Durarara!!- First Impressions

I've been watching a new anime series as of late. Durarara!!, based on a series of light novels by Ryohgo Narita, the same writer as Baccano!. I'm guessing his next series will be called Manamana!!!. Nah, I kid. 

Anyway, Baccano! was sort of the Pulp Fiction of anime. It revolved around a diverse group of characters, gangsters, thieves, alchemists and others, who were all searching for something, or who just get caught up in the craziness around them. The name was appropriate considering that it's Italian for "ruckus" or "noise." I'm not sure what Durarara!! is so far. It seems to sort of be about urban legends. One narrative device that is used is internet chat rooms that are used to spread rumors. Though, there is some truth to the strange things happening in Ikebukuro.

One thing that I can say that Narita excels at it creating a large cast of well developed characters. This is shown greatly in Durarara!!. From the headless motorcycle phantom, the psychotic super strong bartender to the giant black russian sushi shop owner, all of the characters are diverse and interesting. I still have about another 20 episodes to watch before I give my final conclusion on this series, but I'll let you know.

Oh, one other thing it has in common with Baccano!, they both have awesome theme songs.

Catherine- First Thoughts

I rented a game called Catherine today. It was developed by Atlus. I think they're the same studio that made the Persona games. I never played any of those or the Shin Megami Tensei series, but I figured I would give it a try.

It's a puzzle game about a guy named Vincent. He's in a non-committed relationship with his girlfriend, Catherine. He begins thinking about marriage. But he finds himself in a strange world whenever he goes to sleep. He is guided by the voice of the Count of Monte Cristo to find his way out of a collapsing tower. 

The gameplay revolves around pushing and pulling blocks to form stairs and pathways to continue on up to the top of the tower. I've only played two puzzle sections so far, but they're interesting and kind of thrilling. An "undo" mechanic might somewhat damage the necessary skill, but, in itself, this is probably a necessary addition since it is possible to make stages unwinable if you make too many mistakes.

I don't know much about the story so far(I'm trying to avoid reading up on it), but I think it involves Vincent meeting another woman named Katherine and falling for her. Thus, he, and the player, are torn between the two Catherine's...Catheri?

This might end up being this years Deadly Premonition. Something really weird but also fun. I'm not a big puzzle game player, but I'll play anything with a good story. I'll post more later on. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2: Review

Well, okay...yeah. The series is over in more ways than one now. The books are over and, in case you didn't read them, then maybe you were surprised at some of the events in this movie. And if you haven't seen any of the movies or read any of the books, then I'd like to know how you were surviving living at the center of the earth.

I find the hype for this movie a little silly, because everyone who is excited has read the books and everyone who has read the books knows what happens. Okay, I got that out of the way. Now for what I thought.

This movie was good. Not great. Good. It was a good movie with good action and okay acting. (Emote Radcliffe! Emote, God damn you!)

I wish that the magic made more sense. I don't really understand how dueling works. Voldemort is a lame villain. These all drag down the movie, but still, my biggest compliment I can give the Harry Potter series, is that it is well plotted. I was surprised when reading Deathly Hallows so many years ago, that two of the Hallows had been in plain sight since the beginning of the series. And that the Horcruxes made their debut in the second book. I like stuff like that. I applaud stuff like that. It's hard. Especially when it's in a series of books written over a span of ten years. Keeping that all straight CAN'T be easy...I know...I tried. If only the villain were more threatening, and the exact mechanics of dueling were explained a little more. (How does the Elder Wand make the killing curse stronger? Does it kill them harder?)

This is just nitpicking, but they're big nits. I still enjoyed myself. And in the scene when Harry summoned his mother, father, Lupin and Sirius, I got a little choked up. When Harry reached out to touch his mother's hand and simply passes through, I understood how the Resurrection Stone could drive one insane. That's good filmmaking. Which is what this movie is. Good. Not great. Good is okay, though.

























Alan Rickman is the British Christopher Walken...think about it.

Shonen Jump Manga Chapters: Week of June 27

One Piece Chapter 630: Lashing Out
As I said before, One Piece, is kind of boring me lately. And this one did nothing to stop that. This chapter gave me NOTHING. It would take like, a year of worthless chapters before I would give up on One Piece, but if next week doesn't have a cool action scene in it...I will be very peeved.

Okay, what can I remember off the top of my head? None of the Straw Hats were in this chapter. It revolved entirely around the New Fishman Pirates commanders. Dosun was defeated and captured by Fukaboshi some number of chapters ago, and he escaped in this one. I just don't care about the commanders. I just want to see Hodi get his ass kicked.

Some side effect of the Energy Steroid is harming Hodi. I know Oda can do better. Hopefully this will go somewhere.

Toriko Gourmet 147: The Chicken Tiger's Egg
I take back all the criticism I've ever given Toriko for its silly premise. This is one of the best chapters of any manga I have ever read. It has a lovely twist to it that you don't see often in shonen manga, outside of One Piece.

The basic premise of this chapter is that Toriko and Komatsu venture out to purchase 3 square meters of a special bit of land, which is the only place the Chicken Tiger likes to lay its egg. And that's all I'm gonna say.

Everyone should check this one out, seriously...do it.

Naruto Chapter 545: An Immortal Army!!
I actually don't remember anything about this chapter. We learned that Madara is effectively unkillable, I think it has something to do with the First Hokage's cells which he obtained from Yamato. It also effects the white Zetsu clones making up most of his force.

Nothing in this chapter really stood out to me, but I obviously didn't dislike it. It just didn't make an impression on me.