New entry, bitches!

Damn, how long has it been since this blog was properly updated? I am sorry for being so lazy… And I apologize on Tasha’s behalf as well. Even though she might have an excuse other than laziness, unlike me. So! In order to get back into the blogging scene, I’ll post a short review about a short little anime called The Diary of Tortov Roddle. And when I say short, I mean really short. I watched the entire thing in about 15 minutes. I mean, damn.

Does this remind you of any puzzles?

TDoTR‘s concept is quite similar to that of Kino’s Journey, which I reviewed this summer. Tortov Roddle is a man with a top hat from the country Tortalia. He spends his days travelling the world on his horse-pig… thing. The six-episode anime is about his strange adventures. Perhaps “adventures” is the wrong word, since TDoTR is very slow-paced. There is no spoken dialogue, but I felt very attached to Tortov anyway. How, you may ask? Because we get to see a couple of pages from his diary. He writes about his discoveries in it. It made me feel a bit bad for him. I mean, why is Tortov travelling? There’s no backstory, he just… does it. Why is he doing it alone? Since he has noone to talk to he puts his thoughts into a journal. This made the last episode, which had a little bit of romance, especially sad.

 

Awww.

As you probably can tell just from seeing these two pictures above, the art style in TDoTR is different from what you usally see in anime. It’s very beautiful though, and surreal in a Dali-like way. Kind of like a dream. It’s even better when it moves. While there is very little music, what little we get to hear is very beautiful. It’s calming and there is a lot of accordions in it.

 

Let the acid trip begin.

TDoTR is truly a piece of art. While not exciting, it’s inspiring and good to relax to. I really wish they could continue this anime though… It has potential, but there’s only so much that can be done in 15 minutes. Which is sad, because I really liked the main character. If I could, I’d definitely write a fanfiction about this.

The end of 2010

Merry (belated) Christmas everyone, and a happy new year. I apologize for being so inactive lately.

 

That’s all I have to say.

I got myself a paper clip. *smirk*

Yeah, that’s right, I’m going to review a CiNG game. In case you are a nerd like me, you probably saw that coming when you saw the title. The game I’m going to review is none other than Last Window: The Secret of Cape West – CiNG’s swan song, so to speak. And it’s one game that I’ve been looking forward to a lot – especially since we weren’t even sure if it would arrive outside Japan due to the company’s economical problems.

I really enjoyed Hotel Dusk: Room 215, like most people who played it. The film noir-inspired (gorgeous, might I add) art style and soundtrack, the dark but strangely uplifting storyline, the powerful characters and the extremely well-written dialogue made it one of my favorite DS games ever. In it, you played as Kyle Hyde – a bitter ex-cop who shot his partner 4 years ago after finding out the guy was working with a crime syndicate called Nile, and spent the following years as a businessman for the shady company Red Crown. He checked in at Hotel Dusk where he was pulled into a mystery connected to his past.

Last Window, again on the DS,  takes place one year after the events of the first game – in other words, the early 1980s – and it starts with a flashback prologue showing a couple of incidents; first we see a thief getting shot after cracking a safe and finding a diamond, and then we see a woman being poisoned. In the present, Kyle is sleeping in his car after screwing up a job. He gets fired by his boss Ed, and retreats to Cape West, his apartment. In his room, he finds an anonymous letter that asks him to find the “Scarlet Star” in the apartment. One thing leads to another, and after a while he realizes that this might be related to his father’s murder. However, the apartment’s owner has decided to sell the place – so he only has a few days to find the truth.

Like the first game, you hold the DS sidewards – like a book. You walk around in the apartment looking for clues, solving puzzles and talking to people. The dialogue system work the same way as in Hotel Dusk – you choose what questions Kyle is going to ask, and must from time to time make choices. If you screw up a puzzle or make the wrong decision, you’ll get a short, humorous scenario followed by a Game Over screen – you better get used to seeing Kyle facepalming. The puzzles are much better than the ones in Hotel Dusk both in terms of quantity or quality – they make you think, sure, but not to the point where you get frustrated. And most of them use the DS functions such as the microphone in a clever way.

The game’s most notable new feature is the in-game novel, Last Window, written by a certain author that fans of Hotel Dusk might remember. The book is based on the events of this game and you unlock a new chapter every time you finish an in-game chapter. Your actions will influence the book’s script, and the book will be different depending on what decisions you make. The book also gives you some hints as to what to do next if you’re stuck.

While the puzzles are good, Last Window‘s strongest side is by far the storyline. The dialogue is top-notch and the characters are well-written and full of personality – sometimes you feel bad for them, sometimes you laugh at them. They all have some kind of thing that’s troubling them. The atmosphere is old-school – the characters are in black and white and the soundtrack is jazzy.

It’s a shame that this is CiNG’s last game, since they went bankrupt. Last Window is not the best DS game – that title goes to Dragon Quest IX – but it’s really close. Everything that made Hotel Dusk so great is present but it also improves things that Hotel Dusk could have done better. Overall, it’s recommended to anyone who fancies a good mystery.

Cage of Eden (Eden no Ori)

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed one of my favourite mangas- in fact, I think this is the first one I ever properly read :3

I was reminded of this while watching Jurassic Park last night (I’m firmly convinced that it’s one of the best films of all time) to try and cheer myself up from a rather trying day, in which everyone was late and/or unorganised, prompting me to morph into something resembling that creepy dragon thing from Fantasia. Well, figuratively speaking =P

The link between Cage of Eden and Jurassic Park? Simple. Prehistoric animals are the main premise of both. However, Cage of Eden is also an excellent psychological drama that’s been likened to Lord of the Flies and on this, I have to agree.

A brief summary then- main character Akira and his classmates are travelling back to Japan by plane after a school trip in Guam, when the navigating instruments go haywire and the plane is forced to make an emergency landing. The pilot is discovered stabbed shortly after their landing and the horrified students discover that, not only are they trapped on the island, it’s inhabited by species of animals thought to be extinct. Their situation worsens as several of Akira’s classmates are attacked and even eaten alive but as mysterious deaths also spread amongst the students, they soon realise that the most dangerous creatures on the island are in fact, themselves.

Though there’s enough creature attacks to cater to the more bloodthirsty, Cage of Eden’s real strength is its portrayal of psychological degeneration- in particular, Akira’s best friend Arita, who becomes steadily more unhinged as the manga progresses.

A warning though, this manga’s classed as mature- there’s not a copious amount of blood (rest assured, it’s no Higurashi) but there are a LOT of panty shots, which while they might be a great thing for some, didn’t really appeal to me at all! It’s also ongoing, so once you reach around chapter 34, you’ll have to wait a while for fresh scanlations~

Cage of Eden gets an 8/10 for me, with points knocked off for the amount of panty flashing that goes on but plus points for its strong characters and storyline and its beautiful art style.

In other news, my local HMV’s squashed anime in with “world cinema”… Guess this marks an end to my casual browsing of a weekend =( All they have in there is Naruto now DX

The world is not beautiful, therefore it is.

This summer, I wanted a deep anime to watch. Not “deep” as in “a moefest of forced, overly melodramatic ‘sad’ scenes and a confusing ending” (see: Clannad, which I literary had to force myself through) – I wanted something that would actually make me think. About life, our world, the pros and cons about it and where it’s going. Yes, I like philosophy, shoot me. So anyway, I was recommended Kino’s Journey on a forum I frequent. I heard it was short so I decided to give it a try.

Kino’s Journey is about Kino, a reverse trap, and her loyal talking motorcycle Hermes. They travel around the world together because it’s their lives and that’s what they want to do with it. They don’t get particularly attached to the people they meet because that would get in the way of their journey, but they will sometimes help those in need – if they get a reward, that is. Kino is therefore a perfect example of a neutral character. In each episode, they visit a new, unique country (like the Land of Adults, where children are “turned” into adults at the age of 12, or the Land of Books, famous for its literature) and it usually ends with them talking about their adventures as they ride to the next country. This might sound a tad boring, but there is some action in it as well. Kino’s Journey is almost entirely episodic, but there are some continuity nods between the 13 episodes. As this blog entry’s quote implies, the philosophy of the show is that nothing is perfect (Kino encounters slave traders and is forced to fight in a coliseum for pretty much no reason at all, among other things), and that’s what makes the world so beautiful.

I enjoyed my time together with Kino and Hermes, and I think most people will as well. Philosophical undertones, an interesting cast, gorgeous visuals (some of the countries have a steampunk-ish feel to them, which is a plus to me) and a fantastic soundtrack makes this one of the best animes I’ve ever seen. If you’re the kind of person who likes to stop and reflect on life every now and then, Kino’s Journey is a must-watch.

/Jonas

I’M SAVING THE COWS :3

Eheh. Yeah, the title DOES have some meaning (a reference to the fact I drink enough milk to keep several dairy farms in business, as franzkafka93 and I were discussing over MSN), buuut it’s mainly to announce the fact that… wait for it… we’re going to start blogging about Life Outside Anime =O

Scary stuff I know =P So I’ll be writing about about life in good ol’ Blighty, while franzkafka93 will keep you updated from the Land Where Polar Bears Are Ridden To School :3 And we’ll do reviews too. Sounds balanced, n’est-ce pas?

It’s mainly bad news here. Surprise surprise. There’ve been a worrying amount of crazed gunmen on the lam, the economy’s shot and as for politics.. well, let’s not mention that whole kettle of fish ^^

How to cope with the recession? Well, one of my personal favourites is watching programmes about stupidly rich people and sniping about how unhappy/overweight/having a bad hair day they are. Ah, spite, what would I do without you? A more healthy pastime for me is watching a few episodes of Ouran High School Host Club of an evening- following the troubles of little Haruhi, who’s just as broke as I am makes me feel pretty damn good :3 Besides the rich kids of OHSHC are so easy on the eye that I just can’t bring myself to hate them.

Forget being depressed about the extreme lack of money (and jobs) in the UK at the moment- I’ve got anime and a very British sense of humour to cheer me up a little~ And of course, I’ve got all those cows to save.

Whew.

Today I’m posting here mostly to make myself feel better – right now, things aren’t looking good. We took our 18-year old cat to the vet and they tested her blood – we’ll get the results in one week or so. So, to get my mind off that for a while I’ll just talk about other things – to be more specific, good things.

Last Window: The Secret of Cape West has been confirmed for a localization and a European release. I loved Hotel Dusk: Room 215 so this is a relief to hear, what with CiNG going bankrupt and all that jazz. The game looks excellent – it feels old and new at the same time. The new characters look interesting, and one is even performed by Australian rock star Craig “Ninezero” Andrew Schweizer. It will be out in Europe on the 17th September – that’s just a little less than two months – and since CiNG is in desperate need of money now… Please buy it, people. I’ve also pre-ordered Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies as well, and I’ll get it in 4 days.

Oh, and I watched Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (fansubbed by “dudebro”) with my brother today, since we love the games so much. It truly was amazing. I would review it if I was in a good mood but right now I’m not. Let’s just say that I’ll buy it in English when it’s out, despite having seen it already, and leave it at that. Thanks to dudebro for translating it – you did a good job.

Until next time, good bye.

Your princess is in another castle… Princess Princess review

Main cast of Princess Princess, from left to right; Mikoto, Toru, Yuujiro

First things first, note our shiny new header, designed and made by yours truly!  Honey-senpai (Ouran High School Host Club), Kino (Kino’s Journey)and Ritsuka (Loveless) are this month’s cover stars- it’s possible we might start changing the header every month, if I’m not being too horrendously lazy to do it :3

Okay, so where was I? Ah yes, Princess Princess… I have to say I was disappointed-  when I first heard of the manga, I thought the idea was quite fun and could promise a few interesting situations; though its premise is stereotypical shoujo stuff, it seemed quirky enough initially to escape this.

The story follows high school student Kouno Toru, who transfers to an all-boys school that he soon discovers to be somewhat unusual… Deprivation of female company apparently takes its toll, so the students of this school have adopted a slightly odd custom- every year, several first year students are chosen to be “Princesses”, whose duties are to dress up in girls’ clothing and attend school functions such as basketball games dressed thus, to ease the  hardships of life without any real girls. I can’t help but thinking switching on their Playstations would have been a better way to ease the boredom…

And wouldn’t you know it, beautiful Toru is selected as a Princess within weeks of his arrival. The catch is that once selected, he can’t refuse but the job has some compensations… Each Princess has their school fees and equipment paid for by the school and in addition makes a small amount of money as profit. Could it be that being a Princess might not be so bad?

I liked the idea of the manga, but once I started reading it, my opinion of it slipped lower and lower. To begin with, the characters seem likeable and well-formed (the “Eastern Princess” Mikoto’s hatred of cross-dressing makes for a few clever jokes and pretty “Western Princess” Yuujiro comes up with some excellent wisecracks), but my issue is that Toru adapts much too quickly to the bizarre life of a Princess and his character becomes somewhat bland as a result of this. There’s some lovely use of humour but this is weighed down by a rambling storyline which doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere. One Princess Princess’s main saving graces is its lovely art style- this is one of the best illustrated mangas I’ve read so far, though unfortunately, this isn’t enough to totally redeem it.

To wrap things up, Princess Princess looks good on the outside and is even very funny in places, but it’s hindered by a vague plot and poor character development. This gets a 5/10 from me- worth a try, but don’t expect it to be anything fresh~

Last Exile!

Today I’m going to review Last Exile, an anime by Gonzo and the latest show I watched. It’s only 26 episodes so you’ll finish it in a couple of days.

Last Exile is set in a steam/dieselpunk-like world. Claus and Lavie are two 15-year old “vanship” pilots. One day, after almost winning a race, they find a crashed vanship in a forest – before dying, the pilot asks them to escort a young girl to the famous ship Silvanna, owned by the legendary captain Alex Row. That young girl later turns out to be vital to the world’s future…

The plot is pretty cliché but very well thought-out anyway. Personally, I never cared about the protagonists Claus and Lavie, but the majority of the other characters are interesting – like the stoic Alex who hides a tragic past, the playful but mysterious Dio (yes, it’s a guy, and no, I don’t blame you for finding him attractive), the crew members of the Silvanna and commander Sophia. Last Exile also has one of the most diabolical antagonists ever – by the end of the show you’ll just want to strangle her. Dialogue is decent but kind of silly at times. The story also has some allusions to our world’s history, according to Wikipedia. The ending was also very satisfying.

The quality of the animation is… varying, but usually good and sometimes great. To clarify: the characters can look a bit off-model at times, but the scenes that focus on the vanships are gorgeous. The soundtrack combines electronica and classical music – a very interesting combination. Last Exile is very well made if a bit generic but the good parts outweigh the bad parts – I’d recommend it for almost everyone.

On a different note, I’m currently watching Kino’s Journey/Kino no Tabi and I think it’s awesome. I may or may not review it once I’m finished.

Refreshing like a spring breeze- or not ^^ Kimi ni Todoke

Could it be? I’m actually reviewing an anime, not a manga? Usually, I prefer dubbed anime over subbed, but to be honest, I’m very glad I put my preferences aside because I wouldn’t have wanted to miss Kimi ni Todoke, despite its faults.

Though the scenario isn’t exactly new- boy meets girl at high school and they eventually fall in love- it’s the heroine of Kimi ni Todoke, Kurosuma Sawako who makes the anime worth watching for me. Sawako is rejected and feared by all the students in her year for her resemblance to the ghost character Sadako from “The Ring” (and here they have a point, Sawako’s smile is genuinely creepy) with the students believing her name to be Sadako rather than Sawako and spreading rumours that she has spiritual powers and can curse people.

When Sawako is befriended by popular Kazehaya Shouta whom she has admired for years, however, her fortunes begin to change- she becomes more self-confident, learns to smile and even makes friends in her class, all the while not realising that Kazehaya is in love with her…

It’s Sawako really who makes Kimi ni Todoke refreshing, rather than just another fluffy shoujo anime- her awkwardness and peculiar habits are actually endearing. That said, the plot isn’t in any way original, but the likeability of both Sawako and Kazehaya balances this out.

I have to say, I’m not a huge fan of the animation style- particularly the way it constantly switches in and out of chibi style- but it’s passable.

Kimi ni Todoke gets a 6.5/10 from me- the plot and premise of the anime is predictable but the fact that the characters genuinely feel as though they could be real people, rather than anime stereotypes make this fact far less noticeable than it otherwise would be. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s worth watching :3