The Platinum Series: [10] Atelier Totori

Finally another Platinum to add to my growing list: Atelier Totori - The Adventurer of Arland. Being an ardent fan of the predecessor Atelier Rorona - The Alchemist of Arland, I knew I just had to get Totori, play the game, savour the scenes, and PLATINUM the game. Time for some brief platinum endnotes.

Title: Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of of Arland
Developer: Gust
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PS3)
Genre: Japanese role playing game [jrpg]
Release date: June 2010 [Japanese], September 2011 [NA/EU]


Overall Platinum difficulty: 3.5/10 (easy)

What, 3.5 difficulty rating only? Compared to Atelier Rorona (which was already easy to Plat), I'd definitely say that Totori was easier to Platinum - IF you know how to handle the events, calendar, dates, scenes, schedule blablabla in the game. Trophies are pretty much similar to how trophies were in Rorona - special events/scenes, max levels, beating monsters, endings, endings and ENDINGS. Some are straightforwards and automatically obtained, like the opening scenes, character introduction scenes (Mel/Sterk/Mio/Rorona etc), while others, you had to work for it a bit. Especially the multiple endings, which made up of probably about half of the total trophies needed for Platinum. One thing for sure, things are less repetitive and tedious in Totori. No more going to the Guild/meeting friends for requests, and the world map is much bigger. Though to get 500,000 cole, you probably had to do some utterly boring task of selling liquids from Spring Water over and over and over again....

Just like Rorona, events that can trigger a certain trophy will appear within a certain time limit, or when certain condition was fulfilled. But while in Rorona you had only 3 months for 3 years interval to do your assignments and complete some character's events/endings requirement, in Totori the time gap is much wider - 6 month interval, with the game spanning over 6 years of timeline, and hence you had a more flexible time to manage your stuff, juggling between traveling/adventuring, synthesizing or focusing on characters's scenes. Though that was kinda balanced by the fact that traveling, battle, collecting items from gather points etc consumed more time than it was in Rorona.

Triggering events for each and every ending trophies (11 in total - Bad, Normal, True, Wealth, Chim, Marc, Mel, Gino, Rorona, Sterk, Mio) were obviously hard without some sort of guidance, and it was definitely impossible to get all ending in a single playthrough without following a walkthrough. Thankfully the same method from Rorona work in order to obtain all endings in one go - by loading save files near the end of the game after fulfilling conditions for each endings, ie 500k money+certain quests for Wealth Ending, Chim's pie for Chim ending, character's friendship and quests for their ending, and ALL possible events for the True Ending. Unfortunately, the True End was kinda disappointing. Predictable and way too short compared to the beautiful reunion we had in Rorona's True Ending. Nevertheless, Sterk's Ending was the best, damn that lucky bastard!!!!

Overall, I really enjoyed Atelier Totori. Most of the fun factor came from watching Totori getting teased by people around her as well as many other funny scenes in the game. At the same time, I also enjoyed the alchemy/synthesis in this game, playing around with traits to make the best possible items, foods, weapons, BOMBS etc. N/A bomb was a real killer, but I wish that Tera Bomb from Rorona made a comeback. The animation when Rorona use that bomb was simply hilarious, and the damage a finely crafted bomb dealt was.....phenomenal. But if I had to pick either Atelier Rorona or Atelier Totori, I would say that I'm enjoying the predecessor more than the sequel. Maybe because I like Rorona Frixel better than Totori Helmold, especially due to the voice of Mai Kadowaki ;p


now GIVE me Atelier Meruru this May!!!


full Atelier Totori review coming...later.

Final Fantasy XIII-2: The Impression

Finally, one of the most anticipated video games this year reached my hand. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Final Fantasy FFXIII (due to its utterly boring story), but I enjoyed the gameplay and Mark Quests a lot that I eventually managed to Platinum the game last year. That alone is enough to make me wanting to buy its sequel, Final Fantasy FXIII-2, and I’m expecting a better impression from this one, especially in term of story and linearity. Due to my commitment to work and Atelier Totori (which I just recently Platinumed), it’s not until last week that I was finally able to start the game, and with over 10 hours into the game, I can say that so far I’m having more fun playing FFXIII-2.

Title: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Developer: Square-Enix
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PS3), Xbox360
Genre: Japanese role playing game [jrpg]
Release date: Dec 2011 [Japanese], Jan/Feb 2012 [NA/EU]

Final Fantasy XIII-2 took place roughly 3 years after the events in Final Fantasy XIII. Lightning is no more, Fang is no more, Snow is no more, every playable character in FFXIII are no more. Now, we’re controlling Lightning’s little sister Serah, and Noel, a stranger from the future. To avoid spoiler, I guess it's better not to write about the story too much, but all I can say is that I'm liking the story because the core is about time paradox, where you’ll travel through time to unveil the mystery behind a certain person’s disappearance, the overlapped time and space continuum, changing history and future blablabla. Steins;Gate, anyone?

Although it didn't hurt NOT playing FFXIII before FFXIII-2, I do think having the experience of playing FFXIII was necessary and beneficial because a lot of the gameplay's aspects were taken and improved. Having familiarized with the gameplay of FFXIII, straight away in FFXIII-2 my finger was moving around automatically, hitting L1 to switch Paradigms back and forth while the ATP gauge is charging (you know, the full ATB gauge trick). Paradigm Shift no longer had those stupid time-wasting first-time paradigm change animation (you know what I mean), so now you got a faster battle pace. The post-battle rank didn't seem to change much, except that 5-Starring a battle gave you 200% boost in rare item drop, on Normal mode. You will also receive gil after each battle, so getting money in FFXIII-2 is essentially much easier than FFXIII. Oh, did I mention that there's Easy and Normal mode?

A lot more changes/improvements were related to off-battle features. Things like Moogle Hunt/Throw, autosave features, time paradoxes, and new mechanism of random encounter, which I'm not gonna spend time elaborating. But I'd like to comment on the new Crystarium system. The basics of Crystarium is similar to those in FFXIII, but the mechanics were somewhat different - basically all Roles share the same Nodes/Crystarium, but what's contained in each nodes changed according to its roles, with some of the (bigger) Nodes giving stat bonus depending on which role you used to activate it. Again, it was hard to describe, even I had trouble understanding the new Crystarium. I only figured out the mechanics (or more accurately, how to maximize Noel's strength's and Serah's Magic's growth) when I was like on stage 6 of my Crystarium progress. Which was kinda late, since I wasted about half of it by not manipulating their stat growth. On the bright side though, my Noel and Serah had a more balanced Mag-Str stats, meaning switching any of them between Ravager and Commando won't have significant effect on the damage dealt.

Then there's Monster crystal, which we can use as the third character in the paradigm shift. I'd say this is one of the few addition in FFXIII-2 that made the game more fun. With no more other playable character, you're pretty much stuck with Noel and Serah for almost the entire game, and who could fill the third slot in the party? A "tamed" monster, obviously. Monsters defeated had a chance to form into crystal, which allowed you to use them in future battle. They have specialized Role, and they can also be levelled up to a certain max level by using certain items that provides specific stat growth to your monsters. So you can have crappy monsters like...well, I don't know, in your party, or if you're really, really beefed up, late in the game you can have the almighty Omega (that Omega Weapon) as your third ally. Nevertheless, many argued that the best ever ally you can have is Chichu, but I haven't encountered one so I can't comment on that.

Currently about halfway through the game (and less than 20% platinum completion), I think it won't take me longer than 2 weeks to finish and platinum the game. The story was much more acceptable than FFXIII to say the least, the faster paradigm shirt and and the addition of monsters in the party made battle somewhat more enjoyable. There's a few more things that I haven't comment, but I'll leave it at that and stop here.

Spring 2012 Anime List

TV

Accel World
Acchi Kocchi
AKB0048
Arashi no Yoru ni. Himitsu no Tomodachi
Baku Tech! Bakugan
Beyblade Zero-G
Cardfight!! Vanguard: Asia Circuit Hen
Eureka Seven Ao
Fate/Zero 2nd Season
Gakkatsu!
Ginga e Kick off!!
Haiyore! Nyaruko-san
Hiiro no Kakera
Hyou-ka
Jewelpet Kira☆Deko!
Jormungand
Kikansha Thomas
Kimi to Boku. 2
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Kuroko no Basuke
Medaka Box
Naruto SD: Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden
Natsuiro Kiseki
Nazo no Kanojo X
New Lupin III Series
Ozuma
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle 2nd Season
Pretty Rhythm Dear My Future
Queen’s Blade: Rebellion
Saint Seiya Omega
Sakamichi no Apollon
Saki: Achiga-hen episode of side-A
Sankarea
Sengoku Collection
Shiba Inuko-san
Shining Hearts ~Shiawase no Pan~
Shirokuma Café
Tasogare Otome x Amnesia
Tsuritama
Uchuu Kyoudai
Upotte!!
Yurumates 3D
Zetman

OVA

A-Channel+smile (OVA)
Ai Mai! Moe Can Change! (OVA)
Another (OAD)
High Score (OAD)
Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple (OVA)
Kimi no Iru Machi (OAD)
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? (OAD)
Lupin Ikka Seizoroi (OVA)
Maken-Ki! (OAD)
Nekogami Yaoyorozu (OVA)
To Heart 2: Dungeon Travelers (OVA)
Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san. (OVA)

sources: fansubwiki, moetron


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...massive list, to say the least. Not much for me to comment about this upcoming Spring season, but I'm personally looking forward to Fate Zero S2 and Shining Hearts. Then the usual trial and error to add more into my watching lists. And for some reason Sankarea and Tasogare Otome Amnesia seems very familiar to me, I don't really remember reading the manga though. Oh hey, there's another sport anime!

Impression: Atelier Totori - The Adventurer of Arland

I’ve mentioned once that originally I am not that big of a fan of Atelier series, but in 2010, Atelier Rorona was released for PS3 and it completely changed my impression toward Atelier series, for the better. And then the sequel, Atelier Totori was released. The localized version of the game was out somewhere at the end of last year, though it is not until a few weeks ago that I got my hands on the game. And that’s where most of my gaming time in these last few weeks were spent (aside of Dota and FIFA12). With that said, my impression toward the game so far has been good – enjoyable, relaxing and fun : )

Title: Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of of Arland
Developer: Gust
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PS3)
Genre: Japanese role playing game [jrpg]
Release date: June 2010 [Japanese], September 2011 [NA/EU]

So far I would say that I’ve ventured pretty far into the game, currently in my 4th year and 8th month, in the middle of building ships for oversea adventures. About 200 points to go to Galaxy rank, Adventurer and alchemy level 40+. Could have finished the ship sooner, but I decided to explore most of the Cobalt areas and play with item traits to make awesome equipments and bombs.

Back to the game, Atelier Totori was set a few years after the events in Atelier Rorona. The story is now focused on a young girl named Totooria Helmold, an innocent village girl who dreams of being an adventurer to search for her missing mother. So there you go, now instead of trying to prevent a workshop from getting scrapped in Atelier Rorona, in Atelier Totori you basically had to be a real adventurer, ranked up your Adventurer License by exploring areas, defeating monsters and synthesizing things through alchemy, and follow the (humorous) story, from the way each character talks and bickering with each other, to many other trivial things like Sterk's concern about his expression and Guid's lack of presence. By the way, Totori is Rorona’s alchemy student, and it's always fun seeing her getting teased by everyone, like a certain someone in Atelier Rorona : )

Some characters made a return in this game. Rorona is back, now in her early 20s (and somewhat becoming more and more Lionela-like, if you know what I mean >.<) and often travel across the land to teach alchemy (and failed as usual LOL). Sterk is no longer a knight, but his job now is to look for the “runaway” king. Cory works as Adventurer Officer at Arland, handling all stuff about Adventure and licenses. Tantris and Lionela didn’t appear, but their names were mentioned in one of the scenes in mid-games. Esty Dee is gone, searching for a husband (lolwhut) and her job is now taken over by her shy (and yuri) little sister, Filly Dee. The shopkeepers (Iksel, Hagel, Tiffa and Pamela) are the same, if not looking older.

Then there's new playable characters like Mimi, Mel, Gino and Marc. Overall the characters are pretty similar to those in Atelier Rorona. I mean, Totori is a LOT like Rorona – airhead, a bit dumb, clumsy, weak, fun to tease…ouch. Mimi is a carbon copy of Cory (loli, aristocrat, tsundere etc), while Melvia was pretty much a female version of Sterk, minus the seriousness. Too bad since we can recruit both of them, Mel was often left out because, well, Sterk is simply the better of the two. Gino is somewhat like Iksel – a childhood friend, except that instead of cooking, he’s crazy about adventuring.

Gameplay

Playing Atelier Totori wasn't that much different to Atelier Rorona. You still had to go out exploring new places, fights monsters, gather materials for synthesis etc so those familiar with Atelier Rorona will have no problem getting used to Totori. Well, there's no point in playing Totori if you haven't play Rorona anyway.The concept was similar, with a few tweaks to the mechanisms. For example, gathering (I mean, the act digging items from gathering points) consumes time. Battle consumes time. Walking on world map consumes a LOT of times. Therefore in early games, when you don't have the right equipment to speed up your gathering/walking speed, times flew very fast that you really had to be careful whether or not to dig a gathering point and engage in a battle. At first I was a bit pissed off because time passed so quickly than I anticipate at early game, but after awhile I'm getting used to it (especially since I got my Speed Gloves and Traveling Shoes pretty fast) and getting around the world isn't much a problem. On a side note, there's 2 main city/town in the game: Arland (I'm loving the fact that it still re-uses most of the BGM's from Atelier Rorona), and Totori's hometown, Alanya. Both place has a workshop/Atelier and specific scenes can trigger in each place, therefore we also need to be mindful about traveling back and forth from Arland to Alanya, because by default it took about 2 weeks to travel from one place to another (1 week with upgraded Carriage, ZERO days with a Warp Gate).

Synthesis

Synthesis has been a core for Atelier series, and it is no different in Atelier Totori. The mechanics was similar to Rorona, but in Totori it was more complex yet easier to manipulate to yield powerful items and equipment. Synthesized item in Totori is now associated with specific Cost Level which determine how many traits you can put in the item. Yes, now we can have a loads of crappy and good traits listed and manually select any favorable traits that we want, as long as they are within the item's Cost Level. Some new traits were also added (Eg Final Strike), while some old traits removed (eg Restrain Range). Other than that, I can't remember any other significant change of synthesis mechanic in Totori.

Battle

Like Atelier Rorona, battle is nowhere a big priority in Totori. It is needed to defeat stronger monsters and obtain rarer materials, but the emphasis in this game is more or less on synthesis and exploring areas. The basic of battle doesn't change much from Rorona and I don't really want to go into details about it. One thing for sure, in Totori you can no longer just toss a bomb to win a game (say goodbye to super awesome ultimate crazy good Meteor and Tera Bomb). Good bomb still hurts many enemies and bosses, but not to the extent of overkill that Meteor and Tera Bomb had. And since Rorona is playable, you can imagine a fun outing with both Totori and Rorona in the party, tossing bombs around. Beware of strong monsters though, since both Totori and Rorona are complete fail and fragile without their items....

Trophies
As usual, I'm trophy hunting while playing the game and aim to get Platinum on my first try. Like Rorona, most of the trophies were obtained from special scenes and multiple endings, which require us to manipulate and do several saves and reload in order to get all the endings in one playthrough. Overall it looks like getting a Platinum for Totori is easier than Rorona because the time gap/triggering requirement for many of the events aren't as restricted as Rorona. And with the game spans over 6 years, there's really plenty of time to go on adventure, collect materials, synthesize, do quests and trigger specific scenes.

Overall, I had a good time playing Atelier Totori, the scenes were always amusing to watch and although the battle/gameplay wasn't as extravagant as many of the games on PS3, it totally fit with the setting of the game. I'd feel awkward if an Atelier series had a graphic and gameplay like Final Fantasy 13. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to finish the game as soon as possible and move on to the next game.

p/s: Totori started as a kid (about 12-14 years old I assume). So at the end of the game (after 6 years), shouldn't her appearance changed to be a bit more...mature?



Next on my playing list: Final Fantasy XIII-2 : D

Mirai Nikki ED2 Single - Filament [Yousei Teikoku]

Title: Mirai Nikki ED2 Single - Filament
Artist: Yousei Teikoku
Release Date: February 08, 2011

Tracklist:

01 - filament
02 - Zetsubou plantation
03 - filament (Instrumental)
04 - Zetsubou plantation (Instrumental)

Download: [HF/EU]


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Never really thought that Yousei Teikoku and Faylan would switch roles in the middle of the anime. Nevertheless, I'm usually not a big fan of slow paced songs by Yousei Teikoku, but Filament was one of those exceptions, plus the song kinda fit with the current story of Mirai Nikki. I personally liked the second song, Zetsubou Plantation better than the ED2 song, it feels like...how should I say it, the song has the vibes of Yousei Teikoku's older songs from Stigma and Gothic Lolita Propaganda.

The Impression Series: Winter 2011/2012 [Part 2]

Another
MAL/Official site
Genre: thriller, horror, mystery, psychological
Studio Production: P.A Works
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: The very first thing that came up to my mind when I watched the first half of episode 1: “this seems like a very promising horror/thriller”. 4 episodes on, and the series truly exceed my expectations, I’m truly amazed. With each passing episodes, I simply want MORE of them. I haven't had this excitement of watching a horror since what, the first season of Higurashi? Back to the basics, ANOTHER basically tells a story of a transfer student Sakakibara Koichi who was placed in a mysterious, awkward class 3 at his new school. Awkward because of many things, but the main thing that concerned him was the presence of a really old seat at the edge of the class, and the fact that his classmates seems to be hiding something from him. And as a curious boy he is, Koichi ended up trying to poke into matters that he “probably” shouldn’t has. I probably shouldn't tell more about the story because it's best left unspoiled, the thrill and suspense totally excites me in each episode! Overall this series gave me the vibes of Higurashi, Shiki and Ookamikakushi – creepy, gloomy at times, mysterious, thrill, horror and....death. Everything about the anime managed to convey this horror atmosphere well. The animation was great; the scenes were drawn really well to describe the dark and gloomy nature of the story (especially the occasional creepy dolls that appeared once in awhile early in the series). The eerie musics when it comes to certain scenes are just perfect to add to the creepiness. TOTALLY enjoyed the show!
p/s: evil Chihiro
Verdict: 5/5 (Must. Watch)




Ano Natsu de Matteru
MAL/Official site
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Studio Production: J.C. Staff
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: What’s this….Onegai Teacher v2? As what you'd expect from the same creator, the similarity with Onegai Teacher was quite apparent...in a lot of aspects. The main character Kaito, the alien Ichika, the friends Kanna, Mio, Remon and Tetsurou and their relations to each other were almost a carbon copy of their counterpart in Onegai Teacher. I’d even say that Remon didn’t even change since Ichigo in OT. Only a tweak in story, and we got Ano Natsu de Matteru. The vintage setting featuring suburb location with lots of beautiful sceneries and the comforting background music were great as it brings back the good memories of Onegai Teacher and Onegai Twins (and I love the latter). A recycled idea I’d say, but still refreshing and fun to watch for me. The comedies made me smiles, and being a school comedy romance, things like misunderstanding and unrequited love are inevitable. Youth times, huh. I personally like Kanna compared to other girls though, her voice kinda fit with her face and personality.
p/s: Highschool of the Dead movie in my animu D :
Verdict: 4/5 (watching)




Nisemonogatari
MAL/Official site
Genre: Comedy, Psychological, Supernatural
Studio Production:
Number of Episodes:
Comments: When Bakemonogatari first aired some years ago, I'm awed by SHAFT's effort to make it unique and very interesting (as they've always had with SZS, Maria Holic etc). Now we have the sequel in Nisemonogatari, pretty much a continuation of [part of] the story where Oshino left and one of the culprit who tortured Senjogahara in season 1 making a comeback. The plot doesn't really differed much than the first season, except that now we're more exposed to the likes of Araragi's two little sisters, and Shinobu. Overall I wouldn't say I'm not enjoying it because I certainly am, but rather the story so far doesn't really had anything that surpassed my expectation from whatever I watched in its prequel. One thing that Nisemonogatari has never failed to amazed me is the dialogue - always witty and although tend to get draggy, often comes with a good blend of humors and brilliant lines. The animation was top notch as always, and now it feel a lot less cluttered and easier to the eyes. Enjoyable? Yes, but so far, not as much as I enjoy season 1, and I hope the next few episodes can change my perception.
Verdict: 3.5/5 (watching)




Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai
MAL/Official site
Genre: romance, comedy, slice of life
Studio Production: Feel
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: It looks like a harem romance comedy series at first, but as I watched more episodes, I realized that the series is more than that. Papakiki tells a story about Segawa Yuta, a freshman university student, whom due to a certain incident, suddenly found himself in an unlikely position of being the guardian of his sister’s three daughters, Sora, Miu and Hina. In that respect, Yuta’s situation reminded me a lot to Usagi Drop – the difficulty he faced from raising the three girls all alone while balancing with his study and work. In real life, I could never imagine someone able to do all that…The plot developed rather slow (it’s not until episode 2 and three that the whole matter about being the girls’s guardian was settled), but I'm fine with the pace because, well, it doesn't feel rushed. While sometimes amusing and fun to watch, I gotta say episode 2 and 3 gave made me sad and touching more than hilarity, but it’s a good sign that the story actually had some substances rather than an empty harem comedy show. Nevertheless although the story focused on Yuta and the three girl’s daily lives, once in awhile we did see the people at Yuta’s “Sightseeing” Club getting involved with the story, and I’m certainly interested to see how the voluptuous Raika mixed into all this mess in Yuta’s university life.
p/s: Sako = Daru.
Verdict: 3.5/5 (watching)


Also got the likes of Inu x Boku SS and Recorder to Randoseru in my watchlist, but I guess I don't really need to write a lengthy impression on those. Oh yeah, I'm kinda inclined to watch Black Rock Shooter, but maybe I'll do that...much later. Winter seems a lot crowded in my watchlist this year compared to the last -_-

A Late Impression of….FIFA 12

Last year I haven’t been able to buy any new ps3 games, so most of my gaming time in 2011 was spent on either dota, or platinuming older games. Which was worth the effort because they’re fun and satisfying. I wouldn’t have thought that I would add the likes of Trinity Universe, Nier, FFXIII, Resonance of Fate, Assassin Creed 2, Dragon Age Origin and Sengoku Basara to my platinum list. Moving on from platinum stuff, on 2011 I don’t really have any particular game that I really want to play, except a few – Atelier Totori, and most importantly, FIFA12. And these 2 games are the exact 2 games that I bought a few days ago. Late I know, but it’s unfortunate that it’s only this year that I could spare the money to buy these games.

Moving to FIFA, I spent most of my footballing games of 2011 with, well, FIFA11 and I enjoyed it a lot. It made me really looking forward to FIFA 12, anticipating changes/new features that the game brought and any possible stats changes to some in-form players at early 2011-2012 seasons (eg Anderson, Dzeko and Cleverley).

Title: FIFA 12
Developer: Electronic Arts
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PS3), XBOX 360, PSP, PS Vita, PC, 3DS, Wii, PS2, iOS
Genre: Sports/Football
Release date: September 2011(all version)


Being a big FIFA series fan, I know I had to get this game even though it's already a few months late. Then I took my time to play the game, getting familiarized with new gameplay changed, indulging myself with career mode etc. So, what can I say about FIFA12?

• Impact Engine made the game more realistic as players collision was feel more real, but sometimes it can be a nuisance eg when you're defending and try to chase the opponents, only to get obstructed by whatever players (and ref!) in your way, tumbling and the opponents ran away.

• Tactical Defending was the biggest changed that I really need to get used to. In FIFA11 defending was easy - hold x to press opponents and auto stand tackle, R2+L2 to jockey or slide tackle when necessary. With Tactical Defending in Fifa12 the system was changed, it really require us to "play" real football - it now emphasize on positioning, holding and containing player off before making tackle at the right time. In short, in FIFA11 we can just hold X and the player will prompt to tackle, but in FIFA12 pressing X will only made them contain the opponent. Stand tackle can only be made by pressing O at the right time, or else you miss and the opponent get away. Kinda sucks at first, I had a real hard time taking the ball away from those fukken dribblers, needs to get used to this fast or I'm toast.

• Player Customization/Slider Option is stupid and made Pro levelling super easy. It basically allowed you to adjust your team's shot/pass speed/accuracy, running speed/acceleration, errors etc all the way to max/mid AND doing the reverse to the opponents. It only works on AI, but still a broken concept, making the game totally boring if you stretch every option all the way to the end. Well, the other option is, don't use this Player Customization at all, but in certain case (especially when you use a half-star team like AFC Wimbledon), you definitely want to adjust the option just slightly (especially pass speed) to survive League 2.

• Career mode is now more fun and realistic. The basics are still similar to those in FIFA11, with some more additional features. Scouting system made its comeback, now being part of the newly introduced Youth Academy. Now you can use the scouting network to find a new raw, unknown gem from secluded place all around the world, although it's highly unlikely that you'll find another Messi, Hernandez or Ronaldo from them. Playing career mode so far, I only managed to find a Japanese youth that has the potential to go up to 84 overall. Another addition to career mode is the deadline day transfer, where times passed by hourly rather than daily. Basically it allowed you to make any last minute transfer, which while sounds exciting, is getting boring over time. One last thing, apparently we can no longer change the match weather pre-game anymore. Sucks, I hate playing in snow :(

• Other comments: players now have stamina/energy, form and morale on when you're managing teams. It's a hassle at time, but it did give a realistic feel to it. Loading time is much reduced especially in career mode. Be a Pro didn't have much change, and I'm still working to increase my Pro's overall. Currently a striker, Overall 76. My Pro in FIFA11 managed to get Overall of 86 (Striker), but I bet with the User Customisation Option in FIFA12, it's much easier to surpass what I achieve in FIFA11.

The Impression Series: Winter 2011/2012

The customary impression series was kinda late this season, because of the same old crappy work excuse, as you guess it. Though recently it's getting harder for me to watch anime because I just bought some awsm ps3 games that I just had to play no matter what. Nevertheless, I enjoyed many of Winter 2012's show because it had almost every kind of series that I like to watch - sports, drama, thriller, school romance, comedy slice of life, action, old crap...it's hard to ditch any.

Amagami SS+
MAL/Official site
Genre: romance
Studio Production: AIC
Number of Episodes: 12

Comments: When I first watched the first season (bear in mind I never played the game), I like the series a lot. Less drama, more romance, some comedies are just about right for my viewing pleasure. And now comes the sequel, which is pretty much a continuation of whatever left from season 1, and I still like what I'm seeing. For some girls, it was more or less a continuation and complimentary 2 episodes to add to things happening in their respective arc in season 1, while for other, their relationship with Junichi was brought to a new level (Rihoko’s), which was sweet to say the least. Though for Haruka senpai, I don’t think her arc in this sequel will continue from where her arc left in season 1. You know, 10 years, married, kids…. Anyway, I hope the animation quality is consistent till the end of the series (in season 1 there’s a noticeable decrease of quality during Nanaka’s arc).
Verdict: 4/5 (must watch)

Daily Lives of High School Boys
MAL/Official site
Genre: comedy, slice of life
Studio Production: Sunrise
Number of Episodes: 12

Comments: aka Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou. What a boring English title, if you ask me. For a comedy slice of life, you don’t expect anything but laughter from watching the characters do random and stupid things in their ordinary daily lives, and the series gave exactly that – three idiots in Tadakuni, Hidenori and Yoshitake spending their youthful school life doing random things, hanging out with friends and such. Wow, I’m watching a male version of Lucky Star/Yuru Yuri huh? I have to admit it felt awkward at first to watch a boys comedy slice of life series, but seriously it was awesomely hilarious, way funnier than I would expect. Lots of parody and gag jokes that made me laugh nonsensically; I knew I just had to watch this show. Even though Tadakuni is supposed to be the main guy out of the three, it seems to me that Hidenori is taking the spotlight more than the other two (much like how Kyouko did to Akari in YuruYuri), maybe partly because he was voiced by the perfect seiyuu for this kind of comedy (his monologue at the end of episode 1 reminded me to Kyon a lot). The riverbank scene in episode 1 was gold, particularly because the clever use of the lines into the ED song. How I wish ED songs in subsequent episodes would have that kind of uniqueness. I found episode 2 and 3 slightly less humorous than the first, but overall I really enjoyed the show as a whole. By the way despite what’s supposed to be a boy’s show, some random girls do appear in the show from time to time, like Tadakuni’s little sister, the riverbank’s literature girl, and in ep3 there’s even a short skit of girl trio at the end hanging out like what Tadakuni, Hidenori and Yoshitake often do.
Verdict: 4.5/5 (must watch)

Area no Kishi
MAL/Official site
Genre: romance, sport
Studio Production: Shin-Ei animation

Number of Episodes:
Comments: Finally another sport anime that I love, and it’s football! I had a blast watching Giant Killing 2 years ago (despite their subpar animation), and Area no Kishi has the potential to be even better. The story is focused on Aizawa Kakeru, an avid football fan and player who lives in the shadow of his genius brother Suguru, believing that he has no footballing talent whilst also haunted by his past incident that caused him to hesitate to use his left leg on the pitch. Later, he lost his spirit and decided to depart from the sport he love altogether, but a dramatic tragedy eventually changed his heart…You'd sometimes get pissed off for an indecisive, lack of confidence guy like Kakeru, but then you just know that this is the kind of guy that often highlight many anime and rise to the occasion. Especially after what’s happening in episode 3. If Giant Killing focused more on things on the pitch, Area no Kishi is more on things off the pitch, hence more drama (much like Whistle I guess). The animation was okay at best, at least much better than the awkward Giant Killing, and the story was interesting, albeit predictable . You’d be lying if you can’t tell that the mysterious masked man was Seven all along. Then the accidents, the transplant, Kakeru’s resolve…much of them was predictable, but as someone who enjoy football, I won’t complain much as long as I got to see some football action. Seems like Kakeru is Hernandez-type player - a poacher, clinical finisher.
p/s: I hate the term “soccer”. By the way, what the hell is sideback? Conductor? One top? I’d prefer if a more common commentary/punditry terms were used (Fullbacks/Playmaker/Lone striker etc)
Verdict: 4/5 (must watch)

Zero no Tsukaima F
MAL/Official site
Genre: magic, comedy, romance
Studio Production: J.C. Staff
Number of Episodes: 13

Comments: My god I can’t believe I’m still sitting on my couch every week, watching this. Was ZnTF any worse than the previous three? (or two, because I thought the first season was well done) So far I wouldn’t say it was that bad, but it wasn't improving much either. It’s still the repetition of same old story of Louise getting tsun2 and dere2 toward Saito, followed by some crisis and action before Saito (or anyone else for that matter) came for the rescue, then the customary Louise’s explosion to end the episode; but since this is the so-called FINAL season of the series, at least I want to see how the story ended, no matter how brilliantly (if any) or poorly executed.
Verdict: 3/4 (watching)

Brave 10
MAL/Official site
Genre: action, comedy
Studio Production: Studio Sakimakura
Number of Episodes: 12

Comments: I can't help but think about Sengoku Basara (and sometimes, Hakuouki) the moment I watched this anime. You know… full of bishies, history twists, superpowers…only that this time around the story took place at the end of Sengoku era, where Yukimura Sanada rules the Ueda Castle and most of the well-known Sengoku era samurais were history (except some like Date Masamune and Tokugawa Ieyasu). The story focused on 10 brave (duh) warriors who assisted Yukimura against Tokugawa’s suspicious scheme, with two of the braves, Kirigakure Saizo and Isanami Izumo taking the center of the stage all due to the incident at Isanami’s Izumo shrine. Watching Isanami always trying to cling around her savior, Saizo without his consent was always fun. Anyway, I LOVE the show as far as episode 4 goes, one reason being it gave the vibes of Sengoku Basara (a less serious and humorous sengoku period) which I always like, some nice actions with supernatural powers involved, and great animation (and character designs) to boot. The OP and ED song sounds a bit awkward to me at first, but as I watched one episode after another, I found myself starting to like the songs.

Verdict: 4.5/5 (must watch)


to be continued

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.