Anime Review: Chibi vampire / Karin

English Title: Chibi Vampire
Japanese Title: カリン(Karin)

Basic Summary:
       Karin Marker comes from a family of vampires. However she has a rare condition among vampires, rather than sucking blood like most vampires do, she creates blood in her own body, and must discharge her excess blood by injecting it into someone else.

Plot:
        The story follows Karin Marker, who lives with her family. Her entire family consists of vampires: her mom, dad, younger sister, older brother, and herself. however unlike the est of her family she has to inject blood into people, or else the excess blood will come out in the form of a nosebleed (a pretty massive one at that o_o). that isn't the only difference, she is completely the opposite of a normal vampire, she's able to walk in sunlight, eat garlic and all that stuff, but she can't see in the dark like most vampires should be able to. Since she is basically the only family member in her house to use the lights in the house, she is forced to go to school like a regular human in order to pay for the electricity she uses for herself. It wasn't issue for her as she was able to deal with her excess blood normally. however, A new student transfers in, Kenta Usui. Whenever Karin is near him her blood starts generating at an extremely fast rate and forcing her into nosebleed mode (LOL). Kenta ends up finding out about her condition and decides to help her keep it under control, even though he's basically the cause of it. as the story progresses more and more issues appear, her family being concerned about Kenta knowing about her condition, a vampire hunter appearing in the school, and finding a solution to her excess blood making.

Personal Opinion:
       I had many a LOL with this, from the comical nosebleed design to all of the characters in general. there was a lot of "what-are-the-chances-of-that-happening" moments which kept the main character in a pinch all the time. I thought it was cool how each vampire in the story had a different "personality" of blood they like (example: stress, misfortune, jealously, lying) and by taking (injecting in Karin's case) their blood they suck away their bad personalities (STRESS BE GONE! *suck* O-o). Also, the vampire hunter had the most awesome name, Winner Sinclair, that's the kinda name that made me LOL everytime i heard it. the anime also had it's depressing moments, starts talking about how humans and vampires can't coexist and all that, but overall it was fun to watch.

Nosebleeds are embarrasing! IYAAAAAAAAAA~

Also, LOL flower petal blood!

Game Review: Burnout Paradise (PS3/PC/360)

Title: Burnout Paradise
Produced by: EA Games
ESRB rating: Everyone

Basic Summary:
       Race, Jump, Crash, Dodge, Run, Spin, Boost, Search, Drift. This is what Burnout Paradise is all about. Drive through the Paradise City, completing races and challenges, both offline and online.

Gameplay:
       Enter Paradise City, A relatively small city with lots of streets and plenty of sights. But of course this game isn't about the scenery, heck no. you'll be going too quick to pay attention to that. Once the game starts up, you go straight to picking the vehicle that you would like to use. after that, the city is yours to explore if you want. but of course just exploring isn't going to get you anywhere in this game. Pick from any of the games meny events that can accessed at every intersection in the game. No that isn't a joke, you literally go up to an intersection and rev your engine to start any of the games events. the game features a couple of different event types. other than races (of course, this IS a driving game after all), you can do stunt runs that involve collecting doing jumps, slides, and just about anything to rack up the score. Road rage events that involve knocking your opponents out by any means, from running them into a wall, to running them into traffic, and even land on top of them to take them out. Timed runs to one of the main locations of Paradise City, Burning routes that challenge your skill with each individual vehicle. Marked man events that will have you running from your opponents as long as possible. But that's not all, oh no. that's just for OFFLINE game play. online game play is completely different ballgame. enter the Freeburn Online mode, where up to 8 players total can join a game room that is hosted. So what do you do in Freeburn online? Everything you can do in offline, and more! complete the 500 online only missions that will challenge both you and the other players, work together to complete the challenges, or else you'll all fail! don't wanna work together? then start a race, or a road rage event, or a stunt run, at any time! the game features voice chat capabilities, so you can communicate with other players in the same room. What about unlockables? well, the game features 75 different vehicles that can be obtained by either finishing burning route challenges with specific cars, or just "shut them down" while driving around the city. either way, you'll get new vehicles instantly, and they can be accessed easily by going to the nearest Auto yard in game. If cars are not your thing, why not drive a motorcycle instead? there are plenty of bike-only challenges available as well. Search the city for hidden billboards and gates you can smash through, and hidden super jumps, finding all the billboards and gates and jumps can be quite the challenge, but you'll be rewarded for doing so. Utilize the three different types of boost available, each car in the game uses one of the three boost types: Speed boost for a one-time full shot of power, Stunt boost for sending you car soaring through the air longer and keeping you sliding longer, and the Agression boost, that gives extra power for taking down opponent cars and becomes stronger as you take down more opponents.

Graphics and Sound:
      The game features a lot of awesome looking scenery, from boosting through the city, to driving up and down the city's mountains, it's a very dynamic enviornment. the vehicles themselves are quite detailed as well, showing reflections and damages to the car are easily seen. the crashes are well detailed, you can see the parts of your car go flying off depending on the angle and force of your crash. the soundtrack is quite good, the games title song "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses sets the mood of the game quite well. the other music featured in the game covers a wide variety of genres, rock, pop, hip-hop, punk, emo, even classical music (never thought you'd be racing to Beethoven's symphony did you :P).

Difficulty: Average
      completing all the challenges (offline and online, cars and bikes) can take a LONG time to finish, finding all of the hidden billboards and gates can be hard at times, sometimes you'll find yourself trying to get the same billboard, only being able to hit it after a dozen tries at it. the online challenges can be more difficult, because not only do YOU have to do them, but the other players must do the same as well! try getting 7 other players to listen to you, good luck >_>;;

Personal Opinion:
      this game can be a load of fun, but it's missing quite a few things that could make it better. an offline spilt-screen co-op would've made game a lot more fun, but isn't available at all, instead you're given a turn-based offline party mode, which really isn't that fun because you don't get to select ANYTHING, the game does it for you, blah >_>. A personal issue of mine was the amount of time the game takes to show you things, starting an offline event you have wait for the whole "go to this location doing etc etc." dialog from the announcer, and even after you finish an event you have to wait for the "you win" stuff to go away, which is about 20 seconds. you can't skip the messages, you HAVE to wait for them to go away themselves. this game also uses a LOT of unrealistic physics, I mean hey I know it's not supposed to be real since it's a game, but come on i don't think tapping your handbrake sends your car INSTANTLY to a 180 degree turn... also you'll be easily surprised at how easy it is to wreck your car, even a slight contact with a traffic car can send you FLIPPING down the road. The bikes in this game..., first off NO BOOST FORA BIKE, really!? you don't think a motorcycle can boost EA? second, you don't even "see" the crashes while on a bike, you hit something, the screen blacks out for 3 seconds, that's it! anyways that's all the complaints I have for the game itself. dealing with players online is an issue sometimes, but that's not the games fault so i'm not talking about that :\.

the entire game map and all it's events, note that they're placed every single road intersection!

also you can't tell from this map, but the mountain roads on the left go REALLY HIGH UP!

"What's next? this challenge is complete." - DJ Atomica, in-game announcer

fun fact, DJ Atomica was also the in-game announcer of the SSX snowboarding series, and he was also an unlockable character in SSX 3!

Anime review: Asatte no Houkou

English Title: Direction of the Day After Tommorow
Japanese Title: あさっての方向(Asatte no Houkou)

Basic Summary:
      A 12 year old girl and a 24 year old woman switch ages after wishing for it using a wishing stone. However the stone dissolved shortly afterward.

Plot:
    The story begins with Karada Ioka, a young girl who makes a wish at a small shrine containing a stone known as the wishing stone. As she makes her wish, A woman appears nearby who after asking Karada what she was doing decided to make a wish as well. Hiro Ioka, Karada's brother appears shortly afterward, and to his surprise the woman was his girlfriend, Shouko Nogami, whom he promised to meet again, but couldn't because he had to take care of Karada after their parents died. That night on the same day the three of them met, when the moonlight hit the wishing stone in the shrine, Karada and and Shouko met up again by chance at the same place, however, they are now suddenly completely different in age. This is where the story begins. both of them now different in appearance and size, they now have to find a way to get back to their original ages, but the real problem is that no one recognizes either of them due to their different appearance, not even Hiro.

Personal Opinion:
      I watched this anime because the story caught my attention. it shows somewhat what would happen if two people in different age groups suddenly switched places. a young girl who wanted to be an adult so she could take care of herself, and a woman who wanted to be a child again so she can start a new life. however in their case it seemed like a good idea at the time, but when it actually happens it becomes more trouble than it's worth, suddenly becoming an adult without any education or job experience, or suddenly becoming a child and not being able to do certain things anymore. I've had the feeling of wanting to grow up faster, but as I grow older I realize that becoming an adult isn't just about age, it's about developing yourself, your future, your goals. and plus childhood is a time of being free from big worries like income, jobs and other responsibilities. This series was very touching, pretty sad at first but the end result was a happy ending :p

"this is the story of our summer..."

Image: Original background #1

here's a wallpaper i made a while back (also the background of this blog :P)
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg104/RocketZX/wallppr-1.jpg

Anime review: Letter Bee

English Title: Letter Bee
Japanese Title: テガミバチ,(Tegami Bachi)

Basic Summary:
        Letter Bee is the name given to those who make deliveries around the world of AmberGround. That may seem like an easy task but in a world that is in constant night and only lit up by an artificial sun, and large creatures called Gaichuu who inhabit the dark spots of the world it can be a dangerous task. Luckily the Letter Bees are armed with a Shindanjuu (english: Heart Bullet Gun) that uses a fragment of a person's heart to fire a magical bullet, and their "Dingo" that acts as their protection (not an actual dingo, that's just the terminology -.-;;).

Plot:
      The series follows a young boy, Lag Seeing, who a few years ago was left alone after his entire town was burned down and the people taken away to the Capital city. Gauche Suede, a Letter Bee from Yusari, was given the job of delivering him to his aunt. after being delivered, Lag had set his heart on becoming a Letter Bee to find his mother and to thank Gauche for saving him. At the age of 12 he is finally able to register as one. On his way to Yusari he meets a young girl who has the ability to use "Golden Swords" which allows her to use her hair as blade weapons. since she didn't have a name Lag gives her the name "Niche" and she decides to become Lag's "Dingo" and help him to become a Letter Bee. Arriving in Yusari he is one step closer to reaching his dream, but wait, it seems Gauche Suede is missing...

Personal Opinion:
     I found to be quite interesting, the character design is quite unique and well done. this series talks a lot about hearts. to a letter bee delivering a letter is like they're delivering a fragment of someone's heart to the receiver. the Shindanjuu weapons fire using the energy from their heart as well. the series does tend to be overemotional at times (so much that it's funny :P) and the main character seems to cry easily  (what do you expect he's 12! >_>;;). if you like good story plot with a lot of emotion then it's a good series, but if you're looking for something more adventurous then you may not like this series that much.

Game review: Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles (PSP)

Title: Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
Produced by: Konami
ESRB Rating: Teen

Basic summary:
        Another addition to the Castlevania game series. However a few might be disappointed to find out it isn't a sequel to the series but rather a remake of the PC-Engine game Chi no Rondo (english: Rondo of Blood).

Gameplay:
       This game follows the general gameplay of castlevania series games. sidescrolling, sub weapons, climbing stairs and clearing stages.  there are a few notable differences however, such as having not only a male playable character but also a female character. You can choose to play as the classic whip-wielding Richter Belmont, or the animal-summoning Maria Renard. the game also featured multiple stage routes that change depending on what boss you defeat at the end of the stage. The gameplay is exactly the same as the original, just rendered in 3D. that includes stages, characters/enemies and even the previously anime-style cutscenes are now in 3D. The only other minor difference is that you can obtain BGM CDs that allow you to listen to the game music outside of gameplay, and you are able to unlock classic castlevania games.

Classic games?:
     besides the main game mode "Dracula X Chronicles", you are able to unlock (not available at start just to clear that up!) two other games: the PC-Engine version of Rondo of Blood, and the PSX game Symphony of the Night, which takes place 4 years after Rondo of Blood. SoTN is the first game in the Castlevania series to implent a RPG-like game system (leveling up, equip items etc.) and unlike its predecessors, you were able to explore the areas freely. you play as Dracula's only(?) son Alucard (his name backwards LOLZ) who gave up his life of sin and decides to fight against his father. he is accompanied by Richter and Maria (who are playable in this game as well, just by entering their name on the name entry screen).

Graphics and Sound:
the the music and sound effects remain more-or-less the same as they were previously, the music of RoB was redone just to sound "better" and the voice acting (in all three games) have been redone (no What Is A Man dialog, google it :P)  and you are able to choose between English and Japanese language. the graphics of the original games remain the same however there is no widescreen setup for the classic games resulting in a "box" screen. this shouldn't make too much of a difference though, at least not to me :P

Difficulty: Hard
     Rondo of Blood is not an easy game by any means, but it is easy to get used to. since the design is based on the old style of castlevania, there are a lot of things that can be hard to get used to. you'll find that just "a few hits" can take just about half your life down, most of the time you'll only get 1 or 2 health refills! sometimes you'll find that it is EASY to get knocked into a hole on the floor, instantly killing you. Bosses are pretty hard when you first get to them, the key is memorizing what the boss will do.

personal opinion:
     I consider this game (RoB) to be the peak of castlevania gameplay. it introduced new mechanics such as backflips and slides, and proved to be the 2nd most challenging Castlevania game (1st being Castlevania 2: belmonts revenge). It also implemented a LOT of dialogue and storyline compared to previous games (before the GBA series of games). this game is quite challenging even to me. however i'm sure only "classic gamers" will appreciate this kind of gameplay, less and less sidescrolling games are being made, and the challenge of games has been going downhill quick. even the Castlevania series was not able to avoid this fate, with Dawn of Sorrow (DS) being the easiest castlevania game (in my opinion -.-;;) however i have not ventured further than DoS in the series, i hope i won't be disappointed...

welcome to my blog...

hello there welcome to my blog, i'm currently in the process of setting things up, but I should be good to go in the next couple of days. i will be using this blog mainly to post about games I am currently playing or Anime I am currently watching. i might have more content in the future such as music and novels that i have produced.

testing,,, 1 2 3 4 5