Showing posts with label everett halcomb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label everett halcomb. Show all posts
I absolutely love Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. I has to be in my top three anime of all time if not my favorite. Naturally, when I saw that there was also a follow-up movie for this 2009 version of the tale I was skeptical. The Sacred Star of Milos did have a different director but it was still under the same studio so I didn't really know what to thing. I should have gone in with little expectation. This movie isn't very good. The style and setup is great but quickly becomes generic and predicable.

The story of The Sacred Star of Milos takes place during the Brotherhood storyline, oddly enough. The audience never knows specifically when but from what I could gather it takes place after Alphonse remembers "the truth" (thus he is able to transmute without a circle) but before the brothers know of Father's plans of sacrifice. This bugs me. Because of the pace that the anime has I just don't see anyway that anything other than their main mission could take place between the these two plot points. Before or after, sure, but it's just odd that they chose this scenario of events to play around with in the first place. After doing some research, however, I have found that most of the fanbase doesn't consider this story canon so I don't really know what to think.

Anyway, at the start of the film we are introdced to two siblings, Julia and Ashleigh (strange spelling) Crichton, whose parents are famous alchemists around these parts. Two wolf chimeras slip into their house while they are distracted and kill the father and mother while Ashleigh escapes leaving Julia to fend for herself. Years later, Ed and Al are celebrating the generic Amestris harvest festival when suddenly a powerful Alchemist escapes from Prison and, when the brothers try to confront him, they are unable to detain him because of his strange alchemy. After a short investigation run by Mustang, they discover that this mysterious man is after a girl from Creta named Julia who has been recently detained for illegally immigrating to Amestris. With this information, Edward and Alphonse Elric travel to Table City on the border between Creta and Amestris to learn about this strange alchemy and capture the man.

I do like the premise here. All of the above takes up the first fifteen minutes of the film and I was never disinterested. I truly wanted to see where this went. When the brothers actually get into Table City is when the problems start. On the ride there, the train gets attacked by a group of gliding militants and Ed and Al have to fight both them and a wolf chimera. This action scene doesn't just look amazing but it creates a sense that something isn't quite right because of the warring factions. Then after they find Julia everybody makes up and the story turns into every Fullmetal Alchemist plot ever with the bad guys trying to create a Philosopher's Stone by sacrificing the story. We've seen it a hundred times and it's getting boring now.

It makes me upset because the film started out so incredibly strong with motivations other than "get the stone." We could have had Ed and Al taking sides with the mysterious man or the faction of militants who call themselves the Black Bats. Or maybe the brothers had to try to get them to work together in order to fend off either the Amestrian or Cretan military. Or the plot could have been weaved into the Brotherhood plotline nicely with meaningful conversations about Chimeras or Humunculi. After the first half hour of the film it feels tedious because of how similar it is to everything else Fullmetal Alchemist. Just another story about douche-canoes wanting more power through the Philosopher's Stone.

Despite the story and theming problems, the movie isn't all bad. The animation is top notch but I am very torn on the style. It's hard to explain.

Take this:
Versus this:











The main thing that I notice is the line composition. The Sacred Star of Milos clip is hard and rough while the similar Brotherhood clip is soft and clean. The style is different but not necessarily bad. It just took me a long time to get used to. The music is also very good. The nation of Creta is based on real-world Spain so, fittingly, the music takes a lot of inspiration from that region and culture. It isn't anything to write home about but I do appreciate the fact that the creators of Fullmetal Alchemist do their research on everything from architecture to music.

If you've seen the plot of the 2003 FMA or Brotherhood than you've seen The Sacred Star of Milos. The animation and music is different and interesting in its own right and the film starts out strong but the entire experience is predictable and honestly boring.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: The Sacred Star of Milos is not interesting but any FMA fan should still give it a watch.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
The original Fullmetal Alchemist anime adaption is one of my favorite anime and shows of all time. Despite the alterations from the manga it has still held a special place in my heart all this time. The story was great and the ending was a perfect bittersweet experience. This sequel film continues from the series and is surprisingly great, from its themes to its story.

At the end of the 2003 FMA series, Edward and Alphonse Elric are split from each other and Ed is now on our Earth. Back in the Fullmetal Alchemist universe, Al has been training to become a great alchemist and find his brother despite him losing all memory of the past three years of their adventure to find the Philosopher's Stone. Edward is in our universe in 1920s Germany right after WWI and while Hitler is rising to power. After having some run-ins with the Thule Society, he has to stop them from invading Al's universe and thus clinching the victory of the next war. What a great idea! The original series only touched on the time period of Ed's new existence but Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie takes that setting and has it intertwine with Ed's struggle with this new world. 

It's not just the concept of this movie that is good. The film has a strong story of Ed trying to come to terms with this new world, Shamballa's version of Al inadvertently helping the Nazi's plan, and the original Al trying to find Ed. The only problem then? It is only one hour and forty-five minutes. Because of the short running time it doesn't have a whole lot of time to balance all the stories it is trying to tell. If the movie was longer or even a miniseries than there could've been plenty of time to flesh this world out, even though it is our own. Even though it could be better, The Conqueror of Shamballa does do a surprisingly good job of keeping itself in line. 

The visuals and music are what you would expect: great. The animation is as top notch as the show ever got and the music by the same composer, Michiru Oshima, is different but still fantastic. The musical style takes an even more European approach with large chunks of the soundtrack being played by the Moscow Ochestra. I can't really compare it to the soundtrack of the show though as the style is just so different but I do love it. The only problem I have with the animation is its use of 3D. I'm sure it looked great in 2003 but now it just looks dated. 

Despite all the praise I've given this show, there is just something that bothers me about it. Maybe because its the product of something so different than its original source material or maybe because I just feel anger that there are two versions of this great story. I can't quite explain it. Besides my personal beef with the film, Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie is a really good finale to the original 2003 adaptation and, though the ending isn't to my liking, it does a whole lot right from the animation and music to the story itself.

The Conqueror of Shamballa is great!
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Fullmetal Alchemist was the first anime that I ever experienced. I had seen American cartoons before but this was something completely new to me, despite its setting being European in nature. Amestris looked and sounded beautiful and the tale of two brothers trying to regain what they once had instantly gripped me. In 2009 there was an objectively better series called FMA Brotherhood based entirely on the original manga, but the original series will always have a special place in my heart.

Two boys try to bring their mother back from the dead and in doing so the older brother loses and arm and a leg and the younger brother loses his entire body; his soul bonded to a hollow suit of armor. They have since left the goal of resurrecting family and only now want to get their old bodies back using the Philosopher's Stone. This setup is what originally grabbed me when I was younger. Before this anime I hadn't experienced a show - a cartoon - to take itself as seriously as this from the get-go. No 'cartoon' before had dealt with death as serious and down to earth as this one. The darkest animated show that I had seen before this was Avatar: The Last Airbender who's themes drastically differ from this. From the first episode, I was on board with wherever Edward and Alphonse Elric would take me.

Fullmetal Alchemist's characters don't stop with the brothers. Winry Rockbell, an all-the-time-worried but strong mechanic acts as a shoulder for the brothers to lean on throughout the entire series. No matter what personal problems they may have, she serves as a constant reminder of not only where they came from but what they are fighting for. And then there's Mais Hughes. Though he is a fuzzy goofball at heart who tends to brag about his daughter, he is really an intricate investigator who will only answer to Colonel Mustang, his best friend. Mustang is quite the character. He is usually cool and collected but brash leader who tends to lead his troops into less-than-ideal places. He does have an eccentric side, however. Anyone who has seen the show remembers the "tiny mini skirts" ordeal. Mustang is one to not take anyone's crap, but still has a less serious side. I could go on for hours with each of the characters getting a paragraph a piece. Even the 'bad guys', the humunculi, have their own unique personalities, though not as expressed as the main protagonists.

'Bratja'. 'Brothers'. This song breaks my heart. No matter how or when I hear it, I cry. This song represents a bond. The bond between Ed and Al that, though clawed at, will never even scratch. This song is the lifeblood of anything Fullmetal Alchemist. The plucking of the strings create an intense melancholy and the russian choir singer starts out cold and distant but is picked up at the chorus for an uplifting feeling. No pun intended, this song is about brotherhood. Every single track in this anime is fueled by pure, raw emotion. 'Taboo' is the short, ominous theme about the sin that the brothers committed trying to bring their mother back and the repercussions of that action. On the flip side, 'Reunion' is just that. A reunion between family or friends. I don't have to even talk about why 'Koukai' is amazing. This soundtrack means so much to so many people for a great reason. The fact of the matter is that it is spectacular. To me, at least, no soundtrack to any movie, game, anime, or T.V. show has topped it or ever will top it.

For the time the visuals were fantastic but obviously don't hold up as well as Brotherhood's. I'm fine with this because the original FMA series does a much better job at one aspect of animation: lighting. Anything from Colonel Mustang's explosions to the dark corridors of Laboratory 5 look great.. This combined with the music makes a very personal experience for the viewer that cannot be forgotten easily.

Fullmetal Alchemist is something special to me and I've been ranting about it for four paragraphs now. This doesn't mean that it doesn't have flaws. I found that its main villain didn't have a whole lot of personality but they were sinister enough and their goals, though scattered, were good enough to keep me invested. Honestly, any other problems that I had with the series would be going into spoiler territory and comparing it to its 2009 re-adaptation which I don't think is fair considering, if I reviewed the 2003 series when it finished, Brotherhood wasn't even an idea in Studio Bones' collective consciousness. However, near the end of the show some of the characters introduced get a little ridiculous and I might even do a video comparing the two in the future. For now I don't think I should critique it any more than that.

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) is utterly spectacular and one of my favorite shows of all time.
Wednesday, June 08, 2016
I've always been a fan of level making programs. Applications that allow ordinary people make levels for their favorite games. These can be hacking tools like Lunar Magic or even whole fan games with level editors built in like Super Mario Bros. X. Because of my love for the creator community I couldn't wait to get my hands on Super Mario Maker. Too bad that I didn't actually get the game until about a month ago. Oops.

Super Mario Maker is simply a Mario level creator. When creating a level you have the choice of four game styles (Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros U) and six themes (Ground, Underground, Underwater, Ghost House, Airship, and Castle). When you are building your masterpiece you have a huge variety of items and enemies to use with new building blocks like the Donut Block and the Fire Koopa Clown Car. It sounds pretty simple but it can actually be a little overwhelming even with the game giving you the items in portions as you play the game. Sometimes I forget some features even exist until I am reminded of them through the community levels.

The community levels are where this game really shines in my opinion. For me, building levels takes an immense amount of time so most of my experience with the game has been through experiencing other peoples' creations. It can be hard to find good creations, though. The game itself doesn't have a built-in search tool that works through keywords. Instead, you have to find levels through a separate website and then type in the code of the level into the game. It just seems unnecessarily complicated. Is it so hard to have a keyword-based search bar? It shouldn't be. If I don't want to find a specific kind of level, however, the menus that Super Mario Maker does have work just fine. When the game was first released the 'Rating' tab was filled with levels without a whole lot of substance like 'Auto Mario' levels and really short but hard gauntlet-type levels. Since then, the 'Rating' tab has been updated many times in order to present the best levels.

Super Mario Maker also has a couple other modes in store. The 10 Mario Challenge and 100 Mario Challenge can be a great way to test your skill. The 10 Mario Challenge gives you 10 lives and has you surviving a number of developer-created levels while the 100 Mario Challenge gives you 100 lives and has you surviving a number of user-created levels of various difficulty. You can pick the difficulty you want to play on in this mode but it doesn't matter as it is very rarely you get an actually well-designed Mario level. Most of them consist of things flying at you from every direction or 'Auto-Mario' stages. This mode does have a 'skip' option by holding down the 'minus' button so if you realize a level is bad you can just skip it but this feature does cost you a life. I barely ever go on this mode and use it mostly to unlock the various Hidden Block Costumes that the game has to offer.

Super Mario Maker is fun to experiment with. There are ways to find really well designed stages but the amount of effort you have to go through to do so is way more than it should be. The level creator is really fleshed out and simple to use but I still wish that we had more. Who knows? Maybe we will continue to get updates that add new gameplay options.

Super Mario Maker is a really fun distraction.
Monday, June 06, 2016
Innocence is boring. This 2004 sequel to the 1995 hit Ghost in the Shell is generic, uninteresting, and boring. I dropped it at about 70 minutes in because I was not invested in the story whatsoever. Why is this? The previous movie and all the other anime based on the franchise are mostly critically acclaimed so why does this one fail where the others have excelled at?

I believe that the problems with Innocence start at the beginning. In this film, it has been quite some time since The Major and Batou have parted ways and since then The Major has been declared MIA. Batou is assigned a new partner, Tosuga, and has been assigned with solving the mystery of the sex doll murders. That's right! A number of customers who have bought androids for their private needs are dying from the hands of their toys. Skipping how needlessly stupid this is in order to get across a point, Batou and Tosuga have to find out who is really behind these murders, if anyone at all.

This whole plot dealing with the murderous androids exists to get across the question of "What actually is a human?" Our two detectives have to ponder this question while reciting quotes from long-since-dead people over and over again until my ears bleed. I'm not joking. Batou and most of the other characters constantly quote Caesar and you-name-it in order to sound philosophical when, in reality, they just sound stupid. I don't even think the initial plot is that bad but I don't care about any of the characters involved. For the majority of the film, it seems like the characters themselves don't even care about finding the answer to this rather deep question.

The utter lack of enthusiasm for action or mystery that any of the characters have isn't the only reason that I was never hooked on Innocence. The problem is that there was never hook to begin with. I get the feeling that the writers wanted Batou to somehow connect this theme with his past with The Major but that plotline is dropped so quickly and cleanly that I don't even get the chance to be intrigued as to where it might go. Because of all this, it makes for a story that is very unfocused at best and at worst just hard to continue with.

One aspect of the original Ghost in the Shell film that I praised it for was its animation. Innocence bumps up the quality of the 2D animation significantly and makes each movement of each character seem very natural and unique. The 3D animation is where it really suffers as, though it isn't necessarily bad, it doesn't fit with the style of the 2D segments at all and is way too heavily used. It seems like most of the backgrounds and anything that isn't a main character is CG which, in a way, explains as to why the quality of the 2D animation is so high; because there is very little of it.

Ghost in the Shell's soundtrack wasn't very great but it did fit the mood of the film. I can say the exact same thing about Innocence's soundtrack. This isn't because the quality of each soundtracks are the same but because each of the soundtracks are the same. The same generic tracks are used over and over again and, honestly, got a little grating on the ears.

Overall, Innocence is a huge let down and not at all what I was expecting from a sequel to a fairly great film. However, one thing that I can applaud this film for is that it helped me appreciate the original far more than I did before.

Innocence (Ghost in the Shell) is dull.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
One type of show that I don't find myself watching very often is one that deals with psychology. Most television shows about this subject tend to be serious and down-to-earth but many of them don't try their hand at comedy like Wilfred does. My first impressions are only based on the first three episodes of a series, but I can tell that I will grow to love it.

Ryan (Elijah Wood) is depressed. So much so that the entire first episode is about him trying to take his own life by overdose. Wilfred (Jason Gann) is his neighbor's dog... kind of. To Ryan, a psychologically messed up bum, Wilfred is actually a fully-grown adult who just wears a dog costume. Confused yet? So was I for the fifteen minutes of the show. One day Ryan's neighbor asks him to take care of Wilfred while she's off running errands and so the friendship between the human and dog start.

One way I could describe the relationship between Ryan and Wilfred is bitter-sweet. These two are nothing alike but they get along very well. At least until Wilfred does something that Ryan has to fix by the end and learns a lesson from. These lessons are fairly straight forward and even predictable at times, at least so far. The main reason for this being that each episode is titled by the hump that the main character has to trek over. So far these have been 'Happiness', 'Trust', and 'Fear'. Maybe by the end of the show or even the season I can look back and see these as clever but right now it is kind of a spoiler for what's to come. I like to be surprised by a show but if I know exactly what the moral of the episode will be then it feels like I'm almost ahead of the plot at times.

The characters of Wilfred and Ryan are a great comedy duo. They constantly play off of each other in clever and interesting ways and, though I haven't died from laughter quite yet, they have gotten some good laughs from me. The only real problem I have with the two so far is the fact that Wilfred is always the one to incite trouble and Ryan is constantly the one to get them out of it. This, again, plays into the predictability that the show is having so far. There has only been a few stand-out moments of plot that have been instrumental in my motivation to keep watching.

Despite all that, I still want to keep watching. Why is that? The problems I have with the show would make me drop it like a hot rock with most others but why this one? Well, to put it simply, I want to see Ryan grow as a character. I love the fact that the series starts with Ryan at his lowest point. Though I can't necessarily put myself in his shoes I do want to see him get better and learn to be happy through his experiences with Wilfred. The comedy is great, the plot is only good, but what it could become is something that is yet to be seen.

I can't wait to watch more of Wilfred.
Friday, May 20, 2016
AI is a fascinating subject. There are some films that do a great job of presenting the subject in interesting ways like in Ex Machina and then there are films that don't like Chappie. But we don't talk about Chappie. I don't think I've seen any anime tackle this subject until Ghost in the Shell and, though the film doesn't dive as deep as I would like, it does present a very interesting AI-enhanced future with its great animation and directing.

Ghost in the Shell's world is one of the most fascinating animated worlds I've seen. In the near future, a majority of the human race is interconnected over a vast network by the use of cybernetic bodies called 'shells'. These shells are inhabited by the person's soul called 'ghosts'. Motoko Kusanagi, or 'The Major', is... well... a Ghost in a Shell. She works for the Public Security Section 9 where, in this film, she is given the responsibility of tracking down the cyber-terrorist known as The Puppetmaster. Motoko and her whole team are good characters but I wish I knew more about them. All I know about Motoko is that she has some sort of messed-up past but her teammates are really a mystery. The Major is a complete bad-ass. She only has a few short action sequences but they are all awesome to look at and do a great job of showing off her abilities. The villain, The Puppetmaster, is also a very fascinating one but it never shows him being much of a threat. Sure the characters say that he is but there isn't really any proof to get me to believe that he is. The world, characters, and villain are all just good. At the end of the day I just wanted to see more of each of these characters and was left a little disappointed.

The animation of Ghost in the Shell is top-of-the-line. It had a very nice blend of CG and cel animation that was really nice to look at all the way through. There were a few moments of CG where you could really tell that it was made by a computer but that is really just a sign of age and not really the filmmakers fault. The soundtrack is too well done for its own good. I enjoy listening to the OST on my own once and a while but the way the tracks are incorporated into the film feels kind of lazy. I love the overall mood of it and it fits the film but the film doesn't go as far as the OST wants it to (if that makes any sense at all).

Ghost in the Shell is a very good sci-fi anime with a lot going for it but I felt that it never went far enough with its characters, visuals, or themes. I had high hopes going into the film because I had heard a lot of fantastic things but to me it was only good. No more, no less. To my delight, however, there are a lot of other series and movies from the franchise so at least the road doesn't end here.

Ghost in the Shell is unique but seems very restrained.


Wednesday, May 18, 2016
I've never been into films that have a heavy action theme. Sure there are the incredibly memorable ones like Die Hard and the ones that can even define a generation such as The Matrix. Both of those films, however, try to go big or go home. They don't worry themselves about the feeling behind a scene. Rather they just want the scene to look good. Feeling is what drives a film like John Wick. Rather than huge explosions or learning Kung Fu in five seconds, the film's main drive is not how the protagonist gets rid of the bad guys but why he does the things that he does. Long story short; John is angry.

John Wick's anger is what fuels the movie. First, his wife dies. Nobody's fault as the audience assumes it boils down to some kind of disease. After his wife's death, Wick (Keanu Reeves) is sent a Basset Hound pup with a letter from his wife. It says that the dog is meant to help John mourn which, at first, is the case. At a gas station one day he meets a group of mafia men who want his beautiful car and, after he says no sale, they break into his house, kill his dog, and steal the car. So John Wick isn't just angry. He's furious and he wants to kill the men who killed his dog and everyone they work with. At first glance it may seem simple and maybe even cliche but the amount of emotion behind his actions seem justified. I shouldn't be rooting for him because he is killing people in cold blood but I am. Without giving away too much, Wick's obsession of revenge does tie into his past with the Mafia and the way the film introduces the Mafia's straight-up fear of Wick is brilliant. Even when cops show up to his house they leave immediately after finding out who's front door they've just stumbled onto. The characters are where this film suffers. It's obvious that they all have backstories and connect with John Wick but because of the runtime of the movie the writers can't go into too much detail. Even the main character, John Wick, almost has a personality. He doesn't smile once in the whole film and even though I know that that's his character I can't connect with him.

The gripes I have with the characters don't matter at all when you look at the film as a whole. John Wick is an incredibly directed action movie - probably the best action movie I've seen. There wasn't a single point in the entire experience where I couldn't tell what was going on. It used a lot of still shots with a lot happening. It reminded me a lot of how Marvel's Daredevil series is directed but even better. Remember that amazing scene in the first episode where Daredevil fights off ten guys in a hallway? That is this entire movie and it looks astounding. Even if one can't enjoy the story or the characters, the choreography and direction of the action is completely worth the watch. I even found myself thoroughly enjoying the soundtrack of John Wick. A lot of it is orchestral mixed with experimental rock and pop which sounds amazing on and off the screen. This film is one of the best sounding and looking that I've seen in a long while.

John Wick is an astoundingly refreshing action film which improves on every front that its predecessors have been remembered for. Though its characters and story aren't the best, the action sequences more than make up for it .

John Wick is refreshing.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Have you ever seen an anime that is so over-the-top and insane that you just need to turn your brain off to fully enjoy the series? Kill La Kill is that for me. It does have very apparent problems but just the general excitement and joy I feel watching it makes the whole experience seem perfect, even though the show is far from it. The explosive fight scenes and scenarios and dumb fun of the show tend to overpower but the lack-luster story and villain. And I'm okay with that.

The story of Kill La Kill is pretty stupid. If you are going into this anime expecting deep themes with interesting plots than you are in the wrong place. Ryuko has been tracking down her father's killer for an unseen amount of time and she believes that the criminal is Hounouji Academy's class president, Satsuki Kiryuin. Armed with her trust Scissor Blade and a magical talking uniform named Senketsu, Ryuko must fight her way up the ranks of the Academy's school clubs in order to avenge her father and find the other half of her blade. We've seen this plot a million times and it doesn't do anything new in this case but the show isn't about the story. Rather, it's main focus is on the relationship between the characters. As soon as Ryuko arrives at the Academy she befriends a no-star student ("Star" referring to power level) named Mako and during the series we even get to learn a lot about Satsuki's underlings. Every character has their own energy and finesse that I can appreciate, even though some of them can fit into archetypes. I also like how--- ugh, I can't take it anymore. This show has way too much fanservice than it needs to have. I don't mind it as much near the beginning because when Ryuko transforms she becomes embarrassed with her appearance which suppresses her power but once that hurdle is overcome the fanservice seems like it is there just to be fanservice. To the show's granted, however, a third of the way through we are introduced to a group of totally-to-almost nude men that one can argue balance it out but I felt it wasn't needed in the first place and just could've been an over-the-top anime. Maybe the fanservice is part of the show's nature, then? I don't know. Just something to think about.

Speaking of the characters, I absolutely love their designs and color pallets, fanservice aside. Ryuko usually wears black and red but can occasionally sport a "white-knight" type outfit that fits with the metal state of her character at that given time. Even Mako gets a variety of designs to show off her general craziness. I especially love her "fight club" outfit. I feel like the characters' various outfits were designed and then the writers wrote the story because of just how well they mesh with the tone of whatever story they might be on at the moment.

Before I started watching Kill La Kill I assumed a little too much from the animation. Sure it's good but from the screenshots and short clips I had already been privy too, it ended up feeling lack luster. It does have a few border-line Sakuga moments near the
beginning of the series but it seemed to take a dip in quality during the last six or so episodes. This is one of the most hype soundtracks I've heard in an anime recently. I absolutely love the militaristic style of "Blumenkranz" and "Before My Body is Dry" is just amazing all around. The only problem is how the show uses these tracks - that is to say too much. Every time Ryuko does something remotely cool I hear the chorus of "Before My Body is Dry" and Satsuki's theme is good but I can only stand it so many times! The constant abuse of these amazing tracks forced me to turn down my TV volume a number of times when they would play. Such a shame to pound such a great OST to the ground.

 Kill La Kill is one of the weirdest but funnest anime I've seen in a while. It does have a lot of problems which tend to bog down the experience but if you just turn off your brain while watching you won't mind the flaws all that much.

Kill La Kill is explosive.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
The buildup for Captain America: Civil War was one of the most stressful and hype rides I've had with a movie in a long while. Bottom line: Civil War is the best film from the MCU since the previous Captain America film. It seems like almost every other franchise in the MCU has low points but all three Captain America films have ranged from great to fantastic and Civil War can rightfully take its place on the high end of that spectrum. With its fast and fun fight scenes, great character relationships, and the best on-screen Spiderman we've ever gotten there is no of the pure quality of this film.

A lot of has happened since the beginning of MCU Phase 2 and, though I haven't been there for all of it, there has been a growing  rivalry between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark though it might be most apparent in Avengers: Age of Ultron where the two's ideologies clash for the first time. That film set the framework that Civil War would build a tower out of. Though it has a few cracks on the outside and some beams seem misplaced, the film does mostly everything right with its characters. Not only do Cap and Iron Man get to shine, but so does mostly every other Avenger. I especially want to point out Scarlet Witch who acts as a perfect linchpin for the entire fight between the team. Within the first five minutes of the movie, she tries to throw the villain from the previous Captain America film into the sky in order to save citizens on the ground from his inevitable explosion but accidentally causes and entire floor of a building to explode harming even more innocent civilians than she would have otherwise. This, along with the team's actions of the past, causes the United Nations to try to suppress the Avengers so they don't do more harm than good. Captain America thinks that they should be able to control themselves while Iron Man believes they need to be put in check. One aspect about this that I absolutely love is that I couldn't decide which team I was on until the very end. Going into the film I was team Iron Man but while watching I was constantly switching between the two sides because they both brought up great points.

Scarlet Witch steals the show for the film but the two new characters introduced are also very good. These are, of course, Black Panther and Spiderman. Though Black Panther's reason for choosing a side seems like a cliche revenge story at first, by the end of the film I had gotten to really know the character so I felt that he was justified for feeling the way he did. Spiderman, in my opinion, is the best onscreen Spiderman that the film industry has ever gotten. Toby Macguire was too awkward both in the suit and out while Andrew Garfield was too cool all the time. The entire point of Spiderman is that Peter Parker is an awkward nerd outside the suit but becomes a confident new man inside the suit. Tom Holland captures this aspect of the character perfectly and I can't wait until his solo movie, Spiderman: Homecoming. The one character that I really did have a problem with was Hawkeye. I do like the character but the way he was introduced seemed lazy. He didn't give an explanation for why he chose the side he did nor did he feel like he cared or knew what he was fighting for. It seemed, at least to me, that the writers just wanted an equal amount of fighters for both side. The center of the entire struggle, though, is The Winter Soldier. He is what made this a Captain America movie. He had ties to each side and was struggling with himself in much the same ways that Cap and Tony were struggling with each other. It was truly astonishing the way they used him.

Another problem I had with the film is mostly a nitpick. The animation. Though not too important in this case, as the film was very character-driven, the CG was lacking to say the least. It was especially noticeable on all of Spiderman and The Falcon's wings. Spiderman felt way too rubbery similar to how he moved in the original Toby Macguire films, though then it was a limitation of the medium. The Falcon's wings didn't feel mechanical enough - as in the movement didn't match the look. And once again the music is very lackluster. It isn't bad but just lazy. With a super hero flick I want exciting and memorable themes but all we get is generic strings with a few standout tracks. Nothing to write home about.

Go see Captain America: Civil War. It isn't perfect but the good far outweighs the bad. The characters are great and the fights are fantastic.

Captain America: Civil War is astonishing.
Monday, May 09, 2016
Before Shantae and the Pirate's Curse I had never played a Shantae game. I wasn't avoiding them or anything but I had just never gotten around to it. What was wrong with me? I love everything about this game. It has smooth and satisfying gameplay, diverse and colorful levels, and extremely memorable characters. It does have problems, of course, but the good intensely outweighs the bad.



Shantae and the Pirate's Curse takes place shortly after the previous game in the story, Risky's Revenge. Though I've never played that game, Pirate's Curse does a fair job of explaining the previous events. At the end of the previous installment Shantae's rival, Risky, stole her genie magic so she has now become a full human who is just living a regular life. That is until a baddie by the name of Ammo Baron (who I assume was also in the other installments from the way the characters talk about him) comes to town and proceeds to pillage and plunder the place. Shantae rushes to the rescue in a fantastic opening level that hits all the right level design beats. After a short boss fight with the Baron, she discovers that the Ammo Baron isn't raiding the island out of pure malice. Rather, it is because the Mayor sold the town to him for food for himself. Because of her actions, Shantae receives a court summons where they will cut off her hair - the only magical part left of her. Just when she is feeling her lowest, however, she runs into Risky who is in dire need of Shantae's assistance. Risky explains that the evil Pirate Master is returning and they need to work together to stop him. I have to admit that, at the start of the game, the story seems convoluted and random but it does pay off in really well-rounded ways. The set-up isn't fantastic but it does give the player an intrigue that will last throughout the rest of the experience.

Though the story isn't great, the characters definitely make up for it. And there are a lot of them. Each of the characters are so memorable and unique that I could rattle off all the personalities and motivations of each one without breaking a sweat. This is mostly in part because of the very great and clever writing but is also in part by the memorable character designs. Each character's designs coincide perfectly with their personality. Rottytops the zombie is enthusiastic but lazy and even kind of a dunce sometimes which is reflected well by her constant dancing and bright-green skin. Rottytops is also very great with her constant joking around. Have I mentioned Rottytops yet? If I have it's because she is the best character in the entire game. In the latter half of the game she even gets her own arc that gives her a somewhat tragic backstory. All of the other characters are great in their own ways but Rottytops is incredibly memorable. The only problem with any character that I had was with Risky Boots. She wasn't bad but she really wasn't given much of a personality besides cynical and mysterious. Maybe if I had played the previous games I would have understood her better but what I got wasn't very great. Overall, the characters are unforgettable. Also Rottytops.

The gameplay in Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is very clean and very satisfying. The combination of the whipping sound when Shantae sends her hair flying with the animations that happen during and after the hit feel very good. I love every part of how Shantae controls. Her movement speed is a brisk walk and her attacks are instant. Her jumps are high and she can snap instantly while in the air. The only problem I had with this isn't with the controls itself but how some of the levels are designed. From the get-go it seems that Shantae's movement was made for levels with a focus on vertical movement as well as horizontal but in Pirate's Curse most of the levels are simply left to right with not a lot of vertical exploration. This is, however, a minor problem and is quickly remedied as soon as the player gets to a dungeon, which are all fantastic. Though their themes and mechanics aren't exactly new and innovative, their use of the powerups that you obtain in said dungeons can be very clever which makes for some interesting puzzle scenarios. Speaking of the upgrades, I just love all of them. In each dungeon you find more and more of Risky Boots' equipment which ranges from a pirate hat that lets you float in the air to a cannon that gives you three extra jumps while in the air. Though these aren't exactly new concepts the ways the game tends to use them are great. You can also buy upgrades for Shantae's pre-existing abilities as well as her equipment. Though most of these are just simply faster firing of your attacks and more damage output, some of them give you extra abilities like a handy dodge that lets you effectively get out of the way of enemy attacks.

Jake Kauffman is a mad genius. I had already known about him from other games he's worked on (and I also follow him on Twitter) but I find the Shantae soundtrack to be especially great. Jake "Virt" Kauffman does a great job at creating memorable themes in his tunes. And here we come full circle to the best song in the game - Rottytops. It perfectly encapsulates everything about her character and I love it immensely. The only negative I have about the OST is the boss themes. I still can't tell for sure but I'm pretty sure that they are all the same song. Either that or they are just plain unmemorable. Virt can't take all the credit for the atmosphere of the game. The sprite team that worked on the graphics need a huge round of applause. All of the characters just jump right out of the screen with their colors and animations. The backgrounds are also gorgeous.

I feel bad for myself that I hadn't played this game sooner. Take wonderful music and visuals, tight gameplay, and wonderful characters (mostly Rottytops), and you get Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. I can say for sure that I am very excited for the next game in the franchise Half-Genie Hero and I really want to play the previous installments.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is memorable. 
Thursday, May 05, 2016
One of the most loved and hated form of commentary on YouTube and other online media outlets is the coverage of internet drama. From scummy scandals to YouTuber fame, these videos can rack up hundreds of thousands to even millions of views by simply covering the drama like Drama Alert or voicing ones opinions like ReviewTechUSA. Love it or hate it, these videos are watched. Is it because those using the internet like rumors or is there something more?

First of all, the elephant in the room. Recently there has been sexual assault allegations against a once huge YouTuber by the name of Toby Turner. This has blown up in the past week with some huge YouTubers defending him and others fighting against him. No matter what side you are on, you can't deny just how big this has become considering the sheer size of his past and even present career. Before this even happened some major channels such as PewDiePie and Markiplier have come out against these 'drama channels' for just swirling the bucket of blame and hate towards each other. These two make their own points on the matter but there is no doubt that they agree on one thing: drama is ruining the YouTube community. But is it really? Have we become so desensitized to online drama that we now accept it as part of what being a 'YouTuber' is? I don't think so. One aspect of this argument that these two don't seem to care about is the line between 'drama' and 'news'. Though this line is of different shades for different people, you can't deny that some of this drama that may or may not stir up controversy has to be talked about. This is where I must go back to the sexual assault allegations against Toby Turner. In the YouTube space, some might consider Tobuscus to be 'famous'. This being the case, ask yourself how you would feel if you replace 'Toby Turner' with 'Joseph Gordon-Levitt'. Then how would one approach this? One would present it as relevant news, just like it is with Toby Turner.

I am not against Mark or Felix in this discussion for I think that this type of stuff is interesting and needs to be brought up. I also highly respect these two and are subscribed to both of them, but I do believe that there is a line that needs to be brought up more often. . At the same time, they posted their videos about internet drama well before the Toby Turner case came up but we still need to be informed about what's going on. There are some really well done internet drama channels that present the facts first before forming opinion, like the aforementioned Drama Alert and ReviewTechUSA. Are there channels and websites that rush to conclusions just to stir the pot? Yes, of course but I don't believe the outcome is as harmful as some might perceive it to be.

In conclusion, are there awful channels and sites that will just report drama and slap the news sticker on it? Yes and shame on them for doing so but the general public of the internet needs to be informed about the things that they ought to be informed about.



Channels Mentioned
PewDiePie ---> https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie
Markiplier ---> https://www.youtube.com/user/markiplierGAME
ReviewTechUSA ---> https://www.youtube.com/user/ReviewTechUSA
Drama Alert ---> https://www.youtube.com/user/NewDramaAlert
Monday, April 18, 2016
When I first started getting into anime I was all about Sword Art Online. It came about in a time of my life when I started getting really into video game worlds and the concept of VR was incredible to me. This show was what I had wanted. My favorite things combining into a concoction of action and adventure that I just couldn't put down. At least, that's how I felt for the first three episodes then the downhill slope of bad writing, plot-holes the size of New Mexico, and bland character arcs started being handed out like Snickers in a the candy store on 1st Street. In short, Sword Art Online is terrible.

I don't find the initial set-up of Sword Art Online to be bad at all. It may not be the most innovative concept ever but it felt like there was effort put in right off the bat. The show presents itself very well in the first two episodes. The problem that the players face is instant and troubling, and their reactions seem genuine enough that, if dealt with better down the line, could've resulted into interesting character arcs and motivations. The first episode is really good at establishing the point of the show: Players are stuck in the game and will die in real life if they die in-game so the players want to, naturally, get out of said game. Simple, easy to understand, and intriguing. The second episode in any anime is usually used to set up character personalities and motivations. SAO also does this pretty well. Asuna is a mysterious bad-ass who is great in a leadership position and Kirito is a the best player we've seen because of his past as a beta tester of SAO, in a previous build of Aincrad, but can be a jerk because of his want to to be a sort of 'lone hero.' Naturally, these two personalities clash. In the third episode, however, everything that was interesting is thrown out the window for stupid, inconvenient side-plots that don't mean much to the overall story. This is the problem I have with SAO. Sure it looks pretty and handles it's beginning well but it lacks any progression to any character, setting, or theme that it can conjure up and quickly forget about. Early on in the series there is a plot about Kirito wanting to be a loner because his previous guild was all killed before his eyes. Seems fine and could be used a motivation for his personality but instead is quickly forgotten about and doesn't make any sense because he was like that before this plot thread even occurred. Asuna doesn't even have motivation. It hints once that she has a troubled home but it is never capitalized upon in order to have her character learn anything. All of those points don't even matter in the grand scheme of the show because the piece of the puzzle that bothers me the most is that SAO has a complete disregard for attempting to make a strong female character. This is all because of Kirito. In the first season of the show and much of the second Kirito is an unstoppable powerhouse with no flaws. Every single female character he meets ends up being saved by him and soon after integrated into his harem of stereotypes. I would at least mind it less if the girls he saved at least had personalities, instead of hobbies which SAO mistakes as hobbies. Later on in the series there is also a sentient AI character introduced known as Yui who's only purpose is to be an exposition dump in the second arc.

Speaking of the second arc: Alfheim is one of the worst written and paced anime I have ever had the chance to witness. Characters are introduced at random, the characters who have personality never get to develop because Kirito is always saving them in moments where they should grow stronger, and worst of all Asuna a literal bird in a cage that is waiting to be released by her savior, Kirito. How the second half of SAO treats its main female character and the only female character with any personality is downright disgusting. He is also the worst antagonist of the entire franchise thus far with really no reason for his action rather than wanting to marry a comatose Asuna and generally being a terrible person. Kirito's sister (yeah he has a sister now because plot device) is also terribly developed with a cliche anime arc of "I love my brother because Japan" storyline. 

The third arc and most of the second season of Sword Art Online starts out surprisingly interesting. The new MMO that he travels to named Gun Gale Online has a great atmosphere and feels surprisingly alive... for the first two episodes. After this point it follows all the terrible tropes that the first arc of SAO set in stone. It does have a few good moments, however. For example, the new female lead named Sinon has an interestingly tragic backstory. Unfortunately, the show doesn't use this to expand her character at all because Kirito is constantly getting in the way with all the saving lives he does because he is the embodiment of Video Game Jesus. The villain starts out interesting and threatening but quickly becomes predictable and unforgettable. It was also about this time in the show where I started to realize a very strange trend in the franchise. This is that every single time exposition needs to be explained it takes place in a cafe or bar or any place that served food. Once I noticed this it annoyed me so much that I even dropped the show for about three months. Like I said before, this arc does have some good moments. In the second episode, for example, when Kirito faces Death Gun for the first time he freezes up and has a panic attack about his first time killing someone is SAO. This was really good and gave some much needed conflict with his character. Unfortunately this is rarely brought up again and when it is in the last few episodes of the arc he seems already past it without the viewer seeing any progression. At least the second season left an impact, though a disgusted one. This arc is just completely forgettable. 

The next arc, named Caliber, is short, sweet, and stupid fun. That's it. No point to it. No character development. Just a quest in Alfheim. I do appreciate that Kirito's guild was showed working together efficiently but there was no development to any of the characters. 

The last arc in Sword Art Online II, named Mother's Rosario, is the best I've seen the show work. It isn't great by any means but it is good and does a whole lot right. Right off the bat Kirito is no longer the main character but rather Asuna which I've wanted since the Alfheim arc. He just isn't an interesting character and finally we get to see Asuna progressing as a person rather than a trophy wife for Kirito. Her relationship with the new swordsman Yuuki is very strong and fun as they have great chemistry. The other characters in Yuuki's guild, though not exceptionally deep, are also fun and each have somewhat of a personality. This one arc of six episodes is better than all the other 33 episodes that we had gotten up to this point. 

Sword Art Online is an extremely broken anime with only a handful of things going for it. Sure the music is nice and the visuals are very good but the story falls apart constantly, the characters are lifeless and have no drive, and it can even be offensive. 

Sword Art Online is broken beyond repair. 


Thursday, April 14, 2016
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