Friday, January 27, 2017

Kono Subarashii Sekai Ni Shukufuku O (Konosbua) Review

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According to Shirou Emiya of the "Fate/stay night" franchise, people die when they are killed. This somewhat applied to Kazuma Satou, who was killed bravely sacrificing his life to save a young girl from getting hit by a truck after days of staying within his safe bubble of his life as a NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training).

Actually no.

Kazuma did not bravely sacrifice his life and neither did he get hit by a truck. Actually, Kazuma pushed a girl away from a slow-moving 5 mph tractor that would not have killed the young girl and he did not get run over. He died of shock and his death was completely laughable.

Whoops?

However, Kazuma was given a chance at a second life. A goddess known as Aqua gave him a choice of being reborn into a fantasy world. The best about it? He can bring a cheat item along with him in order to defeat the demon lord.

However, Aqua is a jerk.

After a lengthy taunting session via the goddess, Kazuma decided to pick Aqua as his cheat item when he could have had an item that could potentially give him an amazing adventure of fun and a (possible) harem. As such, the two of them was dropped down into a new fantasy world threatened by a Demon Lord due to Aqua's dismay and Kazuma's excitement.

This is the story of Kazuma's (mis)adventures into a new fantasy world.

This is Kono Subarashii Sekai Ni Shukufuku O (Gifting the Wonderful World with Blessings), or Konosuba for short.

I had learned that many people enjoyment coming from this anime and I have heard that it was a great comedy. While I did have some hesitation going into this anime due to Studio DEEN's "attempt" at adapting Fate/stay night, I decided to jump into this show because I enjoy comedy.

I do not regret watching it.

The animation of the faces tend to be a bit off in places, I won't lie, but oddly enough, I actually liked the off-model nature. This is a comedy after all.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Movies, Camera, Video Game Action?

Ah the joy of playing a video game, it is one like no other, especially from someone like me who has played multiple video games. I also enjoy watching movies, especially those that are superhero-based or of the action genre, though am I partial to comedy in my movies.

So what happens when you mix video games with movies?

You get people like Uwe Boll sticking his hands into it.

And in just this year, there have been three video game movies that have been released: The Ratchet and Clank movie released on April 29, 2016, Angry Birds movie released on May 20, 2016 and the Warcraft movie has been releasedon June 10, 2016. Meanwhile, the new Assassin's Creed movie is being released this December.

Ratchet and Clank, Angry Birds and Warcraft all have one thing in common... According to Rotten Tomatoes, they're all rated "Rotten" on the scale.

It's sad day when you realize that the only good video game movie that you watched was the Japanese-exclusive "Gyakuten Saiban (Turnabout Trial)," also known as "Ace Attorney" for those in the West, movie. I remember watching through the movie and highly enjoying it because I'm a fan of the franchise.

However, it still has some problems, but it's frustrating to know that the only good video game movie is a movie and a franchise that most people don't know. This draws the question now.

Do video games deserve movies?

Maybe.

The problem here is that even when the creators have a heavy hand in it, such as the Ratchet & Clank movie, it still doesn't always hold up.

So many people hope for the shining example of a good video game movie. Nintendo has confirmed that they are planning to go into the movie business with a "Detective Pikachu" movie. This movie has no confirmed release date, but it does have names such as Alex Hirsch of "Gravity Falls" fame and Nicole Perlman of "Guardians of the Galaxy" attached as writers. Meanwhile, Rob Letterman, famous for the movie "Goosebumps" has just been tapped as a director.

Could this team help save the doom that befalls video games movies or will they fall like so many before them. Personally, I hope not. I am a fan of both Guardians of the Galaxy and Gravity Falls, but the director makes me nervous.

Goosebumps was a decent movie, but that was it. It was decent. Nothing too memorable and would likely be found in a bargain bin at Wal-Mart.

But, if this movie succeeds, could we see a rise of a "Nintendo Cinematic Universe" much like how Marvel, DC and Universal are attempting? Or will we see another failure.

Personally, I'm hoping for an animated Kid Icarus movie.


Thursday, October 6, 2016

First Reactions: Magical Girl Raising Project



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Ever since Puella Magi Madoka Magica came out, we've had a lot of magical girl shows that have decided to attempt to capture its success. Some of them succeed, others seem to sometimes fail. A good example of a few are Mahou Shoujo of the End, or Magical Girl Apocalypse as it's called in the United States, Mahou Shoujo Site and Yuki Yuna is a Hero. It's not at all surprising to hear that there's another brutal deconstruction where you get to see magical girls go through suffering and pain.

I'm a fan of the show "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" and "Danganronpa," so hearing that there is a show that is similar to that of both franchises, I became immediately curious. There was a show similar to two franchises that I adore? I immediately decided to check it out as soon as I possibly could. 



This my friends is my first reactions to Magical Girl Raising Project: Episode 1.

Friday, September 30, 2016

Danganronpa 3: Hope Side Review

This review contains spoilers for all of Danganronpa 3. If you have not watched it yet, please do not click under the link.



Future? Despair? Hope? (A Review of Danganronpa 3: End of Hope's Peak Academy)


For the last three months, I witnessed death, destruction and despair. 

For the last three months, I watched characters die left and right. Characters I barely knew, characters I really enjoyed watching and such fabulous endings.

For the last three months, I have followed the end of a series that I hold dear to my heart. 

For the last three months, I have watching Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy. 

For those not in the know, Danganronpa is a Japanese visual novel series that details a class of students stuck in an inescapable area, be it a school or an island, forced to kill each other. However, unlike the Hunger Games or Battle Royale, there are rules in place. For example, when a body is found dead, the survivors must investigate the area and then go on trial. If the killer wins, he is let free and the innocent die. However, if the killer loses, they are executed. 

So, what is up with the anime? 

Danganronpa 3 is meant to be the conclusion of the "Hope's Peak Academy Saga," that started up in 2011 with the release of Danganronpa: The Academy of Hope and the Students of Despair, or as it is known in America, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. It also has two parts to it showing every week:

"Future Side" which details the story of Makoto Naegi, the main character of the first game, who is suddenly thrust in another Killing Game, where they must find the killer before they are killed themselves. This Killing Game also has an interesting set of rules to it as on their wrists are these bracelets called "NG Codes" or "Forbidden Actions" and "Despair Side," which details the events before the first game and helps explain some parts of the "Future Side." We also see the cast of Danganronpa 2 in this part, characters who had their memories erased because they were once part of a group called "Ultimate Despair" led by the main antagonist of the series, Junko Enoshima.

"Future Side" has a great mystery with questions of "Who Is The Killer?" And when the reveal comes in the end, it surprised me and yet at the same time, due to all the theories I followed and the discussion online, there was a bit of a blow and a shrug. However, there were a few episodes where there wasn't a discussion of who was the killer, but rather a large fight, almost as if these people were confused and concussed. However, this makes sense. Everybody is paranoid, frightened, scared. 

"Despair Side" is interesting to me at least. I feel as if it is simply to help explain a lot of the events detailed in the first two games and the light novel "Danganronpa 0." It's nice fanservice however and makes the series shine through. Not only that, it helps make the world of Hope's Peak shine. 

"Future Side" does have its fair share of problems however as sometimes, there are characters who we don't know about. We see them die and yes, it's horrifying, but their deaths were just there, simply to add shock value. We are left to interpret the events. 

Meanwhile, "Despair Side" also has problems such as taking too long to get to the point of the series, which details how the cast of Danganronpa 2 fell into despair. To be honest, despite how horrifying and sad it is, and yes, while it does make sense as to why Junko would go about the route she took, it didn't feel satisfying. "Despair Side" felt like it could be slightly more expanded in my eyes. 

There is also a special episode called "Hope Side." However, this episode is completely full of spoilers, I will likely post a blog post about my thoughts on the episode at a later date.

In terms of animation, I found it to be very good, every character moved perfectly and I would like to give a shout-out to Episode 7 of "Future Side," which rendered the outside world in impeccable detail while also giving us an...interesting conclusion to the spin-off game "Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls." 

Sound was amazing, I particularly liked the opening and endings of both parts of the anime. Not only that, the use of previous soundtracks and new soundtracks allowed me to become more and more fascinated by what happened in the series. 

All-in-all, this anime is a satisfying conclusion to a series that I love so much, despite the flaws that came with "Despair Side," and be sure to keep an eye out for "New Dangaronpa V3" coming out January 2017 in Japan. 

Danganronpa 3 is being animated by Studio Lerche and being streamed by Funimaton and is currently undergoing a "simudub." 

Danganronpa is owned by Spike Chunsoft. 

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Captain HYDRA and the Rebirth of DC.

In the world of comic book geekdom, which I have recently been able to get into because of the MCU and the Arrowverse, there has been three rather fascinating events that has taken the Internet by storm. It is in that regard, I would like to take the time to talk about a few new reveals that has recently happened. After all, in what way can we take these events?