Population GO

Manga Review: Naruto - 630

tristtrist — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:00:19 -0700

With Naruto in recovery mode for awhile, the other shinobi attempted to buy some time. Was their attempt successful?

——

Kakashi and Obito’s time together filled quite a bit of the pages in this chapter. The discussion continued off of last weeks in regards to the whole that Kakashi believed Obito needed to have filled, and Obito’s reluctance to even count it as something essential. He seemed completely satisfied at making their ideal world come true thanks to this genjutsu world. Anything they imagined could be reality to them here.

I thought it was a compelling discussion and an easy way to get over their losses. However and unfortunately, it was all fake — essentially a genjutsu — that they were able to easily see through. They could believe it if they stayed with it long enough, but it wouldn’t replace the real Rin, or fill the void in their hearts. What could Kakashi do to get Obito to listen and stop dealing in these visual tricks?

Outside, Kishimoto displayed his usual talent for drawing excellent battle scenes. The environmental detail was stunning, with sound effects placed at just the right places to really convey a great sense of intensity, suspense, and even drama, bringing it all to life so well. Additionally, the facial images of the characters greatly enhanced the entire feeling of the scene. Their distress one panel to sheer excitement and calm planning at this tense and last minute moment looked quite believable in the space of a few pages.

At the end of the day, this was a solid to exceptionally amazing chapter. Kakashi’s statements about the many ideals that one should embody in the shinobi world such as valuing one’s comrades, trusting and believing in them, and remembering them, served as a great commentary over the large climactic action taking place. It was well done and Minato’s appearance served as an excellent way to prove the point he was trying to make. The next chapter is one to look out for in this war.

GO Rating: 4/5

[Weekly Shonen Jump 25]

Opening Your Day: Lassie’s Rescue Rangers “The one...

allenaoki — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:00:16 -0700

Opening Your Day: Lassie’s Rescue Rangers

“The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world…”

Closing Your Day: Not The Only Assassin In Town

allenaoki — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:00:14 -0700

Recap of Pop GO posts published on May 20, 2013.

Opening

Himitsu: Top Secret - The Revelation

News

Reviews

Segments

Anime Review: Flowers of Evil - 7

seedeeamm — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:00:11 -0700

A perfect blend of the weird plot, fantastic character development and impressive use of the rotoscoping technique make for the best episode of Flowers of Evil yet.

——

I knew this anime was good. Actually, I knew that it was going to be good even before it aired. Since I was familiar with the source material, I knew how good the story was, so nothing would have been able to shake my genuine interest in it. If you have been following my reviews of Flowers of Evil for the past seven weeks, you know that I have been giving it very good scores, but it hasn’t quite been able to push itself from the “great” point to the “amazing” point… Consider that point reached.

This episode starts with Saeki and Kasuga talking about their relationship and about where it is going. I consider this the “normal” part of the episode. Saeki is the stable part of Kasuga’s life. His relationship with her symbolizes what he desperately wants his life to be. He wants to have a nice, normal, loving wife and a calm life to go with it. Like I’ve said before, I think they are really cute together and I think they really could make a good couple if everything is normal… But, everything is not normal.

The relationship between Nakamura and Kasuga symbolizes the “deviant” side of Kasuga. Even though he desperately wants to have that relationship with Saeki, there is something inside of him that does not let him. Nakamura brings out what she has always seen in Kasuga: the weirdo, the freak, the deviant. It is hard to tell what relationship I like more in this anime. The cookie-cutter relationship between Saeki and Kasuga, or the the f***ed-up relationship between Nakamura and Kasuga.

Speaking of Kasuga, boy does he do a 180 in this episode. He finally admits to Nakamura that he really is a screwed up deviant and when he does, it is glorious. This scene uses the rotoscoping technique almost perfectly, as paint flies and Nakamura dances. This is truly a defining moment for the anime.

Al in all, this is the episode I always knew Flowers of Evil could deliver. To keep a long story short, it is my favourite episode of the series so far and one that should not be missed.

GO Rating: 5/5

Weekend Box Office Estimates

m-paoword — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:11 -0700

Here are your top five films for the weekend of May 17th-19th:

Star Trek Into Darkness - $75.6M (Opening Weekend) = $84,091,000 4-Day Total - ($190M production budget)
Iron Man 3 - $35.2M = $337,073,000 17-Day Total - ($200M production budget)
The Great Gatsby - $23.4M = $90,159,000 10-Day Total - ($105M production budget)
Pain & Gain - $3.1M = $46,574,000 24-Day Total - ($26M production budget)
The Croods - $2.8M = $176.750,000 59-Day Total - ($135M production budget)

After dominating the box office for the past two weekends, Iron Man 3 was finally outdone by a newcomer in the form of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek sequel, Into Darkness. The sequel debuted to great $70.5 million, numbers similar to its predecessor’s debut four years ago. Factoring in its four-day start, the film has brought in a total of $84 million and still has a ways to go to make up its $190 million production budget.

——

Dropping down to number two is the aforementioned Iron Man 3. The third of the Iron Man films, it brought it over $35 million in its third weekend at the box office to become the highest grossing Iron Man film to date, with a 17-day domestic total of over $337 million. It has also become the 16th film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.

Falling to third is Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The latest adaptation of the novel saw it take in over $23 million in its second weekend at the box office to bring up its 10-day domestic total to over $90 million, $15 million shy of matching its $105 million production budget.

Staying steady at 4th is Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain. The director’s smallest film to date has thus far proven to be just as successful as his other, more notable films, taking in another $3.1 million to bring up its domestic total to over $46 million on a $26 million production budget.

Rounding out the top five is the return of DreamWorks Animaton’s The Croods. After dropping out of the top five last week, the pre-historic family narrowly edged out 42 to find itself in the top five once again for the eighth time in nine weeks.

Here’s how the rest of the top 10 play out:

6. 42 - $2.7M = $88,375,000 38-Day Total - ($40M production budget)
7. Obliviion - $2.2M = $85,500,000 31-Day Total - ($120M production budget)
8. Mud - $2.2M = $11,588,000 24-Day Total - (production budget n/a)
9. Tyler Perry Presents Peeples - $2.2M = $7,858,000 10-Day Total - ($15M production budget)
10. The Big Wedding - $1.1M = $20,198,000 17-Day Total - ($35M production budget)

[BoxOfficeMojo]

Batman Meets Bad Guys In The Official “Arkham...

hagood — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:08:00 -0700

Batman Meets Bad Guys In The Official “Arkham Origins” Trailer

Remember that teaser for the Batman: Arkham Origins trailer last week? The full trailer has landed — and Batman has moves. This official trailer shows him taking down criminals and escaping an explosion, only to have two villains appear wanting to take him down.

And if just watching villain Deathstroke in action isn’t enough, Warner Bros. has confirmed that Deathstroke will be a playable character in the game’s challenge mode, with special skins and maps for him if you pre-order.

Batman: Arkham Origins comes out for PC, Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii U on October 25.

[YouTube, Joystiq]

——

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Manga Review: Shokugeki no Soma - 23

tristtrist — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:14 -0700

Tadokoro is on the hotseat this arc. Can she outwit, outrun, outlast?

——

This battle started off good. Doujima instituted the rule in order to get Souma to understand what has been happening. That is, most people have started to realize that he has been the one to really save all these various people and groups out of their odd situations. Megumi has already been helped once, and the Don Research Society was helped as well too. Did any of these people learn anything from their victories? It didn’t seem to be the case. In fact, for Megumi, it was if it just delayed the inevitable and affirmed her many failings, or rather, her lack of confidence. With this, her as the lead cook.

I thought this chapter would be pretty dull as it would solely focus on the weakest link of the cast, Tadokoro, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case. The mix of comedy here presented by Inui and Shinomiya and the others, on top of some stress relief provided by Soma, managed to really keep it from feeling like an utter bore. In fact, the way the story was written made it feel more focused on Soma and showed us his great confidence and growth. He ended up with two great panels there including his usual stance of whipping out the cloth to wrap around his head.

What type of dish can she make? Im hoping it will be something relatively simple but a bit more polished and delicious than her previous Onigiri of the past. Shinomiya is putting forth one of his signature French dishes, so it may be hard for her to prepare something to compare with that cuisine. Then again, no matter what she makes, I have to wonder if Inui and the others will grade them more leniently than they would the alumnus, Shinomiya.

It almost feels silly to try to imagine a world in which they would end up losing in such a match, In fact, it would really go against so many things in the manga if they lost this Shokugeki and were expelled. This is supposed to be the year that everyone that entered from Polar Star would pass, and additionally, Soma still has his future goal of gaining a seat on the ten. In any event, this was a fun yet fast to read chapter. The next chapter will be interesting to see, and additionally, what kind of visual flare will the artist give to all the characters standing around?

GO Rating: 4/5

[Casanovascans]

Anime Review: Chihayafuru 2 - 18 & 19

sorrowsneptune — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:00:00 -0700

“Haha, Misuzawa is totally going to lose this.”

——

Episode 18

The first two minutes of the episode before the OP (which were also the last two minutes of episode 17) were pretty cheesy. Having all four of the losing members of team Misuzawa coincidentally stand up at the same time, with their chests “burning like magma,” was just hilariously hammy, even compared to the melodrama that Chihayafuru normally employs. (Not that Chihayafuru’s melodrama is usually funny.) Aside from that, though, this was a stellar mid-match episode.

The tension continues to rack up as the match progresses, and it becomes clearer that at this point Misuzawa is hinging on a last-minute comeback from Yuusei and Taichi if they have any hope of winning. Despite the enthusiasm that Misuzawa shows, there’s a strong sense that they really don’t have any chance of winning.

Akihiro’s loss is perhaps the most poignant; throughout the match he had the sense that he at least had a chance of winning, and given his status as a Class D player (though his skills are more akin to a Class C player), he came remarkably close with his opponent only having a seven-card lead. But by the end of the match, it becomes eminent to him that the guy was just toying with him. Of course he doesn’t seriously play karuta while making anime poses, he was just doing that to screw around with Akihiro since there was such a big difference in skill to begin with.

Even Taichi can barely keep up with the leader of Fujisaki, having to imagine himself as a student keeping up against his sensei.

The only person who is sure to win is Chihaya, and that’s only because she got pitted against someone who wasn’t fully prepared at playing a high-stakes game under pressure. Rion is freaked out by the prospect of playing against someone with an equally good game sense, and therein shows that despite having potential to become the Queen, she’s a Class B player for a reason.

There’s a scene which briefly goes over Shinobu’s childhood, which is awfully telling about why she is how she is. Since she would go too soft on opponents that were the same age as her, her karuta mentors would always pit her against older players; since she’s naturally introverted to begin with and didn’t really have anything, she could do with children outside of her karuta hobby, her social awkwardness was fostered and adults clearly never did anything about it.

Curiously, she thinks to herself that team karuta has nothing to do with her, and that “nobody would ever take me seriously.” You figure she’d have more confidence in what others think of her given that she’s the Queen, but I suppose that’s just kind of how someone would be after years of alienation.

GO Rating: 4/5

——

Episode 19

THEY DID IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!

I honestly didn’t think Misuzawa was going to win, but really I need to stop trying to predict what’ll go down in this show. The beauty of Chihayafuru as a sports anime is that you never know whether they’re going to win or lose in a given match, making it all the more exciting when Misuzawa wins a close match.

As soon as the orchestral music started playing when Chihaya won her match, the whole remainder of the match just became utterly engrossing, especially with those quick outbursts of enthusiasm from Taichi to show how pumped up he was.

The episode in general as all about Taichi, giving a climax to his personal story arc. For the longest time, he’s been trudging through a minority complex, thinking that he’s not good enough for anything, and the fact that he’s been stuck in Class B for a year or has never won a luck of the draw has only reinforced that notion. You could say he simply won because he got lucky, but at the very least on a metaphoric level, Taichi won because he finally decided to just have confidence in his own ability.

Something that struck me was when he pointed out how after the match, there’s no guarantee that they’re going to make it to the finals next year. Thus they have to treat the match as a now or never situation and give it all they’ve got.

I had doubts whether the writers would actually go there, but I was hoping they would win the match; if the third season puts any focus on the team tournaments again, then it should seem a lot less like a repeat of this season when Misuzawa are coming back as the champions.

GO Rating: 4.5/5

Games of the Week: A Big Ape On A Small Screen

pewpewreviews — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:00:07 -0700

[via]

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (3DS): This week of re-releases is highlighted by the big ape himself: Donkey Kong. Previously released on Wii, Retro Games’ revitalization of Donkey Kong Country is brought to the 3DS with new power-ups, levels, a local multiplayer mode, and 3D, of course.

Resident Evil: Revelations (PS3, 360, Wii U, PC): The best recent game in the Resident Evil series gets a port from the 3DS. With improved visuals, an additional difficulty, and improvements to “Raid” mode, a whole new audience of gamers gets to see why it captivated portable gamers last year.

Other Games:

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (PS3, 360, PC)
Sniper Elite V2 (Wii U)
Worms Collection (PS3, 360)

[GameFAQs]

Anime Review: A Certain Scientific Railgun S - 6

ayaaai — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:00:05 -0700

Well, f***. That’s going to be a problem, isn’t it?

––––

Who else thinks Accelerator’s esper power was overpowered? Because it is incredibly unfair to have the ability to manipulate ALL VECTORS. In case you don’t remember from high school physics (or if you’re too young to have taken it yet) a vector is something that has both magnitude and direction. So velocity is a vector. So is light. And electricity. And pretty much anything and everything that can move or can be moved. So you can see why this is stupid, right? And get this, his ability is only one part of why he makes such a good villain. He’s got that crazy power complex as well as the slimy persona that all good bad guys have. The result? The unsympathetic antagonist with a dogmatic obsession to be the best esper to ever live. It’s actually a little unsettling just how easy it is to hate the guy, but then it’s just as hard to justify a guy who can kill clones simply because they are clone-able.

It’s been a while since I’ve read the manga so I completely forgot that this story arc deals with some really heavy stuff. Just off the top of my head, the biggest one would have to be the morality of killing other living things to advance science, regardless of their origin. And then there’s the morality of cloning as practice in general. Also the philosophical conundrum of what constitutes humanity. I dunno man - this is some serious stuff to base a series about a bubbly middle schooler on. It doesn’t even really tackle any of these directly; the show just kinda mentions and then drops them or doesn’t reach any conclusion with them. It just makes these nebulous issues less immediate and real though that probably has to do with the fact that Misaka doesn’t seem phased by them. I mean, relative to the fact that any other person would have gone insane getting the same information. If anyone else found out that they had a literal army of sociopathic clones whose sole purpose were to be used as lab rats for fame and profit, I’m pretty sure you’d put a gun to your head.

This episode was really the darkest one in this series to date. There were a few glimmers of not-so-terrible stuff, but it’s just a drop in the bucket of soul crushing existential crap that was the other 20 minutes of the show. I’m not even sure if I mean that as a compliment or a critique yet. Give me a couple days to reevaluate my life and I’ll get back to you.

GO Rating: 3.5/5

Jonathan Rhys Meyers In Talks For "Star Wars: Episode VII"

elitist-movie-snob — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:45:08 -0700

[via]

There’s news today that Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Velvet Goldmine) is in talks for an undisclosed role in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII.

El Mayimbe over at Latino Review broke the scoop, and he has a pretty good track record with breaking casting news. Let the speculation begin on what role he’ll be playing, but if it’s true, my money’s on Jacen Solo (if they even go down that road).

[Latino Review]

——

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"Assassin's Creed" Film To Open Memorial Day 2015

elitist-movie-snob — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:28:07 -0700

Coming Soon is reporting that the long rumored film version of the popular Assassin’s Creed video game is due to hit theaters two years from this weekend.

No director has been announced, but the film will star Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class) in the lead role of Desmond Miles, and the script is being written by British playwright Michael Lesslie.

[ComingSoon]

——

Featured: Top 5 Kyoto Animation Anime
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First Peek At The PlayStation 4 Sony released their first...

allenaoki — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:51:00 -0700

First Peek At The PlayStation 4

Sony released their first exclusive teaser trailer for their upcoming next-gen console. The 39-second teaser flashes bits and pieces of the hardware, but like a true teaser, it’s still difficult to put together a full picture.

An entire reveal of the PlayStation 4 (you’ll actually get to see it this time) will be had at Sony’s press conference at this year’s E3 on June 10.

Is it a coincidence that Sony sent out a teaser a day before Microsoft officially announces their next-gen console? I think not.

[sonyplaystation YouTube]

——

Featured: Top 5 Kyoto Animation Anime
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Opening Your Day: Himitsu: Top Secret - The Revelation Strive...

umop-episdn — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:00:29 -0700

Opening Your Day: Himitsu: Top Secret - The Revelation

Strive for good memories. Who knows when anyone can scan them postmortem.

Closing Your Day: Eats Historical

umop-episdn — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:00:00 -0700

Recap of Pop Go posts published on May 19, 2013.

Opening

Oz The Great and Powerful

News

Follow Memory Hunter Nilin Through A New “Remember Me” Trailer

Reviews

Anime Review: The Devil is a Part-Timer! - 6 & 7

ayaaai — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:00:25 -0700

I feel sorry for that slab of cow meat. It’s always tough being the first to go.

––––

I’ve gotta say, I’m really glad the comedic aspect of the show is back in the forefront; it was sorely missed. It never really left, but now it’s back in full effect which makes me very, very happy. But along with this change has come the more standard approach of most shows to layer in secondary genres over the overarching one: action scenes intermittently placed between huge chunks of funny. Not exactly the “refreshing take” on multi-genre anime that I effused upon in the spotlight, but at least Part-timer! holds up well. The great thing is that these action-breaks, for lack of a better term, are playing second fiddle to the gags and jokes, a very interesting set-up for any medium. So while the whole thing about sectioning off a different genre per episode is gone, I’d still say Part-timer! is unusual is because of this comedy-action set up, versus an action-comedy one.

In fact, I think it’s fair to say this is one of the better put together shows this season. There’re many things this anime is doing right, but for me the greatest achievement is that Part-timer! plays the audience really well. I can only speak from my own experience, but when the show wants to make the viewer laugh, I laugh. When a fight’s about to break out, I’m zeroing in on that too. This show dictates the emotional point of the audience in a way that you’d expect from a drama or something more serious. The pacing and timing of everything, from the punchlines to the tempo of the fights makes it really easy to get sucked into this show and its story.

The story itself seems to be meandering a bit, as any gag anime would. Not unusual nor a gripe, but it is worth noting, especially with developments like Emilia’s “mysterious” assailant and Suzuno with her outdated Japanese. These really are the only two real developments in the plot over these two episodes. Maybe two of three, if you count Suzuno making a move on Sado a major event. Everything else as far as I can see was filler, including the visit to the not so forbidden Forbidden Classroom. Really, the only thing the sluggish pace of the story does is put more pressure on the characters to perform and everyone in this show is doing a phenomenal job of it. One of the most entertaining and my personal favorites is Chiho’s reaction to the homemade bento. Or Emilia’s to the prank call at work. Or the landlady’s photograph. Actually, this entire show is just one gif-able moment after another. Part-timer! is the actual motherlode for reaction gifs. I’d check the tumblr tags to see if I’m right, but I’m honestly a bit wary of them; I’ve learned to fear that particular behemoth.

Basically, Part-timer! is holding up well into the middle of the season, which is where a lot of shows start sagging. When did that become the norm and why can’t we have more of these shows?

GO Rating (average): 4/5

Manga Review: Nobunaga no Chef

mangarecommendations — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:00:24 -0700

Ken and two other Japanese chefs get thrown back into past and arrive in the Sengoku Era (the Warring States Period; 1467-1573). Almost immediately, Ken’s presumed co-workers are killed by soldiers. The only survivor, Ken, is rescued by a female blacksmith, Natsu.

Upon arriving in the Sengoku Era, Ken lost almost all of his memories; the only thing he retained was his knowledge of cooking. To repay Natsu’s kindness, Ken does the only thing he knows how: cook. After seven months of cooking, Ken attracts the attention of a pivotal figure of the era, Oda Nobunaga.

——

An explanation of Honzen Cuisine.

After being forced to be Nobunaga’s head chef, Ken is burdened with the condition that he is not to make the same meal twice. This gives way for the tone of the manga. Although a variety of different situations arise, they’re generally the formula of Nobunaga making unreasonable demands of Ken and Ken fulfilling them. However, don’t misunderstand the formula of the series — there are some parts where I thought that Ken would fail and that the only way for Ken to survive is to call upon a debt Nobunaga owes him. The situations that Ken finds himself in accurately follow the history of Nobunaga as he attempts to unite Japan.

In each situation that Ken cooks, explanations are provided to the details of each dish; the information of each dish contains anything from preparation methods to cultural background. Naturally, being in the past limits Ken from common ingredients taken for granted today such as soy sauce, butter, and mayonnaise. However, Ken’s ingenuity allows for him to create creative substitutes for these, as seen below. Ken’s creativity with food is what allows him to survive in the Warring States Period where a single mistake will not only invite danger from enemies, but from Nobunaga as well.

Ken’s use of Miso to create the taste of Soy Sauce.

Just as any historical work should, Nobunaga no Chef contains numerous historical characters. Besides closely following Nobunaga, the plot also loosely follows other majors powers such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Akechi Mitsuhide, and Mori Yoshinari. Although Nobunaga is the main focus, each other historical figure provides insight of the situation surrounding Nobunaga. It is important to note that the writer, Nishimura-sensei, lists his historical sources for the manga at the end of each chapter. I cannot read Japanese, but I would like to think that it is safe to assume that the manga is historically correct.

This manga truly shines in its immense historical and culinary knowledge. Although there are numerous manga that delve deeper into culinary, this manga shows situations not normally encountered in culinary manga. Often Ken has to use substitutions in his recipes; unfortunately, this key aspect of cooking is often overlooked. Additionally, there are very few manga that I have encountered that list their historical resources. This adds an element of truth to the manga, which is also often lacking in historical manga.

I highly enjoy Nobunaga no Chef. Although it has less chapters released than manga I usually review, enough has been released to see that this manga is special. Having modern people sent back to the past is a generic if not cliche trope. However, Nobunaga no Chef provides an interesting twist to the trope by having a character who lost his memories yet is not completely useless. Additionally, this manga combines two genres, cooking and historical, which I have never seen used together before.

GO Rating: 4/5

[Mangafox.me]

Anime Review: Karneval - 7

seedeeamm — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:00:25 -0700

Yup. That is just what Karneval needed… A filler episode!

——

I was debating with myself for a while as to whether or not I should call this episode “filler” or not. By calling an episode a “filler” episode, you are implying that there is a break in the overall plot of a series and this need to fill this empty hole… You are inadvertently implying that a series has a plot. This is where I ran into trouble. Since there really is no plot to speak of in Karneval, should I call this episode filler or not? Well, since this episode broke from the “momentum” that was created from the last few episodes, I decided that the title of “filler” would be appropriate. That being said, this series is still horrid.

As I have said, there is no plot in this episode. The members of Circus are putting on a, well… circus, to apologize for making a disturbance while conducting their business. Whilst this is happening, one of their “robot bunny servants” goes haywire and they must stop it OR THE UNTHINKABLE WILL HAPPEN… Not really. I actually don’t know what would happen if he was left unfixed. When they find him, he is preoccupied with fighting against “bad” people…What a monster. Eh, this whole premise is dumb. I was not at all impressed and was very bored by the whole thing.

I am not going to spend another post bitching about how bad the entire cast of this show is. If you are interested in the annoying and stupidly naive Nai, the easily enraged and dull as a board Gareki, and the rest of the a**hole male leads of Circus, good for you. Whenever any of these characters open their mouths, I feel the need to quickly put a piece of tape over their mouths. I do not like them, and at this point in the game, I am not sure if they will be able to change my mind about them.

There is, however, one saving grace amongst this cast of morons, and that is the lovely Tsukumo. She is still calculating, sarcastic, and has the best biting wit I have seen in an anime character in a long, long, time. Even after she almost drowns in a tube of water, she shakes it off and says that it was her fault! What a badass!! She is one of my favorite characters of this entire season!

All in all, I am sick and tired of almost all the aspects of Karneval. Thankfully, at least Tsukumo can keep this show interesting at time. Unfortunately, this show is very much weighed down by a non-existent plot and horrid characters. *sigh* I guess I will just wait until next week… And suffer again.

Go Rating: 1.5/5

Follow Memory Hunter Nilin Through A New “Remember...

hagood — Sun, 19 May 2013 12:00:00 -0700

Follow Memory Hunter Nilin Through A New “Remember Me” Trailer

The latest trailer for Dontnod’s and Capcom’s Remember Me dives into protagonist Nilin’s personal story. When she awakens without memories, the voice of a man named Edge offers direction: he tells Nilin that she’s a memory hunter who can not only “pillage” memories, but actually “remix” them. And her task is to go after the enemy, the corporation called Memorize that stole her memories in the first place.

Watch the trailer for gameplay footage and shots of the futuristic game setting, Neo Paris. Remember Me will let you rewrite characters’ histories when it comes out June 4 in North American and June 7 in Europe on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

[YouTube, Screen Crush]

——

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Anime Review: Valvrave the Liberator - 6

sjakim — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:00:09 -0700

Well, their secret didn’t last long. They did what? Ekistics?! Sounds naughty!

——

Uh, scratch that. Saki’s not as deep and level-headed as I originally thought. Or assumed. Man, I got to stop expecting things because I’ve been thrown into a space whirlwind each time I felt a pang of disappointment. But I have a legitimate gripe with this episode because Saki’s reasoning is not really sound, and I almost felt offended watching her human resignation develop.

To her defense, I don’t understand, or have, idol problems, fame problems, existential teenage girl problems and girl problems in general. But I do know some people who are generally attention whores and would do anything to feel invincible. Despite some pressure that freezes her in a galactic battle for peace, she somehow manages to pull through with tricks she magically realized against war veterans. And the power of friendship and fanfare does its thing again. Only in anime can this ever happen so flawlessly!

Really, I can care less about the relationships in this series. None of it has much validity and if there is something — I’m looking at you, Shoko and Haruto — they just get super awkward when it comes down to the nitty gritty. (Okay, I give them credit for having the most natural relationship out of any other pair.) I guess I don’t understand why every girl is developing a crush on the spineless hero, but I guess that second word is all that matters to warrant his popularity.

And L-elf being L-elf in just hiding out in enemy grounds, performing experiments and observing like the super spy that he’s limiting himself to be. Very exciting…

GO Rating: 2.5/5

Now we have two vampires that can transfer bodies… But I don’t want to know what Saki experimented with as a boy.