Barely Passing the Test
Well its been a little awhile since I last wrote here. Truth is I been busy working on the stories I mentioned in my last entry. So as promised here the info on it. You can find it at ffxifanfic.livejournal.com first 9 chapters are posted thus far, so check'em out! I hope you enjoy them!
I been busy at work helping with the Due-Diligence its important that this goes well, so we have a smooth sale and painless transition into being a part of a larger organization. I learned a lot with this job, and I've gotten to use a set of skills that I've always inheretly had, but never gotten to put into practice at work. Its nice being apart of something where my ideas are respected and taken into consideration, as opposed to being a cog in a large machine. My last year and a half with Gamestop was some of the worst I experienced ever in a job. Everyday was a bad day around that time, and everyday was filled with bad news it was just a matter of what degree of bad I was dealing with. If it was not as bad as I intially thought then that might be considered a "good day". Now don't me wrong I don't blame Gamestop for problems that I faced. I was in a tough situation, and fell on some bad luck, that's all. Eventually my health starting going degrade from all the stress I was under and I made the decision to shallow my pride and walk away before I got any worse. Well that's all in the past, I've moved on and things are going much better for me.
Once again I was surprised to see the first season of "Baka and Test" sitting on my desk at work waiting for me. Funny how that keeps happening like that. Now I will be the first to admit that I didn't have high expectation for this show. Its just that I have a guilty pleasure for Romantic Comedy fan-service or not.
If you watched any amount of anime or manga you will know that "Baka" means "idiot" or "stupid" in Japanese. Despite the name, the idea behind the series is pretty interesting. The school is broken into a hierarchy of classes ranked A through F. The students placement into these classes is based on their entrance exam scores. The best students would be placed in Class A and enjoy perks that come with it like, comfy reclining chairs and laptops at their work stations, lets not forget the ridiculous coffee bar located in the classroom! Now failures go to Class F, where you don't even get a desk! Instead you get wooden tables that keep breaking and cushions that loses its stuffing. Not to mention a homeroom teacher with about the same amount of motivation (if not less!) as the students that were placed into class in the first place. Good thing stay this way the whole year. Bring on the "Summoner Test Wars" or "S.T. Wars" for short. Basically all the students at this school can summon a pint-sized avatar and battle other students avatars. The strength of a students avatar is based on academic scores in school. The idea behind the S.T. Wars is a lower ranking class can challenge a higher ranking class to a battle and if they win they can swap their class room amenities for the class they beat. Class F being the idiots that they are decide to challenge Class A by the second episode. And that's where the show starts to fail. The second episode is where the S.T. Wars stop till the last 3 episodes of the series. And so more then half the show becomes your average run-of-the-mill rom-com. Clueless idiotic main character? Check! 2 female leads pining for his attention? Check! Though I do give the show some credit for how they handled their low budge. All the background feel like those pre-drawn background you buy in an art store to help save time on drawing it yourself which is to say feels cheap. Though how they way the handle that is interesting, all the shadows and some of the still images have halftone patterns to them adds some stylization and takes away from some of the cheapness. Being in the printing business I found that very amusing. As mentioned earlier the main character is an idiot, though he the kind of lovable idiot you can't totally hate.
My biggest problem with this show is the part that made the show unique and interesting is only happens in the beginning and end the whole middle feels like filler and not necessary. It was amusing and enjoyable for the most part just disappointing in how it was handled.
Well that's all folks remember to check out my stories on the other account!
Peace!
~John
I been busy at work helping with the Due-Diligence its important that this goes well, so we have a smooth sale and painless transition into being a part of a larger organization. I learned a lot with this job, and I've gotten to use a set of skills that I've always inheretly had, but never gotten to put into practice at work. Its nice being apart of something where my ideas are respected and taken into consideration, as opposed to being a cog in a large machine. My last year and a half with Gamestop was some of the worst I experienced ever in a job. Everyday was a bad day around that time, and everyday was filled with bad news it was just a matter of what degree of bad I was dealing with. If it was not as bad as I intially thought then that might be considered a "good day". Now don't me wrong I don't blame Gamestop for problems that I faced. I was in a tough situation, and fell on some bad luck, that's all. Eventually my health starting going degrade from all the stress I was under and I made the decision to shallow my pride and walk away before I got any worse. Well that's all in the past, I've moved on and things are going much better for me.
Once again I was surprised to see the first season of "Baka and Test" sitting on my desk at work waiting for me. Funny how that keeps happening like that. Now I will be the first to admit that I didn't have high expectation for this show. Its just that I have a guilty pleasure for Romantic Comedy fan-service or not.
If you watched any amount of anime or manga you will know that "Baka" means "idiot" or "stupid" in Japanese. Despite the name, the idea behind the series is pretty interesting. The school is broken into a hierarchy of classes ranked A through F. The students placement into these classes is based on their entrance exam scores. The best students would be placed in Class A and enjoy perks that come with it like, comfy reclining chairs and laptops at their work stations, lets not forget the ridiculous coffee bar located in the classroom! Now failures go to Class F, where you don't even get a desk! Instead you get wooden tables that keep breaking and cushions that loses its stuffing. Not to mention a homeroom teacher with about the same amount of motivation (if not less!) as the students that were placed into class in the first place. Good thing stay this way the whole year. Bring on the "Summoner Test Wars" or "S.T. Wars" for short. Basically all the students at this school can summon a pint-sized avatar and battle other students avatars. The strength of a students avatar is based on academic scores in school. The idea behind the S.T. Wars is a lower ranking class can challenge a higher ranking class to a battle and if they win they can swap their class room amenities for the class they beat. Class F being the idiots that they are decide to challenge Class A by the second episode. And that's where the show starts to fail. The second episode is where the S.T. Wars stop till the last 3 episodes of the series. And so more then half the show becomes your average run-of-the-mill rom-com. Clueless idiotic main character? Check! 2 female leads pining for his attention? Check! Though I do give the show some credit for how they handled their low budge. All the background feel like those pre-drawn background you buy in an art store to help save time on drawing it yourself which is to say feels cheap. Though how they way the handle that is interesting, all the shadows and some of the still images have halftone patterns to them adds some stylization and takes away from some of the cheapness. Being in the printing business I found that very amusing. As mentioned earlier the main character is an idiot, though he the kind of lovable idiot you can't totally hate.
My biggest problem with this show is the part that made the show unique and interesting is only happens in the beginning and end the whole middle feels like filler and not necessary. It was amusing and enjoyable for the most part just disappointing in how it was handled.
Well that's all folks remember to check out my stories on the other account!
Peace!
~John