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

- Revised February 2026

Another Ryosuke Takahashi work completed leaving only Panzer World Galient and FLAG on my watchlist. I had high hopes for SPT Layzner mainly because of its awesome opening, but unfortunately it turned out to be one of Takahashi’s weaker works. Even worse, it doesn’t escape his recurring penchant for mysticism.

I first encountered Layzner through Another Century’s Episode 2, and later got more exposure to it via Super Robot Wars J. The story follows a half-Earth boy who tries to save Earth from his alien race by piloting an experimental robot called Layzner. The series eventually shifts tone dramatically and becomes almost like Fist of the North Star in the second half.

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?