2013 - The Year in Review - Part 2 (Games/Anime/Media Retrospective)
I do sometimes lament that garbage “social media” means everyone is there to look at some vapid cat video and not on forums where we can argue about why game X is totally better than game Y, you philistine. But as you well know, every year at this time, I list the anime, games, and a few other miscellaneous media I’ve seen over the course of the year, then write about which titles listed were my favorite of the year and why, capturing the spirit of rock-solid certainty in one’s own superior artistic tastes that made years of forum posting so golden. As always, I mark my "year’s best" by what I played/watched/read during the calendar year, and not by whether these things were made/released during this calendar year, embodying the adage "If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you." These aren’t intended to be exhaustive reviews or critical standpoints, just some fly-by summaries of what I liked (or didn’t).
Video Games I Played in 2013
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Dragon’s Dogma [replay] (PS3)
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PS3)
Guild Wars 2 (PC)
Dragon’s Crown (PS3)
Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
The first thing you’re likely to notice about this list is that it’s shorter than any list I’ve made since the years I was in undergrad and only had access to consoles during school breaks. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, I tied up a lot of my weekends with events this year, and I now get home late 4 out of 5 weeknights every week, which does slow down my game playing. Secondly, I spent over 100 hours on 4 of the 6 games listed here, which is a pretty significant commitment to any game. Third, one of these games (Guild Wars 2) is an MMO, which are basically sponges for as much time as you’re willing to throw at them - and in GW2’s case, the game is fun enough that the time I threw at it added up over the course of the year.
Let’s shoot off some quick facts: I have over 500 hours in Guild Wars 2. Dragon’s Dogma and Dragon’s Crown have the distinction of being the only two PS3 games I’ve bothered to get the Platinum trophy for. I actually beat Link Between Worlds twice in a row - once regularly, then again right after in Hero Mode because the dungeons are really fun, if a bit short, and I was still hungry for more.
My Best Game of 2014 is Dragon’s Crown! I’ve always loved Vanillaware’s aesthetic - they just might have my favorite art in all of gaming - but in past titles, I’ve found their games to have kind of hit-and-miss gameplay. So when I became aware of Dragon’s Crown, I was cautiously optimistic. They were taking on the side-scrolling beat-em-up, a genre that lives and dies by the solidity of its gameplay, and infusing it with RPG elements. Although it was a gamble, it paid off for them. It paid off big-time. Each of the game’s six characters has a unique style of play, and they’re all worth exploring to find your favorite. Much ado has been made about the game’s exaggerated artistic stylings, but that art style, along with the very GM-esque narrator who tells the story, the bountiful loot finding/identification system, and the classic, towering bosses all show that this game is one big love letter to the worlds of pulp novels, Dungeons & Dragons, and epic fantasy.
Though I was having a lot of fun as I played, I never expected that, at the completion of the campaign, I’d roll on into Hard Mode, or at the completion of Hard Mode, I’d set myself up against the rigors of Infernal Mode…but I did! I like that the game is scalable - you can level several characters, or focus on just one. When you beat the game, you unlock Hard (and beating Hard, Infernal), but you can always go back to Normal, if you want to play with a friend or just want to cruise through for kicks. The fighting in Dragon’s Crown is also much evolved from the heyday of the beat-em-up - controls are tight and responsive, and allow for precise maneuvering and speedy action. This game is in the direct lineage of Capcom’s D&D “Shadows Over Mystara” line, and with skill points you can allocate to unlock combat maneuvers and perks, plenty of weapon and armor drops (and the ability to have up to 9 bags for separate loadouts that you can choose from at the beginning of each stage), and combat that feels like it integrates some of what makes fighting games fun (without the frustrating parts), it’s incredibly satisfying to clear your way through a level, especially when playing online with a team that has good synergy. Unless you simply don’t like beat-em-ups or action RPGs, I can easily recommend Dragon’s Crown - even if you just play through a full game on Normal Mode, with just one character, it’ll give you enough playtime to be worth its price.
Ni no Kuni was a game I really wanted to like. Level-5 has made some pretty good games in the past, and their mastery of anime-style cel shading is second to none. These are the folks who were responsible for how fantastic a representation of Akira Toriyama’s artwork Dragon Quest VIII was, and they did Studio Ghibli’s art style proud. The problems I had with Ni no Kuni can basically be summed up in saying that “The game triumphs on every aesthetic front, but fails massively in most others.” A gorgeous art style that feels like you’re walking through a lushly-animated world? They nailed it. Breathtaking symphonic score by Joe Hisaishi? They put it to damn good use. Clever, stylish localization job with good writing and dubbing? They managed to pull it off (special props to Mr. Drippy). And these three elements together make so warm-hearted and imaginative an impression that reviewers were tripping over themselves to give it 9/10s and even some perfect scores. Meanwhile, I was thinking, “Wait…do these people not see the really obvious slate of problems this game has?”
Among Ni no Kuni’s problems are its battle system, lack of good character development, and over-reliance on fetch quests to pad length. The battle system, wherein the three main characters capture, control, and evolve monster “familiars” in a very pokemon-esque nod is broad and seems pretty cool…except that battles are a slog because the AI is awful. The characters you’re not directly controlling will burn up their MP incredibly fast, often casting spells that aren’t even necessary to cast (or when brute force would work just as well or better). Bad pathing can keep monsters from being able to attack enemies because they get caught up trying to go through another friendly (or even non-targeted enemy!) monster when they can’t, and the different monster evolutions feel like almost no balancing was done on them. Due to the game’s AI shortcomings, I found that generally the best strategy was to never rely on magic-using familiars for anything except curative skills, and indeed, most of what I’d consider the grade-A familiars were physical powerhouses (including Griffy the Griffin, the free DLC familiar I got from pre-ordering the game…).
The story, which started off being about a boy who agreed to undertake a task in a strange world to revive his mother who died saving his life, squanders that incredibly potent theme by not really having a lot of story to it, or really digging much into that great setup. Main characters Oliver, Esther, and Swaine never really grow beyond what they start off being (except that Swaine stops being an outright thief), and outside of maybe one or two RPG-staple “campfire scenes”, there’s a sore lack of bonding/camaraderie moments between them. Worse still, the game sort of tries to wallpaper over how much story there isn’t by throwing a bunch of fetch quests at you. You don’t have to do them…except you kind of do because they unlock abilities like “refilling some of your HP and MP at the end of every battle”, which is pretty damn useful when in a dungeon. If the game’s core narrative delivered on its compelling potential, those would have been a fun bonus, but as things are, I found them to be a conspicuous padding of the game’s length. Even now, I don’t think I could recommend Ni no Kuni to people - it’s a pleaser for the senses, but the underlying gameplay issues and featherweight story leave it with a distinctly unfulfilling aftertaste.
Super Mario Galaxy…where do I start? This was a game that re-ignited a bunch of people’s love for the Super Mario franchise - some call it one of the greatest games of all time. Sadly, Mario Galaxy did nothing for me. I was never swept up in the joy-gasms that so many apparently got while playing this. Instead, I was frustrated by how transparent the game was about its “obstacle course” nature. Thinking back, Super Mario games have always basically been about running an obstacle course, but Galaxy goes so far as the fact that selecting a certain star to go after will specifically set up the stage for you to get THAT STAR - sometimes including barring off things that would allow you to get a different one. I really liked those instances back in Mario 64 where I’d set out in search of one star, only to stumble upon some mysterious area where I’d discover a totally different star than the one I’d gone looking for. That sense of discovery doesn’t happen often in Mario Galaxy. Also, the big vaunted “planetary gravity” of Galaxy was fun…until Mario was running upside-down on a surface and all feeling of accurate control went to pot.
I finished the game, with a little over 90 stars (lest you say that I didn’t take the time to really explore it), and it really had me wondering if Super Mario just isn’t “for me” anymore - whether it’s time to hand this gaming icon off to a generation of gamers who can still appreciate what it offers. But I’ve had so many good memories with the Super Mario franchise - especially Super Mario World and Super Mario 64, which were formative gaming experiences for me in important ways - that I WANT to still be able to love Super Mario. I hope I find a Mario game that does that for me, because Galaxy wasn’t it, and it wasn’t it by a country mile.
Guild Wars 2 is a great MMORPG that I’ve whiled away many an hour with. While I originally bought the game back at its release in August 2012, I didn’t play much more than 20-30 hours of it that year. It’s only in 2013 that I picked the game back up, and with all the improvements ArenaNet had made in my absence, things finally clicked for me. I love the fact that it discards many of the MMO conventions that I feel have stifled the genre. First among these, it strikes a balance in its sales model - it charges no monthly fee, but it’s also not completely free to play - you do buy the game client. This allows developer ArenaNet to see some money from each player and thus not have to lean hard on monetizing via their cash shop. So, you buy once, and then you’re free to play however long you want - you never have to pay anything more after the initial expenditure. That’s perfect for someone like me, whose gaming time is always so varied that I never felt comfortable pledging myself to a monthly subscription game.
Secondly, Guild Wars 2 lets you guest onto any other servers, so you can play with anyone you might know. This is HUGE in breaking down the social barriers that afflict MMOs, like joining one, rolling a character, investing 20 hours, then finding out that a friend plays but they’re on some other server so you might as well NOT be playing the same game. Every MMO game going forward should have something like this. Server segregation sucks, and it keeps friends from playing together. Even Final Fantasy XIV - if I ever did start that up, I’d have a bear of a time picking a server, because I have several groups of friends who I know would take me in, but they’re all on different servers, and by choosing one group, I basically can’t ever play with the others, and that makes me sad.
Guild Wars also innovates in combat, by chucking out the awful “Holy Trinity” of DPS, Tank, and Healer. Lots of MMO stalwarts love this trinity, and berate Guild Wars 2 for not having it, but…the people who like it are usually the people who are in well-connected guilds, where there are always people available to run dungeons if ever someone wants to. The problem is that, as a largely-unaffiliated player in most of the MMOs I’ve tried, I usually see tons of players who roll DPS (“damage dealing” classes), because that’s what’s easiest to play by yourself with. People don’t tend to roll tanks or healers unless they’ve got a solid support network (or those random souls who just like playing that type), but those people are far from the majority. It ends up with healers and tanks being hot commodities, and you basically can’t run content without them, so if you aren’t a part of a sizeable group, or your healer is having some guild drama, or your tank was gonna do that dungeon but they TOTALLY have to jet for some spontaneous other thing, you’re hosed. Guild Wars 2 kicks that shit to the curb, and I couldn’t be happier. You can complete dungeons with most group compositions; it’s more about having certain utilities covered than needing any specific classes. The way they have it set up still feels kind of haphazard (every class has a healing skill, but it’s really more about mitigating or evading damage in the first place), but the combat continues to evolve, and it’s easily the best time I’ve had with combat in an MMO outside of Dungeon Fighter Online (which was, to reference way back up to Dragon’s Crown, an RPG beat-em-up with fighting game inputs and sensibilities). Combat in GW2 is basically about good skill use. There’s no MP to manage - just cooldowns to be mindful of. It makes combat a lot more fun and focused on the fight rather than the metadata of the fight, which is enjoyable. Tyria is a beautiful world that’s fun to explore and fight your way through. I’m not currently active in the game - put it on the back burner at around the end of December because I wanted to play more console titles over the next several months - but if you’re thinking of playing, give me a shout-out. I’d be glad to have the company. And because of the way GW2 works, even if you don’t play for months, the door to come back is always open, and I like that.
Dragon’s Dogma I wrote about last year when I did my initial playthrough, so I won’t say too much about it here, other than the fact that in spite of lackluster storytelling, the game’s gameplay was compelling enough that I took it for another spin this year (largely to help a friend’s pawn learn all about monsters and quests). I’m really looking forward to Dragon’s Dogma 2, where they’ll hopefully refine the action combat to be even more enjoyable, and then put that with a story that’s better than something I could dash off in an afternoon.
Lastly, we’ve gotta cover The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. With Suikoden and Castlevania left by the wayside and Final Fantasy but a shadow of its former glory, the Legend of Zelda is one of the few long-running game series that really lights a fire in me. Those games are usually the primary drivers for me to acquire new Nintendo consoles - it was so with a Wii and Skyward Sword, and Link Between Worlds (partnered with a good sale on 3DSes over Black Friday) made it the right time for me to pick up a 3DS XL. So, understandably, when you buy a console FOR a game, there’s a little extra pressure on that game, where it kind of shoulders some extra burden for justifying that purchase.
Fear not, for A Link Between Worlds is a really fun game, and totally justified my purchase of a 3DS. Months before the game came out, when I saw that it took place in the world of SNES classic “A Link to the Past” - literally, its map IS the overworld to LttP, and there’s a Dark World equivalent as well - I was concerned that the game was trying too hard to play off nostalgia as a way to soothe the spirits of people who felt like Skyward Sword had been too hand-holdy and too *gasp* narratively-focused (I think Twilight Princess is the most narrative-focused Zelda, and it’s probably not a coincidence that it’s also my favorite). There were promises of being able to tackle dungeons in any order, and instead of getting weapons from dungeons, “renting” them, so that you could continue exploring wherever you wanted. It all sounded very conciliatory, and that worried me, because I’m in the camp that feels like Zelda only became a good series when it got over being like the original. It may be because I played it well after its heyday, but I’ve never thought the original Legend of Zelda is a particularly fun game. The PS3 title “3D Dot Game Heroes” is basically like what the original Zelda would be like if it was actually fun, and I liked that, and it really showed where original Zelda was clunky and lacking. Link to the Past, on the other hand, is a very fun game, and by that time the technology had evolved that allowed the game to be much deeper, and more fair to play mechanics-wise.
To my happy surprise, A Link Between Worlds actually made good on its promises, delivering the world of “A Link to the Past” in beautiful 3D that captured the look of the original world with an exacting degree of detail. It was like visiting a place you used to hang out a lot and finding it’s been modernized, but still knowing every street and storefront. Weapon rental wasn’t the unmitigated disaster I had feared it would be, although choosing to divorce weapon earning from dungeon progress resulted in most dungeons each only taking one unique item to clear instead of more diverse methods of traversal seen in games that have a pre-defined order for the dungeons. When you die, you lose all rented weapons and have to re-rent them (although you can pay a higher fee to buy them; then you keep them for the rest of the game regardless of what happens). I can see how they probably wouldn’t want to put players in a position where they needed 3-4 weapons to really navigate a dungeon and have to re-buy those every time they die, but the game was shamefully generous with rupees. As a result of all of this, the dungeons are smaller than what they were in Link to the Past (although many of them are the same places as you went to in Link to the Past, albeit with different layouts), and since they each take one main item from your arsenal to complete, you seldom have to guess at what you might need to solve a given puzzle. It also has to be said that the game is easy. On my playthrough in normal mode, I cleared the game without dying a single time. I had so much fun, though, and the itch wasn’t scratched quite yet, that I started a new game in Hero Mode (unlocked by beating the game once), which mainly makes the game harder by increasing the damage you take from attacks. I didn’t fully die in this mode either (in the sense of a death where you lose all your rented weapons), but that was due to a very liberal application of bottled fairies while dungeon spelunking.
The story is basically just window dressing in A Link Between Worlds, but it’s an incredibly fun game, and easily the second best handheld Zelda (after Link’s Awakening, of course), and if you play the game, you’re gonna have a good time. Doubly so if you’re one of those cantankerous Zelda players who uses “time to sword” as a measurement of how good each game in the series is. You get the sword in the first 10 minutes, so go out and cut down some shrubs, yo.
I plan to hopefully play a greater number of games in 2014, and that will probably be accomplished by mixing in some more indie titles from Steam - and games I have Kickstarted in the last year or two, as they become available. Still, there’s a significant number of high-profile backlog titles I’m eyeing in 2014, including Dragon Age: Origins, Valkyria Chronicles, Xenoblade, The Last Story, and at least Persona 3 or 4 (which I’ve owned for years but never gotten around to). I want to tackle some of those, as well as new titles I’ve got on my radar such as Bravely Default and Drakengard 3. Here’s to another year in gaming!
Anime I Watched in 2013
Dakara boku wa, H ga dekinai (That’s Why I Can’t Play H)
Chuunibyo demo, Koi ga Shitai (Love, Chuunibyo, and Other Delusions)
Hyouka
Princess Tutu
Galaxy Express 999 [movie]
Adieu Galaxy Express 999 [movie]
Galaxy Express 999 Eternal Fantasy [movie]
Super Dimension Fortress Macross
Love Live!
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (My Little Monster)
Colorful [movie]
Sukitte Ii na yo (Say “I Love You”)
Psycho-Pass
Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru (My Teen Romantic Comedy Snafu)
Wolf Children [movie]
Space Adventure Cobra [movie]
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet
Arcadia of My Youth [movie]
Free!
OreShura
Silver Spoon
Myself; Yourself
NakaImo: My Little Sister is Among Them
Puella Magi Madoka Magica Movie 3: Rebellion [movie]
We can see once again that my dedication to watch a fairly broad variety of anime titles has served up a varied selection. I try each year to watch: (A) some noteworthy older shows or movies, (B) series I meant to watch but missed for some reason, (C) a smattering of what’s been popular lately, and (D) new stuff.
The best offerings this year actually came from the classics category, and I’m not sure if that’s more of a commentary on their quality, or the lack of really good offerings in many modern anime seasons. It’s a close race, but the finest anime I watched this year was the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross. As someone who never saw Robotech as a kid, I went in fresh, not really knowing what to expect other than planes that transform into robots and a totally 80s pop idol named Minmay.
As it turns out, Macross tells a surprisingly captivating story - a tale of humans discovering that they’re not alone in the universe, and subsequently, having to fight against a strange culture much different from their own - but also much the same, in some surprising ways. I felt the series had a slow start, as it took me 4-5 episodes before I was really caught up in the characters and their situation, but once the show’s on track, it does well from there. A really interesting aspect of the show is that it makes use of the rarely-utilized “three seasons of 12-13 episodes each” format. This allows it to have a very clean three-act structure, with major plot points happening at each season bridge that change up the status quo. I was taken aback by the fact that the series’ biggest all-out battle actually happens 2/3 of the way through the series. I can’t even remember another anime that’s had the cajones to try something like that! The last third of the series tightens the focus to picking up the pieces after that huge battle, and gives satisfying development and conclusions to the interpersonal story arcs, in particular the main romantic triangle. Anime series generally seem to err on the side of too little closure, so the way Macross tied itself up was pretty satisfying to me. Compared to its contemporary, the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, Macross has a much livelier cast, and more social awareness. If Gundam is a show that examines the mindsets of soldiers dumped into a battle much bigger than them, Macross is a show about people trying to go on with their lives in all the ways they know how, under the shadow of war. In some ways, it’s a sociological statement on how shared culture can bring disparate people together.
The aliens, the Zentradi, are also noteworthy for not being one-note bad guys. Human-looking giants with greenish skin, they present an imposing threat (they can basically fistfight with the humans’ transformed robots), but the more they badger the Macross, the more curious they become about what’s happening on board the ship. As a warlike race, they’re fascinated by…well, culture. The way humans live their lives. The way men and women live together. By music and art. By the idea of recreational time. As a race that forgot such things, they still, deep down, have a yearning for them, and when micro-nized Zentradi spies bring back a load of objects and stories from their time aboard the Macross, the fascination with human culture spreads in a way that turns the tide of the war. It’s fascinating because it casts the Zentradi firmly as not villains, but simply antagonists, and a people who, in spite of their warrior culture, are eventually open to being reasoned with. The major Zentradi characters get more character development than you see in most modern anime villains, really. It’s pretty cool. The Macross series has always been a revered property among old-school fans, and it was great to watch an old classic that really was, to me, as good as people had always said it is. I’m watching more Macross in 2014, and the series is definitely building esteem with me. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m here discussing another Macross title next year in my 2014 assessments!
Falling just short of my top spot this year was the first Galaxy Express 999 movie. For as long as I’ve been an anime fan, I’ve always kinda ridiculed the art style of Leiji Matsumoto, where all the women are pressed from the same slender, eyelashy bishoujo mold and all the men who aren’t Captain Harlock are strange, squatty midgets. However, after hearing good things from my brother, I decided to give the Galaxy Express movie a whirl. I’m glad I did, because it surprised me with just how good it is.
The Galaxy Express 999 movie sits in a unique place - it feels like it stands astride the old 1950s-1960s-era sci-fi of lazer-ray-guns and robots that look boxy and robot-ish, and a new generation of sci-fi that promised to be sleeker, with more expansive, imaginative ideas of what the future would be like. Many of its trappings feel like a wistful, nostalgic look at the old era of sci-fi being left behind - from its Original Generation Star Trek-like planets (each with their own ethical conflict!) to the sweeping, orchestral score that feels like the distilled longing for the fleetingness of youth (in a particular symphonic style that feels very late-60s/early 70s). This is the kind of movie I’m actually glad I never saw until now, because I don’t know if I would’ve really appreciated what it had to say about youth and adulthood when I was younger. Now that I’m over 30, I can look back on Tetsuro’s adventures with the same sort of nostalgic sense of knowing that Matsumoto surely must have felt as he wrote the story. The second and third films continue the story, but none feel as keyed in to that central theme of “growing up” - and the things we lose and gain when we do - as that first film. It’s a stand-alone work that’s now one of my very favorite anime films.
Also in the Leiji Matsumoto-verse was the classic film Arcadia of my Youth, starring Captain Harlock, which was pretty good, but very dense, to the point where I want to watch it again to really understand it. It doesn’t help that Matsumoto plays kind of fast and loose with his universe’s canon, but as an origin story for the infamous space pirate, it’s pretty great, and worth seeing. The impression I get from a lot of Leiji Matsumoto stuff is actually that I should just seek out the films, because the TV series have a lot of that Original Star Trek pedantry and over-moralizing that the film versions pare down to just focus on the characters and the story spine, and seem to be better for it.
Princess Tutu is an older title at this point, but one well worth checking out. I’d classify it as an unsung gem. It operates in a strange realm of both fable and storybook, in a strange academy where Ahiru, an ordinary duck who can transform into a girl hopes to meet a handsome prince - and meets one, albeit with a heavy fate. There’s something surreal about Princess Tutu, such that the only series to which I can readily draw comparisons is Revolutionary Girl Utena - and those comparisons exist not just in atmosphere, but even in the way the story progresses (I never finished Utena, so I can’t comment in fullness, but Tutu has rough equivalents of Utena’s introductory “Student Council” arc and the “Black Rose” arc, in terms of what those arcs accomplish for the story and how they do so). The story’s visual and musical languages are a combination of European faerie tales and classical music, which is a win/win for someone like me, who likes both of those things. Indeed, when a series uses classical music (Violinist of Hameln, Nodame Cantabile), it’s certain to catch my interest.
It’s difficult to explain the series’ charm, but it has charm, though it takes a while to shine through past a slow first 2 episodes and fairly simplistic character designs. There’s also a very interesting male lead in Fakir, who starts off as a raging asshole and sees some excellent growth over the course of the series (the mid-series climax is one of its absolute best moments, due in no small part to Fakir and Tutu’s excellent interplay). If I had to posit one weak spot, it’s that from after the series’ midpoint up to when the “endgame” kicks off, the series is a bit weak, with a number of episodes that stand on their own, many of which could potentially be watched out of order (this is the equivalent of Utena’s “Black Rose” arc which, not coincidentally, was ALSO a weaker point in that show). If you have a mind for fanciful faerie tales with smatterings of surrealism and a dark underbelly, Princess Tutu is something you should watch. It doesn’t even matter that it features a duck who turns into a girl who sometimes also turns into a magical ballerina princess; this series is BALLER.
A quick rundown of other series worth a watch:
Hyouka is based on an actual novel (not just a light novel) and tells the story of a sharp-minded but antisocial guy who uses his powers of reasoning to investigate odd matters at school…when he’s forced into it by circumstances. Its writing definitely makes it stand out from the pack; character interplay is a high point here, with well-tuned back-and-forths in the dialogue (especially when there’s antagonism involved). Protagonist Oreki reminds me a bit of Kyon from The Menalcholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, in how he has a distinctive “mental narration” voice that sets the series’ tone quite well. Hyouka doesn’t really have a central plotline; each investigative mystery is kind of its own arc. I suppose you could consider the growth of the leads Oreki and Chitanda to be the spine of the story, as that’s what consistently builds up across the series’ separate arcs. One weak point is that, in most arcs, the stakes in each of the mysteries never feel really high, so the series maintains a more relaxed gait when it could’ve been played more taut (to its benefit, IMO). If you can roll with the pacing, it’s pretty interesting, and the series’ animation and background artistry really shine.
Psycho-Pass is basically “Minority Report: The Anime”, about a squad of investigators in a future setting where a powerful computer system is able to analyze the public’s propensity to engage in criminal activity and trigger a warning once a certain threshold has been passed, dispatching the investigation teams to bring the proto-criminal to justice. Of course, the series covers all the potential benefits and problems such a system would introduce, as its running plot threads intertwine with an enigmatic character whose mental state never triggers the system, even when engaging in heinous behavior. One story arc in particular, in which a killer plasticizes their victims and turns them into statuesque “artworks”, had disturbing imagery that actually made me uncomfortable - a rare feat whether anime or film. Psycho-Pass is a good show, and other than objectionable content, there’s nothing that would lead me to not recommend it - especially to people who are looking for a cool sci-fi crime drama. It’s not as cerebral or “cyberpunk procedural crime drama” as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but it’s the kind of thing where if you liked that, you’ll like this. Psycho-Pass is, at the very least, less obtuse than GitS, and its high-concept premise is easy to get into.
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is a show with a premise that we’ve seen many times before - person from a really technologically-advanced society gets thrown off course and ends up on a low-tech world where they have to kind of roll with the indigenous society in order to work out a way home - but this is a pretty well-done example of that type of story. Knowing it’s penned by merciless scribe Gen Urobuchi, you go in expecting the worst, but the first half of the story is actually pretty light and ambient before the gears really start to turn. The series gives ample time for out-of-his-element protagonist Ledo to get to know Gargantia, the giant floating city on which he lands (and it is indeed gargantuan). Surprisingly cool is his mech, whose AI system is a full character in its own right, and what acts as the go-between that interprets for him what people are saying. It’s interesting that the series decides to actually acknowledge the communication problems that people in this situation would naturally have, and it handles it pretty well. It’s a likeable series, and even pretty…hopeful, for a Gen Urobuchi joint!
Best in Other Media in 2013
Okay, stop me if you’ve heard this one. A troubled Roman bath architect is in a tight spot - he’s out of work, and he just doesn’t have any inspiration that would galvanize a new project. Soothing his worries in the local public bath, he sees what looks like a strange drain beneath the surface and decides to check it out. When he surfaces, he pops up in the middle of a modern Japanese bathhouse. Craziness ensues, and he ends up returning to his present Rome with a wealth of bold new bathing ideas, ready to take the Empire by storm.
Welcome to Thermae Romae, my favorite new manga in years. The theme behind the series is the connection between ancient Rome and modern Japan, two cultures who really have a “culture of bathing”, and how they’re both alike and different. Lucius Modestus, the Roman architect, undergoes a series of unplanned journeys to “the land of the flat-faced slaves”, usually when the pressure is on for him to come up with a new idea or novelty, and usually comes back with something unexpectedly great. It’s surprising not only how many times this plot works, but how author Mari Yamazaki changes it up enough each time to keep it from growing stale. Intermixed with this is an ongoing story about Lucius’s life in Rome, including how he gets caught up in the affairs of Emperor Hadrian. Later on in the story, he finally comes to know a Japanese family in a hot springs town and a storyline begins there as well, moving out of the formulaic hijinks that define the story in its earlier stages.
Many things make it easy to recommend Thermae Romae. It has good art, particularly the background scenes in ancient Rome. Its handsome hardcover volumes contain two volumes of material in each, and are generously-sized, making it easy to appreciate the detail of the artwork. Also, the full series is only three of these larger volumes long, making it easy to collect and enjoy the complete story. Yen Press really did a nice job with it. Between Thermae Romae, Gundam: The Origin, and Vinland Saga, a large amount of the manga I bought last year were nice hardcover compilation editions - this is shelf-worthy stuff. Thermae Romae is the perfect manga to curl up on the couch with after a long, relaxing bath or shower - that’s what I did with each volume. If you like Ancient Rome, and you like Japan, it’s a no-brainer recommendation, and a fun story even people who aren’t particularly into manga could enjoy.
Best Album/OST I Heard in 2013
Not a lot stood out to me musically in 2013, so I’m going to abstain from this category this year. However, it should be known that if you like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, the soundtrack for the new 3DS game “A Link Between Worlds” remixes almost all of its classic tunes in its soundtrack, and really does them justice. The Dark World theme, in particular, has great pizzaz to it. It’s too bad Nintendo is so haphazard about releasing soundtracks; I’d pick this one up if they released CDs for it.
Personal Media Trend in 2013
My most easy-to-spot trend in 2013 was that I bought somewhat fewer videogames/anime/movies than in previous years, but ratcheted up my contributions to Kickstarter projects, a trend I have dubbed “If You Come, They Will Build It.”
Before 2013, I had liked the idea behind crowdfunding, but had only put money toward two projects. But in 2013, I decided to go all-in, and now have a total of 16 backed projects. The majority of them happen to be videogames - partially because I think indie and small game developers have a good structure in place already to make use of the crowdfunding model, so their project proposals tend to inspire more confidence. But I also funded a couple books, a revival of a favorite podcast, and even famous game composer Jeremy Soule’s first full-blown symphony.
There’s something very empowering about the idea that we don’t have to just take what companies decided they’re going to deliver and that’s it - that if someone were to put before me a proposal for a game that looks like a modern callback to SNES favorites like Mega Man X or Secret of Mana or Link to the Past, I could decide I want THOSE instead and put my money toward their creation in lieu of buying something that exists now. True, I have to wait out the development in real time, but I’ve got nothing if not a sizeable backlog. I can wait.
It’s always emphasized that Kickstarter isn’t a “pre-order”, but in almost every case, backers who back projects back at a level where the main reward is the finished product itself, so particularly for video games, it kind of IS a very extended pre-order. Of course, the crowdfunding model is still young, and we’ve yet to see a sizeable number of these projects delivered, so it may be that if a number of projects turn out to be disappointments, it’ll have a chilling effect on people’s willingness to crowd-fund games. However, of the Kickstarters I’ve backed, I’ve received the result of three so far, and in each case I’ve been pretty satisfied with the result (though it bears mentioning that none of those was a videogame).
In 2014, I see myself continuing to contribute to crowdfunding efforts for projects that interest me. I don’t just randomly back projects - I try to be smart about it, and there’s a number of cases where I haven’t backed something that sounded cool, simply because I didn’t see a clear enough picture of the team’s vision for what they were going to make. I like the idea that a person can float an idea and, if the interest is enough, get paid for it ahead of time and actually make it. It puts the responsibility to not just take the money and deliver nothing on the project creator, yes, but I always back projects at a level where it wouldn’t be catastrophic for me if the project suffered a meltdown. Until a product is in your hand, any Kickstarter project is sort of a nebulous investment, so I keep that in mind always, as should any backer. For those who want to stand against the headwinds of the greater media marketplace, Kickstarter is an excellent place to throw down and say, “You know what? I want something like THIS.” The more this happens, the more companies will be forced to acknowledge the viability of lower-budget, niche games, which became an endangered species on consoles in the PS3/360 generation.
Well, I keep relating this to games, even though a Kickstarter can be for anything, so…just generalize here. It just seems to have exploded in video games, probably because that’s the market that was most yearning for a bypass to the corporate system. I can see this happening with music, books, and all kinds of media, though. It could be pretty neat, and I’m looking forward to seeing plenty of crowdfunding successes in the years to come, as projects are completed and go out to backers, and new projects crop up for our consideration. Remember: if we come in great enough numbers, they will build it.
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So, that’s 2013 for you. I can already say, from my vantage point a fourth of the year in, that there have been some large-scale changes going on in my life, and I’ve already got a firm foothold in my games and anime for the year. Still, 2014 thus far has felt like it’s sped by at a remarkable pace. I look back and think, “Whoa, what the heck happened to January and February?” I hope that means I’m being productive, but as I poke my head above water at various points, I’ll chart the course. Thanks for following along for the journey!
Video Games I Played in 2013
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Dragon’s Dogma [replay] (PS3)
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PS3)
Guild Wars 2 (PC)
Dragon’s Crown (PS3)
Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
The first thing you’re likely to notice about this list is that it’s shorter than any list I’ve made since the years I was in undergrad and only had access to consoles during school breaks. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, I tied up a lot of my weekends with events this year, and I now get home late 4 out of 5 weeknights every week, which does slow down my game playing. Secondly, I spent over 100 hours on 4 of the 6 games listed here, which is a pretty significant commitment to any game. Third, one of these games (Guild Wars 2) is an MMO, which are basically sponges for as much time as you’re willing to throw at them - and in GW2’s case, the game is fun enough that the time I threw at it added up over the course of the year.
Let’s shoot off some quick facts: I have over 500 hours in Guild Wars 2. Dragon’s Dogma and Dragon’s Crown have the distinction of being the only two PS3 games I’ve bothered to get the Platinum trophy for. I actually beat Link Between Worlds twice in a row - once regularly, then again right after in Hero Mode because the dungeons are really fun, if a bit short, and I was still hungry for more.
My Best Game of 2014 is Dragon’s Crown! I’ve always loved Vanillaware’s aesthetic - they just might have my favorite art in all of gaming - but in past titles, I’ve found their games to have kind of hit-and-miss gameplay. So when I became aware of Dragon’s Crown, I was cautiously optimistic. They were taking on the side-scrolling beat-em-up, a genre that lives and dies by the solidity of its gameplay, and infusing it with RPG elements. Although it was a gamble, it paid off for them. It paid off big-time. Each of the game’s six characters has a unique style of play, and they’re all worth exploring to find your favorite. Much ado has been made about the game’s exaggerated artistic stylings, but that art style, along with the very GM-esque narrator who tells the story, the bountiful loot finding/identification system, and the classic, towering bosses all show that this game is one big love letter to the worlds of pulp novels, Dungeons & Dragons, and epic fantasy.
Though I was having a lot of fun as I played, I never expected that, at the completion of the campaign, I’d roll on into Hard Mode, or at the completion of Hard Mode, I’d set myself up against the rigors of Infernal Mode…but I did! I like that the game is scalable - you can level several characters, or focus on just one. When you beat the game, you unlock Hard (and beating Hard, Infernal), but you can always go back to Normal, if you want to play with a friend or just want to cruise through for kicks. The fighting in Dragon’s Crown is also much evolved from the heyday of the beat-em-up - controls are tight and responsive, and allow for precise maneuvering and speedy action. This game is in the direct lineage of Capcom’s D&D “Shadows Over Mystara” line, and with skill points you can allocate to unlock combat maneuvers and perks, plenty of weapon and armor drops (and the ability to have up to 9 bags for separate loadouts that you can choose from at the beginning of each stage), and combat that feels like it integrates some of what makes fighting games fun (without the frustrating parts), it’s incredibly satisfying to clear your way through a level, especially when playing online with a team that has good synergy. Unless you simply don’t like beat-em-ups or action RPGs, I can easily recommend Dragon’s Crown - even if you just play through a full game on Normal Mode, with just one character, it’ll give you enough playtime to be worth its price.
Ni no Kuni was a game I really wanted to like. Level-5 has made some pretty good games in the past, and their mastery of anime-style cel shading is second to none. These are the folks who were responsible for how fantastic a representation of Akira Toriyama’s artwork Dragon Quest VIII was, and they did Studio Ghibli’s art style proud. The problems I had with Ni no Kuni can basically be summed up in saying that “The game triumphs on every aesthetic front, but fails massively in most others.” A gorgeous art style that feels like you’re walking through a lushly-animated world? They nailed it. Breathtaking symphonic score by Joe Hisaishi? They put it to damn good use. Clever, stylish localization job with good writing and dubbing? They managed to pull it off (special props to Mr. Drippy). And these three elements together make so warm-hearted and imaginative an impression that reviewers were tripping over themselves to give it 9/10s and even some perfect scores. Meanwhile, I was thinking, “Wait…do these people not see the really obvious slate of problems this game has?”
Among Ni no Kuni’s problems are its battle system, lack of good character development, and over-reliance on fetch quests to pad length. The battle system, wherein the three main characters capture, control, and evolve monster “familiars” in a very pokemon-esque nod is broad and seems pretty cool…except that battles are a slog because the AI is awful. The characters you’re not directly controlling will burn up their MP incredibly fast, often casting spells that aren’t even necessary to cast (or when brute force would work just as well or better). Bad pathing can keep monsters from being able to attack enemies because they get caught up trying to go through another friendly (or even non-targeted enemy!) monster when they can’t, and the different monster evolutions feel like almost no balancing was done on them. Due to the game’s AI shortcomings, I found that generally the best strategy was to never rely on magic-using familiars for anything except curative skills, and indeed, most of what I’d consider the grade-A familiars were physical powerhouses (including Griffy the Griffin, the free DLC familiar I got from pre-ordering the game…).
The story, which started off being about a boy who agreed to undertake a task in a strange world to revive his mother who died saving his life, squanders that incredibly potent theme by not really having a lot of story to it, or really digging much into that great setup. Main characters Oliver, Esther, and Swaine never really grow beyond what they start off being (except that Swaine stops being an outright thief), and outside of maybe one or two RPG-staple “campfire scenes”, there’s a sore lack of bonding/camaraderie moments between them. Worse still, the game sort of tries to wallpaper over how much story there isn’t by throwing a bunch of fetch quests at you. You don’t have to do them…except you kind of do because they unlock abilities like “refilling some of your HP and MP at the end of every battle”, which is pretty damn useful when in a dungeon. If the game’s core narrative delivered on its compelling potential, those would have been a fun bonus, but as things are, I found them to be a conspicuous padding of the game’s length. Even now, I don’t think I could recommend Ni no Kuni to people - it’s a pleaser for the senses, but the underlying gameplay issues and featherweight story leave it with a distinctly unfulfilling aftertaste.
Super Mario Galaxy…where do I start? This was a game that re-ignited a bunch of people’s love for the Super Mario franchise - some call it one of the greatest games of all time. Sadly, Mario Galaxy did nothing for me. I was never swept up in the joy-gasms that so many apparently got while playing this. Instead, I was frustrated by how transparent the game was about its “obstacle course” nature. Thinking back, Super Mario games have always basically been about running an obstacle course, but Galaxy goes so far as the fact that selecting a certain star to go after will specifically set up the stage for you to get THAT STAR - sometimes including barring off things that would allow you to get a different one. I really liked those instances back in Mario 64 where I’d set out in search of one star, only to stumble upon some mysterious area where I’d discover a totally different star than the one I’d gone looking for. That sense of discovery doesn’t happen often in Mario Galaxy. Also, the big vaunted “planetary gravity” of Galaxy was fun…until Mario was running upside-down on a surface and all feeling of accurate control went to pot.
I finished the game, with a little over 90 stars (lest you say that I didn’t take the time to really explore it), and it really had me wondering if Super Mario just isn’t “for me” anymore - whether it’s time to hand this gaming icon off to a generation of gamers who can still appreciate what it offers. But I’ve had so many good memories with the Super Mario franchise - especially Super Mario World and Super Mario 64, which were formative gaming experiences for me in important ways - that I WANT to still be able to love Super Mario. I hope I find a Mario game that does that for me, because Galaxy wasn’t it, and it wasn’t it by a country mile.
Guild Wars 2 is a great MMORPG that I’ve whiled away many an hour with. While I originally bought the game back at its release in August 2012, I didn’t play much more than 20-30 hours of it that year. It’s only in 2013 that I picked the game back up, and with all the improvements ArenaNet had made in my absence, things finally clicked for me. I love the fact that it discards many of the MMO conventions that I feel have stifled the genre. First among these, it strikes a balance in its sales model - it charges no monthly fee, but it’s also not completely free to play - you do buy the game client. This allows developer ArenaNet to see some money from each player and thus not have to lean hard on monetizing via their cash shop. So, you buy once, and then you’re free to play however long you want - you never have to pay anything more after the initial expenditure. That’s perfect for someone like me, whose gaming time is always so varied that I never felt comfortable pledging myself to a monthly subscription game.
Secondly, Guild Wars 2 lets you guest onto any other servers, so you can play with anyone you might know. This is HUGE in breaking down the social barriers that afflict MMOs, like joining one, rolling a character, investing 20 hours, then finding out that a friend plays but they’re on some other server so you might as well NOT be playing the same game. Every MMO game going forward should have something like this. Server segregation sucks, and it keeps friends from playing together. Even Final Fantasy XIV - if I ever did start that up, I’d have a bear of a time picking a server, because I have several groups of friends who I know would take me in, but they’re all on different servers, and by choosing one group, I basically can’t ever play with the others, and that makes me sad.
Guild Wars also innovates in combat, by chucking out the awful “Holy Trinity” of DPS, Tank, and Healer. Lots of MMO stalwarts love this trinity, and berate Guild Wars 2 for not having it, but…the people who like it are usually the people who are in well-connected guilds, where there are always people available to run dungeons if ever someone wants to. The problem is that, as a largely-unaffiliated player in most of the MMOs I’ve tried, I usually see tons of players who roll DPS (“damage dealing” classes), because that’s what’s easiest to play by yourself with. People don’t tend to roll tanks or healers unless they’ve got a solid support network (or those random souls who just like playing that type), but those people are far from the majority. It ends up with healers and tanks being hot commodities, and you basically can’t run content without them, so if you aren’t a part of a sizeable group, or your healer is having some guild drama, or your tank was gonna do that dungeon but they TOTALLY have to jet for some spontaneous other thing, you’re hosed. Guild Wars 2 kicks that shit to the curb, and I couldn’t be happier. You can complete dungeons with most group compositions; it’s more about having certain utilities covered than needing any specific classes. The way they have it set up still feels kind of haphazard (every class has a healing skill, but it’s really more about mitigating or evading damage in the first place), but the combat continues to evolve, and it’s easily the best time I’ve had with combat in an MMO outside of Dungeon Fighter Online (which was, to reference way back up to Dragon’s Crown, an RPG beat-em-up with fighting game inputs and sensibilities). Combat in GW2 is basically about good skill use. There’s no MP to manage - just cooldowns to be mindful of. It makes combat a lot more fun and focused on the fight rather than the metadata of the fight, which is enjoyable. Tyria is a beautiful world that’s fun to explore and fight your way through. I’m not currently active in the game - put it on the back burner at around the end of December because I wanted to play more console titles over the next several months - but if you’re thinking of playing, give me a shout-out. I’d be glad to have the company. And because of the way GW2 works, even if you don’t play for months, the door to come back is always open, and I like that.
Dragon’s Dogma I wrote about last year when I did my initial playthrough, so I won’t say too much about it here, other than the fact that in spite of lackluster storytelling, the game’s gameplay was compelling enough that I took it for another spin this year (largely to help a friend’s pawn learn all about monsters and quests). I’m really looking forward to Dragon’s Dogma 2, where they’ll hopefully refine the action combat to be even more enjoyable, and then put that with a story that’s better than something I could dash off in an afternoon.
Lastly, we’ve gotta cover The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. With Suikoden and Castlevania left by the wayside and Final Fantasy but a shadow of its former glory, the Legend of Zelda is one of the few long-running game series that really lights a fire in me. Those games are usually the primary drivers for me to acquire new Nintendo consoles - it was so with a Wii and Skyward Sword, and Link Between Worlds (partnered with a good sale on 3DSes over Black Friday) made it the right time for me to pick up a 3DS XL. So, understandably, when you buy a console FOR a game, there’s a little extra pressure on that game, where it kind of shoulders some extra burden for justifying that purchase.
Fear not, for A Link Between Worlds is a really fun game, and totally justified my purchase of a 3DS. Months before the game came out, when I saw that it took place in the world of SNES classic “A Link to the Past” - literally, its map IS the overworld to LttP, and there’s a Dark World equivalent as well - I was concerned that the game was trying too hard to play off nostalgia as a way to soothe the spirits of people who felt like Skyward Sword had been too hand-holdy and too *gasp* narratively-focused (I think Twilight Princess is the most narrative-focused Zelda, and it’s probably not a coincidence that it’s also my favorite). There were promises of being able to tackle dungeons in any order, and instead of getting weapons from dungeons, “renting” them, so that you could continue exploring wherever you wanted. It all sounded very conciliatory, and that worried me, because I’m in the camp that feels like Zelda only became a good series when it got over being like the original. It may be because I played it well after its heyday, but I’ve never thought the original Legend of Zelda is a particularly fun game. The PS3 title “3D Dot Game Heroes” is basically like what the original Zelda would be like if it was actually fun, and I liked that, and it really showed where original Zelda was clunky and lacking. Link to the Past, on the other hand, is a very fun game, and by that time the technology had evolved that allowed the game to be much deeper, and more fair to play mechanics-wise.
To my happy surprise, A Link Between Worlds actually made good on its promises, delivering the world of “A Link to the Past” in beautiful 3D that captured the look of the original world with an exacting degree of detail. It was like visiting a place you used to hang out a lot and finding it’s been modernized, but still knowing every street and storefront. Weapon rental wasn’t the unmitigated disaster I had feared it would be, although choosing to divorce weapon earning from dungeon progress resulted in most dungeons each only taking one unique item to clear instead of more diverse methods of traversal seen in games that have a pre-defined order for the dungeons. When you die, you lose all rented weapons and have to re-rent them (although you can pay a higher fee to buy them; then you keep them for the rest of the game regardless of what happens). I can see how they probably wouldn’t want to put players in a position where they needed 3-4 weapons to really navigate a dungeon and have to re-buy those every time they die, but the game was shamefully generous with rupees. As a result of all of this, the dungeons are smaller than what they were in Link to the Past (although many of them are the same places as you went to in Link to the Past, albeit with different layouts), and since they each take one main item from your arsenal to complete, you seldom have to guess at what you might need to solve a given puzzle. It also has to be said that the game is easy. On my playthrough in normal mode, I cleared the game without dying a single time. I had so much fun, though, and the itch wasn’t scratched quite yet, that I started a new game in Hero Mode (unlocked by beating the game once), which mainly makes the game harder by increasing the damage you take from attacks. I didn’t fully die in this mode either (in the sense of a death where you lose all your rented weapons), but that was due to a very liberal application of bottled fairies while dungeon spelunking.
The story is basically just window dressing in A Link Between Worlds, but it’s an incredibly fun game, and easily the second best handheld Zelda (after Link’s Awakening, of course), and if you play the game, you’re gonna have a good time. Doubly so if you’re one of those cantankerous Zelda players who uses “time to sword” as a measurement of how good each game in the series is. You get the sword in the first 10 minutes, so go out and cut down some shrubs, yo.
I plan to hopefully play a greater number of games in 2014, and that will probably be accomplished by mixing in some more indie titles from Steam - and games I have Kickstarted in the last year or two, as they become available. Still, there’s a significant number of high-profile backlog titles I’m eyeing in 2014, including Dragon Age: Origins, Valkyria Chronicles, Xenoblade, The Last Story, and at least Persona 3 or 4 (which I’ve owned for years but never gotten around to). I want to tackle some of those, as well as new titles I’ve got on my radar such as Bravely Default and Drakengard 3. Here’s to another year in gaming!
Anime I Watched in 2013
Dakara boku wa, H ga dekinai (That’s Why I Can’t Play H)
Chuunibyo demo, Koi ga Shitai (Love, Chuunibyo, and Other Delusions)
Hyouka
Princess Tutu
Galaxy Express 999 [movie]
Adieu Galaxy Express 999 [movie]
Galaxy Express 999 Eternal Fantasy [movie]
Super Dimension Fortress Macross
Love Live!
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (My Little Monster)
Colorful [movie]
Sukitte Ii na yo (Say “I Love You”)
Psycho-Pass
Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru (My Teen Romantic Comedy Snafu)
Wolf Children [movie]
Space Adventure Cobra [movie]
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet
Arcadia of My Youth [movie]
Free!
OreShura
Silver Spoon
Myself; Yourself
NakaImo: My Little Sister is Among Them
Puella Magi Madoka Magica Movie 3: Rebellion [movie]
We can see once again that my dedication to watch a fairly broad variety of anime titles has served up a varied selection. I try each year to watch: (A) some noteworthy older shows or movies, (B) series I meant to watch but missed for some reason, (C) a smattering of what’s been popular lately, and (D) new stuff.
The best offerings this year actually came from the classics category, and I’m not sure if that’s more of a commentary on their quality, or the lack of really good offerings in many modern anime seasons. It’s a close race, but the finest anime I watched this year was the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross. As someone who never saw Robotech as a kid, I went in fresh, not really knowing what to expect other than planes that transform into robots and a totally 80s pop idol named Minmay.
As it turns out, Macross tells a surprisingly captivating story - a tale of humans discovering that they’re not alone in the universe, and subsequently, having to fight against a strange culture much different from their own - but also much the same, in some surprising ways. I felt the series had a slow start, as it took me 4-5 episodes before I was really caught up in the characters and their situation, but once the show’s on track, it does well from there. A really interesting aspect of the show is that it makes use of the rarely-utilized “three seasons of 12-13 episodes each” format. This allows it to have a very clean three-act structure, with major plot points happening at each season bridge that change up the status quo. I was taken aback by the fact that the series’ biggest all-out battle actually happens 2/3 of the way through the series. I can’t even remember another anime that’s had the cajones to try something like that! The last third of the series tightens the focus to picking up the pieces after that huge battle, and gives satisfying development and conclusions to the interpersonal story arcs, in particular the main romantic triangle. Anime series generally seem to err on the side of too little closure, so the way Macross tied itself up was pretty satisfying to me. Compared to its contemporary, the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, Macross has a much livelier cast, and more social awareness. If Gundam is a show that examines the mindsets of soldiers dumped into a battle much bigger than them, Macross is a show about people trying to go on with their lives in all the ways they know how, under the shadow of war. In some ways, it’s a sociological statement on how shared culture can bring disparate people together.
The aliens, the Zentradi, are also noteworthy for not being one-note bad guys. Human-looking giants with greenish skin, they present an imposing threat (they can basically fistfight with the humans’ transformed robots), but the more they badger the Macross, the more curious they become about what’s happening on board the ship. As a warlike race, they’re fascinated by…well, culture. The way humans live their lives. The way men and women live together. By music and art. By the idea of recreational time. As a race that forgot such things, they still, deep down, have a yearning for them, and when micro-nized Zentradi spies bring back a load of objects and stories from their time aboard the Macross, the fascination with human culture spreads in a way that turns the tide of the war. It’s fascinating because it casts the Zentradi firmly as not villains, but simply antagonists, and a people who, in spite of their warrior culture, are eventually open to being reasoned with. The major Zentradi characters get more character development than you see in most modern anime villains, really. It’s pretty cool. The Macross series has always been a revered property among old-school fans, and it was great to watch an old classic that really was, to me, as good as people had always said it is. I’m watching more Macross in 2014, and the series is definitely building esteem with me. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m here discussing another Macross title next year in my 2014 assessments!
Falling just short of my top spot this year was the first Galaxy Express 999 movie. For as long as I’ve been an anime fan, I’ve always kinda ridiculed the art style of Leiji Matsumoto, where all the women are pressed from the same slender, eyelashy bishoujo mold and all the men who aren’t Captain Harlock are strange, squatty midgets. However, after hearing good things from my brother, I decided to give the Galaxy Express movie a whirl. I’m glad I did, because it surprised me with just how good it is.
The Galaxy Express 999 movie sits in a unique place - it feels like it stands astride the old 1950s-1960s-era sci-fi of lazer-ray-guns and robots that look boxy and robot-ish, and a new generation of sci-fi that promised to be sleeker, with more expansive, imaginative ideas of what the future would be like. Many of its trappings feel like a wistful, nostalgic look at the old era of sci-fi being left behind - from its Original Generation Star Trek-like planets (each with their own ethical conflict!) to the sweeping, orchestral score that feels like the distilled longing for the fleetingness of youth (in a particular symphonic style that feels very late-60s/early 70s). This is the kind of movie I’m actually glad I never saw until now, because I don’t know if I would’ve really appreciated what it had to say about youth and adulthood when I was younger. Now that I’m over 30, I can look back on Tetsuro’s adventures with the same sort of nostalgic sense of knowing that Matsumoto surely must have felt as he wrote the story. The second and third films continue the story, but none feel as keyed in to that central theme of “growing up” - and the things we lose and gain when we do - as that first film. It’s a stand-alone work that’s now one of my very favorite anime films.
Also in the Leiji Matsumoto-verse was the classic film Arcadia of my Youth, starring Captain Harlock, which was pretty good, but very dense, to the point where I want to watch it again to really understand it. It doesn’t help that Matsumoto plays kind of fast and loose with his universe’s canon, but as an origin story for the infamous space pirate, it’s pretty great, and worth seeing. The impression I get from a lot of Leiji Matsumoto stuff is actually that I should just seek out the films, because the TV series have a lot of that Original Star Trek pedantry and over-moralizing that the film versions pare down to just focus on the characters and the story spine, and seem to be better for it.
Princess Tutu is an older title at this point, but one well worth checking out. I’d classify it as an unsung gem. It operates in a strange realm of both fable and storybook, in a strange academy where Ahiru, an ordinary duck who can transform into a girl hopes to meet a handsome prince - and meets one, albeit with a heavy fate. There’s something surreal about Princess Tutu, such that the only series to which I can readily draw comparisons is Revolutionary Girl Utena - and those comparisons exist not just in atmosphere, but even in the way the story progresses (I never finished Utena, so I can’t comment in fullness, but Tutu has rough equivalents of Utena’s introductory “Student Council” arc and the “Black Rose” arc, in terms of what those arcs accomplish for the story and how they do so). The story’s visual and musical languages are a combination of European faerie tales and classical music, which is a win/win for someone like me, who likes both of those things. Indeed, when a series uses classical music (Violinist of Hameln, Nodame Cantabile), it’s certain to catch my interest.
It’s difficult to explain the series’ charm, but it has charm, though it takes a while to shine through past a slow first 2 episodes and fairly simplistic character designs. There’s also a very interesting male lead in Fakir, who starts off as a raging asshole and sees some excellent growth over the course of the series (the mid-series climax is one of its absolute best moments, due in no small part to Fakir and Tutu’s excellent interplay). If I had to posit one weak spot, it’s that from after the series’ midpoint up to when the “endgame” kicks off, the series is a bit weak, with a number of episodes that stand on their own, many of which could potentially be watched out of order (this is the equivalent of Utena’s “Black Rose” arc which, not coincidentally, was ALSO a weaker point in that show). If you have a mind for fanciful faerie tales with smatterings of surrealism and a dark underbelly, Princess Tutu is something you should watch. It doesn’t even matter that it features a duck who turns into a girl who sometimes also turns into a magical ballerina princess; this series is BALLER.
A quick rundown of other series worth a watch:
Hyouka is based on an actual novel (not just a light novel) and tells the story of a sharp-minded but antisocial guy who uses his powers of reasoning to investigate odd matters at school…when he’s forced into it by circumstances. Its writing definitely makes it stand out from the pack; character interplay is a high point here, with well-tuned back-and-forths in the dialogue (especially when there’s antagonism involved). Protagonist Oreki reminds me a bit of Kyon from The Menalcholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, in how he has a distinctive “mental narration” voice that sets the series’ tone quite well. Hyouka doesn’t really have a central plotline; each investigative mystery is kind of its own arc. I suppose you could consider the growth of the leads Oreki and Chitanda to be the spine of the story, as that’s what consistently builds up across the series’ separate arcs. One weak point is that, in most arcs, the stakes in each of the mysteries never feel really high, so the series maintains a more relaxed gait when it could’ve been played more taut (to its benefit, IMO). If you can roll with the pacing, it’s pretty interesting, and the series’ animation and background artistry really shine.
Psycho-Pass is basically “Minority Report: The Anime”, about a squad of investigators in a future setting where a powerful computer system is able to analyze the public’s propensity to engage in criminal activity and trigger a warning once a certain threshold has been passed, dispatching the investigation teams to bring the proto-criminal to justice. Of course, the series covers all the potential benefits and problems such a system would introduce, as its running plot threads intertwine with an enigmatic character whose mental state never triggers the system, even when engaging in heinous behavior. One story arc in particular, in which a killer plasticizes their victims and turns them into statuesque “artworks”, had disturbing imagery that actually made me uncomfortable - a rare feat whether anime or film. Psycho-Pass is a good show, and other than objectionable content, there’s nothing that would lead me to not recommend it - especially to people who are looking for a cool sci-fi crime drama. It’s not as cerebral or “cyberpunk procedural crime drama” as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but it’s the kind of thing where if you liked that, you’ll like this. Psycho-Pass is, at the very least, less obtuse than GitS, and its high-concept premise is easy to get into.
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is a show with a premise that we’ve seen many times before - person from a really technologically-advanced society gets thrown off course and ends up on a low-tech world where they have to kind of roll with the indigenous society in order to work out a way home - but this is a pretty well-done example of that type of story. Knowing it’s penned by merciless scribe Gen Urobuchi, you go in expecting the worst, but the first half of the story is actually pretty light and ambient before the gears really start to turn. The series gives ample time for out-of-his-element protagonist Ledo to get to know Gargantia, the giant floating city on which he lands (and it is indeed gargantuan). Surprisingly cool is his mech, whose AI system is a full character in its own right, and what acts as the go-between that interprets for him what people are saying. It’s interesting that the series decides to actually acknowledge the communication problems that people in this situation would naturally have, and it handles it pretty well. It’s a likeable series, and even pretty…hopeful, for a Gen Urobuchi joint!
Best in Other Media in 2013
Okay, stop me if you’ve heard this one. A troubled Roman bath architect is in a tight spot - he’s out of work, and he just doesn’t have any inspiration that would galvanize a new project. Soothing his worries in the local public bath, he sees what looks like a strange drain beneath the surface and decides to check it out. When he surfaces, he pops up in the middle of a modern Japanese bathhouse. Craziness ensues, and he ends up returning to his present Rome with a wealth of bold new bathing ideas, ready to take the Empire by storm.
Welcome to Thermae Romae, my favorite new manga in years. The theme behind the series is the connection between ancient Rome and modern Japan, two cultures who really have a “culture of bathing”, and how they’re both alike and different. Lucius Modestus, the Roman architect, undergoes a series of unplanned journeys to “the land of the flat-faced slaves”, usually when the pressure is on for him to come up with a new idea or novelty, and usually comes back with something unexpectedly great. It’s surprising not only how many times this plot works, but how author Mari Yamazaki changes it up enough each time to keep it from growing stale. Intermixed with this is an ongoing story about Lucius’s life in Rome, including how he gets caught up in the affairs of Emperor Hadrian. Later on in the story, he finally comes to know a Japanese family in a hot springs town and a storyline begins there as well, moving out of the formulaic hijinks that define the story in its earlier stages.
Many things make it easy to recommend Thermae Romae. It has good art, particularly the background scenes in ancient Rome. Its handsome hardcover volumes contain two volumes of material in each, and are generously-sized, making it easy to appreciate the detail of the artwork. Also, the full series is only three of these larger volumes long, making it easy to collect and enjoy the complete story. Yen Press really did a nice job with it. Between Thermae Romae, Gundam: The Origin, and Vinland Saga, a large amount of the manga I bought last year were nice hardcover compilation editions - this is shelf-worthy stuff. Thermae Romae is the perfect manga to curl up on the couch with after a long, relaxing bath or shower - that’s what I did with each volume. If you like Ancient Rome, and you like Japan, it’s a no-brainer recommendation, and a fun story even people who aren’t particularly into manga could enjoy.
Best Album/OST I Heard in 2013
Not a lot stood out to me musically in 2013, so I’m going to abstain from this category this year. However, it should be known that if you like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, the soundtrack for the new 3DS game “A Link Between Worlds” remixes almost all of its classic tunes in its soundtrack, and really does them justice. The Dark World theme, in particular, has great pizzaz to it. It’s too bad Nintendo is so haphazard about releasing soundtracks; I’d pick this one up if they released CDs for it.
Personal Media Trend in 2013
My most easy-to-spot trend in 2013 was that I bought somewhat fewer videogames/anime/movies than in previous years, but ratcheted up my contributions to Kickstarter projects, a trend I have dubbed “If You Come, They Will Build It.”
Before 2013, I had liked the idea behind crowdfunding, but had only put money toward two projects. But in 2013, I decided to go all-in, and now have a total of 16 backed projects. The majority of them happen to be videogames - partially because I think indie and small game developers have a good structure in place already to make use of the crowdfunding model, so their project proposals tend to inspire more confidence. But I also funded a couple books, a revival of a favorite podcast, and even famous game composer Jeremy Soule’s first full-blown symphony.
There’s something very empowering about the idea that we don’t have to just take what companies decided they’re going to deliver and that’s it - that if someone were to put before me a proposal for a game that looks like a modern callback to SNES favorites like Mega Man X or Secret of Mana or Link to the Past, I could decide I want THOSE instead and put my money toward their creation in lieu of buying something that exists now. True, I have to wait out the development in real time, but I’ve got nothing if not a sizeable backlog. I can wait.
It’s always emphasized that Kickstarter isn’t a “pre-order”, but in almost every case, backers who back projects back at a level where the main reward is the finished product itself, so particularly for video games, it kind of IS a very extended pre-order. Of course, the crowdfunding model is still young, and we’ve yet to see a sizeable number of these projects delivered, so it may be that if a number of projects turn out to be disappointments, it’ll have a chilling effect on people’s willingness to crowd-fund games. However, of the Kickstarters I’ve backed, I’ve received the result of three so far, and in each case I’ve been pretty satisfied with the result (though it bears mentioning that none of those was a videogame).
In 2014, I see myself continuing to contribute to crowdfunding efforts for projects that interest me. I don’t just randomly back projects - I try to be smart about it, and there’s a number of cases where I haven’t backed something that sounded cool, simply because I didn’t see a clear enough picture of the team’s vision for what they were going to make. I like the idea that a person can float an idea and, if the interest is enough, get paid for it ahead of time and actually make it. It puts the responsibility to not just take the money and deliver nothing on the project creator, yes, but I always back projects at a level where it wouldn’t be catastrophic for me if the project suffered a meltdown. Until a product is in your hand, any Kickstarter project is sort of a nebulous investment, so I keep that in mind always, as should any backer. For those who want to stand against the headwinds of the greater media marketplace, Kickstarter is an excellent place to throw down and say, “You know what? I want something like THIS.” The more this happens, the more companies will be forced to acknowledge the viability of lower-budget, niche games, which became an endangered species on consoles in the PS3/360 generation.
Well, I keep relating this to games, even though a Kickstarter can be for anything, so…just generalize here. It just seems to have exploded in video games, probably because that’s the market that was most yearning for a bypass to the corporate system. I can see this happening with music, books, and all kinds of media, though. It could be pretty neat, and I’m looking forward to seeing plenty of crowdfunding successes in the years to come, as projects are completed and go out to backers, and new projects crop up for our consideration. Remember: if we come in great enough numbers, they will build it.
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So, that’s 2013 for you. I can already say, from my vantage point a fourth of the year in, that there have been some large-scale changes going on in my life, and I’ve already got a firm foothold in my games and anime for the year. Still, 2014 thus far has felt like it’s sped by at a remarkable pace. I look back and think, “Whoa, what the heck happened to January and February?” I hope that means I’m being productive, but as I poke my head above water at various points, I’ll chart the course. Thanks for following along for the journey!