|
||||
|
|
||||
|
School's back, and my semester has just concluded its first couple weeks of classes. I'm not sure if this will mean more creative work from me, since on one hand I'll obviously have a bunch of schoolwork to worry about, yet on the other, I tend to strive to be more productive when I'm away from home -- or maybe the two sides will balance out and there won't be any noticeable difference in my output; guess we'll see!
K-ON The series (along with the members of HTT) is finally growing on me; it's been getting quite good lately in the latter half of this second season. In particular, the whole bit with the Romeo and Juliet casting was brilliant. And Ritsu with her bangs down -- mind = blown, she actually looks feminine :O I also recently found myself looking back on the OP for the first season, and noticed that the cast looks significantly younger than they do now (late in season two) -- I'm not sure if their eyes were bigger, they were shorter, the way they dressed was different, but something subtle made that big difference, and I thought it was pretty cool. Also in the process of watching K-ON OPs, I checked out videos which did not sport subtitles. I may've mentioned before that the only reason I started following K-ON was because KyoAni is awesome with animation, and K-ON has been one of their best works animation-wise so far. But take away the subtitle distractions, and it's a whole new league of animation epic I hadn't noticed before. I'm actually quite considering getting the K-ON DVD set just to watch the series dubbed so I can pay more attention to the art and animation of the show. I've heard clips of the dub, and it's not bad -- not good, but not bad. Other Anime Finished FMA Brotherhood the day the last episode aired. To describe it in one word, the series was epic (in all senses of it). The plot twists and connections were all simply genius, and every character was well developed across the story in so many dimensions. Also, lol Mustache. Took me a little while, but I got caught up to and finished Working, which ended up being quite a good show. The way it left off everything though, it'd better have a second season! Also, the OP is way too catchy. High School of the Dead. Oh, where to begin. So it was apparent since episode one that this show would not only focus on zombies, but also on "fanservice." Though I'm not at all a fan of this kind of fanservice, normally I can tolerate it in order to watch what might otherwise be great show. However, episode eight was just way too much -- I don't even want to get into it. So yeah, the story, animation, design, action, and characters were all very well done, but a particular set of lingering themes basically ruined the series for me. Ookami-san and Her Seven Companions has been pretty decent; it has its shining moments, but decent overall so far. Ookami herself as a character has been a very nice change of the stereotypical tsundere, since she actually has her reasons to be one, as gradually learned through the main story. Only two more episodes to go though. Speaking of stereotypical tsunderes, Kaichou wa Maid-sama is still on my watch list. My opinion of the show hasn't changed much since last time, but dang those two really need to get together -- they act exactly like they're already married and they haven't even started dating yet! Also, Usui is the coolest stalker ever. Higurashi Chikai, the second live-action movie of the series, was surprisingly good; great effects, better acting (though it's not hard to beat the acting seen in the first movie), and Rena's cleaver! However, I wouldn't recommend watching this movie unless you've seen the anime series first, as (similiar to the first movie) the story likely wouldn't make nearly as much sense without prior knowledge of the Higurashi storyline(s), since the movie doesn't seem to explain nearly as much of the story as the anime does. Metroid: Other M Other M recently came out! If you haven't heard yet, I'm quite the avid Metroid fan, both for its storyline (which got me started as a novelist) and for its gameplay. From the moment in the debut trailer Adam spoke "Any objections, Lady?" I was sold. As time passed and I saw more trailers and information about it though, my expectations for the game gradually fell. Using only the Wii Remote? Close combat attacks? Working so closely with the Federation? Needing approval from Adam to use weapons I already have? Being able to instantly replenish missiles and health? Developed by the guys who made that glitchy ninja game? Well, gameplay probably wouldn't be that great, but at least it's quite story-driven, so hopefully they'll at least do that right. I recently got the game in the mail, and played all the way through to the end within the same day. My thoughts? Epic. Win. Granted it's not a masterpiece like Super Metroid or the first Metroid Prime, it got pretty darn close. The controls handled extremely well (even with the limitations aside), the story was engaging, the battles were epic (again in all senses of the word), and the references to other Metroid games -- crikey, the references alone made the game for me; the developers really did their homework and outdid themselves on their first Metroid game. Zero Mission, Return of Samus, Super, Fusion, and even the Metroid manga each had their share of major references throughout the game. I've had a list of things I've wanted to see in a 3D Metroid game, and there is only one thing (out of many) on that list that Other M didn't do. The game does have its flaws though, including Samus's voice-acting work, a nitpick or two about the story/cutscenes, and a somewhat small "world map" to explore, but overall, the pros greatly outshine the cons. Maybe it was my low expectations, or maybe it's my love for the Metroid storyline (particularly Super and pre-Zero-Mission), but Other M now holds a spot in my top three favorite Metroid games. Other Video-Games I finally beat Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn recently, as I left off at the final boss over two years ago due to frustration, but easily overcame the boss with a clear mind and new strategy. I'd put it in my top three favorite Fire Emblem games, up there with Path of Radiance and Shadow Dragon, tied for second with SD. Also slowly progressing through Wario Land: Shake It, though I'm currently stuck at the floating clown head thing. I'm not too impressed with the game so far, but I'm still kind of hoping it gets better, if there are even many more levels left. Playing through Pokemon HeartGold as I find the time; currently fourteen hours in and going for the sixth badge. At the moment my Pokemans are roughly at level 24, my party consisting of StoneLuigi (Geodude), Buddurflah (Butterfree), Alfonzo (Pidgeotto), Mickooroo (Flaaffy), Koizumi (Haunter), and Olives (Croconaw). Steam games, I preordered and have been playing some Worms Reloaded, and it's been awesome -- easily the best of the franchise since Worms 2. Loving the online matches and the weapon sets, though making custom rules can get a bit tedious the way the menus for it are set up. Also been playing a bit of Altitude, which I guess isn't the greatest game in the world, but still quite fun to pick up and play for a bit or an hour. Started on God of War recently, though I'm not too far in yet; last I remember is defeating the hydra (violent, yet epic), and later kicking down a giant statue. It's been interesting so far. Other Stuff Apparently my third deviantART "birthday" was a couple of weeks ago, for what that might be worth. And if I'm not mistaken, I actually share the same anniversary day and year as Walfas's site, which is kind of cool. And in case you missed it in the description of the hypnotic set of happy Touhou faces, I've created a Touhou Overview, which will hopefully serve as a good foundation for anyone curious about the Touhou fandom to learn about the large cast of characters and the inside-jokes associated with them. The page also includes my favorite theme remixes, as well as the original theme mixes, of each character and stage -- because the two best things about Touhou are the characters and the music. Anyhow, this entry is getting quite long, and I believe I've covered everything, so it's time to wrap this up until next time! |
||||
|
|
||||