Mekaku City Actors Review 7/10

Mekaku City Actors does an exceptional job of introducing a wide range of likable characters that weave an interesting and unique story that is sure to grip your attention as mysteries unfold. A key aspect of the show is how it will excite your visual senses among the bright vibrant colours and background settings.

Mekaku City Actors is an offbeat story about a complex timeline of supernatural events that brings the lives of 10 characters hosting a bizarre range of abilities together. You might be familiar with the Kagerou Project, a series of popular vocaloid music story tracks created by 23 year old Jin (Shizen no Teki-P), who has additionally spawned 4 light novels, and a manga adaption of his work. Mekaku City Actors is also animated by Shaft, which is a huge selling point as the studio is very well known for their wonderful art in producing the Monogatari series and several other highly regarded works.

Here is a list of the main characters who become part of the Blindfold Gang in Mekaku City Actors, they are also the main reason to watch the show since the plot is a bit convoluted towards the end in a rushed manner.




Member Number 07. The shut-in Shintaro

Shintaro is a genius with social issues who refuses to leave his room, until one day where a cyber girl called Ene appears on his computer screen and bothers him to no end. Shintaro has a special connection to a girl called Ayano and her past. Shintaro becomes involved with the Blindfold Gang as various individuals with red eyes and special powers start to gather, overturning his quiet lifestyle.

Number 00: The big sister Ayano

Introduced as a mysterious person with a red scarf, Ayano slowly comes into play as an important character connected to the events surrounding the current Blindfold Gang. Ayano has a special connection to Shintaro's past.










Member Number 06. The cyber girl Ene

Ene suddenly appeared on Shintaro's computer screen one day as a cute cyber girl with mischievous behaviour who loves playing pranks to mess with Shintaro. She can transfer between devices and is often trying to get Shintaro to leave his shut-in lifestyle as he refuses to leave his room. Ene is almost an exact copy of Nyaruko from Haiyori! Nyaruko-san in terms of her personality as well as voice actor.












Member Number 05. The idol Momo

Shintaro's sister, Momo is a popular idol who is always at the center of attention wherever she goes. Her energetic and upbeat behaviour stands out from everyone else as she has trouble trying to re-connect with her brother.















Member Number 01. The leader Kido

The Blindfold Gang's leader, Kido lives with Seto and Kano as a group learning to control their powers and recruit those who gain powers from having red eyes. Her ability allows her to completely hide her presence to those around her. She is often hiding her face and provides for some light comedy whenever Kano points out her inner personality.

















Member Number 02. The nice guy Seto

Seto is an average nice guy who gets a long with everyone. His ability allows him to see into the minds of others, but he would prefer not to use his powers as he finds it might destroy the need to communicate with his friends.















Member Number 03. The eccentric Kano


Kano is one of the most entertaining characters due to his outgoing and deceitful personality. He shoulders a burden of his past and has the ability to alter his appearance to those around him. Kano decided that Kido should be their leader for their Blindfold Gang.

Member Number 04. The princess Mary

Mary is a cheerful girl who is often very shy around strangers. She is the first member to join the Blindfold Gang thanks to Seto and has the ability to capture anyone who meets her gaze and paralyze them in place.

Number 08. The youth Hibiya

The youngest member of the gang who is always picking fights with Momo. Hibiya is introduced early on but doesn't get involved with the Blindfold Gang until the end where he has very little use.

Number 09. The towering silent Konoha

There isn't much to say about Konoha, he is introduced towards the end of the show and appears as an emotionless husk containing vast physical strength. His ties with his past provide an interesting twist on his life before acquiring abilities, but he is essentially shafted at the end and only briefly explained as to who he really is.

If I had one word to describe Mekaku City Actors, it would be "fun". The characters are extremely fun to watch as they interact and work together to solve their dilemmas, while helping their new recruits control their mysterious power and unravel the mysteries of the power's origin. The show was a hit with fans both new and those experienced with Jin's work, but unfortunately the anime doesn't do enough justice for Jin's Kagerou Project which depicts a much more complex and intertwining tale between all the characters. The animation suffers at certain points, especially at the end, but overall the bright vibrant style of Mekaku City Actors is a joy to watch.

The soundtrack for the show is an awesome J-Rock track list which is entirely composed by Jin himself, and provides a real sense of rock that will get you off your feet. Another thing to note on the show is the small ending clips depicting the story of the monster who finds love with a human, which ends up providing some important background information to the origins of the overall story and plot; a nice little segment that adds some charm.

The final 2 episodes of this 12 episode series were extremely rushed with poor quality on the animation, leaving a massive amount of confusion and uncertainty that betrays the wonderful build up of the first 10 episodes to fans. It's a big let down whenever a strong series falls flat at the end, but overall Mekaku City Actors was a treat to watch. Mekaku City Actors doesn't compare that well to the Monogatari series, but despite it's flaws, it's still an interesting story to take in. The basic plot is there, but unfortunately the show is wrapped up far too quickly.

~Djr7

Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin - Brief Final Thoughts

I haven't written anything in a long time so I thought I'd do so for the only spring 2014 anime that I followed this past season. There will probably be some spoilers if you want to proceed.

Nanana is a light novel adaption in the noitaminA timeslot for one cour so it only had 11 episodes. After watching the first few episodes, I thought it had the potential for a decent story. Many weeks later, I was severely underwhelmed. There exists different types of treasures on the island which different people seek out for their own goals. Perhaps the main plot line was to find the person who murdered Nanana. However, not much has changed at end of the 11th episode, except that the main cast is slightly closer and that the main character is more resolved to accomplish said main goal. Even the final scene after the ED only teases what happened with the Ikusaba and Yun-chan business.

There were some interesting characters introduced, but nothing really happened. Juugo kind of reminded me of Touma from the Index series, but with a more interesting background. However, not much of his family's organization was further explored. One could see that there were some intertwining relationships between several background characters that weren't made entirely clear either. The most fun character to watch was definitely Tensai. Her mannerisms and unflappable genius pretty much carried the show for me.

Overall, this was a short anime with some decent production that doesn't accomplish a whole lot. It honestly felt like a teaser for the light novels or perhaps a second season. I highly doubt the latter will come into fruition because the sales numbers for the show don't look too good. If you are considering watching this, but haven't yet, I probably wouldn't recommend it. Tensai's greatness alone doesn't make this worth watching.

-Bern

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

Suisei no Gargantia Review+ Ending: Epic 9/10

Yea this is a bit late with the new season already in its second week, but whatever.

Suisei no Gargantia was one of my favourite shows of Spring 2013. What I enjoyed most was how the show didn't focus on explosions or crazy plot twists to carry my attention. What made Gargantia such a pleasure to watch, was how it focuses on each character's inner conflicts about their goals and finding meaning to their existence. Gargantia's main theme was a clash of cultures, adapting to new ways of life and comparing personal values against each other in order to determine the right path.

Ledo, a dutiful soldier who knows nothing but war, lives only to exterminate a threatening alien race. After a massive battle in space, Ledo is thrown into a worm hole and winds up on Earth, which was thought to be a frozen lifeless planet. Ledo finds himself on a peaceful planet where a melted ice-age period has left the Earth submerged underwater, where massive ship colonies house the human population. The ship Ledo finds himself on lives its days in peace and knows nothing of war. Impossible to re-join his army, Ledo has to figure out a means to "live", and tries to understand himself while on the giant ocean ship Gargantia.

Gargantia does a great job of growing it's characters over the course of the 13 episodes. The show has a slower pace that explores each character, rather than throwing a bunch of characteristics at you in a short span of time.

Now Suisei no Gargantia may not have a lot of action, but it definitely doesn't fall short of interesting and engaging. There are a few eye-popping events that occur, and ultimately everything comes down to a battle of wills. There are a few combat scenes, as well as one incredible final episode that reaches a conclusion to everyone's desires and personal decisions.

Suisei no Gargantia pulled out all the stops with an action packed ending, and managed to resolve all the main conflicts of the show. The final episode really captured the essence of the show, personal beliefs and struggles were mainly individual throughout the season, but in the end everyone is brought together in a clash that crushes some dreams, but ultimately has a happy ending.

Characters:
There were quite a few characters, and thankfully we didn't need much information on them to understand their personalities. The main characters Ledo and Amy, and even some of the better supporting characters grew as the show went on. We were able to clearly see personal struggles with how each character wanted to live their lives and what decisions they took to chase their dreams. Unfortunately I thought Ledo and Amy could have used more progression with each other, but then again I don't know what could have been cut-out in order to make this happen. Overall Ledo, Chamber, and Pinion were the my favourites, I thoroughly enjoyed their progress and they were mainly the sole reasons why I enjoyed the show so much. Their conflicts and choices shaped the events of Gargantia.

Story:
Now that I think about it, the main "plot" to Suisei no Gargantia was about Ledo adapting to his new life. This was excellently done with the help of all the supporting characters as this clash of cultures created meaningful emotions between Ledo and his new home. The story gets really interesting as the show goes on, and it got better and better. The ending to Gargantia was one of the best I have ever seen, all of the conflicts between characters and ways of life comes into a glorious action packed finale that sees everything come to a great end.

Visual:
I really loved the art of the show, the ship Gargantia was breathtaking, and although I found the action scenes to be lacking a little, the character art was bright, colourful, and beautiful. The animation quality differed from time to time, but the visuals and bright colours made it enjoyable.

Sound:
I don't think anything particularly stood out, but I found the audio wonderfully conveyed the spaces portrayed in the show. The composition of sound and visual of Gargantia made me fall in love with the ship's setting, how I wish that city of ships were real.

Overall:
I loved this show, it wasn't perfect, but everything was well executed to show how Ledo progressed from being a galactic soldier who knew only of war, to becoming an integrated part of the Gargantia ship, he was reborn with more "soul" and an appreciation for experiencing life.

Caution! Spoilers below on the ending.

There were a few defining moments of the show that I loved.

The beginning of the series has Ledo waking up to a brand new world, a seemingly peaceful life on the ocean liner Gargantia. These beginning moments for Ledo define his sense of loss and confusion. Ledo's personality and the story writing excellently convey how Ledo feels in such a different world that he must adapt to.

The Hideauze truth about humanity was something that threw Ledo into a mental nightmare. Ledo's shock to the Hideauze being of human origin was excellently presented, and ironic as Ledo was ruthlessly massacring the lot prior to the truth. Up until this point Ledo was starting to adapt to his new life but still had strong ties to his militaristic past, he was at a crossroads, trying to find a path for himself. just as Ledo finally finds something to do with his life on Earth, he is thrown into disarray. Even Chamber's attitude to the killing of the Hideauze helped Ledo realize that he still has no place in this new start on life, and that he must come to understand where he stands and how to move forward in search of a reason to live.

Once Ledo and Pinion had joined up with Ledo's former commander, it ended up revealing just how wrong the galactic alliance's influence was. I loved Pinion's progress as he became obsessed with the relics and how it pushed Ledo to attack the Hideauze and fall back on his military history. Once the bodies of the sacrificed were thrown into the water, it was sudden and without warning. This realization woke Ledo and Pinion from their desires and helped them see the right path to take. I really loved that moment of terror, seeing people suddenly being sacrificed in large numbers was quite the scene. Ledo's sudden flashback of his brother and Bebel reminds him how horrible these religious sacrifices are.

Pinion was one character that really grew on me. He was blinded by revenge and greed of obtaining the treasure trove he and his brother sought out. No one could stop Pinion from his desires, and the only person who could sway a man like Pinion turned out to be the lobster pirate Lukkage.

Special consideration for Lukkage, I didn't think she would appear after her early battles but she makes an important return and helps pinion and Ledo end Strikers reign. Her sudden interest with Pinion was the only thing that saved him from becoming engrossed in his treasure.

Striker was an awesome villain, her warped logical reasoning saw humans as a means to server her. Through her guidance she would lead humanity to happiness, however that happiness only warped the minds of humans and took away all individuality, making them her loyal servants to replicate the galactic army. Her clever use of a fake hologram made it seem like her pilot was still alive in order to trick Ledo into serving her. Not only was she a great villain to Ledo, but even more so to Chamber, who had a different view on life and how he saw machines as tools to help guide people rather than force people down a path.

Chamber may have started out as a support mobile weapon system, but he eventually grows an individual identity with his own thoughts based on surrounding information. When it came time for Ledo to risk his life in order to kill Striker, he ejects Ledo in order to save him, even though his program should not let him act in such a way. Chamber easily became an awesome character after telling Ledo he should survive and explore, as well as telling off Striker "Go to hell tin can!". Chamber was my favourite character of the show and really drove home the battle of machine purposes against Strikers "I am god" logic.

I was surprised to learn why the ship was called Gargantia, and as it turns out the secret mega catapult cannon, while only being a portion of its original size, was able to direct deadly accurate ballistics across a great distance as a weapon of huge destructive potential. This weapon was pretty bad ass compared to all of the other weapons since it holds a huge range and power advantage.

This one goes down as one of my favourites.

~Djr7

E3 2013 - Xbox ONE, PS4, and a sh!t load of games

E3 2013! This year's E3 showed lots of new game content plus the long awaited showing of the rest of the next gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony.

I think i'll start this off with some new console info, followed by the games, and then a summary of some sort.

First of all Nintendo already released their WiiU last year and also didn't bother with a traditional press conference so I will come back to them later.

Microsoft came out with something no one expected, and it has left a lot of Xbox fans with tears and a bad case of anger management. The Xbox ONE is the name for the boring black box of a console that will allow players to pretty much use their Xbox as a single entertainment unit. The biggest thing with Microsoft is their target audience has changed. No longer is Xbox about gamers, but the company is further integrating new tech into the television room, meaning they are pretty much designing a platform for Americans that always have a decent internet connection 24/7 and want to use their voices as a remote control.
Here are some of the BIG issues concerning the Xbox fans.

- No internet? Then no gaming.
You pretty much need decent 24/7 internet in order to play games.

- Borrow your friends game? Only if you pass a test.
You can only borrow a friends game if you have been on their friends list for over 30 days + other limitations.

- Confusion everywhere.
There is so much confusion as to how exactly everything is going to work, and expect a lot of effort on your part to figure out the settings for operating mandatory Kinect, sharing games, organizing your friends and circles, and having your Xbox be used as a TV.

Moving on to the PS4, I'm really not seeing anything all too groundbreaking or shocking. One thing with PS4 is how it will also be similar to Xbox with the entertainment value of movies and other non-gaming content tailored to be personalized to your preferences. The big thing I see with PS4 is it's controller. The new controller offers a touch pad as well as a light that could be used to show player health bar or whatever developers decide to use it for. It's also interesting to note the controller has a an instant stream button that will stream your content straight to Ustream or as videos to facebook. Additionally Sony has announced that the PS Vita will pretty much be required for cross play, meaning you can use the Vita to play off screen. PS4 came out heavy with their game titles over how the console operates. Also the console is similar to the Xbox except it is slanted.

Oh and by the way both consoles will not support backwards compatibility, Nintendo does so there ya go. Another big hitter is that PS4 will implement the use of its PSN+ accounts (monthly prescription) of $50/year if u wanna play online, however you will get all the bonuses of the PSN+ accounts, which makes it better than XBox's $60/year and no current benefits, and then there's Nintendo with free internet as always.

Lets talk about the games shall we?
First of all, there are a LOT of awesome games heading our way, and for that I am very pleased with this years E3. There are far to many games to go over but here is a list of everything.
http://ca.ign.com/wikis/e3/Big_Games_at_E3_2013

In terms of first party games, I think Nintendo edges out Sony for the best selections, however Nintendo is not getting a lot of games that are on both the Xbox and PS4, so overall the PS4 looks stronger with WiiU right behind it.

Here are the noteworthy exclusives for the consoles.

Xbox




- Ryse
A third person immersive quick time events heavy game.

The game honestly looks boring, nearly everything about the game is done in quick time events, which are horrible methods used to slap on mechanics to scripted and limited game play.




- Dead Rising 3 (X1)
Actually looks good.

I have never played a dead rising game but this one looks very open and allows for your own choice to where you go and how you go about interacting with the zombies.

- Crimson Dragon
Seriously?

You are a dragon and you shoot stuff on rails.

- D4
Interesting?

You use Kinect to play an episodic murder mystery. I do not like Kinect.







- Halo 5
You are getting old.

Master chief in a cape, something big appears, and that's the end of the trailer.







- Killer Instinct
Fight!

I didn't play the original but apparently a lot of people seem to care about this game.





Also there is Sunset Overdrive and Below but I have nothing to say about them.

On to the Sony exclusives.

- Beyond two Souls
Heavy Rain!!

Shown last year but more footage shows how this game spans 15 years of the characters life, filled with remarkable events that is sure to use a unique set of controls once again.





- Infamous Second Son
FLAAAAAME!.

I didn't play the previous games but I do like the main character and the game is promising.






- Killzone Shadowfall
Not sure.

I haven't played the Killzone series and it never did get the glory it tried to attain, hopefully this new installment will pick itself up.






- Knack
Unique Visuals.

I'm not all to sold on this game but it does look different and fun.








- Tales of Xillia
Wooooooot.

Looks great and I know a lot of people are going to want this, myself included.








- The Order 1886
Dem Guns!

This game looks quite interesting although I don't know if it is a zombie shooter or some kind of 3rd person mystery action. The cut-scenes were nice but showed very little.








- The Witness
Looks fun.

This game was teased last year but now it looks like quite the short puzzle adventure.







additionally there are a lot of smaller games that I didn't bother to show

And finally Nintendo. One thing about the Nintendo line-up is how long it takes for the games to come out (Next Year Spring), however it does mean that Nintendo is putting more effort to make these games even better and that they do not rush a game. I believe games SHOULD take longer to develop in order to make them better, just look at the COD series and how each game is the same every fricken year, although this year they will have dogs and hi-res arm hair so that make make it good I guess.

- Bayonetta 2
I want it now.

We heard about this last year but we got to see some gameplay as well as the new haircut for Bayonetta. The game looks awesome and is said to run smoothly at 60fps with high detail.



- X

Want more!

More in-game footage showing how awesome this spiritual successor to Xenoblade Chronicles which is one of the best RPG's in a longtime.






- Wonderful 101
Still waiting to hear.

Once again this was shown last year but it remains to look like a great game. The touch controls to make weapons in battles looks like a lot of fun.

- Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze
MONKEY KONG!

The last game was wonderfully crafted and this is sure to be a great purchase.





-Pokemon X Y
Its 3D!

The new Pokemon looks to be completely re-defined through the 3DS with new gameplay features. You can play and interact with your Pokemon like Ninten-dogs. The game looks to have both new and classic Pokemon.

- Super Smash Bros
YES!!!


This is quite possibly one of the BIGGEST and most anticipated games right now. This has a huge development team from various fighting games and will have a lot of content and top notch game play.



- Zelda Link Between worlds
omgomgomg

This is apparently a sequel to "A Link to the Past" which is debated as the best Zelda game ever.





Also Sonic Lost World, Mario Kart8, and Super Mario 3D.


Lots of amazing games in store for us.
Overall Microsoft is trying to be the number one entertainment unit for Americans while trying to introduce big changes to the industry, whereas Sony is doing everything to show that they are not Microsoft by sticking to the basics, and then there's Nintendo who always just do their own thing.

I found an interesting chart comparing the 3 consoles and their specs, usability and price.
http://www.emirates247.com/business/technology/microsoft-xbox-one-vs-sony-ps4-vs-nintendo-wii-u-head-to-head-on-specs-prices-availability-2013-06-11-1.509965

To summarize, PS4 and X1 have identical specs with PS4 being slightly better with how it is overclocked and its use of RAM.

WiiU: Best use of controller innovation and use since you can use the pro controller, Wii controller, and that awesome tablet. Only console to support backwards compatibility. Cheapest price. Free online connectivity. Supports MANY third party games like Watch Dogs. Better first party games.

PS4: Better exclusives than Xbox and still has access to the top multi-platform games. One button streaming/uploading to internet from controller. Cheap affordable price alongside the WiiU and shows it is a prime console for the hardcore gamers.

X1: Complete overhaul of the entertainment device. Voice controls to seamlessly swap between gaming and television with powerful tech to power this. Kinect fully integrated with use of X1 with improvements across the board. Lots of American television and other programs to be exclusively integrated to create a new entertainment device.

To top everything off here is a list of multi-platform games that will most likely be the deciding factor on what console you might buy. Personally I will be getting the PS4 for its exclusive games plus the multi-platform games that are not on the WiiU (which I already have), additionally I have a good PC for the games on PC and X1 only. There is really no reason for me to get the X1, sorry master chief, it's not you, its your parents.

This isn't everything, but it is what I am looking forward to.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag. (all consoles)
Batman Arkham Origins. (all consoles)
Battlefield 4. (PC, X1, PS4)
Call of Duty Ghosts. (PC, X1, PS4)
Dark Souls 2. (360, PS3, PC)
Destiny. (PS4, X1)
Dragon Age 3. (PS3, 360, PC)
Dying Light. (PS4, X1)
Elder Scrolls Online. (PC, PS4, X1)
Final Fantasy XV. (PS4, X1)
Killer is Dead. (PS3, 360)
Kingdom Hearts 3. (PS4, X1)
Lightning Returns: FF13-3. (PS3, 360)
Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain. (PS4, X1)
Mirror's Edge 2. (PS4, X1, PC)
Star Wars: Battlefront. (?)
The Evil Within. (PS3, 360, PC)
Witcher 3. (PS4, PC)
Thief. (PS4, X1, PC)
Titanfall. (PC, X1)

So what games are YOU looking forward to? What new console(s) will you be getting?
My list includes, Titanfall, FF13-3, FFXV, MGS, Killer is Dead, Dragon Age3, Destiny, BF4, Dark Souls, and all of Nintendo exclusives and majority of PS4 Exclusives.

~Djr7