tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52408376698031641482024-03-12T20:34:44.023-04:00The Blog No One Cares AboutAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-83653825110418562532016-09-29T09:53:00.001-04:002016-09-29T09:53:20.430-04:00Fake(OVA)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/6d/b0/aa/6db0aa37f99918c26a86e7a5f4aacbf9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/6d/b0/aa/6db0aa37f99918c26a86e7a5f4aacbf9.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I feel I should put my cards on the table so to speak: I know little to nothing about</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i> Fake</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The extent of my knowledge is that it stars a couple of cops who are into each other. With that out of the way, how does the OVA of the series represent itself to a newcomer? Rather poorly, honestly. It's definitely interesting enough that I want to look more into it but taken by itself it's a boring story with a cast of characters that are rather obnoxious.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-ab9c4fdc-7635-22c1-d8b2-b55d494e72f3" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<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: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The story follows Dee and Ryo, two cops from New York on vacation in England when a murderer strikes. Dee is trying to get Ryo to admit feelings for him and is about as subtle as your average white guy at any given bar. Both plots seem to be staying in separate room for the most part not talking to each other. Unfortunately we're stuck in the romance plots room for most of the OVA till the murder plot comes crashing through the door because it just can't fight this feeling anymore... I'll let this metaphor go now.</span></div>
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<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: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We're stuck slogging through a romance plot that isn't particularly interesting because it's clear they are together already if Ryo would just admit it. Instead we getting cute kissing scenes and pussyfooting around at all other time. Meanwhile the murder plot is going on just fine without the duo and I question why they need to be here at all since Ryo's sole addition to the case is being part Japanese, in a case where Japanese people are being bumped off. Admittedly once the murder plot goes into full focus it gets mildly exciting even if it's rather simplistic.</span></div>
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<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: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a third cop that just happens to be here named Berkeley Rose and in all honesty he could have carried the whole plot and relegated the main cast to side characters since most just fulfill a minor function in the story that could be done by most people. Rose is cool, smart, and overall rather subtle. He's not fun per se to be around but compared to the raging chuckle heads that compose most of the cast he's a cut above.</span></div>
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<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: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The writing and humor overall are rather lackluster. The story tries to make us feel for the killer in that his daughter was murdered by Japanese tourists; and he takes it upon himself to kill every Japanese person who comes to his little hotel. Now if maybe the suspects got away with the crime then yeah I can see why you'd go that far but the men who killed his daughter were punished by the law so why go through all of this? It makes no sense and makes him into bloodthirsty monster instead of a tragic father. The humor barring one decently funny scene,that admittedly gets ruined when the gag is repeated, is stale and mostly involves yelling or poor slapstick. There are times when that style of humor work, such as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Baka and Test</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but here it's meh. It doesn't help that every time Dee goes into his loud voice the things he says are embarrassingly cheesy or have a bit of a sexual predator vibe.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Fake</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as an OVA is rather annoying but there is this niggling doubt in the back of my mind that this might be an okay manga series. Mostly so I don't have to here the poor English voice acting. Maybe the OVA is just a bad representation of the series and this could be a deep and thoughtful story that happens to feature gay men. As for the OVA, probably best just to avoid it.</span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-42373398365829622962016-04-22T15:04:00.002-04:002016-04-22T15:04:17.338-04:00Sly Cooper:Thieves in Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn2-www.playstationlifestyle.net/assets/uploads/2013/02/Sly-Trophy-Guide.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn2-www.playstationlifestyle.net/assets/uploads/2013/02/Sly-Trophy-Guide.png" height="144" width="320" /></a></div>
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There are some video games that
shouldn't exist. Be it for say being a mess of programming held
together with chewing gum. Then there's a game like <i>Sly Cooper
Thieves in Time</i> that just takes the franchise up to this point and
runs it over with a monster truck. A game that misses the point of
what made the original<i> Sly Cooper</i> trilogy,especially the latter two
games, fun and enjoyable. Boiling it down to a mess that while
perfectly functional should not have been made.</div>
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To understand what makes this game such
a slap in the face we need to step back shortly. The Sly Cooper games
have always been about the titular thief who stole from criminals
because there was no fun in stealing from regular people. The first
game,<i>The Thievius Raccoonus</i>, was your standard 3-D platformer that
followed Sly and his friends,Bentley Turtle and Murray Hippo, as the
took back the title book that detailed his ancestors various thieving
techniques and defeated his families most feared rival, Clockwerk.
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The sequel, <i>Band Of Thieves</i>, was a
radically different game. Murray and Bentley were upgraded to fully
playable characters and become less of a collectible platformer to a
open world game that felt like a heist. It did well enough to spawn
another sequel, <i>Honor Among Thieves</i>, which took everything that made
the previous game work and streamlined it, while adding new forms of
game play against the backdrop of building a team to make one massive
heist. Despite the radical changes both these games made everything
fit. You explored the hubs, stole from guards, and just felt
stealthy. They're excellent games I come back to again and again.
<i>Thieves in Time</i> is a game that I can't say I'll probably ever
revisit.</div>
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The first strike is the lack of a
bigger goal both within in the levels and in the grander scheme of
the narrative. Band and Honor both had Bentley giving a briefing on
how things were going to go and then giving you a host of missions to
pull off then you went about your merry way to do those tasks how you
pleased. It was fun and gave you a sense of progression,not the case
here. You still get to go out into the world to pull off jobs and
steal optional treasures but there is always one job at a
time,barring one instance in the final stage, and the details are
explained as needed. I never had a good idea of why I was really
doing this or how this helped...what ever the plan was. The briefings
aren't gone completely just moved to the start of certain missions to
explain the apparent big plan we'd been prepping for. Then Bentley
descries about four or five steps that sound like fun things to do
and then come to find out we're only doing one character's portion of
the plan while everything else is done off screen. It's a huge let
down and breaks the supposed sense of unity these people are supposed
to have. I don't know if I can accidentally beat a game but I felt
like I stumbled through most of this game. This ties nicely into the game play, I might add.</div>
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The missions have this bad habit of
either been criminally short or go on for ages. Most fall into the
latter category with tedious sections of do task to open up a path to
do a short combat section to do more of the tedious task again. The
few new characters that are fun to play as tend to get the short end
of the straw with actual tasks for them to do. Which leads to a
bigger problem of most of the characters that aren't the core trio of
Sly, Bentley and Murray having little purpose.</div>
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Honor Among Thieves had the set up of
expanding the team but everyone had a role that they filled. Even
characters like Penelope, who was there to be better at something
than Bentley, felt relevant. Here the new characters are all just
worse versions of Sly with like one technique that makes them
special. This brings up a whole host of problems story wise that I'll
get to shortly but they add really nothing to the game play. Sure you
could explore the world and collect treasures with them but you still
need certain things only Sly can do,barring a random exception in the
fourth stage, so it's pointless to explore as anyone but him. Most
of the jobs they pull off reek of “This looks like a job for
Aquaman” and could have been easily done with Sly if they hadn't
been specifically tailored to the one move the new guy knows. Also
while Carmelita was a sometime playable character in Sly 3,she's
upgraded to a select able character but she really has no reason to
be used in the field since Sly is the only reasonable choice and her
upgrades don't seem to really help,though this is less a problem with
here and more a problem with everybody.</div>
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Outside of a few core upgrades you can
purchase to help build the characters most of them are quickly
forgotten. Murray has four add-on to give his fists elemental powers
and while entertaining all serve the same function of bashing skulls
in equally well. There is no need to learn them when the basic
attacks will do the trick. Speaking of upgrades remember when Honor
Among Thieves let you dress up as a guard on occasion to pull off
jobs well now Sly has even more costumes and they are all shoe horned
in so hard I'm surprised the disk doesn't reek of astro glide.
Nothing they really do needed to be in this game and ultimately make
you back track if you want to collect all the games optional
treasures.
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The second strike is the characters and
the story. As I mentioned above the games always have had this
feeling of working towards something bigger. Here again we're just
fumbling in the dark against villains that are probably the worst the
series has to offer. Most of the villains in previous entries had
either a bit of a tragic back story,were jerks were just hamming it
up or a combination of the three. It gave the player someone to rally
against and made the take downs mean something. Here we see the
villains so little and their plans are either insanely petty or just
plain stupid. We see so little of them that they feel more like a
carrot dangling out in front of the player than any actual threat.
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There are two notable villains that do
merit discussion: Penelope and Le Paradox. Penelope came all the way
from<i> Honor Among Thieves</i> to do a heel face turn that while it is well
foreshadowed in ways still makes little to no sense. She's doing it
because apparently, Bentley being with Sly is holding him back.
Despite all of <i>Honor Among Thieves</i> being about how Bentley is equal
to Sly and they'd support each other no matter what...apparently she
forgot about that and how she helped Bentley through that problem
last game.
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Le Paradox opens up a very interesting
avenue as a parallel to Sly, both grew up as orphans after losing
their fathers but Sly went one way and Le Paradox went the other. It
could have made the villain much more personal like most Sly final
bosses but no were just treated to a quick back story shoved in the
last episode and a motive that is about as petty as everyone else.</div>
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The villains are clearly phoning it in
but to be fair the protagonists are too. They all act like they
always have with a few new traits that are just a bit bizarre. The
humor is rather off, Bentley and Sly's conversations come off less as
charming and more mean spirited towards Bentley. Murray seems to have
forgotten the arc he went through that reminded him that he's
valuable to the team even if he can't do everything. He also has this
obsession with cross-dressing that, like most of the humor comes off
as, more mean spirited. There is a scene where Murray disguises
himself as a geisha and seduces all the guards. I can't honestly tell
if the humor is from the stupidity of the disguise or that the guards
are all being tricked by a man. I'm more inclined to believe the
latter since there is a scene later where Murray is really eager to
dress up as a belly dancer and we're supposed to laugh that he'd want
to do that but I don't know why. Some jokes do land but they are few
and far between and more often than not come off as nasty than
actually funny.</div>
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The new characters are Sly's ancestors
who Le Paradox is trying to interfere with by stealing their canes.
As noted above they add little to the game play and for the most part
are just unlikable. They were all featured in the first game when
Sly was thieving back his family's book and I guess they forgot to
write down the actual useful techniques like zooming up poles or
leaping great distances by concentrating. The Cooper ancestors them
selves are a mixed bag,they range from boring to just plain
unlikable. The only decent one is Sir Galleth Cooper,with his noble
tendencies and headstrong attitude honestly leads to some of the
better jokes.</div>
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The story makes little to no sense in
the slightest. As mentioned above Le Paradox is screwing with time by
stealing the Cooper canes but it's never clearly stated why he needs
the canes and what's to stop the Coopers form making a new cane. Then
they start talking about time regulating itself for no real reason.
All the villains are petty and the characters are either so bland or
nasty that I can't really be asked to care.</div>
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There is no third strike...what? You
thought you knew what you were in for well I didn't so you get
disappointed too. I'm actually going to say some nice things about
the game. The game play really works just fine for all of it's
superfluous additions and on occasion we do have a fun platforming
section that made me remember why I liked the original games.
Bentley's hacking has been over hauled and has three separate
variations that are reminiscent of different arcade games. Most are
actually enjoyable and provide some challenge. The timed treasure
hunts that were in<i> Band of Thieves</i> return after being absent from
<i>Honor Among Thieves </i>and are fun even if the thief
costume's time slow ability makes the challenge a joke.</div>
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Despite the fact that the developers
had no idea what made the original games great they did clearly play
them as the game is packed with references. The treasures you pick up
are all nods to either past villains or events. Speaking of call
backs, I believe that this is the only reason the clue bottles remain
in the game. The previous games had you collect bottles to unlock a
safe that contained something to make game play easier. They do the
same here but the safes are not a number combo; you just play a mini
game,so why did I need to collect the bottles? Sorry the good things
about this game are few and far between the more prominent
annoyances.</div>
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<i>Thieves in Time</i> is a game that has a
very warped idea of what made it's predecessors great games. It's too
afraid to stand on it's own and while throwing out an interesting
idea every once in a while it just fails to be fun.It's humor seems
out of place and mean-spirited, the characters are either bland,petty
or just out of character and the story which had the potential to go
to interesting examination of Sly's history ,squanders it on piss
poor villains and plotting. I could go on for days about everything that pisses me off in this game but for brevity's sake I'm stopping now Go play any other Sly game and leave this
game forgotten by time.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-54139270890609898202016-04-17T13:53:00.002-04:002016-04-17T13:53:30.483-04:00Things No One Cares About: Giganto Maxia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images.darkhorse.com/darkhorse/index_images/blog/blog2015/gigantomax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images.darkhorse.com/darkhorse/index_images/blog/blog2015/gigantomax.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a></div>
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It's a rather happy day for me: Kentaro
Miura shows up on this blog again and for once I don't have to make
fun of the man. His previous non-<i>Berserk</i> works featured here has
ranged from average to embarrassingly awful. <i>Giganto Maxia</i> has the
advantage of a being written by a Miura who's learned something from
writing <i>Berserk</i>. It's a story with tight plotting and characters with
the art style Miura has honed after all these years.</div>
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<i>Giganto Maxia</i>'s story is not a complex
one,it's half past the Apocalypse and the world has gone down the
gutter. We follow the odd Delos and his companion,the even odder
Prome, as the search for fragments of life to help restore the
scorched world. The story only really covers a small slice of what
should be a much larger story yet the ending doesn't feel abrupt.
Everything you'd want to know about this world is conveyed through
attention to detail and the back story of Delos. I feel like I'm in a
living breathing world with it's own rich mythology that I'd love to
see more of.</div>
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The pacing is rather quick and boils
down to a short prologue and epilogue and two fights. The prologue
sets the tone as more comedic and while it is delivering into more
serious topics,the fighting keeps things light since it's basically a
guy pulling off wrestling moves to defeat much more serious opponents
but even that ties back into the bigger theme of peace and hope.
Berserk has been exploring fighting the odds even when they are
hopeless and it's explored here as well with out coming off as a
retread.</div>
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Delos uses wrestling moves to
incapacitate his opponents rather than kill them like everyone
expects. Everything he does runs counter intuitive to what the world
has come to expect. He doesn't kill the titular Gigantos he
encounters as killing them will do nothing, but rendering them
immobile they can be used to restore the earth albeit rather slowly.
Later we get the revelation that the events that razed the planet
have happened before and will happen again yet humanity never gives
up and instead adapts. Yet it also proposes that to change the world
we have to be willingly to change not just to suit our new
environment but also how we conduct ourselves and the treatment of
others.</div>
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The major conflict of the story is the
imperialistic Empire trying to wipe out the people of the desert who
have learned to live with the massive beetles of the region. The
Beetle people are rightfully angry at the Empire for wiping them almost all out in a rather cruel fashion. Yet Delos' is able to
convince them to spare the opposing army and become better people to
try and end the cycle of violence. When the empire does not to stand
down, they get their memories and feeling of the dessert mixed around
by Prome's magic. Having details of this change would be a much more
monumental task that could take up a few volumes by it self. The
story is trying to convey that change starts small.</div>
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Delos and Prome's relationship is
rather cute in a way. Delos carries her every where and will protect
her with his life. At one point trying to stop rocks getting thrown
at her by having the throwers focus on him. They both clearly care
for each other even if Prome won't admit it. She admires his
dedication to non lethal violence and not just because it's the only
way to get the most use out of the Gigantos. That's not to say one
couldn't read her refusal to let him die as simply her desire to
complete her mission since she often comes across as all business.
However she shows him immense kindness despite her cold and teasing
demeanor. She's implied to have seen the type of predicament the
world has been in before being a sort of omnipotent spirit and Delos'
kindness really speaks to her as evidenced in the ending where she
shrinks her self to a child like state to lighten the load of
carrying her around.
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The art looks rather magnificent,
Miura's backgrounds were a highlight of his poor team ups with
Buroson and combined with the years to hone his talents were treated
to a gorgeously barren world. The world feels scorched and ugly and
contrast nicely with the crowed and pretty sanctuary of the beetle
people. The monsters look scary and otherworldly,akin to the demons
and apostles of <i>Berserk</i>. Prome's face is serious most of the time but
her decidedly less serious pouting faces are hilarious for all the
right reasons.</div>
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I've said before that I refuse to
believe that <i>Berserk</i> was not just a fluke and while his early works
have not done much to prove me right, <i>Giganto Maxia</i> has. A deep story
with likable characters and a theme of hope that runs through the
story without bashing you over the head with it. Highly recommend,if
my opinion means anything to you. See you all again in like seven
months.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-38261810571857315992015-11-09T13:57:00.001-05:002015-11-09T13:57:27.046-05:00Things No One Cares About: Yoshi's Woolly World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://nintendoeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/126239_WUPP_AYC_WWcharSet01_3_C_ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://nintendoeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/126239_WUPP_AYC_WWcharSet01_3_C_ad.jpg" height="211" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm going to open by saying I love
<i>Yoshi's Island</i>. It was built around a set of mechanics that
while easy to figure out had a host of depth to them. The children's
drawings that make up the graphics are something I'd never seen up
till that point and I've never really seen outside of this game and
the DS sequel. It's a magical game that I revisit ever so often for
comforting warmth. It's sequels have failed to capture that magic for
me till now with <i>Yoshi's Woolly World.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What sets <i>Woolly World </i>heads
above it's hand held brethren is the spark of creativity. <i>Yoshi's
Island DS</i> had some of that too but it added little to the
experience and felt bloated instead of fresh. While<i> Yoshi's New
Island</i> lacked soul and had some out there ideas on hidden objects
that sadly Woolly World picked up. Then we're at <i>Woolly World</i>
and it's hard to really put into words but there this sense of wonder
and desire to keep it fresh that permeates the experience. It
instills the urge to keep playing just to see what's thrown at you
next.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The story is as such: Kamek is back for
probably the fourth or fifth time to get something for Baby Bowser
only this time everything is made of sewing supplies because why not.
It has more in common story wise with <i>Yoshi's Story</i> what with
the lack of Mario. I could sit here and nitpick about why everything
is suddenly yarn but it's not really the point. I'm here to see
creative visuals and look for hidden items. The levels are
wonderfully designed; each with a unique feel that burns them into my
memory. Sure they do borrow thematically from the original game on
occasion but unlike <i>Yoshi's New Island</i> it's less copy/paste
and more jumping off point. It gives the game it's own identity while
still having that<i> Yoshi's Island</i> feel. If only it had taken
more of a page from it's book on secrets.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Woolly World</i> has a sound set of
rules for how to find it's hidden flowers,yarn, and stamp patches
that aren't too bad once you start thinking like the game. It does
become blatantly obvious once you're in that frame of mind where
objects are hidden. However Woolly World did pick up some bad habits
from <i>New Island</i> such as walking over a certain spot making a
line of gems appear with no real indication that it would do so and
unlike most secrets these are never hinted at well enough. Luckily
these are not as common as New Island.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The other major thing <i>Woolly World</i>
picked up from <i>New Island</i> was how it handled Yoshi's
transformations. Both this and New Island took the original's idea of
just hitting a bubble to transform and instead put you on a timed
course. Here I think they are handled much better than in <i>New
Island</i>. They have a tighter feel with some more entertaining
transformations like the motorbike and mermaid Yoshi.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Also making it's debut in the series is
Co-op mode or as it was known in the olden time: be a jerk to your
friends mode. You can eat each other and launch your partner like a
normal yarn ball or spit each other up to ledge you could have
reached had you not been farting around and destroyed the path to it.
Joking aside it's a fun time to be had and it helps to have an extra
person on screen to help search for secret areas.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
While the game has made plenty of
tweaks and additions, the core mechanics still remain unchanged. The
flutter jump still works how it always has and the yarn balls obeys
the same physics that eggs used to even if they have some new
functions: like binding enemies and stitching together new platforms.
The former is implemented in some new mechanics such as making your
own chomp rocks out of Chomps and blowing up a bullet bill canon. It
also brought over the right level of challenge. The game is easy but
not insultingly so and the bonus levels retain the brutal difficulty
spike. There are one time use badges that can be purchased with in
game gems that make levels a joke are hardly necessary. The only real
compliant I can lodge at this game is that it only has two
mini-bosses reused thrice: Montgomery the Mole and Knot-Wing the
Koopa. They are changed up enough between each battle but it still
feels a tad lazy.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The game takes full advantage of its'
sewing tin aesthetic with enemies being made of various yarns,
buttons and what not. Bigger enemies appear knitted together like the
Blargs made out of scarves and smaller ones like Shy Guys unravel as
you eat them. It makes everything about this game adorable and
fluffy. The theming of worlds and levels could have used a little
work as while most levels do fit into the world they reside in, some
feel forced. Such as the weird Arabian Nights level in the middle of
the icy tundra world.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The game's soundtrack is varied and
goes places I wouldn't really expect for a Yoshi game. From the
simple happy “Yoshi and Cookies” to the hard rocking “Lava
Scarves and Red Hot Blarggs”,which is something I never though I'd
hear in a series that is using a more child like tone of music. I
looked forward to going back through some levels for secret hunting
just to hear certain tracks again. Special mention to “Up
Steeplethread Pass” which has this melancholic post Christmas feel
that sums up perfectly the bleak loneliness and maze like layout of
the level. Some levels do have reused tracks from other levels and
they mostly work but can feel out of place since I linked them with
another level so strongly in my mind.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So now that you've read my love letter
to this game and it's older sister while bashing on the ugly middle
children,go buy this game. If you have a Wii U then this is a must
buy and if you don't well then don't rush out and buy one or anything
but once you do get this game. <i>Woolly World </i>captures the
original's spirit while also standing proud as it's on entity.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Till Next Time: Stay Positive
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-71539130880822401732015-10-26T19:52:00.001-04:002016-09-29T10:05:45.703-04:00Things No One Cares About:The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Manga)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/manga/2/126017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/manga/2/126017.jpg" /></a></div>
Of all the <i>Legend of Zelda</i> games I've played, <i>The Minish Cap</i> is definitely one of them. It's hardly a bad game; just a forgettable one. What makes this weird is that the final fight with Vaati left such an<br />
impression on me I shoehorned him into a D&D campaign as a boss. The rest of the game is this big<br />
nebulous blob that; if I revisited it I'd love it but forget about it soon after. This overall feeling of<br />
apathy also extends to the manga adaption.<br />
<br />
The story follows the game's plot in a condensed format. Seeing as having chapters of Link wandering around a dungeon with no clue how to proceed would be rather boring and waste what little page count we have, instead each dungeon is treated as an action scene; barring the third temple, which goes into story about a fairy who sings for days then dies. It’s beautifully drawn, like most of the book's art, and serves as a nice transition into a decidedly more serious second half. The Picori are quite a bit more involved in the action here which I feel ties better into their love of humanity. Link is the first human they've been able to communicate with in a long time so of course they'd really love helping and being involved with him. This does however become the root of some of the nitpicks.<br />
<br />
Near the middle of the story Link is given a magical feather by the Picori elder, Libari, and at first it's a nice little way to keep Link on the right path without feeling like he's being railroaded. Near the end this feather might as well kill Vaati by itself for all the goofy crap it pulls from making a perfect map of an area to becoming a Roc's cape. Mind you this things back story is that Libari won it off a regular Cucco by kicking its can. The other issue that bugs me is Link's little character arc is poorly defined. Near the end he berates Vaati for using the power of others to strengthening his own and Link relies on his own power. There is just one problem with that: Link is using things given to him by the Picori. There is nothing wrong with getting help from friends but give credit where credit is due and don't act like you did it all. I would chalk it up to poor translation if the rest of the manga wasn't translated well but it isn't so I won't.<br />
<br />
I do know that some Zelda fans to take these games more serious than I do and tend to prefer a more<br />
mature experience from the franchise; the fact that this is a more light hearted action comedy might not sit well with some. However I've always seen the franchise as one not afraid to laugh at itself and I can live with the more humorous moments of the book. The character are the right mix of funny and serious so that they still feel like Legend of Zelda characters. Also I do love that Kinstones are<br />
implemented in such a clunky manner that it borders on comedy though it's a nice call back to the<br />
game's actual plot use of them so I can forgive it.<br />
<br />
The manga adaptation of <i>The Minish Cap</i> is a fun little romp that ultimately doesn't leave a great deal of impact just like what it's based on. The action is fun and it has possibly the cutest version of the Gleerok I've ever seen. It's worth a read once for the genuinely funny comedy but nothing really worth writing home about.<br />
<br />
Till Next Time: Stay PositiveAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-11887463038684596832015-10-10T12:09:00.000-04:002015-10-10T12:10:34.953-04:00Things No One Cares About: Pac-Man World 20th Anniversary (PS1)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mVjdv4elPnU/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mVjdv4elPnU/maxresdefault.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The transition of classic 2-D
franchises to 3-D has the habit of going rather well if you're
associated with Nintendo but otherwise tend to be choppy. This was
especially prevalent in the PS1/N64 era which was often a company's
first attempt. Thus while we had gems like <i>Super Mario 64</i> and
<i>Ocarina of Time</i> we also had garbage like <i>Bubsy 3D</i>.
<i>Pac-Man World,</i>released to coincide with his 20<sup>th</sup>
anniversary, decidedly falls into the latter category and
while having some creative ideas still doesn't excuse the mess.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The core problem of the game lies with
it's controls and sense of space. In a good 3-D platformer you have
this sense of where you are in relation to other platforms and
objects. However when hopping around the levels here I can never
quite grasp where I reside so I end up missing a platform that looks
like it should have been easily landed upon yet is really a few feet
out of reach. Luckily Pac-man's repertoire includes grabbing on to
ledges if you can get close enough. Unfortunately his gloves seemed
to be covered in butter as he fails to grab ledges sometimes leading
to yet more trips to the dark abyss.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jumping is also rather finicky in some
regards. Sometimes the jump button just doesn't work work,though that
could just be my controller. Any little piece of room geometry or an
enemy looking at you funny stutters the jump and leads to many a
death. The fact that the extreme foreground some times has an
invisible wall blocking a jump you other wise could make is
infuriating to say the least.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Enemies and obstacles also add to the
frustration as they will often hit you from places that should be
safe but just aren't. When dealing with enemies Pac-man can bounce on
them which also serves as a double jump of sorts and that's all you
really need. He has the ability to rev up and roll into enemies or
shoot a pellet at them but they are more trouble than they're worth
and will probably get you killed. Then again so will the butt bounce
since it's lack of precision aiming will often put you in the exact
place you don't want to be. Combat is better avoided if for no other
reason to ease some of the frustration of cheap deaths.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Pac-man World</i> was developed
during that time when platformers had you collect truckloads of
random doodads because they powered something or other. It's not a
bad style of games by any means but here it feels like needless busy
work. You collect fruit to open doors to gain access to various
switches, collectible letter to spell out Pac-Man or keys to unlock
cages. Usually fruit is hidden fairly close to the door it unlocks so
it's less a challenge and more a tedious back and forth.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Despite the bile I've been spewing the
game did do a few things right. The levels themselves are rather neat
looking,nothing special but still cool. They draw from your standard
video game locales:pirate ships,ruins,space etc. They all try
something at least different to keep the level's interesting. I never
felt like “oh this is another factory level”, no this was the
area with all those spinning platforms or this was the level with the
laser puzzles. By extension no two bosses in this game are tackled in
the same method. They range from forcing open a temples hands to ram
it's heart to a straight up homage to Galaga with Pac-man surfing in
space blasting aliens. The fights are the highlight of the game and I
kept me going despite the horrendous control problems. The only real
bad fight was against the Khrome Keeper which ties back into the
central problem of knowing where you are.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mind you all of the problems are with
the main story mode of the game. There are a whole two other modes to
mess around with. The first is classic:which is the original
Pac-man,nothing special there. The other is the highlight of the
game:Maze mode. It plays like the original game but with the camera
focused on Pac-man and more hazards outside the ghosts trying to eat
you. It's rather challenging and a cool shake up to the standard
formula.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The story is rather bare bones yet
charming in a way. Some weird robot named Toc-man kidnaps all of
Pac-man's friends and family by accident and Pac-man goes to save
them. It works for a game about Pac-man. It's not the type of game
that needed some crazy plot. The end reveals that Toc-Man is being
used by a ghost whom Pac-man promptly eats with that same smiling
face he always has. It's rather eerie to watch him devour the ghost
that just wanted a friend.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As a kid I adored this game yet could
never beat it,so coming back to it with my (arguably) adult brain I
expected to be able to grasp it better. All I was able to grasp was
that this was a poorly designed game that tried to make up for it's
flaws with creativity and banking on your love of Pac-man. The maze
mode is rather good but you're better off going with it's companion
game <i>Ms. Pac-man Maze Madness</i>. With my rose tinted glasses
shattered I leave you with one simple truth:<i> Crash Bandicoot 2</i>
is fantastic,so is <i>Warped.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-37564932596198607372015-10-09T16:56:00.002-04:002015-10-09T16:56:50.064-04:00Shojo a Go-Go: Komomo Confiserie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781421581392/komomo-confiserie-vol-1-9781421581392_hr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781421581392/komomo-confiserie-vol-1-9781421581392_hr.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Father knows best is a rather antiqued
trope that was rather prevalent in the 1950's but has mostly been
dropped being played straight for the utterly sexist undertones.
Basically akin to always being right and being able to sort out the
silly problems of the doting housewife and children. A variation of
this trope with likes to pop it's head into shojo/joesi manga and is
usually played straight with the boyfriend of the main girl just
knowing better and being a jerk about it. <i>Blue Spring Ride</i> and <i>Happy
Hustle High</i> are good examples of the trope in effect. <i>Komomo
Confiserie </i>seems to have this going on in this story of role
reversal.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Komomo Confiserie</i> tells the tale of a
young girl,Komomo, who in her youth was wealthy and often picked on
the young baker,Natsu, in employ of her father. Now it's ten years
later and she's poor,he's successful and she is at his mercy. The
volume is mostly for setting up who's who and the character dynamics.
It seems to be mostly focused on helping Komomo grow as a person
under Natsu's sadistic thumb. This is where we run into some of the
more disturbing implications of the volume.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Natsu's desire to tease Komomo is
creepy and he's is never truly treated as wrong for his acts. He
hates the idea of anyone teasing her besides him and takes on your
typical threatening poses if someone does. It's clear he's doing the
teasing to help her adjust to life as a average person and the book
will probably justify it as the only way she would learn. However his
friend Yuri joins the cast and is able to teach her a lesson through
kindness and it sticks. So it seems to be less the only way to get
through to her and Natsu likes to just mess with a girl because he
can't admit his feelings. No matter the interpretation it's just not
that interesting to me,this may be due in part to the last chapter
leaving a bad taste in my mouth.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The final chapter of the volume
introduces the coveted school setting and with it come your stock
shojo bullies. Apparently after Yuri taught Komomo about real
friendship she became a saint because nothing seems to phase her
during the bullying. She just writes it off in a way that is rather
mature for a character who really shouldn't be that mature just yet.
She's had some development over the volume but no where near enough
to justify this attitude,so she becomes some what of a purity-sue.
Sure she questions herself later with Natsu about her treatment of
him in their youth but it's assuring her that she meant well in the
end.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In all honesty,this isn't a bad opening
volume. Everything is set-up well enough till the last chapter.Even if the last chapter was handled better it's still nothing really special. Natsu's
attitude towards Komomo has this nasty undertone that is going to be
given an excuse about how it was all for her betterment. Combined with Komomo's baffling new found maturity leaves me with no
desire to read.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-57988887397595613622015-08-26T08:46:00.001-04:002015-08-26T08:46:47.881-04:00Shojo A Go-Go: The Demon Prince of Momochi House<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781421579627/the-demon-prince-of-momochi-house-vol-1-9781421579627_hr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781421579627/the-demon-prince-of-momochi-house-vol-1-9781421579627_hr.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
First Impressions are somewhat
important,especially with books if you want anyone
to give your book the time of day. The first impression I had with
<i>The Demon Prince of Momochi House </i>was <i>Kamisama Kiss </i>rip off. I
know you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover, literally or
metaphorically, but I mean look at the image to your left. It's
clearly Tomoe,same smug look and fox ears but a kimono lifted from
Miketsukami. However once I started reading I was wrong to judge it as such. I mean I was not really blown
away by anything however it did prove the cover was a liar.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>The Demon Prince of Momochi House</i> is unsurprisingly a supernatural romance. It's ground well trodden in this column and
this one looks to be no different. I'll give it this it is trying to
be different from books like <i>Demon Love Spell</i>, and <i>Black Bird</i> with a
jerk with a heart of gold male lead. The titular demon prince is
Aoi,a human who transforms into the Nue. The guy is bordering on male
moe and his kindness knows no bounds. His love interest and our lead
is Himari,the 16 year old rightful owner of Momochi House,whose
attempt to claim the house kick starts the plot. She's a generic
shojo protagonist,i.e thick headed with a sweet side and a weak
constitution. She's saved from being the weakest character by Aoi's
demon companions who may as well not really be here for all they do.
Shoujou is the hot headed one and Amazuchi is the guy destined to be
an uke for the inevitable yoai doujins.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The only person I really care about at
this point is Aoi and that's just because he seems to have the most
going on. How he got here and his status as the Nue are the only
things I want to know about about. It helps that he is fairly likable
and his child like antics are amusing. The rest of the cast could
probably be interesting if they had any character but while we get
little for Himari and her loneliness issues the remaining cast is
left lacking.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We have three chapters that serve to paint us
a picture of the world and it does this competently . There is a house on the border of our world and the spirit world that's protected by a supernatural being and shenanigans between the two realms ensue. It's enjoyable fun that serves to showoff Aoi's
powers and a bit of back story on Himori's connection to the house.
Nothing wrong with it and it adds an air of mystery with the
question of who sent the will that brought Himori to the house and
that person's intentions. An interesting twist that is brought up
near the end is that Aoi can't leave the house.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This has the possibility to open up two
paths. Either this becomes the major focus for now pushing the
mystery of will to the back ground or it's an easily solved problem
and this opens us up to a school setting like every other
supernatural romance. The latter can open us up to probably more
bland characters and the school tropes related to that. However the
former has the potential to a hopefully more intimate manga that
allows the characters to grow as they search for answers.Not that they wouldn't grow regardless
of the path but it'd be more of a focus as we're limited to that small cast and the house itself.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is a interesting undercurrent
lurking here that indicate this manga may go places. Aoi's genuine sweetness
is nice in a genre clogged with misunderstood jerks even if the
everyone else is just sort of there. The plot is not offering much
right now but what is here is written well enough that I'd probably
continue for at least a few more volumes to see where it goes.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Till Next time: Stay Positive.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-61719928951379924532015-08-20T07:59:00.000-04:002015-08-20T08:04:59.908-04:00Things No One Cares About:After I WIn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e1/AfterIWin_Cover.jpg/230px-AfterIWin_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e1/AfterIWin_Cover.jpg/230px-AfterIWin_Cover.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17.3333339691162px;">Editor's</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> Note:I am unable to figure out the font/spacing issues at this time</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 120%;">I</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 120%;">t
is left for the readers to decide if it is intentional, but every
time yaoi comes up on this blog it's always Lily “I can't keep a
plot going longer than four chapters” Hoshino's work. In the spirit
of breaking that habit we're going to look at a yaoi manga that is:
A. not by Ms. Hoshino and B. not a collection of sexy short stories.
Instead we're looking at a single volume yaoi manga known as </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 120%;"><i>After
I Win</i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 120%;">. Even though it is given time
to garner some depth it's still kiddy pool shallow.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0.2in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br /></span></span>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="docs-internal-guid-bbf6126a-4ade-4359-2757-dedb73aeec04"></a>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Now
I'm not going to spend an entire article complaining about a book
clearly meant to be used as fuel for itching the ditch lacks depth.
That would be like playing a </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Persona</span></i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
game and getting mad because it makes heavy use of Japanese culture.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">However I am going to complain because it is boring. Every chapter is
our lead Hiyori wondering if his dorm mate/boyfriend Kasumi actually
loves him. It starts with them unable to communicate and ends with
the boys “grabbing burritos” except in the last chapter where
they finally “stuff the burritos”. It's like the manga-ka,Kaname
Itsuki, decided to condense the plot to </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Happy
Marriage!?</span></i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
and made Chiro a boy. I'll admit I'm a fan of the seme being the
younger guy and the uke being older; I would exactly call it a
shake-up per se but it adds to the sexy factor...if that's your
thing. This still doesn't excuse the fact that the lead couple has
the chemistry of wet cardboard.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0.2in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 0.19in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 0.19in;">The
only shining moment in this otherwise dark dredge of cute boys is the
relationship between Hiyori and his brother Sawa. It's a fine if
poorly utilized example of Hiyori being a somewhat unreliable
narrator. He see his brother as a playboy seducing scads of high
school boys. However Hiyori believes that Sawa doesn't care about
people's feelings for which he is wrong. Sawa's care for his brother
is a tad subtle, mostly making sure he's eating right, which Hiyori
writes off as him being a nutritionist. The book drops little hints
that Hiyroi is wrong before just going all out and letting the last
two chapters show how much Sawa truly cares.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0.2in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The
book should have been about the brothers with Kasumi being relegated
to side status. Sure, he gets some development but his relationships
with his little sister and Hiyori are sorely lacking. Has it been
about the brothers they could have an exploration of two different
lifestyles and the tensions that arise between the men. Instead
nothing is really done with the relationship and we are left with
bland jock boy hiding his “baton” in the cute sempai. The fact
that the brothers are set up as opposites seems to only be there for
the twist in the loosest sense, that Hiyroi is the uke. Which is
painfully obvious without the unnecessary level of detail to the
brother's relationship.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0.2in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The
art is pretty well done with all guys looking reasonably fine however
despite the 18+ rating on this no one’s “ink pens” are ever
really shown. Also as stated above it's most the two boys just
“helping each other read” till the fourth chapter where they
“dictate to each other” and if that's your thing then by all
means go for it just feels a tad bit lacking to me. Also as a side
note the back cover seems to make this book out to be this aggressive
fight for love when it's tamer than Pat Boone.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 120%;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 120%;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">After
I Win</span></i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 120%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
is a pitiful waste of potential that focuses on the wrong
relationship. It's like the manga-ka wrote this detailed back story
the brothers and was determined to shoehorn it into this book about
sexy guys "drinking milkshakes". The fact that the
relationship is competently written weakens the book as a whole since
all I can think about is how it should have been about them and not
the asinine romantic couple. </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 120%;">I
know I took a jab at Lily Hoshino earlier but the fact that after 2
years I still remember </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 120%;"><i>Night Circus
</i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 120%;">is a testament to some degree of
staying power. This is forgettable garbage that lacks any real appeal
outside of what could have been.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Till
Next Time: Stay Positive</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-59018633345957287592015-08-10T17:10:00.000-04:002015-08-10T17:10:14.874-04:00A Modest UpdateAs people may have noticed I haven't really posted any thing since the Jojo review a little over a month ago and for that I am sorry. A few personal issues popped up again with the currently scrapped review of the first volume of Dengaki Daisy. Things are a tad better but I went back to school in July and was still working a day job. Thus I had little to no time to really watch or write about anything. The truth of the matter is this blog is for the foreseeable future a side project and real life usually takes precedence over it.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For those who actually enjoy my writings, I will always have a new article up at Haywire in the tentative span of every five weeks. As for here on the blog,it will still be a little lacking due to trying to find a new job and transition to the schedule. I have more free time but it's mostly for job hunting. I will try to post at least one or two reviews sometime this month but don't hold me to it. I'm probably going to cut back the amount of Shojo A Gogos I write since I feel like I'm repeating myself too often and to avoid boring everyone I'll reserve that column for newer titles.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are a few items I have in mind for the next few reviews and I'm working on a follow up to a older piece I did. However I'd like to leave this as an open letter to you,the readers,what would you like me to take a look at? I love hearing feedback and opinions from all of you,I may not reply too often but I do take your thoughts to heart.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
TL;DR: Seriously it isn't that long just read it</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Till Next Time: Stay Positive</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-44362068966212904652015-06-24T07:44:00.003-04:002015-06-24T07:58:11.220-04:00Things No One Cares About: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.moetron.com/uploads/20140221_jojo01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.moetron.com/uploads/20140221_jojo01.jpg" height="246" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I guess this is the month where I get
to redact my opinions. First I'm over at Haywire
realizing that I never gave <a href="http://www.haywiremag.com/columns/off-the-grid-devil-survivor-2-record-breaker/"><i>Devil Survivor 2</i></a> a chance and now I'm
here to take back most of my unkind thoughts about <a href="http://blognooncaresabout.blogspot.com/2013/06/jojoschedules-and-hiatius.html"><i>Jojo's Bizarre Adventure:Stardust Crusaders</i></a> while also adding some new ones I skipped
over last time. Maybe the fact that it's animated now or that I
didn't binge the show like I did the manga but I enjoyed
the anime more than the manga.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Like it's predecessor, <i>Stardust
Crusaders</i> is a almost panel perfect adaption of said arc with a few
events subtly changed to match up with later events of the arc. As a
result it keeps the stories strengths and weaknesses mostly intact.
The plot follows Jotaro and his companions as they travel to Egypt to
stop DIO. Introduced in this arc of the manga are the iconic Stand
powers. Basically physic abilities that can manifest in those with a
strong will or in later parts surviving being pierced by a special
arrow. These powers of course manifest in the cast and more or less
kick off the plot in a way. The early episodes front load most of the
back-story on DIO,Stands and the Jostar family; which causes the
first few episodes to drag a bit especially if you've read the manga.
It's also here that we run into most of the speed bumps in the story.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The first big one is the case of Holly
Kujo and her inability to control her Stand. I could write a few
pages on why this is stupid in the grander scheme of the series and
also within in this arc. To keep it brief, Holly is portrayed as a
rather strong person yet can't seem to wield a stand. She may be a bit frailer physically but a baby and a decrepit old lady can use their Stands no problem,yet Holly can't. Probably because Jotaro needed more motivation than simply the world is in danger. To say
nothing of the unfortunate implications this brings up, I'll just
leave it at insulting and a waste of a perfectly good character.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The other gripe I have is that for some
reason DIO 's defeat means that Holly will be free of her Stand's
influence. Despite the fact that this won't affect any other Jostar
Stands which spawned as a result of DIO's theft of Johnathan
Jostar's body. It's almost like Holly and DIO as less characters and
more motivations. The lack of real interactions with DIO outside of
the final fight fails to make him anything more than a entertaining
if shallow villain. He's noticeably changed since Phantom
Blood,becoming much more paranoid and Genre Savvy than before
However like Jotaro it doesn't make him a particular deep
character.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Speaking of Jotaro, I grew to like him
over the courses of parts four and six but loathed as a lead since
we had more interesting characters in the group. Then I
finally noticed his much more sarcastic and dry sense of humor and
more subtle character development. He serves as a nice contrast to
the arcs wackier villains and supporting cast. While someone like
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Polnareff</span></span>
,the group's penultimate recruit, is more prone to rush right in and
play the fool; Jotaro seems more like an annoyed mom at the others
antics and it's funny to an extent. He does learn to grow closer
to the people in the group as the story progresses but not people in
general as evidenced by part six. He works well within the group but
still comes off as a boring lead. His stand,Star Platinum,
matches his blandness and versatility.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Star Platinum has precision and super
strength on his side, the latter coming standard on many a Stand
later down the line. While it is basic it aids in Jotaro's versatility, many of the more creative uses of the group's powers come
out of his Stand. From inhaling a gas based Stand to using it to
bluff a professional con man,it never feels like Star Platinum is pulling
something out its butt. That is till the end and concerns my last
major problem with Stardust Crusaders and spoilers for the Final DIO fight so skip this next paragraph if you want to stay in the dark.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The anime has the advantage of being
able to fore shadow events more clearly and fixing a few things
related to Avdol's (first) death. However the show never really explains Jotaro's ability to move during DIO's time stop that clearly. The logical
extension that Jotaro can stop time himself is hinted via the ability
to move during a time stop but the initial movements nor is Jotaro's
flying around like DIO ever really explained. Maybe the fact
that Jotaro can fly like that is meant to mirror DIO's The World and
show that they are similar Stands thus time stop should be possible
for Jotaro. Yeah, no it still feels like somewhat of an ass pull on
Araki's part and I'm sad that it wasn't better handled this time around.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Okay back in non-spoiler land,I said I
enjoyed this part yet all I've done so far is gripe. So what works in
this shows favor,everything else. The group dynamics that were
present in the original are played up much stronger here. Spending
time with these characters drew me closer to them as they all learned
to trust one another. Deaths in the manga that left me unfazed hit
me hard in the anime. Both versions of this story do fall into the
formula of travel some distance then have a fight. However with the
anime I was going at it's pace rather than my own and it let me stand
back and appreciate the story and characters. By the end of the show
I was sad that this journey had to end and I had to depart from
beloved friends.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The only weak link in the Jostar group
is probably Kakyoin. While pulling some cool tricks off with his
Stand,Hierophant Green, is put on a bus for most of season two. He
finally returns for the storming of DIO's mansion. Even then it
takes to the final fight to get some deeper development for him. It
could have been spread out a bit akin to Iggy's
development from cold jerk to loyal team member is played out. He's
still a fun character that is a bit of a walking meme and brings up
the idea of how growing up with a Stand might effect a person's
social skills.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Everyone else is the group also brings
something to the table asides from there Stands. <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Polnareff</span></span>
and Iggy bring a bit of levity to the group while examining what it
means to live for others. Avdol is half of a cool old guy duo with
Joseph, while serving as somewhat of a mentor to the group. A role
that Jotaro would take on in part four, he's comforting to have around in a way. Joseph while not being full blown comic relief like <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Polnareff</span></span>, is still a lovable hot blooded goof that has some what mellowed out since Battle
Tendency.What spurs these changes for him are again a whole article
by itself so I'll leave it at that.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Stands lack the more bizarre powers
that later parts have but this arc was meant to ease people into the
idea of Stands,hence the stats of each one. It lays does the
groundwork for what Stands can do and who can wield one. This
doesn't mean the Stands are boring per se, they are used in
interesting ways to build some cool battles. Such as the battle against a gorilla whose Stand is the ship the characters are on.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The one major problem the 2012 anime
had was pacing,squeezing about twelve volumes of material into one
season is a bit difficult. However with two seasons to stretch it's
legs out in Stardust Crusaders does away with most of those problems.
The first season does have the aforementioned front loading problem
but once it gets going it doesn't look back. The fights move at a
quick clip and never out stay their welcome. The show still drips
with that signature style and compliments the crazy events on screen
perfectly. The voice cast works perfectly as well,everyone sounds
like they should. Takehio Koyasu reprises his role as DIO playing him
in a more subdued fashion while still retaining the sinister and
crazy fun aspects that made him a blast in Phantom Blood.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So I come to you a more humble person,it's a bit of a painful feeling.The pain is
dulled by the fact that<i> Stardust Crusaders</i> is better than I first
thought.While it has it's flaws,the story is one that ultimately
works with a colorful cast that I felt closer to than I ever have.
If you're like me and lukewarm about the <i>Stardust Crusaders</i> section
of the manga, then I encourage you to give the arc another try with
this anime. If you still haven't experienced this arc then this is
the best way to go about it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Till Next Time: Stay Positive</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-77675315443834281232015-06-17T09:19:00.002-04:002015-06-17T09:19:19.604-04:00Things No One Cares About: Odin: Starlight Mutiny<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7YyIrKLN4EE/S3KYC81yCoI/AAAAAAAAAmY/eboaNDLLLvU/s400/122574239_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7YyIrKLN4EE/S3KYC81yCoI/AAAAAAAAAmY/eboaNDLLLvU/s400/122574239_1.jpg" height="320" width="230" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For the most part when I review any media I like to go in as blind as possible so I can get my purest
impressions untarnished by the opinions of others. While this is
hardly a solid rule, it is for my used bookstore purchases.
Such is the case with today's feature, <i>Odin: Starlight Mutiny</i>,which I
had never heard of. To be quite honest even had I know of this
film's poor reception and the strong pedigree of it's producers; I
still would have not been prepared for the true awfulness contained
on this disc.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The story, if it can even be called
that,is an utter mess that is littered with plot holes. Okay, I'll be
nice and say that the title is indeed accurate. There is a planet
called Odin and there is a mutiny on the spaceship called Starlight.
Everything else like coherence and pacing are left to the winds in
favor of terrible metal music and odd animation. Events seem to happen at random and there is this incessant prattling about sailors being the greatest. The sailing theme is used mostly to justify the crew acting like reckless fools.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
They explain that Earth has developed space travel via laser propelled sails and the titular
Starlight is unique in that it isn't reliant on such a stupid method. The technology on both sides is poorly explained and the cast is surprisingly knowledgeable about the alien technology that they've had little exposure to. Characters throw around high grade techno-babble that a
person with a first grade education can tell is complete malarkey.
Once the plot gets going,in a loose sense, it barrels into complete
idiocy.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Apparently the Norse tales of Ragnarok
were inspired by the planet Odin's destruction,yes really. These
aliens made first contact ages ago and that's why we have Norse mythology, I guess. Then they made some super computer that decides
organic life is useless and decides to go the genocide route on them.They
blow up the MCP knock-off at the cost of a few casualties on their side and that's
the end. They were clearly expecting a sequel had this
movie not bombed,mostly because people realized that the latter half
could have been avoided had anyone had half a brain.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The mutiny promised in the title
happens due to the fact that the government called them back and they
wanted to find the planet Odin. At no point is it mentioned that they
wont be able to complete this mission at a later date or that they'll
even be pulled from the crew. Nope they do it because they need to
prove themselves. So they hijack the ship and run this dangerous
mission in a ship that has the bare amount of armaments,they have to rig a few lasers to give themselves a fighting
chance. Instead of going back later,better prepared against an army
they know is technologically advanced with superior weapons. To say
this is a stupid idea is an understatement but considering these
characters this is the best they can do.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm not even going to mention most of
the cast as they are so one note and bland that it could have been a
crew of rocks and it would have made a difference. However,main
character Akira is a walking example of how not to write a chracter. Our introduction to him is watching the launch of the
Starlight,lamenting how he could have been on the crew had he not
punched an instructor. I honestly figured he was either a minor
antagonist or just a throw away character,not the hero. There is
nothing wrong with a protagonist that does out of line actions
provided they are justified or it's part of him growing as a
character. However it isn't and his brash attitude is treated as
lovable and heroic despite the fact that had he taken a minute to
think about his actions; He would have realized how pointless that
mutiny was,and probably avoided the needless death.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I usually don't talk to much about art
anymore because I can only say it looks nice and flows well so many
times,except here it doesn't. The character design is generic
complementing the writing perfectly I might add. Everything glows with
this weird irradiated looks, like they animated this while in
Chernobyl. On the sound side, nothing works either. Many of the big
set piece scenes are given this ridiculous hair metal soundtrack that
doesn't work. The Japanese voice cast does as well as it can given
the script, specials note to someone shouting “St. Elmo's
Fire” unprovoked during a scene. I genuinly don't know if that was in the script or someone did some impromptu riffing. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is a movie that doesn't even know
the meaning of the word “work” which is weird since this studio
is responsible for the<i> Space Battleship Yamato</i> series. The animation
is blinding to the point of almost inducing epilepsy,the soundtrack
never fits, and the story make little to no
sense and hopes the techno-babble will distract you. This movie is so
painfully bad I had to do three separate sittings just to be able to
stomach it. Not much left to say expect don't get suckered like I did
into blowing six dollars on this.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Till Next Time:Stay Positive.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-82610342780598974942015-06-10T12:22:00.002-04:002015-06-10T12:22:43.612-04:00Shojo A Go-Go: So Cute It Hurts!<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Gender bender and cross dressing
comedies are something I tend to avoid. Mostly for two reasons, first
they tend to rely on gender stereotypes which are not that funny.
Second is due to deep seated personal issues that prevent me from not
being a sad sack whilst reading them. This is why you'll never see me
talk about <i>Kashimashi </i>despite all five volumes occupying space
on my shelf. So in an attempt to brave the very depths of my
soul,here's <i>So Cute It Hurts!</i>, a cross dressing comedy.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The story follows the twins Megumi and
Mitsuru,who couldn't be more different. I mean them having the same
personality would be rather boring and give a lack of tension down the road. So Mitsuru is a wannabe playboy while his sister
Megumi is a history otaku with an eye patch obsession. She starts out
as the more likable of the two,mostly because she's more relate-able
if a bit weird and also the fact that everything that happens so far
in the plot is a direct result of her brother being an idiot.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The whole cross dressing aspect is for
Mitsuru to get out of taking makeup classes so he can continue his
dating schedule. His character arc is pretty clearly defined for now
as he learns to actually love someone,Shino, instead of just being a
skirt chaser. Shino is deaf ,which has tones of being inspirational
for the sake of it,but hints at hidden depths and okay character
development. Their little relationship is rather cute and solid
pillar of the love “V” the story has set up by volumes end. I
could say this will add tension down the road but I genuinely don't
feel that <i>So Cute! </i>is the kind of manga to defy the norm. It's plot
points are easy to guess and has no real shake ups so I just don't
see anything crazy happening.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Don't get me wrong I actually enjoyed
this first volume,it's rather funny and relies less on gender
stereotypes and more on accidental competence for it's comedy. How
the twins act in each others situation reflects heavily on them as
character. Misturu's school is a crazy place that makes Hekikuu High
look normal so when he goes to Megumi's much tamer school he can
easily outwit the girls with their smaller time pranks and tricks.
Where as Megumi is used to staying out of the way and being in a
school that has a semblance of normal order is thrust into crazy land
and reacts by legging it to avoid problem.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Despite getting the lion's share of
character development,Mitsuru comes off as the weakest character. His
character arc is so clearly defined that it's almost painful and his
semi-ace status is rather annoying compared to Megumi's fish out of
water character. Megumi also has a very well defined “learning to
love “arc being set-up but it's slightly more subtle and her Kitano
like antics are funnier than Mitsuru's verbal humiliation of nasty
girls. The reminder of the cast is pretty okay with hints of actual
character development especially those in the six point love “V”.</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'd like to lodge a few annoyances her that may be fixed in a later volume. First is the fact that Megumi's friends really don't notice they've switched. Which is weird as the appear to be rather close to her and would probably notice something is off. Mitsuru's classmates are a bit forgivable since he tends to stick with girls and is supposed to be the 7th strongest in the school so he may not have many close male friends. Also I know it's common at least in manga and anime for kids to be living on their own but I'd at least like some mention of what there parents are doing,just for context.Again these may come up later and possibly played for drama so for now it just bugs me.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So after that brief soul search,it's
about as deep as a kiddy pool, I've learned absolutely nothing other
than the fact that I enjoyed this volume. The character development
for the leads is rather blatant but has the opportunity to surprise
with the decent supporting cast. The crazy love drama may eventually
overtake the story but for now it's decent comedic sensibilities and
great leading lady make for a fun beginning but I don't put much
faith in keeping this momentum going.</div>
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Till Next Time: Stay Positive </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-63209773817117417682015-06-04T00:29:00.001-04:002015-06-04T00:29:19.813-04:00Things No One Cares About: The Legend of Chun Hyang <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/VampiressEclipse/Legend%20of%20Chun%20Hyang/ChunHyang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/VampiressEclipse/Legend%20of%20Chun%20Hyang/ChunHyang.jpg" height="276" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Recently there has been somewhat of an
influx of manga adaptations of so called classics such as the works
of Jane Austin and Victor Hugo. It's really nothing new, adapting a
classic for modern times is a fairly popular practice.I don't
really look into these “Manga Classics” too much,as I prefer the
source material. These type of titles could be okay for all I know
but I feel that the transition will lack the subtle touches of the
original works. That may just be the snobbery talking in all
honesty,so I'll put that aside to see if CLAMP can make a transition
to manga can work.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Chunhyangga </i>is a Korean folktale that
concerns a young girl betrothed to a noble holding out for his return
even in the face of immanent death. It's a short tale and is supposed
to trumpet the virtues of chastity and rebellion against corrupt
government. I'm not going to give a full review of that because: A.
That's not the focus of this post and B. People care as little about
my subjects as is,so I'm not about to start reviewing books that
people probably care even less about. <i>The Legend of Chun Hyang </i>plays
rather fast and loose with the source material. However faithfulness
to the source is not really the problem here,it's more lack of depth
and inconsistent tone that plague it.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The first two chapters follow Chun as
she combats evil magistrates with the help of Mong Ryong. While in
the original tale,she defies the magistrate through refusal of
advances. Here she is a competent action girl that acts as a
protector of the townspeople. She only thinks of protecting people
and like her folklore counterpart stays “pure”. Women keeping
their “honor” is a minor theme through out the first chapter,
Chun Hyuang's mother kills herself to keep the magistrate from raping
her. Women staying chaste is a common theme in folklore and I won't
really go into the underlying sexist tones this brings to the part.
Mostly because CLAMP was not really trying to make a statement one
way or the other just incorporating elements of the original story of
which there are plenty. Does this excuse it in anyway,no. It just comes off as an oddity in a story that is all about women being on even footing with the men.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The second chapter drops these
connections entirely in favor of becoming a traveling adventure story
with a bit of a <i>Slayers</i> flavor. It's a fun little story filled with
mythical beasts,magical battles,some lite tragedy and confusing
character development. While the first story was a semi retelling of
the original tale,this feels like CLAMP was trying to pitch the book
as a series that never happened. Mong Ryong and Chun Hyang have a typical love/hate
relationship that has Mong Ryong being a lecherous pervert and her
keeping him in line. Near the end of this chapter Chun Hyang nearly
kills a second magistrate but stops suddenly because she realizes it
won't bring back the dead. This comes completely out of nowhere as
she does that exact thing to the last magistrate with no
chastisement.Suddenly revenge is a bad thing...for some reason. If
this series had more time to develop then maybe this could have been
fleshed out but as a stand alone Aesop it conflicts heavily with
what's presented. Chun Hyang,nor anyone really, is not given enough
depth for events to mean anything and the next chapter gives them
depth that they never use.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm pretty sure the final chapters
working title was called: “Tone,what's that?”. The chapter
follows young Chun Hyang as she defends the town from young
magistrate's son from the first chapter. The whole thing is treated
as a wacky comedy with implications the the magistrate's son loves
Chun Hyang bur can't show it. First considering the horrific events
of the first chapter this comes of less as charming and more
chilling. Second of all why are we giving semi character development
to character that are already dead. Plus Chun Hyang character
development here apparently didn't take as shes just as impulsive as
a teenager and a child. Though this may be because the original
chapter was not written with this in mind for which it gets a free
pass but this chapter has no excuse. It adds nothing to the first
chapter in terms of motivations and while the first two chapters are
not that serious this chapter is just too wacky.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As a straight adaption <i>The Legend of Chun Hyang </i>fails,as an action adventure story it's pretty average. The short
length and bizarre final chapter, leaves us with a mediocre book that
screams for more. It's a book that clearly wanted to be something
more than it what was presented and that makes me sad to see
something that may have been struck down in it's prime. It really
hasn't colored my opinion on manga adaptions that strongly but I do
recommend it for those looking for a fun action tale.</div>
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</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Till Next Time:Stay Positive. </div>
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P.S Sorry for the lateness of this one,again I'm a ditz with schedules.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-35033243731430610222015-05-27T10:26:00.000-04:002015-05-27T10:26:15.807-04:00Shojo A Go-Go: Wild Ones<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'll admit I have a soft spot for
gangsters/punks in anime and manga,especially in comedies. One of my
favorite anime is<i> Baccano! </i>due in no small part to most of your
characters being crazy mobsters. Maybe it's he mash up of big tough
guys doing goofy things or manliness to the point of parody. Either
way goofy Yakuza guys are pretty fun and feature prominently in
today's work <i>Wild Ones</i>. Though it does deliver on the funny Yakuza
front it is DOA on every other count.</div>
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</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The volume's main problem is in its'
failure to convey it self properly. We're told everything yet the
story does not reflect the facts given. For example,we're told that
our lead,Sachie,was chosen by the men of her grandfather's gang but
at no time does this seem to be the case. Yes she does show some very
admirable traits but this is long after she's gained these men's
admiration and most of them only happen in front of her love
interest(?), Rakuto. Over all it comes off as a lazy, instead of
having events shown that back up your statement,just tell us the
statement I mean it's not like we're in a visual medium or anything.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
That aside the story doesn't seem to be
going anywhere really and seems to be okay with standard plots albeit
with a yakuza flavor. Sachie has to deal with moving to a new school
and the loss of her mother among some wacky guys who just don't
understand women. It's by no means bad and if you're like me and are
okay wacky yakuza shenanigans then you'll be fine. It just lacks
substance and doesn't seem to be wanting to go much further in terms
of plotting or character development</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sachie and Rakuto are the only two
characters of any real note her as the rest are either goofy
gangsters or shojo stock jerks. If you noticed my confusion about
Rakuto being a love interest,it's because the volume doesn't know
what Sachie thinks about him either. Sachie constantly calls him
weird but he's not that weird. He has a little more formal speech and
aside form one instance of personal space invasion is not that
bizarre. He's not that interesting so I can see why she falls in and
out of love so easily with him;He's the generic cool guy that
attracts crazy girls and can do it all.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sachie on the other hand is the
spitfire girl that tougher than she is letting on. When she does go
into full on scolding mode it leads to some of the funnier sections
as the guys stand bewildered at her. Again it's not exactly ground
breaking comedy but it's still enjoyable and works for the most part.
Her history with her mother is probably the only thing that has
potential to be interesting or it could just turn out to be Tohru
Honda's back story but with Yakuza.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I actually enjoyed the <i>Wild Ones</i> quite a
bit despite it's laziness and weak story. Does that mean you'll like
it,probably not. Unless you're a fan of gangsters and comedy then
you'll probably be left wanting,hell I like both of those things and
I'm left with that cold emptiness. Though I always feel that so it
may not be the book's fault. It offers little incentive to continue
and is only worth it if you're desperate for a romance story.</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Till Next Time:Stay Positive</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-80911511472335997302015-05-20T08:48:00.000-04:002015-06-17T22:47:59.032-04:00Things No One Cares About:Tomodachi No Hanashi<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://s.animea.net/manga/thumbs200x275/10034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://s.animea.net/manga/thumbs200x275/10034.jpg" /></a></div>
Last time I checked people liked having
friends, I mean I'm a bitter anti social misanthrope so I don't but I
heard other people do. Many a shojo work likes to explore
relationships of a romantic nature usually leaving platonic
friendships holding the bags so to speak. Not so much with today's
feature, Tomodachi No Hanashi,where friendship is on full blast and
the romance is secondary.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Tomodachi No Hanashi or The Secret of
Friendship revolves around two girls: The beautiful yet caustic Moe
and the plain push over Eiko. Moe easily attracts the boys but most
are turned off by her condition for being with her, Eiko must be put
first by them. While the book never attempts to portray it as
anything but unreasonable it does take the time to flesh out why Moe
thinks this is a reasonable request. The story is split into 3
sections each from a different characters perceptive and how they
deal with Moe or in the last sections case how Moe sees everything.
It still forms a cohesive story that contemplates what friendship
means to different people and how it affects them.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The first section follows Eiko as she
deals with Moe's relationship with Tsuchida, a guy smitten enough to
go along with Moe's requirement. Eiko is really embarrassed by the
fact that she's being dragged along but she is way to nice to
actually say no. Instead she starts lying to Moe,which is a stride
forward in her development to being a stronger person. She's growing
because of her friendship's with the other two as the other two learn
that they can be themselves around her. Eiko's development after this
is rather down played as the story shifts focus to the other
characters but it's done rather well regardless. This part ends on
Moe dumping Tsuchida for her perceived callousness towards Eiko. The
events here do make both girls come of as a bit selfish is some
regards but it serves to highlight how deep this relationship really
is. This is more deeply explored in chapter three once we get Moe's
side of things.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The second part follows Tsuchida's
friend Narugami as he deals with the fallout from the previous
chapter. His role for most of the part is that of vengeful jerk,the
part usually filled by random bitchy girls. However the major
difference is that the book explains his feelings, Moe hurt his best
friend so he's going to go after her best friend. He has his own
hang-ups with women and his arc concerns learning that women are
people too and that the way he treated Eiko was wrong.
</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The advantage of his perspective is
that we see an outsider's take on Eiko and Moe's friendship. To him
it seems terribly lop sided but as he starts to talk to Eiko he sees
how similar it is to his friendship with Tsuchida. It fits in with the
books theme of friends are forever and to hell with what others think
of them. Through out the book the characters are shown as awkward
around others but it doesn't matter to them since they have each
other. While it does get a little heavy handed it never veers into
preachy instead just showing how these friendships affect the
characters.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The final part is told from Moe's POV
as Narugami attempts to make up with the girls and dealing with his
love for Eiko. It is some what side lined as a huge part of it is
Moe's perspective on why she is friends with Eiko and why they are so
close. With all this back-story laid out it paints the previous parts
in a new light. Moe's reasons for her crazy actions are much more
clear now: Eiko gets her like nobody else does and she only wants
Eiko to be happy because then she'll be happy</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's here where the more yuri inclined
fans can read Moe's actions towards Eiko as slightly lesbian in
nature. I don't particularly feel that way as its more about Moe
reacting to her best friend changing than actual romantic jealously
towards Narugami. The romance is playing out and again we are on the
outside looking in as Moe struggles with abandonment issues and her
friend changing. It gives Moe much more depth as a character and
adds an interesting side we don't see that often.</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The only real weak point to me is that
Tsuchida falls off the face of the earth for most of the final part.
Which given how deep his and Narugami's relationship is supposed
feels weird. Especially when Narugami is trying to date his ex's best
friend. Given that friendship is the major theme and Moe and Eiko's
has such much nuance and depth; it's odd that Narugami and Tsuchida's
relationship is hardly explored past chapter two. Again more of a
nitpick since Narugami's character development is solid on it's own.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is a side story in the book about
a girl trying to catch her friend's boyfriend cheating on her. Along
the way she meets the guys friend and it blossoms into to romance.
Very sweet navel gazing chapter that ponders how far are people
willing to go for friends. A nice compliment to the main story but
nothing special over all</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Tomodachi No Hanashi is an interesting
little book that digs in to the exploration of friendship without
being cheesy. The three different perspectives really help make the
relationships work and give the story some more interesting facets .
Featuring way more character development than I would expect for a
manga of this length and a very tight if minuscule cast. It's a
sentimental journey that you shouldn't miss out on.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-21004037775431337702015-05-13T07:45:00.000-04:002015-06-17T09:23:25.698-04:00Shojo A Go-Go:Demon Love Spell<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qWCm0q2Loo8/VVM4fvGXvQI/AAAAAAAAAFY/pES8Yn0L8NA/s1600/200px-DemonLoveSpellV1English.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qWCm0q2Loo8/VVM4fvGXvQI/AAAAAAAAAFY/pES8Yn0L8NA/s400/200px-DemonLoveSpellV1English.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I could say Demon Love Spell is a
supernatural romance and we could all go home. It has sexy
otherworldly guys,girls attuned to that kind of thing and hints of
danger. However that's selling it short in a way. The first volume
really does show some promise, drawing me in with some okay characters and trying to stand out. Does it maintain this dubious level of quality or go
downhill? I don't know and for this post that's not the purpose,since
volume one is all that matters.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The story opens up with Miko,a shrine
priestess accidentally sealing Kagura due to thinking that he's a
demon. Luckily for her he actually is one and after fighting a demon
the pair form a relationship mostly because Miko forgot how to unseal
Kagura. Other than that the plot goes on about as one would
expect,they get into hi-jinx involving demons of the week and start
to form a more romantic relationship. Getting there is where things
get a little more interesting.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Miko's defining traits for the volume
is being accidentally awesome and having a stupid name. It makes for
great comedic bits with Kagura and other demons as the can't believe
they've been defeated by a girl who can barely see them. After a
while Kagura and her father do more of the heavy lifting so to speak
as a way to curb the shtick and allow Miko to lay down ground work
for her own character development. It would fall into chickfication
but it's more taking her pure luck and turning it into talent for
latter volumes. Also she is a shrine priestess whose name means
shrine priestess,that's like if a plumber was named Piper. It's
possible its a nickname for Mikoto but the book never indicates as
much so we're left with a really stupid name.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Kagura is an incubus and gets to bypass
the genres normal love for girls with that sexy blood and instead
has him feed of sexual energy. It's still a Macguffin substance but
it fits with the incubus
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
aspect better. He can really get it
from any girl and while it's hinting that Miko's energy is special
it's more about forming a deeper bond that her actual energy. Being
sealed leaves him to be the butt monkey for Miko and her parents
which again leads to some decently funny moments. He's going through
a slight character arc here and given time to flesh out his back
story as the strongest demon it may have a bit more impact.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It does seem to be keeping with Incubus
lore to an extent,making it more than just a simple palate swap for
another creature. Such as the aforementioned feeding of sexual energy
to survive and being able to enter dreams. Many scene in the book
involve Kagura visiting Miko's dreams to garner by making her love
him at a subconscious level. It is rather creepy and is treated as
such and Miko does put up barriers to prevent it allowing her to
decide how much she actually cares for him. The use of his limited
powers and Miko sharpening hers could lead to some interesting
conflicts.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The only real problem that I see at
this time is that the rest of the cast is rather weak. Miko's parents
are the only real stand outs by being funny and seem to be
subjecting Kagura to humiliating tasks for no real reason .Again more
on Kagura's past and possibly Miko's father could help this problem.
Her classmates are just sort of there right now with no real defined
personalities yet. On the demon side of the cast,we have no one
really, most of the demons are just cannon fodder and the only real
other creature is a fox spirit that seems to be setting up a love
triangle with our leads in the final chapter of the volume.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For a first volume,it put it's best
foot forward. The main relationship is rather fun and has potential
for some interesting power dynamics. The story is nothing special but
it works well enough to keep me interested. Is it going to draw in
people who would never read this type of story...probably not.
However if you're a fan of the genre then you'll probably enjoy it
especially if you enjoyed Kamisama Kiss.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Till Next Time: Stay Positive
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-42704173895731158912015-05-06T13:16:00.001-04:002015-06-17T09:23:52.244-04:00Things No One Cares About: Happy Hustle High<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h66/nanouxxx/Shojo05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h66/nanouxxx/Shojo05.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
Rie Takada has gained a bit of good
will back with me via <i>Gaba Kawa. </i>It
was well written,had decent characterization and an okay ending. Was
it amazing,not particularly, but compared to Takada's other popular
works it is brilliant. That may be a bit too harsh to <i>Happy Hustle
High</i>,it's insulting but over all just sort of generic.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The story is your
typical girl meets boy,boy ignores girl, and then guy and girl fall
in love. The basic plot concerns an all girls school going co-ed and
how that affects the students. It works for the most part but the
plot point never comes up that much after our lead, Hanabi gains
rank in the student council. Instead focusing on Hanabi and Yasukai
relationship,which is okay, it is a romance story after all. Up till
around the mid way point everything is going along fine then Hanabi
and Yasuaki finally get together and it all goes down the tubes.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The second half has
no idea where it wants to go and like me trying to fill space,and I
realize I didn't care about the characters at all. They aren't bad
characters per se just boring stock shojo characters. As a result of
this revelation,I can't be asked to get invested in the story and I'm
left questioning why I even cared in the first place. The problems
are a result of the characters being stupid and not in the too broken
to fix things way. It's more like The World God Only Knows making up
problems that shouldn't be an issue but suddenly are.The story is
trying to have an underlying theme and this is where the book goes
from meandering idiocy to full blown flaming train wreak of
insulting.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Love can change is
a common theme in shojo and Rie Takada is rather fond of it in her
works. Unfortunately, her use of it is rather insulting and is the
biggest problem I have with this book. Hanabi starts out as the brash
protector of all her friends and her entire character arc is moving
away from this image and style. Becoming less impulsive is fine but
however quite a few of the boys have this same problem or similar
problems and it's never treated as bad. So it comes off as Hanabi is
too boyish and needs to become more girly to be a happier person. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Hanabi's problems that are less problems and more she's not a girly girl, how dare she. The book has no respect for girls in general, the only girl with any not is Hanabi and her personality is too boyish to be respected by the book. They are all a nameless mass that can't resist the sexy boys that they are now cohabiting and therefore are useless. The boys are just as interested in the girls of the school but are treated as cool people who can look above base urges. The one time the girls stand up for themselves in what is the Shojo equivalent of <i>Rape Squad </i>they are all berated for being silly and that the guys should handle the girl's problems. The way Yasuaki is portrayed does not help the book's case.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yasuaki arc
concerns his fear of women but it's never given much time outside of
a few chapters and I genuinely forgot it was a problem till it's
magically solved by having sex with Hanabi. Other than that anything he
does is treated as right and Hanabi is being silly for not trusting
him. Had he actually expressed his thoughts then they could avoid
most of these issues. This could actually be a problem that needs
addressed but it's never treated as such and his only change that
happens is him stating he's happier. I'm sorry I didn't realize you
were unhappy,as you enjoyed surfing and that's about it.I mean he could be, he's not that deep or nuanced.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sadly these
problems are not exclusive to Happy Hustle High but it is a more
blatant example of how this can easily fail. It's
insulting in what the author thinks of her own gender and her
idolization of men. Had they balanced out both sides and making them
equally flawed and I could forgive it but it doesn't. It's by no menas a bad series,and got a laugh form me on occasion, but it doesn't excuse the utter banality of the whole mess or the dim view on the female gender.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Till Next Time: Stay Positive </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-75459108404447075062015-04-22T07:36:00.003-04:002015-04-22T18:36:16.207-04:00Things No One Cares About: In a World<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<br />
<br />
<br />
I don't often feel compelled to talk
about live action movies, I mean I barely talk about anime/manga
competently. I guess maybe I'm just waiting for the right movie to
talk about and this movie seems to be it. <i>In a World</i> is a horrendous
pseudo feminist piece that undermines it's own ideas and crams
romance subplots in because women wouldn't want to watch a movie
about the struggles of a woman trying to make it in a very male
dominated industry. No, we need to know if Demitri Martian gets to
stick his boom mike in our lead,Carol. It's insulting in ways that I
didn't expect and this is why I was compelled to talk about it:
bitterness about having watched this garbage.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'll start with the good just to prime
you for the bile. Up till the end Carol's struggle to make in the
very male dominated world of movie voice overs is nicely done. From
struggling with having to even break into it after her voice over
father,Sam Soto, kicks her out to be treated inferior for simply
being a woman in the business. It is shattered at the end where she
is picked up for the big movie job over her father and the entitled
jerk,Gustav, not for being the best but because her voice sounds good
for this weird feminist revolution the director is trying to pull.
The work Carol has put in seems to be all for naught,and the straw
feminist director comes off as a massive hypocrite. I'll admit, I'm
not well versed in feminist theory but I know enough to see that this
is complete malarkey that undermines everything the movie was aiming
at and weakens the overall product.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The romantic sub plots that pop up
could honestly be exorcised from the movie and we'd lose nothing.
The first and most prominent focuses on Carol's sister and brother
in law, Dani and Moe and Dani cheating on him. The long and short is
Dani may or may have not slept with a sexy Irish man,implied that
they may have done more than make out as she claims. However she
never directly apologizes to Moe about it,just an indirect tape
recording Carol composes. So she gets off scot free while Moe has to
do the big romantic gesture to get her back. That's like if I killed
a man and then his family invited me to Sizzlers to apologize. This
really has no bearing on the plot and seems to be here for padding
and to get Carol out of the house for her own romantic sub-plot near
the end. When your function in a story could be replaced by busted
pipes, then it's probably not worth putting in the movie.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This brings us to out lead,Carol, who
gets by with being okay. As stated her struggles are very relate able
but she her self is not. She's a bit of a free loader and her
obsession with different accents is what kicks off the aforementioned
romantic plot tumor. She's more a compilation of weird character
traits than an actual person. She also sleeps with Gustav despite
hating his guts,for no real reason. She seems fascinated by this
weird room he has but after the sleep together he's treated as a joke
the rest of the movie. There is no hint of foe yay up till that point
and none after words. It sort of happens and again has very little
plot relevance outside of a minor character moment for Sam later.
Outside of that wall banger,she's mostly forgettable just like her
love interest.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Louis is meant to be her love interest
and honestly it seems mostly one-sided on his part. She does say she
likes him but were given little to no hint about this. She just seems
to like him because she's in a romantic comedy and she need a guy to
fall for. Loius is a big ball of awkward quirks and to be fair
Demitri Martin does manages to give the character some funny moments
but like Carol is forgettable and characterless. He is unique in that
he is one of the few male characters who's not a jerk like Sam and
Gustav.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sam Soto is the only one to get any
visible character development and it's mostly a reason you suck
speech from his young wife at the end of the film.The wife by the way is treated like crap by
Carol and Dani despite caring about them and being very kind. The
treatment might have been meant to show how strained their family's
relations our but makes the girls come off as petty jerks. Gustav is
a bit of a designated villain who's main crimes are being cocky and
having consensual sex with Carol. There's not much more too him
despite the attempts at hidden depths that make him come off as more
snobby than anything else.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
When I started watching this movie I
was actually enjoying it but as it went on the flaws became more and
more apparent. Once the ending rolled around and lost any good will I
had for the movie, it became apparent this was a sinking ship the
whole time and I was in an icy arctic sea of disappointment. It
meanders around avoiding the actual interesting parts,focusing on
romance that has little bearing on the main plot,and insulting the
audience with a terrible understanding of feminism and bland
characters. Also it contains one of the most insulting use of Tears for Fears I've ever seen.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Till Next Time: Stay Positive</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-12922664620766027492015-04-09T07:41:00.002-04:002015-04-09T07:43:56.917-04:00Things No One Cares About: Mr.Flower Bride<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://static2.minitokyo.net/view/32/00/332532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://static2.minitokyo.net/view/32/00/332532.jpg" height="216" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I spent an entire month talking about
Arina Tanemura so let's move on to someone different,Lily Hoshino.
She's been featured here a couple of times before for her yaoi
collections and after last months heterosexual extravaganza, I could
use a shake up. <i>Mr. Flower Bride</i> is yet again a collection of yaoi
stories though the volume neglects to mention the other stories
instead focusing on the titular story. I can forgive it though since
the other stories are far less interesting and take up space that
could have been used for the better main story.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The <i>Mr. Flower Bride</i> chapters focus on
Aoi and Shinji as they get swept up in Shinji's family tradition of
marrying the youngest son off to a guy to prevent succession disputes
among the children. While this could be an interesting jumping off
point for dealing with people forced to love a person of a gender
they have no interest in,this is never explored. It does however take
a short time to show Shinji coming to terms with his attraction to
Aoi despite his worry of getting Aoi involved in a tradition that
people view as a punishment in someway.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The remaining chapters detail their
wedding night and a few other isolated events and it works well to
develop their relationship and how it affects others. I wouldn't call
the characters fully developed but they work well enough for the
short time we see them. Like<i> My Only King</i> there is the starting of
something rather interesting here but it fails to follow through. The
story right after that is a role reversal of the main couple's
archetype and actually lends a little more to building up the setting
with more insight into this tradition. Letting this run alongside the
main story would actually be interesting as a way to expand the
setting. However, my hopes for this story will have to wait for the sequel as it's pushed aside for more one shots.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The other two side stories are just
sort of sitting there. One's about a bodyguard who needs protecting
and a pretty boy in a brothel finding his true love. It's well trod
ground for yaoi and seems to be struggling for a reason to exist
outside of fulling a boy sex quota. The latter story breaks the mold
that the book set by again putting a girly uke in it. Up till now the
manga-ka had stopped drawing her ukes too girly. They were just
feminine enough to work and the role reversal chapter works better
because of the style. However,here he's back to being a borderline
trap,and while not a bad story, it's was done better in <i>The Seabed
of Night</i>. On there own these would be okay stories but here they
are interrupting a better story and lack the interesting aspects and
developments of the main story..</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Like <i>Mistress Fortune</i>, the main story
is going along with the sillier bits with a wink and a nod. Unlike
that however it does try to build a setting that works and examine
different facets of this relationship. The more stand alone style of
the chapters could form an interesting tale given the time but this
was a story shot in the legs and left for dead. Overall not worth
it,unless all you want some nicely drawn guy loving.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-57749382874895362412015-03-31T12:46:00.000-04:002015-04-08T19:55:51.956-04:00Things No One Cares About: Mistress Fortune<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/19400000/Mistress-Fortune-arina-tanemura-19485405-435-470.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/19400000/Mistress-Fortune-arina-tanemura-19485405-435-470.jpg" height="320" width="296" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Reaching the end of this horrid
month,we arrive at <i>Mistress Fortune</i>. I originally planned this as the
follow up to Jojo month but for reasons lost to myself I didn't. Now
I'm back with a vengeance to talk about my very first Arina Tanemura
book. I have no deep story about why I picked this,it didn't call to
me with a ground breaking premise or because a friend fervently
recommended it to me. Nope,just picked it up because the pink and
white spine looked nice. Well, now that I've outed myself as a vain
idiot,let's talk about <i>Mistress Fortune</i>...finally.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mistress Fortune shares a lot of
similarities with the earlier<i> I.O.N</i>, in that both girls have psychic
powers and are close to boys as a result. There is even a nice little
call back to the flying scene from <i>I.O.N</i> as well as a few other
series including<i> Phantom Thief Jeanne</i>. They both also feature a
romance plot that slowly but surely overtakes the more fantastical
elements. The only difference here is that the psychic plot is meant
to play second fiddle to the main romance. Indeed everything is a
side note to the romance between Kisaki and Giniro and every
characters is semi aware of it.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The plot is a rather loose magical girl
set-up that serves to help the main couple grow. The monsters or EBE
as they are called are less harbingers of destruction and more
oblivious tourists. Heck the first one the team fights, becomes a
regular character and gets her own side story about becoming a
socialite. The interpersonal drama between our two leads is mostly
played for laughs,he's more interested in her tracts of land and this
makes her angry. However when they do buckle down and get serious for
a bit,there is some surprising tenderness in the relationship despite
it seeming to be an aesthetic attraction. Once the apparently
inevitable rejection scene comes up,it actually works this time.
Mostly because again the romance is the focus so it's fairly
important and she is actually rejecting him for a solid reason
instead of just plot extender.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The characters themselves are not
bad,more generic than anything else. Kisaki is one missing parent
short of your typical shojo heroine and Ginro is the hot guy with the
troubled past. Their director,Dr. Gunjo is a goofy jokester and
Ebe-ko,the monster,is your wacky non-human sidekick. This can be
forgiven as the cast is rather funny and likable. Ginro's love for
the Kisaki's lady lumps and his inability to keep his mouth shut
about them at risk of injury is funny. They all play their role well
and get a few good jokes off.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is shojo fluff through and
through, attractive characters having a relationship that will be
forgotten soon enough. I feel that Arina Tanemura is acknowledging
her worse habits here and working with them as opposed to letting
them run wild. It's just self aware enough that I can forgive the
weaker elements while not being over reliant on them to the point of
taking me out of the story.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So as I lay here at the bottom of the
ravine dying slowly,alone and in pain, at least this month ended on a
high note. I started this month for no real reason other than to have
an excuse to read through some works of a prolific manga-ka. It's had
it's ups and downs and while I won't claim I really know Tanemura's
works better, I have a better feel for her when I get to her longer
works. So I'll see you next time where I'll probably be a ghost or
not mention that I died ever again</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Till Next Time:Stay Positive</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-52347019834912140962015-03-25T13:28:00.000-04:002015-03-25T13:35:23.175-04:00Things No One Cares About: Time Stranger Kyoko<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<br />
<br />
Since I'm feeling pretty good after
Phantom Thief Jeanne,the inevitable crash should be coming pretty
soon. What's that over there, is it a great series for me to read?
Nope,it's just a poorly paced and boring waste of a cool setting or
as it's called in common tongue Time Stranger Kyoko. Was that playing
my cards too early,probably, not that I care too much.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Time Stranger Kyoko lays out an
interesting premise then proceeds to never flesh it out and throws in
new elements to it without warning. The Earth has been united as one
nation and we follow the princess of Earth,Kyoko. She is gathering
mystical stones and their respective users a.k.a Strangers to awaken
her sister Ui. That's all we get for how the world seems to work,
which is lacking to say the least. It leaves quite a few more
interesting aspects relegated to sidebars,such as hybrids of humans
and earth's other life forms. Something that should probably be
explained is mentioned once as a definition then never explained
further. How this works or how people like that came to be is instead
pushed aside for wacky thieves and helping a guy over come his daddy
complex.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This brings up the second big problem
with the story:pacing. The first volume moves at a glacial pace with
little to no world building and getting involved in adventures that
just happen to tie back in to the main plot. This continues well into
volume two before finally getting to interesting events,involving
Akira the thief and the snake tribe's political turmoil. After this
stretch of still not explaining much else the plot starts running at
breakneck speed to get all the macguffins needed for the ending to
happen. Throwing in plot points and trying for a bit of foreshadowing
that all gets lost because it never takes anytime to breath.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are some interesting ideas that
actually do work, once the main group figures out that the stones are
in the hands of the various tribe's rulers they call them all to the
castle instead of cavorting about to find them. Also to be fair the
foreshadowing with Kyoko's true nature is actually done rather well
early on but fails by being a bit ham handed once the plot kicks into
overdrive. The series also plays fast and loose with the time travel
aspects. Which is better in the long run since closely examining the time travel would not turn out well for this book. Since
I'm being nice to the series,I'd be remiss if I neglected to mention
Akira.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Normally when talking about characters
I'd start with the main one,Kyoko in this case, but in the interest
of putting my best foot forward,I'll start with side character
Akira. He's a lovable rouge and unlike the others flits between goofy and serious rather well. The brother of the Snake tribe's leader that commands a band
of thieves in the capital city. Everything about him works: he's
funny,cool,has a tragic yet believable back story and brings energy
to a main cast that has none. The way Kyoko is characterized it seems
to be setting him up as her love interest as opposed to her actual
one. They instead just send him off in the end to do his own
thing,probably for the better because everyone else is kind of boring
and crap by comparison.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Speaking of Kyoko,she's all over the
place in terms of character. It's clear she's supposed to be the fun
determined kind of person but she keeps getting these selfish
moments. The plot is kicked off by her being selfish to avoid be
exposed as Earth's princess. You can have a character like this work
if the balance is right, Josuke Higashikata strikes a solid mix of
kindness and being greedy. It's like Tanemura is afraid to make a
straight forward and honest protagonist so she shoe horns in these
more selfish actions to hide it. When she has to be gone for a few
chapters after she is revealed as the Time God's daughter, which is
also never really explained by the way. The others miss her deeply
but it seems to be because the reawakened Princess Ui is rather
unpleasant.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sakataki and Hizuki,
step brothers and the body guards of Kyoko probably fare the worst as
along with Kyoko get into one of the worst subplots in the book. They
kick of a few plot points with the stones and establishing a monster race that seems to be here simply so the characters has
something to fight on occasion. Near the end the get into a terrible love triangle that serves little purpose other than to extend
the story and so that weird plot Tanemura set up has some resolution.
They do get some funny bro-con moments but it's intermixed with
serious angst. Sadly, this works about as well as Kyoko's
characterization.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The brothers are both Strangers and
Hizuki happens to be the last Stranger they are searching for and
this plot point is just dropped so unceremoniously that it's
laughably bad. It doesn't help that he is the Ice Stranger when there
is already a Snow Stranger. Yes snow and ice are rather different but
she could have used a different element or made Sakataki the Snow
Stranger in lieu of him being the Crystal Stranger. It'd work better
from a theming stand point at least</div>
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The reminder of the cast is
forgettable,especially the remaining Strangers that don't even have
their own chapters. Making their desire to see Kyoko come back to the
world even more bizarre since they've known her for all of about five
pages. Chronos the time god comes out of no where and like most other
probably important points in this story is never expanded upon. He
seems to be here again to add drama and draw out a plot that should
have finished ages ago but didn't because we didn't have a romantic
ending yet. Then we get an epilogue and no offense but half these
characters had maybe a handful of panels. So why in the name of all
the is unholy would I give a crap about what they did after this.
</div>
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This is a series that doesn't seem to
want to focus on anything,squandering a rather interesting setting
and neglecting to build up the world. Instead focusing on
inconsistent characters that range from unpleasant to just outright
cardboard cut outs whose role could be fulfilled with a ambitious
batch of custard and a plot that is determined to break some sort of
speed record. See you next time at the bottom of the ravine for
Mistress Fortune.</div>
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Till Next Time:Stay Positive.
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-25949391372053626342015-03-19T07:45:00.002-04:002015-03-25T13:50:36.381-04:00Shojo A Go-Go: Phantom Thief Jeanne<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sorry about the delay,I'm a ditz some days,well most days but whatever. </div>
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<a href="http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/kamikazekaitojeanne/images/b/bf/Wiki-2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20121226182724" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/kamikazekaitojeanne/images/b/bf/Wiki-2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20121226182724" height="400" width="252" /></a></div>
<br />
Arina Tanemura month is off to a rocky
start with <i>I.O.N</i> and its' romance overtaking the more interesting
aspects of the story. Maybe today will be better with the first
volume of<i> Phantom Thief Jeanne</i>. I mean after all today is the
greatest day of all. So by this logic this will be the greatest book
if today is the greatest day. Though I could be wrong and this is the
worst day ever and thus this the worst book ever. I'm not sure really
anymore,so lets just start talking about this book and hope I
remember which one it is.</div>
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<i>Phantom Thief Jeanne</i> was her first work
after <i>I.O.N</i> and there is noticeable improvement in the short one
year span. The man story is better interlaced with the romance. The
love square we seem to be in actually works. Instead of relying on a
ton of forgettable characters,she trims it down to three major
characters and some hopefully developing supporting cast. Even the
one off characters that appear during heist scenes are interesting
enough.</div>
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The leads of our story are Maron a.k.a
Phantom Thief Jeanne and her rival/love interest Chiaki a.k.a Phantom
Thief Sinbad. Maron is the reincarnation of the historical figure
Jeanne D'Arc and is tasked with exorcising demons from paintings
which puts her at odds with Sinbad who is recapturing demons for the
Demon Lord. Most of their core problems are laid out on the table
over the course of the volume. We learn why these characters are
acting the way they do and grow closer to them as a result. Maron's
fears of loneliness and abandonment may hit close to home for some
people,myself included. Her hesitation to trust Chiaki whose working
through his own problems related to being his own person,feels
natural. Especially given his devil may care attitude belying his
genuine compassion. Their is the possibility that the romance can
over take the main plot completely in later volumes but here it works
as their tumultuous relationship adds to the plot instead of
controlling it.</div>
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The rest of the main cast are not as
well developed as they could be but given more time they have the
potential. Maron's best friend Miyako is constantly trying to outwit
and capture her Jeanne persona as an amateur police officer with her
police chief father and is pursing Chiaki to no avail. The love
square is rounded out by Minazuka,the student council president, who
is trying to become a stronger person and maybe capture Maron's
heart. Everyone plays off each other in different ways:ranging from
playful to hostile to sweetly intimate etc. It also helps that the
Maron and Chiaki actually have chemistry as romantic leads compared
to the pieces of card board known as Ion and Mikado. Again the
aforementioned playing well off themselves and their friends lends
the romance some creditably. The only two characters we don't know
much about are the angel helpers of Maron and Chiaki,Finn and Access
respectively. This works out for the best though as going too deep
into their histories may be playing some cards too early in terms of
plot.
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Speaking of the plot,it is stranded
early magical girl plot with lack of a clear arc. The building blocks
are there with a demon lord and God being background players and
Sinbad in general. However the plots so far are mostly Jeanne finds
demons hiding in paintings and Chiaki and Miyako try to stop her in
their own ways because shes an honorable thief that announces her “
heists”. There is interconnection between stories via characters
which works to develop them properly,so it's not really boring.</div>
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The one major element I'd like to touch
on briefly in case I ever do a full review for the series is the
concept of demons corrupting people via beautiful paintings. It
brings with two possible connotation: that art is of the devil and
that humanity is weak. The first one is semi dispelled by the fact
that not every painting is evil. However Jeanne replaces the art with
the picture of an angel once she takes the demon away. Implying that
its the art itself that's demonic which is not a great message in
general. Though it may be completely unintentional,as that would be a
weird message to put in a book full of drawings.</div>
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Alternatively, the idea that humanity
is inherently weak gains a little more credibility when realizing
that it's the weakness in the human heart that invites the demon in.
The obsession with the paintings and our own hang ups are what cause
the problems. This is reflected in the main characters that are all
hurting but at the same time hopeful that things will become better
and they learn to grow. While this does paint humanity in a poor
light it does offer hope in that if you can change then things will
become better. Again this is more guessing than anything else based
off of one volume.</div>
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Character development is the name of
the game here,along with some fun plots. It does what a good
introduction should do, build the characters and their world up.
There isn't much in the way of an overarching plot,however there is
so much potential for a great story with excellent characters that I
can't help but adore it and want to read more. Well this turned out
to be a good book so hopefully this correlates to the quality of the
day. Hopefully this begins a plateau of better written martial for
Arina Tanemura month. Next time<i> Time Stranger Kyoko.</i></div>
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Till next time:Stay Positive</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-79691351718654345962015-03-10T11:42:00.000-04:002015-03-25T13:49:21.800-04:00Things No One Cares About: I.O.N<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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It's time for another theme month.
These tend to work out great for me,so this will turn out awesome
too. This month I'm looking at Arina Tanemura,whose books keep ending
up in my collection by complete accident. So might as well clear out
a good chunk of them,before more show up,and the best place to start
is the beginning with<i> I.O.N</i>.</div>
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<i>I.O.N</i> is Tanemura's first published
book and while the story and art are rather strong the romance is
lacking. It wouldn't be too bad if the story wasn't solely about the
romance. The world is fleshed out rather well for the one volume
length and the story is fine till it is derailed by the romance.
Enough with broad strokes and romance potshots, lets go more in depth
with these potshots.</div>
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The story follows Ion Tsuburagi, a girl
with minor physic abilities when the story starts. As events progress
her powers increase and she gains the attentions of a boy, Mikado.
with an interest in physic powers. We've somehow stumbled into the
shojo counterpart to Sussano,with less craziness. The central
conflict stems less from we can fly/lift objects and those
ramifications and more from does Mikado view Ion as a girl or a
experiment. I could forgive what seems to be a glorified romance
subplot taking over the plot if the main players had any chemistry.</div>
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Ion and Mikado really don't play well
off each other and seem to be in love because the plot demands it.
She claims to love him because he says his mind,no matter how cheesy.
He loves her because I guess they worked together for a while and to
spite his ex. Once he starts returning her affections,it derails the
more interesting physic powers plot,for romance drama. Ion herself is
a bit all over the place in terms of her affections,being aggressive
but chickening out,then going back to being aggressive in time for
Mikado to be stupid.
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The other characters fare no better in
they all tend to blend into one big forgettable ball. Both main
characters have a rival for their partners affections. Kouki is the
eternally rejected suitor of Ion and him and his lackey can be funny
but add little to the plot outside of drama with club formation that
goes away quickly. Mikado's ex,Ai, is nicely realistic for a love
rival in that she doesn't try to do anything really crazy to
Ion and when she accidentally hurts her feels genuinely remorseful.
Her presence does bring up something that infuriates me. She has
physic powers as well,weaker ones but still powers. The story brings
up the fact that there is research on physic powers and people
clearly have them but that is never really addressed in terms of how
this could affect the world. I know this is a shojo manga and romance
tends to reign supreme but come on don't leave me hanging on the
better plot or at least don't let it all crash down.</div>
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The final chapter train wreaks due to
having to follow the boneheaded rejection that is there to create drama rather than actual add to the story. at the end of chapter five.
The plot sets up that a weird substance is amplifying Ion's powers
but the final chapter throws in the fact that it is breaking apart
and her powers will diminish. I get that it's aiming for a bit of a
symbolic loss of her connection to Mikado but the guy just rejected
her and she's genuinely heartbroken,so why does she care. Mind you I
think the other characters are just as perplexed at her bounce back
but the whole chapter seems to be here because we can't have a sad
ending.</div>
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For her first full book that,going by
the author notes, was wrote with very little knowledge of how many
chapters she would have;the world is well fleshed out barring that
final plot point. The romance could have worked if the leads weren't
together solely because of a red noose or the cast wasn't for the
most part shojo stock chracters. Arina Tanemura month is off to a
poor start but I'm not one to stop after a bad start,I'm kind of
stupid that way. So see you next time for the first volume of <i>Phantom
Thief Jeanne.</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240837669803164148.post-57372412684489502192015-03-10T11:26:00.000-04:002015-05-20T08:50:53.753-04:00What's Going On.I realize I've been neglecting this blog as of late just now putting out a review almost three months into the new year,I'm turning into a less funny Jonton. I have no excuse for January for not doing anything besides the writing for Hawyire. It did help with some issues plaguing my mind at the time and getting to write that article did allow me to move over the mental hump blocking the way. Mind you on the way over that hump my laptop decided to go kaput so February was marked with me wanting to actually write things with no ability to do so. I realize that too is a pretty lame excuse,but I can't really do much about it now but apologize while laying on a bearskin rug by the fire.<br />
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So for those of you who did miss me,sorry and for those of you who were glad I've been mostly silent,sorry to you too. In the spirit of not being a layabout,we're doing a theme month for Arina Tanemura. I won't go into too many details as the first review covers most of it. It'll probably extend into April because I'm bad with timing. where I'll go after that remains to be seen as me making plans tends to go down in flames rather easily. Expect the first review to follow after this shortly and the rest to follow in the weeks to come, shooting for Wednesdays like the old times. I'm not covering Full Moon or The Gentleman's Alliance Cross this month but will probably be back to those at a later date. Instead we'll start where she started to gain fame and then go from there to sort of see how she has progressed in terms of story and characters.<br />
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For this month:<br />
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3/10: I.O.N<br />
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3/18: Phantom Thief Jeanne vol.1<br />
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3/25: Time Stranger Kyoko<br />
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4/1: Mistress Fortune,for real this time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09548953661112347905noreply@blogger.com0