Anything Goes: A Look at Kamen Rider OOO

What, ANOTHER toku post?  Well, after watching Kamen Rider W, I quickly moved onto OOO so as to "catch up" in between the weekly episodes of Fourze.  I think I blew through it even quicker than I did Double, so I guess that immediately says something positive about the show, since I'm not the kind to force myself to sit through 50 episodes of a show I'm not enjoying.  Without further ado, here are some thoughts.

The plot of Kamen Rider OOO is a bit...different.  Creatures called Greeed, which exploit people's desires in order to sustain themselves, are unsealed after hundreds of years in confinement.  These desires gain them some satiation in the form of cell medals, but their main life force and source of power, however, comes in the form of core medals.  One of the Greeed comes in the form of a disembodied, floating monster arm.  This is Ankh, who proceeds to give our hobo hero, Eiji, the means to transform into OOO, primarily to gain assistance in collecting his own medals.

Ankh makes this complicated by possessing the body of a dying police detective, which is great for getting around.  However, Mr. Detective's sister, Hina, gets involved when she sees her brother's form (albeit with crazy hair) and develops a close relationship with Eiji and even Ankh to some extent.

The plot pretty much turns into a rat race for a good portion of the show, with Greeed constantly betraying other Greeed to get their hands on their core medals and Eiji defeating their Yummies, manifestations of a human host's desires.  Medals come and go, and the plot thickens when Dr. Maki, a strange scientist with a doll perched on his arm, sets a world-ending scheme into motion, intending on using the Greeed and the medals as a catalyst.

Also heavily involved in this whole medal-gimmick is the Kougami Foundation, whose president, called Cakeboss by many fans, is constantly seen making a cake for some occasion.  The power and funding of this organization can be both a great help to Eiji and Ankh or an annoying setback, depending on how El Presidente decides to play his hand. 

SUBARASHII!

The foundation's investment, along with Dr. Maki's brains, also results in the creation of Birth, a modular and mechanized suit that is fueled by cell medals (as opposed to OOO and core medals).  Akira Date, a bro-tastic former combat medic, dons this suit to collect cell medals for the foundation, and he usually ends up assisting Eiji and Ankh in their fights, taking all of the cell medals in the end, of course.  Assisting Eiji and Date is Gotou, a Kougami employee who wishes to save the world.  He comes across as a bit prickly at first, but comes into his own as the series progresses.   That covers many of the plot basics, though things thicken up as it moves forward.  Let's proceed on to the characters.

"Gotou-chan, NICE!!"

The characters in OOO are probably one of its strongest points, IMO, at least in terms of likability.  How they are handled is a different story.  Anyway, I think I found a reason to like just about all of them, even the Greeed.  Eiji is sort of an amicable hobo Jesus.  He's appreciates the simple things in life, like having clean, flashy underwear and some spare change.  At the same time, the guy is almost completely selfless, wanting nothing more than to help other people.  He never really thinks of himself, which is an issue brought up several times during the course of the show.  Unfortunately, there are a couple of show-stealers to contend with in OOO, so Eiji's status as the main character loses a bit of its kick at times.

Hobo Jesus and Brotou.

One of the show stealers is Ankh.  The guy is a complete prick through 90% of the series, and yet, I couldn't help but like him and be completely enthralled with his time on screen.  Maybe it's Ryosuke Miura's solid performance as an actor that grabbed my attention.  It also could be that Ankh is just more interesting than Eiji in several regards.  Throughout the show, he actually experiences some very important character development that never quite comes to light until near the end, partly because it's in his very nature to suppress any emotion or action that doesn't make him look like a complete turd.  Every once in a while, something more trickles to the surface, and it makes him incredibly intriguing.

Gonna stab you so hard...

The other big show stealer is Date, the first Kamen Rider Birth.  Even if Ankh is present, this guy completely ransacks the scene with his bro-ness and likability.  One of my biggest beefs with how the show is handled concerns Gotou becoming Birth.  It's such a glorious moment when he transforms for the first time, especially since he had been working his way out of Date's shadow for about 2/3 of the show.  Gotou is truly great as Birth, but lo and behold, Gotou isn't Birth for even ten episodes before Date is back and is using a prototype Birth suit to help his Brotou out.  Really?  I mean, I love Date as much as anybody else, but I really thought Gotou deserved more time to be awesome before Date comes back to save the day with his bro-tier charm, not to mention that Date sure didn't take long to recover from his underground surgery...  Whatever.

I also found myself liking the Greeed to some extent, especially Gamel...poor, dumb, childish Gamel.  All the poor lug wanted was some candy and motherly love.  I found it difficult to dislike Dr. Maki too much, probably because of the funny scenes where the doll falls off of his arm and he freaks out in a rather humorous way.  However, it did make the guy even harder to take completely seriously, which brings me to another interesting point:  The humor.

See? Uva thinks it's funny, too.

Now, humor in Kamen Rider isn't a new thing.  Den-O really brought forth extra bursts of comedy, and many of the Rider shows since then have been a bit looser with the funny stuff.  OOO is a little bit bipolar at times.  One scene will contain SRS BUSINESS and the next second will be something not just funny, but completely ridiculous.  Dr. Maki freaking out about his doll falling off of his arm after a serious speech about ending the world or a flashback to some deranged trauma from his childhood is an example of this.  I'm not going to say that sudden bursts of humor is always bad, but I definitely couldn't take the show as seriously as a result.  I probably wasn't supposed to.  There were just times when it seemed oddly-timed, inappropriate, or mood-killing.

Not sure I have too much left to say.  It is worth mentioning that the trend of multiple forms has extended to OOO.  Each core medal contains a different power, and three of the same color results in a powerful, but energy-draining combo.  The mix-and-match core combinations can be kinda janky, but the combos are very cool. (Cool enough for me to buy some action figures...)

My reaction upon seeing the cool S.H. Figuarts for OOO

Also, the music is great.  I think OOO even beats Double in this department.  Most of the vocal songs used for the endings were sung by Shu Watanabe (Eiji).  In addition, many of the songs are awesome fanwank man-duets.  Eiji + Ankh, Date + Gotou, Eiji + Akira Kushida (!!!) are a few examples of these man-duets.  These guys can sing very well, and the songs rock.

All in all, Kamen Rider OOO is a very entertaining show.  I don't think it's quite as well done as Double in some regards, but its a solid series with many great qualities that kept me coming back.  I can safely say that it is now one of my favorites.  Go check OOO out if you haven't.

XTREEEME! Some thoughts on Kamen Rider W.

So, last semester was really rape-tastic.  Three hours of sleep a night on average between study and retail work really had me not caring about blogging.  Honestly, it's not like anybody reads this thing.  I only get hits for my images. The only thing I cared about was the unhealthy caffeine fix I developed and still haven't ditched.  Mmmmm, coffee.  However, I did find time every morning before school/work to watch an episode of Kamen Rider W.  I just recently finished it, and have some thoughts.  Here goes:

Kamen Rider W (Double) is the most recent Rider show that I've seen all the way through.  As you may or may not recall, the last Rider show I have seen in its entirety before this was Agito, so there's a relatively big time and style gap in between these two shows.  I have gotten a taste for some the Heisei shows in between, but I haven't finished any besides Kuuga, Agito, and W.

"Now, count up your sins."

I was definitely pleasantly surprised by W.  On the surface, you see Philip, a young man with a feminine taste in style and Shotaro, another young guy with a flair for 40's fashion.  No Showa manliness here, right?  Well, Shotaro does a great job of carrying the show.  He's got the sense of justice, and he tries to be cool and sometimes succeeds.  He essentially is trying to live up to his late mentor, Soukichi Narumi's legacy.  Shotaro comes into his own throughout the series as he tries to be like the hard-boiled detective Narumi, and he has moments of brilliance for sure, even though it's painfully obvious (and stated by many characters) that he's actually half-boiled.

On the other hand, Philip is a fascinating character who has the entirety of the Earth's knowledge seemingly at his disposal.  Together, Shotaro and Philip make a crazy good detective team, solving crimes committed by monsters known as Dopants, people augmented by the voluntary use of Gaia Memories, which kinda look like funky USB drives.  Philip's purpose, as well as his mental access to the Gaia Library, remains a mystery for quite some time.

Using their Double Driver, Shotaro and Philip get to use their own special Gaia Memories to become Kamen Rider W.  When this happens, Philip passes out and his consciousness is transferred over to join Shotaro's.  Philip having an unconscious body while he fights alongside his partner as W proves to both humorous and dangerous at times.  In addition, the fact that coordination is required to become W is a bit of a unique weakness at times.  For instance, if either Shotaro or Philip is in a tight spot or is injured, transformation may or may not happen.  The dynamic between these two partners really shines and helps to make this show special, especially in the last few episodes, one of which contains a well-done moment between the two that actually made me tear up a bit, and I don't consider myself much of a crier.

Akiko enjoying her time with delicious, unconscious Philip.

On top of things, the late Soukichi Narumi's daughter, Akiko, joins our heroes early on and becomes the chief of their little detective agency.  She's mostly there for the laughs and slapstick moments, but she lacks one very important tidbit of knowledge for some time: what exactly happened to her father.  She initially thinks he is still alive and has just gone somewhere for a while.  Shotaro has quite a time gaining the courage to tell her what actually happened on Begins Night.  By the way, the actual story of Begins Night is depicted in greater detail during Kamen Rider X Kamen Rider: W and Decade - Movie Taisen 2010 (whew, what a name), and is probably the high point of the movie.  (Sorry, Dickeido.)

Akiko's wrath:  Slipper beat down.

We also eventually get a secondary rider: Terui Ryu aka Kamen Rider Accel.   He is our pissed off, vengeful rider, whose ruthless and unforgiving brand of justice initially conflicts with Shotaro's half-boiled brand.  He's basically a cop that is trying to find the Dopant that killed his family.  He's the kind of guy that grows on you after a while, and his suit design does as well.  Ryu's got some good development as he learns the details behind his family's demise, and he learns that whole "love is more powerful than hatred" bit.  By the end, he's an awesome character and a useful addition to the team. 

LED lights in the helmet AND a stylish finisher.

Also making things interesting is the Sonozaki family, the head of which is the director of The Museum, an enigmatic organization responsible for not only Gaia Memory distribution and research, but much bigger plans as well.  Kamen Rider W is filled with all sorts of other quirky characters, and has an entertaining and memorable cast overall.

Moving on.

Any show that has me asking questions that I want answered is doing a good job of keeping me hooked, and W did just this.  Some answers are painfully obvious, such as who Philip's family is.  Others, such as who was Soukichi Narumi's client on Begins Night, don't get answered until much later.  Of course, other seemingly obvious leads to the big picture are often overlooked by the main characters, which is a bit interesting, considering one is a detective and the other has access to so much information.  The writers cover their tracks up later with some interesting excuses, though.  Things like, "You stayed away because my Gaia Memory had a subconscious, terrifying effect on you" and Philip's Gaia Library access being cut off to certain subjects is horribly convenient for some of the plot, but hey, it's toku.  I don't watch these shows expecting amazing writing, but some key things kinda jump out at you as being lame or a little cheap.

The music in Kamen Rider W certainly isn't cheap. There are many vocal songs used for the ending sequences, several of them based on the form W uses for the finisher.  Accel gets his own kickass theme, and Koji Kikkawa, the guy who plays Soukichi Narumi, carries a great tune as well.  All the songs are quite good, and the BGM is solid as well, ranging from jazzy to heroic to creepy.

Not only can Soukichi Narumi sing, but he's stylin' on you, too.

Some more thoughts:

I feel that W's suit design is one of the best ones in the last few entries of the series.  Simple enough, but fully embracing the aspect of W's abilities by changing color for each Gaia Memory combination.  The Cyclone Joker default combo even has a half-cape on one side, perhaps a throwback to Shotaro Ishinomori's taste for scarves.  On that topic, I wonder if Shotaro was named after Kamen Rider's creator.  I don't know the official story, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Ishinomori-style depiction of W.

I'm not sure I have much else to say about Kamen Rider W other than that it was one hell of a fun ride.  It's the kind of show, especially toward the end, that can make you tear up one minute and then smile the next.  If that isn't the sign of a good show, I don't know what is.  I got attached enough to the characters that when I see them make cameos in the later Kamen Rider movies, I practically cheer because I actually missed these guys.  I don't want to say that it's my favorite Heisei Rider show, because the trend is that my "favorite" actually turns out to whichever one I watched last, so I naturally question that kind of assessment.  So, I'm not saying that Kamen Rider W is my favorite Heisei series...but it's my favorite Heisei series.

I definitely recommend watching it.  As a bonus, have some delicious, cross-dressing Philip.

 

Hell, this show was a treasure trove of funny screen shots/reaction faces.  Have some more.

Kingstone Flash Gets Railgunned into Space: A Look at Mass Effect

 I've always been behind on video games.  I get busy with school, and I stop playing for a while.  Then, when I finally get free time, I struggle to catch up, and discover the uthaads of games that have come out.  Hell, I'm STILL buying PSX RPGs in an attempt to catch up on some of the ones I missed.  Anyway, a month or two ago, I finally purchased an Xbox 360.  One of my first games was Mass Effect.  Long story short, after blowing through the first one, I quickly grabbed the second one, and destroyed it as well.  Here are my thoughts on this fantastic video game series.

It had been a long time since I played and really took to liking a Western RPG.  The last few times I toyed with a WRPJ, it failed to catch my interest.  For instance, when I played Oblivion, it didn't take long before I got insanely bored with it.  The novelty of being able to break into people's homes and kill them got old after a couple of times.  I felt that the story and the player character's involvement in it were a bit weak.  There was no real motivation for me to keep going.  I tried Fallout, and liked it a bit better, probably for the post-apocalyptic setting, but I still wasn't completely satisfied.

What was it about Mass Effect that kept me interested, then?  I think that I had probably burned out on fantasy settings and stories.  Also, the meshing of third person shoot-outs, the allocation of skill points, and other RPG elements proved to be a satisfying combination.  Above all, I think it was Shepard, his interaction with characters, and his involvement with the plot that kept me glued to the whole thing.

Epic stuff.

I was amazed at how invested I became in the whole thing.  I made my ideal Shepard.  He was kind of rugged and tad bit ugly, physically scarred from his lone survival of Akuze and emotionally scarred from the violent death of his parents.  See?  Before I even began gameplay, I was developing my Shepard.  The option of being kind of a dick or a good guy in all dialog options was neat, and the NPCs had fairly interesting or relevant things to say.  I'm pretty sure I spent hours running around the Citadel, talking to everybody and doing the silly little assignments. 

The whole experience was epic.  The death of a squad member on Virmire, the Mako getting rail-gunned into the Citadel (the mass relays look like giant rail guns to me), the ending of ME1 (with amazing credits music by Faunts), the opening sequence and death of Shepard in ME2, and the intense suicide mission were just a few highlights for me.  The romance was fun as well.  Sorry if there are any spoilers.  I assume I'm the last person to play.  One of my favorite aspects of Mass Effect is importing your completed characters into the next game.  It is cool to see your previous actions affect the course of the next game, sometimes in very large ways.

What happened when I romanced Tali in ME2.

Of course, Mass Effect isn't without its flaws.  As much as I loved the various alien races and their representative characters, I noticed that these various cultures were still a bit underdeveloped.  For instance, we don't see much of any species' language or writing, at least not consistently.  Everybody just speaks English (or Common or whatever they call it in ME), and they all speak rather well.  Tali has somewhat of an accent and uses some Quarian words every once in a while, but when I visited the Flotilla in ME2, I found it interesting that the other Quarians spoke with a completely flat accent.  In ME's defense, it isn't like Star Trek, which has had decades to develop its cultures.

The battles in ME1 could be a little clunky at times, with Shepard getting caught up on obstacles, though they fixed this in ME2.  ME1 also had an excessive amount of gameplay devoted to bombing around in the Mako, which they also fixed in 2.  The skills in 2 were also streamlined a bit.  Most of the flaws are very minor, and got improved in the second entry.  I'm thinking that ME3 will develop things further and really polish things up.

MAKO SMASH!!

In addition, I'm very glad they let players customize Shepard.  Default John Shepard is much like his name: very generic.  In many ways, he looks a lot like most of the popular male video game characters as of late.  The customization, different classes, and game-affecting choices all really add a lot of replay value.

To sum things up, I had such a blast playing Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, and I eagerly await the third entry in the series.  It is interactive storytelling at its finest, a truly great series of games.

Kamen Rider Agito Review

It's been a while since I've posted anything.  This is mostly because my monitor decided to eat itself, and seeing as I am a poor college student, it took me a few weeks to save up for a new one.

Anywho, aside from work, I have spent my summer indulging in gratuitous amounts of anime, toku, and video games.  I blew through Kamen Rider Agito in a fairly short span of time.  Before I begin, I must admit that it is hard for me to talk about Agito without comparing it to Kuuga, since Kuuga is still a bit fresh in my mind and came right before Agito.  Here are my thoughts.

Agito had me engaged right from the opening.  Energetic, pulsing, and with Shinichi Ishihara's intensity, you'll find yourself READY TO GO, too.  Early on, the show hints at connections to Kuuga, with the police mentioning No. 4 and the Unidentified Lifeforms in response to a new series of unnatural deaths cause by strange creatures.

One of the Unknown.  U JELLY?

Our hero, Tsugami Shouichi (at least that's what he thinks his name is), is an amnesiac who finds himself compelled to fight creatures (dubbed Unknown by the police) that attempt to kill certain targets and their families.  These victims (and Shouichi as well) are actually tied to a ferryboat incident, the true nature of which is revealed as the story progresses.

Our goofy hero

Shouichi is a likeable and comical character.  He is strangely good at most things he tries to do, and is a bit of a housewife.  He lives with Professor Misugi, who took him in after he was found, Misugi's niece, Mana, and his son, Taichi.  Mana and the death of her father prove to be essential pieces of the plot as it unravels.  It's always great to watch this makeshift family unit interact, from the serious times to the lighthearted.  Unlike Godai from Kuuga, Shouichi isn't always levelheaded.  He is fairly gullible, and is prone to the occasional emo moment.  To be fair, he has good reasons.  Shouichi can also be a bit obnoxious at times, but he's an overall cool guy.

Sorry gents, Mana's a bit young for you.

Agito is the first Kamen Rider show that I have seen to feature multiple main riders.  Besides Agito, we also have Ryou Ashihara, who becomes Kamen Rider Gills, a fearsome and vicious fighter that seems like a throwback to Kamen Rider Amazon.  Ryou is one of my favorite characters.  He goes through so much hardship that it's hard not to sympathize with him.  Throughout the entire series, I always found myself rooting for him.  His serious nature serves as a nice contrast to Shouichi's silliness.

This guy's life sucks donkey butt.

But don't make him angry.  Please.  Don't.

Our other main Rider is Makoto Hikawa, a police officer who dons the mechanical G3 armor.  He is extremely brave and determined, but also clumsy.  Sporting guns and rockets, he provides good mid-range assaults against the Unknown.  The G3 system isn't without its flaws, however, and sees several upgrades throughout the series.  Hikawa constantly runs into red tape and drama due to police politics, which provides a good source of drama on his end of the story.  One of the best parts of Agito is seeing these three main characters interact, fight, and eventually cooperate. 

New motivational pic

The drama in Agito is top-notch compared to the toku shows I have seen already.  In my opinion, Agito has the edge on Kuuga in this department.  The characters in Kuuga had their problems, but you didn't see it affect them and bleed into their interactions as deeply as you do in Agito.  Every character is caught up in an apparent struggle with something.  Agito manages to be interesting and gripping throughout.

Have some tasty and fiery Operator Ozawa.

Officer Hojo: One smug prick.

As for action, Agito provides a steady supply.  Some early fights had some jarring CG effects, but they either improved or I got used to it.  I can never tell with toku shows.  Agito has a number of forms, thought not quite as many as Kuuga.  Agito evolves and gets powered up throughout the course of the show, eventually resulting in powered-up fiery red shiny form that kicks a lot of ass.  Gills and G3 also get their power-ups.

One of Agito's several forms.

There are numerous other characters that are interesting, though I feel I should just cover basics for the review.  I will also say that the nature of Agito and how it relates to mankind is intriguing and refreshing for a Rider show.  I try to keep my reviews spoiler-free, so I won't delve into it too much at this point.  I will say that Kamen Rider Agito was one hell of a ride, and has cemented itself as one of my favorite toku shows.  I think I enjoyed it even better than Kuuga, and that's saying a lot.  You can probably already tell that if I were to rate this out of five, it would be a definite 5/5.  So far, I have been pleased and amazed at the Heisei Rider shows.  I wonder what's in store for me next.

Summer '11 Anime Mini-Reviews Part 1

Now that I'm taking a break from classes for the summer, I have much more time to catch up on the huge queue of anime that has built up.  I have already viewed a number of titles and will give some brief thoughts.  I don't feel like going on and on and giving in-depth reviews, but that doesn't reflect the quality of these titles by any means.  Here's what I've got so far this summer.

NOTE: This is stuff that I just happen to be watching this summer.  These shows aren't necessarily new.  Sorry if "Summer '11 Anime" may have lead you astray.

Pretty much what last semester was like.

Sekirei

Sekirei is pretty much what would happen if you bred a harem anime with Pokemon.  The result is something that is oddly enjoyable.  There's really nothing deep here, but people picking this up won't exactly be expecting that.  Silly harem stuff is here:  Guy finds himself living under the same roof as a number of females, most of whom have exceedingly large breasts and insist on fighting over him in one way or another.

The twist is that most of them are/become his sekirei, battlers created for some strange, grand game that pits sekirei against sekirei.  My roommate summed it up concisely: "So...it's like Pokemon...with tits!".  Yes, yes it is.  There's some surprisingly decent drama at some points, and things do start to get particularly interesting toward the end.  It shouldn't work, but it somehow does.  There is a second season that I assume will be released over here eventually.  Recommended summer viewing?  Maybe, provided this is your kind of thing.  Want a rating? 3/5.   Moving on.

The main character's Pokemon.  He's got a grass, a fighting, a water, and uhh...nerd type.

Spice and Wolf Season 1

Netflix added this one to its instant queue not too long ago, and the cover art certainly catches the eye, so I figured, why not?  I do not regret that decision in the least. 

Not sure why this caught my eye.

Spice and Wolf is a tale that revolves around Lawrence, a merchant, who happens upon Holo, a wolf goddess in human form.  They embark on a trip to Holo's home in the north, complete with trading, drama, and conflict.  The dialogue is loaded with merchant and trading lingo, and it can seem a bit excessive at times, even if it is important to the plot.

It's pretty refreshing to have conflict revolve around such simple things.  The life of a merchant is tough.  Delivering goods is dangerous, negotiating prices takes skill, and travelling with a cute wolf goddess just adds complications to the whole thing, especially with the Church purging the area of pagan stuff.

Where this anime really shines, in my opinion, is the interaction between Lawrence and Holo.  I found myself become pretty engrossed, from their arguments to their more intimate and playful moments, as they cleverly veil and joke around their feelings for each other.  I deem Spice and Wolf as an interesting and refreshing show for summer viewing.  Highly recommended.  My rating: 5/5


Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne

I don't know why this caught my eye either.

Next up is Rin, a six episode OVA that deals with the exploits of an immortal woman throughout the course of numerous decades.  Steeped in mythology, the cases she deals with as the show progresses all tie in to an overarching plot that is revealed bit by bit.  Plenty of violence, blood, nudity, sexual situations (lots of lesbian stuff), and the like pervade the show.  The extra-mature stuff doesn't detract from the viewing experience like ridiculous fan service or anything.  You probably shouldn't let your kid brother watch it, though.

The episodes are around 45 minutes a piece, and they are well-paced.  Each aroused my attention, kept me interested, and left me satisfied after finishing up.  There were plenty of "oh god" or "OH SNAP" moments to be had.  Don't want to reveal too much for potential viewers.  It was certainly a worthwhile experience.  I'd give it a solid 4/5.


Paprika

Anime brain splosion.

I had been meaning to watch this one for quite some time, and I recently managed to get a fantastic deal on it at my place of employment.  Familiar with some of Satoshi Kon's work, I expected to get my brain raped a bit.  What happened turned out to be no rape.  It was amazing and consensual.

The movie's plot revolves around an invention that allows users to enter and record dreams.  The ramifications of the device's use are central to the conflict.  Things begin to go awry when two of the devices are stolen, and the collective dreams of its users begin to encroach on reality.

Indeed, there are times when transitions from reality to dreams are so fast and indistinguishable that it provides for quite the ride.  Things get so crazy that there were moments while watching Paprika when I began to wonder if I was high or something.  If you pay close enough attention, the plot isn't too hard to figure out as it unravels, even if it insane to watch it happen.

The visuals are outstanding and captivating, with a surreal mixture of hand-drawn and CG effects.  In addition, the music is strange and wonderful.  Viewers of other Kon works such as Paranoia Agent will likely recognise Susumu Hirasawa's interesting, electropop style.  The combo of music and artwork can be charming, wondrous, and menacing at the same time.

When the whole thing came to a close, I just had to sit there for a moment.  I was awestruck at what I had just experienced.  I couldn't really find anything to gripe about.  Nothing is perfect, but I enjoyed Paprika so much that I can't recognise or recall any of its flaws at the moment.  It's one of my new favorite movies and an absolute recommended viewing.  6/5

Well, that wraps up Part 1 of my summer anime viewings.  Pretty solid stuff so far.  Until next time, I will continue watching anime and trying to survive.

Where I see myself in a few years.

Why SaGa Rocks My Heart (and Boxers)

Sa...Ga?  The hell is that?

Few Americans are familiar with the SaGa series of games.  I love SaGa, but in an age where FPSes and western RPGs rule the popularity charts, it is rare to see somebody in the US who knows what I am talking about when I mention this underrated series.  However, if I mention Final Fantasy Legend, that may ring a bell in some individuals.  For those who don't know, we saw the first three games of the SaGa series over here under the Final Fantasy Legend name.  I assume the renaming was to tie the games to an already-popular series in attempt to boost its exposure and success. 

Makai Toushi SaGa (Final Fantasy Legend) was a spectacular Game Boy RPG in its time.  I can't readily recall too many other RPGs for the old, blocky handheld to be honest (Seiken Densetsu comes to mind).  SaGa featured a generalized template of characters with which the player could form a party.  Players could choose from Humans, Mutants, and Monsters, each of which have their own unique attributes and strengths.

The story is simple.  There's a tower to Paradise, and you are going to go on a journey to climb it, facing lots of obstacles and enemies along the way.  The characters don't develop on their own, but since they are the player's to customize, you may find yourself coming up with their backgrounds and backstories anyway.  (That's what I did)  The graphics are also simple, almost -too- simple, but they get the job done.  It's also hard to go wrong with music by Uematsu, though there aren't too many tracks.  Presentation-wise, it's a simple affair, but don't let that fool you.

Even with its first entry, SaGa manages to set itself apart from its sister series, Final Fantasy. Fans of other RPGs probably scratched their heads a bit at their Humans' lack of natural growth, their weapons losing durability and breaking, Mutant abilities coming and going, and Monsters eating meat to change forms.  It's so different from the other RPGs of its time.  It also pretty much has the party climbing up a tower and punching God in the face.  SaGa has you confronting "God" nearly a decade before games like Xenogears were making this idea popular.  Seriously, when you stop and think about it, this game really ROCKS.

SaGa gives you wings.

SaGa 2: Hihou Densetsu (Final Fantasy Legend II) takes its predecessor's basic mechanics and improves on them in every way.  The story is more solid, the music is great (with Kenji Ito combining his talents with Uematsu's), and the experience is more rewarding, epic, and memorable.  We even get the really cool option of Robot characters!  Maybe I'm biased, since SaGa 2 was actually my first exposure to the series.  (Some guy gave my brother his FFLII cartridge and I got hooked.)  From what I've read, however, most that have played the first three SaGa games would agree with me that 2 is the best of the GB SaGas.  It even ups the ante on god-killing, with the party trashing several mythological figures such as Venus and Apollo.  A shiny remake came out not too long ago for DS, but I bet we won't see it stateside. 

More badassery

Jiku no Hasha: SaGa 3 (Final Fantasy Legend III) was almost a step backward.  It's a pretty good game in its own right, but the game mechanics are simplified and resemble something closer to Final Fantasy.  The characters are all fixed, so party customization is largely limited this time around.  However, one of its major innovations was...TIME TRAVEL.  Yup, SaGa did it before Chrono Trigger, though the time travel in SaGa 3 is admittedly simple and limited in comparison.  I must say that flying around in the Talon is a pretty cool experience, though.  People turned off by some of the mechanics and feel of the other SaGa games may like this one a bit better.  This one was also remade for DS in Japan.

Then, things really start to get interesting.  SaGa came to the Super Famicom in full force with Romancing SaGa.  Romancing SaGa returns to many aspects and mechanics of previous SaGa titles, while adding more depth.  In a way, the series begins to parallel Final Fantasy a bit as far as production goes, using the same basic sprite sets, synth music and whatnot.  This time around, players get to choose from several main characters and experience their version of the story.

RS is also extremely non-linear.  Players get to pretty much roam the world as they please, finding quests and adventures along the way in whatever order.  This greatly adds to its replay value, as different playthroughs can provide very different experiences.  You also get to trash an evil god in epic fashion.  Kenji Ito tackles the score by himself this time, with amazing results.  That man is a genius when it comes to battle music in particular, even better than Uematsu in my opinion. 

Most of my experience with Romancing SaGa has come through the PS2 remake, which adds some more mechanics that SaGa had developed since then.  The character designs were revamped, with mixed reaction.  I don't mind them so much, though I have to say the original artwork is amazing.  The music also saw a bit of a facelift, and it rocks. 

Romancing SaGa 2 and 3 keep the ball rolling.  I haven't really experienced them myself, so I feel I can't say too much.  It's kind of tough since we didn't see them stateside, though emulation makes that a bit easier to get around, provided there's a translation patch (pretty sure a translation of 3 is out there).  I do know that RS2 spans a number of generations, which is kinda interesting.  RS3 is reputed to be a very good game, and it's graphics look much like FF6's.  I'd certainly like to experience them if I can find the resources and time.

SaGa moved to the next generation of consoles with SaGa Frontier for the Playstation.  It continued the trend of providing the player with a number of characters to choose and following their version of the story in a rather non-linear manner.  The graphics are quite colorful, with chibi characters parading around on pre-rendered backgrounds.

Some of the characters' stories are pretty interesting.  When I started a game as Blue, within a minute or two, I was being told about my brother Rouge and that I need to go out and "KILL HIM".  I have also played a bit as Red, whose story is reminiscent of tokusatsu heroes like Kamen Rider.  His story is infused with JUSTICE, and you can transform into his more powerful alter ego Alkaiser (provided a few conditions are right).  I'm actually playing through it right now, and despite the reputation SaGa Frontier has for being a mediocre game, I'm having quite a bit of fun with it.  Haters gonna hate.  Going to pick up SaGa Frontier 2 when I'm done with this one.

Unlimited SaGa was the latest in the series to be released.  I haven't played it yet, but my understanding is that it is regarded as a terrible game that tries way too hard to be different and complex.  If I ever find a copy, I'll probably pick it up so that I can develop my own opinion.

Anyway, maybe by taking a look at the SaGa series as a whole, I haven't directly addressed the topic of my blog.  Now that everybody has some background, let me summarize why SaGa rocks my heart and my boxers:

• Climbing a tower and punching the creator in the face
• ROBOTS
• Time travel
• Beautiful artwork
• Epic music from Uematsu and Ito
• Unique and interesting mechanics
• Options, non-linearity, replayability
• JUSTICE
• General awesomeness/kickassery

Claudia from RS.  Hnnnng!

I always end up being fond of stuff that nobody else likes or knows about.  My love for SaGa is no exception.  I suggest that any RPG fan tries it out, and I hope that my experiences with SaGa continue to be wondrous and epic.  *Crosses fingers for a new SaGa game*