Friday 30 March 2012

Preferance of the female body!

Okay people today I'm gonna do a rather perverted post, but nobody really cares!

This has been going on for quite awhile. Girls from anime and games come in different body structures, and I split them into 3 categories. The balanced type, big boobs or the lolis. For now, most of the time, its either BIG BOOBS or LOLIS for most people.

Both sides are screwing with each other. Some say they hate characters with too big boobs, or some hate lolis because its like you're liking children (lol) and it seems wrong. To me, it doesn't really matter. Its all virtual! They all look good damnit! Nobody hates virtual boobies.....or flatness...for that matter. Let me show you that all forms of the virtual female body, including the balance type, do desrve some love :).




My favourite loli! If it wasn't obvious enough already. Blah blah blah everything about her is amazing I am far too lazy to explain any more because I have done so lots of times already....she is just that awesome.

I'll say this though, she wouldnt be the same with big boobs. Imagine, with that outfit. Shes perfect the way she is, and her being flat is all part of the charm! Some characters are just made to be flat, shes one of them.




My favourite girl with big boobs. Come on, if these aren't big, you must be mad. I can imagine her looking alright being flat but with big boobs she just stands out so well! Plus, samurai women with long katanas should always have big boobs (just watched Hyakka ryouran, and I can't agee more).


These are my favourites. I don't have a balanced body girl under my favourites, but there a ton of balanced beauties out there, along with the boobies and lolis. I will post more in the future, but for now I'll stop it here. Stop fighting people! All girls are nice, no matter the physique! I gotta say though, girls with too big boobies look a little wrong (Looking right at you Queen's blade).

So then, stay tuned for more boobies, lolis and girls overall in the future!





Come on, all girls are awesomez XD.



Opening songs
OP 1-Light my fire (Kotoko)
OP 2-Serment (Mami kawada)

Ending songs
ED 1-I'll believe (Altima)
ED 2-One (Altima)
ED 3-Koubou (Mami kawada)

Genre:Action, Romance, Drama, Supernatural

Episdoes:24


So here it is my friends. Finally, the 72 episode long saga, has come to an end. Taking a total of 7 years to air, with a 2 year break between each season (Plus the OVA shakugan no shana S). We have walked a long road, but Shakugan no shana has finally ended, and they couldn't have done a better job. Tears, blood and sweat aside, Shakugan no shana was a great series, and all 3 seasons were great. Now thats its all over, looking back and reflecting on how awesome this series was would be a good thing to do.....but I know you're all here for the season 3 review.

I'll be straight with you guys, season 3 is different from 1 and 2. When season 3 started out I was one of the many who wanted to know what the flying f**k was going on, but after watching the series as a whole, it without a doubt, is still the shana we all know and love. Shana 3 removes some elements that make the series enjoyable, but improves upon whats left and raises it to a more phenominal level, making it just as awesome as it was before.

Songs wise the Shakugan no Shana series has never disappointed, and it continues to be the case with season 3. The 2 openings are awesome. "Light my fire" is easily my favourite Kotoko song up to date, with her energetic singing and some badass song arrangements, it makes a fitting 1st opening. "Serment" is a great Mami kawada song, but her works with To aru majutsu no index are better IMO. The endings are "I'll believe" and "One" by Altima, and both are easily on par or better than the openings. Since Altima's singer is Maon kurosaki, we expect nothing but greatness, and thats what we get! "Koubou" is a slow and sweet Mami kawada song, great for making the ending all the more emotional and touching.


Rating:8.5/10


Phenominal action scenes. Exciting combat sequences. All out wars. Thats what Shakugan no shana 3 is about, and boy its awesome as hell. Season 3 completely cuts out school life and misc stuff from the anime and turns it into an all out action anime. While that may not be a good thing for viewers, the story for season 3 is more intensified than ever before, and if thats the price to pay for a better story, I don't mind. Theres a whole lot of stuff going on in Shakugan no shana 3, and that is a good thing in my opinion. Its soon turns out into a total warfare between flame haze and tomogara, and that is amusing as hell to watch. As you wait in anticipation after an episode of nothing but pure badass action, the next episode throws you something even more amazing. All in all, Shakugan no shana 3 is a thrill ride from start to end.


Sadly, we won't be hearing her saying this any more );

Shakugan no shana 3 stars Shana as the main character this time round. Yuuji has turned. During the conclusion of season 2, Yuuji vanished when asked to choose between the 2 girls Kazumi and Shana. When he disappeared, he made a contract with the Snake of the festival, a fearsome tomogara with the authority to command the Bal masque. With that, he becomes the new head of the Bal masque, and commands an army of Guze no tomogara to fufill his and the Snake of the festival's dreams. Shana of course, without any willing explanation from Yuuji, won't take this for an answer. After a making a resolution for herself, she decides to find out more about the new Yuuji, along the help with all her friends in Misaki city, and new allies amongst the entire Flame haze alliance.

Theres not much to complain about season 3. Its finally here, and while the beginning 1 or 2 episodes are quite questionable, later on it becomes a full blown action fest that'll blow your mind away. Explanations are made throughout the show to explain plotholes, and soon enough, most of your questions will be answered. The ending pretty much confirms that season 3 is the final one, which is pretty sad. Shakugan no shana 3 is a great anime that serves as a wonderful conclusion to the amazing series!

Long live Shana, the best flame haze ever!



Peace out!

Monday 26 March 2012

Fate/Unlimited Codes

Gamespot score:7.0 (Good)

My score:7.2

(+)Pros:-Standard controls will make even new comers of the genre feel at home,-the fighting is fun and flashy,-characters feel and play quite differently from one other,-mission mode is very detailed and in depth,-japanese voice acting is top notch,-mini games are cool.

(-)Cons:-AI is too f**king easy,-character roster is a little lacking,-poor story telling.

Gameplay time:10-20 hours



During the time I played this, Fate/zero was currently airing, and since I was so into the anime, I looked for a game. Eventually I found Fate/Unlimited codes, and started playing it. For fans of the series, Fate/Unlimited codes will definetely prove to be fun, as the characters transition from the anime/visual novels to the game very well, and everyone plays just like thier counterpart. The combat is fluid, and the controls are standard enough so that even newcomers to the fighting genre can play efficiently. For a PSP fighting game, I'd say its well done, and its not really lacking in any modes. Like it or not, Fate/Unlimited codes is a complete package, and any fan to the genre or franchise will enjoy it for an easy dozen hours or so.


The story for Fate/Unlimited codes is similar to that of the anime PLUS some stuff exclusive to the visual novels. It tells the tale of  the holy grail war, and how 7 magicians are selected for this war. Each magician is given a servant, and the servant fights for the master over the holy grail. The winning pair gets the grail and is able to make a wish from it. It exaclty the same as the anime, but as a fighting game, you play as individual characters through their story and get different endings for each character, so its pretty hard to fully explain the gist of everything. HOWEVER, while the story is great, the transition to the game is a little disappointing, more on that later.



Powerful moves are backed by impressive visuals.

Fate/Unlimited codes is a 3D fighter. You get your sidesteps...but everything else works just like a regular 2D fighting game. The controls are as such, you hold back to block, up to jump, so on and so forth. Its the same with special moves. Theres your standard quarter-circle-fowards, quarter-circle-backs and shoryuken motion moves. There are also double-fowards, double-backs, front-backs or back-fronts. Those familiar to fighting games will sort of understand these D-pad motions, but when you look at it this way, there are lots of special moves for the individual characters. There definetely are though, and memorizing all of them for all individual characters can get rather tough at times.

Thankfully though, once you get the hang of things, it pays off. The fighting is fun and flashy, and while its not on the levels of MVC 3, it certainly stands out over stuff like Tekken or Soul calibur. Bursts of energy surging out of Saber Alter's blade to send an enemy flying looks awesome, and seeing Rin form magic circles out of nowhere to shoot out colourful beams of energy is a treat for your eyes. Also, when you master your combos, pulling them off look pretty cool. Nothing beats seeing your enemy get juggled in mid air for ridiculously long combos as Rider...or any charcter to be exact.


Feel the pain!

One thing that Fate does right, is the fact that the characters all fight very differently. This is so both in the anime and in the game as well. Our combatants have pretty varied styles, while some do share similarities to each other (Shiro/Archer, Lancer/Zero Lancer), their overall combat and playstyle still do differ. We have characters that range from sword wielders to gem utilizing mages. Hell, Sakura, one of my favourite characters in the game (Playstyle wise), fights by extending strands of her freaking dress to spike her opponents! Gilgamesh has a portable invisible sword gattling gun, launching hordes and hordes of blades at you. Playing and trying every character out is definetely a fun AND refreshing experience that I recommend all players to do.

While trying all these characters seem fun, what do you do if you really want to go beyond the extreme and get significantly better at them? Never fear, mission mode is here! Mission mode is probably the best mode in the game, and you can easily dump a dozen hours here. Mission mode goes beyond the border and educates you with combos that you could have never figured out alone. Pulling these off are pretty hard at times, but when you memorize them...you can totally see yourself improving as you successfully pull off these combos against non-stationery foes. Another plus to mission mode is the mini games. When you clear enough missions for a character, a mini game exclusive to him or her will pop out, and these are cool! Straying away from the main game, you get to do ridiculous stuff, like escaping a Berserker-car with shiro or singing a "song" with sakura. My favourite though, was the building climbing mini game with Rider, so much tension XD.


Sadly, arcade mode tells the story poorly.

Fate/Unlimited codes has one flaw that hits it pretty hard...and its the difficulty of the AI opponents. It is an utter insult, the AI opponents are ridiculously easy, and even at the hardest difficulty, I don't even find myself losing to the final stage in arcade mode that often at all! This makes the game hardly challenging at all in any mode thats not mission mode, which is a pity. I suggest you crank the difficulty to the highest when you start the game, or you'll feel utterly insulted at how easy it is. The roster size is debatable, but anything below 20 characters is low to me(the game has 17 characters). Finally, the story telling. Through pictures, voicing and text, the story telling is rather poor. Since theres only one picture per sequence, its pretty bad, and the fact that there are no cutscenes at all hit the story badly, since most of the story is about flashy fight and conflict sequences.

All in all, Fate/Unlimited codes manage to impress both visually and character wise. Certain moves look great and you won't feel bored when playing different characters. The mission mode is also one of the most detailed ones I have seen in any fighting game. While the game has very solid japanese voice acting, that alone can't save the poor story telling. The all-to-easy AI and slighty below average character roster also add to the faults, but if you like fighting games or are a fan of the Fate universe, Fate/Unlimited codes is a good game that you can enjoy.



Now, how about some love for our beloved Saber Lily? :)

Happy gaming.

I have a ton of reviewed animes so I guess it'll take pretty much FOREVER to finish this little thing of mine. Moving down the list today, here are more characters from these animes that I think I like the most. These are Bakemonogatari, Bakuretsu Tenshi and the Black rock shooter OVA. All three are quite decent, but none are over the top spectacular in my opinion. Well without further ado, these are my favourite anime characters from these 3 animes!

Obviously there will be spoilers from these 3 animes, so be warned.

*SPOILARS*


Bakemonogatari

First off, Bakemonogatari, something I just reviewed days ago. Its popular as hell, especially with Nisemonogatari on air now, but I think its not up to par with some of the more underappreciated anime. Still, its worth a watch for those looking for a more "unique" concept. The girls however, are pretty damn awesome in Bakemonogatari, and heres why.


Yeah, no words are needed..........

YES, I'm sure she's on everyone's list when it comes to favourite characters from Bakemonogatari. Senjougajara Hitagi is one of the most unique chicks when it comes to anime. Shes a woman of little words, and even when she speaks, she only spouts out unrelated nonsense. Still, she has a sense of humour, altough being unemotional most of the time. She is voiced by the lovely Chiwa saito :), which makes things even better.

Hitagi's curse is that of the spirit crab, which robs her of her weight. She has a terrible past, in which she "lost" her mother to and almost got raped. Ever since she has lived alone, and has only kept contact with her father. After being saved by Koyomi she has become close friends with him, and even started going out together. Hitagi is also popular in school, and is secretly admired by Kanbaru Sugura, altough she is a girl. Its a pity though, a lesbian relationship would have been entertaining :).

Hitagi is just such a likable character. Even after the Kanbaru incident with the monkey's arm, she continues to be her close friend. Plus, the way she commits herself to Koyomi is really sweet, especially in episode 12. Also in all of the arcs, she is seen helping Koyomi in a way or another, which is cool. Really though, the reason why we all like her is for her unique and kickass personality. Who doesn't like girls who are different? Rather than generic stereotypes, Hitagi is one hell of a unique character.



Pedophile instancts activate!

Ever though what it feels like to be a pedobear? Not anymore! Because of this girl, I have been made a pedobear to this anime. Hachikuji Mayoi is a super cute, super cheerful and super spunky elementary schooler, and is definetely my other favourite character to Bakemonogatari, maybe EVEN on par with Hitagi. This girl has so much character and personality to her, its almost impossible to not like her! She may come off as a little annoying at the start, but when she slowly becomes friends with Koyomi, she's easily the funniest character in the show.

Hachikuji is a ghost, a snail spirit of sorts. She wanders around an area forever and cannot seem to find her destination. Since she is a ghost, nobody can see her, except for Koyomi. Thats right, even Hitagi can't see Hachikuji. But that doesn't stop Koyomi from making her one of his best friends. Hachikuji appeared as a little lost girl at first, and when Koyomi approached her to help her, it soon became apparent that she could not be seen in the eyes of others.

Still, after finding her way at last, Hachikuji stays in the human world, and Koyomi hangs out with her from time to time when she appears in the individual arcs. After her arc, she becomes a far more energetic, cute and funny character, doing all sorts of stupid shit and cracking all sorts of lame jokes with Koyomi in Sync. Also, her trademark stuttering when pronouncing Aragagi is freaking genius!


Bakuretsu Tenshi

A pretty old show, but also one of favourites of the older generation anime fans. Still, its worth a watch if you like girls with guns. The animation style is a little old though, but if that doesn't bother you, you might want to give this a go. But the best character of the anime to me is obviously the coolest one!


Oh snap! Dat outfit!

When we discuss cool characters in Bakuretsu tenshi, only 2 can take that position. Joe and Sei, but Joe is a little too tomboyish for me, so obviously Sei comes out on top. I wanted to give Meg my favourite character spot because of her character developement towards the end, but Sei is still too cool to let go.

Sei, as you can see, is smoking hot. She is the leader of the 4 girls, and obviously if she can get that position, shes got some skills. Sei's forte is commanding the operations, she doesn't go on the missions herself, but her plans are foolproof and when things get ugly , her intuition and wits are the ones that always keep her team mates safe.

She is the grand daughter of the leader of a big organization, and with that she has quite a lot of power within her grasp. Though not much is said or known about Sei, it was said that she was the one to bring the 4 girls together and lift the group to what it was. Though seriously, the reason why it was so hard to forget her, was probably her sexiness~


Black rock shooter OVA

Now for the Black rock shooter OVA. Not the anime though, its not finished yet. I think many of you already know who my favourite character is already though.......


PURE WIN!

Yes, no contest. Black rock shooter is the perfect anime girl, ONE OF THE BEST ANIME CHICKS EVER MADEEEEE. Lets see, shes hot, her outfit makes her look outragously sexy, she is cute, she is loli and she fights like a boss. Her fight scenes are always insane, both in the OVA and the anime. It always makes her do stuff and make her look so damn badass while doing them. Without a doubt she is my favourite character from the OVA.

Theres not much story to her, she's practically Kuroi Mato's other persona showing the conflict between her and Yomi. She does nothing but fight, and she does a badass job at that. She has a katana and the "Black rock shooter", a transformable cannon arm that can fire power blasts as well as become a blade arm. Insane acrobatics make her look awesome during battle, and her fight with the Death master is definetely top notch.

Basically, Black rock shooter is here for the character design, its one of the best I have ever seen in an anime. I know she's basically a re-skin of Miku, but comparing Miku and Black rock shooter is like comparing the sun and the moon, both are totally different entities. The Black rock shooter looks just so freaking awesome, and the studio who did the OVA did an awesome job making her just as awesome when fighting. The OVA however, is pretty cut-and-go, it needs to stop switching around. Still, Black rock shooter is an amazing character that I will always root for!

Peacee out for now folks!

Wednesday 21 March 2012

De blob 2

Gamespot score:7.5(Good)

My score:7.5

(+)Pros:-Gameplay is simple and easy to get into,-clever platforming mechanics,-colour mechanic is unique and fun to play around with,-great music and sound effects.

(-)Cons:-Too damn easy,-repititive and simplistic objectives during stages,-too short.

Gameplay time:5- 10 hours



I may have been bored, but I have no idea why I started on De blob 2. I never played the first one, and this looked a little kiddy for me. However, after playing the game, it wasn't that bad. In fact, its pretty good. Simplistic gameplay and platforming combined with those colour changing mechanics made this a unique and fun experience, even for me. Sure it may not be the most "epic" game out there, but it was made to be more comedic and fun above everything else. I'd say if you tired of overcomplicated games with difficult game mechanics or intense stories, de blob 2 is a good change of pace.



The story of de blob 2 is a simple one. I never played the 1st game, so I assume this is a continuation. It stars the main character as a blob named....blob. Blob is sent to an underground secret lab and is trapped there, forcing him to make his way out. There, a mad scientist named Blot tries to capture blob and transfuse his black paint energy to blob, but ultimately fails. As a result of a failed experiment at the lab, Blot is transformed into a Black menace, and goes around causing trouble to Chroma city. Now Blob must stop him with the help of his accomplice robot Pinky, and together go on an adventure to help the citizens of Chroma city.



Bounce around as blob and change colours frequently.

De blob 2 is probably one of the simplest games ever made, but thats not neccassarily a bad thing. Its a platforming game that involves you clearing one stage by going from point A to point B, clearing a few side missions along the way, and thats it. There are 25 main levels, 1 final boss level, and 5 side levels. Each level has special collectables that lead you to your 100% completion. There are raydians that you can rescue, and big notes you can collect. Performing enough of these will net you entrance to your 5 side levels.

That aside, the platforming in this game is rather solid. As blob, you can jump over hazardous materials and defeat INKT forces by knocking to them or stomping on them after jumping above them. Also, you can interact with various transporters to have you fly across large gaps or to get to higher ground. You can cling to walls, grab onto poles to fling yourself to various directions...so on and so forth. There are alot of clever mechanics inserted here and there to make platforming quite enjoyable.


Fly through tunnels and smack the INKT out of your way!

Of course, if theres anything that seperates De blob 2 from regular platformers, its the colour mechanic. Since Blot is going around and erasing colour from the world, its your job to recolour it and make it a better place. Whatever color blob is, as he moves, the area he moves to changes to that respective colour. To change colours, you find little paint bottle like creatures and ram them, this changes your colour to that of the creature, OR, it mixes with your current colour into something else. This is really cool, and to top it off, most of the game's little puzzles are solved by this colour changing mechanic.

Many a time during a stage you will be faced with puzzles of different kinds, all forcing you to play around with the colours to find a way through. There are invisible blocks that only serve as platforms when you are of the right colour, or doors that open up when you are of a corressponding colour. These are definetely well made, and the fact that whenever you change colours, the music playing changes depending on the mood of the colour. It never grows old to change to a colour and hear that slight tint of jazz that plays depending on what colour you changed to. Changing colours rapidly plays a continous string of tunes, and that is amazing to listen to!


Repititive objectives spoil the fun and sometimes chop up the pace.

Every game has its problems, and the biggest issue with De blob 2 is its difficulty. Throughout all 30 levels, I have never died, ONCE. Its probably the easiest game I have played this decade, and while the game IS fun, its never good when its no challenge at all. I only came close to dieing TWICE in my entire 30 levels. The little side missions during stages are also a pain, since the objectives are always the same. By the 10th stage or so, you would have seen most of the objective types in the game already. Finally, the game's lenght. Well its kind of expected, but this game is a little on the short side. I cleared it under 5 hours, and took about an additional hour or 2 to get 100% completion by playing all the side stages, rescueing all raydians and getting all big notes.


De blob 2 is a pleasant adventure across the uncoloured lands, and colouring plain areas always feels great. While it offers little challenge and ends too quickly, the charm of De blob 2 is undeniable. Providing some very solid platforming and solid colour mechanics, De blob 2 is something that casuals gamers can pick up and enjoy.



Happy gaming.



Opening songs
OP 1-Unreal Paradise (Minami Kuriyabashi)

Ending songs
ED 1-One way Ryou omoi (Marina Inoue & Megumi Nakajima)

Genre:Action, Comedy, Romance

Episodes:12


Senou Natsuru is probably one of the hottest anime chicks alive. When it comes to an animated girl with virtual boobies Senou Natsus wins my heart in almost every aspect! She's hot, she's cute, and her personality just turns every guy on like wildfire! Theres one problem though. Shes a guy.............Argh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Ah well, guess thats anime for ya. Kampfer is hell of a weird show. While it is standard harem, when the guy turns into a girl, it turns into an all out lesbian fest! In terms of fanservice, Kampfer is pretty high up there, and the fact that a guy can turn into a girl anytime....means that you're in for one hell of a funny show! While this might sound wrong and I know quite alot dislike this practise, but trust me. If you're guy, you will LOVE this, no matter how wrong it sounds or looks, it is legit stuff! If you like boobs and lesbian action, this is a must watch!

Mehz. I already saw this coming for the songs. For a show such as this, the songs are rather cute-sy,  both the opening and ending. "Unreal paradise" is alright, not too bad, but its not something I can't stand listening to alot. "One way Ryou omoi" is a typical cute-sy song and I only went through it once, didn't do it again, so no comment there.


Rating:8.0/10


Hell yes! I don't care wheter or not I'm in the minority, but I freaking enjoyed kampfer! School life....harem....lesbian action....AND school girls fighting each other with swords, guns and magic. All these added together just spells "fck yeah!" for any anime loving dude. Besides all these, the show is also pretty damn funny, cracking all sorts of jokes usually not possible when there isn't a man who can transform into a woman. With so much stuff going on, Kampfer is an anime that aims to satisfy, and I can safely clarify that the action actually IS legit, not those scenes where enemies die in one attack. Oh and yes, Marina Inoue plays Natsuru PERFECTLY as her seiyuu.


The first reaction when you turn into a girl!


So..ahem. Kampfer stars the main character as another regular highschool young man (it always has to be) by the name of Senou Natsuru. As a normal cliche main character, he has a girl he likes, by the name of Sakura Kaede. Since he willingly talks to her with any opportunity he can get, she eventually knows him well enough and gives him a doll. The dolll though, started talking and soon selected Natsuru to be a kampfer, one of the warriors fighting for balance and power. Unfortunately, to use the powers of a Kampfer, you must become a girl! So just like that, he transforms into one of the hottest girls in history, bearing a blue band. Of course Natsuru detests this, but he can't control his power, so he automatically transforms when other kampfers are nearby. This of course puts him into a tough situation, since the school he goes to is also occupied by Kampfers! Thus begins a new life for our hero....or heroine.

Its a pity that there isn't a season two, because I enjoyed Kampfer. There is an OVA out now that is literally just 2 miscallenous episodes with more fanservice...but meh, I won't complain. This series (in my opinion) has a lot of potential, and while its great as it already is, I want to see more of Natsuru :). Great show, a must watch for guys.

Peace.



Opening songs
OP 1-Staple Stable (Chiwa Saito)
OP 2-Kaerimichi (Emiri Katou)
OP 3-Ambivalent World (Miyuki Sawashiro)
OP 4-Renai Circulation (Kana Hanazawa)
OP 5-Sugar Sweet Nightmare (Yui Horie)

Ending songs
ED 1-Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari (Supercell)

Genre:Action, Comedy, Mystery, Psychological, Romance, Slice of life, Supernatural

Episodes:15

To make up for the lack of posts recently even though I'm on vacation, heres another post. Bakemonogatari is one hell of a weird show, its definetely not something anyone has seen before. Its one of a kind cast and the unique ghost stories surrounding that very cast combined together is really something pretty unique. Mixing together tons of myths to further intruige the viewing audience, Bakemonogatari does well in explaining the story behind these myths, and to be honest, these can be really interesting. The issue though, is that sometimes the explaining can get rather boring, and this easily turns viewers off. The "Action" part is pretty good, but the parts leading up to that can get rather underwhelming. Still, if you want something new other than random generic harems, you may find something here that'll pique your interest.

For one, I'll say Bakemonogatari has a fine selection of songs. The first and standard opening is "Staple Stable" by Chiwa Saito (voicer of Hitagi), and its quite good. The light beats and singing go quite well together, making it quite an enjoyable tune. The 2nd opening is "Kaerimichi" by Emiri Katou (voicer of Hachikuji). Its a cheery and upbeat tune, it goes without saying that this is one addictive song. The 3rd opening is "Ambivalent world" by Miyuki Sawashiro (voicer of Kanbaru) and its my least favourite of the 5 openings. Its still pretty alright however, just that it lacks the catchiness of the other songs.

The 4th opening is "Renai circulation" by Kana Hanazawa (voicer of Sengoku), and it is catchy as hell. I'm usually not a fan of cute-sy songs but this is fcking addictive. The 5th opening however, "Sugar Sweet Nightmare", is my favourite. Sang by Yui Horie (voicer of Hanekawa), it doesn't only sound epic, but pretty cool as well. The ending is the all-so-popular "Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari" by supercell, and personally, I find it alright at best, it hasn't really caught on to me yet.


Rating:7.5/10


Colour me crazy, but Bakemonogatari isn't as "spectacular" or "amazing" to me as many others say. I'm not a hater, but I find Bakemonogatari quite boring at times, and it can be quite confusing to understand what they are talking about at times. Still, other than these 2 issues, I can think of nothing else that would drop this anime's grade. Everything else is pretty solid. The production quality is awesome, the voicers, animation, myths and story are all equally amazing. Even at times, the comedy is pretty hilarious too. If you can get past the lenghty and confusing explanations plus some of the boring conversations that mean mostly nothing, Bakemonogatari has alot of offer that other animes can't. Oh, also, blood and boobs, who doesn't like those.


Stationery as weapons? Whoever heard of that?!

Our protagonist to this weird show is Araragi Koyomi, another typical high school kid, who is an ex vampire. One day he discovers a secret of a classmate, Senjougahara Hitagi, and finds out that she has no weight. After a long school day, he is confronted by Hitagi, and she attacks Araragi with an assualt of weapons no one ever would have thought of. Araragi attempts to help Hitagi, revealing that he himself is an irregularity like herself, and that he knows someone who can help her with her problem. He brings Hitagi to Oshino Meme, an expert of occult stuff, and he knows how to cure her. After a streesful and dangerous ritual, Hitagi is cured, but the madness doesn't stop there. From that day on Araragi finds and helps other with irregularities like Hitagi, and his life becomes a more busy and eventful one, as he befriends lots of girls and bring them to Oshino to find ways to cure them.


Bakemonogatari is unique, and pretty damn interesting to watch at times. But boring conversations and confusing explanations serve as slight annoyances to this otherwise great anime. There are plenty of interesting characters in Bakemonogatari, and getting to know all of them is kinda amazing. Now with Nisemonogatari out and airing, I'll give that a try soon. As for Bakemonogatari, if you can stand the boring and confusing stuff, you're in for one hell of a ride.

Peace.

Gamespot score:n/a

My score:7.8

(+)Pros:-Superb character roster that is even bigger than the previous game,-character creation is still pretty damn solid ,-story quests don't really take forever to show up anymore,-dueling with other characters is still immensely fun,-new gunner class is stupidly broken and pretty damn fun to play with,-all characters level up along with you.

(-)Cons:-Plays and feels much like Tales of the world 2.5,-quest variety STILL sucks,-much of the content is recycled.


Gameplay time:50 hours+




When it comes to a JRPG with solid combat that isn't turn based, there are 2 franchises that nailed it down perfectly. They are the Star ocean series, and of course, the Tales series. In my opinion I prefered the battle system in the Tales games, because they always feel slighty more balanced. Tales of the world features characters from previous Tales games all in one game, and that is pretty awesome. With the increasing sequels, the step up in quality can be seen from the original Tales of the world to Tales of the world 2, but from 2 to 3, that increase in quality is slighty deminished here. Most players will realise that not much has changed! Everything feels the same, and believe me quite an amount of things are. But still, nonetheless, its a fun game, and I enjoyed my time here from beginning to end. If you like the Tales series, this is another one you should play.


Since I have been brushing up on my japanese via animes and school classes, the plot isn't that difficult to grasp :). It starts off mostly the same as Radiant mythology 2, as you, the descender of the world tree of the current world, are found by Kannono, a member of the van elita. As usual, you are brought to the Van Elita, and to prove that you aren't just some freeloader, you work as one of them, receiving quests and helping out folks from all over the world. The members of the Van Elita are characters from previous Tales games, as usual, plus Kanono, the exclusive of the RM games. Of course as the plot thickens you are pushed to bigger and more pressing issues, other than just everyday quests. With mysteries of the red mist, and the emergence of the princesses (Estelle, Natalie etc), and later, the crisis of crystallization, things start to get busy for you and the people of the Van elita as you try to unravel the mysteries of the world.



Character creation is nuts!

Well the first obvious thing to fans of the series that they will expect, is of course, the character roster. Its a relief though that the character roster, has indeed expanded yet again. If you thought that RM 2 had a large roster, think again, the roster in RM 3 will knock your nuts off. Not only are there the new characters from the new serieses (TOS:Dawn of the new world, Tales of grace f etc), there are also additions from older games that make their debut in RM 3. You have characters that you'd never expect to make into a RM game, characters like Van (Tales of the abyss), Flyn (Tales of vesperia) and many more.

Its also worth noting that all the characters level up as you do, so you don't really have to grab a few level 1 characters and grind them like mad anymore. Awesome. As usual you can totally go nuts with your party, mixing the characters around like mad...same with the character creation. If I'm not wrong, this is one aspect they really worked on, you can totally go nuts with the new expressions, hairstyles and colours. You can even make your own Sharingan character! The above picture might give you more info about how crazy you can go.



Playing as other characters still feels badass as F**k.

Now lets go over some of the more gameplay related stuff. For one, the story quests in the game show up way quicker than those in RM 2, and that is of course a good thing. Reduced padding is always a good thing, and everyone wants to get on with the story, rather than do repititive fetch quests. The quest vareity is the same as RM 2, with your basic fetch, kill and occasional mini boss quest. You can also accept quests directly from other Tales characters, which they will take you on more of these basic quests or more special quests. These include quests to recruit other characters, or duels, which are my personal favourite thing in the RM games. 

Duels are self explanatory, you talk to a character that gives out a quest, then go out alone to the specified location and fight that character one on one. These are mostly protagonists of the other Tales games (Luke, Stahn, Asbel etc), and these are just as badass as ever. Fighting your favourite protagonist in a 1v1 match against your very own character is just epic, and triumphing over them feels great, especially since most of these fights can be quite challenging (that Emile fight was superb!). Another new addition is the gunner class, which is the master of keepaway. The gunner is STUPIDLY broken, and needless to say, is ridiculously fun to play. While it is the only new class to the game, it makes up for it for being the most fun and unique class in the game.


The gunner class is ridiculously fun to play.

Okay, the big thing about RM 3....is that alot of stuff is recycled. This won't come off as a suprise, since the game feels so much like RM 2! The quest system, the Van Elita, and the way the game plays out....its just RM 2 on steroids. Monster models are recycled, and same with some of the characters. The artes they learn and even on which level they learn it.....its the same and its obvious that they just copy and pasted much of the stuff from RM 2. And, like they ALWAYS do, the quests are friggin repititive. I'll leave it at that, I'm tired of explaining it again.

All in all RM 3 feels a little too recycled. They should have just called the game RM 2.5 and I would have been fine with it, but as it is now it doesn't feel right to call it RM 3. Still, I had a ridiculously good time with RM 3(maybe even more so than RM 2), but giving it more than an 8.0 just seems biased.  As it stands giving it a high 7 is fine, because even so, its still boasts a good amount of new content via new the characters and tweaks to the gameplay mechanics. If you liked previous RM games, its safe to say RM 3 will devour your play hours by the dozens, and you won't even know it.



OHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! All the little chibi Kanonos in the world! All mine~~~~

Happy gaming!


Opening songs
OP 1-Oshichau zo!! (AyaRuka)

Ending songs
ED 1-BEAM my BEAM (Himarinko L. Shizukuesu)
EP 12 ED-Sakamichi no Hate (Daisuke Hirakawa)

Genre:Action, Romance, Comedy

Episodes:12

Quite a recent cat rush from me on the anime side for now. With my recent review Nyan koi, today I'm following up with Omarmori Himari, and strangely enough, it has something to do with cats as well, but a little more on the serious side this time. If you like stuff like Shakugan no shana, Omamori Himari will immediately appeal to you, with its concept of combining school life and fighting demons, its really quite entertaining. Its only held back by its lenght and somewhat cheesy ending, but other than that, its something to look foward to. Some of the girls may look and feel like generic stereotypes, but all in all, Omamori Himari has a solid plot and is something that any decent anime fan can watch and enjoy.

Songs wise I am rather disappointed with the selection. The opening is strangely "cute and pop-py" and seriously does not fit with the mood of the show. I don't really like it....same with the ending. "BEAM my BEAM" is too "cutesy" for me, and is definetely off the radar. It does sound a little catchy, but not even near the levels of "Help! Hell side" from MM. The final episode ending is a little too inferior for me to remember much, sadly, so no comment there.

Rating:8.0/10

An 8.0 from me for an anime like this really shows my love for it. Its just personal opinion, but this is just a less badass version of Shakugan no shana, which is a fantastic anime. The combat is mostly legit, and there is actually some plot going on here, not just pointless combat. The girls are a little bit on the common and generic side, but at least some of them have good powers to show off. As a harem it does a pretty damn good job, and as an action anime it has solid fight scenes. The school life stuff is just icing on the cake. Frankly speaking, its quite hard not to enjoy Omamori Himari. And with the hefty amount of fanservice, how can anyone say no?


A cute cat....You don't say?

The anime stars once again, a generic lucky high school boy, by the name of Amakawa Yuuto. Yuto is a shy, weak and pathetic boy, but he gets by with the support of his childhood friend Rinko. One day however, he runs into an incredibly good looking girl, who doesnt give her name. On the same day, Yuuto is attacked by a demon, and is rescued by this very same girl, who later introduces herself as Himari, and further adds that she is a cat spirit. Himari warns Yuuto about his family heritage, which specializes in exterminating demons, and that a charm that has been protecting him all his life has lost its effect. Now demons will come after Yuuto, so Himari naturally offers to protect and train him until he is fit to fend for himself. So thus begins the life of Yuuto as he lives with his new found beautiful (and sexy) cat spirit girl known as Himari (and did I mention sexy), as his life takes a turn to become a more eventful and dangerous one.


So...uh to close off, Omamori Himari is a pretty great show. It has quite a lot to offer (including a incredibly attractive loli for you lolicons!), and the character cast just keeps expanding till the end. The ending is rather cheesy and cliche but other than that, the entire anime leading up to the ending more than makes up for it. If you like action, Harem, comedy and school life, Omamori Himari is hard not to like.


Peace.

I can't fking believe it has already been 4 months since my last villians post, and 7 months since my last villians post for anime. Holy shit, if I hadn't looked at my last villians post I would have probably forgotten about it completely.....Okay! Anyway, here we are again. 5 villians, all from respective animes. Once again these villians are badass to me and the choices are all based on my opinion alone.

So then, here we go! Also, do note, we have a hefty bunch of female villians today!

Spoilers for To aru majutsu no index season 2, Shikabane hime aka/kuro, Fate/Stay night, Rozen maiden and Higurashi.



All fights like this don't usually go well.

5.Vento of the front
From:To aru majutsu no index 2

A little minor villian for the most part, but Vento is pretty badass in my opinion. Her appearance didn't last more than 3 episodes, but heres why shes even here.

Vento of the front is one from the magic side, and was dispatched to academy city to destroy the imagine breaker and concile with crowley. Of course, this automatically mean shes bad, since shes here to kill Touma. Oh and lets not forget about her bout with the angel, the fallen Kazari who has taken a monsterous form.

For the most part, I like Vento for her character design. While shes not the prettiest of girls, her design is super unique. Meant to be some sort of catholic badass, she has a keychained cross pinned to her tongue, which she flings around and hits it with her spiked hammer to cause shockwaves. This is pretty damn cool, and while she flings that thing around like a melee user, her shockwave producing ability is really one of the most unique of all anime characters. Who the hell flings a tongue accesory around and creates shockwaves? Badass shit.


The very definition of cartoon violence!

4.Hokuto
From:Shikabane hime series

Up for 4th place, someone super strong and super deadly! Its none other than the white haired undead chick from Shikabane hime, Hokuto, one of the shicisei.

Being a shikabane, Hokuto has access to some godlike abilities. Super strenght, super speed, super everything. Hokuto's past was a dreadful one, and while she was killed and turned into a shikabane, she immediately killed everything in her sight.

Often seen beating someone else up, she was known to be the strongest in the shicisei, and that she can easily defeat any enemy. Many a time when Makina tried to take her down, she only failed each time. A crazy chick like Hokuto can rip someone like Makina apart without any effort at all. Due to Hokuto's nature and how she was killed when still a human, I think she's a perfect incarnation of vengence, and her being so stupidly powerful really helped increased her image. Easily my favourite shicisei character!


Who said priests were good?

3.Kotomine Kirei
From:Fate/Stay night

Next up, someone most anime viewers should know. Kotomine Kirei from the Fate/stay night series is one misleading dude. Following up wih a twist to the story, its amazing how Kotomine fits as a villian. A special note, Kotomine is our only guy on the list today.

The thing about kotomine, is that he's a spectator to the Holy grail war. He is the "judge" of sorts, and he provides refuge to all defeated masters in his church. So in a way, he is supposed to remain neutral, not intruding to the matters of all masters and thier servants. However of course, an asshole like Kotomine always has something scheming in his head.

Kotomine means to defile the grail and create it himself by breaking the rules. First, he shows up as lancer's master, which is already out of place, since he's not supposed to be a master at all (In reality he killed Bazett, Lancer's true master and enslaved him). Then later, he reveals to be Gilgamesh, the renegade servant, to be his servant, and that he is scheming to get the grail once again. Worst of all, he went to shirou's apartment to attack Rin!! That bastardddd!!! Finally, he kidnapped Illya. As an Einzbern homonculous, she made a great catalyst for the grail. Thats alot of bad deeds to deem him a legit villian.



Wings shaping like a dragon! Immediate badassery.

2.Suigintou
From:Rozen Maiden series

In 2nd place, we have Suigintou, from Rozen maiden. For today's badass villian position, I refer mostly to her Rozen maiden iteration, since she was more of a main antagonist there.

Suigintou is an extremely impactful villian. Not only is she like, the prettiest looking doll (sorry suiseiseki), she was awesome as a villian, and had a pretty grevious past. You would have grown an attachment to her after hearing her past, and when she was defeated you can't help but feel sorry for the goth doll.

Suigintou, out of all the sisters, wanted to become the Rozen maiden the most. She was originally a junk doll that managed to received attention from the doll maker, Rozen, to make her as part of the set. She bears a huge hatred to Shinku, as the doll to receive nearly the most love from Rozen, and swears to defeat her. She goes to some extreme measures for that, such as manipulating souseiseki and much more. She fights with her deadly black feathers, which can quickly envelope her foe and even sometimes transform her wings into dragons. Instant badassery.


Indeed the evilest ones always gotta be the hottest ones.

1.Takano Miyo
From:Higurashi series

Here we are folks, the woman who challenged god herself, created a self imposed rule, and single handedly destroyed the entrie Hinamizawa countless times. In 1st place, we have Takano Miyo from the Higurashi series.

Takano Miyo is completely crazy. Just for the sake of her research, she goes through hell and attempts to make the entire Hinamizawa her experimental field. Trying to take the concept the "Hinamizawa syndrome" she goes through over and over to kill Rika in all her timelines to end up butchering the entire town.

The best thing about Miyo, is that you won't expect the villian to be her! Sure shes your typical kind and alluring nurse, but still, of all people to suspect being the ultimate villian, she would definetely be one of the last, especially when they gave off the impression that she died along with that one photographer dude on the cotton drifting festival. When all was said and done, Miyo was on the top of the chain of command, and everything was her doing. For a freaking nurse, she planned it all out pretty damned nicely. Also, the anime also makes it so that we feel sympathatic for her, due to her mostly sad past. And to even give her a good ending at the end...it all ended perfectly for our royally crazy villian.

Peace.

Thursday 8 March 2012

Limbo

Gamespot score:9.0 (Editor's choice)

My score:8.8

(+)Pros:-Amazing atmosphere,-entire world feels dark, creepy and intense,-solid platforming gameplay that revolves around clever puzzles,-great soundtrack and sound effects,-keeps you deeply entertained from start to end.

(-)Cons:-Too damn short,- story is difficult to catch on without research and speculations.

Gameplay time:Less than 5 hours






You've never played anything quite like Limbo. Sure platformers are sprinkled here and there in the market, but really, when you play Limbo, you'll see the difference. Being different and standing out from the rest of them, Limbo is one hell of a unique platforming puzzle solver, similar to that of braid but alot more badass (I never got to like Braid anyway). PLAYDEAD studios, the company responsible for the birth of Limbo, did a great job when cooking up this gem of a platformer, and I can safely say that its a platformer worth everybody's time.


Limbo's story is a strange one. It forms up to become something mysterious and strange at the same time. At the end you will breath out a sign of relief for our hero, but still, the overall feeling you will receive it a rather mixed one. The story stars a nameless boy as its protagonist, and nothing is known about him. He is fully cloaked in darkness, and all you can see is his pair of white glistening eyes, and are probably the only source of light that brigthens up the dark world that surrounds him. The boy travels through the world of Limbo, and nothing is explained, just that he is faced with countless dangers as he progresses. A strange story indeed....


The world of Limbo is a dark and eerie one indeed....


First things first, Limbo has amazing atmosphere. Before we even dive into the gameplay, I have to comment on the atmosphere, its so great that it totally sucks you in. The entire world is dark, and there is no one to help you. As you tread deeper into the despairing darkness, you can't help but feel your hair sometimes stand on end. The world is dark, and completely black. In fact, the entire game is made in black and white, further giving off that sense of creepyness. The feeling of treading through the world of limbo is creepy, and at times even eerie when you see something displeasing (like in the above screenshot).

Through the game you will run into tons of crazy stuff that makes you go nuts. After a bit of travelling, you run into a crazy giant spider that wants you for lunch. You run into an entire area filled with kids being hanged (that one was creepy as hell). The environment changes several times as you dwell deeper into the world, and each and every area is filled with its own share of creepyness, so its always something new.


Hotel! You serious bro?

Limbo's gameplay is very simple, perfect for newcomers to the genre. First of all, it only takes up 2 buttons, an action button for pushing/pulling or activating objects, and a jump button. The rest is just simple movement. The platforming is simple but solid, though the things that really shine in this game are the puzzles. Puzzles involve dragging of objects and most of the time involve self positioning, sometimes even backtracking to get a certain object or to press a certain switch. Later puzzles are much more in-depth, involving the control of water level or manipulating gravity itself. This gives the puzzles more variety, and as you move from one puzzle to the next, the feeling of solving a new one is largely refreshing.

Though there is largely no music throughout the game, there are certain parts of the game where the situation calls for it, and either scary or intense dramatic music will play. These really help intensify the mood and just makes the game all the more "epic" when the times call for it. Also, all the little sound effects like cave ins, smashing of boxes or apporaching entities are pretty awesome. Many a time while progressing through the game, I will hear a distant click, I'll stop in my tracks and freak for a second before continueing. All part of the experience.


Moments like these make the game feel intense
without trying too hard.

Limbo suffers from the "short" syndrome. Its too short, seriously. Though it was meant to be an indie release, its really short :x. Like 5 hours short, maybe even less. Though your runthrough the game will be a memoriable and great one, its very short, and that may piss you off. Also, the story. Not much is really explained about what the hell is going, all thats left to keep you going is your speculations, or reading about it online. It can get....frustrating, but all the better though, since the ending keeps you thinking.


Limbo is a one of a kind experience like no other. Veteran platformer players will be suprised by the amount of depth the game provides, and the atmosphere is enough to shake all players alike. For fans of the genre, Limbo will easily blow you away. For newcomers, Limbo is a great place to start on the wonderful platforming genre.




Happy gaming!