But, I'm sitting here in the dark, earbuds in, on my bed, blocking out the world around me. Perfect hikikomori mode. I am the ghost without a shell, a construct of the internet, existing in the real world as only a server.
Someone should really tell Major Kusanagi about this.
Anyway, I've been doing quite a lot since my last entry here, but I don't have nearly the time and will to go into all of it, and I doubt that'd be interesting at all to read anyway. Ace Combat Assault Horizon was cool, but if you want my full opinion, you can read it here. I still haven't really had the time or will to play it much more, but I definitely will be. I never did get that month of XBL like I intended to. I've been watching online gameplay videos though, and it looks like it'd be pretty fun. From the looks of it, my predictions about the piloting skills of the average player were spot on. PositronCannon - a guy from ACS who seems to be about my skill level (at least, he seems to make the same mistakes as I do) - recently posted this rather...interesting...footage of him dealing handily with a bunch of Raptor and Pak-FA fodder in an orange and black F-14. He's Spanish too, and his team-mates opponents seem to be American, so that's even with the lag disadvantage. Full of lulz all around.
But really now, what am I doing?
You know what, screw the format.
Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil (Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb)
The last few posts I've made have talked a lot about Touhou fandom, but I had never actually gotten around to playing any of the Touhou games. I never really even bothered to describe what they were actually like. This was mainly because the games are a) for Windows and b) not available in America. The latter turned out to be more of a problem, since coming across a download of the games from a not totally sketchy source turned out to be pretty difficult.Then I came across this site. Mac ports of almost all the Windows era Touhou games. I'm tempted to embellish and say within an instant, I was simultaneously downloading all that was available, but no. I figure I'll beat each one in sequence.
So, I downloaded the first of the Windows era Touhou games: Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil. Here is told the story of how Remilia Scarlet - the 500 year old vampire - decides one day that she's tired of having to walk around everywhere with a parasol. The obvious solution to her is to cover Gensokyo in red mist. She sees no problem with this. Reimu Hakurei - the incredibly lazy shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine - and Marisa Kirisame - the tomboyish ordinary human magician and kleptomaniac - both do.
And that's about all I can get, because the port is not exactly perfect: the dialog boxes are illegible. As Touhou is known among other things for its witty dialog, this is a bit unfortunate, and I'm currently searching for a patch, and failing that, for the documentation so I can try and fix the problem myself. It seems this is a common problem with WINE based ports (haha, port wines), so I'm guessing I'm not the only one. At least it's translated, however dubiously; I certainly wasn't going to be able to try and figure out kanji while trying to walk through rain without getting wet.
Still, I don't mind too much: just playing the game is fun enough, and it is a very fun game. See, you control your character - either Reimu or Marisa - as she flies through the wards and lesser beings blocking her way, investigating the cause of this rather disagreeable red mist, and encountering and challenging the denizens of Gensokyo who get in her way. While lesser opponents and wards will just throw large quantities of magical "bullets" at you in vague patterns, the attacks of Gensokyo's more dangerous denizens are elaborate and beautiful patterns that must be studied and learned to reliably survive. As you knock out or survive opponents (you are not fighting to kill, nor are your opponents), you collect power-ups to slowly improve the spread and power of your attack. If you are on the verge of getting hit, you can use a sort of spell referred to as a "bomb" (also known as the "fuck-no-I'm-not-dealing-with-this button") to clear the screen of bullets and hurt any opponents in your way. Marisa's signature master spark is one of many such moves (Reimu's counterpart being the less flashy but equally effective fantasy seal).
I'm not sure it's obvious from what I just said why one would need something like a bomb. Well, when I said "large quantities of magical bullets" I did not mean merely "a bunch" or even "lots." What I meant was this:
Yeah, it's not a game for people who haven't already developed the dexterity from playing games over the years to maneuver through the curtains of arcane power that descend down upon you on a regular basis. Or patience. If you're doing it right, you will be seeing patterns of glowing dots when you close your eyes. I'm not even kidding. This would have been totally the shit during the late 60s and early 70s.Anyway, I'm good at seeing patterns, and I'm pretty good with delicate maneuvering, but even then, I'm still trying to beat EoSD on normal. As of now, I can get through the first few levels (up to and through Patchouli) on normal, only losing a life or two, no continues. Sakuya and Remilia, however, freaking wipe the floor with me. Still, I did manage to clear Sakuya at least once (albeit using all of my continues), so I have her stage unlocked for practice. Once I learn her patterns, I'm guessing it'll be much easier. How does one fight against someone who can freaking stop time though? Not even the power of Marisa's love colored master spark can deal with that.
My default excuse for getting hit by a really easy-to-avoid attack is "I got distracted by the music." Of course, this only actually happened once, fighting
Well, Sakuya's theme in EoSD isn't actually that great, but her other theme - Flowering Night - makes up for it completely. Can't remember which game it's from, though. I guess I'll just have to beat them all until I get to the right one.
Anyway, here are some things I've picked up about playing Touhou:
- It may look random, but they actually are trying to hit you, so skirting the edges will never work. Stop trying.
- I don't know why Cirno gets all the credit for being an idiot: Rumia's spell cards are even derpier. This does not mean you get to try it pacifist style on your first run-through.
- Just because you've already memorized the pattern doesn't mean you don't have to look where you're going.
- Hong Meiling: the force is weak in this one. No, you're still not allowed to blink, blinking is for the
- The small fry are often more dangerous than the bosses, if only because their attacks are more random. At least the bosses bother to make theirs pretty.
- ZUN really does suck at drawing. Great fashion sense though.
- And yet,
- Potentially insane walls of doom can be pretty easily defeated just by quickly aiming for the load bearing enemy. So stop bombing the small fry just because it looks scary.
- Reimu may be canonically the more powerful one, but Marisa is easier to play, if only because she doesn't blend in with the backgrounds as much.
- Speaking of which, attack power-ups tend to look a lot like bullets. One will hurt a lot more than the other. Do yourself a favor and don't try to pick up bullets or dodge power-ups.
- When in doubt, MASTAAAAA SPAAAAAAAKU! *BWAOOOOOOOOOOOM*
Another Day, Another Doujin Album
Well, I took a break writing this entry, and I've come back to it the next day. Apparently, it snowed overnight. I should not have implied Cirno was an idiot. Even though she totally i-*icicle comes crashing through window*
Did you know how brilliant Cirno is? It's incredible, really. From now on, all my math is on a nonadecimal base, in honor of the ⑨. 2+2=4.44 now. A centimeter is 9 millimeters. The ten commandments are now nine. All will be ⑨.
Anyway, since my last post, I've downloaded and listened to way too many doujin albums to talk about every single one, and the problem is, some of them aren't really interesting enough to warrant talking about in full anyway. I'll go ahead and mention the ones I didn't get to though:
Album: Ace Combat Assault Horizon OST
Composer: Keiki Kobayashi
Remarks: I forgot to mention this: I also found the OST for ACAH. It's probably one of Kobayashi-san's better soundtracks, but so much of the album (all four disks worth) is filler that I haven't even listened to all of it yet. The only ones you absolutely must listen to are White Devil, and especially Naval Warfare (for which it's officially mandated you turn up the volume for).
Album: Blue Constellations
Circle: Sound Online
Remarks: It's actually a pretty interesting pure electro sort of album. It reminds me of the soundtrack to WipEout Pure. Neither is it brilliant in the same ways as some other albums. Tsukasa has a very direct, very pure sort of sound, and it comes through well here.Album: The Garnet Star
Circle: Alstroemeria Records
Remarks: Minoshima at his least remarkable. He goes for a different, almost trance sort of sound here, and it doesn't quite work. It's nice and atmospheric, but really, besides for the afterwards often remixed Maple Wizen, I can't think of a single truly memorable track.
Album: Double Counterpoint
Circle: Alstroemeria Records
Remarks: It seems to lack the cohesive and pervasive soul an Alstroemeria Records album usually has. There are some interesting ideas here, but none of them work, and none of it really feels right. Ironically, none of the tracks even seem to use double counterpoint, at least not that I noticed. Also, it has one of the most QUALITY looking covers on an Alstroemeria album I've yet seen.
Album: Trois Bleu
Circle: Sound Online
Remarks: More hard edged Tsukasa electro, this time with a fair bit more Minoshima and REDALiCE mixed in. I compared Tsukasa's tracks to the sort of thing found in WipEout Pure earlier without realizing that the first track in Trois Bleu was named the same as the first track on the WipEout Pure OST. Compare the style of the two for yourself. Boot Up (Tsukasa) Boot Up (Paul Hartnoll)
Album: Where Is Love
Circle: Syrup Comfiture (Syrufit)
Remarks: This album is never not interesting. I'm not in love with it the same way I am with show me your love, but it's got a lot of really interesting ideas. More so than show me your love, this is not a pure Syrufit album: there's a very wide variety of styles on here, and if I had more time, I'd like to go into some of the more stand out tracks. Putting it shortly, it's an album with this, this, and this all at the same time. That last one is really different even for REDALiCE. Not all of it works, but it's kinda neat, even if I don't find myself listening to it as often.
Anyway, I guess I should stop wasting you guy's time and get to the main points.
Flowering ERINNNNNN!!
 |
| Pictured: Kaguya Houraisan, Erin doll, stuffed rabbit. Believe it or not, this will kinda make sense to fans. |
To start with, I guess I should say that COOL&CREATE is a band created by its main singer, BeatMario (ビートまりお). I'd call them, if I had to, something like indie rock, but that's a very, very general sort of rule.
This album in particular starts out with two live recordings. BeatMario asks the audience (in Japanese) "Say, do you guys like Marisa?" The answer is a resounding "HAI," and the band goes into a live version of LaserMari is not difficult, a song released under the IOSYS label, based on Marisa Kirisame's theme Love Colored Master Spark, and in reference to ZUN's infamous instructions on how to perform Marisa's master spark. Next is a live performance of their version of Locked Girl, a song about the eponymous locked girl herself,
Anyway, next up is drizzly rain, or rather a studio, more traditional rock arrangement of COOL&CREATE's own drizzly rain. Also about
-A wild PATCHOULI appears-
The "ooooooooaaaaaaaaaaa-PATCHOULI!" sounds for all the world like pokéspeak. I'm imagining throwing a pokeball and this amiable asthmatic bibliophile who looks like she's wearing pajamas coming out.
-PATCHOULI uses Fire Sign: Agni Shine High Level-
*everything within half a mile is razed*
There are about a hundred different version of drizzly rain out there, if simply because it's a fun song to do karaoke style. BeatMario himself has a vocal version, and it's hilariously awesome. It's amusing what notes he can actually hit when he's trying. Then, just to be totally inconsistent, a smooth jazzy version of Library Sounds, based on Voile, The Magic Library. Yet another theme tangentially related to our favorite shut-in librarian. Oh well, it's actually pretty cool.
Next is probably one of COOL&CREATE's more well known tracks, Help me, ERINNNNNN! This is one of those lucky few songs where I can actually sorta kinda understand the lyrics, which are about the eponymous put-upon lunarian archer and pharmacist Eirin Yagokoro and her fellow denizens in Eientei. It's got a catchy structure, based upon, actually, not Eirin's theme, but Kaguya Houraisan's. The live versions of this song deserve special mention for being the only place you'll ever see a crowd of Japanese people shouting "oppai, oppai" (boobs, boobs).
What can follow something like that? Of course, a version of UN Owen Was Her featuring BeatMario doing what many do while listening to UN Owen Was Her: going radadadaraaaradararada-raradaradadaradararadarada~ Why does this need to exist? I dunno, but it's cool I guess. Anyway, it's followed by a fusion sort of track called Re: The Title Lies In...You. Not sure what it's from, but it's kinda nice. After that is a bunch of bonus tracks, including a conversation among the band that my Japanese is not nearly good enough to understand, a Touhou parody of the Lucky Star theme, and a version of drizzly rain being sung at karaoke drunkenly by one of the non singing (for obvious reasons) band members.
 |
| Komachi Onozuka: slacker god, boatwoman of the Sanzu River, and now, really creepy pin-up model. |
Alstroemeria Records does not have a perfect track record. Double Counterpoint is mostly a waste of disk space, as is The Garnet Star. But, when Minoshima-san gets it right, he gets it very right. For Fragment Reactions, he got it very right.
We get the traditional Alstroemeria opening with the short intro leading into the first track, and both have a heck of a lot to be said of them. Riverside View/End of Daylight opens with the sampled loop "909, 009, 009, 003." Oddly intense, actually. The Riverside View part is based on Komachi's theme, which I actually didn't realize for the longest time: it sounds like Minoshima-san through and through. It's cool and all, and it leads into the longish house track End of Daylight, a very atmospheric and yet melodic track with vocals from Nachi Sakagami. It's very laid back despite its strong melody...but appearances are decieving. Take a gander at them lyrics. That's right, this is a song about the end of the world, and how hope at this point would only bring sorrow, so you should just embrace the end...set to a snappy dance beat (lyrics courtesy of kafkafuura: always a reliable source). The thing is, almost all Alstroemeria Records songs are like this. It's kinda funny, actually.
Anyway, then comes the more upbeat Syrufit track lure to me, in which Mei Ayakura proves yet again why she's the strongest singer in Alstroemeria (and Syrufit proves yet again why he's better at arranging vocals). Minoshima-san takes it again for Scarlet Fogbound, a house track done in Minoshima-san's traditional high-range atmospheric style, and done quite well, with an interesting minor key segment leading in. Eternal Dream is very similar in that way, though it's a ROSVIO track (not too familiar with his work). Following that is Stitch'step, an (EastNewSound) track. I haven't actually downloaded any of (EastNewSound)'s independent albums, but what I've heard of them has been good. Stitch'step is a strong and melodic track, with some rather interesting things going on with harmony and instrumentation. And they also know how to arrange for vocals. Lunatic Princess, taking its name and being based (surprisingly loosely) on Kaguya's theme: Lunatic Princess. It's pretty normal downbeat Minoshima, but quite pleasant. Lotus Road is another sort of downbeat Minoshima track, this time with vocals by *mican. Tsukasa makes an appearance in his customary style with Booster (just by the name itself, its sounds like a Tsukasa track), a non-vocal track with an interesting, modulated synth centered sound. Volcano in CHINA is probably the closest you'll ever hear Minoshima come to dubstep. It's different for him, and it works pretty well, even if it does take just a few too many direct cues from China's Hong Meiling's theme. Fragment Reaction, the next to last and eponymous track, is another pleasant arragement by Minoshima-san, though really at this point, as good as he is, his work in between Plastik World and Haunted Dancehall kinda runs together. The last track is a Syrufit arrangement: Saint. Actually, it sounds quite a bit more like Minoshima than it does Syrufit, for some reason, but it brings the album to a nice close.
In all, I'd probably call this album at least as good as Plastik World, if not better in some ways. I can't quite decide which I like better: they're different in tone and style. Perhaps Plastik World has the benefit of being slightly more focused: less time to get bored of the bland vocals and more focus on the things that make Alstroemeria tracks actually special.
REBIRTH
 |
| Wait, what? |
Ironically, their album starts out in a manner very similar to an Alstroemeria album: an original intro into a longer song. Specifically, the intro, REBIRTH, leads into their version of Faith is for the Transient People. Which, you know, is actually kinda already metal-ish. Anyway, it's totally awesome. The next track, Missing Girl, is another fairly straight forward adaptation of The Primal Scene of Japan the Girl Saw. It too is awesome, but at this point, it becomes clear that their drummer really doesn't have any ideas. Really, good and creative drummers are harder to come across than people seem to realize. So, once Unlucky Morpheus had a Missing Girl, they needed an Unknown Child: Unlucky Morpheus' version of UN Owen Was Her. Few other Touhou songs save Lunatic Eyes have cried out for a metal version more than Flandre's theme, and though this is not the way I would have done it, it's still pretty awesome. The one truly great feature of this song is how it handles the bridge section, with the call-and-response structure. It does due credit to Flandre's mix of total creepiness and badassery. This is followed by Kero⑨Destiny a short arrangement of Native Faith (which I cannot find, so enjoy that other, more well known, very much not metal arrangement), leading into their version of Autumn Waterfall. It's pretty straight forward, but it's competent, and cool. It also seems like even though good metal drummers are hard to come by, all the good singers flock to metal bands like iron to magnets. Then again, having a powerful voice is a requirement if you're doing metal, just so the voice doesn't get overpowered. Anyway, the next song is Heaped Heart, an arrangement of Mysterious Mountain. The structure of this one feels different: there seem to be subtle time shifts here and there, and it works. No Grudge Anymore feels different too: slightly more melody focused, and...is that Pachelbel's canon? No...no not quite. Thank god. It's an adaptation of Mima's theme, an important character in the early PC-98 Touhou games who kinda disappeared in the Windows era. The final track is The Gensokyo the Gods Loved. This is the name of the track in the Touhou games too: the name already has a perfect metal vibe, I think. ZUN said that he wrote the original to be very melodic, and so is Unlucky Morpheus' version. It's a good note to end on. Unfortunately, I cannot find it on youtube, but I did find a version by Sonic Hybrid Orchestra. With pretty clear English vocals, strangely enough. I'm going to have to check these guys out later: they're pretty darn good.
Anyway, personally, I was hoping for something a little more like Wishmaster than Power Rangers. Then again, what can you expect? Nightwish not only has the awesome singers (both, none of this Tarja vs Anette stuff), but also the drummer, the guitarist, and the everything. It's still a really fun album, and I'll be looking to see what else they've done.
Incidentally, I just noticed something in the Power Ranger's theme song: the lines "They know the fate of the world is lying in their hands. They know to only use their weapon in defense." To be honest, if the fate of the world is lying in their hands, I'd really hope they know that they may have to use their weapons for something other than defense. Like saving the world. But that's totally off topic.
show me your love
 |
| Not gonna lie: I want to be that timepiece. |
i gotta admit, i'm kinda in love with this album. I love Syrufit's style, I love the album cover, and hey, Syrufit himself seems like a pretty nice guy. He responded to my post on his FB page's wall, and in very good English too. Could use some work naming his albums and finding the shift key though, but hey.
So on topic, the first track, Your Love, starts off sounding a bit like something on the Weather Channel. And, really, stays that way through half of the song before growing into a stronger sort of vocal centered track. For setting the atmosphere, it works well. Of course, following it is the very un-Weather Channel like Wheel, an interesting, more traditional sort of danceable house track, with a strong central aesthetic and progression to it. After this comes recollection, an interesting track with complex rhythms and vocal parts, creating a very nice overall feel. It should probably be noted that both of these songs' vocals are performed by Mei Ayakura. Syrufit understands vocalists and vocal arrangement quite well, I think. The next track, Sweet sigh, is slightly less impressive by virtue of being a bit more of a straight forward house dance number, but it's still quite nice. It's also not on youtube anywhere. TAK-sk did the next track, liberate me, a very nice, aesthetic centered track with a nice progression. Very good, and again, not on youtube, for whatever reason. Syrufit returns for perhaps my favorite track, Hitokata (untranslated Japanese for "forms of people," or, alternatively, "humanoid"). It's got some interesting, almost modal sort of harmonies and aesthetics to it. It flows extraordinarily well, and the vocal performance - by one SHIKI - is very genuinely done. Something oddly ephemeral about it. It's hiro.na's turn for the next track: The world of noise, which, unlike what you'd expect, isn't all that noisy at all. In fact, it's quite laid back, moreso even than most of Syrufit's generally laid back tracks. Which I can't find on youtube either. Uy. I'd upload some of these myself, but then I'd feel ethically obliged to ask Syrufit himself for permission since I know he'll probably respond, and that would be really awkward. Then again, it's technically not his track, so... But anyway, speaking of which, Syrufit comes back again for Power of Wind, which sounds almost like an Alstroemeria track with the instrumentation, but still retains Syrufit's sensibilities in a higher sense. By which I mean, the vocals - performed by this rather talented SHIKI girl again - actually work. Which is odd, because it's not only not an arrangement of a Touhou song, it's a pretty direct remix of Power of Sound by Ace. I don't really hold it against him: we already have plenty of proof he can come up with his own material too, and that it's pretty awesome. It undeniably sounds like Syrufit anyway, so hey. Of course, it's also hilarious that Power of Sound's lyrics are about finding love, and Power of Wind's lyrics are about the sorrow of being unable to realize the visions of the ego. Existential ennui to a snappy dance beat. Is Japan really that depressing? Anyway, it's back to hiro.na for AraHitoGami (untranslated Japanese for Living God), another really laid back sort of track, like The world of noise. And, like The world of noise, not on youtube. The well named outro side brings the album to a nice not-quite-close with a rhythm and pad centered aesthetic. And yes, that was the only video I could find. I say not-quite-close, because that's actually not the last track. The last track is ren (I guess like the Confucian concept or something), another hiro.na track with a very singular percussion arrangement, which really does bring the album to quite the nice conclusion.
Like I said, it's quite the album. Syrufit also has a few other albums, most in cooperation with *poplica. I hesitate to go ahead and download them only because even though *poplica is good, and there are a lot of tracks that are just *poplica or just Syrufit, there are also a lot of collaborative tracks, and the only people I know of who consistently do collaborative tracks well are Thomas Bangalter and Guy Homem de Saint Cristo of Daft Punk, and they can pull it off only because they more or less learned music composition together in the first place. The result of collaboration in music is almost always a lesser result than if either of them had created a track on their own. I'll still look into it though.
Other Stuff
I don't want to write full sections about any of this, because I don't think it'd be too interesting, and I don't really feel like it, so I'll just talk quickly.
I joined a D&D Pathfinder campaign last monday as a female human wizard of the evocation school known as Arase Kisama. Me and my fellow adventurers are to explore the island we're all on, and it seems like a dangerous but profitable venture. Arase doesn't much like the whole danger thing, but it does seem like a good way to pick up some arcane knowledge (not to mention books and valuables), so she's pretty exited. She and the half undead sorcerer Ackbar met up with the rest of the party in the light of a giant beacon at the top of an enormous Ziggurat. The monolingual ranger was frustrated with the trilingual conversation going on in common, draconic, and tengugo simultaneously. Arase saw this and threw in a clause or two in primordial just to screw with everybody. The sorcerer also nearly got mauled by the Kobold when he tried to hug her, but everything got sorted out with only minor injuries.
As they meet, just what precisely the giant light is for worries Arase, but she and the party had other things to worry about. For instance, the other wizard had run off into the woods never to return, and he had all the rope. When the party had to climb the cliff to get back up - and eventually back to camp - there was no way of doing so. Arase was the only one with rope, and she only had 50'. So, the Tengu - Tetsuo - had to scale the cliff to find some vines to drop down. Tetsuo nearly fell to his death, in fact, and it's possible that had it not been for Arase's feather-fall cantrip, he might not have made it. As it was, he climbed back up, this time successfully, and dropped down some vines and Arase's 50' rope. Arase herself had to try a couple of times to get started, but she managed to pretend to be all cool and stuff back at the top.
As they walked back, the ranger, sorcerer, and Arase noticed bear-like footprints. Confused as to why a bear would be in a jungle, and wanting to kill it so they could sell its skull to the goblins, they began to track them. It was the sorcerer who realized that these were likely not the tracks of a bear but of an owlbear. Still, they continued on to the owlbear's lair. As the party drew near, there was a sound from the cave, and it became apparent that the owlbear knew they were there. Tetsuo quickly darted to the flank. Arase, pumped up on adrenaline and wanting to make a good first impression, raises her arcane bonded gauntlet and cries STELLAR RAINBOW as she casts evoke light, and a rainbow colored laser bursts from her palm. Arase feels the power flowing through her, and for a moment, she almost grasps a power she had thought was unattainable, but it was not so. The owlbear does not like this one bit, but he likes even less the half-orc smashing her giant hammer into its side. The owlbear swipes with its giant left hand at the half-orc, who deflects the blow with her hammer. She does not see the right hand as it rips into her side. With this, the battle begins in earnest, the half-orc continuing to fight for a good minute before realizing how much stuff that should be inside her was now on the outside and fainting. The ranger and tengu gunslinger pile on as well, dealing blows at close range. Meanwhile Arase continues casting evoke lights and evoke force spells, as the sorcerer beside her casts evoke death. Arase is impressed by the sorcerer's skill, but at the same time, "what's the point of magic if it's not flashy," she reasons, and evoke death is an ugly looking spell. The owlbear continues to fight on, even after having most of its brain blasted away by guns and rainbow colored laser blasts, until in a last desperate effort to kill the ranger riding on its back, it digs its own claws into its spinal column and finally dies. Nobody gets XP, not even the badass ranger. The Kobold rushes forward to see what's in the cave. Arase blows the faint smoke from off her gauntlet, straightens her hat, and follows.
I talked a few posts about Maikaze studio's A Summer Day's Dream, one of the two big doujin anime projects. I mentioned that it was by far the lesser of the two, but I also said that I would be interested to see where it was going, if there was to ever be a second episode. Well, as it turns out, a trailer for the next episode got released back late 2010. With a promised release date for the next installment in late 2011. Should be interesting. If the trailer is any indication, the animation quality has improved, including, at least slightly, the facial animations and body language. This is encouraging, but then again, this is only the trailer. If it's still got the same questionable director attached to it, and the same questionable writer, then prettier is probably all it'll be. But hey, for us Americans, it's pretty much free anyway, so I can't really complain about something I'm not actually paying for. It's my choice whether I let something waste my time or not.
I gotta say though, as a trailer, this is actually pretty good. So many trailers for both American movies and anime follow the same formula that to see a trailer do something even slightly different is pretty cool. The last trailer I saw for a movie that I was genuinely impressed with was the one for David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Actually, that gives me an idea...
Okay, those sync up way better than they have any right to.
But anyway, I do wanna see a sequel to Memories of Phantasm too...
Speaking of anime, I'm still not quite done with Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but looking back on what I wrote earlier, I think I was way too harsh on it. Yeah, it can get wicked cheesy sometimes, but for every bit of cheese, there actually is something of substance there too. It's got some genuinely very interesting things to say about culture and war, about how culture is, in the end, a more powerful way to end war than military might, but yet how even in culture there will always exist war. It's a nuanced view, and it's when the show explores these things that it becomes obvious that this is in fact the same executive director as Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
If I may touch on Touhou music one last time (I promise), I found a surprisingly cool German vocal version of Bad Apple!! The lyrics flow very well (to the non-german speaker), and the singer is...well...actually better than nomico. If she had been recorded in the same studio conditions, I'm thinking I'd actually prefer this version. At least it's better than that really dire English version by Christina Vee. I'm not even going to bother linking to that one.
Anyway, I really should be finishing this up now.
So now, for something completely different:
Other Stuff
I don't want to write full sections about any of this, because I don't think it'd be too interesting, and I don't really feel like it, so I'll just talk quickly.
 |
| Arase Kisama: Human female wizard. 17, 6'2", blonde hair, brash...she's trouble, man. |
As they meet, just what precisely the giant light is for worries Arase, but she and the party had other things to worry about. For instance, the other wizard had run off into the woods never to return, and he had all the rope. When the party had to climb the cliff to get back up - and eventually back to camp - there was no way of doing so. Arase was the only one with rope, and she only had 50'. So, the Tengu - Tetsuo - had to scale the cliff to find some vines to drop down. Tetsuo nearly fell to his death, in fact, and it's possible that had it not been for Arase's feather-fall cantrip, he might not have made it. As it was, he climbed back up, this time successfully, and dropped down some vines and Arase's 50' rope. Arase herself had to try a couple of times to get started, but she managed to pretend to be all cool and stuff back at the top.
As they walked back, the ranger, sorcerer, and Arase noticed bear-like footprints. Confused as to why a bear would be in a jungle, and wanting to kill it so they could sell its skull to the goblins, they began to track them. It was the sorcerer who realized that these were likely not the tracks of a bear but of an owlbear. Still, they continued on to the owlbear's lair. As the party drew near, there was a sound from the cave, and it became apparent that the owlbear knew they were there. Tetsuo quickly darted to the flank. Arase, pumped up on adrenaline and wanting to make a good first impression, raises her arcane bonded gauntlet and cries STELLAR RAINBOW as she casts evoke light, and a rainbow colored laser bursts from her palm. Arase feels the power flowing through her, and for a moment, she almost grasps a power she had thought was unattainable, but it was not so. The owlbear does not like this one bit, but he likes even less the half-orc smashing her giant hammer into its side. The owlbear swipes with its giant left hand at the half-orc, who deflects the blow with her hammer. She does not see the right hand as it rips into her side. With this, the battle begins in earnest, the half-orc continuing to fight for a good minute before realizing how much stuff that should be inside her was now on the outside and fainting. The ranger and tengu gunslinger pile on as well, dealing blows at close range. Meanwhile Arase continues casting evoke lights and evoke force spells, as the sorcerer beside her casts evoke death. Arase is impressed by the sorcerer's skill, but at the same time, "what's the point of magic if it's not flashy," she reasons, and evoke death is an ugly looking spell. The owlbear continues to fight on, even after having most of its brain blasted away by guns and rainbow colored laser blasts, until in a last desperate effort to kill the ranger riding on its back, it digs its own claws into its spinal column and finally dies. Nobody gets XP, not even the badass ranger. The Kobold rushes forward to see what's in the cave. Arase blows the faint smoke from off her gauntlet, straightens her hat, and follows.
I talked a few posts about Maikaze studio's A Summer Day's Dream, one of the two big doujin anime projects. I mentioned that it was by far the lesser of the two, but I also said that I would be interested to see where it was going, if there was to ever be a second episode. Well, as it turns out, a trailer for the next episode got released back late 2010. With a promised release date for the next installment in late 2011. Should be interesting. If the trailer is any indication, the animation quality has improved, including, at least slightly, the facial animations and body language. This is encouraging, but then again, this is only the trailer. If it's still got the same questionable director attached to it, and the same questionable writer, then prettier is probably all it'll be. But hey, for us Americans, it's pretty much free anyway, so I can't really complain about something I'm not actually paying for. It's my choice whether I let something waste my time or not.
I gotta say though, as a trailer, this is actually pretty good. So many trailers for both American movies and anime follow the same formula that to see a trailer do something even slightly different is pretty cool. The last trailer I saw for a movie that I was genuinely impressed with was the one for David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Actually, that gives me an idea...
Okay, those sync up way better than they have any right to.
But anyway, I do wanna see a sequel to Memories of Phantasm too...
Speaking of anime, I'm still not quite done with Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but looking back on what I wrote earlier, I think I was way too harsh on it. Yeah, it can get wicked cheesy sometimes, but for every bit of cheese, there actually is something of substance there too. It's got some genuinely very interesting things to say about culture and war, about how culture is, in the end, a more powerful way to end war than military might, but yet how even in culture there will always exist war. It's a nuanced view, and it's when the show explores these things that it becomes obvious that this is in fact the same executive director as Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
If I may touch on Touhou music one last time (I promise), I found a surprisingly cool German vocal version of Bad Apple!! The lyrics flow very well (to the non-german speaker), and the singer is...well...actually better than nomico. If she had been recorded in the same studio conditions, I'm thinking I'd actually prefer this version. At least it's better than that really dire English version by Christina Vee. I'm not even going to bother linking to that one.
Anyway, I really should be finishing this up now.
So now, for something completely different:
No comments:
Post a Comment