I just reviewed "Hyouka" 2 days ago, so I guess there's really not much incentive so describe it again right now. Its a light-hearted mystery theme anime, and that's that. "K" was a pretty recent anime as well, and it was pretty unique to say the least. It had a ton of great ideas and did a rather good job executing them, though it did end on a pretty quick and confusing note. Finally "Kaibutsu Oujo" is a pretty old anime, but it was fun to watch. It shows how life with demons and a crazy murdering princess can actually be pretty entertaining.


Hyouka

A mystery anime has its pros and cons, though "Hyouka" manages to nail the feel for the most part. It actually feels more like a slice of life anime more than a mystery themed one, since more than anything else, it focuses on the life of four high school students. 



Nothing beats a curious Eru.

And out of all the characters, its easy to see how Eru can come out on top. She's easily the funniest, cutest, and most full of personality character out of the entire cast. Sure Oreki can be pretty cool too because he is very easy to relate too, but for the most part he's just a boring guy. Eru lights up the entire classics club room with energy and is most of the time seen with high spirits. Let's not forget that her signature "I'M CURIOUS" tagline that manages to snag everyone all the time.


So why Eru? Sure she's moe, and she's got an over the top personality as well. Her love for mysteries can get pretty contagious, and she is THE one person to drag Oreki's ass out of his slow, boring life. When she first joins the club she already gets Oreki into solving a problem. Soon, this trend continues, and as the series progresses, you can see that Oreki starts to predict Eru's behavior in easy ways.


Its not a stretch to say that the classics club stayed alive because of this awesome girl, her constant enthusiasm keeps the club alive. She's also has full of other skill sets on her own. She's actually academically smart, can cook well, and comes from a very prestigious background. Though even with all this, she's a huge klutz, and this just increases her moe factor by ten.



K

Once again, who the f**k calls an anime "K". I know its supposed to be the "K project", and to be honest, that would have sounded 20 times better than just "K". What the f**k is "K"? Anyway, despite its stupid name, its a nice anime with some great ideas. There are a ton of characters, its hard to find a favorite, but I did anyway. Here it is.




Looks like Shizuo doesn't he?

He....didn't really do much throughout the entire anime when compared to some others, but I really like Kusanagi Izumo. He's an incredibly cool and chill dude, he doesn't really do much because he doesn't really like to. All he cares about is his bar, and his loyalty to the red clan, or Homra. Like Seri is to Munakata, its the same as Izumo is to Mikoto, he is pretty much the 2nd in command for the entire red clan. Cool and collected, he brings style to the anime.


Like all of the red clan, Izumo possess his red aura fire based abilities. Being the 2nd in command, he is basically the 2nd strongest person in the clan, just behind Mikoto. He doesn't really fight much during the anime (I think he's more a back line guy than a fighter), but we did see a small display of his power when he was trying to catch Yashiro at the beginning. With just a flick of his cigarette, he can conjure a huge flay of fireballs on his opponents.


Outside of combat, he's still pretty likable. He is a well trusted comrade among his peers, and he treasures his bar more than anything else. Every time his retarded clan mates decide to trash even a small bit of his bar, he becomes angry and starts to blow up. He is also well liked by Seri of the blue clan, as she frequents as a customer to his bar, going there for drinks. He also takes good care of Anna, probably more than any other member of Homra other than Mikoto.



Kaibutsu Oujo

"Kaibutsu Oujo" is pretty old. Yes, even back then when I watched it about a year ago, I found the animation style and everything else pretty old. Still, its not a bad anime, far from it. Its a pretty solid slice of life anime with demons and monsters in it. Living in a mansion with a murderous princess and female demons can be pretty exciting, this anime proves it.



Here's a cute and sexy vampire for you.

Reiri is just awesome. "Kaibutsu Oujo" is full of crazy things, and one of them is the fact that demon girls are living with the protagonist. Reiri joins in on the fun pretty late into the series, but she makes everything so fun. She's a freaking vampire, but a pretty pure-blooded one at that. She doesn't claim victims to become her slaves, she's cool like that. 


Reiri is pretty powerful, as she joins the ranks to become one of Hime's servants later on. She has seen constant disputes with Riza, the werewolf on the team. Vampires and werewolves naturally don't mix well with one another, and of course, these two are always bickering at each other. Its funny to watch at times, because Reiri is always the one to start the argument by tormenting Riza.


Of course as a vampire, Reiri is strong. But how strong, we don't know, and probably will never know (I don't see this series continuing). She's probably at her best if she starts sucking some blood, but she doesn't do that. Still, she is able to go toe to toe with Riza, that's something. Outside of being a vampire, she is known as one of the hottest girls in her school that guys like to stalk and girls like to look up to, why am I not surprised?


Peace.

Friday, 1 March 2013

KIRINARIMASU (Hyouka review)



Opening songs
OP 1 - Yasashisa no Ryuu (Chouchou)
OP 2 - Mikansei Stride (Saori Kodama)

Ending songs
ED 1 - Madoromi no Yakusoku (Satomi Satou & Ai Kayano)
ED 2 - Kimi ni Matsuwari Mystery (Satomi Satou & Ai Kayano)

Genre: Drama, Mystery

Episodes:22



My busy times have come to a temporary end, so its time to post more! 


"Hyouka" is a....decently popular franchise, I'd say. It has seen some great popularity for its novel series and now with an anime to add to the franchise, its probably gained even more fans. Mystery themed animes can be rather rare and different, sometimes it will not appeal to most viewers. Still, there are some which manage to succeed and a small few even become great animes to be remembered ("Kami sama no Memocho" is one). "Hyouka" takes on a more light-hearted theme and setting, it even has an art style that I really like (it looks similar to "K-on"). This makes enjoying it easier for the general viewing public, and I feel that its one of those animes that you can easily watch on a weekend afternoon and have some good fun out of it.



So much moe....

For a light-hearted anime, it sure picked the correct songs in the opening and ending themes. The first opening is "Yasashisa no Ryuu" by Chouchou, the singer of the amazing "Kawaru Mirai". Its a soothing first opening, and it fits the anime pretty well, with the song not being too heavy or too slow. Both endings are sung by Satomi Satou and Ai Kayano, and the first one is  "Madoromi no Yakusoku". I'll say it, its a ballad. I don't like ballads, we just don't mix. Slow songs were never my thing.


"Mikansei Stride" is the second opening, and its sung by Saori Kodama. It fits the light-hearted mood even further, as this is literally an easy-going song that is very good to listen to. Its catchy and sounds great, probably the better one of the two openings. The second ending is "Kimi ni Matsuwari Mystery" and it is NOT a ballad. It lies on the catchy side, though I do think it gets beat by the 2nd opening itself.



Rating: 7.5/10



I wouldn't recommend it to EVERYONE, but it is fun to watch. You won't get hopelessly hooked to it like some of the god tier anime (SAO, Baka test etc), but it can get interesting. You will go "ah" many times throughout the show as these small time mysteries are solved. Still, these mysteries are split into different arcs, the bigger ones anyway, and it can be a pleasure to watch the crew of "Hyouka" as they scramble to find clues or conduct research. The main cast is likable, while the girls (mostly Eru) are completely overflowing with moe (once again, mostly Eru), "Hyouka" has one of the most likable protagonists of all time, because Horeki, is one awesome dude.



Every time Eru becomes curious, it is a moe explosion.

Houtarou Oreki is a high school student, a pretty awesome one at that. He has a vibe for being lazy, and that is just bad ass. His number one oath is to do things while conserving as much energy as he can. That means throughout his life, he has not joined any clubs, and always goes home after school. This time however, his older sister left him a seat in the classics club, and he is forced to join. Thinking that he would be the only one, he is joined by his best friend Satoshi and a girl he has never met before, Chitanda Eru. Together with another girl Mayaka, these four form the classics club, and they spend their time solving small time mysteries that may occur just to feed the curiosity of the girl known as Eru.


"Hyouka" is just an anime that you would watch for fun. Its like "Hayate", you won't benefit from it stopping, but if it keeps on showing you will just keep watching. Its of decent length  so expect to be entertained for awhile. Some arcs are better than others, and all in all its a good anime. Since mostly its just walking us through the life of 4 interesting individuals, anyone can pick it up, though its not really one that everyone SHOULD watch.


Peace.

Friday, 22 February 2013

Tales of Graces f

Gamespot Score: 7.0 (Good)

My Score: 8.0


(+)Pros: - Great story that is genuinely heartfelt, - Deep combat system that is visually stunning and satisfactory, - Tons of post game and optional content that will keep you occupied WAY beyond your initial clear, - Likable characters that offer a ton of different game play variety in battle, - Multi-player  between friends can be really fun.


(-)Cons: - Childhood section is rather long and weak, - Gets a LITTLE bit cliche at times during dialogue sections.


Gameplay time: 40 hours +



So, more "Tales" games. Lately I have been engrossed in "Tales" games more than ever and went A LOT into the culture of these games, I even went on Youtube to watch "Tales of Festival" videos. Anyway, "Tales of Graces F" is the recent PS3 release for the franchise (the ones that are localized anyway, I will never get to play Vesperia. Thanks alot NamcoBandai), and since its just a port to the Wii version of "Tales of Graces", many told me to skip it. I kept my will since I have never played an original "Tales" game for a long time (not a god damn spin off) and got the game....holy shit I was not disappointed. If you love JRPGs or the "Tales" series in general, this is one you shouldn't miss.




This tale puts you in the shoes of Asbel Lhant, the guy who wants to protect everybody (it's like a freaking meme now). The story starts as focusing of Asbel when he was a child, and forces you to play him as one. As a child he's nothing but a naive, playful brat that just wants to disobey his father, the lord of Lhant, his hometown. One day however when playing with his younger brother Hubert in the nearby hills, they discover a girl lying in the grass. She introduces herself as Sophie and claims that she has no memory of anything. They stick with her and soon they become friends. Following the events of this, the group of children somehow manage to get themselves into major trouble and their friendship just broke right there. Asbel ran away from home and went to train as a knight....for seven years. Now at age 18, Asbel gets called back to Lhant by his childhood friend Cheria, who he has not seen for 7 years. Little did he know this was the start of a new journey for him.



YEAH, DIE TO MY SLASHING LINES OF DEATH!

First things first, the story is great. It starts off pretty good already (minus the childhood sections), and ramps up to get better every single moment. The game never looks back, and you are presented with more interesting or intense story scenarios as you play. Best of all is that since there is a lot of friendship involved, things get emotional at times, especially when the game is at its peak. There is a lot of like, especially the characters. Most of them you know during the childhood sections, and back then they were all nothing but whiny and wimpy kids. Grown up they are a complete different story, most become likable. Like Cheria's caring attitude or Hubert's bossy demeanor. Malik is a funny old man and Pascal is just cheery beyond hell. Everyone's different personalities form together into an enjoyable party.


When you talk "Tales", you talk combat. With every game they change the combat system a little bit here and there so do expect to feel a little alienated at first. But alas since it IS "Tales", they didn't stray too far from their roots. Chaining moves together still feels natural, and in this game, they layed out different character's moves into 2 different sets, A artes and B artes, to make the game have more momentum. A artes are your combo moves, these can be chained together, up to 4 skills in a chain depending on your CC meter. B artes are just singular skills that you use once, some characters can chain B artes however, like Hubert and Asbel. CC is the key new mechanic here. SP is gone, and now everything you do requires CC. Using artes deplete your CC, and when you hit 0, you cannot do anything until your CC meter refills. This makes players a little more conservative and less spammy.


NOW DIE TO MY LIGHTNING, BITCHES!

All characters play differently in battle, and while you can only assume direct control of one character (like in all "Tales" games, don't bitch about it), you can switch between any of the characters in the game, there are 7 in total (6 in the normal game, another one in the extra content). As usual, you get to use any of these characters as your main, and since they all function differently, his can be really fun. If you get tired of playing Asbel, a brainless melee character that chains artes all day, you can easily switch to someone like Cheria who prefers to fight at a distance and support the team. You can only have up to 4 characters at once, so you will have 2 or 3 characters benched back, but no worries, they will still receive EXP, just in case you need a specific battle to win a boss fight.


Another really cool thing about the game is that you can play with up to 3 other players. A friend can at any time, assume control of any of the other characters. Together you can whoop ass and  screw up big time. Its also worth noting that without co-op, its almost impossible to defeat the rock-a-gong, because all your retarded AI team mates will get their ass handed to them by getting eaten. Your AI team mates aren't bad, since you can set their behaviors according to what you need during a boss fight.



Lots of stats and titles.

As for flaws...its mostly aimed at slightly cliched story moments. The constant rambling about friends can get a LITTLE bit annoying and repetitive, especially with Asbel. The childhood section is also pretty bad. Its long, its boring, and worst of all, you don't give a damn about the characters when they were young. They are naive, stupid, and annoying. Its all just a big build up to the better and more intriguing adulthood section that we are all waiting for.


"Tales of Graces f" is an awesome entry to the series and is all the more worthy of the "Tales" name. The deep combat system, great story, and plentiful of optional content makes it a game which you can hug for dozens and dozens of hours. If you had always enjoyed "Tales" games, this is one you would have gotten already. If you enjoy JRPGs, I see no reason to ignore this either. For the rest of you, this is a title that is immediately accessible. The combat system is fun, and almost everything about it makes it a great JRPG title.




Happy gaming!


Dark Sun Gwyndolin
HP:2121
Skills: Rapid fire*, Massive soul spread*, Energy ball*
Souls:40000


Difficulty:3/5
Times died on 1st playthrough: 5-ish



This boss is completely optional, and its actually recommended that you do not kill this boss in many cases. However it is my belief that you should kill this boss whenever you can during your playthroughs (he is an asshole). There is no reason not to actually, unless you want to stay committed to the "Blade of the Darkmoon" covenant or the "Princess Guard" covenant, in which in these cases, you should completely ignore this post. After you take the Lordvessel, kill Gwynevere and Anor Londo will go dark, leave and take the center elevator down to face this boss, who goes by Dark Sun Gwyndolin.



Wait wait...Gwyndolin as a girl with boobs? I APPROVE!

In many cases, Gwyndolin isn't a very tough boss, however the trick to this boss is that if you're hit once by ANY of his attacks, you're either dead or you will take a crap ton of damage. Each and every one of his attacks can kill you, but the thing is that he has only 3 attacks you need to watch out for. Still, as I said, his attacks are nothing to sneeze at, and chances are you will either kill this boss unscathed, or you won't kill him at all. Also since he is known as a feminine guy, he fights like a girl, and its very common for you to be pissed at times.


Rapid fire*- He rises a little bit and shoots a few darts/arrows at you. This one is simple, block everything. However, if you are hit by everything, chances are you that you are already seeing the "YOU DIED" screen. It hurts like a bitch, so please do block it.

Massive soul spread*- He disperses a huge bunch of soul arrows that float around him for a mere moment, then sends them all towards you at a quick speed. Dodge them as they come to you, don't bother blocking.

Energy ball*- Probably the only attack that will NOT one shot your ass. Still, its probably the attack that is the easiest to get hit by. Its fast, and it comes out incredibly quick. Dodge this one.


Fighting this guy is not that complicated, although he might catch you off guard during your first few attempts if you don't know what you are doing. His attacks hurt big time, and have the potential to one shot you even if you aren't running a full glass cannon build. Also, this fight is a dodge fest. You battle against Gwyndolin in a long deserted hallway with pillars at the side. You have to avoid his attacks as you approach him at the end of the hallway, and when you finally reach him you get to hit him for abit before he teleports further down, then you have to repeat the whole process again.



Die pussy!

As you can already guess, this whole process is incredibly annoying, especially if your character isn't built for doing massive damage. You'll have to dodge and run to him over and over until he dies. Getting to him is the issue since he tosses attacks your way. Lets go through his attacks, I label all of his attacks as special since all of them have the potential to kill you. Rapid fire is the first one, and this is the attack you have to worry about the least. He rises a little bit and sprays some darts/arrows at you. Blocking all these can suffice, but if you don't you're probably screwed.


Massive Soul spread is the most annoying out of the 3, as it can be easy to mistime your dodges and that will get you killed. This attack hurts like a bitch, and may one shot you depending on how many of the arrows you are hit by. Blocking these will reduce the damage taken, but its not worth as it still takes quite a good chunk off your health bar. Note that this attack and the rapid fire attack can be completely avoided by ducking behind pillars, though this will waste precious time which can be used to advance forward to him.


His final ability is the energy ball, which is the least damaging of his abilities, but will still hurt like a bitch. Its the attack that will catch you off guard the most, since it comes out incredibly fast and there's almost no indication of that attack coming. You can't block this and it will still get you even if you're hiding behind the damn pillar. So what do you do? Whenever you see a blue flash appear from Gwyndolin, just roll away, you don't want to get hit. 


When you finally get to him, you get to hit him for awhile, before he cowardly laughs at you and teleports further away from you, then you have to do everything again! Doesn't that sound like fun? Fortunately, he doesn't have a lot of HP, and since he only has 3 attacks, you can easily adapt to his patterns and eventually learn how to counter him. It did take me awhile to get used to his attacks though, and that cost me my life quite a few times.



Yeap, this is as feminine as guys can get.

As you can see, Gwyndolin isn't a complicated boss to  beat, but he sure is annoying to play against. He shoots at you, then as you get to him, he teleports away. He isn't exactly fun to fight, and when you beat him you get 40000 souls. You'd also have to betray the covenants as I said earlier, so seriously, this guy is pretty optional, though I have gotten the habit of fighting him everytime I have the chance to.


Peace.



Opening songs
OP 1 - Loop-the-Loop (Kotoko)

Ending songs
ED 1 - Baby baby love (Haruka Tomatsu)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Episodes:12



I have been really busy lately, thus the lack of posts, I apologize for that. Some of you might wonder why I even bothered to review "To Love Ru" and "Motto To Love Ru" separately. They are more or less the same thing! Yes its true, but I do think this 2nd season does deserve a separate review on its own, because it's actually better. There are quite a few factors that actually make it a more enjoyable series than before, which makes me happy. Though in the end it really doesn't matter that much, because if you liked the original, there is really no reason to refuse this 2nd season. "Motto To Love Ru" should satisfy your inner otaku needs as much as the first did.



Girls galore

The opening song for "Motto To Love Ru" is great, and in my opinion is a great step up from the opening song used in the original. "Loop-the-Loop" is an incredibly fast beating and catchy song, a song much more suited for this kind of anime. Plus, its Kotoko, you really can't go wrong using her songs in an anime. The ending is "Baby baby Love" and its really just any cutesy song. Its by Haruka Tomatsu, whom I'm growing to like more nowadays. She's the VA of Lala, that'll earn some respect (and many other well known characters as well).



Rating:8.0/10


Ecchi and fan service behold, "Motto To Love Ru" has a boat load of these in store for you. This season has just as much, or in some cases even more fan service than the original had, and well, this is a good thing. Also, "Motto To Love Ru" has a HUGE step up in terms of visual quality and art style, because it looks so much better than it did in season one considering the time gap. And since the episodes are now split into 3 individual short sections, we get more screen time from characters that either don't get much attention, or characters that need a lot more love. I personally think this is a wonderful change of pace for the anime, they get to cover more story related stuff as well.




Hmmm..why the faces in such an awesome situation?

Well Rito's life just keeps getting better. Following the events of the first season AND the OVA, Rito now has even more girls than before to add to his harem. Its practically the first season all over again, but with more girls and more outrageous stupidity. Rito's house now has Celine, the plant baby from the OVA, and Lala's two sisters, Momo and Nana, living in it. Now he thrives to have an even better life, and I mean with all these new girls, he is bound to be happy. Of course, with so many girls that like him, there's going to be quite a lot of issues following up!


Being a sequel to...nothing much, "Motto To Love Ru" is just an upgrade of the first season. You can see the quality improvements, and all in all, its just a much better experience. "To Love Ru Darkness" is basically a sequel to this, so if you haven't had enough, don't worry, there's more to come, and I think there's even more to come in the future regarding this franchise. Its too awesome to die.


Peace.