Gamer--freakz

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Happiness High Tension (Rina Satou, Marina Inoue, Minori Chihara)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Fast Approaching Lucky Days (Rina Satou, Marina Inoue, Minori Chihara)

Genre: Comedy, Slice Of Life

Episodes: 13



If an anime ever reaches 4 seasons, you know that its pretty popular. As you all know I was late to the "Minami-Ke" party, starting on the first season late this year. Its pretty much slice of life galore, anyone who enjoys that genre or get kicks out of it will love the simple pleasures that the "Minami-Ke" series provides. It was the same with the first season, "Okawari" and "Okaeri", and honestly, its pretty much also the same with "Tadaima". The anime never strays from its roots and continues to do what it does best, to its merit. It never tries anything new, but you know what they say, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it". "Minami-Ke Tadaima" is what exactly what you would expect, but honestly, it didn't need to change. "Tadaima" still provides the same lovable characters, the same cheesy laughs, and the same enjoyable life of the 3 Minami sisters that we enjoy watching so much. When it comes to change, some animes don't really need it, and I'd actually rather "Minami-Ke" to stay the same of there are any more future sequels or OVAs.

You should know all these awesome characters by now.

I was never really too much into "Minami-Ke"'s songs, they sounded energetic, but generic, with the exception of "Okawari"'s opening. It's the same with "Tadaima" though, "Happiness High Tension" is a happy and energetic song which never tries to be too different from previous opening themes. If you like those you'll like these, otherwise, there's not much difference. Same with the ending theme "Fast Approaching Lucky Days", its similar to previous ending themes, so you'd know what to expect. Both opening and ending themes were sung by the seiyuus of the 3 Minami sisters, Rina Satou, Marina Inoue and Minori Chihara.



Rating: 7.5/10



It is the pinnacle of the slice of life genre, which isn't much in the first place. We have characters goofing around, living their everyday lives in each episode, and it never lets up. Stereotypical situations for high school characters in anime are everywhere. You got your swimsuit episode, your maid outfit episode, your karaoke episode...etc. It's here however, that you get to see the most out of the characters, because "Minami-Ke" has some of the most lovable characters out there, though they're not that much different in "Tadaima" than they were in previous seasons (I still don't get how Tetsuya Kakihara can manage to sound EVEN more feminine as Fujioka after 6 years..). The jokes lie between the center of being cheesy or downright ridiculous, so its pretty easy to get a few chuckles in when the characters start being silly (oh Kana, you so funny).

Goshujin sama~~

It seems like the characters never f**king age at all after 4 seasons...but here we go. The story talks about the 3 minami sisters whom are of different age. Haruka is the mature, high school student who is the oldest of the 3. Kana is the goofy, idiotic middle school girl who is lazy and irresponsible. Chiaki is the young elementary school prodigy who is smart most of the time, but lacks a small bit of common sense at times. These 3 sisters live together in their apartment and go to school like every other girl, and they have their own circle of friends in their respective schools. All are drawn to the Minami sisters, and their friends usually hang out in their apartment, which in turn, they get to see the friends of the other sisters, creating this gigantic circle of people. They goof around and have fun all day, with no cares in the world.


"Tadaima" is just another season to add to the already fruitful franchise with tons of lovable characters. I can never get enough of Kana and Chiaki's constant bickering, or just Hosaka's ridiculousness overall. Everything blends so well together and by this forth season, I  was already accustomed to life in the Minami household. Its a good 4th season, and if there's more on the way, I'll gladly watch it as well.


Peace. 

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Preserved Roses (TM Revolution x Nana Mizuki)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Boku Janai (Angela)
ED 2 - Soba Ni Iru Yo (Elisa)

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Science Fiction

Episodes: 12



Here's another one for you mecha fans out there. "Valvrave" caught my eye immediately when I looked at its promotional art. I mean, the main mecha's design is so friggin badass, one of the best looking mechas I've seen in my anime life. However, I wasn't sold just yet, it took a trip to AFA 2013 to finally seal the deal. I attended the "Valvrave" on stage special event, where they showed the first episode along with special appearances from Ryota Ohsaka and Ryohei Kimura. Needless to say, I was impressed with episode 1, and I was impressed with the first few episodes. I was impressed by MANY things, the songs included, because "Valvrave" has an incredibly badass set of songs! However, towards the end I was a little puzzled. What can you expect out of "Valvrave"? I have only one thing to say in comparison to something else...think of it as a sub par "Code Geass" (goes to hide and prepare flame shield...). Its nice, but you'll question the direction that its headed to towards the end, believe me.

Believe me, there's a semi yaoi esque thing going on.

The opening song is one of the most brilliant pieces of music I've heard in a long time. "Preserved Roses" is by TM Revolution and Nana Mizuki, as a song sang by both of them, its fantastic. The arrangement EASILY tells me that its more of  a TM Revolution song than a Nana song. It gives off a vibe that feels similar to those of the old Gundam animes back in the early 2000s. It serves as a great nostalgia piece, but on its own, its still pretty damn f**king awesome. The first ending theme is "Boku Janai" by Angela. Its been awhile since we've heard any Angela songs, and they came back with a strong song for "Valvrave". "Boku Janai" is exactly what you'd expect. Its classic Angela at its best. "Soba Ni Iru Yo" too, its a song by Elisa used as the 2nd ending. Its classic Elisa, and it being one of her first songs since her short hiatus, its a nice piece.



Rating: 7.5/10



I know this is supposed to be one of the blockbusters of 2013 blah blah blah. This is my opinion, that's all there is to it. While I really did enjoy the first half of the anime, the 2nd half just felt lazy and a little bit weird. The mecha action is pretty good, the characters are all pretty damn shitty (except L-elf, he's cool), the plot starts off strong then goes completely WTF at the end....I'm sure they intended to build up the tension for season 2 but...nobody likes cliffhanger ends, let's just leave it at that. The mecha designs were awesome, and as I mentioned, the action was good, but it started to get freaking old when they were fighting the same god damn enemies for the entirety of the season! How many f**king times have we seen A-drei and his crew eject from their mechs after losing a fight?! It gets seriously old, and then they throw in a pointless sex scene towards the end that defies a lot of the logic that the anime has provided us with. At the VERY last episode they do something so stupid that throws everything COMPLETELY out of the window. What a way to end it....

You like seeing mecha tearing each other apart? This anime has plenty of those scenes done well.

The anime stars Tokushima Haruto as the main character, a lousy ass, whiny ass, generic as all hell protagonist that we all have seen before (he's no Lelouch). He and his friends study aboard a floating sector in space, and he attends a high school there. He lives life like a normal high school student, until one day JOIR, their small little neutral federation, is attacked by the Dorssian forces, one of the two nations that are at war. JOIR, being a neutral nation with no power, surrendered unconditionally. Haruto's school was attacked by Dorssian forces, and the entire city was placed into lock down. Haruto and his friends were escaping when his crush, Shoko, was blown away in the rubble by a Dorssian mech. Feeling enraged, Haruto got into a nearby robot to exact revenge, and the robot would only operate at the expense of his humanity. Having no choice, he agreed and fought against the invaders with his robot, known as the Valvrave...


I feel that "Valvrave" was just a set up to season 2. It had a ton of unanswered questions and the plot just made no f**king sense when it ended. Season 2 is well underway and will be completed soon. However, if I judge season 1 alone, its just a pretty average anime with nothing special, just tons of awesome mecha action. If that's what you want, go for it.


Peace.

Bed Of Chaos
HP: 1
Skills: Arm swipes*, Arm Smash, Scythe slash, Fireball rain, Flame pillars*
Souls: 60000

Difficulty: 2.5/5
Times died on 1st playthrough: 5



This is actually one of the most annoying fights in the game depending on how you trained yourself mechanically while playing it. You may be good enough to dodge incoming attacks from both Ornstein and Smough, or you may be able predict and counter every attack from The Four Kings, but nothings ever prepared you for the Bed Of Chaos. This is the first boss in the game that requires you to do nothing but dodge, run and jump. Fortunately for you this is the only boss in the game where you can make progress even when you die, but unfortunately, its also pretty damn cheap, because you'll be falling to your f**king death more than you will be actually dieing from its attacks. Practicing jumping before attempting this one, or you WILL rage.

Chop chop chop the branches.

When you see this, its time to haul ass before the fire comes.

Gamespot Score: n/a

My Score: 8.5


(+) Pros: - Vast world for you to explore, - Behind each door in the dream world lies completely different and varied worlds, - Can be scary, creepy and ridiculous all at the same time, - Freedom to explore the areas at your own accord with no restrictions or hand holding, - Plenty of item effects change the gameplay drastically, leading to Easter eggs and plenty of hidden events, - A lot of content overall, with the time taken to find all items added in.

(-) Cons: - Story and ending is purely speculation based, - You may find yourself going in circles if you have no clue what you're doing.

Gameplay time: 10-20 hours (more if you want to do absolutely EVERYTHING in the game)






When it comes to pixel horror games, I've probably already played the best that the genre has to offer...that's what I thought before playing "Yume Nikki". I never did expect it to be better than "Ib", which was a masterpiece of a game, but I also never expected it to top other great games in the genre like "The Crooked Man" and "The Witch's House". However, that was not the case. "Yume Nikki" was different, WAY different from ANY of the pixel horror RPG maker games that I've played. Its massive, its overwhelming, its dark, and you'll never know what awaits you behind a door. There is no hand holding whatsoever, and you're thrown into the fray right off the bat, you will soon feel desperate trapped in the world of Madotsuki's dream, but you'll also feel intrigued. Intrigued to explore another area that you've yet to discover. This is "Yume Nikki", this is the very definition of the word "Dream", because you'll never know what's in there.


Story? Pah, there is no story in "Yume Nikki", which is another awesome and unique thing about it. Other pixel horror RPG maker games have always had deep stories that tried to engross you, but "Yume Nikki" is different. It depends on its MASSIVE world to suck you in, which it succeeds in doing. But because the game eventually ends, there clearly is something going on, just that the game doesn't explain anything WHAT-SO-EVER with text, so its highly speculation based. You just have to know, you're playing as a girl known as Madotsuki who's eternally trapped in her dream.

Welcome to Madotsuki's room.

The game flow of "Yume Nikki" is ridiculously simple, though you'll spend a lot of time trapped in this game flow. You start off in Madotsuki's room, and there's only 2 things you can do. Either you play on her NES and get a stupid mini game, or go to sleep and dive into her dream world, the meat of the main game itself. While in the dream world, your purpose is to visits the many different realms in the nexus, the center of the realms, and look for items. Looking for and finding all 24 items will  officially mark the end of the game, and you can choose to either end it, or continue exploring the realms of your own free will. The world is massive....like, ridiculous for a game of this genre. Its bigger than any of the pixel horror RPG maker worlds that I have experienced...without a doubt.


So the world is huge, so what can you expect of this huge world. Having a huge world in itself would be a demerit to the game if there was nothing to look at, or if the game itself had pretty boring or repetitive environments. Well, in Madotsuki's dream world, in the nexus area, there are 12 doors to 12 different realms, and that goes without saying, that there are 12 different locations in this game. 12 locations is a big deal, and to make it even more ridiculous, these 12 locations are different from one another, and as you explore deep into them, you discover even MORE areas from within these initial 12 realms. There's a door that leads to a forest, one that leads to a snow area, one that leads to a completely dark area, one that leads to some disco floor, etc etc. There's a lot to see, and there's more to see beyond these areas, which makes exploring the dream world exciting and fresh as step into each new door.

F**k the Numbers world. Why? I hate math.

"Yume Nikki" is classified as a pixel horror game for a reason, because for real, there are plenty of creepy moments in the game. Just look at this image above of the numbers world, if you ask me, I wouldn't want to go into that door. There are plenty of disturbing imagery in this game that can just be downright shuddering. There are no plain jump scares, but there are plenty of moments that just make you go "f**k this place", and you'll find yourself skittering away quickly. Its all in the atmosphere, and its easy to find yourself creeped out. There is no way to die in this game, but the Toringen serve as enemies that chase you all around. These are disgusting looking bird women that just want you gone...and well, honestly you'll just run like the wind when one's after you.


As mentioned earlier, 12 realms that open up into more areas that all link with one another sounds like an insanely big world, which it is, mind you. The beauty of "Mirai Nikki" is that the game never holds your hand. From the start it just throws you off into dream world, and you're left to fend for yourself, in front of 12 intimidating doors. You'll never know when to enter a door, hell, you won't even know where to go to find items, you'll get lost, you'll feel despair, and you WILL be hitting F9 COUNTLESS times to get yourself out of the dream world. But that's also part of the experience, you get to go where you want, see different things, adapt to the area, go to new areas and see new things, and much more. There's no knowing where you'll end up or what you'll find, and that is just exciting in a way.

What da fark?

The purpose of the game is to collect items within Madotsuki's dream, and there are 24 items overall. Items, when used, will grant a special effect to Madotsuki. Only 1 item can be used at a time, and the item effects vary greatly from one another. Some are purely there to change the visual around Madotsuki in some stupid way, but some are essential in opening new paths to exploring new places. Items like changing your hair color are just to change your look, and items like the Cat item will turn Madotsuki into a Cat girl, then USING the effect of the Cat girl Madotsuki will attract enemies to her. Then there are those items that allow you to change the environment drastically, like the Umbrella which magically spawns rain to put out fire, or Yuki-Onna, to make snow fall. Most of these items may be used for fun, but some of them are needed to get other items or unlock secret Easter egg events which are pretty awesome (I love the Mars event).


With the time frame you will need to get used to "Yume Nikki" as a game overall, you'll find yourself to have invested a lot of f**king time into the game if you decide the play the game without any help or guides. You'll take a good 4-5 hours getting into all 12 realms and seeing what they have to offer on the exterior, you'll take a couple hours more to find your first handful of items, you'll take another couple hours to actually memorize the layout of the realms, then from there, you can start mapping out these areas and start looking for the items that are really hard to look out for. I took a good 12 hours plus to find all the items WITH help online, and about another hour more to look for all the weird ass Easter eggs, once again, WITH the help of a guide.

If I had a dream of walking down an endless flight of stairs with hands reaching out of nowhere, I'll shit myself.

Its hard to find anything bad about "Yume Nikki", being the game that it is. For one, the most obvious "negative" about the game is the fact that it doesn't have an obvious story to tell. You can piece things here and there together, but again, its all speculation. We'll never know who Madotsuki is and what kind of end befell her, its all speculation, there are a ton of theories on the Yume Nikki Wikia, but then again, take it all with a grain of salt. Another thing is the fact that you'll get lost SO easily. If you're a hardcore gamer, you won't mind this so much, but many people will resort to an FAQ really quickly, because its so easy to get lost and the game never holds your hand AT ALL. You could say that this was the first "Hard" pixel horror RPG maker game I played.


"Yume Nikki" is definitely one of the most unique and interesting experiences I've had in awhile. Its hella weird, its ridiculous, and I haven't seen anything like it in the realm of pixel horror RPGs. If you thought you've seen it all, you've never seen "Yume Nikki". Even if you're a fan of the more story driven, puzzle based experiences, this is still one you have to try for yourself.





Happy gaming!

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Dimension Tripper (Nao)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Neptune Sagashite (Afilia Saga)

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Episodes: 12



So, you know, being a typical closet otaku I've always took interest in the "Neptunia" franchise. Cute anime girls, weird skimpy outfits and magical girl esque transformations? Man these 3 things combined were almost enough to pull me to buy the PS3 games. However, the key word is ALMOST, because I was quickly dissuaded by the sub par scores the game got. It didn't even do that well on famitsu, FAMITSU! However, that didn't mean that I had given up all hope on the franchise. Despite it being sub par as a game franchise, I still wanted to discover the world of "Neptunia" (because, you know, the girls just looked too moe, and I saw tons of "fan service" images online), and that just meant that a huge smile was on my face when the animation was announced. This review is coming out of a guy who has NEVER played the "Neptunia" games, so keep that in mind. If you're into the core fan service anime like "Senran Kagura", you should already know what to expect with "Neptunia", because that's what it is.

See this cast? You know what you're getting yourself into.

"Dimension Tripper" from Nao is a pretty average song to me, but it fits as "Neptunia"'s opening theme so well that its not even funny. The entire feel of the song just fits the entire sci-fi theme that the anime has going, and you have this semi-high pitched pop tune that just makes everything go so smoothly. The ending song is better, in my opinion. Its "Neptune Sagashite" by Afilia Saga, and its a petty slow-mid tempo song. However, it speeds up a little bit and sounds pretty good, a far mark above the incredibly high pitched voice cutesy song that I had in mind.



Rating: 7.5/10



I know what many people will think going into "Neptunia", but I'll tell you right now, as an anime, its not that bad. In fact, I kind of liked it for what it is. The story isn't the anime's strong point, but what can you expect from an anime like this, it was pretty obvious from the get go that we were going to get a pretty sub par story at most. Everything else though, is on the higher end. The characters were super moe and pretty damn likable for the most part, except a small few (Blanc's twin sisters and Pische), and they vary greatly in personality, which keeps the show entertaining. The comedy is alright, you'll get a few easy chuckles out of the cheesiness that's present here, and the animation is quite solid. The fan service is honestly well done. Not only did most of the fan service segments feel, you know, "fan service"-y, but they were not over exaggerated. They were ridiculous (the eggplant scene was surprisingly arousing, lol), but not over exaggerated. And come on, the 4 goddesses getting bondaged by wires was pretty sexy.

HOLY TITS....need some help, Miss?

The story centers around 4 goddesses and their 4 governing nations. For a long time, wars have been fought by these 4 goddesses over share energy, a common resource that all the nations needed. However, one day they got tired of the fighting, and the 4 goddesses signed a truce, a peace treaty to end all wars and have share energy shared among the 4 nations. Neptune, the protagonist, is one of the 4 goddesses. Normally, she's known as Neptune, a lazy, easy going girl that likes to play games all f**king day like a hikkimori (me). As a goddess, she is known as Purple Heart, an elegant woman with purple hair, armor and a deadly long sword. As Neptune though, she has been playing too much games, and as a result, her people don't think too highly of her, which caused their respect for her to take a dip, which in turn caused Neptune's nation, Planeptune, to receive decreased share energy. To regain that lost share energy, Histoire, the navi behind Planeptune's share system, kicks Neptune and her sister out of the office and tells them to go do some work, which leads to some drastic situations.


As far as heavy fan service animes go, I think I'll take "Neptunia" over most of the other ones that I've watched before. Good fan service can be subjective, but I like how "Neptunia" was felt as an overall experience. The future similar animes with character casts having nothing but big busted females should take a note from "Neptunia" in appealing to the general male otaku demographic.


Peace.