Tokyo Ghoul First Impression: A Living Nightmare

Ghouls; a merciless species of monsters that devour humans while masking their identity as they walk among clueless citizens in broad daylight. There is but one aspect of the Ghouls that differentiate them from your average everyday person, their inability to consume anything other than human flesh.

Tokyo Ghoul is an ominous dark horror fantasy as we follow ordinary college student Ken Kaneki. Kaneki is introduced as a total bookworm, his personality is weak as he seems to only have a single friend who is the polar opposite of himself. Kaneki also seems to have lost both his parents and lives alone, which doesn't really build up much character or helps make Kaneki all that interesting. Thankfully Tokyo Ghoul looks to capitalize on taking advantage of Kaneki's loneliness as his nightmarish new lifestyle is further emphasized by his isolation, creating a broader appeal of fear as he has no one to turn to for help.

Kaneki and his friend don't seem to care all that much about the Ghoul problem, in fact it seems that people are doing their best to live their normal lives without living in fear of the unknown. However this ignorant bliss can only last for so long as these Ghouls continue to haunt Tokyo. One day Kaneki encounters one of these ghouls and survives, but at the cost of potentially loosing his humanity as he is thrown into a living nightmare.

Ghouls need only eat once every few months to survive, raising the possible idea of whether or not there is a chance of co-existence, but as always there seems to be a chain of command of various factions in the Ghoul society as well as strong individuals who compete over territory. Tokyo Ghoul promises a dark atmosphere with a wonderful trip into the realm of true nightmares.

The first episode appears to promise plenty of blood and gore and looks to tell a story of a dark downward spiral that questions one's sense of being human. The pacing is packed with interesting events that concludes the introduction and gets set to reveal some psychological and action heavy encounters in the coming episodes.

~Djr7

Black Bullet: 01-02 First Impression - Everyone gets a loli!

Black Bullet was one of the few shows I put on my "must watch" list for the 2014 spring season, and while it's definitely not the next big hit out there like previous shows, Black Bullet is definitely one of the better shows as of late.

The plot isn't all that interesting but it's something like the Attack on Titan setting, but filled with loli and a typical independent "high school" lifestyle with monsters and whatnot. Humanity has been pushed back to Tokyo where large structured barriers made out of a certain material are used to repel Gastre monsters from entering the city and bringing mankind to extinction. The Gastrea virus can take over humans and creatures, turning them into giant bug monsters typical of your fantasy Japan. A special squad made up of talented Promoters battle alongside cursed children (Initiators) against possible epidemics and removing any Gastrea that enter the city.

At first I was skeptical on the cuteness/humour side of things with the loli-ness and silly antics between protagonist Rentarou and his Initiator Enju which reminds me of Unbreakable Machine Doll, however it seems to just be an early introduction that helps make the second episode more effective as things prove to be anything but sugar and rainbows for the two.

Black Bullet does well in striking up some more serious themes with the discrimination towards the "cursed children"; children who are born with the Gastrea virus and yet they are the most effective means to destroying the Gastrea creatures to protect humanity from this parasitic mutation that seems to cause bugs and other monsters to grow to ridiculous sizes. 

Rentarou's own personal dilemma is also somewhat developed as he tries to make a living while balancing out his ideals with the cursed children, showing us that despite humanity's last stand hangs on the shoulders of these cursed children, everyone seems to regard them as tools and are looked down upon as freaks.

Black Bullet has also piqued my interest with an actual Antagonist, something that I have missed since Guilty Crown. Kagetane Hiruko is an elusive man of many skills for appearing unexpectedly while carrying out some rather distasteful massacres of those around him for no real reason other than to show how he shouldn't be taken lightly. This proper, yet insane person is the main factor of the show who seems interested in destroying Tokyo and mankind, or perhaps he just wants to show everyone the hard truths of their ignorant lives as they live in fear of the Gastrea. 

Not much can be said about the rest of the crew thus far, but Rentarou and Hiruko will keep you preoccupied for the time being as for once our protagonist isn't a whiny little bitch, but someone with a clear head and underdog attitude that challenges the norms of his lifestyle, while our antagonist is a mysterious butler-esqe psycho who wants to shake things up.

Episode 02

The "cursed children" discrimination issues surrounding Enju and Rentarou was enjoyable and I'm glad it took things to a deeper, more serious tone. Seeing the police officers take away one of the Lost Children (cursed child from outside the city) off to be killed was quite unexpected, but overall I felt the issues were well developed from Rentarou's and Enju's point of view.

We get a good sense of character development as Enju and Rentarou deal with the discrimination differently and not only that but our antagonist Hiruko even rises to the occasion to tear down the walls of their fake peaceful lives of keeping Enju's true identity a secret so she can act like a normal girl in school. Hiruko looks to be the deciding factor of the show with his potential to wreak havoc.

Hiruko unveils his own "daughter", Kohina, who appears to be a gifted Cursed Child who dual wields swords with murderous intent towards anyone. Hiruko shows off that he is a mechanical being who is part of a New Humanity Creation Plan, showing off a possibility that his goal is to wipe everyone out and usher in a new dawn of mankind.

Hiruko's sick twisted demeanor and Rentarou's own growth looks be the staple of the show and is definitely going to keep me returning for me.

~Djr7

Conception 2: Children of the Seven Stars

Conception 2 is a Dungeon Crawler RPG with a unique twist on party creation/management that involves creating "Star Children" with the games 7 heroines. These Star Children are similar to the monster creation in Shin Megami Tensai games, as they are characters of different classes and abilities that will aid you in your labyrinth battles.

Outside of the Labyrinths, you can chat with the heroines, visit training grounds, create Star Children, organize your party at the dorms, and shop for new weapons or items at the store.

Concpetion 2 looks great, the 2D sprites are slightly animated for all of the story interaction as well as some 3D animation for chatting with the heroines. The game also features some nice animated sequences for the story and transformation scenes. A good portion of the game looks to be fully voiced and a few of the characters so far are well voice-acted.

The battle system features a very simple turn based attack pattern where position relative to the monster you are fighting is important. Depending on your speed stat, you will be able to see the turn order for you, your Star Children, and the enemy. You can position yourself to the left, right, behind, or in front of the enemy to attack them with basic attacks or use special abilities, each monster has different attack patterns that can inflict damage on you depending on where you are positioned.

A few mechanics are added to make the fights more entertaining, such as attacking an enemy head-on where you know he will be unleashing a devastating attack on his next turn. In doing so you will be able to increase the "Chain Gauge" which can slow down the enemy significantly, allowing you and your star children to attack multiple times in a combo.

In Conception 2 you play as the main hero of the story known as "God's Gift", a disciple born with an immense amount of "Star Energy" or "Ether" that is needed to purge the world of "Dusk Circles" that see monsters spew forth onto the world at an alarming rate. The Dusk Circles are mostly dormant and it's up to the disciples of the Fort City's Academy to save the world.

The game features 7 heroines where you will be able to chat with them and increase your bond between each other, once you have gained 100 Bond Points you can create a Star Child with any of the heroines, as long as you haven't made them upset or angry at you. You need 3 Star Children to create a new party to bring into a dungeon, up to a maximum of 3 parties (not including yourself). You can also bring along any of the heroines to fight alongside you, as each heroine has different stats and abilities. Another interesting factor is having the family bonus where you take a heroine and the Star Children of said heroine for an extra bonus to your combat.

Overall I am really enjoying the Demo for the game on the Vita and 3DS, and while the Vita version does take advantage of the large LED screen, the core gameplay is similar across the board with no concerns. I can't wait for the game to be released come April 15th.

Official Conception 2 Website

~Djr7

STRIFE: The Next Generation of MOBA First Impressions

STRIFE is a new Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) that is both fun and and easy to get into whether you have played other MOBA's or not.

Like most MOBA's you choose a character, hop into one of three lanes (or go jungle) and kill NPC minions for gold until you are strong enough to take out a bunch of towers on your way to blow up the enemy base to win the game. You fight alongside 4 others as you battle 5v5 where killing enemy players awards gold and makes it easier to destroy objectives.

Unfortunately the only other MOBA I have really played was League of Legends, in which case most people know this game as the worst gaming community in the world. A lot of issues that plague League are completely eliminated in STRIFE. I have played only two actual games against other players where I won with the best stats and where I lost horribly due to a leaver and a bad 2v1 lane phase, but I really enjoyed the balance of the game and how objectives are far more important than grouping up to kill the enemy. Even though I lost on the second game I had a lot of fun regardless and was happy to see that I got an award for the most damage to the enemy team. I have listed some of the mechanics that I really enjoy and some that I do not below.

The game is currently in a closed beta and will soon be wiping accounts as it gets set to release once ready. For more information check out the Free-to-Play STRIFE here.

Here are a few key characteristics of STRIFE that make it very enjoyable and stress free to play.

-Lane Choice -
It doesn't matter which lane you go into, any player in the vicinity of a last hit on minions gets the gold, this eliminates any concerns of which lane you go into and who gets last hits on the minions for gold.

- Never Leave Lane -
Games like LoL require you to teleport back to base in order to purchase new items or heal back up, but in STRIFE you can buy items while in lane, and once you've bought all the requirements for a really good item, that item will be delivered to you through a little courier while you are in lane. Also if you choose to not attack (or get attacked) after a certain period of time, you will start regenerating your mana and health, however this is carefully balanced out as you will not earn any gold if you aren't killing minions. You CAN teleport back to base if you choose for faster regeneration.

- Unlocked Heroes -
Everyone has access to all the Heroes of STRIFE, eliminating the need to play the game over and over with characters you don't like just to try out a Locked Hero.

- Matchmaking System -
In STRIFE, you choose your character BEFORE entering a game, meaning there is no competition or arguing over who gets to play which hero.

- Lots of NPC's to kill -
One thing I love about STRIFE is that there are always minions or jungle creep to kill, giving you an abundance of opportunities to get some gold, this also means that there is a bigger emphasis on dying as well as a bigger risk towards how you play the game. With STRIFE there is more importance on pushing lanes and denying your opponent the chance to get gold off of minion waves.  Minions have much more health and makes it easier to control lanes as well as pushing a lane. If a lane is pushed up then it opens up opportunities to roam about the jungle or other lanes for longer periods of time, forcing the enemy team to either push out that lane or risk leaving it to be pushed even further against them.

- Character Abilities -
Nearly all of the characters do decent auto-attack damage, meaning auto-attacks are usually your best source of killing the minions. Abilities are also lower on the cooldown time but have a higher mana cost, meaning that using an ability is more of a timing mechanic of when to use them rather than having someone who can just bursts high damage over a long cooldown phase. Character abilities are also very utility based, meaning that every champion has the option of doing damage as well as crowd control effects or escaping a fight, meaning there are less worries about which champion you play in a certain lane like LoL that creates champions for certain lanes and play styles.

- Minions do Damage -
Minions actually hurt throughout the game, meaning that lane pushing and choosing when to attack opponents is critical, rather than just having a late game hero run at you and kill you while shrugging off the minions like fleas.

- Player Based not Team Based? -
There are a few things that could prove this game to grade players on their own efforts rather than if they won the game or not. After a game you get to see the breakdown of your score including gold earned per minute, and any individual awards like who did the most damage to the enemy team or who helped out the most, hopefully this will be integrated into their future ranking system rather than simply if you won or lost a game to determine your skill.

There are a few things that do bother me with STRIFE though.

- Awkward Ability Level-UP -
Whenever you level up, you have to pull up a menu and choose which ability you want leveled, sometimes you might not notice that you leveled up as the pop up "Level Up" text can sometimes not stand out if your concentrating on your game.

- Potential Pay-toWin? -
Whenever you complete a game, you can choose one of three random chests that will give you 3 different currency types used for different upgrades. You have the option of buying "Gems" which are paid currency (Like RIOT Points) to choose to open another chest. I haven't looked into other specifics about what you can buy with these "Gems" but at the moment I don't think it will be a big concern. (It is similar to using RIOT points to buy Masteries in terms of effect on the game)

Final Notes:
I really enjoy STRIFE, I like that it is more focused on player skill and and has a greater sense of objective based gameplay rather than simply killing the enemy determines who wins or looses. I can't wait to see what the competitive scene is like and if things stay the way the are then there is a good chance I will be playing this rather than League of Legends. There is a lot more to this game like crafting and pets but I definitely recommend any MOBA player to check out STRIFE.

If you want to add me on STRIFE my username is Djr7

~Djr7

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kaku

Higurashi Outbreak was in a sense, disappointing, yet very satisfying. When I first heard about Outbreak plot being centered around Keiichi and Rena during a mysterious viral infection, I was ecstatic. I had high hopes while imagining a different spin off universe with Rena's insanity alongside Keiichi's brilliant designs, but overall I can't help but feel there wasn't enough impact for this OVA that made the first two seasons of Higurashi so memorable.

After a sudden quarantine of Hinamizawa, Keiichi and the others continue to live normally, as the whole "virus" thing seems to have spread across a greater area outside of the village. All of the sudden Mion shows up bearing news that there are some oddities occurring in the village based on the viral infection, and for once I am happy we didn't need another heavy description of Oyashiro-sama's curse.

Higurashi Outbreak is an example of a "bad-end" that happens during the regular timeline for Rika, where we actually see things advance far beyond the usual deaths of someone in Ni and Kai, and I wish we could see more of this bad-end where everyone still lives. There is a lot of great content in this OVA that isn't really shown during any of the other installments, including a rare and very insightful, albeit short discussion between Rika and Hanyuu about their spiritual relationship and tasks to observe mankind's end.

What I love about this OVA is how it is completely tailored to fans of the show who wanted some serious, crazy, bloody action with a hint of good-old-fashioned Higurashi mystery and thrills. The entire content of Outbreak is almost a direct taking of "what would I like to see" from the Higurashi universe.

Remember when Rena and Keiichi fought in an epic battle of cleaver vs metal bat? Now Keiichi and Rena work together with their insane desire to kill those who challenge them, almost as if they remembered their battle against each other, knowing full well of their potential. Remeber the photographer who is always butting in and getting himself killed, guess what he isn't in it, and neither is Takano, since we've had enough of those two.

It is nice to see the Doctor who Takano was taken in by, get some screen time alongside a mysterious woman who represents the new puppeteer controlling the strings of the conspiracy.

Dr. Irie? Well he was always kind of annoying and useless, how about we have him get infected and go insane? One thing I can promise you, is that if you do indeed like Higurashi, there will be several things about this OVA where you will flip your sh!t and smile in excitement.

If you liked Higurashi at all, you will enjoy this, but if you loved the thrills and steady buildup of mystery and tension, you might find yourself begging for Oyashiro's curse to sprucin things up a bit. You will get to see some sudden turn of events as the mystery of the virus is well explained for such a short video, however that can be said for mostly everything about the OVA. There was plenty of awesomeness, but unfortunately it was jam packed into a short episode that would have done well to extend the duration to let things settle in, because once you finish Outbreak, you will be left there wondering why it ended so suddenly.

Rena's insane smile as she willingly slashes at the throats of her victims, while Keiichi's rage fuels Satoshi's bat as several faces get smashed in; are some of the best moments of the show and overall this gets my approval, being the Higurashi fan that I am.

~Djr7

High School DxD New - First Impression - same stuff still enjoyable

Despite the fact that the show has an abundance of nude scenes interlaced throughout the plot and is embedded into the humour, I still love the characters and serious tones of this show.

Last time we saw Issei  he was overcoming an immortal being and saving Rias from a wedding while riding a griffon for an epic finale. Now Issei wakes up with a more passionate Rias and an ever jelous Asia at his side.

The show wastes no time and gets right into the thick of things. This time it appears Kiba is at the center of attention. It seems holy swords and an old friend of Issei will be the main plot devices for this season, as well as a changed Kiba who remembers his hate and revenge towards the holy sword Excalibur. While there was nothing super surprising or incredibly eventful, I really love the pace of the show and how the nudity, plot, humour, and characters are well spread out for an entertaining experience.

I was so happy to see Sellzen return. This crazed murdering priest has an insane personality that is simply too much fun to see. He was a wonderful villain in the last season and I thought he had disappeared, but now it seems he is back and more insane than ever.

The episode have pretty much everything that High School DxD had, a contract situation, exterminating a demon, side humour of Issei's forgotten jealous friends, and even some Asia embarrassment of her feelings towards Issei. Everything about this show is enjoyable so I will be trying to keep up with it.

~Djr7

Gen'ei wo Kakeru Taiyou - First Impression - Psychologically Dark

The only reason I bothered downloading this was due to the character art reminding me of Disgaea. I didn't know what to expect but I was surprised with the amount of psychological thrills that came from Gen'ei wo Kakeru Taiyou.

Akari is a bright girl who uses tarot cards to do readings and whatnot for people as it was passed down by her mother. She lives with her aunt and uncle and works for a fortune telling group. Everything bright and cheery, until some really messed up things start happening. A distortion on the screen, images of blood flashing, monsters and even a dead body come out of nowhere. There was even a similar situation that reminded me of Another, where a car's e-brake is somehow lowered and causes the car to almost run over Akari.

There is even a moment of deja vu where the same event happens twice but with a drastic change. All of these mysterious events really grip your attention and lure you into the show. Near the end a bit of a magical girl fight occurs, and all of the sudden I am reminded of season one of Symphogear. Things are pretty interesting with Gen'ei, but I don't know how well they will be able to follow up on the thrills of this episode and whether or not this will become a silly magical girl fight similar to Symphogear season 1.

I am very interested to see where this show is going, and what exactly is happening because I am totally confused, but in a good way. The animation and visuals are incredibly colourful and still remind me of Disgaea. The events really grip your attention and is a great way to start off the show, now we will have to see whether or not the psychological events continue or whether this goes downhill with loli magic fights.

~Djr7

Danganronpa - 01 - First Impression - rushed

Danganronpa is a murder mystery game on the PSP that reminds me of 999. The game was never localized but I have been reading a translation of the game online and it is a wonderful narrative. Upon hearing that an anime adaption was coming out I was ecstatic, but I can't really say the first episode lives up to the game.

Episode 1 was the prologue of the show, and it was rushed to try and cover all of the introductions for all 15 characters as well as their predicament. Essentially Hope's Peak Academy is a school for the brightest students across the country who are chosen to enroll. Those chosen are referred to as "Super High School" students.

With everyone becoming trapped in some sort of game with Monobear, it seems no one is allowed to leave unless they graduate. In order to graduate you have to kill someone, and that is a pretty steep thing to consider. Monobear is some whacked out stuffed bear that may or may not have explosives as we find out.

There was only a small segment for each character that showed who they are, and very brief screen times for each character since we have 15 characters and only 22 minutes to express them, so it was obvious things were going to feel rushed.

I'm not going to go through all the characters but I will go over the ones who showed more personality than others. I will cover the rest as they become important or show more personality. Overall we have a great cast of characters that all show obvious differences with their behavior and looks. I especially love Celestia's character. Her personality is easily shown through a calm and weird demeanor, however she has a few bright ideas such as adaptation to their situation and enforcing rules to make things easier on themselves.

Naegi is our protagonist, he has no ability or any special assets, he was chosen in a lottery and labeled as a super high school lucky student, although you might as well call him super high school unlucky. He is pretty much a regular character who will lead us in the show.

Maizono is a super high school idol, and apparently went to the same school as Naegi, although since she was so popular Naegi never associated himself with her. Her personality and info was similar to a roller coaster, all over the place with its ups and downs, and over before you know it. She introduces herself, rekindles a relation with Naegi, devotes herself to him, has a breakdown, and recovers all in 20 minutes. I was not very happy with how rushed the whole thing was but I guess it's hard to cover everything in what i'm guessing is a 12-13 episode series.

One thing I'd like to mention is how they addressed the "motive" for everyone to kill each other. I'm not sure if this just cut down some time for the show but in the game Naegi is the first one to see the video before everyone else, leading Naegi to consider not telling them about it. Another thing to note is how well they adapted the game's art, although it doesn't fully capture the gritty colours in an outline style, the art is still good enough. Music is directly from the game, and that being said, it's nice to see everything following the game's visuals and atmosphere, the show really captures everything about the game, including character voices, background music, and even the very first scene with the rocket is directly from the game.

Overall it was a bit rushed but it gets the intro out of the way, if you had a hard time trying to follow the pace it should become a little more clear over time. As for right now who knows if anyone is going to kill another, Togami definitely likes to act alone, and that has never really been a good thing when it comes to trust. While I know what happens I will be posting with only the information given from each episode, since I don't even know if they will follow the game. The game's demo version actually had different events happen so i'm not sure the anime will follow the game fully and give us a few surprises.

~Djr7

Shingeki no Kyojin: First Impression - The Depths of Fear and Hate

Also known as "Attack on Titan", Shingeki is a powerful display of human emotion with a very unique art style that does well to portray the gritty and harshness of the show's events.

Humans have retreated behind giant walls that span 50 meters at its lowest point in order to keep out man-eating titans. The show excellently covers a false sense of peace where the inhabitants of the walled city lie to themselves about their safety from the titans. The leading theme is this false sense of security, as humans have built these walls to keep themselves safe from the outside world, however our protagonist Eren points out how they are simply living their lives as livestock, waiting for the titans to come and eat them.

Powerful emotions throughout the show.

The entire intro shows us how true these words are. Most of the citizens live casually, ignorant to the lingering titans outside the wall, trying to get in and consume everyone. If a titan were to enter, what would the humans do? Probably nothing, as there really is nothing they can do, the guards even explain how they act lazy. The guards have lived their lives in peace as no titan has entered in over 100 years, and Eren's disgust at the guard's lack of passion to defend the people from titans helps to drive home how stranded and helpless the human race has become. 

Another heavy theme is hatred. The sheer amount of hatred Eren has for humanity's current state pushes the limits of his control over his own emotions. The events that take place in the first two episode slowly show how his hate transfers from hating mankind's situation, to hating the titans themselves with determination to wipe them off the face of the Earth.

Combat visual's remind me of Sword Art Online.

I really love how serious and dramatic the show is, and this reminds me of the epicness of Shinsekai Yori. As for the titans themselves, a few of them look like nightmarish giants, while others simply look too casual or normal to be considered a man-eating giant. The first two episodes cover the childhood days of Eren and his friends, while it appears we come to a more mature Eren who is hellbent on killing titans. 

Aside from Eren, Mikasa is another amazing character. She is shrouded in mystery, and during the events of the first episode I believe she lost her parents to titans at a young age which has scarred her emotionally, but still she hides her expressions and is pretty badass, making her a rather intriguing character. 

The first two episodes were amazing, I wouldn't change a thing, but I heard that the show does get "Weird" from a friend of mine who read the manga, and I really hope the show doesn't dive into some sort of titan killing action thing. The intro sequence as well as the first scene of episode one show the stunning action scene quality and is most likely a hint as to what we will see later on. 

~Djr7

Suisei no Gargantia: 01 - Awesome First Impression

Of all the shows this season, Suisei no Gargantia's first episode was the best intro in my mind and could not have been any better. I was pretty excited with the whole episode and I think I might enjoy this more than The Severing Crime Edge, which I love. 

The whole story follows Ledo, a portrayed "perfect soldier" who only knows about fighting deep space warfare. The first scenario for Gargantia is an epic battle for survival as it appears humans are in a large scale attack on some sort of plant organism enemy that shoots large lasers. What I loved about this fight was the different style of lasers and bullets. The lasers looked more like smaller precision energy beams, rather than your typical over the top massive artillery shown in most mecha shows. One of the weapons seems to be a massive black-hole-like projectile that pretty much destroys anything in its path, which I thought was pretty badass.

As things turn for the worst, Ledo eventually lands on Earth, which is a fabled planet said to be the only planet where humans can naturally live, and thus the show ends. 

I really appreciate how the entire story and characters are introduced, we aren't bombarded with information before mindless action, but instead all the necessary background information as to what is going on is embedded within the entire battle sequence. Ledo awakes from deep sleep to fight in what appears to be the most important battle of the war. Thankfully Ledo's personality and actions do well to define his character, in fact nearly all of the characters shown are defined by their actions and general conversations, rather than forcing some sort of info dump on us to establish everything. 

Everything is shown through Ledo's perspective, and the entire episode does wonders to immerse us within the story and events that unfold, as well as experience everything at the same time as Ledo. When Ledo arrives on Earth we are kept in the dark about the planet as well as what is happening, and as Ledo explores his situation, we are treated to a wonderful understanding of the situation Ledo is in, purely from his experience to his surroundings, rather than heavy dialogue to explain it.

This episode shows huge promise and I find myself putting all my other downloads on hold in order to get the rest of the available episodes faster. While the characters themselves reveal nearly nothing, they have already established some interesting personalities. Another thing to note is the art, I really like it, plus the show itself has great pace.

~Djr7