Tag: Batman

Ongoing Investigations: Case #139

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I finished the last 4 episodes (9-12) of Sacred Seven today and I feel pretty good about the series. There are some series you watch that make you want to run out and tell everyone how wonderful they are. Then there are series that you enjoy and would recommend but are not that earth shattering. Sacred Seven is distinctly in that second category. But I had a fun time and that is always the most important thing for me. The fights were always vibrant, energetic, and well choreographed. We got a love story, a save my sister in a coma story, and a revenge turned to redemption story. We defeated a bad guy and there were some sad deaths but most everyone made it through. There was even a nice bit of falling action. In refection a bit of the mythology of the Sacred Seven world goes totally unexplained but it is mostly there to set up the story and the fights scenes. It is not like it leaves you with all these unanswered mysteries. It is just that it concentrates more on telling the current story than giving you all the mechanics of how the powers in this world work. With a 12 episode show that is probably for the best. I enjoyed my time with Alma and Ruri and would recommend the show to anyone who wants a bit of light self-contained fun that does not do anything original but does it in an entertaining fashion.

I read one of CMX’s last releases, Stolen Hearts vol. 2, which just made me miss them a lot and lament that this cute series will never be finished. Here we continue the story of Shinobu and Koguma as they further their relationship. Shinobu meets the rest of his family including three handsome brothers with less crazy hair. I really enjoyed her getting to know everyone more and there is a lot of humor thanks to it (the grandmother cracks me up!). I wasn’t crazy about the oldest brother crushing on her and messing with Koguma. But all is made well again when they go on a trip together and experience their first kiss. Stays fun and cute, plus it is nice to see a pair in a relationship.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #108

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Just about as soon as possible we sat down for the 14th Detective Conan movie, The Lost Ship in the Sky featuring a myriad of familiar faces and also the charming Kaito Kid. Things are pretty complicated this time around as bioterrorism rears its ugly head, a secret crime group reappears, a plot to catch Kaito Kid is hatched, and an airship is hijacked. As often occurs, Conan and Kaito team up for a good portion of the film to take out the real baddies. The airship is pretty impressive, and there are some thrilling scenes throughout, but the final confrontation seemed less flashy than usual. The mystery had a lot going on, and figuring out the motive was near impossible, in fact I’m still not quite clear on it, so it came off as more thriller than mystery as Conan worked to find the bombs and disarm the hijackers before it was too late. Of course the cast was stupendous, pretty much throwing in a cameo of everyone including most of the police officers we’ve seen, though truly this is a Conan and Kaito show. After all was said and done, the last scene of the film tricked me into thinking something extremely plot relevant had occurred but the extra after the credits clears it up and things go back to normal. While not the best of the films, still a good ride and it has Kaito Kid!

hisuicon I like to call this Detective Conan Movie 14: Die Hard on a Blimp. Conan and Kaito cross paths with their usual delightful mixture of rivalry and comradery. We also get some cute interplay between Kaito and Ran as well. I agree with Narutaki that while there was a good deal of action overall there was not that same huge action sequence at the end of the movie that pushes the budget to the limit. It was a bit odd that Heiji was toting around a self insertion kid for this movie when they already have the Detective Boys for that purpose. Also they did not do much of an introduction to the story, characters, and gadgets as they have done with past movies. This was especially noticeable since we watched this movie with someone who had never watched Conan before. They followed along fine but I wonder if they cut the normal extended intro for time reasons or because they no longer feel they are as necessary. It was a fun movie that was a bit of a change of pace from the normal murder mystery while still having a Conan feel. Although with no murder I am sure that S. S. Van Dine and Narutaki were both slightly disappointed. It is worth checking out and hopefully FUNimation will get around to putting it out in the US. On a side note, I think I have leveled up again as an anime fan by the fact that I noticed that they changed voice actors on Kogoro.

 

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #102

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I finally finished up Heroman which ended up being a rather unfortunate series. Things come to a head in the final 5 episodes as we learn a little more about Joey’s father, Psy’s accident, and the seemingly random episodes like the crazy monster on the island. If you couldn’t figure it out from the 2nd opening, the Skruggs role in this show were not yet done but their new forms are a surprisingly good moment in the series. Too bad much of the emotional hooks feel disconnected, but the Skruggs’ and Will’s part to play are a welcome sight. The final battle is climatic and full of friendship so it actually rounded out the story nicely if you don’t ask too many questions. But when the credits finish you see quite clearly Bones hoped to continue the series which we all assume will never happen. This hint of more to come though highlights one of the worst parts of Heroman: Dr. Minami and his minions. I could think of a number of much more exciting things to show in order to have me hope for more, but with that preview I thought to myself, “thank goodness it is over!” I was excited and full of hope for Heroman in the beginning, but it was plagued by uneven pacing and shallow characterization for its heroes and villains alike. I enjoyed the early episodes and the final ones but Heroman fell short in between. In many ways it kind of reminds me of how Ben 10 makes me feel, it is almost good but never quite makes it.

hisuiconAlso on another recommendation from mysterious voices from the Internet on the OSMcast I decided to pick up the DS game Infinite Space. That was an excellent recommendation. It is a great space opera game that has an epic story and some great characters. There are twists and turns and betrayals and alliances made all the time. There are several major decisions that can effect the plot line you travel along encouraging you to use the new game plus feature as well. The ships in the game are super customizable and anyone who ever enjoyed playing BattleTech will be in heaven. The game has two major sections. It starts of great and then the first parts ends and the game kicks everything into high gear. So much so that the game actually has and ending and then a new opening to herald in the second half. The main problem with the game is the learning curve is BRUTAL. There are many points in the game were how the game is played changes and if you don’t learn the switch you will be murdered until you figure out how to change your strategy or how a new mechanic works. This game can easily be a lesson in frustration but I think the game is rewarding enough that it offsets that frustration. It is a fun game and I am really curious how it is going to all end.

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