Tales of Graces f Demo Impressions

The Tales of Graces f demo was finally put on the Japanese PSN store about a week ago. Luckily for me the PlayStation 3 system that I have access to was finally repaired and sent back to me! Anyways, long story short I made sure that the first thing I did was download the demo.

I started off not having any interest at all in Tales of Graces f, but after having to report a bit of news and having to pay such close attention to every single detail released about this game my opinion changed. The more and more I read up about this game, the more and more interesting it started to sound. I had started to make up my mind right before this demo came out that I was going to import it.

After playing through the demo, even though I can't read or understand Japanese even close to an elementary level, I've found that the game is quite a bit better than I was expecting. I have had very little previous experience with Tales games so I was sort of walking into this one blindly.

Alright first of all, I have a feeling that the story for this game will be pretty good. I'm aware that when I play it, I'll be looking through some fan translations and such but I won't let that take away from my enjoying this game for what it is. The characters seem pretty likable based solely on the demo, I really like the character design of Sophie and Asbel seems like a good main character to control.

I should have stated this sooner but all my opinions are based solely on what I know of Tales of Graces f, I have no prior knowledge of Tales of Graces for the Wii, so if I get something wrong at any point, I apologize.

The battle system in this game, from what I got a taste of in the demo seems very interesting to say the least. I like how it takes the regular typical Tales battle system, that of attacks and artes, and combines in the new Accelerate Mode. To be fair the demo has you playing with characters that are level 65, but Accelerate Mode is just amazing for lack of better words. It's visually amazing and its also enemy-destroying amazing.

Well in conclusion all I can say for sure is that, funds providing, I'll have this game in my hands a little after Christmas and when I do, you will know!

Total Overhaul Mane

I've finally moved all of my content from Wordpress here! :D I'm so happy I could dance forever.

As you may have noticed, I ditched my custom theme in favour of one that I think looks better any ways. From time to time I may change up the background and the header though only because I can't live without there being at least some customization going on here.

I had a thought the other day, I read a lot, I think I may add book reviews to my already huge list of things that I do. I don't know how many people will read them to be honest, but it's worth a try.

Later on today expect a bit more spam, I've got a nice little 4-5 paragraph entry to put up about my experience with the Tales of Graces f demo. To put it simply, I more than enjoyed it, and I fully intend on importing the game when it comes out in Japan. Yeah, I don't speak Japanese but that's not stopping me from playing a game that I have a feeling I'll love! :D

inFAMOUS Review

inFAMOUS 22.3.2010

Infamous is a 2009 sandbox style game. The game was made by Suckerpunch and published by Sony. Released in May/June 2009 Infamous centers around a courier named Cole MacGrath. Cole lives in a fictional city by the name of Empire City. Early in the game Cole is supposed to be delivering a package for an unnamed client when the package explodes killing hundreds of people. Rather than kill Cole however, the explosion gives him super powers.

The concept of the game is pretty nice. Personally I loved it. The story isn't forgettable and the ending is a good one. However, if you like to get trophies, this game can be evil. One thing a lot of games seem to have in common lately is that they constantly have two to four trophies for finding 100+ items that are well hidden throughout the entire game. In most cases, like Assassin's Creed 2, this isn't too hard, but good luck finding all 350 Blast Shard in Infamous.

The main premise of the game is to make good or evil choices, zap power back into different parts of Empire City, kill the bad guys and complete a number of side quests so that you can free up the entire city. It's not really that hard, its just rather tedious.

Breakdown of Opinions:

Controls: The controls of the game are simple. They seem to flow smoothly and nothing seems awkward in the least, unless you happen to be bad with the Sixaxis, then the Arc Lightning power might not be your calling.

Characters: Most of the characters in Infamous are rather enjoyable. If you're anything like me though, about half way through the game you'll want to kill either Zeke or Trish. Oh, and trust me, when you hear the Voice of Survival guy; just run away. The blast shards and quests will go nowhere, and you won't have to deal with his god awful voice.

Story: The story is a good one. It takes the classic comic book hero and puts you in his shoes allowing you to decide if he turns into the good guy or the super villain. The only thing that is a disappointment really is that once you get to a certain point, you can't make good decisions anymore if you've been a big baddie, and as always, the story line is pretty much the same no matter what decisions you make.

Score: 9/10 Infamous is a great game, but its not the greatest. It has its flaws, but putting them aside I see no reason why the game shouldn't be enjoyed.

On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax Mythology Review

On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax by Alesana

The debut album by Alesana is my first choice to review. I love this album I've heard it probably a thousand times, no exaggeration. No matter how many times I hear the album, I never tire of it. First of all, I'll start with back story on the band itself, then we'll get to the actual album. :]

Alesana History

Alesana (pronounced Alice-Anna) formed in Raleigh, North Carolina with the band members; Shawn, Patrick, Dennis, Steven, and Daniel. Alesana was the first band to sign on with Tragic Hero Records in 2005. Later that year, Daniel was replaced with another member, Will, because of creative differences between he and Shawn.
By the time that production of "On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax" came along, Will was replaced as drummer as well by Jeremy and Adam was added to their line up. With this the band was complete and they released "On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax" in summer of 2006. Later that year they signed on with Fearless records, a more major label than their previous. Fearless re-released the album with a few bonus tracks (which will be included in the review :D ) and Steven left the band being replaced with Shane.

On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax

Even though I don't normally do this, for this album, I will go track by track simply because it's too great not to. An important thing about this album, almost every song has a reference to mythology in some way. For example the title is derived from the legend of Icarus and Deadelus.

1. Icarus
This is the intro to the album, and also where the title is derived from, the lyrics to it simply are "...black engulfs the dying light as he falls on frail wings of vanity and wax.. " It's obvious to me that refers to the myth of Icarus. Simple.

2. Ambrosia
This is the second track off of the album and the only song officially released as a single, there is also a video of it if you would like to check it out. The lyrics of this song elude to the myth of King Midas. For example, "once king of roses, now lord of gold/the Gods themselves envy my hand/blessed with the gift of gilded touch/fate wields its knife to cut the thread" obvious reference there to the King with the curse touch.

3. Pathetic, Ordinary
This song takes a lot of reading between the lines and stretching of myths in order to see the connection. At first glance, it's about a man that longs for a women that either doesn't know or simply doesn't return his favor. Now applying that to mythology you end up with the myth of Hades who lusted for Persephone. In the myth it explained the Persephone's absence from the natural world caused autumn and winter, "I see her silhouette dance across landscapes of golden light and autumn" To me that sounds like it could mean that he sees Persephone, as she's approaching the underworld and leaving the earth in a state of Autumn.

4. Alchemy Sounded Good at the Time
For this song I present to you, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. "My pale queen finally stands/To taste silent lips/Now cursed with her love/Cold flesh lends to me its secrets/Each day brings me closer to you/For a price too high/My tragic victory" This quote describes the climax of the myth, when Orpheus is allowed to retrieve Eurydice's soul from the underworld and he i told not to look back until they are both safely. Being a fool, like most mythological heroes, he looks back and her soul is lost to him forever. That would be explained in the line "My tragic victory".

5. Daggers Speak Louder Than Words
Not really a Greek myth but neither was Ambrosia. In fact this song isn't based off of mythology at all, but Roman history. This song recounts the murder of Julius Caesar. This, as well, is a stretching of the song and the story so that you can see the connection. "eyes open to splattered blood/cold tile mocks me as I arise to find the knife is still in my back" There you go, stabbing scene. "remembering times we have shared...my friend for life is gone/we'll let the embers serve as the only memory of last days, so long ago/why would you leave me to die, turn, and walk away?/why would you leave me to die after you had buried the dagger hilt deep?" There lies another connection between the story and the song. In the story one of the ones who stabs Caesar is his best friend Brutus. The only thing really that doesn't fit the story is he fact that the speaker in the song is apparently still alive.

6. Last Three Letters
This is my favorite song off of the album. It tells the story of a myth not many are familiar with, Hero and Leander. "make it stop, make this pounding in my head stop/fill my lungs with air, give me one more day to make her dreams come true/she understands right? that I'm not coming back.../she understands right? that I'm not coming back.../make it stop, make the pounding stop/I'm not coming back, I'm not coming back, I'm not coming back.../I don't know what happened...who would have thought my life would end up like this?/I didn't mean to hurt her, not hurt her like this...I can't feel my legs/I can't feel my legs and I can't even cry...how could somebody die like this?" That entire part right there describes perfectly the climax of the myth when Leander was on his way to see Hero again, and he meets a terrible fate.

7. Apology
Heh. Well here's a break from mythology for you. This song cannot be connected to a myth. In fact there's really barely any meaning to it in my opinion, the beginning is about sex, and the entire song is just about someone wishing to be over another person, possibly someone who lied and cheated, not sure though. But what I am sure of, is this is an amazing song. It's beautiful really.

8. Tilting The Hourglass
Well well well, you get a lucky break, two songs in a row without mythological references. Interperate the song as you like, but I say that it's about someone who may have been a part of a war, possibly an ancient Greek or Roman one, and he had a woman that would love him if he were to return a hero. Well I think he ended up getting wounded but not enough to kill him and he was to return to where he came from. If that happened she wouldn't love him, so he was longing for death. "you take my breath away.../but Ill never again taste your lips/as fate keeps me locked away/I must close my eyes to see your face/emptiness has darkened my eyes/ as I hopelessly beg for my life to end/...tell my why.../my iron eyes tell the tale/heroes always pay in their blood/I can be only this" There's my proof of argument. He won't ever be able to kiss her again, or see her for that matter. He's obviously begging for death. Far stretch, but there it is for you.

9. This Conversation Is Over
The myth I find a connection in this song to is, again, a bit of a stretch. This song, to me, connects with the myth of Echo and Narcissus. "Take everything away from me silent angel" Yup, Echo there. "your empty words now drift away as fragile whispers/I saw the day when the fire left your eyes, your tongue fell still/your treason is silence..." This again reminds me of Echo, she was punished by the gods for thinking herself more deserving, hence the silence that is her treason. Actually, when I look closer and closer at the song, all I see is Echo, the only signs of Narcissus are the arrogant remarks.

10. Congratulations, I Hate You
Haha.. ok when it comes to this song, I have absolutely nothing to say. I really don't like it, or the lyrics. I mean there is nothing wrong with it as an Alesana song goes, but, yea it's not me. Sorry it gets omitted from my mythological dissection. I suggest that you listen to it regardless though.

11. The Third Temptation of Paris
Alright this one is the Trojan War. Simple as that. Start to finish nearly, at least Paris' part. He stole Helen and Menelaus was determined to get his bride back from Paris "She is cursed/and tonight we die" The theft of Helen started the war, and the Trojan did lose it. If you don't know anything about the Trojan War, just read the lyrics to this song. :]

12. A Siren's Soliloquy
Well the fact that Siren is in the title should be enough to tell you that this song is seething with mythology. Briefly put, this song has to do with The Odyssey. "beautiful whispers leave one so far/chain these hands of ageless struggle" Odysseus had to be chained to the ship so that he didn't go to the Sirens when they began to sing, his men had to save him from that fate. "set loose so long ago by the foolish whim of Pandora/phantoms which shall forever prey on mankind's weakness/the grains of time hold no bearing to those eyes/in pale moonlight she sings to the haunted sea/vile notes seduce old Cerberus to slake unholy thirst/left behind to fight the ruthless pawns of Eris" A lot to decifer there. Ok for starters, Pandora released all of the evils into this world, that's common knowledge as far as I know. The Sirens didn't age, that way they could always be alluring to men at sea. They sang to lure men away from safety and allow them to meet their demise. The Siren's could seduce anything, even Cerberus if they wanted, and they served Eris. The rest of the song also is filled with references, these were just my favorites.

13. Nero's Decay
The final song on the album is about the fall of Rome. Nero was there when the Empire finally fell to the Vesigoths. "our empire has fallen/the columns came crashing down" The entire song talks about someone, Nero in this case, watching as Rome falls. You can feel the sorrow and despair in the lyrics.

Bonus Tracks

14. Apology (acoustic)
This song still gets the same meaning I gave it when it wasn't acoustic. It's still about sex and wanting to be over someone, though it sounds a lot prettier when it's acoustic, really gives Shawn a chance to shine.

15. Early Mourning
Simply put, a beautiful song. My absolute favorite. I hate to sound like an emo kid, but sometimes this song reminds me of the situation that I happen to be in, separated from a lover and not knowing how to live. This song is amazing, but it's really sad as well.

Anyways, with that I conclude my review, giving Alesana's On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax a 9.5/10

The Night Chronicles: Devil

On September 17, 2010 The Night Chronicles: Devil was released in theaters. Initially people wrote the film off as being one not worth a try simply because of M. Night Shyamalan's name being on the ticket. I will admit that I was among those people.

I saw Devil about a week after it opened in theaters and I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.

The whole idea of the film is kind of risky and a little stupid. Basically the film starts off with a "crazy Catholic" telling a story that his mother used to tell him when he was a child about the devil and how he would visit people on Earth to punish them before taking them to hell. After the initial set up we find five people trapped in an elevator. Eventually the lights and things start to malfunction and the odd occurrences begin.

One thing that I found very irritating about the film is that a few of the characters seem to lack common sense. There are about two or three time during the whole film where a character will do something, like try to move a live wire while standing in water, that most people would look at the situation and think "Oh this is stupid, best to leave it".

Aside from the stupid common sense lacking parts Devil is surprisingly well made. The story is good, the actors are surprisingly stomach-able. I think if you like a good thriller/mystery film you should give this one a shot, you may find that you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was. All in all I think I would give this film: 7/10 which is very very liberal for a Shyamalan film.

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni + Kai

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni + Kai 11.5.09

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni and Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai are seasons one and two respectively of a series of crime/drama/mystery/horror anime that follow a set of games and manga as well, all with the same main title. The series was adapted from the games most important arcs. It was released first in Japan, where at the time when Rena's arc was to air, there was an incident that made the networks cancel the program because of emotional impact.

The story of this anime follows Keiichi Maebara after he moves to the small village of Hinamizawa in June of 1983. There he meets Rena Ryuugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, Satoko Hojo and eventually Shion Sonozaki, along with many other secondary characters. Rena, Keiichi, Satoko, Rika and Mion all attend school together and participate in after school "club activities", mostly always card games.

As time goes on Keiichi learns more about the village and the festival that is held once a year, Watanagashi. Watanagashi, or Cotton-drift is the festival held to honor the local god, Oyashiro. Keiichi learns more and more about the festival as it approaches including the fact that for the past four years, someone has been killed and another has gone missing on Watangashi as part of "Oyashiro-sama's Punishment".

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni and Higurashi No Nau Koro Ni Kai, from this point on referred to as simply Kai, are seperated into multiple story arcs. All of the arcs take place during the same time frame of a week to three days before Watanagashi. In each of the arcs Keiichi or one of his friends gets paranoid and starts to be mistrusting of their friends, sometimes even resulting in one or more of their deaths.

Main Story Arcs -minimal spoilers-

Onikakushi-hen (Spirited Away By The Demon Chapter)
The first arc in Higurashi focuses firstly on introducing the view to life in Hinamizawa, the main characters and the main plot line. This arc focuses on Keiichi as he finds out about the chain of mysterious murders and begins to be suspicious of his friends Mion and Rena.

Watanagashi-hen (The Cotton Drifting Chapter)
This arc starts out like all the rest, innocent and turns to something more. This arc marks the first appearance of Shion Sonozaki. As this arc progresses weird occurances begin happening with the Sonozaki sisters and you begin not being able to tell Mion and Shion appart. This arc, like the rest ends in death of a main character.

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Tatarigoroshi-hen (The Curse Killing Chapter)
This arc is longer than the previous two and mainly focuses on Satoko. This chapter mentions more about Satoko's brother and the mystery behind what happened to him. As the chapter progresses and it gets closer and closer to Watanagashi, Satoko gets placed in an unhealthy position and one of her friends decides to take drastic measures to save her, resulting in multiple deaths, including the savior's own.

Himatsubushi-hen (Time Wasting Chapter)
This chapter, when you first look at it, seems to have little to do with the main characters. It introduces Akasaka and it also shows that a certain member of the Hinamizawa club is very very important to the mystery of Oyashiro-sama. This arc takes place five years before all of the others.

Meakashi-hen (Eye Opening Chapter)
This arc is a direct answer to the questions left by the Watanagashi-hen arc. This is a retelling of the arc through the eyes of Shion Sonozaki. It fills in every answer to what was originally left out of Watanagashi-hen.

Tsumihoroboshi-hen (Atonement Chapter)
In this arc, the main character is Rena. This arc follows her as she begins to experience a situation similar to that which Keiichi experienced in the first arc. Consequently, Keiichi experiences a startling revalation directly related to the arcs themselves.

KAI ARCS

Yakusamashi-hen (Disaster Awakening Chapter)

This arc was exclusive to the anime and only included in order to tie up the loose ends of season one so that the viewer had no more questions. In ths arc the entire club, including Shion attend school without incident. Throughout the arc, Satoko learns of the secret one of the members is carrying having to do with the Watangashi and mysterious murders. This arc ends tragically with every one of the main characters dying but not before a big twist is delivered.

Minagoroshi-hen (Massacre Chapter)
This arc is an important one, there is a lot to be learned right from the very begining. The character responsible for time resetting is revealed and explains how the attempts have failed everytime. In this arc you are also introduced to Oyashiro-sama. At the very end, the identity of the real murderer is also revealed, somone least expected, at least by me.

Matsuribayashi-hen (Festival Accompanying Chapter)
The longest arc of the series has the entire group working against fate to achieve a common goal, their number is increased by one, but it isn't a familiar face to them. A couple of the episodes focus on the childhood of the murderer as well, they help give a sense of understanding for why they are the way they are.

****SPOILERS FROM HERE ON****

Ok so I promised to label it, and I did, you will find nothing but spoilers from here on. This is all the stuff that I think makes the plot amazing and the anime worth all the rewatches I've given it so far. I'll go arc by arc so that its easier.

Onikakushi-hen
The way that the story was presented, through the eyes of a derranged Keiichi made it an edge of your seat thing. His paranoia mixed with Rena's sporting of a cleaver would make anyone think that the girl could have murdered all of the people before. Of course the last scenes of the fourth episode were the best and kept me going for the show, when Keiichi started beating Rena and Mion with a bat and then clawed out his own throat, I had to figure out why, so that was a good move by the developers. :]

Watanagashi-hen
I actually don't like a lot about this arc. The only thing it's really good for is introducing you to Shion and showing you the holes in the story that will be solved later on. There were funny parts in it, like when Keiichi was at the Angel Mort and thought he was being pervy to Mion and it was really Shion, but aside from that, this arc was really just a filler to keep me going on the show.

Tatarigoroshi-hen
This arc was well done in my opinion. Though I don't like Satoko that much, it was still nice to learn about Satoshi and her uncle. It was also eye opening to see that because of her family's beliefs, Satoko was made an outcast in Hinamizawa. The scenes of more paranoia with Keiichi were just as good as the first time that Keiichi goes on the fritz. I understand what he was trying to accomplish by killing Satoko's abusive uncle, but after that he went a bit crazy wishing death on everyone, and then they started dying.. Also, I thought it was really really bizarre when Takano asked Keiichi if he had burried the body. She shouldn't know all that.

Himatsubushi-hen
I liked this arc simply because it showed that Rika is more than a simple little girl. It finally showed that she has to do with the arc, and time resetting itself. At first I thought that it was weird that Rika was predicting deaths to Akasaka, but as it went on, I realised that she had to be special.

Meakashi-hen
This is my favorite arc. I like it for the violence mostly, but its also a very insightful arc. When viewing this series of events from the eyes of Shion, everything from Watanagashi-hen makes sense. This was one of the more disturbing arcs, if not the most diturbing one. There are countless scenes that make the viewer cringe or possibly even scream. The first of these is the scene where Shion beats the heck out of Satoko in the classroom. Very disturbing, but not without reason when you look at it, I mean she did love Satoshi. The next disturbing scene has got to be the fingernail peeling scene. I cringed and closed my eyes. I can't even describe it, it's just very very well done horror. After that there are scenes with Rika, Satoko and Keiichi, all of which Shion manages to kill before she dies herself. The scene with Rika I found to be more humorous than horrific, as for the scene with Satoko, while I laugh at it now, I was terrified when I first saw it, but humor ensued afterwards when Shion urinated herself. The scene with Keiichi, you never see. You only know that he died by watching the very beginning of the first episode of the next arc. The arc ended kind of suddenly with Shion falling off of the hospital. The only question I still have is how Mion died..?

Tsumihoroboshi-hen
There are two very good parts to this arc and thats abot it. The first is when Keiichi remembers about one of the previous Hinamizawa's and Rika talks to him about it and he realises that he killed his friends for no reason, they weren't trying to harm him at all. They were trying to calm him and play a game when he thought that they were out to get him. The second good part is when Rena and Keiichi are fighting on the roof and Rena realises what she is doing. That part made me realise there was a definite reason for time to be repeating and that maybe it was important for some of them to remember the previous Hinamizawa's.

Yakusamashi-hen
This arc is really only good for tying up the loose ends. I liked the fact that someone finally found out about Rika's secret, granted it was Satoko, but still. A lot was revealed in this arc about how the village is always exterminated, that there is actually an organization behind it all. Unfortunately, everyone dies before anything else can be done, but it's a good arc anyways. It also shows at the end that the hospital employees cannot be trusted.

Minagoroshi-hen
Full of fantastic plot twists this arc is. The first is that you get introduced to Oyashiro-sama, Hanyuu. You find out that Rika is controlling time, resetting it every time a bad outcome occurs during the Watanagashi of 1983. She recounts all the times previously that she has failed in bringing about the proper conclusion she wants, the happy ending for everyone. The murderer is revealed in this arc as Miyo Takano. The entire gang, Shion included this time, make a stand against Takano. Though in the end they fail, Rika asks Takano that she be awake when she is killed, that way she remembers who killed her. Takano agrees, and Rika remembers.

Matsuribayashi-hen
This arc shows Miyo Takano as a young girl and all the struggles she went through, the ridicule her family faced for believing in something called the Hinamizawa Syndrome. It was supposedly a parasitic disease that infected the residents of Hinamizawa. Every resident had it, but it remained dormant unless separated from the Queen Carrier for too long. In the case of the time, the Queen was Rika, the head of the Furude house. With help from their friends' faith Hanyuu is able to be a real person in this arc, she attends school with the rest of them normally. Though the cliche power of friendship is used in this arc, it ends perfectly. In the end even Takano's forces turn on her and she ends up a victim of the Syndrome. During the ending credits, you see that Rika and Satoko change the date on the Calendar and it becomes July 1983. Leading to Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Rei, a short OVA series that is yet to be complete.

School Days

School Days 1.1.10

School Days is by far one of the most disturbing animes that I have ever had the misfortune to run across. It really ceases to have any point after a while, but at the same time you begin to feel yourself drawn to the characters trying to figure out how things will turn out for them. You begin to feel empathy for the characters and you want things to turn out with a happy ending because that's how the series began. Unfortunately, the series starts on a happy note and ends on the darkest polar opposite possible.

School Days was originally a hentai like graphic novel game for the pc. That is the main reason that the girls are so, um, developed per say. The novel became popular and thought arose that there might be a possible profit from making an anime series from the characters. And thus School Days was born.

The story of the anime pretty briefly is that Makoto is a high school student who rides the train home from school everyday. He always sees this quiet mysterious girl on the train but he's too nervous to talk to her. He falls in love with her. Unfortunately for him, he and the girl are not in the same class so he has to consult his female friend Sekai for help. She agrees to help him even though she herself is also in love with Makoto. After this, the three of them are trapped in a vicious love triangle that ruins everyone's lives.

All in all I give School Days a 7.5/10
The show itself was bizarre, but its still a show everyone should watch regardless. It shows kinda what could happen in present high school situations and it teaches a very very very important lesson: DO NOT MESS WITH PEOPLE'S HEARTS!!!

*****SPOILER SECTION*****

Alright now I have free reign over telling you what I really liked about the anime. :3

The first really good thing about the anime is the way that they start it out all innocent with Makoto being in love with and eventually happy with Kotonoha. I liked that and it gives the viewer a false sense of security thinking that nothing can go wrong with the two and that eventually Sekai will find some one else.
WRONG
I love that. I love the fact that the exact opposite happens. Sekai becomes insanely jealous and steals Makoto away from Kotonoha. This in turn screws with Kotonoha's mind because she has no idea why Makoto is doing the things that he's doing.

I also like the ending because when you think about it, Makoto got what he deserved for messing with Sekai and Kotonoha.
He was a jerk and cheated on both of them. He didn't just cheat on them with the other, but with other girls from school. He became a total manwhore. Not cool. So in a way I think he got what he deserved by being stabbed in the heart by someone that loved him, someone who he broke and destroyed.
As for Sekai, she sorta deserved what she got. She DID lie to Kotonoha in order to keep Makoto to herself. She shouldn't have lied to someone that she knew was pretty crazy especially about something so drastic.
As for Kotonoha, I just feel sorrow and sympathy for her. She didn't do anything to deserve any of what happened to her. And she's clearly lost her mind by the middle of the anime. And at the end, she's just...I don't even know how to describe her. No normal person lays on the deck of a boat holding their dead boyfriend's head..

All in all, I think the above mentioned things make the anime one worth a watch. It's definitely not something that I would ever watch again, but it's worth a once over.

Avenger

Avenger 1.1.10

This time around I will be reviewing the anime Avenger. This anime was published by Bandai entertainment. It aired back in 2003 and this summer I was lucky enough to stumble across it and watch it.

The story is a little far fetched to say the least, but it has a nice science fiction feel to it. The anime takes place in the future when Mars has been colonized, the earth has been destroyed, and children have been replaced with robots which are called "dolls". The main character has a very mysterious past and she travels Mars searching for Volk. As the main story progresses Layla, the main character, proves herself a skilled fighter and the founders of the Mars civilization see her as a severe threat.

Well as the series goes on you learn that Volk is responsible for Layla's family being killed and her living on Mars. You also learn that Nei is really a ten year old human child and not a doll at all.

Through all of the slow cinematics and the dragging story, the ending leaves even more questions then you had at the beginning. Unfortunately this is a HUGE turn off for watching the show. I would recommend that you watch the anime just because of the fact that its a short series and you can finish it easily on a weekend, but I honestly don't expect anyone to like it even half as much as I did.

The soundtrack and the animation are really good, especially for the time when it was made. The opening is pretty different, not something I expected at least.

As for an all around score I regret to inform you that I give Avenger 5/10

Too Much, Too Soon

I'm really happy, I applied for and got the news reporter position at Tales Union! :D I can finally stop scouring the internet. Hah.

Well, unfortunately there was a death in the family recently and that's pretty much stopped my online life. I never log into anything anymore. =/ Sad really.

I'll be making this a short entry as I'm about to spam up the internet by moving all my good content from Hinamizawa Syndrome over to here. :) The character profiles I'll stick on too just so I never lose them, they'll be removed if I ever start the site back up.

It's Truly A Sad Day

Hinamizawa Syndrome is closed indefinitely! Its all rather sudden I realize, but with a few recent changes to my life, I just can't be bothered to run it anymore. One day I might be able to re-open it, but until then, all reviews and such will be posted here.

On the 30th of July I went to Warped Tour. Let me tell you, that was awesome! :D I can't wait until next year! I got a mega sunburn, but that aside, it was an excellent day because I saw so many artists. It was just, truly a lovely experience. This Friday I've got Mayhem Festival to go to. This should also be an amazing experience, grated it won't be anything like Warped Tour, but I still get to go mad crazy with my favourite people in the world, Mario and Deena. :)

I have a new favourite television show as well, Dexter. Turns out that its perfectly dark and twisted. Dexter is my hero, simply because the way he interacts with people is how I feel most of the time. haha.

Once again, I regret to say that I'm no longer running windows. I *tried* to get Linux and Windows 7 to boot together on my computer, but I fucked it up somehow and now I'm stuck with Crunchbang Linux simply because I can't be bothered to try to fix it and it's very impractical to install Windows after you install Linux, technical things go funky and it just turns into a disaster.

Anyways, I'll keep you updated with EVERYTHING, so check back. :p

A Living Breathing, Generation of The Walking Dead

Like the title? :) It's from a new Ivoryline song off of their new cd Vessels. You should check it out~!

In other news, I finally jumped on the bandwagon and I've made a tumblr account, I'll be adding the link here in a bit. Its really just for a bit of fun and so that I can get my Harry Potter oriented humour.

I've been watching a lot of anime and discovering a lot of music and its getting me back in the mood to start updating Hinamizawa Syndrome again, but... I just don't know if it's worth it. I mean, I know that its something that I enjoy but I never get any feedback on anything that I put on the site, so it almost feels pointless. But know this, if I get back into it, and start taking it seriously then I'll put the site back up for sure :)

Have you ever played a game that seemed to be taking over your entire life? That's what I've been doing. I started playing Runescape in June and I've played it entirely too much since then. In fact I'm playing it even as I type this, that's how talented I am.

Life Is Pretty Rad

So for the past two weeks or so, I can honestly say life has been pretty darn rad! I've experienced my first concert, I'm getting more defined taste in music, I'm playing LEGO Harry Potter, and I'm getting back into reading and studying in preparation for college this winter.

My first concert was the Detroit date of the Scream It Like You Mean It Tour featuring IvoryLine, Silverstein, We Came As Romans, Emery, Sky Eats Airplane, Dance Gavin Dance and I Set My Friends On Fire. Let me make this clear, being that the show was my very first concert, it was INSANE! I'm so in love with the genre now that its getting out of hand haha, I can't wait til my next show, which will probably be Warped Tour to be honest.

LEGO Harry Potter. What more can I say. I adore the game. Its got to be the best LEGO game ever. Its far longer than I expected at first, and for that I'm truly grateful. :)

Because of experiencing the music live I've started to really get into Screamo/Metalcore music. Gone now are the days of me listening to 3OH!3. If you're into the same kind of music I would love to recommend the following bands, some of which aren't around anymore but they're still worth a listen.

Bravo Armada

Bravo Armada is pretty much a hardcore band that isn't afraid to just let loose. They're on a permanent hiatus unfortunately, but they do have one cd, that I know of, out and its called Black And White. Its pretty good for a first time release. Only time will tell whether this band will get back together and continue kicking ass, but I sincerely hope they do.

Myfashionlove

Another hardcore/metalcore band. Myfashionlove has crazy energy in their songs and I highly suggest that you sit back and listen to them. As of now, they are still together as a band and they have one studio release entitled Secret Plan Of Self Destruction.

This Is The Hospital

A band that was formed from a few veterans of the San Diego music scene, This Is The Hospital formed in 2006. Now officially broken up, or on "indefinite hiatus", This Is The Hospital only released one album. That album, entitled Daybreak, has become one of my favourites rather quickly. The songs on the album blend together almost flawlessly and still they manage to carry a heavy attitude while remaining catchy.

The Year Ends In Arson

I saved the best for last. The Year Ends In Arson is by far, the best band that I've discovered lately. I have the highest possible hopes for their future success. The band has so far released one album called Vessels. If I had to compare any aspect of them to a band I would honestly compare the guitar to that of older The Fall Of Troy.

And So Turns Another Page

Yesterday was my birthday, pretty good day if I do say so. :)

After a lot of thought and after just a simple realization, I decided to peacefully, and might I add near silently, leave FXN permanently. I will soon remove the links from this site as well. I have no more interest in the site as everyone that I had cared for has moved on. I felt it was time for me to do the same, so off to Gaming Union I go. I will miss those friends of mine who remain, but sometimes things just go stale and you need to walk away, that's what happened here, FXN has turned to rubbish and I just can't sit there and watch it die any longer.

Good-ish news! My Runescape membership is about to run out, so I should be able to update things for a bit since I'm holding out on asking my dad to renew it for me. ^^;

JAFAX 15 was this past weekend. It was a blast! I definitely enjoyed every second of it. I already can't wait for next years. :D I'll be working on my sewing skills hard core so that I can make an even better cosplay! :D And I wanna make a Drifloon plushie just because, so fabric store here I come!! DDD:

Well that's all for this quick update. :D Take care and don't forget to visit Hinamizawa Syndrome's main site!

News!!

I have been slacking off hard core it seems. I'm terrible sorry. There were a lot of problems with my PowerMac which it turns out was entirely more trouble than it was worth. I'm planning on selling that POS on Craigslist, someone might want it.

In the next few weeks I'm planning on putting up quite a few reviews. I always say this, but it's about time I get down to business and start taking this seriously. I try to view my little project as something with a lot more potential than it really has in reality. For that reason I need to start putting the effort into it so that I can actually stand a chance at reaching the goals I have set in my mind.

Next weekend is JAFAX!! I'm quite excited for this as it will be my second year attending. This year I'm planning a cosplay for it as well so I hope that adds to the experience. I think the thing I'm most looking forward to about it though is that I get to meet Asuka's English VA!! OMG, I am beyond excited for that! I'm going to try to get her to sign my Evangelion manga, and pictures! Oh man, excitement that cannot be expressed in words.

Speaking of JAFAX, once the con is over and I have all the pictures up on DA, Facebook, and such I'll post them here, I know some people love anime as much as I do. Another thing I'm going to be doing after I get Hinamizawa Syndrome up and running again is use this blog mainly for promoting the site and move my personal life blog back to Live Journal. This one will still get business life updates though, I swear!

Well, until the next update which will hopefully be sometime soon :)

Umineko No Naku Koro Ni

So after marathoning this series for the past two nights I finally finished it. I know now without a doubt that I have another favourite anime. I also know that they MUST make a second season for this show, if they don't I'll be very sad. All in all it was very good and it reminded me a lot of Higurashi which is to be expected because it's made by the same people.

Well hopefully with a lot of perseverance and work I should be adding around 30 pages to Hinamizawa Syndrome this coming week. These page will include the rest of the Higurashi character profiles as well as those for Umineko characters and Ergo Proxy characters. As long as I get that done I'll be able to move onto the anime reviews.

In other great news it seems that I'm getting an old PowerMac. I'm actually pretty excited about this. I may pride myself on being a pc kind of person but there's nothing wrong with older macs and I fully intend on enjoying it. Unfortunately because it's so old I'll have trouble running some programs on it, but thats what the other computers we have are for.

Well that's all for now, I really need to get to work on updating Hinamizawa Sydrome. Make sure to keep checking back here as well as there for some new content. ~~

May Is Fast Approaching!!

May is almost here! I can't believe it! Well, just recently I got around to watching Ergo Proxy. So far I'm about half way done with it and I'm loving it!! I fully intend to review this series in detail after I finish it, so as always, keep an eye on Hinamizawa Syndrome. I'm also hoping to rent Heavy Rain some time soon. If I get to then I'll of course review that game in depth as well.

So far I've come to the conclusion that Re-l is an AMAZING character. Words cannot describe how bad ass she is at times. On top of watching Ergo Proxy I also rewatched the first season of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni. As is obvious, that series remains one of my all time favourites. After seeing the second season I realize just how sad the entire series is.

Well I was trying out using Ubuntu as my only operating system and it turns out that I'm entirely too dependent upon Photoshop and other such Windows only programs. So after a bout with Ubuntu I decided upon re-installing Windows 7. So once again half of my files are gone. Some times I really hate having to start over from square one.

Well that's all for this time. Make sure you keep checking back for new updates on anime and video game reviews!

Back To Square One

It's already April!! Oh man it seems like just yesterday was December. In two months I'll be 19, god I feel old.

Anyways, look who's back in the market for a news reporting job on a website. D: After foolishly giving mine up because I thought Jon would be doing stuff to help out FXN I find myself in a rut which I can not seem to escape. I'm only a member of a few forums, one of which I quit staff on, another I haven't been on that long and its marginally larger than FXN and probably has enough staff to begin with, and the third being Gaming Union. Believe me when I tell you it's more likely hell will freeze over than me getting a chance at a job there. I'm not exactly on the best terms with the admins. 

The only reason that not having a news reporting job bothers me is that I'm a bit conceited and I view myself as having awesome potential. Being that way, I feel I'm wasting it by just sitting here without being able to do that which I love. I honestly love being able to give information to the masses via the net. I mean, come on, if I didn't would I really bother running so many blogs?

What time better than this to also point out that I've been working my but off in photoshop? See? Now, my only problem is that Windows 7 gave me a ton of trouble so I was sorta forced out of frustration to shift over to a mostly Ubuntu based system. When I say mostly I mean that I'm using Ubuntu for everything and I'm messing around with other distributions of Linux just for fun. And the best part? I get to figure out how to use this amazingly complicated program called Wine so that I can run Adobe Photoshop CS2 in Ubuntu. If I can't do that, well then all graphic awesomeness is done. There is no way in the world that I can make awesome things like that which is pictured above in GIMP. It's pretty much laughable thinking that anyone can make anything worthwhile through GIMP.

I've been playing the crap out of Final Fantasy lately. I'm more than stuck on a boss fight. Let me just say this, Vanille's summon. If you've been playing the game, then you know what I mean. It's some crazy stuff. =/ I think this week or possibly this weekend at the latest I'm going to start working on putting up a Final Fantasy section on Hinamizawa Syndrome. Inside of that section I'll have reviews of all of the titles I've played as well as character bios for ALL of the games. Mind you this will take me a very long time to complete, but I figure why not? It's not like I have much else to post there. Along with all the resources for the old games I'l post a trophy guide and some other guides, tips and tricks for Final Fantasy XIII in the area. AND since the game is still relatively new, I will keep everything as spoiler free as possible. SO, don't check a guide out unless you're at that part of the game, I'd hate for you to accidentally ruin the game for yourself.

Well on that note, I bid you so long for a while, I think this may in fact be one of the longest posts I've ever made. And I feel pretty blasted proud of myself. 

New Haircut and Breaking News

Hello~!! Its been a little while hasn't it? Well just recently, probably about a week ago, I got my hair cut for the first time in about.. nine months? I'm not sure how long actually. But anyways, it looks fabulous~

So other than that, the breaking news would be that I found out, a few days ago, that I'll be moving back up north in a little over six months time. Jon's parents decided that they would prefer me to be elsewhere so I made the decision to move back to my dad's. Granted his parents are going to want me out before then, but if that happens, I'll be at my aunt's temporarily. Everything is pretty much in order though, so I have nothing to worry about.

In other news, I'm working on a few brief game reviews tonight, and I should have them up before I go to be so I would like to remind you all to keep checking Hinamizawa Syndrome. There you'll be able to keep up with the latest game, anime, and album reviews that I have to offer. You can also find a few character bios there. Pretty soon I hope to expand that section.

A New Way To Spend My Time

Due to Jon having college classes and me not being able to take some at the moment, I've found quite a few new ways to keep myself amused.

I recently started learning Japanese as a way to keep myself amused and busy. Its been going pretty well so far. It's far more complicated than I thought it would be. Though I've been challenged already I've made up my mind not to give up.

I'm also studying history, Japanese culture, Latin, and some math in my spare time so that I don't get lazy when I finally go to college. There's no real benefit in all of this studying that I'm doing, but for myself I view it as a nice challenge and it will give me a nice sense of accomplishment.

I recently tried Demon's Souls on the PS3. I heard a lot of good things about the game, but after trying it all I can say is that you have to be a masochist to actually enjoy the game. Its a well known fact that I have very little patience when it comes to difficult games. I give up rather easily in fact. This game, however, is just stupid hard. There is no reason why anyone should die so often. Also, would it be too much to ask for a few pointers? The developers were probably evil little satanists that felt like it would be something new and innovative to just throw the player into the game with no help at all, that way they could just laugh at everyone when they complained while playing it.

Aside from all of that, I swear that I'm going to start doing more reviews. I get so busy sometimes that I forget that I'm running two blogs. ^^;

First Wave Complete

Well I've been very busy lately. I've been trying to find a way to keep myself busy while Jon is at school and to do something productive rather than just sitting at the computer or playing a game. Well I finally found a few things. First of all, I'm going to continue studying history, after all that's what the blog was for in the first place. And secondly I'm going to being learning Spanish and Japanese. :D Now, that, is something productive if I ever thought of it in my life.

As far as my other blog goes, the first wave is complete. All of the main character bios for Higurashi are up, now I just have to do the secondary characters and move on from there to more anime and eventually a few video game reviews. I'm considering putting my Heavy Rain article on the other site, it might get more hits there any ways.

First Impressions of Heavy Rain

Well I haven't played the game yet, I'm sure I will one day though. I have however watched a lot of gameplay and played the demo a little. So here's what I have to think about the game based on just that.

First of all the movement of the characters irritates me. I don't like having to "hold down the gas" so to speak, in order to move my character. I also don't like the fact that there's a lot of Quick Time Events (QTE) in the game. After playing the demo I get the feeling that half of the game is going to be nothing but QTE's and honestly, if that's the case, then I feel bad for the people that made the game. I know a lot of people wouldn't mind a game consisting of mostly QTE's but, honestly when you play a game like that, where's the freedom?

A few thing that I really like about the game include the story, graphics and character development. The graphics are absolutely beautiful, anyone with a mind can see that. Honestly for me, they're a bit too realistic, but its not something I couldn't get used to. Times in gaming really are changing after all, aren't they? The story is amazing in this game. I tell you this, when you get to the end you will be a bit shocked. Like I said, I haven't played the game, but if you do enough research online you can find everything. The way the characters are developed is also very impressive. Every character has a nice backstory and they're all related in some way to the others due to the story. Not many games lately have given me the pleasure of seeing a nice, fully developed cast of characters, so Kudos Heavy Rain.



I'm sure that by now everyone has heard about the controversy surrounding the 'strip tease' scene. Well, I've seen this scene and some of the gameplay leading up to this scene. I see no reason why it should be a controversy. There are far more sexually explicit things in other games, and they get little to no attention. For example, every God of War game, including the upcoming third title, has a sex mini game included. When do you hear about that on the news? Then again they never show anything in those. So what, some animated breasts are shown, is that really that big of a deal?