Category: Anime

Ongoing Investigations: Case #104

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I have happily been engrossed in the latest Professor Layton game the Unwound Future for the last week. The plot is the most fun and lively yet and we even get to learn a bit about Layton’s past and relationships plus see a (gasp) top hat-less Layton! This is also the most personal and emotional installment yet, which makes sense since it is the end of trilogy. Still I was pleased to see myself tearing up at the ending of the events. The puzzles were about the same difficulty level as the second game, which means that overall they are tricky but not overly hard. I still admit to missing the really challenging puzzles that appeared at the end of the first game. In this case even the end puzzles, worth a lot of picarts, were mostly harder versions of puzzles you had already conquered earlier in the game. But my true reason for playing the game is plot, plot, plot so I was indubitably pleased with how it came together. My only complaint is the constant hand holding that started with the second game and only seems to have escalated in the third. There is a journal that I can read if I forget anything, there is a mystery section that I can review, and when I turn on my continued game it reminds me of where I left off. Those things are all fine, what I don’t need is the game to prevent me from wandering and a plot recap every couple of chapters. These things don’t make the game less fun it just takes a bit of mystery solving out of it.

hisuiconProfessor Layton and the Unwound Future is a delightful capping off of the 1st Professor Layton trilogy. As with most the previous games we start with an odd event that spirals into a larger adventure with Layton discovering the grand conspiracy behind everything as he solves puzzles. I did notice some recycling of older puzzles beyond using some of the work horse types of puzzles that are in all three games. But they change them enough that they don’t feel like you are replaying an older game with a new story. I am never usually one to comment on voice acting but the new woman who does Flora is quite awful especially considering how good everyone else has been. I don’t know what circumstances prevented them from using the original Flora but they need to get rid of this lady and fast. The ending of the game was bombastic where is need to be and in contrast heartfelt, touching, and a bit melancholy where it needed to be as well. I will say the giant robot at the end of the Eternal Diva is much more inline with the series now that I played this game. I look forward to the adaption of the prequel trilogy as well as the Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney game.  With all the new material taking place before this trilogy one wonders when they will get to that letter and the end of this game.

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Ostracized by the Ostracized

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I was pleased to see Jellyfish Princess (Kuragehime) approach the issue of beauty and looks that I haven’t seen tackled too much when it comes to girl geeks. Tsukimi struggles under Kuranosuke’s impromptu make-over fearing the rejection of her peers if she were to change her look from frumpy to fashionable. How could she show her face to her friends? Who was she if not dressed in a sweatsuit? She even ends the episode saying “I don’t want to be pretty.” There is more to it than merely not being pretty, in fact it is the idea of actively trying to look bad.

I understand the idea all too well, you essentially start rationalizing it as conforming or selling-out if you were to dress well or spend any amount of time on your hair. There is a pressure there created by the association of how the popular people look and how they have treated you. But Jellyfish Princess takes it a step further, in every episode, by showing how the group has its own ideals that must be conformed to. Them all being female is very important to this dynamic; there is a different kind of expectation in a women only group when it comes to physical appearance. If a “pretty one” emerges the equality is thrown off-balance, at least in the minds of the individuals if only on a subconscious level. From there rifts can occur in the group. These in-community standards however small or large mirror the outside world’s ostracism that they are trying so desperately to seek solace from. Without them realizing it they are imposing the same kind of judgment on people based on looks that they have been victims to. While it has basically been cut by laughable moments, this is a very real issue in the many subculture communities and one very much alive in the real world geek community.

What I hope to see is approaching the middle-ground between being a faishionista and dressing without a thought in mind. The idea that one can be comfortable with how they look and express themselves through dress is important. It isn’t about dressing with the trends but dressing to compliment yourself, to feel comfortable in your skin. Tsukimi doesn’t fully know who she is and is hiding from the world, her baggy sweatsuit is just one part of that. Now if by the end of the show she knows what she wants and she is a baggy sweatsuit, I’m all for it. In the end the realization that you can’t be happy with yourself unless you are honest with yourself will hopefully free her.

There were way too many baseball puns during our stint on the OSMcast.

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We did a guest spot talking about a certain baseball series with Basil of the OSMcast and Drew from Akihabara Renditions. No, we did not talk about the Homer at the Bat episode of the Simpsons. We talked about something even better (if you can imagine that), Mitsuru Adachi’s Cross Game manga and anime. Despite Adachi’s popularity in Japan he is relatively unknown in the U.S. We hope to begin correcting this error by talking about his recently completed series and hope to convince people to try this superb romantic baseball story that has a little bit for everyone. We also talk a bit about Sym-Bionic Titan and Star Driver as our moments of awesome in the beginning because much like the OSMcast crew we cannot help but talk about awesome.

OSMcast: Cross Game 11-8-2010