#obbligato is awesome

[rimanne]

uhh neat little summary

[themowearchives]

Press Archive, Part 2

The Noise

No Guarantees CD review, September 2003

Too often, between a first demo, a first EP, and a first full-length release, some intangible quality which helps to make a band great gets lost or misplaced in the mix. This happened to the Throwing Muses and the Pixies. My Own Worst Enemy, on the other hand, has made the same transition with grace and aplomb. The older material is kickass as always: Who Knew is akin to 'Roadrunner' fronted by a sloe-eyed chanteuse; MIA is like electroshock that makes you smarter. Delicately bleak and lovely ballads like Why Not Beautiful, Pills and Pride, and the superb Late Show vary the pace. Poison is a nascent classic, with a desolately lively feel right up there with Human Switchboard; ditto the downright catchy dirge-cum-drunken-chantey "(I'm the One You Wanted) Not the One (You Got)". This isn't a perfect CD, but even interesting experiments like the quaintly odd Mr. Leatherboots, overproduced declamations like Throw It All Away and the dynamic but misguided power-pop cover of Never Talking to You are ambitious efforts. And the CD's craziest song, Yearbook, with its start and stop dynamic and inspired xylophone obbligatos, belongs on every college radio station playlist in the Western world. (Francis DiMenno)

No Guarantees CD review, via email, November 2003

I've been spinning the fu*k outta the thing and have fired off e-mails to Dubrow and Allison demanding they play "No Guarantees" on the airwaves!...That's some good singin/good playing...Sue is the real Mary Ellen, and (Steve is) the basher of strung-out chords and high-strung singing! No wonder Lindsay was inspired to swing from the chandeliers. My favorite song is Hey Hey Sunshine...a real anthem. Goddamn the fu*kin' EXHILARATION of the thing--total 11th Dream Day first album 1988 vintage days of college radio. Something about those days never ended and I wish it was then right now (aw god we didn't know how good we had it). But My Own Worst Enemy seems bursting with that same sense of epochal climax (which is what I look for in all music). Should also mention John is one fu*kin' awesome skinpounder. It's the luck of the Irish. (Joe S. Harrington, Author, SONIC COOL)

South of Mainstream

No Guarantees CD Review, November 2003

If you're anything like me you're wondering when this retro-cool trend in popular and indie music is going to end. It just isn't my cup of tea. Now, that being said, I'm not one to turn my back on, or my nose up at a good album. No Guarantees by My Own Worst Enemy made me set aside my lack of enthusiasm for this kind of musical expression. The driving force behind my "turnaround"? Susan Minichiello.

What a set of pipes! Her voice is powerful, emotive and intense. The disc's cover sticker mentions the band has been compared to Throwing Muses and Patti Smith. I can definitely see the validity of these comparisons. She's got incredible power and presence, best showcased on the dark and thrilling Poison. Another showcase is Late Show. With its simple musical arrangement, it highlights her voice, showing off its depth.

The tracks on which Steve provides lead vocals don't go over quite as well, with one exception: the short, catchy Throw It All Away where the fuzziness of the vocal track softens the nasal quality, making pitch less of an issue, creating a very catchy vocal sound.

Musically it's a competent display of retro-feel modern rock. It's not going to blow you away with its awesome display of originality or groundbreaking use of their instruments. But it's certainly well crafted, catchy and, for the most part, quite melodic.

Generally speaking, two things can woo me to enjoy a disc that falls into a genre or subgenre that I don't normally appreciate. Fuzzy jangle guitar will get me every time. The other, the one that made me take heed of No Guarantees, is exceptional vocal skill. Thank you, Sue. You broadened my musical horizons. My Favorites: Poison and Throw It All Away. (SpodySingAlong)

Bostonia

No Guarantees CD Review, Winter 2003

Comparing My Own Worst Enemy (a great name, if too long) with the Modern Lovers and Patti Smith, as their label does, gives a good indication of the spunk found on this CD. Sue is mostly on lead vocals, and cuts like Poison are the best here, with loud, fuzzy guitars, the kind of music more likely to star on college radio than on MTV, and all the better for it. (Taylor McNeil)

Rock Pulse

No Guarantees CD Review, April 2004

Boston based trio My Own Worst Enemy consists of singer/guitarist Sue, singer/guitarist Steve and drummer and backing vocalist John (that's right, they're a completely bass-less band). Having being compared to the likes of poetic rock 'n' roll Queen Patti Smith and indie group Throwing Muses, this band have obviously been making an impression on the industry. The group's second full-length release is No Guarantees.

The 13-track album starts with 'Who Knew'; one of the more 'punk' influenced tracks on the CD. It's a strong track to open with as it showcases the raw, honest sound that this band are so good at, and starts to hint at Sue's rich vocals (this isn't really fully shown until later in the CD.)

Track 2, MIA has a more 'rockabilly' feel to it. This time, it's Steve on the vocals, with lyrics such as "listening to your records makes me wanna start a fight" conjuring up images of an American country bar where the beer flows as freely as the smart talk and punch-ups (or at least in my imagination...)

Track 3 is Why Not Beautiful and we're back with Sue on lead vocals. This track has a light, summery feel to it with striking singing. It is, quite basically, 2 minutes of purely pleasant music that will get you singing along in no time (just don't try to sing as well as Sue, it won't work.)

Poison is without a doubt my favourite track on the album. The music has a dark, sinister atmosphere to it that works perfectly with Sue's smoky, hazy voice delivering the disturbing lyrics. You have to listen to this song!

Late Show, is in my opinion, one of the best tracks on the album. It's a slow, thoughtful ballad with truly emotive lyrics that are delivered passionately by Sue; I can imagine lots of drunk and emotional people all over the world sitting in their rooms and singing along to this (again, I think I have an over-active imagination.)

Track 6, Hey Hey Sunshine is a poppy, happy hippy kind of song, with loose vocals and a beat that will get you clapping along, if not waving your tambourine about. I'm thinking wonderful summer days and lots of daisy covered fields.

Other highlights of this album include Not the One, with it's grungy guitar, moody vocals and repetition of the lyrics, "I'm the one you wanted, not the one you got." Track 10 is an impressive version of Husker Du's Never Talking To You Again, which is actually pretty catchy.

The penultimate track is Yearbook, a slightly strange song with Steve providing lead vocals. The lyrics include repetitions of such classic American yearbook signings as 'have a great summer', 'see you in September' and 'we'll be friends forever'. I'm warning you now, if you listen to this track more than once, you will get these phrases drilled into your head and will probably start using them in everyday life instead of the popular 'Good bye'. Possibly.

The album finishes with Pills and Pride, another ballad with heart-felt lyrics and a genuine performance from Sue, who takes the lead vocals. This song really communicates Sue's great voice, and is an effective way of winding down the CD.

Overall, this is clearly a good album, produced by a great band. And although I'm not a huge fan of retro-indie music, (or whatever those crazy kids are calling it these days) I have to say that this CD has changed my thoughts on the genre. No Guarantees has a little something for everyone, and the use of two main vocalists is effective in creating an appealing male/female dynamic. This album is poignant, passionate and powerful. (Jess)

[putschki1969]

If you could decide and design the setlist and production of a kalafina live - what songs would you choose, what dresses would you have them where?

Hi there!

Oh wow! What a cool question! Sounds like a lot of fun. I will try my best and I invite everyone else to do this as well! (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

Stage production

I don’t need a super elaborate stage design. I like it simple and classic. A pinch of romantic kitsch doesn’t hurt though (opera curtains, flowers, maybe even some “fake” pillars or some staircases - okay, I lied, I apparently do like a bit of extra frill XD)

Dresses

[※ I don’t want to cheat so I am going with something they have already worn, very old-school because that’s what I am into :P Long dresses for the first section of the concert, short dresses for the second part. Simple and classic with some corsets to spice things up. For the final section I would probably choose their Consolation dresses or the first FOTW Live outfit set to keep the colour scheme of my concert simple and monochrome]

Musicians

I want lots of strings, a grand piano and Kalafina’s regular band members (including flute and percussion - no accordion of course XD.)

Setlist

[※ HIGHLY subjective. I picked 27 songs - the amount of songs they sang at their 10th Anniversary Live - since I wanted the number to be realistic but still as high as possible. Actually, for the most part, their 10th Anni setlist was pretty awesome and I would have only changed a few songs. If it were up to me I would probably not include any of their generic anisongs/up-tempo/dance numbers to make more room for their ballads and epic songs]

Ballad Section #1 1.Hikari Furu 2.Seventh Heaven 3.Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Iku 4.snow falling  5.Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa 6.sapphire 7.sandpiper

Epicness, Drama and Despair 8.Koibito no Mukashigatari no Yuugure no 9.Yami no Uta 10.magnolia 11.Usumurasaki 12.ARIA 13.Red Moon 14.Mata Kaze ga Tsuioku Natta 15.Magia 16.in every nothing 17.lirica 18.Consolation 19.Kyrie 20.Obbligato 21.Tsuioku 22.Märchen

Ballad Section #2 / Encore 23.Natsu no Ringo 24.Yane no Mukou ni 25.storia 26.Door 27.I have a dream

[esepoimipullula]

Alright, so... this is the utterly self-indulgent essay. XD

For any non-Italian readers: remember the introductory note on my translation of Goofy and The Perfect New Year’s Eve Handbook? About Italian Goofy (Pippo) having a huuuuuuuuuge family? Well, everyone in this family is, ofc, either just as quirky or nearly as quriky as Goofy himself... which makes for a lot of interesting personalities. Like Goofy's cousin, Indiana Pipps. Or Arizona Goof, in English. Presumably to make the joke at least a little bit subtler.

... yes, "the joke" is that he's literally an Indiana Jones parody. Who happens to be related to Goofy and look almost exactly (or exactly, depending on the story) like him. He's an "adventure archaeologist" who spends most of his time scouring South American jungles for lost pre-Colombian temples full of traps and treasure, travelling through scorching deserts to find legendary Egyptian ruins, and stumbling into fantarchaeology/Ancient Aliens/magical/mystical relics. He's brave, smart, passionate, confident to the point of being actually a bit arrogant, kind of reckless and hotheaded, a little rough, rather snarky, and has a strong sense of justice... and a bunch of strange habits and quirks. Like his penchant from entering buildings from the window rather than from the door (because that would be too easy), his preference for sleeping bags over beds and tents over houses (though he does have a house just out of Mouseton... in a dangerous swamp complete with crocodiles), his dislike and distrust for city life in general, and his love for a particular brand of strong-flavored liquorice candies called "Negritas" that almost everyone else finds adsolutely disgusting. Through the years, he's fallen in love with a bunch of female characters (starting with Clarabelle Cow, or so the internet tells me... Goof guys trying to steal her away from Horace must be a bizarre family tradition) and he's had a bunch of female characters fall in love with him, as you can expect considering he's the Dr. Jones of the Mouseverse and everything. But none of these crushes has ever really gone anywhere... whether because of a bout of obliviousness preventing him from realizing his temporary sidekick had been head over heels for him the whole time (sorry, Martina), a misguided attempt to present as a more traditional academic for a nerdy professor who unexpectedly turned out to be really into the adventurer type, or fairy law forbidding him to marry his French fairy sweetheart (yup, that happened).

Ironically, his most constant and long-lasting is with his nemesis, Dr. Kranz. (Nope, no name given.) (Yes, this is going to be an "enemies to lovers" kinda thing... except with, like, A Twist. So if you don't like that kind of dynamic or think people shouldn’t like messed-up ships or anything like that, you'd probably better stop reading.)

Kranz and Indiana appeared together in Indiana's first story, Mickey and Goofy in: Raiders of the Lost Temple by Bruno Sarda, and have been chasing each other for one reason or another ever since. Kranz is an adventure archaeologist, too, but despite being (almost) as skilled and succesful at his job as Indiana, he spends an awful lot of time following him around and trying to steal his discoveries... most often by putting on some disguise, stalking him from a distance, and popping out of nowhere with a gun and a mocking smirk as soon as Indiana finds the hidden lost idol/treasure/artifact/city.

Despite some weird occasional foray into the world of attempted world domination, Kranz is (mostly) into the whole villain business for the money and the fame. The money because he loves luxury (especially fast cars and five-star hotels) and sells a good chunk of what he finds or steals to unscrupulous clients or outright villainous organizations to afford to live the good life, and the fame because he has a big ego and (somehow, still) a reputation as a respectable archaeologist that feeds into it... and he's always trying to overshadow Indiana, because he hates being always second best to him. Which is just as well, because Indiana hates his attempts to steal his own discoveries, his criminal activities, his utter lack of ethics, and his greed. Whenever they see each other without either of them ending up on the wrong end of a gun or tied up for the local authorities to find, they usually still end up at each other's throat anyway. Or at least, insulting and teasing each other the whole time.

Except... it wasn't always like that. Back in the day, Indiana and Kranz were actually students in the same college. And roommates (YES, "and they were roommates!"). And "inseparable" best friends who got along very well despite their differences and genuinely cared for each other. And after graduating, even adventuring partners, at least occasionally. Kranz already loved money and luxury, and Indiana had already started to develop his simpler yet more bizarre tastes, but they were good together.

There's actually a recent mini-series about their college years written by Bruno Sarda himself, Young Indiana. It's pretty much a shipper's delight, as it contains high amounts of fluff, overdramatic (and suspiciously coupley imho) friendship drama with a happy ending, hugs, kisses, straight love drama taking a backseat as the focus stays firmly on the friendship drama, and a certain amount of foreshadowing of (angsty) things to come. But their old friendship was already an established fact before that...

Like in the story Indiana Pipps and the Return of Doctor Kranz, where Indiana ends up telling Mickey the story of how they parted ways and became enemies. Which was apparently inspired by something that happened in the Martin Mystère comics, but I've never read them so I wouldn't know. Long story short, Indiana and Kranz where on an expedition together when they unexpectedly found an absurdly powerful ray gun left behind by Ancient Aliens. As it turned out, by that point Kranz had already been in contact with a shady organization that would have paid good money for something like that, so he proposed they should sell the gun to them and share the profits of the sale. Indiana immediately opposed the idea, of course, being all like, "wtf dude idk about YOU apparently but I have morals and also a sense of professional ethics"... so Kranz knocked him out, took the gun, wrote him a note about how you shouldn't slap good luck away, and fled to the other side of the world, where a man from the organization would await him. But when Indiana woke up, he immediately started trying to track him, eventually ruining the sale right before it could go through and throwing the gun into the sea, where it would never be found again. At that point, Kranz swore he'd have his revenge on him by basically costantly tailing him and ruining his life and career, never leaving him a moment of peace.

Which he's sometimes been pretty succesful at, considering there's been a whole story about Indiana being so stressed due to Kranz appearing out of the blue to ruin his day, it turns into some sort of bizarre mania where he believes everyone and anyone is secretly Kranz in disguise. However, the same story also has Kranz being so stressed due to Indiana constantly foiling his schemes that he goes on a cruise to just forget about him and relax for a while... and ends up jumping off the ship when he mistakenly believes Indiana might be on it, too. So, that's a two-way street, I guess.

So, basically... friends to enemies, genuine affection being ruined by greed and ambition and turning into resentment and spite and straight-up hatred, a degree of mutual obsession and general unhealthiness. But that's not really all there is to their relationship.

There's also stories where they're forced to collaborate to reach the same goal and have to behave more or less civilly, or even where they choose to do so willingly and end up actually still being a good team. There's stories where getting good results while working together makes them behave almost amicably, as much as they're able or willing to. Stories where they acknowledge their past together, if not their old friendship, and even the similarities between them. Stories where they find themselves with someone they both look down down or hate even more than each other, and find some common ground insulting and snarking at them in-between doing the same to each other. Where they grudgingly help each other out.

And then, there's Indiana Pipps e il soccorso obbligato. The story I blame for getting me into this ship in the frist place, when I could be here reading and writing Scroldie or Dimeshipping or Donsy or Mickey/Minnie or literally any other of my Disney comics ships that people other than me actually ship.

In Il soccorso obbligato, Kranz gets kidnapped by some shady guys while he's working on a revolutionary archaeological discovery, except he's not been kidnapped and he's not actually close to finding anything that awesome, and it's all just a convoluted trap to get back at Indiana for laughing at him one time because he's terrible. But Indiana doesn't know that, and so he and Mickey rush to the rescue and fly to a whole other continent to find him...

That story really has everything. From Kranz coming up with a ridiculous and ridiculously cruel plan because he might be used to Indiana insulting him and mocking him but sometimes his former friend laughing at him and acting all superior and better than him still hurts, to Indiana actually falling for it and trying to justify to himself why he does, telling himself that after so many years spent (fighting) together there's a bond between them and he owes it to Kranz... and admitting he’s worried about him. From Indiana still remembering little details about Kranz and their past together and looking almost fond as he talks about them, to Kranz being both petty and obsessed enough to leave a journal full of insults to Indiana for him to find as a clue and setting his password to a mocking phrase about him (and Indiana, who should expect some stuff like that or at least be used to it, still getting riled up and planning on giving Kranz an earful when he finds him). From Kranz assuming Indiana would only come save him if he threw an imaginary fantarchaeological discovery into the mix because then Indiana wouldn't be able to resist his "archaeological curiosity", to Indiana considering said discovery more of a secondary concern and actually regretting and feeling almost guilty for mocking Kranz the last time they saw each other before the supposed kidnapping... and recklessly, unthinkingly running over a thin ice bridge over a gaping chasm just to get to him, throwing all caution to the wind even as he tells himself he doesn't even know why he's doing it. And the way they still KNOW each other despite everything that happened, maybe even because of everything that happened! The angst! The complicated, unspoken, repressed things! Being a softie and a sap, I'm always a sucker for "the hero and the villain actually have a bond and care for each other on some level even if it's not the healthiest or most normal thing"... but considering the history between these two? Though the story in itself is very fun and entertaining, it never fails to break my heart a little.

And in all honesty, I might end up writing fanfictions about them. Fanfictions full of angst and pining and conflicted feelings and "we were never lovers but oh god we could have been --- if you hadn't screwed up everything in the end, at least" college stuff with a mess of obliviousness and repressed feelings, most likely.

[salty-dracon]

Some thoughts on The Caligula Effect 2

So I joke about this game getting a second remake to my friends online and the next moment I learn THIS was announced during the Japanese Nintendo Direct. Let me spill out my thoughts to spark discussion as well as provide a record to myself if this game actually does get localized.

Everything is under the cut!

My thoughts on Overdose were that it has a fantastic world... and that’s it. Out of the game’s cast, there were maybe four characters I liked, and the rest had moments that made me lose all sympathy for them. I recall it was common for some Let’s Players to like the villains better than the protagonists, and I’d agree on that front. I actually think the anime is the best iteration of this game’s story, changing up the formula enough to provide a really solid characterization arc to everyone. But Overdose suffers from poor writing issues (killing Eiji offscreen in the best ending was one of the worst decisions they made), rough handling of certain topics, boring and monotonous dungeons, and 500 social links you’re never going to do. I’m incredibly critical of this game, and I’d never recommend it to someone without a LOT of disclaimers, but somehow I still love it.

Already this game looks CRAZY good visually. It doesn’t look like a reskinned Vita game anymore, with something a little more reminiscent of say, the Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth games. That’s not to say that the game doesn’t still implement its fantastic character art, which still show up next to the speech bubbles. (At least the models have moving jaws. That’s important.)

Here’s to really hoping this game won’t be another Caligula 1 reskin, because uh... the game is about a protagonist who realizes that the world is a virtual one created by a Vocaloid who won’t let anyone out and joins up with a group of teenagers who also want to get out despite the fact that their real world lives were horrible so that they can set things right and they call themselves the Go-Home club (and also a Vocaloid gives them weapons made out of black stuff) but the people that are stopping them are basically the servants and guardians of the Vocaloid keeping them trapped in, who also happen to be humans who can’t return to the real world because their real world lives were so horrible, and so they have to fight because the Vocaloid won’t let them out otherwise. I mean, of course it won’t be a reskin, but I’m surprised at just how much of the original story they kept.

As for things they absolutely did NOT keep, DAMN this game looks dark! I was once remarking to a friend about how Caligula’s story would appeal better to me specifically if they’d gone with a religious pressure rather than idol stan theme, and they appear to have really pulled through with that religious pressure. I just realized, while writing this, that the image I showed off above actually has an image of an angel in the stained glass window being worshiped by fans with glow sticks. Furthermore, there’s a gothic cathedral-like altar, a halo behind Regret’s head, and this whole exchange looks like it takes place in a church. While I’m not religious myself, I can talk a lot about church architecture (see: my Fire Force livetweet) and I’m interested to see how this game handles it.

Not only that, most of the character designs seem darker and very different from the original game’s. Take a look at this game’s idol goddess:

Is μ going through an emo phase? I wouldn’t blame her lol. I think she still has a fantastic design that is in equal parts dreary and beautiful, while perfectly matching the color scheme of the new game.

And what a color scheme it is! The world of Caligula 1 had a gorgeous white, black, pink, brown, and gray color scheme framing bold pops of color in the form of flowers. Caligula 2 changes things up by making black the primary color framing everything else. The pops of color are so much bolder, too, from Noto’s bright yellow sweatshirt to basically everything χ is wearing. Do these changes reflect the story’s potential darker tone too? Or are they representative of something else?

We don’t know too much about the characters, but Caligula 2 looks like it’s giving them different weapons. It looks like the protagonists wield double knives instead of double shotguns. As for the other weapons, I see shortswords, katanas, chains, pistols (much smaller than Shogo’s), canes, and Qiyana’s ohmlatl from League of Legends. Definitely a shift from the original game’s weapons. I wonder if they’ll make a comeback? That giant gun was unique to say the least.

The Obbligato (I think?) are this game’s Ostinato Musicians. Italian for “obliged”, they are the ones who defend Regret from any threats. The one shown off most in the trailer is this guy who looks like the 1010 dudes from No Straight Roads. Man, he really looks like Shadow Knife in that image up there...

Also we get a, um, clown astronaut and a crazy high school yandere. Just to name a few. Definitely not the first time I’ve beat up a clown in a video game. Pretty unique as far as villains go, though. I hope this game has its own villain route, where you learn more about them. I’d really like that.

Social links! Looks like you rank up social links the same way you do in the original game. Do you want to make this character spill out all their trauma? Are you SURE about that, despite there being no negative consequences to you, the player? Awesome. Get ready to be sad.

The battle system is, from what I’ve read, similar, but not the same, as the battle system in Overdose. I’m not going to give too many details on that. They still seem to be time-based with combo chains, but they’re pretty vague. Looks like you still get to unleash crazy special attacks against your enemies. And they in turn can unleash crazy special attacks against you.

I absolutely want to see a. better characters and b. better overall writing. In my opinion these were the two weakest points of Caligula 1. Despite the protagonists’ tragedies, some of the little things they did made me sort of hate them. I did not like how everyone in the original Go-Home Club used Kotaro (who you learn is FOURTEEN!) as a verbal punching bag despite him being one of the kindest characters in the club. As for better overall writing, I stated before that I preferred the anime’s interpretation of events, because I thought they were in a better order overall. Besides killing Eiji offscreen, I hated how they wrote μ to be such a monumentally stupid character (I often point to Persona 5 Royal on how to write a villain like her well) and their, in my opinion, poor handling of certain topics like fatphobia. And though the character episodes sort of redeem them, it’s like... not really? The way I described it to a friend was that while the moral of Caligula 1′s story may have been “We live in a society and everyone’s dealing with their own hardships, but you can’t run away from them forever and you can at least be sympathetic to those facing them”, the character interactions end up dumbing it down to “We live in a society”.

Also an anime adaptation would be really sick. The anime just had so much better writing.

As for what I’m really curious about:

1. Who is Regret and how is she related to μ and Aria? We already know she’s a Virtuadoll like them, but if I recall correctly μ and Aria had some more concreteness to their backstories. Specifically, the human characters remember them existing as vocal synthesizer programs before they became the rules of Mobius. Regret’s backstory is that she just kind of showed up one day. Does she have different origins from μ and Aria? By the same merit, who is χ and how is she related to Regret, μ, and Aria? We know that χ opposes Regret and gives the Go-Home club the power to fight back against her, kind of like what Aria did in Caligula 1, but was she a co-creator of Redo like Aria was, or was her role completely different? The fact that she isn’t a little sparkle like Aria was (as a result of losing all of her power) indicates that their roles might be a little different.

2. What relationship does Redo have to Mobius? We know Mobius was created because Aria and μ wanted a place for humans to live without the sorrows they experienced in the real world. However, eventually μ was manipulated by everyone’s negative emotions and Thorn’s actions. This caused her to prevent anyone from leaving, and also the plot of the first game. Is Redo a second, improved iteration of Mobius, or a completely new virtual space? Were the goals behind its creation the same as in the first game? Or was there another force at work? Is Regret trying to copy μ or improve on her work? Or is she doing what μ did independently? I don’t think there’s enough information to predict the answer to this, but from what I’ve seen, there are a lot of similarities between the two worlds, from the high school to the end goal. However, there are some differences in tone. Mobius was a place to escape suffering, while Redo is being marketed as a place to escape regret. Redo also has a more religious bend than the idol theme of the first game.

3. What other links do the first and second games have to each other? People have been theorizing that Marie Mizuguchi/Wicked from the first game may return as Marie Amabuki (I think) in the second due to them having the same VA. There’s obviously the shared artstyle, symbolism, Catharsis Effect, glitchy NPC faces, and general setting. I also suspect that this game takes place after the events of Caligula 1. Not much I can say about this right now, but I wonder how everything joins up. Or if it even matters that they do. I haven’t seen too much on whether or not this game is being marketed as a standalone or a sequel, or if you even need to play Caligula 1 to enjoy Caligula 2.

Conclusion: While the Caligula series isn’t one I’d recommend to everyone, for the way it handles a number of sensitive topics, I will still be checking out Caligula 2 if it comes to the West. Though very little has been revealed thus far, so far I’m interested in the religious iconography used as well as the darker tone and colors presented in the game. As well as the characters, who have more varied and interesting designs including super unique weapons. I’m a bit disappointed that the plot, as it has been revealed, is an exact copy of Caligula 1′s plot, right down to the names of the protagonists’ faction. I was hoping for a bigger evolution to the story, but considering so little has been revealed in the first place, this may be a bit of a preemptive judgement.

That’s it. I hope you enjoyed my discussion of what I’ve learned so far.

[sebastianacem]

How to Make the Marvel Intro

I believe that most of us have ever watched a Marvel movie. The Marvel Movie always shocks us with its amazing shot, shocking special effects, and unexceptionable fight scenes. Though it is a dream for us to be a superhero who can save the world, we can achieve this dream in an alternative way - video editing. It is a tough job to make the crazy scenes that we see in the movie, we still can make a marvel-like intro by ourselves. In this post, I will show you the best solution for how to make the Marvel intro.

Make a Marvel intro via TunesKit AceMovi

Before making the video, nice and easy-to-use video editing software is necessary. A nice tool can help you get more with less effort. Here, I recommend TunesKit AceMovi to you. TunesKit AceMovi is a one-stop and multifunctional video editing tool that can help you finish the master editing like cut a YouTube video that's not yours, create GIF with sound, and make a YouTube intro, etc. If you are disturbing with how to make your own marvel intro, AceMovi is the best choice for you.

TunesKit AceMovi Video Editor

Let's see the detailed tutorial.

Add your media file to TunesKit AceMovi

The first step to make your own Marvel intro is to add media files to the TunesKit AceMovi media library. You can click the Import button to add your pictures or click the File > Import Media to make it. The Marvel-like intro usually performs as the images switching quickly, so a bulk of pictures is obbligato. Besides, you need to add a pure red background picture to the AceMovi library, which makes your video looks more like Marvel Studio.

Add to timeline

Next up, drag and drop the media templates to the timeline. The pictures should lay in the same timeline, and the red background should lay in a different timeline. You can hold and drag the box edge to change the duration. If you are wondering how to make a Marvel studios intro, the duration of each picture should be as short as possible.

Add keyframing to the background

Change the opacity of the background picture can help us get a Marvel-like effect. And then, click the Keyframing icon to add keyframing to the background picture. Add two keyframes to the picture, and select the former. On the top-right panel, we can customize the video like opacity changing. The 50% opacity is suitable to solve the question about how to make the Marvel intro.

Add transitions between every two pictures

Click the Transitions icon and add transitions between every two pictures. Because we are attempting to make your own Marvel intro, so Wipe Right 1, Wipe Left 1, Wipe Up 1, Wipe Down 1, and Linear Wipe are the best choices for this video. Having said that, you can use and add any transitions you like.

Add text to the video

Click the Text icon, and you will see Static and Dynamic for you to choose. Hit on the Dynamic and use the Zoom In 1. Drag and drop it to a new timeline and customize it on the top-right panel. Meanwhile, you can select the effect tag, and change the Enter/Exit duration.

Export your video

Finally, you can export your Marvel-like intro video. Click the Export button to export your video. You are able to rename the file and change the file path in the pop-up window. It is the whole tutorial for the question about how to make the Marvel intro using TunesKit AceMovi.

Video Tutorial: How to Make a Marvel intro

After Effects

After Effects is a powerful video editing tool, which can help you create wonderful and grand video effects. Don't know how to make the Marvel intro? It is not a question anymore as long as you can use After Effects expertly, nevertheless, After Effect is not a good choice for persons new to the video editing field.

Wondershare Filmora

Don't have too much budget but want to get a good video editing experience? Wondershare Filmora won't let you down. It is absolutely the ideal solution for the question that how to make the Marvel intro. With the powerful features of Filmora, you can edit a Marvel intro easily. Though Wondershare Filmora is not as complicated as After Effect, sometimes you'll suffer the crashes.

The bottom line

A Marvel studio movie is awesome. Although we can never become the superheroes on the screen, we can make a simple Marvel intro to satisfy ourselves. As for me, I think TunesKit AceMovi is the best tool for making an awesome Marvel intro. 

Its source comes from: https://acemovi.tuneskit.com/advanced-editing-tips/how-to-make-marvel-intro.html

[chibalein]

Kalafina Bingo Challenge - my predictions

My own challenge, so I need to do it, right? >D Also, other people, participate please :D To those who don’t have a Tumblr account, go ahead and post your predictions as an ASK to me, I will post it for you :)

HERE is the original post.

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Now, I think the most difficult part is that we don’t know HOW MANY of the songs that fans voted for are actually being used. I say it will be the “Top 10″ because if, for example, they went with the Top 20 of the poll, they might end up with the same setlist as 9+ONE or ballads only. But since we know what kinds of musicians will participate (aka flute and accordion girls), that won’t happen. So they will at least determine part of the setlist. Then again, I think they will resort to songs that haven’t been performed so often in the past, otherwise it just might turn into another Arena Live or 9+ONE.

Oblivious Their debut song, if it doesn‘t come up then what will?

Hyakka Ryouran Their most recent song and the only one that hasn’t been performed live yet - in a recording and moreover in its original version.

Märchen Same as “Hyakka Ryouran”, more or less. Yes, it appeared in 9+ONE, but I say it will come again in its actual version with the flute.

* Usumurasaki Ah, one of my absolute favorite songs, therefore I voted for it. It’s been only performed once and... well, actually I can’t think of a reason why this should be performed as I don’t think people voted for it, but I really want it xD

* Koibito no Mukashigatari no yuugure no Same as “Usumurasaki”. But why not, it would make a great intro song of a second act or enchore (I doubt it would be the starting song, too much like Far on the Water Live).

Hikari no senritsu I’m missing flute songs. And this being one of their popular songs, hell why not.

Serenato THIS NEEDS TO BE PERFORMED!! PLEASE!! I want to hear that one because Kalafina’s voices have changed so much over the past 10 years and there is just no way that this will be like that one performance we have a recording of. Especially Hikaru. And I desperately want to know what they would make out of “Serenato” nowadays as a new interpretation.

Ongaku To be honest, I don’t want “Ongaku”. It‘s an awesome, upbeat song but it’s just too overplayed. I hope they go with “Identify”, “One Light” or “Progressive” instead but it’s still kinda hard to believe that it won’t come up.

Kantankatan Again, we haven’t seen this live yet (in its original version) and being one of their most recent and very beautiful songs, I’m almost 100% sure it will be performed. Please.

Monochrome The accordion needs work, right? VERY sure it will be performed, because “Signal” and “Hanataba” just have been performed so often, while “monochrome” only once. And they can make a pretty good show out of it.

Hanataba The accordion needs to do something again, right? Other than that, there is only “Signal” left, if I remember correctly, so chances are very high for Hanataba  (although, I’d prefer Signal <D).

ARIA Ah, Hikaru’s signature song. It’s hard to believe that it won’t come up and apparently many fans voted for it. I would love to hear this in a new version, as Hikaru probably can’t really do it in the original style anymore, as we have seen at the Red Day Live. That’s why I am super interested in new interpretations of old songs and “ARIA” would be perfect, as she did already in the Premium Lives. Haru wa kogane no yume no naka An underrated song in my opinion and performed like never. Hopefully hopefully. Obbligato or Mata kaze ga tsuyoku natta I suppose at least one rock song that isn’t upbeat will be performed and I hope for either one or both of it, because they are performed sooo rarely and give great change of style. And I want to heat Wakana’s super high kajiurago part in “Obbligato” xD Tombo I am missing ballads in this setlist, so I guess their most recent one will come up too. Just as they performed all the songs from the “Into the World/Märchen” single during 9+ONE, I say they will do the same in the 10th Anniversary with the “Hyakka Ryouran” single. Lirica SUCH an underrated song and loooong overdue in a recorded live concert. I need this. WE need this. Alleluia I’m missing some Keiko songs here as well. I really want to hear this and not “Ongaku” xD Very popular, so chances are high I guess. Seventh Heaven An amazing song, which I suppose is also popular. But the main reason I picked this is that MAYBE Kalafina will perform all their album flag ships. It would make sense, because it would make a great theme throughout the concert, you know, as a journey through Kalafina music history.

Red Moon See above. Dark songs ftw.

Eden See above. Also, a super nice mood changer.

Consolation See above.

Far on the Water See above :p Also, a Rekishi Hiwa Historia song somehow needs to be there right? I hope it’s just not “Storia”. Please. not. “Storia”.

-------------

Honorable mentions aka songs that won’t be performed but still I kinda hope for it, but probably not, but maybe, but no.

(* Adore: This definitely won’t come up, although I voted for it in the poll. I think it’s too much of a B-side and to be fair, the album version isn’t really good, only the live versions.), (Kichigo no Shigemi ni), (Door), (In Every Nothing), (Kotonoha), (Yami no Uta). ----------------

As for the other predictions:

A new album would be amazing and kind of overdue, but I am not really convinced that that will happen. If the rumors of an autumn world tour were true, then they would have to release the album maybe in spring, then immediately do the domestic tour (and other events possibly) and THEN a world tour? Seems a bit too busy for me, even for Kalafina. Then again, no spring/summer tour at all or AGAIN some sort of Best Of Tour? That also seems unlikely to me, so I go with the following:

A world tour in summer/autumn and before that some other smaller events or single releases. But still fingers crossed for a new album, I’m craving for fresh songs.

ALSO, SOLO PERFORMANCES! This hope will go down last XD

ALSO ALSO, A NEW UNRELEASED SONG. If the rumors of a new single in spring were true, then this would be a great opportunity for a premiere performance and a good surprise for the concert. They did this with “Hyakka Ryouran” in 9+ONE in Kitakyushu and “Into the World” at the Arena Live, right? So why not again and people would go crazy. 

ALSO ALSO ALSO, some normal song in an acoustic version. Would be nice xD

[offendedbydjinns]

@shunybard tagged me for a thing! thats sweet of u thank u <3333

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you’ve created this year (fics, art, edits, etc!) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2017. Tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original!) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works. 

I uh! I did make some things this yr but i got busy with school in the start lol. I hope i made enough,,

1. Benny

prrrrrrrrrrrobobably gonna update his design but im really, really happy with the style for this character! god obbligato is a year old i gotta work on it more

2. 1 horrible ape

I had an idea earlier last year for a horror game where the main villain is a big, terrible ape. I still like the idea and i might use it for a project later. Thank you big, horrible ape

3. Piper

While I was daydreaming worldbuilding I thought up some side critters for obbligato, from a smaller, simpler dimension called the soundscape. As u can see maybe i thought about giving it wings but decided that no. He looks good without them. Him and his bagpipe guts.

4. Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme were not present at this time

I really like this chunky boi. I think the idea is that hes sort of a cub, which means his parents are huge. Idk why i didnt draw his hair back there.

5. Eat me!

Eat me! Eat me! Eat me! Eat me! Eat me! Eat me! Eat me! Eat me! Eat me!

(I tag @viralarcadian, @lord-owlsnake, @leonkennedy, @noisyghost, @stilwater, and @lithping)

[okeuphemia]

Music Shuffle♫

Following @putschki1969 post i’m going to play along with this meme! I’ll be waiting for your comments about the songs I got :D As my phone was stolen one month ago, all the music I might get are either YK/Kalafina works, or other anime/kpop/ost songs I love.. Don’t expect much variety xD

Rules of the game: shuffle your music, write down the 1st 10 songs, then tag people!

1- Yuki Kajiura Collection Music Song (link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41q437lLaYg)

Aaaaaaw I can’t believe it! What a way to summon up all my Kajiura love in one track♥ I actually found this video a long time ago and I download it entirely, it’s a great starter for someone who doesn’t know Yuki Kajiura’s work at all ^^

2 - Yasashii Uta - Kalafina (studio version)

OKEY I’M LOVING THIS GAME HAHA my favourite song of the band as the second shuffle♥ I have no words for this song, it makes me cry and feel happy every time, the melody is so beautiful and the violin in the end... Jesus. 

3- Oblivious - Kalafina (TypeMoon Fes 10th anniversary)

Another AMAZING song, one of my favourites, their vocals are so on point in this concert, each of one them shines♥ I love Hikaru’s voice in this song particularly, she proves to be an amazing singer with her vocal ability.

4- Absolute Configuration - FictionJunction (Yuki Kajiura Live vol. #11 Elemental Tour 2014)

Kajiuradrama! A song that evokes an intense scene from an Anime. I love how their voices melt into one amazing anthem.

5- Obbligato - Kalafina (Consolation tour live)

A song where (in my opinion) Wakana’s solos steals the show. It’s really powerful and fun to follow, but it keep a mystic harmony which I love.

6- Mirai - Kalafina (Studio version)

One of the happiest Kala-songs I’ve heard haha. If you make me choose, I’d like to put Credens Justitiam instead of this, but well... Hikaru’s voice is here and I love it so I’d play it anyway haha. 

7- The World - FictionJunction (Yuki Kajiura Live 31.07.2008)

(You may have notice so far that the pictures have nothing to do with the songs, right? Haha sorry). What can I say about this song?? Hitoshi Konno violins is EVERYTHING. And Keiko’s leading and the different harmonies in the end of the song.. They make me wanna jump and break everything, so hype xD

8- Houseki - FictionJunction KEIKO (FictionJunction – Yuki Kajiura LIVE vol. #4)

Anooother Keiko song! Yeyy!!♫ This one is awesome (I’m being repetitive now xD) because it explores the deepest of Keiko’s range, is a mature song and so dramatic and beautiful♥

9- Mezame - FictionJunction (FictionJunction – Yuki Kajiura LIVE vol. #4)

All I’m going to say here is: If you don’t love Wakana’s voice after watching this video, you have a serious problem in your ears (or your brain xD).

10- Spring Day - BTS

Aaaaand something different, finally! Hahaha. I’m deeply in love with Taehyung’s deep voice, and he’s so handsome♥ the band is really awesome and they dance like OMG.

This was very fun! Feel free to take the meme and play along :D  I hope this wasn’t much of a bother to read. I wish I had another songs coming, so I could give more love to Kaori Oda, Miss Kaida, and even to some music (like Moana’s ost xD) that I have in my phone but well... Not my choice :P

[seasonreaper]

Kalafina 27 Week Challenge - Week 13: Favourite Rock Song?

I’m very much a person who’s into rock and metal, so rock songs are something that I always look forward to whenever Kalafina releases new music. Sadly they aren’t too common, usually once per album with the occasional b-side here and there, but thankfully they’re also usually great.

That said, a particular couple stand out to me, and it seems that they’re also the same ones most people have chosen. These of course being Destination Unknown and Mata Kaze whatevertherestofthesongiscalled. I’ve managed to remember what most of their song titles are but for some reason Mata Kaze’s full title always eludes my memory. Whilst Hikaru was introduced via a most dedicedly not rock song, it seems her vocals suit them rather well. Kajiura seems to have noticed this and often gives her the lead on them and frankly, that’s something I’m very much fine with.

Destination Unknown is easily one of my favourite songs in Kalafina’s discography, it has powerful vocals throughout (plus dem DESHOOOOOOOU’s that are longer running than your average Shonen series), complex instrumentation and sweet guitar solos, what else do you really want from a rock song? It’s really a song where Korenaga gets a chance to shine as well, he’s usually being a badass somewhere on the stage but here he’s right up front being awesome.

Mata Kaze (nope, still can’t remember it) however is a song that I always thought was pretty cool, but has since grown on me a lot, going from a high tier song to being a personal favourite of mine. I just wish they’d play it more often live, seems to get ignored in favour of practically every other rock song in their discography these days. As with Destination Unknown, it’s got all the trademarks of a strong rock track in spades. I actually have the ‘Weigh your anchooooorrrrrr’ part as my ringtone right now. Love that line.

That said, I enjoy most of their rock songs a lot. Magia is a classic, Obbligato is just all around fantastic and manages to stand out even amongst a very solid album and I adore both Ongaku, Tsuioku and In Every Nothing as well. All good stuff.

[podilatokafe]

awesome jazz: Tom Rainey Obbligato – Float Upstream (2017) Πηγή: awesome jazz: Tom Rainey Obbligato - Float Upstream (2017)