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Bokurano (manga) Review.

Probably one of the most depressing manga I have read. A seinen science-fiction manga written by Mihiro Kitoh. Narrating the story of 15 children and their battle against mechas from parallel worlds - where the survival of the Earth is dependent on the outcome of their battle.

Sounds like any other mecha series right? But as previously stated, this has to be one of the most depressing manga I’ve read. The psychology of the characters, how they are reacting to the situation they find themselves in - I actually found myself somewhat speechless, sometimes feeling the need to cry. I won’t go into much into detail on the plot, that is something you would have to experience for yourself.

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Though the series can easily be compared to Neon Genesis Evangelion, Bokurano is easier to follow and less headache inducing - and definitely does not leave the reader going “what the fuck?”

The chapters are generally separated into the current pilot’s narrative, having a total of 65 chapters. Each section narrating the thoughts and reactions on the event of the current pilot, what is currently going on in their lives and their past - why they are like they are. 

There is so much that can be said about the plot of the story, all of which are spoilers. It’s not a spectacular series, I’ll be honest about that, it does get a little bit boring every now and then - but you feel like you need to keep reading to find out more of the situation. Also check out ‘Uninstall by Chiaki Ishikawa,’ such a beautiful song.

(P.S sorry for my retarded typing - brain is fried from dissertation. I seriously can not make a coherent sentence, so excuse my grammar) 

PSP2, Fall 2011

populationgo:

Rumors of the PSP2 are now preliminary details of this long-coveted portable device. Development of the new PSP2 promises a huge upgrade, including the potential inclusion of a touch panel and a HD screen. However, some quirks still need to be worked on to maintain stability in all of its high standard glory. Sony has yet to go public with this as they have not finalized its inner and outer designs. But it is slated for Fall of 2011 if things go well. 

Mixed feelings on the design. First thoughts - lolwhut? Looks like a cross between an Archos, Nintendo DS and a ghey sliding mobile phone : /

Hopefully it will have an UMD drive? Because if not- it will probably fail like the PSP Go.

(Source: kotaku.com, via populationgo)

Black★Rock Shooter OVA Review.

It’s been awhile since I last wrote a review. Black★Rock Shooter,something I wasn’t new to - having stumbled across artwork on Japanese artists websites as well as Pixiv-  but quite honestly, I never knew it was an OVA. I simply thought it was one of those ‘Japanese Things,’ pretty much like Nico Nico Douga Singers and or the Vocaloids (Which apparently did stem from). So it was quite a pleasant surprise to find this as an OVA.

Black★Rock Shooter by Ordet; Directed and written by Shinobu Yoshioka and also written by Nagaru Tanigawa. The pilot edition was released back in 2009, and was released as part of a DVD bundle on July 24th 2010.

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Well, where to start - the story follows two seemingly separate story lines; one which follows Black Rock Shooter, the title character battling an evil being named, Dead Master; the other, two junior high school girls whom are tied by friendship. Both stories tend to cut between each other and can be quite confusing at times - I found myself forever analyzing why something was happening and trying to relate both stories (curse media studies, can’t watch for the hell of watching anymore).  

Unfortunately, I feel like I can’t say much else without spoiling the story, so I’ll leave the summary short. Personally, I have mixed-feelings about the OVA, I enjoyed it but didn’t find it something fantastic. It has a nice story, though would make sense it you export the movie to Premiere, Final Cut Pro or whatever and separate both stories and reorder them chronologically. I was a little bit disappointed with the ending, not that is was bad, I just expected there to be more footage (though there could quite possibly be another OVA). The animation is pretty spectacular and consistent; the character designs are cute and I loved the soundtrack. Overall, it has a little Persona (Game) feel to the OVA and the title character constantly reminded me of Lenalee Lee from D.Gray-Man (I miss her). 

I would say it’s worth a watch, even it is for the awesome battle sequences or the fact the character designs are simply amazing. Just go, check it out.

That’s all for now, back to life ~

dln-001 asked: you're tips are really good. Did most of it before I read this good read though.
I just want to add that it would be a good Idea to abuse the Mirage Arena, especially the command board, its easy to earn CP for your deck commands.
And use Stitch to also level up your moves. Another reason to abuse Mirage Arena is that you should really go halfway with Terra to get one of his strongest Keyblades which proves real useful in the end.

I'd like to disagree with Capt. Hook. I didn't find him hard. Just block and hit. nothing to it. But i do agree with your other hard bosses -.-.

It was that he was exceedingly hard, not compared to the other three - he mainly kept pushing me into the water which was annoying, so having the crocodile and the present bombs constantly at me, it was a nuisance lol. 

Birth by Sleep thoughts and tips.

After somehow clocking in 55+ hours worth of gameplay and a somewhat disappointing easy final boss, I managed an overall of 86% completion rate. Whether or not I decide to complete the last 14% is up for debate - I assume the final 2% on the story mode are the secret uber hard bosses. I might attempt to collect all the stickers and treasure chests and completing Mirage Arena does not seem too hard (or frustrating). The only issues I would have completing are the mini-games, which I swear piss me off more than they should - I tend to avoid them where I can.

So basically to complete the game you have to play three different stories - though technically each follow the same story, you experience the different points of views of each character - something I, personally enjoy (probably ever since I’ve watched Baccano). It was a little bit of a drag to re-watch some cutscenes, though the final cutscenes before the final bosses are always a joy to watch.

Depending on which difficulty you chose at the start determines how easy it is to unlock the final part of the game. Looking up which mode allows you to do what, goes as follows:

• Beginner mode: The secret ending in impossible to unlock. You do 50% more damage and take less damage.

• Standard mode: Normal mode, you deal and receive normal damage. To unlock the secret ending (and the Final Episode?), you have to complete your report section (i.e., treasure, abilities and complete every mini-game).

• Proud mode: You deal normal damage but take double damage. The secret ending is unlocked by completing the final episode. To get the final episode, you have to find all of Xehanort’s Reports.

• Critical mode: You deal half damage, take double damage, earn fewer HP throughout the game. You start with two extra deck command slots and have the choice to use the Zero EXP ability to make things more challenging. The secret ending is unlocked by completing the Final episode.

I would suggest starting on Proud if you want to breeze through the game (unlock the secret ending and find out more about the series), it was not particularly hard or very challenging as long as you are prepared for certain matches. (I played Proud mainly to avoid completing the mini-games.) If you played any Kingdom Hearts game previously, I would not suggest starting on anything lower than Proud, the game is relatively easy anyway.

Providing you have enough space on your memory card, I would highly recommend installing the data, it makes gameplay much faster. Straying away from topic slightly, I was very impressed how Square-Enix managed to fit such a long game onto a UMD - though I was slightly annoyed that the cutscene before the final battle was not pre-rendered (it’s basically the same cutscene used in the secret ending of KHII) however it was understandable why it wasn’t.

Anyway, enough with the dilly-dallying. My tips on the game:

• Though character order does not matter too much, the story makes more sense if you play Aqua last. 

• The first world you go to (varies on which character you start off with), these worlds are probably the best to grind and level up at the start of the game.

• Where as leveling up for the final boss does not matter too much, like most games it does help. I found Aqua was the easiest to level up providing you have Mickey in your D-link with double EXP.

• Consider making Renewal Block/Renewal Barrier (Aqua) at some point in the game. Renewal Barrier saved me a lot in the final boss matches.

• Don’t throw your PSP in frustration because Disney Town is the most annoying place you’ll ever go to. (It’s even worse because the Background music is sooo god-damn happy as well)

• Before the final bosses of each story, consider maxing out your ability list (mainly Once More, Leaf Bracer, Second Change, Attack and Magic Haste and any elemental resistance).

• In your deck commands, be sure to have at least two Curaga’s for the final bosses, since you may find yourself floating in darkness having to retry the battle due to be killed off before the spell reloads.

• For Ven’s final boss fight, take at least an hour’s break before hand, make sure your hands are in top form because believe me, you will need it. (I was in so much physical pain, my poor thumb).

• In Terra’s story mode, the second time you fight Zack, button mash square at the start and hope for the best. His starting attack is basically a one hit kill if he hits, he is also extremely fast and has quite powerful moves (I would say he was probably one of the harder bosses of the game), alternatively, you can slide away and try to dodge before he attacks you (I usually failed my timing on this so I ended up button mashing square for the life of me). I generally relied on my shotlocks and any fast deck command attacks.

Out of the three games, I found Aqua’s to be the easiest. I’m not too sure whether it was because I played her last and I had adapted to the gameplay or she just did not have any extremely hard bosses. In contrast, I felt that Terra had the harder bosses, or maybe it was just because of  Zack. 

I would say the harder bosses of the game are:

• Zack (Terra’s story mode)
• Captain Hook (Ven’s story mode)
• Xehanort (Terra’s story mode: Final boss)
• Vanitas (Ven’s story mode: Final boss)

Final notes on the game. I was happy but as well sad that Zack makes an appearance - I totally fell in love with his character ever since playing Crisis Core, before hand, I didn’t pay much attention to his character in FFVII or in the movie, but after playing Crisis Core, I was in total awe.

Onto negative issues, I know this is just me, I feel the game would be so much better if Micky was not present. But, that’s just me having a strong distaste for his character, however it pains me to admit, but he was probably the most useful D-link for leveling up.

The Voice acting wasn’t actually very bad, I’ve read there were issues with Terra’s voice being semi-bland and emotionless, but I didn’t really notice until after I read the article, but even then it didn’t seem so bad. Maybe watching stuff like Pokemon and One Piece (4kids) along with many bad dub has made me numb to poor voice acting, I didn’t think there was much of an issue with Terra’s voice. I actually thought it suited him, some lines were a bit off, but not enough that it makes me want to shove my head down the toilet and drown. 

Also on the issue with Ven and Roxas, though both have more less the exact same character design, I feel it is very easy to separate both characters. For example, if I replay KHII or 358/2 days, it would be like, yeah that’s Roxas and playing BBS, yeah, that’s Ven. They may have the same design, but their characters are total contrasts.

Other than that, I loved the game. It easily surpasses 358/2 Days (as fanservicey that game was, I only bought it for Roxas, because he wins) and I think I may like it better than both KH and KHII (I haven’t played Chain of memories, since the ps2 version is not available in European format and it’s a bitch to get ahold of the GBA game without forking out a lot of money, alternatively I can download the ROM but I generally get issues with game data corrupting about half way through the game and I’m usually reluctant to play the whole game again) . 

I think the next game out will be KH Re:code, I know it was already released as a mobile game in Japan, but I’ve read it will be released for the DS in Europe at some point. 

I’ll be waiting for the future games to be released.

On a final note, many cutscenes from the previous games make more sense, especially the one between Xigbar and Zexion in KHIIFM+.

Larger issues at hand. Anti-ACTA.

http://anti-acta.com/

This has been circling the internet for awhile and applies to just about everyone who uses the internet. Whether it is internet shopping, browsing videos or lurking on social network sites - you can easily (whether accidentally or intentionally) be sued and have your privacy breached by your internet service providers. Read the article to understand more about the situation.

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Since the recent law against manga viewing sites has been put into action, it seems that American Government Officials (and America doing what they do best, have an issue then goes over to Europe and screw up our customs) want to put stricter laws on piracy. At a glance, fair enough.

Now if you have read the article, you’ll probably be thinking the same as I do - this is a bunch of bullshit. Going on to the extent to getting Internet Service Providers to breach us, the consumers privacy as an effort to stop piracy - keeping a log on the websites we visit, what we do on the internet etc. etc.

Where as the issue is not the piracy itself, but the privacy of the consumer - as well as some stupid issues like having a servere criminal record for even just browsing a copyrighted image.

“Did you pay for the songs on your iPod? Under the new law, that instantly classifies you as a criminal, and the same classification as murderers and rapists.”

And I particularly hope this is a writing error. Buying a song to put on your iPod makes you a criminal nowadays? Seriously, humanity? What are you doing? 

With identity fraud being a big thing nowadays, I personally see this law making it easier for those. If Internet Service Providers have to keep log of what everyone is doing, who is to say that someone just won’t hack into the ISP and get people’s details that way. It may be easier said then done, but you only need one person to be able to do it and the whole system can crumble. Look at the recent issues with HM Revenue and the tax system - ok somewhat very different, but one little mistake can leave many in quite a rut. 

“7. ACTA gives governments and ISP’s the right to block websites deemed “unsuitable” There are not clear guidelines as to what is deemed suitable or unsuitable. Do you honestly believe that this power will not be abused for political and economical gain. Chain has used the same excuse to censor the internet. Concurrently, China has far banned facebook.com, youtube.com and blogspot.com. Does this seem like national security?”

Somewhat off-topic for a moment. I always assumed that China had an issue with Google in general, including any website that Google currently holds the license for. I know I pretty much have something against Google, even if I do have a google email. I know Google already keeps a log in everything you have searched in the past, even after you’ve deleted all your cookies, internet history etc. etc. The advertisements shown on web pages will more less be the same ones - though it may be in IP address thing - I’m pretty sure my dad and I get different advertisements. Dad would more likely get Virgin advertisements or travel advertisements - I on the other hand seem to get a lot of MMO game ads and random advertisements such as the Rosetta Stone. Anyways back to topic.

I don’t really have much to say, but I suggest, if you have read this far and not read the article. Read it now and formulate your opinions. Personally, I don’t care anymore, I think it is a pile of bullshit - it’s fair enough they want to tackle piracy. The way how they are going about it however I feel would just make it worse and the tactics they are planning to use, they might as well just take down the internet. 

On the other hand, pirates will be pirates and nothing will stop them - they will find another way to get their hands on something they want and distribute it. (Main example- look at China).

That’s all for now on this issue.