Monster House (2006)

Monster House is an animated film where the house opposite DJ is infamous for Mr Nebbercracker, who chases everyone off his lawn, getting angry and having a huge temper.  To DJ's surprise, he discovers the house is alive, in that it transforms into a monster with windows for eyes, doors for teeth and a carpet for tongue.  It starts eating everyone who comes near and DJ, along with his friends investigates the house, ending up inside it.  The film's pacing is slow and tense, slowly building up the atmosphere of the mysteriousness of the house.  It might take things too slow at times but once DJ enters the house and unravels the history behind it, it's worthwhile.  The ending was action packed, with a lot of chasing and running away, a somewhat disappointing reasoning on how the house is alive and overall loud noises.  Monster House is an intriguing film that manages to fill its runtime with enough happenings to keep viewers engaged.

Book Review: Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy

Review:  #723
Title:  Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy
Series:  The Mortal Instruments - companion book
Author:  Cassandra Clare; Sarah Rees Brennan; Maureen Johnson; Robit Wasserman
Read Before:  no
Comments:  Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy takes place after the finale of The Mortal Instruments, following Simon as he attends Shadowhunter Academy in order to become a shadowhunter and regain his memories.  The story is told via a series of short stories, which spans the time Simon spent at the academy.  Not only do almost all the characters from the series turn up from time to time, we get heavy doses of backstories and other fleshed out tidbits that were only mentioned in briefing.  The end result is a surprisingly cohesive and interesting story.  While the short story format will cause time skips to occur, you can still see Simon grow and develop, as he makes friends, and as his friends all change from the better.  The other shadowhunter recruits in the beginning are your standard bloated ego ones who look down on everything that is not them but by the end of the book, they’ve changed, able to see eye to eye with “mundanes”.  Simon develops a good relationship with the new character George, and the pair do feel like best friends or brothers, bursting with chemistry.  Through it all, we get the usual “being homosexual is fine” spiel between Alex and Magnus.  More insufferable is the fact that Simon’s memory loss is kept being brought up and causing huge issues with his relationships, in particular Clary and Isabelle.  Ignoring the fact that Simon returning to the shadowhunter world and regaining parts of his memory already lessens the emotional impact of his sacrifice in the final book, but it is milked and used an excuse to the extra with Simon constantly exclaiming that he is not the old Simon that they knew and loved.  You wait for him to get over this fact but he never does until the very end, which can make the stories insufferable.  The writing continues to improve, with a lot of great gags and humor.  The ending was surprising and invokes similar feelings to Simon’s fate in the final book, what was the point?  Overall though, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy was enjoyable and serves as an excellent continuation of the series.

Rating:  7/10

Wake Up, Girls! Seishun no Kage (2015)

Wake Up, Girls!  Seishun no Kage is the movie sequel to the 2014 anime series, continuing directly from where it ended.  The group of seven, while having lost the Idol Festival 2014, has managed to score a contract with a huge record company and is now breaking their way into Tokyo.  Like the anime, the film showcases the struggles that the group has to face and overcome, especially in the competitive environment of this massive city.  Once again, the group has their flaws pointed out to them and they strive to improve.  Having to face the realities of not only being popular, but also profit making, they release their first CD single hoping to make a splash.  The humor is better than the anime series, feeling more natural.  The group is torn between Sendai where they truly broke out, and Tokyo, where their potential lies, and the film really makes it clear how tough a decision it can be.  As the viewer has journeyed with the group from their humble beginnings, they are cheering them on, even when everyone else does otherwise.  I-1 Club is brought into the mix as per normal; the 50 min film really does feel like a two-episode extension of the anime since it doesn’t really have a unique standalone plot of its own.  Despite that, it’s interesting until the ending where you realized that it was just all a setup for the sequel film, but at least it makes up for it somewhat by showcasing a new song although you get the idea that the plot structure feels like it has come full circle and is going to repeat.  Overall, for those who enjoyed the anime, then this film is right up your alley.

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Toy Review: Digivolving Spirits 01 Wargreymon

Review:  #432
Name:  Wargreymon
Brand:  Digivolving Spirits
Year of Release:  2017
Variations:  none

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:

Digivolving Spirits Wargreymon is the first in a reboot of the transforming Digimon toys from the late 1990s.

The gimmick here being that you have two forms, Agumon and Wargreymon, that you can switch between by manipulating the parts.  The box is windowless but is very solid and has an excellent piece of artwork in front.

AGUMON:

The figure comes in Wargreymon form but we'll cover off Agumon first.  A few liberties had to be taken but on the whole, Agumon has great proportions and you'll be hard pressed to find a fatal flaw.

He looks good from all angles, the only obvious Wargreymon parts are the chromed claws underneath Agumon's claws, and the shoulder spikes which are folded back in this form.

A big surprise when you first get the figure is the size.  Agumon is quite big (above is a comparison against a typical Transformers Deluxe).

Furthermore, the figure has diecast parts, making him quite heavy.  The head is sadly fixed with no movement at all.

The designer has done a good job to try and give Agumon as much meaningful articulation as possible.  His shoulders and hips are on balljoints, the elbows have swivels and hinge joints (although you have to be careful to angle the claws such that you don't reveal the chromed claws and Wargreymon's hands underneath), and excellent knee and ankle joints.

The only significant impediment here is the fixed head, which was necessary due to how the head encapsulates Wargreymon's head and torso.

The yellow is the plastic's base color but the the painted claws and teeth, as well as the eyes.

With a bit of clever angling and fiddling around, you can put Agumon in a huge variety of poses.

The large feet also allows Agumon to balance really well.

A surprisingly good rendition of Agumon, especially taking into account the transforming aspect.

TRANSFORMATION:

By having two completely different modes, is it really a surprise that the figure relies heavily on shellforming?  If you also compare this figure with the original, you can see that they have reused the transformation scheme as a base, and then improved upon it to give the figure better proportions.  It's still great with the two halves of Agumon's head forming the wings, and the torso shells compacting onto Wargreymon's back.  There are some tight joints though making transformation take a bit longer than you'd expect.

WARGREYMON:

You can see that the designer paid a lot of attention to make sure Wargreymon's proportions are not heavily compromised, and they have succeeded as he looks fantastic.

As expected, there is a ton of Agumon pieces and for the most part, it isn't too bad.  Using the halves of Agumon's head as the wings is a clever idea.

The headsculpt looks amazing, and the head has heaps of articulation able to look side to side and up and down, easily.

Wargreymon doesn't actually gain that much extra height but does look more complex and detailed than Agumon's smooth features.

A comparison against the non-transforming D-Arts Wargreymon, and the Digivolving Spirits version gives it a run for its money, especially since it feels much more solid.

Articulation is simply amazing with no compromises at all.  He has all the joints you'd expect of an action figure:  head, shoulders, elbows, wrist, hips, knees and ankles.

A surprise is that the claws are attached to the wrists so it feels a lot more solid than the D-Arts version.  The figure feels really good in your hands and despite its transforming nature, parts don't shift unexpectedly when handling the figure.

The ankles once again has heaps of movements allowing you to pull off some amazing poses.  Note that the designer used a clever trick of flipping the feet upside down to swap the colors to orange for Wargreymon.

The wings are adjustable but still feels limited.  There are still some proportion issues but they are minor and easily forgiven considering what the figure has to achieve.

For some reason, there is this fixation on chroming Wargreymon's claws.  It doesn't work as well here since it just makes it stand out against Agumon's painted white claws.  It would have blended better if it was painted white instead.

A great feat of engineering and an almost flawless rendition of Wargreymon.

OVERALL:

This is a fantastic start to the reboot of the line.  Both modes are amazing, even more so when you consider the accuracy and also the amount of articulation.  While he may be a little bit pricey, he has a premium feel with diecast metal and excellent paint applications.  Highly recommended.

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Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit! (Vita)

Senran Kagura:  Bon Appetit! is a spin-off in the Senran Kagura series, now set within the rhythm genre.  The excuse plot this time is that Hanzo has set up a cooking championship where the grand prize is a Secret Ninja Art Scroll that can grant any wish.  The characters then participate, with different motivations.  There are ten character story modes, from Hanzo Academy and Crimson Squad.  The remaining 10 characters from the two other Academies plus two additional characters are DLC.  It's right in your face too since their icons in the menus are blacked out.

Each character's story goes through five songs.  There are a series of short cutscenes (and not after every song either) where the character will reveal their motivation for joining the cooking contest, rise through the ranks and then win.  You're treated to a full screen piece of artwork once you complete the mode.  The story is usually throwaway dialogue but it is quite funny sometimes.  As the series' most famous component, there are heaps and heaps of fan service, even moreso than Shinovi Versus.

Not only are there double entendres and sexual innuendoes. plus stripping your opponent of their clothing, but they will be placed in compromising poses.  The reward for a perfect run is the naked character posed as a dessert, complete with strategically placed chocolate swirls, cream and fruit on their body.  The rhythm gameplay is simple and if you have ever played a rhythm game before, then you will pick it up instantly.  There are two lines where button prompts will appear.

The player must press the D-pad and face buttons in time with the prompts that appear on the two lines, which in turn is in time with the music.  The onscreen action shows off the preparation of the food from both the characters, so the better your timing, the more likely you'll win.  Typical gimmicks such as holding down a button and mashing buttons are here, so there's nothing extraordinary that sets Bon Appetit apart from already well established rhythm games.

As you continue to hit prompts correctly, you'll fill a gauge to eventually activate a Ninja Art where you get multipliers and higher scores.  The caveat is that the multiplier resets back to normal if you miss a prompt, forcing you to build it up again from scratch.  Bon Appetit has generous hitboxes so getting prompts will often be fine on Easy and Normal difficulties.  Hard is of course, hard due to the combinations of notes and faster speed.  There are plenty of tricky sections where you must alternate various buttons prompts but because it is displayed across two lines, it can get confusing the first few times.

During the harder technical sections, it is best not to think too hard and rely on your muscle memory to get through it.  Interludes during the song will include exaggerated motions such as when Hanzo taste tests the food and his imagination runs wild, with his exclamations being the reason the characters' clothing are damaged.  The game reuses the same assets and animations as Shinovi Versus though.  What usually make or break rhythm games are the music and Bon Appetit's selection is average.

Since the Senran Kagura games didn't have super memorable music to begin with, it doesn't stand out here either.  What makes it worse is that there are only 10 songs that you can freely select, plus one "boss" song that you can play in Arcade or Story mode.  When you are playing through five songs per character's story, it means that the game gets repetitive very quickly.  As other Senran Kagura games give you a full roster of all four Academies, it really feels like they cut half the content away from the game to sell as DLC.  It doesn't help that if you want the Platinum trophy, you have to clear 200 songs (yes, if you don't get the DLC, that's playing each song on average, twenty times).

Apart from Story Mode, there is Arcade Mode where you play six songs back to back to gain high scores, a Free Mode where you get to choose the song and a Dressing Room where you change the outfits of each character.  The Library contains music, artwork and character voices used in the game as well as your stats.  Overall, Senran Kagura:  Bon Appetit! isn't a bad game, it's actually quite a lot of fun.  It really is too bad then that the limited selection of songs in the base game holds it back.  The fan service is stronger and if you can get the "complete" version, then Bon Appetit! is worth a playthrough.

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Book Review: Pandora Hearts Vol. 18

Review:  #722
Title:  Pandora Hearts Vol. 18
Series:  Pandora Hearts - 18th volume
Author:  Jun Mochizuki
Read Before:  no
Comments:  The plot continues to be more convoluted and confusing as the past and present starts to merge together into one that’s hard to tell the difference.  Most of the volume is spent in a flashback as it finally, truly shows what happened 100 years ago (as if all the fragments we’ve had wasn’t confusing enough, we find out that they were just a biased side of the event…).  There’s a lot of dialogue and exposition but it just never truly feels like it slots into place, and feels more like a retcon instead.  Oz’s nature is revealed, and same with the relationship between Alice and Jack.  The art style is pretty but that is not enough to save the volume.

Rating:  6/10

Minority Report (2002)

Minority Report it set in a future where all murders can be prevented, thanks to three "Precogs" who can see when a person is about to commit murder.  The police force "PreCrime" would then arrest the person before the murder can take place.  It's successive, with homicide rates dropping substantially to effectively zero, however, when a representation from the Federal Governments comes to inspect the system, it sets forth a chain of events that sees the main character, John, being seen to commit a murder in 36 hours.  The confusing aspect to John is that the person he murders is someone he has never met before.  He proceeds to escape and tries to prevent the future from happening, but it ends almost becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Being set in the future, Minority Report showcases a vast range of new technologies that's visually and conceptually interesting.  The film's washed out look gives it a distinctive appeal and as the plot slowly pieces itself together, it is much more interesting clever than your typical thriller.  There are memorable set pieces including John dropping his own eyeballs and the whole mystery aspect.  Overall, Minority Report is a great film to watch.