Getbackers Review

Hi guys! Well, this review is it. One of the big ones. No, I’m not talking about a major show (although this one was well praised, and still is), but rather a show that is big in length. A show that, despite it’s size, doesn’t drag on like a few others (*cough* Ranma ½ & Inuyasha *Cough*). So, without dragging on anymore, here’s my review for Getbackers.

First airing on October 5, 2002, and running all the way to September 20, 2003, Getbackers tells the story of Ginji Amano and Ban Mido, two young men who run the Getbackers recovery service (see, sometimes a show’s name makes sense). For a rather large fee, these two will recover something that you’ve lost, whether it’s a violin, a diamond ring, or even your last few shreds of hope. No matter how big or small the job may be, these two will go out, and bring what’s yours back to you. All throughout the show, Ginji & Ban take on many assignments, and encounter many other individuals who are a lot like them. Some are glad to see them, while others look upon them with disgust. Regardless of the first encounter, Ginji & Ban eventually become friends, and work together to, what else, get things back.

We start off the positives of Getbackers with something I actually haven’t talked about yet, and that’s it’s running time. When this show aired in Japan back in 2002 & 2003, the country was going through a recession at the time. A lot of shows were either getting their budgets cut, or getting canceled outright. Getbackers had the distinction of having a flexible storyline & pacing, as well as a mix of lengthy story arcs with short segments that didn’t lose sight of the show’s big picture. This is all rather interesting given the show’s circumstances, and shows that just about anything can overcome financial adversity.

The second positive of Getbackers is one that I normally talk about later in the review, but with this one, and the circumstances surrounding the show, I think it’s an exception. I was not kidding when I mentioned in my Top 5 Heavy Metal Songs To Make Out To that my next review was a long series. Running at a impressive 49 episodes, Getbackers is perhaps one of the longest shows I’ve ever watched (You’re Under Arrest is longer, but that’s for another day). Given what was going on at the time of this show’s production, that’s incredible. The only reason why I was able to watch the show so quickly was because I actually was watching it on youtube just a few weeks prior to acquiring the DVD collection. Luckily, each episode runs at about 22 minutes, so there’s at least one thing that’s standard about Getbackers.

Getbacker’s 3rd positive is the cast of characters. Right away, Ginji & Ban rise to the top of the list. You couldn’t get a closer pair of best friends than these two guys, since when one of them goes somewhere, the other follows. Not to disappoint any Yaoi fans, but there’s no sexual feelings or tensions between the two (although there are two friends that may be gay for one another, the show never really provides evidence on this). However, their friendship is a genuine one, and while they may argue with one another on a somewhat constant basis, they never let their words split themselves apart (although this happens in one episode, but it’s just a ruse).

Ginji & Ban aren’t the only characters within the show, as there is a host of other characters. We have Natsumi, a timid schoolgirl that is the first customer of the Getbackers, and becomes one of the two workers of the Honky Tonk, the other being Paul Wan (the owner of the place). There’s also Shido Fuyuki (an individual that can control animals), Hevn (a sultry women that often brings in jobs for Ginji & Ban...and yes, that’s how her name is spelled), Kurokudo Akabane (perhaps the most sinister of the main characters), and many more (both primary & secondary). Actually putting down all of the characters would take up more room that I want to use, so I’ll just leave it at that. Suffice it to say, every character has a purpose & place in Getbackers, and while some of the secondary characters might not be memorable (more on that later), they bring something to the table as well.

The fourth positive of Getbackers is the story. What’s interesting about the story is that it takes from both the manga (which I’ve never read, and probably won’t since it’s out of print), and original material (sorta like the Rosario + Vampire anime, but that’s for...later). The first 25 episodes stick to the manga, but with a few changes. When the shows reaches episode 26 & onward, the show uses original material that probably uses at least a few pieces from the comic. Regardless, there all quite entertaining, and not the least bit boring. I especially liked the story of episode 26, when some of the gang travel to a hot springs for a job. I won’t reveal what happens, but I can tell you that it’s one of the funniest episodes.

The final positives of this show is the availability & pricing. In addition to being the longest show I’ve watched, Getbackers is also the most recently produced shows, having just come out on the 10th of this month. Due to this, there are plenty of fresh copies over on Amazon, as well as a insignificant pinch of used copies (5, to be specific). The pricing for new copies isn’t necessarily a wallet breaker, but it may sting it, as the pricing starts at $27.59. Since there are so few used copies, I’m not even going to bother putting down the starting price, but I will say that the pricing is actually greater than the used copies...go figure!

Well, since I described the positives of Getbackers, I now have to delve into it’s negatives. Given what happened during the production of this show, and what happened afterwards, they’re going to be kinda big, although there are only 3. Let’s not delay any further, and look at what blackens this otherwise great show.

We start off the negatives with the animation. Given the circumstances of when Getbackers was made, it’s animation was actually quite limited. Hell, even the authors of The Anime Encyclopedia: Revised & Expanded Edition (who are big experts on the medium) said, and I quote:


“The show itself is a victim of the Japanese recession, with extremely limited animation.”


That’s just the first part of the quote, but you get the jest of things.

However, the show itself is not ugly by any stretch of the means. At many points, the show looks good. Unfortunately, there are far more points when it looks more half-assed, as there are scenes when it looks as if not as much effort was put into it as the rest of the show. This makes it very weird for newcomers to the series, who probably have no idea why the quality changes on a somewhat constant level.

The second negative of Getbackers is the secondary characters. You’ve seen me talk about this before on other reviews, and I’m talking about it here, but in a more shortened manner. Simply put, too many of the secondary characters are 1 dimensional, and have little to no personality within them. Even the secondary characters that are (somewhat) important to the main characters and main story line, are eventually thrown away when they’re no longer useful, even when they have potential to be bigger.

The final negative of Getbackers is the biggest in my opinion, and it’s the voice acting. My god, the majority of the voices sounds downright horrible! Some of the main characters sound alright, as do a handful of the secondary characters, but everybody else sounds like someone that didn’t want to be there, or just didn’t put in a complete effort. There’s one character that, when he talks, you want to kick a baby into a mind field! I won’t say which character he actually is, but you know him when you hear him.

Getbackers gets a 7.2 to 7.5 out of 10. It lasted for a while when first aired, there were a massive amount of episodes, the cast is fantastic, the story stands out, and is incredibly easy to find & buy, but the show has limited animation, most of the secondary characters suck, and the voice acting is god awful.

See you all later this week, when I combine spirituality & heavy metal. Until then, stay Otaku!

Top 5 Heavy Metal Songs To Make Out To

Hi everyone! Like I said at the end of my Diablo 3 review, my next post would delve into the kinky side of things. For those who were expecting me to be reviewing a hentai today, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Don't worry, I'm still going to review one, but I still have to figure out which one to actually watch.

As you can tell from some of my posts, I'm a bit of a metal head. I love the genre, I love the vibes I feel from listening, and I love some of the characters that dwell within the music. I'm also a bit of a perv, as it's shown in many of my more risque reviews. So, what better way to celebrate these two aspect of myself than by mixing them. For those that want a little more spice when making out, then I present to you the (my personal opinion) top 5 heavy metal songs to make out to.

So what qualifies as a heavy metal song that's appropriate to listen to when having sex? For starters, it's actually gotta deal with sex (whether it's implied or obvious). Secondly, the beat has to have a vibe that oozes sensuality, and various other kinky things. Third & final, the song has to have a certain "sound" to it. I really can't quite explain it, but the song itself just has to sound...sexy, if you know what I mean.

5) Judas Priest - Turbo Lover

I start off this list with a controversial tune, and one that has just as many lovers as it does haters. Yeah, I know that this song is a bit of a cop out due to the heavy use of synthetic & electronic sounds, especially since Judas Priest is known for creating absolutely brutal beats with their drums & guitars, not to mention Rob Halford's howling vocals. However, I feel that this song deserves to be here, if only because it has a sleazy vibe to it. Yeah, ole Rob here my be singing about the love for motorcycles & the open road, but if listened to more closely, it's really about sex and the raw passion that goes with it.

4) Kiss - Calling Dr. Love

Although KISS is more of a rock band than a metal band, they definitely earned a spot on this list, simply because of this song alone. This isn't quite as heavy as my number 5 choice (it almost ties with my number 2 spot...almost), but what it lacks in heavy sounds, it compensates by being incredibly obvious about it's subject matter. Simply put, this is a gigolo's song, and the whole tune feels like something that a gigolo would listen to. Even if you're not a gigolo, this is a good song to listen to when you want you're love making to feel a little sleazy.

3) Rammstein - Pussy (Sorry for the sound & video quality on this one)

I think we can all agree that this is a dirty, slutty, yet oddly hilarious choice. Rammstein has always been known for it's more sexual music (their second album, Sehnsucht, was filled nearly to the brim with sex-related songs). Compared to all the other selections on here, this one is the most obvious when it comes to it's subject matter (perhaps more so than my number 4 & 2 on this list combined). To sum up this song, it's simply about the following: I got a dick, you got a pussy (or cunt if you want to be a bit more raw...and just a tiny bit disrespectful), and they go together perfectly.

Oh, and having a mini-porno as a video helps too (look for the uncensored version...if you dare)

2) Type-O Negative - My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend

Although Peter Steel is no longer with us (R.I.P.), he did leave behind some highly recognizable songs, including this one. What puts it at the number 2 spot on this list is due to a couple things. Namely:

- The 60s sound
- Pete Steele acting sexy (I might be a guy, but even I look at him and go "oooh")
- The song is basically describing a Ménage à trois (look this up on Wikipedia if you don't know what it means)

Due to the 60s style used within the majority of the song, it pushes it towards the realm of psychedelic rock, and has a more lightheared tone compared to most of the other songs on October Rust, but Type-O Negative's mastery of doom & gothic metal is still very evident as you listen on. The song is also helped by the fact that a saucy video was made for it (although nowhere near as raunchy as Pussy).

1) Alice Cooper - Snakebite

For starters, if you've never listened to Alice Cooper (whether you're a metal head or not), then I cry for you. Secondly, Alice Cooper deserves all the praise he gets, especially since he invented the concepts of shock rock & stage rock. Although Alice has become more metal when he got into the 90s & today, his rock roots are still evident in this song.

What makes Snakebite the number 1 choice is that it encompasses all of the things I listed at the start of this. It's sexy, oozes pure sensuality, and it's all manner of kinky. Play this song when you want to have the greatest night of sex in your entire life!

See you all next week, when I'll review one of the longest anime I've ever come across. Until then, stay Otaku!

Diablo 3 Review

Hi guys! Well, this is it. This is the big one. This is the review that I've been most excited about, yet it's also the review that leaves me very conflicted, and nervous. So, without further delays, here's my review for Diablo 3.

Also, apologies for spoilers. They're necessary.

Story
Taking place 20 years after the events of the second game, the basic premise is that Sanctuary has been under relative peace & quiet, not knowing that everything was almost going to end all those years ago. Deckard Cain, a legendary figure in the Diablo franchise, has returned to the now ruined Tristram Cathedral to investigate a prophecy about a return of the demons. Tagging along for the journey is Leah, his niece. Not to reveal anything (major that is), but Leah has an incredible power within her, which at first manifests as vivid dreams. All is eerily calm within the ruined holy building, until the first sign of the prophecy, a falling star, appears high in the sky. Leah & Deckard Cain are leaving the building, but the star breaks through the roof, killing (at first) Cain, and awakening the dead that attack the town of New Tristram and the surrounding countryside. After a few days, the player comes to the rescue, and the story kicks into high gear.

From the beginning, we have something that sounds like a good story. A world of calm, interrupted by the rise of demonic forces: it's an interesting premise. Unfortunately, the story somewhat collapses after getting past the beginning. Once the player gets further into the story, it becomes very disjointed. To make things worse, there are certain points in the story that are far to obvious (to be fair, on your very first playthrough you won't necessarily notice these things. Hell, even I was surprised by a few of the things that happened, but only a few things). For example, once Adria (the same Adria from the original Diablo) is introduced in Act 2, you automatically get the vibe that something isn't right with her. This vibe increases over the second act, and only heightens over the course of Act 3, accumulating into her betrayal and causing Leah to transform into the Lord of Terror (More spoilage: Leah is Adria daughter, and her dad was the Dark Wanderer from Diablo 2 before he fully transformed).

That is just one example of "WTF" within the game. There are a host of other things that make no sense at all, and make you ask one question...why? For example:

- Tyrael is black (sorry for sounding racist)
- You fight the Skeleton King again (This is somewhat explained, but I'm not going into it)
- The Butcher is resurrected (he died in the original Diablo)
- The Black Soulstone already having four of the demon lords within it (Andariel, Duriel, Mephisto, Baal. Yeah, this is explained after you acquire the Black Soulstone, but it isn't explained clearly)
- Izual coming back in Act 4 (you killed him in Act 4 of Diablo 2)

There are far more "WTF" moments in the game than what I listed, but to put them all hear would take up way too much space.

Setting
One thing the Diablo franchise always did was present to the player great environments, and D3 is no different. Right away, the player is greeted by medieval visuals with the town of New Tristram, and the ruins of the old town. As you travel through Act 1, you feel familiar vibes as the gothic nature of the architecture and the surrounding countryside permeates the mood (things take a turn towards the disturbing when you enter Leoric's torture chambers, as blood, gore, and torture devices abound all over the place). After that, you are treated to the exotic deserts & Persian influences of Act 2. You travel through barren wastes, an oddly calming oasis full of lush foliage, and the ruins of a dark wizard. From there, you travel to the bleak local of Act 3. When you first appear hear, you stand on top of a snow-covered tower, below you is a battlefield covered with the bodies of both men & demons. The keep in which you reside is just as bleak as the outside, and combat against the enemy permeates the whole place. When you muster the courage, you eventually journey onto the bloodied snow, and due battle with numerous fiends. You continue your fight, reaching the gates of the demonic army, kill the gatekeeper, and storm inside. The crater that the demons inhabit is pulsating with corrupted flesh, and overgrown with demonic architecture. After killing Azmodan (and getting betrayed by Adria), you journey to Heaven for the fourth & final act of D3. All of the locales leading up to Heaven have been bleak in some ways, and the last act is no exception. However, before you discover how badly damage it is, Heaven is the most gorgeous of the four acts. Flowing structures, shining colors, and pristine palates appear everywhere, even when the demonic influence begins to take hold.

I loved each of the act environments. I loved how they looked, and I loved how they feel. My only complaint is that this game is more colorful than the previous two, but I'll talk about that later.

Characters
This is an area in Diablo 3 that succeeds & fails. Within D3, you have a return of the obvious characters (Deckard Cain, Tyrael, Asheara from D2 surprisingly enough, and of course, Diablo), and a bevy of brand new characters. The new characters add new flavors to the game, but those same flavors disappear rather quickly. Just about all of the secondary characters are barely memorable, and those few that are memorable either die right off the bat, or you move on too quickly to actually remember them.

It can get even worse for the primary characters. Perhaps the most tragic out of all the main characters, Deckard Cain, doesn't even make it through all of Act 1 (he gets killed in his own house...in a rather pathetic manner, I might add). Of all the primary characters that are important to the whole franchise, Cain is the most important, and they kill him right off the bat. Leah has potential to become a great primary character, but when she becomes Diablo, she's completely discarded (save for a few mentions of her name, and one of Diablo's minions disguised as her to distract the player). Tyrael has been an established character since Diablo 2, and he's just as established here. However, something seems missing from him. He's seems weaker, and just doesn't feel quite as powerful as he normally is (excluding the obvious). As to how Asheara fits in as a primary character, I'll leave that up to you.

Gameplay
Out of all the aspects of this game, it's the gameplay that has made Diablo 3 a controversial game. With all of the changes that were made, it would take another post to talk about was actually changed, so for the purpose of this portion of the review, I'll be focusing on these elements: classes, skills, inventory, crafting, monster affixes, and the AH & RMAH.

Classes
Just like Diablo 2, D3 gives us 5 classes to play with, each of them fitting the standard rpg roles.
Barbarian: Melee & Pure Damage
Monk: Melee mixed with Healing & Defense
Demon Hunter: Ranged & Control
Witch Doctor: Caster mixed with Damage & Control
Wizard: Caster & Pure Damage, with a hit of melee

Although these classes have their own style & appearance, they each have throwbacks to previous classes. For the Barbarian, there's no need to explain which class he comes from. The Monk is an interesting mix of the Assassin's melee attacks & the Paladin's healing & defensive skills, making a unique class. For the Demon Hunter, it's apparent that the class use the Amazon's ranged abilities, coupled with the Assassin's ability to use traps. The Witch Doctor is almost like the Necromancer in regards with his hexes, summoning spells, and ability to use poison, but he does have a hint of fire Sorceress in him. We conclude with the Wizard, who is almost a copy of the Sorceress, save for having a bit more variety due to having some illusion spells availability.

All of these classes are fun to play, but making more than one of each is rather pointless, because it'll just be the same as your first. Unfortunately you can't create an infinite amount of characters like you could in Diablo 2, as you only have 10 character slots available for you.

Skills
Both Diablo 2 & Diablo 3 have many things in common with this regard, but Diablo 3 is far different than it's predecessor. In Diablo 2, each character had 30 skills (10 for each of their 3 categories), and they were a mix of active & passive, plus you also put skill points into the active skills to make them stronger over time. In Diablo 3, each characters has 30 skills, and about half as much in terms of passives. You don't put points into your skills this time, as they level up as you level up. In one interesting move, each of the skills have 5 modifier runes that you earn over time (the passives are also earned over time). Some runes modify damage, increase %, or something else beneficial.

The skill system within this game is interesting. There's definitely a lot of variety within it, but one of the chief problems about this is that overtime, players have decided to concentrate on just a few active & passive skills, stagnating any form of class creativity. This has been one of the big problems since the game's release, and little has been done to fix it.

Inventory
This aspect of the game has changed greatly, coming some ways from D2. In that game, the various items you picked up took various amounts of space, depending on how big it actually was. The player's inventory was somewhat restrictive in D2, but there was the storage chest that would fit more items into it. This time around, items in Diablo 3 only take up 1 or 2 spaces, and your character's inventory can hold far more in the way of items. Your storage chest is also improved, as it now has 3 separate sections to it, allowing you to hold onto far more items than in D2. Granted you have to upgrade it to actually have all 3 sections (this is quite expensive), but it's a fair tradeoff.

Crafting
In Diablo 2, the only source of crafting was when you found the Horadric Cube. This allowed you to create brand new items, as well as upgrade gems. D3 has changed this aspect radically, splitting the cube's ability into the Blacksmith and the Jeweler. The Blacksmith can produce weapons & armor for you, and he can also salvage items in your inventory to procure crafting materials. The Jeweler is much more basic in his function, with his only abilities of combining lesser gems to create a greater gem, as well as removing gems from socketed items (prices in the regard depend on how powerful the item is, and how strong the gem in the item is).

This is all rather interesting, but I rarely use the Blacksmith unless I had to create an item a character was missing or I had to upgrade my follower. The Jeweler I used a little more often, since I commonly take out gems to place them in stronger items. Perhaps the biggest problem with these craftsmen is that it's very expensive to get them to the highest level, and can take a lot of time as well.

Monster Affixes
Like the unique monsters of Diablo 2, the uniques of D3 having various affixes on them, giving them an advantage over the other creatures surrounding them. They can roughly be divided into 3 groups: offensive, defensive, & utility. Some of the affixes are standard stuff (extra health), but a couple are more interesting (Jailer, for instance). On Normal difficulty, uniques have just one affix, but as the difficulty increases, so do the amount of affixes. On Nightmare, uniques have two affixes. In Hell, 3 affixes, and in Inferno, uniques have four affixes (I believe this has changed recently, but I'm not quite sure). This definitely increases the challenge, but it can also increase the difficult in a bad way. In many instance in Hell, my Wizard had to outrun many groups that had a unique in them, as the unique had a combination of affixes that just made it difficult, if not impossible, to combat against. 

AH & RMAH
We finally come to perhaps the most controversial aspect of Diablo 3, and on in which most players (including myself) believe has corrupted the game. Essentially the legal versions of the 3rd party website that sold items for WoW & D2, the AH & RMAH are where you can buy & sell items for your characters, provided you have the right amount of currency (The AH takes gold, while the RMAH takes your actual money). I have no need for both of these, as I like to get my items the old fashioned way...through hard work! On top of that, there have been many bugs reported within both of these systems. So many, in fact, that both had to be closed on many occasions. Despite the shutdowns & fixing, there's still problems, and I don't want to lose money, whether real or virtual, to a broken system.

I'd get all philosophical about the AH & RMAH, and why I believe they ruined D3, but that'll have to wait for another post.

Graphics & Sound
Once again, these two aspects both succeed & fail. Let me just get off my chest: I'm right there with everybody else that says this game is far too colorful. The first two games had color to them, but they weren't so...bright. They had depth to them, and they didn't feel WoWish. Yeah, that description has been used ever since this game was first revealed, but there's some legitimacy to it. With that said however, Diablo 3 is a good looking game. The graphics engine is much more advanced that the first two games, and even comes with a limited physics engine (it's pretty cool to see a zombie's body fly into a wall after you've punched it in the face). 

One thing that the Diablo franchise always seemed to do right was it's soundwork. The music is highly recognizable, and hearing that infamous guitar music in Tristram in Diablo 1 (click "***" to enjoy), and it makes a partial comeback in Diablo 2 when you go to rescue Cain. When D2 came onto the scene, the score was expanded, bringing in newer music that's still popular. It got more refined when the D2 mission pack was release, as it brought in music composed by a professional orchestra, and it sounded incredible. D3 is no different in this regard, as it used music from not 1 but 2 different orchestras, and also brought in choirs to do some vocal work. All in all, it's really great sounding stuff.

Before I conclude this portion of the review, I do want to comment on the sounds within D3. Like the graphics, the sounds of this game are much more improved and realistic that the first two games. Barrels breaking sound like barrels breaking, and the howls & screeches of the various creatures sound very believable...if said various creatures were real. Just like the music, the sounds...sound great!

Overall & Rating
Here's the thing: I know I should hate this game. I know I should hate the broken story. I know I should hate the eviscerated gameplay mechanics. I know I should hate the more colorful look. I know I should hate the shortsighted decisions that went into this. However, I just can't bring myself to actually hate Diablo 3. Despite all of the drama & bullshit, I have had an absolute blast playing this game. Whether it's blind faith in Blizzard, or an optimistic mind, I'm not quite certain. Simply put, I can't fully hate D3, but I can't fully praise it either.

Diablo 3 gets a 5 out of 10.

See you all later this week, when I take a step into the kinky side of things. Until then, stay Otaku!

Just to Note

Hi guys! As I promised, my Diablo 3 review is coming up shortly (next week, to be exact), so I'm just about finished with what I need to get. Since I don't want to leave you hanging, here's a highlight from ConnectiCon this year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4glr1LhnNo

See you next week. Until then, stay Otaku

Conneticon 2012 Review

Hi guys! Well, with Conneticon having just recently gone by, the next event I'm looking forward to is the Cosplay Picnic. Located up in the Saratoga Springs Park, the picnic is a nice, small gathering of semi-local Otaku who come just to hang out and eat some great grub. There's a couple of fun little activities, a cosplay competition, and a dj (ironically named DJ) that plays some nice J-Pop. It's all great fun, and I encourage anyone in the Albany/Troy area to go. Entrance fee is only 10 dollars!

With that out of the way, let's go onto perhaps my strangest review yet, as I'll give you my opinions on how Conneticon 2012 went. Hopefully, I don't suck at this.

When I first got there, everything was in full swing. The hotel already had a huge amount of people in the lobby, and somehow the hotel people weren't insane yet. Fortunately, we got checked in quickly, and had a king-sized room on the 4th floor, with enough room for 4 people. After settling down and getting into costume, we proceeded to the convention center, and that's where I encountered 1 of the only 2 problems.

This year I decided to register at the door, and that's not normally a problem. The line typically moves rather quickly, but this year the line extended outside. Keep in mind, I was wearing a suit & coat, complete with a black fedora, and the temperature had to have been in the early to mid 90s. Volunteer staff was around as they always were keeping an eye on people, but they seemed just as irritated as the line was being out in the weather. To make matters worse, I got into the line at 10:21 AM, and made it inside some time around 12:23 to 12:35 PM. They only let in a chunk of the line at a time, and the rest of the people were getting irritated. Fortunately when I got inside, I made it to the registration station in a relatively short amount of time, and I was able to proceed to the con itself.

After getting my bearings, I made my way to where the dealer's room was, and that's where I encountered the second problem. Although it was in the con book, I was not told to my face that the dealer's room and the artist alley had their places changed, as well as having their sizes altered. Luckily, what I was able to buy didn't decrease, as I came home with a good amount of swag (see my previous post for the list of swag).

Perhaps the one thing you'll notice that when you go to Conneticon is that just about everybody there is incredibly nice. Newcomers will appreciate the amount of help they'll get, while returning fans like the familiar faces that just seem to ooze human decency and, dare I say it, love. Trust me when I say that this is a convention that has a lot of love going into it, and a lot of love coming out of it.

Next thing is is the events. Holy cow is all I have to say about what happened this year! There was a horde of stuff to see & do, and despite not going to a lot of things (I generally just walk around, and talk to whoever I bump into), the things I did go to were very entertaining. The main panels I went to were Jon St. John Presents, the last minute Nostalgia Critic panel on Sunday, and a Hetalia improv panel. There's always a horde of panels & workshops at Conneticon, and picking out which ones to go to and which ones not to go to can be some trouble.

Food is...interesting at Conneticon. You have a bunch of non-dealer's room food in both the convention center, and the hotel. Within the hotel, you have the Mariott's Vivo, a surprisingly good restaurant that serves up some unexpectedly great grub (such as a Turkey Panini with bacon). The hotel also a built in Starbucks (serving the standard Starbucks stuff. I recommend the Green Tea Frappachino) and a bar called Shift (at least I think that's what I thought it was called. I usually don't pay attention to the place, since I can't really hold my liquor). When you head into the convention center, that's where things take a turn, and whether it's a good turn or bad turn all depends on you. When you first walk into the center (by taking the pathway from the hotel), you have a small ice cream station (which does alright), and a coffee bar when you walk up to the second floor (think of it like a second Starbucks, only it's not named Starbucks). When you get into the gaming/dealer's room area, who have two stands in the back of place serving almost fast-food standard grub, although one of them has some variety to it (it serves some Chinese food).

Overall, Conneticon 2012 was great. Despite the slow registration line, and no forwarding of the changes made to the dealer's room and artist alley, it was a really great time filled with equally great people. If the world is still standing in 2013, then I'll be sure to keep going year after year.

See you all later this week. Until then, stay Otaku!

* Oh, and having lunch with Jon St. John (a.k.a. Duke Nukem) definitely made this the best Conneticon I've been to so far.

Back from Conneticon 2012!

Hi everyone! I just got back from Conneticon a few hours ago, and I must say that this was the best one yet. Considering that this was it's 10-year anniversary, they pulled out all the stops to deliver an incredible experience for the fans. If the end of the world doesn't happen, then it will keep getting better & better.

I picked up a good selection of swag while I was there. Other than one change (I was looking for a New Phyrexia Fat Pack, but no-one had any), I pretty much got exactly what I put down on my shopping list. During this trip, I acquired the following:

* Planechase 2012: Night of the Ninja
* Magic 2013 Intro Pack: Sole Domination
* That Guy With The Glasses: Vol. 3
* Desert Punk: The Complete Series
* Getbackers: The Complete Collection
* Rosario + Vampire Season II Manga Volumes 6 - 9

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip this year. I'm really looking forward to 2013, assuming we're still alive then. I'll put up a more in depth analysis of Conneticon 2012 sometime next week. Until then, stay Otaku!

Blazing Saddles Review

Hi everybody. I’m sorry about not getting a review out yesterday. The reason this time around is that I’m getting ready for Conneticon 2012, which goes from the 13th to 15th of this week. It’s a huge convention that has something for everybody, from anime, to gaming, to a host of other interesting things. Because of the trip, my schedule got mixed up. Also, I’ll only be putting up one review this week, and I’m a little excited about this one. This review, I’m expanding into the world of non-anime movies, and today’s is a iconic film. So, here’s a look at Mel Brooks’s classic, Blazing Saddles.

Released onto movie screens on February 7, 1974, Blazing Saddles is a parody of the western genre, or to be more specific, satirizing the issues of racial accounts in western films. Taking place in 1847, the movies centers on Bart the railroad worker. He is, quite literarily, a brotha in trouble. After hitting one of the railroad managers on the head with a shovel after almost being left for dead, he about to be hanged for the act, when the attorney general of the area (Hedley Lamarr, who’s played by the late Harvey Korman) decides to use him in a scheme to redirect the railroad through the town of Rock Ridge (A town that has it’s own theme song, apparently. Click on “***” to see & listen to it). He selects Bart to be the new sheriff of Rock Ridge, since the last one was killed by a group of bandits that ran through the town earlier. By picking Bart, Hedley Lamarr hopes that the town will either lynch him, or leave because of his race. This whole schpeel is perhaps the funniest damn thing I’ve ever seen in cinema, and probably will never be seen again (more on that later).

This all leads into the movie’s first positive, and that positive is Mel Brooks himself. Mel is an absolute legend in the world of comedy, with works like Young Frankenstein and History of the World, Part 1 becoming just as legendary as him. When you watch any of his films, you’ll be remembering them for quite some time. This isn’t to say that the other writers were any slouches (Richard Pryor was one of the more recognizable on the script), but it’s just that Mel has a style of humor that’s easily spotted by just about anybody.

The next positive of Blazing Saddles is it’s cast. Just like the writers for the film, the cast is equally impressive and legendary. The two leading male actors, Cleavon Little & Gene Wilder, were no strangers to acting by the time they read the film’s script. They brought a wild energy to the feature, as they managed to be both hysterical and serious throughout the whole movie. Many other amazing actors (most of which are unfortunately deceased) also graced Blazing Saddles, including the late Madeline Khan & Dom Deluise, who also brought in some fun energy. Even the famous bandleader Count Basie makes a cameo at one point, proving that just about anybody could come in and entertain the viewer.

Blazing Saddles’s 3rd positive is the humor. Due to the time of it’s release, as well as the intention of it’s writers, the majority of the humor is of the racial variety. In fact, some of the funniest moments are when Bart attempts to change the town’s perception of him, which often ends up with the person he’s talking to saying he a n!@#er or a spade (another insult towards black people). Other ethnic groups, including Asians and Irishman, get insulted as well, which ramps up the political correctness of the movie. Excluding the racism, Blazing Saddles is also filled with a bunch more jokes. Some of which include everybody in Rock Ridge having a last name of Johnson, people constantly mispronouncing his first name, and Madeline Khan’s character being a highly stereotypical German woman. Sex jokes make their way in, and even a farting sequence appears (Click on “***” to see for yourself). Despite the somewhat crude nature of the joke, they’re quite effective as making the viewer laugh and show the ridiculousness of racism and many other stupid things in life.

The final positive of Blazing Saddles is it’s availability & pricing. Normally I talk about this when I do an anime review, but I figured “why not” when I was watching this. Originally coming out in 1974, Blazing Saddles was subsequently released in 1993 & 2001 on VHS, as well as 1997 & 2004 on DVD, and a 2006 release on Blu-Ray. If you can believe it, you can find all releases of it over on amazon, in both the new and used sections. As a suggestion from me, buy the 2004 release, as that was done on the 30th anniversary of the film, and it includes a bunch of bonus features. A must have for any Mel Brooks fan! Pricing isn’t bad either, as most prices I saw never went above 10 dollars (the most “expensive” price I saw was $6.99 for a HD-DVD copy).

I’ve since a lot of movies in my time, and a lot of them weren’t the most perfect of features. Blazing Saddles, on the other hand, is just about one of the most perfect movies I’ve ever seen. It’s got humor, political satire, and even manages to keep a fresh look about it despite it’s age. Yep, this is perhaps one of the most perfect movies I’ve laid my eyes on. However, there is one this I want to talk about...

Because of the point in time that Blazing Saddles was released, it is very...very politically correct. Back then, nobody batted an eyelash at it, since everyone was used to most of what was in the film. Put this in a modern viewer’s hands, especially those who have a more conservative attitude about things, and they’ll more than likely pitch a fit because of the racism & crude jokes. Because of this, any sort of remake, whether professional or amateur, will probably never be done. It’s quite tragic really, as I see this as a historical release, and a surprising accurate view on racism, bigotry, and many other social issues. Hopefully, people’s attitudes towards this film with wither away, and a remake can be made.

Blazing Saddles gets a 9.5 out of 10. Mel Brooks has his name in it, the cast is incredible, it’s got a great variety of humor, and it’s easy to find & buy, but more politically correct individuals will walk away from this.

See you all next week, when I’ll tell you about how my time at Conneticon went. Until then, stay Otaku!

RAGE Review

Hi everyone. In this age, it’s very sad when game companies decide to focus more on the business side of gaming rather that the games themselves, and it doesn’t matter if this happens to consoles or PC. A lot of companies have decided to follow this path, and two of the biggest companies, EA & Activision/Blizzard, don’t show any signs of coming back to the light side of the force. However, the game I’m reviewing today doesn’t come from either of them. In fact, this game comes straight from what is perhaps the most legendary company around.

For the longest time, Id Software has produced some of the finest and most iconic games to date. From the humble Commander Keen & Wolfenstein 3d, to the classic Doom, and to the game-changing Quake, Id has created some of the most memorable franchises. Even those who’ve never touched one of their games can attest to their longevity, simply through their reputation. So, it comes with some surprise as to their recent outing, RAGE, that things have taken a turn for the worst on PC. How, you may ask? Well, read below to see why.

Story
We start off the story in the year 2029, when humanity is preparing for the impact of 99942 Apophis, a real-life asteroid. As the populations of the world gather in Arks (bunker-like building that house people), Apophis hits the Earth, causing massive amount of damage. Luckily, the Arks are protecting from the asteroid’s impact, as they burrowed underground to avoid getting affected. From here, things look bleak.

Flash forward to the year 2135. You emerge from your Ark, which has just recently surfaced, only to discovered a blasted wasteland. As you move around a little, you get attacked by one of the new natives, who doesn’t seem to like you much. Luckily, one of the less savage individuals comes to your rescue, and takes you back to his place. From there, you begin to gain knowledge of this new Earth, and all of the things that have gone wrong with it.

As you progress through RAGE, you eventually discover the main villains, the Authority. As one of the main characters explains, the plans for the Authority’s rise to power began just before Apophis landed. One of the generals in charge of the Ark Project had sabotaged everything, ensuring that only Arks with individuals loyal to him would rise, leaving Arks with disloyal people underground for all time. The player’s attack against the Authority heightens, leading up to a showdown at their headquarters. The end result is that the remaining Arks emerge from the ground, and the revolution begins.

The story of RAGE is rather interesting. A little bit of Mad Max, sprinkled with some political intrigue and science fiction, and you get something quite unique. Problem is, the story itself is not all that fleshed out. In fact, you’re only given shreds of it as you go through the game. Even worse, the game ends on a cliffhanger, so you’re confused as to what will happen next. Usually a cliffhanger can be a good thing, but with the one used here, it just feels like a lazy way to end the game.

Setting
I don’t have any problems with RAGE’s setting, save for the fact that I’ve seen it before in Borderlands. Unlike that game however, RAGE tends to be a bit more on the realistic side of things. Many of the ruins within the wasteland look quite believable, and even some of the more fantastic locales have a hint of realism to them. Over all, Id Software captured a lot of ambiance when they created the world of RAGE, save getting up close a majority of the surfaces, but that’s for later.

Characters
This is another area in which RAGE fails, regardless of the system. It wouldn’t be fair to say that the characters within the game have no...character. It would be fair, however, to say that they only have moments of character. Once you’re done with one of the main characters, there’s nothing else to gain from them. This is all compounded by the fact that a few of the main characters go missing when the Authority get more involved. In addition to the primaries, there’s also a lot of secondary characters, but they really aren’t given the time of day, as many of they can be a little entertaining.

Even worse, your character doesn’t speak or have any personality at all, ala Gordon Freeman. You’re supposed to be this important individual from the past, yet you aren’t given a voice, and you’re about as bland as cardboard soup.

Gameplay
Here’s where RAGE both succeeds and fails. First and foremost, this game is a first person shooter: there’s no gimmicks (apart from having a ungradable, interactive revive that requires charging after usage), there’s no tricks, and your arsenal is unique and varied (certain weapons can be upgradable, giving you more of an edge on the battlefield). The enemies that you face are also varied, with hideous mutants that attack with a blind fury, to the numerous bandit clans with their own styles of combat, to the Authority and their military tactics. The main AI might not always work perfectly, but it does give the various opponents some flavor.

Despite RAGE being a FPS, it does have some RPG elements to it. You have an inventory that can store a variety of items that you either buy or take from bodies, there’s various ammo types for many of the guns, the ability to customize your car & it’s color, and you have the option to create some items as well. There also optional side mission, as well as some minor exploratory features. Despite being secondary is some sense, the RPG elements to add some play variety to the game, and they can actually be quite entertaining.

Another big component of RAGE is the driving. As you get into the game, you’re given a vehicle to use as your primary form of transportation around the wasteland. At first it can’t do much, but you can later upgrade it with guns, armor, and a variety of parts that alter steering, traction, etc. The driving for the most part is fun, but things can be a little stiff, even when upgrades are used. The racing aspect of the game, however, I don’t like. I never really got into it, and even when I did a few races, it appeal disappeared quickly because the style of said races often repeated.

Graphics & Sound
Yet two more aspects that both succeed and fail within RAGE. As I said in the setting section of this review, things look really good...until the player gets up close to a surface. Despite the advanced graphics, many of the surfaces look quite dated, as if they were ported from previous engines. Although I somewhat understand why due to how the engine works, that doesn’t give them an excuse to be a little sloppy. To complicate things a little further, many of the sprites with often clip when they die, but only when multiple bodies topple on each other after they die. Luckily, the sprites that populate RAGE look, whether friend or foe, look very good.

The audio, on the other hand, doesn’t fail in the slightest. Everything sound exactly as it should: explosions sound like explosions, bodies getting run over sound like bodies getting run over, etc. Although minimal, the music in RAGE fits with the scenes that they play in, just like in Doom 3.

Overall & Rating
Due to some very poor choices, Id has shot themselves in the foot with the PC edition of RAGE. When news of the game first came out, John Carmack said that the game was going to be made for the Xbox 360. I can appreciate the honesty, but I can’t ignore the fact that when they ported the game to the PC, they half-assed it a little when it came to the graphic department. Not long after the game came out, there were a small number of patches (2 or 3, I think) just for fixing the graphics. Because of this, and perhaps a few more things, they ruined their reputation among PC users, who once considered them the gaming gods of their domain. Now, very few come out to show their love for Id, and that’s a shame. With all that’s been said, RAGE gets a 5 to 7 out of 10.

See you all next week, when I’ll be covering a classic 70s comedy. Until then, stay Otaku!

* If you are interested in 99942 Apophis, then please look at the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis

Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic Review

Hi everyone! I had a great time with the relatives the past few days, but I was a little close to spazzing out because of the cousins, but I won’t put the details here. Suffice it to say, it was a wonderful time, and I hope to see them again next year.

Now that they’ve left, I’ve gotten time back to do my reviews. Today, I’ve got an interesting movie in the spotlight, with a tie-in to one of 2010's most underrated games. Without any more (familial) delays, here’s my review for Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic.

Released on the same day as the game (February 9, 2010), Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic is more or less about Dante and his efforts to recover his beloved Beatrice from Lucifer. For those who haven’t played the game, Dante used to be a bad guy. Actually, douchebag would be a better term to use. Before his descent into the 9 circles of Hell, Dante was quite a wicked individual, as it is revealed to the viewer that he committed each of the 9 sins that compose Hell. So, in addition to saving his love, Dante has also dived into Hell in order to redeem himself of the evil within. It’s a classic tale, re-envisioned for a modern audience with modern tastes.

The first positive of this film is an interesting one. Like the classic The Animatrix and the more recent Batman: Gotham Knight, Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic was animated by some of Japan’s top animators. Two of the more recognizable animators that worked on this film, Shuko Murase and Yasoumi Umetsu, previously worked on some iconic shows (Murase did Ergo Proxy, while Umetsu worked Kite: Liberator). Their way of animated things is clearly seen in their portions of the film, as they have the smooth, gothic, and bleak overtones that they are known for.

Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic’s second positive is how it interprets the original poem. Just like the game, the movie is essential a retelling of the author’s journey through the nine circles that compose Hell. Like the game, Dante is a soldier from the crusades, who carries the weight of all 9 sins on his shoulders. The circles within Hell are also re-imagined, as they more closely resemble the sins they contain (lots of curves & sexual imagery within the Circle of Lust, for example). Also like the poem & game, this movie has many of the characters involved as well (Virgil, Dante’s Father, etc), keeping the ties between each medium.

Voice acting is this film’s third positive. Just like the game, this film contains the same voice actors, and both mediums don’t disappoint. Graham McTavish continues to give his voice to the brave yet dangerous Dante, as well as Peter Jessop providing Virgil with the haunting & wise tones that the role requires. Other voices actors (whether they were in the game or not) also provide some great talent, as two of the biggest roles in the movie (Dante’s Father & Lucifer) are voice by two of the biggest talents in the industry (Stephen Blum & Mark Hamill).

The fourth positive of this film is that it is pure, unadulterated action. True, this feature does have some dramatic moments, but what makes this film is the nearly non-stop flow of violence, bloodshed, gore, and naked women. The only other film I reviewed that had all of these wonderful things was SiN the Movie, but we don’t like to talk about. In addition to the obvious differences, the violence within Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic is much more visceral, as body are getting torn apart by sword, scythes, and all other manner of medieval fighting, while SiN’s violence feels more like that of a B-rated horror movie. 

The final two positives of Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic are it’s availability and pricing. Having just come out a little over two years ago, the film is still easy to find in a lot of video stores, as well as Amazon. Holding just as many used copies (41, to be exact) as they do new copies, this film starts out at 2 dollars new, and $1.60 used. Either condition won’t really make a big impact on your wallet, so go ahead and buy whichever one of want!

Like any tie-in, however, Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic has a couple things wrong with it. Luckily, only three bad things stand out from all the others. For starters, it doesn’t quite follow the game, which doesn’t quite follow the poem. To complicate things further, there’s story points that happen in the movie (like Dante discovering in Limbo that Beatrice had a child, but it died when it came out), but don’t happen in the game. There’s a lot more that happen/don’t happen between the two, but to put them all down would take up more time than there has been already taken.

Secondly, despite the fact that this film is pretty fun to watch, it all feels like a long advertisement. Makes perfect sense, considering that the game came out on the same day as the movie’s. This makes perfect sense, as the movie does a great job (least I think so) of getting people hooked onto one medium, and possibly tempting them to buy the other

Finally, there isn’t much in the way of extras. This is something that I haven’t discussed in my reviews in a while, so you know it’s big. This film...has only two extras: a trailer for the game (which I saw long before the movie or the game), and some animatics (which are actually kind cool). I just wished they added in a interview or two with some of the directors, but as it stands, there’s only bare bones for extras.

Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic gets a 7.2 out of 10. It was animated by a variety of talent, it has a unique interpretation of the source material, the voice acting also has talent behind it, the action is nonstop, and it easy to find & buy, but it doesn’t completely follow the game, feels a lot like a commercial, and barely has any extras.

See you all later this week. Until then, stay Otaku!