(no subject)
Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I've had a lot going on lately and what little time I've spent online has been on Tumblr. But anywho, here's another What I've Been Up To Post:
Gaming: I finished Legendia, and I gotta say it's my favorite Tales game so far. The story and the characters touched me more on a personal level than any recent game I can think of. The whole character quests thing after the main quest ended was a brilliant idea. It was so nice to see how the relationships grew and changed. I liked that there was a focus on family and what family means for each of the characters (and that family isn't neccessarily the people related to you by blood). Jay and Norma were my favorite characters but I liked all of them (even Shirley, despite her terrible English voice). This may be an unpopular opinion, but I liked her a lot more in the character quests. She really seemed to be trying to fix the mistakes she'd made and put her life back together. But yeah, Jay and Norma just made the game for me. Jay was so multi-dimmensional, he made a lot of other RPG characters seem flat. And Norma was just... Norma.
I started Abyss but I only played a few minutes of it. Around that time, the new Animal Crossing was coming out and Shin Megami Tensei IV was right around the corner, so I decided to take a break from the Tales series for now. I started Devil Survivor because I assumed it would be a quick play while I wait for SMT IV. Ohohoho! How wrong I was! Devil Survivor is way harder than I thought it would be. I'm currently on day six (of seven) and while I love the story and the gameplay is a lot of fun, the difficulty can be frustrating. I admit that I like my games on the easy side because I'm a lazy gamer though.
Anime: We're halfway through the summer season and I'm following several shows (a few that carried over from the spring season). Since I don't have the energy to list them in order of how much I like them, I'll just list them by the day they air.
Sunday:
Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist reminds me strongly of a josei version of Pandora Hearts (only it's more light hearted and every character isn't hiding some severe mental trauma). It's a Zero Sum title, and it's pretty much what you would expect. Lots of beautiful boys/men being quirky or angsty or interesting and the relationships between them. It may not be the most original series this season, but it's solidly enjoyable and gets a little better with each episode.
Uchouten Kazoku (Eccentric Family) is probably the most, well, eccentric title this season. It's very slice-of-life, but in the lives of a family of Tanuki who most often take human form. The art has a cartoony vibe mixed with some gorgeous scenery and rich colors that make it worth watching just to look at it. It's also incredibly charming and quirky, but it's very heartfelt too. Oh, and it has one of the best female characters to appear in years, the amazing and downright terrifying Benten.
Blood Lad is my least favorite Sunday show. It has a little more fanservice than I usually like (mainly because one of the female characters who supplies the most fanservice seems to be there just for the sake of providing fanservice; I can take the fanservice a lot more if the characters have other reasons for existing in the story) and the story feels a little generic, but it has just enough oddball charm and goofy humor for me to keep watching. The protagonist, Staz, is a pretty entertaining character and not the usual goofy shounen protagonist (though he's not entirely unique either).
Monday:
Mushibugyou carries over from last season. I almost dropped it four episodes in last season, but then it picked up a little and it's had some good episodes here and there since then. It still has the issue of several female characters existing simply to provide panty shots and jiggling boobs, but they did finally introduce a named female character who wasn't fanservicey (and she's pretty cool too). I'm mainly watching because there's a minor character I enjoy very much whenever he appears and because the protagonist Jinbei is so unbelievably adorable and sweet and it's hard to resist watching his antics.
Hakkenden season 2 picks up right where season one (which aired two seasons ago, so it's still pretty fresh in everyone's minds) left off. It's the show that I was unsure of at first, but greatly improved a few episodes in. It's another josei title that, like Makai Ouji, is basically full of beautiful boys. Hakkenden is a lot prettier to look at than Makai Ouji though, with better animation and, in my opinion, more attractive character designs. It also has a story that feels a little more original and has more depth. So far season 2 is great and it's probably my favorite Monday show.
Stella Women's Academy is the very last show I tried this season, because I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it. It falls into the "cute girls doing cute things" category, and that's not usually my thing. But I tried it, and it's actually a good show. The girls are fairly well developed and their friendships are sweet. The show never comes across as exploitative or skeevy. It's basically cute girls playing survival games (which means they carry around air guns and run through forests trying to "take out" other teams). It's interesting because it takes the already-done idea of combining cute girls and pastel colors and pretty imagery with things like guns, grenades, forests, etc., but does so in a way that is actually fun and not all grim and gritty (because, you know, they're just playing games and no one is actually getting hurt).
Tuesday:
Sunday WIthout God (ironic that it doesn't air on Sundays) is, without a doubt, the prettiest anime of the season. Everything from the backgrounds to the characters are just gorgeous. And how great is it that there are equal numbers beautiful men and beautiful girls! The story seemed like a confusing mess at first (but a gorgeous confusing mess) but it straightens itself out around three episodes in. It's still slightly confusing but it's been interesting to learn the "rules" of the world the story takes place in and watch things slowly start to fit into place and make sense. I'm excited about where it will go.
WATAMOTE is the funniest show this season. It has a lead character that anyone who's ever felt awkward can instantly relate to. I mean she's painfully awkward, to the point that I often feel second-hand embarrassment for her. But the show is freaking hilarious, even though there's a lot of truth to it. Main character Tomoko is not awkward in the cute way, but in the real "OMG she just humiliated herself so bad!" way. And I appreciate that even her appearance is somewhat awkward and not the usual cutesy look where if you just took off her glasses or something she would be be a gorgeous super model (she doesn't even wear glasses). Overall, it's the easiest show to relate to, and it's a laugh riot, even if sometimes it feels like you're laughing at yourself.
Wednesday:
Free! is my favorite this season. I'm sure everyone knows about the "controversey" of this show (also often called "Swimming Anime" by fans). And I'll be honest, one of my favorite things about this show is just reading the hilarious rage-fuelled rants by dudes who are so offended by shirtless swimming boys even while they obsess over moe harem shows full of panty shots (if you want a good laugh, and then possibly a good cry, check out this tumblr, which collects some of the funniest dude rants; anything from a guy named Taylor is pure gold). The show itself is actually funny, cute, and slightly ridiculous. And yeah, shirtless guys everywhere. Shirtless guys swimming. Shirtless guys trying on swimming trunks and speedos. Shirtless guys cooking with aprons on. Oh, and the ending theme is the catchiest song ever (I use it as my primary ring tone because I can't help but smile when I hear it). Even if you have no interest in the show, it would be worth your time to check out the ending theme on Youtube (because it's ridiculous in its own right).
Thursday:
Majestic Prince is another carry-over from last season. I'm still not used to the awful character designs but it has probably the best mecha designs and action scenes in recent memory. It has an old-school mecha feel, reminding me of shows like Go Lion. So far it's been pretty good this season, with the most recent episode being absolutely devestating. If you can ignore the character designs, this is a must-watch for mecha fans.
Gin no Saji (Silver Spoon) is a series I would have ignored if not for the strong recommendation of a friend. And I'm very glad I tried it, because I'm enjoying it a lot. It has a very grounded, down-to-earth feel to it (not surprising since it focuses on farming and agriculture). I like that it's somewhat educational without ever feeling like it's trying to be. It has a calming effect on me, probably because it's relatively low on angst and high on charm and good-natured humor. Also, the opening and ending themes are so nice to listen to and fit the series like a glove. Bonus points to the series for having a fat female character who is (gasp! shock!) portrayed positively. Tamako is determined, hard-working, intelligent, has great business sense, and is taken seriously and respected by the other characters. How refreshing!
Dangan Ronpa is a series I had to go into with expectations, mainly because several people I follow on Tumblr are fans of the game and have posted about it for a long time. So I was vaguely familiar with many of the characters and a few of the plot lines already. To be honest, I'm glad about this, because if I knew nothing about it and just watched the first episode, I probably wouldn't have watched any more. The first episode was fairly underwhelming and the character designs, even for someone like me who has seen them before, were a little jarring in animation. I think the anime made a mistake in not having a certain event (which happened early in episode 2) happen at the end of episode 1. But oh well. The series is definitely interesting. Someone on Tumblr described it as "Battle Royale meets 999" and that's pretty fitting so far (good thing I loved both BR and 999). I just worry that the anime version won't end up living up to the game.
Friday:
Gatchaman Crowds is the only show I watch on Fridays. It's suppodedly some sort of reimagining of the original Gatchaman but it doesn't seem to have a whole lot in common with the original. It's a great show though, with the best heroine of the season (Hajime, who is awesome in every single way), colorful, stylish art, catchy music, and some fabulous ideas. Seriously, why is GALAX not an actual thing in reality? Someone get on that!
Saturday:
Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan is the only show I watch on Saturdays, and it's enough. Another carry-over from last season and one of the most intense shows I've seen in years. I know there's a lot of hype around it, and that's unfortunate because a lot of people will go into it with too-high expectations or just be determined to find something wrong with it to disprove the hype. Either way, the show isn't perfect but it is very good and, in my opinion, one of the best shows to come out in the past few years. There's a lot to like about it, from the high quality animation to the amazing music to the gripping story and great characters.
And that about covers the week. I know that's a lot to follow but since I just watch a little each day (three episodes at most, with three days each week only having one episode to watch), it's fairly manageable. It's a great season so far.
Gaming: I finished Legendia, and I gotta say it's my favorite Tales game so far. The story and the characters touched me more on a personal level than any recent game I can think of. The whole character quests thing after the main quest ended was a brilliant idea. It was so nice to see how the relationships grew and changed. I liked that there was a focus on family and what family means for each of the characters (and that family isn't neccessarily the people related to you by blood). Jay and Norma were my favorite characters but I liked all of them (even Shirley, despite her terrible English voice). This may be an unpopular opinion, but I liked her a lot more in the character quests. She really seemed to be trying to fix the mistakes she'd made and put her life back together. But yeah, Jay and Norma just made the game for me. Jay was so multi-dimmensional, he made a lot of other RPG characters seem flat. And Norma was just... Norma.
I started Abyss but I only played a few minutes of it. Around that time, the new Animal Crossing was coming out and Shin Megami Tensei IV was right around the corner, so I decided to take a break from the Tales series for now. I started Devil Survivor because I assumed it would be a quick play while I wait for SMT IV. Ohohoho! How wrong I was! Devil Survivor is way harder than I thought it would be. I'm currently on day six (of seven) and while I love the story and the gameplay is a lot of fun, the difficulty can be frustrating. I admit that I like my games on the easy side because I'm a lazy gamer though.
Anime: We're halfway through the summer season and I'm following several shows (a few that carried over from the spring season). Since I don't have the energy to list them in order of how much I like them, I'll just list them by the day they air.
Sunday:
Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist reminds me strongly of a josei version of Pandora Hearts (only it's more light hearted and every character isn't hiding some severe mental trauma). It's a Zero Sum title, and it's pretty much what you would expect. Lots of beautiful boys/men being quirky or angsty or interesting and the relationships between them. It may not be the most original series this season, but it's solidly enjoyable and gets a little better with each episode.
Uchouten Kazoku (Eccentric Family) is probably the most, well, eccentric title this season. It's very slice-of-life, but in the lives of a family of Tanuki who most often take human form. The art has a cartoony vibe mixed with some gorgeous scenery and rich colors that make it worth watching just to look at it. It's also incredibly charming and quirky, but it's very heartfelt too. Oh, and it has one of the best female characters to appear in years, the amazing and downright terrifying Benten.
Blood Lad is my least favorite Sunday show. It has a little more fanservice than I usually like (mainly because one of the female characters who supplies the most fanservice seems to be there just for the sake of providing fanservice; I can take the fanservice a lot more if the characters have other reasons for existing in the story) and the story feels a little generic, but it has just enough oddball charm and goofy humor for me to keep watching. The protagonist, Staz, is a pretty entertaining character and not the usual goofy shounen protagonist (though he's not entirely unique either).
Monday:
Mushibugyou carries over from last season. I almost dropped it four episodes in last season, but then it picked up a little and it's had some good episodes here and there since then. It still has the issue of several female characters existing simply to provide panty shots and jiggling boobs, but they did finally introduce a named female character who wasn't fanservicey (and she's pretty cool too). I'm mainly watching because there's a minor character I enjoy very much whenever he appears and because the protagonist Jinbei is so unbelievably adorable and sweet and it's hard to resist watching his antics.
Hakkenden season 2 picks up right where season one (which aired two seasons ago, so it's still pretty fresh in everyone's minds) left off. It's the show that I was unsure of at first, but greatly improved a few episodes in. It's another josei title that, like Makai Ouji, is basically full of beautiful boys. Hakkenden is a lot prettier to look at than Makai Ouji though, with better animation and, in my opinion, more attractive character designs. It also has a story that feels a little more original and has more depth. So far season 2 is great and it's probably my favorite Monday show.
Stella Women's Academy is the very last show I tried this season, because I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it. It falls into the "cute girls doing cute things" category, and that's not usually my thing. But I tried it, and it's actually a good show. The girls are fairly well developed and their friendships are sweet. The show never comes across as exploitative or skeevy. It's basically cute girls playing survival games (which means they carry around air guns and run through forests trying to "take out" other teams). It's interesting because it takes the already-done idea of combining cute girls and pastel colors and pretty imagery with things like guns, grenades, forests, etc., but does so in a way that is actually fun and not all grim and gritty (because, you know, they're just playing games and no one is actually getting hurt).
Tuesday:
Sunday WIthout God (ironic that it doesn't air on Sundays) is, without a doubt, the prettiest anime of the season. Everything from the backgrounds to the characters are just gorgeous. And how great is it that there are equal numbers beautiful men and beautiful girls! The story seemed like a confusing mess at first (but a gorgeous confusing mess) but it straightens itself out around three episodes in. It's still slightly confusing but it's been interesting to learn the "rules" of the world the story takes place in and watch things slowly start to fit into place and make sense. I'm excited about where it will go.
WATAMOTE is the funniest show this season. It has a lead character that anyone who's ever felt awkward can instantly relate to. I mean she's painfully awkward, to the point that I often feel second-hand embarrassment for her. But the show is freaking hilarious, even though there's a lot of truth to it. Main character Tomoko is not awkward in the cute way, but in the real "OMG she just humiliated herself so bad!" way. And I appreciate that even her appearance is somewhat awkward and not the usual cutesy look where if you just took off her glasses or something she would be be a gorgeous super model (she doesn't even wear glasses). Overall, it's the easiest show to relate to, and it's a laugh riot, even if sometimes it feels like you're laughing at yourself.
Wednesday:
Free! is my favorite this season. I'm sure everyone knows about the "controversey" of this show (also often called "Swimming Anime" by fans). And I'll be honest, one of my favorite things about this show is just reading the hilarious rage-fuelled rants by dudes who are so offended by shirtless swimming boys even while they obsess over moe harem shows full of panty shots (if you want a good laugh, and then possibly a good cry, check out this tumblr, which collects some of the funniest dude rants; anything from a guy named Taylor is pure gold). The show itself is actually funny, cute, and slightly ridiculous. And yeah, shirtless guys everywhere. Shirtless guys swimming. Shirtless guys trying on swimming trunks and speedos. Shirtless guys cooking with aprons on. Oh, and the ending theme is the catchiest song ever (I use it as my primary ring tone because I can't help but smile when I hear it). Even if you have no interest in the show, it would be worth your time to check out the ending theme on Youtube (because it's ridiculous in its own right).
Thursday:
Majestic Prince is another carry-over from last season. I'm still not used to the awful character designs but it has probably the best mecha designs and action scenes in recent memory. It has an old-school mecha feel, reminding me of shows like Go Lion. So far it's been pretty good this season, with the most recent episode being absolutely devestating. If you can ignore the character designs, this is a must-watch for mecha fans.
Gin no Saji (Silver Spoon) is a series I would have ignored if not for the strong recommendation of a friend. And I'm very glad I tried it, because I'm enjoying it a lot. It has a very grounded, down-to-earth feel to it (not surprising since it focuses on farming and agriculture). I like that it's somewhat educational without ever feeling like it's trying to be. It has a calming effect on me, probably because it's relatively low on angst and high on charm and good-natured humor. Also, the opening and ending themes are so nice to listen to and fit the series like a glove. Bonus points to the series for having a fat female character who is (gasp! shock!) portrayed positively. Tamako is determined, hard-working, intelligent, has great business sense, and is taken seriously and respected by the other characters. How refreshing!
Dangan Ronpa is a series I had to go into with expectations, mainly because several people I follow on Tumblr are fans of the game and have posted about it for a long time. So I was vaguely familiar with many of the characters and a few of the plot lines already. To be honest, I'm glad about this, because if I knew nothing about it and just watched the first episode, I probably wouldn't have watched any more. The first episode was fairly underwhelming and the character designs, even for someone like me who has seen them before, were a little jarring in animation. I think the anime made a mistake in not having a certain event (which happened early in episode 2) happen at the end of episode 1. But oh well. The series is definitely interesting. Someone on Tumblr described it as "Battle Royale meets 999" and that's pretty fitting so far (good thing I loved both BR and 999). I just worry that the anime version won't end up living up to the game.
Friday:
Gatchaman Crowds is the only show I watch on Fridays. It's suppodedly some sort of reimagining of the original Gatchaman but it doesn't seem to have a whole lot in common with the original. It's a great show though, with the best heroine of the season (Hajime, who is awesome in every single way), colorful, stylish art, catchy music, and some fabulous ideas. Seriously, why is GALAX not an actual thing in reality? Someone get on that!
Saturday:
Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan is the only show I watch on Saturdays, and it's enough. Another carry-over from last season and one of the most intense shows I've seen in years. I know there's a lot of hype around it, and that's unfortunate because a lot of people will go into it with too-high expectations or just be determined to find something wrong with it to disprove the hype. Either way, the show isn't perfect but it is very good and, in my opinion, one of the best shows to come out in the past few years. There's a lot to like about it, from the high quality animation to the amazing music to the gripping story and great characters.
And that about covers the week. I know that's a lot to follow but since I just watch a little each day (three episodes at most, with three days each week only having one episode to watch), it's fairly manageable. It's a great season so far.