The Heroic Legend of Arslan - Season 1 | Review

Classic fantasy series brought to life.

I’m not going to lie, I did not know what the hell The Heroic Legend of Arslan was before the end of 2015. I’ve never even remotely heard about it until Omega Force announced their new Warriors spin-off in the form of Arslan: The Warriors of Legend. Omega Force’s Warriors game series is easily my favorite game series, so I decided to check out the anime for Arslan before ever jumping into the game.

While I have not yet done said jumping in, I have watched the show, and I must say, it’s very good. But for those not in the know, I feel like I should provide some background.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan, or as it’s known among Japanese fans Arslan Senki (Arslan War Records), is a fantasy light novel series written by Yoshiki Tanaka, who is also known for Legend of the Galactic Heroes. The first book was published way back when in 1986, and is still ongoing today, with the story encompassing fifteen books and counting. The series took much inspiration from Cyrus the Great and other historical figures from 6th Century BCE Persia.

These novels would go on to be adapted into both an OVA series (which I have yet to watch) and a manga, which received its own ending. However, later on, it would be adapted into a second manga, created by the great Hiromu Arakawa (of Fullmetal Alchemist fame), which would go on to be the most widely known version of the storyline. This manga serves as the basis for the new TV series and Arslan: The Warriors of Legend.

With the backstory out of the way, what is The Heroic Legend of Arslan actually about? The story follows Arslan, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Pars, and his faithful knight companion Daryun, as their kingdom is overtaken by the neighboring country of Lusitania. Arslan’s father, King Andragoras III, falls victim to a plot set up by his most trusted retainers, and is imprisoned, his country being overtaken by the Lusitanians and a mysterious masked individual known simply as “Silvermask”. From here on, Arslan and Daryun travel the country of Pars to obtain allies in order to reclaim the capital.

So how does the series actually hold up? Well, it starts off pretty chaotic. After a short sequence introducing the kingdom of Pars and Arslan’s worldview on slavery and other important political matters, he is thrust into his first battle at the young age of fourteen. Unfortunately, shit hits the fan pretty quickly. The ensuing battle is brutal as all hell, and actually resembles the final battle from the Spartacus TV series quite well. It’s an intense opening to the series. Unfortunately, after Arslan and Daryun successfully retreat from this battle, the series begins to slow down immensely.

Much of the first half of the season is spent wandering around with Arslan finding new allies, or questioning his own beliefs and whether or not he is fit to rule Pars. While this does wonders for character and world-building, unfortunately it feels like little progress is being made in the overarching series.

Come to the end of the first half, however, and immediately series picks right up. Action sequences are plenty, the plot -- while still involving world and character building -- is far more involved, and gets quite intense at several points. Hell, plot twists are everywhere, and it’s at this point that you really begin to enjoy the plot and its characters, because all the building led up to this point. For a good third of the series, it was really slow-paced and kind of dragged, but once you pass that, you’re in for a hell of a ride.

Visually, if you liked Fullmetal Alchemist or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, you’ll like the visuals in this. As they’re based on Hiromu Arakawa’s artwork, the series looks mostly the same. However, animation-wise, this series trumps both of those in all regards. Simple things such as moving hands while speaking or trembling when scared are all animated well, and the fights scenes are damn well animated (not at the level of something like K-Project, mind you, but still very good).

Sound-wise, the music is good, works well enough, but not particularly memorable. The only bit of music I remember is the jingle that plays at the halfway point of the episode, but that’s it. Sound effects are about what you’d expect from an anime about war, and it sounds great. Voice-wise, the Japanese dub is great. However, the dub is hit-or-miss. Characters like Arslan and Daryun sound great, but others like Narsus and Gieve have one tone of voice that they use throughout. They’re both good in their own right, however, and actually feature some of Funimation’s more notable actors like Aaron Dismuke (Alphonse Elric), Vic Mignogna (Edward Elric), Christopher Sabat (Vegeta/Piccolo), and Jerry Jewell (Jimmy Kudo).

Overall, I won’t say much more about it aside from the fact that I do recommend this series. It’s a good 25-episodes that’s definitely worth watching. Plus, there’s an 8-episode second season that’s currently airing right now, and is even being dubbed (premiering Aug. 3). So yeah, do yourselves a favor and hit this one up.

+ Last 2/3 of the season is excellent.

+ Visuals and animation are great.

+ Daryun is a fucking badass.

- Soundtrack is not particularly memorable.

- English voice track is hit or miss. 

- First 1/3 of the season really drags.

OVERALL RATING:

8/10

K: Missing Kings | Movie Review

While not perfect, it's a very worthwhile sequel to K-Project.

I’m a really big fan of K-Project. If you were a friend of mine on social media back when I first watched it, I really apologize for how I would not shut up about it. But it was an incredible series. It was a short and sweet thirteen episodes, packed with a fantastic story, memorable characters, absolutely incredible animation, a gorgeous soundtrack, beautiful visuals, top-notch voice acting (regardless of which dub you watch)... The amount of praise I can through toward K-Project is insane. The show sits firmly as not just one of my favorite anime of all time, but one of my favorite TV shows in general.

The end of the original series, however, left the ending a little ambiguous, and I was anxious to know what happened next. So when they announced a film that would serve as a sequel, K: Missing Kings, suffice to say, I was excited. However, with me watching the original in English, I wanted to wait for a dub of the film. One is in the works, with the entire TV series cast reprising their roles, but it’s been over a year and not so much as a trailer has surfaced. So I caved and finally watched it in Japanese.

Mind you, the Japanese dub isn’t bad. Hell, it’s just as damn good as the English dub. So I had no problem with this (however, the subtitles I had were purely awful, though I got the meaning behind them and it didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the film). Missing Kings is a good follow-up to K-Project, featuring the same great visuals and animation, and all the other things that made the original so incredible.

The visuals here are better than ever, with some excellent computer-rendered effects to make the Swords of Damocles even more beautiful. Characters look great, and the animation is even better than the original series, with by far some of the best action scenes in any animated show or film.

On top of this, humor comes off far more naturally in this film than it did in the TV series (which was notably one of my only complaints about the show: humor was usually jarring due to the largely serious tone). I got significant laughs out of the few humorous scenes in this movie.

However, one thing that stops this movie from holding up is its plot. Following up from the original series, the focus of the plot is Kuroh and Neko going on a journey to find Shiro, who mysteriously went missing after the final battle in the show. This was largely advertised as the main plot, and Shiro, Kuroh, and Neko are all front-and-center on the posters for the film. However, aside from brief appearances in flashbacks, Shiro does not appear in the film until the final few minutes.

As well, while Kuroh and Neko are still major characters in the plot, the story of the film focuses more on the appearance of the Green Clan hunting down Anna from HOMRA. The hunt for Shiro is largely just a side-plot meant to set up the second season of the TV series (K: Return of Kings. That’s another story, though). So, all in all, I felt there was a lot of false advertising with the film, and there wasn’t a lot of closure to the storylines it had set up in its own movie.

That being said, the story focused on Anna is fantastic. In the aftermath of K-Project, HOMRA has all but fallen apart after the major losses they’ve suffered, with Anna, Yata, and Rikio being the only members remaining. Yata, however, has broken, and can’t bring himself to fight for HOMRA anymore, nor care about the factions. Rikio, on the other hand, has lost his large appetite and has lost significant weight. When the Green Clan begins their hunt for Anna, Rikio is the primary person defending her.

There were some truly chilling scenes in this movie, with a major plot twist toward the end of the movie being a truly awesome scene. Topped off with excellent visuals and easily the best action scenes anime has ever had to offer, even if the story was a little bit lacking, the execution of it was fantastic. As well, there are some genuinely heartbreaking scenes that will have you, at the very least, feeling sad for the characters involved.

Another problem I’d have with the film is the blatant fan-service toward the beginning of the film. While this was present in the original series, it wasn’t so in-your-face about it. In the beginning of the film, there is a scene with Kuroh, Neko, and Kukuri all having coffee together, and the camera would constantly shift to a view below their table and give us completely unnecessary upskirts of Kukuri. Hell, even when it wasn’t below the table, her skirt was always at an angle where you could see her underwear. As well, there were constant close-ups on Seri’s body. Both of these were constantly taking away from otherwise serious scenes and completely unnecessary. Thankfully, it’s only largely present in the beginning of the film, and once the plot takes off, these are brought to a minimum (with Kukuri no longer appearing in the film and Seri taking a far smaller role).

Overall, if you liked K-Project, you’ll like Missing Kings. While not perfect, it’s still a very good follow-up that is great for anyone who watched the original and wanted more. As well, it leads into the second season of the series, Return of Kings. However, I’ve heard some very disheartening reviews about said second season, but we’ll find out soon enough.

+ Excellent visuals and animation

+ Excellent soundtrack and voiceovers

+ Incredible action sequences

+ Plot itself was good, but...

- Said plot wasn’t exactly what they advertised

- Blatant and distracting fan-service

OVERALL RATING:

8.5/10

D.Gray-man Hallow - Ep.2: Lonely Boy | Anime Reviews

D.Gray-man Hallow continues to pump out nothing but quality.

Holy crap, that was an intense episode.

If you watched last week’s episode of D.Gray-man Hallow, you’ll remember it ended on a particularly dark note. This week’s episode picks up right where that left off, with Allen discovering these events. Despite his initial stab at Allen and the Fourteenth being responsible, Director Rouvelier suspects that the Central Agency of the Black Order may be behind this, and returns to those headquarters after announcing the presence of the Fourteenth in Allen’s body.

Soon after, Allen, Kanda, Marie, and Link all head off on an operation to capture the mysterious Phantom Thief G, who is suspected of carrying Innocence. After multiple mishaps and stopping him from stealing an heirloom, the group tracks G to an orphanage and find that he’s really a boy named Timothy. From here, chaos breaks loose.

This episode is action-packed. From start to finish, we’ve got nothing but well animated and well choreographed fight scenes that really show off the stellar animation of this series. As well, the actors have stepped up their game and deliver some fantastic performances.

Plenty of plot exists in the episode as well, with a good amount of well-done humor to back it up. The trademark mixture of action, drama, comedy, and horror exists just as it always has in D.Gray-man, and this week’s episode of Hallow shows it off better than ever before.

I can’t really say much else about this week’s episode, but if you had any doubts about D.Gray-man Hallow before, it’s time to toss them out, because this episode shows off that this series is one worth sticking around for.

OVERALL RATING:

10/10 

X-Men: Apocalypse | Movie Reviews

Trailer hype strikes again.

Man, oh man... Now what to say about this movie?

Now, don’t get me wrong. X-Men: Apocalypse was an enjoyable movie. But I just gotta say... I’m actually quite disappointed with it. It’s a huge case of the age-old “trailer hype”. As in, the trailers were far more exciting than the actual movie itself.

Now, if you’ve been following since the post-credits sequence of X-Men: Days of Future Past, you’ll note that the Apocalypse storyline has been teased for a while now. Being a follow-up of the past timeline from said movie, the story again follows Charles, Erik, and Raven in the past, now in the 1980’s. Basically, ten years have gone by since the events of Days of Future Past, and its been a good ten years for everyone.

Raven herself has been traveling around, rescuing various mutants from whatever shitty life they’ve been stuck in. Meanwhile, Erik himself has settled down and started a new life under the name Henryk, where he works an honest job and lives with a loving wife and daughter. Charles, on the other hand, has officially begun his school for the “gifted”.

However, things go south after Moira (previously seen in X-Men: First Class) unwittingly restores power to the long-buried “first mutant”, known as Apocalypse (by, you guessed it, leaving a rug folded), and his reawakening sends a shockwave throughout the world. Said shockwave knocks loose equipment in the warehouse where Erik works, and he is forced to use his powers in order to save a worker’s life.

Despite saving this worker, however, there is no gratitude. Everyone has discovered he is a mutant. And he rushes home to get his family so that they can leave. However, his daughter has gone missing. He and his wife go to find her, only to discover that the police have her. To save her, Erik confesses that his identity as Henryk was false, and that he was indeed the Magneto that tried to kill the president ten years ago.

The police let his daughter go, and he lets them arrest him without resistance. However, his daughter, who has powers as well, begins to summon crows in her fright. In the chaos, one of the police officers fires an arrow that kills both Erik’s wife and daughter. Erik finally lets go of that last bit of humanity within him, and kills the police, and sets off on a quest for vengeance.

Raven, on the other hand, hears about this, and goes to Charles to let him know what has happened so that they can help him. Aaaaaand that’s about all the story I’ll spoil for you.

Let’s just say that the way this story opens is fantastic. And again, Michael Fassbender completely fucking steals the show as Magneto. Unfortunately, the story outside of Charles and Erik is a bit lackluster.

Apocalypse is simply a bland villain. He does almost nothing noteworthy except make other characters even stronger, which ultimately leads to his downfall. In the end, he was defeated simply because he didn’t fucking do anything. He just let the heroes kill him.

The other villains are kinda better. Storm’s fall to villainy was kinda sudden, but she worked well for the plot. Angel, as usual, is pretty stupid, but at least they used him better than they did in The Last Stand. Psylocke was awesome, and I’m actually upset she wasn’t used more in the film.

As for the heroes, they consistently made the film seem like it was about Mystique yet again, but I really felt like the main cast of this consisted of Cyclops, Jean, and Nightcrawler. Hell, Charles, Erik, and Quicksilver were far more important characters than Mystique here. I have no clue why they even bothered to cast Jubilee, though. She was in like, a grand total of 4 minutes of footage.

Special effects-wise, they were on point, as they have been in the last couple films. We’re treated to another awesome and humorous Quicksilver sequence, though I don’t think it matches up to the original Days of Future Past one.

Gah. I’m just finding it hard to talk about this movie. It was an enjoyable experience, but damn was it disappointing. There was a lack of focus here. It never really decides who it wants the hero to be. The story itself is kind of weak after the first half hour or so, and Apocalypse is by far the least interesting villain in the film franchise thus far. Even this far into the film series, we’re still getting the same ol’ “LIFE FOR MUTANTS IS HARD” flak. We get it.

Hell, the best part of the movie was in fact one that I think actually kinda detracted from the experience overall, and it was one very expected (though lengthy) cameo a little over halfway into the film (coughWolverinecough). Hell, if they went with the original idea and made him the main character again, it probably would have been more interesting of a film.

I dunno how to feel really about X-Men: Apocalypse. It’s a good movie, but easily the worst of the First Class trilogy. If they had made the film a little more focused, it definitely would have been significantly better. It failed to utilize its huge character cast as well as movies like Captain America: Civil War did, and that’s where the lack of focus comes from.

OVERALL RATING:

6.5/10 

Berserk (2016) - Ep.2: The Holy Iron Chain Knights | Review

Berserk really stepped up its game this time around.

New week, new Berserk!

At the end of last week’s episode, Guts had defeated a tree-like apostle, and soon found himself confronted by the Holy Iron Chain Knights. Branded as a heretic by their Supreme Commander, Lady Farnese, Guts now had to fight off the entire legion of knights, with his injuries from his previous encounter still fresh.

This episode was definitely a huge step-up from last week’s episode. There are still occasional pacing issues here and there, but they’re not nearly as prevalent as the first episode. Action scenes are far better choreographed, and it’s easier to tell what’s going on. As well, this episode is far more gratuitous with its violence, which is always a plus in Berserk.

The overall sound quality is much better this time around, with the voice performances being better, and the music cues here are nothing short of excellent. If there’s one thing that this new Berserk series nailed, it’s the audio.

Visually, this episode is better than the first. The blending of 2D art and CGI animations works better here. The only issue I have with the visuals are to the flashbacks of the Golden Age, where characters like Judeau and Corkus are flat-out ugly.

Overall, this episode is a huge step up, and gets me even more pumped for the rest of this series. Can’t wait to see where they take it from here.

OVERALL RATING: 

8.5/10

PS: Also, this anime was advertised as a sequel to the Golden Age Arc trilogy of films, but I think it serves better as a sequel to the 1997 anime. For example, Guts is already in possession of a behelit, and the episode where he obtains said behelit is shown in the ‘97 anime, but not in this one.

God Eater Resurrection | First Impressions

God Eater Resurrection | First Impressions - Vita

Well, now that I’ve got my hands on the game, pumped seven hours into it so far and I’m already well into the third chapter, I figured I’d give my thoughts on the game so far.

For those of you that don’t know, God Eater Resurrection is an updated remake of God Eater and its expansion, God Eater Burst. The game was released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, and features updated game mechanics, additional moves and weaponry from God Eater 2: Rage Burst, a new gameplay mechanic known as the Predator Style, and a third story arc that bridges the gap between God Eater Burst and God Eater 2. After a long silence of six years, God Eater Resurrection is the first media we got of the franchise in the United States since God Eater Burst’s PSP release back in 2010 (questionably localized as Gods Eater Burst).

Storywise, not much has changed, but that might be because I’m in the early chapters, which is still just the story from the original game. Graphics are noticeably improved, and while they’re not the best the Vita can do, they’re definitely an improvement over the original and they’re actually quite nice to look at. All voiced dialogue has been redone, and while the main cast from God Eater Burst reprises their roles here, a large portion of the cast is noticeably different, but better. There seem to be a few additional cutscenes that weren’t in the original, but I’m not entirely sure since it’s been four years since I last played God Eater Burst.

Going back to the voiced dialogue, it’s excellent. Cast members return, such as Kyle Hebert as Lindow, Michelle Ruff as Sakuya, Yuri Lowenthal as Soma, and Johnny Yong Bosch as Kota. Others are different, like Patrick Seitz replacing Crispin Freeman as Johannes, Spike Spencer replacing Fritz Bronner as Sakaki, and Kaiji Tang replacing Tony Oliver as Brendan. The acting in this game simply bleeds personality, and pacing has been noticeably improved, with words perfectly matching up to the lip flaps. This alone makes cutscenes significantly more enjoyable than the original PSP release, which was notorious for its improper lip syncing.

Gameplay-wise, at a surface level, the game is just the same God Eater you’ve always known. However, upon delving deeper, you’ll find that the gameplay is significantly improved upon. Firstly in that there are now six weapon styles to choose from, rather than only three. The Charge Spear, Boost Hammer, and the Variant Scythe all appear in this game (originally from God Eater 2), all expanded upon from their original appearance. As well, the original movesets have been updated to be more useful, as well.

With the Short Blade, you can now perform an uppercut with R+Square, that has your character perform an upward strike that brings them into the air, where you can follow up with an air combo. This is especially useful, because as far as I can tell, it doesn’t require any stamina, and can replace actually jumping when trying to hit higher areas on Aragami. With the Charge Spear, a backflip ability was added (with the same button prompt), that allows you to perform a high evasive maneuver to put both horizontal and vertical distance between you and your foe. What’s great is that you can actually cancel this backflip midair with an aerial combo.

The biggest new draw on the gameplay is Predator Styles, however. Previously, there were only two forms of Devour. Regular Devour was performed by holding Triangle, while Combo Devour was done by pressing R+Triangle mid-combo. The former is slower than the latter, but the latter only gives you half your Burst gauge, rather than the full thing like the former. Now, there are more ways than ever to Devour Aragami. Firstly is Quick Devour, which is done simply by pressing R+Triangle at any time. It’s not as fast as Combo Devour, but it’s especially faster than the regular. There’s also Aerial Devour, which allows you to do it in the air, and Dash Devour, which has your character charge forward and Devour upon contact with the opponent.

However, Predator Style allows you to change up these, as well. For example, you can adjust Quick Devour so that your character performs a back-dash prior to activating Burst, allowing you to gain some distance and avoid a potential attack. Aerial Devour activates Burst in midair by default, but you can switch it so that your character dashes downward while Devouring, thus activating Burst on the ground instead. Dash Devour can also be modified so that it covers a wider area-of-effect, allowing you to Devour multiple enemies at once.

All-in-all, while I’ve only really played missions that I’ve already done before in God Eater Burst, the gameplay changes themselves make going through the game all over again completely worth it. Also worth mentioning, previously DLC-only Aragami such as the Yaksha Raja are now incorporated into the main game. Since we didn’t get God Eater Burst’s DLC stateside, these new missions are a real treat for us.

So far, I’m loving God Eater Resurrection, and I’m excited for all the new media coming. We got a dub for the God Eater anime on its way, and God Eater 2: Rage Burst will be releasing in the US on August 30th. If you’re a God Eater fan, 2016 is definitely the year for you!

If you liked God Eater Burst, like hunting games, or just like intense hack-and-slash games, definitely check out God Eater Resurrection. It’s on both PlayStation 4 and Vita, and will be releasing on Steam at the end of August. And for only $20, that’s a hell of a steal!

PSone Spotlight #2 | Metal Gear Solid

PSone Spotlight #2
Metal Gear Solid

Other Names: N/A

Also Released On: PC

Genre: Stealth, Action-Adventure

Starring: David Hayter as Solid Snake

Original Release Date: September 3, 1998

Graphics: 5.0

For its time, Metal Gear Solid was a technical marvel. Full 3D polygonal environments with very detailed textures, as well as detailed character models with fluid (for its time) animation. The particle effects in the game are of much higher quality than other 3D games at the time. There are even various cool graphical effects, such as the screen distorting with waves as you venture underwater.

Gameplay: 4.0

The game offers a good variety of different abilities to aid you in your stealth, and even if you are caught, there are plenty of ways to fight back against the enemy forces as well. What stops this from receiving a perfect score, however, are the lack of evasive maneuvers in the game that really hamper the experience.

Sound/Music: 5.0

The game’s sound is on point, with perhaps some of the most realistic sound effects at the time. As well, the music is a great mixture of orchestral pieces fused with electronica, and it sounds excellent. Really fits the sci-fi world Metal Gear has built up.

Voice Acting: 5.0

TOP ACTORS:

3rd Place - David Hayter as Solid Snake

2nd Place - Patric Zimmerman as Revolver Ocelot

1st Place - Cam Clarke as Liquid Snake

For its time, this game was at the helm of English voice acting in video games. Stellar voices all around for its cast, directed by the one and only Kris Zimmerman, who continues to put out quality voice acting to this day. The amount of voiced dialogue packed into this game’s two discs is beyond insane.

Overall: 4.75

A hell of an experience, with a wonderfully executed fully-voiced story, as well as great gameplay and design to back it up. I fully recommend this title, especially since it leads into some of the best games for years to come.