Reevo’s Highlights for 2017

Kaban from Kemono Friends Cosplay at MCM Comic Con Oct 2017

While 2017 as a whole has been a bad year, in terms of myself, I’ve had a more positive yet more busy year which i’d imagine is going to lead into next year, so I’ve decided to compile a list of stuff that I thought is worth noting, I wanted to get my Video Game list done just because of all the great games I’ve played, so here is a bunch of things I wanted to write about.

Anime Of The Year

I’ve slightly toned down my anime watching to a point where I watch around 2 or 3 anime a season, also sadly due to evening work, I can’t go and see the anime films ‘All The Anime’ have brought out, meaning I’ve missed films like Napping Princess and In This Corner of the World. So before I reveal my favourite anime of the year, here some highlights of shows I wanted to talk about.

Winter: Konosuba S2 provided me with more laughs & is one shows where I can see all the production staff are having fun with the world and characters, it’s become much more than a guilty pleasure at this point. ACCA 13 was under my radar until I realized this was a Natsume Ono manga adaption done by studio MADHOUSE, is political intrigue and style while not spectacular interested me enough to watch till the end and Youjo Senki gave me a decent alternative World War 1 setting that provided me with some moments but lost me around the ending.

Spring: My Hero Academia Season 2 took a very entertaining Season one and turning around in this spectacular 2-cour series, I enjoyed it a ton and it’s nice to watch a Shonen show that has focus and a likeable cast of support characters. The Eccentric Family Season 2 continues to be fascinating in terms of character development and my good I can’t wait to go to Kyoto next year. While I enjoyed Rage Of Bahamut Season 2 for throughtout it’s run, even I started to see the flaws in the writing in the later stages of the season, which is a real shame because it would of been a contender for my favourite and Eromanga Sensei because it wouldn’t be a anime year without watching a trash show.

Summer: Yes, I enjoyed Gamers!, it got real frustrating but with all the romantic  misunderstandings but deep down I couldn’t really get that mad, the writing was alright and some scenes got good laughs out of me, it reminded me of Ben-to in a way, which I enjoyed quite a bit, no where near my top pick but should be praised at least. If I had a worst anime of the season, that would go to A Centaur’s Life which I dropped mid-way, then I was told about a certain thing about the backstory of that world which made me promise I will never watch it again.

Autumn: I haven’t been so hot on almost all the shows so far but Autumn had most of my favorites. Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond came back with a bang, providing more episodic adventures and situations which had so much energy put into them that I fully loved most of it, although there were times that I wished for a main plot. MMO Junkie was another big surprise for me this year and likely the most relatable that I really couldn’t stop watching it, love the characters and episode progression that it’s also up there as one of my favourites.

Movies: As for movies Yuasa’s The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl and Lu Over The Wall continue the trend of Yuasa being an incredible director to a point that i’ll watch anything he puts out. I finally watched Kizumonogatari pt3 and wasn’t disappointed and Resident Evil: Vendetta was the best worst anime I’ve seen in a long time.

So after all of that, my anime of the year show not surprise anyone who follows me on twitter:

Winner: Kemono Friends

Not since Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure have I gotten obsessed with an anime property but it seems like Kemono Friends had me along with so many anime fans around the world in it’s grasp, this low produced CGI anime had me laughing and charmed throughout it’s run, i’ve watched it so many times this year and the fan content has been crazy.

I just loved how the show takes what seems to be a children’s anime at first and gives a sense of mystery and intrigue as episodes go on and it’s all thanks to Tatsuki and his team for making such a compelling show.

Sadly Kemono Friends has suffered a blow near the end of 2017 due to stupid business decisions which leaves the anime in uncertain hands but no matter what, the 1st season of Kemono Friends will always have a place in my heart for years to come.

Best Magic The Gathering Set

Winner: Unstable

Since I’ve been playing Magic The Gathering for three years, I heard the stories of Un-sets and the positive reactions of drafting it, to many players, they had to wait 10 years for the next one, by the look of things and the sale numbers, Unstable was a complete success and since I have also drafted it, I can see why.

Unstable is weird, goofy and sometimes powerful if you get the right cards, it’s a set that has been thought of in terms of drafting and they got it spot on.

It was so good that I hope to draft it again one day, play with The Grand Calcutron again…..actually that sounds like a bad idea.

Best Molly moment of the year:

This dog continues to be cute.

Thanks for reading and see you all in 2018.

Reevo’s awards of 2017 – Top 5 Video Games

Yes, i’m still playing Overwatch

If last year started showed the end of the Call Of Duty over saturated, dark, serious video game period, then 2017 has pretty much thrown that out the window, giving one of the strongest years in video games to date, there are so many games I didn’t play this year that are being considered on so many peoples list, that I wish I could get some of my free time back before I gain two jobs.

Regardless I played a bunch of games this year, I also sadly had to watch playthroughs of some of them, for example I wanted to see what all the buzz that Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus had to offer due to it’s story and moments, I’m glad because it’s something that I could easily come across in articles one day, I hope to fully play the game in the near future. Also i’m super happy for Studio MDHR and there game Cuphead, ever since its trailer debut at E3 years ago, I was always hoping that the game would turn out good and it succeeded wonderfully, once again I had to watch a playthrough but watching that animation in play was totally worth it, I hope to purchase this as well.

One thing before I start discussing games I’ve played, can I just say – the Nintendo Switch is frickin amazing, it’s pretty much what I wanted to Wii U to be and more, I’ve put a lot of hours playing games on it and it really does help on the few long trips I’ve had this year, everytime I want to look at the Switch e-shop to buy something because of that portable usefulness, it’s an excellent system and I can’t wait to see what it will offer in the coming years

Just before I started to type this I wrote down a list of 12 games that I would consider to put on my top 5, I even wrote down Vroom in the Night Sky due to the amount of fun I had watching it during the Very Scary Scenario stream but took it straight off. Jackbox Party Pack 4 was a fun selection of games although I wasn’t into all of them, Fibbage 3 was excellent and I could play that at party’s or live steams in the years to come. Here are some short comment Honorable Mention nominees for the rest:

Golf Story: While I wanted a golf game to tide me over, I wasn’t expecting a Mario Golf/Earthbound hybrid. The game takes the formula from those games and thinks of new ideas to use, some of them are fun while some can be a bit frustrating, same goes for the story are well, it has that Earthbound humor, it can sometimes succeed in doing an unexpected rap on golf but it can fall flat at others, however Golf Story had me playing until the end and it does enough to make me smile. Best Indie game of the year for me.

Destiny 2: Destiny 2 is a worthy successor to the first game in many regards, the story elements are stronger and I felt that the end game in this was much more addictive and more fulfilling this time, I even tried The Raid for the 1st time thanks to my brother which provided me with the most nerve wracking and satisfying moments along with other games this year. But after 2-3 months, my clan and friends stopped playing it and so did I and Activision & Bungie have done a few naughty business practices in the days leading up to this, which is a shame, still, I will never forget those months of shooting many aliens.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: As I write this article, I finished Xenoblade 2 this afternoon after 170 hours full of gameplay, the game has a super addictive battle system and massive maps that left me exploring even if I had no quests in my queue, it’s a game that has so many mechanics, that I couldn’t stop looking at all the possibilites, what lets it down is the story and sadly the voice acting, not that both are terrible, there are moments in the story and the light-hearted british voices in the comedy did have me laughing at times but it’s a story that is pretty standard fair in most unspectacular JRPGS and the serious story beats fall flat for the most part. No matter what though, I still really enjoyed Xenoblade Chronicles 2 a whole lot.

Super Mario Odyssey: Cutting a proper Mario game off my actual list is kind of painful in many ways but I have to be honest in saying that once I beat Odyssey, I kind of explored the new content for a few hours then moved on, I had my time with it and that’s why put it here but no matter what, the game is wonderfully made and plays like a dream, there are also some fun surprises are you progress through the game, which makes me want to go back to it one day, it’s a game i’ll be keeping for a long time along with my Super Mario 64 copy.

Zelda: Breath Of The Wild: Zelda is a very strong number 6 but missed the cut for a few reasons, it suffered the same problem as Xenoblade in terms bland voice acting but the story while there, wasn’t a main part of what makes Breath Of The Wild special, so that was fine, apart from a few temples annoying me, the game is nothing like any Zelda game I’ve played in a while, it was like playing a cel-shaded 3rd person Skyrim and there was so many new things to find and to explore, it’s a game that has had so much praise but just didn’t have that impact on me compared to these games.

Now with that done, here is my 5 games i’ve played this year:

5. PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds

The Player Unknown Battlegrounds fever hit me as well this year in a strong way, I mostly blame Overwatch because I was off competitive games for a while and I seem to be back into them from now on, the game came out of left field with the people at Giant Bomb praising the hell out of it, it took me 2 months until I finally started to give it a go.

What I got is a thrilling, nervy game that I couldn’t stop playing, it’s one that I was determined to get that Chicken dinner, it was to a point that i’d play this every night after I got back home from work and play 1 or 2 games until I did.

The concept of a Battle Royle game and having 100 players shooting is something I’ve wanted since the old days of M.A.G back on the PS3 & while there must of been many PC game that have done this, Player Unknown Battlegrounds is the first for me to really hit the spot. The game is also more fun playing with a friend, although I apologies to that friend for sucking at shouting enemy positions.

Also i’m amazed that such a game in early access can be so successful but I have to admit, it’s a bit worrying if so many game developers start using the same methods, saying that, the game is really amazing for so many reasons.

4. Sonic Mania

Turns out when you give one of the most popular gaming mascots to a bunch of Sonic fans, you get one of the best Sonic games in years.

I’ve completed Sonic Mania three times now, if I had to chose a game that i’ve played on my Switch on the go this year, it’s this game, I just enjoy speeding through the levels, listening to the soundtrack, unlocking things play the Sonic 3 mini-game, getting the Chaos Emeralds for all the character modes, the game had so much replay value that I just had to keep playing.

I just love the way the creators took some of the old levels you knew like Act 1 Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant Zone put them into this with some minor tweaks and then do some new things with the Zones in Act 2, providing us with some of the best music remixes I’ve heard this year.

Sure a Mario game made me happy this year but hearing that a Sonic game made me happier is nuts, well done Sonic Mania, thank god you didn’t turn out to be another Forces.

3. Nier Automata

Nier Automata was so good that it made me go crazy, run up to me 360 collection grab my copy of Nier and scream “WHY HAVEN’T I COMPLETED YOU THE 7 YEARS I’VE HAD YOU” and then proceed to complete it.

I’m no stranger to Yoko Taro before Nier Automata came out, I’ve played all three Drakenguard games and found them to be extermly weird and different but they seem to have always left a connection with me, even if the combat in all these games have been decent at best.

Never would I have thought Platinum Games and Yoko Taro would take both strengths in game-play and storytelling, to provide one of the most thought provoking and memorable games of this late decade, it’s nuts that the game has had this kind of reaction for such a niche property.

I wanted to see everything the game had to offer, the Platinum Game combat is satisfying for the most part and that soundtrack is magnificent as well:

Also that Yoko Taro gameplay mix is there as well but it’s always apart of the story and I love it when it happens, some of those include 8-bit versions of certain tracks.

It’s a game that I might even replay again next year or hopefully a switch version alongside Bayonetta 3, I know that is not likely but game companies continue to do big surprises, so I hope this happens.

2. Persona 5

From what I saw and heard, I honestly thought Persona 5 would be number 1 unless another game came along to ruin that (it came before it, haha). It was everything I wanted from a Persona game this generation and i’m glad that the experience from Catherine paid off.

Overall it’s my favorite game this year in terms of world design and style, it oozes it and the jazz-soul inspired music also gels into that so well with it, it also has some of my favorite characters this year as well.

The things that just stop it from being number one is that some of the dungeons are a tad frustrating even if I love the ideas behind them, i’ve played this game twice this year just so I could see all the social links and get some of the New Game+ content as well, which is something I didn’t do this year

Great Story and Presentation for the most part and you have once again another amazing Persona game that Atlus can milk for years to come (I just hope it’s not as bad as Persona 4).

So with that, what is my favourite game of the year?

1. Yakuza Zero

I’ve been a huge fan of the Yakuza series for a very long time now, I remember loving 1 and 2 during the PS2 days, I got Yakuza 3 when my brother got a PS3 and finished it just as I sold and just as I got my own, I played Yakuza 4 thinking that would be the last English release Yakuza game i’ll play, somehow Sega woke up from there boring slumber and finally gave in and gave us Yakuza 5 two years ago, it took until January 2017 to localize and release Yakuza Zero in the west and by god i’m glad they did.

To me, Yakuza Zero is the perfect mix of what makes Yakuza so beloved while also offering new players to the Yakuza franchise a stepping stone, the story is amazing considering this is a prequel, it has some of the best sidequests of the year, the acting is amazing as it always is and I just love the 80’s aesthetic of the game, also not to mention the fun mini-games, looking after a real estate business, improving a hostess club all with it’s fair share of dialogue and moments.

The game also lets you play as Majima-

No i’m just going to leave that there, that makes this game even more awesome.

Yakuza Zero is my Game Of The Year because I generally thought that the game would be a side-game much like Yakuza Kiwami was, I love Yakuza Kiwami still but the flaws show in that game. Whereas Yakuza Zero feels fresh, exciting and incredible. Yakuza Zero was my GOTY in January and is my GOTY in 2017.

 

 

 

Aikatsu Review

Since I ended up with two part-time jobs, a majority of my weekday free-time has been taken away from me & tired evenings have become very apparent in the time I have been doing these work hours, so I needed to find something that would keep me relax, videos games for the most part help me with that, but you get to a point where that doesn’t cut it on a daily basis.

So I somehow came to the conclusion of “I need to watch a long anime series to help me chill a bit more”, I mean, this helped when I watched Hajime No Ippo years ago, picking it was difficult but due to discussions and twitter talk. I settled on a show that I haven’t really taken any notice to and that was Aikatsu.

The best way to describe my past on the idol genre is what I’ve already looked at, the closest I’ve come close is the Love Live franchise which like Aikatsu, is made by Sunrise, while being the more successful of the two, I’ve liked certain characters from the show rather than the idol music itself, the only track that comes to my head as I’m writing this is “Snow Halation” and that’s about it, I much prefer the goofy activities that both Love Live & Love Live Sunshine have to offer. Neither have I fully committed to checking out Idolm@ster or any other popular title in that vein, so Aikatsu had a lot to prove to me.

The premise of Aikatsu is simple, Middle School student Ichigo lives & works with her family at a bakery shop and helps her mother with certain chores, it’s that one day her best friend & idol fan Aoi, comes to her with some tickets to see the idol Mizuki at a concert, she agree to come and is entranced by the performance of the main act, Aoi after the concert suggests Ichigo & her apply to transfer to the Starlight Acadamy, a school for idols. While she makes a few stumbles in there application both of them pass & thus there true Aikatsu can begin.

I think the best way to process my thoughts on Aikatsu is to divide them into season runs, I mean there is a total of 178 episodes I’ve had to watch and I’ve been able to watch all of them including the 1st movie. So lets make a start:

Aikatsu S1 (Episodes 1 to 52)

Aikatsu made a bit of a wobble in ways I wasn’t expecting, I actually dug the music instead of the characters at first, Signalize & Calendar Girl are very catchy tunes & provides me and reassures me that the music in Aikatsu will be something I’d like, it’s the production values that had me worried at first, when I saw Ichigo’s Idol CGI design, I thought “Well surely that can’t bad throughout the show” and while I was obviously right (it’s gets a lot better) there was a moment of the 3 episode rule kicking in.

Thankfully the show started to hit it’s stride as it introduced characters like Ran & Yurika and the progression of Ichigo’s idol activities began to blossom, as all of the characters start to find what there best at, getting to know the designers which normally leads to them getting a premium dress and sprinkled in is some fun side episodes, like the Alice In Wonderland episode.

The biggest problem with this season is pretty much the top idol of the school and that is Mizuki, at first having her be so passionate about Aikatsu & a rival to Ichigo for almost all the season is not a bad idea if done correctly but she gets to a point where she wins any Aikatsu event she chooses to enter, making her severely uninteresting, it got to a point where I had to think of her as some kind of attitude complex, like saying “I’M MIZUKI BITCH, NO ONE TOUCHES ME, I’M INVINCIBLE” and unfortunately that doesn’t change through all this season.

However, the energy of the main/side cast & the surprising ending gave me enough reason to continue into the next season, maybe some major changes could happen.

Aikatsu S2 (Episodes 53 – 105)

With Ichigo leaving Starlight at the end of Season 1, Mizuki left Starlight, went into the Aikatsu business & formed the school with a random backstage employee of past popular idol group ‘Masqurade’ and formed a new idol school – Dream Acadamy, since then most of the Starlight idols are in there 3rd middle year, Otome being Starlight Queen (how!?) and there is no sign of Ichigo since her trip to the USA.

It is in this 1st episode of this season where Starlight & Dream have a face-off competition with upcoming idol Sera & Aoi who is feeling the pressure of being the top idol to face-off this Dream Acadamy Idol but no fear, Ichigo returns from America just before Aoi’s preformance starts & takes over from her, which leads the face-off to a draw, so with Ichigo back & a new rival school ahead.

Dream & Starlight are treated more as a friendly rivalry which Aikatsu has stuck with throughout it’s run & for the show to stick with that is actually really nice. The Dream Academy idols are a bunch of hits & misses, Yuu is by far the best in my view, which her “Ok, Ok, Ok” being my favorite idol catchphrase, Sera has the same problem I have with Ichigo & isn’t really that interesting, Sora I ended up liking due to her friendship with Ran and Maria is the worst for being forgettable and mentioning her cow a bunch which seems to be her boring quirk.

Season 2’s first half is mostly focused on Dream Acadamy while having some episodes for are core cast from Starlight, it’s a season where all of them start to mature to there Aikatsu strengths, Yurika has probably my favorite episode because you can see how much see has changed since Season 1 and how she has incorporated her vampire persona into products that you wouldn’t expect her to do.

This was also the time my Magic The Gathering fandom somehow ca,e into action & I started #MTGAikatsu on Twitter, providing custom made cards from me & old cards from MTG past, it’s been a fun thing to do & I hope to start an actual twitter account once I reach a certain amount.

Second half of the season has some of my favorite moments in Aikatsu – Ichigo, Aoi & Ran are chosen to become Aikatsu judges for the Idol caravan show, think X-factor without any of the drama, Akari who appears on stage who in a state of extreme nervousness, calls herself Ichigo and ends up giving a heartfelt speech on how amazing her favorite idol is, then comes the CGI performance.

Compared to the early stages of Season 1, the CGI Idol performances have come a long way, the show does a decent job showing that Akari’s performance is both vocally inept and all over the place but her never give up attitude is admirable & Ichigo sees that in her, it’s enough to see her get a place at Starlight Academy. That doesn’t mean that she automatically gets a free pass on becoming an idol, Akari really does struggle in nearly all these episodes & to that makes her extremely relatable to a point where I can say that she is one of the best characters in Aikatsu, because of this and future development.

Mizuki once again betrays and leaves Dream Acadamy to not only get back into Aikatsu but sets up her new company & forms a duo group with flower otaku Mikura and once again becomes a unstoppable idol throughout these episodes, it’s until the last episodes that Ichigo & Sera 2wingS group beats Mizuki’s group in the finals, which will I admit, felt pretty satisfying.

It all ends in Ichigo & the rest of the 3rd years graduating and moving to there new school, well, it’s actually another part of Starlight Academy, still season 3 could of done anything and it ended up being a bit of a surprise.

Season 3 (Episodes 106 – 158)

If I had to rate seasons, S3 is perhaps my favorite overall, it provides a new fresh of paint with new idols for Starlight Academy that I connected a lot more while also providing some of my favorite Aikatsu music. Akari is now the main character while Ichigo provides more of a supporting role, Sumire & Hinaki the best friends to Akari this season and are extremely solid characters, I like Juri a whole lot although her catchphrase “[Spanish], in other words …” is a little overboard, great Jojo poses though.

I think because of the amount of experience the Aikatsu producers have had, most of the episodes provide depth while also giving us some really fun episodes even if the first half of the season hints of beats that where shown in Season 1.

If there is some criticism that I can give this season overall, is that Dream Acadamy is treated as if it never existed, accept for one or two episodes which really is more of a comedy episode, it’s really strange that a major component of Season 2 & the Dream Academy idols were disposed of. Instead Season 3 uses the school exchange program to bring over two idols through the season, 1 decent the other…..well, I’ll talk about her in a future article.

The other 2nd half of the season once again introduces new characters to the Academy, one being Rin, who is known for her street dancing & Madoka who is the grand daughter of Angely Suger designer, Madoka is fairly forgettable overall but Rin is amazing, not only is she in the idol groups Dancing Diva with Sumire, she’s in Vanilla Chilli Pepper as well which both contain some of my favorite music , she also allows and is apart of Johnny Bepp (a long time tutor to Starlight Acadamy) backstory, which was nice to see, since for most of the series, he’s treated as more of a joke character but gets some much needed depth.

The enjoyment factor was hitting all sides really, it was a great overall, I was just hoping the last season would continue that.

Season 4 (Episodes 159 – 178)

I was a bit worried at the start of Season 4 due to the reduced number of episodes & the introduction to the Potato Girl Idols, question was will it all be rushed & sadly yes, those new idols do get maybe a select few of episodes around the 1st 13 episodes, it’s the last 13 episodes where Aikatsu seems to ramp up it’s finale and in unexpected ways.

Firstly I was fully expecting every single idol from the whole of Aikatsu to get some kind of spotlight & then one big festival celebration with something like a Aikatsu 8 performance . However that wasn’t the case, instead most of finale focuses on the years Starlight Queen tournament, which ends up being much of a big deal this time, making it look like it’s an Olympic event & with the majority of the S1 & S2 cast out of it, it provides the new idols with an equal playing field.

The build up to the Starlight Queen tourney was good overall, I kinda like how Mikuru is reintroduced to Aikatsu, I feel like the writers did a decent job on making her a bit more likeable compared to Season 2 and everyone getting there ultimate Cords was entertaining enough.

So yes, the big event happens, our main idols do there performances & most of them get top rankings, it’s all a bit predictable until the 2nd to last episode, which was one of the biggest gut punches Aikatsu has provided, it’s very debatable if this was forced drama to spice up the ending but I feel that moment makes Aikastu feel a bit more realistic & makes the characters more human, things like this happen and for that I feel like this will be an unforgettable moment for me.

If I had a tiny nick pick, it made the ending even more predictable but regardless, it was well deserved and really sweet as well, it was a satisfying send off to a series that had a bit of a rocky start but it pulled of some really entertaining & uplifting episodes, if I had to score it then I’d give it in-between 7 and 8, but I have become a fan of the show, which I never expected due to my lukewarm feelings towards Love Live.

So I’m planning to do one more article on Aikatsu before I start writing about Aikatsu Stars, hopefully I can catch up with Stars before the year ends, so yeah, here is my recommendation to watch the show.

 

 

I Play PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds Like A Metal Gear Solid Game.

I decided to talk about my experiences playing early access hit PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds because I’m probably playing the game much different than most players and because of this, not only am I enjoying the game in a strange way but I’m also finding success with top 10 finishes and a few chicken dinners.

Lets just get this out of the way, so far, I suck at Battlegrounds, my kill rate averages around 1 kill per game, I lose the edge on my opponents, they kill me with ease most of the time and lets not talk about the accidental kills I’ve done.

So what I decided to do is have a think about my play style and learn things my opponents DON’T do & what spots are never searched. Thus, with my new found strategy, I gave it a shot.

This involves a lot of planning and I will admit – Luck, I always seem to stick to the south island near the bridges and boating to different places so my opponents don’t see me, then when the circle closes in, I either crouch walk or prone, depending on the situation.

Sadly, my nerves start to kick in around top 10, but I’ve done well to get these high place finishes whenever I can, some of my favorite moments involve these heated battles.

It was this week on Tuesday is where my strategy saw success getting my first ‘Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!’, basically I stuck to my role, I managed get a lucky kill somewhere along the way & my final opponent hid behind a tree while I prone snuck to the safe circle while my opponent was stuck outside it and in a panic ran straight towards me & get me that game win.

PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds truly makes that moment feel special somehow, it’s one of my moments in gaming, just the way I shout “YES!” ten-twenty times.

I kind of thought more about it more now & I thought “Hey, I’m playing this like a Metal Gear Solid” game, it really did hit me, I’m playing PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds like a stealth game.

I’m grabbing useful weapons (Although I hardly use them), I’m trying my darn hardest not to get spotted and I’m hiding in the grass much like I was doing in MGS3.

I kind of what to stick to this play style as long as I can, it fits me like a glove, I got my 2nd Chicken dinner yesterday, thanks to my last 2 opponents pretty much killing each other near the hospital.

So I’ve made my mark, maybe I’ll start turning on the MGS theme or Snake Eater while I play more often.

 

Reevo’s awards of 2016

 

Yep, this year was bad for multiple reasons but in terms of myself, I’ve had a decent one where I have gone through job changes & catching up on old video games that I’ve forgot to play.

Still, I wanted to write about some of the highlights of this year because it’s been a very good year for video games & anime especially, so here is a bunch of personal awards categories I wanted to do.

Anime Of The Year

The anime I’ve watched this year is strong, I did catch up on some of the more popular shows that have grace 2016, one of them surprisingly watch Dragonball Super, which has tickled my nostalgia bones while also providing some entertaining new content after some lousy re-cap movie episodes & Lupin The Third (2015) having some of the best single episodes of the year.

Honorable Mentions

First lets start off with Mob Psycho 100, a solid team-up with Mangaka ONE & Studio BONES that didn’t disappoint in the animation department, Mob is one of the most relatable protagonists of 2016 and the story is mostly about how he doesn’t rely on his massive psychic powers & to better himself without them, a solid show.

If I were to give an award to “Studio that snapped out of being bad”, it would have to be DEEN because Konosuba & Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu are great shows that gave me a mix of great comedy & the other tense drama, it’s surprising that they balanced this during the Winter season, I find flaws in them but I can’t wait for both of there season 2’s.

Western influenced anime also came in strong this year with both Joker Game & 91 Days providing some spy & gangster stories that were entertaining to watch, some very grim set-pieces, I really want to see these dubbed & I hope to see more in the future.

Lastly, Girls Und Panzer: Der Film continued the tradition of blowing up tanks while providing some funny moments, Your Name was beautiful & heartwarming, A Silent Voice is the best anime Kyoto Animation have done since The Disapperance Of Haruhi and Kizumonogatari Film 1 & 2 was everything I wanted a film version of the franchise & the best films I saw this year, before I name my actual anime of the year.

Winner Of Anime Of The Year But Isn’t Actually “Anime” Of The Year

Thunderbolt Fantasy

If this counted as an anime, Thunderbolt Fantasy would of been a very strong favorite but I’m going to  give it this anyway because my god I love this show, it’s puppetry direction is awe-aspiring, I like the new CGI Thunderbird re-boot but this knocks it out of the park.

It’s mostly thanks to Gen Urobuchi who continues to be one of the polarizing writers in anime but making this show must of been a risk but it looks like it paid off due its sales.

It’s action is wonderfully crafted, the music is amazing & the characters are likable and unpredictable, I can praise the show for a while but since a 2nd project is happening in the future, lets leave it at that, go watch it.

Winner

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond Is Unbreakable 

Although Part 3 wasn’t amazing to a point where I would of been giving it this award, the anime adaption of Part 4 was a huge success I thought, it was the anime that I watched as soon as I came home from my evening hours on Friday.

Having a full year of Diamond Is Unbreakable was pure joy since I would watch Jotaro’s adventures are be totally entertained, plus we got to see one of the most refreshing villains after a solid run of total evil characters in Stardust Crusaders.

Great Days is also my Opening of the year with some great visual & a fantastic theme to go along with it, I will miss Jojo again for maybe a year or two but I will be back for Part 5 when that happens.

Game Of The Year

Honorable Mentions

I have been missing out on most of the great games that have come out this year but since this came out in January, Trails of Cold Steel is a good JRPG which worried me at the start because it would rely too much as a Persona/Tales of style game but I was proven wrong since I liked the characters, the battle system & it’s world, one of my best moments of that game was at the end where I was like “Is this actually happening!?”, I’m currently playing the 2nd game, so I hope this one gets even better.

For western games, DOOM and Hitman provided the best surprises of my year, Hitman I was the most worried about due to it’s unusual release schedule, I kept saying to my brother that it will be a stripped down game, turns out that they provided some of the best sandbox Hitman levels ever & best Hitman game ever and I was really happy with this & Doom’s Campaign is amazing & Fun.

Lastly Phoenix Wright 6: Spirits Of Justice came in 2nd, due to it’s solid cases & some of the best story twists & turns I’ve experienced.

And Yay! Final fantasy XV didn’t suck!

Winner

Overwatch

This game man, THIS GAME.

Spent way too much time on this game, previously I was addicted to Counter Strike Source, Guild Wars & Team Fortress 2 and now this comes along and takes most of my free time away.

Overwatch is the very first Bizzard game that I have truly fell in love with, all the characters are fun to use, the game never punishes you when you play badly, the learning curve is rewarding and I just deeply love this game and I will continue to play it.

Also Zenyatta is the best.

Now some small categories:

Magic The Gathering Set Of The Year

Kaladesh

Close between Conspiracy 2 but I’m really enjoying what I’ve played of the new standard set, lotter scotter and all.

I also spent alot of money to finish my Modern deck this year.

I should not do this….

Molly moment of the year

I love you Molly.

That’s about it for me, have a good New Year, get to 2017 so we can enjoy Persona 5 finally.

 

Me and my birthmark

I kind of wanted to create this blog post for a while now, I hardly write any of my social life on any media or the blog posts i’ve created on hear, still I wanted to write about something that i’ve had for all my life and that is my birthmark.

I was born with a mole on the right side of my mouth, my parents never really said anything about it when I was an infant and neither did I really, everyone treated me as normally and obviously that was expected.

The same can be said for most of my primary school life in Erdington, although questions started to pop up on it like “What’s that on your mouth” and I would always say that “It’s a birthmark” and nothing else.

It wasn’t until secondary school where things really started to get bad and bullying came into effect, I also hardly made any friends, I did make one but he made me into a bit of an idiot and we fell out in a year.

My parents offered me to remove the mole if I wanted but I refused due to – 1) Not wanting to go to a hospital. 2) Didn’t want them to pay a ton of money for it.

Secondary School got better in Birmingham surprisingly and met a group of really good friends that got me into rock music but I soon transferred to the countryside in 2002 and where I’m living now.

The 2nd half of Secondary School in a new school again was a mix of my awkward behavior which lead me to being took the mick out of but the overall worst of it came around 2002 -2004.

You see, in 2002 there was a sequel movie that came out – Austin Powers in Goldmember that was extremely popular with teenagers around my age:

It wasn’t long until kids, young & old teenagers at school or in towns started to do the “MOLELY,MOLELY,MOLELY,MOLELY” joke to me and it was insufferable for a while, I’d hear it every week, I still liked that movie when I watched it in the end but I really hated what that movie did to my social life.

This never stopped me going to school though, maybe I asked for a few sick days but I never suffered any depression, I think that’s thanks to video games actually.

Thankfully the rest of my school life got much better once everyone stopped watching it, I still got the mole joke occasionally but I met friends that defended me from it.

Now-a-days I’m really glad that I never got it removed, it’s something that makes me easily recognizable to anyone that hasn’t personally met me before, especially on twitter.

I’m kind of thankful that I have it now and long may it stay there.

 

 

My Thoughts On Undertale.

Since I played Undertale, I’ve noticed a bunch of let’s play’s and reviews that have featured this, it’s one of the most talked about indie games of last year, so I decided to write my thoughts on the game and my feelings towards it.

When it was released back in September, I did see plenty of praise from critics but I didn’t take any notice, mostly due to the art design, I have played a bunch of retro style plat-formers throughout the years and seeing another 16-bit inspired game didn’t interest me, plus it was pitched to me being a tribute to Earthbound, which I never played (I will soon).

It wasn’t until small internet talk and twitter re-tweets when I finally started to take notice, the only thing I knew before is the character Papyrus and his design, obviously there must of been much more to that character rather then him looking like a superhero skeleton, so I decided to wait for a Steam sale.

During the Winter Steam sale, I finally bought it and installed it, ready to play, thankfully I still felt like I  didn’t know what this game was going to offer me, except for maybe watching the 1st 10 minutes of the Giant Bomb Quick Look.

I played through Undertale as any other RPG, I knew there was a ‘Spare’ mechanic but I wasn’t shy to fight some of the monsters that came my way, again playing it as it was a normal game. Obviously I was exploring, talking to NPC’s and really liking the comedy that was offered, so I was enjoying the early parts of the game.

It was until a boss at the mid-point of the game where I got a certain phone-call where I finally thought “Am I playing this game right or is it just me?”, It was the first time I went back to a boss and looked at the battle a different way and felt rewarded for it.

After that I decided to save all the monsters until I got to the end game, even taking my time on the boss battles (Game Over’s were plenty) until I got to the end game stuff.

The soundtrack was also going in high gear, I love most of the late game music of Undertale, there is a moment where you walk through a long section of the game and I could feel goosebumps in my chest.

Then there is the big twist at the end of Undertale that legit shocked me, it reminded me that playing the start of the game as a normal RPG had a consequence, this led me to the end and boy what an ending it is, once I finished the game I saw my dad and said, “What the hell did I just experience” and let the game for a day.

I went back to it and played through the game a 2nd time, noticing some differences to this new play through, noticing new conversion options and finishing the game with a totally new ending I didn’t know about.

As you can see, I’m trying my hardest not to spoil Undertale in this article because I wanted to explain why I felt like this was the best way to experience the game, it certainly made my best games of 2015, I listen to the soundtrack a lot in my car and I enjoy talking about the game to different people.

My problem with Undertale now, is that after the 2nd playthrough, is that I won’t play the game for a long time, I have experienced everything it has to offer and going back to it will probably be a bad idea, unlike my overall favourite game of last year – Yakuza 5,  where I can easily experience that game again and enjoy the side-quests, I don’t well the same way towards this, I feel similarly to Telltale’s ‘The Walking Dead’ or ‘Shadow of the Colossus’.

Obviously because of that, I don’t believe Undertale is the best game ever made but I’m sure glad it exists.

Ranking the 25 Ninja Slayer Ending themes.

For me, there is no question that Ninja Slayer From Animation provided some of the best Ending themes of the year and should be recognized for that, sure all that is animated is a up crawl between some buildings with some of the characters that are featured in a certain episode and it’s nothing compared to something like Blood Blockade Battlefront ending.

So since I’m going to be home for all of New Years Eve, I’m going to finish the year off by ranking all the Ninja Slayer Endings and providing my thoughts on all of them, sadly I can’t link all of the tracks on here but you can check the TV versions out on Viewster or Funimation.

So lets start this WASSHOI!

#25 – Episode 12 – NEO CYBER MADNESS by skillkills

This is at the bottom because this song just goes over my head, plus rap isn’t my favorite genre to listen to, this song is just messy and I after multiple listens, I can’t get into it, there is nothing in this song that interests me, sorry Skillkills.

#24 – Episode 20 – Doro no Ame by Ningen Isu

One of the slowest endings of Ninja Slayer and one of my least favorite, not to say that this song is bad at all, the vocals are good and when it hits it’s groove, it can be entertaining but it hits a brick wall by the end of it, it’s a frustrating song and I just can’t get into it but that can just be my taste

#23 – Episode 24 – KHAKKHARA by Sawagi

The first of are instrumentals, the theme has a electronic build-up that succeeds in making you bang your head, the drumming is pretty frikken sweet as well, especially at the end of the song, it’s biggest problem is that the full version does the exact same thing twice which unfortunately makes this more forgettable compared to most on this list, thus why it’s at 24.

#22 – Episode 14 – Mondana (NINJA MIX)  by Akai Koen

Mondana is the closest being a ‘generic ED J-pop theme’ but it being a Ninja Mix helps the song alot, the mix of instruments you would here in Ninja media helps the song be more than that but all it does is make it decent.

#21 – Episode 21 – Hight Speed by MOJA

The last ‘decent’ song on my list is Hight Speed, it’s a nuts song at the start but it randomly fumbles around half-way until it picks up again, its just that bit that ruins an otherwise good hard rock song.

#20 – Episode 10: Jag Jag by Sawagi

I like this one more than Sawagi’s other entry but it’s still a bit bland to listen to, it’s got some good build-up, I like the riff and how the song explodes with instruments at the mid-point but that’s about it.

#19 – Episode 05 – RADIO by 6EYES

This one has grown on me, the vocals aren’t the best but I love the instrumental that happens at the end of the song, it has this pretty sweet guitar solo and with a hard hitting ending, I like it.

#18 – Episode 25 – JETT REASON by Guitar Wolf

I have no idea how this song has made it to this spot but hey, shows that I like mental punk rock, featured in the parody ‘re-cap’ episode, this song is insane, Guitar Wolf go all out with this theme, what you are listening to is actually the full song of it, I sometimes wish what a longer version would be like, maybe I shouldn’t be wishing for that.

#17 – Episode 19 – Alone by SCAM CIRCLE

Mellow as hell this theme, an electronic instrumental that features a interesting addition of xylophone (or chimes, i’m not 100% sure), it really sells the song, a good song to put on some headphones and relax.

#16 – Episode 13: “Purple My Ghost” by Drop’s (ep 13)

Some really cool soul rock next for anyone into that, Drop’s female vocalist sounds really good here and while it could be higher, I just don’t listen to it compared to others on here, it’s good stuff.

#15 – Episode 11: Aurashi No Ken by Boris 

I like Boris Instrumental track more for it’s full ED version which is full of YEEART’S and YEEEEEEEEEART’S, forgive me, at least it’s a good head banger.

#14 – Episode 09: Hide by 80KIDZ

Hide is a mechanical raw instrumental theme, it’s grown on me quite a bit, it can be a bit repetitive which is a slight flaw but I enjoy listening to it in my car.

#13 – Episode 18 – Dr.K by taffy

I like Taffy alot and hearing that they would be doing a 2nd ending, I was excited to hear what they would put out, it’s not as good as the 1st ED they did but it’s still a charming little song.

#12 – Episode 17 – TEAR OF THE PIERROT by MINE (ep 17)

Much like my thoughts on Mondana, this feels like another boring J-pop song however, this is such a guilty pleasure, I love this guitar in this song, it’s amazing, it’s also vocally pleasing and doesn’t outstay it’s welcome on the full ED, I really like this one.

#11 – Episode 07 – Ninja Prayer by Shinichi Osawa

What I really like about this theme is it’s simplicity, a very quiet theme that sounds really good, probably my favorite out of the electronic instrumentals, great to hum to as well.

#10 – Episode 15 – Fantastic Magic by TK from Ling Tosite SIGURE

Top 10 is where it became very difficult to rank, Fantastic Magic is at number 10 due to it sounding like another TK track, it’s still a brilliant track though, it has that energy especially in the chorus. I was even surprised that he even had a ED on Ninja Slayer.

#9 – Episode 22 – Sick Hack- Ninsatsu Ver. by memento mori

I must again evoke again that I’m not a fan of rap but I do really like it in this track, it’s actually a rock song I would listen to in the 90’s, the full track is totally worth listening to, full of energy and soul, it’s really good stuff.

#8 – Episode 8 – Suicidal Bunny by taffy

The best Taffy song, at first I thought the drone guitars and the vocals didn’t fit this but it’s grown on my throughout the summer, I also like how the chorus builds up, worth hunting down the full version of this.

#7 – Episode 6 – Ninja Slayer by ELECTRIC EEL SHOCK

(Slayer)
I’M YOUR SLAYER
(Slayer)
I’M A NINJA SLAYER

#6 – Episode 1 (and 26) – Kilmister by Boris

Boris brought there A-game to the first Ninja Slayer ED, if this was going to be the only ending a Ninja Slayer, I would of been satisfied, full rock’n’roll which make me shout “WOO!” during it, love it.

#5 – Episode 16 – NINJA SOUL by GEEKS

This song is amazing, a bit of Queen in there surprisingly but it’s a full on rock song, it very rarely stops and I love it, one of the best ED’s of the second half of Ninja Slayer alongside one of my controversial picks…

#4 – Episode 23 – Body by Lillies and Remains 

… you see I love Interpol, Joy Division, Editors which are all similar in sound, same now goes to Lillies and Remains, this song is really cool and I love it to bits, it’s also one of the songs that is fully English, sure there is more entertaining tracks above but somehow I can’t stop listening to this.

#3 – Episode 3 – Gekijou Shihainin no Theme by The Pinballs

This was my overall favorite song for a long time, I would listen to the TV version of this song a ton and I still love it’s energy, after listening to the Full version, it hasn’t wow’ed me as much as the 1st listen but it’s still brilliant

#2 – Episode 2 – Halo Of Sorrow From ANIMATION by Melt-Banana

I thought Boris’s ED was great, then I heard this a week later and boy I was blown away, this is what I wanted to see more from anime endings and Trigger delivered by allowing Melt-banana to make a track, I love how insane this track is and I am firmly a fan of this band now.

#1 – Episode 4 – SRKEEN by 8otto 

This track is pure funk rock & I can listen to this track for months and never get bored of it, the full track of this song is phenomenal, the chorus is catchy which makes me shout “OH YEAH!, OH YEAH!”, it’s easily my favorite ending of Ninja Slayer.

Sadly I don’t think we will get a 2nd season of Ninja Slayer but if they do, I really hope they do something similar, most of the music is varied and fun to listen to, I have purchased both the ED compilation albums and will be in my collection for a very long time.

I just wanted to share my thoughts on this, Happy New Year to everyone!

Thunderbirds are GO! episode 8 – 2060: A Space Odyssey

Last episode we discovered that a rogue AI that John Tracy was working on has been set loose, now it has returned to Thunderbird 5 to cause John some problems.

The episode begins with the rogue AI named ‘EOS’ has fooled John into going outside of Thunderbird 5 and it locks John so he can’t get in, the AI then takes over the communication’s of the space station and uses a fake John hologram to report to the International rescue base, that everything is fine.

John himself tries to find way to warn that the AI has taken over Thunderbird 5,  including giving signals to Lady Penelope and after a couple of attempts, they finally figure of what has happened and Alan in Thunderbird 3 is launched to rescue John and to stop this AI.

This episode really did feel like a kids version of Space Odyssey, except for the ending I guess, it’s cool that we actually see John is danger in this episode, plus we see the way he lives on the ship which was nice.

I actually thought for a moment that this episode was going to be a 2-parter after they found out that the AI had taken over Thunderbird 5 but the episode resolved fairly quickly, I actually did like how it ended, even if it’s hard to believe on what John did to the AI.

The show also did International Rescue base scenes pretty well, we also see a small glimpse of Thunderbird S doing some patrol, coming reboot, I want to see that darn thing in action!

Anyway, next week is a weekend double-bill, so more Thunderbirds to write about hurrah!

Thunderbirds are GO! episode 7 – Trains & Celebrity Alligator Wrestling

Celebrity Alligator Wrestling anime when, this better happen in 45 years Japan!

Anyway, today’s rescue involves a runaway superconductor train in Japan, brakes won’t work, soon to bash into the nearest passenger train, you get the idea.

Since the train can’t be shut down functions are blocked from the outside after John’s attempts to turn the brakes back on, so the train needs to be manually stopped, Scott who is the only one free to attempt the rescue asks for Brains help, not just as vocal support but personal as well, Brain’s response to coming along for the rescue takes much convincing but they head off in Thunderbird 1 to stop it.

From what I remember from this episode, Brain’s was slightly annoying, sure he show’s signs of nervousness and that’s understandable but just talking all the time got real tiresome.

Another thing that’s slightly frustrated in this reboot is the side-character voice acting, for example the train driver never sound’s Japanese, instead he has a Italian wise-guy voice that sounds really out of place.

However, there was some good stuff in this episode, while I like The Hood a lot, I’m glad that he wasn’t involved in this scenario, instead the cause of it was some kind of rogue AI that John attempted on a while ago & now it’s loose.

As for the rescue, I still can’t complain about this one, so far they continue to be thrilling although I always know that everything is alright in the end, again I just feel like Brain’s ramblings made me dislike bits of the episode.

So another good episode of the reboot, next time we will be heading back to SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.