Hey guys, it's Marvelous Joe at the top of the episode to remind you that Spider-Man No Way
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that's D-U-E-L-1-5 at checkout. Get something for the holiday season, perhaps a Spider-Man
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and the multiverse. Visit cufflinks.com right now. And on with the show!
duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate the superiority
between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based battle simulations. I'm Marvelous
Joe. And I'm his twin brother, Johnny DC. And in this episode, we are going to review the
Hulu and Marvel original series, Hit Monkey, which debuted just a few weeks ago. It is much
better than its concept suggests. If you guys listen to our last episode where we pit Hitmonkey
in a fight against the Wonder Twins monkey, Gleek, you know just how tragic and deep the
character of Hitmonkey could be. And I found the show to be the same way, so I'm really
excited to talk about it. Yeah, me too. I watched the show during quarantine when I had COVID.
I watched the whole thing in like three days. I just really, really liked it. Hitmonkey is
probably like my number one favorite Marvel character of all time now. Really? Yeah. That's
weird. He's cool. But before we discuss the show, we're going to break down the comic book
movie news to have come out in the past week. We got a first look at Spider-Man Across the
Spider-Verse Part 1, which is pretty interesting. We're also going to discuss the Peacemaker
HBO series official trailer. And we just learned that the DC characters, the Metal Men, will
be getting their own animated feature film. So we'll talk about that. As always, we list
our segment times in our episode description. So feel free to check out the show notes if
you want to skip ahead to a particular topic. And just a reminder guys that right now we
have a Facebook fundraiser going on for the Christmas season with the HealthWell Foundation,
which is a non-profit dedicated to improving access to care for America's underinsured.
When health insurance is not enough, they fill the gap by assisting with copays, premiums,
deductibles, and out-of-pocket expenses through their crowd-sourced disease-related funds.
Yeah, so far we've raised $100, I think $80 on Facebook. and $20 on Instagram, you could
donate on either platform. So make sure to check out our profiles if you would like to donate.
You can donate any amount from now until Christmas Day. And at the end of this month, we'll award
two randomly selected donors with a dynamic duel Marvel versus DC card game. Let's show
the Healthwell Foundation how generous and charitable dynamic duel listeners can be. Please donate
in this giving season again via Facebook or Instagram. And we want to give a quick shout
out to, uh, Poole Verene, who I think is the guy who got the first Deadpool movie greenlit.
He left us a review on Apple podcasts. So thank you so much for doing that. Oh, we also want
to give a quick congratulations to one of our patrons, Jacob Bell, who recently got married.
Hopefully you're not listening to this right now and you're just enjoying your honeymoon.
But once you get around to this, congrats, man. But with that out of the way, quick to the
no prize. A no prize is an award that Marvel used to give out up until the 90s to fans.
Our version, the dynamic duel no prize, is a digital award that we post on social media
that I personally draw for those who we feel gave the best answer to our question of the
week. Last week's question was, who was your favorite DC or Marvel animal hero and why?
And we asked that because not only did we have an animal based duel last week, we also talked
about the trailer for the DC league of super pets. We got a few answers here. Let's go ahead
and run down our honorable mentions as well as the no prize winner. Our first honorable
mention goes to Miggy Methengian who said, Hey guys, this is Miggy and my favorite DC animal
hero is Gorilla Greg, the nephew of Gorilla Grodd. I've been reading the Teen Titans Academy,
like recent series, and I've been really enjoying it. And one of the recent stories was about
kind of like his relationship with Grodd. And I think that's just always really interesting
when the like relative is kind of a bad guy and the hero is a hero. Oh man, when a hero
is a hero, that's the best thing. I haven't read Teen Titans Academy, but the title looks
really cool. As Red X, Gorilla Greg, a whole bunch of others, I've been meaning to pick
it up. So hearing Miggy, one of our most avid comic fans on our Patreon Discord, praise the
character. That's enough of a recommendation for me. Did you mention Gorilla Greg in our
Gorilla Grodd vs. Psylocke episode? No, no, he's a new character. Okay, cool. Benjamin
Alvis who said, I think mine is gonna be just like everyone else's Spider-ham, of course
I'm recently reading the spider-getting comic and he's hilarious in that. These isn't overall
like the best Like just animal character in Marvel or DC That's it. Bye. I've always been
especially partial to spider-ham myself just being that he's like the most blatant like
loony tunes animal character of the entire bunch You know He has his spider nonsense powers
and like the whole universe with those Animal tune Marvel characters is just so clever and
fantastic and charming as hell if you guys don't know much about spider-ham other than perhaps
the spider verse movie Definitely check out our what's it versus spider-ham duel episode
where we find out who'd win in a fight between him and the flashes pet turtle Yeah, like I
mentioned last episode, that's still one of my favorite duel episodes that we've ever done.
Good answer, Benjamin. Our final honorable mention goes to CJ Kraft, who said, Hey guys, CJ Kraft
here. My favorite comic book animal would have to be Howard the Dark, hands down. He's actually
my favorite comic book character of all time. I just love how he's always felt like an outsider
in the world he lives in, and still has an insanely sharp wit and sarcasm to go with it. I just,
I think he's the best. And, eh. Howard the Duck all the way. Howard for president. Now this
may be a little known fact. I'm sure CJ knows this, but there was a mock campaign for Howard
the Duck to win the presidency back in 1976. And it was like part of the Marvel's fan club
and everything like that. They gave out pins that said Howard for president. It was pretty
awesome. I wonder if anyone actually wrote his name in. I'm sure he got a few votes, you know,
way back in the day. That's funny. That's interesting. Howard the Duck is so unique, so hilarious.
He has the most trippy, bizarre, hilarious adventures out of almost any Marvel character out there.
I keep doing this, but if you guys don't know much about him, check out our Detective Chimp
versus Howard the Duck episode. We wanna give a quick shout out to Michael Harrold, who took
the time to visit our website and record an answer. But the winner of this week's No Prize
is Jose Marcial, AKA DC Joe, who said... Easily, easily has to be Detective Chimp. He's a detective.
Two, he's a chimp. Three, he's just really well written, very clever, very witty. Four, he
owns a bar filled with a bunch of magical beings. Five, he's part of the Justice League dark.
What other animal is part of a big group like that with big names such as Wonder Woman, Zatanna?
Need I say more? Yeah, Detective Chimp has a ton of fans out there. Some of them even argue
DC stands for Detective Chimp. He is like the Sherlock Holmes of DC Comics. He's just a total
detective badass, and he's a monkey. His bar is called Oblivion Bar. He got that from the
hero Night Master. And yeah, it's the hangout for all of DC's magic users, you know, from
bottom of the barrel to the elite. It's like the coolest hangout in DC. Now, we didn't just
give DC Joe this award because this is our Hit Monkey review episode, did we? No, no, I actually
really liked his reasoning. He came up with ample reasons, and they're all legit. I love
seeing Detective Chimp in the comics, especially now that he has the Night Master sword and
everything like that. The character is just awesome. So congrats once again to DC Joe for
winning this week's No Prize. If you the listener want a shot at winning your own No Prize, stay
tuned to later on this episode when we'll be asking another Question of the Week. And now
that that's done, on to the news!
Alright, on December 4th we got our first look at the sequel to Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse,
which will be called Spider-Man Across the Universe. Part 1. Part 1, that's big news. It's gonna
be a two parter where we see Miles Morales Spider-Man journey across the Spider-Verse. Instead of
having other Spider-Men come to his home dimension, he's gonna leave and visit other Spider-Men,
apparently prompted by a visit from Spider-Gwen, who shows up in this first look. It's like
the next movie starts off right where the last movie ended. Yeah, dude, what a surprise this
whole thing was. Not only did this like first look come out of nowhere, but for it to be
like part one of part two, it's just exciting. And like the first one was so good. So to have
this one start right where that one left off, I'm really looking forward to this even as
a DC guy. Yeah. And we have a long time to wait because this movie doesn't come out until October
of 2022, but I'm guessing that they released this first look now. because it's going to
be attached to the Spider-Man No Way Home movie, which comes out in a few weeks. In the after
credits scene of Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse, we got our first look at Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Man,
also known as Spider-Man 2099. He pops up in this trailer as we see Miles travel through
these dimensional gateways into this very like kind of four color type world, and he's like
swinging around amidst all the chaos, and he gets like webnapped by Spider-Man 2099, who
of course is being voiced by Oscar Isaac. as he was in the last movie. I'm really excited
to see where this is gonna go. I hope we get the same cast of characters from the last movie,
as well as some new Spider-Man to join the fray. Well, what other Spider-Man would you wanna
see? Oh, I'd love to see Jessica Drew's Spider-Woman, Silk, Scarlet Spider would be cool. I would
love to see the Mecha Spider-Man, controlled by Spiderman. I think that'd be cool. That
would be cool. Isn't there like a punk rock Spider-Man too, with like a mohawk? Yeah, Spider-Punk.
There's a whole bunch of characters they could introduce here. And the story seems like it's
gonna be epic considering, you know, it's a two parter. I don't love two parters. It just
basically gives away that this movie is gonna end on a cliffhanger. Which is always a little
bit disappointing. But usually we do get some pretty awesome stories that way. Yeah, I mean,
Long Halloween part one was cool. Dune part one was cool. Kill Bill volume one was cool.
It's not always bad. That's true. Avengers Infinity War. There you go. Again, we have a ways to
go before this movie comes out next year. but you know, the hype is already building. I'm
sure this is all just a marketing tool to get people excited to go see the upcoming Spider-Man
movie. I have a theory that the actor who plays Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse movies does
his voice. His name is Shamique Moore, I think is actually gonna be in the No Way Home movie.
At least I think that'd be really cool if he was. And maybe that's why they're releasing
this now. Oh, maybe. I mean, there's definitely a huge surprise coming for No Way Home. They
recently announced that critics- and the early screenings for No Way Home would only be screened
the first 40 minutes. So they don't even get to review the full film. Oh shit. Yeah. Wow.
That's crazy. That's never happened before. If I were a critic, I'd be pissed off. Oh yeah,
totally. But as a fan, that's like super intriguing. Yeah, for sure. But all this talk about Spider-Man
and the different Spider-Men, that brings us to our question of the week.
Which Spider-Man or Spider-Woman character is your favorite in the Spider-Verse, and why?
A lot of options to choose from here. I don't envy you guys the decision, but we'd love to
hear what you think. Yeah, record your answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone
button in the bottom right hand corner, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your
message could be up to 30 seconds long, and don't forget to leave your name in case we
include you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer, and draw that person a dynamic duel
no prize that will post to social media. Be sure to answer before December 11th. Moving
on to DC news, we got a new official trailer for Peacemaker, which is an upcoming HBO Max
television series that's a spin off of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad film that came out
earlier this year. Now when The Suicide Squad came out, people were kind of left wondering
like, of all those characters, why would you want to make a TV show based on Peacemaker?
who was kind of a dick character that was hard to like, right? Like Bloodsport would have
been cool, Ratcatcher 2 would have been cool as a TV show, all of them would have been cool.
Not everyone loved Peacemaker. But with these trailers, they're really making John Cena's
Peacemaker likeable, not only with the hilariousness of the jokes, but it definitely looks like
they're going with a sympathetic and redemptive direction for the character. Yeah, I mean in
the Suicide Squad movie he said he'll fight for peace and he doesn't care how many men
women and children He has to kill to get it and in this trailer. He's like well, I'm starting
to have feelings So, you know, he's like growing as a character. We see him have kind of a crisis
of conscience Yeah, yeah And in the movie it was alluded to the fact that he had a shitty
relationship with his father We actually get to see his father in this show. He's being
played by Robert Patrick It seems like you know a real douchey dad. It's perfect casting though.
You gotta say Absolutely, absolutely. It looks like his arc will pretty much be summed up
by when he's talking to his father in prison saying, You know, maybe he's more of a grower,
not a show-er. And he's like, you're comparing yourself to a chode! He's like, but not in
a bad way, you know? It's like an individuel you don't like and then you learn to like and
I feel like as audience members We're all gonna learn to love Peacemaker because again this
show just looks like it's gonna be super funny Everyone from vigilante to eagerly, you know
to everyone else he works with It looks like it's gonna be really good times. It's being
described as the office with superheroes, and I'm all for that. I'm sold. I really love the
opening part where one of his handlers like, that bird better not shit all over the back
seat. And he's like, you can't house train an eagle. It destroys their spirit or something
like that. I also really liked the part at the end when he straps a grenade to a Russian missile.
And she's like, why don't you just use the grenade? And he's like, grenade kills like two people
tops. And she's like, how many people does that kill? And he's like, I don't know. I just made
it this morning. There was a weird part in the trailer where they asked Peacemaker to kill
a group of kids because the country needs a son of a bitch or something like that. Yeah,
and they're the only one he has. Yeah, that was kind of weird. Who knows where this show
is gonna go? It does look like there's like some aliens here or something. We don't know.
Maybe it'll be like Doom Patrol and just super out there. It does look like it's gonna be
like the next funniest show to Doom Patrol for DC on HBO Max. It also looks like it has a
much higher budget than Doom Patrol though, which is super exciting. Yeah, the series comes
out pretty soon in just a month. Actually, it starts in January, so we'll be reviewing it
before long. I'm glad to be kicking off 2022 with the show. It'll be good times. Also coming
out next year is DC League of Superpets, which is being made by Warner's animation group,
which is also making an animated version of DC's Metal Men, which if you don't know anything
about the metal men, this doctor named Will Magnus created something called a response,
Omer, which brings sentience to inanimate Objects like metal which create these metal men all
with their different personalities I think it's a fantastic property to bring to the silver
screen and you know It'll be exciting to see what they look like animated I think I would
have preferred to have seen this in live-action though. The special effects would have been
amazing That's that's true But I think this would be something much more family-friendly
and you know much more comedic and I think that's fine I think the middleman could totally work
in that direction That's very true. Did you ever see that animated movie called robots
with Ewan McGregor and Robin Williams and Halle Berry? I did. Yeah. I feel like I get a strong
metal man vibe from that movie. So if this upcoming film is anything like that, I'll be all for
it. Well, the film is going to be directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, who are like
the writers, producers, and directors behind some of Disney's biggest animated hits, like
the little mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, treasure planet, Moana. Oh wow. Yeah, this is their
first project for Warner Brothers, and it's a DC project. Apparently, there's gonna be
a lot more animated DC projects coming to the big screen as Warner's animation group expands.
The film is being written by Celeste Ballard, who also wrote, most recently, Space Jam A
New Legacy. Was that any good? It was not terrible. I think it was better than the first Space
Jam, which has not aged well. I saw that recently. I was like, why did I like this movie as a
kid? But no, I got super stoked once I saw this news and I'm really looking forward to it.
We don't know when it's going to come out yet. Probably sometime in 2023. I imagine so. Yeah,
I bet Warner's animation group will probably release like one animated DC film a year, I'm
guessing starting with DC League of Superpets. And then you know, they'll follow that up with
Metal Man the year after. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what other you know, DC properties
they'll bring to the big screen via animation. I'm hoping the animation gets as good as into
the Spider-Verse. I doubt it because that's just amazing, but fingers crossed. You know,
Sony has shown us what can be done with the medium. That's true. Here's hoping. But I think
that does it for all the news for this episode, so let's go ahead and hear from our sponsor,
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this episode. Now let's go ahead and get into our main event where we review the Hulu and
Marvel original animated show, Hit Monkey.
Okay, Hit Monkey is an animated series on Hulu created by Josh Gordon and Will Speck and directed
by Neil Holman. It stars Fred Tataskior, Jason Sudeikis, Olivia Munn, and George Takei. It's
one of two Marvel animated projects that managed to survive Marvel Television's transition under
the Marvel Studios umbrella, the other show being Modok, which we reviewed a few months
ago. Of the two shows, Hit Monkey is definitely the better written show. though I'll say it's
not as funny despite having one of the most ridiculous premises in all of Marvel Comics.
For those who haven't seen Hitmonkey Season 1, stop listening, go watch the show, then
come back and listen to this review because we'll be discussing spoilers, and the story
does have a surprising amount of complexity for its rather simple concept. I definitely
recommend the show to anyone who is remotely curious about it because it definitely works
on a variety of levels. Yeah, I did not even know Hitmonkey existed a few months back, and
I was pleasantly surprised by this show. I actually liked it a lot more than Modok. It wasn't as
funny because I don't think it was meant to be. It's not a comedy, I don't think. It's
meant to be a badass action show, which I thought it totally was. I thought it delivered action-wise
in spades. I think the marketing for the show kind of made it seem like a shallow comedy,
but it's not that. I mean, it sure had some funny parts. but it's also very emotional in
some parts and very intellectual in the complexity of its central plot and very violent and action
focused, like you said. It's a lot of different things and has way more nuance and depth than
most people I think would probably believe. It's like very Tarantino in its story, very
low budget anime in its style. You know, I laughed, I cried, I pumped my fist, and most importantly,
I had a good time. It's kind of like animated grindhouse in a way in terms of its level of
violence and its animation quality. And we've seen examples of that in other films and shows
like Take Suicide Squad, Hell to Pay. But this was better than that. I think it's the violence
and the music that really gave the show this grindhouse feel to it. The music was fantastic.
I think the show actually was more violent in its first half than its second. I was kind
of like missing some of that like, holy shit kind of moments later on. Yeah, where they
like saw a woman in half. Yeah, that was nuts. This is definitely a TVMA cartoon, you know,
definitely not for the youngsters. Was the comic this violent? Uh, well, not in the sense that
it was showing people saw it in half, you know, but there was a lot of blood. It was fairly
violent. I'm actually really surprised that Marvel would publish something of this caliber.
To me, this is almost something more like vertigo. Yeah, that's actually an apt statement. You
know, Marvel tends to stick pretty much within its wheelhouse. and Hitmonkey is kind of high
concept, disguised as a low concept character, you know? And you know, when he's like guest
starring in the Deadpool comics, it has a much different tone than his original series. The
original comic book series really played it straight, and it did feel very vertigo. When
he shows up like in the main Marvel universe and like other heroes don't know what to think
about him, it gets kind of silly. But Hitmonkey definitely works best on his own. And to think
that we actually almost didn't review this show. I know, yeah, this is definitely like a last
minute decision to review this, but I'm totally glad we are. That being said, it's not perfect.
Marvel obviously didn't pour a lot of money into this project, and I think it shows visually.
A lot of the animation is just a step up from storyboards, evidenced by the simple character
design and low framerate in many of the scenes. It seems they did focus on one or two eye-popping
action pieces for each episode. But like, if there were more action scenes than that in
an episode, it more than likely happened off camera or in static splash pages with minimal
motion. You know like all those cheap animation tricks that a lot of anime uses to save money?
Yeah, yeah. I think if you are a fan of anime, you'll have an easier time digesting the animation
in this show. And if you're not used to anime conventions, I think you're largely going to
wonder what the hell is wrong with all the visuals. Because Disney, this is not. No, yeah, this
is a far cry from like, what if. Right. It's a much cheaper approach. Which is surprising
because the animation in Modok was like freaking spectacular. Oh, yeah. I really wish they had
put more money into this show and made it look like one of those higher end animes, because
I think that's what the story of Hitmonkey deserves. I agree that this show probably could have
looked better, like, you know, something from like Miyazaki or something like that. But I
think for what it is, It definitely succeeds still in telling a really good story. Personally,
I always prioritize writing over arts, especially when it comes to animation and comic books.
I think as long as it tells a good story, I'm willing to forgive some poor animation or some
poor drawings when it comes to a comic. But I also think about what this could have been
despite how good the story was. I'd like to see season two, if there is a season two, get
a budget increase. Because I've seen some amazing anime visuals. and the prospect of something
like that being applied to Hitmonkey gets me really excited. Oh yeah, me too. In addition
to the cheap animation, there were also some story contrivances that seemed to emerge from
the season's central plot, which was a conspiracy surrounding Japan's prime minister election.
The story twists and tangles throughout Japan from its prisons to its high-rises, temples
to back alleys, and it sometimes makes one or two turns where it didn't need to, or purposely
misleads, or leaves things to be inferred without explanation. These story stumbles are relatively
minor, given how impressive the overarching narrative is, but it did leave me confused
occasionally. The series does a fantastic job of hiding these flaws, however. Like after
a while, I barely even noticed the animation, and I stopped noticing the plot holes, because
outside of any sort of tangible criticism you can have of the show, when something is cool,
you can feel it. It's this hard to quantify. quality that your gut recognizes, like when
you see a monkey surf an assassin into the pavement in Tokyo's neon streets, or when he dons some
sunglasses while surrounded by bloody corpses in the still mountain snow, it's this excitement
that you feel that comes when you watch something truly unique in a genre where you think you've
seen it all. I could only think of a handful of other projects I've seen within Marvel and
DC that have been this stylish. Like Into the Spider-Verse comes to mind, but honestly I'm
having trouble thinking of another example. I love the style of the show, I love so many
things about this show, which is somewhat surprising because when you think about this on a surface
level, what the show could have been, like it could have been a disaster. And to its credit,
like the initial comic book series, the show takes its tongue-in-cheek premise and plays
it straight. And sure you'll have scenes where the monkey is getting drunk in a casino or
fighting a vengeful Japanese ghost lady, but at the heart of the show is its characters,
who feel real. They're solidly developed, they have believable motivations, and you could
actually connect with them despite the seeming ridiculousness. Yeah, yeah, all of the characters
were amazing. And I think the connection you made with them really helped sell the stakes
because there were moments during the show where some of these characters died that was truly
surprising. Yeah, tragic, like I felt things when I watched this show. And while that sounds
like a simple statement, I don't mean for it to be. It's not often that media draws genuine
reactions from its audience. Yeah, it's a sign of good art. Right, right. But speaking of
the characters, let's go ahead and talk about them more in our character breakdown. Now,
Hitmonkey was played by Fred Tataskior, I think I'm pronouncing that right. He's the same voice
actor that does Taz, the Tasmanian devil. He did the Hulk in a few cartoons, as well as
provide the voice for Yosemite Sam, among a plethora of other characters. He's a really
prolific voice actor. and I'm really impressed with the job he did providing the voice of
this monkey. Who doesn't have a voice who just makes monkey noises? Right. Exactly. You know,
it was a lot of like, oh, kind of stuff. But it was believable, honestly. Yeah. Sounded
legit. The character of Hitmonkey is an angry but honorable figure who comes to recognize
through the course of the season that although he hates killing and really just wants to live
in solitude with those he loves, he has this rage within him. this beast that demands justice.
So he's a reluctant, pretty tragic assassin, but he fulfills his destiny as a killer of
killers with the help of Bryce who supports him and the spirit of his former tribe leader
who ultimately gives Hitmonkey his blessing. Though Hitmonkey will likely never fully embrace
his assassin role in this show as much as he does in the comics, I think he was able to
embrace some of that cool factor that the assassin lifestyle has to offer through simple things
like his sunglasses and tailored suit. Yeah, for a monkey, he even got like a girl to like
him, Akiko. Yeah, I mean, in the comics, it's much more overt. Like he's often seen walking
around holding a martini with a bunch of women surrounding him, you know, sitting in the club,
things like that. I'm not sure this version of the character will ever be truly like that,
where he's a little bit more detached. This version of the character is much more true
to the essence of those original comic book stories and not really the parody that he became
later on in the Deadpool comics. I don't know. I'd still watch that. That'd be hilarious.
Bryce would be jealous as hell. I do really appreciate the tragic nature of the character
that you mentioned earlier. You know, it's like not his fault that he's as talented and as
angry and as capable as he is, but he just happens to be so he kind of realizes that There's nothing
else for him. You know, he doesn't quite fit in fully with the humans. He doesn't quite
fit in fully with his own monkey kind. So he's a loner. Which just makes him even more badass.
And sad, considering that they showed multiple times throughout the course of the series that
he really just wants peace more than anything. And he's not fully alone. You know, he does
have Bryce. Yeah, I was really glad when Bryce came back at the end of the season. Yeah, yeah,
me too. But speaking of Bryce, let's go ahead and talk about Bryce Fowler, who is played
by Jason Sudeikis. I'm a big fan of Sudeikis' work, I loved him on SNL and in films like
We're the Millers and Horrible Bosses. He's just hilarious. I thought his role was going
to get grating based on the trailers and everything, like this annoying archer ripoff. I'm really
glad that later on in the season they developed his character through his backstory as another
tragic figure who unwillingly had to abandon everything he loved and insinuated that he
walls himself off emotionally through sarcasm and humor. Yeah, with the first episode, I
also thought that he was going to get kind of annoying, but he never did after he died, which
was great. I'm really glad we had that character in the show. I don't think this show works
without Bryce. No, you definitely need him to serve as like the narrator because you can't
have a bunch of like subtitles with the monkey language, which was, you know, pretty neat
when they did have it, but It just makes for easier viewing when Bryce can explain what's
going on. Exactly. Yeah. Now, the character is actually a huge departure from the nameless
assassin in the comics, who in the books was more zen and, I don't know, frankly boring.
I like how Bryce was comic relief in this show and how he transitioned from this wisecracking
assassin through this series of humbling events. You know, we see him be killed. We see his
frustration in his inability to control Hitmonkey. He admits to the monkey how killing isn't easy
and how it slowly kills you inside. He also admits to his jealousy of Hitmonkey's success
and we see his regrets of his own past decisions and leaving his family. So you start out the
series with this cocky dude who really comes to recognize his faults and truly grow as a
character to be a true friend and companion to Hitmonkey. Yeah, is the Bryce character
still in the comics? He still haunts Hitmonkey? No, the Nameless Assassin no longer haunts
Hitmonkey in the comics. I mean, at one point it was insinuated that the ghost was just a
figment in Hitmonkey's mind that he created to enact this vengeance. But then later on,
we see that Deadpool actually saw the ghost and Hitmonkey kind of realized that he didn't
have to rely on the assassin ghost to tell him what to do. Interesting. I like the TV show
version better. Yeah, the TV show did wonders for the character. Now, Hitmonkey and Bryce
are really the main players of this show. Everyone else is kind of like background, but there
are some recognizable names in this show playing characters that are worth discussing, namely
Akiko Yokohama, who was played by Olivia Munn. I thought it was interesting how they got the
actress who played Psylocke from X-Men Apocalypse in another Marvel project playing a different
role. And I thought Olivia Munn did fine here. Her character really served to inform the whole
election part of the story. Right. and her character Akiko really served to represent Hitmonkey's
desire for a home and family. Yeah, Akiko was definitely another character in the show that
was integral to the story that they were trying to tell, being that she really was, you know,
the connection between Hitmonkey and the other supposed good guys, right? I do feel like they
completely ruined her arc though, at the very end when she became Lady Bullseye. Oh, that
was bullshit. That was fucking dumb. Yeah. Like, you can't just don the mask and become Lady
Bullseye. Right? That takes like a lifetime of training. What the hell does she think she's
going to do? And it really shed like a negative light on her character. Like what kind of spoiled
brat is going to go off and just start murdering everyone because, you know, it turns out the
people in her life were corrupt. Well, I don't think her plan is to murder everyone. I think
her plan is to murder one specific monkey in revenge for killing her uncle. But she has
to become Lady Bullseye to do that. I think she's just taking on this guise of the villain
to go after this other outlandish figure. It just didn't make any sense. I think it was
like probably the biggest riding flop of the entire season. It's like, I'd like to see her
try to go up against Hitmonkey, you know? Yeah, totally, totally. If it was difficult for the
regular Lady Bullseye to kill Hitmonkey, Akiko doesn't stand a chance. We'll see where that
goes if there is a season two. Let's move on to the character's uncle, Shinji Yokohama,
who is played by George Takei. Now I haven't seen George Takei in anything outside of Star
Trek reruns. But it was cool to hear him in this Marvel show because the guy is such an
icon of pop culture. No, yeah, he does a lot of voice work. I remember back in the day when
Facebook was taking off and he was like the account to follow. Oh, yeah. Facebook. That's
right. I like the dude. I was glad that he was part of this. His character Yokohama was quite
the conflicted character just like Hitmonkey, but kind of in an opposite way in that he was
willing to betray his loved ones and dishonor himself by involving himself in this killing.
It wasn't for justice or anything righteous, but for personal gain. And he was willing to
compromise his own ideals of anti-corruption by becoming corrupt. It led to his personal
crisis at the end of the season, where I think he essentially committed suicide when he grabbed
Officer Haruka's gun and Hitmonkey was forced to shoot him. Yeah, that seemed out of character
for him. I guess maybe he was trying to commit suicide. That's an interesting rationale for
his actions. I guess it makes sense. But like everything you just mentioned. You really don't
grasp until the final episode. Right. Yeah, he's just kind of like this boring background
character until you're like, holy shit, this dude was behind everything. And I totally didn't
see that coming. And I really have to commend the show for making me not see that, because
in any mystery, you're always supposed to ask yourself who benefits. And that's usually the
person who's behind everything. I didn't do that this time, but he totally benefited from
Takahara's death. The fact that I didn't notice that just kind of made me feel dumb, but not
in a way that like I was upset with myself. I just appreciated the show that much more
for pulling that off. Yeah. The conspiracy that essentially is the story of this season was
really well done. It was one of like the best conspiracy stories, I think in the entire genre.
The whole show, you're chasing the villain. You're not quite sure who the villain is because
every time they take down one guy, it turns out there was someone else behind him. There's
someone else behind him. And so you're waiting till the very end to find out who is the big
person responsible for everything. And it turns out it was the Banzai Master, right? But he
was working with Yokohama. Yeah, the formula for the first half of the show was kind of
like this villain of the week type thing where they keep working their way up the food chain,
you know? It was nice that they kind of broke that in the later episodes. I think it was
a good structure for this show. Yeah, totally. I enjoyed seeing him take down each one. Whether
it was the casino twins or the prison underground accountant guy. It was all really entertaining
and fantastic. Really well done. Let's move on to Officer Haruka who was played by Ali
Mackie. There's not too much to say here. I am familiar with a lot of Mackie's work, but
I didn't recognize her name. Like Olivia Munn, she's also a Marvel alum, having had a prominent
role in the first season of Cloak and Dagger. Haruka was the most pure figure in the series.
though she did have a bit of vengeance in her toward the end on behalf of her partner, Officer
Ito, who was murdered. But Officer Haruka really represented the third pillar of the story,
which was the whole police investigation aspect, and really, I think she was the closest thing
the show had to an audience surrogate. Yeah, I could see that. And at first, I wasn't too
interested in her character, but she came to have quite the prominent role in Hitmonkey's
story, being his staunchest ally in the end, even helping him escape Japan and vowing to
clear his name. So I really became more and more of a fan of hers as the season went on.
Yeah, I was always really interested in Detective Ito. And when he started taking her on, we
started learning more about him. I thought he was gonna be the one to really help Hitmonkey
towards the end. But then he died and then we were left with Officer Haruka. And yeah, I
thought she did a great job towards the end, being that surrogate character and helping
Hitmonkey. The final character that I think is worth discussing in the show, of course,
is Maki Matsumoto. aka Lady Bullseye who was played by Reiko Alesworth. Lady Bullseye was
a fucking force to be reckoned with in this show. I think Bullseye should be. Yes, absolutely.
Yeah, and it was 100% sold by actress Reiko Alesworth's voice acting. It was just so dark
and sultry and dangerous. It was perfect, it's exactly what it should have been. I was legitimately
scared for Hitmonkey and his allies whenever she was on screen because he knew someone was
gonna die. and she racked up quite the body count in this show. I love the way they introduced
her because she was just like having a normal day and then towards the end you realize that
all those people she came across throughout the day were all dead. It was like, holy crap.
Just from these like minor inconveniences, all these bodies left in her wake. Just knowing
how capable she is, seeing her have a hard time going up against a monkey character was very
entertaining in its own right. It really serves to highlight just how great of a character.
Bullseye and you know his Lady Bullseye protege is. It reminded me a lot of how frightened
I was of the character in the Daredevil Netflix show. Oh, yeah. Yeah for sure. Now Lady Bullseye
is a character from the comics, right? But in the comic it was actually Bullseye who was
in the Hitmonkey comic. Correct. Yes. Okay. Yeah, in the comic book Lady Bullseye was an
admirer of the original Bullseye. She was part of the Hand Ninja Clan and she resurrected
him when he was killed. Oh, I didn't realize she was a member of the Hand. Yeah. But that
does it for all the characters, let's go ahead and get into our episode highlights. Episode
number one is called Pilot. In it, a plucky assassin named Bryce Fowler flies to Tokyo
and murders a candidate for Japan's prime minister named Ken Takahara. Bryce is double crossed
when receiving his payment, and fleas injured into the snowy mountains of Japan where a group
of Japanese macaques find and care for him. As Bryce trains for his revenge, a particular
monkey watches and learns from him. is exiled from the tribe for inadvertently hurting another
monkey and later witnesses a group of soldiers murder Bryce as well as his whole monkey clan.
In a rage, the monkey picks up Bryce's weapons and kills the soldiers, becoming Hitmonkey.
With his dying words, Bryce convinces Hitmonkey to seek revenge in Tokyo and accompanies the
primate as a ghost. This episode was pretty much Hitmonkey number one to a T, except for
Bryce's jokes.
No, no, I thought that was hilarious. In the comic book, they like gathered and handed herbs
to him for him to eat. But I thought it was hilarious in this show when they like put the
herbs in their own mouths and chewed it up and then like spit it into Bryce's mouth, where
like at first he was like all disgusted. But like later on, as he became like accustomed
to this like Hot Springs lifestyle, he was just like ready to receive the monkey spit like
someone feeding him grapes or something. It was pretty funny. I did think it was cool that
the last thing that Bryce saw was Hitmonkey's face, like right before he was shot to death.
And just the wink, it was tragic, it was heartbreaking. Yeah, and seeing Hitmonkey's monkey clan get
murdered, that was a little bit hard to stomach. You know, it's all animated and everything,
but it really makes you realize that you could probably never do a live-action adaptation
of Hitmonkey. No. I definitely think that there's some people who- Maybe probably never made
it past the first episode because they just couldn't stomach that scene of all the dead
monkeys It was really bloody. It made it really easy to root for Hitmonkey in killing all those
soldier guys Yeah, definitely toward the start of the episode I do have to wonder why Yokohama
was standing so close to Takahata during the time of the assassination if Yokohama was behind
the whole thing You know Yokohama even got shot in the arm during the assassination. You know,
that could easily have been his gut or something like that. It was a little bit strange considering
the final reveal. I didn't even think about that. That's absolutely true. But it did help,
you know, like divert audience suspicion for him. Yeah, it was kind of misleading though,
in that regard. Yeah, I agree. Episode two was called Bright Lights Big City. In it, Hitmonkey
accidentally kills Bryce's gun supplier in a fish warehouse, then takes her money and gets
a hotel room. Hitmonkey returns to the scene to see a General Kato drive by, who Bryce suspects
of ordering the soldiers to kill him. They follow the General to Takahata's funeral, where his
campaign manager Shinji Yokohama announces that he's going to run in his stead. Hitmonkey steals
a boy's suit and murders some Yakuza thugs who were killing pigeons, triggering a gang shootout
at the funeral. In the gunfight, Hitmonkey rescues Yokohama's niece and speechwriter Akiko and
attacks General Kato who was killed by a bus. Police officers Ito and Haruka see Hitmonkey
in action in some security surveillance footage. Greatest death of the entire season was in
this episode when the fish lady dies. When she accidentally gets sod in half, it's like they
went out of their way to make us like not feel for this lady and how murderous she was and
how like she was already on the verge of death by coughing, you know, but that was kind of
hilarious on how efficient that accidental death was. That moment when she trips and like her
arm goes into that grinder and I know like all the blood spray I like dropped my remote. I
was like, holy shit Like out loud. I said that yeah I was like damn and then from like there
she fell onto those conveyor belt spikes and then from there she got sod in half It was
it was a lot It was not an easy way for her to go but the fact that she was like still
Yelling at the monkey through all of this was just insanity pure insanity But that was what
was great about it. I loved that whole scene. The boy that appeared in this episode kind
of felt out of place for the show, but in the books, it was he who ended up getting killed
by Bullseye and really inspired Hitmonkey to take up the cause of revenge for not just himself,
but for the innocent. Luckily, the kid didn't die in the show. Yeah, no, I remember his backstory
from our last episode. I was fully expecting that kid to die, but he didn't. Why do you
think there were so many Yakuza at Takahata's funeral? That's a good question. I don't think
there were so many. I think they all just kind of appeared out of nowhere. But yeah, it all
kind of like spiraled out of control really quick. The fact that they were all there was
a little bit strange. Let's move on to episode three, which was titled Legend of the Drunken
Monkey, one of my favorite episodes of the entire season. In it, Hitmonkey and Bryce encounter
a blind monk named Stick, who tells them they are tethered by fate. They use Kato's wallet
to find his home address, where they set off a gunfight between two Yakuza and two soldiers
who also entered the home. Hitmonkey and Bryce learn General Kato had ties to the Yakuza through
his gambling debts, and they go to the Double Dragon Casino to learn more. Hitmonkey is discovered
trying to break in and has to pretend to be entertainment for the casino guests. He and
Bryce cheat at poker to win their way to the high roller room and in front of the casino
owners, twins Kepei and Tepe. Hitmonkey kills them before they can kill him, and he and Bryce
learn that the man who arranged the payment for Takahata's assassination was called the
accountant. I love how like everyone was just okay with like this monkey just totally steamrolling
them at poker. If I was going up against a monkey I'd be like, what the fuck I'm not giving you
my chips, you're a monkey! I'd be like, haha that was cute, you won, you don't know what
you're doing, I'm taking my chips back. Exactly. I really liked when he first landed on the
craps table and like Bryce was like, just dance, just dance. If you don't dance, you're gonna
die. The reason this episode is one of my favorites is because of that humor, because we got to
see this interesting adaptation of Stick. Oh, is Stick the monk? Yeah, the blind monk, even
though there was no mention of the Chaste. It was interesting that he ended up being killed
by Lady Bulls, like who's a member of the Hand. They didn't make reference to either organization
within the show. Maybe because of the Daredevil TV series. Probably. The best line of the episode
was when Bryce was getting excited to cheat at cards and he was like, this is the only
non-sexual fantasy I've ever had. That's why we're gonna win. Right, that was great. Episode
4 is called The Code. In it, the accountant's address turns out to be a prison where he lives
in a closed off area of unruly criminals called The Pit. The accountant captures and forces
Hitmonkey to fight in a battle against Fat Cobra, a magically powered sumo wrestler. Hitmonkey
wins but refuses to kill Fat Cobra, and the two team up to set the pit's drug stash on
fire. They chase the accountant into a hidden room where he reveals he was hired by a mobster
called Rooster to fund Takahara's assassination. Then he gets killed by his fellow inmates.
Hitmonkey escapes the burning prison wing with the help of a rat he rescued earlier from a
glue trap. He visits Akiko at her home, who thanks him for saving her earlier. Not my favorite
episodes, but a lot of great moments here. I thought it was really cool to see Fat Cobra.
I assume he's a character from the comic? Yeah, yeah. He's in the Iron Fist books. He's one
of the immortal weapons, like Iron Fist. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. He can channel his chi for
the purposes of electrokinesis. I really liked the scenes with the rat where the rat was like,
sorry I bit you earlier, you know, I was contemplating chewing off my own arm when I was in a weird
head space. And then Hitmonkey's like, don't worry, I was just trying to play it cool in
front of my friend here. But the rat can't see Bryce's ghost, so he's like, I hope you find
the help you need. I loved it when the animals talked to each other in this show. Yeah, it
was good. There was definitely like a lion and the mouse kind of lesson to be had in this
episode about kindness and you know, show kindness to others, they will also show kindness to
you. It was a lesson that Bryce had to learn through Hitmonkey and this mouse. Yeah, he
was like pretty reluctant to admit to that lesson. But then at the end, he was like, okay. Yeah,
because he kept trying to instill in Hitmonkey his own kind of assassin philosophy. which
wasn't really jiving with Hitmonkey's code, and so they both kind of learned from each
other along the way, which I thought was pretty interesting. Episode five was called Run Monkey
Run. In it, Rooster and the other Yakuza leaders place a bounty on Hitmonkey's head. Everyone
from a motorcycle ninja to a group of subway thugs, a corrupt cop, and a street racing influencer
all try and fail to kill the primate. A vengeful spirit called Yuki at first tries to kill Hitmonkey
to restore order to Tokyo. but recognizes him as a force for good when he saves Officer Ito's
life. Hitmonkey is captured by an assassin called the Poacher, but he escapes and slaughters
the Yakuza's leaders, except for Rooster, who escapes into police custody. With Hitmonkey
and Bryce's hotel room destroyed, the pair go to stay with Akiko. This episode I think was
really great in its premise, it was kind of like this John Wick 2-esque episode, where
it's like him versus all the assassins in the city. Right. But what was frustrating about
this was that they didn't show many of the assassin fights on camera. It wasn't enough time. They
resorted to weird things like just having the audio play and like having F8 to black and
having Bryce make some kind of quip about how violent that was or something. You know, that
happened with the motorcycle ninja, that happened with the subway gang. It was all very cheap
feeling. I could see that, but I think it worked still. I think it was most disappointed in
that they didn't show how Hitmonkey killed the poacher. Because we see him use the guy as
like a puppet to get into the Yakuza room, but we don't even see him escape his cage. You
know, we just see Bryce admitting to Hitmonkey that Hitmonkey is better than he ever was or
ever could be. And then next thing you know, Hitmonkey is killing all the Yakuza leaders.
That's true. I didn't catch that. How did he even get out of the cage? I have no idea. But
they set up Poacher as this like eccentric asshole. So it was disappointing not to see Hitmonkey's
escape. Yeah, I feel like that's like a scene that was cut or something like that. Yeah.
That being said, the action scenes that they did show, like Hitmonkey vs. the Street Racer
guy, was really badass. Yeah, that was cool. Is Yuki a character from the comics as well?
Yes. I love all these cameos. These are great to learn about. Episode 6 was called The Long
Goodbye. In it, officers Ito and Haruka stop by Akiko's place to tell her that Rooster has
been arrested, but due to police ties to the Yakuza, he's being set free. Believing Rooster
is the final link in the chain to Takahara's assassination, Hitmonkey and Bryce head out
to kill him, only to find that Rooster has multiple body doubles across town. Rooster volunteers
information on the rest of the Yakuza if they don't kill him, however at the safety deposit
box, Rooster attacks Hitmonkey. Bryce reveals in Rooster's final moments that he has a daughter
that he wants Hitmonkey to look after, however Bryce fails to ascend to the afterlife after
Rooster's death, meaning their work is not yet done. They take Rooster's safety deposit box
to Akiko. Meanwhile, the Yakuza hire Lady Bullseye to take out Hitmonkey. Now a lot of the episodes,
I never really felt like were filler, but this one I felt like artificially dragged out its
runtime by having Rooster have multiple body doubles. I don't think that was entirely necessary
for the overall plot, and it did kind of get repetitive when Bryce kept thinking he was
going to ascend, telling Hitmonkey goodbye and everything like that. It was just, it was a
lot of goodbyes. Yeah, but I also think that they needed that in the story to kind of sneak
in the fact that Bryce has a daughter though. That's true, which you know in the flashback
turns out to be part of his character. This whole regret that he has Overleaving his family.
I was totally surprised by the twist that Rooster turned out to be The fat body double that was
pleading for his life in the bathroom stall. Yeah, he's just wearing makeup Yeah, that was
funny. He was wearing a wig over a bald cap over his hair Which I thought was pretty funny
Episode 7 was called Sayonara Monkey. In it, Hitmonkey and Bryce visit Stick to see why
Bryce hasn't ascended. The blind monkey uses salt to deter Bryce as he tells Hitmonkey that
Bryce's salvation lies with him. Lady Bullseye kills all the Japanese macaques at the zoo,
which leads Officer Haruka to deduce that Akiko is harboring Hitmonkey. All parties converge
at Akiko's house, which Lady Bullseye blows up. She nearly kills Hitmonkey, but he's saved
by Officer Ito. whom Lady Bullseye kills instead. She chases the primate across the rooftops
of Tokyo, across a bullet train, then a highway. Hitmonkey escapes and visits Akiko in the hospital
where he's overwhelmed with grief. Blaming Bryce for all of his troubles, Hitmonkey uses salt
to trap him in a bathroom before ditching his suit and returning to the wilderness. This
is definitely one of my favorite episodes. It starts off so tragically with the monkeys at
the zoo. And it ends on such an interesting note when we see Hitmonkey like, return to
the wilderness. I was like, well, where's the show gonna go from here? The one question that
I had though was, how did Lady Bullseye know to rig a bomb at Akiko's house? Like, it's
possible that maybe she followed officers Ito and Haruka there, but she wouldn't have had
time to set up the bombs. Eh, she's good like that. I think she could have definitely set
up the bombs, but I agree that she really had no reason to blow up that specific house. Especially
considering that ultimately she's working for Yokohama who is Akiko's uncle, you know, so
that was a little bit strange But I think this episode's pros well outweighed that one little
nitpick moment Best action scene of the entire show in this episode the lady bulls eye chase
scene. Yeah with her on the motorcycle. That was cool I think the most jaw-dropping moment
of that chase was when lady bulls eye drove up behind this like farming truck and started
pulling like the farming tools out of it and started just hurling it at Hitmonkey who was
dodging and you saw like a pitchfork fly through the subway window and just impale this random
bystander. And then when she cut these like construction cement tubes to completely flip
the semi that Hitmonkey was on over and like he went flying into the air and she threw that
bobby pin at him and it stuck into him and he shot out her tire. It was insane. It was pure
insanity. It was a balls to the wall action scene. Yeah, like you said, Lady Bullseye is
a force of nature. Yeah. Episode 8 was called Home Sweet Home. In it, Hitmonkey discovers
a new Mokok tribe and rescues a young primate named Koji from bullies belonging to the Red
Stripes Monkey Clan. Meanwhile, through his salt trap, Bryce relives his past, where we
see that he had no real father figure growing up. He remembers meeting his girlfriend Hailey
and the two having a daughter. Back in the wilderness, the Red Stripes order Hitmonkey's new tribe
to leave their hot springs, but he convinces the others to fight back. Bryce releases accidentally
killing his mom's new boyfriend Eli, who had a past as an assassin and had people out looking
for him. In the Monkey Battle, young Koji is killed by the Red Stripes clan and dies in
Hitmonkey's arms. Enraged, Hitmonkey redaunts his suit and shoots the Red Stripes dead. Bryce
remembers leaving his family behind and going on the run, becoming a Hitman himself. Hitmonkey
buries Koji beside Bryce's corpse and is visited by his former tribe leader who tells him to
wear the suit and be what he was meant to be, killer of killers. Hitmonkey returns to Tokyo
and reunites with Bryce. Great episode, my favorite episode. Yeah, yeah, it was a really good one.
Tragic in that if that other monkey clan weren't just a bunch of jerks, Hitmonkey could have
had a good life with that monkey lady and her younger brother. Yeah, but that's not his destiny.
I kind of think that this episode... really makes the whole season because it's in episode
eight that the show really dives into the tragedy of these characters. Without this, the show
wouldn't have been nearly as deep. I agree. It really shows like why these characters left
home and why they can never go back again. That's a big element for any character's arc. Yeah,
absolutely. I do hope that maybe Bryce does return home again, maybe in season two. I'm
hoping they fly to America. and get involved in some plot that involves Bryce's family or
something, which he can never revisit again because he's a ghost, you know, but I think
that would make for a good story. The only nitpick I have about this episode was at the very end,
we see that they realize that the campaign election is just one day away and they're like, Oh no,
but I'm wondering why is the election relevant to their revenge plot? Like it was never established
that the election was some kind of like deadline for them. By this point, they just know that
Rooster was like the highest link in the chain and that he had ordered the assassination on
Takahara, but they made no insinuation how that plays into the election itself and why they
need to act before that. I don't know. But it's largely irrelevant. Episode 9 is called The
End Part 1. In it, Hitmonkey and Bryce return to Akiko's house, where Officer Haruka reveals
that Rooster's secret recordings reveal that a man called the Banzai Master is behind the
Yakuza and Takahara's assassination, so they visit his compound to kill him. Lady Bullseye
meanwhile learns from her victims, the Tailor and Stick the Monk, that the Ghost of Bryce
and the Monkey are connected. Banzai Master fights Hitmonkey and reveals his intentions
of restoring Japan to its feudal era. Hitmonkey defeats Banzai Master who commits seppuku.
Hitmonkey then goes to kill Ozu. who was Takahata's rival in the election and was suspected of
conspiring to set up the assassination. Ozu, however, claims innocence and Hitmonkey and
Bryce realize that the newly elected Prime Minister, Shinji Yokohama, was behind it all. Good episode,
great reveal at the end again. Yeah, I do have to wonder though, why was Ozu hanging around
Banzai Master? Why was he even there if Banzai Master was Yokohama's friend? I think he was
under the impression that Banzai Master was helping out his campaign. And maybe he was,
maybe he was playing both sides, you know, just to make sure that he was fully in control of
what was going on. I don't know, I never got that impression. But the line that Ozu gave
where he was like, I had nothing to gain, he absolutely had something to gain from Takahata's
assassination. He even gloated to Akiko and Yokohama in the second episode that, well,
I guess I win because I have nobody to run against, you know? The show was highly telegraphing
that Ozu was behind this, purposefully misleading audiences only to sweep the rug out from under
them. And while the reveal was still good, I do think that through that misleading, it was
a little bit unfair. Well, I mean, sort of. He did say that, you know, he was up in the
polls and that by Takahara being assassinated, he was made a martyr. So, you know, why would
you want to turn your political rival into a martyr that the people can get behind? You
wouldn't want to do that. Well, probably because a martyr is still dead and you're still the
winner by default. That's fair. I did love the fight between Hitmonkey and Banzai Master.
I thought that was really well done. Bonsai Master was just cool. Is he a villain in the
comics? He seemed to like lose some of his vitality when he chopped that bonsai tree in half. Not
that I know of actually. I don't think he's from the comics. At least I don't recognize
him. But he's a pretty cool idea for a villain. Yeah, like he's as old as like a bonsai tree.
Yeah. And as long as the tree lives, he does. That is cool. And his whole like motivation
of bringing back Japan to the days of the samurai, I thought was pretty cool too. The last episode,
episode 10 was called The End Part Two. In it, Hitmonkey and Bryce go to confront Yokohama,
explaining the situation to Officer Haruka through the spirit Yuki. They're stopped by Yokohama's
bodyguard, the Silver Samurai, though Fat Cobra arrives to help. Hitmonkey and Bryce are also
stopped by Lady Bullseye, who uses salt as a weapon against Bryce, though Bryce is able
to use the agony to turn himself partially tangible. He distracts Lady Bullseye long enough for
Officer Haruka to kill her. Yokohama reveals to Akiko out of guilt that he was involved
in Takahata's assassination in order to become Japan's new Prime Minister in exchange for
letting Bonsai Master enact his agenda. Bryce convinces Hitmonkey to let Yokohama live, which
lets Bryce finally ascend to the afterlife. However, Yokohama grabs Officer Haruka's gun,
forcing Hitmonkey to kill him. In the aftermath, Haruka sneaks Hitmonkey out of Japan in a suitcase
since he's wanted for killing the new Prime Minister. Bryce's ghost returns from hell in
a deal with Mephisto so Hitmonkey wouldn't be alone, but now with some minor telekinesis.
Akiko, devastated by Yokohama's death, dons the mask of Lady Bullseye, seemingly seeking
revenge against Hitmonkey. I thought it was a fairly successful ending to this story, this
episode. It was really cool to see Fat Cobra fight against Silver Samurai, something that
I haven't seen in the comics. Yeah, that Silver Samurai cameo was pretty cool. Yeah, really
liked that. It was ironic that if Lady Bullseye had never used salt against Bryce, it's likely
she probably would have lived and been successful in her mission of protecting Yokohama. The
whole salt thing and how Bryce could use it to become like partially tangible and visible
was a little bit convenient for the sake of the plot, but it was pretty cool to see Bryce
get to do something one last time. Yeah, there were some consequences to him doing that too,
that was like really painful for him. Yeah, yeah. It just kind of helped. his arc of, you
know, like doing something selfless, sacrificing something. Yeah, and it was great to see him
ascend to this episode. I thought it was fucking hilarious at the end when he was talking to
Hitmonkey and he was like, oh yeah, I went to the afterlife. It was beautiful, you know,
there was like flames everywhere. So basically clueless to the audience that he actually went
to hell and he bargained with Mephisto down there to come back and serve as Hitmonkey's
companion. But like he didn't even really realize what he gave away in the deal. His soul, right?
Well, Mephisto already had his soul. So it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. But
it's really cool that they gave Bryce this like minor telekinesis power. Now I'm really interested
to see how an assassin monkey and a ghost who can push things with his mind, how that story
pans out. I thought this episode was a great wrap up of all the different plot threads and
a great setup for a potential new season. Absolutely. But that does it for this review. Overall,
again, I really like how this show. worked on many different levels from comedy to drama
to action. It was super stylized in its visuals. Despite their kind of cheap nature, you could
tell that they did their best with what they had to work with. And we really got something
new and unique here. I finished this show before you did. You know, I binged it all the way
through and by the end of it, I was like, is this a five star show? Like I really liked
it. You know, I reached out to you. Um, again, like I said earlier, I think, you know, Hit
Monkey is probably one of my more favorite Marvel characters now, if not my most favorite. He's
just a really cool character. And I think this show did a really good job of setting up that
character and introducing us to the world of Hitmonkey. That being said, you're right, you
know, the animation could have been a lot better. The show is pretty cheaply produced. It's pretty
evident. And while I didn't catch any plot holes as I was watching it, you brought some up during
this review. that are pretty glaring. So you're right, it's not perfect, but it is damn good
nonetheless. I'd say it's probably 4 stars. Yeah, that's the rating that I gave, absolutely.
I think it's a 4 star series. I think if the animation had been better, it would be 4.5
stars. Yeah, hands down. But that does it for this review. Guys, let us know what you thought
about Hitmonkey by writing to us at dyna or by visiting us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
You can find links to all of our accounts by checking out our show notes. or visiting our
website, dynamicduel.com. Yeah, especially don't forget to visit our Facebook or Instagram where
we are currently running a charity drive for the Health Well Foundation. Again, anything
helps during this holiday season and we'll be giving a dynamic duel card game to two randomly
selected donors. Don't forget that our entire backlog is free this month. So instead of giving
to our podcast, please give to the Health Well Foundation through our Facebook and Instagram
profile pages. That said, also don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or Spotify
or wherever you listen to podcasts. Our next episode is going to be a duel leading up to
the Spider-Man No Way Home review that we're going to be doing in a couple of weeks. In
seven days, we're going to find out who would win in a fight between one of the original
members of the Sinister Six, Kraven the Hunter against DC's Vixen. Vixen is also one of my
favorite characters. She's awesome. And I can't wait to see who's going to come out on top
in this match. So look forward to that next week. That does it for this episode. We want
to give a big thanks to our executive producers, John Spies, Ken Johnson, Jace Crump, John Storosky,
Zachary Hepburn, John Bechinina, Mitchell Phipps, Dustin Belkum, Salvador Hernandez Contreras
Jr. and Levi Yeaton for helping make this podcast possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week.
Up up and away, true believers.