decided to rewatch spoony's ultima series. a certified classic. it never cease to amaze me that garriott actually got in contact with spoony and even took the video's criticisms to heart for the next ultima game. remember this shit was the early 10s. i mean the video is really that eras typical review guy humor, but what sets that video apart is the actual love and knowledge for the series. it wasn't just ripping on the game for cheap laughs. and frankly, ultima 9 had a lot of those without needing to try. "what's a paladin" "i'm not entirely sure" and "you will have great knowledge of the land." is stuff i still reference from time to time and i still the application of their usage in video hilarious.
outside of the AVGN nintendo power episode, the only other video from that era i personally saw like it was clementj64's sonic 06 series. that was the first video essay series i waited in baited breath for each part. that shit felt so big back then because no one did stuff like it.
i think if i had to pick the worst thing about this era is the skits. (avgn don't count, the whole thing is a skit technically.) it's the progenitor to some youtuber stopping the video to let their friends stop the video to be like "pick me! i know about this topic" and the and the rest of the vid is some uneven switch off of people that breaks the pacing. maybe its even worse because most people can't write a script to save their lives. though i guess it is at least interesting these creators back then were into the lore of the characters and took the time to even add this shit into mostly otherwise low teir haha funny reviews. even if the outcome wasn't amazing, i think this era doesn't get enough credit for the creativity it sprung. something the modern internet lacks in spades.
to be real, this isn't a history lesson. i'm sure there's others that did stuff like this, i just didn't cross paths with them. just a small reminiscence.
i kept up with the new TGT updates and it's the best laserbot art i've ever seen from him. it sucks most ppl are never going to conciser him for his technical ability. the page where the bear gets shot in the head is so well drawn. real ones know laserbot always been good and always getting better throughout the years, but i was taken aback with that panel.
the director of the nekojiru ova passed away. i ended up watching the ova again, since it's been around three years. it was one of the first more experimental movies i watched when i decided i wanted to go down that route. i loved it the first time, but i think i appreciate it even more, having seen so much art since then.
i also watched the cinamonroll movie right after it. not a normal neon pick, but i got stung in the face by a wasp needed a chill night. (i was fine and somehow it didn't do much to me.) a ''cinomoroll goes to hell'' movie in theory is up my alley, the writing toasted it. not enough cinomoroll being cute, not enough hell. the movie's ending is so lackluster, it was like watching generic post shudo pokemon episodes. i enjoyed everything up until the final bad guy fight, though there wasn't much to stand out on the writing. i genuinely can't believe it took three people to write this.
kaitou tenshi twin angel fucking rocks. the first episode the main gal is psychologically tourtured by the magician bad guy. the second episode she breaks a fucking plane with her powers. the tuxdeio mask expy actually has a plot relevance and even seems to actually give a shit about the girls in question. its a very good hour and i almost had as much fun watching this as i did when season 1 nanoha got really good. i have the softest spot for magical girl plot structure/beats that i don't reserve for most of anything. half slice of life, a little action but it doesn't take up the whole episode. sparkly magical powers, the shit is great. this one is a class act. i might have to peep the anime series. i like that the fights are weighty. not just powers thrown around. i love that they have a fight at sunset. the bad guy turns into a middle after she fucking stabs him with her attack. sick anime.
oh yeah apparently papillon rose is real. i thought i made that shit up but maybe it was on hulu like ten years ago. yeah the ova is a sailor moon parody but lol there's sex. i guess the only other thing i have to say on it is the luna expy sucks.
i tried to play ena dream bbq. man, its visual design is wonderful but the writing, like it's webseries counterpart, is so haha generic wacky internet humor i can't couldn't sit through it. it's hard to explain this one unless you've been where i have, an alternative version of this take is the writing does not fit the world's tone and nothing interesting happens. i could get this type of writing from any kid with a snow ball mic in 2012.
my most recent and continuous outings otaku wise have been re-reading the monogatari novels (for fun) and re-watching the anime (subless) for immersion and art study. i needed to catch up but then releaised it's been about as long since i've read nekojiru as i read monogatari. it's been a good time, both ways. since this is going to be a long project i'll probably talk about it more in some future blog.
especilly now that maybe the distraction is done. sometimes i get into reading usually 2000s moe visual novels. more for the SOL and then hop off because the plots fucking suck to be honest. this time, i decided air would been a good dose of moe. my expectation was i'll read the girl with the RIBBONS in her hair (minagi.) and then whatever route else interests me, then i'll stop at the plot shit. this kinda happened, but the read was actually a lot better than i expected.
if you've been reading my shit for a bit you know i find jun maeda to be an over-rated writer that can deliver alright on SOL but is shit at emotional storytelling, yet has the sauce to be an insane guy that rarely comes out in works i've read of his. this still holds true, he's doesn't write good traditional story plots. air didn't change my mind on him at all, even if think out of the 3 i've read this is his best one. his characters* are usually just alright, though once in a while i get one that appeals to me on some baseline otaku level. what keeps me wanting to read his stories is to see what insane shit he does come up with. but he never really leans into it. he's similar to shudo, someone who writes insane plots but the presentation is actually thoughtful and really sweet especially in the end. yeah, momo got hit by a truck but also she got reincarnated. mewtwo is mother fucking mewtwo but the end, he ends up finding his own his meaning of life. maeda really tries to hit these and doesn't. still, lowkey he's actually more on shudo's thing than most writers, he doesn't have the insane mind to pull off the first part and then too sappy with the second shit.
*he does have cowriters, technically... just so no one gets on my ass. i don't think it really takes any of my points away, but it's not wrong for someone to point this out so i did it for this potential reader.
minagi's route as a story is boring as hell. too long, same shit over and over. i feel like it's more michiru's route than minagi's, as you hang out with her doing generic "witty kid vn protag" shit that outside of monogatari just flying off the handle with concept, is boring. minagi herself coulda used being more insane, but what's there was pleasant. i'm fond that she has 96 rice coupons and just gives little gifts away. there’s interesting character traits here, its just not enough.
her backstory is nuts. her parents were going to have a second child named michiru, but the mom miscarried. then her mom went nuts calling minagi michiru. so minagi had to spend the next like ten years of her homelife pretending to be a different girl. her dad divorced her mom and fucked off. she didn't have friends. somehow the painting in her house came to life and that's how michiru, her friend, is here. later in the story her mom ''has a dream'' realizing her unborn daughter is dead but can't remember minagi for like a day. so minagi runs away and just decides to live with the main character (he's homeless, living at the old train station.) until he pushes her to go back and now the mom remembers her. (or in the bad route she decides not to.)
neither version of her route is satisfying. the bad end has her leaving but as it points out this isn't what she really wants, her family back. i still wouldn't call it a bad end though, and i think it's a reasonable ending. though her mom is not at fault for having a mental illness, it probably would be awkward for most people to try and go back to that situation and start new. in her position i could see myself getting on that bus instead of walking through that front door.
i think the good ending is nice that she reconciles with her mom. even if her mom suddenly getting her memories back was kinda almost random. i think it should have ended here and at michiru leaving. (she was some type of angel, whatever. this is the type of shit you gotta roll with to make it through a maeda plot, if you've never read one of these.) her dad left the family, didn't speak to her for ten years. forcing minagi to live and take care of her mentally decaying mother. (on top of the whole ''not being able to be minagi'' thing.) in that time he remarried and get another kid, which he named michiru and is like ''you wanna meet her?".
now maybe for normal people this would be a cute ending, minagi got the sister she wanted. for me, i think her dad is a douche. you left your grieving wife and daughter, didn’t speak to them for years, and then named your next baby the same thing you where going to name your late term miscarried child? as a plot device, it's insane and has a lot of room for interesting story writing. but where it is here they try to pass it off as sweet and i can't see it that way. from a literary perspective it's tacked on but at least fits with minagi's story.
i skipped the blue haired girl's route because her dog potato was more interesting of a character than her. also, i skipped the summer route because potato the dog is more interesting than those three.
as a story, misuzu's route got same wonk minagi's had. suddenly the drunk mom is like ''actually, i love misuzu and i should be her mom." and with misuzu's illness the melodrama is turned up to eleven. god he's working so hard for those tears. but what appeals to me in this story is misuzu herself.
i found her to be a zakuro light in some ways. really, i love how autistic she is. she draws dinosaurs on every version of the town map she makes without fail. she loves dinos so much they're part of her vocal tik ''gao gao''. i think if you read the story, you might understand so i'll just keep it quick. she rocks. of course, her perseverance and her struggle captivated me a lot, too. though i decided i'm not going to get into some character study on a story i just finished like an hour ago at the time of writing this. needless to say, she charmed me. interesting character relating to her story and very neon moe. gao gao!
i'll tell you about the most interesting parts of the story writing wise:
-i love how yukito gets sent off to another universe. (to save misuzu). he becomes a bird and the narrator for the rest of it.
-and then in that universe that yukito also fucks off leaving sora the bird still there.
-the way misuzu's death scene played out. her character motivation and just how simple the death itself was... (i trying not to spoil too much on that one.) i'll be thinking about that for a long time. it was a nice change of pace, the whole thing is short and simple. it reminded me a little bit of watching my favorite guy passing away. but that's maybe too personal to get into.
if you'd asked me how i thought it'd end it would have been like five hours of them in the sky and yukito is searching for her and blah blah blah. technically it does that but its sora the bird and it lasts five seconds. i'll take it.
i was sad she didn't make it but the death was also like ''yeah, i get where she's coming from.''
i like misuzu enough i bought two posters to add to my itabeya. its the same poster, but i think one is a reprint (that was on sale.) i liked both pictures, so i decided to get two of them. wouldn’t have if the other one wasn’t cheaper. i'm gonna put them on my doors.
speaking of air and my posters, my fan is so powerful it's slightly puffed up some of my posters. i'm considering not bothering repositioning them until this fall though, since its gonna keep happening and summer is only beginning...
oh and 2kki update. the game works, but the graphics won't load. I can play the game, it’s the missingno version. i don't know if its an rtp problem or something else. i'm so close lol.