Kiseijuu / Parasyte

Last post for this 2014! I like Historie but i never know the author wrote another great manga before! If you ask me how good Kiseijuu is? it is as good as Naoki Urasawa scifi work. From few pages i already knew it was the work of Histories's author. Kiseijuu is a story about interaction between a teenage boy and parasitic alien creature that failed to hijack his body. The aliens aimed to destroy humanity but among that we find that friendship transcends race and this makes powerful message from the manga aside environmental issue that the manga addressed as well. The manga is not overly complicated but very clever in delivering the stories. I gotta respect the mangaka since he could pull gory stuff very well to without overdoing it. While it is abit different with Historie it is a solid manga and you will like it too if you are sci-fi horror fan.

A Christmas Greeting and 2014 Review

Merry Christmas 2014 Guys! and it is a week to go for 2015! Hope you guys have a meaningful time during this joyful day. This year marks my less activity for the blog since i have less time now but i still have the commitment. 2014 marks some significant change in my life as in the mid of the Year i left Australia to study Chinese in Beijing but i left no regret since i made the most out of my stay just before leaving Sydney which i will come back again sometime. Christmas in China is rather different in Sydney, everything goes usual in Beijing today which is suppose different culture different Significance. But i hope things goes well next year just like always.

I just finished my Papercraft which is a picture frame with Christmas theme and i spent my Christmas this year doing this. While it is a bit different with making Gunpla, i put my skills which i earned from for the former into some good use. Since it is my first kind of this work the result is not too good obviously but i did have fun along the way even took crash course of sewing and obviously my first few attempts look pathetic. I had fun the most building the fireplace as it reminds me of building Gunpla for some reason while i had some quite hard time making the Christmas tree since it is the trickiest part in the kit. Depending on circumstances i may show some of my future papercraft works so please look forward to it!

Some B-Daman Loots

Not exactly the Holy Grail that i seek but still a good haul imo. Got this set from Taobao for roughly $12 which is very good deal since this product had been long discontinued. These B-Daman Armor set is the one that the B-daman team used before the Saint Dragon that i shown before and obviously they can't combine to form larger mecha. I have seen another variation of Saint Dragon with 4 Celestial Beast Pattern which i would get if i can find one with reasonable price. I wished Takara would continue to make their B-Daman toy lineup but unfortunately since the series license now owned by konami they can't do anything for now i suppose.

1/6 Metabee

I used to play the GBA Medabot Fighting game alot when i was in my Junior High and recently got back into the series with the RPG game on GBA too which i somehow overlooked it. Obviously just like other series that i got into i will always discuss the available merchandise. While i forgot the series a long time i always remember the anime got a Referee who always appear out of nowhere whenever Medabot Battle started.  Medabots have 2 main robots that represent the series, melee based Rokusho and range attacker Metabee. I think Metabee is more popular since he got the main character role in the anime and i remembered him as foul-mouthed medabot and most of the time argue with Ikki though sometimes soft on him too. I think Kotobukiya did very on the mode quality for Medabot lineup and the price is kinda decent too compared to Muvluv or SRW kit since it cost 3500 yen for Metabee Kit. The Gimmicks is rather nice too as Metabee comes with the parts to replicate his signature Head Missile attack. I will cover the Medabot Game once i finished them which is not anytime soon given my nature of procrastinating and i wished the 3DS Medabots Games would be brought to the west someday.

Nitroplus Blasters - Heroines Infinite Duel

Slowpoke post here, i didn't expect Nitroplus would release another new fighting game for their series, while the Fighting game in the PC was far from perfect it was good fanservice so i suppose this time Nitroplus tried their luck again. So far the informations we got here is that the game will be released on Arcade next year which will serve as testbed like other similar VN based fighting games such as Aqua Pazza and Melty Blood. So far the playable shown characters are Ein and Mora which were playable in the previous game and i think they should retain some of the moves from it as well. The Soukou Aki Muramasa Heroine is one of the new cast shown to debut in the series as playable character. Apparently the Nitro Blaster will also incorporate Partner system where Hello World! heroine shown to be one of them which looks like some downgrade as well. F/Z Saber will be featured in the game as well which i wonder will she be playable this time. I hope this game will have more fluid fighting mechanics compared to previous game which is highly likely and at very least the game would ported to console or PC sometime later. I would get the game if it ever popped up in Vita which i wished Aqua Pazza or Melty Blood did. Also i wonder if Type-moon will ever release Tsukihime x Fate Crossover fighting game so Shiki could kill some Servants.

You could find my review of the previous Nitroplus fighting game here which include all ending CGs

Nitro Royale - Heroines Duel

Variable Action Koubu Ichiro Ogami version

Sakura Taisen got some mechas which is why i got into the series and while the it is not as popular as it used to be, it got some good merchandise at very least. Megahouse made some of the Koubu(光武) which obviously the manly harem protagonist Ichiro Ogami got one. Koubu which are literally translated as the Light Armament are the main weapon used by Teikoku Kagekidan to fend off demon invasions in Tokyo which are powered by Reiryoku(Spirit Power) which majority of them tend to be possessed by female that makes up the Kagekidan. Ichiro Ogami however is a rarity since he is one of the few male who possess enough power to operate the weapon and due to his military background, he become the captain of Teikoku Kagekidan however in daytime he is cutting tickets for theatre. I tnink this version Kobu is the one Sakura Taisen 2 since the first one is not this flashy and In the game Ichiro Ogami is one of the weakest character in terms of firepower but he makes up for it by tough as nail when it comes to protecting his team and pretty much he is a lady killer.

The Variable Action Kobu comes with 8000 yen price tag which is still normal for this lineup but the price does worth it considering the average quality of the product. I remembered the series got some plamo as well which i seen in some shot of the Sakura taisen maid cafe which unfortunately closed down long time ago otherwise i would go there when i go to Japan.

Jurassic Park(1993 Arcade)

I have been fiddling with my Mame again after leaving it on dust for a while and i have been playing lots of Beat em ups and Rail shooter. I wonder why i picked Jurassic Park out of all the games to discuss but this is one of the games that i played in arcade even though not as much as Shadow over Mystara or other games. My impression when i was a kid about this game, it is terrible hard especially the first part! No matter what you do the T-Rex will always reduce your HP to half at very least. While my impression remains unchanged, i feel that game design is terrible because your skill affects the game only in slightest but the shaking seats and being chased by two T-Rex will always give a good thrill. While i hate this game for having bad game challenge design, Sega did better with their Rail Chase and Aliens 3 and even made better shooting game for this series which most of you know as The Lost World. But in terms of coin guzzling it is still acceptable since it took like 7 credits to finish the playthrough still better than Terminator 2 which is just too horrible.

Playing MHP3rd again

Ever since i stay in Beijing i didn't touch MH3U anymore since i did everything that i wanted already but to be Honest waiting for MH4U really kills. So it was such a coincidence that i can find Japanese friends to play MH and thus i picked up MHP3rd once again which was i played the last time like 3 years ago. While i have finished most of the mission in P3rd, i haven't farmed for high end gears or the DLC stuff so this is such a good opportunity to get back to the series again.

While P3rd doesn't have as much content as 3U, the game is still very enjoyable since there are couple of things that make P3rd a memorable MH series. Up until now i think Yukumo is the best village design by far even though Pokke is more nostalgic and while the cats are jokes compared to Chacha and Kayamba, they do make good looking accessory since there are more options to decorate them. As you can see i just made my Alatreon gear which is much worth it compared to the 3U one which are terrible for the effort to get the weapon. At the moment I am going to hunt Akantor and Ukanlos since they would make great practice when i face them in MH4U. Also i am going to get the Uniqlo armor set which looks quite good and honestly DLCs i got in P3rd are much better than the one in 3U since you got plenty of weapon and armor assortments which are cool looking too.

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari

The light novel one not the manga, while abit slowpoke here i started reading the LN since it gets translated further than the manga. I am not really observant in Light Novels but i think ever since Maouyuu comes out fantasy themed LN got more popular than before at least in the western perspective. Tate Yuusha no Nariagari or the rise of Shield Hero is one of those. The stories is about 4 heroes summoned from other world to fight the demon invasion but out of all 4 Heroes the Shield Hero is the focus of this LN. Unlike other heroes, he can't attack at all and in the beginning he goes through misfortune that humiliates him as far as his reputation tainted and makes his personality become anti-hero one. So instead a story of classic JRPG Hero, Tate Yuusha offer fantasy story in the eyes of Anti Hero saving the world while trying to get his revenge(which he will definitely gets and it was so satisfying!). While i don't know how the story will go but i think it will be decent one at least even though i don't hear too much good thing about the ending. Anyway here is the link for the LN Translation and thanks for those guys who put real effort to translate the story!

Tate Yuusha LN Translation

Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula

SRX little brother

A little bit too much Anime and Manga post from me recently but i find another worthy mecha series to discuss. I still wonder why i overlooked Gigantic Formula even though it was one of the better Mecha anime after 2005(which is not much btw). The concept of the series is very interesting and i think Pacific Rim borrowed some ideas from Gigantic Formula for their Jaegers . The story of Gigantic Formula is about 12 Nations in war called Wisest World War to gain the right to rule the world which is kinda like G Gundam's Gundam Fight fighting with giant mecha called Gigantic powered by Head Statue resembled 12 Greek Deities. Unlike most mecha series which mainly focus on the main protagonist, Gigantic Formula over the perspective of pilots from each nation through the eyes of the main character which kinda make them peeping toms. This aspect surprisingly make good drama even though the pacing of the story is abit slow. Gigantic Formula also handle Politics and Mysticism adequately which was rarity in Japanese animation.

I really like mecha design from Gigantic Formula which are very well designed and it is kinda a waste that it is not used for SRW which i hoped it will change someday. The major letdown of this series is that the way the series concluded is rather disappointing despite the major buildup from the 24 episodes and it wasted as Gigantic Formula goes to cliche route which i will just let you figure out yourself. The series is kinda lack of intensity for a mecha series but at least the protagonist is not an emo one even though he is teen. I also think the anime could have used better character designer and english speaker consider the Engrish in the anime is just horrid. Anyway if you haven't got any mecha anime on your list, go watch Gigantic Formula. I hope someday this series will show up in SRW and the 12 mechas fight together instead of pitting against each other and tagging with Pacific Rim will be awesome too!

Akame ga Kill!

At first i was hooked to look at this series by the anime even though i don't really read this kind of stuff a lot anymore but i suppose i will discuss about this series abit. Akame ga Kill is one of those manga that is is borderline Shonen/Seinen since it got Fanservice, Hotblooded battle and Grimdarkness. The story is about a boy joining a group of assassins called Night Raid trying to overthrow Empire who are controlled by corrupt nobles wielding special weapons called Teigu. For a manga series in recent period i would say Akame ga Kill is quite grimdark with plenty of Gorefest despite colorful range of characters. Depending how it goes, the series can get grimdark enough to make Berserk blush as the Despair can be still higher. While i wished Mine the Pink Miku survived i think it is unlikely she will in order to make the series even more grimdark. I won't be watching the anime unless the series completed already but i will read the manga until the end to see how it goes.

Unless there are some drastic circumstances,
i think Tatsumi still better paired with Pink Miku rather than the Ice Queen

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien

It has been few years since i read Muvluv but i think i haven't discussed about Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien which is some of the reason that makes me go read Muvluv. I don't really exactly remember this anime anymore but certainly it leaves a memorable remark on me. Unlike Muvluv which got Lighthearted Drama, KGNE had very heavy duty Love Triangle and Mature drama which sets it apart from other Slice of Life. The story is basically about 2 best friends Haruka and Mitsuki who had a crush on the same person but Mitsuki let Haruka confess to Takayuki. While her relationship is abit rocky at first, Haruka gets on really well with the Takayuki until one day she got into serious accident that leads her to coma. Long story short years passed as Mitsuki become Takayuki's lover in Haruka's stead which started when Takayuki goes very Heartbroken due to Haruka's accident and now Haruka awake again from her long years of coma which starts the stormy love triangle that no matter how it ends up everyone will always get hurt and thats what makes KGNE so appealing.

For a Slice of Life the drama in Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien is quite heart wrenching and tearjerking sometimes and you can find it easily relevant because the cause and effect of the decision in this series are rather realistic. The songs too from the anime are very emotional and i think Minami Kuribayashi best songs are from this series. Again in this post i will use the opportunity talk abit about Muvluv, considering KGNE had some ties with it even though not directly related. I used to like Muvluv until it becomes piles of abomination that is tryhard and pretentious which what the series become after Alternative. Extra/Unlimited is very enjoyable experience and Alternative too though it is the point where it begins to show up its defects. Anyway if you read Muvluv before you should go watch KGNE if you haven't and don't skip the OP and ED to experience a journey full of emotions! Also watch the OVA if u want Haruka Ending

Starting watching Gundam Build Fighters Try

Slightly late watching the series but it seems like it is going to be a fun ride just like the previous Gundam Build Fighters. Just now i caught up the series until the 4th episode and i would say i am really hyped with Gundam Build Fighters Try. GBF is a good medium for Bandai to have all Gundam series have appearances without worrying too much about messing up canon storyline and appease avid Gundam fans at the same time. While it is still over the top like previous GBF i can still stomach it up considering the mecha actions are still really good. GBF doesn't do enough justice with G Gundam series but now Try will make up for it and i will look forward the time when the protagonist will shout  俺のこの手が真っ赤に燃える！and hopefully some Domon cameo will show up. I am not too interested with how the series with end up but i think GBF Try will be enjoyable ride as long as Bandai keep the focus of the series toward new and old fans balanced.

Ragnarok the Animation

One of the weekly anime that i watched back in middle school when Ragnarok Online was really popular at the time and it was the only consolation for me since i can't play the PC game for some reason. I marathoned this series recently and find out surprisingly that i didn't miss any single episodes back then. While it is far from good Ragnarok Animation is quite memorable for me since it is decent RPG adventure anime. But i do find half of the main characters are annoying especially Yufa and Maya. From what i know the gaming fanbase hate this series for some reason but i guess because some of the stuff in the anime are unrealistic when compared to the game like beating MVPs with 1st class job. In the end i would say the anime could have been better if it has stronger relation with the game.

Since i got plenty of time during weekend in Beijing, over past few weeks i played RO on Private Server which i can say the game mechanics has aged already. I used Mage character which just become Sage which i really like because it is very versatile for me even though it is not powerhouse. My impression of RO as a game is that the Game is just overly reliant on equipments just like Ragnarok Odyssey. While i am expecting the game is Grindfest since it is MMORPG, the effort is just way too much especially if you are farming for the cards which is for me 10 times worst than getting the rarest drop in MH. Also i find the PC Game are not particularly creative after Yuno Chapter as the locations and monsters are just very uninspired. Nevertheless i will just play the game for the sake of making up the lost time which at the moment i am just burning those undeads in Glast Heim with my Firewalls!  

Non Scale Cybuster Possesion form kit

Since Masoukishin 2, i have been expecting Possesion form of Cybuster to get a kit eventually and few while ago in some Japanese Hobby show my expectation hits the target once again! There is no apparent release date or pricing yet but judging from the size i think it will cost at least as expensive as Neo Granzon or even more which probably will be around 10k Yen. Considering the 1/144 regular version of Cybuster alone was 7800 Yen which i had one. I hoped other Masoukishin will get a model eventually in particular Granveil and i recalled even Jaohm got a Garage Kit. However with how the last Masoukishin game turns out i think the chances are bleaker. I didn't play the 4th one but i heard it was disappointing which was kinda expected since Pride of Justice was terrible already, it seems either Winkysoft doesn't have the capacity to continue the series or Banpresto forced them to tie the series up. Nevertheless how the series turns out, i still recommend to play the first Masoukishin because the charm of the series was in that game and Masoukishin got the best version of Cybuster's theme.

You can see the possesion form of other Masoukishin here from my review of PoJ

and this was my review of 1/144 Cybuster

Shiro no Koukoku Monogatari

I don't often discuss Manga series that haven't finished yet however i find this occassion exceptional. While Japanese anime industry is in decline, however Light novel is still going strong with interesting story. Shiro no Koukoku Monogatari or roughly the Story of White Kingdom is such title with Manga adaptation that catches my eye and another of those title that got potential. The story is about a guy who killed himself and wake up just to realize he is now a man with white hair, who signifies important role. As White haired people in his current place is one of a kind and chosen to rule as a King and at the moment the Kingdom needs a king to prevent its collapse. If you like Fantasy classic JRPG i think you will like the manga especially if you are in Seinen demographics. It is a rarity for JRPG style story got into Seinen ranga which means no Beta Protagonist for ya! The manga is so far translated until 2 volumes but it is enough to impress me and as long as it keeps itself coherent i think it will make a good series.

The reason why Guilty Crown fails

 Didn't watch this much hyped anime when it was released few years ago until now which i can see why people are disappointed with this anime. To sum it up the main issue that comes with Guilty Crown is because this project is way too ambitious and thus fails to deliver in the end and if you ask how bad the series fail it is as terrible as or even worse compared to Valvrave. To be fair Guilty Crown had a chance to be a good anime since it has good pieces, but somehow when the pieces are stringed along it falls apart because execution is terrible. Thus what causes this series goes wrong is basically people problem as the staff behind Guilty Crown are not good enough to use the pieces.

The first 12 episodes went just fine but from episode 13 onward there on the anime just went downward spiral with horrible trainwreck until the end. I think most people watch Guilty Crown for Inori considering her design is a rarity but her character execution is just not good enough. From what i get Inori's character is supposed to be an empty shell who slowly regains her conscience but again terrible execution failed this part. As for Shu or more known as Shoe he is just Beta protagonist and nothing more considering he lose the chance to redeem himself in the end. In conclusion what makes Guilty Crown set itself apart from other wasted potentials(which Japan anime industry got a lot by this point) is because it got huge amount of budgets and supposedly solid staffs but doesn't prevent itself to fail miserably. But to me GC shows me that 95% of Japanese anime with High School setting doesn't deliver btw Inori's GSC figure are gorgeous tho.

Lego Hyaku Shiki Review

From some lineup called Diamond Blocks

Ai Yori Aoshi

Early September I have been moving to Beijing for my Study which is why I haven’t been able to post anything on Blogger or Wordpress considering both websites are blocked in China for some reason. On the post today, I just finished reading Ai Yori Aoshi manga which was really enjoyable read considering I am never a big fan of Slice of Life. I watched Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi back when I was in Highschool and my biggest impression of the series comes from the main heroine Aoi Sakuraba.
 

Aoi is one of the best representations of Yamato Nadeshiko in manga/anime series out there with contemporary setting considering her kind usually found more in Meiji Era kind of story. Her love story between Kaoru is not overly dramatic yet touching and her perseverance is quite admirable. Before I read the manga I never really understand why Aoi wore her Kimono most of the time in the series but as I finished the manga, her kimono symbolise very important theme which is implied in the title itself; “Love deeper than blue” as her Kimono will change color over the time and so does her love with Kaoru grow even stronger over the time. A very good Seinen Romance title if you haven’t read it and I think I will play the VN eventually as well.

Danganronpa

If Phoenix Wright and Umineko have a lovechild, you get Danganronpa! I picked this up on PSP on recommendation of a friend and i can see how it got some kind of popularity. The story of Danganronpa is about 15 High School Students from Elite school trying to survive sinister from a bear called plot named Monokuma. The main theme about Danganronpa is all about despair and what makes this series unique is that the portrayal of grimdark stuff in this game is rather colorful, wacky and over the top at the same time. The core gameplay of Danganronpa resembles Phoenix Wright with 3D map to explore and the trial got some more variation. The game also include mechanism called "Free Time" where you can spend sometime with other classmates like Social Link to acquire skills helpful for the trial. Overall the mystery element of the game is mediocre but still enjoyable as at the end of the game, you will find the plot twist quite predictable. I will look forward to the second Danganronpa which i will get it for my Vita whenever available since i am quite curious with the continuation as the series got cliffhanger ending in the end.

SPT Blue Comet Layzner

Another Takahashi's work that i finished watching! which left Galient and FLAG to go. I had big hopes about this series mainly due to awesome OP but it turns out Layzner is one of the worse Ryosuke Takahashi's work which even doesn't escape from his penchant of Mysticism. I get to know Layzner first from Another Century Episodes 2 though got better exposure from it through SRW J. The story of SPT Blue Comet Layzner is basically about a half Earth boy trying to save Earth from his Alien race by piloting a experimental Robot called Layzner which turned into Hokuto no Ken by the second half. I believe Layzner introduce couple of new elements which inspired later Mecha series from being one of the first mecha series that got a pacifist type protagonist, having Mars as a background of the series and Mecha with sentient AI.

What makes Layzner being one of the worse Takahashi's work is the pacing of the first arc and second half is way too different where the former is rather slow while the later just erratic. The second arc is just plainly uninspirational even though it has awesome main antagonist and you can just trace their elements from Hokuto no Ken. To make it even worse the second half is just butchered halfway which made a what would have been mediocre anime series to terrible one. Lastly i really feel the romance feels too forced in the series because the love interest of the main protagonist is just plainly shoved out of nowhere. Nevertheless Layzner got some of the better mecha design from Kunio Okawara and definitely it does inspire the future anime series. I really feel that Layzner could have been better if it got proper planning and the background were expanded instead of having generic Aliens invading Earth with superior tech trope. If i had some luck i would love to get the Robot Damashii Layzner MK II

SRDS Alteisen Riese

After plenty of Kotobukiya's experimentation with D-Style i guess they are confident enough to craft one for SRW now. Sometime around mid of this year Koto announced SRDS lineup which started with Alteisen Riese. I had to say the proportion of the model perfectly match the SD sprites from the game and even looks way cooler than your average SD Gundam Kits. The kit will be released around november this year with the price of 5200 Yen which is even more expensive than the non scale Alteisen Riese. Personally i find the price is abit too steep for the initial product for the lineup but finished product does looks really gorgeous indeed and this could possibly achieve something that the similar lineup that Megahouse had few while ago unable to do. If i ever get back to make my modelling i will probably get Riese and definitely get Wildwurger especially if it comes with the gimmick. i hope Riese will not be the only product of this promising lineup

here is the review for my non scale Alteisen Riese

Crimson Shroud

A very short RPG yet somehow enticing, that is the impression that i get from Crimson Shroud. Bought this game along with other Level 5 Guild project few months ago when they were on discount though never bothered to touch the game until i took a short break from Monster Hunter. Crimson Shroud sets itself apart from other JRPGs for having a Tabletop RPG feel like D&D or WH40K which is rather uncommon for its kind. While Crimson Shroud has the Tabletop game feels of it by no means it is a real TRPG. However the game got its mechanics implemented well to have an interesting experience. When i goes through the story, it really give me a certain unique vibe which turns out that Yatsumi Matsuno is behind this game. This guy is known for being creator of FF Tactics, Vagrant Stories and Tactics Ogre which all of these have something in common; very good RPG story. The size of the story is roughly as big as a mini campaign of RPG games which takes place in one dungeon. The story of a Crimson Shroud is about an adventure of 3 Seekers in search of a "Gift", relics that grant its wielder magical power and the one that they look for is the "Crimson Shroud" a legendary gifts that was said to grant great magical power. The adventure leads the adventurer's  to a place called Rahab Palace that used to be a magnificent palace that become a center of civilization but now forgotten by time. As the story continues to unfold the Adventurers will find more sinister forces hiding in this Palace and it is up to their ability to survive this ordeal.

At first for me, it is rather hard to grasp the gameplay mechanics since there are lots of mechanics crammed at the same time. You will need to loot your enemies spoils to get better weapons and keep augmenting it. Once you understand the mechanics you will this game enjoyable otherwise you will only deal one damage to the enemy. Crimson Shroud is divided into 4 Acts which will roughly last about 4 hours and most of the time you will spend is to get the key from random encounter which can be very frustrating sometimes. There are 2 endings available in this game which you can only access the second one after you finish the first playthrough as more areas become available in new game+. My suggestion for this game is once you get Falchion try to find more Falchion to upgrade it as high as possibly since the weapon will simply wreck the enemy once upgraded with the special move. Overall i find this game is one of the better Guild project titles and wished there would be some kind of continuation by Matsuno with the same game mechanics. So whenever the game in discount again, just grab it without hesitation!

Tears to Tiara anime

It is like 4-5 years already that i played the original VN of Tears to Tiara and recently i give the anime a fast run. Overall the anime feels plain just like other VN adaptations though it does has its redeeeming factor. Tears to Tiara is somewhat can be compared as the western equivalent of Utawarerumono since both games are published by Aquaplus. Unlike the PC game, the anime used the new character design which is shared by the PS3 version of the game but it still follows the same story. What makes me like Tears to Tiara is that it has interesting background settings for a fantasy series. Compared to Utawarerumono i still prefer the former since you can get easily attached with the characters in Utaware though by no means the characters in Tears to Tiara are bad however both series shares common issue which is lack of competent antagonists. The story of Tears to Tiara revolves around a self proclaimed demon king named Arawn who was resurrected prematurely and find himself leading a tribe and constantly getting Harem while trying to fulfill his promise with his old friend.

The anime feels really lacking mainly due to lack focus of the romance which the VN got plenty.While Utawarerumono anime still got the harem element playing for some reason Tears to Tiara just drop the whole thing and just become straight fantasy series.  However the anime did one thing right which is portraying Arawn's past which i would say it is well executed. The anime songs are nice as well but still i prefer Utawarerumono's. One thing that TtT got better over Utawarerumono is that they got better selections of figurine crafted by Kotobukiya which i wished bought it back then but probably i will just hunt for them when i go to Japan. Recently Tears to Tiara 2 is announced to brought to the west which i may play if it ever goes to Vita but for now i will just play the first Tears to Tiara again on my psp.

Cospa Free Planet Alliance Jacket

If i am asked to do LoGH cosplay i will choose doing Free Planet Alliance over Galactic empire not because i prefer FPA but i find their costume is cooler while being simple. I have been wishing for a good jacket that i can use as FPA Soldier's uniform for a while already and never had a luck finding it. But recently i guess my wish is granted in some way, Cospa recently announced their version of FPA jacket which will be released on this October directly for sale in the Japanese anime convention. Up until now i only know Cospa for making T-shirts but with this release it changes my opinion about them. The jacket looks good but i find the price is too steep, the Jacket will be released on this October for the price of 30000 Yen which is just too expensive for its kind of attire. With 30k Yen i could make 2 good quality suits tailor made in my country but i think it is still a good buy if you can spend that amount of cash. I may be planning to have this jacket design tailor made and patched with the Rosenritter emblem which i think i will get it much cheaper and better quality too. Other than Jacket, Cospa will be releasing the Beret which cost almost 5000 yen as well as the detachable Rosen Ritter patch and FPA rank emblem. Over past few months i have been hearing there are some plans for rebooting LoGH anime which i don't think it need any. If Cospa ever release a Galactic Empire uniform i bet it will cost 100000 yen. Also here is the picture of the beret

Matrix Trilogy

Never watched the series when it was aired on cinemas but the part of the movie that gave me lasting impression is the scene where Neo dodged the bullet in Slow motion in first Matrix even though i didn't watch the movies until now. Overall i can say the Matrix trilogy is a rollercoaster ride, First is the best for being thought provoking while Reloaded not as good as the first but redeem itself for having coolest action scenes that i have ever seen in movies and Revolutions is unfortunately a train wreck.

The first movie is the one that captivate people the most, it shows interesting ideas mixed with philosophies and i really like the scene where Morpheus asked Neo "what is real"? This makes me still wonder how Matrix Revolutions for some reason could turned 180 degree and end up in disappointment. The main focus of the movie series is about the Matrix itself which is the artificial world that kept human imprisoned while being harvested in real world as Human Duracell and for some reason the Third movie just neglect on this part and focusing on the real world part which is not exactly the strongest part of the series. Revolutions started rather smoothly but in the middle it somehow become mindless actions in Dystopian world that is not cyberpunkish enough.

Nevertheless the First and Second movies are very good which redeem the series itself. I didn't expect a western movie could pull of rather impressive Wire-fus which you usually only see in Hongkong martial art movies. Also from three movies i noticed there are rather plenty of scenes shot in Sydney which i know couple of them notably Martin Place and Museum Station. I still wonder if there will be some continuation of this series someday? i would like to see Neo kicking some ass with his awesome martial arts.

1/72 Liger Zero Jaeger Review

The last time i did a model kit review was more than a year ago and this Liger Zero Jaeger is no exception. I had taken shots of my finished work for this kit last year but since i had trouble posing the kit for midair pose i stopped halfway. However it won't do justice if the kit doesn't get to see the light since i promised to show the finished work through the WIP back then. I don't take much shots for this kit but i think it is sufficient enough to see the difference of the unpainted version.

Wings opened

Zero Jaeger(Hunter in German) is the second CAS form of Liger Zero created by Helic Republic for high speed close combat. Sporting Ion Booster that is even larger than Liger Zero's, Jaeger is capable of manuvering in really high speed for a land based Zoid only rivaled by few like Berserk Fury Z. Since Jaeger frame is meant for speed, the frame doesn't come with extra armament but Liger Zero's Strike Laser Claw is potent enough for a high speed combat considering most of the high speed zoids doesn't have too much armor. In Zoids Legacy Jaeger is the least used CAS for Liger Zero but i have to admit after working on the kit, Jaeger is probably one of the coolest looking form of Liger Zero's CAS

Muramasa Rebirth/Oboro Muramasa

Bought this from PSN when it was like $14 on PSN and it was really worth it even though i could get it cheaper on US PSN. I regret abit that i didn't get this game earlier but at least i finally know what is the deal about this game. Oboro Muramasa is one of the few games that can give you quite lasting impression because the production quality of this game is really high for its genre and the graphic in the game is just simply beautiful...

 

Oboro Muramasa is a 2D  hack'n'slash beat'em up game with a dash of Metroidvania feel which puts you into the shoes of two youths Kisuke and Momohime who are linked by the cursed legendary swords of Muramasa venturing on a quest across the land of Feudal Japan. In the beginning you can choose either character scenario but in the end you will have to play both scenario to get the true end for both characters. What really stands out from Oboro Muramasa is the graphic, as expected from Vanillaware who made Odin Sphere, the landscape in Oboro Muramasa is just really vibrant from the Samurai Castle to Snowy mountain the graphic is just beautiful and the music even make the game more immersive. The drawback from this game is that it can get very repetitive later on since you fight the same mobs from the beginning to the end. So far i have only tried Legend mode which is walk in the park though i heard Chaos is abit harder and Fury would be Challenging. Probably sometime in the future i will be getting the DLCs as well

Out of the 2 Character scenarios, i prefer Kisuke's endings since all of them concluded in somewhat happier tone compared to Momohime's which everything are pretty much bad end when i think about it. I don't think Muramasa needs any sequel but if Vanillaware wants it probably they will be able to pull it off. If you got a PSVita this is one of the good games you can get and i wish someday there will be a Vita port for Odin Sphere.

A Year has passed and still...

Playing Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate! Never expected myself to have such dedication for this series but i guess i can keep myself committed with it as long as i have things to do. It has been more than a year since i bought my 3DS along with MH3U copy and i still play this game from time to time. This screenshot is my Female Hunter character Hilde, which i used  myself to solo all the way through Grank with Sword and Shield and i got her a full Alatreon X set! I had Escadora X set with Ikaruga as well which was painstakingly farmed with Gunlance though i cheesed Ala with Kelbi Bow with Hilde since i can't be bothered to farm that guy too long. Compared to Lucent Narga or Abyssal Lagi set, Escadora X is very lame endgame armor but it serves as a good trophy at least. I have to say my hunter progress as Hilde is rather smooth with SnS which i went through Grank rather easily though i still need Lance for underwater as SnS is way too unreliable on those kind of battle. 

Throughout my journey as SnS user i mainly used these armor set Alloy>Lagombi S>Lagiacrus U>Lambent and i am rather surprised that Ivory Lagi Armor is very good and served me well even on HR7 which i used this set to solo the Dual Brachy without too much struggle. Lambent Set though is very reliable set as well the only downside is its lacking of armor slot and it is probably the best armor in the game if you could add Evade+2 and Challenger+2 on that one. 

Anyway after a year has passed and get to play other MH clones i still wondering the other similar games doesn't have what Monster Hunter have. Surely MH had came a long way before they reach their current fame but for me it is about how the character reflects to the player especially when you play solo. In Monster Hunter series your hunter reflects your skill as a player, if it takes you a long time to kill a monster even with a good set it means that your skill needs to be improved and the monsters that you fought serve as the obstacle for you to master the required skill to defeat them. While 3U has been alot more forgiving compared to previous game, having Endgame set doesn't mean anything if you can't use them properly which is still very true in this 3U Grank. I may not the best hunter when it comes to speedkills but i think i am very good at surviving as a Blademaster and my advice is that use MOI(moments of invisibility) to the fullest and mastering the Evade+ skill is a sign of a good hunter. Probably i will be still playing MH3U until 4 Ultimate comes out and for now i think i am going to try reaching HR100 with my LS guy.

Edge of Tomorrow

Never planned to watch this movie but since i heard good things about it, i decide to give it a go just like other thing. It was surprisingly entertaining movie unlike hollywood adaptation stereotypes which usually end up being terribad. I have read the All you need is Kill manga which shared the same base material with this one and compared to the manga the movie had happier end and less shonen tone. I find the main reason why the movie did really well is mainly because of the base material is good to boot with and rather easy to convert to suit tastes. It still makes me wonder how Tom Cruise looks still so young until now considering he has been active before he played in Top Gun

What makes me include the Muvluv in the header is that because it shares the same template with the source material of Edge of Tomorrow, in a way you can say that Muvluv is All you need is Kill with Giant Robots. Basically the main protagonist is a weak guy but gets stronger after going through loop after loop while dying in the process and in the end the main heroine is the cause why the guy can't get through out of loop. Depending in on what perspective you see Muvluv Alternative either inspired by All you need is Kill (which came earlier btw) or plagiarize it which i think Muvluv borrowed "a little bit too much". I used to like Muvluv series back then but got abit sick of it lately due to poor continuation of the series that goes nowhere which gave me the impression is that Alternative is too unoriginal. Nevertheless i believe the novel probably borrow the inspiration somewhere as well which at the moment i didn't know yet but i believe eventually i will. So Muvluv borrowed heavily on Blue Gender and All you need is kill what else the series borrowed at the time Alternative came to light?

Megaman Battle Network 2

Out of the all of the Blue Bomber series either Battle Network or Zero are my favorite ones because pretty much i spent my teen playing those series like crazy. I have played most of the Battle Network series back then except one which was the 2nd and i finished a run recently. Got to say, the 2nd is not as good as i expected probably because i was spoiled too much with the later series and arguably one of the easier series for me as well. MMBN 2 is the one that introduced style system which the 3rd will perfect it and Wood Style in MMBN2 is really broken. One of the major gripes for me in the 2nd game is that the plot feels abit dragged on especially around the Netopia arc where you fight the Gospel Navi in quick succession. I feel the cyberworld in MMBN2 is realIy small for some reason and also abit disappointed that Higsby didn't make it in this game. For me MMBN2 is probably the 2nd worst Battle network series but without it there will never be the 3rd Game which is the best one in my opinion while 4th is the worst one. At the moment i am reminiscing my memories with this series by doing another run for most of the games. Probably someday i will be hunting for the merchandise of this series.

Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden

In my opinion Watase Yuu is one of the best Shoujo mangaka out there even her work is not as popular as Rumiko Sensei. Just now i finished some of my past backlog which is Genbu Kaiden which is the prequel of Fushigi Yuugi. Overall Genbu Kaiden is not perfect in everything but got very good romance and you can see how Watase Yuu's writing matured over time. Simply to say if the original Fushigi Yuugi got the happy ending then Genbu Kaiden had even better romance in the series by far. As the prequel of the Fushigi Yuugi, Genbu Kaiden tells about the story about the journey of Genbu Miko who is the first out of four Celestial beast Miko summoned to book world in the Kingdom of Hokan. As the first Fushigi Yuugi story had laid out, Takiko the Genbu Miko's life ends in her journey but ended in very meaningful one, without her i don't think the other 3 Mikos are able to fulfill their role.

Inuyasha

Felt rather nostalgic recently and picked up Inuyasha manga to read. I read this series when i was in my teens and probably one that gave lasting reflection to me even though i never managed to finish reading it back then. Inuyasha is one of those series which have its main charm to be opposite of the genre it represents, for Inuyasha i feel what makes this series charming is the Shoujo-ish element even the genre the series represents is Shonen one.

Takahashi Rumiko is one of the best female mangaka out there which is the good reason why she is one of the most successful in her field and obviously she made Inuyasha to be memorable one. However just like most long series manga, Inuyasha gets a bit dragged out eventually which i believe around when Moryoumaru showed up since it gradually loses its charm as it gradually devolve to mostly battle manga at that point but still concluded decently even not the best.  My greatest disappointment from Inuyasha is that the Love triangle between Inuyasha, Kagome and Kikyo which made the series interesting is very lacking especially after Shichinin Arc and personally i wished Rumiko sensei could the what if scenario where Inuyasha and Kikyou didn't encounter their tragedy. Nevertheless the first 30 volumes of Inuyasha are very enjoyable which made it a memorable series for me even after ten years. Perhaps someday in the future i will be marathoning the anime series and the movie for old times sake. Also any recommendations for good inuyasha game out there? The PS1 one is quite fun fighting game

Tenku Senki Shurato

One of those old anime that I used to watch when i was a kid and felt it should have remained that way. I had great hope for this series before i watched it but now I can see why Shurato never made it big. 

To sum it up Shurato was a wasted potential just like other many Japanese animes and it never achieve anything noteworthy other than becoming a mere Saint Seiya clone. Shurato have very good character pieces and setting that could be interesting which i see i would make a good darker version of Saint Seiya. However the series goes the opposite direction which made it lose its respect slowly. The story is dragged out too long and by the time of 2nd Arc everything went downhill in really fast pace. 

But what makes it the worst about Shurato for me is that the way Tatsunoko handled the Hinduism lore which serve as the basis of the series is just disrespectul which made impression for me that Japanese are ignorant of other country's culture . I am quite familiar with my Hinduism lore and Vishnu is definitely not a woman (even if the avatar may be) or Shiva a malevolent god and even Atlus didn't do this kind of butchering with their SMT series. Even so i wished Shurato could get the better treatment than this because the series feel really wasted. Probably this series need a reboot that it deserves and if there is ever Tatsunoko vs Capcom 2, I do wish Shurato could made it. I still wonder if Bandai will ever release an Armor plus for the series as well?

Solatorobo: Red the Hunter

At first i thought this game is a furry game with robot but turns out more than that and i can see why Xseed decided to bring this game to western shore. Solatorobo is probably one of the DS game that is released near the end of DS lifecycle that got really good production value. I am not into furries, in fact i avoid them like plague and i like Solatorobo because it is genuinely good game. The story is typical JRPG and quite lighthearted. In the game you play as Caninu(Canine + Inu) hunter called Red whose daily hunter life changed when he encountered a Felineko(Feline + Neko) called Elh who made a contract with Red to Seal the great Beast Lares before it plunge the world to calamity. The gameplay is rather simple where Red piloted robot called Dahak and Judo throw people around. Also the storyline is divided into 2 parts where the first part feels like whole tutorial.

What i find really charming from this series is the world setting which is just vibrant and colorful, a good one for a JRPG game. I find the mecha designs are very cool as well but quite underused and somehow the mecha kinda reminds me of Tron Bonne and Bumpy trot. As for music they are very good for a DS games and have some feel of .Hack along with it. My gripe for this game is that all of the good stuff in the games are underused and the game is too easy even the final boss is pushover. If Cyberconnect ever plans a sequel for this game i would say it is quite easy for them to pull it off considering the potential of the series are not fully used yet. I will probably play this game until i get the Dahak Omega which is the picture below and going to get Tail Concerto a try.