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Super Light Warrior Changéríon: Episodes 1-3 Review

The year is 1996. Toei Co. Ltd., the penny pinching and merchandise driven imaginative studio that graced the world with anime adaptations of Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball and tokusatsu hero franchises like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, have found themselves paired up with massive entertainment force Sega (yes, the Sonic the Hedgehog guys) to release a brand new superhero show on the world.  The first idea, a planned follow up to the 1995 Keita Amemiya film Mechanical Violator Hakaider (itself a reimagining of the villain from the 70′s Shotaro Ishinomori classic Android Kikaider) falls through.  A new idea suddenly comes about from Toei producet Yoshikawa Susumu and suit manufacturer Rainbow Co. Ltd: Create a hero suit made primarily out of transparent parts. With that in mind, a cast and crew are soon brought on to create one of the weirdest tokusatsu series of the 1990′s.

So here we are and here I am and it’s Changéríon (yes the accents are how it’s officially written, it’s meant to be French, I don’t know why) time. Sorry for that long build up! Just figured it’d be what all the cool kids do. Super Light Warrior Changéríon is a doozy of a series, one that has held a cult following in Japan for 20 years after its abrupt end in December of 1996. The show featured a staff of producers (such as Shinichiro Shirakura), directors (such as Takao Nagaishi)  and writers (namely head writer Toshiki Inoue) who would go on 4 years later to help revive Kamen Rider for the Heisei era, and in general went on to be remembered for its quirky and surreal nature. Even the show’s star, Takashi Hagino, would go on to be in Kamen Rider (in a very different role as infamous serial killer Takeshi Asakura, a.k.a. Kamen Rider Ouja, in 2002′s Kamen Rider Ryuki) I decided to plunge into this series finally now that English fansubs were out, and I’ve been contemplating how to go about this. For the first installment I figure I’m just going to write up my thoughts briefly on the first three episodes of this 39 episodes series, and I may then expand upon that later and switch the format around a bit at any given time, so here goes!! 

A few things to note ahead of time

1. The head writer of this series (and, to my knowledge, the writer of the first four episodes here) is Toshiki Inoue. Inoue is a man known for his love of drama, strange humor, and plots heavily focused on miscommunication. His best known shows include Chojin Sentai Jetman (1991), Kamen Rider Agito (2001), Kamen Rider 555 (2003) some mess called Kamen Rider Kiva (2008) and oh yeah he’s written for anime, included the Death Note anime in 2005. You have likely seen something he has written if you’ve touched an anime. Or maybe not, I don’t know.

2. The suits in this. They are absolutely gorgeous, but they were infamously dangerous. 

The Changéríon suit alone had two versions, a 100 kg (~ 200 lb) version for close up shots and a 40kg (~ 80 lb) suit for action scenes. Both were terrifying to those in it. Veteran suit actor Jiro Okamoto commented on the suit being absurdly heavy and fearing he would break it, not to mention that it was so heavy that it hurt his neck. This thing supposedly nearly sent suit actors to the hospital! And yet the action is generally decent despite the struggle in these beasts of a set of suits.

3. The opening, “OVER THE TIMES ~ Beyond The Present~” by MISA. It’s just awesome. It’s really awesome. I mean listen to it. It’s super awesome. 

Aww yeah....

SO! Now that I’ve gotten all of that out of the way, on to the reviews! The format is simple. A summary of the plot first, then my thoughts on it. I’ll see how this works and just go from there.

EPISODE 1: “A Hero!! Me?”

Air Date: April 3, 1996

Bumbling detective Akira Suzumura is hired to investigate a series of missing student reports from a local elementary school. After a night of staking the grounds out, he soon finds himself on a new path after a freak accident and an attack by a monster from the inter-dimensional invaders known as the Darkzeid lead him to unwittingly become the warrior of light: Changéríon! But as he struggles to master his new powers and deal with the mysterious SAIDOC organization, the full threat of Darkzeid begins to awaken.

Changéríon starts out about as weird as you can expect a show like this to with a massive hoop spiralling down a flight of stairs to a narrow Tokyo tunnel and having a creepy 90′s CG entity force its soulless face out towards the camera. It only escalates by going to a dramatic sequence of Akira and his assistant Akemi seemingly armed and ready for a shootout....only for the sequence to be a harmless rescue of a local puppy. This is Inoue at his peak weirdness, something which can really be hit or miss, but it’s strangely all a bunch of baffling moments which click oddly well. Akira isn’t much of a hero in many ways: He’s clumsy, he’s a bit lecherous, selfish and lazy. He doesn’t have much cash and doesn’t even pay part-timers like Akemi well. And yet despite all of this he has his heart in the right place and it’s fun to watch him fumble around in the suit at the episode’s end. It even made me chuckle seeing him “free up” time on a completely empty schedule to help the school find their students. While some scenes do feel disjointed and a bit uncomfortable (including a very uncomfortable joke about pedophilia which struck me as more than a little uncalled for in a show aimed at children), everything is really bonkers and pretty exciting here! It all ends with the main villains being awakened and a budding rivalry between Akira and the former, intended Changéríon candidate, Hayami, as the good folks at SAIDOC quietly wonder “What on earth have we gotten ourselves into with this nut?” 

It’s also worth mentioning that this show is a definite turning point for Toei’s production, having been one of their first shows recorded on digital video rather than film, and it’s chock full of now dated CGI and strange, minimalist dark rooms for otherworldy realms. It’s kinda creepy and very uncanny, but I’d say it oddly works in the show’s favor at this point. It’s got an unintentional charm to it. There’s a borderline David Lynch feel to the Darkzeid realm bits, in all honesty. Considering how big of a hit Twin Peaks was during the mid 90′s in Japan, it wouldn’t surprise me if the set designers took at least a smidge of inspiration from the Black Lodge sequences during seasons 1 and 2 of the series. It’s not as traumatic as something you’d see Lynch do, but there’s a similarly sinister atmosphere to it all here with countless bodies wrapped in plastic...like...bags, much like Laura Palmer was.

 The combat itself is a bit strangely edited too. Lots of sped up footage and Changéríon seldom kicks (more often getting kicked around instead), which I will assume is due to that hulking suit. But it also gives us one of the most ridiculou(sly satisfying) attacks ever with the Shining Attack. Which...uh...well...

....okay it’s pretty rad, I won’t lie. That’s pretty great. It is. It’ll get used to death in future episodes, but it’s still cool here.

First impression is a good one. It’s like this episode sets the tone for what is to come quite well.

Episode 2: “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Brain”

Air Date: April 10, 1996

The three generals of Darkzeid awaken and enter the human world, with plans to consume humans to satisfy their ravenous appetites. Meanwhile, SAIDOC Chief Munakata explains to Akira about the threat of Darkzeid and their need for his help, only for him to swiftly turn them down and celebrate his newfound superpowers with an unlimited shopping spree. But in the process he not only angers operatives Hayami and Eri, but finds himself in yet another Darkzeid plot as Akemi and Eri are kidnapped by an otherworld monster using posessed shoes. It’s up to Changéríon to save the missing women before they end up on Darkzeid’s lunch menu!

It’s here that we see Inoue throw in another one of his big tropes with character writing: The reluctant hero. This isn’t the first time he’d written that character archetype (another great example of this is Gai Yuki/Black Condor in Jetman) but it’s something he loves to write quite often. In this case, Akira decides to just go hog wild with loans he can’t afford, and it’s actually pretty funny. Buying out restaurants for the day, loading up on shoes for Akemi, and just being a total snot and a cocky jerk until he’s forced to realize that he put his own employee in danger and team up with Hayami....after a bizarre sequence of both of them sneaking into the same Darkzeid shoe store. In drag. And not recognizing each other. In drag. Before fighting it out in front of onlookers. In drag. This is after a scene with the store owner, the monster of the week (with a literal face full of shoes in his monster form, no less) attempts to feed his kidnapped victims with mysterious goop in high heel shoes. There’s no shortage of surreal visuals here and it does get disjointed at points, yet I feel like the story comes to a more coherent point from here. 

Despite the goofier antics, there’s still that underlying sinister aura to the Darkzeid generals. Their designs are legitimately creepy and their hushed meetings in dimly lit rooms, murmuring about their need to consume humans and how darkness will consume their own world could easily give a kid nightmares. Even I was amazed at how well the monster suits were pulled off in this show. The villains look like villains, and they’re fittingly mysterious.

In terms of action, Changéríon gets his aptly named Gun Laser, a really nifty weapon with a gimmick I love! Y’see, it runs on disks that he summons from his chest. And the discs spin. Go figure that Sega would manufacture all these toys with a disc gimmick. Not only was it the peak of the CD boom, it also made me chuckle thinking about how they had moved into CDs with the Sega Saturn at around the same time. (Plus the Gun Laser just looks really dang cool!)

 We’re getting places now that the initial stage has been set! Slowly but surely, we’re getting places! 

Episode 3: “A Bunch of Brides”

Air Date: April 17, 1996

Brides are mysterious disappearing at the altar! Darkzeid is behind this! Akira plans to counter these objections to holy matrimony with the help of Hayami and Akemi...but time and again things keep going south! Can he save the day and stop these foul occurrences? Meanwhile, in a basement lab, Chief Munakata struggles to develop the sidekicks Akira needs in his battle...

If you haven’t figured out that this series is meant to be goofy at this point, I don’t know what to tell you. This is a pretty fluffy and light episode with some good gags strewn throughout. Perhaps the funniest is Akira’s futile attempt at teaching Hayami how to flirt with women. It’s done with the most 90′s montage imaginable and it killed me with how good it was. The follow up is the sequence in the above shot, which I won’t spoil the full context for, but it also got a laugh out of me. There’s slapstick, there’s snark, there’s a simple but weird vibe to this whole episode and it’s totally fine. We’ve gotten into the groove of the show at this point it feels like, and I look forward to where it goes from here. The most interesting element plotwise is seeing Munakata’s struggle to get a set of mysterious robots up and working for Akira to use. It’s made clear that he and his research are mocked by his superiors, who don’t even think that Darkzeid is real, let alone a threat. Poor guy needs more respect! But we’ll see where things go with these machines in the next episode.

With 36 episodes left to go, Super Light Warrior Changéríon is certainly an odd, yet familiar show to me. I can see the early elements of Heisei Kamen Rider at play here with how it’s shot, the eerier villain designs, the quick cuts and kinetic feel to the action and the quirky humor and characters. It’s like seeing a mix of Metal Hero aesthetics with Super Sentai pacing making something of a hybrid that will have a lingering impact. Next time I’ll cover episodes 4-7, or perhaps change up the pace a bit. Expect some cool new robot buddies next time, but other than that I’m as in the dark as everyone else!

Hopefully my rambling didn’t scare you away by now, and we’ll be ready for more adventures to come, soon!

And remember! SOMEBODY LOVES you. And SOMEBODY NEEDS you. 

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Rebooting Shenanigans 2018 Edition

Well hey again. So I’ll be blunt: I let this thing collect dust because I really couldn’t think of much witty content that isn’t my usual Facebook or Twitter idea of slowly gazing at a screen through increasingly more nearsighted vision and mumbling to myself about “okay what if I said funny thing...I get many clap and good internet chortles” but I reckon I need a place to write more.

And what better way to channel out being a nearly 30-year-old unemployed weeaboo manlet living at home with shame in his hobbies passionate fan of vaguely sorta kinda niche-y sci fi and superhero stuff than I suppose breaking out reviews?  So next big post is going to be in a little while, maybe next week, maybe over the weekend, I dunno, but it’ll be off the cuff and I suppose more “structured” than other stuff I’ve written online. 

And I’ll start by slowly reviewing an obscure 1996 children’s superhero show from Japan which is best known for being the prototype to a more famous franchise’s revival, some weird memes, and a costume so heavy that it literally nearly sent an actor in it to the hospital? 

....’cause boy howdy that’s what I’ve got on deck soon.

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Dragon Ball FighterZ Initial Impressions

Hoo boy. Been a while since I used this sucker, sorry about that! Life caught up with me, but I figured it’d be good to post more here.

Anyway, after waiting for a while and dealing with some unfortunate Amazon delays, I got my hands on Dragon Ball FighterZ at last on Friday. As someone who is a total button mashing scrub at fighting games (despite liking them) and too much of a DB fan for his own good (I’m sorry), I’d been hyped for the game and it’s been....pretty great but flawed?? 

I hadn’t really had much experience with ArcSys’s games until last year with a more serious-ish attempt at BlazBlue with friends, combined with starting to maybe kinda sorta possibly learn Guilty Gear Xrd recently, so the simplified button system threw me off at first. And to be honest it still is a bit to adjust to as someone who is more familiar with the six button “wait which level of punch or kick do I use” style from Street Fighter, but it’s also been simple enough that I could see this being a great way to get better adjusted to more complex fighters for me. 

That being said, it’s still got a lot in it that can make for some gorgeous and likely intricate combos and whatnot if I can learn the ropes. I know this from the few times I’ve gone online so far and been curbstomped. It stings, but it’s a good kind of sting. The kind that makes me want to keep trying!

On the DB side of things though I’m totally in awe of how much love ArcSys put into this thing. The graphics really give it all the shine of an episode of the anime while plenty of attacks, animations and little flourishes have pulled from every source imaginable (Toriyama’s original manga, the TV adaptations, hell even the old Super Famicom era fighters like Super Butoden and Hyper Dimension) and it’s so, so good. The first night I played through it all was a chance for me to just gush and freak out about all the fanservice. Whether it was hearing Nozawa belt out “I am the Super Saiyan, Son Goku!” before a match or watching Destructive Finishes blast up onto the screen with those classic ki blast hums, it made me so , so happy! (I do wish the Dragon Ball gameplay mechanic was better handled, though. Even in the tutorial it’s way too abstract on how to get certain balls to unlock and whatnot)

But it’s not perfect, unfortunately. The two big offenders right now are the story mode and matchmaking.

Story mode should have been a lot of fun. Having a Dragon Ball game that isn’t just an adaptation of the Saiyan arc through the Boo arc (c’mon fellas, there’s literally half a story that almost always gets ignored before Raditz shows up...) and the introduction of new best girl Android No. 21 had me so excited! This could be a really engaging romp! But it’s not! Nope! It’s a board game.

And a pretty dull board game at that. It gets really old fighting the same clone fighters with dead AI really fast until the game suddenly decides to ramp that up quite suddenly, making me pay for my button mashing. Neat little character interactions are scattered about that made me smile, but they were sparse compared to “Go to space x, beat up enemy y, receive item z” for 6 hours on just the first arc. It’s really not fun and I’m trudging through now just to get answers about the actual plot (as flimsy as it is) and unlock No. 21 the proper way. Oh, and Bandai Namco was oh so kind in blocking PS4 players from streaming story mode at all with PS4 share. Great decision there, fellas! Thanks! Lots of fun! Mmhm! Loved how that was in Gundam Versus, too! :>

As a side note, I’m also disappointed in the localization of this game. As someone who is admittedly a purist with Dragon Ball and loves the Japanese cast and original script, seeing a lot of characters personalities changed and some just horrible lines shoved into the English translation is disappointing. I’m all for adapting things to make more sense in English, but this just felt like the days of the 90′s DBZ dub. And those were bad days. ArcSys put a lot of actual fanservice into this game and for the English team to tweak all that into really lame meta jokes and out of character moments just...sucks.

Other issue is that the net and match making features are kind of a big ol’ mess. Constant disconnects due to being in an online lobby  for any features isn’t great, and actually making or finding matches with friends is far more complex than it should be. Perhaps it will be fixed more soon, but it needs a lot of attention.

Anyway enough rambling and bumbling for now. I’m definitely going to keep going with FighterZ and learning how to improve and really get my whole moneys worth!

TLDR FighterZ is very good. It has issues but it’s very good. Okay bye.

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Oh heck I forgot about this thing and I might as well start using it again real soon.

Stay tuned.

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Death Stranding: Trailer Analysis

Last Tuesday, Hideo Kojima revealed the long awaited first project from the newly redeveloped Kojima Productions studio and Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Entitled Death Stranding, this marks the first non-Metal Gear title Kojima has managed to develop away from his former Konami oppressors that may actually be released this time, but the trailer for this new game holds many mysteries. What will it be about? What is the symbolism? I’m here today to break everything down and shed some light on the enigmatic PS4 game.

The trailer begins with this quote by William Blake, from “Augeries of Innocence.”

Blake also wrote the famous poem “The Lamb.” The implication by thus using this quote is that Kojima enjoys reading, as words are important to making a script. Clearly he has read William Blake’s works before to understand how to put words together, especially in a language other than his native Japanese. Pretty sneaky, Mr. Kojima, but I’m on to you!

We pan across a field of dead marine life. Amongst the creatures present are crabs. Countless crabs. Crabs as far as the eye can see. What may seem like an odd establishing shot for a teaser becomes all the more rational when one realizes that this trailer debuted at Sony’s E3 conference.

Sony has previously debuted a game that had crabs, Genji 2. This game was first shown at E3 2006. 

Let us peel this mystery back even further.

As the trailer continues, mysterious hand prints appear out of nowhere on the black sand. Hands are important. We use them to hold things. To hit things. To touch things. To let go of things. To point at things. To slap things.

And, most importantly, to play video games. 

This trailer debuted at E3. E3 is an expo in which people get to try video games. 

JUMPING JEHOSHAPHAT. THE PLOT THICKENS. Could this mean the setting of Kojima’s new IP is E3 itself?

Batten down the hatches kiddos because we’re not out of the woods yet.

Our potential protagonist awakens on the beach. He is naked, he has a handcuff, and there is a newborn still attached to what appears to be an artificial umbilical cord. What could this mean? It means some serious truthhiding, dear readers. Let’s break this down:

1. Handcuffs: Meant to apprehend or hold someone in restraint. Often used on prisoners or those under arrest. People often claim that an unfair or brutal company is “holding employees captive.” But to break free of one’s cuffs is to gain freedom. To escape, per se. 

2. Babies: Newborn people. The product of months of incubation and often made as a labor of love between two people. People often consider even non-human things they make their “baby.” Their “shining little tot.” Their “miracle lad.” Their “special swaddling software sampling.” These are all real phrases. Babies represent new things.

3. Nudity: Being naked is like being defenseless. You are confused, exposed to the elements, and likely afraid as you have to salvage things to cover your own nakedness. It’s awkward and people don’t always want to see it.

And now, let’s match these with Hideo Kojima’s life as of late:

1. Kojima was working until last year with now infamous game and toy manufacturer Konami. Around the buildup for what would be his last game with the company, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, many felt he was being held captive. Kojima Productions was shut down, and people were being kept hush hush on why Kojima’s name was being removed from the game. What’s more, reports were flooding in that Konami kept employees monitored, reportedly oppressed, and made the entire company comparable to a prison. Konami was like a pair of handcuffs. Handcuffs which our Spidey Brief wearing, Big Corn posting hero finally managed to escape when he parted ways and formed his new studio.

2. To Kojima, video games are like his brainchildren. They are his ideas brought to life. You could go up to him I bet and go “hey do you consider video games to be your babies” and he’d probably go “I enjoy John Carpenter’s 1976 film Assault on Precinct 13. Please let me watch my Masked Rider BLACK Blu-ray box. BLACK’s fight with Shadowmoon was great. Battle Hopper is cute.”  One could say Death Stranding is Kojima’s newborn baby. His new IP is a literal baby. And it’s out there needing to be bought by gamers. Holy SMOKES.

3. Kojima just really likes putting naked people in his games. Especially naked men. That’s all there is to it, really.

But then, there is the twist.

Our naked babyholder is none other than Norman “Puffy Eye Beardfella” Reedus, of The Walking Dead fame. This makes the baby ALL. THE MORE. SHOCKING.

Reedus and Kojima were previously meant to work together alongside famed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro on a reboot of Konami’s Silent Hill horror franchise entitled Silent Hills. This was another gamebaby for Kojima. One that was nearly released before Konami snatched it away in his gameprison.

Mr. Reedus embraces the newborn as he makes weird face motions that I don’t get. This can only represent Norman Reedus leaping at the call for another game. He will protect this gamechild. He will not let he and Kojima’s bundle of joy go. He is so happy for the PS4.

But this joy is short lived. Softwaretot vanishes! HOW CAN THIS BE? WHERE IS BABBYGAME? We do not know! But we see tiny hands.

This clearly symbolizes the risk of another game being delayed and canceled. The gamebaby must be kept safe. And yet all the while, the song “I’ll Keep Coming” by the band Low Roar plays.

Indeed, games will keep coming back. And this game must be brought back to seaworld E3 by Norman Reedus o Weedus.

But that’s just the tip of the cake icing friends. Here it is, the most damning evidence of Death Stranding’s plot.

Five figures float forward in the sky. They shriek. 

Who else shrieks? Bosses. Bosses who want games. 

That’s right: The floating figures are Konami’s board of directors, wishing to drag Kojeemus back to make pachinko machines. But there are many people in the world. None of them float. So that’s silly.

All of this is rather silly. But the truth is revealed.

This is the truth.

This is the conclusion:

Death Strandings is a video game that was shown off at E3. And it will be about things if it is released. Which it probably will be.

Now go away I’m very tired.

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My Hero Academia: episode 1 thoughts

IT’S HERE!

IT’S. HERE!

After months of waiting and anticipation, the TV adaptation of one of my favorite manga out there right now has finally premiered! I was terrified, I was excited, I was impatient, I was all over the place waiting for it to start today, but oh my GOSH the wait was worth it!

Episode 1 actually shocked me in that we’ve only reached the halfway mark in the first chapter. I’m used to Jump anime adaptations cramming the entire first chapter into an episode, but considering that HeroAca’s opener is more than twice the length of a typical chapter (55 pages as compared to the usual 25-ish) I can let it slide, especially since the crew at Bones was incredibly faithful to the source material. No major cuts, no huge edits, and hell, it still went along at a wonderfully brisk pace! 

Capturing the kinetic energy of Horikoshi’s art was one of my big fears, but the first episode has alleviated that. Kenji Nagasaki and Yoshihiko Umakoshi have started things wonderfully, with the show taking the manga’s frantic action and dramatic expressiveness and helping it translate quite smoothly to animation. There were a few moments that felt sliiiiiightly janky, but everyone brought their A game to the table here. Likewise, two moments that were changed from the anime, while seemingly minor, are a bit of a pet peeve to me (one of which rather significantly changed the tone of a scene near the end), but few adaptations tend to be 100% identical to their source, and I can live with that!

Likewise, the show takes a page from David Production’s approach to the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime in the occasional use of on-screen sound effects. Much like how that worked for JoJo due to Araki’s iconic onomatopoeia, the sprinkling of Horikoshi’s penchant for English sound effects adds to the clearly American influenced zero-to-hero style of the story. HeroAca is essentially a love letter to the comics industry (particularly to Marvel), and the anime staff is definitely running with this in the presentation.

Voice casting is solid so far. While we’ve only been introduced to three of the main characters so far, I’m satisfied with how they sound. Daiki Yamashita reprises his role as main hero Izuku “Deku” Midoriya from the earlier "Vomic” motion comic adaptation of the manga, and he’s great. He really gets that dorky, bashful, lovable vibe through so well for the character.

Nobuhiko Okamoto’s performance as designated foil (and tremendous jackass) Katsuki Bakugo was one of those voices I had to get adjusted to, mainly because I expected something gruffer for the character, but I’m warming up to it. He’s pompous and snotty and I think he’ll do excellently as things go along.

And then there’s No. 1 hero All Might. I was terrified of how they were both gonna handle voicing him AND animating him, to be honest. His intentional style clash from the rest of the cast is a great visual gag in the manga, but I wasn’t sure how that would come across on screen. They did just fine, though. Keeping the dramatic silver age shading and pearly white smile, he’s a delight to watch. Kenta Miyake is a fine choice for the role, too. While I’m still expecting him to shout “TCH TCH! YES! I AM!” or command Magician’s Red to attack someone, he’s got that bold, booming delivery that totally fits. 

That and he rocked that Texas Smash at the episode’s end.

Can’t speak that much about the BGM right now, but Yuuki Hayashi returns from Gundam Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try to do the score. So far it’s pretty solid, if not the most mindblowing thing out there. Both Build Fighters series had fantastic compositions, though, and I think the more we hear the more I’m gonna love it. Likewise, Pornograffiti and Brian the Sun deliver a good OP and ED, respectively.

With 12 episodes remaining (to my shock), I’m hoping that the HeroAca anime can continue to deliver. I’m not sure how far it’ll get into the story, but I hope it can at least keep up the same levels of quality we saw here rather than suddenly take a nosedive. That, and oh -gosh- I hope we get a second season confirmed next year. 13 episodes alone would be an injustice!  Either way, I’m tuning in again next week. Bravo, Bones, bravo.

Plus Ultra!

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Captain America: Civil War trailer thoughts

Hoo boy. So it’s finally here. Watched it a little while ago and...well...as much as I wanted to get excited, let’s face it: It was more of what we saw last time BUT WITH SPIDER-MAN~! 

Not to say that’s a bad thing, of course. I mean, hell, this is essentially the culmination of years of on-off struggles to get old webhead into the MCU. And for that, I’m excited. We finally are a few steps closer to having things unified (aside from Fox clinging on to the X-Men franchise for dear life and Sony still wanting to do their own little thing with the rest of the Spidey franchise) and that’s phenomenal! 

It’s amazing to think that in less than 10 years we’ve had such an expansive universe for these films. It genuinely blows my mind. But at the same time I now wonder if it’s getting to be a bit too much.

The trailer highlighted this with hero on top of hero on top of hero. It’s adapting one of the most controversial Marvel events in the past decade, and it’s giving us a good old fashion smackdown between heroes...but nothing in the trailer really wowed me. It felt like the same old MCU stuff. This is good in that, hey, it’s a lot of action and I’ll likely be able to sit down and have a fun time with it... but it also feels like it may just come off as stale.

Age of Ultron was misfire in this regard and I worry about something similar for Cap here. Could we be getting to a point where there’s just too much of a good thing?  I’ll hold onto the hope that this ends up being better than I expected, but all in all my reaction so far is “boy that sure was a preview.”

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Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops

Natasha Farrow - Calling To The Night

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The logo for Kamen Rider #1, the 45th anniversary logo, and Kamen Rider #1′s redesign.

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Vidya Games 2k15 Edition: A Year in Review

2016 is underway and it feels like it snuck up on everyone. And with a new year means the chance to look back. And looking back includes... looking back on games. To some. Including myself.

Anyhow, I’ll fully admit that this year I was plenty busy with school and real life things which made it tough to really keep going out there and picking up lots of the heavy hitting titles this year, nor am I gonna go on and on and act like I’m some go to expert on what should be considered the best of the year, but I do feel like just hitting on a few things I’ve either started (or, hopefully, finished) that I felt were worth mentioning in terms of releases.

1. Undertale (Steam)

I might as well get this one out of the way first. And I will also admit that when I first heard about it I didn’t get the hype. I ended up getting it as a gift after a rather silly joke between some friends of mine. What started out as a fairly charming, if not mind blowing RPG in the vein of the MOTHER series ended up being a story that was just as hilarious as it was heartbreaking. Toby really crafted a memorable and endearing cast, some insanely good music, and a challenging bullet hell/JRPG hybrid that I didn’t expect to love as much as I did. Without spoiling things, even I’ll admit to shedding a tear by the end. The game is not completely perfect, though. It does drag on at points and certain jokes miss the mark, but it was overall a fantastic experience that did indeed fill me with determination.

2. Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Multiplat, PS3 in my case)

Hoo boy. I was dreading a new RE game after 6. Not gonna lie, the buildup to Rev 2 made me worried that this would just be a tremendous screw up. But I was proven wrong and generally quite pleased with the game. We got a resolution to some plot points that had been dangling for years, the return of two of my favorite characters (Barry and Claire), and the first steps towards the franchise actually being -scary- again. While the partner zapping system had issues that I think would have worked far better with online multiplayer, the gameplay was pretty solid. And the episodic format worked better than I initially expected it would. This wasn't the complete return to form I've been hoping for with RE (still was rather heavy on action and overwhelming you with enemies rather than fear of the unexpected) but it was a change for the better. Let's hope there's more like this to come. (Please don't suck, RE2 remake).

3. Splatoon (Wii U)

It isn’t often that Nintendo cranks out a new IP these days, but I’m so glad they did with this one. Splatoon is a colorful, fast paced, blissful experience that gave my Wii U more love than it had gotten in months. The whole thing is  wonderful mishmash of neon colors, Japanese street fashion and youthful energy all drenched in ocean water. And. It. Works. While I wish there were stage select options, the game keeps bringing in new content and Splatfests are always a ton of fun. I gotta get back to this one to keep practicing, because it’s been a breath of fresh (heh) air for Nintendo.

4. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

OKAY So this one I got in on late. And I admittedly really need to get back to. But I finally jumped onto the Monhun train and I’ve loved what I played so far. The controls take a bit of getting used to but going out with some friends to slay monsters, exploring the vast landscapes, getting your palicos together and taking on impossible odds just makes gathering your spoils and celebrating afterwards all the more satisfying. This is an amazing experience for a handheld title, and I’m certainly going to be playing more. The learning curve is steep, but it’s rewarding. It’s ameowzing.

5. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

So I’ll admit I wanted to get this list up to five titles. And I just started MGSV last night, but I think it’s safe to say that this one is gonna keep me busy in the year ahead. While Konami did royally fuck over Kojima, as evidenced by the unfinished content (and their attempts to sweep him and Kojima Productions under the rug), this final title in the MG series is certainly a huge one to go out on. It’s tough, it’s -very- tough. Open world environments have led to more tightly packed areas with more chances of being spotted, but  streamlined control scheme, gorgeous graphical presentation, and seemingly endless options for play styles makes this one amazing stealth standbox title. While I do wish there was more plot to really go with all that great gameplay, this being Metal Gear and all, I’m having a blast and can’t wait to finally bring this series to a close.

There are a few other titles I wanted to mention, but either haven’t really played yet (Mario maker) or gotten my hands on (Xenoblade X) but hey. There will be time for those later. :V

So thanks for the good games and stuff last year, 2015. Here’s hoping I have as much fun in the year ahead.

[super-zero-time-blog]

Welp.

I figured it was about time that I started something new and less cluttered for my thoughts, reviews and other little things like that.

Expect updates to come and expect a lot of writing to happen over time.