Berserk

With one big push of nine episodes, I finally completed watching Berserk. While I had great time watching it, I found the end rather unsatisfying. Guess I just have to read the manga to see what really happens.

As of now, Berserk is almost ten years old already. I don’t know wheter I should call it old or not, but the most of animes I watch are from 2000 or newer than that. I rarely watch anything from the nineties, so I guess I could say it’s old. None the less, I found Berserk much more visually appealing than modern animes. The colours are stong unlike the pale colours used in all the modern anime. The animation was usually good, but there were too many of still images which is sometimes kind of dull.

Except the end, I don’t really have anything to complain about the story. War is not exactly my favourite subject for a story and though it wasn’t too deep, it was still interesting enough to keep me watching. Berserk is one of those animes that has very strong main character. Guts has always been fighting to stay alive and thus he know little of anything else. When he meets Griffith he begins to change slowly. It’s rare to see characters that actually develop in action animes, but I think that Guts from the beginning of Berserk is all different from what he turns out to be and this is great.

Berserk is quite a good anime, but I still wouldn’t say it’s a must-see. For fans of fantasy, action and war Berserk is a pretty solid pick, but I don’t think it’s one of those “something for everyone” animes like Cowboy Bebop and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya to name a few. Then again, adding something like comedy elements to Berserk would probably ruin it. Berserk is good just the way it is, but not obligatory masterpiece that every anime fan has to see.

Ichigo Mashimaro vol. 2 & 3

You can find the basic information of this series already from the review of the first volume so there’s no point to write it here again.

Volume 2 introduces us a new character, Ana Coppola from United Kingdom. She’s a good character, but I like all the characters so much that it’s impossible to pick a favourite. They all have their own charm. I prefer volume 2 to vol. 1 but it’s still not quite there. The artwork is quite good already but the stories are not Barasui’s best.

Volume 3 is a whole different case. That artwork’s great and the stories are some of the best in the entire series. I’d say that volume 3 is epitome of what makes Ichigo Mashimaro so great. Extremely cute and funny characters, great slice-of-life stories and beautiful artwork. Vol. 3 is definitely the best book so far!

I also noticed that Chika is reading Dragonball (You can see the logo on pg. 75 and on pg. 159 there’s one panel featuring character that looks like Freeza and you can see the cover of that book on pg. 162) and Dengeki Daioh (a monthly magazine where Ichigo Mashimaro is serialized in). Noticing pointless little details like those is what being otaku is all about! At least that’s what I think…

I find Chika kind of plain and quiet character who doesn’t really stand out. She’s the type who is made to stand out by others, in her case mostly Miu and Nobue. Little details like having her read Dragonball make her a whole lot more interesting as they make her character deeper. And she’s definitely the most normal of the bunch, without her Ichigo Mashimaro would get too weird and that wouldn’t be good. That’s why I like Chika and everyone else just the way they are.

Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho: Tou – Episode 6 (spoilers)

Continueing directly from where episode 5 ended, Aoi is still in coma. Kyoko sees news about this incident where students have fallen to coma and figures out who the suspect is, Aoi is saved and so on… Wow this is probably the first time I’m writing a deep analysis of the plot. Guess I should do this more often.

This episode was pretty good in my opinion. I’ve always been extremely annoyed by Kyoko, but I’ve been beginning to like her after seeing last few episodes. She’s still annoying but she’s not that bad really.

When I saw the first episode I was fascinated by the interesting character designs but they’re starting to look somewhat plain already. The characters just aren’t deep enough, but mayby they will develop more personality later on. Then again, anime characters, particularly characters of shonen anime, are usually visually appealing but otherwise quite boring.

Dobu Usagi – 幻葬旋律曲 Necromanza

幻葬旋律曲 Necromanza (gensō senritsukyoku Necromanza) is Dobu Usagi’s arranged version of Perfect Cherry Blossom’s sound track including most of PCB’s key tracks. Like dBu’s arranges in general, the arranged tracks are true to the original ones. Most of the tracks can be catogorized under synth-rock with few slight exceptations.

Dobu Usagi is one of my favourite Touhou music arrangers. I think it’s mostly because dBu’s arranges are true to the originals but they’re usually a little faster and use more guitars and other stuff like that. However this is also one of dBu’s weaknesses: while some other arrangers like those artists who arranged IOSYS’s albums and Angelic Quasar go pretty far from the originals with their bold interpretations of Touhou music, dBu’s arranges are very unsurprising in general. Wheter that’s good or bad is everyone’s personal opinion.

While this album has a handful of really great tracks, there are too many of those plain ones that just don’t stand out enough. There are not any particularly bad tracks that’d ruin the mood but most of the tracks are just not great enough to make this album really great like Touhou Tsuki Tourou. Still, it’s something I’d recommend to anyone who likes PCB’s sound track or dBu’s arranges in general. Not quite a must have but it’s something every Touhou fan should have.

Standout Tracks

2. 雪化結晶　～ Crystallized Silver
Letty Whiterock’s theme has always been my favourite track in Perfect Cherry Blossom and this arrange does it no wrong. Like most of dBu’s arranges, it’s fast-paced, intense and uses lots of guitars.

5. 人形裁判　～ 人の形弄びし少女
While IOSYS’s interpretation of Alice Margatroid’s theme (Marisa Stole the Precious Thing) was very light and fun, dBu’s version is much heavier and darker. It’s fascinating how one track can be arranged so differently, yet they both remain true to the original.

6. 騒霊樂団　～ Phantom Ensemble
I’ve never been a particular fan of this song but I really like this version of it. There’s lots of cacophonic parts with multiple different melodies played simultaneosly. I like this kind of songs.

12 . 少女幻葬戦慄曲　～　Necro Fantasia
Unquestionably the best track on this album. This song is insanely fast and intense. I’m at loss of words here so you’d better just hear it yourself. This track’s definitely a must-listen to any fan of Touhou music.

ACID – 0:00 A.M./花吹雪

0:00 A.M./花吹雪 by ACID is the OP/ED single for Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho: Tou. It has both the opening theme 0:00 A.M., the ending theme 花吹雪 (Hanafubuki) and their instrumental versions. I’ll review both tracks separately.

0:00 A.M. – When I first heard this song in the anime, I thought it has to be performed by some visual kei band and I was right. It’s a sort of typical J-rock song with some trash/death-metal elements, but it’s J-rock none the less. Not exactly my favourite opening theme but it’s still good enough to be listened.

花吹雪 – This one has more balladish sound to it. It’s a lot more calm and melodic than 0:00 A.M. while still being quite heavy. Good song all together but just a bit too plain. Doesn’t stand out very much.

I’d call this an average single. Both 0:00 A.M. and 花吹雪 are rather generic J-rock songs. Neither of them are very special or unique, but neither of them are any bad either. If you find TV version of either track enjoyable, you’ll probably like this single. And the instrumental versions are actually pretty good which is quite rare.

Ichigo Mashimaro OVA 1

Finally, the first episode of Ichigo Mashimaro OVA is here! I can definitely say that it fulfilled all my expectations. The animation was great, the characters looked and acted cute as usual and it was very funny. Like in the TV anime, the stories don’t follow the manga directly but they take stuff from here and there to make a sort of original story.

I don’t believe I’d exaggerate, if I was to say that Ichigo Mashimaro is all about cute and funny. It’s one of those animes where you can forget all your worries and troubles and just enjoy yourself. Sure it’s not made for people who like action and drama over all, but I think it’s something everyone should be able to find enjoyable.

Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho: Tou – Episodes 3-5 (spoilers)

The things have gotten a lot clearer lately and I think I’m finally getting a hang of what’s going on. I’m gonna explain stuff here so it’s not possible to avoid spoilers this time.

Apparently the main characters gained their mysterious powers in episode 2 (which happens before episode 1) as they fought a demon in the old school building. Other people have gained powers similiar to theirs. Also it seems to be that the red-white haired bad guy is able to turn people into demons. As to why all of this is happening… well, that hasn’t been explained yet, but it’s not like villains in anime have ever needed reasons to turn people into demons or stuff.

While I didn’t really like the 3rd and the 4th episode, the 5th one was pretty good. There wasn’t any action but lots of stuff was explained instead. Of course there’s still lots of stuff to be explained, but things aren’t that confusing anymore.

SaiGar 2007 – The Champion has been decided

SaiGar 2007, “the tournament to find the most bad-ass, manliest character in Anime today” to directly quote the website, has now come to an end. And the champion is… Guts from Berserk. Not exactly the one I was hoping to win (that’d been Manji or Kenshiro) but no hard feelings. Guess I should finally finish watching Berserk.

Here’s the bracket of the finals.

Berserk (PS2) Opening, possibly one of the coolest opening videos ever.

Final Fantasy XII – First Thoughts (spoilers)

To be honest I never really waited for this game. I was huge fan of FF-games when I was younger but I haven’t been so lately. Never the less I wanted to try out this game. Here are some of my thoughts of the game so far.

The Story

First of all, it’s definitely been inspired by the old Star Wars. With all the ships flying around, world at war and marching soldiers in heavy armours, nothing else really comes to my mind except Star Wars. I’ve only played for sixteen hours of which I’ve been messing around at least a third, so I haven’t gotten really far in the story but I’ve gotten the clue. It’s been pretty interesting so far.

The Characters

Before I started the game I had only seen artwork of the characters. I didn’t find them very interesting but in the game they’re pretty good actually. All of the characters have lots of personality to them and they all stand out in their own way. I don’t like anyone in particular but I play a lot with Ashe.

The Settings

The world looked very asian in FFX. In a way I kinda liked that though I don’t like that game very much. In FFXII the designs of characters and environments have a sort of Middle Eastern touch to them. There’s lots of vast deserts and barren lands to explore. For some reason I really love adventuring in such areas. Might be because of playing Wild Arms games so much. Rabanastre is rather interesting city with it’s bazaars, underground slums and all. I don’t know how Archadia looks like yet, but the soldiers remind me of European knights from the middle ages.

The Battles

Everything in this game so far has surprised me. The battles are no exception. Instead of having your characters lined up waiting for their turns, this game operates in real time and you also have to move your characters to the enemies yourself. This is compeletely different from previous FF-games and it’s quite exciting. It reminds be of Baldur’s Gate and that’s nice. Since everything is real time you control only one character yourself and let the AI handle the others. I personally don’t use many Gambits, orders that make your characters automatically do what you’ve ordered in specific situations. I play this game like BG and order everything that happens myself, though I should learn how to use Gambits as there seems to be benefitst to it.

The Licencing system is quite interesting as well. To use equipments and cast spells, you first need to get a licence to be allowed to use them. With that you can customize your characters however you want. If you want your character to be good at magicks, you can do it. If you want to give your character an axe, you can have it that way. The Licence Board is split into two smaller boards: one for magicks and skills and one for equipment such as weapons and armours. I think it’s a lot like jobs in FFV where you could learn different skills from using jobs long enough and with them create any kind of character you wanted. However FFXII gives you even more freedom and options, which is great.

The Conclusion

I didn’t expect this game to be very good but it seems like I have to take back my words. This game is very interesting and fun to play. It’s more difficult than previous FFs but that’s good as I found them way too easy. After I’m done with this game I’ll write a complete review or edit this post. Let’s hope there’s still lots of more to come ’cause this game is so great I don’t want it to end to soon.