Lurker > Strife2

I think I got to the REALLY good part of AssClass. And something tells me this show will stick the landing and stay as good as it was turning out to be. Just about 10 eps left.

My book?

I think the only people who loved books more than Myne were Sheska (FMA) and Yomiko Readman (ROD)

Bookworm is the Spice and Wolf sort of "it's only good because of the characters, and not really the dialogue or the ideas at play." It has moments of heaviness after awhile.

But as good as Myne is, she's no Holo or Maomao. Kinda hard to be when you're 5-10 years old.

I'm Kazuma

KONOSUBA SHOWED ME BOOBIES...ahem...

See? It's back to its old self.

Frieren is great, but I don't think Konosuba is the best approximation, even for a joke post. It's more like generic fantasy #100000, but it realized that stuff happens during and after the fights with the demon lords, and the characters and the world should be fun, interesting, and kinda dour at times.

As for Konosuba, all it needed was Kazuma, Aqua, and Darkness back. Megumin cannot carry comedy, nor any show, regardless of how popular she is.

The strength of Mushishi is whether or not the stories at play work.

This has to be the easiest 10 other than Maya and Edgeworth

I mean, if you were the show responsible for the Endless Eight, I wouldn't want to rewatch you or confirm you existed either.

5 days off in a row. Lots of time for Koro-sensei weirdness

Snow White/Red Hair is solid. It really comes down to Shirayuki and Zen's chemistry.

Then you will be fine.

Hopefully you like it more than I did. I gave the main guy 3-4 episodes, but he wouldn't stop being a complete dickbag "look at me in a vidjagame other world lol" idiot. Kinda the same thing that turned me off Chainsaw Man, though in a different way. Denji was just a fucking jackass.

Yes and no. Miku and other Vocaloids are made via voice clips from voice actors or singers, and then manipulated into actual words via tuning a recording on a DAW. The programming is all digital, and Miku herself is just an image used to sell said software. I think it can work on a smaller scale sort of thing (and Crypton is its own separate company). At most, Miku is used for a 3 minute song, and people can just use the software indefinitely. I think Crypton owns the rights, because the producers themselves do all the heavy lifting and make it and do all the work. Some artists do songs every week or two weeks, some do one song and never publish anything again.

I have no idea what Square Enix would ask for in rights to use "Aki Ross," or whatever her "character" would be called in other media after that. Who knows what and how that would work with the Japanese and English actors, what studios would want to incorporate it for its own projects, the rights involved, how it looks, how it sounds, etc. Maybe it's the same sort of thing where you have to loan out a license for copyrighted music or something, but then Square can decide how or what kind of stuff Aki would be allowed to star in, how much they would make from it. The level of individuality and personal flair used by Vocaloid producers is honestly a bit shocking. Some popular songs go into things like suicide, bullying, family abandonment, etc, rather than just some saccharine happy-go-lucky pop. It may not be so easy if a bigger company like Square Enix has to handle all that publicly. I doubt they'd want a digital actress showing up on porn or something...if they could even control that. Unless you have Ming-Na Wen record every possible word on the planet, I don't know if they'd be able to pull off fully digitized actress all the way. Bring her or a Japanese actress in every movie, it still ends up being Ming-Na Wen AS Aki Ross as such and such a thing. Probably too many degrees of mindfuck.

It's such a weird concept. Miku probably has to go through so many pieces of red tape to be used in commercials, anime, and other things. Trying to imagine a full-fledged leading role seems kinda insane. Then again, that's what AI and Deepfakes are kinda getting away with now. "Digital actress" is probably going to be a thing, but even now, probably too far fetched to be feasible.

Hey. Chocobo Hot and Cold HD means the song gets a remix too. Totally worth.

My point is the more you have to search for an answer to what a game's narrative is trying to tell you, the more work the writers could have done to proofread and not assume just cause it makes sense to them, it may or may not translate when executed. I'm finding that out first hand in a small way being a DM in D&D. What I say and what makes sense to the people actually playing doesn't always translate to making sense. Writing a story is a puzzle...and it isn't just a FF8 thing. I just find the PSX era an easy example of frustrating stuff that could have been prevented.

Anyway, Leon and I will never agree on this, so I'll stop now. Probably better for the topic anyway.

Then don't even mention the relative part if it's not there. Say, "He's there to see someone special by the name of Ellone. She's there to be protected from issues outside our control, and we think the moonbase might be better than keeping her on the planet right now." The game could even go, "Hey, instead of our president, who is kinda...sorta...not the best at this sort of stuff, why don't your team go?"

Serves multiple purposes. Sets up reasons the mention the moon, who and why they are up there in the first place (ties together the fact she joins Esthar in an earlier scene, keeping Ellone away from Galbadia's earthbound forces, gives the party reason to even travel there, and then serves the Squall/Rinoa plot a bit more). They even put over the threat of Ultimecia more, considering she's able to do all this through magical/sorceress bullshit, outwitting Esthar's protection plan. You also refer to Laguna as a bit of a goof, but don't outright say it. By most accounts, a lot of the people in authority in FF8 aren't the smartest of people

A 3-5 minute bit of extra dialogue can go a long way. Again, FF8 is not unique to this, (tying Cloud's weirdness to all of Hojo's sciece and Sephiroth's mindfuckery, Garland/Necron, etc in FF9). Compared to all that, FFX's approach just felt way more digestible, fleshed out and understandable. Like they took time to close a lot of loopholes and provide justifications for any callbacks and such.

Then again, comparing FFX to anything is problematic. That game was a masterclass of not too much, not too little, but everything makes sense in the end, bonkers as it is.

But that is the sort of thing you could hint at while in the car while driving to see Odine. Some of the stuff they explained in Laguna's scene after all the shit happened could be set up early to justify or build up hype.

"We're in a bit of a situation here. The president is up in on the moon. We have a base to monitor something, and his relative is there." The party can infer something like, "Wait, relative?" They don't have to put two and two together, but Squall then at least in his head thing, "Wait...if Ellone's on the moon, then the President...no, I'm overthinking it. Esthar can't be this stupid." He then has several reasons he'd want to go there. They don't have to give away the Adel or Lunar Cry stuff. That can stay where it was on the moonbase. Besides, Squall's only interest is Rinoa and Ellone still. He gets what he wants. The party can either keep to Edea babysitting or question what and why the moon is a big deal, or just shrug it off.

They don't have to give everything away, but you can build the world of Esthar is bigger than the city, and you can let the player connect some dots early so some of the stuff doesn't just seem out of nowhere. All the party knows about Esthar from the moment Edea shows up is, "I want to see Odine. Take me to see him." All they mention is, "Meet at Lunar Base," I don't think they mention anything about even going on the moon at the point. If they do, it is very miniscule and the party just goes, "Well, fuck it, let's go."

It's more the fact they learn, "Hey, Ellone's there." and then the game immediately says, "You better get to Lunar Gate now." Considering they just had gotten into this massive fuck off Futurama city, you'd think there would have been a little story breathing room. Maybe spend a few minutes looking for party members and say, "Hey, what do you think about going in space? Is it dangerous? What's the ramifications here?"

Outside of spending time going around to Tears Point and some other things in the region, you're pretty much plopped into the "WE"RE GOING TO THE MOON!" Nothing like, "Hey, Adel's there, and we're guarding some giant ass problem. In case shit happens, maybe you should go up there to protect the crew if monsters show up."

nope. Just, "Get in the capsule and go, you dip." They wait until later to explain why Adel's even up there, what the Ragnarok are, and other subsequent things in the Laguna meeting. I don't know, but waiting until after I've just hopped to the fucking moon and seen shit go sideways seems a little late to explain the severity of the problem here. FF4 doesn't do the greatest job or anything, but they reveal pretty early on, "Hey, you're going to the moon someday. The big bad or something other messed up shit is up there." You get a few hours of other things to do in the meantime. FF8 asks you to do it in 5 minutes.

It's not as ridiculous as the weirdness that was Garland's monologue and plot dump in FF9, but PSX era FF sure did love to just do weird shit and hope there was enough context clues that people weren't confused.

*Sees final boss of FF9 and the reaction to it*

Nah. Not everything works out just because the writer understands it.

I think there's something very odd about the hair being so bright in the remake. I think the faces and animations overall are better...but yeah. You can't really beat the original visuals wise. Holo just looks way more "piercing" with her eyes. Other than that, the show is practically beat for beat the same, other than putting the dude back in instead of Chloe. I'm sure there's more difference later.

And yes, Mega Mana, those intros slap fucking hard. No sense not getting more of those if they are on the table. Jeff and Casey Lee Williams (and many others) do great work.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

From the sounds of things, the CRWBY is actually to the point where they're having to decide which offer they want to take rather than trying to find an offer, so things look good.

This is how I felt last year, extreme annoyance to so much of the internet saying it was terrible and fell off to the point where I just let it stew, then retroactively realizing these people never watched past volume 3 and were just parroting an HBomberGuy video they watched.

I never watched that video, but I was wondering why the entire set of people who fell off at Volume 3 was just always going, "Yeah, fuck this show now. The creator's gone. They are disrespecting his memory and turning the show into something it isn't."

While I'm here going, "You know, I'm kinda glad it put its big boy pants on and stopped being a pure comedy." No show is perfect, but every show runs out of goofy stuff to do at some point. Funny thing is, no random Youtuber is going to know what Monty wanted the show to be, but if anyone did, it was probably the people who worked with him.

But then I remember, this is the internet. The internet is for porn, and for stupid people to vilify things and shout in echochambers. So, I guess it isn't shocking.

*Note: RWBY isn't god's gift to entertainment or anything. I just like the show a lot*

Crunchyroll has both versions.

Holo is one of those Maomao things, where she makes the show better by being there. Lawrence is no slouch either, and their interactions are really what the show is about, way less the economics and stuff.

RWBY is trying to find a way to continue on under a new umbrella, and that's all I care about.

The blitzball bomb is almost as bad as knowing we're probably never getting the FFX-0 bros reunion tour prequel game.

But nah. Let's just tease a 20-year old FFX-3 and hope people accept the franchise needs returning to.

Edit: actually. Maybe it is for the best. They wouldn't bring back the fighting system from X anyway. They would contrive some lackluster action based system based on looking cool...

He's been like this for decades...so maybe? If anything is guaranteed in life, it's death, taxes, and Leonhart finding any way possible to find the good in FF8, regardless of situation.

Disc 3 and 4 of FF8

I mean, a witch from the future possesses a character from the party, who the main character didn't give a shit about while the entire party forces them together because they are supposed to be I guess. So he sobs over her comatose body, while being transported to a past self within the body of his father and his friends, who somehow bumblefuck their way to defeat another sorceress and take over a futuristic country.

The main character takes the comatose body of the possessed girl he suddenly can't be without, and then they for some reason go to the moon, because I guess, and then he mindwarps into the past to get the girl back, while jumping out into space after she triggers a cataclysm of endless monsters.

The characters then concoct a plot to use the power of friendship to bypass the issue of existing in the far flung future (which doesn't seem to look all that different), and then go into a Dracula-esque Castle to battle a sorceress for the fate of humanity. The main character suffers an insane mindfuck kind of ending...but they get all back to their own time because he believed a special garden would be the best place the girl he kinda hated but now super really liked because she was comatose was told, "Remember this place. I love you, so I'll find you."

I mean...even by Final Fantasy standards...fucking wut?

A decade late, but I'm watching Assassination Classroom. First episode is about what I expected, and that's exactly what I'd hoped it'd be: weird, funny, and kinda fucked up.

I finished The Heike Story. It was pretty crazy how quickly it moves, and some of the names bleed into each other after awhile. However, the sheer amount of sacrifices and deaths at play lead to a very morose and unnerving experience overall. Pretty enjoyable.

People are powerless against Holo the Wise Wolf. We just exist in whatever world she does the fun in.

https://tenor.com/view/spice-and-wolf-spice-and-wolf-remake-spice-and-wolf-2024-holo-korbo-gif-17828235424199105160

This made me happy all over again. The power of Holo the Wise Wolf doing Holo things.

I refer to it as the social media disease that stupid people use.

MI got done watching Sailor Moon Crystal with my friend. It was better than it had any right to be, considering my expectations were "really dumb and saccharine BS." I mean, it sure as hell was dumb and goofy, but there's these weird things people would say or do, or some of the visual moments that bled into the narrative that were oddly dark and depraved a show like this really shouldn't..Momo and Chibiusa/Black Lady (father and daughter) making out, or a line in the movies about wringing a baby's neck until they die. Jesus Christ dude...

But yes, the transformations, some of the goofy attack names (COCONUT CYCLONE!?) aside, there's enough here that it's a surprisingly fun watch for such a dopey, pre-teen kinda show. Enjoyed it a lot more than I would have figured going in.

Started the Heike Story. I'm into period pieces every once in awhile. This has a mix of down to earth yet sophisticated dialogue, and Biwa's story is already pretty tragic. I'm curious where this goes.

Finished Hokkaido Gals today.

Pretty chill and low stakes. All the characters were enjoyable (Akino > Reina > Minami personally), and Shiki was enough of a good guy to bypass the "dorky kid gets hit on by all the girls for no reason" problem. The show had a tendency to veer off into stuff about nothing, or even "advertising snacks and the Hokkaido travel guide for dummies", but it worked well enough to be a good fun time.

And like I said a few days ago, the OP and ED both slap hard.

Skyview sounds pretty interesting.

I love the fast travel rails, because nothing was more frustrating in this game that isn't a platformer than trying to line up a jump, fail, and then spend more time trying to get back.

They took some cues from Yakuza about map layout and sorting icons. Between that, quest markers, and level requirements, it'll sure as hell help. Speaking of the map, not being tied to defeating Abscesses to see the fucking thing is a godsend.

All in all, I am impressed with this setup. I was going to play OG again, but waiting it out for this will end up making for a much better experience.

I want to rewatch Darker Than Black, but I'm not going to pay hundreds for it. Fucking Aniplex.

Third Hokkaido Gal get. Reina is nice enough. Still like Akino best so far. Kinda neat they are already moving into weird love triangle/rectangle stuff midway in. Most shows save that for "crap we forgot to do shit for a finale."

As Shinigami might say, I'm getting horny for mysteries...again.

Given what the opening teased, you'd think they'd do everything.

The OP and ED are amazing. It's too bad the ideas it presented never seemed to come to fruition.

Speaking of touchy subjects that I wasn't expecting to deal with, been watching Sailor Moon Crystal along with a friend and got a weird dose of Electra Complex...so that was awkward as all hell. Not sure THIS is the kind of show that should be doing that, or any show for that matter. It's one of the few things I've stopped and said just nope to about what the show is doing.

More episodes into Hokkaido, and Akino is best girl so far. Made the show a keeper.

Trying out Hokkaido Gals. I'm getting a bit of Nagatoro meets Dress Up Darling vibes from this (though not as good as the latter). Minami is interesting, and the dialogue has its moments...but it is definitely not amazing either. Probably just needs another character or two to balance things out. Just seeing them hang out would get kinda boring.

I dumped Demon Prince of Momochi House a few eps in. They weren't really exciting me with the three dudes and the normal girl, and the dialogue was trying for "we're totally funny, aren't we" sort of pandering humor that stopped landing. Just came off kinda bland. Less Konohana Kitan and Kemono Jihen fun and more Nura: Rise of the Yokai without the fun Yuki-Onna girl to grab me.

And instead, I found Demon Prince of Momochi House. Coming right off rewatching Kemono Jihen, I don't mind another dose of yokai and ayakashi stuff. First episode was fun. Let's see where this goes.

Just started watching Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts. They sure as shit sped through the Beauty and Beast cliffnotes super damn fast. I hope the rest of the show doesn't have this sort of pacing. The way the girl and king talk, it's like they are in a hurry to get somewhere, rather than letting things breathe...especially considering there's an undercurrent of darker shit underneath the comedy. It's like the characters are walking, talking, and trying to convince you something is happening, rather than having anything actually happen; a bit "fake" for me.

Not sold on it just yet. It just felt like a two part intro got hurried up into a VERY fast opening episode that wasn't all that impressive. Sure hope a couple more episodes slow things down and get a little more interesting.

Edit: Dropped it after the banquet. Still not seeing enough to like.

Ah, that would be a fucking mess. That sounds like Poison/Bridget weirdness. JoJo is such a weird thing though. Everyone's faces and lips are just...distinct.

Every other series, I just sit there and go, "Ok. Japan, stop doing this. It's just unfair."

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I don't think Akira looks any more feminine than, say, Kurama from YYH, he's just younger.

And I mean we have our Fate Astolfos, Re:Zero Felix, and Steins;Gate Rukas out there too.

Now, if you wanna talked about Stone Ocean Anasui here.....

Kurama and Astolfo and very much fit the same mold as Akira. I kinda sat in stunned silence for a second at those two. Felix, Ruka, and Anasui I can at least look and go, "Yeah, I can easily believe that's a dude."

*Had to look up all these characters because I have never watched these*