I'm usually not a huge fan of slice-of-life anime such as this. Cute girls doing cute things can only hold its luster for so long before I begin to lose interest. At the start of Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, however, I knew this one would be different. Different in that, unlike some other anime of this genre I've seen, this one takes its bizarre concept and stays fairly grounded – for the most part. It definitely surprised me with how clever it was, despite it only getting me to laugh aloud a few times. This isn't a gut-busting, heart-palpitating comedy. It's more subtle than that but was able to keep me engaged throughout the entire journey. And its setup, though strange, definitely hooked me.

Kobayashi is just an ordinary adult woman living an ordinary adult life. She gets up, makes herself breakfast, goes to work, comes home, has a few drinks, and goes to bed. A very simple, yet boring, life. One night, however, she has a few more than a few drinks and ends up wandering up onto the mountain where she ends up saving a dragon named Tohru. The following morning, Kobayashi having lost all memory of the events of the night prior, is greeted by Tohru at the door of her small apartment. Apparently, Tohru has agreed to be Kobayashi's maid as penance for saving her. Then life with a dragon-maid starts!

Eventually new human and dragon characters get added to the roster. A young wide-eyed dragon-girl named Kanna; a video-game addict and recluse dragon named Fafnir; a very, shall I say, well-endowed and wise dragon named Lucoa; and the inconsequential-to-the-plot-but-still-best-girl dragon Elma. Along with some other human characters they go about their days trying to live among and adapt to humans.

As was previously stated, Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is a slice-of-life anime first and foremost. There is no grand narrative nor some epic evil to overcome. Instead the episodes are dedicated to Tohru and Kobayashi trying to prepare Kanna for school or Tohru attempting to prepare dinner for Kobayashi. We're not dealing with serious stuff here. With that being said, however, I did really end up feeling for these characters. Slice-of-life shows in particular tend to be popular for their love of the mundane but Kobayashi's Dragon Maid tends to take the mundane and add some kind of twist. For example, there is a running joke in the anime where Tohru tries to feed Kobayashi her tail (spoiler, she never succeeds). Or a dodge-ball match with a bunch of bullies getting out of hand when Tohru and her friends crush them with their superior dragon-strength.

This leads me to my first problem with the anime. It never follows through to the end. I was hoping by the end of the show one of these running jokes or “isms” that the characters have would get resolved and, though we are left with an emotional final episode, it never broke through to me like I thought it would. During the last episode I was hoping that Kobayashi would finally take a bite of her dragon-maid's tail or something to that effect. Don't get me wrong, the ending was still satisfying but it didn't quite get me to where I would have wanted.

One other minor issue I had was with the critically underutilized Elma. Obviously-best-girl Elma doesn't appear until episode eight and after that she only gets a few scene transition jokes to herself. She never becomes a truly vital part of the group which pains me to my very core. Hopefully a second season will fix that. I'll just have to be patient.

Truly, I wasn't expecting much of the music from this show but it is a delight through and through. Its opening is visually confusing and off-the-wall but the song is bouncy and definitely got me pumped for the upcoming episode and all of its music is able to keep a grin. It's also very uncommon that I commend Japanese voice acting (simply because I'm not too informed on the industry) but Kobayashi's Dragon Maid's voice performances are consistently great. The animation is also very good. The character designs are all very distinct and the color choice is fantastic. What really amazed me was the actions scenes, few and far between as they may be. Though it is just the dragons' way of 'playing' it is still astounding to look at. 

Kobayashi's Dragon Maid truly surprised me. Its characters are all very well-developed (with exception of Elma) and, though the ending of the series didn't quite do it for me, I will still look back on it fondly. Despite the problems, it still had a lot more heart than any other anime that I've seen in a long time. 

Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is a fantastic time from start to finish. 

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Saturday, May 20, 2017

I love the Nintendo Wii. Though it has a whole lot of the console library can be considered shovelware, if you look hard enough you can find some great games. These following games aren't necessarily great but they each add something unique to the table. 

I’m usually not a fan of anything labeled as “horror.” There are only a few scary movies that I genuinely find to be scary such as Oculus or The Babadook. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a surprisingly thrilling experience, though I wouldn’t say scary. The locations are very unsettling and the motion-centric gameplay is surprisingly intuitive, though unresponsive at times. Again, this game isn’t necessarily scary but it is very ominous and even unpleasant. Dim corridors, icy landscapes, and ghostly apparitions are all elements of Shattered Memories uses in order to give the mysterious town of Silent Hill a very disquieting atmosphere. Though the story and voice acting can be grating at times, the frights are furious throughout the whole experience. This game isn’t without its faults, however. There are certain action-based sections where the player is forced to run from vampiric monsters. These sections don’t further the plot or make the atmosphere even more frightening, it just slows down the pace.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is flawed horror.

I'm a big fan of rail shooters. I have been since playing them in the arcades as a kid and Sin and Punishment: Star Successor really takes me back. Though the story is kind of bland and the voice acting ranges from OK to atrocious, the gameplay, crazy scenarios, and bosses keep me floored throughout the entire experience.  First of all, this gameplay is polished but simple. You have a button for evading, a melee attack for close range, and a reticule to blast down your enemies. The game doesn’t waste its time with pointless power-ups or upgrades as the game is constantly riding a pretty solid difficulty curve with just a few spikes here and there for boss battles. The bosses are all very unique and fun also. One minute you’re fighting a giant sea leviathan and the next you’re being held down by giant underground turtle. This game just likes to throw as many crazy battle scenarios at you as possible. From hovering above a crumbing city to beneath the vast ocean, you will be fighting a great variety of monsters the whole way through. If you liked games like Kid Icarus Uprising or other rail shooters, you will love this game.

Sin and Punishment: Star Successor is great rail shooter fun.

I love traditional fighting games. Though I am horrible at them I do find the craft and tournament scene very enjoyable. The Guilty Gear series is one of those tournament viable games that it extremely out there. The characters are varied and strange, the locations cover all of the extremes, and the fighting is difficult and crazy. Guilty Gear XX Core Plus does boast an enjoyable story mode for each of the characters but the story isn’t the interesting part; the character interactions are what is great about it. A robot who only wants love from a women, a British time traveler pirate, a nun who fights with a yoyo and a teddy bear are just some of the incredibly unique characters that this fighting game has to offer. This gem was originally released for the PS2 but look better and, in my opinion, controls better on the Wii with the ability to use the Wii Pro Controller. Guilty Gear XX Core Plus can get pretty weird but I still love it.

Guilty Gear XX Core Plus is crazy and in-depth. 

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Monday, March 07, 2016

I have a lot of mixed feelings about Studio Ghibli's Porco Rosso. On one respect I thoroughly enjoy the film for its fun action and interesting characters but on the other hand there is just so much different plot going on at once that I have trouble following the movie even after I've watched it for a second time. The main character is Marco Rosso, a veteran pilot of WWI, who was somehow turned into a pig. This is my biggest, though minor, gripe with the film. It never explains why exactly he is a pig. It does mention that he was turned into one but there isn't any mention of magic, wizards, or anything of the like. This world is pretty normal besides for the fact that this man is a pig. Through his 'journey' of some kind with some kind of plot happening somewhere in the film he comes across a lot of different and interesting characters. A young mechanic named Fio, who he doubts as a mechanic because 1920s sexism, a full-of-himself American fighter named Curtis, who just kind of shows up to be a 'villain', and the Mama Auto Gang, who is just there for comedy relief. Another problem I have with Porco Rosso is the fact that things just kind of happen. This isn't odd for a Ghibli movie because some of their best productions are just ordinary people doing ordinary things. In this case, however, few scenes are truly memorable. One great scene is when Marco and Fio are on his island getting ready for the battle and while Fio almost falls asleep she sees what Marco used to look like before he was turned into a pig. This is great and emotional but would've been even better if his 'condition' was explained. It seems that with every great thing this movie has to offer there is a little plot detail that makes it seem like it is less. Porco Rosso isn't a bad movie but it's not great either. I do really enjoy the action and characters but I could really care less about the overall plot.

Porco Rosso is good.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2016