The Impression Series: Spring 2011 [Part 3]

Finally the last part of Spring 2011 Impression.
part 1
part 2


Deadman Wonderland
MAL/Official
Genre: action, thriller
Studio production: Manglobe
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Since I've never read the manga, the first episode kinda gave me a mixed impression - great animation but the story begin in a rather intriguing, yet distressing manner - the bloody scene in the classroom with only a single student survived, Igaraki Ganta, which were then accused as the main suspect; and with no room to defend himself, sentenced in the form of life imprisonment at a unique theme park-like prison called Deadman Wonderland. Since I'm not entirely convinced that I would enjoy the series, I decided to give a few chapters of the manga a try; and damn, I would say the story really exceed my expectation, in fact I would even say the anime did better in visualizing the motion to fit with the mood of the scenes depicted in the manga. And episode 2 certainly erases my worry as I started to enjoy the show. From being framed to the imprisonment at Deadman Wonderland, we see how Ganta tries to survive the ordeal and life at the prison, whilst also making a few friends in the process, including a mysterious albino girl named Shiro (who had the personality of a typical Kana Hanazawa’s cheerful character). Then many mysteries and questions started to appear, starting from the origin of the gravitational collapse in Tokyo (which now become the location of Deadman Wonderland), the identity of the Red Man and Shiro, the reason Ganta was left alive in the incident and then framed for the crime, the power that awakened within him, as well as the conspiracy, darkest secret of Deadman Wonderland itself. Many thrills and intriguing incidents that would keep me at my seat, definitely don’t want to miss this.
Verdict: 4/5 (watching)

Ao no Exorcist
MAL/Official
Genre: action, drama, supernatural
Studio production: A-1 Pictures

Number of episodes: 24
Comments: A Child of Satan, becoming demon's greatest enemy, an exorcist, to get rid of demons. Okumura Rin has been a problematic man since his childhood, a stark contrast to his gentle twin brother Yukio. Living under the care of an exorcist, little did he know that his real identity is an illegitimate child of the god of demon, Satan. An incident which reveals his true self, and saw his adopted father sacrificing himself eventually led Rin to the path of exorcism, against Satan itself. It was a great introduction to the series, coupled with good usage of visual effects in the battles. Off the battle, there's also a few mild comedies that tickle my sense of humors. The 2 episodes so far were enjoyable (to some degree), and I'm expecting more interesting things to happened next, now that Rin is enrolled in True Cross academy, although for now this series is not likely to be put in my higher priority watchlist.

p/s wtf Mameshiba ads
Verdict: 3/5



Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai
MAL/Official
Genre: drama
Studio production: A-1 Pictures
Number of episodes: 11

Comments: Ano Haha, aka We Still do not Know the Name of the Flower we Saw that Day. In short it was about 6 really close childhood friends, whom after the death of one of them, Meiko Honma (aka Menma), changed as years passed and become somewhat distant to each other. The main character Jintan become a shut-in, and it was him who met the reincarnated Menma (ghost), thought to be the embodiment of his own stress. Another girl, Naruko become more involved in fashion stuff, although her old hobbies of collecting games and manga remained. Deep within herself, she still has great care toward Jintan. Another guy, Poppo who used to be the smallest when he was child, now is a big guy and likes to travel around the world with the money he earned from his part time job. And the last two, Yukiatsu and Tsurumi seems to change the most, with both taking their life and study seriously. The reappeared Menma had a wish she wants Jintan to fulfill, but it can only be granted by reuniting the distant old friends. A really refreshing drama if you asked me, seeing how the appearance of Menma brought some vigor to Jintan, and with all the things Jintan done trying to grant Menma's wish, eventually also brought the friends that has become distant in recent years closer. In the end, although everyone seems to change drastically (appearance and personality-wise), they still had a piece of their former self, all which were bound together by Menma. So far things went well for Jintan, Poppo and Naruko, and I am looking forward to how Jintan would deal with (probably) the more serious Yukiatsu and Tsurumi.

Verdict: 4/5 (watching)



Hidan no Aria
MAL/Official
Genre: action, comedy
Studio production: J.C Staff
Number of episodes: 13

Comments: My, another Kugimiya tsundere lolo (with scarlet hair too), now with a pair of gun. The story is promising, in a sense that it somewhat mirrors the life of students at a special academy in Toaru series. To be precise, it is about a seemingly normal guy, Tohyama Kinji who enrolled in a special academy that trained Butei, an armed detective force. He dreams of leading a peaceful life (and even plan to quit Butei altogether), but an encounter with an S-ranked butei named Kanzaki H Aria forced him out of his wishful dream. I like the premise, and even more because the main character Kinji is not a wuss (thanks to his conditional Hysteria Syndrome which triggers his godlike combat abilities). The only problem I had so far with the series is that aside of Kinji, the other characters (As far as ep2 goes: Aria, Shirayuki and Riko) were very stereotypic, in particular, Aria who had the vibes of Shana all over her, so there's no need for me to decribe more. Well, on the good note, the series was made by J.C. Staff, hence the animation quality was always something to admire for. I wish the OP song could have been better composed though, the song by May'n sounds out of place with the series.

Verdict: 4/5 (watching)



C -Control - The Money and Soul of Possibility
MAL/Official
Genre: science fiction, thriller
Studio production: Tatsunoko Production
Number of episodes: 11

Comments: Other title was rephrased as The Money of Soul and Possibility Control. Regardless, this is one of the strangest anime title I've ever heard, in that it made little sense, and it was reflected in the story. Being an original series, it had a compelling theme, relating money and wealth of a person to their own future in the era when financial recession become a huge problems. The story centered around a college student Kimimaro Yoga who wished to lead a normal life, but an encounter with a strange man changed his life, as at the cost of his future, he was granted access to strange realm called Financial District, which allowed possibilities for him to make lots of profits/money. His role in the District is to battle (with the help of his Assets) against other people like him, with their money/future at stake. I really fancy this kind of strange story, along with the peculiarities that were brought from the Financial District, for example the black money which can only be seen by people who had gone through the District, as well as the mysterious guy that invite Kimimaro in the first place. The battle that took place in the District so far wasn't really the strong point of the series, but I do like the striking colors used, kinda give the prefect sense of strangeness to the world of Financial District.
Verdict: 3.5/5

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, seinen
Studio production: SHAFT
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Another amazing work by SHAFT, again with their world full of strangeness. When the story begin, we're shown a normal high school student, Niwa Makoto, moving to her aunt's home and is looking forward to his new life. But what we seen after he and his aunt Touwa Meme arrived home bring us to complete bewilderness - a girl about his age, wrapped in futon, lies at the entrance. The dialogue that follows afterward, with Niwa asking so many questions about the girls, gave him little answers. Then we know that his new life at his aunt's place is nothing short of extraordinary, filled with many kinds of strange girls. Just as the title suggest, the girls that Niwa encountered so far has been pretty weird in many sense. The futon girl, Erio claimed she is an alien, while girls he met at school, Mifune Ryuuko and Maekawa have their own kind of oddness too. Part of the twist involving Erio's disappearance in the past that led to her present state is really intriguing, in fact I would say the same for the whole story. As expected from SHAFT I guess, and they really did great with the beautiful animation. Strange and extraordinary was the central figure of this anime, and the OP reflected it. I personally do like the song though :3

p/s: futon moe.
Verdict: 4.5/5 (definite watch)


That's it for the impression. There's a few more series that I actually watched, but I guess it's too much to add into these posts.

The Impression Series: Spring 2011 [Part 2]

Part 2 of Spring 2011 anime series.
Part 1


Hen Zemi
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy
Studio production: Xebec
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: aka Abnormal Physiology Seminar. And the story went exactly as the title went. It's about a university student Nanako Matsutaka, who joined a seminar/research team consisted by strange, abnormal people; and led by a rather perverted professor. And that’s pretty much what’s the series is all about - strange, somewhat funny and perverted fetish in many ways, showcased by the very unique characters in the series. The ideology and personal interest of the people in the group (except for Nanako, who seems to be the most "normal" one) made little sense, maybe none at all. How would a research proposal like "Secretly urinate in various locations in diapers"; "catch fart underwater"; "raising fruit flies in the auditory canal"; "studying borders that connect various part of body (aka indirect/long distance touch)" could make a decent article/thesis is beyond me. The OVA released last year gave a rough idea of what the series like, and despite the mediocre/simplicity of the animation art, I do find myself enjoying the comedies. A 15-minutes run for each episode barely hurt, right?
p/s: beware of scat element.

Verdict: 3/5 (still watching, for now)



Sket Dance
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy
Studio production: Tatsunoko Production
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: School Life Support Club (SKET-dan: Support Kindness Encouragement Troubleshoot) - a school club that accepts request for help and aids in order to provide a smooth school life. Not many people actually turned to their club to ask for help, hence they often did nothing at the club room, although once in awhile they do ended up doing odd jobs (kinda like Otogi Bank in Ookamisan). Three (and only) unique club members - the vice president Onizuka Hime (aka Onihime), a banchou who specializes in brute force; club member Usui Kazuyoshi who always has his laptop with him, and would speak with a voice synthesis software; and club president Fujisaki Yuusuke, aka Bossun who, if concentrate, can use his brain to solve various things. The series focuses more on the daily life of SKET-dan at school, filled with many ridiculousness and comedies, and occasionally the requests that they took and how Bossun often ended up using his "intelligence" to solve it (one of the few things I like about the series). It amazed me how the three of them can casually dressed like that compared to other student, but...ah well, who cares about logic. To some degree I did enjoy the show, but to me much of the comedies looked unnatural/forced (like many other shonen series like this) that it took away part of my enjoyment. The musics were nice and fit with the mood of the scene, but I feel many times the music was way too loud and hinders the character's voices, and that also was a bit of a turn off for me. I guess it's just me and my preference.

Verdict: 3/5 (candidate for drop)



Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, romance
Studio production: Nomad
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: I've never read any other material about this series, so the anime was new to me. After watching 2 episode, I am still not entirely sure of what to make of the series. Is it a harem split into 3 separate stories (like Ef), and how much random comedies affect the story? But one thing for sure, I do like what I've seen so far. Apart of the three main male characters (Takashi, Shuusuke and Hayato) and the girls that they try to deal with, the many others likeable characters involved in the series were really refreshing. The comedies (some which are slightly dirty, coupled with mild fanservices) are really amusing, and I guess this, together with the appealing animation art, are all I need to consider adding the series in my long-term watchlist. Well, as long as the next few episodes didn't disappoint me, and hopefully the plot would take its pace soon.

Verdict: 4/5 (watching)



Dog Days
MAL/Official
Genre: adventure, fantasy
Studio production: Seven Arcs

Number of episodes: 12
Comments: Downgrading nation war into athletic event is the dumbest thing I've ever seen in fantasy series. And this is what Dog Days is essentially about...It's a magical world, and like Zero no Tsukaima/MAR and many similar titles, our athletic hero Izumi Shinku was summoned from the modern day of Japan to the magical world, with the aim to help the nation of the summoner, Republic of Biscotti, a nation of dog, which was at the brink of being invaded by the nation of cat, Galette. But as stated earlier, the war in that world followed certain "rules/treaties" that prevent bloodshed (defeated soldiers turned into furball rather than dying), so it ended up as athletic event where soldiers poke each other, jumping and racing to the flag, and eventually the good part, "safe" combat battle with various kind technical skills and magical powers. So, the OP sequence is kinda deceiving, in a sense. I'm not even know whether to take this series seriously or not. Come on, would you say battles between factions in Takeshi Castle a war? There's twists involved (eg kidnapped princess, inability to return home etc), and unless the the story would deviate from the sporting event into some sort of proper war in a fantasy world (i.e. battles that didn't take place in the holy ground), I seriously would consider dropping this.

Verdict: 2.5/5



Yondemasu yo Azazel-san
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, supernatural
Studio production: Production I.G.
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Not sure if this really fit into a TV series impression, since each episode runs relatively shorter than average at 12 minutes per episode. The animation whatnot is average at best, and that's what expected for a gag show like this, but damn this series is awesome. I seriously ROFLOLMAO throughout the episode, and the last time I had this much laughter was when I watch Mitsudomoe (both seasons). The story is about a detective firm where a college girl Rinko Sakuma (Rina Satou) worked as part timer. Her employee, a “demonic” detective named Akutobe has the ability to summon demons from the netherworld. Things happened and to make it short, Sakuma ended up contracted with some of the demons which pretty much made her the master of those demons, instead of Akutobe. It is these demons that made the series epicly funny – depicted in funny deformed form, with unique personality. Azazel, a perverted demon of lust, specializes in sexual harassment but he often ended up screwing up the job. Beelzebub, a so-called prince demon, had the power to make any animal dump its load (aka shitting), though his real power is Bakuro – bringing anyone’s darkest, dirtiest secret to light. And also a scat freak, a shit-eating demon. A few more demons were later introduced, each with various fucked up abilities. This seriously is one the best comedy show I’ve watched, it's a shame that each episode runs for only a short 10 minutes.
Verdict: 5/5 (definite watch)

Seikon no Qwaser II
MAL/Official
Genre: action, supernatural
Studio production: Hoods Entertainment
Number of episodes: 13

Comments: Shamelessly, I admit that I like the first season ┐￣ー￣┌ It’s not a good comparison, but I like the Mai-hime vibes that the first season had, especially near the final battle. The story, animation, music and battles were excellent, and considering the theme/essence of the series (Soma empowering Qwaser), it is inevitable that massive fanservices existed. Well I’d rather had it this way than series were the fanservices were added for the sake of fanservice (eg Kanokon, Sekirei etc). The first season ended in what I thought separate the manga halfway through, with Sasha and Mafuyu parting ways. Now in 2nd season, Sasha returned with a new mission: to infiltrate an all-girl Seirei Private Academy, and find a woman endowed with Madgalena of Thunder (which the Adept were also looked for). For this, he had a new Maria – Katsuragi Hana (Hikasa Youko), who apparently was dumped (lol) by Katja for awhile. He also had to disguise as female, named Alexandra Hel. Sasha’s fetish toward boobs never recedes, still a breast pervert as usual. This is probably the series I don’t mind giving impression based solely off episode 1, since I’d rather watch the “director’s cut” version, and it took time for them to be released. Seems like several new characters were added in this 2nd season, and I am looking forward for Mafuyu (Ayumi Fujimura) to make her (re)appearance again. The OP by Faylan and ED by Shoujobyo was nice, though I do secretly wished for Faerie Yui (aka Yousei Teikoku) to sing another... maybe not in this season.
Verdict: 4/5 (watching)

One more part to go.

The Impression Series: Spring 2011 [Part 1]

New anime season. Honestly at first I really don't plan to watch much series since I'll be graduating soon and actively involved with my job, while also occupied much with several ps3 games that I borrowed last March. But since I've finished most of the games in my wanted list (except a few newly released games and oldies like Eternal Sonata), I thought it's best to catch up with the recently aired Spring series. The March 11 earthquakes that struck Japan seems to partially disrupt the schedules of some of the series, which saw some series were only recently aired, while other went as far as the 3rd episodes. As usual, I somehow ended up watching many of the new series, although will likely drop a few later.

A rather massive list, might as well split it into a few parts. Randomly selected for first part of spring series impression.

Maria†Holic Alive
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy
Studio production: SHAFT
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: I had a good laugh when I watched the first season some seasons ago (despite the yuri/lesbian theme). A comedy series typical of SHAFT - the unique visual art and the presentation so funny matching that of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei that never failed to amuse me. The continuation tale of the pure (!), innocent (!), incurable perverted lesbian schoolgirl Miyamae Kanako in her quest to follow the footsteps of her parent who met each other in that high school, except this time what she seek is a female soulmate, aka a yuri partner...The jokes almost always centered around Kanako's perverse thoughts toward other female around her, as well as times when she had to endure Maria (the trap in the series)'s bullies. Fine comedy series.
Verdict: 3.5/5 (watching)

Nichijou
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, slice of life
Studio production: Kyoto Animation
Number of episodes: 13

Comments: "SELAMAT PAGI!" Honestly this single, simple greeting phrase used several times in ep1 and 3 were enough to (surprise) and attract me to the show. And then there's "selamat malam" and "sepak takraw" too (which apparently was also the case in the manga it was adapted from). Okay, back to what the series is about. It is a cute, light, slice of life comedy with simple and neat animation to complement the nature of the series. A robot with a corkscrew spring key at her back (and various "secret weapons" stored all over her body) created by a genius 8 years old girl, a friends of 3 schoolgirls that do random things, and some other weird people doing things in weird/funny/cute ways. This show is awesome, nuff said. It's random like many other comedy slice of life, but enough to make me laugh, good to relieve stress.
p/s: wow, who would have thought KyoAni would make a nice comedy series like this. Oh wait, they had one a few years ago (Lucky Star)
Verdict: 4.5/5 (must watch)

Astralotte no Omocha
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, romance, supernatural
Studio production: Diomedea
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: aka Astralotte's toy. Kugimiya had another loli tsundere character Astrarotte Ygvar, a spoiled succubus princess, added to her rich collection. Nonetheless, The synopsis in MAL was rather...enticing, but I really doubt that was the focal point of the series. A succubus princess of fairy, magical world of Ygvarland who supposedly hates men because of childhood trauma, but as a succubus eventually she needs to suck the seed of life (guess what it is) out of man and create a harem of her own, or else she'll die. Then comes Touhara Naoya (Satou Rina voicing him kinda turned me off, really seems off), a normal human from a modern day world summoned to the fairy world to save the day... A rather unique and bold premise. I personally have nothing against the story, but at the same time I also don't really find anything interesting about it (although I do love fantasy series), so I guess this would be one of the series I don't mind not watching.
Verdict: 2.5/10 (most likely dropped)

Sengoku Otome~Momoiro Paradox~
MAL/Official
Genre: action, history, samurai
Studio production: TMS Entertainment
Number of episodes: 13

Comments: aka Battle Girls - Time Paradox. A schoolgirl, Yoshino Hide (aka Hideyoshi Toyotomi) somehow ended up drifting in an alternate dimension of Japanese warring era where only female exists; and she eventually aids Nobunaga Oda in her quest to collect Crimson Armors and conquering the land. An all-girl themed like this (and eg Koihime Musou) usually is not the kind of show that I would follow, but the 3 episodes I've watched so far had been pretty enjoyable, to say the least. Especially since even Hideyoshi herself addressed the peculiarities of the world where only woman exist, and even questioning how human in that world were born. Despite not having comedy as it's main genre, I personally find the series pretty amusing. Nobunaga Oda was a rather nice and considerate warlord (she'd even blush roflol); Mitsuhide Akechi (how did eyeglass exist in sengoku period is beyond me) was a bit tsundere; Yoshimoto Imagawa had personality exactly as I expected, at least from the Sengoku Musou game (laid-back, not serious, vulnerable to provocations, and "that" laughing etc); and even more funny moments from Shiro and Hideyoshi herself. The animation was good enough for me, and I really like the OP song. Interesting way to use post-ED/episode preview too. There seems to be director's cut version coming, but for now I do like the anime as it is (though a bit of flashing is nice too :3)
Verdict: 4/5 (watching)

Steins; Gate
MAL/Official
Genre: sci-fi, thriller
Studio production: WHITE FOX
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: One of the most anticipated series in my spring list. I’ve always like the mentally challenging theme used in Chaos;Head, and I expect Steins; Gate to deliver the same dose of mind-blowing twist. I’ve never had the chance to play the game (how I wish the game, which were released for ps3 and xbox 360 were translated), so the story was definitely a total mystery to me when I first watching the first episode. Wikipedia did somehow ease my understanding of the concept, in fact I ended up knowing things I’m not supposed to know (aka spoiled) about the plot… Well good thing the anime seems pretty faithful to the game. Anyway, the main theme of the story is time travel & paradox, where one day the main character Okabe RIntarou, ended up seeing many irregularities concerning things he did see but others didn’t and later discover that the microwave in his lab can perform time-traveling task and from then on, much plot twist occurred as more time traveling occurred. And hence many real life theories, devices & organizations were already thrown in the series mostly involves the concept of time & dimension (World Line, LHC, CERN (for SERN), Hund’s Rule etc). Heck, we might as well say the the game got such name is because of the time paradox occurring throughout the game (Stein's phenomenon). Having watched 3 episode, I could say that I’m liking what I’ve watched so far. Great animation, nice OP/ED songs (I’ve always like Sakakibara Yui’s FES/Phantasm Persona), and the voice acting was really amazing too (I really like Makise Kurisu (aka Christ)’s seiyuu. The characters also had intriguing/interesting personalities – a self-proclaimed mad male scientist who believes in time travel, a genius female scientist who didn’t believe in time travel (reminded me of Satou in NHK ni Youkoso, with all his belief in conspiracy), a hacker well versed in otaku culture (“your banana is all floppy” LOL), a clumsy girl who loves sewing cosplay costume, a TRAP miko, and many more. Chaos;Head was good, and so far I would say Steins; Gate was better. Definitely a show I don't want to miss.
verdict: 5/5 (definite watch)

Hanasaku Iroha
MAL/Official
Genre: drama
Studio production: P.A. Works
Number of episodes: 26

Comments: When I first read the synopsis and then watched halfway through episode 1, I thought it was an average drama series which normally didn't caught my interest (I admit episode 1 was a little depressing for me). But as I continue watching further episodes, I am starting to like the series. Having to cope up with carefree parent, the main character Ohana eventually had to move to her grandmother's inn to live, but life's not easy there (much less expected from her imagination), as her strict grandmother told she had to work at the inn to cover her living expense. And then it's pretty much drama all over the series, with a bit of comedies added to liven up the mood. The animation was absolutely beautiful, but really IMO the series is worth watching because of the message and moral story (finding one's self, and the concept of being independent and being able to depend on others), as well as the strong personality possessed by Ohana. Not to say other characters were not interesting since girls like Minko (I wish her seiyuu was someone else) had her moments too (trying hard to show her hate toward Ohana), and Nako certainly surprised me when her usually timid and shy attitude changed when it comes to swimming. A good watch so far.
verdict: 4/5 (watching)

That's it for part 1, there's still a lot more to come.

The Platinum Series: [7] Assassin's Creed II

*edit* 11/4/11, Platinumed : )

After finishing Resonance of Fate and completing most post-game quests for Star Ocean 4 International, I decided to try another game I borrowed from Reppu_Kiri, Assassin's Creed 2. As I mentioned many times before, I'm not really a big fan of western game, but it's not so bad to play this game for a change every once in awhile. The game was relatively short in length, and overall I could say that I'm liking the gameplay, and most of the story but the ending.

Title: Assassin's Creed 2
Developers: Ubisoft
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PS3), Xbox 360, Windows
Genre: 3rd person action-adventure
Release date: Nov 2009

Platinum Difficulty: 4/10

It's true that I still had yet to get a Platinum for this game because of one friggin trophy: Sweeper which required me to sweep 5 guards at once using a long range weapon. It's actually not a hard task, but somehow I've always get to sweep 4 guards at most after a lot of tries. I would definitely go back to this trophy once I get back to my PS3 in a few days.

*edit 11/4/11* And as mentioned, I finally got the final trophy yesterday, and hence the Platinum. It was not really that hard to get the Sweeper trophy after all: wear Auditore cap, lure the guards (one with a lance) to confined, narrow space/alley, disarm the guard and find the right timing for the sweep. And I got it in my first try lol.

Anyway, if I had to rank among games I've platinumed so far, I'd put Assassin's Creed 2 marginally below Atelier Rorona (which is also had 4/10 difficulty in my list). This is due to the fact that it's very, very easy to get many of the trophies in the games without much effort. There's only 1 missable trophy in the entire game (Fly Swatter), which shouldn't be a problem if we know the timeframe. Another slightly challenging Trophies involves finding and solving all subject 16's videos, as well as locating all 100 Feathers in the game, but that also was not that difficult with the help of proper guides. And lastly, the combat-related trophies, which can take time to master, but still not overly difficult.

Enjoyable games, with few minor problems

One of the stronger point of the game was the flamboyant and enjoyable gameplay. Being able to climb high place, performing high dive (aka Leap of Faith) in specific place into the bale of hay, and the various tricks and method to attack, ambush and kill: The quick way with dual hidden blade; the slightly slower way with poisonous blade; the "not-so-stealthy" way with hidden gun; or simply head on combat with long/short swords, maces, axes or unarmed. In combat, we could also disarm the opponent's weapon, evade their attacks and retaliate with counter kill. And this was even more enhanced by great graphic used in the game. There are a lot of side-missions available (racing to beat the thief's time; beat-em up to defend a woman's honor, a simple assassination contract etc), but to be honest I only did 1 of each (for the trophies), because completing them grant nothing but small amount of money, which we could obtained much more from our own income from the Villa Auditore chest. The mission of the main story can be repetitive at times (tailing, go to target location and kill etc), but it was compensated by the various method we could use to accomplish the mission. There's a lot more to the gameplay (bribing, blending, notoriety level, stealing, hiring people, puzzles etc) for our gaming experience.

*images credit to gamerspot*

Anyway, you know the 2 things I find annoying in the streets of Assassin's Creed2? The people carrying those boxes and the street musician (or whatever they called). A bothersome that if there's no guards around I'd bumped into them purposely and made their box crash/instrument fall. I mean, how can you easily get your hand slipped from the box just by a slight touch? And it's annoying when the musicians chase after me whenever they see me -__-

I've never played its predecessor so I had no idea what Assassin's Creed 1 like, but I heard that it had a poor ending, and that's exactly the same issue I had with AC2. I thought the Templar vs Assassin feud, which started way back since the era of Altair in AC1 were quite fascinating. Desmond Miles, a test subject 17 went into the Animus 2.0 to relive the memories of an ancestral nobleman Ezio Auditore da Firenze during his days in various place in Italy during the late 15th centuries, learning much about his days as assassin while also adopting Ezio's skills as his own. Throughout the story, we learnt about the conspiracy surrounding the death of Ezio's family, and eventually leads to an even bigger conspiracy, even bigger than the war between the Assassins and Templars. This is the point of the story (from Rome/Vatican onward), which IMO feels a bit awkward to me. Out of a sudden, the element of supernatural takes place, and talk about the creation of the world, the Apples and the Staff...wait what?

Overall Assassin's Creed 2 was quite a refined and enjoyable game to play. Not so short, but not that long either with fun gameplay, and lots of quest available. Some of the puzzles can be quite challenging if you attempt it without guide, and that's a plus. The pace of the story, especially near the end might be a turn off for some, but as a whole, AC2 was still a solid action adventure game worth playing. Oh, and somewhat easy to Platinum too.

p/s: title will be changed once I got the final trophy and Platinum this.