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Showing posts with label Opening Impressions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Opening Impressions. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 12th, 2017. The last Opening Impressions post I did (not counting Beast Machines) that used the tag Opening Impressions... wow it's been a while since I've done one of these, and this is assuming I haven't forgotten to put the right tags in some posts which is very likely that I have. I need to take a break from traditional anime for a bit though, so I figured why not wash away Sailor Moon with some giant robots? But what is there to do? The Japanese exclusives? Those are best saved for a marathon especially because that would defeat the point of trying to get away from anime for a while. The games? Hoping to get to War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron next year. Prime Wars Trilogy? Anything I could say on those has probably already been said. There's not much for me to add to that discussion. I wasn't a fan of it, even though I saw all three. I really wish that Mark Hamil's first role as a Transformer wasn't in those shows because I would have loved to see it in something with a higher production value. No... what I need is something new, something that discussions are still ongoing about, something like Cyberverse.
As per usual with these posts, while I try to make the official reviews more formal, these posts I let be more casual, bring in theories and the like. There will still be formal elements, but I can't make any concrete judgements on a show that hasn't even finished the first season yet.
What do you do after an initial toyline, repaints of said toyline with new figures made around ridiculous gimmicks and then a line of animals to robots? Apparently you make vehicles with faces and give the animals to the Borg where they nerf transformers? Um... Okay then... Let's see where this goes.
Gotta love it when the opening impressions can take up one arc. Five episodes to an arc makes it very easy indeed. So, thanks to the new reboot coming out on Disney XD soon, to give it more of a variety then Cartoon Network has going for it (we do not need 176 episodes of Teen Titans Go a week. Stop it!). I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at the original show, see how well it opened up, to reasonably compare the two once it comes out.
Because two posts today at the same time wasn't enough content,
here's a third one. I'm not going to call this a review as its still a
demo build. One level, four characters. So, how is the demo for Freedom
Planet 2?
Did this literally just come out? Yes. Did I back it on Kickstarter? No. Why am I doing this now? Because I haven't had the time to do the impressions I promised last week, going to do a Christmas review on Sunday, and was playing this on my Vita on the train ride to and from work today, so I have it on the mind. Lets do this!
I know you're probably sick of Pokemon stuff, but I want to cash in on the Sun and Moon hype. But I'm only on Ula Ula island, and there are plans for a video review of it in December. So what to do... First two english episodes of the new anime are out thanks to Europe you say? Sold. Forewarn, like with every anime I do, unless an english dub will never happen, a la 10+ years old, I review the english dubs, because it grounds the basis for how I can review them (or more bluntly, I can review English voice actors, not really Japanese ones as I'm not fluent in Japanese.
Well, to be fair, evolution makes a bit more sense here then it does in other things I know, like the Archie sonic universe, the adult link timeline in Legend of Zelda, some Pokemon evolutions... come to think about it, a lot of the things make you question the theory of evolution. So, three episodes of the show have been put onto LEGO's youtube channel (or at least three are on there and more are being lost to Youtube's dumb autoplay system). So thanks to some curiosity via LEGO Dimensions (Eris is a go to character for me along with Supergirl), lets delve into the first three episodes of LEGO's Legends of Chima.
I do feel kinda bad for not being able to do more X-Men content this year, and until I can get the other movies done, I probably won't get to Apocalypse for a little bit. However, there are other things we can do, like this here. A TV show I could have sworn was apart of Marvel's current animated universe, but everything I've seen on the matter suggests otherwise. So, lets take a look at the opening (or rather, first 50%) of Wolverine and the X-Men.
"You said that Opening Impressions are for TV shows, Fire Emblem isn't a TV show you idiot" And you'd be correct, however, this is something I really want to bring up, at first, quickly, because its not going to get a review for a while. "Then what took you so long you idiot, Fire Emblem Fates came out ages ago." Well I don't have a US 3DS, and we didn't get the game until last Saturday, to which I was at the midnight launch for. So then, assuming you're still around for this category shake up, shall we?
I should say first, no, I don't have the special edition, I have a physical copy of both Birthright, and Conquest. And right of the bat, that is my biggest problem with Fates, and it has been since the announcement. The point of the game is "the choice", after Chapter 7, you will be on one of three sides to the war, and I think locking the choice to the game versions weakens the choice. Now granted, you can buy all three versions on the one game, but that is pricy (though probably not as pricy as my method, I just like having a physical copy when possible).
Before getting into the other thing that would make that moment better, let's actually tackle the plot, or what I know of it so far (currently at chapter 11 (roughly) of Birthright), You take up the role of Corrin, a prince or princess depending on what gender you chose (which to me, I prefer female Corrin's design, so for the rest of this I'll be reffering to Corrin as a woman). her role in the bigger story, is of a grey, for you see, she is Honshido by blood, but was kidnapped and raised in teh kingdom of Nohr. While Honshido is more peaceful, colourful, and heavily based on Japanese culture, Nohr on the other hand, thanks to their King, is more of a war culture, more closely resembling previous Fire Emblem games like Awakening, in comparison. You spend three chapters with your brothers and sisters of Nohr, and then three chapters with your brothers and sisters of Honshido, with Chapter 7 being when you make the decision of which side you fight for.
With the exception to what I said above, about the multiple games, and that they portrey the king as the "big bad guy". That choice is heart wrenching. It's brutal, and after what happened in Chapter 6, its a real feels trip, something the Fire Emblem games are known for (see the death of Chrom in Awakening (no spoilers, its in the prologue of the game) and sacrificing one of your troops in Shadow Dragon (might review that one some other time). I'm almost dreading making having to do the choice another two times, with the worst one possibly being the Revelations "stand alone" option.
What helps with the choice is that Fire Emblem is well known for its strong characters, and Fates is no exception. The brothers and sisters are really interesting, Corrin, like Robbin, has a strong, defined personality, and isn't just a shell for the player. My personal favorite, in terms of personality, from Honshido has to go to Hana, who to me is basically this game's Nowi, not in role, just in charm. I love how she's portreyed in this, and I'm curious as to who I'll meet in Conquest and Revelations, who the stand outs will be there.
I've not had the time to try all the new features, however I have unlocked several of them. Including... that one... Now before I get probably everyone on the internet pissed off in some way, hear me out. I haven't had a reason to use it, I don't want to use it, for two reasons. First, as I said, I'm playing as female Corrin, and I don't want to pet grown men in this, its creepy enough as is for the women. Second, while I love the visuals for this, I love the art style, I don't like the close up 3D models for the characters. They feel amost like they're in an uncanny valley. It might just be me, but I much prefer how expressive their in battle models and 2D portraits are, expecially with the art direction they went with the portraits.
I'll save a full music review for when I review the game, but I will openly state that the full version of the main theme is one of the best songs I've heard from the franchise, and I would even put it up with one of the best video game songs I've heard, period. It's absolutely beautiful, and to me, its one that I would use when I get people asking me "Why do you listen to video game music?". The song itself is called "Lost in thoughts all alone", and seriously, go listen to it. Right now! In fact:
Yeah, encase it wasn't obvious, I'm loving Fates so far. What issues I have, most of them can be negated as they're still really solid. I wish I didn't have to refer to them as multiple games, just leave them as the one game, but I'm guessing that was a marketing "lets milk this for as much cash as we can" decision, and hopefully not a designer decision. See you on Sunday for the review of Blast Off, the other arm of Bruticus.
This show is aimed more at a maturer audience, airing on Adult Swim. As such, the language used in this review is meant for a more mature audience.
What do you get when you mix Back to the Future, with crude humor? You'd basically get this. I've had this on my radar for a while now, ever since December 2014, always with teh intent on giving this a proper look. I still haven't, but hey, that's what Opening Impressions are for, judging how well the opening episodes of a show work to sell the show. So let's see how well this show does it.
The material this review is based on and the review itself is designed for a more mature audience.
So this one was a request to cover, however as the name suggests, I hope you don't have a weak stomach, otherwise you may not like this. This isn't for the kids, but for everyone else, let's see what Akame Ga Kill has in store.
I swear this wasn't intentional, considering as a 3DS game has been announced for this series recently.
Round 2 of the Adventure Time art style marathon, and today we travel to Disney. With the amount of stuff they've done, I don't think there's a person alive who hasn't seen a Disney show or movie in some form. So let's see what child friendly Disney does in this style, as we travel to Gravity Falls.
An anime type (does it count as a sub genre yet?) that has appeared recently is, what I'm dubbing, the MMO world. Basically, the main characters get sucked into some sort of MMO and have to survive in that world, using their knowledge of the game. In this, we have the world of Elder Scrolls... I mean Elder Tale and the world of Log Horizon.
So for those who saw the montage, you'll notice that there were a few cartoons and an anime in there. Yeah... this month is going to have a lot of Opening Impressions again, though unlike last time, this time it'll be paced out.
As the medium evolves, new technology and new styles arise, there was 3D animation... which looked awful at the time, Flash animation, which lead to a influx of awful cartoons made as quick and as cheep as possible to make a quick buck (something I wouldn't mind online, but they gained footing on national Television). While those were more of the tech and people behind them, now the trend is style, by way of "Adventure Time style". Smooth 2D imagery embracing the cartoons of old, but not afraid to pull some more mature humor, some more so then others, one of which I'm still contemplating putting in here, which is why it wasn't in the montage. I intend to do Adventure time last, due to its sheer popularity in comparison to the others, but for now, lets start with the one I got asked to do on camera, Steven Universe.
Even before the Nolan films had come out, I highly doubt I’ll be able to
go up to anyone, ask them if they’ve heard of Batman and not get a Yes in some
form. While this may not be recent, it’s a great way to introduce the other
aspect of Opening Impressions, it’s not limited to currently airing seasons,
just what I’m currently watching and I’ve got something to say on the matter,
so... The Batman.
I did put this up as a Strawpoll, something that will be a
common thing for stuff like this. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 5.
If you’ve read the review of the last four season, then you’ll know what I’m
going to say, nothing much has changed. But to be fair, by the fifth season,
the only thing that’s going to change is the situations. At time of writing,
all I’ve seen is the first three episodes, a two parter that introduces a new
villain, and a world building episode.
You see, I would add in some sort of witty title and the name of the material that is the subject of this post. But, this already does it so well for me. So...
So, with more news coming out for Digimon Adventure Tri,
Digimon Fusion Season 2 decides to make its appearance (why it took a year is
beyond me, seeing as it was first aired a few years ago in Japan). Jeremy and
Angie (two people I didn’t bring attention to in the Season 1 review) take
their leave, and we now focus on all three of the Digi Destined, who actually
have Digivices.
