Killifish's Anime and Videogame Blog

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya- Finally Getting Animated

2009-10-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

Gah! My excitement is such that should I attempt to type comprehensibly for an extended period of time, I would surely fail! I might find the time to collect myself and write a long post on the matter at a later time. Then again, this blog being pretty much dead in the water renders that a pretty pointless exercise. Oh, and by the way, the Disappearance arc is going to be a movie. It's going to hit Japanese cinemas in the Spring of 2010. I eagerly await my digital bootleg copy.

Oh dear, it seems the time has come for me to return to my anticipation corner. One last thing: if you consider yourself a Haruhi fan, you'd do well to check out this vague thirty-second trailer. It was aired at the end of the Haruhi season 1 broadcast. It's another quirky Kyoto Animation marketing ploy, which means it's far from satisfying, but it's gotten me uncontrollably pumped for this movie.

Gah!

First Impressions: Tales of Vesperia

2009-09-20T23:35:00.000-07:00

I've come crawling back to torture you all with my ramblings once again. This time, I'll be talking about a latent purchase of mine.

Tales of Vesperia is a Japanese RPG for the Xbox 360. It's one of the more recent installments in a series whose humble beginnings played out on the SNES. The series has since become hugely popular in Japan, but to this day never managed to transcend a cult following in the West. Thus, it's kind of strange that this title should be released exclusively for a console that's been a giant flop over there since day one. I'm not complaining, however, because I don't own a PS3.

Now that I've escaped that mind-numbingly boring tangent, I can finally talk about my early experiences with the game. So far, I've plugged upwards of ten hours into it, all of which I have loved. The battle system is great, the world map isn't an eyesore (I'm looking at you, Tales of Symphonia) and the boss battles have all been thrilling challenges so far. Thankfully, this is all tied together with a half decent plot and INCREDIBLE characters. The characters are really, really, really likable. I mean it. Really. Oh, and the cell-shaded anime visual style looks great too. Here are some screenshots for your oggling pleasure.

Vesperia's ultra-feminine-looking protagonist Yuri (pictured above and below) is, as it happens, a relatable, down-to-earth badass. His voice actor nails this personality, making for one of the greatest videogame characters I've seen in yonks, if not ever. His sidekick is a pipe-smoking dog that weilds a sword in its mouth. What more could you want?

Of course, I couldn't throw all this praise around without actually fleshing out my reasons, so I'll pick one of these points to banter on about for an extended period of time. I choose the battle system.

Enemy encounters are not initiated randomly, but by bumping into visual representations of monsters, making for a much less annoying experience than most RPGs that feature encounter-based combat. Like in Tales of Symphonia, (the only other "Tales of" game that I've touched) battles take place in a circular arena where players move in a beeline towards an enemy to pound them as though they were playing a fighting game. Meanwhile, three computer-controlled allies do the same, with the exceptions of healers, casters and whatnot who just sit there and charge up their magix. Though these allies cannot be controlled by the player, they can be directed by applying behavioral settings inside or outside of battle. For example, one could command a character to conserve their mana, avoid confrontation, or target certain kinds of enemies exclusively. Additionally, you can pause the battle and tell a member to perform a specific action such as using an item or casting a spell. Unlike Tales of Symphonia, Vesperia gives the player the option to move free from the confines of their beeline by holding a button. This proves useful when trying to distract a troublesome boss so that your healer can save the party from certain doom. Also unlike Symphonia, the player cannot jump backward while blocking: a change which I consider to be lame. There was something extremely satisfying about being able to do that. You could block when you expected an attack, and if that attack didn't come, you still wouldn't feel all that stupid because you wouldn't find yourself just sitting there blocking until it did come. Instead you could nimbly leap away and watch your opponent flail around foolishly. But whatever, the battles are still fun.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed. Considering that this one will probably eat away at my life over the next few days, I may as well blog it further. Stay tuned for more updates... or not.

Okami for DS: Confirmed

2009-09-02T03:03:00.000-07:00

Here's an unexpected little piece of gaming news: the sequel to the critically acclaimed Okami is going to be gracing the DS. Details aren't sketchy at all, in fact there's quite a lot of information available about the title. However, I'm too lazy to list all the facts, so you can do a little research of your own. When you've done that, meet me back here and I'll continue where I left off.

Those who know me well know that I adored Okami. Its stunning art design and its fresh take on the Zelda formula, not to mention the best musical score I've ever heard in a game, make it my second favourite videogame of all time. Needless to say, I have much more hope pinned on this title than is either advisable or healthy. It's a handheld title after all and that alone is enough of a bad omen make me quake in my boots.

There's a good chance that this game will flop if it isn't done right. Given the DS's obvious limitations, the aesthetic appeal of the first game could easily be lost, right? True as that may be, this screenshot might put you at ease for the time being.

This same image also strikes fear into the hearts of some of us loyal fans. Namely, the gameplay might get dumbed down. Can you really imagine that stubby-legged wolf jumping around or performing any other semi-complicated maneuvers? Perhaps the sprawling, open world won't be quite so open; those are narrow walkways I'm seeing, right? Could the whole game be limited like that? A lot of foreshadowing oozes from that image.

I must say, I think the stylus controls could greatly benefit an Okami title. In the PS2 and Wii versions of Okami, whipping out your celestial brush and altering a paused environment did make the pace a little awkward at times, even if it was only for a few seconds. Hopefully that process will be made easier with the DS control scheme.

All-in-all, it's way too early to make too many guesses, but I think it's safe to say that this game won't make nearly as much of an impression as the first one did. Either way, we can still dream about a console sequel in the future. Nintendo's little innovation box is under loads of pressure from me at the moment. If this, Golden Sun DS or The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks fail to live up to expectations, I might just let loose a little fan rage.

Anime Review: Samurai Champloo

2009-08-20T06:31:00.001-07:00

Hello again, readers, and a good day to both of you! I have returned once again to talk to thin air about my various passions. This time I will be writing a review of (read: spending a long time awarding undeserved praise to) my favorite anime for no better reason than that I can. So, without further ado, here’s my review of Samurai Champloo.

Summary:

Samurai Champloo is a successful experiment; a unique anime that mixes hip-hop culture and 19th Century Japan to create a product that sounds horrible on paper, but nowhere else. It follows the travels of two vagrant men named Jin and Mugen who agree to act as bodyguards for a plucky young woman named Fuu on her journey to find “the samurai who smells of sunflowers” in order to repay her for saving their lives.

Forget the sunflower samurai for now, though, because much like its spiritual predecessor, Cowboy Bebop (from the same creators), Samurai Champloo handles the bulk of its story in bite-sized, self-contained episodes. If Cowboy Bebop has shown us anything, it’s that this way of doing things can work magnificently, so don’t fret if you’re not so keen on the idea just yet.

Story and Writing (9/10):

For the most part, Samurai Champloo handles its many little stories in such a way that each becomes a gripping tale in and of itself. One or more temporary characters are introduced, events unfold, our protagonists are influenced by those events, and we continue on with our journey; beginning, middle, end, next episode. The speed with which the writers can construct these stories is a spectacle to behold, especially in light of the fact that a considerable amount of screen time is devoted to the many spectacular sword battles this show boasts. Though they’re only with us for an episode or two each, minor characters get all the development they need and more. Sometimes, the writers flesh them out to a point most anime characters would take upwards of ten episodes to reach. Particularly stunning in that respect is the episode where Jin becomes emotionally entangled with a futureless prostitute. If you’re anything like me, you’ll find yourself extremely attached to her regardless of how little time she gets on the screen. Yes, given this episodic approach there are installments that will appeal to some and not to others, but it’s Samurai Champloo so it’s still enjoyable. Funnily enough, this show boasts an excellent recap episode, proving that if you try hard enough, you can make anything entertaining.

Samurai Champloo isn’t all drama and action. Not that I’m complaining, but it does seem a little indecisive about what it wants to be. Rather, It’s a mish-mash of many styles and genres all rolled into one. You would be very wrong indeed to describe Samurai Champloo as either serious or lighthearted. This may cause some viewers confusion, as they won’t be able to tell when and when not to take the show seriously, but my advice is to just enjoy it as it comes; Champloo requires you to live in the moment. A very healthy dose of comedy is present in almost every episode, and just like pretty much everything else in this show, it’s made of win. Comedy in Samurai Champloo is mostly character-based. Given that they get gratuitous amounts of screen time all to themselves, Jin, Mugen and Fuu inevitably make an endearing trio worthy of this kind of humor. It’s awesome fun seeing these three personalities clash; Mugen the mindless, crude killer; Jin the extremely quiet (much to Fuu’s frustration), reserved gentleman; and Fuu the constantly nagging mediator. To name but one intensely comical group dynamic, Mugen and Jin have to be constantly reminded by Fuu that they aren't allowed to kill each other until they reach their destination. On a side note, I couldn’t get away with not mentioning the out-of-place appearances of hip-hop culture throughout the show. These produce laughs by being utterly ridiculous. You know you’re sitting on something weird when you have taggers and beatboxers running around ye olde Japan.

If the writers failed anywhere at all in their contribution to this masterwork, it would be the inability to thread a whole lot of continuity into the plot. This being my favorite anime and all, of course I’m going to justify that shortcoming. That said, I can't avoid it any longer; the “sunflower samurai” story arc isn't much more of a means of developing Fuu's character than it is an excuse for the protagonists to make their journey. For the most part, it is no more than hinted at. the overriding story arc never really seems to get much attention or explanation until the final three episodes, which are largely dedicated to it. Many find the ending to be rushed, as if no consideration was made in order to find a balance between the main plotline and the various side endeavors along the journey. Please excuse me while ready my over-protective fanboy persona so that I may rebut this argument.

Giving little consideration to the overriding plot is a perfectly acceptable storytelling device in Western television. In my opinion, the reason people find fault with Samurai Champloo’s storytelling formula is that they are used to the completely different formulae used by most anime. These often entail a highly complicated story requiring the viewer to watch every episode in order to understand onscreen shenanigans and harshly punish missed episodes. Both are perfectly acceptable ways of telling stories and both can be equally enjoyable.

What I’m trying to say here is that Samurai Champloo features the best writing of any anime series I’ve ever seen. Sadly, I couldn’t give it a perfect score because of its inconsistent quality. It’s especially annoying that right before the three-part conclusion to the series, we’re dealt a couple of enjoyable, but dissatisfying filler episodes. It helps, then, that the feel-good ending is so awesome that it makes you want to claw out your eyeballs and remove a good number of your other facial features.

Characters (10/10):

Mugen:

Mugen has two asses; a badass and a dumbass. He’s what you’d get if you crossed your generic action hero with a tactless comic relief character obsessed with fulfilling all his most primitive urges all the time… that and he’s a lanky ex-pirate. Mugen often describes himself as someone unwilling to take orders from anyone and he’s quite right. His fierce independence is matched only by his skill with a sword.

Speaking of which, his fighting style is something that has to be seen to be believed. Straying from any existing traditional Japanese sword art, he incorporates break-dance spins and a few other needless doodads into his fighting style, making it unpredictable, unique and damn amazing to watch. So far as predictability goes, Mugen’s personality is a lot like his fighting style in that he does a lot of things at unexpected intervals, namely killing people. He has his poor upbringing to blame for this extreme case of moral ineptitude, but If I said any more, I’d ruin his character development for you. For now, just bear in mind that Mugen isn’t as shallow a character as he first seems.

Jin:

Jin has no personality whatsoever. A perfect samurai, his discipline is so complete that he shuts himself out from the people around him. His default response to everything is usually “mm”, “probably” or some other meaningless sound byte. When it is necessary for him to string together a sentence, he speaks so formally that he alienates himself from people even further.

What Jin lacks in social skills he makes up for with his impeccable sword technique. His skills in that area are so great that they border on the anally retentive. As you can imagine, he finds it extremely irritating that his skills are perfectly matched with the swordplay mess sported by Mugen.

When Samurai Champloo hits a serious note, it often draws our attention to Jin’s tragic inability to speak his mind. It’s obvious he wants to; the situation calls for it, but regardless of the emotional tension present, he remains the stiff that he’s always been. On that note, his sordid past is slowly revealed to us throughout the series, but it’s nothing important to his character, so I’ll just leave that alone.

Fuu:

Simply put, Fuu is annoying. At a first glanced she seems as though she is modeled on every other ditzy anime female lead stereotype in history; she nags, she whines and she instigates arguments. Transcend first glances, though, and you’ll get to see her display bursts of strength and resourcefulness when they’re needed. That’s where she really shines. She actually has a wonderfully dynamic personality tailor-made for a show that employs tears and laughter in equal parts.

Fuu is an integral part of this anime because she’s relatable. It’d probably be pretty hard to find any real person who could honestly say they identify with Jin, Mugen or any of the other characters from this show who carry weapons. Fuu is the voice of reason in a sea of chaos. Always the first to point out needless violence, a lot of what she does makes sense. This is especially present in the way she handles her travelling companions. Jin and Mugen do a lot of things that defy the perfect picture of normality painted by Fuu. Whilst Jin is being an anti-social git and Mugen is killing people because he can, Fuu is identifying these blatant abnormalities and lamenting the two warriors as a pair of lost causes.

The most important thing about these three characters is the way they interact as a group. Alone, each would be fairly bland, but their complete inability to reach compromises keeps the show edgy and fun. By the end I became very attached to these three and though it would kill them to admit it, they too became somewhat attached to each other. Jin, Mugen and maybe Fuu just a little, begin as individuals who find it very hard to respect others (or at least each other) as fellow human beings. Though their personalities are anything but matched, the time the three of them spend travelling together ultimately results in something that could, if you stretch your imagination far enough, be called a bond of friendship.

Art and Animation (10/10):

Art and animation is Samurai Champloo’s strongest point.

Characters often look as realistic as possible with the occasional tiny deviation from anatomical correctness. Rest assured that there are no major chibi character distortions to be seen within a mile of this anime unless you count the episode where Mugen inhales enough cannabis to make his head explode. Costumes are visually pleasing; Mugen’s extraordinarily baggy shirt and shorts, not to mention the kimono worn by Fuu and Jin are definitely inventive enough, but they blend perfectly with the style and setting of the show as a whole.

Impressively, the animators although Japanese have actually cut down quite considerably on the use of key frames and mouth flaps. They’re there, but you’ll notice them a lot less than in most anime. You can see that a lot of effort has been made to ensure that more than one object or person onscreen is moving at a time. This is Japanese animation, not the Disney variety we’re talking about, so we actually have to allow for budget constraints.

The many battles fought throughout Samurai Champloo are brought to life so vividly that if for nothing else, this series is worth watching solely for them. The animation during these sequences is so good you will want to watch them over and over again until they are ingrained into your memory forever. These fights are made even more impressive because they’re believable. Wisely, the animators have shied away from using fiery backgrounds to simulate rapid movement. No shortcuts of that kind have been taken here. Crazy camera angles are utilized to great effect, emphasizing the eye-popping sword slashes without compromising credibility.

Samurai Champloo also features beautifully drawn backgrounds. Not only is the Japanese scenery stunningly drawn, but it doesn’t actually contrast too heavily with the cell-shaded character drawings. Particularly impressive scenes include a forest with a mist background being slid over it to give the illusion of fog and a sparkling ocean that could just have easily been static. Through this lush scenery you really get the impression that Jin, Mugen and Fuu are covering tons of ground. Your sense of adventure is as great as theirs. Awesome stuff.

Sound (8/10):

Samurai Champloo features amazing music. Though the show takes after hip-hop culture, rap music is very rarely present aside from the OP. An awesome library of easy listening tracks sets the mood for the great stories we see onscreen. Though unobtrusive and highly repetitive, you will find yourself humming them long after the credits have rolled. Aside from an underwhelming OP and ED, there’s really nothing to complain about in terms of music.

If you’re man enough to watch an English dub, I highly recommend this one. All the voices are fitting to their original Japanese counterparts and some even outdo those. Steve Blum, the voice acting legend best known for his amazing work as Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, really delivers the goods as the badass Mugen needs to be. Disappointingly, sometimes the supporting cast in both dubs can feel a little overacted. Especially in the English dub, although they give excellent characterizations, the minor voice actors tend to sound stilted and unnatural.

Overall (9.5/10):

Everything that is wrong with Samurai Champloo is incredibly easy to forgive. In my book, this anime is perfection. Any personal opinion you might form about Samurai Champloo is dependant on how you approach it, so I’ve had to bump down scores across the board to compensate for its perceivable flaws. I’d like to do everything within my power to persuade you to get out there and watch this stuff, but for now that power is limited to my keyboard. Seeing as nobody visits this blog, my rampant fandom has probably gone unheard. Bye for now!

Endless Eight is OVER!

2009-08-08T01:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, you did hear me correctly. It's been a long wait, but Kyoto Animation has finally decided to bring an end to the torturous phenomenon that has been the Endless Eight story arc.

Before I get ahead of myself, I'm going to assume that I'm addressing people who have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. If you are not one of those people, feel free to skip right by these next four paragraphs.

As most of you probably know, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a wildly successful anime based on a series of revolutionary light novels. Its popularity in the past has owed to its hilariously contrasted cast of characters, its wildly clever plot and its overall willingness to push boundaries. It's also known for pioneering the moeblob character archetype, but I'd rather not draw too much attention to that.

As much as I'd like to, I won't bore you with a plot outline because I probably won't do the whacky idea the justice it deserves and I'll most likely let slip something that will spoil it for you. If you really want to know what the show is about, go enjoy it for yourself.

Popular as the series was, it took an entire two years (throughout which the creators, Kyoto Animation, teased us mercilessly) for a second season to be released. Much to the relief of the numerous fans, the new season's first episode aired unannounced amongst a rerun of the first season on May 22nd, 2009. At that point, the exciting new season was shaping up to be everything the fans had hoped for during those long two years. It had all the pizazz one could expect from a classic Haruhi episode while being blessed with ever so slightly updated art and animation. It is here that I advise the faint of heart to walk (perhaps even run) away from their computer terminals immediately; this is where the story gets ugly.

Shortly after that enjoyable escapade into the world of time paradoxes, another installment in the new season hit Japanese airwaves. This episode, entitled Endless Eight Part 1, was constructed much more loosely than the last, breifly turning the show into a slice of life anime. Again, the episode was met with little complaint. Some would have preferred that it was structured more conventionally, but it was just one episode. Endless Eight Part 2 would bring something entirely new to the table, right? Wrong. The episode directly afterward decided to treat us to something very unique indeed. It began in nearly the same fashion as the previous one, only this time the protagonist kept narrating about a strange sense of déjà vu he was feeling. Halfway through, we discovered that the world had entered into an endless reccurence of time, and everyone was having their memories wiped (excluding the main characters, who retained the aforementioned déjà vu for reasons I can't be bothered explaining) on midnight of the 31st of August so that time could revert to two weeks prior to that date without incident. This seemed clever at first, but by the time we had been subjected to the same episode another five times, almost nobody remained who still thought so. Given that the name "Endless Eight" was reffering to the eighth month of the year and not the number of episodes, there really was no end in sight. As any reader of the original light novels could have told us, Endless Eight was supposed to be a single chapter, so we could pin all the blame on Kyoto Animation for their ridiculous idea. Hate spread across forums like an infectious forest fire, some began to riot in the streets and others planned to storm Kyoto Animation's base of operations. Thankfully, the latter never happened, because then came Endless Eight Part 8. Confetti flew, the sound of trumpets could be heard all over the land, we ate, drank and were merry. Nothing could wipe the smile off us Haruhi fans' faces because Endless eight had come to a spectacular end. Then again, there were the other fans who stopped caring long ago because they had better things to do with their lives than watch the same anime episode over and over, week in, week out, hoping desperately for something new and different. Most of them probably still haven't heard the news. On the other hand, us (extremely) loyal fans are happily awaiting the remaining four episodes of the season.

Now that I'm done with my explanation, hello again Endless Eight veterans. Let's just pretend those n00bs were never here and continue on with our chat. I know many will challenge this controversial opinion, but I think that the finale of Endless Eight comes very close to justifying everything we've been through. Don't worry about my sanity, though. I wouldn't be saying this if I didn't have my reasons.

Haruhi has always been a groundbreaking, risk-taking show. Whilst Endless Eight was in its early stages, some applauded it for its bravery, claiming that it was merely an emotional ploy designed to make us feel for Nagato as she repeated the same events time and time again, forgetting nothing. Their confidence eventually dissolved, as did mine, but I now think there is some virtue in what KyoAni was doing. Do yourself a favour and watch that last episode, then let me accompany you across the spoiler tape and I'll walk you through KyoAni's justification for their crimes. Who knows? You might just walk away convinced of my crazy belief.

*minor spoiler alert*

While the ending of Endless Eight Part 8 is mundane and simple enough for one to tear out their hair over, it's presented so well that I personally don't care. The dramatic musical score made me, as a viewer who has been dissapointed so many times by Haruhi's uneventful departure from the café, feel as triumphant as Kyon as he confronted Haruhi and finally put an end to the insufferable madness. As soon as that music began to play, every loyal Haruhi viewer must have been on the edge of their seat. We could all tell that there was something different this time and some of us probably even dared to hope that it was the end. It was when Kyon stomped his assertive foot down on the café floor that a rush of elation ran through me, sending chills down my spine. Kyoto Animation had done it. However much it had cost them in reputation, they had achieved an impeccably perfect moment in anime. By dissappointing us for so long, they created themselves the perfect opportunity to make their viewers feel genuinely excited. While some may consider this an extremely unworthy tradeoff, I beg to differ, because for me it was more than just a relief, but instead the epitome of extreme satisfaction.

It didn't stop at the climax. KyoAni really went to town on this "moment" of theirs. As Kyon rallied the members of the SOS brigade to attempt to end the endless August, I felt his triumph. When Haruhi struck back, and punished him for challenging her authority, I laughed aloud. Finally, as Kyon and Koizumi pondered the endless summer, I felt as relieved and as ready for whatever was coming next as they did. To all you disenfranchised Haruhi viewers out there, hear this: give Kyoto Animation another chance. If you still have doubts, look at it this way: you can bet your soul they wouldn't have paid a nobody blogger like me to say that.

Introductory Blog Post

2009-07-31T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hello, internet.

You can call me Killifish. As the name of my blog suggests, I am here to do what hundreds have done before me, and I don't expect to do it any better. Instead of garnering attention or being the first to report on gaming or anime related news, however, this blog exists mostly as a vehicle for me to practice my writing technique. That's not to say a sizeable following wouldn't be nice, I will try my hardest to entertain you, so don't be put off from tuning in every once in a while.

As for the games and anime, I'll use this blog to discuss them however I feel at the time, without adhering to any kind of regular posting formula. I might make speculation, remenisce, write reviews, or bring to attention news that interests me. Note that, as I'm no journalist, it's likely that my reviews will be extremely untimely, but seeing as this blog's primary purpose is to entertain me, that shouldn't be a problem. Owing to that same reason, any other potential problem with this blog shouldn't prove substantial either.

I hope to find the time to post here regularly, but I'm not making any promises. This blog might just die before you can say Killifish.