Anime, Games, Oh My.
This post has been in draft status for almost 3 months now… guess I might as well publish it. Just some reviews of stuff for myself.
Anime
CANAAN: A sequel of sorts to a Wii (and soon to be PS3) VN that got a surprising 40/40 rating from Famitsu, with story by Nasu of Type-Moon fame. It’s not set in the “Nasuverse” a la Fate/stay night or Tsukihime, but when you learn the namesake character has a special vision that allows her to sense the world in a super-human way named “Synesthesia”, it’s hard not to draw comparisons. Even so, it’s not a plot-heavy series – in fact, with zero prior knowledge from the game, the story would really not make much sense – you get bits and pieces and learn about the major events, but nothing is clear. But the characters are… unique (some more than others, Canaan herself actually being rather a shallow and boring character, albeit one whose potential depth is given a glimpse of but sadly not expanded upon), it looks very nice, and it’s does an amazing job of depicting a foreign locale (Shanghai, in this case) in a realistic manner compared to most anime. Good, not great.
Verdict: 7/10.
Death Note: One of the biggest mainstream anime of recent times, and one that I’d keep meaning to get around to watching but never did for a long time. Anyway, I did find it to be a very intriguing series… until the post-L parts started. After that it just went downhill. I also don’t like Light, at all, but I wonder if that would’ve been different had I not seen Code Geass first – Lelouch has all the brilliance and charisma of Light, but despite him being quite ruthless at times, he never reaches the point of being a complete and utter bastard and asshole like Light did. L, on the other hand, was a fascinating character, and what really made the series tick. His “replacements” are sub-par, at best.
Verdict: 8/10, maybe 9/10, for the first 25 episodes, and a very generous 6/10 for the rest. We’ll call it a 7/10 overall.
Hatsukoi Limited: What’s this, a romantic comedy that’s not a harem? Praise the anime gods! Anyway, I really liked the character designs, as it’s based on a manga from the same author as Ichigo 100% – and I’ve always liked that she tends to draw her characters with smaller eyes than the norm for anime/manga, which makes them kind of unique. The story is light and fun, and the length is spot-on. Both the manga (32 chapters) and anime (13 episodes) are on the short side of norm for this type of thing, and I really think 12/13 episodes is the perfect length for romantic comedies. It never drags on, but is enough to show all the main characters, and with some development for them as well. Oh, and I love the ending theme.
Verdict: 8/10.
Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East): A fun series with an interesting story and a whole lot of “WTF random”-ness, but the ending, which isn’t the ending (two movies on the way), is completely inconclusive.
Verdict: 8/10 so far, subject to change when the movies are released.
K-On: Well, it’s kinda funny, I can definitely see the whole “moe” thing, and this apparently has just further cemented Kyoto Animation’s godhood, what with coming after Suzumiya and Clannad, but… there really isn’t enough substance for my tastes. Inoffensive and also uninspiring is about how I’d describe it. Tsumugi with her eyebrows is very cute though. ^_^
Verdict: 7/10.
Macross: Yes, the original. I’d never watched the whole thing, and I thought I’d start from the original and (eventually, maybe) make my way to Macross Frontier. Anyway, it started off well enough, but it just became a huge drag after the Macross settled back on earth – what had been a space opera turned into a love triangle with a completely unlikeable possible love-interest (I wanted to choke Minmay by the end), a boring, if not outright stupid, male protagonist, and another quasi-love interest with barely any depth. Had to force myself to finish it… ugh.
Verdict: 8/10 for the first 3/5ths or so, 4/10 for the rest. Average out to maybe a 6/10.
Maria†Holic: Cross-dressing always leads to interesting hijinks. Throw in blackmail and a dim-witted hapless girl who’s trying to hide her lesbian tendencies, and you’ve got the making of a lot of laughs. The story… well, it barely gets started and never gets finished, but the series is so funny and random that it doesn’t really matter.
Verdict: 8/10.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Yep, the original here too. Finally got around to watching it, and I have to say that I really wish I hadn’t seen Gundam SEED prior to this. Most of the main characters are interesting, but the majority of the antagonists/Zeon (i.e. everyone except Char and maybe Ramba Ral) lack much depth. Amuro is not a terrible lead, but not one that knocks your socks off either. The supporting cast among the protagonists/Earth Federation are a bit better, but both sides suffer from the issue of having characters killed off way too quickly. But, a lot can be forgiven when remembering that this is a show that aired 3 decades ago, and viewed in that light, it truly is ground-breaking. Even by today’s standards, it’s definitely one of the better Gundam series I’ve seen (though not quite as good as The 08th MS Team).
Verdict: 8/10.
Saki: An anime about Mahjong featuring a lot of cute girls and more than a hint of yuri undertones. It’s completely ridiculous, but in an enjoyable way. Having all my knowledge about mahjong being in Chinese makes it a bit weird, but it’s not like the actual mahjong playing is the real focus anyway. The story is far from resolved, so there’s probably another season coming, which I think I’ll definitely watch.
Verdict: 7/10.
Shikabane Hime: Aka/Shikabane Hime: Kuro: I enjoyed Aka quite a bit, but Kuro rather less so. The fanservice in the latter was just pointless and unnecessary, and I can only assume Fresh is a more purposeful character in the manga, because there was no really no reason for her to be in the anime at all. The story was serviceable, and the “ending”… well, again, it’s one in name only.
Verdict: 8/10 for Aka, 6/10 for Kuro, though we’ll see how the extra DVD special episode turns out.
Toshokan Sensou: The concept of libraries having their own military force to counter a big-brother censorship committee is just ridiculous (the show even lampshades it by having a character mention how outrageous it would be to outsiders), but it’s an entertaining enough series that has some likable characters and humor. There’s also a love story that offers no surprises what-so-ever thrown in, but it’s not the focus. Overall, it’s just a fun little series that benefits from being short (12 episodes, plus 1 DVD special episode).
Verdict: 7/10.
There’s also Bakemonogatari, which has been the best show of the season by far. Unfortunately, there’s 3 more episodes that will be released via the internet, and not until Oct. 28th for the first one. Eagerly anticipating!
Games
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger: The latest fighter from Arc System Works, the makers of the Guilty Gear series, in glorious high definition 2D. The cast is small by fighting game standards these days (12 characters), but they’re so unique that it’s hard to fault the game for it. And having a robot/cyborg girl who has wings made out of swords? Pure awesome. I’m truly not anywhere near the fighting game fan I used to be, but more than Super Street Fighter II Turbo:HD Remix, Street Fighter IV and even Marvel vs. Capcom 2, this is the one I’ve played the most this generation.
Verdict: 8/10.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade: This is, quite simply, the most beautiful 2D game I have ever seen. But if it wasn’t for the amazing visual style and good music (I absolutely love one of the BGM tracks), it wouldn’t have been a must-have for me. And I can’t help but think that if it retained the visuals, music, and combat system, but had Metroidvania-esque level design, exploration, and upgrading, what an amazing game it would’ve been. As it is, I’d say it’s a good and enjoyable game, but not a great one.
Verdict: 8/10.
Professor Layton and the Curious Village: I started this ages ago, and would do a few puzzles before going to sleep every couple of days (if I remember), but the sequel’s North American release made me finally just suck it up and finish it. It is a simple point-and-click adventure with some interesting characters and a decent if not-terribly-deep plot, but the core is the puzzles. Not all of them are great, but I did have fun going through and solving them all. I’ll definitely want to play Dialobical Box, but who knows how long that will take.
Verdict: 8/10.
Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X: I’ve always had an interest in fighter planes (how many boys didn’t?), and so when this game went on sale for $20, I jumped at picking it up. The single player portion of the game isn’t very long – just 18 missions, with 3 difficulty levels. Playing through it on Normal took maybe 6 or 7 hours, and then maybe that again to beat all of the missions again on Elite. Online multi-player is kinda fun, but the main problem is that the planes and weapon packages available for use depends on the player level, and even after playing through the campaign missions twice and doing a good portion of the challenges, I was still only in the low 20s – reaching level 40 is a huge time commitment, and it just doesn’t always feel like a level playing field online when you don’t have access to the planes/weapons that others have due to level (and that’s not even including the DLC planes). But, the campaign missions are pretty fun, and I definitely enjoyed being able to fly planes like the F-22 (even if I never got any additional weapon packages for it).
Verdict: 7/10. Nowhere near perfect, but pretty fun. Can’t complain, especially for the price.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune: The game can best most accurately be described as Tomb Raider with a male lead, a summer blockbuster-esque story, and slightly more interesting gun fight gameplay. But to dismiss it as just that would probably be to do it a disservice. No, neither the characters nor the plot are paragons of depth, but not every game needs a story like that of Xenogears, and it’s enjoyable and a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed the TR series since Legend, but the combat in those games always felt like the weakest part. And unless just about everything I’ve heard about Underworld in comparison to Uncharted is inaccurate, I would imagine that still holds true. I think Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will forever remain my favorite game in the “3D action platformer” genre due to the ingenuity of the time rewind mechanic and its fantastic blend of gameplay, characters and storytelling, but Uncharted definitely has the best “action” parts out of the bunch.
Verdict: 9/10. Very much looking forward to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves coming up.
