Shinigami Zero

Well, first things first. Happy holidays all. Yeah, I was roped in to my least favorite part of the holiday season today.

You guessed it: Thank-you notes. It's not like I'm against thanking people... It's just that I really hate writing trite thank-you-very-much messages to everyone I know. :\

News flash: Robosapien is the wierdest farking thing ever. Somebody knows what I enjoy in a gift. I mean, it's a fairly large monkey robot! xD

So yeah, I got that and some other handy stuff. Like the DVD Star Wars collection. <3 <3 <3

Good times...if I wasn't still faced with that 500$ deductible to pay for the repairs on my truck. Accursed mailboxes, a pox on their impressively reinforced supports.

I mean, geez. The thing is barely slanted and my truck had to replace the hatch for the bed and the rear fender. Needless to say, my parents weren't terribly pleased with that mess. Sure, it was my falt and all... Not to self: No more 3-point turns on the narrow road in front of Stuart's house. :\

Ah well, enough problems...time to bitch about anime again! Woot!

---Machine Robo Rescue: Part Deux----

Yeah, I've been watching more MRR. I'm also depressed. They managed to fsck the ONE THING THAT MADE THIS SERIES AWESOME!

That's right. They got rid of Stealth's beam rifles. They even had the gall to turn him into a rescue robo like the other saps. V Stealth is okay, I guess, but nothing can measure up to Stealth('s beam rifles).

And Jay, well, looks like they thought his awesome character wouldn't fit as a good guy, so they give him amnesia and cause him to regain all his "lost memories". Including onees he never knew he had. >_>

This serves to establish him as a Taiyoh- clone with no common sense. Admittedly, it is pretty funny watching him eat an entire orange in one bite. But still, he's a NINJA BADASS, not a NINJA CLOWN!

Basically, unless they bust out some GGG-style Symmetrical Docking (hell, maybe even Gaogaigar)....well, things are looking bleak. Ninja Mama is still a hottie, though.

Whew, yeah. Been kinda busy. >_>

Anyways.... Machine Robo Rescue. Yeah. It's sweet. Well, mostly sweet. There are several salty bits that don't really taste too good, but that's to be expected. Basically, it's about the titular organization, Machine Robo Rescue, going around and rescuing people. Using giant robots. Need I say more?

Anyways, the first third or so of the series basically serves as a method to introduce the robots, their kid 'robo masters', the various super modes (X-Fusion, Hyper mode, etc.), and devote roughly one or two episodes to develop each of the twelve kids. It's okay, but after the first 5 episodes a pattern quickly becomes apparent in the various types.

Hyper mode/Robot Introduction Episodes
1)Kids hang out/train/whatev.
2) Emergency?!
3)Relevant 4-man squad is sent out to rescue the people.
4)Rescue begins!
5)Oh snap! A disaster bad guy robot thing attacks!
6)We need to protect the people from the fighting!
7)Zone Tenkai!
8)Machine robo gets whipped.
9)Hyper mode or X-fusion!
10)The tables are turned!
11)Everyone goes home!

Luckily, the character development episodes are all pretty different. My favorite has to be the one featuring the twins, Susumu and Tsuyoshi. It's my favorite because:

A) Gyro robot appears.
B) The dad is friggin' hilarious. And he's a pro wrestler. ^^
C) Gyro robo rocks.

Anyways, after Stealth Robo shows up, things get interesting. And, if you were wondering, Stealth has beam rifles!!! <3 <3 <3

Yeah... The problem is that MRR is all anti-violence and stuff so they only have wierd, situational faux-weapons. Like a (admittedly cool) rocket punch, a giant helicopter sawblade of death, some sort of water-pressure bomb, and an inexplicable flame thrower. On Police Robo. I mean, I could totally understand Fire Robo getting a flame thrower attack... but noooooo. Police Robo can't have some sort of riot gun, it needs a flame thrower! Argh.

Anyways, back to Stealth. He has a robo master as well. Jay, who is a ninja, is very enigmatic. He needed a better name though. Like "Disaster Ninja!" (yes, the exclamation point would totally make that name work) or something. It's kind of funny, really. When he's looking at the battles from a distance he can teleport, ninja-vanish, and double-jump, but he loses all his 1337 ninja skillz when he fights someone in hand to hand combat. Weird, eh?

After a while of Stealth attacking, he gets a hyper mode as well. It rocks. It also kind of reminds me of Heavy Arms Kai from that Gundam Wing movie. He always gets cheap shotted, though. That sucks. I always end up rooting for Stealth. >_>

Next, the disaster warriors get this crazy weirdo named Captain Hazard (I'm totally not kidding about this) who is a complete ass. He has these wierd evil version of the machine robo, but they still suck compared to Stealth's beam rifles. <3 <3 <3

That's basically where I am, more as I watch it.

----End Machine Robo Rescue review... for now.----

Gundam Seed: Destiny... It evokes many emotions in me, most of them unpleasant. I feel sadness as the characters from the first series get their reputations twisted, maimed, and in some cases, shattered. I feel annoyance as the people on the Minerva shower me with their rampant stupidity and lack of skill. I feel uninterested in angst-bunny Shinn's problems and infuriated when they keep making his problems the topic of the day.

One saving grace: Chairman Dullandal (I think that's how you spell it) is voiced by the same guy who did Char. And there's a colony drop that actually works, mostly. <3 <3 <3

In short: I just want Kira to come back and kick some ass, damnit. He still has Freedom, he still probably has those two battleships from the first series, hell, he probably still has the obligitory Dendrobium-Stamen style upgrade for Freedom. Alas, he's just sitting in a beach house...not talking...but quite possibly copulating with Lacus... I mean, christ. He has what, 10 kids running around? 20 bucks says that not all of those are orphans.

Anyways, I'd be fairly happy with Kira being happy, but Shinn is still a scum-bucket angst-bunny. (Much like Shinji. What a loser. Berserk EVA-01 is cool, though. >_>) So we are left with a watered-down Athrun, a Mwu-style newtype clone dude, and some chick who's combat skills make the worst grunts seem like aces.

Therein lies the problem: there aren't any good new characters. They're all stupid. I mean, ATHRUN had a better grasp of battleship fights than that Talia person and he's a mobile suit pilot! Aargh. And the Zaku suits still blow up in one hit, despite claims that each suit is better due to an overall reduction in quantity. CURSE YOU, LOWEST BIDDER!!

Anyways, for all my (incoherent) complaining, it's still a workable series.... providing you hate main characters with personalities that aren't completely one-dimensional. >_<

Episode 13 looks like it re-introduces Kira as a pilot(with an upgraded Freedom, no less!), so this may make a quick U-turn and head back to the realms of decent giant robot shows. Saviour appears too. Episode 13 has potential! <3 <3 <3

Ah well, I'm done for now. Curse you, sleep!

Well, hello again. If you're reading this, well, something. Anyhow, the titular rant shall indeed be epic. And possibly sensical. Let's hope for the best. You may indeed ask: "What brought this (EPIC) rant on?". Well, I'll tell you. Maybe next sentence. Okay, I give up. I'm really ranting because I rediscovered the awesome that is Chrono Trigger MIDIs. Woot. Okay, you're all now wondering: "Why is SZ ranting about the awesome?" Again, easy answer. Because I remembered several small, insignifigant changes made to the PSX remake. Which, while good, was not the original.

First random change: Battles take 2 days to load, if you're lucky. Okay, exaggeration, but not by much. Since this is an RPG and RPGs have battles... While, those 10-30 second load times for individual might not be truly epic, they do add up. Fast. 'Specially if you're like me and like to have most of your awesome single/dual/triple techs before Magus. The first time you fight Magus, no less. Spire doing 2k'ish damage (3k after barrier drop)? Woot. 3D attack doing rediculous physical damage after he drops his wimpy barrier? Woot, indeed.

Second random change: Different music plays in a couple of spots. Minor, I know. The thing that bugs me is that they change the awesome Lucca/Victory theme that plays after you follow Marle to the past into the less uber main theme. Which still rocks, but not as much.

Well, other than that it was a damn good remake with a really nice Omake section. And fighting Magus is always awesome. In conclusion, the 11th commandment is and always will be: "Thou Shalt Play Chrono Trigger. Preferably on the SNES."

Well, hello again. These last few days have been hectic... I mean, between Guardian Heroes, City of Heroes, Advance Guardian Heroes, and Phantom Brave I'm suprised I have time to sleep. Well, I also spent Wednesday down at the Puyallup Fair with my 4-H Club. That was a lot of fun and many blocks of curly fries were devoured. Yeah, I know. I do have things that I do do outside of gaming and anime, wierd eh?

Guardian Heroes, that Sega Saturn gem, is quite possibly a member of the Holy Trinity of Beat 'Em Ups. It's right up there with D&D:Shadows of Mystara and Streets of Rage 2(Okay, maybe not the best but damn fun). It's got it all: intuitive combat, branching stage selection, magic, combos, and a kickass undead warrior who unleashes flaming death upon your enemies. Bad ass, my friends.

City of Heroes is a MMORPG(like FF11, SWG, etc.) based around super heroes. Imagine that! ^_- Anyways, it's a ton of fun and there's a bunch of stuff to kill. And kill a bunch of stuff you will. Fortunately, most classes are capable of solo'ing for most of their crime-fighting career. Add in the olympic-proportion'ed feature update 2 which just went live and you have all sorts of stuff to do.

Advance Guardian Heroes is a GBA sequel of sorts to Guardian Heroes. While the branching storyline is gone, you can unlock a bunch of people for story mode and the combat is even more frantic than before. It's different, but not necessarily worse than it's predecessor.

Phantom Brave is a freakin' awesome strategy RPG by Nippon Ichi, who have an extensive history in the field of SRPGs. The plot is slow at first, but picks up near the end of the game. The gameplay is innovative and awesome, with tabletop-like free movement and a FFX'ish speed-based turn system. Yep, good stuff for power gamers.

Heh, I almost expected I would completely forget about this. But, unfortunately for you all, I've remembered so hah. Anyways, it's like 2 hours before I go to school for my 2 classes. Yep, all I do for school until about the 27th is go to Band and Japanese. You may think: "Band? SZ is hardly the type to play an instrument!" Well, looks like you're wrong, whoever you are. I've been playing the French Horn since 7th grade, it's pretty fun to play. Of course, I'm one of the two French Horn players in the entire school. Needless to say, we're in demand, but no one wants to play it. Well, we might get a few converts when Simpson tosses out his "Play X instrument for the year and get an auto-A!" bribe.

Ah well, I'm out of things to say. I might toss out another entry later today when I'm like motivated, and stuff.

>_> Can't believe that Kentwood football lost to Sumner. Or to Kentridge. Damn, why do I get stuck playing pep band for what may be the worst team in the league?

Well, yeah. Finally got around to making one of these since my friends at CCU seem to do this kind of thing. Anyways, don't expect much profound content from me. :p The best you're likely to get is rants about an Anime/Manga series I'm watching or about Mecha in general. So yeah, with all that aside...

Well, I've just finished a marathon of the 'Flame of Recca' manga. In general, it was awesome. Given my rather lackluster experience with the anime version, I was definitely a bit worried about the quality of the story. Needless to say, those misgivings were gone rather quickly. Oh, by the way, this entry will now contain some Recca spoilers. ^^

Basically, the story in the beginning is like a bajillion times better than it's animated counterpart. In the anime, things are pretty slow until the mansion arc. In the manga, well, things like the early fights between Recca and Mikagami are much more fleshed out and more kickass in general. While I do have to give the anime the nod for making some of the minor fights seem much more cool, it missed out on the best fight in the tournament by doing this. The Joker fight was ownage, pure and simple. Therefore, I'd rather get the crappy fights over with and see the sheer spectacle of the later fights. The main problem I had with the anime is that it got canned well before the half-way point of the overall plot. This caused a rushed ending, the skipping of awesome fights, the neutering of others, etc.

By all means, the anime was really good until the end. If you only want to do one form, though, by all means read the 33 volumes of the manga. That's a lot of good story telling, believe me.