#also I will mention that this idea is especially great bc the voice actors themselves talked about it

[pinkbowsandprettyprose]

can I interest you in an AU with human Quiche who attends the same school as Ichigo and Aoyama. typical love triangle where the bully and the popular boy compete for Ichigo’s affection (bonus: Quiche has been in love with Ichigo since kindergarten, like in Petite Mew Mew)

I might be aging myself here but I remember reading at LEAST a half-dozen high school masakishigo love triangle AUs on fanfiction dot net back in the day, but I don’t think anyone’s made an earnest attempt at writing this kind of AU in a loooong time

Maybe after I’m done with my current other AU I’m drafting 👀

[leftnipsdoodles]

I would like to hear your reasons for not liking Telltale. I'm not trying to stir the pot, I'm just genuinely curious. (You know, aside from what I've heard they do to their gamedevs)

WELL. if you INSIST

gameplay: none of your choices matter. you usually get 3 choices with either of them making such little difference that you might as well stay silent. the story is set in stone so it doesnt matter how you get there. now, a game like this having a string of events that happen regardless of choice makes sense. but when i treat a character badly and dismissive the entire game and all it does is change our relationship from a romance to star-crossed lovers, or when i do my best to trust and care for a character and they still make my character betray them in the end, or when i go out of my way to pledge allegiance to a cause only for the game to pretend i didn’t bc they didn’t plan for someone to do so, then how fucking dare you advertise this game as being about choices.

i’ve played games like mass effect, that had a core plot that wouldnt change, but every decision you made somehow affected your standing in this plot, your relationship with someone, or just the way your character is portrayed. hell, even in hotel dusk, if you’re mean to ppl, the protag’s personality changes accordingly in scenes where you don’t have control of his reactions. and that game’s a straight up visual novel.

art, design, whatever: ugly as hell. it works for some of their games (wolf among us, borderlands), not for others. but they’re holding onto it as their trademark style and it rly holds them back. however, this one’s subjective, so my other big point about it is:

the animation. absolutely atrocious. every animation is so badly paced and unintentionally awkward that everytime it needs to be purposefully awkward, it just falls flat. not to mention, when a scene is meant to be dramatic, or funny, or heartwarming, or even just fast-paced and action-filled.. it ALL falls flat. there’s not a single scene that feels organic and for a game that’s all about immersion, this is unacceptable. and ofc its not just the character animations alone, its also things like camera work and general pacing. but if they fixed one of these things, it’d already go a long way.

dialogues are just as awkward for the most part, especially because the devs clearly didnt think most of them through when it comes to the choices. they let conversations play out the same, bar one sentence loosely referring to your answer.

also, there is no skip button. you cant skip through the usually long voice lines even tho you can have subtitles on, thus already reading what the person is saying. this sounds minor but it seriously starts to get on your nerves, esp when you’re stuck in a scene that youre not interested in (bc, e.g., you don’t care about the romantic relationship the game has been trying to push you into from the start)

characters: bad. most of them feel the same. again, this is subjective, but i have a huge pet peeve with writers not adjusting their writing style. characters that shouldn’t have witty one-liners bc they’re supposed to be menacing get them anyway bc the writers couldnt help themselves. every character can develop a nervous stutter at any given moment, as if that’s sth that’s universal to people. stuff like that.

i remember in boderlands, when i finally got to meet handsome jack and thought ok, now it’s finally get more energetic and fun, he didn’t feel much different from the characters we had already met. and don’t even ASK me about the characters in batman. they even LOOK interchangeable for the most part bc guess what, telltale character designs are either ridiculously plain or ridiculously over-designed.

and this isn’t mentioning how much the characters miss their mark. you’re supposed to think of x character as a sympathetic freedom fighter who has their heart in the right place and is worth getting to know, but they wrote them as a rude, whiny, borderline sociopathic asshole who makes me wish telltale had the balls to let you make big decisions so i could kill this dick already.again, its subjective. but thats the beauty of a game about CHOICES. if someone feels differently about a character than you intended, you let them choose to act accordingly and experience the game in a different way.likewise, characters that are supposedly horrible and irredeemable but rly only did one messed up thing that you dont care about. but the game forces you to condemn them for it anyway. like alright then, bye.

and ofc, the protagonists are……….. weird. first of all, half of them are voiced by troy baker and as great as i think he is as a voice actor, im sick of him. especially since he delivers all his performances in his normal voice. im starting to feel like im playing troy baker more than rhys wayne or whoever.

and to latch back onto what i said above, what the game does with them is awful: you’re supposed to identify with them bc you get to decide how they act but at the same time they’re more or less established characters and if you don’t relate to them from the start, the game dismisses your choices. so in the end, it’s neither here nor there. i remember i thought rhys was gonna be great bc he was the protag, but one of the bad guys, and he was one voluntarily and with a lot of conviction. thats so fucking interesting! i wonder how this game is gonna play out if i indulge in my love for this concept! i wonder if i can end this game as the new head of hyperion! yes, look at me go!! this is awesome!! this is everything i wanted!! my relationship with jack is the only one that actually feels rewarding and now we’re gonna be the bad guys together!! this makes all the hours i wasted on this so worth it i can’t believ- oh we hate hyperion now for no reason and want to kill jack. ok then.also full offense but as the game went on it kept going out of its way to make rhys look incompetent and humiliate him and is that rly what you want for the character you’ve (allegedly) been making decisions for..? it just felt uncomfortable after a while lmfao

anyway, in general, the idea is nice, the execution is horrible. kinda like how i tried to section these things off into different topics but ended up rambling without structure anyway.

like, look. ive gotten tired of bioware games too. i probably couldnt play mass effect again just bc ALL bioware games feel the same (even tho i like some of them more than others and mass effect is definitely still one of my fav trilogies ever. but if you keep reusing gameplay, voice actors, animations, etc… it just gets tiring).

so i think telltale’s 2 biggest sins are not giving you the control of the story they promise you and desperately clinging to their ways in order to keep their trademark style

[kihocrystal]

Winter 2018 Final Impressions

I’m a month late, as usual (whoops!), but here’s my final thoughts on the animes I watched this past season! 

The “reviews�� will be in alphabetical order!

3-gatsu no Lion S2 - 9.0 / 10 (A)

This second season of 3-gatsu was great! It’s just… a really great drama show about fighting depression (& a bunch of other character storylines)!

First off... THE BULLYING ARC WAS REALLY GOOD

extremely complicated, emotionally complex… this arc brings all sorts of emotions & angles into the forefront

multiple perspectives too: Hina’s, Rei’s, the bullied girl’s, the bully’s, the teachers’, and Akari too!

The art style can pull off both thick-outlined / bright colored style and watercolor-esque style incredibly well

it really is beautiful how it can visually portray both light-hearted and emotionally intense scenes

This season continues to show how good it is at character development for characters both main & supporting!

We get to see Rei moving through the ranks as a shogi player

and also moving through the ranks of conquering his depression! He’s improved more than ever before!

We get to learn about the white-haired master player (Souya); I liked how he has his own quicks and challenges he has in his daily life

Along with the other head shogi guy (Yanagihara)! (& how he shoulders his legacy for his friends)

Even the last episode offered some perspective from the foster mom about Rei & her kids

this show is just… really good at making normally-hated characters sympathetic, hot damn

Aside from bullying arc, this season also showed Hina preparing for the transition to high school

The finale episode was nice and sweet, with Hina saying goodbye to Takahashi and even getting a haircut!

This continues to be one of the best drama anime in recent years! Not to mention SHAFT’s best show since Madoka Magica :3

Cardfight!! Vanguard G: Z - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 (C+)

And so ends the G series of Cardfight Vanguard… this final season I’ll say though is kind of a mixed bag

The plot had interesting ideas and moments at times, but the execution and pacing left a bit to be desired

though I will say it was definitely better than last season (CFV G NEXT)

This season didn’t waste any time getting to the main plot, as Chrono has to face off against a Diffrider right away

the diffrider stuff is continued from last season, but for the most part, it’s a new plot kicking off!

The rollout of all the new Diffrider Apostles (& them showing their strength) definitely made them look like powerful foes

not to mention the Zeroth Dragons, which were also shown to be powerful and very risky to use

Also knowing that anyone in the main cast could end up being The Vessel added some intrigue as well

the reveal that Kazuma would be the vessel definitely was a well executed twist imo~

However the pacing in places felt a bit too fast for me… the Relics subplot felt like it wrapped up too quickly, for example

the final fight against Gyze also kinda felt rushed… Gyze didn’t even have any dying words after his defeat :/

As a final season specifically, I feel like it kinda pales in comparison to Stride Gate, unfortunately

The cast was also kinda hit and miss in terms of how well they were utilized in the plot

some of the apostles definitely had more screen time than others (gredora only got like… two episodes)

plus gastille (the supposed apostle leader) got beaten sooner than like 3 other ones???

some villains carry over from last season too, such as Noa (Chaos Breaker) and the red-head punk kid

I liked all the new villains this season, personality-wise! (Also Yukari Tamura in there is a plus)

also no Am and Luna this season, really…

the previously established OG cast were integrated fine, for the most part

including Aichi and Kai getting the kill against Chaos Breaker Dragon

but the final episodes kinda just shoe-horn in a bunch of cameos that just didn’t feel natural :/

it just felt like “OH SHIT, this is the last season actually! Quick, throw in a bunch of cameos!”

this also applies to G characters, which makes less utilized characters (like Am & Luna, as mentioned before) look out of place :(

Sure, I’m saying a bunch of negative stuff right now, but I REALLY LOVE THIS CAST… I JUST WANT THE BEST FOR THEM

It’s the main reason I love CFV G, after all~

This season was definitely an improvement over NEXT for sure! The plot was interesting, I just wish the conclusion was better

The final episode basically just felt like an OVA, really… aside from the last scene, it didn’t really feel like an epilogue at all

I guess it just bums me out bc the original series got a good epilogue episode, so I know they could do it here, too…

In any case, I’M GONNA MISS THIS CAST, BIG TIME ;A;

In any case, this was a decent season to end the G series with! Not the strongest, but not the weakest either.

I’m gonna look back on my time with CFV G fondly for sure, if for nothing else than the great ensemble cast :’)

It’s gonna be weird going back to the OG cast for sure… I arguably liked the G cast better than the OG one :’D

Osomatsu-san S2 - 8.0  / 10 (B)

The consensus among fans seems to be that this season wasn’t as good as the first season

As for me, I… probably agree with that (though I still enjoyed this season!)

As with most comedy anime, whether the jokes land is pretty subjective. I feel like I didn’t laugh as hard this season? IDK

There were more “seasonal/holiday”-based episodes this time around (i.e. summer, new year’s, etc.)

What stays the same though is that this show is at its best when featuring the main brothers themselves

Skits involving the side characters (like Iyami, Dayon, etc.) didn’t make me laugh much…

I will say though that I enjoyed the second half of the season more than the first half~

Enough about the negatives, let’s talk about this season’s memorable skits / episodes!

The premiere was really good, as it poked fun at the huge popularity the show unexpectedly got xD

plus a bunch of references that *aren’t* gonna get them removed from streaming sites this time!

Jyushimatsu getting an “apprentice” with a little kid was also pretty funny~

The Karamatsu taxi skit, the spooky inn, & all the characters being stuck on an island were also good skits!

Ep. 18 (Iyami, Alone in the Wind) was also a crowd favorite, since it brought the feels for a change :’)

The finale 2-parter pulled a bait-and-switch yet again!

Part 1 was actually pretty serious, but the actual finale just has them trying to break out of hell xD

OH YEAH, I still really like the live-action stuff they do during the ending sequences

the first half’s ED was my favorite (the stop-motion of the brothers riding in the car)

I don’t have much to say about comedies generally, but Osomatsu-san is still my favorite in recent years ^^

Even though this season didn’t hit as hard as S1, it still provided some fun laughs~

Pop Team Epic - 7.5 / 10 (C+)

What can I really say about this show? It kind of defies description ^^;

Ok, yeah, it’s a sketch comedy, but it’s a really… crazy and random sketch comedy

The jokes are hit and miss (and in my experience was a bit more… miss than hit)

I never really laughed out loud at this show either

but then again, the humor here is more “being confused at what’s going on, but going along with it anyway”

There’s also a lot of modern anime references, so you might not get those jokes if you don’t follow most recent anime

Each episode has a long skit in it, plus a bunch of bite-size skits

I personally preferred the short skits over the long ones

There were a couple song parodies which I enjoyed (including the Earth Wind & Fire parody)

Also, this series definitely benefits from having an English simuldub! Some skits I found funnier in English!

OH YEAH, the voice actors (in both languages) change every episode, with female and male VAs in each episode

that enhanced the enjoyability of the sketches too, since I liked hearing favorite VAs do silly dialogue and performances!

I wouldn’t say this ranks among my favorite anime comedies, but it’s definitely unlike any other I’ve seen! ^^;

Your mileage will *definitely* vary with this one, so give it a try and see if it’s for you!

The Ancient Magus’ Bride (Mahoutsukai no Yome) - 8.5 - 9 / 10 (A-)

This was a very enjoyable fantasy drama show! Some people feel this show was overhyped, but I still thought it was really good!

I really liked the cast overall, especially Chise

She has really good character development throughout the show! She really becomes more strong and confident!

Seeing the fantastical world through her eyes was interesting as well!

Especially since those mystical elements were also responsible for her terrible childhood…

Elias was also an interesting guy… he and Chise have an interesting relationship together

Their relationship definitely has aspects that are unhealthy, but they do grow closer to each other by the end

If people can’t get past the whole premise of “him buying Chise to be his bride” though, I totally understand ^^;

They help each other learn too, which I liked to see

The supporting cast was also enjoyable! Not much to say about them individually though

The dragon keeper was nice and we got to learn about Elias’ origins through him

The dragons in general were great! Especially the old one that turned into a tree :’)

He gives Chise some good sage advice, even after death :’)

Angelica, Silky, and Stella (among others, like the other anti-hero duo) were good support characters too~

I liked Stella’s role of “normal girl who learns of the supernatural’s existence”

Cartaphilus was an… okay villain, I guess (though his methods were quite creepy indeed, which added some intrigue)

Some character designs are a bit questionable though… like who approved the vampire’s design? ^^;

Another large appeal of this was the world building of the fantastical elements!

I liked seeing all the different types of locales & supernatural creatures, both good and bad

As a low-fantasy show, this show does a Dang Good Job with the fantasy!

Chise learning more about herself and gaining confidence through these experiences were a highlight as well

I enjoyed each story arc as well, even though most of them were more explorative and introspective

This show can be dang beautiful sometimes, through both its art/animation and its stories (Thanks, Studio WIT!)

Some were better than others, but they all deliver either a heartwarming (or a dark) story

Some favorites of mine were the dragon-based ones, and the vampire loving the old man

The finale was good too! It’s unknown whether this conclusion is anime-original or not, but it was definitely a good S1 ending~

If you love low-fantasy shows, this is definitely one to check out!

Violet Evergarden - 8.5 - 9.0 / 10 (A-)

Best *new* anime (that I watched) of this past season, hands down~

Though to be fair, I still need to watch A Place Farther than the Universe… and Yuru Camp… and After the Rain…

Going into this season, this show was hyped and back and somehow… a lot of people were *disappointed* with this show?

I think it had to do with expecting a different show than what we got; as for me, I knew it’d be an episodic drama the whole time :P

But yes, this show has a (mostly) episodic plot with an overarching character arc. If that’s too slow for you, then you probably won’t like this show.

In any case, back to the positives! The first one being how good this show looks visually… as expected from KyoAni~

there’s so much detail in the backgrounds and the character elements (especially the lighting on objects like Violet’s metal hands)

this aspect is one thing *everyone* agrees on regardless, so… yeah, this show’s really pretty!

The main star (and focus) of this show was Violet herself… you can really see how she changes for the better from beginning to end

You get to see how “robot-like” she was at the start of the show, but she slowly learns about dealing with emotions of others… and herself

This character arc is definitely the “main” plot of the show, along with her coming to terms with Gilbert’s death and her war killings

The episodic plots were good in their own right, too!

Ranging from Violet’s start as a Memoir Doll to the different clients she works with, they all teach her something along the way

These sometimes focus on the side characters working at the Doll Agency too, so we get to learn more about them as well

The one that comes to mind first is Iris’ episode, where she (messily) reconnects with a former lover

Not all of them get a full episode in the spotlight, but they do get some focus scenes from time to time

Violet’s clientele episodes were the most memorable out of this lot IMO

ESPECIALLY EPISODE 10… that was the BIGGEST feels trip

I knew exactly how the episode was going to end, but I still teared up at that ending!

The finale was action packed, but also was a beautiful way to show how far Violet has come

I know some people’s issue with this show is that “it doesn’t know what show it wants to be” re: the action stuff, but I was fine with it personally

in any case, it was a pretty good book-end for Violet’s development, since she finally understands (a least a little) what “I love you” means :’)

I understand certain people’s gripes with this show, but this really is a great little drama show that *will* deliver the feels~

P.S. I also watched Fate/Extra: Last Encore this season. It hasn’t technically ended yet, so I can’t give final impressions on it right now. However, my current score for it is a 7.5/10 (C+).