Gamer--freakz

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Paint Out The Jet Black (Iori Nomizu)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - I Am Inside Of You (Coffin Princess)

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance

Episodes: 10




So, "Hitsugi No Chaika" was one of my more enjoyed shows in 2014. The way it ended foreshadowed that there was more to come, and indeed there was, since a 2nd season aired not too long after in the exact same year. Ladies and gentlemen, I present "Hitsugi No Chaika Avenging Battle", the sequel to the original, and also the conclusion to the series. After an excellent season 1 that left up a lot of potential for the show to become one of the best adventure animes in a long, LONG time...we got this. "Avenging Battle", while a great follow up to the original "Hitsugi No Chaika", concluded the series in the most abrupt, lazy and non-analytically way it could ever have, period. Still, "Avenging Battle" is NOT A BAD SERIES, do not let ANYONE tell you otherwise. While some of the hate that it received was justified, the series was still otherwise, a fun and generally enjoyable ride with more ups than downs, much like its predecessor.

More Red Chaika is always welcome.

Like before, the theme songs used in the 2nd season of "Chaika" are generally pretty damn good. "Paint Out The Jet Black" is the opening theme, and once again, its by Iori Nomizu. Of course, its great, that much I already expected after listening to the first 10 seconds of the song. Much like "DARAKENA" it packs a whole lot of punch, possibly even more this time around, as its speedy flourishes and epic, powerful guitars hit your eardrums like no other. The ending theme, "I Am Inside Of You" by Coffin Princess, is no sleeper as well. While the song name might give wrong ideas, the song itself isn't quite as weak as you'd imagine for an ending theme.



Rating: 7.5/10



Its more of what we all loved in season 1, that much I can tell you. If you enjoyed the original "Hitsugi No Chaika", then "Avenging Battle" should be fairly fun for you to watch as well. BUT, of course, the ending wasn't done well, not at all. In fact, I can safely say that it was horrible. The outcome of the ENTIRE series wasn't all that bad, its just that the way that the ending was portrayed...it was so abrupt. Abrupt is an understatement...its just downright lazy. There was so much to elaborate at the end and they decided to just wing it...not cool man, not cool. Besides the ending though, everything else was pretty much the same. The story took for a more intensive and darker turn, making it more interesting as the episodes progressed. The fight scenes were as good as ever, and synergy between characters was better than before. Character progression and development was GOOD, except for 1 character whose name I shall not speak (she's just a weird one overall).

Time for more 3 man battles!

The story continues right after the ending of the original. Toru, Akari and Chaika continue to travel the land searching for Emperor Gaz's remains. Their search brings them to Claudia, one of the 8 heroes of the past that took part in slaying Arthur Gaz. Claudia runs a winery, and while she lives a peaceful life, she won't willingly give up the remains that she has in her possession without a fight. She challenges the 3 of them to a battle, and while Toru and Akari fought their hardest, Chaika could not defeat Claudia on her own. Being the nice hero that she is, she gives Chaika and her companions time to rest at her residence, thinking of a strategy to defeat her. The 3 work together to take her down the next day, and Chaika gets her remains, while Claudia gives them advice about what to come. Meanwhile, the red Chaika and her crew have been going around hunting for their share of remains as well. For sure though, Chaika, Toru and Akari have seen better days.


"Avenging Battle" does its job as a sequel, but its ending doesn't do the entire series justice as a whole. I'd like to see an OVA after story of sorts to at least know what happened to our heroes that we've grown so attached to. What we got...wasn't substantial, not at all. "Hitsugi No Chaika" as a complete experience is still one of my favorite things in 2014, but I can say for sure that its ending NEEDS to be elaborated upon, badly.


Peace.

Prowling Magus & Congregation
- Magus (HP:1100)
- Priest (HP:900)
Skills: Dark Orb, Wrath Of Gods, Sunlight Spear, Heal
Souls: 7000

Difficulty: 0.5/5
Deaths: 0



Now you've got 2 places to go 2 and 2 bosses to beat before you head off to kill your 2nd soul lord. Head through the Doors Of Pharros (which is one of the most beautiful areas in the game, mind you) and into a secluded cave area. Head to the end to find lots of spiders, and at the end of it all, a fog gate. You know what awaits you by now. No fear, only determination, now, walk through to find...simply one of the worst designed and easily the easiest boss in the game. Hold your questions...allow me to introduce, the Prowling Magus & Congregation.

Wtf are you guys even DOING?!

These guys are a complete joke. Its like "From" thought it was a good idea to slap a bunch of normal enemies together and decided to call it a boss. Yeah, that's right, stupid. Like the Pinwheel boss in the first game, its almost impossible to lose to these guys, the battle would be over INSTANTLY when you swing your blade on them a couple of times. In fact, this battle shouldn't last longer than 10 seconds, with a proper weapon, these guys go down in a couple of hits. They don't even have a lot of attacks that can deal major damage to you individually, its a 110% stomp unless you literally STAND there and let them maul you.


Dark Orb - Magus attack. Just like the spell itself that you can use, he simply launches a dark sphere at you that does damage. Easily dodged.

Wrath Of Gods - Magus attack. Same as the usable miracle with the same name. He emits a force that knocks you back and does minor damage. Only used when you are nearby, just muscle through it and use the opportunity to hit him.

Sunlight Spear - Priest attack. Same as the usable miracle with same name. Launches a straightforward projectile that does moderate damage and can stun you for a brief period. Easily dodged.

Heal - Priest only. Does an AOE heal that slightly restores the HP of his nearby allies. Canceled when attacked.



There's one Magus, a couple of priests, and a bunch of regular, zombie dudes. This battle is easy as all hell. The zombies fall to a couple of swings, have nothing to hit you with except for piss poor arm swipes with crappy range that do almost no damage. Their only purpose is to stun lock or distract you as the Magus and priests cast their long range attacks on you. Dispatch the zombies at the very start of the battle as you come in, as they are all bunched up together. A couple of swings can take out the majority of them instantly.


Next up are the Magus and the priests themselves. Without the zombies tanking for them, they have almost nothing to defend themselves with. The Magus is the easiest target, with his tall body and size. He will attempt to defend himself with Wrath Of Gods, but simply hit him a couple of times to continuously stun lock him to his death without him being able to do anything. The Priests, if nearby, will attempt to heal him, or if far away, throw sunlight spears at you. When the Magus falls, just go after the priests, they don't even have melee spells to keep you at bay.


You get 7000 souls, but of course, we're not going to be satisfied with this piece of shit boss. When you're ready, head to Doors Of Pharros for a REAL challenge.


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Royal Ray Authority
HP: 4330
Skills: Lunge*, Twin Paw Strike*, Acidic Pool*
Souls: 14000

Difficulty: 4/5
Deaths: 15+


Now this, this is a boss in its true sense. While you may never expect something this vile, dirty and horrifying in the glorious pathways of the Doors Of Pharros, there it is, sitting there, laughing at you as you constantly die to poison. This guy is so awesome that you can't even summon ANYONE to aid you. That's right, this boss is fought solo, and its a little unfair because the Royal Rat Authority itself does not fight you alone. I remember thinking that this was a battle that had to be won to continue the story, and fought him again and again, having to die countless of times. This giant rat is an ass, and if you think of him as another Sif, you're wrong. He's BETTER than Sif.

Dear god please, please let it all end.

The Royal Rat Authority is a f**king douche bag. The battle starts with him sleeping on top of a giant ledge, without giving a care about anything in the world. In his boss room sits a bunch of smaller rats, that inflict poison on you as they hit you. The moment you enter his room, these rats swarm you. As you fight them, the big bastard wakes up, flies across the screen without you ever knowing. When you kill the rats breathing a sigh of relief, to your dismay, you see a health bar appear on the bottom of your screen. You turn around to witness true horror. A giant, effing rat with the majestic poise of a lion, waiting to maul you for breakfast. You ARE its breakfast.


Lunge* - He lunges at you after cocking his head downwards for massive damage. This attack is fast, its unpredictable, and has the most cock sucking hitbox I've ever seen. This piece of shit even hits you when you are BEHIND him. Blocking takes up ALL your stamina, stunning you and leaving you open for his next attack. Do some godly rolls TOWARDS him to dodge, any other alternative just leads you to getting hit.

Twin Paw Strike* - Once again, this attack has an unforgiving hitbox. He hits you with one of his paws when you are in front of him, then hits you with the other shortly after. Blocking takes up needlessly huge amounts of stamina, so rolling away is best. For some reason, when you are standing under his belly, this still hits you, and its unblockable from there. Go figure.

Acidic Pool* - He staggers for a short moment, then barfs up a massive pool of acid around him. When I mean massive, I mean MASSIVE, this thing is f**king HUGE. Standing in it will almost instantly poison you for good damage, but it also degrades your equipment. When you see him barf, run the f**k away as fast as you can.



There are many factors that hinge towards your survival for this battle. For one, the smaller rats. You need to kill them FAST, and without getting poisoned. Since they all attack you immediately, you have a chance to wipe them out in one fell swoop, but if you fail, you are pretty much screwed. If they hit you and poison you, you are screwed as well, might as well let the boss you kill and restart. You have NO time to stop and rest once you defeat those little guys, because the Royal Rat Authority is RIGHT BEHIND YOU as you landed the first hit on those small f**ks. Immediately after killing them, prepare to turn around to block, roll, or simply run the hell away to a safe spot to get your bearings straight. If you can't kill those little guys fast enough, and you'd have to take the boss on alongside those guys, you'd get overwhelmed in an instant.

Oh boy, its coming!

The Royal Rat Authority itself only has 3 attacks, but note that out of these 3 attacks, 2 of them hit very hard, are extremely unpredictable, and can swing the battle in his favor after hitting you just ONCE. The boss is HUGE, WAY bigger than Sif ever was. Because of that, you can easily run to his underbelly, where hitting him would be best. Problem is, he hits so awkwardly that even while under his belly, you still take damage. Yeah, its unreal. First of all, do not lock onto this boss. Do not fight him head on, face to face like a man, because you will almost always lose. His Lunge and Paw Strikes cover so much area that they are almost impossible to dodge by rolling sideways or backwards, and blocking them takes too much stamina, so what's the plan?


Do not lock on, but keep your eyes on the vile fellow. Maintain as little distance between you and him as possible. When he lunges or goes for the strikes, run BENEATH his belly, go TOWARDS him as the attack animation plays out. If you are already beneath his belly as the attack animation plays, you are F**KED, but if you are just rolling towards him as he attacks, you are SAFE. Keep this in mind and you'd be able to dodge out his 2 primary attacks, but do note that if you take a single hit, the damage is pretty severe, and you'd have to heal to get back into the game. This guy...does not let you heal, good luck trying to find a time to flask up, cause he attacks quickly and relentlessly. His attacks have little recovery time.

This is a lie.

When you get him low, he starts to use his final attack, the Acidic Pool. This is just a cheap attempt to degrade your armor. When yous see him cock his head back to barf up the acid, just run away. Don't look back, the radius is crazy huge, and stepping into that thing is suicide. Immediately after he finishes throwing up, he gets back to attacking you, with the pool still spilling all around. Do not accidentally roll into it, just don't. At this point, he should be close to death, keep up the tactics you've done thus far and take this beast down into submission. For a massive rat, he admittedly does not have a lot of health or defenses, keep going at it and he goes down eventually.


This vile beast nets you a meager 14000 souls, not worth it for the effort needed to kill him, honestly. You also get to talk to the rat king and join his covenant. After what I just went through, I think not, you f**king rat face.


Peace, more to come.

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Ignite (Eir Aoi)
OP 2 - Courage (Haruka Tomatsu)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Star Tear (Luna Haruna)
ED 2 - No More Time Machine (Lisa)

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction

Episodes: 24



I can just stop the review here and say "Guys, go f**king watch SAO II if you liked the original SAO". Seriously its just more of the same but done on a different setting with different characters. On some of the ends, it works, on others, it just doesn't. There's honestly not much for me to say going into this one. It IS SAO, since its obviously slapped on the title. But at the same time, its not. Its like "Star Wars" invaded the anime as well as a little bit of "Planetside", bringing it to a whole new level of unknown. Still, the change is good, while its no longer really a game about swords, it plays well enough on an emotional and intensive scale for it to be interesting, at least for the entirety of the GGO arc. There are moments where the anime does feel like it needs to step up, but at the same time, there are plenty of moments where it excels. There isn't the same feel of tragedy and crisis that existed in Aincrad, and overall, the show may not nearly be as good, but moments of brilliance still exist in "SAO II". That, in my opinion, is more than enough to make this a great show.

Is the new girl, Shinon, hot? I hope this answers your question.

If you liked the songs in the original "SAO", you'll like the songs here, simple as that. They went for similar feels with all their songs, which I can understand, though I must say I'm not really a fan of either of the songs used in this one (or in the original for that matter, I was getting rather sick of "Crossing Field" and "Innocence"). Anyway, the artists kind of did role swaps here, with the first opening, "Ignite", sang by Eir Aoi. In my opinion, it felt weaker than "Innocence", which was the song that she sang in season 1, used for the 2nd opening, and that means quite a bit since I'm already fairly sick of "Innocence". The first ending theme is "Star Tear" by Haruna Luna, which is also a ballad, and since you know I hate ballads, we don't have to really go in here, don't we?


The 2nd opening theme is "Courage" by Haruka Tomatsu, and I'm fairly surprised by this one, since I'm usually not too big of a Haruka Tomatsu fan. Its a good song, probably my favorite out of all the new ones in "SAO II". Its powerful, its epic, and it has all the feels that made it look and SOUND like a opening song for an epic anime (too bad the 2nd half wasn't all that epic). The 2nd ending is where Lisa steps in, with her song named "No More Time Machine". Since its an ending theme, I kind of knew what to expect, and well, its a slow song. Its not exactly a ballad type, but rather the slow song with strong, emotional and impactful vocals. Not really into those as well.



Rating: 8.0/10



I enjoyed it, I enjoyed it a lot. But obviously, the impression wasn't nearly as strong here as when I watched the first season of this show. As mentioned earlier, the lack of tragedy, crisis or impending doom really set the tone down quite a bit, and most of it is just Kirito trying to learn a new MMORPG by...adding another girl into his harem. I know I know, not a great way to explain it, but that's the best way to describe it. As usual, this will probably have a stronger impact on those who have played MMOs (like myself), and will appeal to that audience more. Even so, the good fight scenes are here, the sexy girls are here (though its going to be Shinon for more than half of this shit), and the virtual world theme stays, so there's not really much that went wrong, it just didn't have nearly as much impact as before. Its still fun to watch, and there are a lot of great moments (Death Gun was amazing, and the final few episodes involving Yuuki were some of the most emotional moments I had in anime in 2014).

Why have a slumber party in real life when you can have a slumber party in... a game?

Of course, the anime stars its poster boy Kirito as the protagonist. After the ALO incident and attending school like a real person should for quite a while, Kirito finally had a proper dream. No, its not to become a pro gamer, its to become a programmer that links the virtual world to the real one. Still a far fetched dream, but hey, at least the kid decides to do something for once. Unfortunately for him, a job popped up from an old acquaintance of his, one of those who was involved with the SAO incident. Apparently, some douche from another game called GGO (Gun Gale Online) was killing people in real life after shooting them INSIDE the game. Sounds preposterous, but the government has decided to take action. What better person could they send to investigate other than a SAO survivor? And the best one at that. Kirito dives into GGO to investigate about Death Gun, presumably with his life on the line. He runs into gamer girl Shinon, who decides to be his guide into GGO as he was mistaken as a girl. Shit starts, and of course, it isn't pretty.


"SAO II" does well as a sequel to the original. Props for trying something new, GGO was different, but refreshing at the same time. There was a lot more development for Shinon than the other girls, and that puts her as one of my favorite girls in the series thus far. There will be a season 3, because, well, fans want it. And also obviously because they ended the serious in a semi-cliffhanger esque style. Well, even if they do manage to release a season 3 in the future, I won't complain, more SAO isn't exactly a bad thing.


Peace.

Mao

You all know Mao. He's overpowered, no doubt about it. I mean, when you put the demon lord Satan himself as the main protagonist of an anime, you know he's going to kick ass. This is one of those cases where you KNOW the main character is going to rock, right from the first episode. But yeah, he's the demon lord Satan, after coming to our world, he lost most of his magic and became nothing but a meager employee at a local fast food restaurant. Still, losing his magic does not make him weak. In fact, its easy for Mao to get back his true power. All he needs to do is feed on the despair of those nearby, and he becomes a freaking beast. And let's face it, when Mao reverts back to his Demon Lord body, he is unstoppable.


Growing easily twice in size, Mao as a demon lord looks freaking menacing compared to his weak, scrawny human self. He has shown feats of being able to stop an entire high way from falling with just his strength alone. His magic enhanced punch was strong, and his windup was seen stretching across the entire continent before giving Lucifer the big punch across the face, which we can all assume, did a hell lot of damage. He had power to the extent where he even made Sariel, whose specialty was drawing power from the moon, look like nothing but a pussy during A FULL MOON PHASE, where he was presumably the strongest. Using his broom as a medium he summoned a massive sword of energy which pulverized his foe. Too bad though, Mao is overpowered as hell, but he is very limited to when he can transform. Because if he's always at his best, there would be nothing left.



Akatsuki





Akatsuki is one character that makes no sense. He's an amazing guy, but he makes no freaking sense. How did he get so powerful? What drives him to do what he does? We don't know, and we probably never will. We know one thing though, this guy loves the hell out of his pervertic habits. Akatsuki is one hell of a powerhouse, but he's also a massive pervert, which plays into a huge part of his character. This guy loves to screw around with all types of girls, even using his power against them if necessary. If he just wants to mess around with a girl, he will, no matter who they are. Of course, as much as he loves to toy around with his women, Akatsuki is a man that will never stand to someone ELSE touching them.


This is a man that is strong enough to toss people around with his bare hands. With the ability to manipulate the energy of everyone around him, he can simply power himself up to no end. While everyone else needs 1 of those bands to materialize their weapons, Akatsuki himself needs a whole bunch of it to call out his sword, which is one heck of a weapon. So far, he seems like he's the strongest fellow out of the entire "Hagura Yusha" universe, save for Motoharu, which we've not seen much off.



Tatsuya





This guy is a badass. I'm generally not a fan of the kuudere character archetype, but I'll make an exception for Tatsuya and embrace my inner shounen soul. Tatsuya is just too awesome not to like. If we're talking about overpowered main characters, Tatsuya is probably one of the strongest ones out there. From the start of the anime to the very end, Tatsuya has never lost a battle. Never, once, not at all. This mother f**ker goes hard, and he manages to beat all of his foes in style. Scratch that, he wins all of his opponents and makes it look EASY. Miyuki is already incredibly broken, but Tatsuya can probably take on 3-4 Miyukis at once and still have more to go. I'm not even joking.


Tatsuya is what we like to call a genetic experiment. Because of his magic implantation into his mind, he lacks all sorts of emotion whatsoever, making him a cardboard character emotionally. But who need emotions when you can disintegrate ANYTHING with a single shot. Counter all sorts of magic by dismantling the spell with a single shot. He can catch bullets point blank, he can snipe someone dozens of kilometers away with a PISTOL, and he can still pull off complex magic spells with tons of anti magic interference all around him. Tatsuya can pul ANYTHING out of his ass and make it look overpowered, like when he was protecting Mayumi from Liu, he just projected out some sort of magical blue fart gas that immobilized the fellow...that was easily twice his size. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of what Tatsuya can do. I mean, he shot a nuke out of a single sniper shot, that's something.



Kenshi





Kenshi Kenshi Kenshi... A very simple way to get all the whores ALL over you in a harem is to simply just be impressive, powerful, and good looking. Kenshi has all 3 of these in his pocket, period. For someone his size, Kenshi is a freaking beast. For an anime like "Tenchi Muyo: War On Geminar", nobody has superpowers. Everybody depends on the Seikijin to actually become powerful, outside of that, they're all just humans with guns and swords. In other words, primitive people. Even though Kenshi isn't from this world originally, he can kick everyone's ass with just his bare hands. Outmaneuvering even the most elite of the elf guards, Kenshi is a freaking martial arts monster.


That's not even all. More than 3/4 of the anime Kenshi is kicking ass WITHOUT a Seikijin, then when he finally gets on one...shit gets real. With everyone in the academy looking as as their beloved Kenshi moves around so fluidly in the chosen machine, taking out the terrorists one by one with no effort at all, like a predator stalking his prey. His robot is fast, its strong, and best of all, Kenshi utilizes it to its full extent, going so far as to using his tail AND horn to pulverize his enemies. He even manages to maneuver around the school coloseum maze like its nothing special, luring all the enemies into it like luring insects into a spider web. When you f**k with Kenshi, you f**k with yourself.

There are no words, if you haven't seen the damn thing, the video is above, click it to watch it in all its glory and fabulous glamour.


I know I'm late to the party, but I've honestly been busy pretty lately. I was a few days late to the trailer (and this post is at least 10 days late), but better late than never. This is it guys, we've waited YEARS for this shit to drop, and here it is. "Persona 5", its real, its coming, its not a myth, and it looks amazing. No, amazing doesn't even come close to describing it, just from this trailer alone, I've came more times than I ever have while watching porn. Yes, its that good.


Now then, I'm going to wipe all the white stuff that's been splattered all over my desk for the past 10 days from watching this trailer over and over again. I'll get back to you in a bit about what I think about this game.



Story And Concept




So "Persona 5" is going to be pretty different (and yet similar) to the previous 2 games, "Persona 3 & 4". For what's worth, we're going to have a "Phantom Thief" theme going on, which is quite...unique. To be fair, all the previous "Persona" games have had some sort of theme going on for each one of them, and "Persona 5"'s theme may be the weirdest one yet. Its weird, but at the same time, its something new that we haven't seen before. A group of thieves (like Robin Hood or the Assassins in AC) can be a really cool concept when put in contrast with SEES of "Persona 3" or the exploration group of "Persona 4".


We seem to not know too much about our protagonist as well, but we DO know that he's a transfer student, that much has been confirmed. How does he fare into the whole thief thing? We do see though, that his variation of the Velvet room is now a prison cell, and he's trapped behind bars while in it. How this affects him or how it comes about, we don't know, but I can expect a darker over tone this time around. Maybe not as bright and cheery as "Persona 4", but somewhere along the lines of "Persona 3". I'm hoping to see a mixture of the 2, a cheery cast like that of "Persona 4", but a more dark story like that of "Persona 3". Still, we get to see the entire cast run around in jumpsuits and masks, as the theme "Phantom Thief" comes into play. How does this play out? Once again, there's not much we know, but I'm excited to see it bear fruit.



Visuals And World




Now this is a freaking big deal. While the previous "Persona" games looked pretty good for games that were released in the previous era, its no longer acceptable if we get something like a minor graphics upgrade. Luckily, "Persona 5" looks...nothing short of amazing, in terms of the visual aspect at least. The world looks so much more colorful, the graphics, polished. It uses the game graphics engine as "Catherine" (which I still have yet to complete), but a lot more well refined. Character models are great, and while the people in the background do look a lot less fleshed out as our main characters, its still a massive upgrade from previous games, as the areas definitely look a lot more CROWDED and ALIVE, while in comparison to older games, where areas felt somewhat dead. We'll be able to walk in the crowds of Tokyo!


The experience seems to be a lot more interactive as well. People will be moving around as you do, making it feel as though you're really walking along the streets of Tokyo. The teacher throws shit at you as your main character day dreams about nonsense. Your character gets squeezed along the train doors in a train that's packed to the brim with people. Its just so much more dynamic and fun to watch now. As for the night aspect of the game, we don't really know how that plays out. We get to see the protagonist jump over Chandeliers and run through secluded corridors of what seems to be a mansion (even letting us see stealth elements of some sort). So yeah, the only area we got to see so far is a mansion that's creeping with these knight enemies. It looks good, can't wait to see more of how the dungeons look like (it appears that they'll be randomly generated again though).



Menu Speculation And Interface




There are no words. The brief glimpse of the menu that we got to see in the "Persona 5" was some of the most STYLISH things I've even in ANY RPG game. Talk about over-stylizing your menus. It would be pretty bad in other games, but this gets away with it because its "Persona", the theme is ALL about being stylish. As you interact through the menus, the character even switches poses like a model, its freaking cool. We've got the usual here, skills, items, equips, persona, party (which I guess let's you see stats and stuff), missions to track quests, and system for options. Cooperation is something that piques my interest, since we have no idea what that is. Co-op in "Persona"? Yes please, that'd be quite the treat. If not, I assume that's just this game's representation for the "Social Links" tab.





The shop menus also look like we've got something going down, because they look real good. We have the weapons shop menu and probably the medicine shop menu shown in the trailer. Props, we finally have a sexy school nurse to suck up to, sweet (social link route for her Atlus, it better be in there, please). While the medicine shop menu is nothing special other than just looking really good, the weapons shop menu tells us quite a bit. For one, there are 4 equipment slots. 2 for weapons, one for armor and another for accessories. This may apply just to the main character, but if its for everyone, that's a pretty swell, because in the previous "Persona" games, it has always been just one weapon. A weapon for melee and another for range? Now that's how things should have been all this time, if freaking Naoto gets a gun, I don't see how I can't get one. Now I get to choose a gun AND a sword (or knife)? Now w'ere talking.



Protagonist And Character Designs





If your game characters that look like shit, nobody will probably want to play your game. When it comes to "Persona" as long as Atlus didn't deviate from teenage age group when it comes to the characters, they are probably safe, because its already got such a huge following. At first, when I saw the old teaser trailer, the main character didn't look all that good, he was pretty much Yu Narukami, but skinnier and had curly hair. But in this new game play trailer, he looks really cool, ESPECIALLY at the end when he goes into some semi-Devil Trigger state that we know nothing of, THAT WAS AWESOME! I know he's kind of an anime Harry Potter, but come on, I'm sure this guy tops Harry in many ways. At night, he looks like Tuxedo Mask from "Sailor Moon", or a random masquerade fella from AC. Either way, I'm quite alright with our protagonist's design.


Now onto the rest of the cast. I'm just going to quote the internet here, other than our protagonist, we have what looks to be a grown up Naruto, Junko Enoshima from "Danganronpa" and a random cat mascot in our initial party. While they make good parodies of the above characters, I don't really have any qualms with them, they look cool enough. As long as they retain their crazy personalities as we have seen in the trailer, hey, I'm all for those guys. Design wise though, they're okay. The cat however, looks to be a really funky addition to the team. But please, make him less pun-driven like Teddie, we have had enough of his nonsense. Apparently, their names are Sakamoto Ryuji (Naruto lookalike), Takamaki Anzu (Junko's Doppelganger) and Morgana (the cat). There'll probably be more characters to come, like in other "Persona" games, I can't wait to see what shows up. As for other characters, we don't quite know who's who. We do know that we have an old man weapons seller, a hot school nurse, and...oh yes, Igor, that old fart is back as well. He's also sporting two new twin assistants, hopefully they are as charismatic as his older ones.



Dungeon Exploration And Battle




Oh god the dungeons...they look f**king sick. The moment I saw the main character jumping over chandeliers, I lost it. We're actually going to be able to INTERACT with the dungeons like we saw in the trailer, and hopefully with different dungeons, we get to traverse them differently, and not just have same dungeons with different skin designs. That alone gave me a hard on, and the possibilities are seemingly endless. Looks like we can also do falls or jumps, that could impact our exploration quite a bit. There was also what seems like a stealth segment somewhere in the trailer. Is there going to be an alarm system or something? I mean, that's a possibility, and I kind of like that. It adds more intensity than just running up to shadows and slapping them in the back for a quick preemptive strike.





And speaking of shadows, it looks like they're gone. As seen in the above image and in the trailer we're fighting what seems to be PERSONAS this time around. Are demons back? I can assume so. It may not be in "Persona" fashion, but its a thing that the SMT series has been doing for a long, LONG time, and the recent "Persona 3 & 4" games have been deviating from it by making us fight shadows. Fighting demons can be a nice change of pace, though I'm not sure how they're going to make it relevant. Still, it brings a lot of possibilities to the table. Can we persuade them like we usually do in other SMT games? Do we just beat them and they join us? Or was what we saw merely a boss battle that allowed us to acquire Personas? Either way, demons or not, I'm excited to see what they'll do.





Okay now THAT is one hell of a sick looking all out attack. I mean, HOLY SHIT, everyone looks like they're about to go ham and break the noses of their unfortunate foes. Makes you wonder what kind of personalities these guys have, especially with those expressions. Anzu looks like the naughty kind of girl, Ryuji looks like the mischievous gangster type, Morgana's all swag like, and our main character gives off the kind of look that practically spells "I'm gonna mess you up so hard that your mom won't even recognize you when I'm done". Either that, or they're all just trying to act cool.



The Devil Trigger...Or The DDS Transformation




As if the trailer wasn't hype enough, Atlus decided to throw us a little teaser towards the end showing how the main character "transforms", as a blue flame engulfs his eyes, then his face, then his entire body. We then get to the hear the "ching" sound that plays when any character in the "Persona" universe invokes a Persona. This...is cool, I admit, but there's going to be a lot of speculation. Is that what happens when our characters invoke Personas in "Persona 5"? Does our protagonist actually BECOME the Persona, like how the characters in "Digital Devil Saga", another SMT title, turn into demons for battle? Or is this just some bad ass devil trigger esque mode that powers up our main character? Whatever the hell it is, it looks amazing, emphasizing that this new protagonist is a born badass, and he's more than ready to take over the likes of Naoya, Tatsuya, Makoto and Narukami as main character. Step aside guys, a new lead is coming in, and he's about to Personify our lives, just as you guys did before him!

___________________________________________________________________________________


I'll cover more of "Persona 5" as more trailers pop up, but for now, this first trailer has left me (and many others, I'm sure) one hell of an amazing impression. There seriously are no words to describe it, I'm hyped as all hell for this game. After being left in the dark for years and having to deal with remakes and spin-offs, Atlus finally gives us the appetizer. My body is ready for this game...it has been since 2008, when I first finished "Persona 4" on my now dead PS2. 7 years Atlus, you've kept me waiting, but now that you've shown me this, I'll deal with it. I can wait some more, I've already waited 7 years, a few more months is nothing. SHOW ME YOUR MOVES, "PERSONA 5"!

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Heavenly Blue (Kalafina)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - A/Z (SawanoHiroyuki[nzk]:mizuki)

Genre: Action, Science Fiction

Episodes: 12



Ah, "Aldnoah Zero". This piece of shit has gotten everyone so riled up, hasn't it? Its certainly one of the better mecha animes released this year, that's for sure (at least for me, this was one of the only mecha shows I've watched this year). Despite everything that's happened, its gotten a lot of love, and a lot of hate. I can understand the mixed reviews, and since I've already seen this, I can tell you...while its not the worst thing ever, it definitely was one of THE most downhill experiences I have ever seen. Its been awhile since I've seen an anime start out so amazingly well, only to berate and deprave every episode of the originality, smart writing and intensity that the first few episodes had. The series starts off great, fantastic, phenomenal, even! Then it just goes downhill, all the way, leaving so many questions unanswered (that they're probably going to wing in season 2). Still, as a standalone season by itself, I can't actually recommend it to everyone, especially the nitpicky types. You're going to have a shit ton of questions that won't be answered.

Hey look, high school student mech pilots again! Joy!

I love Kalafina, and this only enhances that fact further. "Heavenly Blue" is the opening song, and its by Kalafina, of course. Its an amazing song with strong vocals, a powerful rhythm, and is just filled with such valor overall. So much that it makes my ears tingle with joy every time the song hits its chorus. The ending theme is less interesting. Its "A/Z" by SawanoHiroyuki[nzk]:mizuki. Its a standard slow song that almost every ending theme goes for, nothing too special here.


Rating: 7.5/10



Yeah there's really no going around it. Its a good mecha show, but that's it. It sure as hell could have been more, but as a standalone season one, this anime really doesn't deserve all that much. It starts off f**king great, only to go downhill as it does nothing but make more questions instead of answering old ones. The fight scenes go downhill, the cleverness in the writing goes downhill, and by the end of it all, you'll just be scratching your head. You can only ask yourself, "What the f**k happened?". I mean, its still a fun anime to watch. You've got mechs killing each other, colorful explosions, nice CG robots, and good music. Very, VERY good music for an anime. While the production quality and animations are pretty high up there, there's still a lot too much problems and questionable decisions in the entire damn thing to make me recommend it to everyone. And the characters...oh damn. It pains me to say this, but there aren't any characters that are too likable in this one. I can name 2 characters that I give a shit about, the rest are just...kind of there. The exist for the sake of existing.

Just look at all the generic soldier mechs facing off against that one, glorified, silver bastard with the badass beam saber. Life is never fair, isn't it?

Kaizuka Inaho is another one of those poker faced high school kids that's good at everything. In a world that has been devastated by the Heaven's Fall 15 years ago and the martians that plan to claim Earth for themselves, life hasn't really been very good. Apparently though, humans on Earth have settled down while Martians look at scorn from above with their incredibly futuristic Aldnoah technology. With no reason for them to attack Earth, the Martians just continue to observe Earth, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Fortunately such an opportunity presented itself when Martian princess Asselyuem decided to go down to Earth for a peace warming session. Obviously, Martian insiders that live on Earth attack the princess, effectively killing her and presented Martians with a realistic reason for attacking Earth now, even though it was all planned by the Martians themselves. Now the Martians attack Earth with their overpowered Mechs, and now the Earth humans have to fight a war that they have little chance of winning, due to the different in their mechs. Inaho marches into the war with a training mech...what can he do?


Its hard for me to recommend "Aldnoah Zero" on a whim as it is with just one season. There's really too much at stake here. Unless you just want a fun time and you forsake everything else, then yeah, you can enjoy this one, because it IS nice to see Inaho run down all these badass enemies with a shitty machine. But other than that, I'd say wait for the second season to end. Hopefully that one clears up most of the question marks.


Peace.

Spoilers for the following games:


Metal gear rising revengance
Valkyria Chronicles 3
Child Of Light
Shovel Knight 
Danganronpa 

Another day, another badass general.

5. Dahau
From: Valkyria Chronicles 3


So for 5th place on or list today is Dahau, the hardy Darcsen commander from the Calamity Raven squad in "Valkyria Chronicles 3". Let's see how he stacks up against the odds.


Dahau is what we like to call a "good" villain. What he does is not necessarily the most evil thing in the world, but its just that the way he goes around doing it isn't quite right. Because of his Darcsen heritage, he is commonly being targeted by others as an object for prejudice action, especially since he was in the imperial territory. After witnessing all sorts of f**ked up shit in his life and losing the love of his life, his wife, he began to think for the future. From that point on, his goal was to create an independent Darcsen nation, one where Darcsens can live in and maintain their rights as human beings.


Its because Dahau's purpose is so right that you feel for him. I mean, come on, the man just wants Darcsens to live properly as humans without being the object of constant persecution by the other people. Every time you fight him, you just know that its an inevitable clash of wills. He needs his nation, and Kurt needs to fight to survive. And he isn't a douche about it, he fights fair and square without using underhanded strategies. His will to live and fight is so strong that in the last level, you CANNOT kill him, AT ALL. He thinks for his comrades, he weeps for them, he thinks about his enemies as well. He respects Kurt as a fellow commander in a difficult situation, and chooses to fight to the death, instead of fleeing or begging for his life like a coward. Dahau, is a true commander, a great antagonist, and is most definitely, a badass that should not be taken lightly.

Malificent 2.0

4.The Enchantress
From: Shovel Knight


And for 4th place for today's list we have Malifi-no wait, its The Enchantress from "Shovel Knight". Who is this again? Well, really, she blew my socks off when she made her first appearence.


In "Shovel Knight", you're trying to rescue the love of your life for the entire game, Shield Knight. You're under the impression for the entire game that your enemy is The Enchantress, who commands the Knights Of No Order, and impede on your progress towards the tower of Fate, where Shield Knight is presumably being held at. You spend the whole damn game fighting the Knights Of No Order, thinking that you're about the rescue Shield Knight at the end. All for her, right?! Well, not really. You're even given hints that your journey was for naught, by many other characters, like Black Knight and Polar Knight.


Well, too bad, in the end, it turns out that the freaking Enchantress IS Shield Knight. WHAT THE FUQ?! Talk about a huge slap to the face. This hit me harder than any other part in the game. As if it wasn't bad enough, she rubs it into your face that she has no intention of doing anything good to you, and just proceeds to kill you! Apparently, The Enchantress was the Shield Knight AFTER she had been possessed by the evil that had been inhabiting the tower. After a hard fought battle, she returns to normal, and assists you in fighting the "True" Enchantress. A true mindf**k indeed.

Don't fall for the innocent look.

3.Norah
From: Child Of Light


For number 3 on our list we've got Norah from "Child Of Light", Aurora's bitch sister that probably deserves to die 10 times worse than how she did.


If you've played the game, then I can just stop right here. This bitch probably just cheated my (and probably almost everyone who played this game) feelings, making me feel like a naive little f**k. I gave her dust enhancements like I did everyone else, I gave her BRILLIANT level jewels. After acting so nice to Aurora, after putting up that nice big sister front, she managed to fool her and EVERYONE else, pushing Aurora to go back to her own world, straying her away from everyone else. When they finally made it back, she revealed herself to be Nox, one of the Umbra sisters and ultimately one of the big baddies in the game. Oh boy.


So the time you spent with her was all for naught. No big deal. So she turned from one of the most trustworthy characters in the game into a complete villain bitch who wants to kill your ass. No big deal! You kill her sister Cordelia, then you go back into the mirror world to find the sun, which happens to be under the sea....and there, you find Norah, or rather, Nox, again. Here, she reveals her true form, a dragon known as the Kraken, flaying her wheely tentacles around. Then you kill her, and she's gone for good, without any other comeback from us. I mean, I wanted to strangle the living f**k out of her! For a dreadful beauty that turned into a beast, she got an end that was TOO nice for her, IMO.

Let's f**king dance!

2.Jetstream Sam
From: Metal Gear Rising:Revengeance


Number 2 for today's list goes to Jetstream Sam from "Metal Gear Rising:Revengeance". I mean, come on, you all saw this one coming.


Sam is just a sexy, mexican, cyborg bastard. Right as the game starts he faces off against Raiden in a clash of wills. Raiden trying to protect the Prime Minister, Sam trying to kill him. Of course, Raiden is defeated by Sam, and the Prime Minister is killed. His defeat did not come off as a small one, as Sam sliced off Raiden's arm and took one of his eyes. Before landing the killing blow, Raiden is saved as his PMC comes to the rescue, and Sam retreats with a smile on his face, knowing that he dealt a massive blow to Raiden's pride and ego.

Being the one who ushered his first defeat, Raiden takes note of Sam as his biggest threat. After going through everything in the game, Sam constantly pelts at Raiden, saying how he still has a long way to go. Still, even on different sides, Sam RESPECTS Raiden, and is a very likable character when compared to the rest of the Desparado members. He fights fair, he isn't a complete douche bag in terms of personality, and he wants nothing but a good, old fashioned fight. He faces off against Raiden one last time as he goes to stop the Senator, and valiantly goes down, as Wolf watches the 2 people that he respect the most fight to the death.

The queen of despair!

1.Junko Enoshima
From: Danganronpa:Trigger Happy Havoc


The top villain for today is going to be none other than the erotic and utterly insane Junko Enoshima, from "Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc". There is no question, this girl is crazy and I love her, I'm sure many of you do as well.


Junko's emergence as a villain comes SO unexpectedly, especially in a mystery/problem solving game where her "existence" was removed so early on, as she was the first one to "die". You would NEVER expect her to come back, I mean, she was dead, right?! Nope, after a massive series of mind f**king events, the crew managed to uncover the mystery of the unknown 16th student, Ikusaba Mukuro, and her connection to the dead student, Junko Enoshima. After realizing that the tracks that she covered so well so long ago were started to get dug up again, she revealed herself behind the guise of Monokuma, and properly introduced herself as the REAL Junko Enoshima, the "Super High School Level Despair".


When debating against Junko, you can tell right off the bat, this bitch isn't all there! Constantly yapping off about how the world is super screwed up and that everything that Naegi and crew are going through is nothing but a video show! I mean, they are getting TORTURED in here, it cannot be that no one is coming to rescue them....right? Actually, wrong, the world is incredibly screwed up on the outside, and how Junko reveals everything and tries to temp our heroes into actually STAYING in the academy is remarkable. Her personality also changes from time to time, showing off how bat shit insane of a person she actually is. Her level of obession over despair is over the top, nobody can deny that. Even when she goes, she goes out with a bang, putting herself through ALL the punishments that the previous dead students went through...before finally getting snuffed out.

Opening Songs
OP 1 - Sidonia (Angela)

Ending Songs
ED 1 - Tenohira - Snow- (Eri Kitamura)

Genre: Action, Science Fiction

Episodes: 12



Wacky wacky wacky. To me, the time has not come for anime to transition into the 3D CG era just yet, just because most of these just don't look AS good as the traditional 2D animations that has gotten to damn good nowadays. Maybe that was why I couldn't get into stuff like "Blue Steel". Which made you wonder, how did I stomach through "Knights Of Sidonia"? A change of heart, really, nothing much else. I decided to give "Sidonia" a chance, and I honestly liked it quite a fair bit. There was an interesting world beneath everything that didn't impress, and its easy to find lots of stuff to like here. Especially if you're a mecha fan, oh yes, I can't leave you guys out (like FFS, I'm sure you guys already watched it already, you mecha fans are a crazy bunch). Action, love, high school students, everything in one serving...seems like a very common trend nowadays. Mecha fans should definitely stay, as for the rest, there's something to like here if you favor the standard high school students trying to save the world trope.

I need me one of these.

The opening song is "Sidonia" by Angela. Its usual Angela stuff, really, they like to do slow, powerful songs with strong vocals. "Sidonia" is not much different from their usual works, though for this piece alone, its takes quite a while to ramp up to the good parts, at least to me anyways. Those who love their songs would still love "Sidonia" anyway. The ending theme is "Tenohira-Snow" by Eri Kitamura, which is another one of those slow as hell ending themes without too much rhyme or sprite. Its not my cup of tea, as most of you should know by now.



Rating: 7.5/10



There were some things that weren't to my liking, other than those, the show was pretty solid. I somehow got past the CG that pretty much made up the entire anime, and at times, I had to admit that it DID look pretty. There's especially a lot of nice moments for you mech heads, because the fight scenes look absolutely gorgeous, and they feel exciting too. Why do people watch mech animes? For the freaking mechs of course, everything else is just an excuse leading up to the mech-y awesomeness, and I can say that without a doubt, the mech fights in this anime live up to expectations. The story, for the most part, is fairly average. There's a lot going on in the world of "Sidonia", but then again, there wasn't much incentive to give a sh*t about most of its lore if you can't get invested into the characters. Yeah, there seems to be things going on for its story, but the characters...not so much. There were a ton of characters in the anime, but you'll only end up caring about some of them, because there was so little time to develop (I only ended up liking Isana and that scientist chick that was introduced halfway through the series). Plus, it sequel baits. Its not as hard as some of the other animes that sequel bait, but its there, so its worth talking about.

Hey, who opened overused the clone machine?!

The anime starts Nagato Tanikaze as its main protagonist, a young man living in the underground sectors of Sidonia, a giant floating space colony that houses an entire population's worth of people. In the future where people can be genetically modified to photosynthesize by taking in sunlight, OR can take on a gender opposite to the one of his/her love interest, a floating space colony is nothing to be surprised about. Where people have been living in the streets for their lives, Nagato was raised in the underground by his grandfather, training to become a pilot through simulators, in hopes of learning to protect Sidonia against the alien threat known as the Gauna. One day, he ran out of supplies and rna to the surface, in hopes of stealing something that he can eat. Of course, he fails, he is caught by the authorities, and is scouted by Sidonia's current running captain to become a pilot at the local academy. Why? Apparently his grandfather was a great man, but to Nagato, he doesn't know anything, and just obediently agrees. Little did he know, he would be soon placed in the front lines against the Gauna


"Knights Of Sidonia" does a pretty good job with its first season in introducing us what life on the run from aliens in space is all about. The story was okay, and the characters could use some work, but the mecha action is really something else. Let's hope there's more character development in the second season, because there really are characters that I want to see shine.


Peace.