Thoughts on anime shows; 2010.12

Amagami SS

This hasn't quite ended yet - there's a bonus 25th episode to air on Christmas Eve - but the main story arcs are out of the way, so whatever. I almost can't admit to myself that I watched the whole series. It's based on a PS2 dating sim and follows a chap named Junichi as he wins the hearts of six different girls (one of which he doesn't seem to be interested in himself) in six alternate versions of the same time period, leading up to Christmas. There isn't much more to it than that.

Junichi has some kind of backstory revolving around a painful past rejection, but nothing is ever done with this; same goes for several other red herrings (what's up with Ayatsuji's sister, for example). Many extremely implausible things happen and I can only presume that the storylines are pretty much straight adaptations from the videogame. Junichi himself has very few redeeming traits; he's wimpy and uninteresting. I also would have much preferred three or four longer storylines rather than six short ones, but again, probably a purist adaptation thing.

Overall though, I still enjoyed the show, and I guess that's because it's very sweet and pleasant without being sickly (theme songs notwithstanding). I can only describe it as an extremely guilty pleasure. The show does seem to have quite a large following and I found fans in more than one of the (not anime-centric) online communities that I frequent, so at least I'm not alone!


Death Note

I had been aware of this series since forever but never really gave it much thought, and unfortunately it's probably because it is so popular. That was a mistake, cos I loved this show. Clever writing, and lots of fun twists and turns. After 37 episodes it started to drag a little but by the time it ended, I found myself wanting more. I won't bother summarising it since basically everyone has already seen it. I guess the only gripe I have with the show really is the almost arbitrary-seeming set of rules surrounding the notebook and shinigamis, which seem to have been designed for plot convenience more than anything else. Still, no big deal. I doubt I will ever again hear a line like "I'll take a potato chip... AND EAT IT!" made into something quite so dramatic. 


Now and Then, Here and There

This is a short, grim show about an innocent boy who is unwillingly transported into a bleak, dry, war-ridden world. He is quickly caught up in a dictator's attempt to capture and manipulate Lala-Ru, a girl in possession of a magical water-producing MacGuffin pendant, and ends up in a village housing some survivors and rebels. In the meantime, kids whose families were killed by Hamdo the Villain have become members of his army and struggle with their loyalties. I'm not really sure what to say about this one. It's good, but it's not going to leave you in a good mood. It feels like what you might get if you took an older Miyazaki world (perhaps Nausicaa), sandblasted all the cheer and positivity away, and extrapolated on the negatives.

But it's certainly and engaging ride, and you do care for the characters. The visual style is quite simplistic and old-fashioned, somewhat like a kids' anime perhaps, which to me is probably a good thing - it balances out the subject matter and softens the touch rather than trivialising it or not doing it justice. It's been quite a while since I watched the show but I do remember good things about the soundtrack too. Cautious recommendation for anyone who thinks they're in the mood.


Ookami-san And Her Seven Companions

The prevailing thought I had while watching this show was that it's what Haruzi Suzumiya should have been. Quirkier and more light-hearted. Also annoyingly short (12 episodes). Ryoshi is an absurdly shy boy with a crush on Ryoko Ookami, a tough-talking tomboy who works for the 'Otogi Bank' - a high school club that loans out favours to students in need. Ryoshi ends up in the 'bank' too, and eventually demonstrates a brave and capable side that slowly wins Ryoko over.

Over its brief run, the show features both an overall story arc with serious themes and stand-alone episodes for more light-hearted stories (e.g. obligatory skimpy outfit contest). There's a decent amount of character development across a good range of different characters. The one thing that made me grind my teeth was the constant narration from the patronising voice of an omniscient old lady. Urgh. Be quiet. But after a while you get over it. This show is fun and heartwarming, and I just wish it were longer. Rockin theme tune too.




Next shows to be reviewed: Shiki, Outlaw Star, The Tatami Galaxy, Arakawa Under the Bridge, and maybe Welcome to the NHK if I get around to watching it. Movie reviews first, though.

Space Invaders Infinity Gene

This game has sucked me in like an evil temptress who aims to drain the life out of me. Sorry if this 'review' ends up sounding like an ad, but that's just how good it is.

It's like a cross between the original Space Invaders and a modern Japanese vertical scrolling shooter; in fact the early parts of the game are spent watching the gameplay evolve from the former to the latter. It's available on iOS, XBLA and PSN. I paid only a few dollars for it on my iPod Touch but would have probably handed over $30 if I'd known how much fun I'd have with it.

The game's main campaign lasts for eighteen levels, starting off short and sweet and ending in a series of epic boss battles. I thought that was it, and that all that was left was to play the same levels again on medium and hard difficulty, but no - another thirty levels are unlockable, as well as several that can be bought as downloadable content, forming a second nonlinear campaign. The game can also generate new levels based on music tracks in your library, which can then be rated online. For a low-priced downloadable game, this thing is huge and full of variety, and has a ton of replay value.

The main mechanic for racking up points is keeping your 'chain level' up; that is, killing enemies or their bullets continuously in order to multiply points you earn. Stop blowing up bad guys for about three seconds and your multiplier resets. This adds a lot of strategy to the game when combined with the 7+ different weapons you have to choose from - you learn little tricks to stop the chain from resetting and have to place a lot of shots strategically. Hitting everything as quickly as possible is not the answer! Of course this has to be done while dodging a sea of projectiles and enemies that come in classic preprogrammed waves.

The graphics are incredibly simple; an updated version of the classic monochrome Space Invaders style with some background colours and simple vector graphics thrown in. Sometimes the lack of colour can make it difficult to differentiate important things from each other, but learning to do so was part of the fun for me. At times I lose visual track of where my ship is and just have to keep playing on instinct; somehow it usually seems to work out okay.

The soundtrack is rockin'. Good with headphones. Goes well with the 8-bit-style sound effects.

If it isn't clear by now, I recommend this game to anyone who owns a system for which it is available. I've only played the iOS version but it looks pretty similar on the consoles from what I've seen.

FWIW, according to GameCenter I have the 21st highest overall score at this point since that leaderboard went live - just over 18 million, on a run from levels 1-1 to 3-3 using the Gravity weapon on hard mode. Gravity is the best weapon. I'm just saying. Yeah. Maybe I've been playing this too much.

Anime movie reviews, 2010.11

In alphabetical order...

King of Thorn

This was an interesting, but confused movie. Not too sure what to say about it; not even sure how much I remember about it. The setting was bleak but engaging, telling the tale of a group of survivors of a peculiar disaster at a shady cryogenics lab during a worldwide epidemic. Things end up revolving around a shy young girl who is not what she seems, as the group navigates a high-tech facility that has become overrun by strange monsters and giant brambles. Naturally, the facility happens to be located inside a Scottish castle.

There are more twists than you can poke a stick at, and the story frolicks along at a good pace - sometimes a little too fast for its own good. It really felt as though scenes were missing at a few points, or perhaps I just blinked and missed something important one too many times. There are probably a couple too many characters overall, spreading the audience's attention thin, and so the bond between the girl and one of the other survivors ends up being nowhere near as poingnant as it should be. Other than the pacing and character development, the main flaw to me was that the story couldn't seem to decide whether it was foremost a sci-fi or a psychological thriller, and by the finale, it's an awkward combination of both.

Still, the awkward combination manages to be fairly entertaining overall, and there are plenty of epic visuals throughout. Worth a look. Minus one point for absurdly blatant Resident Evil ripoff; you'll know it when you see it.

Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva

The only film of this lot that I didn't see at this year's Reel Anime festival at Cinema Nova. I must have giggled like a baby upon discovering that the Layton series was to be adapted into feature films. I watched this right after completing the third DS game, too, so the characters and style were fresh in my mind. Instantly jarring was the voice acting for Luke. For reasons I cannot fathom, the American and British versions of the Layton games feature different voice actors for this character, and unfortunately the voice I heard in the movie sounded nothing like the one I was accustomed to from the games. This wasn't distracting for too long though, and thankfully the professor's voice was as usual.

The story and setting is entirely in keeping with those of the games, and the formula is tweaked just right to suit a feature film. Layton and Luke are invited to an opera performance featuring one of the professor's former students, but the opera turns out to be a front for an evil ploy to find the secret of immortality, or so it seems. There are some token puzzles early on (we even get a giant puzzle counter in the same format as the games) for the characters to solve, but these pretty much fall by the wayside halfway through the film, leaving it to focus on the characters. Speaking of which, other than Layton and Luke, Dr Shrader is the only familiar face here, which makes sense since the film is set before the games. Still, it would have been nice to see Inspector Chelmey, at least.

The art style is identical to that in the games, and the character designs are as varied as ever. I have read complaints that the film ends up relying on CGI too much towards its conclusion, and I'd agree, but it's not that it's out of keeping with the games at all (plenty of CGI mecha madness in the new game). The problem is that it just doesn't fit in with the cute, ultra-simplistic style that the characters are drawn in. No huge deal in the end, though. The story wraps up in the standard gooey emotional manner, tying everything up in a nice yet bittersweet knot. This movie was charming, and a perfect companion to the game series. I was really hoping they would explain what the hell a "picarat" is, though. Oh well.

Redline

Wooow. I knew next to nothing about this movie going into it; only that it was about racing and had some serious style. It was almost impossible to find information on it online too, since apparently it didn't even have a proper release in Japan yet at the time of the season here. But really, racing and style is more or less all you need to know. Oh, and a ridiculous sci-fi setting reminiscent of Star Wars pod-racing on spiked crack.

Our main main JP is a slightly crooked racer paid by the mob to lose the Yellow Line race (which opens the film), putting him out of contention for the prestigious Red Line race. His engine does explode during the race, but due to the illegal and dangerous nature of Red Line, two of the successful entrants pull out, putting JP and his absurd hairstyle in the race by default. The bulk of the film consists of preparation for the event, some confusing intergalactic politics and violence, and encounters with another sexy entrant who has apparently idolised JP for years. The supporting characters and opposing race teams, mostly aliens, are all hilarious and highly imaginative. The climax of the film is of course the big race, and it's a long one, interspersed with more (frankly needless) politics and a completely nonsensical battle between two giant monsters. I really had no idea what that was all about.

So yeah, only two races, one of which is short and sweet. But they are all that is needed, really. The thing about this movie is the style, just the amazing visuals. So much work must have been poured into every high-contrast, high-colour, extreme-motion frame that it blows my mind. Keyframing is barely evident, which is in contrast to a lot of lazily done anime where objects can appear to jerk from point to point (I'm looking at you, Ponyo, even though you are super cute). Here, everything is fluid, smooth, organic and violently colourful, to the point where you can nearly forget about the story. All I could say on exiting the theatre was 'I don't know what I just saw, but it was pretty'.

'Visual feast' would be a horrible understatement; watching this movie on drugs would probably open an interdimensional portal. Bonus points for excellent, lawl-worthy final shot.

Summer Wars

Now, this was 'the big one' of this year's Reel Anime festival, and the only movie of the bunch to get a full release immediately afterwards. I'd heard rave reviews from a few friends and was a little late to the party, I suppose. But honestly, it wasn't the magical tour-de-force I'd been expecting. Hopes set too high by recommendations and having seen Redline already, I suppose.

Not that the movie was bad at all. It was great, and one hundred percent aimed at today's digital generation of adolescents. Plot is somewhat too complex to really explain here, but basically it revolves around an Internet virtual world called OZ, which I suppose is designed to be an exaggerated version of Facebook or Google or something, to the point where governments rely on it and nobody under the age of 40 can live without it. Anyhoo, kid is roped into pretending to be a girl's boyfriend and taken to her grandmother's birthday, kid's OZ avatar gets hacked and stolen by a mysterious virtual aggressor, things turn global, the entire Internet teams up to wage pixellated war in frankly bland 3D environments, and it takes the unconnected folks at granny's house way too long to catch on to the importance of what is happening. Many silly hijinks, ominous family dramas and down-to-the-millisecond suspense moments ensue.

There's nothing particularly bad about this movie at all; it doesn't do anything wrong. It just doesn't do anything amazing either, as far as I'm concerned. Visually well done but pretty by-the-books. Perhaps it was that I had recently watched Durarara!!, which covered some of the same ground in a darker and less linear style. In any case, Summer Wars will be fun for anyone even slightly nerdy.


...That's it for now. Got a bunch more lined up to watch. Til next time! ^_^

New energy drinks for the addicts

First up, there's this guy, who is made of win and awesome.


Non-carbonated, basically no sugar, contains milk thistle? I can't say I ever heard of milk thistle before. I really had no idea what to expect, but Rockstar Recovery won me over. It's supposed to be a combination of a sugarfree energy drink and something like Berocca, I guess. The flavour isn't strong at all, and suits not being carbonated. After getting used to this, I went back and tried some citrus Rockstar, which used to be my favourite variety, and.. well, geez. Pure sugar. What was I thinking? I had already half-transitioned over to sugarfree drinks when Recovery appeared, so the timing was good.

Then there are these two:


I was hoping the lemon Mother would be a nice replacement for lemon V, which has pretty much vanished. It's not quite as good, sadly. Better than the default variety, but not up to the standard of Mother Surge (the orange one). Kind of a little too sickly sweet; not lemony-sharp enough. Steering away from sugary drinks now anyway.

Low-carb Mother is pretty awful. It's not even sugarfree but it tastes like fail and something that went off. The sweetness that is there has a rather weird, artificial tinge to it, certainly moreso than sugarfree V, Rockstar or Red Bull, and the overall flavour is just... well, difficult to describe, but not very good. Do not bother!

I was too lazy to take a photo of a can of Wicked. So far I've only ever seen it on shelves in Woolworths/Safeway, where it is frequently on special, to the tune of $7.50 for three litres. Lasts me a few days, that does. Unfortunately it has that typical overly-creamy-sweet generic no-name energy flavour, and is of course full of sugar (more than Mother, less than normal Rockstar). Bad sauce; I should stay away.

Rebirth

So I figured I'd start a semi-new blog at blogspot. Semi-new because it'll be somewhat a continuation of what my LiveJournal has become (with more reviews and musings rather than personal journaly things) while hopefully being more active and broader in scope than the LiveJournal. I'll mirror the content at both pages for now.

I created a new Blogger account and was surprised to find that 'oscarfrancis' was already taken as a URL. By me, apparently. The last post on that blog was seven and a half years ago, and the whole thing is full of ghastly teen angst and nonsense. Some things have changed a lot since then - my tendency for violent mood swings, confusion and rapid changes of plan has mostly vanished - but a lot has stayed the same. Such as my lack of motivation to really give creative endeavours the attention they need. I'd say 'wow, this has sprung me into action; musical/photographical laziness ends today' but I'd really hate to be lying to myself in the same way eight years later. If I write about creative accomplishments, it'll be after they happen, not before.

Anyhoo, I'd like this blog to be upbeat and varied, covering my thoughts on whatever media I'm consuming - and there is a disturbing amount of that - as well as other observations on life and this crazy city. I like to think I have a little more of a life than I did eight years ago. I have money now, which has come in handy on occasion. Here's a choice quote from November 2002:

"Due to my pathetic lack of a job and money, every weekend it's a tough choice between movies, and guitar strings. How the hell am I supposed to learn guitar with only five strings?" - 02.11.02

How indeed. I can't even remember being that poor. I'm still trying to save money now, but I'm not exactly living week to week, or off pocket money for that matter. I'm also less afraid to venture out of my smelly, disgusting cave of an abode.