Teppuu is a manga about women’s MMA. It was written and illustrated by Oota Moare and was completed just around mid-2015. I had been looking for a MMA manga at the time and this title was the very first recommended to me. Now how does it hold up?

Sometimes even gifted people have their own fair share of problems — this is exactly the case with Ishidou Natsuo who is an extremely talented athlete and is adept in just about any kinds of sports. Standing at the top of the mountain, she is almost always alone and bored. One day, she receives an invitation to join the school’s newly formed MMA club by Yuzuko, and something about her just rubbed Natsuo the wrong way — her bubbly personality, an almost innocent, childish passion in her own craft. Natsuo decided to beat her in her own game in a spar, and while the fight ended in a no content, she realized she would have lost had they continued. After that, Natsuo decided to enter the world of women’s MMA with one aim alone — to beat Yuzuko in a rematch.

best girl

Jam-packed with realistic hard-hitting actions and engaging characters, Teppuu is a manga that will no doubt keep your eyes peeled throughout the entirety of the series. Fights effectively display the complexity and mechanics of the combat sport and no thanks to it’s cast of marvelous characters, an amazing story as well with an unique take on the genre. Unfortunately Teppuu ended a little abruptly, however satisfactorily from a character-standpoint.

Right, characters. When you get right down to it, Teppuu is a character-driven sports manga — the story literally do or die through it’s characters alone, and fortunately it’s characters deliver in spades. Teppuu delves into character flaws a lot more than you would have expect compared to other ordinary sports manga. Following the unconventional protagonist in this manga brings a rather unique perspective — as Natsuo isn’t your typical shounen sports heroine, but an arrogant yet insecure bully.

On the other hand, Yuzuko, who have all the makings of a typical shounen sports protagonist, ended up becoming the “villain” of the story, the big bad, and the ultimate obstacle Natsuo has to overcome. This switch in dynamics is interesting and Moare handled the nuances of the dynamics excellently. Presenting itself more as an “anti-sports” manga, character depths are explored arduously and helps portray the complexity of the characters.

Teppuu’s artwork looks good, if not just a bit dated. The slightly rough-looking designs suit the edgy atmosphere of MMA promotions, further emphasized by the characters’ “constant-frowns” expressions and their well-built physiques, the latter of which I’m definitely appreciative of since this -is- a combat sport we’re talking here. The use of effects lines also greatly accentuate the action sequences, making the impact for every punch and kick even more pronounced.

Teppuu is a sports manga that feels like it got cut short out of the blue, like we only just got the first arc of a story — however a conclusive arc nonetheless. Moare’s refreshing character-driven approach allows him to make the best ending he could possibly make at the time. I feel like Teppuu still has more story to tell, but as for Natsuo’s journey? A wonderfully-told tale and I couldn’t have asked for more.

Rating
Story: A-
Character: A+
Artwork: B+

Final Score
8.5/10

I think it’s no secret that I no longer write as much as I did before. Yet, somehow, one way or the other, I managed to drag this blog’s sorry ass to the 7th year.

I know I’m not that active a blogger anymore, which is exactly why your every little support helps. Despite the fact that this blog has seen better days, I’m really grateful for every single one of you who would even visit this dying blog. Thank you.

Hopefully I can somehow last the next year as well. If I can, I’ll see you guys again by then.

P.S: I just registered at myvideogamelist not too long ago, and from my experience, it seems to be the best site for tracking video games by far. Feel free to add me if you’re a member, this is my profile.

Yeah, she totally screams “second fiddle”.

Note: Spoilers for Aikatsu, Aikatsu Stars and Aikatsu Friends (episode 27)

Despite the huge casts, there has always been that character in Aikatsu who’s at least second in importance to the story, just below the protagonist. They are their best friend, their childhood friend, their eternal rivals, etc… Whatever their relationship is, this character will hold just as much significance. You can say they are the deuteragonists of Aikatsu.

This has been a tradition from the long-running franchise so far, and just as tradition, they seem to always… lose. Thus, I call them the “second fiddle” characters. In most cases, these characters started out having more knowledge and experiences in the idol industry than the main character, but perhaps it’s natural aptitude, perhaps it’s talent or perhaps it’s just pure “protagonist power”, they will get left behind as fast as the rapidly rising star.

In the first series of Aikatsu, Aoi was the one who introduced Ichigo to idols, but Ichigo’s natural aptitude in the field of idols got her on par with the other talented girls in Starlight School in no time flat. While pressured at first, Aoi later accepted that her tendency to be caring of others isn’t a weakness but a strength. While she can’t match the brilliance of other idols, her presence is a constant moral support that allow everyone else around her to shine to their fullest potential.

Aikatsu Stars, the franchise’s second series, featured a similar deuteragonist in Laura, where the story sold Laura and Yume as rivals. Being the more experienced and knowledgeable one in the duo, Laura belonged in a long family line of musicians even dating back to the Edo period. Despite that, Laura has never beaten Yume once throughout the entirety of it’s story. Her character later on developed a newfound maturity and the discovery that winning or losing isn’t everything. Nonetheless… this is still one hell of a one-sided rivalry.

The second fiddle character that precedes Aikatsu Friends definitely had a pattern of sort, but here’s where it gets interesting. Instead of solo idol activities (with some group idol activities sprinkled in between), Aikatsu Friends focuses almost exclusively on group idols, or to be specific — “Friends”, a special duo idol unit that borrows from the same name of the franchise’s third series.

Because of this, one can say Aikatsu Friends have finally ditched the “second fiddle” role. This time the idols are a pair, and everything they do, be it training, radio programs, shows, performances — are all mostly done as an unit. And more importantly, this time both the protagonist and the deuteragonist have to work together.

In episode 25 of Aikatsu Friends, Mio has started gaining the skills and finesse that allow her to give the best performance none has ever seen from her before. Her dream is to surpass Love Me Tear, the best Friends unit in the story. And in her pursuit of her own goals, she has neglected her own partner, Aine, which led to their failure to win the Brilliant Friend Cup despite their best efforts.

“Friends” is one in body and soul. Only when they’re in sync on the road they’re walking; only when their hearts are beating as one, then can they truly be complete. If one walks too fast and ended up distancing her partner, the whole unit will fall through.

And this makes for a more interesting dynamic, the fragility of team chemistry versus the simple, solo competitiveness of previous seasons. In any case, the following few weeks will certainly be an exciting (or not) journey for Pure Palette, something I will be looking forward to.

Last year, I mentioned I might be slowing down, and after a year of barely writing anything new and just publishing the “reserves” I have in my draft, I don’t feel that burned out anymore (well, my “reserves” are dropping, lol. I’ll worry about it again once I truly have nothing else to publish).

I also haven’t been picking up new anime that much, and on one season, only picked 2 shows to watch — an all-time record low. Instead, I focused my efforts on other things, namely my backlog, and was able to finish a lot of great anime and games which had been sitting in my backlog for a long time, a few of them reaching sky-high in my list of favorites.

One of them being Persona 5. A definite favorite of mine for sure.

Ah, speaking of lists. I’ve also added new entries in my anime, games and visual novel lists. Because of my obsession with 5s, as usual, it got a little bit daunting trying to add exactly 5 new entries for all of them, but it only fueled my motivation to clear off more titles in my backlog and watching/playing some good stuffs for once.

And having something like this to work out was great since it gives me something else to do on my blog, aside from just writing new posts since as you know, I was burned out to hell with those.

Speaking of Persona 5, Kawakami best.

But yeah, the slower pace is working wonders for me, so you can probably expect this super laid-back pace moving forward. Happy new year, and I’ll see you guys again with another shitty post a month or two down the line (lol).

screw you twitter ahhhhh

Yeah, uhh, sorry, I will publish some proper posts soon. I swear! It’s not my fault, it’s all [points finger]

It’s all twitter’s fault.
 

A perfect representation of me for the past few days or so.

Yeah, twitter. I have to ruin the peace and equilibrium (because no new posts HAHA) in the haven that is my blog to bring upon some distressing news — this wonderful, wonderful site called twitter has just suspended my main account for no apparent reason. And seeing as how it’s one of the main social media I use, and the fact that I publicize my blog posts there too (hell I even commissioned a twitter mascot artwork too! What the hell twitter), it’s indeed a cause for concern.

I’m not sure if twitter will ever decide to unban me (lol), probably unlikely. But I digress, anyway I’m specially making this post now not (just) to rant. I assume you guys want to see some thoughts and opinions on some anime I’m watching right? Or some games I’m currently playing? And on my side here, I need to shamelessly plug some of my stuffs too, so it’s perfect — for the time being, I decided to use Mastodon as an alternative. And because I’ve been playing Dies Irae, I’ve been livetweeting there like a madman so you can see my thoughts (or more like bestial screaming) on Dies Irae as I progress along the visual novel. I was, as you might have suspected, already doing this halfway on twitter only to get suspended out of the blue. So unfortunately, the thread over at Mastodon only begun around the midway point of the visual novel (around the middle of Marie’s route, to be exact).

This is my profile: https://kirakiratter.com/@KaiPercival
This is the Dies Irae thread: https://kirakiratter.com/@KaiPercival/101431439108812440

One thing I do realize though, is that threads over at Mastodon look as clean and smooth as a naked jaybird, much more cleaner than twitter in fact. If I’m to watch another anime or play another game that I probably won’t be blogging about but still want to post my jumbled, incoherent thoughts someplace, somewhere — I will probably do so by livetweeting over at Mastodon.

Anyway, that’s it. I just want to get this out here too since I can’t use my twitter anymore and the only platform I have left is this. Feel free to follow me at Mastodon if you have an account there (I believe you can follow other people even if they’re in other servers)

…Well technically, I can unlock my twitter account if I give them my phone number. But suck it, twitter.

VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL

I’ve been watching the Pretty Cure series recently and despite the “magical girl” label, I always feel like the series resembles a superhero series more than a magical girl series. Googling “precure superhero” just for shits and giggles, I found an excellent article drawing parallels between precures and Japanese superhero shows like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. Since wordpress can’t reblog from other platforms, you will have to make do with a shitty copy/paste.

Once again, I just want to note that this article is not written by me. Credits to Ivanhobe of livejournal for this wonderful post. And no, I swear it’s not because I’m running out of materials to write myself.

Enjoy.

To Ivanhobe: I actually wasn’t able to contact you. If you see this post and you don’t want this here, feel free to tell me, I’ll delete it.

————————–

Confession time.

I have never killed a man.

That’s a weight of my chest, and while we are in this honest mood let me tell you something else about myself: I am a man in his mid 20’s who genuinely loves the Pretty Cure franchise. If you have a problem with either of those two facts, you are more than welcome to share your opinion as I pummel you into submission. With a Hammer.

This hammer.

But here’s the kicker: Pretty Cure is just one of the many, many franchises I love (I am a Fanboy, you see), and it just so happens that I am also a fan of several other franchises that belong to a very particular genre known as Tokusatsu. You may find yourself asking, what does that have to do with Pretty Cure? Well my curious reader, that is exactly the question I am here to address.

Since the dawn of time (2004 A.D.), the Pretty Cure franchise has shared a rather fascinating relationship with the Tokusatsu genre, a relationship that certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by Toku and Precure fans alike. I for one, would have never gotten into Precure if it weren’t for my love of Toku, and I have found out that I am far from the only one; the Pretty Cure and Toku Fandom’s have a habit of overlapping with each other, as several people have gotten into Pretty Cure because of Toku and vice versa.

Pictured: Toku getting into Pretty Cure.

Since I love both Toku and PreCure so deeply, I have decided to shed some light into this odd relationship and help people understand how Tokusatsu has come to influence Precure over the years, and to also dispel some common rumors and misconceptions that have gathered among the fandoms. Now, since this is an extremely broad subject, I will actually split this essay/retrospective/study/heresy into several parts to properly cover all the various subjects that arise, like the way in which Toku inspired certain elements of PreCure and the myths that have been built around that. I will also aim to remain as objective as possible, though admittedly I will go on a rant every now and then.
 

What is Pretty Cure and why do I care?

Pretty Cure is a Magical Girl Franchise produced by Toei Ltd., a company most noteworthy for its children programming and their unholy alliance with Bandai. Pretty Cure, abbreviated as PreCure because the ‘T’ letter is overrated, has 13 seasons at the time of this writing and every single one of them follows the same basic formula of a group of girls meeting an extra dimensional Fairy-thing that grants them powers to fight monsters created by an extra dimensional Evil-thing. So there’s nothing special about it, right? It’s basically a Sailor Moon rip-off!

Oh hell no!

This is one of the most common misconceptions about PreCure and it is one I feel needs to be addressed in order to properly understand what Pretty Cure really is.

For the most, PreCure could be considered an extremely traditional magical girl franchise as it follows all the commons tropes of the genre; from long and elaborated transformation sequences and ridiculous hairstyles to magical mascots with annoying quirks, PreCure seems to be a prime example of what a traditional Magical Girl is… or at least it would be if it weren’t for the fact that the approach to the material is anything but traditional.

To put it blunly, Pretty Cure is a post modern Magical Girl Franchise. For the three or four people reading this who do not have a degree in modern literature, that means that the world where all the Pretty Cure seasons take place is one where concepts like ‘Magical Girl’ and ‘Super Hero’ are part of the pop culture, and as such the characters themselves are completely aware of what they are and of how absurd their situation is. Normally this would be the perfect setup for a parody; a show where the main characters are aware of their ‘genre’ and all the accompanying tropes is pretty much the premise for shows like Akibaranger, but what makes PreCure unique is that while the characters do acknowledge the insanity of the situations around them, rather than subvert them they actually play them completely straight.

Not Pictured: Completely Straight.

When evil strikes they often express annoyance at their enemies for meddling in their lives yet again, but they still fight them with all they got to protect the world; when they transform they are genuinely shocked of what is going on and even question the silliness of their catchphrases, but they still use them every time and even take pride in them. It is usually a tradition for every season to have at least one character who points out whenever the situation around them is absurd, but they always go along with it because fighting evil is kind of cool.

There is a moment in the eight Precure season, Suite PreCure, that perfectly illustrates this; when a Negatone (your seasonal monster of the week) attacks an auditorium full of people, Cure Melody and Cure Rhythm (the ones pictured above) arrive to save the day and tell people to evacuate while they take care of the monster. Since girls in frilly dresses fighting giant monster is not as common a sight as it should, someone actually asks them “You are going to take care of the monster?”, to which they reply “Oh yeah, we look like this, but we are actually really strong”. They then proceed to kick ass, and that is probably the greatest dichotomy of the franchise: the Cures wear cute dresses, ridiculous hairstyles and they hit like a tank.

Not an overstatement.

That is probably the most defining feature of the franchise: the Cures fight their enemies with punches, kicks and the occasional throw, and while the show is not exactly DBZ (although the director for that show did work on the first season of Pretty Cure), they still pummel their enemies into oblivion more often than your average Magical Girl.

Now granted, Magical Girls who can fight is not exactly unheard of, but in this case the fighting is actually one of the pillars the franchise was built upon; they are still 14 year old girls fighting evil in cute dresses using the literal power of friendship, but who’s to say that they can’t be badass while doing it?

Case in point, Cure Peach.

There are several elements that define this franchise (did I mentioned the ridiculous hairstyles?), but I feel that these two I mentioned are the most important for they really do make it stand as its own thing rather than as a rip-off of something else. Now just to make it clear, I do love Sailor Moon, I grew up watching it along with several other magical girl shows like Ojamajo Doremi, Card Captor Sakura or Corrector Yui, and that is why it bothers me so much when people say that Pretty Cure, or any other Magical Girl show for that matter, is nothing but a Sailor Moon rip-off; these shows are all part of the same genre, that much is true, but each of them is unique in their own way, so it is a disservice to call them rip-offs of each other when they are all just trying to do their own take on the same ideas.

Personally I really dig the approach PreCure has taken on the genre, and while the show certainly makes nods to Sailor Moon every now and then (Sailor Moon is hugely influential after all), it still does its best to do its own thing.

See? I told you I was going to rant.
 

What is Tokusatsu and why should I care?

Tokusatsu is Life. I should probably elaborate a little more than that.

Tokusatsu is a genre of Japanese television that is defined for the often extensive use of special effects, and while that definition is quite broad, the term ‘Tokusatsu’ is usually applied to live action productions that use a myriad of special effects, either to create fantastical settings or merely give a sense of enhanced reality. While historians like to argue about the genesis of the genre, most of them agree that Tokusatsu came to be thanks to the popularity of a little cult film released all the way back in 1954.

You may have heard of it.

This film is remembered for, among other things, its revolutionary use of special effects, created by one Eiji Tsuburaya, which included everything from puppets to the always popular suitmation. The success of the film led to the Monster Movie Boom that swept Japan for more than 30 years, and it was during this period that Tokusatsu was actually born. While Gojira and subsequent films are considered to be the origin of Tokusatsu as a concept, it was only when Eiji Tsuburaya opened his own Special Effects company (Tsuburaya Co. Ltd) during the 60’s and started working on several TV shows sporting many of the same techniques he himself pioneered that Tokusatsu really started to define itself as an actual genre and not just some passing fad.

I am just going to leave this here.

Shows like Jumborg Ace, Mirrorman and the Ultraman Franchise created the groundwork that Tokusatsu would be built upon, though the reaches of Toku certainly expanded way beyond the horizons of this Kyodai Hero (Giant Hero) sub-genre. It is quite telling that while the giant monsters that preyed upon humanity dominated the box office, the heroes who fought said monsters conquered the small screen; even if Tokusatsu can be an extremely varied genre that, much like anime, can cover almost any topic, Super Heroes who fought for peace, justice, or simply to protect the world (i.e. Japan) were always the most popular among the audience, much in the same way Super Heroes dominated the comic book market in the western world.

This movement gained strength during the 70’s with the advent of several shows about young men and women who transformed into super powered versions of themselves in order to fight the evils who threatened the world using either some nefarious scheme or sheer madness.

Or should I say, sheer Brilliance

The popularity of the so called Henshin Heroes is mostly attributed to Kamen Rider, a 1971 show produced by Toei Company (remember that name?) and overseen by producer Toru Hirayama, about a man who is transformed into a cyborg by an evil organization and who then decides to fight back against those who wronged him in order to protect the world (i.e. Japan. Again). The popularity of the show gave birth to several series with similar themes, which in turn resulted into the popularity of Tokusatsu sky-rocketing, cementing its place as a key stone of Japanese media for decades to come.

Since then, there have been many new shows and franchises that have joined the ranks of Tokusatsu, such as the Super Sentai and Metal Hero series, and the legacy of the genre cannot be understated; generations of Japanese (and non-Japanese) children have been raised with these shows and eventually grew to become the minds that have shaped the modern world.

Pictured: The World.

 
What does Tokusatsu has to do with anime and why do you care?

The histories of both Anime and Tokusatsu are closely intertwined, and while Anime certainly came first it cannot be denied that both genres influenced each other during their early years; as you are probably aware, my cultured reader, Japanese entertainment saw a huge growth during the 70’s and early 80’s, a renaissance of sorts where storytelling started to explore more complex themes that moved beyond the classic good versus evil tales and several of the tropes and genres that defined the media started to take shape. While there are probably many factors that contributed to the coming of this Golden Age, I usually like to point out the works of two rather remarkable mangakas: Shotaro Ishinomori and Go Nagai.

I won’t go into the details of the careers of such illustrious men, books could be, and certainly have been, written about it, but let’s just say that between the two of them they created pretty much everything you know about anime; Go Nagai is usually attributed with defining/popularizing the Super Robot and Magical Girl genres, and let’s just say that there is a reason why Shotaro Ishinomori is known as the King of Manga.

Eat your heart out, Bob Ross.

The work of these two had a tremendous impact on entertainment media at the time, and I mean ‘media’ in general; both men were primarily mangakas, but their work has been adapted into a lot of different mediums, often creating trends that would bounce off from one genre to the other. For example, Go Nagai pretty much created the Super Robot boom, a boom that eventually extended to Tokusatsu and lead to the creation of several classics like Red Baron and the Super Sentai Franchise. Similarly, Ishinomori’s works were adapted both into Toku and Anime, and his style of storytelling had a lasting effect in both of them.

We could argue that Anime and Toku are something akin to childhood friends as they essentially grew in the same environment and were shaped by the same ideas, but were ultimately radically different entities.

Emphasis on ‘Radical’

Even if we accept the shared background between the two, that is far from the extent of the influence Toku has had on anime; as I mentioned previously, whole generations of Japanese children have grown watching Toku, and plenty of those kids grew up to become the very artists that have shaped the anime industry for the last few decades. Granted, the evolution of anime and Japanese pop culture has certainly influenced Toku as well, but the way in which the specter of Tokusatsu has influenced anime is quite fascinating.

It is a pretty well known fact that Hideaki Anno, the mind behind Evangelion and all related remakes, is a huge Ultraman Fan (he even opened a museum for his Ultraman collection) and this is clearly reflected on his work: when watching both Ultraman (1966) and Evangelion (1995), you can see how both series follow a similar structure of having a scientific organization dealing with extraterrestrial threats using military type operations, and that is without considering the many, many references to Ultraman that Anno added to the show and following movies. We also have the rather famous case of Naoko Takeuchi, creator of Sailor Moon and self-proclaimed Super Sentai fan. Believe me, it is not hard to see how Super Sentai influenced Sailor Moon, which is not to say that the legendary magical girl show is a rip off, but it is clear that many of the ideas the Takeuchi used to revolutionize the genre were inspired by common Super Sentai Tropes.

Also, Poitrine

We could also spent all day talking about how Gen Urobuchi, writer of Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Fate Zero, seems to really, really like Kamen Rider Ryuki, but I think that the fact the he became the main writer for Kamen Rider Gaim speaks for itself.

Those are probably the most poignant examples I can think of, but they are far from the only ones; it is not uncommon for the people who work in the anime industry to reference the very shows they grew up with, and you would be amazed of how many anime contain Toku references in them. Sometimes it is something as simple as a character doing the trademark pose of some Toku character or a famous quote, and sometimes it is an elaborated homage to a particular show.

And sometimes is Keroro.

This is not surprising when you consider that the Tokusatsu Heroes have become staples of the Japanese culture; heroes like Ultraman and Kamen Rider hold similar positions to heroes like Batman and Superman, characters so iconic that their very concept has become something of a recurring element in storytelling.

All in all, the way Toku helped to shape anime is undeniable and it really is fascinating how the industry seems to hold the Tokusatsu genre in a place very close to its heart, even if Anime and Tokusatsu are completely different mediums in terms techniques, narratives and overall execution. That said, there are times when the line between both seems to blur a little, which actually brings me to our next point…

 
What does it have to do with Pretty Cure and why should we all care?

By now you should know what Pretty Cure is, heard a brief history of humanity/Tokusatsu, and presumably built a time machine. This of course leads to the grand question I have been failing to build up towards: what exactly is the relationship between Pretty Cure, a Magical Girl anime, and Tokusatsu in general? To answer this question, and presumably fulfill the purpose of this charade I call “article”, we have to look into the far past at the fabled year of 2004.

Back in those days the people at Toei animation were faced with a challenge: create a new female oriented show to fill the timeslot recently vacated by “Ashita no Nadja”, a show I know nothing about and that I cannot bring myself to look up. Anyways, the extraneous challenge of creating a new animated show that appealed to young girls befell on the hands of producer Washio Takashi. While he wasn’t very experienced in the shoujo genre, he did have a clear vision of the show he wanted to make: an anime series that appealed to little girls and that was unlike anything that had been done before. His pitch to achieve such a noble ideal? To create a Magical Girl show using a two-person dynamic and that was heavy on the action.

Girls like action too, right?

Magical Girl shows are certainly not the most daring and unique idea ever as anyone who has watched anime in the last 30 years can atest, but placing a major focus on the action brought an unique spin on it: while Magical Girls getting physical is nothing new, having them vanquish evil through tenderness has always been the primary focus, so the incorporation of an action element acted as a subversion of the genre. But here’s where it gets interesting: when coming up with the concept of an action heavy Magical Girl show, the main inspiration for Washio and his crew were Henshin Hero shows like Kamen Rider and Ultraman, something that they have actually admited in a few interviews.

It does make sense when you think about it: a hero who transform and fights evil is pretty much a staple of Japanese culture, and I don’t have to tell you that transforming heroes are cool as hell.

And if I do, I am afraid we can’t be friends.

So the big idea was to take the concept of an action hero who transforms and transplant that concept to a Magical Girl, which admittedly doesn’t seem like something hard to do, after all transforming and facing evil is already the whole deal of Magical Girls, but what you have to understand is that when they decided to make Pretty Cure more akin to Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, they also borrowed the heroic elements of those shows.

This is actually very important, for you see, while Pretty Cure is classified as a Magical Girl franchise, it is actually more accurate to call it a Super Hero Show. This is not a mere delusion of mine, for the show does incorporate several staples established by Toku Super Hero shows, and what’s more, the show itself is completely aware of this fact; remember when I mentioned how Pretty Cure is a post-modern series? Well, in the context of the show this means that our main characters are aware of concepts like Magical Girls and Super Heroes, but in a hilarious twist the show, or rather the Pretty Cures themselves, never seem to think of themselves as Magical Girls; in what is actually a recurring joke, the characters believe themselves to be actual Super Heroes.

Again, NOT and overstatement.

While admittedly this is an aspect that has mostly become prominent in recent years, it was clearly there since the beginning and it is something that did not went unnoticed: the people who watched the show couldn’t help but to notice that this animated show about young people who transformed and fought evil was suspiciously similar to those live-action shows about young people who transformed and fought evil. Live action shows that aired literally right before it.

It wasn’t long before people started associating the three franchises (Super Sentai, Kamen Rider and Pretty Cure) together, an association that Toei Company in all of their wisdom has been happy to exploit; ever since Pretty Cure started to become popular, Toei and Bandai have geared their marketing campaigns to lump these three franchises in an effort to promote their “Super Hero” shows together.

And get all the merchandise money while they are at it.

So to give an answer to my long proposed question, Pretty Cure is a franchise that was inspired by Toku in its creation and that it has continued to associate itself with those other franchises for marketing purposes and because well, Super Heroes are cool, and no one said that girls can’t be Heroes too. Now, I know this argument sounds like the ramblings of a deranged mind trying to associate two of his favorite things, and to be fair I do suffer from a crippling case of apophenia, but the truth is that Toei/Bandai has never been shy about this issue; In one particular occasion during a press conference, a Toei producer compared PreCure’s success with that of Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, hoping for the young franchise to follow on the footsteps of her “brothers”. Thinking back, a few years ago they even did a summer “Super Hero & Super Heroine” special that featured the Super Hero Taisen Movie and the Precure All-Stars New Stage movie back to back. Hell, I will give you three guesses as to what are the three main exhibits at the Toei museum.

Here’s a clue.

Again, I know this may come off as a crazy, awesome delusion, but I see nothing wrong with it: having a franchise entirely composed of female super heroes that does not caters exclusively to male audiences by way of fan service is a really good thing, and while the portrayal of female characters is not always perfect, Pretty Cure still tries its best to enforce the positive aspects of femininity along with the ideals of courage and selflessness that heroes usually represent. There is nothing wrong with the franchise trying to stand on the same ground as her predecessors and become a positive role model for their audience, be it young or adult, and for what is worth they do seem to take a lot of pride on this association; for years PreCure has continued to make constant nods and to take direct inspiration from its older brothers.

lewd

April 1, huh? Is it that time of the year again? Right, I suppose it’s time for another dumb post. For this year’s April Fool’s day, I’m going to write a list of lewd things you can do in anime. In no particular order:

1. Kabedon

I mean, who doesn’t like kabedon? There’s nothing like a good one where a character, whose normally reserved and timid, out of the blue, shows a sudden pang of sexual desire with a good kabedon. Highly effective, as you can see in the above screenshot.
 

2. Making eye contact

Most prevalent in shoujo series, there’s just something hilarious about just how over-dramatic they make the trope appears to be, to the point that it feels like a bishounen’s glare has so much power it can impregnate our resident shoujo heroines. Be careful, eye contacts are dangerous.
 

3. Calling first names

It may be a culture thing, but I honestly don’t give a flying fuck whether or not people call me by my first name or last name. That’s certainly not what the Japanese thinks though, obviously as they only let the people most intimate to them call them by their first names. From someone outside of this culture, it’s amusing seeing someone calling a moe anime character by her first name, and blushing so madly; her face as red as the sun itself.
 

4. Smell *kun* *kun*

In my opinion, one of the more underappreciated trope if we’re talking about lewd things in anime. There can be nothing more lewder than a moe anime girl approaching another moe anime girl, sniffing, ideally with the *kun**kun* sound effect, and proclaiming just how good of a smell she has and how much that smell makes her all hot and bothered. …Okay, I lied, that last part never actually happened in that particular episode of Flip Flappers.
 

5. Holding hands

Yup, you probably knew this is coming. I know I did, and Maki and Nico certainly did too. This is the lewdest thing you will ever find in the world of anime. The kind of scenes that should have been censored, the scenes that rival even the most explicit hentai, the scenes that will even have adults astonished at the depth of indecency humans are capable of. Hands-holding, the lewdest, most immoral act to be committed in the world of anime.

Book Girl is a whirlwind of human emotions.

Book Girl exposes the depth of humanity’s darkness, a seabed of perpetual negativity; the story faces people’s haunted pasts and grim secrets head on. It exposes a side of people that aren’t normally shown, a side that is bleak and dreary, full of conflicts, hostility and even self-destruction — a story of myriad atrocities.

But despite that, Book Girl also tells a story of hope. No matter how bad things have regressed, there’s always a brighter tomorrow. There may be no such things as eternal happiness, but the light will shine down on this pitch-black tunnel. With just a little bit of change in perspective, everything can appears that much more radiant.

Indeed, eternal happiness is impossible. But that’s exactly why the sparse moments of happiness are all the more precious.

Book Girl is a story that inspires to learn about people, to face their secrets and to have an optimistic perspective even if what you learned aren’t exactly all fun and games. Book Girl inspires to accept people; good and bad, ideal or flawed, and to know them for who they truly are.

But more than anything, Book Girl teaches that one person’s world isn’t everything. It shows you of the infinite possibilities of the endless blue skies, just like the happy story “Like the Open Sky” by Miu Innoue, just like Tohko’s rosy imaginations.

Sometimes, salvation can be just as simple as a slight shift in mindset. Sad truths and cold realities can be transformed into their happy counterparts, even if the occasion is as rare as a speck of dust. But the possibility is there, and Book Girl’s optimistic story is the perfect embodiment of such potential.

Indeed, Book Girl is a whirlwind of human emotions, a tsunami of intensity of the human soul. But Book Girl understands that no matter how catastrophic the disasters, time will heal all as long as you don’t give up. The winds will subside, the flooding will recede and most of all, the sun will shine once more.

So eat your books like a certain book girl, and let us keep on keeping on in this cruel world of ours. After all, happiness will be somewhere you least expect it to be.

Yes, guys. It’s time for another boring list (because new ideas, HAHAHAHAHAAHA). I have been a longtime gamer (admittedly really on-and-off throughout the years) and there have been some things that just don’t sit well with me. Some of these may be a culture thing, or it’s the problem with the developer’s decision, or something about the genre, or maybe some parts of the mechanics or designs just frustrate me — but nonetheless, below is my 10 video game pet peeves.

1. Ubisoft, please, no more 2D Assassin’s Creed Games.

I played quite a lot of Assassin’s Creed games throughout the years; some good, some bad. But what irks me the most are the 2D ones. I mean Assassin’s Creed and 2D? That just doesn’t sound like a good idea at all. Assassin’s Creed just feels too limited in 2D. One of the best charm of Assassin’s Creed is to figure out the most effective way to traverse from one location to the next, in beautiful historical settings; with dozen of ways to assassinate your enemies that may require you to zap around the area or blend with the surroundings. Assassin’s Creed 2D games never replicated that charm of the series, or at least, not as good. Furthermore, China and India are really ideal settings for an Assassin’s Creed game due to their unique architectural designs, perfect places for freerunning and climbing. Can’t believe they wasted all that in a side-scroller.
 

2. Time limit is bad.

Time limit in RPG is not a particularly good idea. Even worse are the games where there are time-specific events that are ridiculously easy to miss. The best type of time-based RPG are games that let the players naturally feel the flow of time, but not feel like they are being forced to do as much as possible within the time limit. From my experience, games like that are few and far in between though.
 

3. Mobage is shit.

Mobage is shit. Yeah, being a gamer from an older generation, I’m afraid to say I’m not particularly welcoming of mobage. Some of them are undoubtedly fun (hell, I played quite a few myself), but have really abusive business practices for me to truly enjoy them. Speaking of abusive business practices…
 

4. I dislike the newer culture of video games.

I was born at a time when internet still wasn’t a common thing. That means video games during this time have literally zero internet features, and call me old fashion, but I’m still more used to that than the more internet-reliant modern games. I dislike having to download a thousand updates and patches just to play my game. I experienced few nightmarish scenarios where the equipment I want are locked behind online multiplayer. And microtransactions? My god, don’t even get me started on that. Even AAA games have been following the P2W approach, and loot boxes aren’t exactly uncommon. I mean, fine, I admit I sometimes buy additional content too, but it’s for the very important DLC swimsui-. …Sorry, my shitty joke aside, I suppose my point here is that the newer internet culture of video games have done more harm than good, but I’ll stop here for now since this is getting a little long.
 

5. Fuck Konami

Suikoden was one of my favorite RPG series during early PS1/2 days and I always feel they are underappreciated, and it doesn’t help that Konami just forgot about it after Suikoden 5. Metal Gear Solid too, where do I even start? A series that was way ahead of it’s time with incredible story, music and characters. Even Metal Gear Solid 5 looks like it’s building up to something amazing but yeah, the “controversy” occurred that forced the series to conclude on such a half-assed note.
 

6. Controller buttons still confuse me sometimes.

Even now, I still get confused with the controller buttons. Being a multi-platform gamer, some of their button schemes are just too similar. Playstation controllers are by far the most unique, and it’s mostly Nintendo and Xbox controllers that’s messing me up. Since you know, they are exactly the same buttons, just reversed. I mean, there are 26 letters and even numbers/symbols if they want to go there, couldn’t they use something else other than A, B, X or Y?
 

LPs did give us a moe AI screaming at Biohazard so all is well, I suppose.

7. I have never understood the appeal of Let’s Play.

In my opinion, experiencing the games yourself is incomparable to watching Let’s Play, so I never really understood the appeal. I understand not everyone can afford to purchase every console or games available, but watching Let’s Play is still a terrible alternative. Maybe it’s good for checking out games you have never been interested in, or maybe you just want to revisit some old classics. But in general, Let’s Play makes for a terrible first impression — if there’s a game you want to play and if you have yet to experience it, just play the actual game. Well, I say all these now but this is coming from someone who frequently watches moe AI and virtual youtubers playing games so take it what you will.
 

I‘m not sure about killing, but I definitely hate you too, Tales.

8. My Tsundere relationship with Tales

The world just doesn’t want me and Tales to get along for some reason. Tales of Destiny was the first Tales I played but never really got around to finish since playing it right after Final Fantasy was a bad idea. The impact Final Fantasy games left on me was too strong for me to try a much smaller-scale, less ambitious RPG. I picked up Tales of the Abyss one day and a week or so after that, suddenly decided to buy a PS3 (I blame impulse buying), so Tales of the Abyss has since tossed into my unending Backlog of Abyss. Surprisingly, I was able to finish Tales of Zestiria without a problem. Tales of Berseria is the worst though, my PC at the time couldn’t handle it (tbf it was a shitty prebuilt). While I managed to build myself a custom gaming PC sometime later, I couldn’t even enjoy it properly as I became severely sick (that lasted for months I might add) halfway through the game. Tales just hates me for some reason. It’s like Tales is going “i-it’s not like I want you to play me or anything”, but without the dere — the worst kind of tsundere.
 

9. Desert is my least favorite RPG landscapes.

One thing I like best about RPG is the ability to explore beautiful, exotic fictional landscapes. …Well, except for deserts. They are dull, monotonous and worse, the area is stupidly huge. There’s nothing like exploring a colossal emptiness of vast, barren wasteland; something that I always look forward to with bated breath and shaking hands whenever playing a RPG.
 

10. Strategy RPGs are the hardest RPGs for me to get into.

There have been a lot of subgenres of RPG over the years; the traditional turn-based RPG, Action RPG and Strategy RPG, and admittedly the latter has always been the hardest for me to get into. Battles take forever or maybe I’m just a dumbass who can’t figure out a good strategy (I mean the genre is called /Strategy/ RPG for a reason). I don’t particularly hate the genre though and always enjoy a good RPG, even Strategy RPGs. I’m willing to be open-minded and enjoy the genre if I can, but I guess long story short, I’m just not good at it. The only Strategy RPG I can confidently say I finished is Hyperdevotion Noire… which is yeah, not really saying much.

Some time ago I wrote a post about why I don’t read a lot of manga, but there was one more thing I failed to mention — axed manga, ones that are forced to cancel usually due to low ratings, legal issues, poor health of the author and so on. This results in a very universal issue for the medium — rushed endings.

And indeed, this is another big reason why I don’t read a lot of manga. In fact, out of all of the manga I reviewed, one of them in my opinion has the best ending, and aforementioned manga has a shitty name like Masterbation Master Kurosawa, think about it (though like I stressed on in the actual review, the manga’s actually excellent despite the name).

I want to point out however, that there are exceptions. There are some cases where a manga may legitimately be reaching an ending soon but the author getting pressured to finish it at the same time. Both happening simultaneously is a rare occurrence, and if it does, a manga can still be salvaged. This was the impression I got from Teppuu — the manga still look like it has more story to tell, but the author managed to “end” it semi-conclusively despite being pressured to finish it. Keijo also seems to fall in the same situation though I never read it.

Nonetheless, this is another reason why whenever I’m asked on the always-famous topic of “Anime VS Manga”, I will pick anime without a doubt. Other than the obvious benefits of animation and sound, anime is an adaption and manga is a source material — that is one huge difference between the two. That means anime adaptions have the freedom to pick if they should follow the manga closely and more importantly, to pick when should the season ends, while manga is forced to continue until the series’s -official- conclusion. Anime just simply have more freedom.

The disappointing thing here is that some manga has more than enough potential to be something amazing, but a combination of lengthy build-up, over-hyped expectations, erratic releases, busy schedules and poor health results in a lot of manga getting the infamous issue of rushed endings. These kinds of manga despite the build-up, usually conclude with premature endings and perhaps with a cheap hook for a potential sequel which will never see the light of day. The fact that the lengthy journey of foreshadowing and intriguing build-up is actually amazing just rubs salt to the wound when we arrived at such a rushed destination.

A mangaka’s schedule, courtesy of Anime Vios.

Though even when I say all these now, I’m just not sure what can be done about it. No matter how good the manga is, and no matter how much people are looking forward to the new chapters, the mangaka’s health always comes first, if not, they risk getting sick or even death. Reports of mangaka getting sick or even passing away is actually a common occurrence. One thing I really like about Kentaro Miura, author of Berserk, is that while people are clamoring for new chapters day in and day out, the author in question is constantly putting the series on hold and is off playing Idolm@ster games like a boss. I mean come on, the man needs his healing too!

I would actually love to say that other mangaka should just follow Miura’s footsteps and play Idolm@ster games indulge in their personal hobbies more, but that’s probably impossible especially for newer mangaka. Unless your manga is very popular and has achieved a considerable level of success, the mangaka job is an otherwise extremely unstable job with unsteady earnings — up-and-coming mangaka with their newly flagship titles, can be easily thrown back to the bottom of the food chain just from a bit of hiatus.

Mangaka is a tough job — it’s purely just a gamble with a lots of odds against you, so it really makes you appreciate mangaka who -did- achieve mainstream success despite the grueling schedules. As for the rest who didn’t, their manga gets axed, and then it’s back to the drawing board and hope your next manga would get the mainstream success it deserves.

This is another reason why I don’t read a lot of manga, a lot of them end prematurely because of sudden cancellations. No matter how good their manga is, they just can’t conclude well. It’s as if the development and hype has grown way beyond the mangaka himself can handle. Paired up with their usual busy schedules and poor health management and it pretty much becomes a recipe for disaster.

At the same time, this isn’t something I can blame the authors with because again, their health always comes first. If they want or need to end their manga soon, then all the best to them and their next series.

What do you think of manga with sudden cancellations?

When I was just getting into the Yoko Taro universe, I thought it’s only fair that I begin from the one that first started it all. So how has Drakengard hold up?

In a world where dragons soar the skies, two warring factions waged wars. On one side is the Empire, a large nation with a massive force of possessed soldiers, on the other side is the Union, a coalition of states and provinces to rise up against the Empire. With numbers and madness on the Empire’s side, the Union faces insurmountable odds in their quest to protect Furiae — the goddess of the world. Near death, Caim ended up making a pact with a red dragon he found captured in an enemy stronghold. With his newfound powers, the fate of the world lies upon him.

Drakengard has it’s own lore and mythology, and straight from the very first game in the series, you are already welcomed with the unsettling charm that only Yoko Taro games are so good at — drawing you into it’s world.

Drakengard possesses the same ability that many of it’s successors will also borrow from — foreboding atmospheres, the ability to engage players into the world yet not without a sense of apprehension and fear. Though this style was still in it’s infancy at this point, you can see that Drakengard is a little… ambitious, and the whole game became a lot more chaotic than it needed to be. Drakengard is almost all shock without the substance, though it’s so committed to them that it demands nothing but the utmost attention.

While other games may boast more optimistic stories of character growth and development, Drakengard is a little tricky in this case. Since Caim is essentially mute, most of what we know of Caim’s mindset come from his body language and from what we can piece together from the dragon’s soliloquies. Caim’s entire driving force behind his actions is vengeance, and the more of his closest companions he lost, the more his penchant for violence and bloodlust grew. As you would expect of Yoko Taro who has a habit of going against the trend — he opted more for character regression.

What’s interesting is that the dragon is essentially Caim’s mouth, as most of the conversations with other characters are carried through the dragon. They share one body and soul, maybe even in the literal sense (since they did form a pact). These two are the ones you obviously spend the most time with, so it goes without saying that their dynamics are by far the most intriguing in the game. As far as characters are concerned, Caim’s ongoing relationship with the dragon is the definite star in this department.

Unfortunately what actually brings Drakengard down is it’s gameplay. Drakengard is a hack-and-slash genre reminiscence of the Musou games like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. But unlike the Musou games, Drakengard is somehow more rougher around the edges and is closer to a PS1 action game in performance. It’s overbearingly draggy and in battles, you will find yourself slashing through thousands and thousands of abominations and it’s unpolished mechanics doesn’t make your task any easier.

In ground missions, Caim can attack, jump, dodge and block, which is fine, until you realize it’s the entire thing is just too rigid to make battles any fun, and there’s also the wonky camera system to make matters worse. The ability to obtain and equip different weapons, each with their own styles and magic does helps in giving you some needed variety and edge in combat. Although to build up these weapons, you have to grind their levels, which means undertaking the incredibly joyful task of mindlessly killing hordes of enemies again with said weapons. There are some plot-heavy stages where the camera switches to an isometric-style for some reason, and enemies became much more weaker, which seems rather pointless.

The game also has something called air missions. A flight simulation-style gameplay where you get to ride on your dragon and shoot down airborne enemies, which sounds pretty cool, but again, an unpolished execution doesn’t make for a particularly enjoyable experience. Riding on a dragon does sounds cool on paper, but it actually feels like playing a poor-man flight simulator with poorly implemented controls and rigid mechanics that makes air missions just as much daunting as ground missions. Strangely enough, even if you’re on a ground mission, you also have the option to catch a ride on your dragon as well, if you choose to forsake engaging your enemies on foot and instead burn them all to ashes with your dragon.

So in short, Drakengard is a mixture of genres — hack-and-slash, isometric action, flight simulation and so on. If you played any newer Yoko Taro games, you would know he likes “genre shifting”, but again, since this is his first major game — Drakengard is all over the place. The transition between genres felt super disjointed, and don’t even get me started on that last boss fight on Ending E… I still have no idea what happened (lol).

On top of that, gameplay just feels extremely slow in general. I suppose games during this era have a certain rawness to them that makes them incomparable to modern games. But I swear even slashing a thousand enemies in Dynasty Warrior feels like a breeze compared to what I went through in the plodding Drakengard.

Since Drakengard has such a bad gameplay, you might be thinking maybe it has some nice tunes to make your job a little easier. Apparently not! Drakengard uses backing tracks during battles that are less music but more loops. And I mean just few-second loops at that. I swear the ridiculously dramatized melodies on infinite loop makes me want to tear my ears apart. If their intention was to make us lose just as much sanity as the characters in-game, they definitely succeed.

Even compared to the games of the same era, Drakengard looks fairly dated. Terrible draw distance, monochrome scheme and repetitive stage designs add to the stress of completing stages aside from the unpolished gameplay and annoying music. Characters move slowly and clumsily, almost like they just couldn’t put up with the game’s bullshit anymore. Although the cinematic cut scenes look amazing, even by today’s standard.

Drakengard is a poorly-designed game that rely solely on it’s story and characters, and even that is far from perfect. In fact, Drakengard is just all over the place. It was an interesting experience however and you can see which elements have been inspired, reused and polished in Nier and Nier: Automata. Though when all is said and done, Drakengard’s imperfections gave it an impression of rawness and chaos that oddly fits the game’s atmosphere. The game obviously hasn’t aged well though, so I’m not sure I would recommend it. I suppose if you’re feeling masochistic…

Rating
Story: B
Character: B+
Gameplay: C
Visuals: C
Sound: D

Final Score
5.5/10

Known by many as essentially a spiritual successor to Shenmue, the Yakuza series has always been respectable in it’s iteration of what made Shenmue such a masterpiece. But it is Yakuza 0 that arguably transformed the series from cult classic to a mainstream fan-favorite.

A young upstart in the world of Japanese crime syndicate, Kazuma Kiryu is a yakuza in the infamous Tojo Clan, one of the largest yakuza organization. Kiryu would soon get framed for murder, as he unknowingly got himself in the center of an internal power struggle over who gets to own a certain land. A controversy that would push him into deeper depths of the dog-eat-dog world of yakuza, and something that would make him self-reflect as a man and yakuza. Meanwhile, Goro Majima, due to a certain incident, was expelled by the Shimano Family and is doing whatever he can to return to the family. One day, he was ordered to assassinate a certain individual, a day that would force him to re-examine his way of the yakuza. Will these two monumental events be the cornerstones that would shape our two protagonists into the legend and men of stature that we would come to know of in the other games?

Set in 1980s Japan, Yakuza 0 is a prequel to the series. And just like the other games in the series, Yakuza 0’s story employs the same style of drama-heavy plot that slowly builds up over the course of the game, and the dozens seemingly irrelevant plot points joining together to form one gigantic narrative — all the while countless fists and kicks are thrown in your pursuit to connect the dots and seek out the truth. The Yakuza games have always presented themselves like a J-drama/action, and it’s always worked wonderfully.

But longtime fans of Yakuza would know that the beauty of Yakuza isn’t just it’s main story, it’s in fact the myriad side content you can do. One of these is the good ol’ substories — from retrieving a stolen game for a kid, to saving a mother’s daughter from a manipulative cult and even helping out Michael Jackson as he films a music video in Kamurocho. And while Kiryu and Majima are directly influencing the lives of these NPCs, it’s also through these substories where the personalities of Kiryu and Majima shine through, in the more mundane but light-hearted of moments where we get to see their reactions towards the little things in life. And by the time you completed a good chunk of the substories, the time you spent will make you feel attached to the characters; and in turn, feel more emotionally invested when shit hits the fan. Indeed, it’s these innumerable NPCs that shape the world of Kamurocho and Sotenbori, fleshing the world and it’s web of characters (even including Kiryu and Majima themselves) with a much needed substance which the main story; too busy with all the fights and action, had no leeway to care.

The world of Yakuza 0 is certainly not big, but jam-packed with details. I spent way more time than I thought dancing in the disco, singing in the karaoke, playing games in the arcade, playing pool, darts, eating at the restaurants, drinking in the bar, fishing, pocket car racing, running my businesses and so on; some of these minigames so good they could even work as a standalone. Set in 1980s, the game also spared no expense in simulating that particular period of time — Kiryu and Majima using pagers, comically gigantic phones, break dancing which was just getting popular during 1980s Japan, and the more lenient laws governing over burusera at the time. There was even a substory that seems to hint a concomitant to the bubble economy of 80s Japan. Outside of the main story, Yakuza 0 also made it very easy to immerse into the life and culture of 80s Japan. The exploratory nature of Yakuza 0 is a perfect complement to the story that is mostly all drama and action, and is one among the game’s few major components for it being such an endearing game.

There’s so many side content in Yakuza 0 — I even get to fight a bear!

Now that we got that out of the way, it’s finally time to address the elephant in the room — action. I can praise the game’s world and exploratory nature all I want, and while they do made up a big part of the game, Yakuza 0 is still at heart, an action game. The two protagonists who you get to control at different parts of the game, fight in two very contrasting ways; and each of them also have 3 in-game styles you can use. Kiryu has Brawler, Rush and Beast while Majima has Thug, Slugger and Breaker; depending if you are in a multi-men fight or in a tough one-on-one fight, the ability to switch styles mid-fight is excellent and made combat much more smoother compared to the older Yakuza games. “Heat moves” also made a return in this game, and in certain ideal situations, you can use Heat moves; Yakuza’s equivalent of a super move, to obliterate your enemies in style and brutality.

Furthermore, both Kiryu and Majima also has countless passive/active skills you can invest in, and in some cases, you will meet “masters” of respective styles who will teach you new moves and overall, give you even more tools in your arsenal to defeat your foes. Out of all the Yakuza games I’ve played, I personally find Yakuza 0’s combat to be the most fun, as it’s flexibility truly can’t be matched. Last but not least, Yakuza’s recurring QTEs also made a return in 0, and made every second in boss fights, even in the middle of beautifully-cheoreographed animation, filled with tension.

Older Yakuza games were extremely clunky — there’s a reason why they remained cult classics forever; gameplay felt more slower and sluggish, camera is weird and obviously they looked like shit especially compared to the newer ones. In that aspect, Yakuza 0 is the most polished as it has ever been, and looks absolutely amazing. On my PC with default settings, with the exception of some meager audio stuttering, it runs perfectly. The soundtracks have a diverse selection that effortlessly capture the different moods depending on what you’re doing. When everyone is on the hunt for you and you don’t know when enemies will strike, a tension-filled track surrounds you; a frantic car chase scene also fittingly has a frantic song to go along with it; emotionally-charged songs that go along with the main story bosses; hell, you get different songs just from switching your styles in battles. Last but not least, the music specially written just for their karaoke and disco minigames just scream 80s.

In a way, a lot of the newer elements in Yakuza 0 felt like the pieces of puzzles that’s been missing in the older games. The game’s more polished than it has ever been, and with a story that is just as good as before, and with even more side content you can pour yourself into — Yakuza 0 is an excellent game in more ways than one.

Rating
Story: A
Character: A
Gameplay: A+
Visuals: A
Sound: B+

Final Score
9/10

Damn, 8 years.

Not sure how this happens, but I’ve stuck with blogging much longer than I thought. Again, thanks to everyone who’s been involved with this 8-year long journey. Your presence gave me the power and motivation to keep on writing, so I hope you will continue visiting this graveyard of a blog (lol).

If I can last the next year, I’ll see you guys again by then.

As I experienced another lull in activity, I toyed with the idea of making another list to inject some life in the blog, and decided on a Top Idol list. Then the idea of collaborating with someone on the list springs to mind, so I asked a good friend and fellow blogmate, Leap (of Leap250’s Blog) and we decided on a Top 10 Idol list (we would do 5 each) not ranked consecutively.

Anyway, enjoy~
——-
 

10. Takami Chika (Love Live! Sunshine!!)

Leap: When Kai first approached me to do this list with him I told him right off the bat that there’s a good chance I will devote at the very least two of my five spots to Love Live! characters (ideally a character from each generation barring NijiGaku which has yet to have an anime). Of course, you’ll see that I ended up doing just that, BUT I did change up my choice for Love Live! Sunshine!!, where I initially planned on writing about Kurosawa Dia, to instead now having this orange girl here be my representative for the series. The idol industry, specifically Japan’s idol industry, is one that celebrates imperfection above almost everything else, and Love Live! Sunshine!!’s portrayal of Aqours encapsulates this idea beautifully and subsequently Takami Chika is pretty much the embodiment of this ideology. I mean, I wrote an entire post about her and her tribulations so that says something about how I see her as.
 

9. Nishikino Maki (Love Live!)

Kai: Appealing character design and a character of reserved nature and social clumsiness that slowly improves over the course of the series, a timeless archetype that still never failed to strike my fancy. Maki’s character is a masterful finesse of subdued tsundere. She also so happened to have one of the best singing voices in the group. On top of that, she writes the songs for u’s, plays the piano and is involved in arguably the most celebrated Love Live ship of all time. In all honesty, Love Live is a series where the charm of the characters come across more collectively rather than individually. Despite that, I was instantly zoomed in on Maki the first time I watched the show. Maki is good.
 

8. Yazawa Nico (Love Live!)

Leap: You’ll start to see a theme as I go through my picks here, but Love Live!’s Yazawa Nico is a character that I really turned a corner on over the years, specifically after the anime run of LL!SS!!. That being said, Nico is (still to this day I would imagine) a polarizing character that the majority of the fandom really either loves or hates, and whom everyone sees as idol trash; in an endearing (lol) sort of way or otherwise. While I’m not the biggest fan of her singing, or the many gimmicks associated to her, I do geninely like Nico as a character. Underneath all the antics lies a very real (and even relatable for some) narrative of obstinate devotion in the pursuit of a dream — which in her case was being “the number one idol in the universe”. A silly and childish endeavor, but at the same time pure and earnest; to the point where she’d lie to her siblings to keep that image, not to deceive them, but for them to see her efforts as not being in vain.
 

7. Ozora Akari (Aikatsu!)

Kai: There is one character trait in idols that I’m always a sucker of — underdogs. No matter how many times the idol anime genre runs through this template, give me a good underdog story and I will immediately become a fan. In Aikatsu, nobody scratches the itch for an underdog story better than Akari. In a show where it’s all about an ordinary girl inspired by the radiance of idols, Akari’s journey to become a top idol herself is somehow more riveting than the series’s original protagonist, Ichigo. Even after she became an established idol, she woke up earlier than everyone else, and worked in a minor weather broadcast program which really became her niche later on. Aikatsu may be a lighthearted show where the characters are mostly all smiles with twinkles in their eyes. But every time Akari smiles, and for every live she successfully performed — possess a certain weight and context to them that few of Aikatsu characters can measure up to. Idols are hard work; idols are dedication, and Akari is the paragon of that ideal. Akari is a character who has a lot of heart, almost as massive as the universe itself.
 

6. Kazanari Tsubasa (Senki Zesshou Symphogear)

Leap: I came in to Symphogear being first and foremost a fan of the people involved with the franchise more than anything, but as I soldier on with each season I find myself being more and more invested in the characters themselves. One of the characters that ended up really growing on me was Kazanari Tsubasa; the katana-wielding top idol sworn to protect mankind from the Noise. The only real action-oriented anime idol on this list, Tsubasa is resolute in whatever she does, often to a fault (where she ends up coming across as just plain stubborn). She also sees herself as a sword — as nothing more than a tool with no will of her own. All that changes over the course of the series, largely in part to her friends, all of whom eventually convince her that she too is entitled not only to dream, but to just be human like everyone else. Tsubasa’s “triple” life; of being and idol, an armor-clad crusader, and a regular girl — is one that is easily overlooked, given the nature of these kinds of shows, but I still really liked seeing her development throughout the show’s iterations.
 

5. Maruyama Aya (BanG Dream!)

Kai: Okay, I cheated (lol). This technically isn’t from the anime, at least, I never watched it and all I described here is from Pastel Palettes’s story arc in the game. But in the aforementioned group, Aya has always grasped my attention the most, because you guessed it — underdog character. But Aya’s a little different in that while Akari’s tackle of the underdog story is more simple and optimistic; in that hard work will pay off, Aya’s story arc in Bandori has a more skeptical approach that question the efficiency of hard work itself. After all, not everything can be accomplished with hard work alone. But at the end of the day, Aya believes that her hard work is her very identity as an idol, that all her diligence can never be denied even in the cutthroat world of idols where effort isn’t necessarily rewarded. In a way, having the ability to still maintain that childlike mindset of the ideal idol despite the cold and harsh reality of the idol industry takes considerable willpower. Against all odds, Aya never lose her way.
 

4. Kirigoe Mima (Perfect Blue)

Leap: Okay, to be fair, Kirigoe Mima wasn’t really any sort of exceptional anime idol nor were her appearances in the highly acclaimed Perfect Blue all that remarkable, but she makes it on my list because of the narrative that revolves around her character. Based on the novel by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, the Satoshi Kon classic served as a sort-of looking glass representation of the world of Japanese idol and celebrity and its at times seedy underbelly. While a lot of the film’s depiction of the darker side of idol stardom can be chalked up as being rather exaggerated, it is by all acounts still to this day arguably one of the realest takes on the industry in terms of the socio-cultural. Without giving too much away (if in case you haven’t seen Perfect Blue yet /I highly recommend that you do btw), the crux of Mima’s character is that of audience reception and perception — which, to me, is one of the most fascinating aspects of idol viewing culture in the first place.
 

3. Kisaragi Chihaya (Idolm@ster)

Kai: Few characters in the idol anime world match the eloquence and emotion in Chihaya’s story arc. Idolm@ster, especially the first season, was an idol show I always described as the be-all and end-all of idol shows — a rudimentary, but serious depiction of the idol industry, and with characters and stories that reflect the real life industry to some degree. Chihaya’s character arc in the story revolves around a scandal, something which would reveal her strikingly complicated feelings towards singing and her career as an idol; and of a past that would limit her outlook of the idol industry, and also guilt that makes her hesitant to dream like any other idols. At the very least, not all idols view that idol stage as a grand and glamorous dream worth pursuing, some idols perceive it with a colder take like Chihaya, but her huge change in the arc was one of the most heartwarming things I have ever seen. Indeed, Chihaya’s character arc is one of the best anime idol narratives in my opinion, which also birthed one of my favorite idol music “Yakusoku”, a ballad that expresses just as much raw emotions as the actual story itself.
 

2. Lacus Clyne (Mobile Suit Gundam SEED)

Leap: I’ll always hold Gundam SEED near and dear to my heart as being really the first Gundam series that that I completed from start to end. I mean, it’s not the best one out there (xD) but it did ease me into the franchise with the whole romance angle it had going on, as well as the character dynamics that these relations resulted in. Songstress Lacus Clyne’s actions in particular was interesting to follow all throughout the show the more she began to develop, both as her own person, and in how she interacted with others. Over the course of Gundam SEED we see Lacus go from being ditzy and almost completely clueless at times to being one of the series’ most politically savvy and influential figures — all the while being, in many ways, a symbol of peace thanks to her status as a well-renowned pop idol.
 

1. Ranka Lee (Macross Frontier)

Kai: As one of the series’s crucial characters, Ranka was involved in most of the story’s major plot points, even more so for the movie versions and she was a huge factor in alleviating the hostility towards their adversaries and instead, in traditional Macross fashion, saved everyone with the power of music, love and culture. Ranka Lee is perfect — her cuteness and sweet songs have stopped wars, conflicts and even saved the universe; literally saving the world with the power of moe and music. While Ranka lacks the grace and confidence that comes with being the top idol, she makes up for it with her earnestness and integrity which eventually became her own unique charm in contrast to the cool and elegant Sheryl. Did I mention her brother likes Fire Bomber as well? Anyone who likes Fire Bomber is never a bad guy. I also can’t not mention this — Ranka’s fang! Ranka’s fang is perhaps the most powerful artifact ever known to mankind, no doubt also played a pivotal role in Ranka being the savior of the universe. Embrace her, to the ends of the galaxy!

Another year has passed. Some things happened last year that is at least somewhat of an improvement, but the stress and anxiety never stop coming. In a way, the latter might have become even worse. It’s like I’m constantly jumping from one hell to another recently. In other words, life goes on (lol).

And I’m just as surprised at how I’m still blogging here like how I’m still surviving in this godforsaken world. I do hope everyone’s okay with my slower pace lately.

In other news, I also have been focusing on manga and light novels more, and reading them seems to align more with my current life and schedule than something like games and visual novels. So unfortunately, I don’t think I will be finishing video games anytime soon. The bright side is, I’ve finally read enough of them to actually make presentable Top 5 lists that aren’t just “picking the best from the worst” — my Top 5 Manga and Top 5 Light Novels lists are now added in the pages, so please check them out if you’re interested.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Happy new year, guys.

It’s always interesting to see what language(s) one use to communicate with their peers, and the way it reflects their culture. I’m going to show you guys a little bit of mine in this Creative Blogger Award (nominated by Mangataku-kun) where you need to share 5 facts about yourself… and additionally, my Japanese-learning progress (or lack thereof).

1. I know three languages — English, Mandarin, Malay, ranging from fluent to questionable. While I’m most comfortable speaking in Mandarin (my mother tongue), English is where I’m most confident as far as written languages go.

2. Although I do use Mandarin in verbal conversations, writing Chinese is still quite a difficult task for me, embarrassingly enough.

3. Intermingling multiple languages in an everyday conversation is common in our culture. “Singlish” is an informal language that blends several languages and dialects, and you guessed it — it’s something I use a bit in real life as well.

4. Right, let’s address the elephant in the room. Since this is an anime blog and this post is about languages, you might be wondering if I know Japanese. While I would love to say I do, and know the language to an extent — even that seems like a stretch. While constructing sentences is still hard for me, I did learn a lot of words through anime and visual novels. Some Japanese words I know like the back of my hand — oppai, oshiri, ikuuu, ochin- *gets shot*

5. Speaking of Japanese, like a true weebo, I once tried learning Japanese through reading visual novels, unsuccessfully, obviously. Admittedly, I may have too much of a “completionist” mindset, in that once I start something, I want to complete them. Trying to learn Japanese on top of that is too much for me, as I just want to finish these titles I started. So in the end, I ended up finishing visual novels like Cure Girl and 11 eyes (it was untranslated at the time) while not understanding 95% of what I read. In the end, I never learned a damn thing. Also if you’re curious, the remaining 5% that I do understand is from hentai scen-

I’ll be doing another award. This time, it’s by Alice Goes YOLO. Now, if you click the link, you will notice the blog has since yolo’ed itself to extinction (I blame myself for answering these awards forever), but just to prove I’m not pulling this out of my ass, here’s a screenshot of the pingback. (It’s in the About page if you cops really want to check).

Anyway, I mentioned sometime ago that my blog mascots are shades of myself. This statement couldn’t be even more truer for Kyouko — who represents my admiration for superheroes. The Versatile Blogger Award is an award where you need to share 7 things about yourself, and I’m going to use this chance to talk about Kyouko and how she reflects an aspect of myself.

1. For now, I suppose an introduction is in order. Kyouko is one of my blog mascot, you should probably notice her on the sidebar — the maid on the twitter icon. More of her can be seen here.

2. Superheroes — I mean who doesn’t admire their chivalry and selflessness? Even as I’ve grown into a cynical adult (if I even count as an adult), I feel like the little kid inside me is still there, who still admire all these cool selfless heroes. I designed Kyouko with that mindset — an ideal superhero who help anyone in distress. Her design is interesting because I deliberately made it pseudo-realistic; and uses guns and martial arts, while suits and sunglasses are her “hero costume”. When she needs to go back to the public, her maid duties during the day served as a disguise. The pseudo-realistic design reflects an aspect of myself — my wish fulfillment as a hero. If she’s too supernatural, that’s too far gone for me to connect.

3. Superheroes go hand in hand with cool aesthetics. Personally, I’ve always thought motorcycles are cool. I never ridden them though, and I don’t plan to, but the fact that I’ve never ridden them fueled my romanticism even more. Obviously, I also made this a character trait for Kyouko — having a motorcycling hobby. There’s nothing like riding a cruiser, wearing a pair of ray ban sunglasses and cruising on the highway as your hair flutters in the wind.

4. Being a fan of martial arts movies, I tend to imagine how she fights sometimes. In my mind, mostly with a strong emphasis on judo throws and grappling holds. In fact, with the grappling, suits and guns, she’s pretty much John Wick. Interestingly, I designed her long before I watched the movie though.

5. Here’s a light intermission — it would be pretty cool to see Kyouko in Girls Frontline (lol). Not sure what gun she should use for the game though.

6. In a way, because of the emptiness of my life, that only fuels my obsession with my escapades to heroic universes. I think this is one reason why I’ve always like action genre, and especially shounen anime. The characters can do things I don’t, and their moral principles make it easy for me to cheer for them. Somewhere down the line, they become my wish fulfillment as a hero. Kyouko is the embodiment of my fantasy.

7. I suppose you can say Kyouko is my superego. I’m gonna spare you the Freudian mumbo jumbo, but I’m saying this now because I might have another character that represents my ID. …And I’m just going to leave it at that for now. I have some problems with my life now that makes commissioning artworks tough, so all these character ideas are just inside my head. But I do want to save the surprise if I do commission again.

Literally perfection.

They say all hairstyles are created equal, but you look at twintails and you look at the rest, you can see that statement is not true.

You see when you only have a ponytail, your power is only at x1, but if you have twintails instead your power will be at x2. After all, why only have one when you can have two?

oh yaae *moans* slap me hard with your twintails

Furthermore, there’s just something oddly mesmerizing about having a hairstyle that is completely symmetrical on both sides. A wise man once said “Perfectly balanced, as all things should be”, and twintails are the epitome of balance. Indeed, that is the beauty of twintails. Twintails are unity, equilibrium; twintails are magic — twintails are the universe itself, and represent the beauty of harmony.

Twintails unite the duality of men to become something entirely different and beautiful. Whether you’re surrounded by love or hate, twintails will always be beside you, to add that little spice during your happy, exciting days, or to cheer you up when you’re sad and depressed. Twintails — an almighty power that God has bestowed upon us; a symbol of hope for humanity. Twintails are the realm of limitless, untapped human potential that will surely bring mankind love and peace.

When the world is in peril and chaos ensues, when conflicts leave destruction in their wake — twintails are your answer. Twintails are the keys that relieve the burden of the world. Twintails are our lord, our savior. When you lose your way in life, have faith in the twintails.

Indeed, twintails are love, twintails are life.

P.S: This is clearly a shitpost and while it’s obviously meant for April’s Fools, I legit meant it when I claim twintail is the best anime hairstyle. Fight me.

I was about to make some joke about how I’m the most “entertaining” guy in the aniblogging world with jokes so cold even crickets unfortunate enough to listen to my sound pollution would disappear off the face of earth immediately. But anyway, I was nominated by TPAB for the Entertainer Blogger Award where you need to answer a set of questions. Let’s get it on.

1. Why did you blog in the first place?
You might be thinking I have some grandiose reasons like “I want to spread the love of anime through my writing!” or something. Fact of the matter is though, I originally just wanted to share my figures — I started collecting figures just a little bit prior and wanted a personal platform to share them. But since I don’t really collect a lot, I needed to write other posts for my blog to stay afloat. Before I knew it, these “other posts” eventually become the main posts, transitioning Deluscar into an editorial-oritentated blog. Since I don’t plan to buy new figures anytime soon, figure posts is something that will fade into the background sooner rather than later. It’s unfortunate, but for now here’s my figure page if anyone’s interested.

After blogging for awhile though, I also find blog to be a great platform to express your thoughts. Social media like twitter have become more integral to the internet, but they just don’t work for wordy thoughts in my opinion. Besides, having a personal platform feels great. Having a personal platform to express your thoughts is really underappreciated — I feel this is the one thing that has made me stuck with blogging as long as I did.

2. What is your favorite book?
I’m a studious intellectual who only read trashy light novels. My favorites, just to name a few, are Sayonara Piano Sonata, HakoMari, Book Girl and Kieli. I’m going to take this chance to recommend Book Girl though — it’s a really great series with some excellent characters, and is just generally a great story regardless of your appreciation of light novels as a medium. I know I joke a lot in these award/question posts, but Book Girl is truly my most no-nonsense, no-bullshit answer to this question “What is your favorite book?”.

3. What do you dislike the most?
The emptiness of my life. Also, stop killing the headphone jacks.
 

This is totally how I eat sushi.

4. What is your favorite food at the mall?
Not much of a gourmand myself but I suppose I can just pick the weebo answer and go with sushi — I mean, they ARE pretty good.

Other than that, Chinese dim sums are my go-to meals if I want something a little bit more light. Few of my favorite dim sums include shaomai, jian dui, egg tarts, spring rolls and the good ol’ pork buns. After all, a man who never eats pork buns, is never a whole man.

5. What is your favorite past time?
I’m a violent piece of trash who loves watching people fight, grinning maniacally as their blood sprays everywhere like a jet fountain. Joking… maybe. Though I do watch the occasional MMA matches and martial arts films. I suppose when it comes down to it, I’m just a martial arts geek and enjoy immersing myself into their techniques and cultures. In fact, I even created a new blog awhile ago just for me to talk about these, though it’s even more dead than my life as I can barely even keep Deluscar active.

Awhile ago, I was nominated by Zainou for the Mystery Blogger Award. For this award, you need to do 3 things, mainly — share 3 facts about yourself, answer 5 questions from whoever nominated you for the award and share your best post(s). So, without further ado:

3 Things About Me

1. Constantly getting nominated on these “share facts about yourself” awards only to realize how boring I actually am.
2. I love black colors (hence why my blog is dark) and often wear black clothing. Yes, I’m fucking Kirito IRL… I got no harem though.
3. My career in a nutshell.
 

Zainou’s Questions

1. If you could do one occupation other than yours what would it be?
If you’re asking my dream occupation, obviously it will be doing something that I love. So the straight weebo answer would be working in an anime studio/video game developer studio. After spending so much time on the consumer side, it will be fun to finally be able to play a (small) role on the creative side. Unfortunately I don’t have the skills for them, so it’s all a moot point anyway.

Other than that, man, I really want to become a moe anime girl vtuber as well (lol).

2. If you were a different species what would you be and why?
I will be a dragon that can morph into a moe anime girl so that I can invade some poor lad’s home and become a hikikomori.

3. If you could travel through time where would you go? What would you do?
I’m going to live in the Victorian era and pretend like I’m suddenly some noble of high culture.

4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
I’m gonna pick the boring answer — Japan, though I’m aware living in Japan isn’t all fun and games based on the things I heard about their working culture. Outside of that, Venice seems great.

5. If you could travel to another planet, which would you go to and why?
Deviluke so I can meet my alien waifu.

My Best Post(s)

I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging here, but then again, the award compels me to do it (lol). I do have a few posts I’m personally proud with over the years; below are a few of them, with no particular order:

1. Video Games and Depression – How do they correlate?
2. Why are Japanese so Obsessed with Cats?
3. Wuxia and It’s Influences on Shounen