Or rather, I’ve already moved.

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Feels like Lucky Kannagi

I’ll skip the traditional summary, I know you all hate that. Plus Aroduc does it better.The character designs definitely give off a Lucky Star vibe. Lots of singular aspects of the show give off that Lucky Star feel. And despite that, the entirety of the show has the impression that A-1 pictures worked on the series. Anyway, lemme elaborate a little on the Lucky Star – Kannagi thing. Lucky Star had a more slow-flowing thing going on, whilst Kannagi was a very give-and-take, almost boke-tsukkomi-like relationship at times. It was quite fast and snappy.

I think the way that the show’s got a theme behind it all – music – makes a huge difference in the overall feel of the show. Rather than moeblobs talking about how they eat their Oreos and DORIRU, the club activities help tie everything up together neatly. It all feels nicely organized in some logical manner as opposed to some random event going on at random times. K-ON!’s got a lot of superficial similarities with LS – 4 characters, high school, slice of life, all girls, KyoAni. Et cetera. But as I said, it feels like Kannagi. The humor’s a lot more upfront than usual. More laugh-out-loud than giggle-giggle. Well, I CAN’T EXPLAIN IT RIGHT. It needs to be watched to be understood. It’s a good show anyway.

References aren’t very fast and furious – thankfully. I know references are cool and all, but I don’t like PPD-style stuff that basically demands the viewer to have seen every single TV program, drama, advertisement, listened to every radio station, song, and so on. Too time-consuming and too constrained to a certain audience. But I guess most anime aren’t really made for Western audiences, so whatever.

Animation is rather inconsistent. Sometimes, you’ve got some of the most awesomely done piece of animated art, but then some other times, you got these really weird blobs of color splashed around or whatever.

The music’s not so bad. Voice actors were new (at least to me) but sounded quite good in their roles. Yui wasn’t too annoyingly high pitched, thank god. All the characters are pretty likeable, and generally, the entire show is a nice, light (HAHAHA PUNS) watch.

ED was pretty cool too.

It’s been a fun time with you guys. I’ll see you around sometime.

Just recently, I’ve gotten back to playing Ar tonelico 2. Pretty fun game, this is. Let me explain why.

I won’t bother with the premise or anything because I’m sure any other review will tell you that much, so let’s get right into it. First of all, the core of the game. It’s an RPG with more focus on reflexes than say, Persona, which relies much more on exploiting enemy weaknesses and the like. Two vanguards attack and defend from damage, while two Reyvateils – spellcasters, in essence – provide support or attack magic (note that this is a major change; previously, the player had three vanguards and one Reyvateil). During the attack phase, pressing a button with the corresponding direction will have the character launch an attack on the enemy. During defense phase, pressing the character’s assigned button at the right moment will block the enemy’s attack. Do it perfectly and you take nil damage. Slightly off will get you a bit of damage, even further off will net you worse damage, and being completely off will result in damage for you and your supporting Reyvateil. It’s a great system that really makes me wonder why developers don’t use this more often. It has the trappings of a normal turn-based RPG, without the hassle of grinding for levels. Rather than demanding the player to waste time on something so idiotic as to kill countless enemies for hours on end (days, in extreme cases), the game allows him to spend it on something more worthwhile, such as side quests (of which there are plenty), or even just going around and talking to people.

A very common complaint from the players of the first game is that it was too easy. That is to say, in the later phases, one could just choose not to sing a song and spam the attack option a turn or three and get through any fight – even boss fights – relatively unscathed. This older battle system was, to be honest, mind-numbingly boring. Though it wouldn’t have been bad on its own, combined with the game’s incredible ease of difficulty, this made for a really crappy game which you would play for the game itself, the other portions (ie: diving, conversation, etc.) being the game’s saving grace. That being said, Ar tonelico 2′s totally revamped system was a breath of fresh air. The game provides significantly stronger enemies – ones that could probably take you out in two turns, provided you sucked at blocking attacks. Furthermore, since the game requires actual thought on attacks to expand the radar-gauge in the desired direction, you constantly have to consider what kind of attacks you’d be throwing at the enemy, rather than just pressing square and x all the time.

Another game system mechanic that’s been changed is the songs usable in battle. Before, you’d have a gargantuan list of songs that you could use for the fight. Each was limited in their use, ranging from 1 to 9 or infinite (the basic spell), and took about three battles to charge up for another one use. I never ended up using a single one of the guard spells, and pretty much relied on the basic attack spell, healing, and Ar tonelico whenever it got a little tough, which basically made all the other spells completely worthless; it was pretty skewed in general. In other words, it wasn’t all that good a system. Enter Ar tonelico 2. Rather than having a screen-length long list of spells to choose from, you are given at most 8 or so spells with which to use. “Well then where the hell do all the spells learnt in diving go to then?” Rather than assigning each spell one freaking slot, the “songs” are more of a group of songs. You start off with a plain song, and then based on your attacks – whether your attack is more harmonics-focused, more psyco-focused, more burst-focused, or if you went for the care option, the song and its effect will evolve in that direction (hence, the need to know what the hell you’re doing in the attack phase).
There are a lot of other changes, some I’d say are good, others not so much, but overall, the game feels and plays loads better than its predecessors. And for those who aren’t as inclined to reflex-based blocking, there’s even an easy mode!

Next thing on the list – characters. The characters of Ar tonelico 2 are a whole lot more three-dimensional, personable, and a lot more well-developed compared to Ar tonelico’s. Chroah is a huge leap forward for Lyner. While Lyner was basically quite the flawed character, Chroah was, unlike most game protagonists, a decent guy. He’s rather smart and pleasant to talk to, and cares for Cocona as a brother ought to; he knows when he’s wrong and quickly admits his faults and apologizes; he follows his duties as a knight and does what is right, and is reasonable, thinking ahead before charging in. Even the side characters are such. Compare, for example, Jack to say, Legris. Jack is a guy who used to be from the Teru Tribe. He had a fight with the head and left. That is his backstory. On the other hand, Legris was a Grand Bell Knight who knew Reisha, Luca’s mother. He went to rescue the previous maiden during a coup d’etat masked as an IPD outbreak, only to find her and Batz there. He helps them escape the area, and eventually goes on to father a daughter. Both his daughter and wife ended up being killed by an IPD outbreak later on. During the game proper, you meet Amarie, whom Legris eventually comes to care for like his own daughter (contrary to his earlier bahavior). Though both characters are just as proficient in battle, they aren’t all that equal outside of it. Thusly, the player has a much better game experience because the characters are better-written and are more endearing compared to the previous game’s.

Ar tonelico is rather well-known (in some circles, at least) for its music, which is phenomenal, to say the least. One only needs to listen to EXEC_PHANTASMAGORIA/. to see just what I mean. Ar tonelico 2 doesn’t disappoint either. Background music fits the tone and mood of the scenes just about perfectly. For example, Sincere’s (Cynthia’s) theme,陽だまりhas a very relaxed mood to it – perfect for such a character, whose laid back and positive, sunny disposition never fail to cheer me and Chroah up in the game. Or perhaps how Mint Ward’s own BGM is simple and calm, just like the area itself. But of course, the highlight of the music is the hymns. All of the hymns are great in their own way, though I’ve taken quite a liking to 謳う丘～Harmonics FRELIA～, METHOD_IMPLANTA/., METHOD_METAFALICA/., EXEC_METAFALICA/., EXEC_VIENA/., Hartes ciel, melenas walasye., and EXEC_with.METHOD_METAFALICA/.. Tsuchiya’s really made me a fan of the multiple-chorus, as evidenced by EXEC_PHANTASMAGORIA/. and EXEC_with.METHOD_METAFALICA/.. The instruments work well together, and with vocalists like Shikata Akiko and Shimotsuki Haruka, they all blend beautifully into some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard.

The game’s sense of humor is, needless to say, great. Significantly better compared to Ar tonelico’s (though grathmelding with Aurica still makes for one great experience too). The euphemisms and double entendres are hillariously done (“it’s funny because ‘diving’ means sex!”), and the little random conversations between the characters is great as both comic relief and as something which really makes you feel like you’re really friends with them, as opposed to say, just people who you are acquaintances with for convenient storyline purposes. Not only that, but the countless references to the previous game are fast and furious, especially once Jakuri enters the picture. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing when she talked about a certain person who “not only forgot that he made a childhood promise, but also about the person he made the promise with even existed,” and the time that she hacks into a maintenance-roid to talk to Shurelia. The game does drama just as well too. I was (surprisingly) on the verge of tears the entire time during the events regarding Reisha and Luca. Unfortunately, it’s all-too-often marred with some really, really bad translation, editing, and quality checking (but then I guess that’s why you’ve got people re-translating it, eh?).

Finally, on the setting. This is perhaps where I am most impressed about. One only needs to take a look at the HymmnoServer (English version) set up by the game’s director, Tsuchiya Akira, to see just how well thought-out the world of Ar tonelico really is. He wrote a language just for the Ar tonelico universe – Hymmnos, which means “song” in said language (quite fitting, for obvious reasons). Not only that, but he has also written about much of the science and theory behind the game, what with D-waves, S-waves, and all that jazz. It’s all freely accessible too, albeit mostly in Japanese, though there has been an ongoing wiki-style translation for it at the Ar tonelico Wikia page. I could rave a little more about it all, but basically, the amount of work put into fleshing out the world of Ar tonelico in itself deserves respect.

In closing, each of the game’s elements combine to make one of the best RPG’s on the PS2. Though I was rather averse to paying good money (a lot of it) for a copy of NISA’s localization of Ar tonelico 2, the game itself is such an incredibly well-done piece of work that I can’t not own a copy of it. This article on Heisei Democracy pretty much sums up what I feel on Ar tonelico 2. It’s such a damn fun game that I’d forget to breathe for half a minute or so.

Now have some CaramelldansenShurelia

I’ve only heard about this from Diego‘s post, actually. I never knew there was such an event. As such, the man does indeed deserve praise for his works, which, while sometimes lacking in a few aspects, never fail to stir up some form of emotion within the viewer, be it of happiness, melancholy, marvel, or even anger. I’ve noticed that on the first viewing of any of his films, I become drawn to the story, rather than the emotions. The plot, rather than the characters. The general flow, rather than the details. As such, I do believe that, like a good wine, partaking in each film becomes more and more enjoyable the more we watch it. You begin to notice the small details, or, knowing the story, you begin to feel for the characters and their situations much more than you would in your first, second, third viewings. Perhaps this is one reason why I seem to favor these types of films over the mainstream films of today – mindless action and violence – that only serve to pump one’s adrenaline before quickly flatlining at the end, never to be viewed again. But I digress.

Though I’ve tried to secure legit copies of all 4 of his films – She and Her Cat, Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in our Early Days, and 5 Centimeters per Second – I’ve had no luck with the third, and thus cannot fully simulate the Shinkai Film Fest. After a little bit of searching, I was able to acquire a copy of it, however, and will proceed to watch all of them thusly. For those who don’t have copies, Crunchyroll also seems to be streaming the movies for free for its members. Apparently, a dub for 5cm is also present, but I’m not really big on dubs, even if they were supervised by Shinkai himself. Perhaps I’ll just take a quick peek to see what it sounds like. Of course, for those who can watch it in better quality, I highly suggest you do. The breathtaking scenery he paints in his films is beyond incredible. And kudos to those who’ve got Blu-ray versions. I certainly can’t play them.

Here’s to Shinkai; may he produce more of his marvelous work, and may we continue to partake of it.

現状Ride on嫌だね…　Yes or Noで 問いたい
曖昧な限界　もう壊したい
genjou Ride on iya da ne… Yes or No de toitai
aimai na genkai mou kowashitai

ねぇ正常Installなぜか　エラーだらけのMy plan
修復出来ないジレンマに戸惑う
nee seijou Install naze ka ERAA darake no My plan
shuufuku dekinai JIRENMA ni tomadou

星をバラまいて　世界を照らしたい　ほら
本命の冒険をEnterしましょう！
hoshi no BARA maite sekai wo terashitai hora
honmei no bouken wo Enter shimashou!

輝け君のOnly one　それが太陽さ
真の革命でしょ？　そんな君が好きだよ
風になれ少年よ　夢をかざすんだ
百万の言葉より　たった一つだけの
プライドを信じるんだ
kagayake kimi no Only one sore ga taiyousa
shin no kakumei desho? sonna kimi ga suki da yo
kaze ni nare shounen yo yume wo kazasun da
hyakuman no kotoba yori tatta hitotsu dake no
PURAIDO wo shinjirun da

感情Switch on行こう　壮大なストーリーへDiving
逆光の空は翼を描いてる
kanjou Switch on ikou soudai na SUTOORII he Diving
gyakkou no sora wa tsubasa wo egaiteru

私は見たいな　君だけの虹色　もう
ハンパない奇跡Startしましょう！
watashi wa mitai na kimi dake no nijiiro mou
HANPA nai kiseki Start shimashou!

貫け君のJustice soul　勇気を焦がして
例え涙しても　それは負けじゃないから
天辺に聳え立つ　何かの為なら
ポケットのその右手　上に突き出そう
私も側にいるから
tsuranuke kimi no Justice soul yuuki wo kogashite
tatoe namida shitemo sore wa make jyanai kara
teppen ni sobietatsu nanika no tame nara
POKETTO no sono migite ue ni tsukidasou
watashi mo soba ni iru kara

(bridge)

守る人がいますか？　強さのすべてさ
愛だと誇ればいい　Boy goes to…続きは…ほら
風になれ少年よ　夢をかざすんだ
何よりも誰よりも　一番を翔よう
mamoru hito ga imasu ka? tsuyosa no subetesa
ai da to hokoreba ii Boy goes to…tsudzuki wa… hora
kaze ni nare shounen yo yume wo kazasun da
nani yori mo dare yori mo ichiban wo kakeyou

輝け君のOnly one　それが太陽さ
真の革命でしょ？　そんな君が好きだよ
君は君でいいんだよ　もう一度言わせて
百万の言葉より　たった一つだけの
プライドを信じるんだ
kagayake kimi no Only one sore ga taiyousa
shin no kakumei desho? sonna kimi ga suki da yo
kimi wa kimi de iin da yo mou ichido iwasete
hyakuman no kotoba yori tatta hitotsu dake no
PURAIDO wo shinjirun da

Or in my case, singles’ awareness day. Not that it matters for now. Anyway, it’s a little late, but I hope you guys enjoy it (or have enjoyed it) with your special someone!

Maria†Holic
Yuri-trap stuff with SHAFT-style comedy. I like this a lot more than I did Pani Poni Dash or Negima?!, even if the humor is more or less similar. It’s got the absurdness of SZS without the zillion references, making the humor a lot more understandable and accessible to a Japanese-culture-impaired person like me.

Akikan!
Oh my god, just two episodes are enough to make my eyes bleed AND cause brain tumors. Surprising that such a show came out from the same studio that did something so awesome as Baccano!.

Asu no Yoichi
Pretty so-so. It’s watchable, and each of the sisters is clearly (though stereotypically) different from each other. A few moments of chuckles here and there, but nothing outstanding. And the, as Aroduc coins, thouspeak does get on the nerves.

Minami-ke Okaeri
Definitely feels more Minami-ke than Okawari. The animation style and character designs have been changed to something more like the original show (teardrop mouths!). I’m still as dense as ever and I never really laugh at their jokes. Almost never.

RideBack
It’s too early for me to objectively talk about the show, but it does seem to have some promise. I don’t like the slightly messy hairstyle of the main character though, but that’s just my OMG ANIME HAIR SHOULD BE STRAIGHT impulse.

White Album
To be honest, I haven’t gotten to watching more than a single episode of the show. It feels like I really need a lot of energy to watch the show, because it’s internally tiring in ways I have yet to comprehend. On the one episode I actually did watch, it definitely has a different aura and air to it compared to almost ever eroge-adaptation anime I’ve seen; can’t quite explain it, but that’s how it is for me. Apparently, because it’s styled in the 80′s anime sort of fashion, and I haven’t really experienced much, if any at all, of those kinds of shows.

Sora Kake Girl
It’s a very… refreshing show. Very energetic and never really a dull moment. Jun Fukuyama doesn’t even bother with changing his voice anymore so Leopard sounds like Lelouch, albeit insane. ALI PROJECT OP aside, the show is very pleasant overall, but I can’t quite tell what direction the show’s trying to take. There’s action, and there’s comedy, and there’s some deeper stuff going on in the background, but looking at the show as a whole, it’s got a very positive, happy-go-lucky sort of flow that clashes with some other aspects.

Chrome-shelled Regios
I read a single volume of the translated manga and well, what I remember completely conflicts with what I’m seeing. The names, character designs, all seem familiar, but in a different setting. Anyway, the show’s not bad at all; lots of action, time set aside for character building and plot too. I’ll probably go with it all the way to the end to fulfill my need for a bit of action in my anime intake.

Kurokami
I thought the show was pretty good in its own right… before I read the manga. The liberties Sunrise has taken with the source material are clear as day, and frankly, it really nags at me. Sort of like how Konata referred to drama CD’s and anime having different voice actors. You know that they’re different media, but they still feel kind of different. I’ve yet to go much further than the second episode, but Kurokami is still quite a competent show.

Shoujo wo Miageru Sora no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai aka: Munto TV
First, what the blazes is Kyoto Animation doing with such a horribly long name. And why are they resurrecting a really old 2-part OVA by turning it into a series? I honestly have no clue. They seem to be paying less attention to the show compared to something like CLANNAD, however, as evident by the lower quality animation of Munto TV (in comparison to aforementioned show). It’s pretty bad though, from what I’ve seen – half an episode. Not really worth watching, except maybe just to see what KyoAni can do with its own original material.

Kemono no Souja Erin
Feels like a kids-y, Disney-y show. Almost all the kanji show have furigana, the narrator speaks in a clear, slow tone, and generally uses comparatively simple words. On the show itself, I can’t quite enjoy it all that much. I’ve never really enjoyed things like this normally, but I really would like to expand my horizons, broaden my palate, that sort of thing.
I should probably finish the second half of the first episode.

Hetalia Axis Powers
Episode 1: Wut.
Episode 2: Wut.

Pretty much the same as before. I can’t even tell whether or not there have been any significant changes. Not really worth getting again if you’ve played it before as the number of stages available (two) and the upgrades are still the same as before. There are no added weapons, stages, or whatnot; it feels somewhat different, but mostly minor changes like better graphics.

ASTRO PORT – 魔女ボーグメグリロ

The title, roughly translated, is Witch-borg Meglilo, which is, what she is. A witch cyborg named Meglilo. The game features, well, just that. Scenes before each stage are hilarious, even if you don’t understand the dialogue (because I sure don’t). The general preamble for each stage is that an alien does something bad (while Meglilo just watches on) – usually killing someone – and that is when she steps in and must punish the alien. As a shooting game, it doesn’t have any power-up items or even bombs. Instead, you pick up weapon pods for your left and right side, which include standard two-way, three-way, full-on spread shots, homing missiles, rotating energy balls, and even a giant sawblade. And yes, there is a big drill. As a replacement for a bomb ability, Meglilo is able to warp to any part of the screen, stopping time as you pick a location at your leisure. This allows you to easily dodge even the thickest of streams and most ridiculous of bullet patterns with a simple push of the button, as well as letting you navigate some maps that are otherwise impossible to pass through (ie: stage 5). This ability of course, is limited to the gauge on the left of the screen; while in timestop mode, the gauge is drained until you pick a warp destination, and mind you, the gauge refills quite slowly, so you’ll need to be prudent with your warping. MajoMegu also features different costumes for Meglilo, though whether or not they make a difference in handling or in the game is yet to be determined. The lighthearted, and yet often morbid story, combined with the bright pastel colors and cheerful music, give the impression of a gentle pick-up-and-play game, which this game certainly is.

EasyGameStation – 特急天使

EasyGameStation has a knack for making awfully creative games. By taking a relatively mundane activity – delivering stuff – and putting a twist on it, EGS creates a game with incredible replay and multiplay potential.
Tokkyu Tenshi – what I like to call Special Express Angels – is basically a footrace, complete with laps and finish lines. Gameplay, that is to say, the game’s basic objectives, are simple. For single player play, make it through a specific number of laps within the time limit. Nothing too special. Get to multiplayer however, and it gets a whole lot more fun. And chaotic. Instead of focusing on who gets to the finish first, it’s a point collection frenzy with the race for the finish put away as a second priority. Basically, get as many points as possible, lose as few as possible, and make it through to the finish. Gathering jewels and taking out enemies nets you points. Tripping or falling and getting left behind make you lose points. Awfully simple, but throw in a plethora of weirdly uniquely designed courses, lots and lots of traps, enemies, and whole assortment of items and well, you’ve got pure chaos just waiting to happen. Tricky maps willed with jumps, branching paths, and false roads demand foreknowledge of the courses. Spiked floors, falling boulders, supportless platforms, and other obstacles will mercilessly pummel those whose skills aren’t good enough; even enemies will constantly swarm the map, waiting for the next player careless enough to stumble onto them. And the items. You have carrots which give you an instant dash, through solid walls and objects. Magnets which collect all visible jewels automatically. Bombs that… blow stuff up. And let’s not forget EGS’s giant spinning fish.
In theory, multiplayer would be quite the sight, with up to four players knocking each other around the map senseless and explosions and screaming everywhere. I say “in theory” because I’ve never actually had the chance to play with other people and thus, have never tried the multiplay function, and I doubt I ever will, given that no one else here shares such… interests. Single player unfortunately isn’t very non-Japanese-literate-friendly because even though the game has multiple possible endings, not being able to read the dialogue makes the entire point moot.
There also seems to be some costume unlockables, but I haven’t played the game enough to be able to get any.
Tokkyu Tenshi would probably be a great multiplayer game for any occasion, but playing it solo is likely to get boring rather quickly.

erka:es – RosenKreuzStilette FreudenStachel Trial

I probably would’ve glazed over this game if Trancehime hadn’t made a note of it (and thus, I made a note of it) when I went to his place. The best way to describe this game, in a single word, is, “Moegaman”. Yes, I made that up. Of the few Megaman X games I’ve played (only partially as a passing interest), though, they don’t even come close to this game’s difficulty level. Slippery floors, pitfalls, the traditional spikes, lava, moving platforms, this game has it all. All within two minutes of each other. In other words, each level in peppered with death traps that would send any beginner into his doom (ie: me). A little bit of research shows that this game is actually a sequel to erka:es’s previous game, RosenKreuzStilette. I’ve had the good fortune to play it, having just recently acquired it, and it plays much like, well, a Megaman clone. Usual buster and charge shot, and so on. There’s a marked difference in level design however. A number of stages in RKS are awfully bland; very “safe” designs. RKS FS takes those and improves them by adding interesting changes such as Liebea’s stage having wind outside of the tower, or Zorne’s stage taking disappearing blocks to an entirely different level altogether, making the level design even more imaginative and challenging than its predecessor.
Judging from the reactions from some fans, the game’s level design is indeed notably harder compared to RosenKreuzStilette’s designs, though there are a number of rather cheap traps that require particular tricks to get through. Grolla’s stage, in particular, is much, much harder than before. Enemies located on slippery areas rapidly spawn to hit you mid-jump and make you fall into pits. A lot of stages involve memorization of layout and nailing some clever tricks and maneuvering through some of the harder areas, and you might as well memorize how to “edge-jump” off platforms as jumping just a fraction of a second too early will get you killed. A lot. But perhaps all of this is inevitable for such a doujin game, more centered on the tougher, older Megaman series, rather than the gentler X series of late, targetted at such a hardcore audience of Japanese gamers.
With such level and character designs, and a rather interesting-seeming story, RosenKreuzStilette FreudenStachel, is, after all the frustrations and hardships, a pretty good game.