Danganronpa 3: The end of Hope Peak High School

I was expecting the final episode to be delayed a bit more so... sorry this is so close to my 91 days ramble.

This is one show where i feel like i'm going to be explaining more about how it aired then what it's about so stay with me.

This show has 3 arcs.

Zetsubou-hen (aka Despair arc)
Mirai-hen (Future arc)
and a third one that you can figure out on your own.

Danganronpa is a vis novel series that plays much like ace attorney but with pink blood. this show takes place both before and after the games.... if you haven't played the games (including that one spin off that i personally haven't played but i don't think i missed too much) you are going to be a little confused.... but you could probably enjoy Despair arc on it's own.... thats just.... not the most fun arc to watch. i mean it's called despair arc.

However this anime is not like the game at all (which is kinda cool.... but also why it's going to be so damn hard to talk about) and i think it was incredibly smart for them to make a show instead of a game with all these concepts.

The coolest aspect of the show is the airing order. now anyone who knows me knows i love when shows are smart about how they air (one of my fav shows is melancholy of haruhi suzumiya which i think is up to 4 different airing orders and all of them are neat)... this show has the two arcs.... which alternated.

now a sane animation company would have done one a week.... no no no these guys decided to air the future arc on thursdays and despair arc on mondays.

essentially the show starts with the 13th episode, jumps back to episode 1 and alternates from there eventually ending on episode 12. each alternating episode feeds into the following episode in the opposing arc....
essentially if you watch the show like any other normal show you will miss out.
I hope.... i seriously hope funimation releases this as a single set with the default option being the airing order... the show doesn't really work otherwise.

now onto the show itself.
i loved it.
i LOVED it
that final episode really cemented in my head that this is my fav of the season.

will you love it if you haven't played the game? no.... but there is a simple solution to that.... get a Ps Vita ( i don't care what anyone says... i love mine as much as my 3ds) and then get the games... easy... problem solved.

But i truly loved this and i'm so curious to see how a third game could possibly fit in... i know lots of people are talking about it right now and i'm just trying to keep myself in the dark. i do think it's cool that the main character seems to be a girl... makoto and naegi were awesome but always nice to have another female main character.


oh... i'm about to end this and i haven't talked about what the show is about.... uh....
we..... despair is about everything that caused the first and second game to happen.... and future is the aftermath of those games.... i can't say much more cause wow spoilers. so yeah..... all i'll say is it's good...
and the ending had me sobbing. in a good way but still... i hate you spike chunsoft.... you hurt my heart.....

so yeah... play the games... watch the show in airing order.... now onto the fall season!

OH... i did want to talk about delays... the show had so many delays... please animation companies... if you wanna pull this shit of 2 episodes a week.... dont.... just do the standard one a week and alternate.... still so good though. 

91 days

This is a tale of revenge.

Those can really only end one way with a few variables... however it's a difficult show to describe without spoiling so... i'll keep this brief.

91 days is about a boy who has his family murdered in front of him and vowes revenge when he gets a letter detailing who was there at the massacre.

it's well animated (for the most part... i have a feeling the bluray for this will be very pretty and cleaned up) the music is good and the setting of prohibition america is always fun. it's also neat seeing japans take on that era....
however Count of monte cristo this is not... it's good... i liked it... but i feel like it was missing something.

also a little insulting that there is a clipshow ep in the middle of a 12 episode show but whatever...

i enjoyed it, probably one of the better shows this past season (and considering how many good shows there were thats saying something)

i think the only show i have left is Delayedronpa (it's funny cause... omg the amount of delays this show has had)
so yeah that'll come out eventually... for now i'm just waiting for crunchy to announce a certain 5th season.

Orange

This was the second anime where i was reading the manga right before it was announced that it was being animated... still ended up finishing the manga but oh well... still a good show.

If you could potentially change the past, would you?

That is the basic premise of the show. A group of friends carry regrets over not being able to stop their friend Kakeru from committing suicide 10 years prior. they decide to write letters to themselves ten years prior in the hopes that parallel worlds exist and that maybe they can save him in one. after that this group of friends work together to try and save their friend.

so suffice to say it's not the happiest show. lots of tugging at heartstrings and even some tears but overall i enjoyed it. The animation is very pretty... some bits even feel a bit rotoscoped but i think if they were they stopped doing it as much in the later episodes.

sure the concept of how the letters travel back in time is a bit hand-wavy and some things are not addressed in the way i felt they need to be (like the fact that this kid has some serious depression and should probably go see someone about it... i mean supportive friends are good but chemical imbalances are no joke) but overall it's a sweet show and i look forward to the movie (which i'm not sure if thats going to be an alternate retelling or a follow up... hopefully the latter cause i HATE alternate retellings.)

if you want to watch Orange it's all on crunchyroll
and if you want to read the manga that is also on crunchyroll. 

but the two are very similar so you have been warned there.
Also i just checking, it looks like the film is a POV shift that takes place after the anime ends so that should be a lot of fun... and crying... but thats ok.
alright... still have danganronpa to finish and 91 days and then feet first into fall 2016... i'm a little excited.

The Morose Mononokean

I'm biased... but not in the way i'm normally biased.

First bias: i adore shows that are set in a modern setting but have some kind of supernatural element... that type of story is my jam.

Second bias: My all time fav show that i'm probably too obsessed with is Natsume Yuujinchou (aka Natsume's Book of Friends) and the two are similar as far as concept go so i can't help but compair the two (and while i still like this show a lot... it's not as good as natsume yuujinchou)

Third bias: i've read a chunk of the manga (which, like the show, is also available on Crunchyroll) so unlike Natsume i was never surprised by the stuff happening cause the anime never gets further then where i read to (even though i stopped reading when the anime was announced cause i like going into shows as blind as possible.

and while this isn't a bias... i am running a low grade fever right now so... if i don't make sense i apologize.

Anyways onto the ramble,

This was the perfect show to tide me over till oct 4th. (or 3rd? all depends on timezones i guess)

The Morose Mononokean is about a boy, Ashiya, who gets possessed by this fluffy yokai. having been unable to see them before this point he is rightly freaked out until he comes across a flyer advertising an exorcist.
the problem is he can't afford the exorcism. so after it's all done he begins to work as an assistant to pay off his debt.

it's a cute show with some lovely ideas and decent animation... it relies a bit heavily on CG for the yokai designs but it's never too distracting... i'm just not the biggest fan of CG in anime.

but in the end... it's just not as good as my fav show... and i know thats so unfair cause yes they are similar but they are also pretty different. but it's just... missing something...
however with no second season announced (the final episode is literally called the end) I think it's save for me to go back to reading the manga... i do expect a second season eventually since there is still so much of the story left untold (like why everyone seems interesting is Ashiya for his last name)

So yeah good show, enjoyed quite a bit.... but i can't help but be more excited for october.

next show to finish will be Orange... which i also read on crunchyroll till the anime was announced... and i again don't think the anime will surpass where iam (even with a double length episode)

then sometime after that Danganronpa (all the arcs) should end... you know when it stops being delayed.... and also 91 days is ending soon too so yeah... lots to ramble about before the fall madness begins.

if you want to watch this show you can see it all on Crunchyroll
if you want to read the manga that is there as well~ (but you have to be a subscriber)

Cute High Earth Defence Club Love! Love!

this is the second season of the magical boy show.

the plot is....... really not needed... 5 magical boys fight monsters of the week with the power of love and baths.
The first season was really funny and the second one is just as good.... less Hiroshi Kamiya this time but oh well... the bits that he is there are pure perfection.

I loved this show... i hope we get a season 3 cause it's just so fun and goofy.

I don't think the first season was quite so... BL focused... however unlike other shows with BL it's not at all discreet about it... they love each other and i don't think anyone could argue that.

the focus is also less on the monsters and more on the reason why the monsters are being sent and i found that to be an interesting change.

One thing i didn't like? the first season dvds are stupid expensive (i'm talking 70 bucks for 4 episodes... which even in the early aughts i never saw it going that high) and i have a feeling Pony Canyon will pull that shit with this season too so no matter how much i WANT to buy this... i'm not going to be able to and that is just irritating. Cause i love this show and would like to support it.

but seriously season three better have more Kin-chan..... cause he is just too precious.

Servamp

I'm not entirely sure how to tackle this.

Servamp is about a boy who likes everything logical... one day he pics up a cat off the streets.... only the cat is actually a vampire and he accidentally forms a contract with it and now nothing is simple.

past that the story is also about the 7 servamps... one for each deadly sin... as well as a mysterious 8th that just wants to murder them all.

but despite all that world building there isn't much in the way of story... which is a little disappointing since i did like the show... at least to a point.

It almost feels like this was supposed to be longer but instead they tried to cram everything into 12 episodes and in the end you get nothing. no story, no character arc and probably the must rushed ending i have ever seen.

but i can't hate it, the characters are fun and their individual stories are all very good... i wish with it added up more to the bigger picture. i'm assuming the manga is better cause it would have more time on it's side....
however one of the more interesting aspects of the show are the visual metaphors done through camera/sound effects or alternate storytelling methods and i wonder if you lose that in the manga...  i just don't know with this one.

I liked it... but i can't recommend it unless you just want a pretty show to look at with interesting take on vampires... that just so happens to go nowhere and explain nothing... it doens't even explain why it's own rules do not seem to apply when it matters...

oh well. maybe they will make another season? no idea where they would go from here but it could happen.

Sweetness & Lightning

why is this show only one cour? i want more.

This is an episodic show about a teacher who recently lost his wife and him learning how to raise he young daughter all by himself. The main focus is him learning how to cook.

Now before  isaw it i was worried it would go down the bunny drop route (aka super cute until it gets so creepy)
but this doesn't go that way... and thank goodness for that.
the show made me laugh, cry and most importantly it made me want to try some new recipes (i'm a good baker... cooking is not my strong suit... unless you like your proteins overcooked... then i'm the best cook ever)

I have a feeling there is a lot more in the manga (which like the show is on crunchyroll so yay!) so i'll definitely be reading that and hoping this gets another season... with it being episodic i just want more

it's a great show and i highly recommend, you can watch it over on crunchyroll

Re: Zero Starting Life in Another World

When this show first started (with a very long first episode) i was hesitant...
So many of these "being sucked into a game/game like world" stories suck.
However when the gimmick was introduced i was hooked and i knew it would be a good time.

The show follows Natsuki Subaru, a shut in nerd who gets transported to another world while on his way back from the convenience store.
it's never explained how or why this happens... it just happens.
anyways in the new world he has a chance encounter with a silver haired half elf, after spending the day with her things go horribly wrong and they both end up dying.
except in Subaru's case this seems to be more of a minor inconvenience then anything else... he opens his eyes and he's back at the time and place he started his adventure in this new world... like he reloded a safe file but with all his memories in tact.

so the goal is simple, make sure to get through the day without anyone dying... .which is a lot harder then it sounds.

Now i will say i hope there is a second season for this (it'll probably take a few years since currently i believe the anime is ahead of the novel) since there is so much left unexplained. (the nature of a certain character, why subaru was transported in the first place, what the selection process for the next ruler really entails) however if this is really all there is the ending isn't bad.... i'm just curious is all.

I will say there was one thing i didn't like... there is a chunk after the halfway point where the show is really hard to watch. I can't even begin to describe how close i was to dropping the show myself at that point. I will say push through it... it ends, it was a stupid thing for the creators to wallow in for as long as they do... but it does end and get better (in my opinion)

This show wont be for anyone... not everyone can get behind the gimmick and i understand that, but i thoroughly enjoyed it and would call it one of the better shows of spring/summer.

plus the art is very pretty
and the first ending song makes me so happy....

You can watch it all on Cruchyroll

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

So spirit of Justice released today, and  I am a huge Ace Attorney fan.... however I have had Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (Layton vs Wright) on my shelf for a few years now.

The game was really good, i enjoyed it.... but for whatever reason i didn't rush through it.

so with the announcement of the new game i wanted to beat this one... so i sat down and had a really good time.
Cause WOW this game is good.

While i feel the layton games as of late have been kind of lacking (a lot more puzzles that deal with mazes or sliding and a lot less logic puzzles) the AA series has been getting better and better... and it makes me a little sad that some mechanics will probably not be used in the new title.

still i'm skipping ahead.

One day a girl appears at Laytons office carrying a large tome called "Historica Labyrinthia" and she asks the puzzle professor for help... this in turn ends up getting himself and Luke pulled into a book.... eventually the same thing happens to our fav Ace Attorney and his psychic assistant.
While in this town of Labyrinthia they find out everything is controlled by a story and witches are feared. Even just being a witch is a crime punishiable by throwing them into a pit of fire.

Of course layton has been through many mysteries and works to figure out what makes the town tick... meanwhile phonix works to prove the innocence of those wrongfully accused of being witches.

The game is split almost 50/50 between the two styles. while in town you can gather clues and solve puzzles. While in the witches court it's a normal AA game with a few twists.  the biggest change is that all the witnesses take the stand at the same time... and can react to what others have said to open up further questioning. this is a feature i REALLY like and wish would happen in other games but i know probably wont.
Also the hint coins from the Layoton series can be used in court to give you that push if you are unsure which line to press or present evidence for.
I also like the item UI but again... not crying about the fact that it wont look like that in spirit of justice.

At first i felt like the game was way too simple.... but as the story progressed and got darker and frankly more heart breaking i became more and more invested... one of the trails actually had me crying really hard because it just kept doing one "that is not ok" moment after another... and there was just the feeling of "who gave you the right" as it was punctuated by the saddest rendition of the happiest song ever.... man it was good.

part of me is tempted to say this is my fav of both series........ but then i remember how much i love Godot and.... well i'll say if it's not number one it's probably tied.

I really hope (even though i know it's unlikely) that we get a Layton Vs Wright 2.... nothing would make me happier.

Granted the free DLC chapters you get after beating the game were so enjoyable... very meta but i just couldn't help but smile.
Also the bonus art of Layton in AA style and Phoenix in Layton style was priceless.... also old timey clothign Edgy and larry buttz.... things i didn't know i needed.

however now i can go onto to Spirit of justice with no regrets.... and i can hope maybe one day we get the sherlocke homes AA game cause WOW that looks fun~

one final note, i need to play more European translated games... it was so nice seeing things spelled properly~ a petty note but still it made me smile.

if you can find it get a physical copy of this game and show capcom we love physical copies!... i mean in the end i'm just happy to have the game but i like not filling my memory card this much lol.

in the end.... thank you level - 5 and capcom.... i know it probably wasn't the easiest thing to mesh these two games together... but you did it perfectly.