Man, Im sorry you guys, this is like the
tenhundredth time Ive had to say "IM BACK" because I have been away so frequently this year. Well, I'll be honest, there were 2 reasons for this;
1) This was one of the most intense years of study Ive ever undertook, and have had little free time. And of that free time, I used most of it for games and anime, blogging wasnt much of a priority.
2) Blogging to me is a nice little hobby, although emphasis on the 'little' part. I wouldnt say Im the type of person who likes to write a lot oftenly about stuff. Hey, thats not to say I dont enjoy the little I do, but any more and it becomes an mildly boring excessive chore. I dont want it to become this (and possibly end up giving up blogging if it becomes so), so I dont really push myself to blog a lot.
Do I sound negative? Like Im leading up to some bad news....
"blah blah Im quitting blah blah"... hahahaha...
NOPE. Im still the same as I usually am, just thought opening up a little more serious would be appropriate this time, because this time, IM HOME!!!!!
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| <- HOME - ME -> |
Thats right! I have FINISHED this year of study, DONE. In reality, I finished my exams at the end of november and have been relaxing for a bit before going on holiday last week, but fact is; I am Done! I will have a lot of time for anime, manga, books, visual novels and games over the next months, and depending how uni goes... the next few years! I will also have more time for blogging, although like I said above, I want to keep it as the nice little hobby it is. I was never fond of English or any writing subjects, more so why I have very unstructured posts because I just write what I feel like (basically what comes into my head) around various topics Im passionate about. Im not stopping blogging, dont get me wrong, but Im also not going all out either. I think its also a bonus for the very few who even read this site (whoever you are, you are awesome) and to be honest, I dont want to spend your precious time that can be used else where. So the less I post, the more time you can spend doing other stuff, like playing games and not reading IGN. Just coming on here every so often and actually reading this shit is more than enough for me :) Maybe Im trying to pathetically justify laziness? maybe so, but quality > quantity! Posting less keeps every post overall better, it keeps this hobby nice, and it also allows you to enjoy this site in your own time, weekly? monthly? yearly? you choose, I will be 100% satisfied if you just show up!
Now, enough trivial crap, lets
GET ONTO SOME NICE JUICY CONTENT! Although Im free now, I was still busy the months before and haven't got round to doing much, but its more than enough to talk about! With games, I have managed to complete borderlands 2 with a friend. In anime, I have completed another amazing series called steins;gate, and an even more epic and blown out series called tengen toppa gurren lagann, as well as a mildly psychological anime known as school days. Ive also started to pick up manga, and will be more than glad to describe 2 that have blown me away recently; Assassination Classroom and Magi. And lets not forget My little pony and how amazing season 3 has been so far! I also have finally gotten round to planning to buy a new computer which i will buy soon, you can Read about that below as well.
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| Probably my GOTY |
Starting off, Games have been pretty good! Borderlands 2 improved everything I loved about the first one, seriously, everything! The Characters, gameplay, guns, NPC's, plot, story, voice acting and much more all improved and adequate to squeal standards! However, I hear a lot of people now complaining about it, stating its only Borderlands 1.5 and not much different to the first, 'barley improving' it. Now although this is true to an extent, they forget if it was any more different, even more people would call it out for not being like the original. This is something every sequel in media history has to deal with, as no matter how good it is, there will always be this trend criticism that follows. But If I was to find one flaw in it so far, It would be the confusing, but yet so amazing character of handsome Jack. Without spoiling much, he is a great funny character overall, but has trouble deciding in wither to be the almost pointlessly dominate evil villain or a solid emotionalized character with a real humanitarian emphasis & motive. Rather than focusing on one and being excellent, the Character tries to be both and suffers the trade off in which they both are second-rate.
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| We never really get to see his face, literally and psychologically |
My opinion is that I think they could have made the story much better with an emotional psychological climax by having the ending fight of the story more personal between the characters whom are both underlined by the quest to get to the vault, rather than having the quest of the vault as the main focus. Expand on jacks true reasons to fight, and how both he and the vault hunters will have both positive and negative impacts by either of them beating the other. I think they really could have reached a rare shade of grey between the character lines eg. maybe the vault hunters are really the reason why pandora is a wasteland, opposed to Jack who wants to finally make a change for the greater good? But then I think that would be asking too much. Handsome Jack was a pleasant surprise, I didn't think they would ever make a character this good. I mean, its not like they are marketing this game off his character. Although mildly confusing, as long as we can make interpretations of him that make sense, he is still a good villain.
On other related gaming posts, I managed to use the initial free time after exams to finish a huge list that involves everything I want to complete over the next few years. This mega list includes anime, manga, tv shows, books and games, such as Borderlands 2, Bastion, Dead Island, Batman Arkham Asylum, Batman Arkham City, Dragon Age Origins, Dseus Ex: Human Revolution, Minecraft, Mount and Blade: Warband and heaps more that I really should get round to playing (and writing about the best ones here)
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| ♬LIST♫LISTLISTLIST♬LIST♪LISTLISTLIST ♩♬LISTLIST |
When it comes to anime, over the last few months Ive managed to complete 3 series that have blown me away. Although I usually like to get into full on detail, because there is a lot to talk about I will try to summarize the main points as best as on how these 3 anime are amazing on their own way. (this means I can also avoid spoilers as well!)
Firstly, Steins;Gate has simply an amazing solid thought out plot from start to finish that fits together miraculously with twists that will blow you away, bring you to tears and keep you on the edge of your seat. This is now my second Favorited of all time, only just one-up'd by Clannad's amazing story telling and theme conveyance, but not to imply steins;gate's is nowhere close (It has one of the best conveyance of Sacrifice I have ever seen, as Clannad is more family/love). The plot also revolves around time travel and changing the past, now although time travel themes cannot be standardized because of how different fictitious interpretations of it can be, I can confirm out of the many possible ways time travel can be done right, steins;gate displays one of the best. The characters and relationships are so well defined as well as how the anime actually has a solid ending/conclusion that is
SATISFYING (just like Clannad). At 24+1 episodes with an OVA and canon movie coming out soon (that I cant wait for), it is a simply amazing adventure,
YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!
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| el psy congroo |
Next is Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Now I'll be honest, when I finally started to watch this, it was because I had been begged to by a friend. I found the action fast paced, quick and well fitting, but also tiring. I was enjoying the story, but I thought I would drop it (to pick it up later obviously, it was just getting tiring to watch)... that was until the second half. Seriously, I was BLOWN AWAY. I was second guessing myself, saying "how is this so good!!!", what I thought was initially an ok action anime turned into an emotional roller coaster of twists & turns and out of proportionally blown
EPICNESS. No seriously, if there only there was a word more epic than epic, then THAT WORD would be the one to describe Gurren Lagann. It is actually structured similar to Clannad; its first half is good at what it does, but the second half is just so amazing that you love it so much and appreciate how the first half actually sets it up. No joke, the second half was so good, It allowed me to look back at the first half and see how amazing that actually was now that I watched the second half! So please, I encourage you who like me didnt find it 100% interest at first, PLEASE FINISH IT. HolyDamnFuck its only 27 episodes you whiny BITCH, NO COMPLAINING,
DONT YOU DARE DROP THIS ONE OF A KIND SHOUEN MASTER PIECE. In all seriousness, please dont, I guarantee you will love the series, especially with its bittersweet ending and closure inducing epilogue!
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| And the award to the most badass cast goes to.... |
School days. If you haven't heard of it, or more importantly haven't had it spoiled for you, I greatly encourage you to watch all 12 episodes ASAP. You probably may have heard that it sucks or is a bad anime, but please, it is a truly unique experience for an anime that has a lot of unjustified hate, and also for those who have seen it and still believe it to 'suck', here, let me explain why. it. does. not. (spoilers below, only continue reading if you have an opinion against watching it (from watching it, dropping it, or already been spoiled), if you have no opinion about it,
WATCH IT and dont you dare drop it until the end, then if you have an opinion against it you can read below :) ):
The problem here is that many people unjustifyingly hate this anime (because they disagree with it, such as the stupid protagonist, confronting themes and being 'unrealistic'), but for 12 episodes, I'd say its worth it as a unique experience for an anime. Why?
First off, you'll never hate a Main character as much as this guy. He will make some very bad decisions and you will cringe as he reaps the consequences. A lot of people hate this anime and call it a Joke due to its seemly forced plot twists, but hear me out.
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| I actually really like Kotonoha, from the start and Especially to the end~hehehe |
It is a deconstruction of the Harem genre. It is not made to make you like the characters, it is not made to have to cheerily pick a girl to support and wait widely grinned as they go have some comedic fun. No. This anime wants to show you the worst it possible can. It doesnt want to entertain you, it wants to take everything you know about how romantic comedies should be, shit on it, screw it up and chuck it in a fire. In terms of the main theme of the anime (relationships) and without spoiling much, you'll be looking at one big bad example of a screw up, and through him it will teach you how terrible cheating can be.
However, many people like to disregard it as unbelievable and unrealistic, and to a degree it is, But I Question that! In reality, People get their hearts broken through conflict similar to that in the anime. People get angry and crazy over their love lives. People fall into lust and turn into sexwhoring jerks that make bad decisions. And as horrible as it sounds, People
HAVE Killed others over conflict like this. Despite the uncommon circumstances of it happening in the sequence presented by the anime, Its really is not uncommon for shit like this to happen in real life. Fun Fact: The last episode of this was delayed a week due to similar violence in real life that may have given the anime an untimely bad reputation if it went ahead with the broadcast.
Some(most)times, people just hate it because they disagree with it, which I think is idiotic and ignorantly stupid. Media is made from (subjective and objective) Dominant and Resistant Views. Everyone likes to watch dominant media as they agree with it, however that doesnt mean you should hate resistant media that disagrees with you. Resistant media is good in its own right as it can reveal to you forms that are far more confronting to your personae and ultimately have a greater worthwhile impact on you as a viewer! School days shoves you out of your comfort zone, that doesn't mean you should hate it, especially because this show WANTS YOU to disagree with it (as explained above, being a deconstruction and all), but it doesnt want you to hate it.
Please Please
PLEASE Do yourself a favor and watch it, it will be painful like no other... but the good kind of painful that allows you to become a better person. Trust me. It will.
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| Head what Ive said, Do NOT hate this anime because you may disagree with it |
Manga time! This whole year I never got round to much manga, as the ones I want to read are BIG and will take so much time that I never had to give until now. However, I also had continuously been reading series I got up to date in, and have been surprised at how well written they are. At the mean time, I have finally gotten round to reading (although only about half way through), Magi! Being as breif to the point, magi has some of the best writing in shouen, continuously maintaining a solid believable and unpredictable story that is unique enough to stay fresh.I recommend it to anyone who likes Full metal Achimist, Negima, One piece and other good high quality shouens! (I do like naruto and bleach and stuff, but come on, they arent that the best shouens). Assassination Classroom is another new manga I picked up this year (started = not a lot to read = time to read it) and really, it truly deserves its near top spot in the recently weekly shouen Jump rankings. Its a mild shouen (not much action) with clever comedy that honestly, is fantastically written, and has so much potential to be the best shouen ever (like negima, they could definitly have a twist to mega action and adventure half way through). I highly recommend Both these series (especially Assassination Classroom as its only up to 23 so far) as they, just like everything I post here, are top class and you will most likely
NOT FIND ANY BETTER!
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| Disclaimer: Korosensei strongly disapproves of Tenticle Rape |
You think its over? No, Ive got a bit more to write about. I dont mind if you want to have a break and do something else. seriously, go ahead, this post inst going anywhere, just as long as you actually come back to finish it muahaha!
MY LITTLE PONY SEASON 3! I cant believe how amazing it has been, all 7 episodes so far have had wonderful characterization, interesting plot, hilarious comedy and solid lessons! Some examples include Dark Magic for Twilight, Pinkie's Hilarious 4th wall powers, Confronting Bullying Advice for the CMC, a genius conclusion to the Magic duel and a fulfilling redemption for Trixie, Sisterly heartwarming themes for Scootaloo, MORE LUNAAA, and lately, a fantastically developed Rainbow Dash episode with awesome drill Sargent Spitfire. Not to say I havent had my fair share of critics as well; including how vague and generically villainy Sombra was, the lack of Pinkamena and the complete reversal of roles for Rainbow dash in the wonderbolts episode (Im sure we were all expecting HER to be the aggressive role who would be too rash and then later learn the importance of helping others, but instead played a rather passive role and they gave the aggressive role to someone else to allow her to learn of it without her character taking a hit... which I think is kinda cheap). I can go on and on about my opinions and such, But not everyone here is a brony teehee, so I think that will be enough... for NOW (HAHA I will probably go further in detail later, as I will only have 13 episodes to talk about until season 4... which hopefully is not November next year lol).
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| Not an understatement |
I think that about sums it up. Having finally finished these hard studying exams, I will continue to fulfill my list and relax until uni starts next year. Who knows, maybe I will blog some study tips in future as well that may be of more help to you guys then random opinions of AMGP (Anime, Manga, Games, Ponies). Alyea, I also have plans for this new computer I want to finally buy. Having my HD 6950 2GB GPU already, I gonna get an i5 3750 CPU, 2400MHZ 8GB RAM, 1TB 600Mb/s HDD and the basics such as a gaming case, Motherboard, DVD drive, speakers, OS etc. Whats that? get a console? pfff,
LOVE LIVE THE MASTER RACE.
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| Sorry... I couldnt help it, I love this joke |
Overall I think I will be more than ready to jump into my new life next year, free of study and actually having time to
DO WHAT I WANT!
Thanks for reading, and dont worry, I haven't forgotten about the competitions I promised. Ive been contemplating wither I should make an official steam group for our site and host competitions on there with Cleft. Of course only the people of this site should know about it, so like I said, if theres only 3 people who actually read this site, then I guess they are the ones who will get the goods, kinda like a reward for loyalty. One of my most valued value thingy. Ironic because Rainbow Dash isn't even my favorite pony.
- Duck
