we band of brothers

Ballerina (2025) (8/10)

Ballerina is set between John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, though the story focuses on new character Eve Macarro and her quest for revenge.

We were introduced to the Tarkovsky Theater, one of the Ruska Roma's bases, in John Wick: Chapter 3. There we see what John's childhood was supposedly like and where he probably had his training. What I, personally, found most intriguing about the theater were the ballerinas. Based on what we were shown, all the women in the Ruska Roma were trained in ballet, while all the men were trained in judo. But everyone was also an assassin, and everyone was tatted up and had gnarly injuries from harsh training. A female assassin who relied less on her looks and more on her physicality? Color me intrigued.

And Eve definitely didn't disappoint. Action-wise, I thought this was every bit as good as the main films in the John Wick franchise. It's actually a bit gorier because while John favors guns, Eve seems to have a fondness for grenades. (Let's not get caught up in the physics of whether you can blow someone up in close quarters without also getting blown up. Grenade-fu!)

( Cut for length and mild spoilers. )

Random stuff:

• Hard to pick a favorite fight, but I think I'll go with the flamethrower vs. firehose one. The primal scream Eve let out was 👌🏽 (Not counting this as a spoiler since the scene was in one of the trailers.)
• I will admit that there's something the movie doesn't quite pull off that's in the main films, but I can't quite put my finger on what's missing. Which isn't to say that this is a bad movie—I think it's great—but there's something in the vibes.

Vigilantes: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals (8/10)

Vigilantes is a spin-off story set before the events of Boku no Hero Academia which focuses on vigilantes in a world where being a pro hero is a viable career path. It expands the worldbuilding of BnHA beyond pro heroes and gives more historical information about how society developed after the appearance of Quirks. (Someone in YouTube comments said that Vigilantes is actually more academic about hero society history than BnHA which is more "My Hero Military Camp" sometimes. Absolutely wild and yet weirdly accurate.)

We're introduced to a new set of characters—college student Haimawari Kouichi, "freelance idol" Pop☆Step, and eccentric bruiser Knuckleduster—but lots of pro heroes from the main series appear in supporting roles as well.

( Cut for length and spoilers (for the anime and some of the manga). )

Random stuff:

• There's a distinct lack of protecting secret identities in this show. Kouichi spends more than half the time with his face out in the open even if they explicitly say that vigilantes are technically on the wrong side of the law. (Because even if they're doing good, they're not licensed.)
• There's a trio of characters who are assholes to Kouichi and Kazuho in E01. Like, assault and beat up levels of being assholes. And yet there's some weird redemption thing going for them by the end of the season? We don't need this.
• We get a fair share of Tensei AKA Big Iida in this show and I'm eternally grateful for it. We even get a minute of kid!Tenya struggling with his Quirk!! Cutie!!!
• The animation quality's much more consistent compared to the recent seasons of the main show, and also just higher quality in general. Which is interesting because you'd think that the main series would get more love since it's the central canon. Checking on MyAnimeList, studio Bones produces the main series and Bones Film produces Vigilantes. Poking around the Wikipedia page, it looks like Bones Film is a subsidiary of Bones and different studios in Bones Film work on each series (Studio B for Vigilantes and Studio C for the main BnHA).
• My per-episode reactions are in the comments of the corresponding posts over at bnha_fans. Spoilers abound in the comment discussions, so beware if you check them out.
• S02 is targeted for release in 2026!