#the artstyle ... its b-beautiful ... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lilflowerpot · 11 months

Note

hello again~

I'm here to ask a question about LoZ. so, I have a friend who plays and recommended it to me because she knows I love open world games and breath of the wild is (apparently) one of the best open world games ever and I've been hesitating ever since. she might be a little biased tho lol

and like. there's a sale going on right now for botw, so the recommendation just kind made itself known in my memory again

anyway so, basically I'm here to ask if it'll be worth it? I mean, the general consensus wherever I go seems to be 'amazing, go get it u won't regret it'

(and, this is totally optional, but if you could answer asap that would be great because idk when the sale ends, thank you)

p.s I love little blade. you're amazing

I think it's obvious by now that I am a //massive// Zelda fan so tbh I'm likely no less bias than your friend lmfao, but that being said I'm going to try and give as balanced a response as possible!

Pros

BotW is beautiful, and I mean b e a u t i f u l . The graphics have this lovely watercolour quality to them as an ode to the artstyle used in Skyward Sword, but more crisp & refined. Unlike a lot of the big open world games (looking at you skyrim) BotW doesn't sacrifice colour or try to be "gritty", but rather leans into that soft-apocalypse, studio ghibli vibe.

The narrative is equally lovely and fulfilling, and depending upon what order you collect Link's memories in you will likely have a different gameplay experience. You'll also meet a lovable cast of characters to whom you'll end up unreasonably attached, which will ultimately break your heart in the end,,, I apologise in advance, but I promise you it's worth the pain.

On that note, do it for my bitch-ass bird son. You'll know him when you meet him.

Link can jump. This will mean very little to you if you've not played a LoZ game before, but my boy can fucking JUMP.

You can also climb pretty much everything (bar like one specific material) which means if you want to get to that Cool Thing Over There, then with a mix of mix of ungodly arrogance, sheer willpower, and a lot of stamina potions, you can. If you suffer from the magpie brain (ie. you see a new shiny thing and become immediately sidetracked from your original objective) this will mean that you take about 10x as long as you should to do literally anything, but my god is it fun.

The soundtrack gives me feelings that I cannot put into words, and the voice acting is //phenomenal//. Importantly, Link himself does not have a voice actor which is the only correct choice considering he's been heavily implied throughout the entire LoZ franchise to be an elective mute, and I would have //hated// hearing him speak.

Link is also just a very sweet & funny golden retriever boy who occasionally sasses back like nobody's business. 10/10 protagonist.

If you like women, you will like them even more by the end. If you don't like women, there's a 90% chance you'll seriously reconsider it upon meeting [REDACTED].

The game has something for everyone: you like exploring? Well you're going to do a lot of that. You like collectables? There are so many outfits (that you can dye to your liking!) and a wholeass compendium to fill out. You like puzzles? You'll certainly find your fair share. You like combat? The basic mechanics are what you'd expect with there are enough different enemy types to keep it interesting, but dO NOT FIGHT A LYNEL WITHOUT MAKING SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH WEAPONS BC THEY WILL BREAK AND LEAVE YOU WITH A VERY ANGRY VERY MEAN MAN TRYING TO KILL YOU.

It is genuinely very good value for money, and even more so if you can get it on sale! Not only do you have the mainline game & all its side-quests, but there's also the expansion pass, and, of course, an entire sequel just ready and waiting!

Cons

Sometimes the open world can feel a little too open. Considering the game's context, it makes sense, but comparatively games like Skyrim feel more densely packed with Things To Do, whereas BotW has several areas of overgrown nothingness that are lovely to look at, but not especially interesting (though this is better rectified in TotK).

You can't swim underwater. This was not rectified in TotK, though I dearly wish it had been.

A lot of fans used to complain about the temple format of p much every Zelda game up until this point, so the developers essentially removed temples altogether and instead replaced them with only four (technically optional) Divine Beasts, plus Hyrule Castle itself. I... did not like this. I'm a big puzzle girlie, and though BotW has shrines scattered across the landscape—most of which are puzzle-based—I personally felt that this substitute was lacking in comparison to the original. TotK does improve on this by reintroducing temples, but I still could have gone for a few more (Skyward Sword was the opposite of this, with very linear gameplay which a lot of people hated, but I personally will stand by SS's Ancient Cistern until my dying breath, and Twilight Princess had some really innovative temples that I have replayed several times over).

On a semi-adjacent note, the final boss just... wasn't my favourite. That's not to say it was bad, only as boss fights go I've had better (I did, however, like the final segment of that fight).

You will develop an immediate fear response to the Guardian music.

Ultimately though, I absolutely do think you should buy it, and am jealous that you'll get to have that bright-eyed bushy-tailed first-time experience, because believe me, if I could erase my memories and play BotW all over again, I would.

#in short: BUY IT AND ENJOY #AND TELL ME WHEN YOU MEET MY BITCHY BIRD SON & WHAT YOU THINK OF HIM ASDJVHGVDFSK #sa screams back #the author speaks #LoZ

6 notes · View notes

measuringbliss · 1 year

Note

love seeing you blitz through my madman ramblings. how are you doing? tell me more about those medias you rbed saying they were essential to experience? they sounded like games, what's neo twewy. how's the weather? it is presently unusually cold here and since I'm cold blooded it's got me very sleepy. have a lovely day and happy early new year! speaking of, do you have any resolutions if you do that sort of thing? okay bye!

okay wait too much stuff happening i (luv you)

I'm doing really well since I'm getting back home after having spent three days doing fun activities and eating good food with my dad and some of my family, so it was very entertaining and full of surprises. so I'm good but I've been dying to replay TWEWY and NEO TWEWY and I couldn't even listen to the soundtrack during this weekend so i'm slightly frustrated.

Okay so essential media.

I was going to suggest Hannibal but its appeal is very niche and the content can make people uncomfortable and I wouldn't say it changed my life.

What changed my life though is Chuck (2007-2012)

Romcom drama spy action pastiche series Chuck is about a nerd getting every secret from the government transferred to his brain, to the US government's dismay. They send a hot blonde and a grumbling Republican to make sure Chuck (the title character) doesn't get himself killed by other spies interested in the US's secrets.

Throw in a forbidden romance (agents shouldn't date, but Chuck and his partner Sarah aren't indifferent to each other), (b)romances (nothing textual but Matt Bomer sure gave a lot of yearning glances at our protagonist...), twists, treasons, awful-but-actually-great musical covers, and a lot of cameos and you've got basically a sibling series to Community, in that both shows had similar nerd audiences and had fan campaigns to renew them.

It aired at a point where I needed reprieve from everything else and it was perfect–it made me laugh and gasp, and it has a killer soundtrack. Also? Women? Beautiful.

TWEWY & NEO TWEWY (2007 & 2021)

In The World Ends With You, antisocial Neku is forced to participate in a deadly game in an alternate Shibuya where cooperation is key amidst strange fashion choices (that give you better stats), good food (ditto) and colorful badges/pins (a few hundreds to collect and make evolve, used to attack enemies).

The soundtrack is a mix of J-Pop, electronic music, rap, hip-hop and overall denotes a strong sense of identity. The visuals are incredibly stylish and the gameplay is both confusing and enthralling. Why is Neku playing this game? Who is the mastermind and what is their plan? The message is basic, but the storyline is captivating.

The original version came out on DS and made full use of its capabilities; battles took place on both screens, you used the touch screen to control Neku and buttons to control his partner on the top screen–at the same time and in synchronicity. It got rereleased on smartphones, and more recently on Switch, with updated graphics, music (the game going from ~40 tracks to about ~150) and gameplay (going from two screens to a single one) as well as a new chapter setting up the sequel, NEO: The World Ends With You.

While I applauded the original game for its creativity, smart script and ideas and audacious gameplay, it wasn't quite a perfect game for me. It all changed with Neo, which brings a new set of protagonists, a new gameplay (this time, one button is assigned to each character who each control a single badge), a new music style (more rock and metal, I listened to the album again and again and again and it helped me a lot with coping with shitty stuff happening last year), a similar artstyle but 3D this time and a MUCH longer script. NEO TWEWY is about double the original's length in spite of its similar structure notably thanks to its script style–however it's still very well written and thus, is not annoying to follow.

TWEWY is available on DS, smartphones and Switch. I recommend playing it before NEO TWEWY as plot points are continued and some characters come back. There's also an anime that compresses the story. If you go that way, make sure to check out Another Day, the chapter exclusive to the Switch version.

NEO TWEWY is available on Switch (that's the version I played), PS4, EGS and Steam.

SENSE8 (sometime this last decade)

Do I really need to introduce this show? Eight people from all around the world are psychically linked. Why? And what is this mysterious organization stalking them?

Helmed by Matrix creators Lilly and Lana Wachowski, this show was the first time I saw a trans characters. It's hot, it's funny, it's sad, it's sci-fi, it's a thriller, it's a lot of things (you might notice I love me some variety) and it's queer as fuck. Got canceled during Pride Month but got rescued (through a 2 hours long movie), and once again, everything I mentioned here has been cancelled or otherwise didn't receive the appreciation it deserved–multiple times.

Chuck's first season got hit by the Writer's Strike, then from the second season on it risked cancelation every season, sometimes multiple times (which is why both S3 and 4 seem a bit disjointed). TWEWY was a hidden gem only niche enthusiasts knew about, and NEO TWEWY's wider release wasn't any different. All three of these franchises have seen deep love from people who stumbled upon them.

Ahem.

The weather was surprisingly fine! I heard that in the US a lot of people got hit with blizzard and that kind of stuff, well here it's been warmer than usual. Didn't have to wear gloves or scarves, and it was sunny too! Definitely a pleasure to be outside.

I hope things get better for you!

I don't have any resolution because I tend not to fulfill them lmao. How about you?

Happy new year! 💛💛💛💛💛

#Asks #Chuck nbc #Twewy

7 notes · View notes

theghostofwilburtheworm · 1 year

Text

Okay so my scramble eggs of toughts about the new spiderverse spoiler warning!! for everything i think!

okay so where to start

man i love animation, i love this medium as a whole i love it so so much, and omg the animation on these films just constantly keeps out doing itself over and over it was just so goood!!! some ofmy absolute favorite scenes have to be the entirety of gwen's world, THOSE SCENES WITH THE SPOT THAT WHERE IN BLACK AND WHITE HOLLY SHIT, THE SPIDER CHASE SCENE THE FISGHT SCENES, good lord just every scene in this movie was so creative and vibrant and beautiful, even scenes that where calm like when miles talks to his mom, my god it was so beautiful, the framing the colors it was all so well used like when miles gets to the world with no spiderman and there's just something so oddly eerie about the color palette of the world but you don't really notice at first glance and then it just goes and becomes moore and more off as the scene progresses until its just purples and reds and greens BROTHER THATS SO RAD!! and then how each spider person had a very distinct artstyle, like how pavitr's world was so vibrant and cool!! and how hobbie was animated as a collage and so was the portal, and ooomg the s´pot was just so delightful to see it was so creative and cool!!!

speaking of the spot the characters where all so fucking goood!!! and absolutely amazing to watch!!1 i was having so much fun and the movie is so funny but is like Such a good valance of goofyness and drama like at one moment i was laughing and the next i was in complete shock and it didn't fell like a complete tonal whiplash like HOW DO U DO THAT??? when stacy is trans right? like we all know that right? AND OMG THE VOICES okay so i watched the latam spanish dub right! AND OOMG JOSE LUIS RIVERA AS MIGUEL O'HARA *chefs kiss* KILLED IT, NO QUE KILLED IT ABSOLUTELY MURDERED IT!!! like i think this is his first major role and man he slayed, alondra hidalgo as gwen was also sooo good!! emilio treviño as miles as always so awesome! miguel angel ruiz (peter b) is just always delightful in anything he is, and man everyone was so good!! and i was wondering how they where gonna do hobbie's odd accent thing and they just made him use a bunch of mexicanismos which was awesome

and like to characters again, i fucking hated miguel o'hara but man wasn't he so cool to see and so scary it was absolutely bonkers bananas and holly shit and dude pavitr was so fun and hobbie was so fun and seeing peter b was awesome tho man i was almos yelling at the screen for him and gwen to fuckjing do something when miguel was charging at miles, and the spider woman was so so cool too and GOD THIS MOVIE WAS SO COOL!!! LIKE WHO TOUGH OF THIS WHO THINKS OF MAKING SOMETHING SO EVIL AND SO BEAUTIFUL AND FUCK WHO WHY OMG, i love animation, this movie just completely pushed and broke its boundaries ins insane

just whenever i start to think that is all pointless for me to do art and start question why am i even doing this, a movie like this comes out and i fall in love with this media all over again is insane

#beware is a complete bible #i loved this movie man #spiderverse #spiderverse spoilers #gh0ost txt

6 notes · View notes

nirstedamillen · 10 months

Note

I've noticed the art style of sadistic beauty is much different from the side stories. Did the artist change? The side story A, B have better art than the main story.

In fact, most artists will improve their drawing over time. Sadistic Beauty was first released in 2016 and 5 years later(2021 ) it was released its side stories, so the change in artstyle is understandable.

It only took a year for my artstyle to change lol 😂

1 note · View note

greenjokwe-blog · 1 year

Text

Little King’s Story - Finished 04/02/2023

This is the third game from the Love-de-Lic legacy chart that I have completed, after moon and Chibi Robo. Out of the whole chart Little King’s Story particularly caught my attention, after knowing about its very small cult status and rave critical acclaim from places like Official Nintendo Magazine which I read religiously as a child. That along with the fact that a few core people behind moon worked on this game meant I knew I had to play this one eventually, and while I didn’t love this game on the same level as moon (not much games that I do), it IS an absolutely fantastic game.

Okay, first off, did NOT expect this game to be as long as it was. I went in expecting at most a 10-or-so hour game, and my final playtime ended up being more than three times that. This game is absolutely LOADED with shit to do, with a huge map, a large amount of bosses, tons of different classes and jobs, you name it. And yet, it manages to deliver on all of these aspects with an INSANE amount of polish, with issues being very few and far between, despite how complicated I can imagine some of this shit could be to get working at points. In fact, the whole game perfectly teeters between being easy to pick up and having impressively in-depth systems so elegantly, and with seemingly very little detail missed.

Hell, the game’s FILLED with detail. It feels like a vision of the game has been wonderfully realized and brought across with the beautiful artstyle, world variety, and it’s insane combinations of gameplay styles. The best way to describe how Little King’s Story plays is a combination of moon and Pikmin, although there’s definitely elements of a ton of other games in there as well that I could use to compare it to (Civ, Dragon Quest, Zelda). Although if I had to complain about one main element of the game, it’s that the Pikmin battle elements that this game lifts from definitely aren’t as mechanically compelling as it’s predecesor. While a lot of the bosses thankfully are design around that, it doesn’t stop the fact that most encounters are constant straight-ways of back-and-forths which, combined with the game’s lesser ability to sort through units, and the bad AI pathfinding, end up with a ton of fights being A-press spams without thought, and the occasional B to avoid attacks.

Although, even though I’ll admit that the combat isn’t nearly as good as it is in Pikmin... fuck me if I don’t prefer literally everything else about this game. All the other issues I have with the game can be easily forgiven or written past just because of how amazingly packed with ideas this game is throughout its 30-hour runtime, and how every single one hits. And it’s only elevated with the game’s writing, which is god damn amazing. The game’s funny and charming but it gets into some surprising topics you wouldn’t expect with how incredibly cute everything is and has such a humorous approach in discussing its monarchical and colonist themes that you could write a whole video e... nope, not humouring it. Get Folding Ideas or someone else.

If this game even sounds remotely interesting to you, PLEASE do yourself a favour and play it. It absolutely deserves it’s place as one of the best games ever released on the Wii and, while I’d recommend avoiding the PC port you’ll probably find other ways of playing it anyways. Please do. Criminally overlooked.

1 note · View note

ops-on-loop · 3 years

Text

OP Review #2: Death Note

For my first solo review I wanted to review openings for another series very near and dear to my heart, Death Note. Death Note is my absolute favorite anime of all time (you can read my review where I gush about it here), so I’m very excited to dive into the openings!

Death Note has two openings for its anime, “the WORLD” for the first 19 episodes and “What’s up, people?!” for episodes 20 to 37. They’re very interesting openings, I’m excited to dive into my thoughts on each!

“the WORLD” (link to OP)

Category 1, Artstyle/Animation: The art and animation in this opening is incredible. Of course, it was made in the early 2000’s, so it isn’t as crisp and clean as the openings that we see now, but it’s still up there. The beautiful renaissance painting parodies across the opening, the detail to each character (even in moments where I’d imagine it’s REALLY hard to animate, like :08-:11 specifically), just the variety of shots in general is amazing. We never stay in the same environment for more than 3-4 seconds, the opening is always taking you to a different shot of a different character doing something that holds great symbolism to the story. It’s pretty great. They’re also able to pair the music REALLY well with the shots in the opening which is just… mwah. So good. 2/2

Category 2, Song: Bit of an unpopular opinion here… I’m not the biggest fan of the song by itself. I still love it paired with the opening, but when I hear people praise it as “a banger” in the same way that I’d applaud an opening song like “Sakura Kiss”, I just can’t agree. It’s a great song! I really like it! But I wouldn’t say it’s as god-tier as everyone makes it out to be. I rarely listen to it by itself, and I listen to a LOT of OPs when I’m driving/walking to classes so that’s saying a lot. One thing that’s pretty cool is that the song itself REALLY relates to the show. It’s in Japanese so even I missed it the first time around, but when looking up the lyrics some important/telling lines are “I won’t let anyone interfere with everything that will come about from now on”, “am I a broken Messiah? everyone wished for a finale”, and “someday, I’ll show you a shining sky”. If you’re familiar with the show… it feels like an opening song directly made for this anime. I can respect that. 1.5/2

Category 3, Relevance: This opening is filled with symbolism and references. There’s a lot of Christian symbolism, nods to events in the show, at some points the way that certain characters are LOOKING represents different views in the series, I LOVE openings that are packed full of references like this one. I’m not going to do a full-blown analysis on the opening as A) I’m probably gonna miss stuff and B) that’d take too long, but there’s plenty of “Death Note OP analysis” videos out there so feel free to check those out if you’re interested. I love openings that connect so much to the show it’s just… so good. 2/2

Category 4, Originality: Like I mentioned, it’s pretty PACKED, so even if it does a stereotypical anime opening thing (characters in a line/walking dramatically, etc.) it’s not for a very long time, and it’s surrounded by plenty of originality. The pseudo-renaissance art, different shots of Light in his god-like mindset above the city, all the great shots of Misa, it’s great. I wouldn’t say this is your typical anime opening, even if it does have some familiar elements. 1.5/2

Category 5, Bias: I really like and appreciate this opening, but I’d never call it one of my top favorites. Not to give away too much of the second half of this review, but I actually like OP2 better, so more of my bias points will go to that. To keep it at an even score I’ll give it a 1/2

Death Note’s first opening, “the WORLD” , scores an 8/10. I really like this opening, and even if it’s not one of my favorites I can respect how jam-packed it is with symbolism and references, which I always appreciate and like to see. Song is good too, not to the point that I listen to it by itself, but it’s a nice addition.

“Whats up, people?!” (link to OP)

Category 1, Artstyle/Animation: This opening upholds the same quality of animation as the first Death Note opening, if not even better. Shit gets crazy. I love the new effects and crazy backgrounds that this opening presents. Ryuk dancing with the apple, Misa on the bed sheets, Light in the MANY shots where he’s just losing his shit, and my absolute favorite shot with Light walking through his “ideal world”. This opening is so chaotic, which perfectly represents the latter half of Death Note… Light is losing his shit, everything is getting chaotic. 2/2

Category 2, Song: I might be in the minority here but I LOVE this opening song. It pairs with the opening so perfectly, and though I’m 100% not a heavy metal/screamo/whatever genre this is fan, I still absolutely rock out to this opening from time to time. My favorite part of the song also pairs with my favorite part of the opening, Light walking through his “ideal world”. The sudden calm pairs so perfectly with the scenery, and when it builds back up to the levels of madness it was at before it’s just gold. The lyrics… are interesting… lots of cursing and screaming and I can’t say it means a lot, it certainly sounds like what the inside of Light’s head probably sounds like by the end of the show. I love it. 2/2

Category 3, Relevance: While there aren’t as many symbolic shots as the first opening, a lot of it still relates to different characters in the show and how they’re portrayed. Misa, instead of being depressed and upset like she was in the first opening, is now simply doing her modeling biz, reflecting how she loses all of her memory of the Death Note in the latter half of the series. Light… we can all tell what the shots of Light are supposed to represent. He’s losing it. There’s a lot less L in the opening (for… sniff… obvious reasons), and all of the other important secondary main characters get pretty cool shots too. Going back again to my favorite scene in the opening (starting at :44), you can see Light walkling by all of the prominent figures in the second half of the series, with his view of each of them very clear based on where they are in comparison to him. In his ideal world, Mikami and Takeda are very prominent figures, with Mikami being closer to him than Takeda (shown by how he walks next to Mikami and away from/above Takeda (because… you know)). He also walks directly above Mello, who in his ideal world is living in the sewers, not much of a threat (which is pretty true for his role in the series). Finally we have Near, who lives in what would be darkness in Light’s ideal world, fighting against his idea of justice, perfectly representing how he views the figure “N” and how the series concludes. It’s just… I love it. While it doesn’t have meaning in every shot like the first opening, I still think that the second opening holds up with its madness and sprinkles of references thrown in. Also, seeing Light scream and thrash around is very therapeutic as he rarely loses his cool in the show. It’s nice… ( ￣ω￣) 2/2

Category 4, Originality: This opening is anything but ordinary. Not many shows go this crazy with their opening song choice and visuals, and I respect Death Note for changing it up a bit. It’s pretty cool and memorable, definitely sets it apart from a lot of the generic openings out there. 2/2

Category 5, Bias: While this opening isn’t on my “TOP 10 EPIC ANIME OPENINGS OF ALL TIME” list, it’s definitely up there around #11 or #12. I’ll always remember this opening as being a crazy cool viewing experience, I still listen to the song until this day, and for that I’ll give it a 2/2 bias points.

Yes, Death Note opening 2 scores a 10/10. Maybe I’m jumping the gun a little bit with this score but I really love this opening and think it deserves it! I’m probably in the minority with this opinion, hopefully not(?), but I have been confronted by a few friends going “?? how can you like the second opening better, the first is a classic” so please… don’t bully me. Death Note is my favorite anime, Light Yagami is probably my favorite anime character, clearly I already have pretty trash taste so don’t rely on me for the most “based” opinions~ (>ω^)

Death Note openings are pretty damn cool. They’re definitely made with a lot of care, they have a lot of relevance to the plot of the show, and they’re anything but typical and ordinary! Love this series and love the OPs just as much!

-zantids

#death note #the WORLD #whats up people?!#OPReview #op review #anime manga #animanga

4 notes · View notes

shenlongshao · 4 years

Text

GG Strive: Highlights pt. 2

Welcome to part 2 of the GG Strive highlights! If you haven’t seen the previous one, please go here. During the livestream, the developers announced the official website for GG Strive(both English and Japanese) will feature content to help people understand the lore of Guilty Gear. The website features manga based on the events of the games separated by chapters. There’s also Youtube videos of the Xrd series’ story modes uploaded directly from Arc System Works. My perspective of the manga will mainly be from me being a long-time fan of GG. I’ll look at how well and how much information it gives to those not familiar with the series. And, I’ll also be reviewing it as a manga in general with how the writing is, etc. I’ll be using the grade system to judge each aspect. This will definitely be a long post since it’s about the lore. WARNING: My review will contain some spoilers. If you haven’t read the manga yet or you don’t wanted to be spoiled, it’s best not to read this post. (Here is the line for the GG manga!) https://www.guiltygear.com/ggst/en/story/ Readability: The GG Story Digest comics follow the format of reading from right-to-left and turning the pages is from the left side; this is different if you’re not used to reading Japanese material. The font size and style of the dialogue, titles, etc. is generally clear enough. But there are times where it may be hard to see like this one.

The story introduction text of Chapter 5 is mixed in with the background image that has some dark shades of gray. This made it hard to see what it says, especially since the website doesn’t have a zoom-in/zoom-out feature for the pages. You would have to use your browser if you have trouble seeing certain words. Other than this, the readability is very good! Rating: A Artstyle & Presentation: The artist chosen to do the GG Digest comics is Sumeragi, whom you may recognize because she’s known to do artwork for Blazblue. The presentation of her art is nicely done from the opening scenery of each chapter to the expressions on the characters’ faces; there’s a good amount of detail on everything. My favorite part about Sumeragi’s style is the beautiful, soft colors implemented at certain moments in the story like this one.

It perfectly highlights how special the moment is whenever I see it, but it also makes me wish all of the chapters were in color. Sumeragi’s art fits the modern anime style that’s been more mainstream for a while. I think her artstyle is really cute of how she interprets the characters’ designs. I couldn’t help but be reminded of Blazblue more than Guilty Gear at times, though. I personally would loved it if they got with an artist with a distinct style reminiscent of the 90s/early 2000s(for example like Outlaw Star or Record of Lodoss War). Other than this part, I like looking at the pages! Rating: B + (Note: I’ll be going by the English version of the manga by the western side of Arc System Works. The translation has gotten better over the years, but I’ll check the Japanese one for any noticeable differences in the future.) Writing/Pacing: The general quality itself is good, so there won’t be errors like “Welcome to die!” or “This guy are sick”, XD. I noticed the dialogue based on the events of the first Guilty Gear game is improved and the personalities of the characters is conveyed well in each chapter. It does a great job of providing brief character bios and the world of GG in a straightforward way. If you were ever confused on which paths took place as part of the main story, the writing will help make it easier. The writing also adds small details in some of the chapters that you may recognize. For example, on this page below...

For GG fans, doesn’t the man Sol is talking to look familiar? It’s the same guy Sol was stepping on from this.

What happens is the following page between them is probably the funniest part to me throughout all the chapters. The final chapter of the manga ends on a cliffhanger, which is done on purpose for you to watch the Story Modes on Youtube. Now for the negative part... The website does state it’s a quick-overview of events, but I think it’s too quick. There’s so many important details missing that the manga completely ignores. Examples include information about Forbidden Beasts, the Assassin’s Guild, the other Sacred Treasures(like Anji Mito’s fans called Zessen), nations like Zepp, the P.W.A.B.(Postwar Administration Bureau), etc. Other mainstay characters that play supporting/vital role to the series(for example Faust) is reduced to being just there for 1 or 2 chapters. There’s some that don’t appear at all like Slayer, I-No, and Anji Mito to name a few. Things like this is essential to world building in general, but especially for introducing new people to Guilty Gear. Except for Chapters 5 and 3, the chapters of the manga is short. The final chapter being short is understandable, but not for the previous ones. It ruins the overall pacing of the manga because it’s too focused on getting to the point instead of inform you of the details. The second part is something the official GG website lets you know immediately; there will be some events that differ from the games. This itself isn’t an issue, though there are some things I personally disliked. One of them for me is how the Xrd SIGN design of Justice being incorporated in the earlier events of GG(like The Missing Link). That design of her looks like a xenomorph reject with breasts, XD. It’s not as amazing as Justice’s iconic, mech-like design. Another one is based on GGX Plus when Sol encounters Dizzy. It follows the game version at first, but it then changes a bit with creating a scenario where Ky intervenes. How it was done ruined how is in the game with Sol showing some of his humane side to Dizzy and sparing her on his own. It could’ve been done better. I think it’s best to view the GG Digest manga as a basic guide to the world of GG for those new to the series. For long-time fans, it’s just nice seeing more GG related content in general. It obviously doesn’t negate the source material like the novels, Drama CDs, etc. The manga is definitely worth reading, but still important to play or watch the games’ stories for full context. Rating: C I’m glad the story of the Guilty Gear series is being promoted more in the West. I love the lore of GG and its characters, especially since it has the depth of an JRPG rather than a generic plot in most fighting games. Sadly, it’s not easy finding info due to either it’s Japan only and/or it’s very rare. There are a few fanmade English sites and blogs continuously trying to provide this for years. Each of them do have some reliable info that can be trusted, so it’s good to browse around to put the pieces of the puzzle together. So far, there’s no #1 source for GG lore yet because besides the part of finding info, there’s also still areas where mistranslations, misinterpretations, etc. of GG is still present. Mistakes like this happens sometimes and not always easy to spot, but can be fixed with no problem! But sadly, it isn’t always that simple because some people handling GG information be very... “heavy-handed” instead of helpful. So I think it’s best to be not afraid to check and dig, dig, dig! I’m still digging for more GG material, XD. Stay turned for part 3!

#guilty gear #guilty gear strive #gg real talk #GG Lore #arc system works #sumeragi artist #sumeragi art #daisuke ishiwatari

6 notes · View notes

salty-dracon · 3 years

Text

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.

#the caligula effect #caligula

1 note · View note

yioh · 4 years

Note

Your artstyle is very very cool! It reminds me of a children's storybook! Your most recent piece is my favourite, the colours, the way it just looks..👌👌

hello nonnie !!!!!

holy shit i swear i wanted to b a children's storybook artist at one point ,, this is so nice of u to say !!!!!! Tyssssssssm !!!! im glad u like my recent piece haha, i've recently realised how fun drawing desi themed drawings are, the colours are just so vibrant and beautiful its so fun !! :)

#talk to me!#💓#THANK U SM !!!!!!!!!

6 notes · View notes

askdopi · 5 years

Note

for the mun: who are your favorite blogs right now?

//oh hell yes an ask for me 😳

ok so *cracks knuckles*

DEFINETELY. MY FAVORITE. @gangstars-on-vacation-not

their humor is just Ajjd SO DAMN GOOD i love the sitcomish vibe they have going on and how creative they are with their answers?? They can turn the most stupid ask into a post that will make me laugh for the WHOLE. FUCKING. DAY. ALSO the way how you just. literally get attached to both of their mista and fugo? Good job you stole my feelings. I would die for you both. AND BRUH THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH EACH OTHER?? Godtier.

@daily-bruno-bucciarati

What can i say. Full of the spicy memey content i crave, the artstyle is also SUPER fitting and really characteristic?? LIKE YOU KNOW ITS THEM THE MOMENT YOU SEE THE POST. AND THEIR BRUNO!! im in love with that man. Please, marry me mr bruno while im still single

@giorollz

I havent been following their blog for long BUT THE MOMENT I SAW THEIR FIRST POST I IMMEDIETELY MELTED. The?? The cartoony cute artstyle completely STOLE my heart. I honestly live for it. beauty. grace. gOOD fugio content if youre interested in it 👀👀

@ask-the-gangstars

Bro. Just. B r o. I think i died a few times when you first followed me. The way you run your askblog is just. g OD. It really reminds me of all the slice of life mangas i used to read?? (AND IM HONESTLY STILL A SLUT FOR THAT GENRE) the way you portray your bruno?? Absolute baby. Needs protection at ALL COST. And your Abbacchio? Dear lord hold m e. Thats the goth gf ive been dreaming of

@dailyabba

Y o u. Their blog actually dragged me into this hellhole. Its been my favorite since the very beginning of my adventure with jojo, and REALLY inspired me to start creating content for the fandom too. The humor they have NEVER. FAILS TO CRACK ME UP like bro how thebfuck do you cOME UP WITH THAT STUFF?? I LOVE YOU TELL ME YOUR SECRETS

#ooc #long post #SORRY I JUST HAD TO GUSH OVER YOU GUYS ONE DAY #GOT THE CHANCE AND TOOK IT

54 notes · View notes

mistyheartrbs · 4 years

Text

finale oath Thoughts

an anon asked me what i thought about finale oath, so here are my recollections from when i saw it in the theatre back in july, and also my thoughts now that i’ve had several months to think back on it:

-it was better than i thought it would be but still not, like, great. it’s easily the weakest entry in the hibike franchise, due largely to its format - s2 felt cramped because it was two books crammed into one season, this was two books crammed into one movie. characters appear and disappear once their mini-arc is finished, and tonal shifts are sudden and bizarre between these character arcs (one of them is about a girl who wants to make friends but has trouble reaching out. another is about a girl who can’t play in the band anymore because she has early onset jaw arthritis). the entire film is more or less moving from point a to point b without giving the characters much time to breathe, and kumiko’s involvement with all of these individual character arcs starts to feel kinda forced and artificial; she intervenes because she’s the protagonist, not because she as a person would have much motivation to do so - it makes me wonder if the final movement project (fingers crossed for s3) will feature a steven universe-esque arc of kumiko actually realizing how much getting involved all of these people’s lives has weighed her down.

-i know you’re waiting for my reaction to the shuumiko content. my reaction is that i didn’t hate it quite as much as i thought i would because it, to me, actually solidified that kumiko is undoubtably a lesbian. they could hardly have made a more convincing story about comphet if they’d tried (which maybe they did! i don’t know). we hardly ever see kumiko and shuichi actually “dating.” the dreaded moment from the trailers is at the very beginning of the movie and is the only time kumiko gets kind of flustered around shuichi, which is easy to construe as her just being caught off-guard. they never actually do anything that comes close to the casual couple-ness of, say, gotou and riko - hell, they sit on opposite ends of an empty train at one point, a stark contrast to how close kumiko and reina sit. reina compares kumiko and shuichi to herself and taki-sensei. the one scene that really made my skin crawl was kumiko and shuichi at the festival, but even that felt very...artificial, like kumiko was pretending. and then when shuichi drops her off at her apartment and tries to kiss her she HITS HIM WITH AN UMBRELLA I’M NOT MAKING THIS UP and then GOES UP MT. DAIKICHI TO MEET WITH REINA who says “i didn’t think you’d come” (“i thought you were with him, i thought you weren’t like me after all”) and then they talk about the future and reina says she’s worried that she and kumiko will drift apart like liz and the blue bird. shuichi texts kumiko that he’s sorry while she’s on the mountain and then we don’t see him again until she dumps him. while i still wish that it hadn’t happened at all and i could just continue to headcanon kumiko as a lesbian who’s fairly confident in her identity and is just closeted, this is probably the best thing that could’ve happened given the circumstances.

-also reina hits shuichi with a soap bottle

-i didn’t really feel one way or another about kanade - she was just kinda there, not nearly as interesting as the older characters imo, but i am glad natsuki finally sorta got a character arc.

-i’m glad motomu and midori didn’t become a couple or anything and instead midori took one look at this grumpy lad who is taller than her and went “that’s my son now”

-after the sheer perfection that was liz and the blue bird it was admittedly hard to go back to the old hibike artstyle and the slight, uncomfortable undercurrent of sexualization - did we really need a scene at the pool? did the sunfes uniforms really need to look like that? since my second-favorite anime of all time is literally kill la kill it’s not like i’m unexperienced with acknowledging the problematic elements of the things i like but it was still disappointing.

-and that tied into the differences from the novels too. it was something i noticed comparing the novel (and manga) versions of yuuko and mizore’s scene in 2x04 with what we got in the anime - in the novels, yuuko is much angrier and natsuki actually has to physically hold her back from punching mizore in the face, while in the anime she just kinda...squishes her face, and it’s a weirdly comical and “cutesy” moment in what’s supposed to be a serious scene. they do the same thing in this movie; towards the end natsuki just kinda weakly grabs kanade’s hand when she’s mad at her, while in the novel she kabedons her. coupled with the fact that they were still comfortable showing asuka’s mother (unequivocally a character we rooted against, and an older woman to boot) slapping asuka, it gives off the sense that “good” female characters (read: protags) aren’t allowed to be violent, are only allowed to be multifaceted in a marketable way, and furthermore are really only allowed to be a narrow sort of feminine, when you think about the way they changed natsuki’s design from her novel descriptions and the manga and how they changed the concert uniforms from suits to just the winter uniform.

-they got rid of kumiko’s narration throughout the movie which was kind of a bummer

-animation was still beautiful though - highlights include daikichi 3 (obviously), kumiko and kanade in the rain, and the final performance

-yuuko isn’t given much to do in this movie, but (no spoilers) she and natsuki have one of the most impactful shots of the whole thing

-and i liked how some of the characters had subtle design changes - you can tell they’re getting a little older

-“you two seem close” -mirei suzuki, visibly butch, talking to kumiko and reina

-yuuko’s crush on kaori is still very much intact

-the ending theme still slaps

-overall it was...solid, i guess? it didn’t, like, ruin the hibike franchise for me but it didn’t inspire me in the same way the series or even liz managed to do. but kumirei is still the number one ship in my heart

#hibike! euphonium #hibike #finale oath #natsuki's terrible disco pants

13 notes · View notes

sailormoonartblog · 5 years

Note

Uh a lot of people have been wanting an hd remaster of the classic show and many people beg to differ it’s aesthetically pleasing in many ways. Does every episode look great? No but its still remembered well to the point its in fashion and blogs. And to be fair part of the reason why Crystal was such a flop was because how ugly that show looked by the time season 3 came out it was too late to save it.

Yeah no. First of all, Crystal was by far not a flop, and I really don’t know where you’re getting your data from. Second, Season III did not need to “save” the show at all, it just needed to follow the path traced by Munehisa Sakai, Yuji Kobayashi and Yukie Sako, but Chiaki Kon and Akira Takahashi instead decided to ruin it, with Kobayashi being the sole saving grace of the season. Third, I’m 99% sure you’ve just watched the web-streaming version of Seasons I & II, ‘cause you wouldn’t be claiming that the show looked bad otherwise: I won’t deny that episode 3, for example, was visually terrible when it first aired worldwide in 2014 (hell, I made endless fun of it), but the definitive version looks radically different and failing to acknowledge it is pure intellectual dishonesty. You’ve also got no excuse considering the fact that the improved version for the DVD release, and not the streaming one, was the one that was exported everywhere outside of Japan, so if you’ve seen the show on TV you should know better than that. On the other hand Season III, which first aired on TV instead of on the net, did not receive any updates for the DVD release, so there’s no improvement in that regard; not counting the fact that any change to the animation they could’ve done would’ve never been able to redeem the utterly horrible character design. On a personal preference level, I’ll agree that, on average, the old anime looks slightly better than Season III on the whole (not that it’s a great compliment, lol) and some of the unfinished episodes of Season I, but it’s light years away from the stunning visuals of the finished version of Season I and especially Season II. Not to count the fact that, among the five character designers who worked on both anime series so far, Yukie Sako was the only one who managed to create an artstyle that was at least a bit reminescent of Naoko Takeuchi’s while giving it her own spin to it.I also don’t buy your claim that a lot of people were waiting for a new edition of the old anime, since A) its fans must obviously own it already, so they’d gain nothing out of a new edition, B) very few people own Blue-Ray players, so this is intended as a niche product from the start, C) the whole show has already been remastered for the DVD boxes from 2011 circa, so I really don’t know what else you could ask for, and D) high-definition can work for visually appealing stuff (as if a normal person could ever notice the difference from a TV screen, by the way), but it will only ruin low-quality products. I’m saying this from personal experience, because in 2013 I went to the cinema to see the Imax remaster of four different Disney Classics I already know very well: the result on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King (three films featuring absolutely gorgeous animation) was stunning, while with The Little Mermaid (probably the most mediocre production ever of WDAS) its only effect was making its visual faults and difects all that more noticeable. If that’s what you want, go for it, ask for a remaster. But hey, why would you ask for it if you’ve already got it? Never mind.In the end, the story’s lesson is always the same: stans of the old anime will *always* get not only what they want, but also a bunch of unnecessary stuff to pander to them. Fans of the manga, on the other side, will be left waiting years even for such a menial thing as a re-release of previously published artbooks. Artbooks which already exist but, note this, are now out of commerce, not like the DVD boxes of the old anime, which are available everywhere to buy. Next time I’m asked why I’m so annoyed by the arrogance of most stans of the old anime, I’ll gladly redirect them to this obnoxious ask of yours.

#sailor moon #naoko takeuchi #sailor moon crystal #sm rants #personal #chrono #seriously stop asking for stuff #you've already got EVERYTHING #but your greed is apparently endless

18 notes · View notes

curestardust · 5 years

Text

if you want: you enjoyed the original season and wouldn’t be annoyed by some more unusual elements / love Teko and Pikari’s relationship / wanted some more insight into the side-characters

This is Amanchu’s second season, I’d suggest reading my review of the first one (x) cause I’ll be addressing most issues I brought up there.

So, based on reviews you will see that fans of the original series were dissappointed in this one but ironically that was the thing that made me hopeful. So what was different?

Diving truly takes a backburner in this season and we mostly only get to see it when it has to do with Teko’s advancement in diving. Which I was fine with now, I learnt to lower my expectations regarding this aspect from S1.

The biggest change in Advance was something I don’t think I’ve ever seen a purely slice-of-life anime do which is the introducing of supernatural elements. These scenes are almost always shown through dream sequences. The very first time they used it, it felt a bit quirky and interesting and didn’t really feel like it was that out of the norm as it could’ve been explained away in a way to fit the universe. However, a bit later they went all out on it with group dreaming, an actual ghost and some sort of weird time travel/paradox thing. This was also an entire arc and took up multiple episodes.

My opinion of this direction seems vastly different from normal fans’ of the series as I actually liked these scenes. As I mentioned before, I didn’t think that the side characters were interesting enough to carry whole episodes on their backs and this change of rather putting them into situations and learning about them through their actions was much more fun for me and I’ve grown to like the rest of the cast more.

To wrap up: the artstyle and animation was great as usual and the dream sequences gave great opportunities to show us unique and interesting visuals. The music was more or less the same as season 1 with a bit more variety instead of purely instrumental tracks. The new characters managed to spice up the show just enough to keep things interesting. They also used the quirky “emoji faces” and “personal ticks” much less here which was a breathe of fresh air for me. ( and Teko and Pikari were literally so fucking gay and I fucking love these girlfriends uwu.) One negative for me would be that almost every time charcaters talk they need to say something “deep” and ”philosophical” which just made conversations very unnatural and stilted.

However, if you were in LOVE with the original season of Amanchu! you may not enjoy this. The experience of this season is vastly different from the original. [7/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want: RANDOM/meta/violent humour / cute girls???

I do not wish to talk about this much as Jashin-chan is a quite unremarkable anime.

Our setting is that Yurine (who’s a witch but not?) summons Jashin, a demon from hell, but can’t send her back. The only way for her now to go back to where she came from would be to kill Yurine.

Err...yeah, that’s it. We also have the recurring cast Medusa and Minos, Jashin’s friends from Hell who come to hang out, and Pekola, an angel who has lost her halo and can’t go back to heaven.

This is supposed to be a dark comedy I guess. Each episode consists of 2-3 short stories. Almost all of the anime consists of the same things: Jashin trying to kill Yurine, failing and then getting horribly punished for it (with cartoonish gore and all), Jashin spending all her money that she gets from Medusa and/or hurting Medusa’s feelings and Pekola being hungry...

This anime has apparently garnered quite a fanbase and even got renewed for season 2 (which I’ll have to watch cause of my perfectionism sigh) but really I’m pretty sure you could find much better stuff similiar to this out there. The animation is ok, the music is ok, the characters are ok, the humour is ok...just O K. Nothing that’d warrant the average viewer to spend time watching it.

(Oh, and I was bored out of my mind throughout the whole thing...the only saving grace is that characters are cute and that there was no fanservice) [5/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want: close-knit main female cast / beautiful visual presentation where it counts / somewhat complex and interwoven story / really good (musical) numbers

This anime is very, very difficult to put into words but I’ll try.

Our main cast consist of 8 (then 9) girls who all study at a quite well-known art school where they teach actors for theater (Class A) and all the background work needed for putting up a show (Class B). Our focus will be on the aforementioned girls from Class A who, based on the how things play out, are the best in their class.

And I know, I know. 9 main characters for 12 episodes! Well, that’s where the anime first shines as by episode 3 or 4 you can more or less recognize everyone and by the end you can also name them all and know something about them! From watching quite a number of 1 cour anime with huge casts I know how hard this is to achieve so I can only applaud SKRV.

So a bit about the story. Our first main character is Karen who’s one of the more lacking in this group. Suddenly after long, long years of studying abroad her childhood friend Hikari shows up at her school which gives us some flashback and one of the driving forces of the anime. The 2 made a promise that they’ll become stars together after seeing a play of Starlight (more on that later). However, it turns out they have something standing in their way.

This is where SKRV turns from a faux slice-of-life to a...not sure what to call it. Karen accidentally stumbles upon a lift in school which takes her down to a hidden stage where she sees 2 of her classmates fighting with weapons. These are the auditions. The winner will become the “star” what all stage girls desire.

And this is where I’d like to talk about the play enveloping the story, Starlight. This play is put on each year by the students. Each year, to show how much they improved through the same play. However, you’ll notice that the play and its story gets mentioned a LOT. And that is for a reason. I refuse to go into it much cause it’s best to experience it yourself. The play appears in 3 places: the stage, life and the auditions.

Each audition is special and woven into the story in a very intriguing way. An episode usually starts with 1 or 2 characters inner struggles and problems. The anime goes about in a normal slice-of-life way about these until we get to the audition process. These are the climax of the story and the episode. Each audition is a revue, an act from a play. While the girls are fighting with weapons, the outcome isn’t dependant on their physical strength. The revue acts as a conclusion to the girls’ inner troubles.

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight is a somewhat abstract anime. It gives you pieces of information in small doses and lets you connect most of the puzzle pieces so there’s quite a bit of “what’s going on???” in the beginning.However, the music usage, the visuals, the story and the end result is what I’d call “artistic” and it’s rare to find stuff like this nowadays. (Plus, there’re numerous ships skksks) [9/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

#dusty reviews #Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight #Amanchu #Amanchu!#Amanchu! Advance #Amanchu Advance #Jashin chan Dropkick #Dropkick On My Devil!

2 notes · View notes