Funnily enough, around the time Fate/Unlimited Codes’ PS2 port came out, the newest installment of Type-Moon’s flagship (i.e. ONLY prior to F/UC), Melty Blood: Actress Again had been out in arcades for a few months. Sporting new characters, new larger and upgraded stages, along with new music plus updated renditions of the previous tracks as old as the first game, it’s clear that Type-Moon is certainly living up to it’s commercial company status. The question is, with this year already full of other 2D console fighters like Street Fighter IV and Blazblue: Calamity Trigger (which I am so very fond of), does Actress Again give us any real reason to go back other than Tsukihime nostalgia?

Note: Again, I don’t have a video capture card, so these pictures aren’t from my plays of the game.

Controls have been retained from Act Cadenza, but the fighting system itself has gotten a few interesting upgrades, most notable to me being the inclusion of a guard meter; part of the MB meta game was shield bunkering, as it is in a lot of fighting games. Since MB “Reverse Beat” mechanic made shield bunkering necessary in order escape combos, it feels a bit unfair that they’ve included a guard meter, but it also makes sense, since it provides quicker resolutions to “shield bunker til screw up” clashes. More sensible, the inclusion of EX Guarding, guarding at the exact moment of a hit, to restore the guard meter adds a bit more skill to be used.

The biggest addition is the inclusion the “Style” system, akin to Marvel vs. Capcom 2’s “Type” system in that characters have access to different moves according to what style you select for them; remember when Tohno Shiki had 236+button “slasshums” or when White Len’s overwhelming moveset in Act Cadenza A? Those moves are back, given that you choose the correct style that has them. “Crescent Moon” style is essentially Act Cadenza’s combo system, while “Full Moon” style disables the usual launchers to air combos and somewhat focusing on ground combos much more, with the exception of a few characters (White Len, and I’ve heard Sacchin), plus the ability to use “Heat” mode any time as well as manually charging the Magic Circuit bar. “Half Moon” style at times give different moves, but as far as I can tell, is a lot like Crescent Moon with the exception of 200% Auto-Heat and apparently no Last Arcs. Arc Drives remain the same no matter what style is used (in Half Moon’s case, the stronger “Blood Heat” version of Arc Drives are used), but using “C” attacks that consume 100% of the bar can change depends on moveset to moveset.

As with any follow up to a fighting game, new characters are expected. When Actress Again came out in arcades, only Riesbyfe Stridberg (Sion’s ally who died saving her from Wallachia…and apparently uses a giant violin/cello as a weapon) and Roa in his Near Side incarnation were added. That’s fine and dandy, especially since the main antagonist of Tsukihime was now actually playable, but I’m sure most fans wouldn’t have minded more. Well, they got it.

By some twist of fate (see: cashing-in and fucking with the already fucked up canon for the sake cashing-in), Ryougi Shiki makes her debut appearance in Melty Blood hot off the Rakkyo movies, even bringing the main movie theme and her bamboo-covered estate with her as a stage. Now everyone can stop using that MUGEN, Nanaya-clone version of her and use an original…somewhat Tohno-clone version of her. ^^;

To screw up shit even more, Seifuku Akiha, a once-thought alternate costume turned new character, is added, as well as a True Ancestor Arcueid dubbed “Archetype-Earth”, supposedly pre-Roa, fucking ORT-banned in tourneys version of good ol’ Arc. I’ve yet to unlock her, but…

So as an example…

LAST ARC FINISH.

I guess you could consider her the Shin Akuma of MB.

As for the story……….wait….?

MB has no story, therefore I present you the final battle of Rakkyo 7, with actual Roa/SHIKI instead of archetype.

tl;CAN’Tr moonrunes, final boss is announcer, the one who goes “ROUNDO WAN. FAITO.” Yup.

So, that makes 4 ver. of Akiha…

Extras-wise, the scenario played in Arcade mode are viewable as they were in Act Cadenza, and also included is the Boss Rush mode which brings back the “boss” Melty Blood characters like G-Akiha and presumably Neko Chaos Black G666 (I haven’t unlocked it yet ^^;). Training mode is in, with a dummy record system this time.

Overall, the game is a treat: most may desire more, especially with next gen 2D fighters out now (Blazblue, KoFXII, SFIV and II HD Remix), but it’s still impressive and incredibly fun to play if you’re a 2D fighter fan. Don’t expect your friends to adapt to it right away, but it’s easier to pick up than F/UC, and undoubtedly the most refined in the series despite the mechanics way overdue. Let’s hope the PC release will include Capslock-kun (”Tohno SHIKI” Roa)

Oh before I go, Lumi recommended I try taking pictures of the TV. The result?

THIS…

CHAIR!

THISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIR
THISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIRTHISCHAIR
THISCHAIR.

-Jay

Very much my situation.

Long story short: my computer done broke, time to get a new one.

Short story long: around the time Clannad and ToA were ending, out of nowhere, booting my computer led me to a black start up screen prompting me that my hard drive would need to be swapped due to imminent failure.  My subsequent actions: didn’t listen, didn’t do anything, didn’t care, continued to use it like nothing, boom, the damn thing failed.  So yes, the past three months I’ve been relatively PC-less, resorting to my other friend’s PCs and laptops to get by with my schoolwork (even used a netbook at one point, which I must say feels incredibly fragile).  This happened about a day after I had typed up my ToA 26 post, which still needed to be screencapped and FTP’d to our site.  Thankfully, although it’s unfortunate that it took 3 months to finally get up and people have probably stopped caring, I can safely tuck it under the “Completed Series” category and not worry to much about my future plans.  To be honest, I never intended to blog anything in the spring season anyway: the only shows I’ve been semi-watching were Hayate no Gotoku!! Second and FMA: Brotherhood, but Hayate is hardly blogging material to me since it doesn’t really have a overarching plot, and I didn’t want any obligation to compare Brotherhood to the first incarnation since I haven’t seen all of the 1st series yet.  Thus, I tried using the season to try and get a job, not just for a new hard drive but for a new computer/laptop altogether.

But damn, Blazblue is fun…

…And yet here I sit, penniless and still reliant on another friend’s computer (one who was willing to let me install Filezilla for a spell).  Job-hunting sucks, especially when you don’t get one.  And now, not having a working computer HAS impeded on my plans, as the shows I WAS planning on blogging are going to air, and the money I had hoped to gain to get to Anime Expo has now gone down the drain.  Thus, though I wasn’t as active and up to date as I’d like to think, it seems to comming months will be  slow on my part:  the following series may only get an entry every so often the same way Shirukii is doing, depending on how much free time I have to spend at a friend’s house hogging the computer for a few hours, but I hope you continue to enjoy them.  That said, the following series I’ll be following this season are…

CANAAN

My Type-Moon faggotry forces me to pick this up, since I’m a sucker for Takeuchi’s art. I know almost nothing about the storyline, other than it’s based on a scenario Type-Moon conceptualized for the Wii visual novel game 428: Fūsasareta Shibuya de. The game itself gained a perfect score to Famitsu, and the concept of switching to different protagonist’s and experiencing different scenarios is interesting, but since Canaan isn’t a direct adaptation, it’s hard to say what to expect. Also, I can give two shits about Famitsu, since their infamous notoriety seems to me to stem from a bunch of elitist faggots as well as whether or not their judgement can be trusted or not (see KHII’s “almost perfect” score and Dirge of Cerberus “somewhat good” score…and FFXII getting a perfect is a load of shit as well)…but I digress.  This is pretty much a blind dive, since there’s little about the Canaan part of 428, but the game apparently takes place within a 10 hour time span, from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  Leads me to think they might do a sort of “24″ One episode = One hour type progression, but we’ll have to wait and see.  Other than that…Canaan (titular character) has been the hardest trap for me whose gender is to discern, cause those boobs just look like pecks to me.

Takeuchi must REALLY like his Saber design. o_o

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni

Do YOU believe in witches?

Been meaning to actually get into the Visual/Sound Novel series, but since reading takes time and effort (clicking the mouse is only fun the first few hundred times and auto-read never scrolls fast enough or slow enough), I haven’t so much as downloaded it; not having a computer doesn’t help either.  Still, the premise reminds is very much the same charm Higurashi had: 6 mysterious murders with more to follow, and a battle between a witch and a man who does not believe in witches.  What’s intriguing to me is the concept of the two (Battler and Beatrice) overseeing the events in a parallel dimension, almost like a game of Risk or the Millenium World Arc of…ahem, right.  Beatrice is being voiced by Ohara Sayaka, and since learning that, I can’t help but hear Beatrice speaking like Yuko from XXXholic, without the alcoholic tendencies.

So there you have it:  both series are murder mysteries if Canaan follows the murder that happens in 428.  Therefore, prepare for mass amounts of speculations and hypothesi.  Also, I plan on doing a few more video game posts here and there, so please look forward to those.  And to spice up the lack of K-ON we’ve had…

Unfortunately, I’m NOT going to be doing a review on this, but you gotta admit, it is pretty clever… ;_;

If you’re still butthurt disappointed it’s not real…maybe potential DLC for Rock Band: Japan?

-Jay

After months of anticipation and preparation, some cosplayers combing meticulously over their costumes to ensure the utmost degree of accuracy and workmanship, and others throwing together shitty closet costumes (yes, you, L “cosplayers”) Anime North has come and gone, signaling the beginning of con season.

Packed in a car with my waifu, her brother, two of her friends, all of our luggage for the weekend and a sizable amount of alcohol, our journey to the con was underway. A damn long journey it was too, traffic around the con was absolute ass, but we passed the time by picking fun at the thickening crowd of cosplayers as we inched closer. We got to the hotel around 5, checked in, tossed our stuff in the room and hung around for a while. We eventually made our way down to the dealer’s room, which was closing soon, I bought this t-shirt I’ve been after for the better part of a year and that did it for con activities for the day.

After some so-so take out sushi from a nearby restaurant, me and the waifu got some much needed sleep, after two days of running on 2-3 hours of sleep.

Inazuma Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!

First of all, to anyone who doesn’t recognize this character, watch Gunbuster. Yes, it’s from the 80s, yes, the animation is kinda dated, no, there’s no moe, but it’s a damn good series, better than almost everything that succeeded it, and it’s a crying shame how little people have watched it.

I woke up on Saturday and spent a couple hours watching crappy daytime television (John and Kate Plus 8) while the waifu put on her costume and make up.

This is where the weekend began to veer off what thin guise of a schedule we had devised. On Friday before we went to sleep, we planned out what we were going to do on Saturday:

- Grab passes to the masquerade
- Watch a screening of Sword of the Stranger
- Go to some Best/Worst Moments in Anime panel, just to see how well/badly the list was put together
- Masquerade
- The 404s comedy skit show

How much of that did we end up doing? Absolutely none of it! But for all the day’s insubstantiality, it was really fun. The day was instead spent messing around with friends and taking in the sights, ie. creepy old guys and the delicate mix of fail and win cosplays whilst trekking back and forth between the dealer’s room and the Doubletree.

At night we went to the one and only con organized activity we attended over the whole con, the J-Pop dance. A couple words to the Anime North staff is in order on the subject of the J-Pop dance, YOU IDIOTS. For some reason, the Anime North staff decided to separate the line into the J-Pop dance based on gender, that is, girls in one line, boys in another. The best guess I have at why they did this was to funnel more girls into the dance so it wasn’t a sausage fest. But what it actually achieved was splitting up mixed gender groups of friends, creating a cloud of people hanging around the entrance waiting for their buddies to clear the security check. The security check itself was necessary, so I don’t fault them for that, even though it slowed the line to a crawl. Last year’s J-Pop dance was ended prematurely due to some drugs or something, so tighter security was definitely necessary.

Ears ringing, feet aching and stomachs full of nothing but alcohol, popcorn and chips, we went to sleep.

When you see it… =O

Sunday began with another couple hours of waiting for the waifu and her friend to put on make up. As soon as we hit the crowd, it became apparent that it was going to be a hassle getting anywhere with the two in their ridiculously cute Plusle/Minun gijinka cosplays. Our group was advancing at a rate of 3-5 strides between photo requests. Those of us not cosplaying got so bored that we began sabotage their photos by posing in the background doing stupid stuff like holding up a box of donuts or pointing at nothing.

With the con winding down, Sunday was a rather uneventful day. It was, however, free burger day at Harvey’s, the line was massive and it was hot outside, so we opted to use the drive through to procure our free food, during which I was tasked with reciting the burger toppings of the five people in the car, fun times…

Some more perusing of the dealer’s room and the artist alley brought the con to a close, and not soon enough, as something in my leg gave out and I ended up having to limp my way back to the car. I drove my waifu’s friend home, headed to her house, collapsed on the couch and fell asleep.

And now for the pictures! You’d think that with all that free time at the con I’d have taken a ton of pics myself, but I barely took any. Credits for most of these photos go to Tiffany Trinidad and her bitchin’ d300.

Cosplay: The Good

Kweh

So awesome

I’m still not finished watching CCS D:

Cosplay: The Bad

The harpoons. Man them.

I can only hope they’re not Caramelldansen

Cosplay: The Scary

Ah, ah, ah.

I think it might be time to retire

In addition to this, there were like…4 Misty crossplays, bizarre

Cosplay: The Waifu <3

Garmoe

Less than half the boobs, more than twice the win!

And finally my pathetic excuse for loot this year…

Is that a gorilla high fiving a shark?! Why yes, yes it is.

And that does it for this year’s AN! No tirade on the stupidity of anime fans when they gather this time, all that vitriol was spent last year. Now to start preparing for CNAnime in August, where I’ll hopefully be cosplaying for the first time!

~ Shirukii ~

Post Script: I’d also like to take this opportunity to apologize for the lack of K-ON blogging, it’s an awesome show and I have tons to say about it, but in all honesty…I’m lazy D:

Back from the con, extremely tired. Pics and a proper report soon to follow, “soon” pending pictures from a friend and some energy to move my body for more than 10 minute bursts at a time.

Immediate congratulations must go out to congoers this year though, not once did I lose the game, see someone fail miserably at Caramelldansen, get asked for a free hug or had to hold my stomach contents in due to fat Yokos or fail Ls. Excellent work people, I hope to see your continued commendable conduct at cons to come.

…for those who don’t attend cons, please note with the greatest emphasis, that was sarcasm.

~ Shirukii ~

Anyway this is clearly the be-all, end-all list for anime, so if you haven’t seen all of these you should probably go and kill yourself. Because I am lord of the animes and I hath commanded it. So yeah, enjoy.

10. Gundam: 08th MS Team
08th MS Team is arguably the best Gundam series ever made. It is simply because it feels like the characters are actually part of an army. Shiro and company are fighting UC0079’s own Vietnam War. They actually worry about their lives. They talk about tactics, perform flanking maneuvers, and even shy away from 1-on-1 duels. Not only that, but rather than being a self-contained unit like White Base, Shiro’s team often acts in concert with other forces.

Shhh… be vewy vewy quiet, I’m hunting Wakus.

This is pretty goddamn awesome, but unfortunately the people behind Gundam just can’t leave well enough alone. In the last couple of episodes Shiro goes from ace pilot to average Gundam protagonist. He strides across the battlefield, felling dozens of enemies with each shot and destroying mobile armors with every sneeze. So basically Gundam’s version of business as usual.

9. Planetes
Planetes is the best example of character driven anime to date. After watching some of the show, the viewer has watched these space garbagemen react and grow to so many situations that the viewer can really empathize with the characters. When Tanabe is down in the dumps, the viewer not only know why, but they feel pretty bad about it. When Hachi is pissed off, the viewer is right there with him.

Even the temp chick gets a closer seat than Tanabe :(

To bad the last 1/3 of the series takes all that and throws it out an airlock. The show suddenly suffers an attack of plot around episode 19-ish in the form of a mission to Jupiter. And then the space terrorists get a major role and the whole thing goes to shit. Still, the first 18 episodes are more than worth the last ones.

8. Neon Genesis Evangelion
What is there to say about Eva anymore? It was crazy good for it’s time and has aged a whole lot better than a number of other shows. It was, at least to my knowledge, the original something else disguised as a giant robot anime. If viewers can forgive all the random religious nonsense = DEEP PLOT crap that got thrown in, this is a damn good show.

Personally, I’m one of the people who feels for Shiniji. He goes through so many And I must scream events that he can be as whiny as he wants in my book.

And, I mean, if nothing else Gainax is still making serious bank off of Eva almost 15 years later. 15 years! That is a decade and a half!

7. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Haruhi is a rare beast in the medium of anime. It is a sci-fi show where the sci-fi elements don’t necessitate that the characters go around getting into fights every episode or so. In fact the show could work without the sci-fi elements. At it’s core, Haruhi is a show about a group of high school kids who do what high school kids do.

On my signal, unleash hell.

The sci-fi elements take this core and build into it some of the silliness the show is known for. Not a whole lot tops watching Kyon try to deal with three of his friends telling him that they are not human, but a robot, an alien, and an esper each within a day of each other. Not to mention the secret that they are all keeping from Haruhi.

6. Great Teacher Onizuka
So yeah, GTO is one of the two completely indefensible silly animes on my list. It’s about as far away as you can get from deep while still talking about depth, though if you listen to the show it is all kinds of deep. And the first couple of episodes are less than good, what with Onizuka going around attempting to get arrested for pedophilia.

This. This is why Onizuka is the best teacher.

Once Onizuka figures out that trying to sex up his students is wrong, the show gets damn good. Because Onizuka is a pretty awesome character. An ex-biker who became a teacher for the chicks, Onizuka shows up to a class that has turned driving teachers away into a game. He has to endure increasingly sadistic attempts to get him fired from his job and show his students that he is here to stay. It’s just a feel good story to its very core.

5. Kaiba
Kaiba is an interesting show because of how the viewer’s understanding of the show evolves over the course of the series. The show starts off as the animated equivalent of a drug trip. The viewer is introduced to a world where no one but lucky poor people inhabit the bodies they were born in. The rich purchase new bodies as often as mood and fashion dictate. The unlucky poor people are those who have had their bodies harvested to keep the rich in new skin. These people commonly reside in computers or simply as chips with no awareness of the outside world.

The exploded chick and the blond guy are the same person. Doublemint gum made them do it.

But really, all of this serves as a backdrop for the themes the show chooses to explore. The main two being the question of the soul/nature of the self (What/where is it for those of you who’ve never taken a philosophy course) and the nature of love (Expanding on this would actually spoil the story, so yeah). The opening is crazy important once the viewer grasps the truth of the second theme, so make a note of that.

4. Banner of the Stars I/II
Banner is on this list because Lafiel and Jinto are one of the most interesting relationships I’ve ever seen in animation. It feels very true. The bumps and rough spots in their relationship don’t feel contrived the way like situations do in a lot of other shows. Watching the two go from friendship to lovers is very believable. The only thing that didn’t ring true for me was the fact that they go the whole series without banging, especially seeing as how Jinto is supposedly 20(!) at the start of Banner.

So I feel like I should make a Star Wars reference here. But fighters were a whole lot more useful in that than destroyers are in this.

The other thing to mention about Banner is that, aside from arguably Legend of the Galactic Heroes, it is the best space opera you’ll ever watch. The plot of Banner follows a massive Ahb fleet operation against the United Mankind Alliance. All manner of space business going down sets a very nice backdrop for this love story.

3. Nerima Daikon Brothers
The second completely indefensible silly animes on my list. Nerima Daikon Brothers is an homage to the Blues Brothers that runs on insanity and a good dose of Nabeshin. The localization team did an amazing job translating the jokes in this show. Not only that, but the voice acting in the dub is fantastic. The jokes just don’t have the same impact when read. A lot of the funny is in the delivery rather than what is said.

I’d embed this video, but that makes Firefox angry so click the picture! Also, this is funny because this song is completely different in the Japanese dub.

Seeing as how the show was made on a budget of about $5, only about six tunes got licensed for the show. But the lyrics change every time a tune is brought out and each time the lyrics match the tune and are funny. It’s the same with the repeated animation.. Despite the constantly recycled parts of the show, it is one of the funniest god damn things I’ve ever seen.

2. Xam’d: Lost Memories
Xam’d is studio BONES’ attempt to redo an earlier show, Eureka seveN, right. They reduced E7 to it’s base story, “can love blossom between two kids when one of them isn’t quite human?”, and then built a completely different world on top of it in order to do the concept justice. And they fucking nailed it.

The song is called shut up and explode and the show starts off with a suicide bombing. A match made in heaven?

BONES learned from the mistakes they made in E7. The pacing in Xam’d is great, Akiyuki has a whole lot more depth and likeability than Renton ever had, Xam’d’s world is thought out a lot better than E7’s, and the crew of the Zanbani get fleshed out as full characters unlike the crew of the Gekko Go. Considering how E7 was a very solid show even with all it’s flaws, Xam’d is sublime.

1. Baccano!
Baccano! tops out my list at the moment for a number of reasons. First off, it’s a period piece set in that magical time in American history where everyone wore suits, listened to jazz and carried their Tommy Guns around in violin cases. I love this time period because the only real difference between the gangsters of yesteryear and the gangbangers today is a thin veneer of Respectability. The Mafia had themselves and the public half believing that they were only providing a service. Baccano! knows this and puts it to good use.

The music in this show is so fucking good. Everyone should be better friends with Jazz.

Secondly, this show is quite possibly the best example a well-done large cast you will ever see. The series boasts something like 30 major and minor characters, with 20 featured in the opening alone. The reason the large cast works so well in Baccano! is because they put all their cards on the table right away. Within two episodes you have met everyone of importance. The show doesn’t rely on revealing a new character to keep you interested.

Thirdly, I’ve seen this show about three times through and I still can’t decide who my favorite character is.

Hijacking blogs for mushy birthday wishes? Sure, why not!

Happy birthday to mai waifu, who turns 20 but looks like she should be turning 14, FUCK YEAH pseudo loli!

Every day with you is a blessing and I’m so lucky for finding someone who understands and shares my views on almost every subject, I don’t know what I’d do without you. Thank you for coming into life and preventing the formerly inevitable violent killing spree in which I would have tried to cleanse the Earth of as many idiots as I could before a police sniper put a .50 through my eyes. I am forever in your debt for making the world a much more tolerable and less ronery place, have a great day!

~ Shirukii ~

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Valentine’s Day is awesome, so get out there and have fun.

If you’re in a relationship, go and have a grand ol’ time with your significant other, regardless of whether you do it in the name of a prefabricated hallmark holiday or just for the hell of it. The bane of Valentine’s Day is that it encourages the display of love, which really shouldn’t necessitate a holiday, but rather than that, think of it as a little extra incentive, that last tiny nudge that you need to make the day special.

If you happen to not be seeing anyone, don’t fret, make some fun of the day anyway. If you’re content with your single life, kick back and relax for the day, knowing that the sweet promise of discount chocolate lies in the near future. If you’re single and don’t want to be, now’s as good a time as any to do something about it, go out and try meeting someone, use your bitterness towards the holiday as leverage if you must, misery loves company and finding someone to complain about the same things you do can lead to great things!

~ Shirukii ~

Post Script: First person to point out my hypocrisy gets barbed wire shoved down their throat, out their ass and flossed to death.

“I am the bone of my sword…”

With the success and popularity of the Tsukihime spin-off of fighting games Melty Blood, I’m sure there were many like myself who have wondered when Type-Moon would give Fate/Stay Night a similar treatment. There was the fan 2D fighting game Fatal/Fake, but it wasn’t until September of 2007 when Type-Moon in conjunction with CAPCOM and Cavia, Inc. released an official game based on the Fate universe and the result was…Fate/Tiger Colosseum, a chibi fighting game for the PSP that plays similar to Higurashi Daybreak (whose PSP port was also developed by Cavia). While the game itself is pretty fun in a mindless, beat-em-up kind of way, it’s hardly the kind of fighter most Type-Moon fans were wanting and expecting. It wasn’t until earlier last year at the AOU Amusement Expo where the same developers behind Tiger Colosseum, in addition to video game company 8ing (Bloody Roar, Bleach: Heat the Soul, Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen) when CAPCOM debuted a serious 3D fighting game based on the Fate universe: Fate/Unlimited Codes. Now, nearing the end of 2008 comes the PS2 port of the game, along with a few extras not included in the Arcade release. It’s been about 3-4 weeks since the game came out, way past Christmas, but I finally received my copy of the game meant to be my Christmas present to myself. Does it match up to being an excellent and intricate animu game like Melty Blood or Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure? Or does it instead become another cookie cutter quick cash-in game in the spirit of most Naruto and DBZ (or even worse, One Piece) games?

Note: I’ll be using the numerical pad of movement when discussing some of the aspects of the game. The screen caps are taken from the trailers of the game because I sure as hell don’t have the equipment to record my own matches, and for some reason BSplayer has problems playing .m2v files, thus all game caps are low res and shit. ;_;

Also, there’s spoilers on who people’s final matches are in Arcade Mode, as well as Fate overall. World-shattering stuff. O_O

DEEBEEZEE!

Well, those migrating straight from the Melty Blood series will at least find a few things to be happy about, because the game itself is VERY similar to Melty Blood: the four buttons on the controller are assigned to (A) Weak, (B) Medium, and (C) Heavy attacks, with the fourth button being your “Reflect Guard” button (the Parry button from MB, only it knocks the opponent back as well). Movements retained include the ability to double jump as well as high jumping (crouching before jumping) apply, though air dashing is removed. You are given a Magic Circuit bar that builds up as you give and take damage, which is divided into three sections of 100%, 200%, and 300% that indicates how much mana you have stored up to unleash your special attacks. Most of your special attacks take 100% to unleash your attacks. Like Melty Blood, however, there is another use for the Magic Circuit bar that’s used by pressing A+B+C at the same time when your Magic Circuit is over 100%: by activating “EX mode” you regenerate lost health at the expense of your Magic Circuit being drained, but more importantly, you’re also given access to a certain character’s special attacks: take, for example, Saber: normally, her sword is invisible and she uses Strike Air as her special; when EX Mode is activated, her sword becomes visible, and the input for Strike Air instead becomes Excalibur, as well as enabling the input for the Avalon Counter Special.

“i has a nine lives”

Another factor is added to the fighting, however in order to execute the most powerful special attacks in the game: in the middle of the player’s health bars is the Holy Grail that’s filled when either player hits one another, and whereas in most fighting games, where one simply has to build the Special Bar to it’s fullest in order to execute the lethal moves (i.e. Akuma’s Shun Goku Satsu, Geese/Rock Howard’s Deadly Rave), or maybe be below a certain health percentage, the Holy Grail in a sense “grants” the player’s wish to use their EX Specials, but only when the Grail is filled up and if you are the first one to “claim” it by delivering the last hit that fills up the Grail completely. By activating “EX Mode” again, you will be able to execute your EX Special with most characters, with a few exceptions: Archer’s EX Special, Unlimited Blade Works, does not require the Holy Grail to activate; instead, it relies on inputting the command for Archer to recite a line from the chant and gaining three Kanshou and Bakuya icons (they’re given one at a time, meaning you have to recite 6 lines in all); “EX Mode” than becomes Unlimited Blade Works Mode as well as letting Archer activate his EX Special.

The fighting system itself…takes some getting used to. The main idea of the game is utilizing combos…yes, I know all fighting games emphasize using combos, shut up! o.o Here, in particular, stringing combos are heavily stressed: none of the individual attacks by themselves do a very significant amount of damage, even more so since each player has two life bars. Button mashing doesn’t help too much here, because there’s a certain line that tells whether or not a certain move can combo into another, which can vary for each character: Archer’s 2C and 5C are able to interchange with one another, but since 5C launches the opponent into the air, it negates a chance to follow up with an air combo if it is used before his 5C. In another case, Saber can’t combo her 2C and 5C together, instead relying on input moves after her 5C, most notably using her three 236A attacks that combo into one another as you continue to input them (Think, Iori’s 214+Punch inputs). Timing, however, is everything: messing up for even half a second gives the opponent time to recover from the combo, or put them on the ground and end your combo, and some characters even require the timing to be so exact that mashing the button hoping to get a hit won’t help you. As of yet, I can hardly pull of an 8 Hit combo with Archer, and even though I suck at fighting games in general, this brings it to a new level because this particular combo will only take out about 1/6 of an opponents life bar.

“Why yes, I DO have enough swords!”

And apparently, the CPU of the game knows how to play all too well, because they fully exploit the combo system to massacre you even on NORMAL difficulty. You know how when you get to the end of the Arcade/Story mode of most fighting games, there’s always that final boss that doesn’t really hit you a lot so much as hit you hard? Not so much here: unless you’re playing on Beginner mode, the final boss of your character’s Arcade mode will utterly massacre you if you don’t know how to play, and I unfortunately happened to fall into that category when going into my first playthrough in Arcade mode as Saber one the disc loaded: next thing I know, I’m fighting Gilgamesh, and gettting 20-30 Hits on my body because the asshole decided to switch weapons into using Gates of Babylon and taking more than HALF of my life in one combo; this doesn’t even account for his specials he would decide to throw around either. It took me over an HOUR to finally beat him as Saber; similarily, my playthrough as Archer ended up with fighting Gilgamesh once again, taking me 45 Minutes, but ended in the most dramatic fashion ever (”Gate of Baby-” *Unlimited Blade Works’d*). Hereafter, for the sake of unlocking characters, I’ve switched the difficulty to Beginner and 1 Match Rounds. ^^;

Speaking of unlocking characters, the port comes with 5 extra characters not seen in the Arcade release, though I’m most people won’t really notice if they haven’t played the Arcade release (i.e. everyone who imported). That aside, they certainly are an interesting bunch and are as follows: Bazett Fraga McRemitz, one of the characters from Fate/Hollow Ataraxia and Lancer’s actual master before being stripped of her Reiju from Kotomine, she fights hand-to-hand whose playing style somewhat reminds me of King from the King of Fighters series; Leysritt, one of Ilya’s maids that utilizes a halberd; Luviagelita Edefelt, also from Hollow Atraxia, a magic user like Rin, along with having the moves of a wrestler; Saber Alter from the Heaven’s Feel route of the VN, whose style focuses on power strikes rather than speed like Saber does, and does not need to be in EX Mode in order to use Excalibur; And Zero Lancer from the novel Fate/Zero, whose quick fighting style while not as agile as Lancer’s, is compensated for the use of dual spears. Most characters have their own Story routes in the Arcade Mode as well, some of them being very amusing.

As for the other features of this port, there is a Mission Mode that sets you out to fight a certain way, or finish a certain fight one way; the most important one being the ones that actually teach you some of the combinations one can use in the game, which should be helpful to those who decide to put serious time and effort into the game…or at least don’t want their asses handed to them by the CPU. ^^; Obviously, a Practice Mode is a must in any fighting game, as well as a Survival Mode whose rewards don’t really compensate the amount of time spent fighting every character in the game. When completing a character’s Arcade Mode, one also unlocks the two CGs associated with their Story, as well as a little character model to play with in the Material/UC menu (Ilya’s model is also unlockable by going through Arcade twice as Berserker).

Music wise, the soundtrack isn’t very memorable, but players of the VN should recognize a few remixed tracks in certain stages. Certain characters, however, have their own track to play when put under the condition to execute their EX Specials: claiming the Holy Grail while playing as Saber switches the BGM to play “Tenchi Hou Take,” the track that plays during Saber’s fight with Rider in the anime, while gaining the 6 Kanshou and Bakuya icons as Archer cues a remixed version of the track “-Emiya-” to play, which is the one track that really stands out in the game as it did to me in the anime (The VN version sucks, BTW). Tainaka Sachi is once again recruited to sing the theme song, “code.” While I do like it’s melodic and quiet start up into the rock instruments, and while I do think it’s better than “Kirameku Namida wo Hoshi Ni,” (2nd OP Theme) I still favor her rendition of “disillusion,” (1st OP) and the song gets tiring to listen to after a while because it plays on a loop when navigating the main menu AND plays during the credits; if I heard it only during the credits, I could see it getting stuck in my head enough to want to download it, but the desire to hear it lowers as the loops goes on and on.

Overall, I think the game is pretty solid for an anime game. I’ll admit that the extra content is a bit lacking, but this isn’t a Soul Calibur or Smash Bros. type game, it’s strictly a game for fans of the series, and a very good one at that. You can argue if this is a quick cash-in or not, but Fate/Unlimited Codes isn’t by any means sub-par like other anime games are: it’s doubtful that it will reach the popularity Melty Blood has (They’re up to Actress Again, now), but a Fate/Stay Night traditional fighting game has been long overdue, and it should certainly satisfy fans of the series. Just don’t complain when Gilgamesh spams Gate of Babylon for the 40th time and realize you’re one stray hit short of a KO while the asshole’s still at full health from EX Mode; if you can’t beat him in reality, try to IMAGINE something you can…screw it, just set it to Beginner and play through it again.

Obligatory Rider cleavage

Saber Lily Figma

Oh, Japanese and their Limited Stuff: unlike the US’ policy of saying “Limited Time!” only to reproduce more of those than the standard copies (damn Haruhi Box sets!), Limited Stuff in Japan really does happen to become limited. Naturally, this extends to anime and game merchandise also, and now we’ve got an anime-game! Double profit! Anyways, CAPCOM released a limited edition copy of Unlimited Codes titled the “Fate/Unlimited Codes SP Box,” which so happens to be the edition I bought the game. The bonus? A Figma produced by Max Factory of Saber, or more correctly “Saber Lily,” which replaces her familiar battle attire with a non-engraved, bulgier breast plate, a a shorter tasset, white clothing, and Saber’s hair tied in a pony tail rather than a bun; in addition, she instead wields the original Caliburn sword from the stone during the selection of the king. Now, I put down extra money to buy this thing, so did I get my money’s worth?

Well, the box is really nice…

In short…no, probably not, as I had kinda hoped it’d be bigger, and also the fact that the thing is more of an action figure (Figma durr hurr) than an attractive paper weight – see Shirukii’s Shana Figure, which is about the same price I paid for the figure. Besides, I can’t pose figures in good positions for shit, which means more thinking for me, plus knowing the fact that I can change it’s pose will give me the urge to fiddle with it from time to time: a blessing for others, a curse for me.

Well, enough of my melodramatic shit, I took the liberty of taking pictures of my unboxing and playing of Saber to go along with this (I also had to alternate between my shitty old camera and the one I borrowed from a friend until he found out I was taking pictures of a toy, so I apologize in advance for the low-res and blurry quality that come as a result).

At least it’s well protected, the figure and it’s accessories were clamped inbetween two plastic moldings; not only that, Saber was wrapped in abundant amounts of plastic, down to having little boots to protect her legs. In particular, there was this little black spot also had some plastic inbetween it and the figure and it took me a while to realize that it was a peg that’s removable, leaving a small little hole where the peg used to be. Another quick glance at the parts and I noticed a two-part, clear stand for the figure, with a rod that had two ends of it smaller in width. A closer look at the stand had a similarly-sized hole inside of it like the suggestively placed hole in the figure. Thus…

Put rOd (A)…

To hOle (B)…

JAM IT IN!!!

????

PROFIT!!

The parts, however, DID include a little hoop that also had a hole in it, but…come on, that’s not fun (i.e. I broke it D : ).

Soooo…does it look good? Hell yes. Everything looks well polished and detailed (The Caliburn sword has the little engravings that talk about the selection of the king), and most of the joints are well hidden with the exception of Saber’s shoulders, which stand out the most, but I’m just being picky there. The line on Saber’s head might bother a few people, since it’s removable in order to change Saber’s face and hair, but it’s not at all very noticable when you put it on display. The figure is a little stiff, which is probably so the joints don’t loosen enough to prevent poses, but it also makes me feel like the figure is so fragile I might break it if I move it a wrong way. The antenna on her head in particular looks like the most likely candidate to be broken off since it’s pretty thin, as are the parts of her ponytail, but it should be fine if you don’t actually treat her like an action figure and smash her together with your Optimus Prime transformer to “fight.” I’ve yet to try any of the poses shown on the Unlimited Codes website, but I will say that getting her to look like she’s pulling the sword from the sheath seems dangerous since the sword likes to bend. Speaking of which, her grip on the sword is pretty bad, it slips in easily until you reach the hilt, while sheath can be held with it’s specific hands around easily except for the places with more engravings.

“Avalon! Wait, oh shi-”

Switching faces isn’t much of a problem, I will admit the initial face and hair she has on (Face: stern, looking slightly to her left. Hair: Straight) are easier to put on and remove than the 2nd set (Face: Dreamier, looking to her right. Hair: Blowing to her right) since it’s been broken in, but it’s not too difficult, again watch that antenna. The hands vary: the initial ones are again easier to take out, but they also have less wide pegs while the other ones have bigger ones. The jointless ones are doable, but the movable ones have a tendency to move while trying to put them in, plus her gauntlets extend past them, making less room to get close. Might warp some of the fingers later, thus don’t mess the open hand ones.

Here’s a shot with her on my bookshelf with my Kallen and Pizzabutt diorama figures…

…and the brighter one because it’s a bit clearer (Also, I suck at photography…and so does my camera). Tambien, Konata and tipped over Mia Fey.

Overall, I’m pretty happy that I have it. Wasn’t worth $60 bucks (like most next gen video games), but everyone’s stingy. I’ll probably try and pick up the regular Saber Figma if I head to Anime Expo this year to compare and maybe even swap parts (Have her hold EKUSU CALLY BAAAAA! instead). That’ll be a lot cheaper too, this thing set me back. In closing…

Crappy low-res Saber Lily pantsu shot!
Upon reflection of Linall’s words, the picture has been removed: ALL pantsu shots should ONLY be hi-res.  Instead…

Have a decent shot of it for once…

Digital cameras suck.

EDIT:  FUCK YOU GOOD SMILE. FUCK YOU.

$115 US Dollars…and no game to make it seem reasonable… T_T

At least my birthday’s in June too…

-Jay

Ok, so I’ll put a short post here, but it isn’t worth reading unless you download the pamphlet. Go on. I’ll wait.

Akikan is terrible.

No, seriously. It takes quite possibly the stupidest idea for any media ever, combines it with bad dialogue, bad story, and really bad animation and drawing. This show is aggressively terrible in just about every way it is possible for a show to be. But oddly enough, that may well be its saving grace. Like G Gundam, it falls firmly into the category of So Bad it is Good. At least for now anyway. I’ve only seen two episodes at this point, so perhaps it will get bad enough to fall out of this category. As it stands now though, it’s a great show to download and watch with friends.

Anyway, on to the actual show. In all honesty, the pamphlet does a good job of covering everything important that happens in the first two episodes, if I do say so myself. There is really only one thing that I couldn’t think of a way to fit in there.

A challenger approaches!

We are meant to believe that this purple haired chick will be a rival for uhh… Mr. Main Character’s feelings (I honestly can’t remember his name at this point). The main character helped her during his dark past and she feels that she is indebted to him for that. Apparently she feels the way to repay that debt is by sleeping with him? Still, the opening kinda ruins any real suspense in the love triangle angle.

Hot can on chick action?!

Yeah. Thanks for killing all the suspense for us Akikan. Though, if she was in love with Mr. Main Character and slept with an Akikan, would that be cheating? THIS IS HARD HITTING STUFF HERE PEOPLE! You should probably all watch Akikan! because clearly it is going to tackle some hard issues.

Also, to anyone like me who considers themselves to be part of the layout business, Quark and InDesign are the same goddamn program. If you can use one of them, do not hesitate to say you can use the other one on a resume. Seriosuly, I spent 20 minutes putzing around in InDesign before starting the pamphlet and the only thing I couldn’t figure out on my own was how to do word wrap around images. And three seconds on the Internet fixed that. I have no idea why the people at Quark haven’t sued Adobe into oblivion over InDesign.

After a call to arms by my better half in this post I figured it’s up to me to get the ball rolling on the “My Top 10 Anime” posts. Furthermore, my last post was exactly one month ago, I figured it’s about time to remind everyone that I’m still alive, haha. Keep in mind that this is by no means meant to be a definitive list of the 10 best anime of all time, rather the 10 anime that I personally enjoyed the most, or that I found particularly memorable. So without further ado, hit the jump and let’s get started.

10. Nanoha As

Scraping the bottom of this list is Nanoha A’s, the second installment of the Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha series. Succeeding the first season, which was a decent, but not exceptional, magical girl series and preceding StrikerS, which destroyed the franchise in the eyes of many, Nanoha A’s encompasses everything good about the Nanoha series, while leaving out most of the fail. With an abundance of PEW PEW STARLIGHT BREAKER LAZORS and a distinct lack of annoying training episodes, Nanoha A’s was packed with terrific beam spamming action and just enough plot to get by, to top it all off, let’s not forget the delicious lesbian undertones.

Nanoha A’s is the best magical girl series I’ve seen to date, and given my latent distaste for their predictability and cookie cutter characters/plot, I doubt that will change any time soon. Unless I ever get around to watching Cardcaptor Sakura, that is.

9. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Given that I named Gurren Lagann the best anime of 2007, its low standing on this list may come as a surprise to many, but there’s a reason, which will become apparent further down the list. There’s nothing I can say now that I didn’t say back in ‘07, as my opinion on the series remains largely the same. It was a kick ass anime filled with no nonsense (or perhaps more accurately, no sense at all) action from Kamina’s opening speech to the Gurren Lagann’s final matryoshka doll attack.

With off the wall battles that eventually scaled to galactic proportions backed by the old school, those with the most courage and the loudest battle cry wins, philosophy, and a simple but charming “believe in yourself and you can achieve anything” motto, Gurren Lagann was an anime that took the concepts of old and polished them to a mirror shine.

…and then kicked its viewers in their figurative balls with that utterly stupid and out of place time skip epilogue.

8. AIR

BAAAAAAAAAAAAW

A top 10 list from me wouldn’t be complete without a KeyAni anime, and AIR stands atop the big three (AIR, Kanon, Clannad) in my eyes. Sure, the story was a little convoluted at times, the characters lacked that degree of depth and personality that would have enabled me to relate to them, and I don’t know what the hell they were thinking when they made us watch the series twice. But despite all that, I couldn’t help but find myself drawn into this tragic story following a drifter with no direction and a little girl who, despite her well intentioned nature, just couldn’t seem to make friends. While I couldn’t relate to the characters on a personal level, I still sympathized with them and the eternally recurring fate they are bound to.

Also, I cried like a 5 year old girl during the last episode, and would probably do so again if I were to rewatch it again (for the fifth time). Gooooooal ;_;

7. Planetes

One of my more recently watched series, Planetes rocketed (hurr hurr) past the rest and now sits comfortably in the middle of the bottom half of this list, not to be dislodged anytime soon.

Planetes’s greatness lies mainly in its characters. Whether I loved or hated them, I found myself able to relate to them, I could look at their back stories and understand why they are the way they are, I felt connected to them, I felt as if I knew them. Everyone from the well meaning, but horribly naive Tanabe, to the motherly Fee, to the pitiable but strong Yuri, every character had their story to tell, and they were done exceptionally well.

What prevented Planetes from being higher on this list was its indecisiveness, it tried far too hard to be two things at once, and while succeeding on some level, both halves fell short of what their wholes could have been. The first half of Planetes was very much a slice of life series, following this quirky group of space debris collectors, each episode being a standalone retelling of one of their many experiences, throwing some character development into the mix for good measure. However, the latter half changed tone and atmosphere with a transition so sudden there might as well have been an audible clunk. Suddenly we were thrown into this involved plot riddled with social, political and interpersonal complexities that were either completely absent or only vaguely hinted at during the first half.

The result was a perplexing mixed feeling when I reached the end of it all. It was good, but it could have been better if they had chosen to focus solely on either the slice of life or plot driven aspects, rather than attempting to be a jack of all trades (alternatively, it could have been twice as long!). There were also some scenes that seemed like they were tacked on as an afterthought, and much of the last episode seemed rather unnecessary. But for all its insubstantialities, it was a terrific anime whose characters drew me in to their world.

6. Princess Tutu

Brushing up against my top five is Princess Tutu, whose girly name and equally emasculating premise had put me off from watching it for a long time. That is, until I saw this AMV (one of the very few AMVs in existence worth watching) which convinced me to take the plunge. I was rewarded with an incredible anime, which although suffered from the monster of the week formula at the beginning, soon turned into a fabulous story backed with great characters and a fantastical setting.

The crowning jewel of Princess Tutu is the villain of the story, who is, in my opinion, one of the greatest antagonists in anime, ever. His sheer malice and the despair that the characters are thrown into as a result of his existence, coupled with the fact that it takes you half the series to even realize he’s the evil mastermind, is an amazing sight to witness.

Yes, this series is about ballet, and yes, your friends will berate you to no end if you’ve watched this and they haven’t, but pride yourself in knowing that they’re the ones missing out. No one should live without watching this series which boasts a great cast, a captivating story, and a brilliant soundtrack to back it all up.

5. Neon Genesis Evangelion

Sitting at the bottom rung of the top 5 ladder is Evangelion, one of the most well known anime in existence. I was torn between this and Princess Tutu for the number five spot, but Evangelion won out in the end due to its nostalgia bomb factor. Evangelion was one of the first anime I’ve ever watched and as a result holds a special place in my heart, and likely any “Best of…” or “Top…” anime themed lists that I’ll write.

With an interesting concept, in terms of surface plot elements as well as its underlying themes and symbolism, Evangelion revived the anime industry in a time when it was struggling. After being analyzed time and time again, the mystery of Evangelion has long since faded and many would argue that it doesn’t hold a candle to many anime out there nowadays, and while they may be right, back in 1995, it was an unprecedented masterpiece. I’m not sure how much its excellence over a decade ago matters to most, but having watched it during that time, I’ll always remember it fondly.

My major complaint with Evangelion is that I hate all the characters. Rei’s devoid from personality, Shinji’s a pussy, Asuka’s a bitch, Misato’s a slut, Gendo’s a bastard, Kaji’s a prick, Ristuko’s a whore, and the list goes on, but I suppose that’s the effect they were intended to have, so…meh.

4. Gunbuster

This is the reason why Gurren Lagann sits near the bottom of this list, Gunbuster outdoes it to take the title of my favourite giant robo anime of all time. While the animation pales in comparison, which probably has something to do with it being nearly two decades its senior, Gunbuster is superior in many aspects. (Not that Gunbuster’s animation is anything to scoff at) While Gurren Lagann’s characters were fun to watch, they seemed to be on a plane of existence separate from our own, the courage they display in the face of adversity is absolute, and therefore unrealistic. In comparison, the personalities and character dynamics of the cast of Gunbuster are much more believable and make it possible for the viewer to relate to them, it was particularly entertaining to watch Noriko grow.

However, what really tipped the scales in Gunbuster’s favor was how well they implemented the concept of time dilation and light speed travel. While Gurren Lagann had the cast warping to different dimensions and leaping lightyear distances with no repercussions at all, Gunbuster took space travel as seriously as anime could, where just a few hours of light speed travel equated to a passage of months depending on relative positioning. This set the stage for some compelling exchanges between characters who started on the same time line but developed at different rates, resulting in everything from tragic farewells to huge gaps in life experience. All this within a span of six episodes.

3. Akagi

Once in a while, anime will locally influence my behavior or hobbies, whether it be trying to emulate certain traits of a character I admire or trying my hand at at tennis thanks to a certain sports shounen (fucking Prince of Tennis made it look so easy). But nothing was as long lasting as the year long obsession with mahjong that developed as a result of watching Akagi, many days and nights were wasted away on Tenhou thanks to this anime.

Akagi takes the pastime of mahjong and escalates it to unrealistically epic proportions, the title character pulls off some stuff that while theoretically possible, should never be expected to be witnessed in one’s lifetime of playing the game. The best part of Akagi is the suspense it creates despite the viewers knowledge of the end result. Akagi Shigeru is the ultimate gambler, he CANNOT lose, but despite this, it’s absolutely nerve wracking watching exactly how he’s going to pull off his win. In over a decade of watching anime, I’ve never watched anything that did such a good job of drawing me into the spectacle, so much so that while I was skimming through Akagi to get a screenshot for this post, I ended up watching two episodes before I tore myself away to continue screencapping.

But as much as I praise it, Akagi is not for everyone, while you can watch it without a prior understanding of mahjong, you don’t get the full effect unless you know at least the very basics of the game. Furthermore, the animation style will put A LOT of people off this anime, which is a shame, since it works so well.

2. Honey and Clover (I & II)

The ultimate slice of life drama and the penultimate slice of life, Honey and Clover was an absolute joy to watch. Another series in which the characters make the show, Honey and Clover is unparalleled in drawing me into the lives of its cast. Life and love are the two umbrella themes of this series, and the anime does well to give every character their time in the spotlight, fleshing each and every one of their stories out to a surprising depth over its 40 episode run. Love triangles may be an industry standard, overdone to hell and back, the very definition of cliche, but the superb execution and meshing of this series many love polygons is, in my opinion, second to none.

Throughout the course of Honey and Clover, I laughed, cried, facepalmed, cringed, D’AWWWW’d, and generally dragged through every range of emotion that I can think of. Honey and Clover is by no means a perfect anime, many will find local faults with its characters, pacing and plot elements, but I think that when all is said and done, anyone who watches this series will look back and find that it was time well spent.

1. ARIA (all)

The ultimate slice of life, number one shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who reads this blog with any consistency, I crowned it my favourite anime of all time the moment ARIA the ORIGINATION finished airing.

It may not boast adrenaline fueled action, complex story elements or a touching love story, but ARIA’s atmosphere sucked me into the world of Aqua. Fleshing out its settings and its characters, ARIA evoked emotions I thought my heart was no longer capable of feeling, as corny as that may sound.

Absolutely sublime from start to finish, there’s not much I can say in a few short paragraphs that I haven’t already said in more words in my series retrospective, so feel free to read it and hear me rave some more.

Honourable Mentions (in no particular order)

- BECK
- Simoun (FUCK YEAH LESBIANS)
- Monster
- Kannazuki no Miko (Only the ending. FUCK YEAH LESBIANS)
- Dennou Coil

So there you have it, the ten anime which, in my mind, stand above all the rest of the crap out there, the shining beacons in the swamp of crap comprised of most anime out there. Bear in mind that I’m far from being able to claim that I’ve watched every single good anime out there, so if you disagree with my picks, feel free to present a recommendation or a reasonable argument for your objections, lest you find yourself ridiculed for your unsupported ramblings.

Hopefully the other authors will follow with their own lists sometime soon, when we’re all finished we can tack links to these lists to our author biographies to give prospective readers an idea of what to expect from our tastes and how they are presented through our writing.

Now if you’ll excuse me, this post, chock full of praise and worship, has left me with a lot of surplus bile, it’s time to return to the day to day grind of university life. Until next month?

~ Shirukii ~