Book Review: The World God Only Knows Vol. 2

Review:  #696
Title:  The World God Only Knows Vol. 2
Series:  The World God Only Knows - 2nd volume
Author:  Tamiki Wakaki
Read Before:  no
Comments:  This second volume starts and finishes off not one, but two arcs.  The first is Kanon Nakagawa, a famous idol.  It is funny in her initial interactions with Keima, as she may be sweet and innocent on the outside but has a violent tendency.  Unfortunately, the plot still feels forced and the way her unique problem was overcame by Keima is hard to believe.  The second girl is Shiori, who is a librarian that doesn’t talk and has a lot of inner monologue.  Unfortunately, her arc seems even worse filled with leaps in logic and a lack of distinct hook.  Shiori’s plotline feels generic and there isn’t enough time to build up the chemistry and relationship between Keima and her, leading to a fairly bland end to the volume.

Rating:  6/10

Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011)

Children Who Chase Lost Voices is a Japanese anime film created and directed by Makoto Shinkai, of 5 Centimeters Per Second fame.  It has an ambitious plot that cleverly mixes fantasy with some history.  In it, Asuna is a young girl who ends up meeting Shin from the underworld Agartha, along with her school Morisaki, they end up going into Agartha to bring back their loved one from the dead.  It is surprising at the depth of the world that was created, and how it was conveyed in such a short amount of time.  By the halfway mark, you feel that the legends of the Quetzalcoatl and of Agartha, were stories you had always known.  That being said, the film takes a good part of the first hour to set up before they finally head into Agartha.  With the Quetzalcoatl that Asuna encounters, along with the monsters known as Izoku and the aesthetics of the world, it truly creates a sense of awe and wonder that's rarely seen these days.  The only flaw is that you know the film is trying to leave a deep impression, especially with the ending in how the Asuna and Morisaki accepts death as a whole but it doesn't quite resonate.  Overall, this is a beautiful anime film that manages to succeed in crafting a deep and meaningful world that you care and want to find out more about.

Toy Review: Transformers Timelines Skywarp

Review:  #410
Name:  Skywarp
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Decepticon
Line:  Timelines
Year of Release:  2016
Size Class:  Deluxe
Mold Status:  remold of Generations Armada Starscream

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:

Skywarp was released exclusively by the Transformers Collectors' Club in 2016 and as such, comes in a fancy box with excellent artwork.

Opening it up will reveal the figure inside encased in foam.

He also comes with a pamphlet with a piece of the story and product catalogue for the Club's (overpriced) toys.

The artwork is not too bad but since this is part 5 of the story, good luck trying to understand it if you haven't already been following it.

JET MODE:

Now, onto the main reason, the figure itself.  The jet mode looks great with Skywarp's iconic black and purple color scheme.

The rear is a bit disappointing since it is just the folded up robot legs, and the arms are visible behind the wings.

Size-wise, Skywarp is average for a Deluxe.  Above is a comparison against RiD (2015) Warrior Windblade.

Like the original toy, Skywarp is a remold of Generations Armada Starscream.  The remold can be seen here since the fin on the robot's head sticks up between the air intakes.  Of note is that all the purple paint used has a rough texture to it, it's not the standard smooth glossy paint that we're used to.  This makes it feel like it'll chip easier.

A fantastic jet mode.  The design itself was already strong but the color scheme just makes it perfect.

TRANSFORMATION:

Simple but fun.  It doesn't update that much from the original toy with the arms folding down from under the wings, the nose folding down to form the torso and the rear unfolding to become the legs.  The air intakes are all one piece now, which can fold onto his back or left resting on the robot's shoulders.

ROBOT MODE:

The robot mode is equally striking in this color scheme.

Unlike the original toy, the air intakes are one piece and can be folded down onto his back so that it's not sticking out or obstructing his head.

Skywarp has a brand new headsculpt and it looks pretty good.  Although with a lot of the Collectors' Club's headsculpts, it is a bit squished when viewed from the side.

Again, Skywarp is approximately average height for a Deluxe in this mode.

A comparison against the original usage of this mold.  Being an expensive collectable (compared to the original's mass release for children's play), Skywarp has a lot more paint applications.  The silver paint for the intakes is a very nice subtle touch.

Poseability is excellent in this mode.  Skywarp is versatile since he has various joints that gives as much range as balljoints.

His ankles can be tilted which keeps him stable in action poses.

The air intakes consist of a gimmick.  Unlike the original toy's springloaded missiles, this figure offers pressure-launching missiles which are really powerful and can fire the missile quite far.  However, this strips the toy of one of the coolest elements of the character which were the flipping launchers that stick far in front of the body.

The other element is that behind each wing are pieces which unfold into swords.

This is a compromise for the detaching wing that transformed into a sword of the original.  While the swords are smaller than you'd like, they're still deadly.

His hands are painted which means the swords are tight fitting and you'll probably easily chip some of the paint.

A great robot mode that is actually superior to Starscream.

OVERALL:

Skywarp is a rare case of a remold/repaint being better than the original.  The new headsculpt is awesome, and the mold itself is fun.  The color scheme is wicked.  The only negatives are the exclusivity and the high price but otherwise, Skywarp is recommended.

-----------------------------------------

For other Transformers reviews, have a look at this page.

Book Review: The Atrocity Archives

Review:  #695
Title:  The Atrocity Archives
Series:  Laundry Files - 1st book
Author:  Charles Stross
Read Before:  no
Comments:  The Atrocity Archives is the first in the series and contains two stories, the first titled The Atrocity Archives and the second, shorter story, titled The Concrete Story.  It introduces us to Bob, and into the world of secret government organisations dealing with the supernatural.  It overwhelms you immediately, and continues to do so until the very last page, with complicated terms and concepts that it introduces expecting you to get it immediately.  In this world, the power of IT, mathematics and physics combine together, and at times, you’re not sure how, to create powers that can raise the undead, call forth monsters and even rip a hold into space time.  It has a lot of ideas, interesting ones at that, from parallel worlds to the technology is capable of but it falls flat at the sheer confusingly at how these concepts are presented.  A lot of effort is put into the explanations of how some of what happens works, but it’s filled with jargon that to most readers would not make sense.  It takes a fair amount of time before the plot gets going and we see Bob rise up to become a capable field agent.  Then it suddenly ends and the second story begins which feels jarring.  The slow build up and then a climax that’s over before you know it feels out of place and makes it seem rushed.  The explanations aren’t completely satisfying which makes The Atrocity Archives a tough read at times.

Rating:  6/10

Doodle Kingdom (PS3)

Doodle Kingdom is the third game in the Doodle series, after Doodle God and Doodle Devil.  It was developed originally for smartphones but was ported to the PlayStation family of consoles, and sold for a higher price.  It is designed for touch interface, even more so than the previous two games.  Not only does the menu have the cursor which is moved using the analogue stick, but during Hero Mode, you need to occasionally move the cursor around.  It is disappointing that they couldn't have made more of an effort to change all inputs to buttons.  The core gameplay remains exactly the same as the previous games but now focuses on the magic and fantasy side of things.  Gameplay translates well onto the D-pad and face buttons such that you can power through the game quickly once you know specific groupings.

The aim of the game is to combine two elements to create a new one.  Some of the combinations are intuitive such as Humans + Magic = Magician, while others are less so such as Domestic Animal + Magic = Unicorn.  Not every combination creates something new though which is annoying later on in the game when it constantly fails and you don't remember which combinations you have already tried.  However, if you are stuck, you have the option of using a hint to reveal a new combination to try.  Yet, since this is all the gameplay ever boils down to, it gets boring and tedious very quickly.  The trial and error gameplay causes the game to take a few hours to complete if you play through it blind, but can be completed within the hour if you use a guide to save on the frustration.  In addition to the main mode, there are three "Quests", which has exactly the same gameplay... but has a more specific theme such as raising dragons (continually combining elements to change the dragon from an egg to a full grown adult), and rebuilding a kingdom.

Lastly, new to this game, is Hero Mode, which is an endless runner in which the character runs forward, with a health and stamina bar.  The character automatically attacks and kills monsters (while getting damaged at the same time), and running depletes the stamina bar.  The player uses the cursor to pick up treasure, which is used to buy potions to restore the two bars, and upgrade equipment.  There are "Quests", which gives bonus experience points, for satisfying conditions such as opening a number of treasure chests or defeating a number of enemies.  Once again, this mode gets boring quickly and if it wasn't for some really grindy Trophy requirements, then most people would give up fairly quickly on this mode as it is completely pointless.  Overall, Doodle Kingdom as a sequel overstays its welcome.  With its paper thin gameplay, and the inclusion of a new mode which the game can essentially play itself without much input from the player, there is little reason to get this game, especially when the price tag is so excessive.

------------------------------------------------------

For other game reviews, have a look at this page.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W (2013)

Haiyore!  Nyaruko-san W is the second season based on the light novel of the same name, once again spanning 12 episodes (with two OVAs after it).  The series focuses on Mahiro, a school boy who met Nyaruko, short for Nyarlathotep.  Nyaruko takes on the form of a silver haired girl.  She explains that all the creatures from H.P. Lovecraft's works are in actuality, races of aliens, who find Earth attractive for all its media entertainment (i.e. manga, anime, films) and resources (e.g. slavery).  Coupled with Kuko and Hasuda, they continue their adventures which are basically Mahiro's everyday life but with aliens and space wackiness thrown in.

No new recurring characters are introduced, rather, there are a lot of random characters that only appear for an episode or two before they are regulated to the background or never seen again.  The biggest new character is Kuko's cousin, Kune, who apparently had Kuko promise her that they'll marry when they were younger.  As if Kuko's love for Nyaruko wasn't enough, it becomes worse with Kune's appearance.  All in all, the anime mostly sticks to Mahiro, Nyaruko and Kuko as the main characters.  The inspiration from Lovecraft's works only really goes as far as the naming of the characters and their basic backgrounds.

Apart from the character's names based on Lovecraft's works, it's your typical anime personalities and style, and doesn't really dive deep into the lore or does anything with the rich source material.  Once again, the plot is all over the place but its main focus is on the romantic relationship between Mahiro and Nyaruko.  Or rather, Nyaruko's continued quest to get Mahiro to admit his feelings for her and accept her.  The humor is definitely the anime's strongest point, with heaps of references against other anime, games and books.  Nyaruko-san W is basically a heap of stupid fun.

With that being said, the amount of sexual innuendos goes through the roof, as Nyaruko constantly advances onto Mahiro with her declarations of love, framing him, or spouting blatant lies about their activities.  Nyaruko constantly corners him but Mahiro isn't without his defense, being that he's great at using forks as weapons...  On the other side, Kuko continues with her conquest with Nyaruko and Hasuda is just kind of passive.  There are many scenes where the anime goes past suggestive words and gestures and quite nearly goes all the way.  The whole season basically provides fan service every chance that it gets, and uses every excuse in the book.  Poolside?  Accidentally falling over?  Yup and yup.  As a result, it can sometimes feel pretty random.

You'll come to realize that weird things keep happening to the characters, yet everyone just goes along with it.  There are various times where the fourth wall is broken.  Characters, particular Nyaruko, have exaggerated reactions and dialogue, with over the top action scenes.  The characters remain overpowered, easily obliterating every enemy in their way.  Although it seems regulated to the background most of the time, Nyaruko, Kuko and Hasuda are actually part of a space police force situated on Earth to protect it from illegal aliens residing or causing havoc.  As the season continues, Nyaruko gets more serious but is also getting jealous a lot more.  On the other hand, Mahiro is obviously coming to terms with his affections for Nyaruko, with his feelings growing stronger and stronger.

However, the characters' personalities are so intense, being dialed up significantly compared to the first season, that it can be overbearing.  The plots of some of the episodes are also quite cliched, such as chocolates that make each other fall in love, Nyaruko getting sick and an alien taking over the school via mind control.  These episodes become predictable to a certain degree.  Overall, Haiyore!  Nyaruko-san W is not only more of what you liked about the first season, but actually goes beyond that and increases it in spades.  It can become overbearing and too much at times, but manages to stay funny and true to the characters, plus, the multiple ending themes help keep it fresh.

-------------------------------------------------------

For other anime reviews, have a look at this page.

Steins;Gate: The Movie - Load Region of Deja Vu (2013)

Load Region of Deja Vu takes place one year after the events of Steins;Gate (anime or game, take your pick).  It's best to have watched both the anime and played the game since the movie references the final episode of the anime which was never in the game (the one where Okabe visits America and kisses Makise) and the multiple endings of the game that was never in the anime.  Makise returns to Japan and meets up with the whole gang and the plot is slow paced in the beginning, it still never really picks up.  What makes the movie shine though is the interaction between Okabe and Makise, further cementing that their relationship is something special and unique.  In an interesting twist of fate, the roles are reversed and Makise is the one that has to save Okabe now.  Instead of introducing new concepts out of nowhere, the movie takes existing concepts and expertly crafts a new premise, making the plot feel more natural even though it can feel superficial since the original had such a closed ending.  The ending of Load Region of Deja Vu is probably the best aspect of the movie and made the whole runtime worthwhile since it retcons an important aspect of Okabe's life, completing a full circle and bringing a smile to you face.  Overall, of course the movie is definitely one for the fans since newcomers will be confused but it is a solid intriguing standalone story serving as a great epilogue.