Anime blog that focuses on Yuri and School Girl Slice of Life Anime and Editorials
In the past, I have been wary towards licensed video games for the fact that most of them produced in the west are notoriously bad. However, I have never played any licensed Anime games before. In the next few months, I am going to cover three Anime licensed video games over the course of several months. With that, I will share my first impressions thoughts on Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica The Battle Pentagram.
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Back in 2013, Compile Heart and Idea Factory started remaking Neptune games for the PlayStation Vita starting with the first game, Neptune Re;birth 1. Neptune Re;birth 2 Sister’s Generation in comparison to the prequel feels more like an enhanced port rather than a remake since Mk2 did not have as many problems in comparison to the first game in the franchise. If so, what improvements did Compile Heart and Felistella made in this enhanced port?
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Since 2014 is coming to a close and I don’t plan on covering any more games for this year, it’s time to take a look at which Japanese video games were the most enjoyable.
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Back in the early 2000s, Game Freak made a big leap in terms of gameplay and graphics with Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire when they finally transitioned to the Gameboy Advance for the 3rd generation. These games basically laid the foundation for future generations by introducing new mechanics such as abilities, natures, an overhauled IV/EV system and double battles.
While Game Freak hinted a Ruby and Sapphire remake in Pokémon X and Y last year, everyone knew that it was going to happen. Eventually, they revealed Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, which is a remake of the original games. These remakes add new features (including enhancements to Pokémon Contests and Secret Bases) while adding more mega evolutions and an expanded post-game. Does this new remake live up to the original? Let’s find out!
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Back in 2012, Gust who is known for their work on the Atelier franchise decided to make another series that is set in the same world as the Ar tonelico series. Since the Playstation Vita came out in February of 2012, they decided to experiment with this new handheld by creating a communication dating sim called Ciel nosurge (シェルノサージュ〜失われた星捧ぐ詩〜 lit. Ciel nosurge ~Song offered to the Lost Star~ ), which is played in real-time over the internet. This game can be described as Animal Crossing meets Love Plus with social elements thrown into it. They recently released an Offline version that removed the online requirements with all the DLC content included, thus making it possible for the player to play at his/her own pace.
While two versions of the game got released after the original (Re:Incarnation and Offline), they also created a sequel titled Ar nosurge, which came out this year in Japan and later got localized to English. I find it odd that they would release that game first considering that the sequel requires the player to finish most of Ciel nosurge in order to fully understand the story. Considering that this game is a niche title, not a role-playing game and is very text heavy, I can understand why Gust and Koei Tecmo aren’t willing to localize it. Even so, it seems that people are interested in this game. With that, I will share my initial impressions of the gameplay from the Offline version.
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During the winter of 2013, Kyoto Animation aired Tamako Market, which is a slice of life show that focused on a girl named Kitashirakawa Tamako who is enthusiastic about a marketplace and of course, mochi. While I have enjoyed the show for what it is, it was slightly disappointing at the same time since Mochizou couldn’t gather enough courage to confess his feelings towards Tamako. Not to mention, most of the show was spent mostly on her friends or Dera.
As the title suggest, Tamako Love Story finally addresses the shortcomings of the television series that viewers have been wondering all along: Will Mochizou finally have the guts to confess his love towards Tamako and will she accept it?
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With the success of the Neptune franchise, Idea Factory and Compile Heart has been expanding the franchise by making various spinoff games for the Playstation Vita. While I was disappointed with Neptune Idol PP, I had high hopes for Chou Megami Shinkoku Noire Gekishin Black Heart since it was a full-featured strategy RPG with Noire as the main heroine. Does it live up to expectations? Let’s find out.
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I admit that I have a soft spot when it comes to slice of life shows with cute girls. When I found out that Hanayamata has an American girl from New Jersey who wants to do Yosakoi (よさこい) a type of traditional Japanese traditional dance, I decided to take a look.
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When the first episode of Prisma Illya aired last summer, I decided to watch it since I have a soft spot for magical girl shows. Although the first season felt rushed since it only has 10 episodes, I really enjoyed the premise, battles and the characters. After watching the second season, it was an improvement.
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Last month, Gust finally released the third installment of the Dusk series, Atelier Shallie. Unlike the first two games in the Dusk series, it feels like a departure from the usual gameplay since this game feels more like Mana Khemia 2 since they replaced the time limit with a Life Task system. While there are some mixed reactions from the fans, here are my first impressions of the game.
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In the past year, Compile Heart and Idea Factory has been expanding the Neptune franchise by making various spinoffs in order to reach a wider audience. Last year, they made an idol simulator, which left a disappointing taste in my mouth. This year, they released a strategy RPG featuring Noire (Chou Megami Shinkoku Noire Gekishin, 超女神信仰ノワール激神) and planning to release an action game, which is developed by Tamsoft, the makers of Senran Kagura at the end of this month. While I’m not interested in the latter, I decided to get this game since I enjoy Noire/White Heart’s personality. Since I’m close to half way done with this game (currently on Chapter 4), it’s time to reveal what I think about the game first hand.
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Koei-Tecmo’s acquisition of Gust has left a bad taste in most fans’ mouths when they decided that they are not going to include dual audio in Atelier Ayesha (I shared my thoughts on this issue in an editorial about localization issues I wrote early last year). Not to mention, there has been reports that they poorly handled Escha and Logy localization. Eventually, I ended up just importing the Japanese copies of the game since I knew enough Japanese to understand most of the game.
Although I considered getting a Japanese copy of the game for the Playstation 3, I decided to wait since Gust in December announced a Plus version for the Vita. Since I finally finished the game, it’s time to share my overall thoughts about the game.
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In the past few years, I have been bothered by most of the male leads from romantic comedies since most of them lack a backbone. After watching the first episode of Nisekoi, I knew it was going to be different.
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For a long time, I consider gaming as one my main hobbies next to watching Anime. When I find out that No Game No Life focuses on two hikkimori siblings who are also gamers, I decided to watch it.
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Before I started playing Atelier Totori last year, I never heard of these games since it was not a traditional Japanese RPG. Instead of focusing on saving the world from an evil person, Atelier games focuses more on collecting ingredients, doing tasks, exploration and of course item crafting. Back in the 90s, these games were ground breaking as it introduced item crafting for the first time, which subsequently got added to other Japanese RPGs.
To commemorate Gust’s 20th anniversary, they decided to make their first anime adaption for the franchise starting with Atelier Escha & Logy. While I have shared my first impressions of the game last year, I wonder how the anime adaptation will fare?
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It has been a while since I have done anything with the Idolmaster franchise. When I discovered that Bandai Namco released a 2nd idol producing game under the 2nd vision series of games called The Idolmaster One for All. Since this game is not story oriented compared to the previous games and is more akin to a slice of life, I will be giving my final impressions of the gameplay. (Image Source)
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Back in 2012 when I regained my interest in Japanese RPGs, I eventually discovered the Atelier games, which focuses more on item crafting rather than saving the world. While I have played all the games from the Arland trilogyand enjoyed them, Ayesha is the first game in the Dusk trilogy, which overhauled the synthesizing and battling systems while giving a slightly darker story. I choose not to play this game at first for the fact that Tecmo-Koei thought it was a good idea to remove the Japanese voices from the localized release.
At first, I thought of getting a Japanese copy. However, they eventually announced a Vita version several months later. Therefore, I waited to get that instead. With that, here are my initial thoughts of the game after playing for 30 hours. (Image Source)
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For a while now, I haven’t watched anything from Mari Okada for a while mostly because the first two episodes of AKB0048 left a very bad taste in my mouth back in 2012 (to be fair, I haven’t watched the Hanasaku Iroha Movie nor Sakurasou either). To me, I feel that her strengths lies in coming of age, love triangle romance and melodrama types of shows, which is one of the reasons why many people liked Ano Hana, Hanasaku Iroha (despite its flaws) and True Tears as the drama is not necessarily clear-cut and the complex character development. Not only that, she is one of the prolific female Anime directors in an industry that is male dominated.
With that, will Nagi no Asukara live up to the likes of the big three? Maybe. (Image Source)
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In the past, I only watched a few shows has some yuri, mostly magical girl shows since it’s one of my favorite genres. Since I haven’t watch any that focus mostly in a school setting, I decided to give Sakura Trick a try. (Image Source)
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Just a few months ago, I shared my final impressions of the first Rebirth game and I thought Compile Heart and Felistelia did a great job fixing all of the flaws from the original game such as having all the goddesses join throughout the story, using battle system from Victory and having improved graphics.
Just a few weeks ago, Neptune Rebirth 2 Sister’s Generation got released, which is a remake of Mk2. This is odd considering that the second game wasn’t nearly as flawed compared to the first. Despite this, since I played 14 hours, it’s time to share my initial thoughts of the game. (Image Source)
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During the fall of 2012, Kyoto Animation started to shift their focus to in-house intellectual properties rather than adapting source material. The first show in this new effort was Chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai, which focused on delusions and hints of love. While the first season had a lot of enjoyable and adorable moments, the drama towards the end felt a bit out-of-place. They notice this and decide to make the sequel have a more lighthearted feeling. (Image Source)
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Yamamoto Yutaka failed to Save Anime after a few years of being sacked from Kyoto Animation. While Fractle was an ambitious project, it failed to live up to the hype. As expected, this failure was a big blow to his ego mostly because he stated that if the show flopped, he would retire. Since then, we haven’t heard much from him until now.
In the fall of 2013, it seems that Yutaka couldn’t stand not directing any Anime, thus he unretired himself to make a new show. What type of show did he choose to make? That’s right, an idol themed one. With that, we will take a look of the prequel that premiered, Wake Up Girls, The Seven Idols prequel feature film that premiered on the same day the first episode aired. (Image Source)
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As mentioned a while back when I wrote my first impressions of the remake, Atelier Rorona was the weakest out of the Arland trilogy mostly for the fact that the graphics was the weakest aspect of the game. I didn’t play the original mostly because there was a good possibility that Gust would be remade it and I was right.
New Atelier Rorona pretty much took all the good aspects of Atelier Meruru (and some aspects from Atelier Escha and Logy) in terms of gameplay and graphics while adding cross-play compatibly with the PS3 and the Vita and combined them together with the original story. Since I have finished most of the game, it’s time to take an overall look at the game.
Note: Like with all the Arland games, the Plus versions were rereleased on the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch as DX on September 20, 2018. As with the Plus version, the review will cover the DX versions as well.
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In the past few years, shows involving idol singers has gotten really popular. While Love Live School Idol Project was in the works since 2010, it finally debuted as an Anime during the winter of last year. While I started watching the first few episodes when I was on vacation, I finally finished it this week in anticipation for the sequel that will air this spring. So, how well does it compare to other idol themed Anime? Let’s see. (Image Source)
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