So I like doing episodic posts and stuff at Metanorn, but I’ve been thinking of ways to do something different here. I’ve tossed around ideas but never drafted anything. Then tonight as I was looking at the TV trailers steev posted, it kinda hit me. Do something where I can write about what I want to write about rather than the weekly grind of episodic posts since, as I’ve heard confirmed through other bloggers, episodics are tough business. We cover a lot on the podcast, but not everything so I’m making this my little playground where I can highlight what I want to highlight.

I plan on this being a weekly feature, and for the opening round of RwJ, I have 2 topics to start: an anime and a game one. It’s kind of what we do here at Anivision, bring anime and gaming together. 🙂

Thoughts on Working!!

A cross-dresser taking an order from a man with a rifle. Only at Wagnaria!

Working!! won the poll I posted a couple weeks ago. An anime I had been strongly suggested and in some cases ridiculed for not watching, I marathoned all of the first season a couple weeks ago.

Inami is the tsundere androphobe of the series. After Takanashi, she’s the next main character judging just from how often she was on screen and how much her character “developed” during the season. I don’t have a problem with her weird thing about hitting people, but what I did not like was seeing 9 out of 13 episodes (rought estimate) dedicated to the same drama surrounding it which ultimately merited the same results; not a lot. After episode 2’s meeting between she and Takanashi, too much time is spent with her acknowledging that she has a problem and needs to fix it. “Developments” are made. Takanashi talks down to her dad for raising her the way he did, and they go on a “date” and almost hold hands, but the sheer fact that they try to handle the situation all by themselves at the restaurant is dumb. I get if they want her to stay the way she is hitting dudes, but watching these characters try and work this out was a chore sometimes.

I did like that Takanashi fit in with everyone in the “weird” department. He truly felt like he belonged with them during the series. His youngest sister, Nazuna, a pure sweetheart, was the most level-headed person of the series and I could’ve watched her more often.

But seriously, is the ensemble really that great? Is it just that most other people in Wagnaria seem so secondary to the Takanashi/Inami story that we only get Yachiyo and Kyouko and Satou in spurts, or is it just that they have their 1-2 traits and are really only good for that much? This is why I somewhat hate the amount of time that Inami got, but also wonder if people like Satou, Souma and Yachiyo just squeezed out as much of an interesting story as they could in season 1.

To call the show bad would be wrong. There are good qualities and if I were a scoring guy, I would give it a respectable score in light of my personal concerns with the series. There were a couple real good laughs, but they were few and far between for my taste. Thanks for the recommendation and that extra push in the poll, but I have no plans to check out the apostrophe sequel series.

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Holding BG&E2 for Next-gen Consoles – A good idea?

A Kotaku article that features a video interview with Michael Ancel talks about the tech needed for Beyond Good & Evil 2. The article isn’t an exact quote of his words, but the gist is that the game needs better tech from consoles than what is currently available and that, as Kotaku spins it in the headlines, that the game might have to wait until the next generation of consoles.

I feel that this would be a great decision, and an even better one if they can get BG&E 2 ready for console launch on whichever one comes out first, Microsoft or Sony. Just no to Wii U for right now.

Beyond Good & Evil is an awesome game, one of my favorites of the previous generation (I still have the PS2 version and the XBLA HD version). It was met with critical acclaim, but less than stellar sales thanks to Prince of Persia coming out around the same time. Ubisoft did no favors to BG&E, which is why it hit bargain bins as quickly as it did.

The game seems like big enough of a cult classic to piss people off that keep hearing me say, “OMG this game is so great, buy it jerks!” Michael Ancel is a great designer whose most recent game, Rayman Origins, is an absolute delight of a platformer. If they were able to release this as a launch title for a console, imagine the positive buzz that could circulate around it, make it as a reason to go crazy and spend whatever $$$ the console costs, and avoid releasing it now on PS3/360 as a “decent” game. Now the game could bomb, but I have enough belief in Michael Ancel that he can make it good. It won’t be the best the PS4 or Xbox 720 will see, but if done right, it could be a strong quality title that can pave the way and inspire other developers to crank out better next-gen titles at an earlier stage in the generation’s lifecycle.

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Anime Pick of the Week – Sankarea 07

Great episode of Sankarea this week. As if we needed more reason to like Ranko. <3

I might do this each week to make it more of a variety post. Great episode featuring Ranko’s backstory along with Chihiro’s obsession with zombie movies. DEEN did a great job with some of the cinematography in this episode and it was adorable seeing a child Ranko scared of a horror flick. Unfortunately, Chihiro is too dumb to even realize that him avoiding the kiss and everything else leading up to it was quite mean. Seriously, catch the fucking signals you doofus and say something.

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I thank you for reading, or for scrolling down to the bottom without reading for whatever dumb reason you nincompoop.

Next week is Animazement, so I might get my next post in early before that comes up. The week after, all about my time at Animazement with (hopefully) my good friend Xcom. And do worry, because in that same post, I’ll be mentioning something about NASCAR!