd still watch that. That'd be hilarious.

336
00:29:30,417 --> 00:29:36,019
Bryce would be jealous as hell. I do really
appreciate the tragic nature of the character

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00:29:36,059 --> 00:29:41,000
that you mentioned earlier. You know, it's like
not his fault that he's as talented and as

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angry and as capable as he is, but he just happens
to be so he kind of realizes that There's nothing

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00:29:47,286 --> 00:29:50,908
else for him. You know, he doesn't quite fit
in fully with the humans. He doesn't quite

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00:29:50,968 --> 00:29:56,372
fit in fully with his own monkey kind. So he's
a loner. Which just makes him even more badass.

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00:29:56,732 --> 00:30:00,815
And sad, considering that they showed multiple
times throughout the course of the series that

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00:30:01,035 --> 00:30:05,318
he really just wants peace more than anything.
And he's not fully alone. You know, he does

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00:30:05,338 --> 00:30:10,382
have Bryce. Yeah, I was really glad when Bryce
came back at the end of the season. Yeah, yeah,

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me too. But speaking of Bryce, let's go ahead
and talk about Bryce Fowler, who is played

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00:30:14,705 --> 00:30:20,550
by Jason Sudeikis. I'm a big fan of Sudeikis'
work, I loved him on SNL and in films like

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00:30:20,590 --> 00:30:25,675
We're the Millers and Horrible Bosses. He's
just hilarious. I thought his role was going

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00:30:25,715 --> 00:30:31,661
to get grating based on the trailers and everything,
like this annoying archer ripoff. I'm really

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00:30:31,701 --> 00:30:37,727
glad that later on in the season they developed
his character through his backstory as another

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00:30:37,747 --> 00:30:42,872
tragic figure who unwillingly had to abandon
everything he loved and insinuated that he

350
00:30:42,952 --> 00:30:47,996
walls himself off emotionally through sarcasm
and humor. Yeah, with the first episode, I

351
00:30:48,176 --> 00:30:53,141
also thought that he was going to get kind of
annoying, but he never did after he died, which

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00:30:53,181 --> 00:30:57,765
was great. I'm really glad we had that character
in the show. I don't think this show works

353
00:30:58,025 --> 00:31:02,929
without Bryce. No, you definitely need him to
serve as like the narrator because you can't

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00:31:02,969 --> 00:31:06,472
have a bunch of like subtitles with the monkey
language, which was, you know, pretty neat

355
00:31:06,492 --> 00:31:10,616
when they did have it, but It just makes for
easier viewing when Bryce can explain what's

356
00:31:10,636 --> 00:31:16,020
going on. Exactly. Yeah. Now, the character
is actually a huge departure from the nameless

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00:31:16,060 --> 00:31:21,765
assassin in the comics, who in the books was
more zen and, I don't know, frankly boring.

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00:31:22,286 --> 00:31:27,370
I like how Bryce was comic relief in this show
and how he transitioned from this wisecracking

359
00:31:27,410 --> 00:31:33,015
assassin through this series of humbling events.
You know, we see him be killed. We see his

360
00:31:33,055 --> 00:31:39,240
frustration in his inability to control Hitmonkey.
He admits to the monkey how killing isn't easy

361
00:31:39,300 --> 00:31:44,424
and how it slowly kills you inside. He also
admits to his jealousy of Hitmonkey's success

362
00:31:44,464 --> 00:31:49,989
and we see his regrets of his own past decisions
and leaving his family. So you start out the

363
00:31:50,009 --> 00:31:55,874
series with this cocky dude who really comes
to recognize his faults and truly grow as a

364
00:31:55,934 --> 00:32:00,578
character to be a true friend and companion
to Hitmonkey. Yeah, is the Bryce character

365
00:32:00,939 --> 00:32:06,800
still in the comics? He still haunts Hitmonkey?
No, the Nameless Assassin no longer haunts

366
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:11,804
Hitmonkey in the comics. I mean, at one point
it was insinuated that the ghost was just a

367
00:32:11,844 --> 00:32:16,489
figment in Hitmonkey's mind that he created
to enact this vengeance. But then later on,

368
00:32:16,649 --> 00:32:22,374
we see that Deadpool actually saw the ghost
and Hitmonkey kind of realized that he didn't

369
00:32:22,434 --> 00:32:27,719
have to rely on the assassin ghost to tell him
what to do. Interesting. I like the TV show

370
00:32:27,739 --> 00:32:31,906
version better. Yeah, the TV show did wonders
for the character. Now, Hitmonkey and Bryce

371
00:32:31,946 --> 00:32:37,009
are really the main players of this show. Everyone
else is kind of like background, but there

372
00:32:37,049 --> 00:32:42,012
are some recognizable names in this show playing
characters that are worth discussing, namely

373
00:32:42,132 --> 00:32:46,854
Akiko Yokohama, who was played by Olivia Munn.
I thought it was interesting how they got the

374
00:32:46,954 --> 00:32:51,977
actress who played Psylocke from X-Men Apocalypse
in another Marvel project playing a different

375
00:32:52,037 --> 00:32:56,960
role. And I thought Olivia Munn did fine here.
Her character really served to inform the whole

376
00:32:57,060 --> 00:33:03,139
election part of the story. Right. and her character
Akiko really served to represent Hitmonkey's

377
00:33:03,299 --> 00:33:09,063
desire for a home and family. Yeah, Akiko was
definitely another character in the show that

378
00:33:09,143 --> 00:33:13,345
was integral to the story that they were trying
to tell, being that she really was, you know,

379
00:33:13,365 --> 00:33:18,028
the connection between Hitmonkey and the other
supposed good guys, right? I do feel like they

380
00:33:18,088 --> 00:33:22,550
completely ruined her arc though, at the very
end when she became Lady Bullseye. Oh, that

381
00:33:22,570 --> 00:33:27,653
was bullshit. That was fucking dumb. Yeah. Like,
you can't just don the mask and become Lady

382
00:33:27,693 --> 00:33:31,886
Bullseye. Right? That takes like a lifetime
of training. What the hell does she think she's

383
00:33:31,906 --> 00:33:36,228
going to do? And it really shed like a negative
light on her character. Like what kind of spoiled

384
00:33:36,308 --> 00:33:41,069
brat is going to go off and just start murdering
everyone because, you know, it turns out the

385
00:33:41,109 --> 00:33:45,250
people in her life were corrupt. Well, I don't
think her plan is to murder everyone. I think

386
00:33:45,470 --> 00:33:50,371
her plan is to murder one specific monkey in
revenge for killing her uncle. But she has

387
00:33:50,391 --> 00:33:55,533
to become Lady Bullseye to do that. I think
she's just taking on this guise of the villain

388
00:33:55,653 --> 00:34:00,038
to go after this other outlandish figure. It
just didn't make any sense. I think it was

389
00:34:00,058 --> 00:34:05,419
like probably the biggest riding flop of the
entire season. It's like, I'd like to see her

390
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:10,321
try to go up against Hitmonkey, you know? Yeah,
totally, totally. If it was difficult for the

391
00:34:10,401 --> 00:34:15,542
regular Lady Bullseye to kill Hitmonkey, Akiko
doesn't stand a chance. We'll see where that

392
00:34:15,582 --> 00:34:20,944
goes if there is a season two. Let's move on
to the character's uncle, Shinji Yokohama,

393
00:34:20,984 --> 00:34:25,705
who is played by George Takei. Now I haven't
seen George Takei in anything outside of Star

394
00:34:25,745 --> 00:34:31,387
Trek reruns. But it was cool to hear him in
this Marvel show because the guy is such an

395
00:34:31,587 --> 00:34:35,928
icon of pop culture. No, yeah, he does a lot
of voice work. I remember back in the day when

396
00:34:36,028 --> 00:34:40,529
Facebook was taking off and he was like the
account to follow. Oh, yeah. Facebook. That's

397
00:34:40,689 --> 00:34:45,191
right. I like the dude. I was glad that he was
part of this. His character Yokohama was quite

398
00:34:45,211 --> 00:34:50,192
the conflicted character just like Hitmonkey,
but kind of in an opposite way in that he was

399
00:34:50,332 --> 00:34:55,673
willing to betray his loved ones and dishonor
himself by involving himself in this killing.

400
00:34:56,074 --> 00:35:01,076
It wasn't for justice or anything righteous,
but for personal gain. And he was willing to

401
00:35:01,136 --> 00:35:07,460
compromise his own ideals of anti-corruption
by becoming corrupt. It led to his personal

402
00:35:07,500 --> 00:35:12,463
crisis at the end of the season, where I think
he essentially committed suicide when he grabbed

403
00:35:12,603 --> 00:35:17,185
Officer Haruka's gun and Hitmonkey was forced
to shoot him. Yeah, that seemed out of character

404
00:35:17,205 --> 00:35:21,347
for him. I guess maybe he was trying to commit
suicide. That's an interesting rationale for

405
00:35:21,387 --> 00:35:26,286
his actions. I guess it makes sense. But like
everything you just mentioned. You really don't

406
00:35:26,326 --> 00:35:30,548
grasp until the final episode. Right. Yeah,
he's just kind of like this boring background

407
00:35:30,588 --> 00:35:35,451
character until you're like, holy shit, this
dude was behind everything. And I totally didn't

408
00:35:35,471 --> 00:35:40,654
see that coming. And I really have to commend
the show for making me not see that, because

409
00:35:40,794 --> 00:35:45,757
in any mystery, you're always supposed to ask
yourself who benefits. And that's usually the

410
00:35:45,797 --> 00:35:51,460
person who's behind everything. I didn't do
that this time, but he totally benefited from

411
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:56,363
Takahara's death. The fact that I didn't notice
that just kind of made me feel dumb, but not

412
00:35:56,383 --> 00:36:00,547
in a way that like I was upset with myself.
I just appreciated the show that much more

413
00:36:00,587 --> 00:36:06,152
for pulling that off. Yeah. The conspiracy that
essentially is the story of this season was

414
00:36:06,313 --> 00:36:10,917
really well done. It was one of like the best
conspiracy stories, I think in the entire genre.

415
00:36:10,937 --> 00:36:15,541
The whole show, you're chasing the villain.
You're not quite sure who the villain is because

416
00:36:15,601 --> 00:36:19,425
every time they take down one guy, it turns
out there was someone else behind him. There's

417
00:36:19,445 --> 00:36:24,080
someone else behind him. And so you're waiting
till the very end to find out who is the big

418
00:36:24,140 --> 00:36:28,303
person responsible for everything. And it turns
out it was the Banzai Master, right? But he

419
00:36:28,343 --> 00:36:32,486
was working with Yokohama. Yeah, the formula
for the first half of the show was kind of

420
00:36:32,506 --> 00:36:36,308
like this villain of the week type thing where
they keep working their way up the food chain,

421
00:36:36,328 --> 00:36:40,311
you know? It was nice that they kind of broke
that in the later episodes. I think it was

422
00:36:40,331 --> 00:36:45,334
a good structure for this show. Yeah, totally.
I enjoyed seeing him take down each one. Whether

423
00:36:45,354 --> 00:36:51,838
it was the casino twins or the prison underground
accountant guy. It was all really entertaining

424
00:36:51,878 --> 00:36:57,080
and fantastic. Really well done. Let's move
on to Officer Haruka who was played by Ali

425
00:36:57,120 --> 00:37:02,021
Mackie. There's not too much to say here. I
am familiar with a lot of Mackie's work, but

426
00:37:02,081 --> 00:37:07,983
I didn't recognize her name. Like Olivia Munn,
she's also a Marvel alum, having had a prominent

427
00:37:08,023 --> 00:37:13,905
role in the first season of Cloak and Dagger.
Haruka was the most pure figure in the series.

428
00:37:14,262 --> 00:37:19,306
though she did have a bit of vengeance in her
toward the end on behalf of her partner, Officer

429
00:37:19,406 --> 00:37:23,689
Ito, who was murdered. But Officer Haruka really
represented the third pillar of the story,

430
00:37:24,030 --> 00:37:27,933
which was the whole police investigation aspect,
and really, I think she was the closest thing

431
00:37:27,953 --> 00:37:32,437
the show had to an audience surrogate. Yeah,
I could see that. And at first, I wasn't too

432
00:37:32,537 --> 00:37:36,340
interested in her character, but she came to
have quite the prominent role in Hitmonkey's

433
00:37:36,380 --> 00:37:42,365
story, being his staunchest ally in the end,
even helping him escape Japan and vowing to

434
00:37:42,405 --> 00:37:46,992
clear his name. So I really became more and
more of a fan of hers as the season went on.

435
00:37:47,392 --> 00:37:51,974
Yeah, I was always really interested in Detective
Ito. And when he started taking her on, we

436
00:37:51,995 --> 00:37:55,977
started learning more about him. I thought he
was gonna be the one to really help Hitmonkey

437
00:37:56,057 --> 00:38:00,920
towards the end. But then he died and then we
were left with Officer Haruka. And yeah, I

438
00:38:00,940 --> 00:38:04,802
thought she did a great job towards the end,
being that surrogate character and helping

439
00:38:04,842 --> 00:38:08,984
Hitmonkey. The final character that I think
is worth discussing in the show, of course,

440
00:38:09,365 --> 00:38:15,804
is Maki Matsumoto. aka Lady Bullseye who was
played by Reiko Alesworth. Lady Bullseye was

441
00:38:15,844 --> 00:38:20,926
a fucking force to be reckoned with in this
show. I think Bullseye should be. Yes, absolutely.

442
00:38:21,106 --> 00:38:27,088
Yeah, and it was 100% sold by actress Reiko
Alesworth's voice acting. It was just so dark

443
00:38:27,269 --> 00:38:33,111
and sultry and dangerous. It was perfect, it's
exactly what it should have been. I was legitimately

444
00:38:33,291 --> 00:38:38,273
scared for Hitmonkey and his allies whenever
she was on screen because he knew someone was

445
00:38:38,293 --> 00:38:43,003
gonna die. and she racked up quite the body
count in this show. I love the way they introduced

446
00:38:43,023 --> 00:38:48,184
her because she was just like having a normal
day and then towards the end you realize that

447
00:38:48,284 --> 00:38:53,926
all those people she came across throughout
the day were all dead. It was like, holy crap.

448
00:38:54,066 --> 00:38:58,967
Just from these like minor inconveniences, all
these bodies left in her wake. Just knowing

449
00:38:59,007 --> 00:39:04,228
how capable she is, seeing her have a hard time
going up against a monkey character was very

450
00:39:04,248 --> 00:39:08,369
entertaining in its own right. It really serves
to highlight just how great of a character.

451
00:39:08,630 --> 00:39:13,112
Bullseye and you know his Lady Bullseye protege
is. It reminded me a lot of how frightened

452
00:39:13,172 --> 00:39:18,695
I was of the character in the Daredevil Netflix
show. Oh, yeah. Yeah for sure. Now Lady Bullseye

453
00:39:18,775 --> 00:39:22,918
is a character from the comics, right? But in
the comic it was actually Bullseye who was

454
00:39:22,938 --> 00:39:28,441
in the Hitmonkey comic. Correct. Yes. Okay.
Yeah, in the comic book Lady Bullseye was an

455
00:39:28,501 --> 00:39:33,103
admirer of the original Bullseye. She was part
of the Hand Ninja Clan and she resurrected

456
00:39:33,164 --> 00:39:37,254
him when he was killed. Oh, I didn't realize
she was a member of the Hand. Yeah. But that

457
00:39:37,274 --> 00:39:41,677
does it for all the characters, let's go ahead
and get into our episode highlights. Episode

458
00:39:41,697 --> 00:39:47,220
number one is called Pilot. In it, a plucky
assassin named Bryce Fowler flies to Tokyo

459
00:39:47,481 --> 00:39:53,204
and murders a candidate for Japan's prime minister
named Ken Takahara. Bryce is double crossed

460
00:39:53,244 --> 00:39:58,308
when receiving his payment, and fleas injured
into the snowy mountains of Japan where a group

461
00:39:58,348 --> 00:40:03,732
of Japanese macaques find and care for him.
As Bryce trains for his revenge, a particular

462
00:40:03,772 --> 00:40:09,716
monkey watches and learns from him. is exiled
from the tribe for inadvertently hurting another

463
00:40:09,756 --> 00:40:15,080
monkey and later witnesses a group of soldiers
murder Bryce as well as his whole monkey clan.

464
00:40:15,461 --> 00:40:20,505
In a rage, the monkey picks up Bryce's weapons
and kills the soldiers, becoming Hitmonkey.

465
00:40:20,805 --> 00:40:25,849
With his dying words, Bryce convinces Hitmonkey
to seek revenge in Tokyo and accompanies the

466
00:40:25,889 --> 00:40:31,534
primate as a ghost. This episode was pretty
much Hitmonkey number one to a T, except for

467
00:40:31,574 --> 00:40:32,274
Bryce's jokes.

468
00:40:37,827 --> 00:40:42,451
No, no, I thought that was hilarious. In the
comic book, they like gathered and handed herbs

469
00:40:42,471 --> 00:40:47,135
to him for him to eat. But I thought it was
hilarious in this show when they like put the

470
00:40:47,155 --> 00:40:50,998
herbs in their own mouths and chewed it up and
then like spit it into Bryce's mouth, where

471
00:40:51,038 --> 00:40:55,102
like at first he was like all disgusted. But
like later on, as he became like accustomed

472
00:40:55,162 --> 00:41:01,007
to this like Hot Springs lifestyle, he was just
like ready to receive the monkey spit like

473
00:41:01,047 --> 00:41:04,866
someone feeding him grapes or something. It
was pretty funny. I did think it was cool that

474
00:41:04,906 --> 00:41:09,449
the last thing that Bryce saw was Hitmonkey's
face, like right before he was shot to death.

475
00:41:09,689 --> 00:41:15,533
And just the wink, it was tragic, it was heartbreaking.
Yeah, and seeing Hitmonkey's monkey clan get

476
00:41:15,613 --> 00:41:20,597
murdered, that was a little bit hard to stomach.
You know, it's all animated and everything,

477
00:41:20,697 --> 00:41:25,300
but it really makes you realize that you could
probably never do a live-action adaptation

478
00:41:25,340 --> 00:41:29,402
of Hitmonkey. No. I definitely think that there's
some people who- Maybe probably never made

479
00:41:29,442 --> 00:41:33,243
it past the first episode because they just
couldn't stomach that scene of all the dead

480
00:41:33,283 --> 00:41:38,925
monkeys It was really bloody. It made it really
easy to root for Hitmonkey in killing all those

481
00:41:38,965 --> 00:41:44,407
soldier guys Yeah, definitely toward the start
of the episode I do have to wonder why Yokohama

482
00:41:44,447 --> 00:41:49,449
was standing so close to Takahata during the
time of the assassination if Yokohama was behind

483
00:41:49,469 --> 00:41:54,331
the whole thing You know Yokohama even got shot
in the arm during the assassination. You know,

484
00:41:54,351 --> 00:41:58,614
that could easily have been his gut or something
like that. It was a little bit strange considering

485
00:41:58,654 --> 00:42:02,677
the final reveal. I didn't even think about
that. That's absolutely true. But it did help,

486
00:42:02,717 --> 00:42:07,201
you know, like divert audience suspicion for
him. Yeah, it was kind of misleading though,

487
00:42:07,401 --> 00:42:13,465
in that regard. Yeah, I agree. Episode two was
called Bright Lights Big City. In it, Hitmonkey

488
00:42:13,565 --> 00:42:18,409
accidentally kills Bryce's gun supplier in a
fish warehouse, then takes her money and gets

489
00:42:18,449 --> 00:42:24,241
a hotel room. Hitmonkey returns to the scene
to see a General Kato drive by, who Bryce suspects

490
00:42:24,281 --> 00:42:29,266
of ordering the soldiers to kill him. They follow
the General to Takahata's funeral, where his

491
00:42:29,306 --> 00:42:34,830
campaign manager Shinji Yokohama announces that
he's going to run in his stead. Hitmonkey steals

492
00:42:34,870 --> 00:42:40,134
a boy's suit and murders some Yakuza thugs who
were killing pigeons, triggering a gang shootout

493
00:42:40,315 --> 00:42:46,059
at the funeral. In the gunfight, Hitmonkey rescues
Yokohama's niece and speechwriter Akiko and

494
00:42:46,099 --> 00:42:51,635
attacks General Kato who was killed by a bus.
Police officers Ito and Haruka see Hitmonkey

495
00:42:51,675 --> 00:42:56,637
in action in some security surveillance footage.
Greatest death of the entire season was in

496
00:42:56,657 --> 00:43:01,919
this episode when the fish lady dies. When she
accidentally gets sod in half, it's like they

497
00:43:01,939 --> 00:43:06,682
went out of their way to make us like not feel
for this lady and how murderous she was and

498
00:43:06,742 --> 00:43:11,344
how like she was already on the verge of death
by coughing, you know, but that was kind of

499
00:43:11,364 --> 00:43:17,731
hilarious on how efficient that accidental death
was. That moment when she trips and like her

500
00:43:17,911 --> 00:43:22,434
arm goes into that grinder and I know like all
the blood spray I like dropped my remote. I

501
00:43:22,454 --> 00:43:30,138
was like, holy shit Like out loud. I said that
yeah I was like damn and then from like there

502
00:43:30,178 --> 00:43:33,980
she fell onto those conveyor belt spikes and
then from there she got sod in half It was

503
00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:38,623
it was a lot It was not an easy way for her
to go but the fact that she was like still

504
00:43:38,843 --> 00:43:43,958
Yelling at the monkey through all of this was
just insanity pure insanity But that was what

505
00:43:43,998 --> 00:43:49,759
was great about it. I loved that whole scene.
The boy that appeared in this episode kind

506
00:43:49,799 --> 00:43:55,941
of felt out of place for the show, but in the
books, it was he who ended up getting killed

507
00:43:55,981 --> 00:44:01,543
by Bullseye and really inspired Hitmonkey to
take up the cause of revenge for not just himself,

508
00:44:01,603 --> 00:44:06,984
but for the innocent. Luckily, the kid didn't
die in the show. Yeah, no, I remember his backstory

509
00:44:07,044 --> 00:44:11,866
from our last episode. I was fully expecting
that kid to die, but he didn't. Why do you

510
00:44:11,906 --> 00:44:17,528
think there were so many Yakuza at Takahata's
funeral? That's a good question. I don't think

511
00:44:17,568 --> 00:44:21,270
there were so many. I think they all just kind
of appeared out of nowhere. But yeah, it all

512
00:44:21,310 --> 00:44:25,352
kind of like spiraled out of control really
quick. The fact that they were all there was

513
00:44:25,372 --> 00:44:29,994
a little bit strange. Let's move on to episode
three, which was titled Legend of the Drunken

514
00:44:30,034 --> 00:44:34,916
Monkey, one of my favorite episodes of the entire
season. In it, Hitmonkey and Bryce encounter

515
00:44:34,976 --> 00:44:40,786
a blind monk named Stick, who tells them they
are tethered by fate. They use Kato's wallet

516
00:44:40,826 --> 00:44:45,708
to find his home address, where they set off
a gunfight between two Yakuza and two soldiers

517
00:44:45,908 --> 00:44:51,391
who also entered the home. Hitmonkey and Bryce
learn General Kato had ties to the Yakuza through

518
00:44:51,411 --> 00:44:56,533
his gambling debts, and they go to the Double
Dragon Casino to learn more. Hitmonkey is discovered

519
00:44:56,633 --> 00:45:01,675
trying to break in and has to pretend to be
entertainment for the casino guests. He and

520
00:45:01,715 --> 00:45:05,997
Bryce cheat at poker to win their way to the
high roller room and in front of the casino

521
00:45:06,097 --> 00:45:11,648
owners, twins Kepei and Tepe. Hitmonkey kills
them before they can kill him, and he and Bryce

522
00:45:11,688 --> 00:45:16,151
learn that the man who arranged the payment
for Takahata's assassination was called the

523
00:45:16,191 --> 00:45:22,977
accountant. I love how like everyone was just
okay with like this monkey just totally steamrolling

524
00:45:23,017 --> 00:45:26,940
them at poker. If I was going up against a monkey
I'd be like, what the fuck I'm not giving you

525
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:31,143
my chips, you're a monkey! I'd be like, haha
that was cute, you won, you don't know what

526
00:45:31,163 --> 00:45:36,894
you're doing, I'm taking my chips back. Exactly.
I really liked when he first landed on the

527
00:45:36,954 --> 00:45:40,996
craps table and like Bryce was like, just dance,
just dance. If you don't dance, you're gonna

528
00:45:41,016 --> 00:45:46,778
die. The reason this episode is one of my favorites
is because of that humor, because we got to

529
00:45:46,818 --> 00:45:51,460
see this interesting adaptation of Stick. Oh,
is Stick the monk? Yeah, the blind monk, even

530
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:55,322
though there was no mention of the Chaste. It
was interesting that he ended up being killed

531
00:45:55,402 --> 00:45:59,924
by Lady Bulls, like who's a member of the Hand.
They didn't make reference to either organization

532
00:46:00,104 --> 00:46:05,306
within the show. Maybe because of the Daredevil
TV series. Probably. The best line of the episode

533
00:46:05,346 --> 00:46:08,967
was when Bryce was getting excited to cheat
at cards and he was like, this is the only

534
00:46:09,047 --> 00:46:15,609
non-sexual fantasy I've ever had. That's why
we're gonna win. Right, that was great. Episode

535
00:46:15,649 --> 00:46:21,250
4 is called The Code. In it, the accountant's
address turns out to be a prison where he lives

536
00:46:21,290 --> 00:46:27,072
in a closed off area of unruly criminals called
The Pit. The accountant captures and forces

537
00:46:27,092 --> 00:46:32,706
Hitmonkey to fight in a battle against Fat Cobra,
a magically powered sumo wrestler. Hitmonkey

538
00:46:32,726 --> 00:46:37,910
wins but refuses to kill Fat Cobra, and the
two team up to set the pit's drug stash on

539
00:46:37,950 --> 00:46:42,474
fire. They chase the accountant into a hidden
room where he reveals he was hired by a mobster

540
00:46:42,514 --> 00:46:47,458
called Rooster to fund Takahara's assassination.
Then he gets killed by his fellow inmates.

541
00:46:47,918 --> 00:46:52,342
Hitmonkey escapes the burning prison wing with
the help of a rat he rescued earlier from a

542
00:46:52,382 --> 00:46:57,706
glue trap. He visits Akiko at her home, who
thanks him for saving her earlier. Not my favorite

543
00:46:57,726 --> 00:47:01,689
episodes, but a lot of great moments here. I
thought it was really cool to see Fat Cobra.

544
00:47:01,998 --> 00:47:06,499
I assume he's a character from the comic? Yeah,
yeah. He's in the Iron Fist books. He's one

545
00:47:06,519 --> 00:47:12,022
of the immortal weapons, like Iron Fist. Oh,
that's cool. Yeah. He can channel his chi for

546
00:47:12,122 --> 00:47:16,824
the purposes of electrokinesis. I really liked
the scenes with the rat where the rat was like,

547
00:47:16,964 --> 00:47:20,845
sorry I bit you earlier, you know, I was contemplating
chewing off my own arm when I was in a weird

548
00:47:20,865 --> 00:47:25,847
head space. And then Hitmonkey's like, don't
worry, I was just trying to play it cool in

549
00:47:25,887 --> 00:47:30,629
front of my friend here. But the rat can't see
Bryce's ghost, so he's like, I hope you find

550
00:47:30,669 --> 00:47:35,715
the help you need. I loved it when the animals
talked to each other in this show. Yeah, it

551
00:47:35,735 --> 00:47:40,677
was good. There was definitely like a lion and
the mouse kind of lesson to be had in this

552
00:47:40,737 --> 00:47:44,879
episode about kindness and you know, show kindness
to others, they will also show kindness to

553
00:47:44,939 --> 00:47:49,361
you. It was a lesson that Bryce had to learn
through Hitmonkey and this mouse. Yeah, he

554
00:47:49,381 --> 00:47:55,023
was like pretty reluctant to admit to that lesson.
But then at the end, he was like, okay. Yeah,

555
00:47:55,044 --> 00:48:00,026
because he kept trying to instill in Hitmonkey
his own kind of assassin philosophy. which

556
00:48:00,106 --> 00:48:03,768
wasn't really jiving with Hitmonkey's code,
and so they both kind of learned from each

557
00:48:03,828 --> 00:48:08,151
other along the way, which I thought was pretty
interesting. Episode five was called Run Monkey

558
00:48:08,191 --> 00:48:14,016
Run. In it, Rooster and the other Yakuza leaders
place a bounty on Hitmonkey's head. Everyone

559
00:48:14,056 --> 00:48:20,320
from a motorcycle ninja to a group of subway
thugs, a corrupt cop, and a street racing influencer

560
00:48:20,500 --> 00:48:26,684
all try and fail to kill the primate. A vengeful
spirit called Yuki at first tries to kill Hitmonkey

561
00:48:26,704 --> 00:48:32,152
to restore order to Tokyo. but recognizes him
as a force for good when he saves Officer Ito's

562
00:48:32,192 --> 00:48:37,136
life. Hitmonkey is captured by an assassin called
the Poacher, but he escapes and slaughters

563
00:48:37,176 --> 00:48:42,600
the Yakuza's leaders, except for Rooster, who
escapes into police custody. With Hitmonkey

564
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:48,064
and Bryce's hotel room destroyed, the pair go
to stay with Akiko. This episode I think was

565
00:48:48,124 --> 00:48:52,787
really great in its premise, it was kind of
like this John Wick 2-esque episode, where

566
00:48:52,827 --> 00:48:57,850
it's like him versus all the assassins in the
city. Right. But what was frustrating about

567
00:48:57,890 --> 00:49:03,692
this was that they didn't show many of the assassin
fights on camera. It wasn't enough time. They

568
00:49:03,752 --> 00:49:08,693
resorted to weird things like just having the
audio play and like having F8 to black and

569
00:49:08,793 --> 00:49:12,474
having Bryce make some kind of quip about how
violent that was or something. You know, that

570
00:49:12,494 --> 00:49:17,335
happened with the motorcycle ninja, that happened
with the subway gang. It was all very cheap

571
00:49:17,375 --> 00:49:21,697
feeling. I could see that, but I think it worked
still. I think it was most disappointed in

572
00:49:21,757 --> 00:49:26,294
that they didn't show how Hitmonkey killed the
poacher. Because we see him use the guy as

573
00:49:26,314 --> 00:49:30,857
like a puppet to get into the Yakuza room, but
we don't even see him escape his cage. You

574
00:49:30,877 --> 00:49:35,219
know, we just see Bryce admitting to Hitmonkey
that Hitmonkey is better than he ever was or

575
00:49:35,239 --> 00:49:39,441
ever could be. And then next thing you know,
Hitmonkey is killing all the Yakuza leaders.

576
00:49:39,461 --> 00:49:44,264
That's true. I didn't catch that. How did he
even get out of the cage? I have no idea. But

577
00:49:44,284 --> 00:49:49,447
they set up Poacher as this like eccentric asshole.
So it was disappointing not to see Hitmonkey's

578
00:49:49,487 --> 00:49:53,889
escape. Yeah, I feel like that's like a scene
that was cut or something like that. Yeah.

579
00:49:54,262 --> 00:49:58,805
That being said, the action scenes that they
did show, like Hitmonkey vs. the Street Racer

580
00:49:58,845 --> 00:50:04,370
guy, was really badass. Yeah, that was cool.
Is Yuki a character from the comics as well?

581
00:50:04,590 --> 00:50:09,714
Yes. I love all these cameos. These are great
to learn about. Episode 6 was called The Long

582
00:50:09,754 --> 00:50:14,979
Goodbye. In it, officers Ito and Haruka stop
by Akiko's place to tell her that Rooster has

583
00:50:14,999 --> 00:50:20,463
been arrested, but due to police ties to the
Yakuza, he's being set free. Believing Rooster

584
00:50:20,543 --> 00:50:24,670
is the final link in the chain to Takahara's
assassination, Hitmonkey and Bryce head out

585
00:50:24,690 --> 00:50:30,454
to kill him, only to find that Rooster has multiple
body doubles across town. Rooster volunteers

586
00:50:30,515 --> 00:50:35,178
information on the rest of the Yakuza if they
don't kill him, however at the safety deposit

587
00:50:35,198 --> 00:50:41,002
box, Rooster attacks Hitmonkey. Bryce reveals
in Rooster's final moments that he has a daughter

588
00:50:41,282 --> 00:50:46,046
that he wants Hitmonkey to look after, however
Bryce fails to ascend to the afterlife after

589
00:50:46,086 --> 00:50:50,909
Rooster's death, meaning their work is not yet
done. They take Rooster's safety deposit box

590
00:50:50,929 --> 00:50:57,255
to Akiko. Meanwhile, the Yakuza hire Lady Bullseye
to take out Hitmonkey. Now a lot of the episodes,

591
00:50:57,335 --> 00:51:02,900
I never really felt like were filler, but this
one I felt like artificially dragged out its

592
00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:08,125
runtime by having Rooster have multiple body
doubles. I don't think that was entirely necessary

593
00:51:08,165 --> 00:51:12,749
for the overall plot, and it did kind of get
repetitive when Bryce kept thinking he was

594
00:51:12,789 --> 00:51:16,733
going to ascend, telling Hitmonkey goodbye and
everything like that. It was just, it was a

595
00:51:16,793 --> 00:51:22,588
lot of goodbyes. Yeah, but I also think that
they needed that in the story to kind of sneak

596
00:51:22,688 --> 00:51:26,829
in the fact that Bryce has a daughter though.
That's true, which you know in the flashback

597
00:51:26,869 --> 00:51:31,411
turns out to be part of his character. This
whole regret that he has Overleaving his family.

598
00:51:31,912 --> 00:51:36,894
I was totally surprised by the twist that Rooster
turned out to be The fat body double that was

599
00:51:36,934 --> 00:51:40,635
pleading for his life in the bathroom stall.
Yeah, he's just wearing makeup Yeah, that was

600
00:51:40,675 --> 00:51:45,457
funny. He was wearing a wig over a bald cap
over his hair Which I thought was pretty funny

601
00:51:46,058 --> 00:51:51,582
Episode 7 was called Sayonara Monkey. In it,
Hitmonkey and Bryce visit Stick to see why

602
00:51:51,622 --> 00:51:57,207
Bryce hasn't ascended. The blind monkey uses
salt to deter Bryce as he tells Hitmonkey that

603
00:51:57,247 --> 00:52:02,371
Bryce's salvation lies with him. Lady Bullseye
kills all the Japanese macaques at the zoo,

604
00:52:02,651 --> 00:52:08,016
which leads Officer Haruka to deduce that Akiko
is harboring Hitmonkey. All parties converge

605
00:52:08,136 --> 00:52:13,761
at Akiko's house, which Lady Bullseye blows
up. She nearly kills Hitmonkey, but he's saved

606
00:52:13,801 --> 00:52:19,269
by Officer Ito. whom Lady Bullseye kills instead.
She chases the primate across the rooftops

607
00:52:19,289 --> 00:52:25,195
of Tokyo, across a bullet train, then a highway.
Hitmonkey escapes and visits Akiko in the hospital

608
00:52:25,375 --> 00:52:30,940
where he's overwhelmed with grief. Blaming Bryce
for all of his troubles, Hitmonkey uses salt

609
00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:36,125
to trap him in a bathroom before ditching his
suit and returning to the wilderness. This

610
00:52:36,165 --> 00:52:40,469
is definitely one of my favorite episodes. It
starts off so tragically with the monkeys at

611
00:52:40,489 --> 00:52:44,993
the zoo. And it ends on such an interesting
note when we see Hitmonkey like, return to

612
00:52:45,013 --> 00:52:48,596
the wilderness. I was like, well, where's the
show gonna go from here? The one question that

613
00:52:48,656 --> 00:52:55,122
I had though was, how did Lady Bullseye know
to rig a bomb at Akiko's house? Like, it's

614
00:52:55,162 --> 00:52:59,626
possible that maybe she followed officers Ito
and Haruka there, but she wouldn't have had

615
00:52:59,686 --> 00:53:03,969
time to set up the bombs. Eh, she's good like
that. I think she could have definitely set

616
00:53:04,009 --> 00:53:09,682
up the bombs, but I agree that she really had
no reason to blow up that specific house. Especially

617
00:53:09,822 --> 00:53:14,664
considering that ultimately she's working for
Yokohama who is Akiko's uncle, you know, so

618
00:53:14,684 --> 00:53:19,107
that was a little bit strange But I think this
episode's pros well outweighed that one little

619
00:53:19,147 --> 00:53:24,009
nitpick moment Best action scene of the entire
show in this episode the lady bulls eye chase

620
00:53:24,029 --> 00:53:28,271
scene. Yeah with her on the motorcycle. That
was cool I think the most jaw-dropping moment

621
00:53:28,451 --> 00:53:33,994
of that chase was when lady bulls eye drove
up behind this like farming truck and started

622
00:53:34,034 --> 00:53:38,655
pulling like the farming tools out of it and
started just hurling it at Hitmonkey who was

623
00:53:38,695 --> 00:53:43,737
dodging and you saw like a pitchfork fly through
the subway window and just impale this random

624
00:53:43,757 --> 00:53:48,778
bystander. And then when she cut these like
construction cement tubes to completely flip

625
00:53:48,818 --> 00:53:53,800
the semi that Hitmonkey was on over and like
he went flying into the air and she threw that

626
00:53:53,860 --> 00:53:58,381
bobby pin at him and it stuck into him and he
shot out her tire. It was insane. It was pure

627
00:53:58,401 --> 00:54:02,491
insanity. It was a balls to the wall action
scene. Yeah, like you said, Lady Bullseye is

628
00:54:02,531 --> 00:54:08,496
a force of nature. Yeah. Episode 8 was called
Home Sweet Home. In it, Hitmonkey discovers

629
00:54:08,576 --> 00:54:14,020
a new Mokok tribe and rescues a young primate
named Koji from bullies belonging to the Red

630
00:54:14,060 --> 00:54:18,964
Stripes Monkey Clan. Meanwhile, through his
salt trap, Bryce relives his past, where we

631
00:54:19,004 --> 00:54:23,788
see that he had no real father figure growing
up. He remembers meeting his girlfriend Hailey

632
00:54:23,928 --> 00:54:28,872
and the two having a daughter. Back in the wilderness,
the Red Stripes order Hitmonkey's new tribe

633
00:54:29,152 --> 00:54:34,597
to leave their hot springs, but he convinces
the others to fight back. Bryce releases accidentally

634
00:54:34,637 --> 00:54:39,721
killing his mom's new boyfriend Eli, who had
a past as an assassin and had people out looking

635
00:54:39,761 --> 00:54:45,345
for him. In the Monkey Battle, young Koji is
killed by the Red Stripes clan and dies in

636
00:54:45,385 --> 00:54:51,450
Hitmonkey's arms. Enraged, Hitmonkey redaunts
his suit and shoots the Red Stripes dead. Bryce

637
00:54:51,530 --> 00:54:57,158
remembers leaving his family behind and going
on the run, becoming a Hitman himself. Hitmonkey

638
00:54:57,298 --> 00:55:02,643
buries Koji beside Bryce's corpse and is visited
by his former tribe leader who tells him to

639
00:55:02,723 --> 00:55:08,387
wear the suit and be what he was meant to be,
killer of killers. Hitmonkey returns to Tokyo

640
00:55:08,688 --> 00:55:13,772
and reunites with Bryce. Great episode, my favorite
episode. Yeah, yeah, it was a really good one.

641
00:55:13,972 --> 00:55:18,716
Tragic in that if that other monkey clan weren't
just a bunch of jerks, Hitmonkey could have

642
00:55:18,736 --> 00:55:23,360
had a good life with that monkey lady and her
younger brother. Yeah, but that's not his destiny.

643
00:55:23,720 --> 00:55:28,743
I kind of think that this episode... really
makes the whole season because it's in episode

644
00:55:28,863 --> 00:55:34,487
eight that the show really dives into the tragedy
of these characters. Without this, the show

645
00:55:34,507 --> 00:55:39,450
wouldn't have been nearly as deep. I agree.
It really shows like why these characters left

646
00:55:39,490 --> 00:55:45,693
home and why they can never go back again. That's
a big element for any character's arc. Yeah,

647
00:55:45,733 --> 00:55:51,116
absolutely. I do hope that maybe Bryce does
return home again, maybe in season two. I'm

648
00:55:51,156 --> 00:55:56,484
hoping they fly to America. and get involved
in some plot that involves Bryce's family or

649
00:55:56,504 --> 00:56:00,046
something, which he can never revisit again
because he's a ghost, you know, but I think

650
00:56:00,066 --> 00:56:05,250
that would make for a good story. The only nitpick
I have about this episode was at the very end,

651
00:56:05,350 --> 00:56:11,335
we see that they realize that the campaign election
is just one day away and they're like, Oh no,

652
00:56:11,735 --> 00:56:17,880
but I'm wondering why is the election relevant
to their revenge plot? Like it was never established

653
00:56:17,900 --> 00:56:22,283
that the election was some kind of like deadline
for them. By this point, they just know that

654
00:56:22,363 --> 00:56:26,388
Rooster was like the highest link in the chain
and that he had ordered the assassination on

655
00:56:26,428 --> 00:56:31,113
Takahara, but they made no insinuation how that
plays into the election itself and why they

656
00:56:31,133 --> 00:56:36,218
need to act before that. I don't know. But it's
largely irrelevant. Episode 9 is called The

657
00:56:36,338 --> 00:56:41,624
End Part 1. In it, Hitmonkey and Bryce return
to Akiko's house, where Officer Haruka reveals

658
00:56:41,664 --> 00:56:46,644
that Rooster's secret recordings reveal that
a man called the Banzai Master is behind the

659
00:56:46,664 --> 00:56:51,769
Yakuza and Takahara's assassination, so they
visit his compound to kill him. Lady Bullseye

660
00:56:51,789 --> 00:56:56,734
meanwhile learns from her victims, the Tailor
and Stick the Monk, that the Ghost of Bryce

661
00:56:56,834 --> 00:57:01,538
and the Monkey are connected. Banzai Master
fights Hitmonkey and reveals his intentions

662
00:57:01,618 --> 00:57:07,083
of restoring Japan to its feudal era. Hitmonkey
defeats Banzai Master who commits seppuku.

663
00:57:07,404 --> 00:57:12,496
Hitmonkey then goes to kill Ozu. who was Takahata's
rival in the election and was suspected of

664
00:57:12,536 --> 00:57:17,319
conspiring to set up the assassination. Ozu,
however, claims innocence and Hitmonkey and

665
00:57:17,339 --> 00:57:23,503
Bryce realize that the newly elected Prime Minister,
Shinji Yokohama, was behind it all. Good episode,

666
00:57:23,583 --> 00:57:29,527
great reveal at the end again. Yeah, I do have
to wonder though, why was Ozu hanging around

667
00:57:29,587 --> 00:57:35,071
Banzai Master? Why was he even there if Banzai
Master was Yokohama's friend? I think he was

668
00:57:35,111 --> 00:57:39,550
under the impression that Banzai Master was
helping out his campaign. And maybe he was,

669
00:57:39,610 --> 00:57:43,512
maybe he was playing both sides, you know, just
to make sure that he was fully in control of

670
00:57:43,552 --> 00:57:47,713
what was going on. I don't know, I never got
that impression. But the line that Ozu gave

671
00:57:47,733 --> 00:57:51,835
where he was like, I had nothing to gain, he
absolutely had something to gain from Takahata's

672
00:57:51,875 --> 00:57:56,757
assassination. He even gloated to Akiko and
Yokohama in the second episode that, well,

673
00:57:56,817 --> 00:58:01,919
I guess I win because I have nobody to run against,
you know? The show was highly telegraphing

674
00:58:02,019 --> 00:58:06,701
that Ozu was behind this, purposefully misleading
audiences only to sweep the rug out from under

675
00:58:06,721 --> 00:58:11,603
them. And while the reveal was still good, I
do think that through that misleading, it was

676
00:58:11,623 --> 00:58:15,165
a little bit unfair. Well, I mean, sort of.
He did say that, you know, he was up in the

677
00:58:15,205 --> 00:58:20,707
polls and that by Takahara being assassinated,
he was made a martyr. So, you know, why would

678
00:58:20,827 --> 00:58:25,329
you want to turn your political rival into a
martyr that the people can get behind? You

679
00:58:25,349 --> 00:58:29,771
wouldn't want to do that. Well, probably because
a martyr is still dead and you're still the

680
00:58:29,791 --> 00:58:34,833
winner by default. That's fair. I did love the
fight between Hitmonkey and Banzai Master.

681
00:58:34,973 --> 00:58:38,770
I thought that was really well done. Bonsai
Master was just cool. Is he a villain in the

682
00:58:38,790 --> 00:58:45,352
comics? He seemed to like lose some of his vitality
when he chopped that bonsai tree in half. Not

683
00:58:45,372 --> 00:58:49,413
that I know of actually. I don't think he's
from the comics. At least I don't recognize

684
00:58:49,453 --> 00:58:54,094
him. But he's a pretty cool idea for a villain.
Yeah, like he's as old as like a bonsai tree.

685
00:58:54,474 --> 00:58:58,856
Yeah. And as long as the tree lives, he does.
That is cool. And his whole like motivation

686
00:58:58,936 --> 00:59:03,537
of bringing back Japan to the days of the samurai,
I thought was pretty cool too. The last episode,

687
00:59:03,557 --> 00:59:09,212
episode 10 was called The End Part Two. In it,
Hitmonkey and Bryce go to confront Yokohama,

688
00:59:09,593 --> 00:59:14,477
explaining the situation to Officer Haruka through
the spirit Yuki. They're stopped by Yokohama's

689
00:59:14,518 --> 00:59:19,803
bodyguard, the Silver Samurai, though Fat Cobra
arrives to help. Hitmonkey and Bryce are also

690
00:59:19,843 --> 00:59:24,327
stopped by Lady Bullseye, who uses salt as a
weapon against Bryce, though Bryce is able

691
00:59:24,347 --> 00:59:29,372
to use the agony to turn himself partially tangible.
He distracts Lady Bullseye long enough for

692
00:59:29,432 --> 00:59:34,344
Officer Haruka to kill her. Yokohama reveals
to Akiko out of guilt that he was involved

693
00:59:34,384 --> 00:59:39,389
in Takahata's assassination in order to become
Japan's new Prime Minister in exchange for

694
00:59:39,429 --> 00:59:45,074
letting Bonsai Master enact his agenda. Bryce
convinces Hitmonkey to let Yokohama live, which

695
00:59:45,154 --> 00:59:50,238
lets Bryce finally ascend to the afterlife.
However, Yokohama grabs Officer Haruka's gun,

696
00:59:50,398 --> 00:59:55,863
forcing Hitmonkey to kill him. In the aftermath,
Haruka sneaks Hitmonkey out of Japan in a suitcase

697
00:59:56,164 --> 01:00:00,742
since he's wanted for killing the new Prime
Minister. Bryce's ghost returns from hell in

698
01:00:00,762 --> 01:00:06,304
a deal with Mephisto so Hitmonkey wouldn't be
alone, but now with some minor telekinesis.

699
01:00:06,744 --> 01:00:11,825
Akiko, devastated by Yokohama's death, dons
the mask of Lady Bullseye, seemingly seeking

700
01:00:11,865 --> 01:00:16,807
revenge against Hitmonkey. I thought it was
a fairly successful ending to this story, this

701
01:00:16,847 --> 01:00:21,108
episode. It was really cool to see Fat Cobra
fight against Silver Samurai, something that

702
01:00:21,188 --> 01:00:26,029
I haven't seen in the comics. Yeah, that Silver
Samurai cameo was pretty cool. Yeah, really

703
01:00:26,069 --> 01:00:33,046
liked that. It was ironic that if Lady Bullseye
had never used salt against Bryce, it's likely

704
01:00:33,086 --> 01:00:37,589
she probably would have lived and been successful
in her mission of protecting Yokohama. The

705
01:00:37,629 --> 01:00:42,592
whole salt thing and how Bryce could use it
to become like partially tangible and visible

706
01:00:42,772 --> 01:00:47,536
was a little bit convenient for the sake of
the plot, but it was pretty cool to see Bryce

707
01:00:47,576 --> 01:00:52,479
get to do something one last time. Yeah, there
were some consequences to him doing that too,

708
01:00:52,499 --> 01:00:57,054
that was like really painful for him. Yeah,
yeah. It just kind of helped. his arc of, you

709
01:00:57,074 --> 01:01:01,777
know, like doing something selfless, sacrificing
something. Yeah, and it was great to see him

710
01:01:01,817 --> 01:01:05,860
ascend to this episode. I thought it was fucking
hilarious at the end when he was talking to

711
01:01:05,900 --> 01:01:09,062
Hitmonkey and he was like, oh yeah, I went to
the afterlife. It was beautiful, you know,

712
01:01:09,102 --> 01:01:15,066
there was like flames everywhere. So basically
clueless to the audience that he actually went

713
01:01:15,106 --> 01:01:19,830
to hell and he bargained with Mephisto down
there to come back and serve as Hitmonkey's

714
01:01:19,870 --> 01:01:25,253
companion. But like he didn't even really realize
what he gave away in the deal. His soul, right?

715
01:01:25,726 --> 01:01:29,727
Well, Mephisto already had his soul. So it'll
be interesting to see how that pans out. But

716
01:01:29,747 --> 01:01:34,109
it's really cool that they gave Bryce this like
minor telekinesis power. Now I'm really interested

717
01:01:34,229 --> 01:01:38,871
to see how an assassin monkey and a ghost who
can push things with his mind, how that story

718
01:01:38,891 --> 01:01:43,793
pans out. I thought this episode was a great
wrap up of all the different plot threads and

719
01:01:43,974 --> 01:01:49,976
a great setup for a potential new season. Absolutely.
But that does it for this review. Overall,

720
01:01:50,276 --> 01:01:56,745
again, I really like how this show. worked on
many different levels from comedy to drama

721
01:01:56,805 --> 01:02:02,469
to action. It was super stylized in its visuals.
Despite their kind of cheap nature, you could

722
01:02:02,509 --> 01:02:06,673
tell that they did their best with what they
had to work with. And we really got something

723
01:02:06,773 --> 01:02:11,757
new and unique here. I finished this show before
you did. You know, I binged it all the way

724
01:02:11,777 --> 01:02:16,841
through and by the end of it, I was like, is
this a five star show? Like I really liked

725
01:02:16,921 --> 01:02:21,265
it. You know, I reached out to you. Um, again,
like I said earlier, I think, you know, Hit

726
01:02:21,285 --> 01:02:25,572
Monkey is probably one of my more favorite Marvel
characters now, if not my most favorite. He's

727
01:02:25,612 --> 01:02:30,275
just a really cool character. And I think this
show did a really good job of setting up that

728
01:02:30,315 --> 01:02:34,938
character and introducing us to the world of
Hitmonkey. That being said, you're right, you

729
01:02:34,958 --> 01:02:40,282
know, the animation could have been a lot better.
The show is pretty cheaply produced. It's pretty

730
01:02:40,362 --> 01:02:45,745
evident. And while I didn't catch any plot holes
as I was watching it, you brought some up during

731
01:02:45,765 --> 01:02:51,188
this review. that are pretty glaring. So you're
right, it's not perfect, but it is damn good

732
01:02:51,268 --> 01:02:55,831
nonetheless. I'd say it's probably 4 stars.
Yeah, that's the rating that I gave, absolutely.

733
01:02:56,051 --> 01:02:59,533
I think it's a 4 star series. I think if the
animation had been better, it would be 4.5

734
01:02:59,993 --> 01:03:05,256
stars. Yeah, hands down. But that does it for
this review. Guys, let us know what you thought

735
01:03:05,276 --> 01:03:12,400
about Hitmonkey by writing to us at dyna or
by visiting us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

736
01:03:12,660 --> 01:03:16,450
You can find links to all of our accounts by
checking out our show notes. or visiting our

737
01:03:16,490 --> 01:03:22,371
website, dynamicduel.com. Yeah, especially don't
forget to visit our Facebook or Instagram where

738
01:03:22,411 --> 01:03:27,673
we are currently running a charity drive for
the Health Well Foundation. Again, anything

739
01:03:27,733 --> 01:03:32,494
helps during this holiday season and we'll be
giving a dynamic duel card game to two randomly

740
01:03:32,534 --> 01:03:38,516
selected donors. Don't forget that our entire
backlog is free this month. So instead of giving

741
01:03:38,536 --> 01:03:44,237
to our podcast, please give to the Health Well
Foundation through our Facebook and Instagram

742
01:03:44,277 --> 01:03:50,345
profile pages. That said, also don't forget
to subscribe to the show on iTunes or Spotify

743
01:03:50,625 --> 01:03:55,909
or wherever you listen to podcasts. Our next
episode is going to be a duel leading up to

744
01:03:55,969 --> 01:03:59,871
the Spider-Man No Way Home review that we're
going to be doing in a couple of weeks. In

745
01:03:59,931 --> 01:04:03,634
seven days, we're going to find out who would
win in a fight between one of the original

746
01:04:03,674 --> 01:04:09,978
members of the Sinister Six, Kraven the Hunter
against DC's Vixen. Vixen is also one of my

747
01:04:10,018 --> 01:04:14,461
favorite characters. She's awesome. And I can't
wait to see who's going to come out on top

748
01:04:14,501 --> 01:04:18,851
in this match. So look forward to that next
week. That does it for this episode. We want

749
01:04:18,871 --> 01:04:25,394
to give a big thanks to our executive producers,
John Spies, Ken Johnson, Jace Crump, John Storosky,

750
01:04:25,775 --> 01:04:31,717
Zachary Hepburn, John Bechinina, Mitchell Phipps,
Dustin Belkum, Salvador Hernandez Contreras

751
01:04:31,777 --> 01:04:37,300
Jr. and Levi Yeaton for helping make this podcast
possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week.

752
01:04:37,780 --> 01:04:39,561
Up up and away, true believers.