As an Australian, I’m something of an outsider when it comes to US politics. But our two nations are at least cousins, and our politics not that much different. Any Australian can tell you, it can get pretty low. We can relate to a distasteful election. What is harder to relate to is the complete crazy from aspirants to your highest office. I’m talking about Donald Trump. Of course I’m talking about Donald Trump.
Author: Passerby
Play this Game – Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
GIRL POWER!
I’ll bottom line it: this game is good. You should play it. Short, spoiler free review.
A short story: part 1
I’ve been doing some writing exercises for a casual correspondence course, and thought I might as well post the results here. Enjoy(?)
Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void – More is Less
Fenix who? (source: Carbot Animations)
I’ve been an ardent Starcraft fan since the beginning, and one of the things that got me into the original Starcraft, before I understood the depth of game and its mechanics, was the story of its Campaign mode. For Starcraft II though… well, now that I’ve played through all three parts of its story, I suppose it’s a good time to share my feelings about it. Spoilers for all 5 Starcraft games follow.
Gate 06 – War is Peace
Foreground: has three kids to feed. Background, far left: was about to quit after this last job to follow his dream of professional croquet.
Episode 06 perhaps encapsulates all of my major concerns about the subtext of GATE.
Don’t Call Me a Pirate, Call Me a… Corsair
Thinking about it, the internet as we know it really is some sort of science fiction. (source: pixivid 2034628)
For those of you who don’t follow the news from Down Under (which one probably won’t do unless they live in the southern hemisphere), you may not know that recently the Australian government passed a law to censor the internet. That may be the most pejorative way to put it, but it’s the basic effect of what I consider to be a very poorly (and perhaps hastily) drafted piece of legislation. In short, rights holders can apply to a judge to have a website with the ‘primary purpose’ of facilitating internet piracy blocked. But I’m not going to spend much time debating the merits of the law—that’s a different piece for perhaps a different time, and the Americans in the audience can get up in arms about freedom of speech then. Instead, I’m going to use this space to talk about terminology. Why the term ‘piracy’ at all?
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The Three Episode Rule: Hibike Euphonium
I must reference Sora no Woto at least once a season.
Hibike Euphonium is actually being covered over at Random Curiosity by the good Samu, but since I really shouldn’t dive into my colleagues’ posts and hijack discussion I thought I should write something here.
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Persona 3 Movie – Developing the Silent Protagonist
Popular guy. (source: pixivid 79378)
As a gamer, and as a masochistically idealistic gamer, I see games as being potentially the storytelling medium of our age. Interactivity has a way of capturing the imagination, like it did for performing arts long ago. And when a game gets adapted back to a non-interactive medium (say, anime), I see it as a good opportunity for a case study.
It is in this context that I want to talk about the second Persona 3 movie, the whimsically named Midsummer Knight’s Dream. Spoilers ahoy.
The Three Episode Rule: Kantai Collection
‘Say something!’ (source: pixivid 2683511)
The general rule of browsing anime is that you give them one episode to hook you, then three episodes to impress you. If there was something amazing a series was going to do, then three episodes is plenty of time to do it in. And, perhaps knowing this, if an anime is planning a shift in tone, a surprising twist, or an early spike in tension, then episode 03 is when they usually execute it.
The Kantai Collection –KanColle- anime has adhered to this convention, and since I did intro it over on Random Curiosity I thought I should say something more about it.
Spoilers for the KanColle anime and Puella Magi Madoka Magica after the break.
Patricide
(source: pixivid 7222799)
Zankyou no Terror just finished and I seem to have liked it more than some people did. As a rusted-on anime apologist I feel obligated to write something on its behalf. Since Zankyou no Terror is such a thematically heavy show let’s get into that. In particular, we’ll focus on the Oedipus story, and the characters Five and Lisa.
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The Strangers Room 