Top 10 anime of 2011

So after the best 2011 anime lists I posted a few days back, I guess it's time to make the customary entry about my top 10 anime of 2011, ranked solely on how much I enjoyed the show as a whole. To be honest it was rather hard for me to rank some of this year's contenders because there are so many series that I love and I couldn't fit all into my top 10 ranking, while some others gave me about the same watching pleasure. I might even say that those ranked no.3 to 7 in the list below are equally entertaining to me, and in other day could well be a few place above or below the others.


Honorable mention: Gosick

MAL/Official site
Season: Winter 2010/2011
Studio Production: Bones
Genre: mystery, drama
Number of Episodes: 24
Comments: Of all series with "mild" detective elements that I've watched last year (Gosick, Kamisama Memochou, Dantalian no Shoka, Un-Go), Gosick was the one that I enjoyed the most, although I wouldn't really call it a deep detective show because most of the cases revolved around logic rather than technical complexity posed (eg tricks to commit crime and create alibi etc), plus near the end of the series, there's barely any detective play involved. The good thing I could say about the series though is the way most previous cases (Seyrun village, the African alchemist Leviathan, the King’s murder…) eventually came together in the final arc, ending the series nicely and most importantly, a happy ending. Really love it, especially the scenes after the final credit rolled. A silver-haired Victorique looked strange though. Barely missed out on my top 10 spot.



10.Yondemasu yo Azazel-san

MAL/Official site
Season: Spring 2011
Studio Production: Production I.G.
Genre: comedy, supernatural
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: Actually I had a hard time deciding whether to pick Yondemasuyo Azazelsan, Gosick or Ikoku Meiro no Croisee into my top 10 ranking because I definitely enjoyed all three and thought all of them deserved a spot. In the end, I decided to choose Yondemasuyo Azazelsan simply because I haven't watched a series as shit funny as this in a long time. Mitsudomoe and its sequel were funny, but Azazelsan gave something different - something you'd expect from a gag show. I had a crazy laugh in each and every episode no thanks to the stupid-looking demons in the series and their antics. Seriously one the best comedy show I’ve ever watched since Mitsudomoe and Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan.



9. Denpa Onna to Seishhun Otoko

MAL/Official site
Season: Spring 2011
Studio Production: SHAFT
Genre: comedy, seinen
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: Denpa Onna is one of the only two SHAFT show that I've watched in 2011 (the other being Maria Holic Alive), and the studio delivered again, that time with a world of strangeness attached to the story. The main premise of the show is simple - youth, weird girls and youth point; and throughout the show we were mostly treated with loads moeness, enhanced by SHAFT's great animation. I wish the final episode (technically episode 12, aired on tv) would be more meaningful though, and although it didn't matter much, I did feel intrigued by Erio's disappearance and Meme's life before Niwa arrived, which in the end weren’t touched as much in the anime.
p/s: one of those few series that took me more than half an hour to finish each episode (rather than the usual 20+ minutes) because of the constant pausing...



8. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai

MAL/Official site
Season: Spring 2011
Studio Production: A-1 Pictures
Genre: drama
Number of Episodes: 11
Comments: The series started out rather flat (literally and figuratively), with decent animation and modest drama. But then the plot started to pick itself midway through which saw all those 5 friends (Jintan, Anaru, Poppo, Yukiatsu and Tsurumi) tried their best to grant the unknown wish of their long lost friend Menma, and finally ended with the most touching way possible. What a beautiful story, the ending made me cry for real. For under-average number of episodes (11 eps), the series did really well to convey the story to the viewers. Some of the supernatural stuff were unexplainable (well duh, logic), like Menma's reappearance to everyone shortly before she disappears, but overall, it was a wonderful anime, worth watching for the final episode alone.
p/s: to this day, I still can't remember the full name of this series.



7.Fate/Zero

MAL/Official site
Season: Fall 2011
Studio Production: ufotable
Genre: action, fantasy
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: Fate/Zero was miles ahead of Fate/Stay Night in every aspect that the two shouldn’t really be put in the same bracket. Better fighting scenes and story overall, I’m especially in awe with the servant and masters involved this time around, even though some of them barely appeared (eg Kariya and Berserker). While Kirei/Tokiomi/Emiya confrontation and Saber/Lancer fights highlights the series, others that I thought were merely comic relief (Violet and Rider) had quite a role in the story so far and looked immensely powerful as a pair. I guess the only disappointment I had with the series is the ending and how Caster and Ryuunosuke emerged as the biggest threat amidst the Holy Grail War that had just started. While it is understood that 2nd season will come this April, I was wondering why they had not just made it into a 24 episodes-long series that can run until spring. Had people not known that ep13 was the last of season 1, they wouldn’t even see it coming that it was the final episode, right when the battle was about to ensue.



6.Persona 4 the Animation

MAL/Official site
Season: Fall 2011
Studio Production: AIC ASTA
Genre: comedy, drama, fantasy, horror, mystery
Number of Episodes: 24
Comments: P4 really epitomes what I want a VIDEO GAME adaptation to be – an anime catered toward the gamers with so many elements from the game featured in the anime, from the big stuff (TV World, Shadows, Personas, Shoji Meguro’s music), to the insignificant bits (calendar, social links, player status, FFFSSTEAK, TRIAL OF THE DRAGON). There are some weakness in the story (eg little time for character introduction, rushed and missing plot), but I can forgive that because as I mentioned, the anime was more or less directed toward those who’ve played the game and assumed we had the basic of the story. The only thing I wish the anime would have is the leveled up Social Links (and the more powerful Personas that unlocked with it), but nonetheless, P4 the Animation was great and I really enjoyed the way it is presented.



5.Usagi Drop

MAL/Official site
Season: Summer 2011
Studio Production: Production I.G.
Genre: comedy, drama
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: My favourite Summer 2011 show, and I certainly love the fact that the show ended at the right time before it were dragged for too long. Nevermind the sequel (if any), I personally like the story when Rin is still a grade schooler than those 10 years later in the manga. The anime did well in adapting the original manga by mixing around the chapters, although I kinda want to see the full early manga chapter of Rin wetting her bed being included in the anime. It’s fun and refreshing to watch the daily life of Daikichi trying hard to raise his “aunt”, Rin Kaga despite having zero experience in raising a child, coping with various kind of problem he had never faced.



4.Boku ha Tomodachi ga Sukunai

MAL/Official site
Season: Fall 2011
Studio Production: AIC Build
Genre: comedy, romance
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: Haganai actually kinda gave me about the same impression as Denpa Onna, but what exactly made this series so high on my list compared to Denpa Onna? Maybe because Haganai was more amusing and actually had some good messages to deliver to the viewers, while Denpa Onna is mostly is just that - moe and strangeness. The story went from trying to establishing a club for the sake of finding friends, to the often-failed club activities, and at the same time, the constant bickering of the 2 main girls in the club and in the end, we got the message on how wonderful a friendship is (although I'm not really satisfied with the final episode). A thoroughly entertaining show to say the least.



3.Bakuman 2

MAL/Official site
Season: Fall 2011
Studio Production: J.C. Staff
Genre: comedy, drama
Number of Episodes: 25
Comments: Last year Bakuman Season 1 ranked 2nd on my top 10 list, and this year although the sequel falls 1 place (thanks to the sublime Mirai Nikki and Steins;Gate), it still deliver the same exact feeling and excitement from season 1. The comedy, romance, drama, touching scenes, the feeling and spirit in each episode always reached me, always made me pumped up when Mashiro and Takagi were in high spirit, always gave me some sort of depression when they're down. I guess I don't have much to say about Bakuman 2, except the fact that I enjoyed the show a lot.



2.Mirai Nikki

MAL/Official site
Season: Fall 2011
Studio Production: asread
Genre: action, drama, romance, thriller
Number of Episodes: 26
Comments: The best Fall show for me, though if only I didn't read the manga that much, I would have probably enjoyed the plot a lot more. But that's not trying to take anything away from the anime, because it did a whole lot better than I would expect. The animation was really well done, it successfully convey the dark feeling the story had, seeing the characters now in motion also gave a better experience. And I didn't even have to tell how much I love the songs, in particular the OP songs. Nevertheless, above all it is the thrilling, psychologically stimulating story that really attract me toward Mirai Nikki. And of course, I've said times and times again how much I love Gasai Yuno's absolute insanity that she totally overwhelm any other characters in the story.


1. Steins;Gate

MAL/Official site
Season: Spring 2011
Studio Production: WHITE FOX
Genre: sci-fi, thriller
Number of Episodes: 24
Comments: Not so long after I just finished watching the final episode of Steins;Gate, I tweeted that unless some miraculously amazing anime was aired at Fall 2011, Steins;Gate will definitely, certainly, 100% tops my top 10 2011 anime ranking. And having watched most Fall 2011 Series, I can now safely said that Steins;Gate is definitely the Anime of the Year for me. Mirai Nikki came really close of beating Steins;Gate in my book, but the fact that I’ve read halfway through the manga kinda lessen the surprise I had for the anime, unlike Steins;Gate (which I never played the Visual Novel, although I did peek into the wikipedia entry). Steins;Gate has everything that I like in an anime. Drama, comedy, constant banter between the 2 main characters, real life SCIENCE application, thriller, everything. The animation was just perfect, the bgms suits well with the scenes, and the OP and ED songs were both worthy of my playlist. The story which revolves around time leap and all the paradox consequences were crafted finely, almost very little bit of thing you see in earlier episode have significant impact on later episodes, and in the end, everything tied up nicely, making perfect sense and logic to the viewers. Probably the only series where every episode always kept me on my seat, always amazed me, every episode was as great as the previous.

...................................

That's it for 2011 anime for me, although some Fall series are still underway. I was not surprised to see so many Spring and Fall series dominated my top 10 list, but I did notice the lack of Winter series there, the best of the bunch in my book (Gosick) almost made it into my top 10 but I’d settle for a honourable mention. And I guess I don’t even need to tell why a certain overtalked magical girl anime aired on Winter 2011 was not in my list.

Personal best anime of 2011

Less than 48 hours until 2011 close its curtain, thus its time for the customary end of the year ranking post. At first I had planned to do my usual top 10 series for video games and dota (like I did last year), but since I didn't play them as much this year, I decided to proceed with just doing the ranking for anime I've watched this year. With some of the Fall 2011 anime series ending this past week (while some still have some way to go until next year's Spring), I had a rough idea of which series made it into my top 10 of 2011 anime. But before I made my top 10 entry, I decided to list down my favorite 2011 anime in various categories. Do note that all of these are solely based on how I perceive and enjoy the anime.

Best Winter 2011 anime: Gosick!
Honorable mention: Level E

Best Spring 2011 anime: Steins;Gate
Honorable mention: Ano Hana, Denpa Onna, Yondemasuyo Azazel-san

Best Summer 2011 anime: Usagi Drop
Honorable mention: Yuruyuri, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Best Fall 2011 anime: Mirai Nikki
Honorable mention: Bakuman 2, Fate/Zero, Persona 4, Haganai

.........................

Best Comedy: Yondemasuyo Azazelsan
Honorable mention: Mitsudomoe 2, Yuruyuri, Nichijou
Comment: Normally I would put Mitsudomoe 2 easily as the best comedy I’ve watched this year, but the jokes in Azazelsan was on a whole new level that it guaranteed me a good laugh in every episode. I thought Mitsudomoe was closer to Dokuro-chan, but I was wrong. On a side note, how I wish Ika Musume 2 was as entertaining as season 1.

Best Slice of Life: Nichijou
Honorable Mention: Yuruyuri
Comment: For me, Slice of Life is best when served with comedies, and Nichijou was exactly the kind that I like, despite the random scene and jokes that came out of nowhere. I thought Usagi Drop was also a bit of a slice of life series, but seems like it's not.

Best Drama: Usagi Drop
Honorable Mention: Hanasaku Iroha, Ano Hana
Comment: The likes of Mirai Nikki, Persona 4 and Bakuman 2 all have elements of drama in their story, but I feel it is not their strongest point/genre.

Best Action: Fate/Zero
Honorable Mention: Shakugan no Shana Final, Seikon no Qwaser II

Best Sports anime: -
Honorable mention: -

Best Mecha Anime:
Honorable mention: -
Comment: Can’t nominate. I don’t think I watch any mecha or sports series this year, at all.

Best “Detective” series: Gosick
Honorable Mention: Un-Go
Comment: This year somehow saw the influx of detective series centered around lolis…well at least Un-Go didn’t, and that’s a good thing.

Best OVA series: Valkyria Chronicles 3: Taga tame no Juusou
Honorable mention: -
Comment: I want to put Koe de Oshigoto ep2 on the list, but since the first episode was originally released last year, I thought I shouldn’t put it in. What a shame, that was the OVA I enjoyed the most this year. Also, I thought it would be best not to include a TV-based OVA (Amagami SS, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Infinite Stratos, Shiki, Deadman Wonderland etc), thought if I include one, I'd pick Amagami SS OVA, for Mai Kadowaki's Risa.

Best Movie (based on DVD release and fansubs): Sengoku Basara: The Last Party
Honorable mention: K-ON!
Comment: Pretty much the only subbed movies I watched this year.

Best Sequels: Bakuman 2
Honorable mention: -

Best adaptation: Persona 4 the animation (video game)
Honorable mention: Steins;Gate (visual novel), Mirai Nikki (manga)

Comment: P4 the animation is truly what I call an almost inch-perfect literal adaptation catered totally toward those who played the game.

Best story: Steins;Gate
Honorable mention: Mirai Nikki, Bakuman 2
Comment: Each and every episode of Steins;Gate kept me on my seat, that said a lot about how much I love the story (and the element of science used in the story).

Best ending: Ano Hana
Honorable mention: Gosick
Comment: That final episode of Ano Hana made me cry, really. It’s a shame that I couldn’t consider the likes of Bakuman 2, Persona 4 and Mirai Nikki for this category, for obvious reason.

Best Male characters of 2011: Okabe Rintarou (Steins;Gate)
Honorable mention:
Comment: El Psy Congroo. Maaaaaad scientist. HUUAAAAGHAHAHAHAHAAAH.

Best Female Characters of 2011: Gasai Yuno (Mirai Nikki)
Honorable mention: Makise Kurisu (Steins;Gate)
Comment: Nobody is even close to Yuno’s insanity. Nobody.

Best OP song: Kuusou Merosogii (Yousei Teikoku) – Mirai Nikki
Honorable mention: Light My Fire (Shakugan no Shana 3), OS-Uchuujin (Denpa Onna), Hacking to the Gate (Steins;Gate), Kagerou (Sengoku Musume), Daydream Syndrome (Yumekui Merry), Magia (Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica)
Comment: See that coming, huh? Obvious winner is obvious. Seriously Yousei Teikoku never failed to amaze me with her high energy song. By the way, how did I come to like Madoka’s song, I wonder?

Best ED song: Yes Prisoner (Marionnette) – Dantalian no Shoka
Honorable mention: Watashi no Ki-Mo-Chi (Haganai), I’ll Believe (Shana III), Aoi Tori (IDOLM@STER ED3), Metaphor (Seikon no Qwaser II), - Atsuki ya no Gotoku (Sengoku Otome), Resuscitated Hope (Gosick), Blood Teller (Mirai Nikki)
Comment: Dat song won because of the intro and the creepy video, nuff said.

Best anime OST: Persona 4 the Animation (Shoji Meguro)
Honorable mention: C3 (Jun Ishikawa), Shakugan no Shana 3 (Ko Otani), Fate/Zero (Yuki Kajiura)
Comment: I always enjoyed Shoji Meguro’s music composition particularly for P3 and P4, and truth be told, the BGMs (most which were directly taken from the game) was one of the reason I really enjoyed P4 anime.

Best insert song: -


MISC AWARDS
Fav 2011 male seiyuu: Mamoru Miyano (Okabe Rintaro)
Fav 2011 female seiyuu(s): Asami Imai (Makise Kurisu, Kisaragi Chihaya), Kanae Ito (Matsumae Ohana, Kashiwazaki Sena)
Fav Quote(s): “SELAMAT PAGI” (Nichijou), “my TRIAL OF THE DRAGON” (Persona 4)


Overall, 2011 had many anime series that I enjoyed a lot, although there are even a lot more series that I couldn't enjoy after giving a few episodes a try, or just didn't have the time to spare to watch. I'm looking forward to series to be aired in 2012!

Winter 2011/2012 Anime List

TV

Ano Natsu de Matteru
Another
Aquarion EVOL
Area no Kishi
Amagami SS+
Baby, Please Kill Me
Black★Rock Shooter
Brave10
Danball Senki W
Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou
Gokujyo.
High School DxD
Inu x Boku SS
Lupin III: Chi no Kokuin Eien no Mermaid
Mouretsu Pirates
Natsume Yuujin-Chou Shi
New Prince of Tennis
Nichijou ETV ver.
Nisemonogatari
Papa no Iu Koto wo Kikinasai!
Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki
Recorder to Randoseru
Rinne no Lagrange
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Smile Precure
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes Second Season
Thermae Romae
Zero no Tsukaima F

OVA

Ai no Kusabi
Black Jack Final
Carnival Phantasm 3rd Season
Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki The Animation Vol.2
Gyo
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira (final ep)
Holy Knight
Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi
IS: Infinite Stratos Encore: Koi ni Kogareru Sextet
Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi x Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Ikoku Meiro no Croisée: Yune & Alice
Minori Scramble!
Scryed Alteration I Tao
Steins;Gate (Secials)
ToHeart 2: Dungeon Travelers
Yuri Seijin Naoko-san

source: moetron, fansbwiki
....................

The end of the year is approaching, and hence the the first batch of series for the 2012 anime calendar. With more day job occupying most of my time, I'm getting less time to spend on anime (let alone video games and dota) but new season has always excited me, so I don't want to miss this coming winter season even with my tight schedule. Gone is the likes of K-ON movie and IS OVA, so I'm looking forward to some of the new TV series that is going to be aired this January. For sequel, Amagami SS+ definitely caught my attention (and I'm not gonna miss that, definitely), so did ZnT F, though I hope the story will really get a proper ending this time around.

SenBasa 3: Final Heroes Evaluation [Part 4]

Pardon me for the very long lag it took for me to get this final part out. Real life commitment forced me to take a short break from gaming, hence until recently, I was not able to get back to SenBasa3 and finalized the last part of my hero evaluations.

Part 1 (intro)
Part 2 (Saica, Mitsunari, Date, Tsuruhime, Yoshitsugu
Part 3 (Kotaro, Yukimura, Keiji, Kanbe, Yoshihiro, Motochika)

Oichi (RANK A)
Weapon: Demon Hands
Skills: Painful Dream, Forgotten Sins, Hollow Moon, Deep Scars
Specials: Dancing Dead, Ocean Wisp, Lifeless Song

Oichi is the last of the three heroes that made it into my Rank A tier (The other two being Mitsunari and Kotaro). But unlike the other 2, I like to use her so much not because of speed or fast combo, but instead it is her insane crowd control capability and the overall mechanics of her attacks/skills. With Demon Hands as her weapons, she can chain her skills one after another almost instantaneously with little to no delay; some can even be executed while she attacks with her S-string. I usually initiate a combo with Painful Dream (Triangle, hold version) -> Deep Scars (L1+Triangle,), and in between I mixed her S-string attacks, Hollow Moon (R1 hold, followed by air strong attack) and Forgotten Sins (direction+Triangle) every now and then. Each of her attacks has a large reach, enabling her to hit multiple enemies rather easily, on top of being relatively very damaging. Forgotten Sins also allowed Oichi to destroy boxes while still maintaining her dash run, and that is a big plus.

Oichi’s has even better crowd control and survivability with any of her three specials. Dancing Dead made several dark hands appeared, grabbed any enemies around Oichi and as you hold the button, absorbed a large amount of health from the enemies, effectively healing Oichi. At max level and optimum weapon/accessories, Oichi can outright kill more than 20 enemies with a single use of this skill (and of course, healing her). A really great skill when there’s lot of enemies around, and the fact that this skill can heal made Oichi one of the only 2 heroes in Senbasa 3 (besides Keiji) that can heal themselves without using a dark-elemental weapon. Oichi’s second special, Ocean Wisp is somewhat similar to Yoshitsugu’s Mikaboshi Rise in that it sucks enemies in LARGE radius, dealing huge damage. Her third special, Lifeless Songs works like Saica’s Covering Fire – Oichi will summon dark hands that will keep on attacking surrounding enemies for some time, then ended with a super dark beam attack (that is hard to aim, just like Saica’s final cannon attack in Covering Fire). Basically you once you activate the skill, you can sit down and watch as enemies around Oichi pummelled by dark hands that appeared out of nowhere. Imagine a multiplayer of Oichi with Saica, with both Lifeless Song and Covering fire used at the same time….chaotic. Nevertheless, most of the time I favour her 2nd skill Ocean Wisp. Dancing Dead is marvellous for healing, but I find her 4th tier dark elemental weapon(note: dark weapon has chance to kill and heal) enough to heal her, especially since Ocean Wisp sucks in a large number of enemies in, hence has higher chance to kill and heal. The small lag time required to activate the skill is insignificant because once the small circle is formed on the ground, the skill will activate even if Oichi is interrupted. Against bosses, I also love to combo Ocean Wisp with Deep Scars because for some strange reason if you positioned the skills between Oichi and the boss, the boss will keep on charging toward Oichi and ended up caught in the dark pit+hand attack, stunning and damaging them for quite some time.

Her joke weapon is a dark hand with some toy attached (but they’re barely visible when Oichi attacks), while her personal accessory will revive her once per battle. [sarcasm] OMG WHAT AN AWESOME SETS OF ACCESSORIES [/sarcasm]. Anyway to conclude Oichi, I would say that even though she was a bit awkward to use at first, after awhile I found her fun to use primarily because of her long reach attacks and ability to kill mass enemies quickly. Now you might say Yoshitsugu also can control crowd as much as Oichi did, but I’ve already said many times before on why I dislike Yoshitsugu. At least Oichi didn’t sit on some floating sofa.




Nobunaga Oda (RANK B)
Weapon: Gun+Sword
Skills: Highest Heavens, Distant Thunder, Final Rupture, Slumbering Demon
Specials: Evil Strikes, Lamenting Soul, Scorched Earth

Nobunaga is another powerhouse that could probably make into many people’s A-list, but for me something about him seems missing that made me rank him slightly lower. Oh yeah, his basara attack and underwhelming Specials. Let’s put that aside first and review Oda’s good point first. Being a “former” Demon King that was not even supposed to exist in this game, Oda has several features that made him a great pure offensive hero. One prime feature that made him special is the fact that he has 2 sets of offensive modes which change his attack attributes and strength: Shotgun Mode and Sword/Demon Mode. Like Date’s normal mode and Six Claws mode or Saica’s three weapon modes, both of Oda’s modes changes his attack attributes and strength, but IMO Oda is more versatile and fun to use because he can interchange mode in between combos (kinda like Dante in DMC).

At level 1, Oda started out with shotgun Mode – similar to Saica’s Shotgun, except Oda can execute more interesting combos with Highest Heavens, Distant Thunder and Final Rupture while in this mode. Once he levelled up, he will learn the skill that allowed him to switch between the 2 modes anytime: Slumbering Demon. And once Oda can access his Demon mode, part of hell will let loose. To put it bluntly, if you want an easy ride through Hard mode with Oda, just stick with Demon mode. The Skills attacks are noticeably stronger than its Shotgun mode counterpart, while also has the ability to pull off nice combos (eg Distant Thunder’s grabbing attack to Final Rupture’s forward rush attack). Another thing to note about Oda’s attack is that most of his attacks/skills can be charged to give slightly different result/more damage; some like Highest Heaven in Demon mode even give additional hits and damage, coming from the demon inside him.

Now, to the “not-so-nice” things about him. As mentioned above, his Basara attack sucks, pretty much as bad as Honda’s Basara attack where he will stand still and emit dark energy that damages enemies around him. Next, his Specials aren’t really that great in my eyes. Evil Strikes is a simple moves that made numerous spikes to appear on the ground (and as usual, can be charged to make more spikes appear). Nothing impressive about it. Lamenting Soul is like the shotgun version of Distant Thunder, but the damage is determined by Nobunaga’s health. At full health, the damage is somewhat mediocre, but it is a good Special to use if you got Rear Line (always low health) + 5 Gold Mantis (huge damage increase when low health), especially since Oda can’t die while charging the skill. But he definitely need someone like Matsu as ally, or permanently use dark elemental weapon to keep him alive. And his last skill Scorched Earth, probably the strongest special of all, but a bit boring to use. A DMC Devil Trigger mode, Oda summons the demon inside him to attack enemies. Each swings and attack deal fixed but huge damage, but they came at the cost of Oda’s health. Powerful Special because Oda can’t die while in this state (!), but I don’t really like the fact that he can’t run or guard while activating this Special. I personally didn’t have any specific Special that I favour, but if anything, I’d often pick Evil Strikes because it can combo well with his normal skill out of the three, with optimum damage output.

His joke weapon is…hm, I really have no idea what is this wood called. It seems to increase luck. His personal accessories significantly extend the duration of Hero Time. So, longer Hero time + Scorched Earth/Demon mode = gg I guess. I still prefer 4 Gold lions though. So my final word about Oda: strong skillset for a side character, I wish the Basara attack and all his Specials could be made better.




Tokugawa Ieyasu (RANK B)
Weapon: Brass Knuckles
Skills: Providence Punch, Fang Fist, Sun Splitter, Eastern Winds
Specials: Tokugawa Might, Hard Head, Allegiance

Ieyasu is different to other hero in that he specialised in charged attacks. Almost all of his offensive attacks, from the S-string to the skills and specials can be charged. This is especially true for his Fang Fist (dir+Triangle) where you can charge the skill for as long as 2 minutes to yield a massively powerful attack. This of course isn’t really practical with the default button configuration (I doubt players can hold the triangle for so long, while still mashing the square/circle/X for his other combo), so many people agreed that for Ieyasu alone, it is best to switch R1 and Triangle to maximise his damage potential. That way he can do Sun Splitter, his Special and regular S-string attacks while also charging his Fang Fist, and then unleash it by the time he reach the boss. Best used at the end of Ultimate Basara Attack. He is somewhat fun to use (I like his punching skillset to say the least), though so I can’t comment much on his normal Skills, because most player can do fine comboing any of the skill along with his S-string. You can combine straight up mashing and charged up attack (Providence Punch and Fang Fist), toss in midair and do more air and ground combo (Eastern Winds), then add with any of his Specials. On a side note, taunting will make Tokugawa put his hoodie on and this state allowed him to charge his attack quicker.

His first special, Tokugawa Might made emblem appear above his feet and damages enemies around him. Much better to use when charged, making the emblem grow larger and deal more damage. Insanely strong attack at max level charged, this Special made Tokugawa one of the best hero to clear enemies in Sekigahara Intrusion stage. His second Special, Hard Head is even more overpowered. It’s a simple headbutt (mashing S-string will make him do more headbutt), but the damage output is so massive that you can easily defeat a base captain with a single use of this skill. My Special of choice in most occasion, unless I’m playing Sekigahara Intrusion. His third Special, Allegiance allowed him to summon Honda’s Drill lance, throw it at some distance in front of him, creating a hole that will sucks surrounding enemies in. Not so bad for a Special, but could easily be forgotten compared to his other two Specials.

His joke weapon: drill fist. A drill on each hand, really. And how did he actually grab and throw Honda’s lance for Allegiance special, I don’t know. His personal accessory will put his hoodie on his head permanently without ever falling off. Obviously it means Ieyasu can charge his skills faster with these accessories on, but then, the usual question remain – 4 accessory slots for that?




Tadakatsu Honda (RANK C)
Weapon: DRILL spear
Skills: Support Mode, Dash Mode, Artilery Mode, Shock Mode
Specials: Heavy Mode, Flight Mode, Electromagnetic Mode

I had a big LOL the first time I saw Tadakatsu Hondam in SenBasa1 anime, and it was not until SenBasa3 that I finally had a chance to use him in battle. Since the Sengoku Musou era he has been depicted as a big, powerful physical fighter and he still is in SenBasa, with the addition of those ridiculous Gundam armories. His physical attack/S-string is nasty and strong, each swing can easily scatters normal soldiers around. Unfortunately, he was a bit on the boring side to use especially on Hard mode, when his physical attacks won’t kill enemies easily (and he didn’t have any flashy combo either). All his Skills are a kind of offensive modes that offer offensive support to his attacks. Support mode made Tadakatsu summons small flying drones that can provide support fire, but the damage is so weak you could barely rely on it on Hard mode. A nice mode to have to say the least, since you can activate the skill anytime even when Honda is in another mode. In Dash mode, Honda sweeps enemies in front and combined with Support Mode+charging, Honda will dash forward with increased range and damage. This skill is also usable when Honda is in other combined modes to yield different effects. In Artilery mode, Honda will fire missiles from cannon from his back. Good AOE damage, but Honda is immobile if you execute the mode on ground, hence this mode is much better to be used while Honda is in Flight mode (faster startup, steerable aiming, mobility). Shock mode is an alternative offensive if you got bored with his S-string, where Honda will charge his spear and emit electromagnetic wave that damages nearby enemies. In a way you could say that this mode is the weaker version of his Basara attack, and while the damage it dealt is barely passable on Hard, this skill can nets you massive hits with a single use. In fact, I actually got my 99,999 combo hits Achievement with him and spamming Shock Mode over and over again in Sekigahara Intrusion.

His three Specials are another sets of Modes that can compliment with this skillset modes. Heavy Mode, as the name implies, turned Honda into a heavy physical attacker. His S-string and Triangle skill changed slightly, with each sweep of his weapon dealing massive damage. The only downside of this mode is that like Oda’s Scorched Earth, Honda cannot run or guard. But since Honda’s damage output is massively amplified in this mode, it is not a bad idea to stick with this mode on Hard, when his S-string and other skills aren’t as effective as in lower difficulties. That being said, I favour his second Special, Flight mode much more than anything else. Flight mode allowed Honda to fly (duh), and made his Heavy mode more usable. At least he can catch Date in his Oshu’s horce race without even needing to ride a horce (well he can’t ride a horse in the first place). And lastly, Electromagnetic Mode. I personally only used this mode once, and then reverted back to Flight mode because while the EM shock that this mode generate while being active is great, it also slowly drains Honda’s health on top of slowing his speed. I’d rather stick to his boring S-string attack and Flight/Support/Heavy mode combo.

Joke weapon: a big spinning pine tree (LOL). It was so big that it was funny when Honda hold it and you see it spinning around. Personal accessories will put his Support mode permanently active. Barely useful since Support Mode itself is no longer overpowered like it used to be, and you can easily activate it whenever the duration is over. So in the end, while Honda has some great arsenal of offensive tools, most of them are not as effective as you'd think on Hard mode, which is a bit of a letdown.




Motonari Mori (RANK C)
Weapon: Ringblade
Skills: Bowmen, Whirlwind, Barrier, Decoy
Specials: Brainwash, Ray, Trap

Finally the last hero to be covered. Motonari Mori is not a world beater. Far from it. But he has something really interesting that I didn’t find in any other character – great chemistry and synchronization between his skills. Individually they're rather bad skills, but Bowmen, Barrier and Decoy skills work so well with each other that it's hard to play Motonari efficiently in any other way. The most common combo would be setting up Decoy (which will guaranteed ANY kind of enemies and bosses to attack it instead of Motonari), followed by Bowmen which will fire away at the incoming enemies who try to hit the decoy. He can then add to the combo with Barrier which can deflect the bowmen's arrow, and also can be used to trap enemies between 2 Barriers (hard to position them, but it can be done). His other Skill, Whirlwind is a basic spin (Shining Fang!) that nicely complement his s-string combo, in fact it’s much better to end his attack with Whirlwind to prevent the overwhelmingly long delay after his full combo (where Motonari would spin his weapon needlessly).

Talk about his Special, I would only consider to use either Ray or Trap, because Brainwash is a rather stupid and useless special. This special allowed Motonari took control of a few enemies (not General or Boss), which will fight for him. Tell me again, which soldier are worth taking control? Maybe the big fan-wielding giants... Ray made him spin his ringblade and emit ray of light that damages enemies. Good damage and the fact that the light can be deflected via Barrier made it even better, but with enemies moving around (and Motonari standing still while channeling this skill), it's hard to position the skill and the barrier at the same time to yield maximum damage. And lastly, Trap (my pick most of the time) made him generate a ring that can trap and damages enemies. Can be charged, a great skill to add if you can throw it right at a Barrier that you set up, which will make the Trap last longer.

Joke weapon: I don’t know what the hell it is. It was like some sort of a frilly shield or something? Personal accessory: Made him invincible while setting up Trap. You know, when he was charging, spinning his blade above his head…Trap in itself is a very cool skill, but trading 4 accessory slots for the invincibility is not really a good deal, considering he already has the likes of Decoy to distract the attention of enemies. Overall, while Motonari was a bland hero to use (you will likely use the same combo over and over again), he was also one of the best hero that can go through Hard mode while taking minimal damage thanks to Decoy.

Mirai Nikki TV OP & OVA ED Single - Kuusou Merosogii [Yousei Teikoku]

Title: Mirai Nikki TV OP & OVA ED Single - Kuusou Merosogii
Artist: Yousei Teikoku
Release Date: October 24, 2011

Tracklist:

01 - Kuusou Merosogii
02 - The Creator
03 - Kuusou Merosogii (instrumental)
04 - The Creator (instrumental)

Download: [HF / MU]

.........................................

Man I never thought the single will be released this quickly, although now it made sense why the OVA ED took so long to come out. And, finally it is the "usual" Yousei Teikoku single that I've always love. Her previous single Mischievous of Alice single was great, but the second song was a bit of a let down for me. Anyway the more I listened to Kuusou Merosogii, the more I'm liking the song, even more than The Creator. It made for an epic OP for Mirai Nikki, although sometimes I feel the lyric didn't make sense.

The Impression Series: Fall 2011 [Part 2]

The second (and final) part of fall impression series.

Mirai Nikki
MAL/Official
Genre: action, drama, romance, thriller
Studio production: asread
Number of episodes: 26
Comments: The story is focused on Yukiteru Amano, an average middle school student who had trouble mixing with other people, and instead prefers to be a bystander and record whatever he see in his diary. One day, his “imaginary” companion, the God of Time and Space Deus Ex Machina granted him the Future Diary, a power that allowed him to see the future. And soon enough he was engulfed in a fierce survival war along with 11 other Future Diary holders (possessing different kind of Future Diary), including his classmate, a crazy yandere stalker Gasai Yuno. If I had to say whether I’m a fan of Mirai Nikki manga, I would say yes, but not the level of a “die-hard-fans”, because I stopped reading the manga midway through the story and so far has no intention of going back to finish my reading. Putting the manga aside, I am still anticipated Mirai Nikki anime, and guess what, I am certainly impressed with how it went so far. Heck, I’d watch it just for more Yuno. The manga has one of the most interesting, unique, psychologically intriguing, well thought-out story in recent years, and the anime didn’t disappoint by faithfully followed most of the contents, added with great animation, sound effects and cast of seiyuus (the current Yuki still pissed me off for being a wimp, while Yuno is awesome as always). There's even a mini side story explaining the little bit of small stuff related to the main story at the end of each episode, giving a more logical flow to the story. The last time I read the manga is when "a certain parent" was killed, and judging from how the anime looks so far, I hope I won’t miss anything by just sticking to the anime.
p/s: Y-Y-Y-YOUSEI TEIKOKU!!!!!!! I thought they’d gonna stick with the OVA ED The Creator, but this new OP song is still great.
verdict:4.5/5 (must watch)




Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, romance
Studio production: AIC Build
Number of episodes: 12
Comments: After I watched the short OAD some months ago, I knew the TV series is gonna be one of my topmost priority in my fall watchlist. The story focused on people who have little to no friend, try to make friends by creating a club to find more friends, and do things together to try gaining more understanding toward each other. Or at least that’s what Mikazuki Yozora, a girl who’d rather talk to her “imaginary” friends than finding real friends had in her mind when she formed the Neighbours Club, and unceremoniously inducted a transfer student Hasegawa Kodoka who had the same trouble as Yozora, as the 2nd member of the club. This show amazed me in so many ways. The comedy is thoroughly entertaining, from the time Kodoka made the rather unfortunate bad impression on his first day of transferring, to the moment Kashiwazaki Sena (aka Niku) joined the club as the 3rd member, and then the fact that she and Yozora simply can’t get along with each other is always amusing to watch. The animation was impressive, and the expression of the females (especially the erotic lips) extremely resembled those in Denpa Onna, which made me think that it was a SHAFT product. The studio production used just the right cast for the character especially the main two female leads (Marina Inoue is perfect as the bad-tempered Yozora, so does Kanae Ito for the spoiled, perfect ojou-sama Sena). The ending was great; love it (the air guitar). And most importantly, the show actually had a mild message to convey – as a certain someone’s mom would say “Just make real friends that you care about 100 times as much”
p/s: "half-assed boobs like that are pretty much the same as having none" (c) Sena, 2011.
verdict: 5/5 (must watch)




Working!! 2
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, slice of life
Studio production: A1 Pictures
Number of episodes: 12
Comments: I had a lot of good laugh when the season 1 was aired a year ago, and this sequel is much welcomed. But just like Ika Musume 2, I really don't have a lot to comment on the sequel because the story remained the same - Takanashi still with his nano fetish, Taneshima with her height concern, Inami with Inami punch, and Satou, Souma and the rest of Wagnaria remained pretty much how they were in season 1. The only thing that changed for me is that somehow I find the entertainment value slightly less than what I had when I watch season 1. Maybe because over time the recycled jokes worn me out.
verdict: 3.5/5 (watching)




Fate/Zero
MAL/Official
Genre: action, fantasy
Studio production: ufotable
Number of episodes: 12
Comments: Prior to the airing of Fate/Zero, the only background knowledge I had about the series (and that coming from the little past stories told in Fate/Stay Night) is the fact that it’s entirely focused on the 4th Holy Grail War happening 10 years prior to the events in FSN. With no reasonable expectation toward the show, I just proceed on watching the first episode, and my, ufotable delivers greatly with Fate/Zero. The 40+ minutes they spent on episode 1 to build the core of F/Z was very well executed, it gives a fairly good background about the major characters (Kotomine Kirei and Kiritsugu Emiya), the Mage’s blood and Holy Grail War while at the same time providing brief intro about the other Masters involved in the upcoming War. And it didn’t take long for the War to take place, with all seven Servants successfully summoned by episode two and a (not so much) battle took place soon after that (I’m actually shocked that Assassin got crushed pretty easily, but later episodes had the explanation). I’m especially glad to see Gilgamesh and Saber back, definitely missed the awesome Treasure of Babylon and the invisible sword. The production overall was also amazing, with great emphasis was put on the animation (beautiful background and special effects) and BGM (some which fits nicely with the scenes). Overall, Fate/Zero definitely did much better than FSN in many aspects (please blame DEEN for that), and I’d like to see how the event in F/Z eventually leads to the story of FSN.
p/s: did Saber's chest somehow got smaller?
verdict: 4/5




Guilty Crown
MAL/Official
Genre: action, science fiction
Studio production: Production I.G.
Number of episodes: 11
Comments: Holy crap, I can't believe I’m revisiting my old biochemistry lesson in an anime. Extracting hidden power from DNA's intron into technology they called Void to convert human's idea/imagination into physical weapon, really? What’s next, reverse transcriptase technology to create a perfect human clone? Ok, serious thought after watching 2 episodes: I was mesmerized by the beautiful art throughout the series (nothing less to expect from Production I.G), including the great special effects used in the fights. But the story kinda put me on the fence – an ordinary student who found himself in the middle of chaos, met a mysterious girl, received a special power to fight off evil doers, joined by some resistance group. When did we last hear this generic flow? Sacred Seven? Code Geass? The slight twist is that we see the main character Ouma Shuu declining the offer to join the resistance group Undertaker and decided to go back to his normal life (and “surprisingly”, the mysterious girl Inari transferred to his school), but you know thing is not going according to his plan simply because of the Void power he held. Nevertheless, I don’t think the generic buildup of the story will hold back my interest toward the series, because there are more things I like about it than things I didn’t like. As mentioned, the animation quality is awesome. The weapons were nicely designed. The mechanical robots were nothing new, but I like the way they were operated remotely, yet the operator’s sense is still directly connected to the mecha. The fighting scene was splendidly done, though I thought the bgms in those battles was a little distracting. All in all, a nice addition to my watchlist.
p/s: this feels like Code Geass, Guyver and Chaos;Head were all mixed into one.
verdict: 3.5/5 (watching)




Un-Go
MAL/Official
Genre: mystery, supernatural
Studio production: BONES
Number of episodes: 11
Comments: Un-Go is “yet” another detective series, taking place at post-war era where the likes of vocaloid is ancient relic of the past. The story centered on Yuuki Shinjurou, a private detective who along with his assistant Inga, works on various cases (especially murders), interrupting police investigation and uncovers the real truth/culprit that most often not disclosed to the public. Detective genre is always my type of thing, and Un-Go has the added bonus because for once it’s not involving any kind of loli since Shinrei Tantei Yakumo (another one that I like). Having watched 2 episodes, it seems like each episode will introduce a new case, and solved in the very same episode. Which is a shame because each case won't be approached in detail, it limits the emphasis on “who dunnit, how dunnit and why dunnit” aspects that were often thoroughly elaborated in “real” detective series. But the thing is, you can never have a decent detective story with intricate, proper build to the cases in an anime without going to a couple dozens of episodes. Therefore as far as Un-Go goes, I would say it’s still a decent detective series. At least I like the cases better than those in Gosick and Kamisama Memochou, although as I said above, I still wish the cases to be presented with greater details. Inga is probably the only sore spot in the story for me, because it made as if Yuuki cannot find the concrete proof to back his deduction if Inga didn’t transform and force the culprit to spit out the truth. But based on the first scene in episode 1, Inga might have a more important role than a mere assistant for Yuuki.
verdict: 3.5/5


=========================

Not in the list:
Chihayafuru – Like Saki (mahjong)/Nabari no Ou (shogi), I can’t really enjoy a series where I don’t understand/can’t enjoy the game being played (karuta). So no, dropped.

Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai– I’d watch a few more episodes cuz I enjoyed it to a degree, but I don’t think I need to give a long written thought about the show.

Last Exile-Fam the Silver Wing – I really like the original Last Exile, so I'd be watching it for sure, but most likely a marathon after the whole show ends.

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – Jun Fukuyama or not, the main character is way too goofy for my taste. Phoney world, ideals, history, boobs; and too many generic fanservices. Dropped.

SenBasa 3: Final Heroes Evaluation [Part 3]

Part 1 (intro)
Part 2 (Saica, Mitsunari, Date, Tsuruhime, Yoshitsugu

Kotaro Fuma (RANK A)
Weapon: Ninja blades Skills: Spin Drive, Dash, Disperse, Counter
Specials: Seal, Shuriken, Izuna

Kotaro is another hero that I really enjoy playing, hence the high rank in my list. Early in the game, there’s one word that can be used to describe him – paper. He has the lowest defence and hp stats in the game, and when he jump or do aerial combo, it took him quite awhile to reach the ground, like a leaf /paper slowly falling to the ground. Because of this, I had a hard time when I first started using him, because minor blows hurt him a lot and I nearly got killed against some bosses even on Normal mode. Therefore it is best to find a 2 or 3-slotted weapon as soon as you start playing him, and slap a Turtle accessory or two to give him massive Def boost (Gray Turtle = +150 Def, Gold Turtle = +400 Def). As a ninja, Kotaro is a midair specialist – he can dash in midair after jumping and do endless air combo as long as the attacks hit the enemies. I love his alternate midair S-string attacks (by holding square button to throw targets to midair, followed immediately by mashing square to perform a series of slashes different to his normal air attacks), made it look like he's doing Omnislash. His initial skills were okay for initiating combo (Spin Drive -> Dash followed by air combo), but lack crowd control capability. Having Disperse made it easier to manage the crowd (eg Disperse -> air dash -> Disperse loop for easy air combo), though the damage it deals is rather abysmal on Hard. Then comes Counter, a skill I really like, albeit was a bit inferior to Sasuke’s and Kasuga’s version in previous SenBasa games. As the name suggest, Counter made Kotaro counterattacks enemies in all directions when they try to attack you (pressing the skill button just as the enemies hp bar is glowing). Pretty sweet against those annoying base guardian, and good for pissing some bosses off. Although if you got the timing wrong (like I did many times when I first use the skill), Kotaro will stand still for a few seconds and vulnerable to attacks.

Chain combo with Kotaro is even more fun after he learn Shuriken special – he throws a giant Shuriken forward, dealing huge damage to enemies in wide radius. Like his many other skills, throwing Shuriken put him in midair position so you can continue with midair chain loop as long as you hit the enemies, such as Disperse -> Shuriken -> Disperse/air dash or something. One funny thing happening to me is I managed to beat the stage bonuses on Tsuruhime stage (Noshima sea: have ally ships arrived twice by beating officers in first area in 40 secs, then beat Tsuruhime in final area in 15 secs) on Hard, something I doubt I could do with any other heroes (except Saica) by loop chaining Disperse and Shuriken. His first special Seal is another AoE attack that lunch the enemies to the air, and you can follow it up with his midair S-string combo. While the 3rd special Izuna is a straight superkick and ninjadrop that is hard to aim and better off performed in midair. All his specials were actually fun to use (well, except Izuna), but I prefer Shuriken because of its range.

Kotaro’s joke weapon is some kind of mini windmill toy which as far as I concern didn’t have any special effect, while his personal accessories adds extra 3 hits for each air combo. Useful for farming money I guess. On a whole, for me Kotaro is like the air version of Mitsunari – fast, endless chain combo and more importantly, very fun to use.




Yukimura Sanada (RANK B)
Weapon: dual spears Skills: Ring of Fire, Flint Sprint, Flare Storm, Phoenix Fire
Specials: Blaze Kick, Tiger Cannon, Fired Up

The staple characters in Koei’s Samurai Warrior and Capcom’s Sengoku Basara franchise. And in most cases, he is mostly your generic hero that can combo well, making him easy to use for beginners. If fact in every Samurai Warrior/Sengoku Basara games that I’ve played, I’ve always started with Yukimura because, well, he’s a cookie cutter hack-and-slash type hero. One unique thing about Yukimura in SenBasa3 is his ability to retain his dash run even after using a dash attack, useful when you want to destroy boxes without interrupting his pace of dash run. His S-String attacks can be chained with any of his other skills easily, with a charged Ring of Fire -> Phoenix Fire made a decent ground/air combo. His R1 Flare Storm made him thrust his spears forward a million times, which then can be chained into a more powerful version Burning Flare Storm as you mash the square button. A cool skill, but it didn’t really stagger bosses (unless you have a really high attack stat) so I mostly only use it against normal soldiers.

His special, Tiger Cannon is a better and stronger version of Split Sprint (good high damage against base captain and bosses), and together with a Phoenix Fire or Flare Storm follow-up, these form my bread and butter combo for Yukimura. Blaze Kick is a somewhat the leg version of Flare Storm, except that Yukimura did spinning kick with his spear plunged to the ground, and as you mash the square button, it changed into a stronger, steerable spinning kick version, Burning Blaze Kick. Good against enemies that try to surround you, but since Yukimura generally lack a high damage skill to defeat base captain and bosses, I would usually go for Tiger Cannon. His third special, Fired Up is a buff skill that increases his attack and def, and made him instantly dash when he ran. The bonus damage and def is nice, but sometimes having this skill on can be annoying because the fact that he constantly dash made it hard for me to focus on immobile target (ie base captain). Yukimura’s personal accessories were also centered on this skill – it put Yukimura in Fired Up states permanently, at the cost of gradual health loss…do not want. His joke weapon is a pair of giant matches (lol?) that can be light up (and have 100% chance to deal fire damage) if Yukimura taunt, do high combo hits, Basara attacks or Fired Up.

There’s really not much for me to say about Yukimura because while he didn’t have any specific weakness, he also didn’t have a really spectacular thing that would put him in the same class as Mitsunari, Kotaro and Oichi (in my list). Nevertheless, he is still a relatively safe character to use on Hard mode.




Keiji Maeda (RANK B)
Weapon: Giant Niginata
Skills: Love that Binds, Diplomacy of Love, Conviction, Love at First Sight
Specials: Walking on Air, Love Letter, Love-struck

Uh..what the heck is wrong with the skill names? Anyway, SenBasa 2 player will know Keiji’s specialty as the “ultimate canceller” as his Diplomacy of Love (DoL) skill allowed him to cancel almost anything he did, and in case of his S-string attack and Love that Binds (LtB) skills, it cancels into another variant of attacks/skill depending on the timing of Diplomacy of Love. This means you can do many kind of combo with Keiji as long as you cancel his attacks/skills with Diplomacy of Love (eg slash his weapon a few times, DoL, more attack variants, LtB a few swings, DoL, more LtB variants, DoL, rinse and repeat). Another thing about Diplomacy of Love that made it special (or overpowered in a sense) is that it can even cancel Keiji’s DEATH (by pressing the skill right when Keiji death animation played), once per stage. Keiji’s R1 Conviction skill, a forward charge attack is one of the strongest attack in the game (almost broken I would say), the damage it deals is so huge that even on Hard mode, it took no more than 3 or 4 Convictions (or even less!) to kill a base captain, and if you play on Easy (with strong weapon+damage boost items), a single Conviction is usually enough to kill a boss….

Virtually all of Keiji’s damage output actually comes from his S-string attacks and skills, because none of his specials are meant for all out offense. Walking on Air, probably one of the most useful skill in the game will put Keiji to sleep (!), and slowly recovers his health. The only other hero in the game that can recover health (without using dark elemental weapon) is Oichi, but Walking on Air is a much superior skill. Combined with his death-cancelling ability, and Matsu as an ally (she will keep on throwing rice balls), it is near impossible for Keiji to die even on Hard mode. His other two specials are more of a joke. Love Letter made Keiji call his monkey companion Yumekichi, send him on errant and later the monkey came back with items like rice ball, slow jug or bombs. The last special, Love Struck made Keiji drunk, and counterattack any enemies that try to attack him, making them even more pissed off. On Hard, you’ll die pretty fast if you use this skill and didn’t have Matsu as an ally. Love Letter/Love Struck over Walking on Air? I know what my answer is.

His joke weapons is some kind of big umbrella that didn't have any special effect afaic, while his personal accessory increase more money dropped by enemies hit by his cancelled skills. So in general, I see Keiji as a survivalist (he’s the first hero I attempt Hard mode with at low level) with unique combo potential thanks to skill canceller Diplomacy of Love.




Kanbe Kuroda (RANK C)
Weapon: Chain ball
Skills: Ruffian Kick, Drop Kick, Depression, Aggressive Behaviour
Specials: Criminal Smasher, Rolling Attack, Bad Bomb

Kanbe is the kind of character I absolutely loath when I first unlock him. Why? Because he is stupidly slow when he run/dash, and his s-string attacks/skill are a pain in the ass to combo. I almost put him on my shit list until I learnt about the awesomeness of his first special, Criminal Smasher. I’ll talk about it later because for now, let’s look at his normal skills. His attacks and skills generally has slow startup, which made it a real pain when you face a quick boss like Tsuruhime and Kotaro. But against other bosses and normal enemies in general, Kanbe isn’t really that bad. Albeit slow, his normal S-string attacks and skills (eg Ruffian Kick into Drop Kick or Aggressive Behaviour) can be chained with ease to swipe most enemies clean, while Depression can send enemies in large area around Kanbe flying while dealing minor damage. Thankfully Kanbe’s slow attacks/end-of-combo delay is balanced by his ability to roll cancel (L1 button), which allowed him to immediately start a new attack/skill. Nevertheless I still hate the fact that he runs so damn slow, probably one of the two slowest hero in the game (along with Yoshihiro).

So what changed my mind about him that made him no longer in my shit list? Said it on the above paragraph: CRIMINAL SMASHER. With this special, Kanbe slams his chain ball to the ground, then do a series of German suplexes (hit square button as he’s about to hit the supplex for additional suplex, 10 suplexes maximum), followed by a final flying piledriver that create a tornado that damages nearby enemies. The damage it deals is massive that it took only 2 full Criminal Smashers to defeat a boss on Normal mode (4 to 5 Criminal Smashers on Hard). I just like this skill, it’s a great satisfaction when he catch the likes of Tsuruhime or Kotaro and slams them into the ground with this skill. Too bad it is unusable against the Honda, Yoshitsugu and machines (obviously, how do you grab something like Motochika’s Rising Sun?). Since I love Criminal Smasher so much, there’s no reason for me to swap it with his other specials. Rolling Attack turned him into a rolling bowling ball that rolls pretty fast and deal decent damage, while Bad Bomb made Kanbe looked like a dumbass as a bomb fall on his head, then he went flying as the bomb explodes. Rolling Attack is a good solution to his slow running speed, but having this special equipped means I had to sacrifice Criminal Smasher, which I would rather not.

His joke weapon is giant kendama toy...really? And his personal accessories made him plant bomb each time he roll cancel, more or less just to add a little bit of offence to his attack. Overall, using Kanbe is all about L1 roll cancel to remove the delay after most of his attacks and skills, and despite being a generally boring character to combo, I had fun using his Criminal Smasher.




Yoshihiro Shimazu (RANK C)
Weapon: Greatsword Skills: Rolling Thunder, Hammer, Truth, Berserker
Specials: Power Surge, Beast Cut, Lightning Sword

Yoshihiro is your “power” type hero where most of his individual attacks deal huge damage at the cost of attack speed. He also has the most boring and pain-in-the-butt S-string attacks in the entire game. For starter, his S-string attack need to connect to its target before you can continue with the rest of the attack. His actual S-string combo itself is just simple multiple overhead sword swings. In fact, all his skills and specials (except Truth and Power Surge) are just variants of overhead sword attacks. See why I label him “boring”? There really isn’t many flashy chain combo you can do with him, because being a big muscled old man he is, it just didn’t suit him.

But like Kanbe, he has something, the x-factor that was enough to propel him from the mediocrity of no-fun hero to a wild card in my list. So what’s Yoshihiro’s X-Factor? His third special, Lightning Sword. It is an uninterruptible skill that made him drink his sake in the bottle, spew it on his sword, charge and does (yet another) overhead slash. And the best thing about this skill is, it will KILL virtually any enemy it hit without fail, even on Hard mode. Even the tough Honda and Muneshige cannot survive the extreme power of Lightning Sword. I’ve never use the skill on Nobunaga final form, so I don’t know if it will also kill him on Hard. But the fact of the matter is, Lightning Sword is the ultimate 1-Hit KO skill in SenBasa 3, because you can’t be interrupted while charging, and it will kill any target it hits. So the only thing you need to be mindful is to make sure that the skill hit your intended target (again, a pain to try targeting Tsuruhime at her stage unless you’re in Hero Time). If that was not enough, his personal accessory sets will cause him and enemies to die in one hit (!!!). Devil May Cry Heaven or Hell mode anyone?

His other specials aren’t really worth the talk, because in all honesty, Lightning Sword is miles better. Though if you want something cool from him, Beast Cut is a nice change – a skill where he slashes his sword forward, emitting a shockwave that travel a long way and deal great damage. His joke weapon is some kind of skewer with rice, squid and other meat, which seem to me has the effect of Gold Rice Ball – increase effect of heal items. Anyway to sum it up, “The Beast” is definitely the perfect nickname for Yoshihiro, because that’s what he really is – pure, brute strength and power.




Motochika Chosokabe (RANK D)
Weapon: Giant anchor Skills: Chain Shot, Heave Ho, Gone Fishin, Rigging Swinging
Specials: Nine Tails, Clap of Thunder, Surf Up

Captain Motochika on my shit list, are you serious bro? But seriously, like Yoshitsugu I really don’t have any fun using him on Hard. If my problem with Yoshitsugu is his underwhelming 1v1 capability, for Motochika I think he didn’t have interesting combo that can deal with the crowd and bosses efficiently. Note the keyword “interesting”. Sure he can chain a few good Chain Shot into endless loop of Heave Ho or something, and his Chain Shot -> Clap of Thunder combo is as nasty as it gets, but I personally never see these as fun combo. Ringing Swinging is a bit like Kotaro’s air combo (which you can keep on chaining as long as it hits the enemies), while Gone Fishin is probably the unique thing that separate Motochika than the rest of SenBasa3 hero, where he trapped the enemies with a hanging net for quite some time, allowing you to attack them, or just taunt to fill your basara gauge. If only the enemies/bosses trapped in the net didn’t have the damage received significantly reduced, I would probably had a bit more fun using Motochika.

Among his three specials, Nine-Tails is my pick. With this skill Motochika swings his anchor left and right (like Kanbe’s Aggressive Behaviour), dealing moderate damage, unfortinately it hardly juggle enemies/bosses. His second skill Clap of Thunder has the potential to be his most damaging attack, but you need to time it right for the anchor smash to give the best damage output (when his anchor flash). The last one, Surf Up is probably the coolest skill he has (and I really like the way he surf the field like it’s the ocean, while attacking/sweeping enemies). But. Sekigahara Intrusion, 6 Gold Lions (+200 atk each), weapon with 680 atk, a few fugitive stat bonuses, Hard mode. After a few sweeps with Surf Up, I killed ZERO enemies. Seriously this skill is underwhelmingly weak and impractical to use against small number of enemies. The only good thing about this skill is that it allow you to move faster than his dash, although not as fast as a horse to make you win the Oshuu horse race.

His personal accessory made enemies drop money if attacked by Heave-Ho. His joke weapon is a fishing /catching rod… or so it seems. Well probably the only joke weapon in the game that fit the hero’s personality. So to sum my thought about Motochika: He may be have some neat combo and all, but in the end, he’s just not the type that I had fun playing. Especially on Hard mode.


to be continued, final part: Oichi, Nobunaga Oda, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Tadakatsu Honda and Motonari Mori