Thoughts on Gundam 00 - 07

Posted by Demian @ 9:14 pm, November 21st, 2007

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The Ali Al-Serges fight was the best yet. Ultimate proof that Setsuna lacks piloting skills and can only win through superior hax technology. He’s also stupid enough to get out of his cockpit in the middle of a fight, but that’s more of a gundam motif than him just being stupid. The rest of the “battle” between the gundams and Moralia was fun to watch but just way too one sided. Dynames and Kyrios owning everything I can put up with, but every time Virtue shows up to lay waste to everything I just have to say “why the hell is this thing here?” Really takes me out of the show. Virtue is basically a super robot. It has three energy cannons, can float with particles so the weight thing doesn’t matter, and can even form an impenetrable shield of particles. That’s just overdoing things.

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Finally Setsuna gets LOCKONPUNCHED. A very satisfying moment indeed. Sadly, it looks like it did him no good since he’s still spouting “I AM GUNDAM” lines. Tiera also had to come in and show how much of a bastard he is, though he does have a point. CB is already following a the ends justify the means philosophy, so a few civilian casulties shouldn’t mean anything. But these are still gundam pilots so they have to have a heart. Except Tiera. That’s one cold hearted bastard. I really want to know who is behind the terrorist attacks, since it’s obvious one of the big three has to of orchestrated it. Watch it be the Union for the ultimate irony. Next week Setsuna finds his “destined person.” Yeah, that’s going to be fun. Looks to me like Setsuna wants to punch her in the preview, and knowing him he just might do it, which would be lolzworthy indeed.

Animate Fate/Zero. Now.

Posted by Demian @ 8:47 pm, November 19th, 2007

Seriously deserves at least its own OVA. Actually, an OVA would be better with all the gore and death in this series. Yeah, this will happen after those adaptions of UBW and Heaven’s Feel, right? Actually this is a promo for a Fate/Zero soundtrack being done by ZIZZ Studio. Can always trust ZIZZ Studio to do a good job. Gonna come out sometime in December, but not sure when right now.

Thoughts on ef ~ A Tale of Memories ~

Posted by Demian @ 10:36 pm, November 18th, 2007

This is part of the “an effing post” series being done by ABC. Other, most likely more insightful, posts on ef are being done by The BigN, JRoxas, DS,
Moogy, Owen S, J.Valdez, and Martin.

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There seems to be a variety of mixed opinions on ef ~ A Tale of Memories ~ in the blogosphere: some saying it’s a brilliant piece of art and others it’s a bad story with nonsensical visuals. In my opinion it’s a decent romance with excellent animation. It’s the best of SHAFT’s unique directorial flair; just enough to make the show unique and interesting to watch without the visuals making everything incromprehensible. Lest us forget how the crack addict animation of Negima!? dragged that show into the ground. An eroge adaption with normal animation, let alone QUALITY animation, is barely tolerable at best, so I’m glad ef got the most artsy adaption of them all.

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The whole conversation at the beginning of episode 6 over the train tracks was just brilliant to me. Perfectly amping up the tension between the two while foreshadowing events to come. Certain other effects, like the glow around the girls that mirrors the game CG and the stain glass circle used to portray Chihiro’s imprisonment, I also enjoy. I love the background visuals just as much as anything else. SHAFT has really captured the beauty of Makoto Shinkai’s work on the original ef OP. The location of ef, a town that is neither past or future, also adds to the whole fantastical element of the show.

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Right now the story is enjoyable enough that I can look forward to new episodes. Honestly, the first few episodes were a drag to get through. I blame this mostly on following Chihiro’s story too much from the get go. Chihiro doesn’t get interesting until after her memory secret is out, until then she’s more annoying. So I can see why they put her at the beginning in order to make her more enjoyable later on, but it’s still putting the most annoying part at the beginning. It doesn’t help that any viewer with half an IQ can guess her problem from the get go. Still looks cute in a police uniform, though.

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The real star of the story is obviously the harem showdown between Kei and Miyako. Miyako obviously has a few screws loose, as if the disappearing into nothing visual isn’t clue enough, but Kei’s hardly mentally sound either. Personally, I don’t trust any non-blood related girl who still uses Onii-chan in high school. Yes, I’m just like Sasahara; can’t stand little sister characters. Anyways, Kei also has the mental baggage of Chihiro’s injury to deal with it. At this point Kei will probably end up with Kyosuke, because this is still an eroge and things end up cleanly like that, but I’m really interested in seeing how she gets over Hiro. Miyako could end up with Hiro, but I really don’t want her too. That girl’s too unstable for anyone. Or they could all kill each other, but I’ve never heard of ef having a Nice Boat ending. Also interested in the secrets behind Yuko and Yu aka. mysterious church people. If this was KEY I would say they’re ghosts with their bodies in a coma, but Minori may be more creative.

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No matter the pros and cons of ef’s soap opera story, its visuals have definately set a bar for eroge adaptions to come, one which I think it will be hard for them to reach. I’ll save final judgments on ef till after the final episode, things can still go the way of the train wreck after all. One thing’s for sure, though: Euphoric Field effing ROCKS!

Prelude to the Ultimate Battle of Manliness V.2

Posted by Demian @ 9:43 pm, November 18th, 2007

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We all know who deserves to win.

Yep, Saigar is back. For those who missed it last year, Saigar is a 4chan run tournament to discover the most manliness of men in all of otakudom. It’s like SaiMoe, except better. Nominations are now up, so you can nominate any five manly characters from shows that aired in the past year. The site has a handly list if you can’t remember all the series from the past year. Sadly, once again I am blocked from nominating and voting because it says I have a proxy server. Damn Comcast. But I will persevere and cover Saigar just like I did last year, whether it be FAIL or WIN. I’ll see you here in January.

REMEMBER TO NOMINATE

Hidamari Sketch Season 2 Announced.

Posted by Demian @ 8:20 pm, November 18th, 2007

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My prayers have been answered. Can’t wait for 2008.

Why is Akagi Moe?!

Posted by Demian @ 11:07 pm, November 17th, 2007

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU WASHIZU?!

The End of a Journey

Posted by Demian @ 8:58 pm, November 17th, 2007

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I finally played Tsukihime Plus+Disc today and the various side stories contained within, so now I’ve played everything related to the Tsukihime universe. Hard to believe it’s been a little over a year since I first started playing Arcuied’s route soon after the patch was released. The Akira story in Plus+Disc was great with the way the Fake Shiki was handled and the ending. Geccha 2 was also cool for seeing some rough sketches for the legendary Sacchin scenario. The other two stories were a little mindless and wacky, like all attempts by Nasu to write comedy. The man just throws in too many obscure jokes.

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The one thing I have to praise Tsukihime for after all this time is the music. There wasn’t much variety in the first game, but all the tracks have such an ethereal, magical, and melancholic quality to them that instantly reminds me of Tsukihime. The Ever After remix soundtrack is great for fully appreciating all of the music used in Tsukihime, Kagetsu Tohya, and Plus+Disc. It will soon be the ten year anniversary of Tsukihime, but Type-Moon still only has two major titles under their belt and a bunch of side stories. I hope they make a real game soon that can invoke the same feelings of wonder and nostalgia in me like Tsukihime does, even after all this time.