Wednesday 21 October 2015

Atelier Shallie: Alchemist of the Dusk Sea

This is the final game in the "dusk sea" Trilogy of Atelier games....

Maybe Gust just doesn't really know how to end a series because Meruru wasn't the best game either. It had the connecting thread of the previous two alchemists so you kind of forgive it.

This one... well Escha shows up as a shop clerk, you see Logy and Ayesha in the end credits, however the connecting threads to the other two games are just barely there. It might as well just be fanservice.

Still that isn't what makes this game lackluster.

In every other Gust game there is a timelimit or some element of balancing all your tasks in a way where you can get to the end of the story by the end of the game.

Shallie has no time limit, it has items and elements that make me wonder if at the start there was a time limit but they took it out because of reasons. however without that time limit any sense of balancing doing quests, performing alchemy and exploring the land. So pretty much you can wonder around and do as much alchemy without consequence (as long as the cost level doesn't go above your own)

So all that throws off the pacing, some chapters can be completed in litterally less then 30 mins while others take hours because you are just trying to figure out exactly where the games wants you to go.
It does give you a live task thing that you can check for hints on what to do in theory.
See the translation for this game is probably the worst i have ever seen when it comes to tasks.

To give one of many examples, Jumping a lot would fill a meter names "break lots of barrels"
Swinging your bell would fill a meter "gather items in a place that you may not even be in"
Sometimes for seemingly no reason meters would just start filling up and i would have no idea how or why but i'd be thankful since this was the main way to get experience in the game.

None of the task descriptions correspond to what it actually wants you to do... and you have to complete these tasks (at least as Shalistera, dunno if Shallote has the same deal) in order to actually get the chapter to progress. So that's more then a little frustrating. Also because it was the only way to get decent Exp. there was no point in grinding, you just had to hope you could fill meters with EXP. bonuses and the level up after the next fight. I can't tell you how many times i'd be fighting, getting like 50-1000 exp and then suddenly fill up a random meter and fight something and get 10000 exp and end up getting 5 levels in one fight.

However all that is minor frustration in the end... it makes the game annoying but not unplayable.

So i guess the real place this game falls flat is the story.
This is the finale to the series where alchemists are trying to figure out why the water is vanishing and what dusk is.
now maybe the true ending is better but the ending i got pretty much. "well we kinda sorta fixed it.... good enough"
(just watched the true ending, it's not better... also the endglish dub says Atelier as "At-ler"... i can't even begin to say how wrong that is... i mean... it's a french word... just as a rule of thumb is that ER sounds like a Hard A.. so it's more like ah-Teh-liA)
In the end i was left feeling irritated.
I didn't care about these characters, neither Shallistera or Shallote are terribly interesting... in fact both have moments where they are so incredibly stupid and annoying that i wished Logy was the protagonist of this game as well.

Also last negative point, the english dub pronunciations are just so bad that i played in Japanese again cause yeah.... i can't deal with people blatantly pronouncing stuff wrong, especially in a game with so many Germanic and french words/names.

It's not all bad.
The alchemy, while it took the longest for me to get used to of any gust game it's easily the most in depth and easiest to fully control which is really really nice.
The combat is also pretty good although there are two many boss enemies who can attack 5+ times.
Finally the music is the best of the series, it is so pretty i am just so happy the game came with a soundtrack.

Can i recommend Atelier Shallie? not at full price, if they ever do a plus version then i would recommend that however the best in the dusk series is easily Escha and Logy... and the whole series as a trilogy kind of falls flat. Play Atelier Totori instead

I wish they would patch the life tasks so they actually said what they meant.
I don't know how much of a difference their is between Stera and Lotte's campaign but honestly... i don't care enough to find out... never like Lotte as a character.

I believe they have announced a new Atelier game Atelier Sophie, hopefully they bring back the time mechanic (words i never thought i would say but it really helps with the pacing of the game) reading up on how they plan to do the alchemy... sounds fun actually... it'll be more puzzle based then just dumping things in and hoping. also just watched the trailer... looks like there is some kind of time mechanic so yay.

In the end i guess i'm just disappointed that Atelier Shallie wasn't as good as it could have been... however i do still have high hopes for the future of the series... i just hope it has a better translation and things actually say what they mean.

Wednesday 14 October 2015

The Name of the Wind: The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One

By Patrick Ruthfuss.

As the book is all about telling a story i find it fitting to tell a little story and go off on a bit of a tangent... if you don't want to go on that journey the short of it is I liked the book and i'll be starting book 2... or rather Day Two immediately after i finish writing this little blurb.

So... Storytime.
According to amazon, i bought this book for my Kindle Januaru 28, 2014... yet i only started reading it a few days ago.
A few reasons for that...
1. i bought a few titles around that time thinking i would have a chance to get some reading done in transit... but then i ended up having little no time to read at all
2. i was in the middle of a few other books.
3. it got pushed to the bottom of the list and i kinda forgot about it.

So what reminded me of this book?
Well it was actually Tumblr, i saw a few pieces of fanart for something they called the kingkiller chronicles.
it sounded familiar but i couldn't place it.
Later that same user posted either fan art or cover art that showed similarities in the main character of that book to the main character in Brave of the Six flowers.
at this point it was really ringing a bell so i opened up my kindle and there it was waiting to be read.

Now my new kindle has this nifty feature that my old one lacked... it told me it figured i would take 17 hours to finish the book.
I looked at that and laughed since even extremely long books (like around 1000 pages) tend to take about 10-14 hours depending on how much i'm enjoying it.
This book is only just under 700 pages... which puts it at about 8-12 hours for me...
and yeah.... just finished it in around 10 hours... That'll show you kindle turn page analitical thingy (technical term)

Okay now time for the tangent... even though i bought the book so long ago... it was fanart that got me interested in actually reading it. A lot of people give fanart a really hard time because they don't consider it real art... but in the end no matter how you feel you have to admit that it has some power... i would have eventually read the book but the fanart pushed it to the top of the pile and i'm sure i'm not the only one who has picked up a book or played a game or watched a show simply because the fanart intrigued us.
I guess what i'm saying is it's probably a good idea to thank someone who helped you enjoy something you may have skipped over... and i really did enjoy this book.

We begin this tale at the Waystone inn, a bartender with true red hair polishes his bottles in silence, Dark rumors are being carried on the wind. Word that demons are traveling this way has everyone in town on edge.
However this simple bartender is anything but and after saving a Scriv who had easily the worst possible timing from a hord of spiders with razor legs... he is convinced to tell the story of his life and how Kvothe the Kingkiller because Kote the Innkeeper.

And yeah i've left out pretty much everything but hey... spoilers and all that.
The most interesting part about this book is that the first chapter or two are so full of blatant exposition that it's a little incredible... especially cause you as the reader have little to no context so you can't understand everything that being said right away... but you get so much from it.
you can tell he knows more then he lets on, even going as far as other languages and song and folklore and possibly even magic. I don't know... that kind of blatant "you are going to learn a lot about this world but for now enjoy being confused" storytelling kind of makes me grin from ear to ear.

The entire book put a grin on my face, i love "Magic systems" (easiest but not terribly accurate way to describe it in this case) that use Words.. hell my fav magic system is called the Will and the Word.
From the Belgariad... go read that too.
 anyways the "magic system" is this is really good and not overly powerful which is nice.
And considering it's being told in a way where the books are actually called "day 1" instead of book 1 just works so well...

i'm a little worried that since book 2 was released 2011.... and we don't have a date for 3 yet... i'll be forced to wait... which is never fun.
but in the end at least i'll have a few more houws with day 2...
there also seems to be a short book (177 pg).... but kindle is trying to sell it for 11 bucks and.... thats more then they are charging for his 1000 page book.... so maybe if it goes on sale for 5-8
not that it isn't worth it... i'm just cheap...

For now i have a birthday cake to bake... mine actually... Happy Birthday to me~ may i go another year of people going "wait your how old?" and watching them pale... oh it brings me joy.
until i get asked if i'll be paying child fare to get into things... then i get a little sad....
only a little.
and luckily while things are baking i'll have plenty of time to read~ 

Tuesday 13 October 2015

First Impressions: Fall 2015

Summer 2015 was a really good season for anime.
It's been a while since i've had so many favorites.... too bad all of them ended.

Granted there are some second seasons for shows that took a break... so it's not all new... but for the most part i'm going into this season completely Blind.

Ground Rules:
1. I will try to give every show a chance but this doesn't mean i have to watch a full episode... if i stop early i will note the time and reason for stopping.

2. No 'webshows' or shows that are shorter then 20 minutes... i don't like waiting a week for these so i don't tend to watch them... i have made exceptions in the past but they are rare.

3. No shows with Brother, sister or Father in the title... i mean i may still give them a chance but they almost always have insest so... no...

4. No Second+ seasons of shows i didn't originally watch for obvious reasons.

5. no shows about card games, again i may give them a chance but they are almost never my cup of tea.

6. all opinions are my own and are based soley on what i see... unless i have read the manga of something i tend to go into these shows completely blind.


Returning Shows:

Noragami Aragoto
The amount of happiness i have is difficult to put into words...
Lets just say i have 2 mugs with Yato on them and the kickass figure Alter put out...
i am more then a little happy this got another season.
I am reading the Manga so i know a little bit about what this season will focus on... seems to be why Bishamon hates Yato as much as she does...
past that i know nothing... i'm only on vol 4 or 5.
so happy... go watch it.
Also yes.... Hiroshi Kamiya sounding like a dork makes me happy... but that is beyond the point.

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign
You make me wait 3 months for a clip show....
a CLIP SHOW....
this makes me very very very sad.
I'm still looking forward to when this show starts properly next week... i mean the music is amazing (i bought the Soundtrack) the animation is lovely and it's just a really enjoyable way to tel this kind of story.
but seriously? a clip show.... why are you so cruel...

Haikyuu!! 2
Okay.... please do not let this pull a Kuroko's Basketball... i will bail so much sooner if it does... no naming moves... no BS powers and most importantly no telepathy "this is bad because reasons that we are all simultaniously saying at the same time BS"
no no no
we good? ok lets watch
it was enjoyable, i love how dorky they all are... still i am worried.... i can't go through another train wreck like Kuroko.... i just can't


New:

Lance N' Masques
Uh.... Ok so off the bat i have Reservations about this.
So theres this guy who is a "Knight of the World" and he has this condition that he can't help but become a white knight when he hears girls in distress.
Most people find it creepy but one time he saves this little girl (i would guess around 7 years old) and she gets really excited about a real hero coming to her rescue.
So far it's all cute and innocent.... but i've watched other Bodyguard takes care of young mistress anime...
they almost always end up the same way.... and thats REALLY CREEPY.
still... it looks like it may be deeper then the surface would have you believe.... unless i'm really hard pressed for stuff to watch i probably wont continue...
unless someone can verify that it goes no further then the girl admiring the hero.

Hackadoll The Animation
Well i didn't expect the intro to be in English...
oh well running at 7:50 per episode... i won't be watching... it looks like moe AI systems being cute... if you are into that this show is probably fun. It just looks a bit tedious to me.

Heavy Object
Starting off with Space is not good for me...
Also wow a lot of exposition... and very little reason for me to care.
oh look... more exposition but this time it's told over scenes of a girl taking a shower...
wow the exposition never ends.... this is rediculous.
it's been 10 minutes.... and i don't know the characters names cause it's all been exposition.
Well the music that accompanies this exposition is quite lovely.
I would describe the plot but so far there hasn't been any other then "there are things called objects, they changed how wars were fought"
Also dude she's suffocating... stop worrying that you may touch her breasts.... this is life or death... also those belts look horribly placed...
oh and guess what MORE EXPOSITION
come on... 3 minutes left... we can have some kind of plot can't we?
So the plot is... someone is useing a stronger object to destroy everything despite normal protocol just being take over.
oh wow i can't describe how much i do not care.... too bad since JC staff tends to do a good job... this was just awful.

Kagewani
7:50 mins per episode so i'm not going to watch the show but i will mention it has an extremely unique style. like everything is cut out of paper and heavily textured. it's also fairly 'realistic' as far as proportions go...
but yeah nothing about it is interesting enough for me to continue.

Lovely Muuuuuuuco!
another Short show... 12:30 mins but still... under 20 = i don't watch (unless there is something special about it)
So it's a badly animated show about about a dog and how much the dog loves his human.
it's especially odd since the animation seems to be done in 3d... giving everything an oddly stiff feel.
if you like shows about Dogs being Dogs (and being able to hear the dog say stuff over and over)... yeah you may get a kick out of this....
it just seems tedious to me... especially considering it's 12 mins... it could easily be 3 min gags...

Young Black Jack
Now i think this doesn't fall into my "no sequels of shows i haven't seen before" because it's a prequel...  so i'm going to give it a chance but i am worried since i haven't seen any Black Jack and my history with enjoying Osamu Tezuka's work is already spotty to begin with.
Still i am curious about the show... i just figure theres going to be a lot that i won't get.
So the show was okay, it's nice seeing the oldr style of art with Current standards of animation...
however the imagery is extremely heavy handed and there wasn't much of anything to keep me interested in where the show will go... i may continue to watch but i'm still on the fence.
i'm assuming that if you like Blackjack this show will be right up your alley.... i just foudn it dull being told "omg he so fast, oh noes we are almost out of time.... OMG he did it!" which i have a feeling will happen every show (cept the inevitable one where the patient dies and then he'll get all sad and have to rekindle his ability to heal blah blah blah)
so yeah, not a bad show i just wasn't really hooked.

The Asterisk War
It's an academy of super powered people show...
I don't think i've ever enjoyed one of these shows... especially when they open with blatant fanservice.
oh no... he accidentally held his hand on her breast after knocking her down.... never seen that happen before... Do shows like this have a checklist of stupid tropes they have to fulfill before they can get to the plot?
So new transfer student is more then he appears to be and his sister is missing and every girl he meets falls in love... also theres a tournament that he has been asked to be but of course fighting is silly so he isn't interested however i'm sure when he does accept it'll be shown that it's all far more important then it first seemed and he's actually fighting for the fate of the world....
when did fall become "predictable show" season. the only way it could be worse is if the sister ends up being part of the big bad later on and he has to fight her...
Am i a little bitter that Aniplex decided to put this forward instead of another Season of Natsume Yuujinchou.... yeah probably...
but i mean we have a million shows like this and they are all damn near identical.
will i keep watching? probably not.... again it's not bad but it's so by the book so far it's painful.


UTAWARERUMONO -Itsuwari no Kamen-
Technically this should probably be up in the returning shows since.... well there is a Utawarerumono from ages ago....
which i remember really enjoying but i haven't watched it since i was in highschool so at least a decade ago....
maybe it hasn't aged well but i am looking forward to this show.
Well the music is as good as i remember and the art (although heavily steeped in early Aughts h-game style) is really pretty and expressive.
 I hope to continue enjoying this... i should probably rewatch the original show though to get my bearings. (though it doesn't seem needed)

Attack on Titan: Junior High
uh... so it's technically under 20 mins.... but i mean 17:15 is close enough where i can try one ep.
it's a chibi spoof spinoff thingy
now.... i only first watched the show recently but even i'm wishing they would stop repeating the first part... like seriously get on with it.... i can't even imagine how those who were with it from the start feel.
even though it still has great music.... i have Seraph of the end to enjoy that particular composer... this is just too stupid and goofy for me.

Comet Lucifer
Fhana?
yep, well the show is off to a good start so far.... oh it's a mech show? not the biggest fan of those but i'll still give it a chance.
YHm the first episode doesn't give us much to go on... a guy name sogo is a bit of a rock hound, goes wall climbing to find a certain stone with a certain property... by chance he gets hit with a beam of light and wakes up with what he seems to be looking for in his hand.
everything seems fine until he finds himself at an underground lake where a girl emerges from a larger version of the stone he found and now a biped robot is trying to protect them from attackers...
i'll probably continue on with this... it was interesting enough to make me curious about what happens... hopefully it's good.

Hakone
3:30... i'm actually surprised with how many short shows there are this season... well we add a "oops i feel and accidentally groped the other character counter to 2.... but yeah wont be watching anymore of this...

Concrete Revolutio
Is that Ledo?
Yep... Kaito Ishikawa... oh and his birthday is the day before mine (thought he's 5 years younger then me)  thanks MAL you teach me so much~
ok onto the show
Bones... yeah i figured the animation fit them...
Oh boy this is so colourful... like a bit too much if you want my opinion....
Oh look a better transformation sequence then sailor moon crystal.....
So... this is pretty much Bones' take on all the Genres?
um... it wasn't bad but it's just too crazy for me and i find it difficult to care.

Komori-san can't decline!
well.... only 2 mins long
how do they expect to get anything told in that amount of time?
welll the animation is pretty bad and the jokes aren't funny and even though it's only 2 mins long it's dragging.... so major pass.


Peeping Life TV Season 1??
yeah thats actually the title
Also new rule, if the show is fully in 3d i don't have to watch...
it's just so ugly
also is the same group that did Death parades intro? it is BRADIO....
oh for crying out loud you can do so much better
also WOW this is so painful i can't even describe... i technically bailed immediately when i saw the art but i'm closing the video now at just under 3 mins
you know whats sad? i thought that wit ha stupid title like that it had to be a short show... NOPE... 23 mins...
*sighs*

JK-Meshi!
why are there so many short shows? another 3:30 AND fully CG though done in a way where they are trying to emulate what anime actually looks like.
once again this is simple terrible... how do they make 3 mins drag like this?! pass

Mr. Osomatsu
I'm just glad it's a full length episode...
is..... that hiroshi somewhere in those voices?
YEP... ok now i just hope the show is good
Ok so this is incredibly silly but i laughed so much i can't complain... but yeah it's REALLY stupid.... imagine every trope every thrown at you no matter what the circumstances and played for laughs.
I may keep watching... i know nothing about the original series but this was pretty funny.... also yeah fav voice actor helps.

Starmyu
The animation is oddly stiff and i find that odd for a show that has such a huge focus on dance (and i assume singing)
i think it was a mistake to watch this immediately after the first episode of Mr. Osomatsu cause that show pretty much makes fun of everything this show tries to do seriously.
but hey... i can hear Junichi suwabe signing... so yeah....
actually that just gives me Uta-pri flashbacks
*the character Junichi is playing actually talks* w-wait... no... ah i don't like this.... it doesn't sound like him at all... i mean it does but it's so highpitched and strange and stop it.
I don't like these idol shows at the best of times... but at least it seems to have a bit of a plot.... maybe?
but seriously that voice is like nails on a chalkboard... and the animation needs to be better for this type of show. It's so desperate to be like Uta-pri but it falls extremely short.

One Punch Man
I'm pretty sure i'm the only person on the planet who isn't looking forward to this show.
i'm not saying i'm expecting it to be bad... just based on what i have seen it probably wont be my cup of tea.
Yeah.... after 6 mins... i'm bailing...
It's just absurd for the sake if it... and it's trying desperately to be funny but it's so forced it's painful... 
And the sad thing is... i know this is going to be the most popular show this season...
And i will continue to be perplexed by why gag filled shonen anime are so damn popular.
Again i'm not saying it's bad it's just a genre i happen to despise.

Shin Atashinchi
I.... I don't want to.... can i just not?
I was so hoping this would be a short show...
It's not as bad as it looks but at the same time it's not the type of show i enjoy... it's slice of life in the sense that we follow around this family any their antics.... however it's obviously based on a 4koma or something cause the 'plots' are very quick. if you like that kind of stuff the original series had over 300 episodes and ran for about 7 years... so i guess they have the material. but yeah i'm probably going to pass.

DD Fist of the North Star II + Fist of the North Star: Strawberry Flavor
. . . i just wanted to share the title...
Otherwise i' mjust chuck this into my "second season of a show i haven't previous watched" category...
oh it's a spinoff? yeah i don't care...

Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note
Another short show but it doesn't seem to be a comedy.
Honestly it was pretty cute, at 9 mins an episode i don't think i'll be watching week to week
but honestly i marathon at the end of the season.
essentially the story is about a group of kids in a cram school who are part of a special class and end up solving mysteries.

Dance with Devils
please don't be filled with abuse
please have a sweetness to it...
please no abuse.... please
so much english this season... and i mean English... like it sounds decent.
wait.... is this a musical Anime... that doesn't focus around a pop group... and the songs are actually really pretty?
what is this show? oh please let it continue to be good....
not even 10 mins in and 3 songs.... none of them were the intro either....
mmkay so i kinda loved that...
no idea if it's going to be any good going further but it's an interesting concept with lovely animation and great music... the fact that it's reverse harem (which currently shows no signs of abuse cause there is no focus on the relationship aspect) doesn't hurt it since those have always been a guilty pleasure of mine.
Could it get terrible? absolutely... but hey she has character so thats a step above 90% of other reverse harem shows done in the past 5 years.
Ritsuka, a girl who attends a highschool that may as well be a mansion, is heading home after a long day of hittign the books. unfortunately it seems like theres a robbery taking place and her mom seems to be being attacked... after running away and calling the police they return to see that nothing seems to be wrogn with the house and all the damage has been repaired.
on her way to her friends house for the night she is attacked by the same robbers (who just happen to be vampires but she's unaware of that) but saved by her school council president (who may or may not also be a vampire or demon or devil or something)
He claims he'll help her... but not for her sake... then the episode ends...
and yeah lots of music.... probably was premature to call it a musical but i don't think i'm completely wrong about that.
so yeah i'll probably be watching

Beautiful Bones -Sakurako's Investigation-
To say the animation for this show is simply stunning is a huge understatement... I'm not sure if i'll enjoy the show simply because Mystery doesn't tend to interest me but since they seem to be routed in fact that you can parse without knowing a damn thing about the world it could be pretty interesting.
However i am finding it a little hard to care about the characters since after one episode we don't know much... hopefully that changes in an episode or two.

Anti-Magic academy: the 35th Test Platoon
this show wasn't terrible... until it added itself to the "i just happened to fall on you and grope you" trope... whats that the third time this season?
it also was okay until it tried to cram at least 5 episodes worth of plot intothe last half of the ep.
it's like... "not going to work with you you" to "hey i'm back... or your doing something that pisses me off so i'll leave but just so happen to show i'm injured" to "omg i'm totally your cpatain why won't you accept me" to "suddenly we are on a mission together for reasons" to "i hate witches, something that had yet to be brought up at all,  and will kill them all even though it's against the orginizations intents" to "i accept you for reasons" to "omg a witch has interest in the main character.... ".... it's like plot whiplash.
the animation is okay but i have a feeling this show isn't going to do too well...

Magical Somera-chan
yet another short show...

The Perfect Insider
oh noitaminA been a while since i've seen their logo infront of a series. also i love the animation in the intro song...
so... uh.... it's about... college students ? maybe...
and a girl who may or may not be a criminal who is in hiding and is well known in the academic community...
this one is going to take a few episodes.... but i will say i enjoyed the first episode... even if not much info was given to the viewer... it was enough to be intrigued.

Doamayger- D
A short show trying to look like an old mech anime
It's got the look down pretty good... it's just a little too silly... at least it's only just over 2 mins long...
but seriously too many short shows.

Shomin Sample
oh... i'll be amazed is this show ends up being any good
So there is a school designed specifically for young girls from high brow families... because they are taught in such a sheltered way they are findign that graduates are having trouble adapting and tend to isolate themselves and play online games all day instead of being proper women in the upper echelons of society.
So a group of bulging flexing muscular men kidnap this kid for reasons and now he must attend this all girls school as a way of socializing these princesses to the fact that commoners do in fact exist.
why not a commoner girl? well because the girls are also afraid of evil scary men so inviting the one male commoner in essentially deals with all the problems... cause thats how the world works right?
So why this kid? cause the maid he has a bulging muscle fetish and is only attracted to other men. Now he claims he is straight and this causes more problems because they do want to protect the chastity of the women attending... and this campus is secret for... reasons... so he has to attend but first a castration....
oh wait... actually turns out muscles are where it's at...
Wait wait wait.... these sheltered rich girls have never seen a cell phone before?
bullshit....
yeah... sorry... Ouran High School host club did this show so much better.
Bailing just after the halfway mark... wow that was painful.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
I know nothing about Gundam... to date i have only seen a chunk of Seed and The first episode of the Gundam Origins OVA.
Still because Gundam is so huge in scope i wondered if i could watch the first ep without getting completely lost...
Though even if i do i wont be watching the show... despite seeing as much of seed as i did i don't remember any of it which meant i couldn't handle it. and even now... i can find myself only half watching it... the animation is nice and the cast is huge but i'm going to pass.

I'm thinking thats pretty much everything so lets look over to livechart
 
According to it i have 3 more shows that aren't immediately disqualified... even though i'm sure some of them will be short shows...
ok lets do this...

Brave Beats
oh damn... i was hoping this was a short show so i could skip it...
the intro is incredibly obnoxious... and considering it's a show all about dance it sure isn't a song you want to dance to (well at least not in my opinion, i'm extremely picky with that kind of music)
What i don't get is why so many dance centric shows with children have come up as of late.
it's a kids show... as far as kids shows go it's not insulting... but it's still a kids show and nothing special...

Anime De Training! EX

Did you want a 4 min long show about the basics of working out with so much moe your eyes will bleed out of your skull? well then this is your show.



Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid
I don't wanna... i know this is the last one but I do not want to watch this... 

It just looks like Fansevicy crap...
Why is that girl wearing a bathing suit a million sizes too small.. that strip of fabric would not hold those in place without needing to be painfull tight.
Hilarious censorship aside.... apparently this is yuri...though why they would make something thsy little have to cover with big white lines.... i do not get... but okay...
but yeah... it's exactly what i figured... fanservicy crap and i've got better uses for my time

And that is it....
I'm a little disappointed... there are a lot of OK shows but other then the returning stuff nothing sticks out as being particularly special... last season was so good so i was kinda hopign this season would be as well...
still lets see how much i'll be watching.

Noragami Aragoto
Seraph of the End
haikyuu!!
UTAWARERUMONO -Itsuwari no Kamen-
Comet Lucifer (maybe)
Mr. Osomatsu (maybe)
Dance with Devils
Beautiful Bones (maybe)
The Perfect Insider (maybe)


And that's it.... well maybe it'll be a good time to watch some older stuff or finish some backlog.
And yeah... i am bummed that we didn't get Gargantia 2 (cause it was cancelled) and no Natsume yuujinchou 5 either (cause they haven't announced any more seasons... yet) and instead we get just a pile of mediocre anime (and WAY too many short shows... at this rate all shows will be 3 mins long) but hopefully Winter 2015/16 will be better



Saturday 10 October 2015

Blood Blockade Battlefront

Aka Kekkai Sensen
*grins* it's been a while.

Okay so at the end of Spring 2015 i was expecting most of my shows to end... this one didn't.... it had episode 11 and then just never seemed to upload the final episode...
all this time i had thought "gee... there is no way they can finish this jumble they call a plot in 23 minutes"

Apparently they had the same thought... and so they delayed the episode claiming they were goingto mkae a longer one and had to work with time slots and whatnot.
about two weeks ago they announced it would finally Air on Oct 3rd.... a week later Funimation finally posted it.

and the part that kills me about all this is i'm not even terribly fond of the show.

See i started writing these things solely because i have a tendancy to avoid completing things.
I'll play right up to a final boss and then walk away
i'll read 7/8th of a book then switch to something new.
and with anime i'll tend to watch till episode 11 then just stop or forget about it.

So to combat this i started writing these with one condition.
I could only talk about things i actually finished (except the first impressions ones but those are once a season) Unless i planned to drop the series entirely and never pick it up again.
This show isn't bad enough to warrent being dropped... at 11 episodes it's mediocre at best but i was still curious to see if a final episode could pull it all together... so i had to stop myself from talkign abotu it and forming a set in stone opinion.
but then it took 3 months to air and yeah i definitely have a pretty solid opinion.  However that could change with the final episode.... but i'm not holding my breath.

The final episode doens't even have the intro song...
I am unimpressed.

I was going to save this for later but now is a good time, i mostly watched the show cause the intro song is really good.
Bump Of Chicken is just an incredibly talented band and the main singers voice is just such a joy to listen to.
I have said in the past that i forgive a lot for good music... this show is probably the epitome of that point...
now the show isn't bad... i just don't care... about anything... the characters, the plots, the little stories.
It reminds me so much of Cowboy Bebop but only it's trying so hard it's painful to sit through.
It's all these little stories that are simply connected by the fact that it's happening to the characters but unlike Bebop i'm never presented a reason to care and so i never do.
The most interesting characters are Black and White and even then... their story gets so rediculous that it ruins any good their origin story provided.
and i have said from day one that if i don't care about the characters i wont really care about anythign else.

okay lets get back to watching episode 12 and hoping the wait was worth it.
well took them 30 mins but at least they are playing the song that is also the name of the episode
also past the 30 min mark the animation takes a nose dive for a few minutes...
SO thats it...
and in the end... nothing is explained... nothing happens and it all reeks of trying way too damn hard.
i'm sure the manga is better since i know it has a lot of fans... but this show was a rushed mess that in the end accomplishes nothing...

It's not terrible... but it's not worth your time since nothing is accomplished at all at any point.
IN FACT, the very last moment of this show pretty much spit in the face for anything the show HAD tried to accomplish....

So yeah in the end the mediocre at best show that was trying way too hard from day one was exactly what i expected... i'm going to go listen to Hello, World and Karma for a bit and then go back to watching first episodes of the new season.

and if you like the idea of crazy characters in a crazy world and their little stories that manage to weave into a single interesting narrative... watch Cowboy Bebop (i mean if you haven't already) since that is obviously what this show was trying to be from the start.