Behind The Nihon Review » Shadowmage

Chaos Rings: The Classic RPG is Dead to Me

Shadowmage — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 05:08:02 +0000

I am a child of the era of Pokemon, Final Fantasy VII, VII and IX. Now before you bash me for lacking Final Fantasy IV under my belt, hear me out when I say that in the era of Fallout 3, God of War and Starcraft 2, it is extremely hard back to go back and play a heavily pixelated game filled with (now) tired genre tropes without a lager and a heavy dose of nostalgia.

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Visual novel review: Saya no Uta

Shadowmage — Tue, 18 May 2010 23:58:18 +0000

Title: Saya no Uta
Genre: Drama
Company: Nitroplus
Platform: PC
Release Date: Dec 26 2003

Synopsis: After surviving a serious car accident, medical student Sakisaka Fuminori undergoes brain surgery and comes to perceive the world in a whole new way. To him, what was once everyday objects have become twisted and malformed. Normal people look like their skin has been carved off and their innards ripped outwards. The scenery looks like it has been spray painted with organs and muscle tissue, and the food and smells Fuminori once enjoyed become physically repulsive. With nothing else to live for, Fuminori tries to kill himself… until he meets a mysterious girl named Saya who is the only beautiful thing in his mental hell.

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A Reflection on a Decade

Shadowmage — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:09:14 +0000

Near the beginning of this decade, I looked at the anime medium as a source of fresh ideas full of creativity and passion, completely unlike the everyday drivel that filled the American airwaves. For the first few years when I feasted on the cream of the crop my belief was seemingly reaffirmed. As my internet connection got faster so did my consumption. Soon, I wasn’t restricted to a small handful of titles filtered by popular demand; I could watch virtually any anime Japan had to offer days after its release… And I did.

I’ve long wondered why anime has had a rather weak reception even in Japan, but after sitting through hundreds of hours of crushing mediocrity, I began to understand. Good anime are like gems found in a mountain of rocks, and by watching primarily above par anime for so long skewed my expectations to unreasonable heights. Because of this realization, I cannot earnestly argue my gut feeling that the medium has gone downhill since the advent of moe…

As a matter of fact when I sit down and list all the shows I’ve enjoyed from end to end, I realize that 2000 to 2009 is the greatest decade of anime.

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By Shadowmage | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to StumbleUpon | Tweet! | reddit
Post tags: 5 Centimeters per Second, FLCL, Haibane Renmei, Honey and Clover, Infinite Ryvius, Le Portrait de Petite Cossette, Millennium Actress, Now and Then Here and There, Planetes, Voices of a Distant Star

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Fall 2009: First Thoughts

Shadowmage — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:54:44 +0000

Now that anime has normalized to the level of everyday television sitcoms and dramas for me, I have reduce my consumption of the medium to hardcore mainstream titles and the seasonal aberrations. The simple fact is that the odd ducks tend to be the real winners of any season, and anything else just redefines mediocrity by kicking the bar down a notch. I may eat these words someday, but I’m confident that it won’t happen this season.

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Impressions of Evangelion 2.0

Shadowmage — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:40:17 +0000

A few hours ago I got myself a cam-rip of the movie and I’ll say that it certainly was different. Due to the sub-par video and audio as well as the fact that there were no subtitles, I will not be seriously reviewing what I’ve seen since I don’t think that it’s is a fair representation of the work, but I will comment on what I’ve observed and keep it as spoiler free as possible.

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The future of streaming for FUNimation

Shadowmage — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:07:06 +0000

Several years ago, the music industry began a series of very public law suits against various internet pirates for the distribution of their music. A massive dialogue ensued and has since generated enough content to fill hundreds of encyclopedias. Without the legal high ground, some pirates generated clever reasoning for their positions; some began flawed moralizing on the issue, and many others just stuck up their middle fingers and dared the industry to get them. Regardless of all the hubbub, those few who were unfortunate enough to get caught were charged massive fines. In hopes to continue their ways, the pirates rallied under the undeniably true mantra “you can’t catch us all”; however, that was never the point.

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Fall 2008: Action Edition

Shadowmage — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:29:21 +0000

Now that Sorrow-kun has laid the groundwork of some sample titles for the year, I’ll focus on my area of interest: action.

Much like my colleague, I’m not willing to confidently say anything about the overall quality of this season, but this is the first season where I’ve seen the first episodes of about half of all the anime that has come out. Many have shown potential; many need polish; many have plain out sucked. I’ll help sort out which is which.

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AA… Anime Anonymous

Shadowmage — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:53:12 +0000

“I am an anime addict.”

I’m sure by now you have the obligatory “no sh*t Sherlock” running through your head, but give me a few paragraphs to explain myself.

To me, anime is like alcohol to an alcoholic, drugs to a drug addict and sex to Hugh Hefner. While it lacks the chemical side effects of the afforementioned addictions, it wastes a lot of time. The problem is that I am in college and time is worth its metaphorical weight in gold. I simply don’t have the luxury to watch ten different shows each season. I probably could economize and watch my four favorite shows, but this leads to another problem: focus.

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Why I watch anime

Shadowmage — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:51:13 +0000

People don’t remember days. They remember moments.

I believe that the same holds true for anime. It’s not the everyday scenes we remember. It’s that heart-pounding love confession, edge of your seat fight scene or roll on the floor hilarious joke that the audience remembers. The primary reason I watch anime is to experience this blissful state of sheer euphoria. Now, I have a problem regarding my anime “highs” –and I know I’m not alone in this. They are so darn hard to find.

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The Rise of Narcissists

Shadowmage — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:34:05 +0000

I’m bored of the old fashioned goody two-shoes protagonists. I hate the “I’m an idiot! Hear me roar!” types, and I’ll kill the next angst-filled teenager piloting a giant, fighting robot. Maybe I’m becoming jaded by seeing the same character personalities copied and pasted into a countless number of anime. Who knows? What I do know is that I’m seeing the emergence of a new breed of character personality that I really like.

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