tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46532695513362756382024-02-08T01:15:04.046-05:00Rahkshi's RamblingsI write about anime and other stuff.Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-73498372125890114972016-07-08T13:34:00.000-04:002016-07-08T13:34:25.802-04:00Anime Review: Berserk 2016I feel like mal's gonna delete this so here's a backup<br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Berserk is one of the most beloved manga
series of all time, with a successful anime in the nineties that covered the
famed “golden age” arc. But the manga is so much more than that arc, so when a
series of movies were announced, fans were rightfully disappointed that it was
a retelling of the same arc. Well, come 2016 and we’re finally out of the
golden age, with an anime promising to show us Guts as the “Black Swordsman,”
but can it do justice to the legendary manga it spawned from? Let’s find out!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">When adapting a long, dark fantasy manga
with highly detailed art, what studio would you think to pick for the anime?
Madhouse, famous for the stunning visuals of Claymore or Overlord? Bones, with
their amazing talents for action like the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist and Kurau:
Phantom Memory? Perhaps a-1 pictures, known for Sword Art Online, or maybe
Deen, creators of widely acclaimed anime series Fate/Stay Night?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">No, none of these studios can handle such a
complex, detailed narrative, nor can they even hope to live up to the chaotic
scenes of battle from the manga. And of course, none could possibly live up to
the incredible artwork present in the manga. No, there’s only one studio
clearly cut out to do this job: Studio Millepensee.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">With their work on teekyuu they’ve shown
they can tell complex, long form stories in a short span of time, which means
that they won’t need 100, 50, or even 25 episodes to tell the story of Guts.
No, a mere 12 episode run time might as well be the same as the total length of
Detective Conan to them! And the frantic nature of the animation shows they can
do justice to berserk’s fight scenes.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Art: 10</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Move over 2D, your time has come. Far too
many anime feel the need to bow to the pressures of tradition, following the old
methods that were pioneered back in the 20s for gods sake! It’s time to move
forward, and Berserk 2016 is a perfect example of this. The 3DCG animation
featured in Berserk is stunning, the best CG I’ve seen since Knights of
Sidonia. It really feels like you’re living in the world of Sword of the
Berserk: Gut’s Rage, the classic dreamcast game.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The way the camera cuts so as to obscure
most of the action is a daring, bold choice. It shows just how larger than life
both Guts and his sword really are, so large they can’t even fit into the
screen.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Sound: 9</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">To accompany this torrential storm of cgi
animation, we have a kick-ass rock soundtrack, exactly the kind of music you’d
expect out of a dark fantasy series. Each song would sound right at home on a
nickleback or disturbed album, and never once do they fail to fit the tone of
the scene.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The sound effects however, are a different
beast entirely. No cheesy sword shwing noises here, no sir. Only gritty,
realistic metal clangs. The static, low quality nature of the effects only
further enhances how realistic they sound. If I had one complaint, it would be
that sometimes guts’ dragonslayer doesn’t clang loud enough for such an
impressive weapon.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Story: 10</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Millepensee has made the brilliant decision
to only adapt the good parts of the manga, much like Mappa’s recent Ushio and
Tora. Skipping the black swordsman arc entirely, it jumps straight into the
real action of the series. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected
them to reach Farnese by episode two, but they pulled it off somehow.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Character: 10</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Each character has been distilled down to
their base, root personality traits. This is a good thing, as often times the
manga can be too subtle and detailed for its own good. This is much easier to
follow, meaning this anime is actually BETTER then the manga it’s adapting,
similar to FMA 2003</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Enjoyment: 10</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">If you like shows like Claymore, Overlord,
Knights of Sidonia, or Sword Art Online, watch this anime immediately. I was
shocked every second of this show, I couldn’t believe my eyes, Berserk 2016 is
an experience you have to have for yourself, I recommend checking it out on my
favorite streaming site, Kissanime.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Overall: 10</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Rarely does a show come around that does
everything as well as this, thanks for recommending this to me Kotaku, you’re
the best source for anime news I can think of.</span></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-7330035748497750922015-10-26T15:09:00.000-04:002015-10-26T15:49:07.196-04:00Book Review: Soul Stealer: Legecy of the Blade<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN-US">Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this
book for the purpose of review from storycartel.com; this will in no way affect
my objectivity in the review, but it’s best to point these things out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Soul Stealer is a book that caught my
interest right away, and by that I mean the coverart. You know the saying, “Don’t
judge a book by its cover?” Well, I’m quite bad at following this rule, and thankfully
this book has a gorgeous cover.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">But we’re not here to talk about the
coverart, we’re here to talk about the book. And I’m happy to say I was hooked
right away; the humorous writing style combined with a dark fantasy setting leads
to an extremely enjoyable read that I blew through in two days. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">However, that’s not to say it was perfect,
and I like to go a bit in depth with my reviews of things, so before I get into
what I liked too much, let’s talk about the few things I <i>didn’t </i>like
first!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Number 1 on my list of complaints would
have to be the overuse of certain narrative style choices. I can tell it was
intentional, but a few of them bother me a bit in a rather nitpicky way. Nothing
about them is a dealbreaker, but the book could have flowed a tad smoother
without them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">These narrative choices are a slightly
rambling, repetitive inner monologue, and an overuse of short sentence
fragments.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I love using sentence fragments in my own
writing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But they get annoying.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">If you keep using them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">All the time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It breaks the flow and makes things hard to
read, when most of them could be done much simpler, especially the shorter
fragment sections that could have easily been one line with a semicolon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And the sometimes repetitive nature of the narrative
can grate on a mind a bit; having read four different versions of the same
thoughts about the main character’s house in the opening, I was starting to get
a little tired of it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Another problem I have is a slight overuse
of ‘fancy’ words, such as mayhap or perchance. I get that this is a medieval
fantasy setting, but their use often feels more tacked on than anything else to
me, and almost any time they come up a more modern variant of the word would
fit much better.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And please, do not use perchance twice on
the same page. It’s too uncommonly used a word in modern English to not look
really out of place when overused, and frankly is something that I would have
removed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">However, this is a minor issue overall, and
I found the book highly enjoyable.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The narrative, while a bit flawed at times
in the ways I mentioned above, still managed to remain highly engaging, and the
comedic bent to it really helps the book stand out. The main character Saedeus in
particular, is an outstanding character.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Disregard whatever you’re imagining in
terms of fantasy novel heroes, Saedeus is not them. His often downright pathetic attempts
at being heroic in the first half of the book are highly entertaining, and his companions,
a sentient pet rock with no dialog but somehow a charming personality, and
Alric, the hero you would expect to be the main character, are entirely in a
support role of the story.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And those are essentially the only
characters, at least the only ones who ever matter. Saedeus never joins a merry
band of adventurers, there is no forced romantic subplot, nothing you’d expect
in a traditional fantasy novel. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And that’s fantastic. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I have no real comments on the story; it’s
engaging and manages to be original enough for a guy like me who basically only
reads fantasy. I approve of the ending; it was exactly my kind of
conclusive but still open ending, good stuff.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I would recommend it. At only three bucks
on Kindle, it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for something
slightly different from your fantasy stories, so long as the slight flaws in an
otherwise interesting narrative don’t bother you too much; they certainly didn’t
stop me from reading it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Also Soul Stealer: Legacy of the Blade is a
really cool title; this is totally unimportant, but damn if it isn’t.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://amzn.com/B016B0FAH0">Buy the book here, if you want</a> </span></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-32073080802281252122015-08-24T17:46:00.001-04:002015-08-24T17:46:06.130-04:00Novel Review: Angel Notes<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">As per my policy after one of my reviews on myanimelist was deleted without warning, this serves as an archive of my random reviews of things on that site</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">One of the earliest works by writer and co
founder of the company Type-Moon, Kinoko Nasu, Notes is the foundation of the shared
universe across most of his works such as Tsukihime or Fate/Stay Night, which
is commonly referred to as the Nasuverse. It’s a bit strange to say it was the
foundation when the timeline of Notes makes it chronologically last, as it’s
set far in the future.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Notes, or Angel Notes as it’s also known is
a short story written for an angel themed anthology magazine, and it’s also an incredibly
hard thing to describe. I’m not sure if I’m even fit to judge this story, as its
experimental nature defies a lot of what you’d expect, but rest assured it’s a
unique experience. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Notes plays with the chronological order of
events, something that Kinoko Nasu would return to in the Light Novel series Kara
no Kyoukai, another Nasuverse work. The story itself is quite simple, but its
non standard presentation elevates it over the merit it has as an idea. Despite
being incredibly short, a massive amount of worldbuilding is thrown into the
mix, most of which is irrelevant to anything else in the story or nasuverse as
a whole. This is, in my opinion, one of Nasu’s greatest strengths as a writer,
his stories are so packed with minor background details of the world that it
really feels like more is happening then just the story you’re being told right
there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Most of the worldbuilding is done in an
almost encyclopedia entry style throughout the chapters, detailing the elements
of this fictional world to a needless degree, never does Ado Edam, the Slash
Emperor become relevant to t5he actual plot of Notes, but yet he is described
in entries of past events. It might sound like I’m being critical of this but I’m
really not, without details like this there really isn’t much going for it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The encyclopedia entries along with it’s
strange, barebones narrative craft a short story that is more of a puzzle then
it is a piece of fiction, leaving much of the events up to the reader’s interpretation,
and as such I find it hard to really rate something like that. Now, I find it
hard to rate anything, because how can I accurately describe my complex
thoughts on something with a single number score? But that’s how we do things
around here, so I’ve tried to figure out what I would rate this and finally came
to a decision on 7/10. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Why 7/10? It’s probably my subjective bias
as someone who’s as close to being a fanboy of the Writer and universe in
question as you can get without being obsessed with it. As a standalone story
it has some interesting things going for it structurally, but it’s real value
lies in it’s relation to the Nasuverse, as that’s really all it is, an extremely
rough prototype for the workings of the shared fantasy universe of type-moon’s
light novel, visual novel, and anime series. </span></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-56788404970286570152015-07-30T12:11:00.000-04:002015-07-30T12:11:01.343-04:00Would I have bought: Unepic?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"></span><span lang="EN-US">Hello one and all! (So one) The famed blog
series you’ve never heard of is back for more, so welcome to Would I have
Bought Season 2! As always this is a first impressions series, it’s not a
review of the game, I play stuff I got in humble bundles and forgot about for a
bit (around a half hour) and describe why I would or wouldn’t have bought the
game on its own.</span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAr7OVESmtl0HGUDVXwjQQyHo_gG2bwpOwOXmcfgJJpKLRRJTLQ1YngLKOrZD62u2sE_Bo4jDTUb_eFKOnh-oXPLC_j0Qx4x81626ixT32Vao7KqPW1i7XGJrp-xyh6BXoxhECrFHY754z/s1600/unepic-wii-u-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAr7OVESmtl0HGUDVXwjQQyHo_gG2bwpOwOXmcfgJJpKLRRJTLQ1YngLKOrZD62u2sE_Bo4jDTUb_eFKOnh-oXPLC_j0Qx4x81626ixT32Vao7KqPW1i7XGJrp-xyh6BXoxhECrFHY754z/s400/unepic-wii-u-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The visual style is definitely my favorite aspect</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Unepic is a platformer / rpg hybrid that
takes very obvious cues from action platformers in the metroidvania style. And for
the most part it succeeds at what it’s doing. I found myself easily able to familiarize
myself with the controls, and the castlevania like aesthetic drew me in right
away, so it seemed like a promising start for me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">However, problems start to arise in the
gameplay, with no real way to block or dodge outside of jumping and crouching (this
is normal for this style of game but bare with me there’s a point here), and
your attacks essentially stunlocking any enemy you com across in the early game,
combat quickly turns into one of two things: a boring slog where you’re in no
risk of even being hit, as such with any one on one encounter, or a clusterfuck
of shit happening you can’t react to, like a battle in which 6 bats and three
goblin things swarmed me and prevented any escape as I couldn’t move fast
enough to flee.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Here’s the main reason for this, every
action you take, be it walking, jumping, or attacking, is very slow and methodical,
think a 2d dark souls if you will. You have to be very sure of your actions as
they’re so slow and hard to recover from, a massive problem when you’re faced
with tons of fast paced enemies at once. With jumping being your only dodge I’m
aware of, and your jumps being incredibly stiff and realistic for this kind of
game, I found myself getting hit far more than I would like.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So that’s my problem with the platformer
parts, but what about the rpg parts you say? They might as well not exist, so
you level up after killing enough enemies and get some stat points, and you use
them to make your weapons do more damage or get more health, there’s no
interesting progression here, it’s just pure stats going up. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Let’s talk about the story for a bit, as
there’s dialog everywhere in this. The first thing of note is the opening
cutscene makes fun of videogames for letting you break barrels or fight
skeletons with swords, then shows you exactly why videogames do that. When you
switch weapons you play a slow animation for a second, then you can act, so
every single time you want to break a barrel and get at the loot, you have to
switch weapons, an utter nightmare when playing on a controller. I just realized
this is gameplay complaints again but I digress. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The story is taking the parody route of
comedy, and by parody I mean, let’s reference pop culture and be done with it. The
references are kept mostly to the player character, thankfully as none of them
are very funny, I hate this style of comedy and if I had seen a trailer or
video featuring it I would have never bought this game because of it. and that
there lies the answer, I would not have bought this based on the comedy. </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Q7YFuSjWfLJNSTrOHbv-D4u47o3ePm-IApAWl1SbPSmcqEoaE0HES4V6w2ZrxIOLqBSL7o-zRyZIVa1UmuPLVqvHnR9epxw2Ts8yeJSTZ8JKDc5AUUjaxlU8CLWD-MFpmjV7yNAROeGz/s1600/latest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Q7YFuSjWfLJNSTrOHbv-D4u47o3ePm-IApAWl1SbPSmcqEoaE0HES4V6w2ZrxIOLqBSL7o-zRyZIVa1UmuPLVqvHnR9epxw2Ts8yeJSTZ8JKDc5AUUjaxlU8CLWD-MFpmjV7yNAROeGz/s400/latest.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This boss looks pretty cool, too bad I didn't get that far before this post</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">One of my favorite parody games is Dungeons
of Dredmor, which also does the reference style of humor, but instead of just
having a character say “my name is Dark Helmet” in reference to spaceballs,
they would add in dark helmet’s helmet, give it a funny description and wouldn’t
directly mention what it was, <i>that’s</i> how you do parody. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Despite these complaints I did find myself
drawn in to the game, before it crashed after 45 minutes and I decided to write
this, I’d probably play it again, but would I have bought it?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Nah, probably not. </span></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-19614400736898589502015-06-17T11:02:00.003-04:002015-06-17T11:02:48.236-04:00Anime Review: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Vivid <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha is a franchise
I didn’t think I would enjoy, I wasn’t really into magical girl shows at the
time but I’d heard good things so I gave it a shot. I love Nanoha now, it’s a
great series, I even like the less popular StrikerS season quite a lot.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So when I heard they were adapting the
manga Nanoha Vivid into an anime, I was pretty excited, more Nanoha couldn’t be
bad right? Oh boy, here we go. Where do I even start with this thing, one of
the most disappointing sequels in my recent memory?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">One of the biggest complaints about Nanoha
StrikerS was that the title character herself, Nanoha, was reduced to a
supporting roll while it mostly focused on new characters. Oh what I wouldn’t
give for her to have StrikerS level of involvement, while in that show she was
mostly secondary, she was still story relevant and drove the plot along, even
having a major scene in the finale. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In Vivid she’s a housewife.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Yes, Nanoha, one of the most powerful
magical girls in <i>any</i> series has been reduced to a housewife. Outside of
a single training fight in the midpoint of vivid, she has done literally
nothing else. This show is now about her adopted daughter Vivio, something that
I’m not totally against in concept, but it continues to get worse. As of
episode 10, the last I’ve been able to watch as I wait for some brave soul to
subtitle it (no fansub groups bothered picking it up) Vivio herself, the new
title character (Vivid) has <i>also</i> turned into a supporting cast member.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Sure, the first season has a dual protagonist
dynamic with Nanoha and dark magical girl Fate Testarossa, but those were the only
characters in focus. A’s managed to add new cast without detracting from the
fact that Nanoha was the lead character, and StrikerS is slightly infamous for
it’s lack of nanoha. But at least in StrikerS Nanoha is actively training the
cast in focus, making their victories a victory by proxy for Nanoha, their
trainer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In Vivid it’s as if they realized that
Vivio is a super boring character, she’s almost instantly sidelined by her
Chinese knockoff Fate-chan, Einhart Stratos. It gets worse as the show
progresses, with episode 10 featuring less then 30 seconds of footage of Vivio
OR Einhart, as it shows us a completely irrelevant tournament fight about
characters we know almost nothing about. That fight was a joke, they built up
one of the girls as a threat, but she’s totally wrecked by somebody we’ve
barely even seen before, making it complete filler for a series with a very
limited episode count.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This show is <i>boring</i>, I mean really,
really boring. There hasn’t been a single exciting event of note in 10 out of
12 episodes, because nothing has any consequences. Gone are the first season’s
world effecting, galactic level crisis events. Now we have hotsprings, loli
fanservice (not that we had none of that before, but there’s more now), and
tournament battles with <i>simulated damage</i>. That’s right; nobody is even
in any danger of getting hurt at almost any point in this show, if there’s no
threat then why should I care what happens? It’s not like they developed any
characters into somebody I would want to root for in a sports competition. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I guess if you want a fluffy slice of
lifish story with magical girls you could enjoy this. But the almost completely
different tone of the series is extremely off-putting to me, a fan of Nanoha
for its darker take on magical girls. And don’t even get me started on Vivio
and Einhart’s magical devices, some of the dumbest shit I’ve seen in years.
Nanoha’s magic device is a necklace that turns into a staff; Fate’s is a
wristband that turns into a poleaxe. Vivio’s magical device is… a STUFFED
RABBIT!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">How am I meant to take any of this
seriously when a goddamn cartoon rabbit is involved in Vivio’s transformation
sequence, where she also turns into a more adult mode (when Nanoha was able to
kick ass as a loli, I guess Vivio just sucks). Oh yeah, Einhart’s device is a <i>cat,</i>
not a stuffed animal cat, an actual, normal cat. Her device is just a cat,
what, why? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">On the animation side of things, A-1 Pictures
does an adequate job of animating the fight scenes, though there is no standout
animation like you might see in an Ufotable or Madhouse production. However I
do have a problem with the style of the show, and I’m not sure if this is a
problem with the manga which I have not read, or the adaption. That problem is
the setting backgrounds, Nanoha as of season 3 is set on an alien world full of
magical technology, and Vivid is set in the same world. So why does it look
like <i>Japan</i>?
Did they forget the setting was no longer modern Japan or something; everything
looks so standard it barely feels like the same show anymore.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The music is so utterly unremarkable that I
have nothing to say about it, other then it’s not offensively bad so I guess
that’s a plus! But no really, I don’t know much about music, nor do I really
pay attention to it unless it sticks out in a big way, like Gurren Lagann’s
soundtrack. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now, this part is just personal theory, but
let me try and explain what went wrong. Seasons 1 though 3 of Nanoha were all
written to be a TV anime, they have a distinct beginning middle and end paced
for their episode counts. Vivid however, is an ongoing manga, adapting only a
fraction of the content. This would certainly hurt the concise, well planned
pace of the other three seasons. It still doesn’t excuse the baffling design
decisions and lackluster characters however.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I was going to write here “this is an anime
I’d only recommend to hardcore Nanoha fans” but no, a hardcore Nanoha fan would
probably be even more disappointed then I am. This is barely a sequel to
StrikerS and almost feels totally disconnected to the rest of the series thanks
to this far more lighthearted tone, I really can’t recommend this unless you’re
desperate for some magical girls, but you’d be better off watching a different
magical girl show instead.</span></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-23419283694389699042015-05-22T10:29:00.000-04:002015-05-22T10:29:00.625-04:00Manga review: Omoi no Kakera<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>(This is a copy of my MAL review)</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Continuing my habit of reviewing things I
like that have only one or no reviews, we have Omoi no Kakera, a short romance
Manga in the Shoujo Ai genre.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now, I’ve you’re reading this review you’ll
probably have an idea of what Shoujo Ai is, but for those that don’t I’ll give
a short summery. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shoujo Ai roughly
translates to “Girls Love”, and is exactly what it sounds like, romance between
girls.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So why is a grown man reading Chinese
comics about gay girls? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well I have no
shame in admitting that I started reading Shoujo Ai as a dumb teenager who
thought lesbians were hot.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But as I got older, I started to appreciate
them on a different level; the writing is often very deep even though the art
leans towards lacking on average.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
some reason Shoujo Ai stories seem to have a higher average of compelling
series compared to other romance manga; that is when you can find a Shoujo Ai
that’s longer than two chapters.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Omoi no Kakera consists of two stories,
Fragments of Love and Love & Piece, A sidestory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As of this review the translations of the side
story Love & Piece appear to be incomplete, I may edit this review when I
finally get a chance to read the rest.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So in this review I will focus on Fragments
of Love, the main title of this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
short but sweet fifteen chapter manga about a highschool lesbian who works at a
café in the “gay district” (its words not mine) of the city.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Like most Shoujo Ai, this series is slice
of life, very down to earth and normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Shoujo ai is not the thing to go to for high octane action, but that’s
to be expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I might have brought
up romance a lot so far because Shoujo AI is somewhat linked to it, but this
series is a pure drama that happens to be about gay characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The romance is somewhat lacking in that
regard, there is no actual “romance” that you might find in another manga, no
couple that persists across the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As the title implies, the story is about love and the different forms or
“fragments” it comes in. This is very much a story about love, but not necessarily
romance, which I must say is something I’m finding a very hard time accurately
describing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Instead of a romance we have a character
driven drama, though it’s not a very heavy drama. It’s more the kind of drama
you would see in a teen drama on tv, only far and a way more well done. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now I’m going to be honest here, the art is
quite bad, to the point I was confused sometimes trying to figure out who
characters were because they all look so similar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a big problem when you have a
decently large cast of characters across two stories; I sometimes had trouble
remembering which storyline I was reading thanks to this.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This is a very internally focused drama,
with the characters development all revolving around coming to terms with their
feelings. Western drama tends to focus on the external elements, things
happening that effect the characters; this focuses on why the characters are
affected, not how.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Our main character, Mika Takaoka, is a far
cry from a standard Shoujo Ai protagonist. In a genre that often have very
insecure young girls who don’t understand their sexuality as the leads, Mika is
a breath of fresh air; a very strong, mature girl who fully understands her own
sexuality.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I’ve probably rambled on far too long about
a 15 chapter story about lesbians, so I’m going to end it here. Omoi no Kakera
is a nice short series that shows a strong grasp of the genre and pushes itself
beyond the average, but falls short in a few areas.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-23880145982857171032015-05-18T11:00:00.000-04:002015-05-18T11:00:00.409-04:00Would I have bought: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span><span lang="EN-US">Continuing my series of semi-review first
impression... things, we have another indie side scrolling platformer! What a
twist! Today is different however, this game is in 3D!</span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">More accurately, this is what people tend to
call a 2.5d platformer, a game with full 3d graphics but gameplay similar to
oldschool titles.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Remember, this is less of a review and more
of an impression on whether I would have bought this outside of a cheap bundle
of games.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Giana Sisters is a game with a very strange
history of which I only learned after I had already played this game, had I
known it my interesting might have gone up somewhat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Originally a game for the Commodore 64
released in 1987, it was essentially a clone of Mario Bros, even copying the
mushroom theme of the levels.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGCbR3nnFSFIjyAg0PRcBRh0LvZVYthIAaD4eykY7P5SrPG6WjLz-CaHlXjFSzN_xpmIJFvWEOdZ6V34zdf3pk0mah4TTBgjanE9QL1XNcp8R6sPfKpXi5YIn8kHZBQkBuRYXbwvq31wi/s1600/oldgiana.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGCbR3nnFSFIjyAg0PRcBRh0LvZVYthIAaD4eykY7P5SrPG6WjLz-CaHlXjFSzN_xpmIJFvWEOdZ6V34zdf3pk0mah4TTBgjanE9QL1XNcp8R6sPfKpXi5YIn8kHZBQkBuRYXbwvq31wi/s1600/oldgiana.png" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It was followed up by a Nintendo DS remake many
years later in 2009, removing its nature as a clone of Mario, it was met with
decent reception but no widespread acclaim. It also received an iOS port later on.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2gxS7n16U-ugaWSQiRsl8n_9ehYu01IPGCxfq-8aJ7eU7iLj-fvr6aEnbtd3jYoy9Q-gAdXNZT5Vgw-h-45gnwCXBJitstodcqFqFJe2-YJ0rF_oTSQwvg-XlBRNkosNLSBuGW0srnMvI/s1600/gianads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2gxS7n16U-ugaWSQiRsl8n_9ehYu01IPGCxfq-8aJ7eU7iLj-fvr6aEnbtd3jYoy9Q-gAdXNZT5Vgw-h-45gnwCXBJitstodcqFqFJe2-YJ0rF_oTSQwvg-XlBRNkosNLSBuGW0srnMvI/s1600/gianads.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now we come to this game, the third game in
the series and a complete reboot of the series by the developers of the second
game, who formed an Indie development studio after their parent company went
under.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The spite art is replaced with crisp 3d
visuals, the classic platformer gameplay replaced with modern, speedrun focused
gameplay designed to be replayed over and over to maximize your score on a
level.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiluaQtA7KlctOgK8iWzeEQ_KclH-OypdjX3dSxdmBXspa-Thq-CjNRN1Q7njiQtMnIKKkHs1iPJbhzitODkGzrWE7hJDkc1yKaHsYMsz18qtxqKBr2z0I34PXSJteoGuJPkrcISrkDXaId/s1600/giana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiluaQtA7KlctOgK8iWzeEQ_KclH-OypdjX3dSxdmBXspa-Thq-CjNRN1Q7njiQtMnIKKkHs1iPJbhzitODkGzrWE7hJDkc1yKaHsYMsz18qtxqKBr2z0I34PXSJteoGuJPkrcISrkDXaId/s1600/giana.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">When I got this in a Humble Bundle I must admit,
I didn’t care about it at all, I played it for about four minutes and put it down.
Only after coming back to it did I understand that this game is actually good.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Like most Indie Platformers, this has one
main gimmick, the ablity to switch between a light and ‘dark’ version of the
titular protagonist Giana, both with a different skill.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The light Giana can do spin jump that slows
her falling, and the dark Giana has a rushing arial dash useful for defeating
enemies and smashing things in your way.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">One thing I really liked is that when you
change characters the stage seamlessly morphs artstyle into a dark or light
version, but the levels are reversed; light Giana gets the dark level and vice
versa. The music also switches from a classic soundtrack made by the original
game’s composer, and a hard rock remix of the same songs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The gameplay is fast; when you die you
instantly restart at a checkpoint with no lives to worry about like older
games, leading to a game that even when it gets hard isn’t frustrating to play,
because you can just try again right away.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Would I have bought Giana Sisters: Twisted
Dreams? Not at all, and that’s a damn shame. The title and screenshots on Steam
were not something that intrigued me, but I’m very glad I gave it another
chance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So, would I have bought Giana Sisters? No, <b>but
I’m sure glad I did.</b></span></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-17546216743015393922015-05-12T11:00:00.001-04:002015-05-12T11:00:00.456-04:00Anime Review: Death Parade<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Based off of the 2013 short film Death
Billiards comes Death Parade, a show about death, and parades! Ok, not that
many parades really, but there’s certainly a lot of death.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">If you want to fully appreciate this show,
please watch Death Billiards first, it’s essentially the pilot episode of the
series, though it doesn’t necessarily fit perfectly into the canon of the TV
anime. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This show is an emotional rollercoaster,
from heart wrenching drama in one episode to comedy the next, you never know
what to expect from Death Parade, except that it’s going to be good.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">For the most part each episode deals with a
new story and a new set of characters, with a few recurring characters
throughout. This might seem like it leads itself to a lot of underdeveloped
characters, but the anime manages to make believable, interesting characters
each time even with such a short timeframe to work with. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The series does veer a little into
melodrama at points, but with a half hour to establish two new characters and
have us care about them it’s somewhat expected and doesn’t detract from the
overall quality of the presentation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I feel like I can’t say much more about the
plot, because this series is best going in with no idea what’s going to happen,
if you’re at all interested you might want to watch it now before you
inevitably get spoiled by a less conscientious reviewer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I don’t tend to pay attention to the music
of an anime unless it’s ill fitting, so if I have nothing to say about an OST it
probably means it’s good. I DO however have something to say about the opening
and ending songs, the former is an upbeat disco-like beat, while the ending is a
much more somber and slow rock song. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Both songs complement the series perfectly
in different ways, fitting the different atmospheres of the series, and I didn’t
skip either of them a single time while watching, which I’ll normally do even
with themes I like.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The animation by Studio Madhouse, one of my
top three most consistent studios, is amazing, the use of color and shot angle
leads to a beautiful series where every scene is enthralling even without very
much ‘action.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I had high hopes for this going into it
after seeing Death Billiards, they were met and then some. This is my favorite
anime of the winter season and a contender for a top five spot for 2015. Maybe
even first; but let’s just see how the year goes before we make any claims of
that magnitude. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-65814483356619034032015-05-08T11:00:00.000-04:002015-05-08T11:00:01.437-04:00Would I have bought: OliOli<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span><span lang="EN-US">Continuing on with my series of first
impressions on games I got in bundles, we come to OliOli. This is another sidescrolling
plat former, only today the gimmick is skateboarding.</span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As always, this is my opinion after playing
the game for only a short amount of time to see if I liked it, I try to play
long enough to judge the game. If I dislike something I’ll probably end up
playing it <i>more</i> just to see if it improves, where as if I liked it from
the start I might only play a bit because I already knew the answer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Less like a traditional platformer and more
like a game like skate or Tony Hawk in 2d, this game’s emphasis is on hitting
tricks correctly in order to score points. Each level has multiple objectives,
completing all of them unlocks a new; harder version of the same level, adding
quite a bit of replayability.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The art is charming, kind of grunge indie
look to it fitting it’s theme of urban skateboarding. I’ve only played about an
hour of this game so I’ve kind of run out of things to say, time to get more
abstract.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvdQSKBkWoCfRmEOVasrdwCzTdg9bdKhWWY6TDkJDfMcYrgig6zv-xQi2NEPE8lF3EODg9YjhSLF-U3Ph4HvQnABxc7pYZ8njJW5_sdBVedt2eiex3vJhD1LH6mK__SNiO2IEQSJcqWlG/s1600/olioli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvdQSKBkWoCfRmEOVasrdwCzTdg9bdKhWWY6TDkJDfMcYrgig6zv-xQi2NEPE8lF3EODg9YjhSLF-U3Ph4HvQnABxc7pYZ8njJW5_sdBVedt2eiex3vJhD1LH6mK__SNiO2IEQSJcqWlG/s1600/olioli.jpg" height="361" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This is the kind of indie game I live for, it’s
so unlike any other game I own on steam, it feels classic but also modern, the
gameplay is fast and responsive, and above all, fun.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Chaining combos of tricks together feels
just as satisfying here as it does in 3d skating games; I was very pleasantly surprised
by this game when I got it in a bundle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Would I have bought OliOli? </span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes</span></b><span lang="EN-US">, had I ever
heard of it before the bundle I got it in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I don’t know how people feel about it but I
had never seen it mentioned before. Sorry I didn’t have much to say about this
one today, hopefully the next game I try out inspires a slightly longer post!</span></div>
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<![endif]-->Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-25081866544681578812015-05-04T15:21:00.000-04:002015-05-04T15:21:00.474-04:00Would I have bought: 140<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Taking a break from my barrage of anime
related content (my Deadpool post notwithstanding), let’s dive into another
nerdy subject. This will be a series of posts about my first impressions with
steam games I’ve picked up over time during sales or bundles and ignored
completely afterwards. It’s goal will be to ask a very simple question. <i>Would
I have bought this for full price outside of a bundle or sale?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As always, this is entirely my subjective opinion.<i> </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">140 is an indie platformer that I got in a
humble indie bundle, one of many games over the years I’ve gotten from such
things that I have no real interest it. This is not a full review of the game;
I have not completed it, getting about halfway before growing bored.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Woops, spoilers. I didn’t care for it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now 140 has an interesting mechanic, though
one I’ve seen before. The beat of the backing music affects the game, platform
moves, paths open and close ect on a set beat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Not a bad mechanic and the game performs it
well, however one gimmick is not enough to change the fact that the underlying
platform game behind the gimmick is not very compelling.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This is a very slow, methodical game. If
you’re a fan of modern twitch gameplay platformers like Super Meat Boy or
Dustforce you’ll probable find this rather dull. The music gimmick also tends
to lead to situations were you can do nothing but wait for the correct beat,
with nothing else interesting happening.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My biggest complaint is this, the style is
very minimalistic. Now, if any of you have seen my youtube channel you’d know I
don’t mind games with old or non-existent graphics.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">However, most games like that I play are either
very old games, or have a vast depth of game mechanics to make up for the
visual deficiency. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This is a standard platformer with slow
controls and one gimmick that features almost no graphics at all. You play a
square, when you move you turn into a circle, when you jump you become a
triangle.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6egdQPig2bP0vYQ8Ip0fgE8fFiN8jmM2m7oy4BDxNzTNILWStUqapXtpYAbwJhyphenhyphenUnED8BM9k19TXL8DlqfOf7XpKZMxccoKn4H0zF5RNBjyoayDcI2oVHRXTvrjDpTXnfegKvzSyeaP7s/s1600/galerie-140_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6egdQPig2bP0vYQ8Ip0fgE8fFiN8jmM2m7oy4BDxNzTNILWStUqapXtpYAbwJhyphenhyphenUnED8BM9k19TXL8DlqfOf7XpKZMxccoKn4H0zF5RNBjyoayDcI2oVHRXTvrjDpTXnfegKvzSyeaP7s/s1600/galerie-140_1.jpg" height="224" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I’m all for minimalist art guys but
seriously, this game looks <i>unfinished</i>. My first impression of the game
is “This looks generic”, which in a veritable sea of indie platformers is not
something you want people to think about your game.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The gameplay is good but basic outside of
the gimmick and the art style is epitome of nothing. Were I to see this on steam
on it’s own, would I have picked it up on it’s own merits?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Probably not, but it doesn't mean it's a bad game.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-51207191241638391112015-04-27T12:14:00.000-04:002015-04-27T12:14:00.531-04:00Animation Style vs. Animation Quality<!--[if !mso]>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span lang="EN-US">Most of the time when someone says an anime
or cartoon has good animation, they leave it at that. Calling something ‘good’
isn’t very descriptive of why it’s good, and it ignores one very important
thing; there’s more to animation then art quality.</span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">No matter how well drawn technically your
animation is, it doesn’t matter to me if it doesn’t have any style. Inversely,
a strong style can surpass a low animation budget; the best example of this is
2012’s new anime adaption of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure by David Productions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil26LFMw0x5U0l8eVJSLQsVtjSfRyoaV4S1eewY1H3-yXlqGXuf6BmnXOuFvhEPuLS6K0jNm_GwtCCco4DEwgrWBdpGIDLPuLj9uCVXvy4CXr-LOi933w4uQcBGTi2nzQyLi-2KDYe1xRD/s1600/2626479-3819519367-jojos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil26LFMw0x5U0l8eVJSLQsVtjSfRyoaV4S1eewY1H3-yXlqGXuf6BmnXOuFvhEPuLS6K0jNm_GwtCCco4DEwgrWBdpGIDLPuLj9uCVXvy4CXr-LOi933w4uQcBGTi2nzQyLi-2KDYe1xRD/s1600/2626479-3819519367-jojos.jpg" height="224" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This anime was practically a slideshow,
very little animation happened even during fight scenes, with a lot of freeze
frames for emphasis. But JoJo had <i>style</i>, and the lack of animation is
easily excusable for the fact that JoJo looked incredible at almost all times,
the use of color, ‘camera’ angles, and digital effects add up into a very good
looking show.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Another example of this is the recent anime
The Rolling Girls, which has an incredibly vibrant color pallet that was
extremely pleasing to look at, even though the animation itself wasn’t that
high budget.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdRd0-KBW37WyzzyCNkQO7PvKCtsQGXCi6PSXruMdTa_qeauD0-ooLdOcmyTsdyR1q5iR5g8Vwq-47wTUlhyMuQFRHuTXFUoHE4XKmMYyE4ZBOk47ui1XweG8RHRxoiadmOwMySiDmiJ2R/s1600/roll-girl-key-526.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdRd0-KBW37WyzzyCNkQO7PvKCtsQGXCi6PSXruMdTa_qeauD0-ooLdOcmyTsdyR1q5iR5g8Vwq-47wTUlhyMuQFRHuTXFUoHE4XKmMYyE4ZBOk47ui1XweG8RHRxoiadmOwMySiDmiJ2R/s1600/roll-girl-key-526.jpg" height="225" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I’ve seen countless anime that have very
high budget action scenes but seem to think that can excuse lazy angles, often
showing the scenes in the most boring way possible.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Sword art online is a prime example of
this, it has incredible budget and very smooth action scenes… that bored the
hell out of me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The shots are framed in the most generic,
boring ways imaginable, completely wasting the budget spent on the scenes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Style is vastly under-appreciated; good
style can counter bad animation, this can be applied to the game industry as
well. Which is why 2d sprite based games, such as Japanese fighting games like
the recent Under Night In-Birth exe:late (great game, terrible title) still
continue to look great. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINsDgH5P01cKhn-5EV09NlRpslolqzyI3mJqkZjidetWsUvTOkc4N-gFy0BrORU7rkHqZ4EWi4DZHKLyP1_GUA5VIXN8xbIXUIz-SR225JA1w62GVA-K8i3ZGlkShu9nwXE0idVtsj3LZ/s1600/20120217_birth01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINsDgH5P01cKhn-5EV09NlRpslolqzyI3mJqkZjidetWsUvTOkc4N-gFy0BrORU7rkHqZ4EWi4DZHKLyP1_GUA5VIXN8xbIXUIz-SR225JA1w62GVA-K8i3ZGlkShu9nwXE0idVtsj3LZ/s1600/20120217_birth01.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-6755170723682840492015-04-22T12:00:00.000-04:002015-04-22T12:00:06.052-04:00Deadpool is mainstream (but that's ok.)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Waaaay back in 2011 I posted about my dissatisfaction with the Deadpool series written by Daniel Way, hereby referred to as Volume
2. It didn’t stack up the 90s era Dadpool written by Joe Kelly, or the
fantastic Cable & Deadpool by Fabian Nicieza.</span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now, I have not read every Deadpool comic,
I largely skip on the side-stories and miniseries, I do this with all comics I
read, I only care about the main story unless I hear very good things about a
side story. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As of now I have read the original 90s run
of Deadpool, Cable & Deadpool, and about half of Way’s Volume 2, which is
where I stopped until recently. The modern deadpool just wasn’t working for me
for many reasons, it was far too silly, too many memes shoehorned in. But Then
I started reading Volume 3, also known as Marvel Now! Deadpool; written by
Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggen. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This is it, this the Deadpool I’ve been
waiting for since Cable & Deadpool ended. It’s funny, it’s charming, there
are almost no in your face memes. Deadpool is a goofy wisecracker who makes a
ton of bad jokes as always, but it’s not ALL he does.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It also removes Way’s annoying dual thought
boxes that argued with each other, though I don’t know if this change happened
in Volume 2 as I have yet to finish it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Back in 2011 I couldn’t accurately describe
why I didn’t like the new Deadpool, and it shows; I really dislike that post
now but it’s here if you want to read it. But right now all I can say is this;
Marvel Now Deadpool is the real deal, anybody who hates the le epic meme so
random Deadpool should give this series a chance, it’s far better.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I look forward to the upcoming Deadpool
movie as a reinvigorated fan.</span></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-73261549435976469012015-04-17T11:03:00.000-04:002015-08-19T20:01:14.054-04:00Fate/Stay Night and why anime original content is not inherently bad.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My first exposure to the works of Kinoko
Nasu was through the abysmal 2003 JC Staff anime of the Visual Novel Tsukihime,
at the time I thought it was pretty cool. Then I played the Visual Novel; my
score for the anime dropped from eight to three.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">How could they have turned such an amazing
story into the fucking mess that was the anime Shingetsutan Tsukihime? Trying
to combine five different story arcs that all last about twenty five hours into
one 13 episode series probably didn’t help.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Things didn’t fair much better in 2005,
when the second game made by Nasu’s company; Type-Moon, got an anime by Studio
Deen. The visual novel at the time was not translated into English so the only
thing I had to go on was the anime, I thought it was decent. The anime had 24
episodes instead of 13, so it fared a bit better in terms of adaption, or so I
thought.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">A few years after I saw the anime I learned
the Visual Novel was translated (at this time only two of the three routes were
completed) so I found myself a copy and sat down to play it. Fifty hours later
and I’d thrown the anime in the trash, it wasn’t as bad as Tsukihime’s anime
but it wasn’t good either. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The Fate/Stay Night anime was followed up
by a movie of the second route of the Visual Novel, Unlimited Blade Works (The
2005 anime loosely following the plot of the first route, Fate.) it wasn’t good
but it wasn’t terrible either, it just sort of exists.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This background is all to show that
Type-Moon has been extremely unlucky with adaptations of their work for a long
time, or so I thought. After Fate/Stay Night and before the UBW movie, a studio
called Ufotable started a movie series of Nasu’s oldest published work, Kara no
Kyoukai; a light novel series.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It’s Amazing, I don’t know how I didn’t
find out about it until 2014, it deserves more recognition then it has. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Ufotable has quickly become “the type-moon
guys”, producing incredible adaptations of all of Kara no Kyoukai and the Fate
Prequel light novel written by Gen Urobuchi.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now come to present day, and they have
started to adapt the second route, Unlimited Blade Works for a second time. Now
however it’s a full TV anime and not a movie. It’s incredible, the animation
work is their best yet, the story follows the beat of the VN as best you can in
an anime; but it’s not enough for some people.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">A vocal minority on sites like
myanimelist.net have taken to calling it “terrible” or “not canon” because it <i>dares</i>
to be slightly different from the Visual Novel.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Anything short of a 1 to 1 translation of
the novel would be met by endless shitstorms about it, interfering with anyone
who actually wants to talk about the show legitimately.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I can only imagine that these guys want a
50 episode long anime that is 90% characters thinking, because that’s what a
direct translation of the novel would be like. You see, they seem completely, delusionally unaware of one simple fact; Anime and Visual Novels are different mediums.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">A Visual novel is essentially a book with a
few pictures, sound, and sometimes voice acting, played on a PC or game
console. Like a Book, its pace is largely dictated by user input. How fast are
you reading? How much at one time? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Anime on the other hand, has to be paced according
to episode; you can’t start an episode on slice of life, go into an epic fight
in the middle then end on more slice of life, the pace would be all over the
place.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Ufotable understands this, so they
shorten/extend scenes in order to give the anime a good, steady pace; while
also providing more exposition, backstory, or callbacks to Fate/Zero.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But the angry fanboys don’t care; they were
calling this anime ruined before it even started, because the main character
Shirou, had a <i>jacket.</i> That’s right, changing a minor character design
detail got them to call the anime ruined.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Unlimited Blade Works TV is currently one
of if not the <i>only</i> anime adaption of something else that changes things
and gets <i>better</i> for it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-39406838549185387472015-04-13T11:00:00.000-04:002015-04-13T11:00:00.641-04:00Why Modern Anime Doesn't Suck<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Way back in 2011 I watched an anime called
Sacred Seven, and it was awful, so bad in fact I gave up on anime as a medium
for a long time and made a post here calling out Modern anime for being shitty
ecchi fanservice and nothing more.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Since then however I have gotten back into
anime full force, my kneejeck reaction to otaku pandering ended around 2012,
when I watched the brilliant Psycho-Pass.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Anime is stronger than it’s ever been; not
a comment to say lightly, but in the last few years I have not only watched
countless new anime but many old, classic shows.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Anime like Psycho-Pass, Ping-Pong, or Parasyte
set the bar for animation higher. Not just in presentation but in storytelling.
Sure there are still a lot of crappy pandering shows out there, but even the
fanservice shows have improved. High School DxD is one of the most pandering
ecchi fanservice shows I’ve seen in years, but it remains entertaining; because
it knows it’s stupid. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I hereby resend my opinion of modern anime
being shit, except sacred seven; that was just terrible.</span></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-52842912341322303462015-04-07T12:33:00.000-04:002015-04-07T12:33:53.244-04:00Anime Review: Mardock Scramble The Third Exhaust<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-72bef929-8f83-9561-7bed-1535e5cd29a1" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(This is a copy of my MAL review, some comments in it may reflect this.) </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-72bef929-8f83-9561-7bed-1535e5cd29a1" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-72bef929-8f83-9561-7bed-1535e5cd29a1" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I don’t often write reviews because most things I watch have so many reviews already there’s nothing left to be said, but at the time of my writing this there is only one other review for Mardock Scramble: The Third Exhaust, so I thought I’d share my opinion of it.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Spoilers for the review (not the movie): I thought it was absolutely fantastic.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The end, you don’t have to read the rest of my ramblings, watch it and enjoy.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Wait… you actually want to know HOW it’s fantastic. Well ok I guess I can do that.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mardock Scrambled Eggs doesn’t do too much new in the cyberpunk genre, but that’s okay because what it does do is executed fabulously in all three movies. (Slightly less in the second but we’re not here to talk about that one) </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rune’s inner and outer conflicts come to a head in the final movie, and while the resolution of Rune’s case against Shell might seem too short in terms of crime drama or mystery, it fits the themes of the other movies perfectly. These movies were never really about the case, the case was the driving force behind Rune’s mental trauma and character development, and through the resolution of the case here we see how she’s changed from the first movie.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And again the weight of the action scenes falls on the arguably more main of the two antagonists; Boiled, whose feud with Rune and her shape-shifting AI partner Oeufcoque reaches a satisfying and bombastic conclusion. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The action scenes in these movies are spectacular, but few and far between, this a character focused drama first and an action second, it’s not a movie for people who just want explosions and action all the time, might I suggest Ghost in the Shell: Arise for that.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">However, because the action is not happening at all times, it makes the action scenes in this movie stand out due to excellent pacing that never leaves any part of this movie boring and doesn’t make you feel a scene has overstayed it’s welcome.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The voice acting and sound direction is top notch, though as I’m not an expert on these aspects I can’t go into much detail besides two key points.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. the soundtrack is incredible, it fits every scene so well you barely notice it’s there, it never sticks out but always complements the scene it’s in.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Rune’s voice actor is incredible; she gave s such an amazing performance that even without being a native Japanese speaker I could fully understand all the emotion behind each line.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Like the first two movies, Mardock Scramble 3 has some of the best animation I’ve </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">seen, every shot is near perfection, Easily in my top 10 for best animation, the contrast of colors leads to a drab, dark yet beautiful city.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The characters are all very well crafted and enjoyable to watch, with the standout Oeufcoque stealing the show and reminding me quite a lot of the dynamic between Kino and Hermes in Kino no Tabi.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rune Balot, the star of the show gets a good share of development and by the end you will feel like she’s actually changed and matured as a person.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The other characters are somewhat of a mixed bag with most at the most filler for the cast, though the resolution of Shell and Boiled’s character arcs were quite good as well.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The ending, while left quite open, also felt very final, the openness really only leading more to the cyberpunk nature of the series where open endings are quite common.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Domine; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In conclusion, I found the series as a whole to be a very smart, well thought out cyberpunk story, sure it retreads old ground but it has enough unique ideas and style to get past that. I would highly recommend them all to anybody who wants a strong cyberpunk drama in the vain of ghost in the shell.</span></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-61777663788619703472015-04-06T18:43:00.001-04:002015-04-06T18:43:48.484-04:00Shameless self promotion part 2: electric boogaloo.I figure since I've taken this blog out of hibernation I would advertize my other shit again for anybody who happens to get here.<br />
<br />
<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3lvPC8_csswlK7NUIKuh2Q">My youtube channel</a><br />
Full of let's plays and other random videos, haven't done much recently.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2310823/">My personal Fanfiction.net account</a><br />
I occasionally post random silly stories here. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6424843/">My other Fanfiction.net account</a><br />
This is a joint account with a friend of mine where we post story collaborations (only one right now, but it's really good)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://myanimelist.net/profile/Rahkshilord">My Myanimelist.net profile</a><br />
If I write any more reviews they'll probably end up on here first, so if you liked my other reviews check it out an judge my taste in anime.<br />
<br />
My other accounts on things like deviantart are dead, so forget about them until further notice.<br />
<br />Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-68938161627960609262015-04-06T11:58:00.001-04:002015-04-06T11:58:43.458-04:00Anime Review: Legendary Gambler Tetsuya<h1 dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-85568613-8f71-a2e9-1df6-06a84180d652" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 24pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Below is a copy of my review from myanimelist.net) </span></h1>
<h1 dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-85568613-8f71-a2e9-1df6-06a84180d652" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 24pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Legendary Gambler Tetsuya is an anime series that’s hard for me to recommend. Not because it’s bad mind you, it’s very, very, good; the problem lies in what it’s about; this show is about mahjong.</span></h1>
<h1 dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-85568613-8f71-a2e9-1df6-06a84180d652" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 24pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">No, not that solitary game you have preinstalled on your pc, the real mahjong, an ancient Chinese game for four players, which resembles modern rummy or gin. The Japanese variant, often known as Riichi Mahjong; takes this game to a whole new level of complexity, establishing a large list of hand combinations and situations you MUST make at least one of in order to win at all. All of a sudden this is a massively deep, intricate game, like poker on steroids.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why am I saying any of this, it’s very simple really, this anime won’t make any sense if you can’t play Mahjong on at least a low level, you need to know the rules, the tile names, the hands, ect in order to follow this show. Because you see, this anime is written for someone who already understands the game, as such it never gets bogged down trying to explain the rules it assumes you already know.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you know the rules or are willing to take time to learn them, you’ll be greatly rewarded, now if you’ve made it this far, onto the actual review!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At the point of my writing this, I have seen three shows dedicated to mahjong, This, Akagi, and Saki. This show is by far the best of the three. This is a somewhat contraversal statement I feel, since Akagi is quite well received on this site, but allow me to explain why this is the best show about mahjong I’ve seen.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s because this show cheats.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Everything this anime does is about cheating; some of the most well thought out, genius cheating I’ve ever seen. Akagi sometimes focuses on cheating at the game as well, but more often then not the game is resolved due to Akagi’s “monstrous luck”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Akagi, and even moreso in Saki, I feel a disconnect from the game and the characters, these shows are about the characters and their insane luck that almost always makes games go their way, things that are statistically impossible are the more here, and for no good reason.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tetsuya makes his own luck. You not only see why he gets the hands he does, you see how he forces the games to go his way, from skilled dice throws that always get your desired number to boldly switching tiles from your hand with those on the table.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Where Akagi’s narrator would simple tell us that he’s doing something crazy, it never feels justified, he’s just lucky, this leads to a problem many anime have, the protagonist can’t lose. Not so in this fine example here, Tetsuya loses and he loses hard, making his victories all the more gratifying when he finally wins.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is not a show for anybody; the art is dated for one, and features none of modern Anime’s “moe” sensibilities, if you’re looking for that, try Saki. Characters are never off model and every character has a distinct design, since it focuses on characters sitting and playing a game most of the time there’s minimal motion, but what is there is well executed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The sound is nothing to write home about, the OST is unmemorable, but the character voices all fit well. As I can’t speak Japanese I can’t pass judgment on the acting level but it seemed to par with shows of the time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But where this show shines is its story and characters, every character we meet is either likeable or satisfyingly detestable, Tetsuya himself is a great character, who unlike Akagi actually grows and changes as it goes on.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The story is fairly straight forward and mostly involves escalating battles in gambling between our main characters and an assortment of colorful “villains”, with each game essentially being standalone. That’s not to say there are no twists, there are a decent many turns in this story that all lead up to an emotional, satisfying conclusion despite being an incomplete adaptation of a manga that as of now has no translation I can find anywhere, which is somewhat disappointing as I hear this anime only covered a small amount of it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you haven’t the faintest idea what mahjong is, you probably won’t like this show, but if you love mahjong or even just understand it on a beginner level, this is a hell of a hidden gem.</span></div>
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-32034321276567902902013-01-28T19:25:00.000-05:002013-01-28T19:25:01.669-05:00Long time no see.Jesus, Last post was in 2011? No wonder I have no followers.<br />
So hello fake readers who don't exit! I am back and will maybe post more things in the future, enjoy that re posted review of a light novel.Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-25279652065539590962013-01-28T19:21:00.002-05:002013-01-28T19:26:49.119-05:00Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Novel review repost.What follows is a review of the Light Novel Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! I posted on Myanimelist.net, and I'm posting it here because my only other review on that site magically vanished one day never to be seen again, this is proof I wrote a review of this novel.<br />
<br />
<br />
Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! is an... Interesting case of the source
materiel of an anime being weaker then the adaptation, that's not to say
it's a bad light novel, I just found the Anime to be one of last years
best, and the novel was... alright.<br />
As a note, I have only read one of the two volumes and it was a fan
translation, so some of my issues may have been fixed in the second
volume or caused by the translation.<br />
<br />
Onto the review then.<br />
<br />
Story: 6/10<br />
<br />
Now I just can't talk about the story without comparing it to the Anime so I'm sorry if you wanted <span id="review85117">a standalone review with no bias, it's just impossible.<br />
The story is amazingly different to the anime, which is both good and
bad. A reader who's seen the anime first will at least get some scenes
that didn't happen in the show but at the same time it lacks a lot of
the good parts of the show.<br />
The main issues I have here are pacing related as I feel the rest falls under the Character section, so I'll explain them there.<br />
<br />
The story has a bad sense of pacing about it, things that should be long
multi-chapter arcs In my opinion felt rushed, and by the end of it
there's no real payoff or resolution unlike the anime; it just sort of
stops.<br />
<br />
Another thing is that it doesn't dig into Rika's background at all nor
show any of her delusions (some of the best scenes in the anime)<br />
The story served to be more of a way to get to the next scene of
character interaction, which isn't so much an issue on it's own but when
I talk about that it will become an issue.<br />
<br />
So in the end, the story was painfully average, it had good ideas but it never really took them as far as they could go.<br />
<br />
Art: 7/10<br />
<br />
There's really not a whole lot to say about the artwork, it was about as
good as the art in other Light Novels I've read, nothing special.<br />
One disappointing thing for me was the lack of Rika's Chuunibyou warped
viewpoint, which would have added something to the artwork that most
LN's don't have.<br />
<br />
Character: 3/10<br />
<br />
As I said earlier, A story that serves only to move between characters
interacting isn't in itself bad if it's a character driven piece which
Chuunibyou most certainly is.<br />
Unfortunately, this is where Chuunibyou falls apart at the seams for me.<br />
<br />
Right off the bat we have an issue, Yuuta's personality is so ill
defined it's impossible to say if he's acting out of character or not.
He is most certainly not the same Yuuta form the show though.<br />
He goes though almost no character development during the novel, not like anyone else did either but I digress. <br />
<br />
Where in the Anime he started out with a crush on Nibutani and later
develops feelings for Rika(Not a spoiler it was so clear that would
happen) he now starts out with the crush on Rika taking all depth out of
their relationship.<br />
<br />
As for Rika, well this LN is a perfect example why supporting cast is very important.<br />
The lack of Rika's friend in the anime, Dekomori, and the lack of her
older sister Touka complety ruins her character's depth and makes her
just a sort of quirky girl.<br />
The interplay between Rika and her sister or Dekomori is so vital to
getting to know her in the anime the fact they aren't in the novel at
all is frankly shocking to me.<br />
<br />
As for Isshiki and Nibutani, essentially the only supporting characters
in the novel, well they're just pale imitations of their anime
counterparts.<br />
<br />
I've seen reviews of the anime call Kumin a useless character thrown in
for more "Moe" and I tended to agree until I read the novel, sure she
didn't really add anything on her own but she added to Isshiki's
personality and made him less boring.<br />
<br />
So in short, the characters are the weakest part and they really drag it
down a whole lot, lack of the great side character sin the anime make
the novel feel empty and shallow.<br />
<br />
<br />
Enjoyment: 6/10<br />
<br />
Did I enjoy reading it? Yes, but was it very good? eh.<br />
if you haven't seen the anime I'd say it would be better to watch that,
but viewers of the anime might get a little enjoyment out of it if you
don't compare it to what could have been.<br />
<br />
Overall: 5/10<br />
<br />
I want to stress that I rate with the full scale of 1 to 10, this isn't
IGN's 5 equals worthless trash scale. 5 is an average score for me, it
isn't bad, it's just not very good.<br />
<br />
I have to quote myself about the story here, as a whole Chuunibyou demo
Koi ga Shitai! was nothing but painfully average, it had good ideas and
as I've said a ton already, the anime really delivers on them, watch
that instead.</span>Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-19195384568007661832011-09-08T19:30:00.000-04:002011-09-08T19:34:57.036-04:00My other thingsIf by some slim chance you've found this(I don't see how you would have)<br />
I'd like to let you know that I do other things, suck as Let's Plays on youtube, sometimes rarely post bad MSPaint things on deviantart, and sometimes even more rarely post bad writings on fictionpress.<br />
these are all linked below. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
http://www.youtube.com/user/RahkshiMaster<br />
http://rahkshi-lord.deviantart.com/<br />
http://www.fictionpress.com/u/708274/Rahkshi_lordRahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-37210608476458091452011-09-08T18:50:00.000-04:002011-09-08T18:50:53.666-04:00Why does modern anime suck so bad? Part 2 of 1This is a one episode right to dvd release called "Baby Princess 3D Paradise 0 [Love]" (WTF?)<br />
about... Oh god i can't bring myself to type it.<br />
<br />
"A high school senior named Yotaro thought he was an only child — until he met his real mother and discovered that she has 19 daughters, from 0 to 18 years old. He ends up living with his "true family.""<br />
<br />
Yeah...<br />
<br />
The end.Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-36374327717591882642011-08-19T18:54:00.000-04:002011-08-19T18:54:15.312-04:00Deadpool is too mainstream and or doesn't work in this eraOh Deadpool, you were so cool what happened? Back when Joe Kelly was writing for your book you were the best thing ever, so why, do you now seem so lame? Let's take a look shall we?<br />
Maybe it has to do with how the masses view this character, or how the current riders are handling his personality. But I'm not sure, I think it may have something to do with the current time period we're in; Deadpool came out in the nineties(well technically the end of the eighties) and at that time that character that he was was the norm, a superhero who uses guns and violence instead of heroics, darker, edgier, more mature.<br />
<br />
But Deadpool was a parody of these things, a parody of the nineties action hero when the nineties action hero was still popular. At the beginning of Deadpool's first run of comics he was in the height of the nineties action hero, and I think that gave him a distinct advantage, because he could appeal to those who liked the nineties action hero and at the same time appealing to those who didn't like the nineties action hero, simply brilliant.<br />
<br />
But now, in 2011, he's not only no longer a parody of nineties action heroes, but he is a parody of himself; I think it's partially to blame for the handling of his characterization by the writer Daniel way, but that can't be just it, because even with Daniel way's subpar writing compared to Joe Kelly or even Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool still does things that he would have done in the older comics, just not as often. <br />
<br />
But now, he's nothing more than a relic, and that's partially due to do with the mainstream popularity of this character.<br />
Deadpool is so popular right now and that is another issue, even the best things need to be controlled and moderated, I like chocolate ice cream but I don't wanna have it for every meal of the day; just like I don't want Deadpool to begin every comic in all of marvel.<br />
No one comic book character needs three ongoing series guest appearances in every other series in their lineup just because people on the Internet think he's funny. <br />
Is it hit start to say that Deadpool was to mainstream? Yeah yes it is, but it needs to be said.<br />
For in my opinion it feels as the Deadpool do things in comics simply because of writers think it would be funny for him to do it and not to get any logic at all, all they see is a psychotic character in a red and black jumpsuit, whose self aware that he's in a comic. But Deadpool was so much more than that, sure it was a nutjob, but you could tell he has a good heart, he just struggles with his past and the ability to break free from it.<br />
<br />
And yes there were tons a silly things in the old comics but they weren't as silly as they are now, in the old comics Deadpool might have encountered a ton of ripoff Deadpools, but in the new comics Deadpool is fighting a monkey assassin, wearing armor made out of chopped meat, and randomly becoming a pirate. Do I still read the comics? Yes I do, but I'm not enjoying them as much as I should for a character that I used to love so much.<br />
Hell I have a Deadpool figure sitting on my desk right now.<br />
<br />
So in conclusion, I feel that Deadpool is mainstream popularity has led to the downfall of his quality; that were once he would do things to make fun of a specific point about nineties comics, now he does random shit for the lulz <br />
<br />
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-8142300225080181042011-08-17T11:58:00.000-04:002011-08-17T11:58:40.733-04:00Bioware are sellouts part 2 (chapter 2 of the sellouts saga) Previously on the Sellout saga; Bitching about dragon age.<br />
<br />
<br />
Now don't get me, I love dragon age 1, I just wanted to highlight the signs of things to come.<br />
<br />
<br />
I, along with everyone else was looking forward to the next game, hoping for more adventures of our favorite Gray Warden and friends. What why got however, was a rushed, unfinished cash grab most likely pushed upon Bioware by EA(another story entirely)<br />
On to the points!<br />
<br />
1: It's dumbed down.<br />
And I mean REALLY dumbed down, to the point it might as well be a hack and slash game, hell it is seeing as you have to press a button every time you want to swing your sword, you have one weapon stat which is damage I think.<br />
In the first game, you could be a human, a dwarf, or an elf; Each with more then one opening quest. Now however, you can be Hawke, a human. and yeah in DA:O you were stuck with a last name two, but for some reason that didn't bother me there, it does here. Why ask, because that's what Mass Effect did, you don't make a massive original world fill with unique races just to make some be stuck as a something that exists in the REAL WORLD. This bit will bleed into the next point which is...<br />
<br />
2: Lack of content.<br />
DA:O had 3 main cities, a few miner ones and some misc locations. DA2 has ONE city.<br />
Do you see a problem here? I do, same with the lack of race choice, which removes the unique starting quests thus lowering the replayability, and the 5 or so dungeons reused over and over throughout the whole thin.<br />
<br />
3:The name bugs me.<br />
Dragon Age 2? there was never really a Dragon Age 1, for the first game is called Dragon Age Origins, not just Dragon Age, a nitpick a know, but come on people. (Also Origins isn't um, the origins of anything)<br />
<br />
4: Has almost no connection to DA:O<br />
Hawkes adventures bare no relation to the first game, at all, unlike *shudders* Mass Effect.<br />
yet another sign that they didn't really care about their fans.<br />
<br />
On to Mass Effect 2.<br />
I have not actually played this game so I'll be short.<br />
<br />
1: it's pretty much a corridor shooter<br />
<br />
2: Plot like the first one doesn't really end and you have to play the next one to see the end, I never like that.<br />
<br />
On to the KoTOR MMO.<br />
<br />
1: They made an MMO instead of an actual sequel, 'nuff said.<br />
<br />
TL;DR Bioware sucks<br />
<br />
Stay tuned(wonder how many young people will understand this) for the next part, where we deal with a completely different sellout, can you guess who? wait for it... it's, um... some sellout, don't you worry.<br />
<br />
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Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-68269601099762820042011-08-16T18:41:00.000-04:002011-08-16T18:41:35.245-04:00Why does modern anime suck so bad?Back in my day(God that made me feel old) an action anime was an action anime. it didn't need a bunch of dicking around in school, fan service episodes where everyone GOES TO THE BEACH! or goddamn secret agent MAIDS<br />
<img alt="this is what's wrong with anime" height="180" src="http://shini-subs.com/wordpress31/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Sacred-Seven-04.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<i>Sacred Seven sucks</i><br />
<br />
<br />
Even one of my favorite anime of ALL TIME falls into gratuitous fan service in <b>the first episode; </b>That show being the insanely awesome Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. And I for one really am annoyed it's there, if the fan service wasn't there it would still by just as good of a show.<br />
<br />
What's even worse is the way people act about the fan service, they <i>like </i>it, which of course is why studios are still doing it.<br />
<br />
If you want to make a show about boobs fine, more power to ya, but don't keep shoving that crap into my asskicking action shows.Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4653269551336275638.post-21258790138493609582011-08-16T15:30:00.000-04:002011-08-16T15:30:10.682-04:00Bioware are sellouts part 1 (chapter one of the sellouts saga)Bioware, oh Bioware; What happened to the game dev that made Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, even Dragon Age? Gone I tell you, hopefully not for good.<br />
<br />
Now where to begin, oh right, the rushed sequels, the dumbing down of already simple game mechanics, and so on. First they release Mass Effect, a third person shooter masquerading as a Role Playing Game because they feel to afraid to anger their diehard RPG fans if they made an action game; or maybe they themselves are ashamed that they made a game so clearly pandering to the so called "console generation"<br />
that they tried to make it somewhat of an rpg to justify it. Not I understand that first and foremost they need to make money, I'm not saying they shouldn't do what sells.<br />
But then They released Dragon Age: Origins(a name that implies sequels) and everyone rejoiced, it felt like Bioware were going back to their roots, and the game was good, very good: so Bioware were back right? Wrong, and here's why.<br />
<br />
1: Day one DLC.<br />
Need I say more, I do? Alright. My copy of the game came with this plastic card with a code on it that said something like "This code unlocks Shale, a new ingame follower" and at first I was like OK cool I like free stuff, but then it hit me, "why was this not just in the game from the start? I mean this is a brand new game and it already has DLC?"<br />
Why should I have to download something that should have been in the game from the start?<br />
<br />
2:The DLC the followed<br />
Yeah two whole points about DLC, but I mean come on, why has this not been said before?<br />
The DLC that came out after the game was all a cheap cash in, some was utterly pointless, like the "party pranks" and others seem like they should have already been in the game. I'm looking at you, DLC that you have to buy to get the conclusion to the cliffhangers of the story.<br />
<br />
Only two things to say about dragon age 1 tune in next time when I talk about dragon age two, mass effect 2 and the upcoming Knight of the Old Republic MMO<br />
Rahkshi Lordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14408656287713178114noreply@blogger.com0