Book Review: Deadman Wonderland Vol. 3

Review:  #794
Title:  Deadman Wonderland Vol. 3
Series:  Deadman Wonderland - 3rd volume
Author:  Jinsei Kataoka & Kazuma Kondou
Comments:  We get to see the world of Deadman Wonderland being more and more twisted.  This volume introduces a new character, who seems sweet at first and could be Ganta’s new love interest but as with all things in this prison, there is a twist.  There’s a lot of teasing involved with the Warden of the facility and their aims, as well as Ganta and Shiro’s past.  It is still shrouded in mystery but Ganta is slowly remembering Shiro as a childhood friend.  There are some awkward scene transitions though depicting a completely different part of the facility compared to before, which feels jarring.  Ganta himself is proving to be the nice guy which can feel predictable and naïve if he is to survive in this cruel world.
Rating:  6.5/10

Toy Review: Transformers Generations Power of the Primes Razorclaw (Voyager)

Review:  #472
Name:  Razorclaw
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Decepticon
Line:  Generations - Power of the Primes
Year of Release:  2018
Size Class:  Voyager
Mold Status:  new

BEAST MODE:

For the flagship Titan Class toy of the Power of the Primes line comes with an update of Razorclaw who transforms into a mechanical lion.

The lion looks pretty good but the way the robot feet just sticks out the back seems messy.

Razorclaw is approximately Voyager sized, but in reality, he is much heavier and bulkier than a standard Voyager (above is Generations Titans Return Optimus for comparison).

The robot mode weapon can attach on top of the back and isn't too obtrusive there.

The jaw of the lion can open and close.  You have to put a few stickers on the figure to spice up the details on the back and side.

Razorclaw is basically an upsize of the original toy, plus some additional benefits from using contemporary design tricks.  The figure still feels dated somewhat being very blocky and simple.  The lion mode is extremely static, you won't get many poses out of him.

Despite not being that playable, the lion mode still looks great with its combination of gold, black, yellow and orange.

TRANSFORMATION:

As mentioned, Razorclaw has a G1 feel to him being that he has a simple transformation and very blocky parts.  The front legs become the robot arms, the lion head rotates and sits on the back to form the robot torso.  The most interesting part is the hind legs and the back portion of the lion's torso combining to form the robot legs.

ROBOT MODE:

Razorclaw's robot mode looks good but stocky, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your tastes.

He doesn't carry a lot of kibble, he only has a small piece on his back.  This is a streamlined robot and is impressive considering he is part of a combiner.

The headsculpt, while simple, perfectly captures the character and looks great!

He is taller than your average Voyager and is retains his bulkiness.  Despite some of the hollow limbs, this is a solid toy, there are no complaints here.

The lion's head can open up to reveal a Matrix.

The Matrix itself is detachable and you can slot any Titan Master or Prime Master as its core.

The figure comes with Onyx Prime.  Nothing much to say except that it is your standard Prime Master affair.  Apart from the Matrix, there's no other way for Onyx to interact with the Razorclaw or the rest of the set.

Poseability is good.  All the joints are hinged, swivels or pins which helps the figure feel stable.

The large feel helps with the posing.  He has joints for his neck, shoulders, elbows, hips and knees.  He doesn't have a waist swivel due to transformation requirements.

Razorclaw's weapon is a large three barreled gun.

The gun pegs into his hand and looks nice, although a tad bit oversized.

Yes, Razorclaw has a large torso and what looks like short stubby arms, this is what makes him reminiscent of the G1 toy.  A nice robot mode and the one in the set that's the least compromised.

OVERALL:

Razorclaw is easily the best standalone figure in the set since he is also the one that is least compromised in order to be a combiner piece.  Both modes looks awesome and feels solid in your hands.

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Book Review: Pandora Hearts Volume 24

Review:  #793
Title:  Pandora Hearts Volume 24
Series:  Pandora Hearts - 24th and final volume
Author:  Jun Mochizuki
Comments:  While it was a confusing journey from start to finish, the ending was satisfying.  This is the longest volume and plenty of things happen.  Throughout it all, you know that things will turn out okay but the question is how?  You wonder what would happen to Jack and Oz, to Gilbert, to Alice, and all the other characters.  It takes a while before the main event happens since it had to sort out the conflict between Oz and Leo, but once they have resolved their issue, all attention it put towards the core of the Abyss.  The ending is fully fleshed out and doesn’t feel rushed, although it is a tad bit clichéd.
Rating:  6.5/10

Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk is a war film that depicts the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II.  It stars an ensemble cast and switched between multiple viewpoints from a soldier on the beach waiting for evacuation, a fighter pilot and a civilian on route to help withdraw the soldiers.  The film begins throwing you into the deep end with no introduction and it takes a short while for you to get your bearings and understand what is going on.  The film has a slow pace but keeps up a suspenseful atmosphere.  It does a great job at pushing the fact that during this process, the helplessness you feel as not knowing if you will survive, and even if you managed to get onto an evacuation ship, there is no guarantee that it will not be sunk by the enemy.  There are plenty of hopeless moments to that point where you feel if you were in the soldiers' shoes, how you would cope with the heavy amount of stress and despair.  Dunkirk doesn't glorify the actions of war, rather, it focuses more on the emotional aspect and for that, it succeeds.

My Hero Academia - Season 1 (2016)

My Hero Academia is based on the manga and the first season has 13 episodes.  It is set in a world where 80% of the population have superpowers called Quirks.  They are born with the innate ability and thus it leads to a world where supervillains, and by extension, superheroes, are actual professions.  Even though nearly everyone has superpowers, only a few of them use it to their full potential and protect the public.  Quirks can be literally anything, from typical ones like size shifting and super strength to unorthodox ones like the abilities of a frog and something as vague as "headphone jack".

The series follows Midoriya Izuku, otherwise known as Deku.  He adores superheroes, particularly the undisputed strongest and most heroic of all, All Might.  Unfortunately for him, he is one of the rare cases with no Quirk at all, despite having parents that do.  As a result, his heroic dreams have stumbled upon a major roadblock and cause him to be the target of severe bullying as being Quirkless is seen as inferior.  Deku is timid but thanks to his obsession with superheroes, he is quite knowledgeable about their powers and techniques.  Having written his own notes on the subject, he uses this to his advantage during battles, analyzing and then surprises his opponents who had underestimated him.

Through a few chance meetings, Deku meets his hero All Might and thanks to a few words of inspirations (although not in the way that you would expect), Deku trains vigorously in the hope to enter the most prestigious hero school there is:  U.A. High School.  There's a lot more behind All Might than he lets on to the public.  His abilities, personality and other aspects are eventually explored.

The other major character is Bakugo, who is immediately introduced as the bully of Deku.  He has a powerful Quirk, even acknowledged by professional superheroes.  Bakugo can create explosions and he aims to enter U.A. as well.  Bakugo never gets any better, in fact, he acts pretty much like a villain more than the hero he aspires.  He hates Deku (irrationally at times), and has a superiority complex.  While he acts as Deku's rival, there is nothing redeemable about Bakugo other than his strength.

Naturally, Deku manages to get into U.A. High School and that is where the story truly starts as it chronicles Deku's struggles against powerful students who already had their Quirks from when they were born and able to use it creatively.  Deku, on the other hand, has to work extremely hard in order to achieve a result that is even remotely close to them.  Deku is at a huge disadvantage since he effectively becomes incapacitated afterwards.  This keeps you interested to see his thought process on when to fight or when to keep his strength so that he doesn't become a burden on everyone else.

However, this is what makes the series so good and addictive.  Deku is an all round nice guy that you can get behind.  Never mind his timid nature and tendency to cry in the beginning.  You hate that people look down on Deku and so when he actually defies their expectations and succeeds, that's where the series shines the most.  My Hero Academia has a comedic take and many characters are not what you expect based on their appearances alone.  It can go fro serious to humorous in the span of a second.  There are also some adrenaline pumping scenes where you cheer for Deku.  It likes to play with superhero archetypes but then throws something unexpected along the way.

While the main character is no doubt Deku, it knows when to stop and focus on other supporting characters which allows it to be a lot more interesting.  The season builds up to an epic ending where it spans five episodes with a big fight and finally showcasing each of the student's abilities in more detail.  Throughout most of the season, it is hard to keep track of whom was whom, especially when their costumes makes it even harder to remember and connect it to their normal appearances.

It is appreciated when we get to see Deku's classmates, the proper elite students, use their abilities inventively.  Despite their power though, it hammers home the point that they are all inexperienced and even though they are full of raw potential, the proper heroes still have their place and are levels above them.  Overall, My Hero Academia really knows how to touch your buttons with powerful intense moments and scenes that make you cheer for Deku and All Might.  It had a great ending and makes you really excited for the second season.

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Book Review: Pandora Hearts Volume 23

Review:  #792
Title:  Pandora Hearts Volume 23
Series:  Pandora Hearts - 23rd volume
Author:  Jun Mochizuki
Comments:  The characters are all fighting within Sablier, and Glen goes back to the past in order to rewrite it.  The volume focuses a lot on Echo, and her various personas, as well as the love triangle between her, Ada and Vincent (which is fairly weak but still sad).  There remains a lot of confusing elements on the turmoil within Echo, and how all the characters’ fates bind together when it tries to show up via flashbacks.  Despite that, it still manages to draw you in and wanting to find out how the ending is going to be, ending on a cliffhanger.  At least Oz displays considerable power and it looks like he is able to hold his own without help from other characters.
Rating:  6.5/10

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (PS4)

Final Fantasy XII:  The Zodiac Age is the 12th game in the mainline Final Fantasy series, originally for the PS2.  This game is a remaster of the International Version of the original game which had tweaks to the combat system.  The Zodiac Age remasters the game to HD resolution and a rearranged soundtrack.  In addition to the 2x speed which was already helpful in exploration and grinding, you can now play the game at 4x speed.

The game encourages exploration with huge expansive areas.  However, these are all segmented into small maps separated by a very short loading screen (which doubles up as an auto-save).  The loading screens while annoying, are at least brief enough that it doesn't impact the gameplay too much.  You can use these loading screens to your advantage such as running away from enemies who are chasing you and respawning treasure chests.

The minimap is fairly zoomed in so you're more than likely to pull up the full map and overlay it during gameplay.  It's not the ideal situation since the overlay takes up so much screen estate and the minimap is still there in the top right corner.  That being said, the minimap shows enemy and NPC locations so it tells different information compared to the overlay map.  It gets distracting somewhat though and you fall into the trap of just following the arrow on the map instead of truly looking at the world and appreciating the detail that has gone into it.

For the first time in a mainline single-player Final Fantasy game, there is no separate screen for battles to take place.  The game uses the Active Dimension Battle system with enemies roaming the environment.  You select an action, and after a bar charges the character execute it.  You can set the charge time to be slow or fast depending on your preference.  As your party can consist of up to  three characters plus a guest character and battles happening in real time, the Gambit System comes into play.

Instead of the developer scripting AI behavior, the freedom is given to the player instead.  You are given a set of parameters to use in simple "If... Then..." statements, with the ability to purchase more parameters from in-game shops.  For example, you can set your healer with the command "If Ally less than 50% health Then cast cure" which helps in automatically keeping your party members alive.

You can set priorities for each Gambit as well.  However, if you do not set them up properly, you may cause weird behaviors for your characters in which they might do one action in an infinite loop.  Eventually, your Gambits will allow your party to function without significant input from the player, which is very satisfying.  Another change is that defeating enemies will not give money; instead a higher focus is on gaining items to sell for money.  The game mechanics overall are inspired from MMOs, right down to the grinding and RNG.

The other significant portion of Final Fantasy XII is the License Board.  In the game, you need  License for everything a character can do.  You want to equip a specific shield?  You need to get the License.  You want to learn Magick?  You need to get the License.  Defeating enemies gives you License Points, and using these points will give you the ability for that character.  Tying into this is the revamped License Board mechanic.  Instead of all the characters having the same huge License Board (which means at endgame, all the characters are similar to each other), you now have to pick one of twelve classes from the beginning with no option to change later on (although you will eventually be able to get a second class).

The plot is not your typical Final Fantasy story.  Like the character designs, the story is a lot more serious and inspired by Western RPGs.  You are first introduced to Vaan, a teenage boy who aspires to become a Sky Pirate and have his own ship.  He is joined by his childhood friend Penelo.  However, the focus on the pair quickly shifts away to the other four characters.  The Sky Pirates Balthier and Fran join Vaan perchance, and then we have the traitor Basch and the Dalmascan Princess Ashe.

The game starts off with a quick narrative on how the small country of Dalmasca is sandwiched between two greater powers and is invaded for its resource.  The Prince is killed and the Empire takes control over the country.  Contrary to what was told to the public, Princess Ashe is still alive and this story tells of her journey to reclaim the throne and overthrow the Empire.  There are plenty of political story elements which give the game a different flair.  That being said, the gameplay to plot ratio is out of whack.  You'll get sections where you get 10 minute cutscenes very frequently and then other parts of the game where you spend hours exploring a huge map with nary a scene to progress the story.  As a result, it can be quite dull at times.

The cutscenes are split between pre-rendered and in-game rendered.  Both look fantastic and aged very well.  The plot wavers though towards the midpoint, where you end up having no clue what is happening because it gets very muddled.  The ending was exciting and quite good, making the slog at times worthwhile.  Balthier really ends up winning as the best character since he is the most charismatic out of all the characters and excellent voice acting to boot.  Most of the characters in the game lack character development though and so when a scene requires the player to feel for them, it fails spectacularly.

There are a few quality of life annoyances that hamper the experience.  The main one is that you need to be very close to treasure chests to open.  This wouldn't be an issue except that the range of detection is high and opening one uses the same button as opening the battle menu which pauses the onscreen action.  Next is the requirement to constantly change Gambits which get tedious, especially when you need dedicated setups for the optional bosses.  It would have been nice if you could save predetermined sets.

Later bosses will tend to become completely immune to magic or physical attacks for minutes at a time, and near death, they will double their level.  It's annoying when you are surviving and then just before they die, they gain a massive stat boost and you get a party wipe.  Then there's the RNG.  There is a chance for a chest to spawn and if it spawns, then a chance to get the strong unique weapon.  It can be painful.

Not only does the game require completion of mundane activities in order to progress through the story, there are oftentimes vague directions on where you need to go.  To add to this, there are obscure or annoying conditions to try and get particular monsters to spawn.  Certain areas lack an area map and consist of identical locations, making it a confusing mess.  The meat of the option content lies in Hunts where you have to first go to the Hunt Board at an inn, then to the person to report, then hunt the monster and then return to the person.  It's a huge waste of time especially since fast travel is so limited and forcing you to trek vast distances.  This is where the 4x speed is a boon.

There are plenty of bonus bosses to challenge.  You wouldn't expect this for a combat system where it can play itself but it is very satisfying when you have a set of complicated Gambits against a superboss which works.  Even more so if it requires minimum input from you.  It's still tense though when your Gambits are not enough due to the way you prioritized certain actions and you need to change it on the fly or quickly input some manual commands.

Towards the end of the game, it starts to pit you against enemies that like to spam multiple status effects all at once, ones that are not able to be healed by magic and require items with additional abilities.  High level enemies will gang up on you, quickly wiping out your party even though you're more than capable against one or two or three.  These come off as cheap and annoying.  The story only takes around 30 hours without doing any optional content, playing on 2x speed while doing a decent chunk of exploring.  Add an additional 15-30 hours for doing all the optional content such as exploring every area, beating all optional bosses and completing a significant amount of the smaller sidequests.

If the main game is not enough, there is an additional Trial Mode which pits you against 100 waves of enemies.  You can save every 10 levels and if you start on it late into the game (as you will have the same levels and abilities as the save file you use), then the first 60 waves are a breeze.  Later ones are a lot more difficult and annoying, especially the bosses where you have to use specialized Gambit setups, making it tedious to keep changing it from one wave to the next as there is no time in between or regroup.

Overall, Final Fantasy XII:  The Zodiac Age was a great game during its release, with significant changes to the series such as no separate battle screens, a more serious story and an inventive battle system.  While not all elements have aged gracefully, it is still a fun game provided you aren't concerned with obtaining the best stats and equipment, as the RNG may prove frustrating.

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