Gurren Lagann - Review

For me, an anime has to have a good blend of action, drama, and even romance for me to really get into it. There are only a couple animes that I rank as my favorites. Martian Succesor Nadesico is one of those, and now, so is Gurren Lagann.

Gurren Lagann starts out fast and stays fast throughout the entirety of the series. I have to admit, when one of my friends first introduced me to the show, I felt trepidation about whether or not I could get into it; I'm not usually one for giant robot animes. Nadesico and Evangelion were about the only two I could ever really get in to. So, when I first started watching Gurren Lagann, I had all but decided that I wouldn't like it. But, after I watched the first few episodes, I became hooked. I wanted to watch more of it, but didn't want to spend the large amounts of money that it would cost to buy the DVDs. So, I started looking around for a deal on it. That deal came from the iTunes Store. I found the entire series on sale for only $26.00, so I immediately downloaded it and started watching.



While the series does dwell quite a bit on the giant robot (Gunmen, as they're called) parts, that's not what it's all about. The Gunmen fight sequences are spectacularly animated and pleasing to the eye (the final battle of the whole series blew my mind). But, the thing that really drew me in was the relationships between the characters (all of which were also extremely well animated. I'm just going to say this now; Gurren Lagann was one of the most visually pleasing animes I have watched.) What starts out as a love triangle between what seem to be the 3 main characters, Simone, Kamina & Yoko (I say "seem to be" because, in my opinion, most of the characters could be considered "main") draws you in and makes you feel for each of them. And it's not just the relationships that are well thought out. Each character in the series has their own quirks and personality that endears you to each of them.



Probably one of my favorite things about this anime is what they did with it about 7 episodes in. I'm not going to say what it is, but I will say that when if first happened, I felt betrayed by an anime that I was growing to like more and more, but then, later in the series, I knew that the story wouldn't have been nearly as good if they hadn't done it. It really did make the series enjoyable.

Gurren Lagann is divided into 2 different story arcs, each lasting about 13 episodes. The first deals with the rebels from the underground cities seeking out and destroying the Spiral King. At first there are only 3 of them with only 2 Gunmen (Gurren and Lagann, which can combine to create the powerful Gurren Lagann), but as the story progresses, more and more rebels join the cause and each ends up with a Gunmen of their own, eventually making a formidable army, known as Team Dai Gurren. I thought I had seen big robots before, but some of the Gunmen in Gurren Lagann are ridiculousyl huge. Just when you think you've seen the biggest of them, they throw an even bigger one into the story. But, instead of being silly, the bigger and bigger robots made the story. The first arc of the story ends with Simone destroying the Spiral King and the rebels all celebrating. But, as the Spiral King is dying, he utters what sounds like a prophecy of the future which basically says when the population of humans on the earth reaches 1 million bad stuff will happen.

Start the second arc, which takes place years after the end of the first. The rebels have built a city of their own and have advanced greatly in the few years that have passed. Simone is the ruler of the city and the members of Team Dai Gurren are all high up in the New Government. The action, once again, starts right off when a tear in the sky releases a strange looking Gunmen just as the 1 millionth person is born on the surface. Simone gets in Gurren Lagann and heads out to fight the new Gunmen, eventually beating it by using his signature drill attack. The Gunmen explodes and the fragments of it fall to the ground... and explode on impact. Much of the city is destroyed. Simone is overthrown as ruler and placed in prison, but is later released when they realize that only he and Gurren Lagann can defeat the new enemies. As I said earlier, the giant robots keep getting bigger in this series, and in the second story arc, this is just as true. The moon eventually becomes a Gunmen that can combine with Gurren Lagann to make a huge fortress. Soon, they find out that the attacks are from the Anti Spiral race and set off into space to fight them. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but as the story draws to a close, the battles between Gunmen become more and more epic. Eventually, the heroes triumph over the villains and live out their lives in peace.


Easily the most epic Giant Robot I've ever seen.



There is so much more to the story than what I've written here, but I don't want to give too much away. I'd rather you watch the series yourself to find out just how amazing this anime really is.

My final score: 5 out of 5.

This anime has one of the most gripping stories I've seen in an anime and leaves you wanting more after each episode. I know for sure that I'm going to be watching this over and over; it's just that good. With excellent character development and stunning animation, this is easily my second favorite anime. I highly recommend going out and watching all of it, you won't be disappointed.

Watchmen - review

Due to my computer having sudden problems, my latest post is far from what it originally was, and will instead be a review on the movie Watchmen. It was released on DVD/Blu-Ray this past Tuesday (July 21).

This will not cover The DVD release solely, but will cover the movie in general.

Having read review upon review, for hours and hours, from places like Amazon, Metacritic, and many random forums, This movie can arguably be one of the most controversial ones out there. Some claim it has no plot; others say it has too much of one to watch only once. Some think it was dumb; others herald it as one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. Some say it was a poor book-to-movie rendition; others say it was closer than most other titles in that field. I could go on. but I think you get the picture.

(Current cover art for the graphic novel.)

Watchmen is based of a graphic novel of the same name, which is on Times Magazine's top 100 novels of all time.

The story is set in New York, the year is 1985. Richard Nixon is the current president, being on his 5th term. The Doomsday clock is set to five minutes before midnight, signaling that the threat of a nuclear war is very, very real.

Thanks to an Act passed in 1977, Masked Vigilantes, which were rampant for quite a number of years, Had to reveal their identities or quit taking the law into their own hands. This was due to the typical public switcharound of liking something, then getting used to it, then ending up hating it.

It is interesting that although all of the men and women that wore costumes considered themselves heroes or villains, only one had actually any power. His name is Dr. Manhattan, who by a freak accident on a science base in an "intrinsic field Subtractor", which converted every last atom in his body into something more divine. He was taken in by the military as a tool trained to keep other nations in fear of America. He was also considered to be a member of the Watchmen group.

(The members of the Watchmen team, starting from the blue guy and going clockwise by heads: Dr Manhattan, Nite Owl, Rorschach, The Comedian, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre.)

The story is mainly narrated by one of the 6 members of the Watchmen team, Rorschach. He sees that another member of the former Watchmen team was murdered, The Comedian, and after seeing some clues come to light, focuses heavily on the idea that someone is "picking off costumed heroes." He tries to convince and warn his friend Daniel, who was the hero "Nite Owl," who at first doesn't listen. HE then tries to warn Dr Manhattan and Laurie, Laurie being the Silk Spectre. As the story progresses, it is revealed that someone is indeed trying to get all the heroes out of the way so that the master plan can take place with no interference.

Now the review part.

Watchmen: somewhere between 2.5 and 3 out of 5.

The story is deep. It is a movie that has to be seen more than once to get the entire picture. The movie does follow the novel it is based off of very well, although it does have significant differences that, if you have read the novel as well as seen the movie, affect the entire movie and even the ending.

The flow and presentation of the story is very, very slow. Too slow in some parts. The amount of material covered is impressive (the director's cut of the dvd being over 3 hours long), but the flow makes it feel like it is about two hours longer at some parts. But the flow is very direct and easy to follow.

Character development is almost nonexistent. The only character you really, truly get to know is Rorschach, and that is because his diary entries populate about half the movie, explaining his thoughts and feelings about what is going on as it unfolds.

The gratuitous adult scenes could have been left out entirely. Those did not need to be added in there. It is directly alluded to in the novel, it could have been the same in the movie.

Worth watching, and more than once, but only if you feel you can watch a movie for (what feels like) four or five hours.

~Koubo

Mass Effect

It seems that most people believe that if it is called a video game, it has no sense of a good, in-depth story that a book would have. And while regrettably this is the case for many games on the market, there are some very fine exceptions. Like Mass Effect.



Mass Effect is a third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter for the Xbox 360 and PC made by the company BioWare. It is set in the future, in the year 2183 AD. Humans had, thirty-five years prior, discovered a piece of ancient technology left behind by a race called the Protheans, which after studying it launched them into a technologically advanced future of their own. Space travel was now easily possible, and there were many races out there whom also had similar pasts about finding technology and had formed a galactic alliance.

You play as commander Shepard. The last name and rank are the only things unchangeable. The character is then decently customizeable, from being able to choose your gender to making up a first name to changing the facial features with impressive options.

The story for Mass Effect seems simple enough. You get a mission to recover another ancient artifact called a "beacon". As you arrive on the planet, you see that it is/has been under attack by a group that also wants the beacon. The group is led by an alien samed Saren, who has the rank of Spectre (which is a special rank made by the galaxy's presiding council to do the dirty jobs, and do them right with little-to-no laws binding them to a small set of methods). The story shows right off the bat, however, that Saren is betraying the council and is ignoring their orders.

You fight your way to the beacon's location, and right before it blows up it sends a sort-of bloated and broken signal directly to Shepard's brain, nearly knocking them unconcious. After you debrief the council on the situation. After you convince them that Saren has gone rogue, the council makes Shepard a spectre to hunt down and eliminate Saren. After that point, the galaxy is opened up and you are given various missions and tasks that lead you to the typical story end, which is saving the galaxy from certain evil.

But the story is so much more detailed than that. The game has incredibly rich dialogue, with minimal cheesiness. The game even gives you an option in many, many instances where you get to choose what you are going to say to someone in the given situation, with each of the choices available being aligned to good, bad, or morally gray. And in game-affecting situations, you can try to influence someone to do or say what you want them to say, and how effective it is is dependent on how many points you put into a couple of particular categories on your character as you level up.



The gameplay itself is something impressive, too. It doesn't break the norm of typical shoot-em-up games, but it does follow the pattern quite well. There aren't really any puzzles, and although there will be some exploring to do in order to find certain parts of the story to continue on, the paths themselves offer little direct deviation and are easy to get back on to.

Review: 5 out of 5

This game is basically like an interactive movie. The dialogue in the game is so rich, so full, so deep, it feels like you are watching and participating in a near-perfect movie. Add the gameplay that plays so very well, and you get an ideal combination that few games still can't match. The gameplay and story parts are spaced out so well, too, that you aren't really wondering what is going on, and if you get lost, it is because you didn't pay attention.

Not only is the story good, but the voice actors chosen played the parts very well, adding to the movie feel and taking away from the 'this is obviously a game story' feel. Feelings and thoughts are portrayed with striking accuracy. Character interactions are well-built and played very professionally.

Further, if you beat the game you can transfer you character and all of your equipment and stats from your recently completed file to a new game so you can play it all over again with everything you beat it with.



It is a game definitely worth playing at least once or twice. I recommend playing it many times. It is definitely something you won't come across often.

~Koubo

[Prototype]

Prototype. A game set in Manhattan, New York. You play as Alex Mercer, who at the beginning doesn't remember a thing, waking up on an autopsy table. As he escapes, he is shot dead presumably several times. As he tries to uncover his past, he unravels a super-secret government conspiracy around the development of biological weaponry, particularly around the one that infected him, known as the Blackwatch Virus.

It plays much like The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.



The game is pretty simple to understand. You can free-roam around Manhattan and do whatever you please, and when you want to continue the story, the marker is on your minimap as well as your main map showing you where to go.

It looks pretty much like a zombie game. Infections of a virus spreading, and the military attempting to contain it. Both sides gain stronger units built specifically to fight Mercer as the story progresses.




But thankfully, as the game progresses you gain new abilities which will allow you to be more agressive against the ever-increasing military numbers coming into the island. Some of the abilities are given automatically during story events; however, most of the abilities must be purchased through an "upgrade" menu. You earn points to spend in the menu with pretty much everything you do in the game, and the harder the task, the more points you earn. There are also "Events", which give you a specific task to earn a specific amount of points, littered throughout the city. More appear as the story progresses.

Alex also has an ability innate to the start of the game, that allows him to "consume" a person. When you do, you can then disguise yourself as that person. But only the most recent person you consumed. Usually, it would be used to gain health. But it could also be a part of the story, or to hide from the military.

The story itself is pretty straightforward. Do this, attack that, kill that guy, consume that guy. If you want to get the meaning behind the picture, however, then finding certain people, marked with a little floating red head above them, will give you information that makes the simple story a lot deeper, and if you find enough, it becomes significantly darker. These people are called "Web of Intrigue" targets, and the name rightly fits them.




I give [Prototype] a 4 out of 5.

The good points:
The story is very detailed, if you try to find all of the web targets. Even if you find the minimal amount of the side story, the flow between the main events is smooth. The gameplay is pretty straightforward. The battle system is somewhat complex, but remains consistent.

The bad points:
Some missions, as well as events, require precision movement, which is practically impossible. It takes less than a minute fully upgraded to move from the lowest corner of the island to the opposite, highest point, but when you are asked to move from point 'A' to point 'B' in a certain amount of time, with sharp turns and ludicrus obstacles, it gets to the point of "throw your controller through your tv" frustration. And if that wasn't bad enough, boss fights in the game will make you even more angry. Fighting leading up to the boss fights are relatively easy to somewhat complex; but then when you get to the boss himself/herself, it's as if the game developers that went something like this:
"All right, How should we do the boss fights?"
"I vote we put the hardest rarer units in with the boss, in large numbers."
"I vote we add the military to go in there, with tanks and helicopters, and rockets, in large numbers."
"I vote we make the fights long. Very long."
"Good, good. And to top it all off, if you die, even if you were two seconds away from winning, you have to restart from the beginning of the fight. Good work everyone, that alone would make any gamer weep with joy."



Definitely a game worth playing, and even replaying. Just beware of the movement-specific events.

~Koubo