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Various thoughts on a variety of topics.

Various Thoughts

Various thoughts on a variety of topics.

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  • Tag Archives Urban Fantasy
  • ØBSOLETE & PUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA SIDE STORY – Magia✧Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka ☆ Magica Gaiden

    Posted on February 11, 2021 3:27 am by Offkorn Comment

    Obsolete is a web series exploring the idea of what would happen to the current western-centric technological hegemony if aliens showed up one day and offered a cheap, powerful machine that could be used for both manual labor and combat to anyone willing to pay their price. As the title suggests, it would become obsolete. While there is a simmering conspiracy plotline lurking around in the background that links the various episodes together, it would probably be best to approach this as more of an episodic ‘what if’ kind of series with a military theme.

    In Magia Record‘s case, it would probably be best to treat it as a stand-alone sidestory rather than as a technical sequel to Hangyaku no Monogatari. It nails the atmosphere and visual style… but stumbles pretty badly at the ‘making you care about its characters’ bit.

    Oh, and if you decide to watch a fansubbed version, make sure to avoid any release that uses YameteTomete’s subs. Arbitrarily changing “Tamaki” to “Iroha” is just flat-out unacceptable. Gods only know what other bizarre alterations they made.

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    This entry was posted in 2019 - Autumn 2020 - Autumn 2020 - Winter Anime Related and tagged Action Anime Original Comic Relief Crunchyroll Drama Dropped Finished Game Adaptation Magical Girl Science Fiction Series Televised Urban Fantasy
  • Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei Shitemita. & BRAND NEW ANIMAL: BNA

    Posted on February 7, 2021 4:09 pm by Offkorn 1 Comment

    RikeKoi is a romantic comedy featuring allegedly university-aged characters, most of whom have relationship issues of one form or another. There isn’t any beating around the bush with the central relationship though, as they’re basically a settled couple from the very first episode and simply refuse to call a spade a spade for the rest. The main flaw, other than perhaps certain characters’ personalities, is the periodic science terminology interludes.

    A completely different sort of comedy, BNA is a multi-genre series focused on social justice and personal identity issues which has pretty much all the hallmarks of the better Studio Trigger series while avoiding most of their worst impulses; there’s no gratuitous ecchi content for instance. There is however still a bit of an issue regarding excessive idealism and seemingly random plot developments though.

    Continue reading → Post ID 8974

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    This entry was posted in 2020 - Spring 2020 - Winter Anime Related and tagged Action Anime Original Comedy Comic Adaptation Crunchyroll Drama Educational Finished Incomplete Source Netflix Romance School Life Series Televised Urban Fantasy
  • Munou na Nana & Yuukoku no Moriarty

    Posted on February 7, 2021 7:04 am by Offkorn 1 Comment

    Taking the standard murder mystery setup and flipping it on its head, Munou na Nana introduces you to the killer in the first scene and revolves its (early) mystery elements around wondering how she’ll get away with it. As it progresses and more is revealed about the protagonist the focus shifts to a broader conspiracy-minded framework without losing any momentum whatsoever.

    I’m particularly fond of the ending, though most will probably be more pissed off about the show wrapping on an arc’s climax with no sign of a continuation in sight.

    Also told from an antagonist’s point of view, though one more morally ambiguous than Nana‘s, Yuukoku no Moriarty tells the story of Sherlock Holmes through the lens of his greatest rival. It’s less a mystery series and more an almost episodic revenge drama, one populated by surprisingly likable characters and consistent thematic framing.

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    This entry was posted in 2020 - Autumn 2021 - Spring Anime Related and tagged Action Comic Adaptation Comic Relief Drama Finished Funimation Incomplete Source Mystery School Life Series Televised Thriller Urban Fantasy
  • Sen-Yoku-no-SIGRDRIFA & Machikado Mazoku

    Posted on February 4, 2021 6:12 am by Offkorn Comment

    Senyoku no Sigrdrifa (which has an excessively long subtitle I can’t be bothered to transcribe) is a strange series that I went into expecting something edgy. Instead, it’s more like one of those ‘girls as anthropomorphic weapons’ types of shows that mostly focuses on silliness and/or daily life outings.

    While the drama present at the beginning of the first episode periodically returns over time, ultimately I feel it gets drowned out by the completely inappropriate ecchi content. Resulting in a series that’s far more difficult to watch than it should be based on technical quality alone.

    Machikado Mazoku meanwhile is a school-life magical girl parody that actually manages to handle a comedic poverty theme competently. It’s a solid all-around series with nothing notable to complain about.

    Continue reading → Post ID 8974

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    This entry was posted in 2019 - Summer 2020 - Autumn Anime Related and tagged Action Anime Original Comedy Comic Adaptation Drama Ecchi Finished Funimation HiDive Incomplete Source Magical Girl Parody School Life Series Televised Urban Fantasy
  • GREAT PRETENDER & Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Raihousha-hen

    Posted on January 12, 2021 12:18 am by Offkorn Comment

    I first tried watching Great Pretender back in September… and didn’t get very far. Three attempts later and I’ve only just finished the second arc and can safely say the series simply isn’t for me. It’s certainly engaging visually, and a bit of a Black Lagoon dynamic begins to emerge over time, but the character interactions don’t sit quite right. Particularly how Makoto is treated.

    The second Mahouka series meanwhile is notably lacking in visual quality (particularly when compared to the prequel) and doesn’t have much going for it story-wise either. The characters are its saving grace, and even they take a hit due to the increased harem elements. Frankly, this season probably wouldn’t be worth watching at all if it weren’t for the second arc which introduces a couple new entertaining characters and manages to salvage some of the franchise’s earlier dynamics.

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    This entry was posted in 2020 - Autumn 2020 - Spring 2020 - Summer Anime Related and tagged Action Anime Original Comedy Dramatic Support Dropped Ecchi Finished Harem Hulu LN Adaptation Mahouka Netflix Partial Adaptation School Life Series Televised Urban Fantasy
  • CodeVein – Endgame

    Posted on January 5, 2021 4:26 pm by Offkorn Comment

    So I just beat the game… at level 1, with everything cleared/collected (aside from the four bad end classes) and all equipment upgraded to +9 or higher.

    Hardest fights were Gilded Hunter (his power-up has a limited duration and can be guarded through), those twin Yetis in the Deeps (Fire Weapon & Ice Guard), the Spire Fire/Ice boss fight (used this build), and the final bosses (used this build, swapping Blood Guard for Hasten after Skull King fell).

    I’ve never really seen the appeal of low-level challenges, and honestly there were more than a few frustrating moments… yet after beating the game and leveling up to 90 for NG+ everything suddenly dies so satisfyingly fast. The contrast made it almost worth the effort. Ironically though, it seems I didn’t have to go through all that trouble in the first place since the level caps are much more generous than I thought. Wish I found that page earlier.

    Some other complaints would be:
    – Unlimited Queen’s Steel unlocks far too late.
    – The vestige scene walking speed is far too slow.
    – The Good/True ending doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

    A mixed experience overall for sure, but an ultimate net positive I think.

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    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged Action RPG CodeVein Third Person Perspective Urban Fantasy
  • HELLPOINT & CodeVein

    Posted on December 29, 2020 5:07 pm by Offkorn Comment

    Hellpoint is essentially Dark Souls on a space station. Aside from the atmosphere, the main defining features are the additions of secret doors (if you see an otherwise smooth wall with two vertical indentations appearing to make a doorframe; chances are it’s a secret door) and the ability to jump. Many games including a jump feature don’t really do anything with it, this game however has quite a few platformer sections leading to loot/secrets along with a specific jump attack.

    The only notable flaws, beside the intense similarity to DS, is the kinda illogical leveling system (cost should be based on attribute level rather than total level) and somewhat janky menu system; clicking occasionally won’t work (you’ll have to use the Enter key) and dismantling/upgrading requires far too many confirmations.

    Also taking cues from Dark Souls is Code Vein, a heavily Anime action RPG which combines Souls‘ general structure and gameplay style with a job/class system. Assuming you don’t hate Anime character design it’s pretty damn good… so long as you don’t fall into the trap of actually leveling your character. See, turns out each area has a hidden level cap, and going over it results in extremely slow to nonexistent progress toward unlocking class abilities for universal use. You also don’t get much from leveling up besides more health. It’s far more effective to spend your currency on weapon/armor upgrades and ability unlocks.

    All that said, there’s an extra hurdle to enjoying the game: Actually getting it to launch. Numbers 6 & 8 on that list are ultimately what got it working for me (24bit 192000 Hz for the sound setting). Sometimes though it will simply refuse to launch no matter what, in which case you can try setting your system clock to UTC +9 (Osaka; and no, I have no clue why this works). Once you do manage to get to the title screen (if you do), be very careful with the settings… as changing some of those may cause it to stop launching again (in which case you’ll probably have to delete everything in the “AppData\Local\CodeVein\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor” folder).

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    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged Action RPG CodeVein Science Fiction Third Person Perspective Urban Fantasy
  • Sundry Anime Movies

    Posted on October 11, 2020 3:19 am by Offkorn 1 Comment
      Gekijouban: FAIRY TAIL – DRAGON CRY
      The improved animation (compared to the parent series) is offset by the worse character artwork and massive pacing hit watching it where it supposedly takes place (post-episode 285) causes. Content-wise it’s effectively a generic battle shounen filler movie.
      Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata Fine
      The franchise‘s conclusion begins by almost entirely sidelining the harem aspects to focus on Megumi and how her comments regarding the game mirror her real-life relationship with Aki… only to have the entire thing derailed by a completely unrelated dramatic development about a third of the way through which inexplicably reintroduces the harem elements. They had a natural ending right there only to go and water down and delay it via contrived drama. Why?
      Goblin Slayer -Goblin’s crowN-
      It starts out with a 25-minute recap of the first season (focusing on the violence and rape; which is an odd choice considering the initial reaction to that season was mostly split between ‘the first episode is nothing like the rest of the series’ and ‘the series is nothing but rape’). Such baffling production decisions. As for the new content, the quality level ends up slightly worse the prequel… assuming you go in expecting a double-length TV episode rather than a movie. If you go in actually expecting a movie it will probably end up mostly disappointing.
      HUMAN LOST
      While inspired by No Longer Human and including some of its major plot points, this movie changes far too much to be considered an adaptation (so best to just forget about that if you haven’t already). It’s an action-drama now and a gorgeous work of desolation and futility… though I feel the giant monster and final fight in the ‘void’ were overkill.
      BURN ✠HE WITCH
      Taking place in the same universe as Bleach, being set in a completely different location (one with more of a Harry Potter vibe to it), this movie focuses entirely on the franchise’s magic system rather than item-based or physical combat. It starts off well enough with crisp artwork, fluid combat animation, and mostly decent characters. The problem is with one particular character: Balgo. He’s awful and has no reason to exist beyond being awful and causing some of the most contrived plot developments I’ve recently had the misfortune of being exposed to.
      Sora no Aosa o Shiru Hito yo
      While the movie works decently enough as a music-themed relationship drama for about 3/4ths of its runtime (leavened by ample comic relief), the vaguely Anohana-like supernatural elements don’t really add anything. It doesn’t have much of an ending either, with events being resolved in the most arbitrary manner possible and an epilogue taking the form of still images embedded in the credit roll.

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    This entry was posted in 2017 - Spring 2019 - Autumn 2020 - Autumn 2020 - Winter Anime Related and tagged Action Anime Original Battle Shounen Comedy Comic Adaptation Comic Relief Crunchyroll Drama Fairy Tail Fantasy Funimation Goblin Slayer Harem Incomplete Source LN Adaptation Movie Music Romance Saekano Science Fiction Urban Fantasy
  • Hidden Legacy: Books 1-5

    Posted on September 26, 2020 2:52 pm by Offkorn 1 Comment

    When I first saw this series announced, I pretty much immediately dismissed it as the authors slumming with a stab at generic paranormal romance.

    Now having read it on whim I see I was right about that (at least for the the first 3-4 books). What I was not expecting however was that it’s also Kate Daniels fanfiction. Who does that? What kind of author makes fanfiction of their own successful work and then tries to pass it off as a new work that required ‘belief’ to get it off the ground? Your editor “believed in the story”? No shit they did; you already wrote it years ago!

    The funniest thing about this is that’s not even the full extent of the reuse. It also splices in the setting from Kinsmen… another of the authors’ series, albeit an apparently less successful one. The audacity of the entire project is just staggering.

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Hidden Legacy Ilona Andrews Paranormal Romance Urban Fantasy
  • The Huntsman Movies & GRIMM

    Posted on September 6, 2020 2:55 am by Offkorn Comment

    The first Huntsman movie, Snow White and the Huntsman, is as the title would imply more focused on Snow White than the huntsman. The movie features a particularly martial variation on the tale, going pretty heavy on action and gritty medieval atmosphere. It’s a solid enough adaptation visually speaking with the main flaws being the anticlimactic final confrontation and pretty much everything about the evil queen.

    Unfortunately, that queen plays a role in The Huntsman: Winter’s War as well… along with a second queen who’s no better. Not helping matters is that with Snow White gone and her replacement being even more aggressive than the huntsman, the work as a whole becomes overly action-focused. There’s pretty much nothing recommendable about it; if you want to watch Hemsworth in an action role Thor: Ragnarok would likely be a better choice.

    Also fairytale related, the TV series Grimm takes the trappings of a generic police procedural and crosses it with some Buffy-like fantasy elements themed on classic folklore. The ‘adapting ancient stories to modern crimes’ aspect works well enough, the problem is the whole metaplot with the inexplicable werewolf sidekick and transforming the protagonist from relatively normal detective into a supernatural warrior. Maybe the integration works better in later seasons, but after the shakiness of the first I don’t care enough to find out.

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    This entry was posted in Movie & TV Related and tagged Action Comic Relief Drama Fantasy Literary Adaptation Movie Series Televised Urban Fantasy Workplace

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