Goodbye 2013

I know a lot of people are really happy to see this year end, i'm fairly indifferent.
On the surface not much happened to me this year but i learned a lot about myself so i always consider that a win.

I am sad that no falcom calendar for the new year... they had a Legend of heroes/trails based one but i like Ys more so... only a big Natsume's book of friends calendar... which is currently hanging up behind my current Natsume's book of friends calendar so that it can uncurl a little.

The one this that has kinda sucked about this past year is i have gotten really sick... i swear all through november i would go through this rotation of having a cold, being find for a day, new cold... all month long.
now in december i have this 2-3 week long monster cold that has run through my family and i'm just so done with being sick. I can't draw much when i'm sick.... and when i can't draw i'm miserable.

But otherwise it's been fairly productive... i accomplished thing i never thought possible, things i thought were too scary but i just needed that extra little push.

Though if i'm going to do resolutions for new years... the number one thing has to be getting help with my anxiety, it didn't used to be this bad and it didn't used to get in the way of daily life... now that everyone is bugging me to drive that has changed... i wasn't worried about it much before but i am getting tired of being afraid of every little thing.

Number two is Travel... North America is nice and all but i really do wanna see more of the world... even if it means i have to fly there.

Number three is less dealing with one sided convos.
yeah... i'm really sick of dealing with people who are essentially just talking to hear the sound of their voice, they don't care or want your input or opinion and constantly try to find ways to put you down when you try to give them input or opinions anyways.
yeah... screw that, not dealing with it anymore.

Number four is more talking to people.
I always worry that i'm being a nuisance or bothering someone when i talk to them... especially on things like twitter, i need to be confident that i can say things and that i'm not annoying. and i need to stop being afraid of talking once the group gets bigger then 3... so yeah... more confidence *nods*

Number five is more art, now i actually did a lot this year.
92 finished pictures in 2013 compainred to the 42 in 2012.... but still.. this past month i'm only finished one piece and thats not good enough for me...
yes it's cause i'm sick but still.. no excuse! more art!

and other then that... just more time spent with friends and family...
I hope everyone has a happy new year, i hope 2014 is great for everyone and i have a few year end top tens lined up for the next few days.

Completed: Little Busters! ~Refrain~

The sequel to Little Busters!

Okay... time to put my biases out there.
I am a fan of most Key/Visual arts titles.
Clannad and Kanon are amoung my favorite shows.
However when the first season of this show aired i was not impressed.

In my review  I pretty much said that the show couldn't have any potential for thought provoking story lines cause everything is solved so easily... a problem arises and it is solved with barely any effort or even worse with something akin to magic (i dubbed it Magical Narcolepsy)

Then i did comparisons of moe characters from this vs moe characters from Key titles i enjoy and all i was pretty much saying is that those characters had arcs and interesting personalities where as LB characters are more like plot devices then anything else.

And then i Bitch for a few paragraphs about how none of the characters have to work for anything.

Knowing what i know after watching this season that doesn't bug me as much.... but this show still isn't very good.

Now... i'm about to spoil the hell out of both seasons so...

Short review -
This is not as good as Clannad or Kanon and if you have seen Angel beats some things may feel a little familiar (though not really cause the two titles are very different) but if you can make it through the terribly predictable boring first season the second season is minorly better... it at least does some interesting ideas even if they aren't fully realized by the end.

Longer spoiler filled review.

Okay i don't know how long this will actually be but the reason why everything in season 1 is so damn easy is cause everything is 'technically' a dream.

see there's a situation where a lot of students are in an accident and now they are living out an endless summer in another world to help the only two survivors be stronger in the real world.

however the one controlling the other world is running out of time in the real world and season two is pretty much the last time he'll be able to try and help them grow before it's too late.

So in one sense i forgive the easiness of it all a tiny bit BUT it's still really lazy and some of the things that happen in the final attempt are stupid and just scream of weak writing/writing yourself into a corner.

The best part of the whole season is the first half of the final episode... if the entire series had been dealing with the theme brought up in the final episode this may have been my fav Key/Visual art anime. and yes it technically deals with the idea of it in the background but it never confronts it.
Instead it's too busy saying "don't run away" and them turning aroudn and saying "okay run now" and then going back to "don't run away"

it's frustrating.

maybe i'm just wishing for the impossible... maybe a theme as dark as the one presented is just a little too heavy for a moe show but i think if anyone could do it... it would be Key/Visual arts...
also the second half of the final episode really bugged me

seriously... i'm spoiling the end... okay... continue on i guess..
so as they have pulled all the near dead students off the crashed bus they go to get Kyosuke who is blocking the broken gas line with his back. after just a few stes the bus explodes and commecial break.

then they skip to fall and everyone is out of the hospital except kyosuke cause he had the worse wounds.

okay well that's fine cause the others would have been no where near the explosion...
but then they talk baout how they can't figure out what to do without him...
um... wasn't the show about riki trying to learn how to step up and come up with things to do?
and then he... uh... attaches a rope to somewhere, is standing outside the window and sayign lets all go on a field trip.

um.... what happened to comatose.
did they actually die in that explosion? cause... that makes more sense then this.
also.... why are you getting back in a car? Kyosuke are you even old enough to drive?

WTF is going on....

i'm sorry but no... if kyosuke woke up from his coma i find it hard to believe that the hospital or his parents wouldn't contact his sister. also theres extra testing to make sure there isn't lasting damage... rehab... he was out for a few months at least... not to mention he would probably have burns... i just don't understand.

bringing too much logic to anime? yeah probably but it really annoys me that after all that... after that speck of something interesting and a little dark we once again get the "but then the day was saved cause of reasons and everyone is happy" once again. even after all that 'effort' there is NO EFFORT at the very end.

SPOILERS OVER

The good:
. . . what did i say in my other review...
hm the intro and ending songs aren't as good as the first season but they are still quite pretty and the intro song did grow on me over time.

wow i didn't have much to say about the good traits of this show... hm... well the second season is a bit better then the first... mostly cause half the cost are never heard from again. it is quite a bit darker even if the ending is the sappiest happy end i have ever seen

The not so good:
Magical Narcolepsy is still a thing that happens though not as much luckily...
problems are solves easily with little to no effort and the problems come up in ways that make little to no sense.

Characters are still place holders for character traits but when half the cast gets pushed aside the story and characterization does improve.

The bad:
The animation... as much as i am not impressed with Kyo-ani this would have looked a lot better had they done it instead of the people who i think did it (JC Staff?) i just... the animation feels really lazy, intro and ending songs look great but the show itself just look static and flat.
so Moe.... so very very moe....

The surprising:
The show never made me cry.

not once

I cry at the drop of a hat, you can mentions things in passing that have made me cry in the past and i may tear up or find it hard to speak... i am possibly the biggest cry baby ever... but no... for this... nothing.

When the really dark theme i refuse to spoil was brought up i nearly cried... mostly cause it hit too close to home... but then it was back to happy and no work for all the reward and those watery eyes dried up quickly.

I didn't care about the characters enough to get invested in it. in 38 episodes this show couldn't get to care.... thats a bit of a problem.

I know i sound like a i hated this show... but i think it's more complicated then that.

Do i begrudge watching it all? not really
will i watch it again? no
will i recommend it to people? probably not... unless they wanna laugh about magical narcolepsy

The first season is painful but if you can sit through it the second one isn't that bad... but if you want more interesting stories about life and the hardships in it then watch Kanon (2006) or Clannad. Both are infinitely better.

I still think had it been a story about childhood friends with little in common now that they are older it would have been way more interesting but hey... what do i know.

Completed: Gingitsune: Meesanger of the Fox Gods

Aka Silver Fox

So in my first impressions i mentioned that i hoped it would be good.
*sighs*
it's not bad... it's just kinda... there.

i've mentioned it before but sometimes i feel like they make shows about something that isn't a cool or interesting in hopes of making it more interesting.
thats what this feels like, it feels like it is more focused on teaching people how to properly do things at a shrine then instead of having a plot.

i mean it's cute and has some sweet moments but there's not much in the way of character arcs or plot or reason, i haven't given a synopsis cause i can't say much more then "girls daily life in a shrine where she can see the spirit who lives there"

i don't mind slice of life, but there still needs to be a point to it.

maybe theres another season of this in the works where something happens? maybe theres a manga that continues on and get really interesting but going off My Anime List this is all that's there is (anime wise) for now and based off that i have to say take a pass.

Unless you like slow shows where practically nothing happens... then you may really like it... i don't.

Granted, i'm not feeling well so i could just be grumpy cause of that but it really just felt like "here are some cute moments and now it's over... so come visit the shrine if you want we'll be waiting! and now you know how to do everything properly cause we taught you! wasn't that kind and considerate of us?"

so yeah... um.

The good
well acted, the character designs are all diverse enough that i know who everyone is... the animation is decent as well.

Not so good:
Character motivations make little to no sense in some situations, not character growth or development and we never learn what happened to Kintaro who was Gintaro's partner until they suddenly vanished.

The bad:
Nothing happens, nothing is resolved, no plot thread is tied off and no one seems to care.
also not a fan of the music... they have these saxophone sounding bits and it just doesn't fit the mood at all and makes it sound like it was made in the late 80s

But yeah, the show isn't terrible. it's just not as good or interesting as i was hoping and that makes me a little sad.

Completed: Persona 4 Golden

Yes i spent much of christmas eve beating this game... in the end i don't care lol

So.... even though no one cares it's STORY TIME. (also spoilers cause... i can't talk about much without spoiling key plot points)

Dec 8/ 08
I get a phone call...
"Hello it's you local game store and we are getting in Persona 4 tomorrow, we only have a few of the preorder artbooks so if you want it come early."

Dec 9/08
I get the game and the preorder bonus and look through it... and immediately get spoiled on the ending...
well..... damn.

Still.... i continue to play it.

until i get to Kanji's Dungeon and a few floors up i remember encountering the one thing i LOATH about this series.
Protagonist (who i'm going to call Yu from now on cause it's what the anime called him) was Hama-ed
Hama is one of two series of attack that insta kill a character, the other one being Mudo.
if Yu dies, it's game over...
even if you have a character with Recarm series spell (revives)... even if you have items that revive... it does not matter... if yu dies it's game over.
The ONLY exception is if you have a homunculous which will take the fatal hit for you.
i didn't have a homunculous and lost a chunk of progress.
this pissed me off so much i put the game down for a long time.

I did eventually get back to it but certain things kept happening.
I would either get another game and play it for a while cause Persona games are LONG.
or
my ps2 would outright threaten to die... it's still alive but even now it's a finicky little creature.

I got to the 'Hospital part' just before the 'deciding which ending you get' section.... so... pretty far.

then i think i ended up unplugging it for some reason and almost never plugged it back in... there are quite a few ps2 games i would love to finish (this was technically one of them) but i honestly think my system will blow up if i try... i'm surprised it played Ys 6 with little fuss.

anyways YEARS passed... occasionally i'd think i would love beat that game... but ps2 hates me and i don't own a vita.
Then Celceta came out...
bought a vita.... then thanks to a gift card and sale i managed to get this game for 5 dollars.

And now... on 24th 2013 i have completed this 5 year struggle.

BUT STORY TIME MUST CONTINUE.

My first time hearing about the persona series was in highschool, all my friends were complaining that they couldn't play girl characters and date akihiko.... hearing this from both my male and female friends made me interested.
"What Game?"
"Persona 3, you should get it but FES comes out in a few days... get that version instead"
"persona 3 Fes?" i was confused.... did i need to play 1 and 2? i had never heard of the series before.
then my friend nodded. " come over to my place and i'll let you play a little so you can see what it's like... i think you'll enjoy it... but it is long.

so i give it a try and pretty quickly, despite the gimmick of shooting yourself in the head, find it really fun and interesting.
"you said it was long.... why?"
"well you play out an entire in game year.... the box says it's 80 hours but i think i'll end up way past that...."
80 hours?!
i hadn't heard of a jrpg being that long before.... most would average 40....
"really? wow... i mean... i tend to beat games in half the recommended time but still... thats really long...." i honestly didn't believe it.
so FES came out, i bought it and over time and exactly 85 hours later i beat it.

and yeah... i loved it...

even at the hospital scene i think i was well over 80 hours....

so yeah... STORY TIME OVER..... for now...

onto what i thought.

Dec 8/13
Hey my package came early... this wasn't supposed to arrive till the 10th...

Dec 24/13
After playing a ton but also speeding through it cause technically this is a second play through. you finally get to do what everyone seems to have to do...
pull up a guild to figure out how to get the true ending.

yeah... i will admit... i used a guild for a few things... this, for me, falls into a guild dang it! trope because most of the stuff it HEAVILY based in japanese culture and while i know quite a bit... i do not know enough for this game.
So yeah... how i played was For the School quizzes, i mentally pick the one i think/know is right and then i would look up the right answer... until my classmate social links were maxed and same with my intelligence.... cause after that it really doesn't matter.
Also... the cooking... same thing, i would pick the one i thought was right and then look up the correct answer in order to get closer to my friends.
but thats not all.
I did the hospital section without a guild and got bad end 2.... i'll probably check out bad end 1 and 3 later... btu yeah i had to look up a guild for that cause it takes a long time to get to that part... and i didn't wanna screw it up again... plus i never would have gotten the final answer correct.

Finally - i looked up the requirements for true end cause i was NOT playing this game a third time (except to check out some new game plus.) and to be fair... the game tries to trick you into taking regular end so.... yeah...

so yeah... lots of help from the internet... but i'm 99.9% sure i'm not the only one who needed help.

As i mentioned before you play out a full in game year, there are a few time skips but very few large ones (if you beat the december dungeon early it can create a time skip thats rather large and kinda detrimental if you want true end)
You are Yu Narakami (aka protagonist/you pick his name) and your mother has dumped you on your uncle for the year cause of reasons.
he has a daughter named nanako who is very shy but quickly warms up to you... but otherwise it's a quiet town where nothing happens.
that is until a reporter is found hanging upside-down dead from unknown causes from a telephone wire...
and then a few days later the first person to find her is found in a similar state.
Odd things styart happening, this program called the midnight channel is supposed to show you your soul mate but instead seems to show the next victim... and this time it's someone from class...
oh... and yo just happen to be able to pass through a television... cause... uh.... why not...
so you think the tv and the victems are connected and you with the help of friends have to go in there and save the poor victims so their wont be any more murders.
you also have to figure out how/why this is all happening... and you have yo do it before march 20th.

BUT THATS NOT ALL
cause aisde from being a murder mystery dungeon crawler this game is also a life sim.
you get to join school clubs, have part time jobs... make lots of friends and all in the hopes of making you social bonds stronger so you can summon stronger persona's to fight the evil shadows.

It may sound like a lot to cram into one game but honestly the persona series does a perfect job of it.
and persona 4 golden, the vita version, crams even more stuff... added events, more cut scenes and a crap load of costumes... cause who doesn't wanna have them fight in power ranger type outfits?

but honestly... who cares about any of that...
the second i found out the gimmick for this game was that all the characters had to wear glasses i was way happier then i should have been. can't help what i like.

so yeah... before i get to the good and bad i wanna mention the ending.
it is completely worth the effort and 2 extra dungeons to get the true ending... apparently theres something about a secret boss that can only be beaten on playthrough 2 but yeah... no...
but i just loved seeing what they did and it was all just so sweet


ok

The good
so much content and unlike the end of three it doesn't get as stale especially with the two final 'secret' dungeons... the penultimate one probably being my favorite. 
the characters are all very diverse and very real feeling... most of these are problems we can all relate to... well not entirely but aspects about them.
the combat is a lot of fun and even though when i first played a person game i had no idea how i would remember what Agi, Bufu, Garu and Zio were but now i know they are fire, ice, wind and electricity.
you can pick your difficulty and it wont punish you... i may or may not have mentioned this before... SMT type games tend to be brutally hard and i'm always stupid enough to try them on hard... screw that... easy mode from here on with atlus games... i play for the story... not the challenge.
Speaking of the story it's really really good and i can't think of a moment where it drags it's feet except for the points where you are prepairing for the next case and honestly most of the times you have exams or social links to complete... there is always something to do.

The not so good.
Chie.... her voice... i didn't remember it bugging me this much before and thats cause apparently they changed it... i got used to it near the end but i felt like she was shouting all the time. now to be fair... i never liked chie as a character but yeah... she really rubbed me the wrong way.

back when i first played the game Kanji and naoto's story lines were like nothing i had ever seen in a game before and it was really
being 5 years older i realize WOW did they ever cheap out on both of those.

well kinda... Kanji's they do kinda deal with in his social link (i mean they focus more on it's okay to like cute things despite your gender which is a good message) but still it really feels like someone wanted him to be a certain way and someone said "no you can't do that"
I am of course talking about if Kanji is or is not Gay.
my opinion? i always assumed he was more pansexual since gender doesn't seem to matter to him... he just likes who he likes.  but considering the most canon ship from the series is him with naoto i can see why people argue that he's not gay. in the end, it doesn't matter... he in Kanji and thats all that matters....

But speaking of naoto, a woman wanting to be in a male driven job so badly that she actually acts, talks and dresses like a man is a very interesting concept since she does look like a very pretty boy until the twist... but man did they chicken out... not only do they completely throw aside the fact that she  doesn't feel like she was born in the right skin they never really address it again... not even in her social link which is essentially "being a detective is fun"... i just would have liked to see her overcome the gender stereotypes that would stop people from taking her seriously at work and show that you can be a girl in a boys world and still be heard... that is a much more important message in my mind. and they kinda touch on it... but she comes so late into the story that i get why they dont develop her more.

The bad
It's over...
when something has been around unfinished for 5 years.... beating it was a little sad.
i'm happy i did it, but still... i wish their was more... a persona 4 2 perhaps?

oh well in the end i'm just happy that persona 5 is a thing that is happening
even though i have found that handhelds are the best way to play these long jrpgs

now to wait for disgaea 3 to arrive...
and for now cause i spent too long writing this.

Dec 25/13
Merry Christmas, i hope your day is full of cheer.

also which do i like more? 3 or 4?
i like how 3 had people randomly not show up to the midnight hour and the stamina system and i wish 4 had something like that cause i just eneded up using Yukiko, yosuke and Kanji the entire time... i alos though 3's final boss while very long was truly well done.
but overall... i like 4 more, it felt more like a cohesive tale and the reason for the end date makes a lot more sense.
but yeah bot hare good... now to see if i can wrap my head around 1 or 2 (which i have on handheld)... ugh maybe some other time.

night everyone!

Also cause i forgot to mention my play time for this was 66 hours and 10 minutes but it was only that short cause i was trying really hard to catch up to where i was. if you take your time I can see this EASILY being a 100 hour game. 

My Christmas Movie List

Above everything else the thing i look forward to the most about christmas is getting together as a family and watching some festive movies.

But as i've gotten older i have found the films that I deem as holiday differ from everyone i know.

I mean.. .don't get me wrong, miracle on 34th street is super cute and charming and a christmas story has a lot of nostalgia for a lot of people... not for me...
i like the more.... non-tradtional films.

well not completely... have to have some classics in there.

So here is a list (in no real order) of films i enjoy over the holiday season.

First the obvious ones.

It's a Wonderful life and A Christmas Carol.
while i think both are pretty corny i don't mind watching them at this time of year.
but ONLY this time of year... no other time.

About a boy.
lots of christmas in the film and the way the parallel stories are told is very sweet.... also the characters dad wrote a christmas song.

The Holiday
Another parallel story film with an amazing score, also everyone is adorable and i just want to hug them all

Love actually
Lots of stories in this one showing how inter connected the world can be and that love atually is everywhere

Okay for some less 'traditional' films...

Trading Places.
well... it has a very drunk santa scene so... thats christmassy right?


Die Hard
yes, i consider it a christmas movie cause it takes place at a christmas party.
oh there blood, gore, violence and swearing? oh... okay... that doesn't change that it's a christmas film... besides it's a lot of over the top goofyness and it's just a lot of fun.

Lethal weapon
Again, like it or not it IS a christmas film... though not one of my favs.. .we do tend to have it on around the day though.

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
it takes place just before Christmas and the titular character is planning a celebration amoung other things so yes... i call it a Christmas movie despite it having absolutely nothing to do with the holiday... I will just use any excuse i can to watch that wonderful 3 hour movie. 

Jesus Christ Superstar
okay.... not a christmas movie.... totally and easter movie... but you know what? it has really good music so i don't care...


The entire season of kanon 2006
cause... it takes place over winter... so thats good enough

AND FINALLY
the one film i watch every year without fail

The Ref
Imagine the most dysfunctional family ever, over christmas and they essentially get hijacked in there home by a robber on the loose
and it is HILARIOUS
i'd call it a dark comedy and some scenes may offend (apparently this one line aimed at the grandmother gets a reaction.... i never though it was that bad but yeah...) but it is such a well done film and i love the arc everyone goes through.
and again.... really funny

so thats my list of holiday films~ it's a little odd but so am i... so it works out.

Mid Point: Golden time

I don't tend to do halfway through reviews but.... ugh i need to get some stuff off my chest.

I will be spoiling some things that have happened in the show but i'll try to not spoil any plot twists.

So.... Big spoiler out of the way but it's not really a spoiler if you have seen the intro song.

Kago Koko and Tada Banri are going out.

So... let me tell you why this isn't cute.
at all
it's actually really creepy.

This a woman who has already written out the script to her life... she just needs to act it out.
At first it was by making up fantasies about her and her childhood friend but when he makes it quite clear he doesn't like her stalking batshit crazy tendencies (i mean she figured out what school he's going to and enrolls in the same program not cause it's what she wants but because it means they will be together)
but then when the other boy shows sings of liking him she starts to shift.
but then when he asks her out she turns him down and then asks him out the next day since in the story she's playing out she had to be the one to ask him out...
um... i have nothing against girls asking boys out... i do have an issue with one person trying to control every aspect of another person.
he wants to get a job so he can have money to buy things/trips for her.... nope he can't cause that would mean she can't spend more time with him.
He can't be around another woman cause being around another female when the girlfriend is not around is essentially cheating.... ignorin the fact that he was friends with them before she ever came into the picture and for most of them there is no romantic feelings involved.
so when he collapses and is taken care of first by his neighbor and then a friend both he and the neighbor know she gets psychotic and i think even slaps her... how dare she take care of him even though she called her immediately.

then there was todays episode.
well yesterday... i wasn't feeling well enough to watch stuff... anyways... episode 12
he disobeys kaga koko, gets a job as a cross dressing waiter at an event, lies to her saying he was busy with school work and they could hang out another time and that he probably couldn't answer her calls or texts... and then proceeds to earn a little money.
she responds to this by texting him 63 times in the span of a few hours
she calls hime a few times and goes around to any place he may including his house and wonders why he isn't there.

this is crazy.
the kid is allowed to live his own life... thats part of growing up and yeah... she claims she was worried about him but this sounds more like stalking then it does being in love.
then when she finds him he's with the one character part of him has feelings for and she loses her shit.
yes what they were doing was inappropriate but i'm sorry... he is essentially being stalked and had she just said "i think a job would be fun, can i work too" that situation would have never happened.
but no.... she has to take control of every part of his life.

and i really hope he ends up with the other girl cause he actually seems to like her... they have chemestry and it's not just "i'm sorry i'm so crazy, i'll try to be less crazy but i still may have bouts of crazy"
i'm sorry but someone as mentally unstable as her needs help and she's not going to get it if everyone enables her to continue being this crazy. you cannot control someone elses life like this.
you cannot tell a person what they are allowed to do
or where thye are allowed to work
or who they are allowed to see
or to stop remembering the past cause that interferes with the present.
these things are not okay... and the fact that the show is playing it up as cute and endearing makes my skin crawl. She is only interested in writing her perfect life... most of the time it doesn't even seem like she cares about him and this is more about getting the first guys attention. if she actualyl cared for him... i may not mind if she was slightly obsessive but it's just too contorlling.
so why am i still watching?
i dunno... it's by the person who did toradora and that was utterly sincere and adorable and i wanna know how they went from that to this?

am i just over reacting? is my biased aversion to controlling personalities showing? or am i right in thinking that this relationship is more then a little toxic?

taking stock

so today it finally hit me that we are almost at the end of the season for anime... 'winter 2014' should start in a few weeks...
then i remembered i'm watching an obscene amount of shows this season... and that they are all between thursday-monday with thursday and saturday both having 3 shows updating.

so... considering i watch (or try to) the episodes as soon as they come out i was a little worried i'd be bombarding you with my little completing rambles.

then Samurai Flamenco mentioned it was getting season2 stuff ready.... so if it rolls right into the next season i wont mention anything... so... i wondered how many are actualyl ending.

Thursday:
Nagi No Asakura - 26 episodes and most likely rolling right into the next season.
Samurai Flamenco - 22 epsiodes and rolling into the next season.
Goldent time: 24 epsiodes and rolling into the next season.

so..... winter 2014 i'll be bombarding you with stuff (if i continue with the shows of course) on thursday cause i'm sure i'll be watching new shows as well. but i don't think it'll overlap so thats nice...we'll see

Friday:
Strike the blood - 24 episodes and rolling into next season... though i kinda assume that with the pacing and i don't know if i'll continue...

Saturday:
Little Buesters ~Refrain~ - YES... finally something that ends this season... ok one thing to talk about... i'm good with that.
White Album 2 - also ending this season at 13 episodes.... ok two things to talk about but on the same day... may space it out a bit.
Kuroko's basketball 2 - 26 epsidoes, makes sense and htta means it will also roll into the winter season.

Sunday:
Gingitsune - 12 episodes so that actually ends in a few days... ok... .3 things to talk about... on a roll

Monday:
Yowamushi Pedal (aka yowapeda) - 38 epsidoes... so it actually rolls over two seasons... good i really like this show.

so yeah out of 9 shows i get to review 3 in the next few weeks...
5 next season not including nay new shows i pick up and 1 in spring, again not including new shows and new rollovers.

and here i thought i'd have a lot to talk about this season...
though i do wonder how i'll keep up with that when i go back to working 12 hours days.... i'll figure it out.

People are Awesome... busses not so much

just a random story from my day~

So today a friend from college called me up and we made plans for lunch. I haven't been able to see her much cause this particular year of her program has a lot of work and i've been tyring not to bug her... but it being the end of the semester but before she headed home it was the best time to meet up.

Now even though i have the beginnings of a license I can't drive so i hopped on the bus and headed to the restaurant.
while i was waiting for the bus a gentleman first said "is this the bus that goes to the school?"
"yes, it should arrive in a few minutes"
then something unexpected happened.
"Nice [insert name of a movie thats based off a video game] jacket"
"Thank you, a family member worked on the film so i ended up getting the crew gift."
"ah the film.... those are--"
"terrible, i know but still most people assume it's for the game so it's all good right?"
then something way more unexpected happened.
he started talking to me about the series, which was his favorite... all this crazy stuff he's done  and how much he loves it.
he didn't assume that i was some fake nerd girl.
he didn't tell me i can't possibly be a nerd.
he just accepted the fact that with my Kitty winter hat and my jacket that i must be a fan of some nerdy things.
and even when i said "i haven't played that game" he never said well thats cause your not a real gamer or thats cause you are a chick...
he simply said "everyone has their own personal preferences" 
then we started talking about anime of the season and it didn't come down to "if you don't like this show then you can't like anime" it was like "wow our tastes are pretty different and that is okay"

i'm starting to think i may have stepped into the twilight zone.
now if your wondering whats the big deal... well that has never happened to me before... i've been at cons and people have wondered why my boyfriend would drag me there... and when i say i'm there alone they tell me i'm lying. so to be in a situation where other then my hat i wasn't outwardly 'nerdy' and to have someone just strike up a convo and without questioning or sneering just accept that i like what i like.... that really made me smile. 

then i found of the bus route i was on would happily drop people off on this one road but refused to pick them up... so after i met up with my friend and had lunch we waited to head back... the bus sailed past and we got to walk until we got to a bus stop that would pick us up lol.

i'm sorry but considering that the stop we were at was marked, there were no signs saying that busses wouldn't stop and it's really cold maybe you should pick up passengers... oh well.. ultimately it was a really good day and i may even have a job in a week or two... yay money

Completed: Puella Magi Madoka Magica 3 ~rebellion~

um...
uh....
so it started....
then stuff happened.... kinda....
then more but different stuff happened... kinda...
then it felt like it would end.... but didn't
then it ended.... but not really....
and then it ended for realsies and the audience almost in unison all said a single word very loudly.

"WHAT?!"

This film is unreviewable....  i can't say a single solitary thing without spoiling something.

all i can say it was not what i expected... and i'm pretty sure i don't understand much of it.

The good:
the visuals, as far as [classified] are concerned is really really neat and well animated.... the [classified] at the start looking like a [classified] is so cool to see in an otherwise anime setting.
the music is a mix of normal songs from the show and remixes of character themes.
when [classified] goes [classified] it really enjoyed the visual style they went with.

the not so good:
the pacing is weird.... cause it first starts off like [classified] and then your wondering [classified] and then it changes into more what we expected going in only to [classified] and then there are a lot of potential endings but then [classified] does something and you're left slack jawed. does that mean [classified]? was that really the only way to [classified]
[classified] was named [classified] instead of [classified] and it had me confused the entire time cause [classified] is her name isn't it?

The bad:
In the end it felt like it was trying a little too hard to be deep.... there is a 10 minute 'cutscene' of them [classified], a 5 minute scene about [classified] that somehow gets rid of the [classified]... neither add anything to the plot or development... it's just "look at us with our higher animating budget... pretty nifty eh?" and it is... it's is a lovely spectacle but not much substance.

I think i understand the end. [classified] did that so that [classified] would happen... but in the end it feels more like a lesson on why not to be [classified] cause it ends badly when you get that [classified] about anything.

it is a 'good' movie.... i kinda wanna go to the dec 15th screening as well just to see if a second viewing helps to clear things up.... i honestly don't think it will... which is why i wont go see it but yeah... if i had to compare it to the show... i like the show a bit better cause even with all the crazy shit that happened it all made sense and was cohesive. this feels like 4 parts strung together by a very thin thread...

and honestly i was expecting this to be a film about [classified] and we never see a single one which makes me think they wrote themselves into a corner
because i had been spoiled about [classified] i expected it to be more about [classified] and less about pure [classified]ness

so yeah good film... do not go in expecting to understand everything.... just go for the ride and think about it after it's done... but don't think too hard cause you will probably give yourself a headache...
maybe i need to go see the other two movies... i was told they were alternate retelligns and i wasn't missing much but i felt like i was missing something... especially about [classified]

but seriously [classified] how could you not look at your situation and automatically think [classified] when you say multiple times that it's impossible for [classified].. maybe it's possible cause of [classified]... i mean really!

ugh... ok... go see it if you like the show and have the chance....

Completed: Gravity Rush (PS Vita)

big huge massive preface to this.
I am not good at video games.
i would call this one of the first games i've EVER played that uses both analog sticks as an integeral part of gameplay.
I do not tend to play Action games.... i'm very happy in my tiny little jrpg bubble.

HOWEVER.... expanding ones pallet is important in all mediums...
so even though gravity rush is not the type of game i'm used to playing... it was free with Playstation+ and honestly what did i have to lose?

Also i'm going to sound a little harsh but i did really enjoy the game.

okay.... thats out of the way? good.

Gravity rush is about an amnesiac girl who just happens to be able to bend gravity to her will thanks to her kitty cat.
The story mainly focuses on her finding herself which just happens to involve saving this town in the clouds.
any more then that would probably be spoilers so yeah...
i will say the tone is very.... french...
i honestly can't think of another way to describe it, the style of the music and design of the characters (ignoring that the characters have a heavy anime influence) all looks very french. Considering the original project (which wasn't even for the vita) was called Gravité I think i may just be onto something. still this entire game oozes with style and character and even though i'm not a fan of "action adventure" and "open world" games make me grumble i had a blast.
well... for the most part.

The good:
The gravity mechanic is really well done and although it took me a while to get used to it is quite easy to control (as long as your not trying to fight with the camera to find that enemy you need to attack)
The Cel-Shaded style is really really pretty and the comic book cutsceens add to this feeling of a living story book. it did have a bit too much bloom in some areas for my taste but overall this game is really pretty.
Collecting never felt like work, i had to focus on collecting gems in the world cause i SUCK at the challenges but it was never tricky... the world is littered with them and i maxed out the stats i wanted maxed out a chapter or two before the end of the game (health, gavity guage/recovery/ some attacks)
The Music... if i get a chance i plan to buy the soundtrack cause a lot of the songs are very nice... especially the one used in fights thats just uplifting.

The not so good:
this isn't really... a bad thing about the game but it feels kinda like a proof of concept demo. pretty much every 'gimmick' the VITA possesses is used. some well (the sliding is decently easy to control though i tended to oversteer) and some not so well (i'm a jerky player so to have things like aiming assited by the gyroscope was a bit of a pain... i turned it's sensitivity way down but it still got in the way sometimes. but yeah it's not a bad thing that it's showing the potential for the system in an unusual way but there were moments where i wondered. "would this mechanic be missed if the vita couldn't do this"

The Bad:
again... i suck at games...
but dammit the combat made me want to defenestrate my vita.
even with the attacks i used maxed out i would still be perfectly aimed up with a core and kat would go sailing right past it. I asked my friend if there was a targeting system.. he said touch the enemy but that didn't do anything.... so i asked twitter if i was missing something about combat and i was informed by @taylorsshelf (aka Shinkara) that if i put more into attacks it would home more... and it does but still... something like kingdom hearts were i can just target the enemy would have been truly loved. (though using buttons other then the shoulder ones since thats how you control gravity)


so... yeah i guess i'm saying if this game was purely environmental puzzles i would have been thrilled... hopefully gravity rush 2 (which i will get) will have 'better' combat (and when i say better i mean in a way that even someone like me who is terrible at games can get the hang of it)

but the best thing about this game
The main characters name is Kat
my name (well... shortned) is Kat
this pleases me very much
the fact that she has a cat (fav animal) and glows red (favourite colour)... yeah this game was tailor made for me.

the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger (kinda) so i'm really happy that 2 is in the works (though as far as i can tell it may be a whole before we actually get it)

So yeah if you have a vita, get the game, it may still be free on playstation plus (it may not... i'm new to all this PS + stuff cause i never owned a ps3.... though if gaikai isn't a thing by the time i get ps4/persona 5 comes out.... well then i guess i can probably find a cheap ps3 somewhere... maybe sony will release a slim version or something...)

Now i gotta start thinking about year end stuff...
and persona 4 golden should arrive in a few days (the only thing i got from 'black friday' sales and i only got it cause i already had 10 bucks off from amazon) then after i beat that i'll probably get disgaea 3 and we'll take it from there.

Thanks again to those that had to put up with my bitching about my sucking at the combat. i was just frustrated since this was fairly far out of my comfort zone. But in the end i did get through it, feeling pretty happy right now.

So i've been thinking....

and this is where everyone groans and turns away and yeah... you should cause... i'm gunna make no sense at all... blame this on being sick and having WAY TOO MUCH TIME on my hands.

Also blame it on me having just finished the light novels for haruhi suzumiya... and that i'm re-watching the show...

so yeah this is about haruhi.... and me thinking too much...

run while you can.

SO...
people always argue that i'm wrong when i say the names for the multiple orders...
i'm gunna explain my reasoning.... and you can agree or disagree... i don't care....

I call the Original Aired order the "kyon order" while pretty much everyone else calls it the Haruhi order.
my reason: if you watch the show in the order that Kyon sais is 1-14 you will watch the show out of order... therefor it's Kyons order.
I call the chronological order of the original airing "Haruhi's order" for the same reason, if you were to watch the original from 1-14 from the numbers she says it will be completely chronological because you'd have to rearrange it from the numbers kyon states. 
then theres no debate on the third order.
Yuki's order is the order they are played on the dvd (which is chronological for everything except episode 00) it's yuki's order cause she introduces the episodes in that order.

but then i got thinking...
you know.... Mikuru and Koizumi are very important to the plot.... why don't they get orders...
i mean Mikuru technically gives a character the greatest key to changing the world... and in the novel koizumi is imperitive to the end.... they deserve orders... I (in my feverish haze) shall give them orders.

SO.... in 2009 they announced that they would rebroadcast the show 3 years after theyoriginally aired it... yay~ it would be chronological (i think 00 was again at the start instead of before live alive) but after the first set up episodes we got a new one... bamboo leaf rhapsody... .it was the start to our second season.
so this order that is chronological but has stories shoved in from the future is mikuru's order cause.... time traveller.... i think it fits.

but then what order can you possibly watch to make it the esper koizumi's order?
easy
any order of the first season followed by the seacon season without mixing the two together....
cause it makes no sense
just like koizumi.

*takes a bow* i think that medicine is starting to kick in...
but seriously...if you read this... well at least you can tell that i have way too much time on my hands and am probably a little nuts... it's bad enough that i'm watching a show this season and all i see is grown up kyon who became a cop.... more on that when it actually ends though...

Completed: Ys 4: Memories in Celceta

or as i call it: Celceta

Bias: I love Ys and i love this game.... so.... yeah... if you own a vita buy it
if you don't own a vita and like ys do what i did and buy a vita and Ys....

Thats right... i love Ys enough i consider it a system seller

I am Officially a Falcom Fangirl... i will not be giving an unbiased opinion because i am not capable of it (and you know what.... i don't think anyone really is)

ok so... Story time (i have bolded the point where story time ends):

A while back (over a year i think?) My friend, who knows i like falcom (but maybe at the time didn't realize how much) was like "oh hey, i'm gunna preorder Ys Foliage ocean in celceta (Yes thats it's japanese title) it's the 25th anniversary so it should be full of goodies... too bad it wont come out in english for a while... if at all.... i would lend it to you but you don't own a vita"
all the meanwhile i'm sobbing in my corner.
Okay so he wasn't that mean about it but still... i was super jealous since there was a risk that we may not get it... the Vita has not done too well in North America and Ys is a niche title.

so time passed, occasionally he's send me link to songs from the game and one was Ancient Lore....

and my immediate reaction was "shut up, take my money"... i immediately bought the soundtrack.

then shortly after Xseed announced they would be localizing the game.
now looking at the past the Falcom games almost always come with CDs cause Falcom music is really really good.
so i knew i was probably gunna end up with duplicate songs... (also cause i own Ys 3(normal and super arrange), origin, 1&2 DS version, 7, trails in the sky and.... i think thats it... so yeah... i knew i would have multiples of the same song)
still for a long time there was no mention of a special edition... and i was a little worried cause... well i knew i now had to go buy a vita... and i wanted to buy it for more then just a game... i wanted goodies too~

so i waited...
and waited...
and then said screw it... i know the game store near me may not order many unless they get preorders so i went in and preordered the standard edition
then i waited and hoped for an announcement of a special edition
and eventually that wish came true as well.
3 cds? a cloth map, journal and compass?
it needed to be mine.
but then i had to wait for the preorder to be available in canada...
i swear i mus have been driving the game store near me nuts cause any time i went by it was like "can i preorder now?"
and the response was "what's ease? it's not said Whys?" [ok no but i swear if i went in anymore they would have started trying that shit]

so i get the preorder switched.... and then i had to wait for a release date.

Waiting is so hard... btu no choice.

so the day comes... and no preorder call... i wait.... but then my patience wares thin... i've had them forget to call so i called and asked if it was delayed at all.
"oh, it should be here by the afternoon, latest tomorrow morning, i'll call you right when we get it"
i say thank you and take a deep breath... i can wait just a little long-- *phone rings* "it's here" and then i run out the door.

so i get the game, i get the system and i proceed to not play it... first i do this

cause... i'm girly and red is my fav colour so.... girly red vita... it's only natural.
then i charge it
then i play with some of the extra optoins just to see how they all work
THEN i start to play.

and it was glorious~

HERE IS WHERE I START TALKING ABOUT THE GAME

Ys Celceta, from what i understand, is a remake of both versions of ys 4... Falcom has a history of complicated chronology but this is one of the oddest, Two games are called Ys IV
Ys IV: The Dawn of ys (hudson soft)
Ys IV: Mask of the Sun (tonkin house)

Dawn of Ys was about Adol leaving Minea and looking for the land Celceta overseas
Mask of the Sun is also about adol leaving minea but this time cause he gets a message in a bottle from Celceta askign for help.

and thast all i can get from Wikipedia... i can gather from this game that it pulls more from Mask but changes some things.
this game however doesn't start like that at all.

Adol, Delirious and confused wanders the street, he barely has strength to move... and he can't even remember who he is.
a character who claims to know him is amazed that he managed to leave the forest unharmed since no one had done it before.
of course he is surprised when adol has no idea what he is talking about...
worried that the red headed adventurer would wind up dead he sticks around for a while just to help him get his bearings.... and eventualyl Adol starts getting memories back... but the overall picture seems more complicated then everyone originally thought out.

The game play is like 7 and Alternative saga.
normal attack is square, guard is triangle, Circle is switch character and X is dodge.
you hold R and any of those button to do a special move and L to do a super special move.
where is matches alternative saga is that Adol can talk... you can pick his dialogue options.... if i reply i'll probably go pure snark but this time i played the way i thought adol would respond.
the game is face paced and fun and while the story isn't completely unpredictable it's got it's nice share of plot twists.... and again... the music is some of the best this series has seen... which i didn't think was posible cause 7 and 3 were easily my fav game soundtracks of all time for a while.
also i think this is the first time i've ever beaten a game without ever seeing the game over screen.... i did play this on Normal so it's not that great a feat overall but for me it's an accomplishment.

The good:
i'm a fangirl so everything.... really pretty, really fun and i never wanted to throw the thing i was playign it on [unlike a certain other action rpg i finished playing recently]

The not so good:
the framerate can drop pretty low in some places... it didn't bug me cause it only happened in towns  but if i'm being objective then i guess i should point it out.

the bad:
hm...
something not good...
something.... something.... well i was pretty sure i did everything but i'm still missing a bit of map info... and an artifact... and i think that last memory didn't count as my last memory.... maybe it's in a quest? i did all the ones i could find aside from 2.... i probably will play on nightmare now [cause i'm crazy] and do all that but yeah.... *just checked* okay so i did get all the memories... i need to play a bit more to see if i got the full map

oh i can think of something not good... there is a newgame plus... i wish i had more options for it (like you do in 3)

otherwise the game is really really fun (remember, i'm biased) and i look forward to playing it again while i wait for persona 4 golden to arrive
i guess i could also play the walking dead that came with the system... but i think Ys is more fun.
though i wanna replay 7 now cause of [spoilers]
i would wanan replay 6 but i didn't like it much and still dont own it...
and i do seriously hope that falcom remakes ys 5 cause i know next to nothing about it 9and hope to keep it that way)

so yeah... i'm gunna go back to playing it.... try and get all those trophies [maybe.... probably not]

Completed: The Walking dead - telltale - season1

Nov 28:
So when i went to get my Ps Vita and Ys I noticed that a bundle that came with a game and memory card was way cheaper then just the system itself... and it was a game i knew was really good.

so i ended up with a copy of Telltale's walking dead game.

pretty much everyone agrees that story wise this is an incredibly well done game and considering all the 'branching' paths it's easy to see a little bit of replay value despite this essentially being a on rails vis novel.

thats right... i'm calling it a visual novel, not a point and click... though the two do overlap quick a bit.... it just feels like the gameplay is tangential and this could just as easily be purely 'choose your own adventure' and it would still be a good game.
i actually think it may be a better game.

the controls i'm useing are touch based.... as far as pickng things it's perfect, quick and responsive....
moveing the camera around though... ugh it's not good.
when i think of moving the camera around wiht touch i think of putting my finger in a spot and dragging as if i'm dragging the camera to reach that original spot... in this though the camera will go in the direction you drag.
which got me killed more then once.
granted... i'm not terribly good at any games that fall out of my jrpg and puzzle game niche... so it's probably a good camera system, I just suck.

So far i have finished episode one, i do know the story i mean... it's pretty hard to go into this series blind considering how popular it is... so i decided to play it as true to myself as possible but when options come up like (pick who to save) i pick the opposite of the route i'm used to seeing... so i'm getting some new controls.

my last beef with the game has nothing to do with the game.... i jsut gotta change the power saving settings in my vita cause during cutsceens the screen would darken cause of it... and it got a little irritiatting having to tap the screen every two seconds.

otherwise it looks great and i look forward to playing the rest

Nov 30:
so i finished chapter 2, it felt a bit shorter then chapter one but it was pretty good... possibly because of it being one of the stories in the middle it kind of feels like my choices don't matter as much... mayeb they will have more of an effect in the next one?
this is going to sound odd but i like that there was less 'gameplay'... i mean it's there but there is more focus on the story and characters and that is nice.

Dec 1:
beat chapter 3, this one has a lot more 'gameplay' in the sense that you have to aim and shoot, i found this really frustrating with touch controls but in the end i only died twice so i guess it's not that bad... i'm just not a fan of shooter games. again very few choices felt like they mattered but i really like the story being told so far.
i'll probably beat both chapters tomorrow since i got a memory card big enough to play gravity rush (dear sony, givign me a 4 gb card when your updates take almost all that space is stupid)
also i have person4 coming my way and i'll be getting disgaea 3 soon... so to everyone who said there are no games for vita... yeah i'm finding a way to manage...

Dec 3:
i actually beat chapter 4 yesterday but didn't have a chance to update this. it's one of the longer chapters and finally it feels like all the choices really mattered... i hated the shooting elements cause with the touch controls it was hard to control it and try to get my leg free... otherwise a really good segment.
 Chapter 5 is short, and really sad... but yeah really well done... despite knowing what would happen i couldn't help but tear up, a really well done end to that story.

NOW... i didn't realize but this 'season' includes the bonus chapter 400 days.
so i'll play that later today or tomorrow... i have a commission to work on now so that changes things but i realyl wanna finish this so i can pop in my new/much bigger memory card.

Dec 3 continued:
beat 400 days, a nice and short bonus chapter.... i managed to get everyone to leave with me so i'm curious to see how that affects things.... i will probably wait a while to get season 2 but we'll see, for now i have to change my memory card cause it's pretty full.
but yeah if you like visual novel games this is a really good one... some points are really dark and there doesn't seem to be much to be able to fix that.... but still really well done.

Completed: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

This is a pretty big deal for me... I've never beaten a Zelda game before...
NEVER
so yeah... first time for everything right?

also don't worry i wont spoil anything (though if you have played a Zelda game before... you know the gist of the story)

SO.... where to begin?
this game has great music (though some songs are kinda just... okay... all the remixes are lovely though)
the mechanic of merging into the wall is really fun and creative.
this game is very quick paced with lots to explore and collect.
there are a ton of mini games...
and...
um...
*sighs* okay I'm going to need context for what I'm about to say.

Zelda is unquestionably a fun game, it is a really good game as far as everything is concerned.
um... it just doesn't really click with me.
and looking back... it never has.
i never grew up with it (my first one was OOT and i would have been 8 or 9?) so i don't have that nostalgia factor...

in every Zelda game I've played I've enjoy the world and story but loathed the experience... for whatever reason i don't have fun when i play it. i get really stressed and worked up and when i fail to do something multiple times in a row it starts feeling more cheap then my just being shitty at Zelda.

this game had two moments like that for me... one was cause I'm not patient and any time i have to walk on thin beams i am not happy. icy thin beams that break under you and you have to use fire while standing on and they melt with fire.... yeah... also not happy.
the second time was in the final dungeon, theres a segment were you have to transfer something while using the hookshot to navigate... problem is the thing your transporting also can catch on the hookshot... and you have one of those stupid hand things chasing you so when i tried to get to cover more then once i would catch the thing (despite it being behind me) and i would get sent back to the start of the area and have to try to navigate the thing from the beginning.

when i told my friend how i finally realise I'm just not a fan of the game he wondered how i was able to play Ys since it's 'way harder'
and i didn't have to think too long to give my response. "i have fun when i play Ys"
yes... some bosses *coughchestercough* are stupid difficult and make me want to throw whatever system I'm playing it on but even then... i still find it fun.

now I'm not saying Zelda isn't fun... Zelda is a lot of fun if you like that type of game play.. .apparently i just don't. and hey, I've admitted many times that i have strange taste so it's probably a good sign that I'm not a fan? though saying I'm not a fan sounds like i didn't like the game.. .and i did like it.... just... *sighs*

okay lets try this.
If you like any of the other Zelda games you will love this one
if you like Link to the past it has a lot of nods to that game and plays similarly. (kinda)
if the games have never caught your interest i doubt that this one will change your mind.

oh well.. I know if anyone i know in real life sees this there will be questionings and possibly an intervention followed by forcing me to play all of the Zelda games. I just can't help when something doesn't resonate with me.

okay time to go read the legend of Zelda manga while listening to someone lets play one of the older ones (cause i really like the story and music of the game... just not my cup of tea otherwise)

Completed: The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya

The beginning of a story is a happy accident
The end is the fate for which it's met.

I'm not going to spoil anything that happens in this book, i will simply say that if you liked the anime or the movie you should read this series. it's a lot of fun and goes much farther then the show.

I will be talking about my own personal feelings regarding the series as a whole as well as my fan theories and eventually things i hope/hoped would happen.

but yeah... TL:dr; if you enjoy a snarky protagonist, if you like non-linear story telling, if you like well foreshadowed and hinted at plot lines and if you like trying to read between every line this series is really fun and you should give it a shot. Each book is fairly short but they tell the story they need to tell.

I was first introduced to the show in 2006. I had gone to a friends how and he put on episode 00
and my reaction was something along the lines of "what is this crap.... people watch this?"
he explained that episode 00 was different then the rest and it was supposed to look like that.
i wasn't buying it.
still, not too much later i asked him "hey... what was that show called? i am kinda curious"
and from the first episode i was hooked.
I loved the art, the animation, the story (and more importantly the way the story was told) and when it ended 13 episodes later on episode 6  i was a little sad to see it go.
However it was really popular so i figured it would get another season... i mean the book series had been going for a bit so they had to have more content right?
right?
well
3 years later~
2009, almost everyone had given up hope that we would ever see more of Haruhi Suzumiya's antics but then they started talking about rebroadcasting the show in japan.
Now from my understanding.... Japan doesn't really do reruns, sometimes a show will get a second run but it's really really rare (again, i could be wrong)
so this announcement came as a shock to fans.... and the most curious part was the broadcast schedule.
they were doing the season in chronological order.... and a few episodes in there was a title that only those who read the book knew. "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody"
we were getting our second season... and it was mixed in with the rest of the series to help put it in chronological order.
there was much rejoicing until...
~Endless Eight~
1st time - wow i guess it's possible just to have an episode of them chilling... seems a little pointless but it was cute so no harm.
2nd time - isn't this pretty much the same as last time? i mean the changes are small but... i guess in the next episode they'll fix it cause... well if they go on for 8 then they are pretty stupid.
3rd time - seriously?
4th time - you're really going to drag this out?
5th time - we waited 3 years for this?
6th time - *doing research* this chapter was only 30 pages of the book and we are getting 3ish hours of this shit?
7th time - this is so stupid....
8th time - FINALLY.... and that's all you had to do?! to the person who felt this couldn't be done in 3 or less episodes... i have a few choice words for you.

the rest of the season does make up for the bullshit that was endless eight and is probably one of my fav arcs (next to disappearance, the one on the snowy mountain and all of surprise) but it was at this moment i knew that the creators pretty much hated the fans who had waited.... and that we probably would never get another season cause they would rather spend time on their moe crap.

So far I'm not wrong... we did get a movie based off the disappearance arc and it's probably one of my all time favourite anime movies ever but since there they has been nothing... i don't think anyone is asking either.
So when Kodansha publishing said they were going to publish the light novels in north America i was ecstatic.
FINALLY.... i would get to go beyond the show.
i would get to meet Sasaki and the anti-sos brigade
i would have the chance to see if some of my theories were correct.
and i wouldn't have to worry about the moe crap.

when i ordered it i was sent the manga instead.... which is good and fine but it's not what i wanted... but now i couldn't find the novel at all? had i been mistaken?
had they really just said the manga was the thing they were publishing?
so i went a few years without knowing for sure if we ever got the novel.
one time though i decided i was going to look again cause things were saying it had been published.
i went on my local book stores site and bought all the volumes that were out.
and once again i fell in love with the characters.

Now a quick aside: no matter what i'm reading/watching/playing i consider everything within the series to be canon
even if it contradicts. i figure if it contradict then it's just an alternate telling but it's still canon.... people think i'm weird but as long as the creator doesn't denounce it it's all good in my mind.

so when the book had some minor differences i was a little... confused.

the big one is that Kyon is really good at board games, he beats itsuki every time even when he doesn't really know the rules... and they are always playing games that rely on strategy more then luck. now maybe i just need to rewatch the show (which i plan to do cause i tend to do it every year or so) and be watching to see if he wins or loses but i could have sworn itsuki always beat him in the show.... but NEVER beats him in the book.

the other big difference is on the lonely island murder mystery episode... and i think this change is more censorship then anything else.
In the book Haruhi and Kyon end up plastered, despite being underage and apparently put on quite a show though neither of them remember it. in the anime Haruhi has sworn of drinking for all eternity before the incident.... cause underage kids drinking is frowned upon.

oh and again... endless eight is 30ish pages long and only described the last loop.... because that's all kyon remembers and we are in kyon's head.

other then that the two are very similar... the book just continues on into the next year.

This series always resonated with me... especially kyon, snarky.... stubborn, not as bright as everyone around him (though his brain sure does like to use complex theories from all over the world in every language to make sense of things) Never believes in things like Santa but desperately wishes there were more adventurous things out there like aliens, time travellers and espers... i was totally like that when i was little... so he, as a characters, always hit really close to home and thats probably why he's my favourite male character (tied with natsume, don't make me choose)
so a show that deal with a 'normal' guy going on adventures was just so much fun. a lot of people felt it was stupid and shallow but i promise you nothing that is mentioned in the show is mentioned without being brought up or used later.
not a single thing
even some things you forgot about
they ALL get brought back and used as crucial plot points. 
and i just adore that amount of foreshadowing.
GRANTED.... this is a show i like
and when i like things i have found i have the tendency to.... over analyse...

SO it's time for fan theories... i will keep the spoilers to a minimum but yeah.... i can't keep them out.

1. my first fan theory is that Kyon is actually god.
Haruhi has the godlike powers but Kyon is the one that gives them to her.
evidence:
There is no Santa.... i a world where time travellers, espers and aliens play there is no santa... i am inclined to believe that haruhi would want there to be a fat man delivering presents one day a year but it is certain that he doesn't exist.... because Kyon doesn't believe he exists.... the only things that ever come into reality are the things haruhi and kyon agree on.
all the incidents during filming... haruhi jokes about things the entire shooting process but things like lazer beams out of mikuru's eyes doesn't happen until kyon says "you can't shoot stuff out of your eyes mikuru? can you?" the very instant that he thinks it's possible that haruhi's right she starts firing deadly beams out of her eye.
half the shit in the series is made to entertain kyon.... not haruhi.
big ass cricket in another dimension? haruhi gets bored and figures the problem will fix itself before the adventure even starts despite this being their first case.
the disappearance arc is done solely to make kyon choose... not haurhi.
The lonely island mystery is solved by kyon, not haruhi (though she takes all the credit)
this next piece of evidence is a bit a spoiler.
Sasaki is a candidate for power similar to haruhi... sasaki is kyon's old friend and depending on which he chooses they would have these god like powers...
but if kyon is normal... why would his choice matter?
i, and many others think it's cause he's not normal.
'some' character outright say Haruhi is not god... some characters hint throughout the series that everything focuses on kyon... not her.
and the silliest evidence but hey... it works.
Kyon doesn't have a name
okay he does... but no one knows it. well except Haruhi and Sasaki
Kyon's sister also doesn't have a name
so yeah... next~

2. we, the reader/watcher are the slider.
i think it can be argued that a certain character is the slider BUT i don't think so... i think they were more of a catalyst to split the timeline....
I've also seen it argued that kyon is the slider cause he goes through so many different things while retaining memories but again, (and this is why i mentioned my everything is canon theory) in endless eights novel version he only goes through the last loop... that is all he remembers, a slider would remember all the loops.... however in the show where we aren't so much in his head and more of a 3rd party spectator we remember all the loops... we remember everything he goes through no matter what time or place.
also the order of the shows original airing, as a slider slipping into the episodes in a different order wouldnt' be too hard... the show could essentially be watched in any order at that point...

there is no REAL evidence to back me up on this... i just like my idea that we are a character in the book in a sense that we are observing it. but yeah unlike the thing above i don't actually believe it... just a fun thought experiment.

OK.... spoilers time... sorry..

Things i wish/hoped/hoping would happen in surprise.

i wish i were officially right or wrong... i took is as being proved right but it's not outright said so... still a theory.
i wish he had mentioned his name.....
then i wish he had mentioned his other name (more on this in a second)
i wanna know what that ancient thing he dug up was...

so what i think happened at a certain time in the book is that he gave her the thingy and in the card simply wrote "I am john smith"
but we wont know what he gave her
and we wont know whats in the card (aside from what the others wrote).
but this is what i want to think it was.

also i love her reaction to [too big a spoiler] and it's just like "okay kyon... only you woul be crazy enough to do something like that"


I want a sequel... we see a bit of something and i would love to see that story... but it'll never happen... which is fine... i like having all my little theories.

I am really sad that it's all over... but in the end it's not over at all so that's nice... humans have the power of imagination...
I plan to use it.

First Impressions: Zelda: A link between worlds

time to disclose my personal Bias.
I am not a big fan of zelda games.... but let me clarify.
I suck at zelda games, despite having played a handful of them i have never beaten a zelda game.... cause i'm terrible at them.
I love the music, the designs and the story.... just for a long time Action RPGs and me did not get along at all.

out of the previous zelda games my favs have been Majoras mask and Wind waker.
Majoras mask cause i really like how dark and spooky it got and i loved the time travel ability and Wind waker cause the music is probably the best it's been in the entire series and it's probably the furthest i had gotten in a zelda game (but i was renting it so i never got to beat it)

So what changed?
Ys... i found an action rpg i really enjoyed and now i enjoy a lot of them.
i still suck... but hey.... i have never claimed to be good at video games.

so my first impression of this game?
WOW thats a lot of nostalgia.
nothing wrong with that but it seems like pretty much everything is going to make die hard fans giggle with glee... from obvious things like the sikilarities between the opening of the game to more subtle things like the map pretty much being the same.

the 3d is good, i'm not playing with it on just cause i really dislike 3d in general. i will say that if you leave it on the start screen for a bit a 'animated' cut scene type thing played and the 3d in that is pretty painful... but other then that the rest is fairly well done.

i ADORE how the items are being handled in this game... i'm sure it'll be very expensive later on as i die a crapton but so far i really like being able to have every weapon at your disposal for a fee right off the bat.

the music is... it's good but it's missing something... like some songs are lovely and really add to the atmophere but other times it's almost like it's trying to downplay itself so you don't notice it? i don't know how to describe it but i wish some songs had a bit more of a punch to them.

the bosses are pretty easy (so far) but i'm sure the challenge will build as we get into the second round of 'collect all the things to save the world'

i'm hoping this will be the first zelda game i beat... that would put a chapter of being terrible at zelda behind me (i'll still be terrible... just less terrible)

otherwise i would say you should go pick it up, it's for the 3ds and is really quite fun. maybe one day i'll draw some fanart for it too (though much like the games i've never finished a sketch of anything zelda related... but i haven't tried in over 5 years so who knows... maybe i can now)


also Surprise of haruhi suzumiya just arrived and so i should be done that soon... hopefully before tuesday....

Aventures in Dinner

I don't normally 'blog' about food cause... well i'm probably one of the pickiest eaters out there... i almost never go out and get food cause even if i like what it is... if it has MSG in it i'm ill for days... it's just too risky.

still my little brother LOVES fast food, more specifically he loves when coupons are sent in the mail for deals on fast food and will hound us constantly till we cave and take him to try whatever deal they are promoting.

this time it was for a chicken place that isn't terribly well known and therefor we had never gone there.
so we arrive and there are about 8 other people there, all carbon copies of each other... it was a little surreal.

so we 'wait' but there no marker of "this is the line" and everyone seems confused.
we realize the reason for the wait is that most of the time there was only one cashier at the front and she constantly had to go to the back leaving the front empty. and after about 5-10 minutes we decided maybe it's just best to stick with a restaurant you know cause this little chain obviously just doesn't have it's shit together.
so were about to drive away and we see a pizza place in the same area... the lights are on but no one is inside... but it said they were open... when we opened the door they all rushed in from around the corner and gladly made our pizza.
my brother at this point was pretty bummed that he wasn't getting chicken but at least we were having a dinner we don't tend to have.
it was supposed to take 15 mins but t ended up being closer to 30 cause the order after us was a little complex and the machine was having a hard time with it but in the end the pizza was good and worth the wait...

but still i'll take home made food over fast food crap any day of the week...
oh well... now i just get to wait for the surprise of haruhi suzumiya to arrive... hopefully tomorrow... but who knows....

not sure what i think about this: Golden time

7 episodes in and i'm conflicted about golden time.

on one hand the Tada Banri and his character dynamic with everyone else despite his recent amnesia is an interesting idea...
on the other hand Kaga Koko is freakishly clingy to the point of being a stalker who makes shit up to fit into her 'life plan' which must be perfect.
and.... the story (again only halfway through) seems to be siding iwth kaga since she is really sincere about her feelings she just takes them too far.

but i'm sorry this girl is borderline psychotic.... and i really hope by the end he ends up with someone else... but i doubt that'll happen....
and i mean this is done by the same person who made torodora which was very sweet and sincere... but this show makes me wonder if their idea on 'what is love' has changed to this twisted version...

cause yeah... stalking you childhood friend to go to the same school as him - not romantic
pesterting him with emails and wanting to be in every class and club he's in - not romantic
being a bully to the girl he actually likes - not romantic
rufusing a confession so that you can confess yourself cause thats how you planned it - not romantic

at the same time.
confessing and getting rejected and handling it okay - yay
the next day being all pissy that she still treats you as a friend and continues to mention the boy she likes - boo
i mean... you knew going in she likes someone else.... why is this a surprise.

i dunno... i do like this show... but i really hope he ends up with linda (and i know he wont) cause kaga is just a little too crazy

i just needed to say this somewhere... cause yeah... she's not cute, sweet or romantic.... she is crazy... there is a difference.

Dropped: Beyond the Boundry

or as i call it: Spectacle over substance.

In my first impressions of this show i said... actually i said a lot.... hm..... read it all here but my point was

"yeah... okay... that's nice... why do i care?

we are now 6 episodes in and i find myself asking once again. "why do i care"

the world this show sets up is that there are essentially 3 types of beings.
Youmu - monsters that roam the earth and are killed (though not all are evil though we don't know why they aren't killed anyways....)
Spirit world hunter - the aforementioned youmu killers... they just do this... we don't have a reason for it... maybe to stop people from getting eaten? though there's been no evidence that youmu attack normal people.
Humans - can't interact with youmu or spirit world magic stuff at all.

so we have our main characters, mostly spirit world hunters and one half youmu/half spirit world hunter.

then they go to school and do things...
the main character comments on his glasses fetish.... the other guy comments on his little sister fetish.... they converse at length about which fetish is better while the 'bespectacled beauty' and real life little sister glare and comment on how perverted the two are.

the girl in glasses constantly mentions how "unpleasant" things are and is both completely oblivious to how she holds herself around others and hyper conscious about the stares she receives. she also fights with her blood so she ends up hungry after battles and she is apparently disliked by others spirit world warriors.... though only cause she tells us this... not because we ever actually see them do anything to show their dislike.

the real life little sister has a little pet youmu, no idea why or how but honestly... don't care.

the most interesting part of the entire show so far was also the point that made me the most angry.
the megane yells at the main guy about how he couldn't possibly know her pain.
as her blood rains down after a nasty fight it acts like acid to the area around her, it shows that she is alone and probably always will be.
then the main guy gets injured to the point of near death but lucky for him he's a immortal (which takes away any fear of him dying but still) well... he's only technically immortal... he's not able to die but if his body is pushed to a certain point his youmu blood takes over and he destroys everything around him till he is brought back to his senses. again we see that not only can he know her pain but he hates himself much more the she realises. we get a hint that maybe these two perpetually alone people can possibly be friends.

so what do they follow this up with?
fanservice
lots and lots of fanservice

so let me get this straight... instead of telling us more about the world... about how youmu came to be and why they are fought... about how the megane's bloodline became 'cursed' or about anything else that we may care about.... instead we get pandering episodes where nothing is furthered but it's moe so who cares?
i care...
i wanted to like this show
but it's so damn BORING

after i watched it i went to my friend and said "i expected good things but wow how boring" and he replied with.
"you can't possibly know that by only one episode..."
so my reply is
"it's 6 episodes now... and I'm more bored then i was at first"

maybe i just need to avoid Kyo-ani titles...
while this one doesn't look as much like K-on as some other titles it still has the same feel of bouncy bubbly nothing is happening moe crap.
and I'm tired of it.

though the show isn't all bad... the intro and ending songs are pretty... and look like quite a bit of money went into animating them... but they portray this interesting and epic looking show and it's just completely lacking in plot, character or anything even remotely interesting enough to have me continue watching.
now... the midpoint of a series tends to be the most tedious part... this show could get better and cut it would with all the moe fluff crap.
i guess i wont find out unless someone tells me "just watch this episode... it makes up for the rest"
but i'm not holding my breath.

you can make you own opinion and watch it over on Crunchyroll for free

Adventures in gaming

or at least adventure in buying games.

so i buy a lot of games.
some are for me... some are for my brother... either way the people at the game store tend to know me... hell i went to school with a few of them.
today my brother remembered that Call of Duty came out today. i tried to remind him he got battlefield 4 last week but he didn't care cause that was then and this is now.
so i figured... yeah he can afford it and he had beaten battlefield already... with that we went to the store.
now my brother is high functioning non verbal autistic.... he can speak but theres never any communication... it's more him just telling us what he wants or quoting movies. he's more then a little memorable... so when the clerk saw him enter he grabbed call of duty off the shelf and asked "this is what you want right?" and that made me chuckle.

now, i know in these type of game stores they are supposed to ask you certain things before going through the transaction...
this was a little brutal.
"which console?" - okay yeah i'm fine with this cause how are they supposed to know
"360"
"we actually have the super special edition with a seasons pass availble... do you want that?"
"thank you for the offer but he doesn't play multiplayer (mostly cause we dont want him repeating stuff he hears on it) so it would probably be better for someone who enjoys that to buy it"
"what about COD t-shirt, iphone cases, or cap?"
at this point i'm gettign a little annoyed.
"no no just the game is fine"
"you sure?"
"yep"
"okay how about the guarentee"
"he'll most likely beat it in a day or two and never play it again so we don't need the guarentee"
"you sure? it's only a few dollars"
"positive"
"want to preorder any new games?"
"i'm good but thank you for asking"
"and you sure you just want the standard edition of the game"
now at this point i'm thinking "yes but i kinda wanna get it from a different store now" but i didn't say that i simply held out the debit card and finally managed to pay for the game.

i get it... you work on a commission system where depending on how much extra crap you sell it reflects on your stats... i know this but theres a point when you start driving customers away.  now that being sad the cashier was nice and i'm sure had there been anyone else in the store waiting to pay i wouldn't have gotten every single question possible and maybe i was just a little in a rush cause i felt like i was going to keel over from sick.... but yeah... thats my adventure
when ys celceta comes out and i have to also buy the psvita i'm sure that'll be a fun day as well (ignores how much thats all gunna cost her)

rambling time (about pokemon)

*been hunting for shiny pokemon on and off for days with no luck* i don't get it... how can i get pokerus every single game and yet NEVER have bumped into a non-scripted shiny... *sighs*

whatever... the game hates me... moving on.

1. i'm a bit bummed about the wonder trade glitchy mystery egg pokemon... hope a patch gets rleased for that soon.

2. i really love the ending credits to this game... i know i beat it a while back but still... i find myself thinking about how it pulled one hell of a crazy stunt.

3. i wish more games would attempt something like this but maybe it's just not possible.


so... rambling time.

1.  so with one glitch fixed we are introduced to a new glitch thanks to hack pokemon... if this means the wonder trade system gets turned off completely then i'll be one of many muttering "this is why we can't have nice things"
i though wonder trade was the best thing the franchise has ever come up with... any time i caught something that was neat but i figured i'd never use i'd trade it.... and get a zigzagoon... though not all the time... thanks to wonder trade i got all the starter pokemon available... i got an eevee early on and i even got some of my fav pokemon like ponyta and vulpix thanks to it. while if you go to GTS people are asking ridiculous things or things that aren't even available in the game yet (and wont be available till pokemon bank is a thing.)
so yeah... i hope they either find a way to get rid of glicthed pokemon eggs or something cause i really like this feature...

2. i've been quite vocal about my love for soul silver... technically it's Crystal thats my fav game but this is in the same family so it counts in my books... but oddly enough my fav part of gold/silver/crystal/heart/soul is the eding credits...
that song... i just love it
so when the song played in X i was... disappointed... it was kinda blah...
until the lyrics (and i am assuming they are lyrics cause they go perfectly with the melody) showed up in both french and english (hey two languages i know!... okay i know it's cause the game is based off france) and then every language you could pick for the game showed up.... and it reminded me that this game was released everywhere at the same time (barring the whole time difference thing)... it wasn't like before when japan would have the game for a few months before we got it... and europe or australia would get it even later... everyone got it within a day of each other.
this left everyone in the same boat... we all knew as much or as little as everyone else... there was a sense of wonder as we explored the world and came across new things that made us go "what is that?"
and that reminded me of playing the game for the first time... when i first picked up the game it was all new... i wasn't allowed on the computer so i couldn't just look things up... i had to explore and figure things out on my own... if i really got stuck i had to ask my friends on how to progress (which most of the time had them asking why my team was full of such worthless pokemon since i valued cute over everything else... and still do...) so even though within a few days most of the stuff was known and able to be looked up it was still nice to have that sense of discovery that has been missing (in my person opinion/experience) from the latest pokemon games.
how many games can get away with that?
how many games can be targeted at such a large age range but make us all feel the same (cause lets be honest.... this game probably sold more to my age range then it did to kids)
and then to end the entire game with the word it choses to end on (no not Fin)... i dunno maybe it was cause i had been playing late into the night but i actually felt a little emotional when i saw the word Kiseki.
it's the only word at the end that isn't accompanied by another language but it's meaning is clear. "miracle"
granted i will admit that the first thing into my head was "well sora no kiseki second chapter will be released soon..." but thats just my inner snark... i really was moved because while i think miracle is overstating it just a little i do think what this game tried (and in my opinion succeeded) to accomplish is truly incredible... we live in an age when things can and are spoiled before they are even released yet just a few days ago a few pokemon were found hinding in the code... events maybe?

3. i would love to see some other game try this "release it the same day everywhere with as little leaked info as possible".... but i know it's unlikely... if not impossible.. still i love that they managed it...

i will continue my shiny hunting til the DLC for ace attorney is released.... then back to that... but i do want to say that i really enjoyed pokemon x and what it set out to do (or at least what i think it set out to do... maybe i'm just reading too much into things again... as always~)