Kasimasi ~Girl Meets Girl~ - 05
Hazumu is oblivious to Yasuna's evil lesbian tendencies. Is Yasuna really that lesbian to begin with? And will Tomari ever stop angsting? This episode tries to give a somewhat 'logical' excuses! (and FAILS!)
Hazumu and Co are back to school (24/7 it seems!) and Sora-sensei is having fun with his test subjects..I mean pupils with killer Sunflower plants! Jan-Puu is drooling over Hazumu, Tomari is angsting away and giving dirty looks to Yasuna. Looks like nothing has changed then! After class, Yasuna drags Hazumu outside and demands for her to be an art partner. Tomari sees Yasuna's 'in for the kill' tactics and steps onto the stage - she wants Hazumu to be her art partner as well! Lucky Hazumu! :o
So the trio go outside and have their art lesson, they can draw whatever they like - but of course they both choose to draw Hazumu! Hazumu meanwhile has to sit there sheepishly and Yasuna and Tomari nearly have daggers to each others throats. Yasuna draws a good picture! Tomari gets angry and tries to out do her! Tomari draws a good picture! Yasuna just looks to Hazumu! Hazumu is an idiot ;)
When the class go back to school, Sora-sensei wants to show Hazumu something. It's Yasuna's old art from the year before. It's a good unfinished picture - or so we think! The males in the picture haven't been drawn at all except for Hazumu. Sora-sensei tells Hazumu to figure it out! Can it be that Yasuna hates boys/lesbian/blind? Since Tomari has extra schooling, Hazumu catches up with Yasuna and somehow they end up back in their classroom.
At long last Hazumu interrogates Yasuna! And Yasuna tells her tragic tale. It seems she has a disorder, she can't see humans of the male variety! Is this just a shallow tactic by the creator of Kasimasi to make Yasuna lesbian, without being lesbian? Yes I think so too! But of course, Yasuna could see Hazumu even when she was male and so fell in love with him at first sight. Talk about trying to be straight!
Finally the episode ends with how it started in episode 1. That slow motion, wind blowing, hand touching, curtains flowing, door opening, Tomari gasping, Yasuna x Hazumu kissing! The drama! :o
A good episode which demonstrated Yasuna's callous ability to hit on Hazumu, even when Tomari is there. On the other hand, are we supposed to feel sorry for Tomari? I don't at all, infact Yasuna can keep continuing! The creator could have easily made this a total lesbian love triangle without making up excuses for the characters: like Hazumu turns into a girl, Yasuna can't see males..I'm now waiting for a Tomari excuse!
I wonder if in some ironic way, it will be Yasuna x Tomari instead of Hazumu! I'd love to see that!
Overall: 7/10
I want a cat fight!
Lemon Angel Project - 03
More of Yuuki and less of Tomonologues = better episode!
The competition is underway for the next Lemon Angel - mark 2! Where there are many girls wearing nothing much, there is fanservice! Within the first minute of this episode as well! But let's just be thankful that none of it was focused on Tomo! That's right, they have to pose in their swim outfits for the camera. Tomo is up first and does a *fantastic* job posing in the most idiotic way possible, even the gay photographer had to agree to a 5 minute break. Erica tries to cheer up Tomo afterwards as everyone is laughing at her - then Yuuki gives her a rival pep talk! :o She then proceeds to pose in a more sexy and alluring manner, which all 'Pros' in the business know about apparently!
However, Yuuki's old manager has other plans than letting his most valuable 'body' get away! He still envisions Yuuki to become Japan's number one Playboy model and points out that her contract has not expired with his company. Therefore - Yuuki cannot join Lemon Angel! As he leaves in his limo, Yuuki is left feeling more crushed and especially newbie Tomo is even feeling sorry for her. But eventually they come up with a plan!
Yuuki, Tomo and Erica (In a ninja outfit!) plan to break into the boss's headquaters and rip up that nasty contract! So they just talk to the warden in building and they go through the front door! And here I was thinking that a break in was supposed to be smashing a window and sneaking in? Oh well!
Eventually, they 'sneak' up to the main office and spot the boss's secretary named Keiko. It seems Keiko was trying to help Yuuki from avoiding those sleazy jobs and told her to go for her dreams. Aww ;) She helps them unlock the uber-secret-safe in the office..but the contact is not there? *gasp* Yuuki's manager appears like magic with the contact and laughs evily, but Yuuki gives him a good kick where it hurts and rips up the contact! Even his braindead bodyguard gets outdone by Tomo and Erica (which is amazing in itself!). It's only when Keiko threatens the manager about exposing an affair to his wife, that he gives up on Yuuki - but fires them both.
And so the day ends on a happier note! Yuuki can go for Lemon Angel and Keiko although fired, was glad she helped out Yuuki! Even Tomo is surpised when Yuuki calls her by her first name! The rivals are now friends who are rivals!
Glad to see there was a bit less of annoying Tomo in this episode and amazingly it has improved slightly because of it! A much more entertaining episode and with a bit more angst and rivalry, it might be able to be better than the run-of-the-mill average anime!
Overall: 6.5/10
Whatever happened to Goth Loli? :o
Kasimasi ~Girl Meets Girl~ - 04
Where there is pleasure, there is pain! Evil lesbian Yasuna finally makes her moves on Hazumu whilst the angst factor is at 110% with Tomari!
The instant angst hits right away! Tomari gazes out of the window and sees Hazumu with evil lesbian - and enjoying herself too, with sexed up strawberries! Not only that but Hazumu and Yasuna recreate a scene from Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball no less! The angsty rain continues to fall the next day when Alien-San reveals himself to be Sora Hitoshi - the new Life Sciences teacher in Hazumu's class! It must be nice to get observed day and night ;)
Yasuna on the other hand is getting harassed by her friends who want to make her straight! Sorry guys, to get Yasuna's attention you have to be female! She makes her excuses and forces Hazumu to go to the 'library' with her for some 'studying'.
Switching back, Tomari sends her slaves...er friends on some exercises and stands in the rain with lots of things on her mind. Which actually translates to two things: Hazumu and Yasuna. Funnily enough, Yasuna is standing there too and makes her selfish priorities clear - she wants Hazumu all to herself!
Hazumu and Yasuna then leave to go out shopping (it's not raining!) and end up wearing similar dresses. Evil lesbian makes a comment about how they look like lovers and then makes a ploy to get Hazumu to do some Karaoke with her. Turns out that Yasuna hasn't actually been to a karaoke place before and Hazumu sets all the gear up! This is where Hazumu 'accidently' trips over a microphone and lands ontop of Yasuna. Of course evil lesbian is enjoying it so, and reaches towards Hazumu for some hot-girl-on-girl action! :o
Of course, Tomari can't get Hazumu out of her mind! Her gay buddies to boss around isn't enough! Later that evening, she finds any old CD (a very gay rainbow coloured one) and heads around to Hazumu's place. She wasn't expecting Hazumu to be so happy with Yasuna and ends up being more depressed than before!
Ayuki just has this habit of appearing out of nowhere and sees Tomari reading a shoujo manga. Zomg!This is real depression! Ayuki-know-it-all gives Tomari the ultimatum of advice: Get Hazumu now before Yasuna does! Spurred on by this, the next day Tomari is about to approach Hazumu and Yasuna..but Yasuna closes in and confesses her love to Hazumu! Not only that, she almost *kisses* her as well! Tomari can't take this anymore and shouts out Hazumu's name like a death cry!
Yasuna is shocked, Tomari is shocked and Hazumu must be feeling really lucky! Tomari won't be giving up on Hazumu like she thought she would..
The angst! The suspense! Probably the best episode so far! The drama was well done and I can see this going out with a good catfight. What will happen next with this girlxgirl love triangle? I'm rooting for my favourite evil lesbian Yasuna - but I bet they will all end up being friends. One can only hope!
Overall: 8/10
Yasuna go in for the kill! ;)
Rumble Roses XX - Opening Video
Sol Bianca - Parts 1 & 2
Take five all-female space pirates, a postage stamp plot and lots and lots of mindless action. What you get, is something like Sol Bianca with a hint of Silent Mobius/Bubblegum Crisis thrown in for good measure! Let the fun commence!
Age Rating: 15+
Company: Kiseki
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Running Time: Approx 100 mins
Region: 0
A 1337 spaceship named the 'Sol Bianca' has five female crew members. They are 'sisters' and are named after months of the year (Where is March? :x) Despite their very different personalities, they have one common goal - to find treasure! So who are these sisters?
Janny - Ultra butch and ultra hot tempered to boot! Likes nothing better than shooting people down and argues with June quite a bit.
Feb - The elegant and classy one. She also happens to be the controlled leader who likes to drink wine, which on the other hand seems to be out of control!
April - Level-headed and also sort of butch, she takes care of the others. Usually seen shooting down people with Janny.
May - The obligatory loli! Who is good with machinery.
June - The most intelligent - which isn't too hard! She acts like a spoiled princess but of course she is my favourite. ;)
Sol Bianca is split up into 2 OVA parts which have different situations. In Sol Bianca 1, a boy named Rim sneaks aboard the space pirate ship and encounters the 'scary' 5 sisters! Immediately, Janny and April throw him into an airlock and demands him to 'fess up! Their harsh tactics seem to work as he pleads with them to save his parents - who are locked up on the planet they are on. They almost brush him off, until Feb picks up the word treasure. And so Janny, April and June try and infiltrate the dictator's base for treasure, then parents! Unfortunately for them, they get captured almost the second they tread into the base and get locked up. Of course, this is girl power and over the top no less!. The girls won't be held down for long!
They wait until June gets almost beheaded (lol) and then from Outer Space, Feb takes out a HUGE sniper gun (funnily enough without a wine glass attached to her hand) and yes - saves them in the nick of time. Janny and April grab guns and shoot their way out of the place! FTW!
Rim's parents are still on the planet however and they still don't have any treasure! While June and Janny argue as usual, Feb sips on wine and comes up with a plan. Why don't they just go in - the straight forward way? I mean, why didn't they do this before? So once again they all go down to get treasure and save parents! The evil dictator won't have any of it and demands for them to get killed. But this is Sol Bianca remember, not even an army can stop Janny and April with guns going! May jumps into her mecha and has fun killing people as well!
Finally, the day is saved! The sisters get their treasure and Rim's parents are saved. They say goodbye and Rim wishes he was a lesbian space pirate as well! Aww ;)
The second OVA episode is basically the same but with more blood/gore/nudity and some character development? *gasp*
Janny, Feb and April are on an undercover mission (dressed up too!) to get thier hands on some priceless substance called Pasha. There's another evil type on board and when they are close to setting a deal - the bad guys go all out and start shooting! KABOOM!
Meanwhile, June (looking so cool as usual) and May are having fun looking at Janny's old photos. They are in awe of how pretty she used to be, but being on board the Sol Bianca changes you into a psychotic lesbian! Back to the other group - they are running around in their underwear to escape - Janny does one better and goes topless too. :o After what seems like an eternity they finally exit back to the Sol Bianca.
Janny puts on some clothes and sees that her photos have been tampered with. She starts arguing with June and gives her a slap! The drama! But June collapses! Oh noes! There is a virus onboard the Sol Bianca and June is infected! Feb and April need to find something to cure her with - because June is not human. She is like the Lain of Sol Bianca and is directly connected (brain-wise) to the ship.
After lots of shooting and running later, Feb and April encounter a man (who looks like a male version of April) with his own 'June'! But by that time, Janny rescues June from certain death and then the OVA ends with LOTS of loose ends! Apparently Sol Bianca was supposed to have 4 OVA parts but ended up having two instead. You can tell by the ending of the second OVA that there was supposed to be moar!!11
Despite being made in 1990, it was well done - although the picture itself was video quality. It is also hard-subbed which means that you can't disable the subtitles and therefore you can guess that this has no dub. Shame really, but the Japanese VA was good! Extras wise, there are information on the VAs and the Sol Bianca series itself. Nothing great, but better than nothing.
It was suprisingly better than what I thought it would be. The characters are distinctly different and extremely well drawn. I love the style!
Overall: 7.5/10
Sol Bianca would have got a better score if there was more OVA episodes and more plot without the loose ends! ;) June FTW!
Now and Then, Here and There Vol 3
Shu, Lala-Ru and Sara prepare for the biggest and horrific onslaught by Hando's Helliwood fortress. War and friendship brings together the last volume of Now and Then, Here and There and in my opinion, an overlooked anime classic.
Age Rating: 16+
Company: Central Media Park/US Manga Corps
Genre: Sci-Fi, War, Epic Drama
Running Time: Approx 100 mins
Region: 1
All is quiet in the village, too quiet..
Shu and Lala-Ru are content staying at Sis' place with her children - but trouble is brewing as extremists in the village are trying to recruit more members, to take on the might of Helliwood. Suddenly, a soldier from Helliwood is found injured outside the village entrance - IT'S A TRAP! But the humble villagers let him in anyway! Lala-Ru finds a bit of emotion within her cold heart as she joins in with the children. Who would have thought? Sis announces the return of one of her children - yes the best character is back, sporting even shorter hair than before! Sara!
She immediately spots Lala-Ru. The one whom she was mistaken for and how she ended up in Helliwood to get abused. Of course, Sara goes straight to the jugular on Lala-Ru and ends up giving her a good beating before Sis and Shu drag her off! How unfair! ;) Everyone is stunned at Sara - she beats up Lala-Ru for 'no reason' but we get to know that Sara is pregnant. So in an emo moment, she sneaks off to a hidden cavern in Sis' house. Shu happens to wake up from his slumber and follows her.
There's a huge lake at the end of this cavern and predictably, Sara throws herself in it. Shu runs after her and drags her out from the sucide attempt. Clearly upset about her pregnancy, Sara ignores Shu and picks up a heavy stone and hits her own stomach with it. Again, Shu intervenes and reaches out to her. "Something good is bound happen!" he says - yes, Helliwood is approaching!
The extremists in the village meanwhile, want to hold a meeting with Sis about Lala-Ru. They tell her to hand over this 'water god' to Helliwood so that they can live in peace. Sis knows her destiny and tells her children to lock themselves in the cupboard. Sis is then 'crucified' in front of the entire vilage as Helliwood soldiers land and attack!
Nabuca and Boo with the rest of the soldiers, are told to kill everyone in the village but the children. King Hamdo is enjoying his meaningless slaughter as Abelia looks over like the fool she is. Sis is still barely alive and when Shu and Sara return from sucidial despair - they are met with bloodshed. Armed with only his wooden stick, Shu vows to protect Sis' children...and then Nabuca and Boo arrive. I won't spoil this any further - let's just say the most powerful scenes in anime itself happen during this bloody battle. Needless to say the good guys 'win' but at a cost.
So what about the ending? Well, I'll leave that up to you to watch! I found it rather abrupt and compared to the rest of the anime, a bit unfufulling. Just don't expect a fairytale or any surrealness..it's 'realistic' in a sense. It's a fitting end to the series that ties up most of the loose ends.
I almost forgot to mention the great DVD extras: Art Gallery, Mechanical and Character sketches, Storyboards (it runs through all of the episodes!), Behind the dub, DVD rom content with a wealth of pictures and the actual scripts used! Plus the usual trailers and clean opening/close. Stunning episodes that show what anime should always be like!
Overall: 9/10
Final Thoughts
Now and Then, Here and There is a journey filled with emotion and unexpected turns. Sometimes it is cruel and at others points generally heartwarming. You don't get anime of this calibre that often, so do yourself a favour and pick this up. You won't regret it!
Series Overall: 9/10
Wild ARMs 4
The Wild ARMs games are a long running RPG series, which started life in 1996 on the Playstation. Famous for it's unique blend of Wild West themes and usage of 'Tools' - Ten years have now passed and the fifth game has now arrived onto US shores on the PS2. Can Jude, Arnaud, Yulie and Raquel even compare to the 1337ness that is Cecelia from the original WA? The answer is a resounding no. ;)
Age Rating: Teen
Company: XSEED Games
Genre: Turn Based RPG
Region: US (NTSC)
Players: 1
Memory Card: 27kb per save (cheap!)
I spent over 100 glorious hours on Wild ARMs: Alter Code F (remake of the original for PS2) and was expecting the same goodness in Wild ARMs 4. However, WA4 takes nearly everything from the series and throws it out of the window! It's not a re-hash anymore, but something a bit different!
Characters
Jude Maverick - The typical 13 year old hero of this story. He is a genedriver and can wield an ARM weapon. Has the highest HP/RFX out of the team.
Yulie Atreide - The female lead who is 15 years old. Quiet, withdrawn and a bit whiny to boot! Uses 'white magic' and can control Guardian Summons. A bit boring really!
Arnaud G. Vasquez - 18 years old and is deemed an 'adult' although he doesn't act like one. He's a bit of a chicken and seems to have no good redeeming qualities except: "Everything from the neck up." Uses 'black magic'.
Raquel Applegate - The most mature of the team at 19. She is hard, seasoned warrior - full of knowledge beyond her years. The brick wall of the team, with the highest DEF and ATK power..you'll be using her alot!
Graphics
Wow! What a step up from the previous games - it actually looks like a good PS2 game! The backgrounds are lovingly detailed and and varied. It's among the best games I've played for imaginitive locations. The characters themselves are anime styled with a few expressions. Most scenes of the game are played out with great potrait pictures ala Disgaea. When there is a cutscene, it usually done well for the most part. Upper end PS2? Most definately!
Sound
Music fits the atmosphere of the game and everyone will be happy to hear that the infamous WA1 theme: CONDITION GREEN! makes an appearance as well! This is the first Wild ARMs game that actually has voices. It is dubbed well and the voices suit each character - although there will always be someone complaining about lack of Japanese language. In my opinion, it doesn't need it. I had to get used to Jude's voice the most (apparently it's dub Naruto's VA that does it) but after a while it grows on you. Yulie seemed the most wooden out of them, but perhaps Wendee Lee (the dub director and voice of Raquel) wanted her to be like that! Overall the cheese and OTTness of the voice actors shine through the mediocre story.
Battle System
Another change to the Wild ARMs franchise! The battle system has been completely revamped into a unique one. It is still turned based, but this time everyone fights on a grid of 6 Hexes. The ATB system (fastest moves first) taken from FFX is also in use to make sure you can plan ahead. You get your character on a hex but can move them onto another hex to reach the enemy or join up with a team member. Everything used on a hex applies to everyone in that hex, so if you hit a hex with 3 enemies - all of them will get hit! But of course it works the other way as well! Also, applied to a Hex could be an element - there are coloured in red (fire) for example. Say Jude was standing on a fire hex and he gets hit by a Fire spell - the damage caused by it is reduced, but if it hit by water..is doubled!
Skills are also affected by elemental properties of a Hex. Jude's skill "Ley Boost" can have a different effect according to what elemental hex he is standing on. Fire puts up ATK power, Water puts up MAG and Earth puts up RES/DEF. So - to use everything effectively, is position your characters to an advantage and use their skills wisely!
Another added feature is 'Detonation Mode' which occurs randomly. Your character begins the battle all sparkly and everything they use is doubled, stats are doubled (except HP and MP) and their experience at the end of the battle is also doubled! But it's completely random, and enemies also have this mode as well! It's sort of like FFX-2's Overdrive.
I like this battle system and it's one of the better ones found in RPGs. But beware that random battles can leave your characters wide open - you may get a game over instantly because of the random positioning and detonation of the enemies!
Field Mode
Another change! You can only control Jude in this game (Boo!) and there are no tools to use anymore! Instead, you have to touch a glowy ball and it forms a 'tool' that you can use for that dungeon. But while you hold a tool you can't jump. What jump? Yes Jude can jump, he can slide and he can stomp! Infact he can even slow down time with a Acceleration bar! And yes, you can see the 'puzzles' that they will make out of this. Thankfully none are very hard!
The camera angles are more to the side point of view ala Radiata Stories and moves about like a platformer. But it works out! Still, I would have liked to have controlled the other party memebers as well, out of battle!
Story (Mostly Spoiler free!)
Now this is where it falls apart like most PS2 RPGs. As Jude, who doesn't know what a girl looks like (until he meets Yulie) and coming from a very sheltered life - you expect that he would be a bit shy and lacking any ideas. He's quite the opposite and seems to be extremely mature for his age! The game starts off well - until you realise who the enemies are - and that one by one you'll have to dispatch them off like Mai Otome. It comes across as being rather cheesy (especially the main enemy who looks like a Gundam reject). Jude gets development (being the main character and all) and things happen..but he doesn't react like a 13 year old kid should and then Yulie seems to be the only other character, who gets some serious development - via a scary white house and 'by-the-book' brother. Arnaud is too busy looking out for himself 95% of the time and Raquel keeps going on about beautiful things, until you are sick of hearing it! I forgot to mention that each boss battle goes something like this:
Jude: Adults are evilllzzzzzzz!!oneone
Boss: You wield an ARM. You must die kid.
Team: With the power of teamwork we can overcome anything!
*boss defeated*
Boss: The kids..the future..I WAS WRONG!!111
Team: Teamwork got us through!
Jude: TEAMWORK!
But despite the whole theme being about children vs adults and teamwork. The ending left me surprisingly empty and unfufilled. What happens? You'll have to find that out! It was a bit disappointing to say the least.
Completion Time
I took 38 hours to complete this. I hear people complete it by 24 hours. I spent time leveling up or so that's my excuse!
Extras
Hidden Bosses, Ex File Unlockables and Alter Code F data Conversion for even moar!
Overall: 7.5/10
Final Thought
Not as good as Wild ARMs Alter Code F in my opinion, but it's a different breed altogether. It's fun, if a little short and plus the anime intro=10/10 ;)
It's worth buying if you are a RPG fan looking for something that isn't Final Fantasy.
Doki Doki School Hours Vol 2
Boys dressed up in drag, fad diets and where Mika-sensei gets all of her chocolates from the girls on Valentines Day. Yep, this is Doki Doki School Hours alright!
Age Rating: 13+
Company: Geneon
Genre: High School Comedy
Running Time: Approx 100 mins
Region: 1
More random escapades with Mika-sensei and Co! No leaf is left unturned with her wacky students, as they go through 'normal' Japanese school life! Picking up where the last volume left off, it's now the end of the summer holidays and everyone is back to school. Kobayashi, Suetake and Old Man have turned brown overnight and brag about their tans to the class. Watabe is looking more pasty white as no one bothered to even buy his masterpiece of a manga nicely named: Cat Girls In Space. Meanwhile Kitagawa and Kudo (The gay girl and boy) respectively go back to drooling over their idols of worship FTW! Looks like everything is back to normal then!
Schooltime quickly passes to Autumn and everyone is getting ready for the Culture Festival. Of course the class run through some ideas: Beauty contests (Kitagawa for Mika-sensei) Fortune Telling (Seki's great idea to touch the hands of girls) and a Mangathon (Watabe). But Mika-sensei decides on a typical class play of Snow White. Not to say the lead parts are as unconvential as always, with Kudo playing Snow White and his love Suetake playing the Prince! No wonder the girls from the other classes want to witness the gay duo! But it turns out to be better than last year at least! Watabe on the other hand, manages to save his Manga club (he is the only member) by recruting a first year named Nakayama who is crap at drawing.
Winter arrives eventually and everyone is thinking about Christmas presents! There's a party in Tomininga's Mansion and surprisingly the queen of put-downs invites everyone, including Mika-sensei! Seki isn't dressed up as a girl for once but loves himself anyway, as he dishes out the presents at the party. Kitagawa manages to torture Mika-sensei as usual, to get her to eat more chocolate and Kobayashi gets jealous of the two manga-ka geeks (Watabe and Nakayama) who seem to be more in love than she is with money! New Year's day arrives as well and Kitagawa goes to Mika-sensei's house especially to invite her out with everyone else. Mika's mother dresses her up in a kimino and Kitagawa mentions that she can help with untying Mika-sensei's kimono! ;)
The last episode on the DVD deals with Valtentine's day and all the usual gags are there: Kitagawa making home made chocolates for her favourite teacher, Kudo trying to give his chooclates to Suetake and Seki trying to get any at all! I likes this episode best as it has more Kitagawa moments that the rest!
The episodes are more varied than Vol 1, but the episodes I feel, were not as good! Still, it's an enjoyable ride to be part of Mika-sensei's class! The lack of Kitagawa will hopefully improve as well, I'm biased. ;) Thumbs up for the dub as well! It does the job!
DVD extras: Geneon Trailers, Textless and Original ending. Only the barebones I'm afraid!
Overall: 7.5/10
I'll end with the best quote from Seki: "Why settle for something sweet, when you can have something spicy!"
