Gamer--freakz

Ryota Ohsaka

This guy is pretty new to the industry, apparently, and he's been on a roll, I'll tell you that. In such a short span of time he has voiced so many characters, most of them being protagonists too. He has a pretty standard bishonen voice, but as usual like many other seiyuus, he can put different variations to them. His very typical main character voice goes to characters like Kido Eita (Oreshura), Akito (OniAi), the older Jun (Rozen Maiden (2013)) and of course, Haruto (Valvrave). Then he can sound badass like Vali (Highschool DxD New) and Staz (Blood lad). Maou (Hataraku Maou Sama) takes the cake here for being my favorite character on his list though, as it shows us a little bit of a mixture of his comedic side and his badass side when he goes demon mode.


Characters from left to right

1st row: Eita (Oreshura), Akito (OniAi), Vali (Highschool DxD New), Jun (Rozen Maiden (2013))

2nd row: Maou (Hataraku Maou Sama), Haruto (Valvrave:The Liberator), Staz (Blood Lad)



Iori Nomizu





She hasn't been doing a lot of voices until recently, I guess she got the recognition she deserved. Her voice range is actually quite versatile, though she tends to excel at doing the very cutesy characters. I think she belongs there, and while she has the voices of some sexy girls under her belt, she doesn't sound too seductive or sexy when the need arises...though I think she'll fix this in due time. Like I say she excels at cutesy characters, say hello to Yoshino (Date A Live), Haruna (Kore wa Zombie Desuka), Febri (To Ar Kagaku No Railgun S) and Funko (Upotte), these characters were done magnificently. Rinko (Omamori Himari) is your very standard childhood friend voice, while Fuyumi (Blood Lad) is a very shy and sexy female. Kuro Usagi (Mondaiji) is a very cocky, sexy bunny, while Minatsuki (Deadman Wonderland) is just a complete sadistic mess (which I f**king love).


Characters from left to right

1st row: Kuro Usagi (Mondaiji), Yoshino (Date A Live), Haruna (Kore Wa Zombie Desuka?), Febri (To Aru Kagaku No Railgun S)

2nd row: Rinko (Omamori Himari), Fuyumi (Blood Lad), Funko (Upotte), Minatsuki (Deadman Wonderland)




Rie Tanaka





HOLY SHIT! Rie Tanaka is pretty awesome, and that's really an understatement. She has probably the most Onee-San esque sadistic voice in the anime industry. All of her characters have something in common, they all sound VERY mature and sexy (except non-Purple Heart Neptune). Though, even though they all sound that way, the personalities behind them are rather different. Neptune (Hyperdimension Neptunia) is probably the only exception, and its the first time I've hear Rie Tanaka do such a cutesy, regular girl voice, though she does retain her mature undertone when she transform into Purple Heart. Mission driven girls like Mitsuru (Persona 3), Octavia (Tears to Tiara) and Sei (Bakuretsu Tenshi) fit her well. She can do "big sister" roles well enough too, with Maria (Hayate No Gotoku), Shuri (Asura Cryin) and Mina (Strike Witches). Morrigan (Darkstalkers) is f**king awesome, and her villain voices, Suigintou (Rozen Maiden) and Mio (To Aru Kagaku No Railgun) are just FABULOUS!


Characters from left to right

1st row: Mitsuru (Persona 3), Neptune (Hyperdimension Neptunia), Suigintou (Rozen Maiden Series), Maria (Hayate No Gotoku! Series)

2nd row: Octavia (Tears To Tiara), Morrigan (Darkstalkers), Sei (Bakuretsu Tenshi)

3rd row: Shuri (Asura Cryin), Mina (Strike Witches), Mio (To Aru Kagaku No Railgun)



Akira Ishida





Here we go guys, how do you feel about this shit?! Akira Ishida is 46 years old now....and look at the characters he voices. What can I say about this? He is a 46 year old bishonen, there's no way around it. Like many seiyuus with a bishonen voice, its easy to tell that its him, his characters all have his similar signature voice tint that you can differentiate. You want to talk easy going main characters? He's got that covered! Reid (Tales Of Eternia) is the KING of easygoing RPG protagonists, and Kagari (Psycho-Pass) is pretty easygoing as well. Need cold, moody guys? Togami (Danganronpa) and Gaara (Naruto) pretty much fit into this category, and I guess Makoto (Persona 3) does as well. Villains? Come on dude. Nagi (Mai Hime), Ryunosuke (Fate/Zero) and Kuja (Dissidia:Final Fantasy) say hi. Akise Aru (Mirai Nikki) is kind of a yaoi guy, and who can forget Athrun Zala (Gundum Seed Destiny)?


Characters from left to right

1st row: Kagari (Psycho Pass), Ryunosuke (Fate/Zero), Nagi (Mai Hime)

2nd row: Gaara (Naruto), Togami (Danganronpa), Akise (Mirai Nikki), Reid (Tales Of Eternia)

3rd row: Makoto (Persona 3), Zala (Gundam Seed Destiny), Kuja (Dissidia:Final Fantasy)



Aya Endo





I LOOOOVEEE seiyuus that can do their share of sexy girl voices, and Aya Endo falls into that category very well. She's another one of those seiyuus that I feel need more recognition, because she has a MAGNIFICENT voice, fit for any of them sexy bitches out there. Riela (Valkyria Chronicles 3) and Lisara (So I Can't Play H?) are like 2 peas in a pod, they are affectionate girls that attempt to hide their "dere-ness" in front of their main hero. Matsu (Sekirei) is her take on an easy-going girl, and Arisa (Guilty Crown) is more of her trying to be a mature character with a very weak mindset. Cruz (Needless) shows that she can do a young boy no problem, and Reine (Date A Live) is just a very sexy, lazy woman who lacks sleep. Engi (Yumekui Merry) is her trying to be a "manly" woman, with a sword and all.


Characters from left to right

1st row: Riela (Valkyria Chronicles 3), Cruz (Needless)

2nd row: Lisara (So I Can't Play H?), Matsu (Sekirei)

3rd row: Arisa (Guilty Crown), Engi (Yumekui Merry), Reine (Date A Live)



Misato Fukuen





Yo she rocks the house with her many variety of characters! She can do so many different voices, you won't even know its her sometimes. Her versatility is probably her strong point, because she does so many types of voices, its hard to tell what she really excels at. She is no stranger to cheerful girls, she has done voices for Sakura (Street Fighter 4), Reimi (Star Ocean 4), Maika (To Aru Majutsu No Index) and Yoshika (Strike Witches). Then we have the seductive girls the form of Kurumu (Rosario to Vampire) and to some sense, Rika (Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai). Her take on kuuderes is also pretty impressive, with girls like Yin (Darker Than Black), the Mage (Maoyu) and Yami (To Love Ru) to back it up. Special shout out to the mage though, she's kind of like many personalities in one.


Characters from left to right

1st row: Reimi (Star Ocean 4), Kurumu (Rosario + Vampire), Yami (To Love Ru), Mage (Maoyu), Yoshika (Strike Witches)

2nd row: Sakura (Street Fighter IV), Rika (Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai), Maika (To Aru Majutsu No Index), Yin (Darker Than Black)



Peace.

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Never Say Never (TKDz2b feat. The 49ers)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Zetsubou: Hero Chiroyaku (Suzumu feat. Soraru)

Genre: Action, Horror, Mystery, Psychological

Episodes: 13



Before you guys go any further, I'll just say before hand that I've played the game itself, and the review for "Danganronpa"'s game will be out sometime in the future. I'll just say it now, the game f**king fantastic, one of the gems of the PSP that never came over to the western side, and its thanks to "Project Zetsubou" that I and many others got to play the game in English because of their magnificent patch. The game is superb, and you know me, I expect a lot out of game-anime adaptations. I didn't really dig "Devil Survivor 2: The animation", but I loved "Persona 4: The Animation". Luckily for us, "Danganronpa"'s anime adaptation is solid enough to carry the franchise's weight, and adds to its already awesome track record. "Danganronpa: The Animation" will keep you glued to your seats, it will surprise you, mind f**k you with its numerous plot twists, and interest you with its engaging characters. Just don't expect it to be as picture perfect as the game itself.

15 students. Who will survive?

"Never Say Never" is the opening for the anime, and I can say that it fits the theme of "Danganronpa" well. It FITS the theme well, but I don't like it as a song overall. It reminds me a lot of the "Deadman Wonderland" opening, which I found weird in the first place. The ending theme though is where its at. "Zetsubou: Hero Chiroyaku", once again fits the theme of despair that "Danganronpa" has going, but it also rocks to no end as a song on its own. Leagues better than "Never Say Never", but of course, this is just my opinion.



Rating: 8.0/10



It definitely stands among the higher game-anime adaptations out there. The only reason why its not higher is because it misses out on some of the small details. The entire story line, the cases and characters do not lose too much of their charm, but because they have to cram the entire "Danganronpa" lore into 13 measly episodes, some things got omitted. Classroom trials were sped up and lost some of their intensity. Since the answers are all brought up immediately, these last for an episode at most compared to the hour or so you'll take in game to solve these trials. The investigation sequences were also sped up immensely, but I had no problem with this as they did go over the major pieces of evidence....they just didn't go in-depth. Free time where Naegi bonds with his friends are also scrapped away, but this was understandable. Everything else awesome remained in tact, which was really all that it needed to keep the amazing atmosphere and despair.

Oh Asahina....

The story follows Makoto Naegi, a regular High School kid who enrolled into Hope's Peak academy, an academy meant only for the best of the best students around the Japan. Each student enrolled into the academy had their own nickname which represented their forte. Makoto was the SDHS (Super Duper High School) Luckster, which meant he had a lot of luck on his side...which Makoto thought was stupid. Other students had better nicknames which related to their actual talent, like SDHS Fighter or SDHS Idol. However, upon entering the school, Makoto seemingly faints, and suddenly wakes up in a deserted classroom. After a bit of wandering, he meets 14 other students and a stuffed bear known as Monokuma, whom calls himself the Principal. Monokuma says that the students will all live their entire lives trapped in this school, and the only way to escape, is to murder someone.....



"Danganronpa: The Animation" is a solid release and a great anime adaptation overall. It could have been better if they included the minor details, went more in depth with the investigation and showed character bonding when Naegi talks to the other characters during his free time, but what we got in the end was substantial enough to keep us glued to our seats. Even if you've played the game, I recommend at least to give this a look, and if you've not played the game, then this will be an even better experience for you.


Peace.

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Vitalization (Nana Mizuki)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Next Destination (Ayahi Takagaki) 

Genre: Action

Episodes: 13



Now we all know sequels are most of the time not that much different from their original releases. They might sometimes be worse, sometimes the same, and if you're really lucky they might actually be BETTER than their predecessors. Unfortunately for the "Symphogear" franchise, I thought that the sequel, "Symphogear G" was a tad bit uninteresting until the end, and even then, it wasn't all that fantastic. The entire second season was a decent follow up to the pretty good first season, but it wasn't really interesting enough to stand of par with the first one. While the action, cool powers and magical girl transformations still remain as the series's strong point, the story, plot and everything else took a step backwards. As a sequel, I don't feel that "Symphogear G" is worthy, but at least its tolerable until you make it to the nice parts towards the end.

Que anime theme song!

Well, at least the songs are still pretty awesome. "Synchrogazer" was f**king amazing as season 1's opening, and Nana Mizuki comes back with "Vitalization" for season 2. Needless to say, "Vitalization" was a pretty awesome song as well, even though I did prefer "Synchrogazer" just a little bit, "Vitalization" still packs the energetic punch that its predecessor did and is just great to listen to. "Next Destination" by Atahi Takagaki is the ending theme and it just reeks of sexy beats. The opening few seconds to the song already got my head banging back and forth, and it only gets better!



Rating: 7.0/10



Basically a few problems made this anime pretty boring right from the get go. The opening episode was good, about how they declare war on the world and all, but then none of that actually freaking happens. Its the same procedure of fighting noise again over and over, and then they fight the same 2 enemy symphogear users all the freaking time....Plus, without the lack of new interesting "good guy" characters, the party got pretty stale quickly with just Tsubasa and Chris. They were great introductory material in season 1, but season 2 needed something more....so they added the 3 bad guys..which were completely uninteresting IMO. The last few episodes picked up the pace a bit, but its still not really enough to be on par with season 1. The best thing that happened to season 2 is Doctor Ver, that dude was just psycho to the very end, something this anime needed.

Good guys vs bad guys. Oh boy.....

So the story centers on our air-headed girl Tachibana Hibiki, once again. Months has passed since the Luna attack incident in season 1, which left the moon damaged. Hibki has continued her life as a student like she always had, but tuned in to help fight the noise with her Gungnir every now and then with Tsubasa and Chris. Life was going as per normal for her until they received a mission to guard the Solomon's Cane, a dangerous device that spawns noise out of nowhere. They successfully escorted the cane into safe hands, but it goes missing along with a person that they were escorting, Doctor Ver. At the same time, Tsubasa was having a duet with Maria, a rising star from overseas, in a concert. Knowing that all eyes around the world would be on this concert, Maria took the opportunity to declare war upon the world, whilst spawning Noise to wipe out the entire concert dome. With this she shows that she and 2 of her allies have symphogears. So what can be used to stop symphogear users? Other symphogear users, of course.



Season 2 was a little disappointing to be honest, I expected a lot more. The end conclusion was pretty cheesy and they made it so that a 3rd season would be rather unlikely, but who knows. I never thought "Symphogear" would get a 2nd season anyway, so we'll see about that. Lets hope the girls get another shot on stage so that they'll get the show that they truly need and deserve.


Peace.

Gamespot Score: n/a

My Score: 7.0


(+) Pros: - Great atmosphere, - Some scary moments, - Interesting story about artificial mermaids, - Some likable characters.

(-)Cons: - Feels underwhelming compared to other pixel horror RPGs, - Not much "threats", - Very short


Gameplay time: 2 hours or so

Its time for another RPG maker horror game, this time its one that isn't AS popular as some of Vgperson's other translated works, "Mermaid Swamp". As you can tell from the name of the game itself, it is something VERY different from some of the other RPG maker horror games, which it is. It still classifies as a horror title, because there are some scary moments that'll no doubt catch some people off guard, but there are also many some issues about this game. "Mermaid Swamp" feels like one of the most underwhelming RPG maker horror games I have played. Its short, the story, while interesting, is pretty simple with not many twists or mind-f**k moments, and as a "game", it really doesn't offer too much. However, its at least playable to the end, unlike "Paranoic", which was the only RPG maker horror game that I detested.


The story is simple at first but evolves into something interesting later down the line. You play as Rin, a country bumpkin college student that decided to go on a trip with her friends. However, their genius driver got lost while driving in the woods and their car broke down, so they were pretty much stranded in the middle of a misty forest. You know where this goes, 4 college students stranded in the woods....it sounds all too familiar doesn't it. Someone in their group called Yuka faints and goes unconscious, and while they were panicking, an old man came along and decided to offer them shelter in his giant ass mansion. When they finally settled down in the mansion, Yuka starts bloating up like a fish, and the mermaid's curse begins......

You might want to get away from her.

Well if we're going to talk about what "Mermaid Swamp" nails down perfectly, its the atmosphere. Like most RPG maker horror titles, the feel and environment of "Mermaid Swamp" feels perfect. An old manor with nobody living in it but your 3 friends....you never know what is going to happen next. The houses are huge, so exploring them might take awhile, and with nobody around you, things can get creepy very quickly. The old mansion is busted up beyond hell, with broken chunks on the floors, cracked walls and destroyed furniture. You never know when something might come at you, which is a good thing in this case.


Of course it takes more than the environment and the atmosphere to make a scary game, the game is littered with little scares here and there. Looking into a book suddenly fills your entire screen with a bloodshot eye image that makes you jump a bit. You see small black silhouettes running across the hallways like its all good, random sounds of somebody walking can be heard but when you look out there's nobody....there's plenty of moments like these. Hell there's even a moment where you look out a window to see nothing unusual, but if you look again you get to see a black silhouette approaching. That one got me, I'll say it.

One girl in a huge mansion alone, you know what that means.

 
"Mermaid Swamp" has that kind of plot that makes you think as it hits its conclusion. The story about mermaids and its curse seems like a really typical "horror flick" experience, but it does everything right. The legend of the house, its inhabitants and how the curse claimed the many people that came along....it was a story worth thinking about. And depending on the ending you got, you get to see a different side of this mermaid curse, it was intriguing....the many different endings were quite peculiar. Some of them even got you to think about the aftermath yourselves.


The characters were alright, not to the extend of likability in comparison to other amazing RPG maker horror games like "Ib" or "The Crooked Man". What we have here are run of the mill college students, and Rin is a pretty awesome protagonist. Not the usual "damsel in distress" girl or the "manly girl who does everything by herself" kind as well. Rin is a country bumpkin, and she might fit into the "tsundere tough girl" category. Seeing her act tough is fun, and watching Seitarou fret over her is interesting as well.

That's what I would ask too if I were him.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a pretty underwhelming title for a RPG maker horror game. There aren't many different environments to explore, there aren't many characters to interact with, and you'll be spending most of your time in the 2 gigantic houses that the game provides, which isn't much. There aren't any enemies in the game aside from a few chasing segments, so there's little threat of actually you losing the game. It's also very short, like, way short. How short? Its probably "Portal" short, that's how short it is. There isn't much reason to play it over unless you want the good ending.


For a game made by Uri, I really expected more, especially since this was made after the masterpiece that was "The Crooked Man". Its still a better game than "Paranoic", but Uri could have done so much more in my opinion. Lets hope the next game by Uri will be a little bit better, because this wasn't the best that I had expected. Its still a fun story to play through though.





Happy gaming.

Genre: Adventure

Episodes: 4



Well this is going to be a short one, because I've never really reviewed much when it comes to OVAs, and honestly, there really isn't much to say about "Pokemon:The Origin". As the title states, this is an origin story that's completely separate from the bullshit "Pokemon" anime that has been running for over 700 (it may very well be 800 now) god damn episodes , featuring everyone's favorite stupid ass "Pokemon Master", Ash. "Pokemon:The Origin" takes the series back to its roots, back to how it all started, back to the old days, Its needless to say that this is geared towards fans of the first generation, but again, this is an anime that appeals to many different types of audiences. Fans of Pokemon overall will love it, those that loved gen one and never played anything after that (I know many people in this category) will love it, and those that are new to Pokemon (I honestly don't know anyone who doesn't know what the f**k Pokemon  is) can start here. It is a good entry to the series that you should already know of.

The ones who started it all! Red & Blue (Green in the anime)!

Rating: 8.0/10


You honestly cannot go wrong with "Pokemon:The Origin", but its easily leagues better than the OTHER "Pokemon" anime featuring Ash. Its only 4 episodes long, so everything might feel a little bit cramped, and it feels like there wasn't enough time to fully feature Red's journey of becoming a Pokemon master. Even though in the short span of 4 episodes we get a quickly summed up journey of how Red became the legend that we all know and love today, it still feels satisfying to watch. The anime covers the most important major story arcs in the original "Red" and "Green" games, while leaving some of the less important ones in the dust (which would have been awesome to see, but oh well). There weren't many characters to introduce as Red traveled by his lonesome self (like a badass), and his journey through the Kanto region felt enlightening as to how us players travel through the regions in the game ourselves. To put it simply, the anime gives off a sense of relevance and nostalgia. To top it off, the action here is pretty darn intense and exciting to watch!

Yes, this is not a dream.

I'm sure we all know of the plot by now (if you don't, you have no childhood. Not a proper one, anyway), but I'll go through it anyways. Red is a young boy living in Pallet town, and has always wanted to go on a journey. He shares the same motives as Green, a boy that he has been friends with since young. One day, Professor Oak tasks them both with completing the Pokedex, a device he has made which records any Pokemon seen. Of course, they both get to choose one of the 3 starter Pokemon to help with their journey. Red picks Charmander, and Green, the scumbag that he is, picks Squirtle just to counter Red. Both set off on their journey, Red wants to complete the Pokedex and become the most experienced Pokemon trainer, while Green intends to just find the best Pokemon team to become the strongest trainer. With different goals set in stone, the both set off on their journey into the great world of Pokemon!


So that's all for the origin story of Pokemon. It serves as a great starting step for newcomers into the series, and it serves as an amazing source of nostalgia for those of us who wanted to relive the old days. Of course, you can always hook up a GBA or Emulator to play the games yourselves, but if you want a faster and equally entertaining way to do so, "Pokemon:The Origin" will strike you with tons of nostalgia! 


ITS SUPER EFFECTIVE!

Peace.

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Get Goal! (Ro-Kyu-Bu!)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Rolling! Rolling! (Ro-Kyu-Bu!)

Genre: Comedy

Episodes: 12



So you guys all know how this rolls. By "How this rolls", I mean by how "Ro-Kyu-Bu!" works as an anime. Its genre is just comedy, but I mean, its a lot more than that, of course. Lets see, its all about lolis, lolis, and of course, more lolis. Lolis everywhere god damnit! The only sexy girl is Subaru's childhood friend Aoi! ...Back on topic. "Ro-Kyu-Bu!" was another one of those animes which I NEVER expected to get a second season. Well, there must have been a boatload of lolicons who love the anime, because the support it received has netted it a pretty standard second season. That said, I do believe the second season is a step up from the first season, because things were definetely quite a bit more interesting this time round. Just saying though, even do I may like "Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS" that little bit more, I still don't find myself all too hyped up about sports animes.

Ta-da! Loli circle power activate!

Like "Shoot" from season 1, "Get Goal" is stupidly catchy, and I love it, just as much as "Shoot", maybe even more depending on the circumstances. Once again, the artists for both opening and ending themes is Ro-Kyu-Bu, the group consisting of all 5 seiyuus of the 5 girls. "Get Goal!" is awesome, but not so much "Rolling! Rolling!", which is the ending theme. In my opinion it is leagues better than season 1's ending, but still not to the levels of the two opening themes. It just sounds like your everyday high school romance comedy anime ending theme now.



Rating: 7.5/10



I can't say I didn't enjoy this second season, for quite a few reasons. I felt that season 2's plot felt a lot more focused onto Subaru, rather than just having all the time in the world for our 5 main heroines (which is probably the main point of the show, so I can't really complain). We see more about his past and how things started to go wrong around him, in which then everything in season 1 made sense. The reason how he got back his invigoration to teach and play basketball, it was interesting (and Suga was a character that the anime REALLY needed. Somebody really mean, skillful and cocky). To top that off we have more characters than before, in which all of them were pretty interesting on their own, except for kagetsu, Hinata's sister. They even dedicated an episode to Aoi, pretty much one of the only sexually appealing characters in the show! There's a lot more of course, but I won't go too in depth (too bad Subaru's dad got only a little bit of showtime).

Look out for dem 5th graders!

As a sequel, the "Ro-Kyu-Bu!SS" takes place immediately after the events of season 1, and it gets off to a pretty quirky start. Subaru has spent his time teaching the girls how to play basketball, and they've all been improving of course, especially Tomoka, whom he looks out for specifically. She continues to go to Subaru's house for morning practice daily, and their relationship with each other keeps growing stronger. However, things start to change up when Subaru's dad comes back from Hawai, and he brings back a girl with her, named Mimi. Mimi seems to be decently good at basketball, as recommended by Subaru's dad. Then suddenly, 5th graders all around started to team up and form their own team to beat the current girl's basketball team, and these 5th graders all have grudges against the current team in their own way. So, how are things going to turn out? You can probably guess already.


So this concludes the saga of the loli basket ball players. I doubt that its going to continue anymore, because it got a pretty decisive and somewhat emotionally impactful ending. It worked out for the best, and I thought that they concluded the series well, with a short glimpse about the past that started it all. That's all for the lolis, though I do think a few OVA episodes here and there can be possible. We'll see about that, but for now, that's all she wrote for Subaru and his 5 "daughters" (come on, they can practically be his daughters at this point).


Peace.

Centipede Demon
HP: 3432
Skills: Arm Swing, Tail Swing, Slam*, Grab, Lava Spray
Souls: 40000

Difficulty: 2/5
Times dies on 1st playthrough: 1



If you can't tell already, the Demon Ruins is MASSIVE, even after the Ceaseless Discharge, you have to travel quite a ways more to face the Demon Firesage, and then after that boss, you have to travel through a short section of a destroyed temple to face your next challenge. Say hello to one of the most grotesque bosses in the game, the Centipede Demon.

Yo, we be running.

Despite looking so scary, he's actually a simple boss to beat. No strings attached, there aren't any tricks to defeating him. In fact, he's even EASIER if not for the pesky lava that's spilled all over the arena. Without the lava, this boss would probably be 1.5/5 in terms of difficulty. His attacks are really easy to read, they are mostly blockable if you have respectable stamina, and he doesn't really do a lot of damage except for 1 attack. Just play it safe and this should be a cakewalk...unless you make mistakes.


Arm Swing - He just swings his arm at a cone shaped arc in front of him, dealing moderate damage. Can be blocked or dodged, with ease.

Tail Swing - Same as the Arm Swing, but with bigger telegraphy. This one is easier to dodge, but can also be blocked.

Slam* - He jumps mid air and slams one of his centipede tentacles down on you, smashing your guard and dealing heavy damage. Heavily telegraphed, can be blocked.

Grab - He grabs and noms you for pathetic damage. You can break free by spamming L1/R1. Just roll away from his arm.

Lava Spray - He just spills balls of lava that home in on you. Can be blocked completely with a good fire shield, otherwise, it doesn't hurt too much if you just block the attack with a regular shield.



Let's just make this a quick post, because this is a simple boss to beat without much explanation. He goes down very quickly because of his weak defenses and low health, but because of the lava filled arena, this boss is longer than it needs to be, and requires some dodging before he can even be hit. The battle starts with him at the center of the entire arena, standing on top of a sea of lava. You cannot get to him because touching the lava means almost instant death, so you have to wait for him to get to you.


While he is taking his stroll towards you, he'll throw a few attacks your way every few steps, and you cannot counter attack because of the lava. You'll just have to dodge his attacks until he makes his way to safe land, then you can start attacking him. Sounds frustrating, but it gives you time to memorize the movements of his attacks before he comes into melee range, in which then you should proceed to destroy him 1 vs 1 up close. Of course, if you're a ranged attacker, ignore what I just said and blast him into oblivion. His health and defenses are low, so you most probably going to enjoy torching him until he dies all too quickly.


When he finally makes it to safe land, its time to hit him with all you've got. Up close, he's got little answer to you hitting him. His attacks are mostly meant for to sweep at you from afar, and up close, he's only going to be able to hit you with his Slam and Grab attacks. Grab is pathetic, so there's no need for me to elaborate. Even if you do NOT dodge grab, mashing the triggers will get you out without damage (and even if you let him nom you, the damage is at dangerous levels). Slam is his only respectable damage move, but its easily dodged as its his only move where you see him jump into the air.

He's on land! Its time to strike.

Lava spray is a rarely used move, but in any case he does use it, blocking it will suffice. It doesn't do too much damage anyway, so its not too bad. In any case, all his attacks leave him to huge recovery times, so you have all the time in the world to chuck a few flasks down or hit him a few times every time he does an attack. Close ranged magic spells like Crystal Homing Soul Mass will make this fight a complete JOKE, and with powerful DEX based or STR based melee weapons, he'll be done in a few short combo swings. You can even chop off its tail to disable slam and tail swing! Making this fight a lot easier.


Well there's another boss down, one of the easiest in the game, might I add. He gives 40000 souls and the Oranged Charred Ring, which is a lifesaver for treading on lava. Still, there's only 1 boss left in the Demon Ruins, and that's the soul lord, the Witch Of Izalith. Time to continue treading deeper into the ruins, until you reach Lost Izalith, your final destination.


Peace.

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Guren No Yumiya (Linked Horizon)
OP 2 - Jiyuu No Tsubasa (Linked Horizon)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Utsukucshiki Zankoku Na Sekai (Yoko Hikasa)
ED 2 - Great Escape (Cinema Staff)

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror

Episodes: 25



I'm quite sure everyone of you knows about "Attack On Titan", there's absolutely no reason not to. It is easily the hyped and highly acclaimed anime of 2013, and for good reason. It is one of the most despair invoking anime of ALL time. If I were to add an extra genre to it, that genre would be despair, because that's what it is. You don't really have to imagine yourself in the shoes of the characters, watching the anime itself already invokes despair into your very soul. The world of "Attack On Titan" is masterfully crafted, the overall backbone concept of the plot and everything that exists in the anime is excellent. There was clearly an insane amount of thought put into imagining the state of how the world of "Attack On Titan" works, and well, that's what we see before us. It is intense, it is thrilling, it is horrifying, it is action packed, and above all, it's a masterpiece that is worthy to stand high up in the standings of some of the best animes in the world.

Que Eren's voice, "MIKASAAAA"

By now everyone's heard "Guren no Yumiya", so there's nothing much for me to say. Both songs used as opening themes as sung by Linked Horizon, a pretty new group which I assumed were formed for the very purpose of these songs. "Guren No Yumiya" as a first opening, isn't bad. It portrays the feel of wanting to stand up and fight against a greater enemy, so it fits the theme of the anime very well. However, the full version is...pretty bad. The second opening is "Jiyuu No Tsubasa", which I thought was a grand improvement over "Guren No Yumiya". As a song about freedom, it sure sound badass as f**k, which crazy guitar rifts and loud trumpets. I loved it, way better than "Guren No Yumiya" at least.


"Utsukucshiki Zankoku Na Sekai" by Yoko Hikasa is the first ending theme, which came off as a surprise to me, since Yoko Hikasa wasn't cast in the anime at all (a pity, really). Still, its a pretty slow song that gets a little heated up during the chorus, and you all know I don't really dig slow songs. Its at least good that her song gets featured in such a popular anime, I suppose. The 2nd ending is "Great Escape" by Cinema Staff, which is pretty good, I'll admit. it has this fast and edgy tune that gets you all hyped up. In my opinion, a pop genre tune in "Attack On Titan" would do pretty well, and that's "Great Escape".



Rating: 9.0/10



I'll say it, I love "Attack On Titan". Its common practice really, I got suckered into watching episode 1 during its release back in April, and after that episode, every waking moment of my mind was just consumed, eagerly waiting for the next episode. The despair dude, its contagious. Watching that bleak, horrible world, being pushed around by the enemies of mankind, the titans, it was a trial that I just had to see the characters overcome. The enemies were powerful, big looming titans that would crush any human in an instant, and as always, watching good guys fighting against stronger bad guys have always been interesting to watch. The atmosphere was amazing, the design of the world, the 3D maneuver gears, the walls, the cities within them...it was all a lovely puzzle that was tacked together with perfect precision. There were very little characters to hate, and even the worst one of them all (Armin), turned out to be a f**king badass halfway through the anime. Watching "Attack On Titan" is like taking drugs, you can't stop. Its hard to, anyway.

You're never going to kill someone 30 times your size, give it up.

The story circles around a young village boy, Eren Yeagar, and his family adopted step sister, Mikasa. Mankind has been at the mercy of titans for a long time now, and it has always been Eren's dream to join the recon corps, one of the divisions of the military, so that he may one day help mankind fight off the titans. However, his dream was quickly forced into reality, when the titans breached the wall that had been protecting mankind's cities for centuries. Titans flooded into the interiors, and few were spared. Among the many victims, Eren's mother was in there. Watching his mother getting eaten right before his very eyes flipped a switch, and Eren wanted to get stronger, desperately. Years later he joins the military, and trained along with many others as the 104th trainee squad. Yes, all Eren wants to do is to fulfill his dream, to crush and kill every titan in existence.


This review is really just for the archives, because I'm sure the mainstream mass has already popularized "Attack On Titan" to no end, so everyone already has their share of titan killing in their lives. Because the anime was getting rather close to the manga, it was cut short, and we got somewhat of a cliff hanger ending. For now, the manga has to catch up so that we may get a season 2, which we most certainly will, because of the series' current popularity. Now lets just wait for Eren to show up again, so that we get to see more titan killing, and how this bleak world continues to progress.


Peace.

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Uchoten Jinsei (Milktub)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Que Sera, Sera (Ahana)

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

Episodes: 13



I've watched some pretty oddball anime, believe it or not, though sometimes, something even weirder than weird shows up...takes me by surprise every time. "Uchouten Kazoku" belongs in that category, because it definitely is weird, weirder than most anime I have seen, in so many ways. Its plot is unique, the setting is unique, the animation style is weird and I questioned myself how I discovered this anime, more times than you'd think. However though, no matter how weird I thought "Uchouten Kazoku" was, it was a good kind of weird,  and it showed me how something as silly as a plot about talking raccoons can actually be touching towards the end. While it may not have the most fantastic storyline, nor the most emotional  moments, it does good enough for viewers such as myself to warden a round of applause or two during the end. You'd just have to be open minded to embrace "Uchouten Kazoku". It means "The Eccentric Family", after all.

Well for those of you interested, this is a very "Guy-ish" anime, with very little girls.

I'll be honest that its been awhile since I've heard a new Milktub song, ever since the "Baka Test" era, so the opening song took me by surprise quite a bit. "Uchoten Jinsei" is EXACTLY what you'd expect as a song from Milktub. To put it simply in words, its loud, its energetic, it has shouting, and the tempo is very upbeat. If you listen to it for long, it generally feels uplifting. If you like any of their songs, "Uchoten Jinsei" fits right in. The ending is "Que Sera, Sera" by Ahana, which is a completely weird song name if you ask me, though the song itself isn't too bad. It doesn't give off the generic anime ending theme feel, which is good, and if you like stuff by Nirgilis or Choucho, "Que Sera, Sera" may actually be a good one.



Rating: 7.5/10



A good show is a good show, no matter how different it is. It was slightly better than I thought it would be, which was good enough, honestly. I expected a drop dead comedic experience walking into "Uchoten Kazoku", and while the entire anime itself was decently funny, its nowhere near some of the gold comedic experiences that I've had in my entire anime lifetime (nothing still beats "Baka Test" or "MM!", the only one that comes close is "Hataraku Maou sama"). "Uchouten Kazoku" has a cast of diverse characters to its credit. The main character is quirky and adventurous, whilst being very crafty at the same time. His brothers have very different personalities, ranging between a unmotivated frog in a pond and a cowardly kid. There is a dangerous, seductive woman that can be kind at times, and even a girl that refuses to show herself, you can only hear her tsundere voice for half the entire anime. The first half of the anime is pretty much used for starting up, and it ramps up towards the end, for those who are wondering.

You should never disobey your mother, that applies in real life too.

The story talks about a young tanuki by the name of Yasaburo. Tanuki are legendary shape shifting raccoons that wander around the world of humans, taking their form to blend into society, and Yasaburo is just one of the many of them. However, different tanukis use their powers differently, and Yasaburo likes to use his for being mischievous. Often taking the form of young female women, he likes to go around causing trouble for him and his family, though he always manages to get himself out of harm's way through crafty thinking. Yasaburo visits his master Tengu daily, to relieve his loneliness. As a tanuki, he could not leave the master alone, as the master's previous student, Benten, has strayed from her path and became someone feared by Tanukis and Tengus alike. Yasaburo broke his back before, so he feels responsible, and is now looking after is master.


A story about talking raccoons might not be everyone's cup of tea, but those who don't mind stepping out of their comfort zone for something new might find a pleasant experience overall. The tale of four brothers can get rather emotional towards the end, and it was during the very end when I didn't regret pouring my time into "Uchoten Kazoku". For those looking for a weird new experience....you've found your dose of weird here. Good weird, mind you.


Peace.

Gamespot Score: 7.0 (Good)

My Score: 8.0


(+) Pros: - Same, great gameplay with newly added features as well as improved old ones, - Changing characters and costumes for each character is a lot more convenient, - Vibrant, bright and colorful MVs really fit the big screen, - Its easier to earn DP to unlock costumes and items, unlike before, - Extreme difficulty songs provide massive challenge, even for veterans, - MV editing can be a blast.

(-) Cons: - Can get distracting on the big screen, - Lesser songs than previous game iterations, even with the console extras.


Play time: -

Ah Miku, how much you've grown over these few years. Debuting as a music vocal programmer with a face and character, you've gone to gaining popularity via music videos online. Then you've got your game debut on the PSP, which got its good share of sequels and expansions, which further expanded to the arcade scene. Then you've got your little 3DS games with "Project Mirai", then you further expanded your influence to the VITA in the form of "Project Diva F". But that wasn't enough, you ported it to the PS3, and as if that wasn't great enough news already, Sega went and prepared you for a western release. For the first time ever, fans outside of Japan get to enjoy the awesomeness that is "Project Diva" in English! Yes, ENGLISH! We've waited a long time, but it has finally come, and its thanks to the demand of the fans! Miku power!


On an unrelated note, I bought the Japanese version, but I managed to get my hands on the English one as well.

Is that romanji I see?

I've reviewed every possible iteration of the "Project Diva" games on my blog, so there's really no need to explain the gameplay mechanics for the 256th time. I'll just break it down for you. During a song, an MV plays in the background with your selected character of that song, complete with your customized accessories and clothing. As the song plays, notes will appear on screen, following the four buttons on your controller. Hitting the notes as they fly to their respective timers will net you a pass on that note, and you'll be graded according to how well you timed that note press. You'll get better scores with better grades, going by the order of "COOL", "FINE", "SAFE", "BAD" and "WOSRT" (I'm sure there an "AWFUL" rating for the English release).


There will be arrows on screen sometimes, which require you to press the direction of the arrow on the D-pad, followed by the corresponding button on the button pad. A right arrow requires you to hit "right" and "O" together. Missing notes will deteriorate your "Health Bar" at the bottom left hand side of the screen, and hitting notes grant you points as well as increase your score meter. As long as the score meter passes one of the 3 stretch goals towards its ends, you will pass the song. Getting a higher score to push the meter towards deeper stretch goals will net you a better rating towards the end.

Technical zone, a new mechanic in which you should not screw up.

These so far have been the game's basic mechanics since its previous iterations, but as a new game, "Project Diva F" has some new tricks up its sleeves. First off, we get the new star notes that appear in the game, which act as a new type of button press. This one is pretty simple, its just a simple tilt on the analog stick. Seeing a bunch of star notes together means you get to go on an analog waggling spree. These are usually free points most of the time since you can just wag that analog stick till it drops off and you'll still be good, though all you get will be "FINE"s. If you want "COOL" you probably gotta tilt the analog stick properly like you would for normal notes.


Another new gameplay mechanic that kicks in during songs is the technical zone. Like how the chance time pretty much means your only legitimate way to rack up points insanely fast, the technical zone functions as an inferior chance times. Each song has multiple technical zones, and during a technical zones, gameplay functions as per normal, you just hit notes on screen. If you hit all the notes while the technical zone is up, you gain extra points at the end of it. Miss a note during the technical zone and you miss out on bonus points, easy as that. Like the chance time, this just gets you on your toes every time you see the words "Technical Zone" appear on the top left hand corner of the screen. These usually mean a grade or two in your final score.

Rin, please don't be angry.

Remember how in previous games, you've always had to change your character and their costumes before preparing for a song? Kiss that tediousness goodbye, as in "Project Diva F", things have become a lot more convenient. Now, instead of gearing up Miku or any of the other vocaloids before a song, you select a song, you change the costume or the character for it, and the game saves your decision. From then on, everytime you play that song, your characters, costumes and settings are automatically prepared for you. Of course, you can change the costumes from time to time if you want to, but this new system of picking and choosing really helps lessen the time you spent dressing up and changing your characters before each song.


MVs from the "Project Diva" games have always been bright, colorful and visually appealing, at least on the PSP. Making the jump to the PS3 really helped improved the game's quality, polish and graphics. MVs and characters alike look great, and the colorful backgrounds are really pleasing to the eye. Whether it will be good enough for you to oggle on the cuteness of Rin and Miku, or to admire the sexy curves of Luka and Meiko, I leave it up to you. Well, when it comes down to eye candy, there's always the swimsuit costumes.

Oho, so many options!

Speaking of buying costumes, its much easier to acquire diva points, or DP, this game. Even though previous games share the same practice of giving out DP to the players depending on their grades in scores, they've jacked up the values in "Project Diva F" by a considerable amount, which makes it way easier to grind for DP and buy the costumes that you want...since some of them can get very pricey. You might think that this opens up less replay-ability, since everyone will unlock everything faster, I disagree. 


While this might be the case two games ago, since "Project Diva Extend", Sega has put in extra effort into making some ridiculously challenging songs. In "Project Diva F", we get even MORE challenging songs that "Project Diva Extend" had, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that even up to date, I have not managed to clear some of the extreme difficulty songs (f**king Sadistic Music Factory, that song is really sadistic as all f**k). And if you want something else to do other than songs, there's always admiring out girls in the Diva room and buying stuff for them there, or you can use the new MV editing studio to create videos and share with your friends (I haven't used this much).

Smexy Miku.

Transitioning to the big screen really brought out many of the current game's good sides, but it does have one issue during gameplay. Unfortunately, it isn't a small issue. Notes on screen get too small at times, and the MV in the background can get too colorful, colorful enough to conflict with the colors of the notes...making it pretty hard to see at times. Sure, you can get past these things with enough memorization, but these issues shouldn't exist in the first place. There also seem to be lesser songs than previous games. "Diva Extend" had over 42 songs, and I'm sure "Diva 2" had over 40 easily as well. "Project Diva F" has only 38 songs, INCLUDING the console extra exclusives.


To conclude, this is Miku's first proper outing to the console (not counting dreamy theater here), and its a pretty great one. The game looks beautiful enough, and there's enough content to keep you playing long enough...it doesn't loose out TOO much to any of the previous games in terms of content. There's quite a lot to go around if you're a Vocaloid fan, but if you're not, this isn't the "revolutionary" title to pull you in. Its plenty fun, but not too much out of the comfort zone as well if you're used to playing "Project Diva" on your PSP. Lets see where Miku takes us next eh? It seems her influence over the world is growing bigger by the day. I wonder if "Project Diva F 2" gets localized.....





Happy gaming!

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Starlog (Choucho)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Prism Symphony (StylipS)

Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy

Episodes: 10



Well ladies and gentlemen, the day has come. The anime industry has been so infatuated with magical girls, so much so that magical girls are pretty much dominating the scene as much as everybody's beloved mechas. It has become so relevant to the world...to the extent that it has even infiltrated itself into the universe of "Fate/Stay Night", generating one of the weirdest, yet most plausible anime spin-offs of all time. "Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya" is the magical girl spin-off of everybody's favorite "Fate/Stay Night"/"Fate Zero", whether or not you're going to give it a shot or flame it on first sight, I leave it to you. Instead of making a brand new awesome "Fate" anime that expands upon the canon of what we already have, they decided to make a magical girl spin-off, go figure. Those of you who cannot stand magical girls or anything related to magical girls (stuff like "Strike Witches", "Vivired Operation" and "Senki Zesshou Symphogear" apply), this won't change your opinion, I assure you. Those who like the "Fate" franchise but aren't too sure about what they feel towards magical girls, you might want to give this a shot, for experience's sake.

Super lolis unite!

Now I've been getting the hang of Choucho's songs, so it might come off as a little surprising that I actually grew to like her songs. "Starlog" is just what you would expect from a Choucho song actually, its not too energetic, but it keeps things going enough with the tempo, while remaining as a calm song to listen to overall. Not her best song, but its one of her better ones. The ending theme is "Prism Symphony" by StylelipS, another somewhat well renown artist in the anime industry. Its not a bad song, it falls to the "energetic/catchy" category of endings, but it doesn't net into my preferable levels of "being catchy".



Rating: 7.5/10



I actually enjoyed "Prisma Illya" more than I would....or should I say, "more than I should". It starts off pointless, stupid, and a little unnerving, but it quickly ramps up and develops a pretty exciting, intense, and somewhat cliche plot-line. The cliche-ness is to be expected, and it shouldn't hurt your experience too much as long as you know what to expect from everyday shounen anime main characters. Fights are well thought out, much to the credits of the anime. There is a ton of visual flair during battles, and cameo appearances of the servants from the original anime series make these fights all the more interesting. Rin still retains her tsundere know-it-all personality, and the main purpose of hte anime to look for the class cards can be a pretty thrilling ride nonetheless. While things can get a little to cutesy and frilly at times, fret not, for some good fights await you in later episodes. I would even say that some of these fights are better than those of the main series....

Magical girl rule number 1: moe moe kyun!

The story stars Illya as the protagonist. In the original "Fate/Stay Night:, Illya was the vessel for the holy grail and was proclaimed as Shirou's "little sister". Illya is your regular elementary school girl with no redeeming qualities, but she has one thing that she likes more than anything else. Magical girls and magical girl animes. One day she went home wanting to watch a magical girl anime that she had anticipated for a long time, only to find herself in a little bit of a pickle. Elsewhere in Japan, two full fletched magical girls Rin and Luvia have come into Japan to look for magical relics known as the class cards, which are cards filled with massive power. Rin and Luvia were acting immature, which caused their magical sticks to abandon them. One of the sticks, Ruby, flew around Japan to look for a girl to be her new vessel, and who better than the girl who idolizes magical girls. Illya's became the next magical girl under Ruby's powers!


For a magical girl spin-off, I honestly expected worse. I didn't expect much out of the anime, and what I got in return was a mighty pleasant surprise. With great fights, well developing characters and an overall interesting story, its worth a watch. Unless you completely despise magical girls, there is little reason you won't find yourself enjoying "Prisma Illya", even if its just a little bit.


Peace.