SonoHana is one of the better known yuri titles in the eroge world, and the fan translation from back in February has introduced me to the first game in the long-running series. The sole franchise of the company Fuguriya, SonoHana‘s most distinctive trait is its idealized portrayal of love and sex in the male-targeted yuri tradition. Some would call it a smut, others would call it a pure love story that’s impure in all the right places. Both are somewhat right. What I do know is that the game isn’t a bad way to spend $20 and ~5 hours.

First off, it’s worth mentioning that this game – this entire series, in fact – is illustrated by Peko, the wonderful artist who brought us the original designs in the recent Mayoi Neko Overrun anime. Despite the fact that Fuguriya is listed as a doujin circle and their games are sold on DLsite, both the artist and the writer are listed as having contributed to commercial games prior to the release of the first SonoHana installment. Shinichirou Sano is the scenarist, as his most notable title outside of the series appears to be Tapestry by light (incidentally, this game was also written by Sano and drawn by Peko, and it looks decent on the surface). Unfortunately, I haven’t played his other games so I can’t comment on his writing style.

Anyway, despite its gorgeous art, SonoHana is definitely not a high-budget commercial game. You can’t tell by looking at the screenshots, but the paper dolls are somewhat lacking in expressions, and some scenes give off that amateur feel where the text hardly matches the visuals. The music is also extremely forgettable though I have no idea who composed it. Of course, what the game lacks in those regards it more than makes up for visually. Peko’s style is extremely appealing to me as a bishoujo fan, and there’s nothing lacking about the sprites or the event CGs. The entire game is, for lack of a better word, delicious. I’d like to comment on the boxart, but really, it speaks for itself.

One thing that surprised me was the voice acting. SonoHana feels like anything but doujin when you hear the voice actresses alongside the onscreen visuals. I believe only one of the two seiyuu have worked on a wide variety of eroge, but there’s no doubt that the performance feels professional. The dialogue is also quite well written, which leads to perhaps the most important aspect of the game: the characters.

It should be obvious by now that SonoHana has no plot – two girls meet, yada yada yada, they end up intertwined in each other’s slender white arms – but the characters are amusing. Nanami, the protagonist, is the energetic yet easily flustered type who falls for her onee-sama at first sight, yet she has a head on her shoulders and usually plays the tsukkomi role. Yuuna is somewhat like the air-headed ara-ara~ older sister type, and she treats Nanami almost like how Shizuma treats Nagisa in Strawberry Panic (in other words, like a stuffed animal). Luckily Nanami is usually occasionally able to keep her cool, and the interaction between them ranges from cute to hilarious. The dynamic between them is a ton of fun, and it makes for a great accompaniment to a story that isn’t serious or particularly romantic to begin with.

This is basically the only CG I can post here.

To sum it up in a sentence, SonoHana‘s greatest success is its ability to have fun and do what it does best. It’s definitely a nukige; the majority of the CGs aren’t safe enough for me to post here, and the ratio of ero scenes to normal dialogue is around 1:1. It’s very, very difficult to not joke about the literal translation of the title – “Kissing the Petals”, if you know what I mean. Still, the game proves to be more than just hollow gratification. Without bogging themselves down with forced drama, the characters are able to act freely and get a laugh or a d’aww out of the reader while showcasing Peko’s excellent designs and living out the yuri fantasy in the most romanticized way possible. It takes a lot for a nukige to feel pure.

In conclusion, give the game a shot if you’re into yuri and don’t demand a plot out of every eroge you play. It’s probably the only well-known yuri visual novel available in English at the moment, and it certainly lives up to its name.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2010 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

Hello there, readers. I’d like to inform you that today, September 1st 2010, is the two-year anniversary of this anime blog.

Anniversaries are a great thing – aside from con posts, they’re the one time a year that we can talk about ourselves without worrying about the ever-imposing word count ceiling, especially since many people have already skipped to the comment section to leave a one line reply (and that’s okay; your thoughts are appreciated no matter what). Oddly enough, despite the fact that this is a notable year for me in a lot of ways, I’m not feeling particularly emotional. I guess that means you won’t have to listen to too much rambling! Anyhow, if you’re in the mood, kick back and grab a cup of coffee for this early September midday. (I-It’s not my fault if you’re in a different time zone!)

- – -

I mentioned this a moment ago, but 2010 is a notable year for me. This anniversary wraps up two years of blogging – more or less the standard life span of an anime blog – but it also wraps up six years of being a casual anime fan, four years of being a high school student, three years of being a serious fan, two years of being a member of an internet community (ours), and eighteen years of being too young to shop at Hendane. Last but not least, it’s my last anniversary before going to university and playing in the big league.

As you might know, I take anime seriously. It’s like a competition to me; not in the winning money sense, in the “spend ten hours playing the Extra stage until you memorize every enemy’s location” sense. In other words, I enjoy spending unreasonable amounts of time on the things that I love, and one of my goals in life is to experience everything that I can as an anime fan – in search of anime enlightenment, right? The enlightenment is the end of the road on your retirement day, be it the day you get your first full-time job, the day you get married, or something even later. My goal is to have no regrets when I reach that point. Nothing would be worse than seeing my kids watch the latest Shounen Jump adaptation on YTV and telling them about how their dad used to be an anime fan but never got to do the fun stuff like get drunk at an anime con or wake up at 3:00 am for Comiket.

From that perspective, entering my third year of aniblogging and losing my ability to categorize myself as a high school student means that I have a lot to live up to. Suddenly, I have to reach the same level as the people I used to look up to back in grade 10 – those old guys who know how to drive and get to study exciting things, the old guys who produce fan translations and DDL links for obscure music and guides for how to browse Japanese sites. The people who actually do things, the people who the anons in the shadows keep an eye on and sometimes talk about. If anime fandom wasn’t already serious business for me, it is now; I’ve got a lot of ground to cover and only so many years of life to cover it.

Of course, the situation isn’t that morbid – I enjoy what I do, and I’m proud of how I spent my senior years of high school and this past summer. In fact, instead of talking only about broad topics, I’m going to lay out a few specific things I want to do before the next September 1st. The school year is more important to me than the calendar year, after all, so resolutions are natural. Here they are:

• Join a visual novel translation project. I’ve been thinking about this for ages, but I think I’ll finally be ready to do it this year. I’m going to play the VNs available in English throughout the year in the hopes of finishing all of them (with the exception of some SRPGs and the sex romps). I also finally made an account on TL Wiki, and I should be able to use my freshman Japanese and English skills to at least proofread or TL check a small-scale project. I’m okay with grunt work.

• Start a podcast. I’ve been thinking about this since the spring, actually, but I never got around to it. The format will be similar to wah‘s podcast – an informal, semi-irregular gathering of internet friends to have fun and chat about interesting things. I know I enjoy listening to his podcasts and I think it would be a good experience. Let me know if you’re interested, though it can’t get off the ground until I’m actually ready to do it, which might be a few months.

• Get into this figure photography thing. I have no eye for visual arts, but photography is pretty cool, and as I know from experience, taking pictures of delicious PVC is surprisingly fun. Unfortunately, I lack the materials at the moment to take presentable pictures. Still, the goal isn’t necessarily out of reach, and I’m only looking for enough material for some online albums, not a figure blog. Along the same lines, I plan on reviewing different types of merchandise like artbooks and music albums. I tried talking about artbooks before, but I think I have enough experience to not totally fail at it this time.

• Write some reviews. Seriously, why do I never write reviews? I prefer my blogging style over the strict review style, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only thing I can do. Reviews for things like light novels and eroge might be a good idea, especially if they’re obscure enough than a reflection/editorial/examination of the plot wouldn’t really work. I was also considering applying for a position at The Nihon Review but I’m not sure if my writing is up to par yet.

• Keep up with the EVN scene. Now that I’ve made more progress on Sepia Tears than simply writing the script, I’m getting a feel for how OEL VN projects are supposed to work. It’s pretty cool, and it has the great side effect of giving you an eye for the finer details of commercial visual novels, almost like an animation student watching anime. Of course ST will be completed and of course it’s always on my backlog, but I’ve also been toying with some other ideas. I think I’d like to have a game or two finished by next year.

And that’s about it! Projects like this sound like a big deal, but a year is an inconceivably long time. Last year at this time, I hardly used Danbooru and didn’t know anything about fanart; my Touhou music folder had 100 songs in it, not 1000; I was still getting confused between nakige and nukige; I hadn’t started frequenting any anime forums; I even though 4chan was scary! One year can make a tremendous difference, and I’m looking forward to challenging this year head-on.

This picture used to be 10302 x 5324 [Tinkle]

Anyway, I suppose I’ve rambled on long enough. If my first year was about getting accustomed to the anime blogging process and getting to know my peers, my second year was about finding new communities and broadening my view to include the internet as a whole rather than just the blogosphere. Of course, I still love the community here, and it would feel odd if I didn’t leave a shout-out for some of the cool people I met this year, so here goes:

• moefloraine is like that genki girl in your slice-of-life/comedy show that makes every episode more fun. Typo is intentional.
• Aorii‘s blog is basically what my blog is supposed to be. Delicious editorials.
• Rune Devros is a Twitter bro who happens to be a pretty cool guy (eh likes Touhou orchestral arranges and doesnt afraid of anything).
• Arkaether is another Twitter bro who I really don’t see often enough. Blame me and my antisocial internet tendencies.
• I’ve known Choux since last year but it’s been a pleasure working with her on Sepia Tears this year. Here’s to another year of attempting to prove that your name doesn’t have to be Type-Moon to make a decent amateur visual novel.
• I don’t know 8C too well but we’d probably get along judging from his blogging manifesto.
• Shance really needs to start blogging again! Or at least find a way to play PoFV across the Pacific without lag.
• relentlessflame is my new official mentor for random things that I’m too lazy to google and can’t read thanks to the moon runes. Keep it up.
• Somehow I ended up talking to Hisui from Reverse Thieves. I swear I’ll play the real Hisui’s route soon…

…And that’s about it. Apologies if you’re not on the list, but don’t take it personally; this is just something I threw together at the last minute.

- – -

So with all of that out of the way, what else is there to say? Two years of blogging and being a member of an internet community has taught me more about anime than I ever imagined, and now that I’ve been settled into this place for a while, I can understand why the social aspect by itself can be so much fun. Indeed, one of my unwritten goals is to simply hang out online more often and forget about the backlog (though too much of that is the #2 cause of Hiatus Syndrome, second only to transitioning from high school to uni). I’m sure that I’ll have a ton of fun this year too, and I hope I don’t have to say goodbye to too many familiar faces.

Here’s to another year of excitement in this fantasy land of thighhighs and super robots. I can declare in the Red Truth that it will be awesome. Cheers.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2010 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

Amagami has been on my radar for a while (since some people kept pointing out the amount of doujins the game was getting), but I’m a little underwhelmed by the first arc. By “underwhelmed” I mean that I didn’t melt into a puddle of kyaa~ and moe~.

So, it’s clear that I like the series – why wouldn’t I? I enjoy character games and dating sims and all of the other fluff, and it seems like Enterbrain is no stranger to simulated love (even if I gave True Love Story a 1/10 on MAL, I blame that on the adaptation). After going through the KimiKiss manga and doing a bit of background research, however, I realized that these adaptations are undertaking an extremely difficult task: turning a first-person dating sim into a coherent storyline to be experienced from the third person.

Let’s go back in time a year or two, or however long ago it was that the KimiKiss anime aired. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the love triangles, and even two of the male characters, were original to the anime. I loved the show when I watched it – I still do – but I remember it by its lighthearted, almost shoujo manga charm, and I enjoyed watching its bittersweet love triangles develop. The fact that it’s partially an original story makes all the more sense considering Kenichi Kasai was the director, the same man who brought us the adaptations of Honey and Clover and Aoi Hana. Anyway, KimiKiss was as sweet as the aforementioned JC Staff titles, and I enjoyed it more in that sense than like a straightforward, structured adaptation like the first season of Clannad.

Considering its artistic liberties, the KimiKiss anime is in fact the exception, not the rule. The manga is more of a straight adaptation; and it’s delicious, trust me. In place of the bittersweet shoujo manga charm is a series of pure, sweet, deliciously unrealistic first love stories. I even enjoyed it for reasons other than the fanservice! (And this thing is at Watashi ni xx Shinasai‘s level of pseudo fanservice). Despite the fact that it did its job, though, there was something missing. It didn’t make an emotional impact on me like the anime did. There was no magic, no blissful 2D world to escape into. I wasn’t captured under the game scenarist’s spell.

Not Porn.

Amagami is providing a similar challenge by directly adapting the game rather than by trying to create a mostly original story like KimiKiss. On one hand, it’s perfect: I’m not an onee-chan fan and I still loved Haruka’s arc. But did I “fall” for her? No, not really. Everything was too convenient; my disbelief knows how to keep itself suspended, but I simply couldn’t buy the fantasy that Haruka fell for our protagonist that easily. And it’s not Junichi’s fault; I rather like the guy, and I want to see him succeed. It’s just that the entire scenario is too implausible for me to go along with it.

This led me to a realization: fantasies looks kinda stupid from a third person perspective. Or rather, dating sims work their magic on you in the first person, so it’s easier to go with the flow and get swept up in the writer’s illusion of happiness. I’d know, it’s worked on me before; Hourglass of Summer was my first commercial visual novel and I still look back on it fondly for that very reason, even if it’s not a dating sim. However, when you see these same scenarios from a third person perspective, it’s easier to see the flaws and fallacies. Junichi feels like his own person when I see him on-screen, so it’s only a matter of time before my mind asks why Haruka is magically interested in him. The worst thing about it is that it isn’t the adaptation’s fault: it’s just hard to replicate the immersion that the dating sim medium is specifically designed to attain.

[Kimura Daisuke]

I said this in the beginning, but I don’t think Amagami is bad. I like being able to explore each of the girls’ arcs to the fullest, and a lot of these scenes are so much fun on screen that I wonder if the anime surpasses the game in some ways. It’s also worth noting that Kaoru’s arc is more believable than Haruka’s, and I’m finding it easier to get swept up in the story. It’s a tricky balance between trying to be too realistic and being just realistic enough to let you suspend your disbelief. Still, the problem remains: what should be a heart-pounding, engrossing, fantasy-fulfilling seinen love story is only feeling like a fluffy, entertaining seinen love story. I’m okay with that, but I know I would have completely fallen for the game if I could play it, and I doubt I’m the only one.

Of course, I can’t fault the anime staff for that: most Japanese viewers have already played the game, so the anime is a bonus treat for them to see the story in motion. It’s more frustrating than anything else because it seems like Enterbrain’s games are exactly the kind of things I’d play if I could understand them, and experiencing the adaptation before the game is like getting a glimpse at what I really want.

At any rate, Junichi’s nibble-filled adventures are some of the most exciting that I’ve seen in a while (in more ways than one). It’s easier to understand that the show is good when you realize that it’s fundamentally different from an original story like KimiKiss and that it’s being told in a fundamentally different medium than the game. With that out of the way, let me go pack to pondering which body part our protagonist will strike next.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2010 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that you haven’t heard of Memo, an EVN by artist Doomfest. I normally don’t review EVNs for the obvious reason – to put it bluntly, the vast majority of them aren’t worth reviewing – but this one stands out as a solid attempt and a prelude of what’s to come.

As you can see from the sample image above, Memo‘s strongest point is its art. I hesitate to say that it’s the game’s only strong point, but that would be unnecessarily harsh. Glancing at the project page, it seems that there were only two core members in the team: Doomfest directing the art and story and someone named Serithnal writing the scenario. The fact that the game was directed by an artist is very evident in the final product, for better or worse.

Probably the most notable feature of the game is the background art; it’s fairly uncommon for doujin games to not use photographic backgrounds, and for good reason. All of the backgrounds are appealing to the eye and, most importantly, feel natural. The character art is great, too, and even the “idiot friend” character’s design isn’t bad. There are a few more event CGs than you’d expect from such a short game (~3 hours), like this one, which is a pleasant surprise since most VNs have the opposite problem. There’s even a bit of fanservice if you know where to look. It’s also worth commenting on the interface; I’m not sure who designed it or how much effort it took, but the game is very well presented for a Ren’Py game. It’s quite common to see potentially interesting stories told through the standard Ren’Py interface, which is a bad move if you’re targeting anyone who has been around the EVN scene for more than a couple days. The default skin isn’t bad but you get sick of it very quickly.

As for the negatives, the first thing that comes to mind is the music. I believe the game uses stock music throughout, which is understandable but also disappointing. The only other issue would be the story. First of all, it’s difficult for me to comment on this because I couldn’t make a mental flowchart of the game; I don’t think I ever found endings 1-3 (out of 6), but I somehow finished the CG gallery. Does Kazumi have a route, or is the entire story focused on Liz? I’m not sure, but suffice it to say that the game is fairly standard plot-wise. The writing didn’t strike me as bad and it has its entertaining moments, but it’s as if the story begins with a ton of fluff, arbitrarily cuts itself off when something resembling a conclusion is found, and directs you to the credits. It’s not bad, but it’s inconclusive.

Anyway, bonus points for the game’s decision points. They’re arranged in such a way that you’re not really sure where each decision will lead, and it was apparently intricate enough to confuse me, so that counts as a success.

I don’t know Doomfest personally and I’m not sure what his goal was for this project, but I’m quite impressed by it overall. The positive traits showcase the skill and potential of the staff – superb art, amusing dialogue, clean presentation – and the negatives appear to be a result of lack of manpower and the small scale of the project. On a related note, the director is apparently serving as lead artist for Cradle Song, an OEL visual novel on a much larger scale than most projects that actually reach completion. I realized a long time ago that writing and drawing are generally mutually exclusive talents – Ryukishi07 is a prime example – so I’m very interested in seeing what Cradle Song will turn into since the developers appear to have put together a solid team. At the very least, I have enough faith in this project to say that it won’t be dropped. We’ll see if I’m right in a year or two.

At any rate, Memo is a solid EVN and a prime example of how a two-man group can compose a playable visual novel, but it’s more likely to appeal to people who have worked with Ren’Py and understand the challenges of developing a game. For the typical reader, I’d put it on the same level as the lesser-known Japanese doujin titles translated in the old al|together festivals: it’s not amazing, but it’s pretty good, and there’s a fair chance that it won’t bore you to death. If you enjoy fluffy stories with cute girls and romantic undertones, there’s no reason for you not to like it. Either way, Memo has shown me Doomfest’s potential, and I’m looking forward to seeing if the Cradle Song devs will be the first group outside of Four Leaf Studios to make an OEL visual novel that I’d actually pay for.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2010 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

If you’re a hardcore JRPG gamer and you were lured into this post in the hopes of reading some insight on the MegaTen series, I apologize. I deeply apologize. However, what I’m about to discuss may well be of interest to you, if you think you can handle it.

As the story goes, a Japanese author named Aya Nishitani wrote a trilogy of pulp horror novels (partially translated) back in the 80s. Namco apparently bought the rights to the series shortly after, creating the first in the long running Megami Tensei series. At present, Shin Megami Tensei is the main title of a variety of smaller series, one of which is Persona, famous among anime fans for its incorporation of dating sim elements into its gameplay.

What you might not know is that, somewhere along the line, an OVA was made.

Let me tell you, this thing is interesting. It’s very interesting. It’s so interesting that I’m at a loss for words. Here’s how it goes:

He types with two fingers, and his laptop makes bleep sounds like a 70s sci-fi film.

We begin with a serious male protagonist, Akemi, who is apparently not interested in ordinary humans. He’s a genius hacker who spends all of his time in the computer lab. Of course, the female transfer student, Yumiko, makes the mistake of talking to him. One day, she wanders into the computer lab after school and she finds out that he’s the leader of a cult!

Well, not really, but he’s an odd guy nonetheless. He’s trying to awaken this person, a demon named Loki, and he’s using his classmates and teachers as sacrifices. Somehow, he has the ability to brainwash them and turn them into his servants. Unsurprisingly, the ever-careless Yumiko is still curious about him, and she ends up getting tossed into the computer lab again by Akemi’s minions.

Somewhere along the line, we find out that Akemi is being a complete jerk because he wants the blue demon’s power to exact revenge on his bullies. That’s actually not a bad idea; I wish more of those stupid Japanese bullying stories would end with a knife through the eye. Onani Master Kurosawa was close! (But it’s not a “stupid” Japanese bullying story so it wouldn’t have counted anyway)

Now, you’re probably wondering what that pink blob up there is. Well, that’s… a pink blob. Like in those bad horror movies? Yeah. Akemi secures Yumiko to the sacrificial chair, but before he can do anything, this blob appears out of the computer and starts devouring everyone. Literally.

I was going to say something about how, surprisingly, there was no implied tentacle rape, but I forgot about this.

Apparently the demon lord Loki isn’t content with being used to exact revenge on mere mortals, or something of the sort. Akemi loses control of him, and he appears in all his glory swinging his red sludge around and devouring the soulless students. Akemi himself almost falls victim to his miscalculation, but he’s saved when Yumiko starts shooting laser beams through her eyes.

I wish I were joking, but I’m not. Loki is temporarily stunned, and the two survivors jump into the darkness and magically teleport to… a forest.

WHAT HAVE I DONE? I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON AND I MUST REPENT FOR MY SINS. (she’s not dead, don’t worry).

Some stuff happened that I can’t quite remember, but Yumiko sheds some light on the backstory – something that might have actually made sense in the original novel – and they start walking. Akemi summons his cyborg dog, apparently called Cerberus, and they journey toward the final battle against Loki. Meanwhile, we see that Loki is wreaking havoc in the real world. I wonder how that lady managed to not notice her friend being eaten by a pile of pink slime, but hey, at least she’s a diligent worker.

A few minutes later, Akemi and Cerberus run through the path of darkness used as the first picture in this post, and after the fulfillment of a confusing prophecy in which Yumiko turns into a banshee and then back into a human, he boards Cerberus and duels with Loki’s final form. The last boss eventually falls to a stab through his third eye with the magical sword. There’s a little shot at the end that reveals how things turn out and hint at the plot for the next book, but that might actually be a spoiler.

- – -

I don’t want to say that Aya Nishitani is bad. I’m sure this is just a bad, low budget adaptation that failed in the same way that modern day bad, low budget adaptations fail, except it’s infinitely funnier because of its age. I actually plan on reading whatever is translated of Nishitani’s books, though mostly out of curiosity. However, it’s hard to not call this OVA outright awful, for a lot of reasons. I said at the beginning of 2010 that one of my goals was to watch a truly terrible anime: I tried Mars of Destruction, but I wanted something obscure and bad, not just bad. Mars of Destruction is infamously bad; this is just bad.

Of course, that’s precisely why you should watch it.

Would I watch it even if I weren’t forced?

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2010 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

I realized from the moment I heard Theme of SSS that Angel Beats had a great OST and that I should probably review it when it came out. Apparently the end of July snuck up on me.

Anyway, this is my first OST review, so I’ll keep it simple and discuss the specific tracks that seemed notable. In case you haven’t heard it yet, believe me, this soundtrack isn’t quite what you’d expect from Key; it’s unorthodox in a lot of ways, but it works.

School Days
This is pleasant for nostalgia’s sake, but the full version sounds a little messy. There seems to be a lot of stuff going on that you’re unlikely to notice with a video accompanying it, but it stands out somewhat when you focus on it. Anyway, it fits the mood it’s trying to portray very well and could easily work as BGM in a visual novel.

Art of War
I like this more than I probably should. It’s a typical uplifting military march, but I like how it doesn’t feel particularly intense or otherwise war-like. My memory of the show is tainting my opinion and making it sound less serious than it should, but in all honesty, it sounds like BGM for an armory in a JRPG. Bonus points for the piano in the middle; it ties it to the other songs in the OST rather than being a completely out-of-place military march.

Memory
Not the kind of thing you’d voluntarily listen to, if you ask me. It’s pretty sad from the get-go, even without having watched the show. Simple piano with swelling strings in the back are the classic combination for emotive BGM to accompany on-screen drama, and it works.

Tactics
I love this. AB‘s OST is filled to the brim with weird, rhythmic piano, and this track is a solid example. It’s relaxing in a sense, almost like lounge music, but it’s amusing when you think about it: the piano basically does nothing but alternate between two or three notes, half the time not alternating at all. It’s very unique, and it stood out for me even before hearing the OST.

Enemy Country
This has nothing to do with Angel Beats and little to do with what we’ve come to expect from the music that accompanies Key’s games, but for lack of a better word, it’s epic. The first half is all atmospheric but it eventually evolves into dark DnB, perfect for being played alongside a battle against an eerie or unknown opponent. Good use of that repeated dissonant note, whatever it is. (Side note: Attack!! brings to mind the same feeling with its wild percussion, except it’s meant to fit dramatic battle scenes rather than eerie pre-battle scenes)

Decisive Battle
This was one of my favourite songs from when I first watched the show. The piano is utterly hectic, and I actually enjoy it. The longer you leave the track playing, the more over-the-top it gets, until it starts to feel like a hard techno remix of an old Key track. It’s a very unique, perhaps minimalistic way of building tension without relying on the old screeching violins.

Niku Udon
I’ve gotta say, this is just plain bizarre. I have no idea when I heard a crazy chiptune song in Angel Beats but it must have been in there somewhere. I can only assume that the full track wasn’t played because I hope I would have noticed something that stands out this much. Anyway, it’s not bad at doing what I think it’s supposed to, but I really don’t know what it’s supposed to do.

Light Drop
Beautiful. I can’t quite remember when this was played, but it reminds me of that shot in the fishing episode of Kanade standing in a garden filled with flowers. My memory might have embellished that a little, but it was a memorable shot (right before Otonashi asked her to join them on their trip). Either way, this is beautiful, but I think it speaks for itself. It’s a combination of piano and an interesting string instrument (harpsichord?), and it has an altogether pleasant feel about it. Note that there’s hardly any percussion (or really, hardly any anything). This is more like the traditional BGM in Key games.

Worthy Rival
Fun fact: I was making notes on this OST as I listened to it in anticipation of writing a post, and all I wrote for this track was “badass gabber”. Honestly, this belongs in a rhythm game. It sounds so out of place when you listen to it by itself, but I’ve gotta admit, it didn’t feel odd in the show. It’s similar to the other battle themes in that it uses the electronic music clichés of heavy synths and crazy percussion to hammer away at your ears and build intensity.

Play Ball
I’m only mentioning this one because I hate it. It’s so, so annoying. Every time I heard it in the show my fingers would unconsciously tap along to it, and I’d end up forgetting to pay attention to the dialogue. I guess it’s fitting though.

Let’s Operation
What is this, jazz? Blues? Engrish aside, it’s some pretty nice guitar work, though the solo in the middle is way too distorted for me. Not sure what they were shooting for with that.

Initial Impulse
This is basically what an off-vocal My Soul, Your Beats would sound like if it were more BGM-ish and, well, didn’t make sense. I actually like it; it’s surprisingly good. It fits with the rest of the soundtrack in its odd, rhythmic use of instruments that are generally supposed to play a melody.

Transforms to the Shadow
This is so DnB that I didn’t even put it in the same folder as the rest of the OST. I love it, but only because I already liked this stuff. One notable thing is that it’s actually not eerie, intense, or otherwise difficult to listen to: it almost has an energetic feel to it in the melody that soars above the chaos near the end. The percussion pumps up the viewer for the battle scene, but it’s surprisingly triumphant.

Firing Preparation
This is similar to the rest of the hard electronic music in the show, but it’s notable for its distortion in the middle and, of course, its repeated low string figure. It’s pretty simple but it works excellently as BGM . I suppose the song’s name is self-explanatory.

And now for the big three…

Theme of SSS
This is Yuri’s theme. Whether this is the case on paper or if it’s just a feeling I got from the story, there’s no question that this is Yuri’s theme. Do you hear the ferocity of the strings when they break through that mourning piano melody? The percussion that enters at 0:45 like a battle theme, the screeching violin chords at 0:58? This is her song. The rage calms for a bit, but it never finds its resolution. The strings eventually give way to the same piano melody from the beginning, but it concludes on a painfully irresolute note. This is Yuri. This is her. If you’ve seen the show, there’s no need to elaborate.

Otonashi
Our protagonist’s theme is an interesting arrangement of Yuri’s violent version. It’s much more subdued; there’s no sense of urgency in it, partly thanks to the much slower drum line. The melody is also played lower than Yuri’s version and there’s no distinct buildup of intensity. Instead of growing angry, the piano makes itself apparent at around the halfway point, adding a sense of delicacy to the piece. That said, the strings are still screeching; it’s still painful for anyone who knows his story. It ends with a short piano figure that could be called a resolution, but it’s a somber one.

In other words, the song captures Otonashi’s pain before he remembers that he was satisfied with his life when he died. If Theme of SSS is Yuri’s displaced rage, Otonashi is our protagonist’s uncertainty.

Kanade
I’m not surprised that Jun Maeda wanted to write this one himself. It’s odd; I’m not even sure what instrument the song opens with, but from such an eerie, uncertain start, the piano and swelling strings wash over it with sheer beauty. I picture it as one of those elaborate backgrounds from the OP of a Key adaptation; Nagisa’s figure silhouetted against a spring field with light orbs floating in the air, a beach awash with summer sun with the figures of a boy and a girl sitting on the concrete overlooking the sea. It gets serious at 0:55 – the piano takes the melody in Maeda’s signature make-you-cry manner. Then there’s an odd transition to 8-bit/MIDI that I still can’t make sense of, but it matches the eccentricity displayed in the rest of the show’s music. Again, the song has trouble deciding between its disturbing wavering synth and its uplifting piano with classic Key harmony. The final note of the song makes me sad: it’s as irresolute as the other character themes, and it leaves something to be desired. I believe that’s the point.

Kanade is a tricky character because the viewer can’t truly understand her until the very end, but I think this song embodies her all-knowing uncertainty. Unlike Yuri and Otonashi, she isn’t lost or confused or searching for resolution; like them, however, she has to struggle with her own sadness at watching her friends pass on while holding in her feelings until the very end. She might have had all the answers, but she was as emotionally uncertain as the rest of them.

[monono]

Altogether, Angel Beats has a very unique OST. It isn’t much like Key’s previous adaptations; in fact, it isn’t much like any anime music I’ve heard. I enjoy the style the composers aimed for, using hardcore electronic rhythms for the battle scenes and unorthodox, atonal, generally rhythmic piano and strings for everything else. That said, the tear-jerkers are still there in all their piano-and-synth glory, sure to please any fan of Jun Maeda and Shinji Orito and the rest of them. Theme of SSS is the icing on the cake. Nothing can stop me from sniffling when I hear Nagisa or Natsukage or Last Regrets, but this piece fills me with emotion in a complete different way.

Speaking of which, I’m also curious about the enigmatic Anant-Garde Eyes, a mysterious group who did the arrangement for some older Key songs. This is their first time being credited with composition, but they evidently know what they’re doing considering that they composed some of the most important tracks in the OST like Theme of SSS and all of the battle themes. zzeroparticle gave some thought on the matter, but I’m certainly looking forward to seeing more of these guys (and hopefully figuring out who they are).

Anyway, I’m impressed with the music of Angel Beats and I’m glad to see the composers take it in such a different direction while maintaining the bread-and-butter tear-jerkers that the story needs. It’s the perfect combination of abstract and traditional.

Info: VGMdb
Obtain from: Chaos Theory (mp3/flac), CD Japan, Amazon Japan

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2010 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

I went into Shukufuku no Campanella knowing one thing only: the art. Ko~Cha has worked on a lot of Windmill’s games – browse if you’d like – and, frankly, she (he?) is an incredible artist. I saw the character merchandise for the game and leafed through the Danbooru tag back in the Winter, and I was hyped for the anime solely because the premise looked exciting and I knew it would be pretty and shiny.

It goes without saying that I’m not disappointed. At the time of writing this, only the first third of the show has aired, but it’s already proven that it can magically read my mind and do exactly what I want it to.

As I was looking up the staff to see why the show is as visually beautiful as it is, I noticed that the sakkan is Makoto Koga – the same person who did the character designs, among other things, for Aria. I know the animation director would have more impact on the way the scenes play out rather than the overall style or feel of the visuals, but it occurred to me that there’s quite a lot in common between the two series, at least superficially. The shots of Ert’Aria by the sea and the crowds of jubilant villagers watching Agnes’ puppet show instantly bring to mind Neo Venezia, the perfect vacation destination. There’s a feel of childish excitement in the bright colouring and very distinctive character designs. Whether it’s the festive European feel or laid-back character dialogue, both Aria and Campanella thrive on their blissfulness.

In other words, Campanella’s Blessing is basically what an Aria eroge would look like.

Greatest eyecatches ever.

Perhaps this is what it takes to make me like iyashikei: a subgenre that, despite being theoretically appealing, always puts me to sleep. Campanella does something very good with its characters, something that many shows fail at doing. It actually knows how to have fun. The incredible art certainly helps, but I’m pretty fond of peko‘s original designs in Mayoi Neko Overrun, and that doesn’t stop the show from being average at best. See, Campanella‘s characters and dialogue are entertaining, period. It’s kinda like that manga I read in its use of SD art to add to the hilarity; I’m not sure how much of that was present in Windmill’s game, but it certainly works in the anime. When the presentation is this top-notch, the generic character archetypes and situations hardly make it less funny. It’s more like those cliches are finally being done right.

On top of that, we have something vague and difficult to discuss that I always seem to want to discuss: atmosphere. In this case, it can be pretty much pinned down to the setting. This type of happy-go-lucky, festive, almost Harvest Moon type of fantasy setting is rare in eroge; most fantasy settings lean toward the warrior heroine/mahou senshi style, and fantasy isn’t even common to begin with. The setting allows for not only a plethora of idyllic Aria-esque backgrounds, but also some very creative outfits and hairstyles for the girls. The designs are completely over-the-top, and it fits perfectly.

The parody aspect of the show is nice too, although it doesn’t hit me particularly hard since I’m not a huge JRPG gamer. What the meta does do, regardless of comedy, is it adds to the show’s sense of adventure. That’s why I mentioned Harvest Moon above: it’s like an RPG, but it isn’t held back by a forcefully serious plot, or at least not yet. The meta is there to make you smile when you see Leicester synthesize a gem with Carina’s weapon to increase its power, and I think it succeeds at that.

All that really matters in this post is that I like Agnes.

It might sound like I’m jumping the gun, but Shukufuku no Campanella has already proven itself to me. When I saw the stunning art and interesting setting, all I hoped for was a story that would use those factors to the fullest. This is exactly what the Campanella anime is doing. Like the loli vampire stories of yore – Tsukuyomi, Blood Alone, you name it – the appeal lies in the fact that the herione is a loli vampire, and it capitalizes on that by forging a plot and setting that compliment her. Shukufuku no Campanella is filling a niche that I never knew existed, and I love it.

Now this is what I call a blessing.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2010 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

I apologize for being the last person on the planet to write about this.

As far as I can see, Black Rock Shooter is, basically, an anime adaptation of a music video. Most of us have already heard the iconic song by ryo and there’s more than enough fanart for everyone to be familiar with the character designs, but I don’t think I’m the only one who wasn’t intimately familiar with the “story” until recently. The source material is pretty cool – mostly thanks to artist huke and his dark, imaginative world – but it doesn’t seem to be about much. Miss “Black Rock Shooter” appears to be fighting to save someone, or maybe to protect a friend? She exists in a lonely world, searching for something. She eventually breaks her chains and… rides off on a motorbike? And then someone promises to keep on singing.

I know there’s a bit more to the BRS universe than meets the eye, but the OVA seems catered to people who at least have a faint idea of who ryo is, and it seems to work. Now, I’m not big on interpreting lyrics and poetry, but I think it’s safe to say that the original song and video can be read in a multitude of ways, and I quite like the angle taken by Yamakan and the team at Ordet. The characters Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master symbolize the hearts of Mato and Yomi, and their battles in huke’s desolate world represent their strained relationship as friends. Fair enough. A simple plot that easily fits into 50 minutes, and it somehow involves both implied schoolgirl yuri and dark, stylish combat.

As far as being faithful to the source, the anime has some neat little references thrown in. Mato’s many stars are a clever shout-out  to her alternate persona, and some of the BGM is arranged from the original Vocaloid song. It’s amusing to hear Black Rock Shooter in that bouncy, happy-go-lucky, first-day-of-school style of instrumental anime BGM. Outside of that, I can’t say that the OVA is particularly stunning aurally or visually, but it did a very good job of visualizing huke’s post-apocalyptic battleground. I suppose he deserves the most credit for conceiving the concept, but at least his work wasn’t butchered.

Altogether, Black Rock Shooter isn’t bad; if anything, it’s pretty good. I’m sure it’s attracted some disappointment thanks to its sheer popularity, but it’s hard to get disappointed over a music video adaptation. At the very least, I now have a pleasantly cheesy shoujo-ai story of love and friendship to think about whenever BRS comes up on shuffle.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2010 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

I was reading the second volume of Faust, the light novel anthology that everyone has heard of by now, when it occurred to me that I never actually discussed the book here. As you would know from reading the interviews and editor comments in the anthology, Faust holds an interesting position in the Japanese light novel scene. Its roots are in the anime subculture, featuring artists like Takeshi Obata (Death Note) and writers like Nisioisin (Bakemonogatari), but it doesn’t feel as targeted or commercialized as most otaku media, for better or worse. Editor Katsushi Ota is the one man in charge of the magazine, and he seems to take pride in bringing together these creative works from Japan’s younger generation and reaching out to new audiences.

At any rate, for simplicity’s sake, I’ll talk individually about the short stories published in the first two English releases of Faust. Most of my familiarity with light novels comes from the titles available here, so don’t be surprised if I miss something.

- – -

Outlandos d’Amour by Kouhei Kadono (Boogiepop series).

This story takes place in the same universe as Boogiepop since it involves the Towa Organization, and it’s similar in the sense that it involves not-so-ordinary young protagonists with unusual powers. What it lacks is Boogiepop‘s eerie horror/mystery atmosphere. Like many light novels, it’s partly just an adolescent love story (despite the protagonist being in his twenties), and it’s partly a supernatural action flick involving strange people with strange powers fighting one another. Fans of Boogiepop are bound to enjoy this, although it didn’t strike me as being particularly emotive or dramatic. It is, at least, slightly creepy.

Drill Hole in My Brain by Otaro Maijo (several untranslated novels)

The introduction was right to call this avant-garde. It’s abstract, and more than a little unusual. It probably means something; the sexual motifs have something to do with growing up, and the protagonist’s dream-like world is a fantasy parallel for his real-life conflicts. The crater represents an anus, right? Abstract, avant-garde fiction is certainly not my thing, and I can’t bring myself to try to read this too closely. Perhaps it was my fault for reading it when I didn’t know what half the words meant.

F-sensei’s Pocket by Otsuichi (several translated novels such as Goth and ZOO)

My first experience with Otsuichi – at least, the first in which I bothered to google the author’s name – was the manga adaptation of Kimi ni Shika Kikoenai. I was impressed with the story, to say the least. However, this short story by Otsuichi is quite different in tone. It has a feel of childish wonder and adventure to it, like a Ghibli film, probably thanks to all of the Doraemon references. The only negative comment I could make about it is that I don’t like it as much as Otsuichi’s story in the second Faust book. Really, F-sensei’s Pocket is great. It’s one of those pleasant coming of age stories with just enough magic to maintain that exciting, mystical feel that children’s fiction always has. Some of these stories don’t work on me, but Kamichu was great, and so was this.

Magical Girl Risuka by NisiOisiN (Bakemonogatari, Katanagatari, etc)

I love Nisioisin. As we all know from Bakemonogatari and the two translated Zaregoto books, this man knows how to write eccentric girls into eccentric plots and eccentric situations. Everything about Magical Girl Risuka is off-beat, and not just because of the amusing Kyon-like protagonist who inserts her own view into every line of narration. Structurally, it’s a mystery story, but the reader is more likely to question the nature of magic in the world and what the protagonist’s grand scheme really is. I’d like to see her become a criminal mastermind in a few years and create a whole anime spinoff. The funny thing about this story is that, plot-wise, it isn’t astounding; it’s Nisioisin’s unusual writing that makes it interesting. Wikipedia says that this isn’t the end, and I’m looking forward to more of this in the future Faust volumes.

Jagdtiger (PorscheLaufwerk) by Kouhei Kadono

This story is the alternate side of Outlandos d’Amour, following the girl’s story and explaining her origins. To be honest, it seemed altogether more dull than the first story, probably because the cyborg/human weapon cliché no longer appeals to me. It was interesting to tie together the missing links in the story and the action scenes were good, but it felt rather empty in terms of plot. I suppose Kadono is in an unlucky position because anything he writes will be compared to Boogiepop, which is difficult to top.

Where the Wind Blows by Otsuichi

I love it. I don’t even feel like talking about it because I simply love it. This is precisely what I like about anime, the classic combination of semicolon-underscore-semicolon and less-than-three. Much like Kimi ni Shika Kikoenai, this is a love story that isn’t quite shoujo, and it doesn’t play its cards until the very end. Most of the story feels like a typical slice-of-life/coming-of-age tale like the rest of Faust‘s fiction, but it ramps up the drama before you realize what’s happening. It’s incredible. Without a doubt, I hope that more of his works in this style are translated.

ECCO by Tatsuhiko Takimoto (Welcome to the NHK)

To be honest, the sci-fi elements in this one are odd, and I’m still not sure what to make of the ending. It seems wryly pessimistic, not unlike Welcome to the NHK, and it’s hard to isolate one single theme or lesson from it. At any rate, the story is simultaneously disturbing and entertaining as one would expect from Takimoto. It’s hard to discuss without spoiling, but the female protagonist is bound to appeal to at least a small subset of bishoujo fans for a very specific reason. It’s also a fairly solid story about the injustice and inconsistencies that children see, which should hit close to home for all of us because it’s a fact that kids can be more insightful than adults want to believe. Ecco succeeds at doing what I like about Faust: it entertains you while making you think.

- – -

Of course, Faust is about more than just short stories, and the bonuses are usually worth reading as well. The most notable one I can think of is the Type-Moon interview in the first volume. Either way, most light novel fans are already aware of how lucky we are to be able to read Faust in English, so I urge those of you less familiar with the medium to pick up the first couple volumes and see what you’re missing out on. The publication of Faust on this side of the ocean is a great thing in a lot of ways, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Japan’s light novel culture reach foreign shores.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2010 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

One of the miracles of shounen manga is the fact that they can be about anything. It’s one thing to make a shounen series for every sport on the planet – the eroge scene can compete in that regard – but it’s no new discovery that shounen extends far beyond its traditional premises, arguably a bit too far. You could probably dig up a shounen about Gunpla building or babysitting and they’d still be as over-the-top as the rest of the genre, and proud of it.

Following this train of thought, it took me a while before I started looking at Liar Game as, quite simply, a shounen about Game Theory.

Now, before you start arguing semantics, I realize that Liar Game is more seinen than shounen. I’m not familiar with Shinobu Kaitani’s other works (aside from One Outs which I technically still haven’t seen), but his work doesn’t appear to be targeted at teenagers. Still, regardless of the demographic, Liar Game has more than enough unsubtle cliffhangers and an overpowered protagonist (with a dark past!) for it to be comparable with other shounen manga.

My second disclaimer is that I am not a mathematician or economist, and my would-be field of study has almost nothing to do with the contents of the Wikipedia page for game theory. However, I don’t believe a person needs to understand game theory to enjoy Liar Game any more than they need to understand baseball to enjoy Taisho Yakyuu Musume. Still, what follows is mostly un-academic conjecture, so be warned.

- – -

If you’ve read any of Liar Game – a story about a legendary noble con man participating in a mysterious competition with the goal of finding the world’s greatest liar – you’d know that the games are the single most important aspect of it. Each of Liar Game’s games are deconstructed, analyzed, and eventually mastered by each of the participants by the time the competition ends. Each game provides a different environment for competition, like a shounen protagonist obtaining a new weapon or ability and testing his might against a powered-up villain. Much like Death Note and even Kaminomi, Liar Game‘s battles are fought entirely with the mind. Unlike the aforementioned titles, however, its battles are fought in familiar territory.

By “familiar territory” I mean that Liar Game uses variants of games that already exist in the real world, like Poker and Musical Chairs, and generally solves them with pre-existing concepts like these. The logic of the story is based on concepts that exist for the purpose of mathematically analyzing seemingly luck-based games and finding rational solutions to them. I imagine that this is how games like Poker can be played professionally. Liar Game writes its “battles” by combining these concepts with a bit of psychology (since the majority of the characters are not very good liars), and it reveals its solutions to the reader in reverse. I’m sure than Kaitani already knows the results of each game before he begins writing, otherwise that would lead to some very awkward plot twists, but the information is revealed to the reader through the slow and detailed deductive process that the characters go through.

One of the many elaborate charts used to help the reader keep track of the developments.

The most appealing part of the story for me is the fact that I love the concept of game theory. Math is certainly not my strong point, but the basic idea of game theory can be applied in a non-academic sense to all sorts of competitions, ranging from chess to video games. The nature of competitions against other human beings means that there are a limited number of options, some of which are more profitable than others. The purpose of studying a game is to determine which option your opponent will choose and select the option that best reacts to this and puts you at the advantage. I think the math equations enter the picture in order to calculate the probability of different options being chosen, which would be based on countless variables. That’s what makes it so exciting!

I don’t want to go off on too much of a tangent, but some of Liar Game‘s concepts can be seen in everyday competitions. If you’re familiar with video games, think about the concept of mindgames in fighting games. In general, it’s impossible to deal damage to an opponent in a professional fighting game match by walking up to your enemy and executing a standard combo because they’ll simply block it. The psychological aspect is important because you need to trick your opponent before you can even land a hit, leading into the combo. When your opponent blocks an attack, do you follow up with an overhead? Do you continue the string with another attack? Do you pause and go for a throw? Both players cycle through those options in their mind, like a rock-paper-scissors match; and like a rock-paper-scissors match, it continues until one player wins and one loses. Since Liar Game revolves so heavily on forming and breaking alliances, it’s almost reminiscent of the reality show Survivor in that the players have to simultaneously make bonds of trust with others while making preparations to assure that they’re the last person standing. Betrayal might be tempting, but you can’t very well expect your victims to help you in the next round.

You’ll be hearing that claim a lot.

I don’t want to give the mistaken impression that Liar Game is a deep and complex series; in a lot of ways, it’s still a standard suspense story with typical shounen elements hidden behind a very unique premise. Sometimes the characters can be annoying – particularly a certain naive heroine – and Akiyama is overpowered to the point that you can always assume that he is never cornered. Ever. I’m sure there’s a TV Tropes page for this.

However, I don’t think that Liar Game’s depth is meant to be in its story or characters – its true depth lies in its combat. The battles in the Liar Game are very well thought out, and it’s always a pleasure to see how the simplest games can be broken down and analyzed to the point that the meta game feels as complex as a warlord’s conquest while the basic rules are as simple as a children’s board game.

This is the true appeal of Liar Game for me: it’s a dramatic, over-the-top shounen about mature, intelligent adults playing musical chairs, and it’s awesome. The only way it could get better is if they decide to play rock-paper-scissors in the next round.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2010 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.