In defense of the second half of Sword Art Online

SPOILER WARNING! IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN SWORD ART ONLINE IN ITS ENTIRETY, READ NO FURTHER!

It’s clear by this point that Sword Art Online is generally regarded as being kind of awesome. People talked about the show quite a bit while it was airing, which gave me the indication that hey, maybe it’s pretty good. Even now that it’s done airing, it’s still talked about quite a bit. But one thing many fans seem to have an issue with is the show’s second half, a.k.a. ALfheim Online (ALO).

I don’t understand the hate. I thought the second half was just as good, if not better, than the first half. Here’s why:

Should I be at all surprised that Funimation put out another Blu-ray with sub-par video quality?

This has just got to stop. There should be no reason why, when Crunchyroll simulcasted Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt in 720p, it looked better than Funimation’s recent Blu-ray release of the series, which is (supposedly) in 1080p.

I’m not the only person who thinks that the Blu-ray video quality is absolute crap. There’s no excuse for this. I waited for, and paid extra for, a Blu-ray that looks no better than a DVD. This isn’t their first time screwing up a Blu-ray release, and I doubt it’ll be their last.

Of course, if someone has screencaps of the JP release, please share them. It’s possible that Funimation just got shitty masters from Kadokawa. But I’m going to assume that’s not the case, given their track record with Blu-rays.

Otaku in Review Podcast: Winter Preview 2013

Listen to me and the usual crowd talk about a bunch of new animu. SO MANY GOOD SHOWS THIS SEASON.

Direct Link to the Podcast | Original Post | Subscribe in iTunes

First impressions of Chihayafuru and why I never judge a book by its cover

Throughout the past 6 months, Chihayafuru is that one anime that people just seem to be creaming over. At first, I figured this was the new flagship anime of the “anti-moe brigade” (before that, it was the new Lupin III and before that, Redline) and that they just circlejerked over it in hopes that it will save anime from the “moe virus” (hahaha no).

But that wasn’t the case. Chihayafuru is actually a pretty good show.

After nearly reaching the breaking point among all the tweets and blog posts singing the praises of this anime, I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I read a plot synopsis – it’s a slice of life show about some kids that play a Japanese card game called Karuta. Oh, great, another anime about a game I know nothing about. Sounds pretty boring! Or so I thought.

But it’s actually pretty exciting. The card game, Karuta, is actually quite simple, so it didn’t take me long to figure out what was going on. In the series, Karuta is portrayed – not as a game – but as a sport. In the first 4 episodes I’ve seen thus far, I’ve actually caught myself rooting for the protagonists, as if I was watching a live sporting event. So yeah, that’s cool. I like getting immersed in a show like that.

The characters are pretty great too. Especially Taichi, who starts out as a bully but quickly develops into a civilized human as he plays Karuta with his friends. I like the art style too, which is kind of a cross between shoujo and moe aesthetics (someone’s gonna flame me for saying that).

Chihayafuru is a bit of a lengthy series – the first season is 25 episodes, and a second season is starting up soon, adding another 25 when that’s done – so I can’t promise I’ll make it all the way through. But so far, I’m very interested in seeing more.

And this, my friends, is yet another reason why I (and why you should) never judge a book by its cover. Even if a show looks like a steaming pile of crap from its promo art and/or synopsis – give it a try!

52 card pickup was never this exciting!

I’m bored, so here’s a post about stuff

I really have nothing else to write about, so this is gonna be one of those “what I have been up to” posts. Here I will talk about stuff. Stuff that I have watched/played recently and want to talk about. Consider these to be short reviews. Maybe I’ll do more of these since I’m apparently too lazy to write full reviews. God damn, I suck.

THING I WANT TO TALK ABOUT #1: R.O.D. THE TV

Because I am a sucker for Aniplex and their hideously overpriced releases, I decided to spend about $150 on an anime I had never seen before. So I bought the R.O.D. Read or Die Blu-ray box, which contains the 3-episode OVA and the 26-episode TV series.

Usually when people talk about R.O.D., they’re talking about the OVA. The OVA is indeed pretty awesome, but I actually thought the TV series was even better. I really like stories that involve supernatural thingamajigs and evil people taking over the world, and this series has that.

Let the records show that while I really like cutesy moe stuff, I happen to like badass girls even more. Any show that involves girls kicking butt is almost an instant win. This show has that, too.

The story follows three girls who come between the plots of Dokusensha – some evil organization hell-bent on taking over the world – and the British Library – another evil organization hell-bent on taking over the world. The girls are paper masters, meaning they can control paper WITH THEIR MINDS. That’s pretty cool! At least I thought it was. Using that power, they do some pretty crazy shit, like throw paper weapons, make paper shields, and fly giant paper airplanes.

We marathoned Secret of Mana in less than 12 hours

Secret of Mana is one of my favorite video games of all time. It was my gateway drug into the RPG genre, and even to this date, is a game I find myself often wanting to replay. One of the greatest things about Secret of Mana is that, through the use of the Super Nintendo Multitap, the game supports up to 3 co-op players.

About a decade ago, I was thrilled one day to have obtained the Multitap via the wonders of eBay; so I immediately planned to meet with my friend Chris and step-brother Mike to marathon the game in one day. We attempted and failed.

We knew we had to do it again, and this time we needed to step up our game. We needed to put less emphasis on grinding, and more on just getting the job done.

So we did. On November 17, 2012, the three of us met up again and played through the game. This time we publicized the event by broadcasting it online. Some people even joined up with us in person, including Chris’s brother Steven, who actually filled in for me at several parts of the game. We finished the game in under 12 hours, and damn was it satisfying.

And hard, too. Since we knew we didn’t have the luxury of being able to grind all our levels, spells, and weapons (yes, you have to grind all three separately in this game), we instead only focused on what we needed. Certain weapons never got used, and certain magic elementals were neglected entirely.

The road was bumpy. We definitely felt the effects of not being at the recommended level, for several of the boss fights. One particular battle was the one against the Evil Wall in the Pandora Ruins. There’s also the fact that we forgot to activate the Earth Seed (who forgets that??) prior to the battle, forcing us to go back and do so.

The most intense moment of all, however, was the final battle. The Mana Beast stood in front of us and laughed at our puny levels. We tried to push through with our level 0 Dryad Mana Magic, and were able to squeeze exactly that much damage to the beast: 0. We had to quickly change our strategy, and via suggestions from our friends in the chat room, we decided to use Moon Power instead. Suddenly we were dealing 999 damage to the beast and before long, it was vanquished. Which worked out great, since we had just run out of MP.

The playthrough was broadcast over twitch.tv and was actually a charity event to provide some further relief to those struck by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. Our goal was $1,000, and while we only met a fraction of that goal, we’re still glad to have helped out.

If you want to watch the 11+ hour playthrough, here it is, for your viewing pleasure. Warning: We curse. A lot.

If you want to read more about Secret of Mana, check out my full review of the game.

Otaku in Review Podcast: Otakon 2012

After the debacle that occurred in the last argument-filled podcast I was on, it’s a miracle that Scott is still letting me on his show. At any rate, I came on to talk about Otakon. I was accompanied by the very awesome Charles Dunbar from Study of Anime, and the delightful Ink from Ani-Gamers.

Listen here
Original post here
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