couldn't resist some photoshop

Don’t worry. I have nothing but good things to say about this man.

For those who don’t know. Zero Punctuation is a weekly videogame review series by a guy who calls himself Yatzhee. His style of reviewing is notable for a few things. Such as: fast-talking, long analogies/metaphors/similes, funny pictures, and negativity.

I’m not here to talk about how good/bad/crazy Zero Punctuation is. Rather I’m going to rant about how I feel about Yahtzee’s style of reviewing.

I actually have not been too familiar with how the community generally reacts to his reviews. So excuse me if I do some research as a write this.

What Yahtzee does

Whilst many think Yahtzee just simply criticizes a game until his review bleeds out the good parts, I think of it differently. Yahtzee uses his criticism of the game as a base to find what is good about it….Admittedly thats sort of the same thing, but that does not change it from being a legitimate style.

In a conversation with my friend about this interpretation, I did kind of feel it was possible that I was giving him perhaps too much credit. But then again, people have interpreted some Bugs Bunnies cartoons as analogies for cruel and angry gods, so I’m not going to dwell on that idea too much.

I’ve found that Yahtzee does a good job of pointing out how newer game compares to recent ones. In his Jericho review, he points out that all levels have a shade of brown which compares to how the Quake game series looked. I found this kind of funny and amusing, but then I showed the same video to my older brother (who was quite an avid gamer around the time of Quake) and that was actually the part he laughed hardest at.

My favorite bits

Perhaps the part that I enjoy the most out of his reviews is how he points out the flaws that many games of this generation have (though I still have goddamn idea how he missed and other reviewers missed the unskippable cutscenes in Assassin’s Creed). He consistently points out the the tediousness of repetitive gameplay.

His elongated analogies are perhaps what I consider the most distinctive of his reviews. Other than just overstating his feelings they provide colorful and insane imagery to what would normally be a bland review.

One bit that he has only touched upon now and then is his opinion of Japanese culture. He has stated that doesn’t exactly hate anime, but considers it “mindless twaddle.” He has mentioned visual novels atleast twice, I can only wonder if he will review one in the future to mess with the mainstream gamers.

Internet reactions and my feelings

I did say that I was not too familiar with the impressions many had gotten from his reviews, though this is partly untrue. I have only seen the ultra-negative impressions.

As much as Tv Tropes (and it’s community) is what I consider the holy grail of story information and opinion sharing, I am very shocked (and somewhat disappointed) at the amount of complaints level at Yahtzee (seen here) for dissing a game they liked. Furthermore some of those people are complaining about the level of crude humor in his reviews, I happen to hate crude humor with a passion but I’ll have to say to them is “Welcome to the internet you blind buffoons”.

The problems with Zero Punctuation and people are:
1. People take his reviews too seriously
2. People don’t take his reviews seriously enough

Massive paraphrasing and exaggeration below
Now this is just my opinion. But when Yahtzee makes a long winded rant about how JRPGs are oddly designed or how FPSs are trying too much to be like Halo, it does not give anyone the right to just post his argument and claim victory. People who think his word is the law are just latching onto something and trying to be in the “right”.

On the other end, even if he bashes a game he is not calling it all bad. He is pointing out flaws that had issue with and would like to see corrected in games that he plays. I recall seeing someone post a comment for his MGS4 review: “For once, I disagree with Yahtzee. This game is amazing”, which I feel kind of cheapens the idea of his reviewing it to just “he doesn’t like it”.

The thing is. Whether or not I like the game he reviews or see something off in what he says, most of the time I agree with what he says or understand what he dislikes. My favorite game of this year, Mass Effect 2, was reviewed by him. I felt he perhaps was a little harsh on the idea of the characters looking lifeless, but other than that I agreed with nearly everything else.

Maybe I’m just full of hatred (blame Highschool), which allows me to get into the mood of his review. But I rather enjoy the idea of accepting an agree views of a game and putting aside any sense of sympathy for the videogame industry (whilst respecting the fact that developers work hard). I would like to see him review some games that I really like (Odin Sphere), have him analyze it, and then have the honor of laughing at his complaints.

Conclusion

Too long, didn’t read? Yahtzee is a cool guy who makes me laugh. Leaving aside your personal feelings, you will like him, or not care. He is of particular notability to me, as I have moved quite far from the mainstream videogame industry due to my fascination with anime/manga and other Japanese things.

Keep going Yahtzee, you’ve already cemented yourself as a legend.

Yes, I know this is the french cover.

Rather than this being something I like, I consider it legitimately amazing.

Mamoru Oshii is best known for directing Ghost in the Shell (released in 1995); four years later Jin-Roh was released, part of the “Kerberos Saga”, which was his own creation (dating back to 1987).

What is the Kerberos Saga?

The Kerberos Saga has one of the most complicated plots I’ve read about. Jin-Roh (which I finished last week) is the only actual part of the saga I’ve seen.

The general story of the saga goes as such. Japan loses a very different version of World War II (they lose to Germany). After Japan recovers it is met with internal conflict and terrorism that threatens to destabilize the nation. To combat this, the nation’s police force is restructured to separate the Self-Police (regular police) from a Capital Metropolitan Police Division which holds control over the “Special Unit” (aka Kerberos Unit).

The Kerberos Unit becomes well-known for using awesome skill, heavy technology, and brutally efficient tactics to combat terrorism. For reasons never fully explained, they become disliked by the Self-Police and are put under pressure by the government that created them. As such, the Kerberos Saga focuses on the turmoil of the Unit as it becomes increasingly hard for them to survive.

The Opening of Jin-Roh

Jin-Roh sets the mood instantly by showing us that there is no real “good” in the conflict. The Self-Police not once use brutal tactics against a riot (full of napalm filled molotov cocktails) and are instead blown half to smithereens by a satchel charge.

The Kerberos Unit, without permission from the Self-Police authority, run into the sewer and confronts the terrorists. There are maybe eight terrorist, and at least fifteen Kerberos.

Here we see the how the unit inflicts fear on the terrorists, the red eyes and gas-mask show no humanity. These are “good” guys, though they are brutal, they are just as brutal as the terrorists they fight.The Unit gives one warning. There is a long pause right before one terrorist panics and the Unit then responds by opening fire with their MG42s and killing everything.

As a young female terrorist tries to escape, she is met with one Kerberos who orders her to stop. She refuses and begins to pull the bomb on her satchel charge. The Kerberos, despite shouts from his nearby comrades, refuses to shoot her, and instead asks “Why….?” The bomb goes off, yet the Unit is unharmed.

The remainder of the film focuses on the aftermath of this incident, which is used to try and bury the Unit for “incompetence.” Our protagonist becomes the Kerberos from above, Fuse Kazuki, I’m tempted to say more, but since it’s such a great film I recommend you see it yourself.

Themes

The core theme of Jin-Roh is the question of humanity, Fuse is emotionless for most of the film, and when asked why he joined the Unit, he replies with “I just felt comfortable there.” His existence as a “wolf” remains resolute, though throughout the film he has many opportunities to just leave the military/police and become “human” once again.

What is… and yet isn’t touched upon much, is the nature of how the terrorists are treated in terms of humanity. There is clear implication that they aren’t treated as human. The warning that the Unit gives the terrorists in the opening is thrown into question when it was revealed the soldiers were given orders to eliminate the terrorists, showing that perhaps they knew the terrorists wouldn’t surrender.

I really love how the film does not take sides, of course we are intended to root for the Kerberos (I do at least), but since it is never made clear what the terrorists are fighting for, we can not judge the righteousness of their cause.

Concluding Thoughts

The atmosphere of this film is thoroughly depressing and dark, but if you can bear that, it serves as an excellent introduction to the Kerberos Saga. I’ve been trying to find anime that can be considered more artistic, and I am happy to add this to my collection.

Love this anime or hate it. You have to admit it’s has a presentation that many anime do not. The original light novel is by Nisio Isin, also the creator of Bakemonogatari. The similarity is apparent from the use of wordplay, crazy characters, self-referencial humor, and lots of conversation. I’m not gonna post a summary, cause that’s easy to find anywhere.

Katanagatari uses a plot that many would describe as “shounen-esque”, as it has a “We have to collect all A of the B” type story (A is number, B is a special artifact). In this case, the main characters must collect all 12 of Shikizaki Kiki’s deviant blades.

However, this shounen feeling is kind of overshadowed by the philosophies introduced in each chapter as well as the general seriousness of the story that is reflected by the violence of post-Sengoku era Japan.

Presentation

A lot of people have a problem with the amount of talking in the series. Whilst I understand that, I rather like the talking because it separates the it from other action anime. When the fighting does happen, it is well animated.

The story features a narrator to comment on some aspects of the story, though this generally does break the flow in any way.

Characters

The relationship between Togame and Shichika is probably the most intriguing part of the story in terms of character dynamics.

Togame is surprisingly open with her feelings most of the time, but other times she hides them when factoring logic into her strategies (best seen in episode five). Shichika is dense, but not dense to people’s feelings which is a funny twist on his character type.

The fact that they are working together despite knowledge of their ancestry (Shichika’s father killed Togame’s father) demonstrates a attractive bond, or perhaps rather intentional ignorance on their part. Either way it shows that they don’t care about the past when confronting their enemies and continue to move forward.

Other than Shichika and Togame who make the main cast. Each chapter features a character wielding one of the twelve blades as well as the Maniwa Corps. Almost none of these characters are portrayed as 100% villainous.

Episode 1 has Maniwa Koumori who is arguably the most “evil” character shown, but he does nothing evil enough to be hated. He rather just serves as an introductory antagonist.

Episode 2′s Ginkaku is shown as reasonably angry for the lack of support that the Shogunate shows to his land.

The Maniwa Ninja here (Shirasagi) is killed off so fast that we don’t get to know anything about him except that he talks backwards.

Episode 3′s Meisai is the first good natured blade-wielder, as she is using her blades to help heal orphaned girls. Her death is most chilling, because it shows us that while Shichika can be good natured, he feels almost nothing when killing Meisai.

The Maniwa Ninja here (Kuizame) is once again killed off fast, but remains likeable because of his shark teeth and willingness to enjoy the nickname that Shichika has given the Maniwani. Though earlier he is shown killing indiscriminate people without hesitation.

Episode 4 does not show us the battle with the blade wielder, but everything we know about Sabi Hakuhei shows that he would be a reasonably badass stoic protagonist (SPINOFF NOVEL PLEASE)

The three Maniwa (Kamakiri, Chouchou, and Mitsubachi) are more sympathetic than Nanami who slaughters them like…..bugs (they’re named after bugs after all).

Episode 5′s Kanara is likeable and has a tragic background. Hell, I was praying for him to survive this episode (which he does). His novel illustration is above.

No Maniwa are killed here. But we are introduced to their de facto leader Houou who manages to be most polite, funny, and morbidly obsessed with agreements.

Episode 6 has Konayuki who is just plain adorable and ends up being saved by Shichika after killing perhaps the only remaining unlikeable Maniwani. Houou is still morbidly obsessed with agreements and kills off another Maniwani in order to settle an agreement (much to Togame’s horror)

Music

The music is funny. Part of it can be quite anachronistic, featuring slow beat rap style songs. This is actually rather fitting with the style of the series which features similar anachronisms such as cigaretts or puns that wouldn’t make sense in the feudal time period. Other times the music shifts between being simply dramatic or actually fitting the time period.

My favorite track is Bahasa Palus which is composed of chanting and rap, though I think I prefer thetrailer version of the song. You can find samples here.

Concluding thoughts

Despite being skeptical about Nisio Isin because I had only heard of his Death Note and xxxHOLiC novels (both are series I feel are lacking). The anime of Bakemonogatari and Katanagatari have increased my desire to read his works (though to date I have read exactly none so far).

I will see Katanagatari through to the end. I have been given a few spoilers, but the presentation will likely still surprise me.

P.S.

I graduated from Highschool today. Woot.

THIS GAME IS GOOD.

It’s been a while since I’ve consistently played a visual novel. These are my first impressions.

Story

Ikusa Megami Verita (or “Battle Goddess Verita”) is the fourth game in the Ikusa Megam series and is a prequel, but is also a sequel to the Genrin no Kishougun series.

As such the game follows two characters.

First is Celica, the God-Killer (Kamigoroshi) who was originally a human male, but came to possess the body of a goddess (long story). As such, he looks quite feminine. He is possession of sword containing the mind of his comrade, Haishera (an earth demon). He is accompanied by Ekuria, whome he has taken as his cohort. Ekuria is the former Princess General of Karsha, deposed by the actions of the other protagonist….

Louie. The half-human king of Menfil (his mother was human, his father was a godly being I think, I’m alittle confused on this bit). Having exiled Ekuria after beating Karsha in the Lesperent Kingdom (god these names are great) in Genrin no Kishougun 2, he is depressed. His wife Irina is now dead, killed by Ekuria (who was under influence of a curse at the time)

Both come into conflict with the emergence of a new threat known as Bureado and a new sect of demons.

Gameplay

Whilst simple, the gameplay does somehow manage to make me not dread random battles as I usually might.

The combat is an interesting mix rectangular based areas of Disgaea and the relative turn based gameplay of any RPG. Instead of just casting the same spell over again, you are able to to power-up your spells to one of 5 levels at the cost of MP (for magic) or TP (for power attacks).

In helping out beginners, the game offers a nice gradual difficulty curve. There are lots of refill points, and you can easily return to any visited area if you want to grind more levels. The AUTO system is still present and allows you to let the computer take the best course of action for you, or if you are too lazy to sit through level grinding.

Both Celica and Louie play using the same system. Cept I found that Celica’s side is more magic based, whilst Louie’s is more power attack based.

As some new added features. Sidequests are now accessed through a separate station, which is good as in the previous game (Ikusa Megami ZERO) it was more a matter of stumbling upon them.

Art

The game is in widescreen format, which is always a plus. The art is beautiful as always, maintaining a sense of moe and seriousness.The backgrounds of the game are surprisingly detailed. This really does look like a 21st century eroge.

Sound and Music

As with all Eushully games, only the female characters are voiced, but thats fine , cause they are all so damn beautiful.

The music of the game is astounding. I was not expecting too much, though the last game in the series had some relatively awesome tracks. The battle music, for general battles and boss fights, has much been improved.

Note: it may take a while. But let me upload some tracks over the next few days

Overall

It’s a relief that this game has turned out quite awesome. My understanding of the story is limited, but regardless I am able to play through it with ease. Completing this one is going to leave me empty.

Sorry for making this review short. Gotta keep playing.

Continuing from last week.

I will now explain elements create a perfect show for me.

0. Basics
Have good animation, music, etc. Otherwise correct your mistakes on the DVD

1. Good Pacing
This might not seem important to many, but I feel that a good show needs good pacing. After each episodes airs, I want to be able to say “hey something cool happened this week.” Shows by studio BONES (Eureka 7, Darker than Black, Xam’d) lack this element, thus they drive me crazy. However BONES has a significant fanbase, so apparently this is not a big deal for everyone. A better example would probably be Nanoha StrikerS, which managed to annoy everyone with episodes that consistently were focused on training.

And yet......ANN can't get it right either.

Took her three episodes to confess her love. For others it takes three whole seasons.

3. Don’t end your show like Evangelion
And here’s where the Gainax fans will be like “NO, BUT LOVE EVA.” I read a book called Anime Classics Zettai that argued that Evangelion’s confusing ending should not detract from the fact that many of the other episodes were well made and had good direction.
That may be true, but I think in another perspective. If you watched a whole series only for it to end with a mindscrew ending, you’re left thinking “what was the point then”. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to watch 12 or 24 episodes and have an ending that is either sad/depressing/awesome as long as it gives a a nice finishing touch.

4. Don’t try too hard
This is more subjective than any of the above. But shows should definitely not go over top with following:
-Popular culture references
This isn’t always bad, Hayate no Gotoku does it all the time. But when you have Lucky Star feature the Hare Hare Yukai dance, you’ve gone from “clever” to “fanservice”
-Famous philosophers and locales
Ergo Proxy had an entire array of robots named after philosophers, and an entire episode based around an obscure Japanese book store.
-Symbolism
I dare you to watch Melody of Oblivion without getting bored.
-Whatever the hell Ghost in the Shell SAC was talking about

Me fighting off heaven to prove a point (note: I am not actually that feminine)

Cause this has been bugging me.
PLEASE COMMENT

Between 2007 and 2010 we have been given some of the best anime I’ve seen in recent years. I started watching anime alot in 2006, and was entertained, but did not find anything that I could consider “truly spectacular”.

In many of my posts, I’ve talked about how I’m quite elitist in comparison to my local anime community. I consider anime an art, I consider manga an art, I don’t consider memetic mutation an art but I do find it incredibly fun.

Near the end of last year, I set to prove to my film teacher that anime could be a serious medium. She of course had previously been exposed to the usual moe and ultra-cutesy stuff that is the stereotype of anime (along with Dragonball Z).

I showed her Denpa Teki na Kanojo (calling it Electro Magnetic Girlfriend, for the sake of convenience). She loved it, noting the noir elements, the meaningful violence, and the music. I felt proud.

(Disclaimer: I don’t have anything against moe. I love it just as the next guy.)

The top anime (that you can take seriously and act mature about) of recent years according to myself are

-Bakemonogatari
-ef ~a tale of memories~
-Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
-Durarara
-Baccano
-Texhnolyze
-the xxxHOLiC movie

Of funny interest. 3 of these shows are by SHAFT, 2 are by Brain’s Base, and 2 are by Madhouse (wierd coincidence I will say)

But likely, there will always at least a couple individuals that can say “I wholeheartedly disagree with your opinion, the shows you consider artistic are in fact pretentious, insignificant, and overly stylistic”
…..Albeit in a much more direct and severe method.

I would say that Bakemonogatari would be the most controversial choice on the list. People most definitely call it pretentious and bash it cause of SHAFT’s style. Some people would call it “moeshit” or “haremshit” even.

(Disclaimer: I don’t have anything against moe. I love it just as the next guy. I will continue this rant next week.)