Best of Anime Soundtracks: Turn A Gundam

Turn A Gundam is composed by Yoko Kanno, so, of course, it has a decent soundtrack. What makes Turn A Gundam's music really special in the anime is its incorporation of tribal/native music of the people living in the Turn A world. Turn A Gundam has decent tracks for the fighting, most of them actually seem comical and not intense. Only Final Shore seems to have the intensity needed for a final battle. And thus, I will not be including any fighting music but, instead, the music that makes Turn A Gundam so different.

Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaAVuyp1yiM

Moon's Cocoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFtl2MyfpGI

Spiral Re-born: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_VaRuRJu2E

World Edge Theory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF0mjUH73H8 

Edit: By the way, this is the last post of April, so I win for the moment.

Gundam Unicorn 1

Okay, this is my first episode review, but since each one of Unicorn's episodes is one hour long anyways, it'll probably be the same as ever other review I do. You know, format-less and with all the parentheses (oh good, I still know how to talk in this).

Anime and Video Game Characters: Locke

Locke, from Final Fantasy VI, is a thief by trade and a treasure hunter by name. He supports the resistance against the Empire, and takes care of Terra when she is rescued from the Narshe mines. Locke tries to convince the Narshe leaders to help out the Rebels, but he is refused. During Locke's solo playthrough, he rescues Celes, a general of the Empire. She is jailed for refusing to take part in killing the people of Doma, and she joins Locke. For the rest of the story, Locke and Celes develop a relationship, but neither is willing to admit it. The reason for this is partly because of Locke's past.

Anime and Video Game Characters: Epona (The Legend of Zelda)

“▲◄►▲◄►”-Epona’s Song

Perfect Dark 64

Perfect Dark 64 was an amazing classic back in its days (last ten years). This single player or 4 player First Person Shooter was perhaps the backbone and model of other games. It offers over 30 weapons and devices that can be used as well as many game modes. This game perhaps was one of the best First Person Shooters of its time for the Nintendo 64 before online playing came along.

Story: 7/10

You are Joanna Dark, an operative for the fictional Carrington Institute, as she attempts to stop a conspiracy by the rival corporation data Dyne. Well, no one pays attention to the story line in this game anyways, its all about the action and finishing the objective. Some of the missions can be played out of order so there is no real story line. You just have to finish all 17 missions in order to obtain new weapons and other unlockables.

Gameplay: 8/10

This seems like your generic First Person Shooter, but this game makes up the definition of a generic FPS. In this game, you can play with 3 other players as well as 8 computers. The difficulty of these computer/sims can be changed up so they pose a challenge. Whether its teaming up with your friends to fight hard computers, or going against each other, this game is really fun. There is a wide variety of weapons classified from explosives all the way to handguns. Each weapon has its own unique ability as well as a regular firing mode. The computers arent as intelligent as you hope, but the ability to command other computer Sim teammates makes up for it.

Presentation/Performance: 8/10

The graphics of this game is good for the year it had arrived. Although the graphics look like the pixels were smudged around overlapping each other, there are many other aspects of this game that make up for it.

The Good:

-lots of weapons to use
-All computer sims respawn so you can keep playing
-Maps are large and there is multiple access to rooms
-competition against friends is great
-colors determine teams


The Bad:

-You move to slow
-The Sniper is one of the weakest weapons
-The graphics don't compare to games from today
-Enemies are everywhere and they always appear behind you like a ninja
-Some weapons are useless, and some weapons in the same category top other weaponry for example, one machine gun is obviously stronger than the other.

OmegaliskX79's Rating: 8/10

Anime and Video Game Characters: Rosa (Final Fantasy 4)

"Cecil of the red wings is many things. But he's no coward.

Not the Cecil who I love."  - Rosa

Anime and Video Game Characters: Nina

The Nina that I am going to be talking about is from Breath of Fire 2. Each Breath of Fire game has a Ryu and a Nina, and I am doing this on Breath of Fire 2's Nina. Basically, there is a kingdom called Windia, where the people are winged. Everyone has white wings, except for Nina who has black wings. She is one of the princesses of Windia, so the people of Windia are obviously scared. Nobody tells her the reason for this, so she goes through the game not knowing.

Best of Anime Soundtracks: Street Fighter Victory

What is cooler than Street Fighter? Nothing, except for maybe its awesome music. The opening for this anime brings so much nostalgia in terms of anime, music, and video games altogether. Now what the hell kind of opening can do something like that? Only Street Fighter Victory can. Not to mention it has an excellent soundtrack to accompany its excellent opening as well. Enjoy.

Street Fighter Victory OP - It just screams badass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR4W7zD7fuk

Ryu & Ken no Theme - The hadouken theme that plays when Ryu's about to shoot a hadouken.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcuUx1No3pI

Ryu & Ken no Theme Flute Version - The flute version of the theme above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixAaSxI7QUA

Hadou vs Psycho Power - Plays when Ryu and Ken go up against Bison. Epic battle song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmKYIQWECWk

Anime and Video Game Characters: Jean

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! Jean from Breath of Fire 2 is a fantastic character. At first, Jean is in a giant frog form because he is cursed by a witch. Of course, (invoking the kiss the frog trope) to get Jean into his real form, Nina or Katt has to kiss him. After doing so, Jean turns into (insert powerful music here, preferably Golden Sun's Venus Lighthouse theme) a smaller frog form. Yep, Jean's true form is really a frog.

Classic Horror is the Best Horror

With the boom of modern horror movies, there's sure to be good ones and there's sure to be crappy ones. As technology evolved, scares were more reliant on CGI and loud noises. After a while, it would seem as if you watch one horror movie, then you've seen them all. Even the Japanese long-haired Sadako ghost girl who scared the shit out of millions of people when Ringu first came out became nothing more than a girl who needed a haircut. Right when we thought the Sadako ghost era was over, along came Shutter, a fantastic Thai movie that introduced a new concept to the horror genre and is now completely overused in other movies. Slasher flicks suffer the most. You can only stab someone in the stomach so many times before it gets boring. Fortunately SAW came along and made killing and torturing a little more creative, but also suffered the "when is this series going to end?" syndrome.

Which leads me to my point. Recently I came across a clip of a Japanese horror movie which was made waaay back in 1969. The title of the film? Hiroku Kaibyoden, also known as The Haunted Castle, which is based on a famous Japanese folktale about a ghost cat haunting a family in the Samurai era.

Clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbqU4MPTCTE

Did that scare you? Sure scared me. I've seen dozens of scary movies and I'm an avid fan of horror movie, especially foreign ones. As of recent, Insidious is the only horror movie that really stood out to me. Seeing that clip that I found really made me realize that real scares aren't based on CGI and jumpy parts. Real scares rely heavily on atmosphere, mood, tone, color, and sound.

Best of Anime Soundtracks: Guin Saga

Composed by Nobuo Uematsu, of course Guin Saga's music would be good. The music has both softer, slower music as well as the powerful pieces that many of our Best of Soundtrack series contains. Here, I present some of the good pieces that stand alone. Because a lot of the music ties directly to the anime, they don't sound as good by themselves.

Grand Opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYngk0vw8_A

Guin Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZhsme8YQXE

Anime and Video Game Characters: Frog (Chrono Trigger)

"I am no pet, I am an accomplished swordsman, green as I may appear. "  -Frog

Best of Anime Soundtracks: Shiki

This soundtrack is hauntingly beautiful. Most if not all of the soundtracks I've posted thus far were more towards the epic category, but this time it's something a little bit more subtle. First of all, this anime puts Hollywood-stricken vampires to shame, and second of all, the soundtrack was what led me to this anime in the first place. Listen and be memorized.

Eau de Vie - The best track in the anime in my opinion, others think so too it seems
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8pbSDqruMY

Day and Night - Very beautiful track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmhZkLxGmTI

Pendulum - Very haunting track. You just gotta love the lyrics though, hahahahaha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yIVsLyUIoU

Reform

                           (that's right, my full picture and not that half-sized avatar)

So lately I've noticed that everything has been going in favor of FluffyBunyPwn and domodragon53. I used to have the more popular posts, but I have been usurped by those two. What now? Well, this situation reminds me of the nameless adviser from The Ravages of Time. He serves Yuan Shu and is damn talented. But he has no name because he wants to stay that way. He is the reason for showing how people do not understand why nameless individuals suddenly rise to power.

Guess what? Mabye it's time for me to reform my writing style to be more similar to domodragon53 and FluffyBunnyPwn. Instead of my free-flowing, parentheses-filled posts, I will have structure and headings like everyone else. And then maybe I will be more liked.

Best of Video Game Soundtracks: Age of Empires 2

Age of Empires is not really known for having strength in music. For most of the game, there is very little if any music. However, there is one very good track. And it plays in the menu screen, too. Listen and you will hear the power of this piece.

Opening Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUQSxmgs5hI

Borderlands Review

A 4-player first person shooter RPG co-op with hundreds of weapons and a wide array of enemy types to kill? Sounds like a dream come true.

Story: 6/10

You are one of four characters searching for the vault which contains an infinite amount of treasure on a planet called Pandora while a blue spirit girl guides you along the way. That's it. What? You expected more? Story is the weakest part of this adventure. But in this game, the fun isn't about finding what treasures lay hidden in the vault, the fun is about your adventure in getting there.

Gameplay: 9/10

A solid first person shooter at first glance with some RPG elements, Borderlands boasts character-specific abilities, hundreds of weapons to choose from, and many enemies to kill them with. Four players can play together at any given time, dropping in and out as they wish. There are four classes to choose from: a heavy melee guy named Brick, a tactical girl who can cloak named Siren, Mordecai, a gunslinger with a hawk as his pet, and Roland, a soldier who can deploy turrets. While each character has their own abilities, the first person shooter aspect of the game still plays similar to each other. The RPG elements include gaining EXP and leveling up, and being able to allocate points to power up your character in simple skill trees.

Presentation/Performance: 8/10

With simple cell-shaded graphics, this game ran flawlessly with 60+ FPS maxed out on my rig. The cell-shading art is really a hit or miss, some loved the comic aspect of it, some loathed it.

The Good:

- So many things to kill and loot
- FPS + RPG is always welcome
- Dropping in and out feature is useful
- Open world freeplay seem endless
- Multiple DLCs adds replay value
- Epic boss battles and set pieces

The Bad:

- Can get boring after a while if you're playing alone
- Crappy gun sounds
- Missions can get very repetitive
- High latency can be frustrating when trying to join games
- May require grinding in order to pass certain levels

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 8/10 overall.

Scream 4 Review

The first one was a cult classic, the second one was a little dry, the third one milked it. How will Wes Craven's fouth installment fit in with the rest of the series?

"What's your favorite scary movie?"

This movie was part comedy, part thriller, and part social commentary about the horror movie insdustry. The story is about the sole survivor of the original Scream coming back to her hometown where the ghost face murders took place. And of course, now that she's back in town, the murders are happening again.

With most flasher flicks, you have to be creative or else stabbing someone in the stomach with a knife can get really old really fast. Scream 4 falls into the latter category unfortunately. With the prequels to act as a spine for its story and very little to almost no character development, this movie was almost a flop. What saved it was a great ending, which surprised me to say the least.

Watch it if you have time, but don't expect any creative stab scenes.

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 6/10 overall.

Clean New Look

Hey everyone!! It's been over half a month since I first launched this blog and I didn't think it would go this far in terms of viewers and material to write about. However, with the help of a sarcastic dragon and a hawk who wishes to backstab me, it's looking great. I'm still a little unnerving about the newbs though. There's Omegaliskx79 who hasn't written anything yet and since I haven't seen him in action, I do not know how much potential he has in writing. Then there's nomnomturtle who already ran into trouble with her second post with a person who crosses the street without using crosswalks, aka a j-walker *trollface*. And then... there's 4Dkitty, which I think is lost and cannot find her way to write in this blog.

Anyways, I hope you like the clean new look. Inspired by Oz, no? Hahahahahaha.

Summer Wars Review

I was skeptical about this anime at first, heard many good reviews about it, but never had the time to sit down and watch it. Now that I have, I'm sure glad I did.

Story: 8/10

The story is simple. A second place math genius gets hired by the most popular girl at school to be her boyfriend for 4 days to trick her dying grandmother into believing that she has a fiance. Now what made this story interesting is the incorporation of a cyber world called Oz, which acts very similar to our "internet". Oz is basically an information super high way in which most of the world relies heavily on to go on about their everyday lives. Everything from being able to control satellites to texting through mobile phones to shopping is all controlled by Oz. However, someone released a vicious program into the world of Oz and now it's on the loose, stealing everyone's profile information, which leads to disastrous consequences in the real world. Mix this with a family drama and you've got yourself a good anime to watch. The only drawback was that since it was in the form of a movie, the story was not fully explored and left many plot holes. Why did Wabiske create such a program? How did Oz start? This anime would have been a lot better if it was stretched into a mini series. I'm not talking a full flegdge season, just maybe 10-12 episodes would suffice.

Character: 9/10

Now this is where the score could have been a perfect ten if this movie was made into a mini series. There are over a dozen characters, each with their very own personality and their relationship with each other is phenomenol. I just wished that each individual could have been explored more, each with their own back story that contributes to the family theme. For example, Kazuma was a very interesting character. In the real world, he's a small kid who is often bullied at school, but in Oz, he's King Kazuma, standing at the very top of fighting tournaments. If only there was more character development, this category would have been a perfect ten.

Sound: 8/10

There wasn't any piece of music that stood out and obviously these seiyuus are not big name voice actor/actresses either. However, everyone did their job well. The sound effects, on the other hand, are exceptional. Just listening to that bunny rabbit (FluffyBunnyPwn Yo!) beat the crap out of other users is just wow...

Animation: 10/10

Now this is where the anime truly shines. Like a good anime with good animation, no two frames are the same. The world of Oz is extremely colorful and very well done. The mix of CGI and 2D animation were blended together flawlessly to create a fluid experience. The fight scenes in particular are very smooth.

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 9/10 overall.

Jay Park - Take A Deeper Look

Jay Park - Take A Deeper Look
Language - Korean
Genre - Dance, Pop, R&B, Hip-Hop
Release Date - 2011.04.27

Tracklist

01. Touch The Sky (Feat. The Quiett)
02. Abandoned (Feat. Dok2)
03. 오늘밤 (Feat. 강민경 Of 다비치)
04. 너 없이 안돼
05. Don’t Let Go
06. Level 1000 (With Dok2)
07. Bestie

Support the dude and buy his music here: http://www.itunes.com/jaypark

Anime and Video Game Characters: Shikamaru Nara

"Man... so troublesome..."

Bio- Shikamaru is a ninja from Naruto specializing in using shadows to control his opponents. He is part of Team 10 which consists of himself, Chouji, Ino and Asuma, their leader. Shikamaru is very lazy and will try to avoid doing something if it's the least bit troublesome. Although he's lazy, he's a genius. He's very unenthusiastic though, just wanting to just live effortlessly without having to encounter any sort of problem that will require him to get off his butt. But when things needs to be done, Shikamaru steps up his game and ultimately becomes a lazy badass.

Why I Chose Him- Shikamaru reminds me of myself. I'm extremely laid bad, very lenient, and I'm often indifferent towards most things. I'd rather spend a lazy afternoon just cooped up in my room either listening to music or taking a nap rather than going out. I tend to think logically, more than emotionally as well.

Epic Moment- Shikamaru avenges Asuma. That right there is what Shikamaru is capable of and that's exactly why he's such a badass. He may be the laziest ninja in history, but he's perfectly fit to be a leader.

Rating: Badass Lazy Ninja

B1A4 - Let's Fly Mini Album

B1A4 - Let's Fly
Language: Korean
Genre: Dance, Pop
Release Date: 2011.04.21

Tracklist:
01. O.K
02. Remember
03. 못된 것만 배워서
04. Bling Girl
05. Only One
06. O.K (Inst.)

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T1TR98EW

New Writers

Ahem! I am pleased to announce (no not really but I have to be diplomatic here) that there will be two new writers for FluffyBunnyPwn (seriously, the nerve of the guy), nomnomturtle and OmegaliskX79 (at least they are keeping the animal motif strong). Now we really have a big team (more followers for my rebellion later...hint hint). In fact, I think that we have the five man band and the sixth ranger. Well, it would be nice if someone would comment on this post and congratulate them on joining the blog (you know, for me to get the most comments). But of course, there is the chance of disappointment. Remember 4DKitty? Huh, who's that? EXACTLY. That other blogger that joined FluffyBunnyPwn (what a narcissist guy huh?) has not posted anything yet. How much do you want to bet that these new ones will be the same? Honestly, I don't know what FluffyBunnyPwn was thinking when he recruited these guys.

Well, I'll be tagging out right here and INTRODUCING THE NEW DUAL STRIKE SYSTEM (cause we have been playing a lot of Advance Wars: Dual Strike)

CO SWAP

domodragon53 will be taking over from this point forth.

(domodragon53)- I really think that SoaringHawk is right. We don't really know what these newbies are capable of so I ask that they each post twice a day. Thus, we will know that they are really determined to be in this band wagon.  However, I really think that OmegaliskX79 should change his name because there is no such animal. I think that his username should be changed to... Dung_Beetle909. "nomnomturtle"?? Really?? More like "I shall post twice a day, turtle". But in all seriousness, I hope that these new members pull their share of the job and get this wagon moving into a bustling city... like... you think of one, SoaringHawk.

CO SWAP

Okay domodragon53, thank you for your input. Yes, the city that we will use is Water Seven from One Piece. A damn good city if I do say so myself. If we ever become has prosperous as Water Seven then this hawk will no longer soar alone. However, the more we expect something, the more disappointing the results. Already we have lost with 4DKitty; I fear that these new ones will not pass the test. If only FluffyBunnyPwn (bless his selfish name) could see the dilemma now...he would have let me chose the new writers. These two will have to work hard to recover. Now....

CO SWAP 

 .....no? Well, I guess that domodragon53 is done for this post. Now, comment your thoughts and play Advance Wars: Dual Strike!

Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit

Well, now that FluffyBunnyPwn has stolen, backstabbed me, completed the post on Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, I have decided to post on Moribito, another series with excellent animation. The prince Chagum is inhabited by a water spirit, and the palace star readers have foretold a drought if the water spirit is not killed. And so assassination attempts are made on the prince's life. Because of this, the prince's mother hires balsa, a well-known bodyguard, to protect Chagum. From there, the story continues on, but I won't say anymore because it would take too long.

Best of Anime Soundtracks: Gedo Senki

Well, I've noticed that all the music that have been presented for the best of Anime Soundtracks and Best of Video Game Soundtracks have been very fast-paced, intense songs. But not all music has to be like that to be good. In Gedo Senki, that down-to-earth music, that music that resonates in the primal emotions of the human heart, that music is what the soundtrack of Gedo Senki possesses. I may not have been able to say what I meant by the music, but just by listening you may understand how I feel when I listen to the music. These tracks are sad, but I believe that there is a hint of hope in them and not just complete sadness.

No He: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJZCeD4Q0CA

Teru no Uta (acapella): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVz1qtFrxmU

Teru no Uta (Not from movie): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5w3qqviGjg

After all, where do you think that I got my name from?

Anime and Video Game Characters: Jiguro Musa

 
                 

Alright, now that dumodragon35 has stolen picked selected robbed murdered posted on Nanashi from Sword of the Stranger (notice how I did the review and actually saw the whole movie) I have no choice but to do my character analysis on someone else. And I have decided on Jiguro from Serei no Moribito.

Return of the Hawk

What's this? I come back from my hiatus, and suddenly everything has changed. This hawk no longer has the most commented posts: now its tied between the FluffyBunny and the DOMODRAGON and me, the Soaringhawk. And now this hawk's posts are no longer the most viewed: That bunnyPWN's Full Metal Alchemist has become the most popular thing since the beginning of this blog. Well, this hawk will tolerate it no more.

Does anyone remember Kefka from Final Fantasy VI? You know, my avatar picture? Remember how dramatic his change was? Well, this clown will now become the strongest being here. No more playing around. Watch my return carefully, for even the fourth genius is scared.

Game Preview: The Last Guardian

 From the creators of Shadow Of The Colossus, their next game is The Last Guardian.

Anime and Video Game Characters: SogeKing (Ussop from One Piece)

 "Wh-Where is the Island of Snipers?"-Chopper

"It is... It is inside your hearts"- SogeKing

Anime and Video Game Characters: Nanashi (Sword of the Stranger)

"Use. Drug. Pain. Go Away."- Luo-Lang
"No... I feel like that having pain is what makes me feel alive"-Nanashi
"That's great. That's really great. I like you more and more"- Luo-Lang

Best of Anime Soundtrack: Pokemon (Part 2)

 

I have already picked the music from the first season of Pokemon that I believed was the best. But because the Johto region reused a lot of the Kanto region's soundtrack, there won't be as much music on this list. Now here is my take on season 2, Johto region.

Anime and Video Game Characters: Charizard (Pokemon)

"It spits fire that is hot enough to melt boulders. Known to cause forest fires unintentionally."-Pokemon Blue/Red description of Charizard.

Best of Anime Soundtrack: Pokemon (Part 1)

Pokemon... probably one of the first "anime" to come into my life. Pokemon was everything. Pokemon games, Pokemon cards, and who can forget the Pokemon anime series. Here are my best picks of the Pokemon anime soundtrack, Kanto Region.

Best of Video Game Soundtracks: Need For Speed Shift 2: Unleashed

Despite it's horrible controls on the PC, this game had a great soundtrack. Unfortunately, gameplay wasn't spot on, thus leaving me to only enjoy the soundtrack and not the actual game itself.

Help Is On The Way - the epic song that played in its launch trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jc2KRoiZfQ

Ambient Themes - random but epic ambient themes in the game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwVDLfDOeys

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Review

This probably the most praised and highest rated Shonen anime of this decade. It's not uncommon to find it in other people's top ten lists, and it's not surprising to see it as their number one anime series.

"The First Law of Alchemy states that in order to gain something, you must give something of equal value."

Story: 10/10

The story is epic in terms of the vastness of its settings, in terms of character back stories, and in terms of overall content. The story centers on Edward and Alphonse Elric, two alchemist brothers who are searching for the Philosopher's Stone which they believe can help them recover their bodies which they lost after a tragic accident trying to revive their dead mother. Reviving the dead is a sin and is considered a forbidden act according to the laws of alchemy. In order to gain access to research files and people who know more about the Philosopher's Stone, they join the army and become State Alchemists. There are many plot twists along with mysteries and fictional historical context to keep you interested. Even though the story involves many elements, it never feels like the viewer is overwhelmed by its world because of it's excellent pacing.

Character: 10/10

The characters are very interesting to say the least, each with their own reason for fighting and each with their own full-fledged back story. The relationships between the characters are very well done and they have great chemistry with each other, whether it be best friends or unmatched rivals. The development of the main characters as the story progresses makes you feel like the life lessons they've learned, you've learned too. Great character progression and development makes for a great connection with the characters and it makes it easy for you to sympathize with Ed and Al and their dilemma.

Sound: 10/10

Voice acting is phenomenal. No annoying voices, no over-dramatic voice acting, and not a single voice that was out of place. Background music is also very notable, although it isn't on par with the original Full Metal Alchemist, it stood its ground very well. Opening and ending songs were also very well done with famous Japanese artists at the helm.

Animation: 10/10

No two frames looked the same. This series looks great in 1080p. Fight animations look crisp and clear and are very fluidly animated. Despite its gritty atmosphere and dark storyline, it actually looks very colorful. As expected of Bones, the studio behind Sword of the Stranger and Soul Eater, this was eye candy to those who cared.

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 10/10 overall.