Visual Novels

I've played very few visual novels but the idea and gameplay of them especially intrigue me.  I have always been a fan of reading and visual novels, especially those concerning anime, is like a delicious packaged treat just waiting for me.  So far, I've only played Princess Debut, Red Shift, and Ace Attorney as for anime visual novels.  The non-anime visual novels I've played were Surviving High School and College Romance.  The games I have started and have not finished are Kana: Little Sister and Clannad.

College Romance
This was a simple online game in visual novel format that got me started in my obsession for visual novels.  It was basically a game where you play a guy and through your 4 college years, you have to meet, woo, and date 1 or more of 5 girls.  Based on what you decide to do through the game will give you different outcomes.  I'll be honest, the game was a 3 out of 10.  The artwork was terrible and the music was SO annoying, but the dialogue and mediocre story made up for it.  It was enough to peak my interest in the world of visual novel games.

Red Shift
This was a free game I discovered on the internet that I downloaded it and tried to play it.  To be honest, I can't quiet be sure if this should be called a game at all.  The story was just as it was: a story.  You never made any decisions for the character, you just point and click and watch.  So at first, I was a bit disappointed.  The story was very well written and could easily be written into a novel or even a manga.  It took about 3 or 4 hours to complete but I was glad I played it.  The story was quite satisfying.

Princess Debut
This game was turned on by a friend who was playing it before me.  Since I really wanted a good visual novel, I gave it a try.  I didn't find it, but this game was entertaining.  You play as yourself, naturally, and you one day meet a girl looking exactly like you and with the same name.  She claims she is the princess of the Flower Kingdom and that she has to attend a dance competition in 30 days but doesn't want to do it.  So you switch places with her and enter the Flower Kingdom in her stead.  During your 30 days, you have to practice dancing while trying to find dance partners within certain prince's you find in the kingdom.  At the end, you do the competition and hope you win.  And that's all.  The dance practice was a bit annoying but the game was interesting.  It's a good starter visual-novel.

Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations
I finally found my excellent visual novel.  This game was epic in every way possible.  The music, the characters, the story, the gameplay: EVERYTHING.  You play as the character Phoenix Wright, a defense attorney who takes on mostly murder cases.  You have to successfully defend 5 cases, all of which are closely tied together.  I don't want to reveal much about this game because if I were to recommendany game to anyone, this is the one.  You have to play this game.  This is the third game for the "Phoenix Wright" series, so the story may confuse you at first but you catch on quickly enough.  PLAY THIS GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surviving High School
This was a cute game.  They have many versions of this game but it started on the cell phone.  You basically play a high school student and you have to may decisions for the character so you can either become Prom King, get straight As, star in a play, etc.  This is a good game for kids.  I've completely out grown the high school thing.

I'll talk about the other games I didn't finish on another post.  My fingers hurt.  =[

Jaaaaaaaaaaa ne!

Anime I Really Want To Watch

There is so many anime that I have yet to watch, that I'm thinking it may be wise to put it in writing as a reference to some sort.  I have a problem with skipping around to different anime that I forget which ones I've already watched and which ones I really want to watch.  So here is my top 10 list.

1.  Vampire Knight.  Every "Best Anime Ever" lists I've read has always had this one right here on it at some point or another.  I've heard it's really awesome, so I have to get to it somehow.

2.  Bleach.  I know, I know, this should have been watched by me already but I never got the chance to!  I think it's because I'm just not ready for a long anime.

3.  Death Note.  Yet another one I should have finished. 

4.  One Piece.  Don't ask why, I'm just curious.

5.  Loveless.  I started watching this before but never finished it.  I would like to one day, though!

6.  The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.  Same as the one above.  It's so popular, I should have finished this a while ago.

7.  Princess Mononoke.  This is technically a movie, but it's the only Hayao Miyazaki movie I haven't seen.

8.  The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.  Again, it's a movie.  But I really want to see it.

9.  Kanon.  I really want to see this because I think it looks really interesting.  I like a good drama, anyway.

10.  Mahoromantic.  I heard of this from a friend and thought it sounded stupid at first.  But now I'm intrigued.

I think pretty soon I'm going to watch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.  But until then, Ja Mata!

Okay, so back to MangaNEXT

I would have to say it was a lot better than some of the other conventions I've been to in it's own way.  For one, the staff was a lot nicer than AnimeNEXT and more knowledgable than those of Zenkaikon.  I also enjoyed a lot of the panels.  I went to a panel that taught us how to make masks out of plaster.  I believe that was one the best panels I went to.  I also had a good time at the publishing panel.  Some panels, like most places, were very unorganized and the people who ran them weren't very knowledgable about what they were running.  But other than that, it was a very nice experience.  I can't wait until next convention!

MangaNEXT....Enjoyable!!

I never had the chance to blog before I went to the convention but I have good news...my costume came in time!  It almost didn't fit.  It was a bit large around the waist but very good material and everything that was included fit too.  The only problem is that the headdress kept slipping off of my wig and falling behind me.  so I replaced it with my little kitty ears I bought at the convention.

Oh yes, that's my BF dressed as Luigi!  I will be posting pictures soon.

MangaNEXT schedule is finally here!!!!!!!!!! *dances*

Yes!  I have been waiting for the schedule to be posted for like a month now and I'm excited to know that it's finally here.  =]  So, before today, I was completely dumbfounded about what to blog about until I just so happened to browse into the website and saw a schedule.  Yay!  Now I have blogging material.  I'm going to take note of what I really would like to go to so I have a good idea of what times I'll be free at.

Friday

Anime Jeaopary (5:00-6:00)  Hopefully it's better this year.
The Importance of Setting in Storytelling (8:00-8:30)
Ahhh!  Video Game Cartoons!
Uncle Yo (10-11)

Saturday

Making Making (It's 5 dollars!) (10:30-1130)


To be continued.....dinner!

Blogging "School Days"

So tonight I was a bit bored a I decided to blog a bit on the anime "School Days".  "School Days" is an anime based off of an adult visual novel game in Japan.  It's one of the shorter, more unknown pieces of anime unless you've done some searching for a good, short anime.  It's only 12 episodes.  It's basically about a boy named Makoto who becomes infatuated with this girl named Kotonoha, who rides his train on the way to school.  Nervous on how to approach Kotonoha, he confides in his annoying friend Sekai to help him make his moves on her.  But eventually, Sekai developes feelings for Makoto.

Sounds like a typical anime soap-opera-like drama, ne?  At first it seriously isn't that bad.  It's very light-hearted and cute and you think it might be one of those annoyingly exaggerated anime where people keep shitting on everyone's face by sleeping with everyone else but everyone seems ok about it.  No!   That changes about halfway into the anime when Makoto thinks he's macho because he's no longer a virgin and he starts sleeping with all the girls in school.  After a while, you'll start to hate Makoto, especially when the sweetie-pie Kotonoha is completely oblivious to it all and just wants desperate to be with her love, Makoto.  You'll start to feel really bad for her because she's basically the only one you want to cheer for happiness in the short series.

You'll suddenly start to notice that the anime isn't cute anymore.  It's actually almost scary.  It keeps getting darker....and darker..................and darker.........................................until you start to question if you're watching an anime that should be in the thriller genre.  The ending is hard to explain.  I won't spoil it for you, because then what's the point of watching it?  But I guess I can explain it as it's expected yet so unexpected at the same time.  You may think to yourself as you continue to watch the anime, "This is so gonna happen at the end," but think to yourself, "Nah, how could this happen?" when you finally see the end.  Honestly, Makoto deserves the shit at the end, and Kotonoha isn't as sweet as she seemed the entire anime.  That's basically as much as I can give out without spoiling it any further.

Overall, I enjoyed this anime.  It's a nice fix for a good anime that's not too long but will keep you gripped throughout its entirety.  I would recommend it if your into the romance/drama genre but like i had said before, this anime could have easily slipped into the thriller category.  If I were to rate it, it would be a 4/5 stars!

Another thing you might want to consider doing is, after you've watched the anime, watch the alternate endings on youtube.  There's a lot.  Over 5, I believe.

The next blog I will try to do about an anime will be Ouran High School Host Club.  Ja ne!!!

Counter for MangaNEXT

I figured I needed to post this sooner or later.  I should have done it much earlier, to be honest.

But here is the counter to MangaNEXT!!



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