Hit-Monkey Season 1 Review

00:00
Hey guys, it's Marvelous Joe at the top of the episode to remind you that Spider-Man No Way Home is coming out in a few weeks! To celebrate, we've partnered with cufflinks.com to run a fun Spider-Man contest for you listeners. We're giving away a Spider-Man tie, and all you have to do to win is visit dynamicduel.com slash Spider-Man, which is linked in the show notes. Click on what you think is the coolest Spider-Man product you see.

00:25
and use the Twitter share button on that product's page to create a tweet tagging cufflinks.com and dynamic underscore duel. A random twitter share will be selected to win the tie announced during our review of Spider-Man No Way Home on December 21st. There will be only one winner, but all listeners get 15% off their orders at cufflinks.com this entire month when you use promo code DUEL15 that's D-U-E-L-1-5 at checkout.

00:55
Get something for the holiday season, perhaps a Spider-Man something, so you can wear it to the movie, and be the most stylish person in the theater and the multiverse. Visit cufflinks.com right now. And on with the show!

01:28
Dual 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.

01:52
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.

02:20
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.

02:48
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.

03:15
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.

03:41
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.

04:08
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.

04:35
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.

05:05
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.

05:35
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

06:05
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 dual episode where we find out who'd win in a fight between him and the flashes pet turtle

06:31
Yeah, like I mentioned last episode, that's still one of my favorite dual 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.

07:01
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.

07:27
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.

07:56
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.

08:24
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.

08:54
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!

09:19
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.

09:48
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.

10:15
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.

10:44
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.

11:12
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.

11:40
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-

12:08
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.

12:35
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,

13:03
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?

13:30
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.

13:53
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

14:23
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 individual 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 super funny Everyone from vigilante to eagerly, you know to everyone else he works with

14:52
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.

15:22
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.

15:52
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

16:22
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

16:49
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.

17:19
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?

17:48
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.

18:18
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, HBO Max. Bruce Wayne may appear to be a wealthy playboy, but beneath his facade his true identity is that of the Batman, waging an endless war against crime. Join the caped crusader in Batman, the audio adventures.

18:46
The first scripted audio original featuring Batman and his villainous rogues gallery in a world premiere story of life and death in Gotham City, debuting exclusively on HBO Max. Starring Jeffrey Wright as Batman and a who's who of Incredible Saturday Night Live alums, this rollicking adventure, told across 10 episodes, is written and directed by Emmy winner Dennis McNicholas,

19:15
by Rosario Dawson, John Leguizamo, Chris Parnell, Melissa Villaseñor, Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis, Brooke Shields, Fred Armisen, and many, many more. Go to HBOmax.com slash Batman Audio Adventures for more and stream Batman the Audio Adventures only on HBO Max.

19:37
Thanks to HBO Max for sponsoring 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.

20:00
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.

20:29
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.

20:57
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.

21:25
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.

21:53
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.

22:20
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.

22:50
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.

23:17
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.

23:43
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.

24:12
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,

24:39
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.

25:06
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.

25:35
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.

26:02
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.

26:31
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.

27:01
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,

27:27
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.

27:57
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, oh, kind of stuff. But it was believable, honestly. Yeah. 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.

28:26
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,

28:50
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.

29:17
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

29:46
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.

30:16
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

30:40
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

31:07
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.

31:36
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?

32:04
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.

32:30
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.

32:59
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.

33:28
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.

33:58
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.

34:26
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.

34:56
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.

35:25
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

35:54
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.

36:20
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.

36:50
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.

37:14
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.

37:43
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.

38:10
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.

38:39
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.

39:08
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.

39:36
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.

40:06
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.

40:36
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.

41:03
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-

41:28
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

41:52
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.

42:19
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.

42:49
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.

43:15
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

43:43
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.

44:11
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.

44:39
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.

45:08
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.

45:35
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.

46:04
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.

46:32
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.

47:01
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.

47:31
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.

47:59
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.

48:28
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.

48:56
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.

49:24
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.

49:54
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,

50:23
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.

50:51
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.

51:17
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

51:45
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.

52:15
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.

52:41
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.

53:09
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

53:32
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.

54:00
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,

54:30
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.

54:56
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...

55:25
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.

55:53
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.

56:20
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

56:43
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.

57:09
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.

57:38
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.

58:07
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.

58:36
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.

59:06
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.

59:31
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.

59:58
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.

01:00:26
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.

01:00:56
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?

01:01:25
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.

01:01:53
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

01:02:21
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.

01:02:46
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.

01:03:15
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.

01:03:45
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.

01:04:15
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.