Dec 31, 2019

2019 Year End Review - Anime Side


This is the second half of my Favorites list for 2019. If you wanna see my video game picks then refer to the prior blog entry. 

This year had tons of wonderful and great animes, and really reminded me again why I love the medium so much. While my game play time did suffer quite a bit this year I was mostly able to keep up with every anime season of 2019 and really soak up as many shows as I could. There aren’t really any major rules to my list other than avoiding long-running anime a la Black Clover or Pokémon and the like. The only reason for this is so I can focus on the seasonal shows that may get swept away with the passage of time. If I included all the never ending shonen animes I love this freaking list would be crowded to the brim with it after all.

So without further ado, let’s check out some great anime. 

Ahiru no Sora



The main character Sora Kurumatani is an incredibly short high school freshmen with dreams of joining his school’s basketball team. Unfortunately the school’s basketball club is comprised entirely of dangerous delinquents who have all taken over the club and use it as their hang-out because of the school’s policy that every student has to join a club. Undeterred Sora tries his best to get into the club and stand up against the delinquents who run it, and maybe just hopefully help them turn over a new leaf and become actual basketball players in the process.

This has been a pretty fun sports anime, that also veers somewhat into the “yanki” genre of manga and anime too with tons of fist fights, blood, and beat-downs in-between the times the characters do play b-ball. The series really gives off a lot of 90’s anime vibes despite its more modern aesthetic (a great opening theme from the Pillows certainly helps in that regard too) and I’ve been having tons of fun with this one each week. It is scheduled to run for a total of 4 cours so it’s taking its time and really establishing the entire cast so well. And watching Sentai’s dubcast of the anime has been delightful too, I love they really ran with the delinquent characters and aren’t afraid to swear up a storm and drop F-bombs regularly, it’s just tons of fun to listen to.

Astra Lost in Space


The newest series from Shonen Jump alum Kenta Shinohara, Astra Lost in Space is just what you would expect from the creator of SKET Dance: a hilarious romp through space with a great group of characters that all carry heavy emotional baggage. The series really does remind me tons of SKET Dance, except set in outer space instead of high school, and I am all for it. I laughed, I cried, and I racked my brain behind the main mystery of the series. Just who stranded these kids in space, and why did they want them dead? 

The mystery element is perhaps the most unique twist on Astra that sets it apart from most of Shinohara’s earlier works in Jump, and while no Sherlock Holmes or anything, it is still fairly a fun component of the series that pushes the adventures of the young crew of the Astra beyond just being episodic romps. Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys comedy and space travel stories.

BEM


The newest entry in the long running Humanoid Monster Bem (Yokai Ningen Bem) franchise that started life in 1968 during the yokai boom largely created by GeGeGe no Kitaro’s huge success. The series has definitely played second fiddle to its clear influence Kitaro, but is a fairly beloved franchise that has still gotten multiple iterations of its own. 

What largely separates Bem from Kitaro is its more science fiction based monsters over the old fashion folklore creepies from Kitaro, and the three protagonists of the series: Bem, Belo, and Bela. These three “humanoid monsters” appear almost human enough but are still freaks in a conventional sense and do not fit into society. Despite being shunned by humans they still choose to protect humanity from other monster attacks in hopes that one day if they do enough good deeds they can be reborn as human too and finally fit in.

This newest series places a lot of narrative focus on the titular Bem, the leader of the group, who honestly was never all that fleshed out in part iterations and sometimes even played second fiddle to the younger member of the trio Belo who probably connected to the younger audience more. This really separates Bem from pasts series as it’s a lot darker and more mature. I would really love to analyze all the animes at some point in the future.

Boogiepop and Others 


The previous Boogiepop anime series from over 20 years ago now, Boogiepop Phantom, is one of the all time great A E S T H E T I C animes, with absolutely chilling horror, downright mystifying and confusing plots, and a heep ton of gore. It’s one of my favorites and it’s also entirely non-canon to the original light novels and is instead a stand alone original anime series. So how does the actual adaptation of the Boogiepop books far then? They’re all right. 

Boogiepop and Others lacks much of the aesthetic nature of the original Phantom series, and keeps a tone that is more consistent to its source material. It’s a series that starts a lot slower and is much more down-to-earth in the beginning before revealing all its pieces and getting into the supernatural aspects. Once it gets going however I found I really enjoyed this more accurate Boogiepop adaptation. Shingo Natsume is a fantastic director and the anime is incredibly gorgeous with his adept work on the series, and the general atmosphere is strange and creepy, and fairy creative without ever going full on horror anime.

The Demon Girl Next Door (Machikado Mazoku)


When I read the initial synopsis for this anime; “a young girl wakes up to discover she inherited demon powers and must now fight against magical girls in order for her clan to be lifted from its curse” I almost downright dismissed it and passed on it because I thought it was being played straight. However I gave the first episode a shot out of curiosity and quickly discovered it was actually a comedy series. A huge spoof on the Magical Girl genre if you will. And a damn good one.

What really separates Machikado Mazoku from the rest of the millions of Magical Girl comedies is how sincere its protagonist is and how low stakes the relative series turns out. Yuko, or Shadow Priestess Yuko, or Shamiko for short (a nickname she despises) is such an airhead and klutz. She can’t accomplish anything and instead of fighting magical girls she ends up befriending the only two she meets. This is such a relaxing and fun series and most people probably missed it because of the Hidive exclusive streaming rights.

Dr. Stone


Dr. Stone was always one of the newer Shonen Jump hits I was curious about but never got around to reading–largely thanks to my rule to not touch anything in Jump until I am certain it won’t be axed. So many bad memories. So many manga I loved dying. Ah-hum, excuse me then. Anyways I heard incredible things about the series, especially from one friend in particular and once it got an anime announcement I was so excited. TMS did a fantastic job adapting everything as far as I can tell too, and the anime has been wonderful. 

Perhaps the most impressive thing to me about the series so far is how it isn’t reliant on battles or typical power scaling escalations like a lot of Jump titles are known for. Instead this is a fun adventure series, that largely focuses on science and the power of friendship and I can really get behind that.

Fire Force (En'en no Shouboutai)


Fire Force came on the scene and dazzled everybody early on in its run with amazing production values and insane fight choreography and animation but as the series went on it got a sort of reputation for being fairly bland and not nearly as gorgeous as when it started. And I kind of hate that. I actually thought the series has looked great throughout its entire run–sure maybe some episodes aren’t action packed exploding set pieces, but the general direction and story-boarding in the show is always beautiful and great looking. There’s an expert eye on the lighting, and each scene flows into each other wonderfully. I also greatly respect and love the slower and more somber pace of the episodes–it really lets all the drama soak in, and you get a feeling that this world the characters live in is not great; it’s fairly suffocating actually, even without all the fires. 

As far as the plot goes, well I suppose that is more subjective; I certainly cannot argue that it is a wholly original story with groundbreaking characters, but I will argue that for what it is it works well and is enjoyable. The cast is fun and interesting, and all have great chemistry with each other, especially Shinra and Arthur who easily carry a lot of the show with their constant bickering despite being allies. I am really happy to see it getting a second season next year.

Fruits Basket (2019)


This is the second adaptation of the popular shoujo manga and a very accurate one at that. Pretty much any fan of the series will easily tell you how the original 2001 anime infamously upset the creator so much because of the changes it made from its source material (both big and small) that she denied any attempts at a sequel. It is definitely no surprise that this anime plays its cards incredibly loyal to its source material and it works great because of it since the source material is so good too.

Watching Fruits Basket again was like talking to an old long lost friend. It was such an enjoyable series to have back in my life and hearing Funimation’s almost entire original cast reprise their roles, even Laura Bailey as the protagonist Tohru, was just magical. This is very much a healing series and every episode felt like a weight was being lifted from my soul. I can’t wait for the future seasons, and I love they are going to adapt the entire manga this time!

Gundam Build Divers Re:rise


Another new year, another new Gundam Build series. These entries have really started to become a regular part of Bandai’s release schedule and I am not complaining. Re:rise is a semi sequel of sorts to last year’s Build Divers, a show I put on my favorites list a year ago too. Despite this you thankfully do not need to watch the previous show to fully understand Re:rise, as it is largely just set in the same world and instead has its own original characters and disconnected plot. 

And what a plot it is! Re:rise’s plot is fantastic, and its characters are so much fun with great chemistry. Re:rise’s cast is the oldest group of protagonists we’ve really seen in a Build series which gives it a much more mature tone than all the previous entries, with higher stakes that mean more than they ever have in a Build series. This show honestly on par with the main Gundam series at times and it drew me in so much. I loved every episode and want more, and hate that it ended up being split cour and we have to wait! The last two episodes of Re:rise particularly are huge gut punches that push the show beyond all expectations and really stick with you. This might just be my love for Gundam but this was easily one of the best animes I watched all year.

Gundam The Origin: Advent of the Red Comet


So is this cheating? Technically speaking Advent of the Red Comet is just the original Gundam The Origin OVA series (2015-2018) sliced into a 13 episode TV show format. And I watched most of the OVA back when it was released already too (I still needed to catch the two Loum Arc episodes before this came out though). But goddamn, rewatching all of Origin again in TV show format was so excellent. So I don’t care! This was one of my favorite shows to catch each week, and don’t at me. YAS’ contributions on the Gundam universe simply cannot be overstated, and his work with Origin was so excellent and talented that it gives the entire series a feeling of true cinematic sophistication–something the original cast and crew all desperately wanted when they first created Gundam! 

Also, it gave us the greatest Opening theme of the year and honored the 40th year anniversary of the legendary franchise while doing so. You can’t beat that.

Kemono Michi - Rise Up


In this isekai parody series the protagonist Genzo is a pro wrestler and animal lover aficionado summoned to another world to save it from the Demon King. When told that in order to do so he would have to slaughter countless magical beast he refuses and german suplexes the very princess who summoned him! There’s no way Genzo will ever harm any animal, they are far too precious. Trapped in a fantasy world Genzo makes the best of it by capturing and training all the magical beast and opening up a pet shop so they can find their forever homes. Even more hijinx ensure. 

Kemono Michi is notable for being a new series by the creator of the beloved Konosuba, and it both shows and doesn’t show. Kemono Michi is another isekai parody series but it’s largely its own thing and a lot of humor is pretty different from what you would expect from Konosuba. People coming into the show looking for more Konosuba will probably be disappointed but for anyone just looking for a good laugh and don’t mind how different it really is they will have tons of fun. Genzo and crew are hilarious and the series’ genuine disinterest in the classic save the fantasy world plot is really refreshing. Sure the Demon King is out there slaughtering millions, but that’s not Genzo’s problem, somebody else can get on it, he’s busy trying to run a pet shop of his dreams. 

Unfortunately said pet shop only sells the typical JRPG monsters you encounter and not real animals …

Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou


So this might be another cheat as Sunohara-sou did indeed originally air in 2018 however it was locked up in streaming prison and nobody could legally watch it until this year thanks to Funimation’s newest deal with Bibibili. I ended up really enjoying it this year and watched every episode back-to-back with Fruits Basket. As I mentioned earlier Fruits Basket is a healing kind of show and I felt the same for Sunohara-sou. It was a really relaxing and cute show that made me super comfortable and chilled out before I had to go in to work for my worst shift of the week.

MIX Meisei Story


Mix is the newest anime adaptation from the legendary manga-ka Mitsuru Adachi and also a sort of sequel to his seminal work Touch (1981-1986). Set thirty years after Touch and with a largely different cast of characters but still in the same town that Touch took place in, this series is fairly easy for anyone to get into but also extra rewarding for long time fans who will pick up on more smaller things that while not important are there in the background. 

The brotherly relationship between Touma and Souma is what drives the core of the series and much like the twin protagonists of Touch Tatsuya and Kazuya their ambitions to make it to Koushien and play in the Nationals and love for baseball is unmatched. Touma and Souma aren’t just rehashes of the original two protagonists and by in large this has to do with Mix not incorporating a certain major plot twist Touch is famous for but I will refrain from talking about. With all that said you get a lot more interaction with these brothers than the original series and it is simply delightful. 

Mix brings in the classic great character writing, and sense of youth that Adachi is always known for, and he is a true master at writing high school romance and sports manga by this point. It’s been an actual decade since his last anime Cross Game and the wait was worth it. Man, now I just need a Season 2!

Mob Psycho 100 II


MOB IS BACK!!! Need I really say more? The entire staff that worked on Mob is phenomenal, and really Bones is showing the best of the industry with both seasons of this series. But what lies at the core of Mob even more so than the amazing and unique art style and fluid animation is the wonderful character driven writing of indie writer ONE who started his career online and not with a major publisher. ONE is a master at not just comedy but characters. Watching all our best boys grow and learn in Mob has caused me to literally cry. Just the first episode of this season has shown how much Mob has grown as a person and how he is maturing. Mob you’re becoming cooler and cooler every episode, you little adorable awkward dork. 

One Punch-Man Season 2


Man, OPM2 was thoroughly destroyed when it came out earlier this year. I largely definitely understood why though as the production of this season is such a major downgrade in every regard to the amazing work the crew did on the first season and it seems shifting from Madhouse to JC Staff really did harm the series in the long run. I didn’t even bother when it aired in Japanese because of that and have only just recently started to watch it after it got dubbed and put on Toonami. And I have to say … it really isn’t that bad.

Maybe the dub version is using the more finished home video release footage over the original TV airing but I don’t think it’s really at a level of horror story (if anything look at Arifureta from this year too). Is it worse than Season One? Yup. Does that fact suck? Oh yeah. But the same heart is present from the original series in this season. I am surprised how badly it went because I am really loving this. ONE is such a talented writer and seeing his work animated never disappoints, I guess.

Outburst Dreamer Boys (Chuubyou Gekihatsu Boy)


This is another fairly funny series that seemed to fly under everyone’s radar and I assume that yet again the main culprit for this is because of the Hidive exclusive streaming. It’s a shame the platform is easily missed by so many considering its plethora of great content and tons of exclusives it’s been snagging up lately. *ah-hum* I promised I was not paid for that shill just now, sorry. 

Anyways, this is a comedy about a young girl Mizuki Hijiri who just transferred into a new school. All she wants is a normal high school experience but she is unfortunately adopted by the local Hero Club at the school more or less. Now the Hero Club is nothing more than a bunch of chunni boys going around doing all sorts of crazy and hilarious things and hijinks ensue. This is a fairly straight forward premise but largely carried by just how funny the characters are. It’s nice simple laughs that lead to feel good conclusions at the end of almost every episode.

The Promised Neverland


Everything I said about Dr. Stone I can pretty much repeat about Neverland as well. I was so impressed with this series although it started off fairly simple it really grew into something far more sinister and ambitious. The ending of the season I did not see coming, and the creative team behind the manga’s bravery to move past the status quo instead of just milking it for all it is worth is applause worthy. Really looking forward to the next season. 

Speaking of–if you don’t mind the tangent–this must just be the year of Shonen Jump or something, though, am I right? Dr. Stone, Neverland, Astra, wow Shueisha really is killing it this year.

The Quintessential Quintuplets (Go-Toubun no Hanayome)


On the surface the Quints (as fans call it) is nothing more than a basic cut and dry harem set up where one guy has to tutor five beautiful girls who all just happened to be sisters. Like damn I think I might have played this game in high school and it was naughty! But Quints is surprisingly deep and a lot more than just that. It’s by no means a masterpiece in anime romance story telling but I was thoroughly blown away by how restrained it really was and how well written each of the heroines are. This is a really cute series that’s just easy to watch and appreciate it for its simplistic but well crafted story.

Radiant (Season 2)


Radiant is back and is having a much better start than the first season ever did a year prior. This current season has had significantly less filler and is much closer to the manga in its story which makes for an improved viewing experience and is noticeably a lot more mature now. The original season of Radiant struggled with how much filler and changes to the plot and characters it piled on in its early run. That really made the series seem more cliche and simple than it really is and because of that it had a lot of difficulty in finding an audience early on who may have (rightfully so) dismissed it based on those early fumbles. Early Radiant anime somewhat reminds me of the start of the Black Clover anime in this regard, actually. 

It wasn’t until the first season moved on to one of the earlier big picture story arcs in Rumbletown that it really started to come together and let the source material shine through. Seeing season 2 maintain this relatively same quality since its very first episode is promising. The character interaction is much improved, and Seth’s journey only gets more complicated from this point on in the story as he learns more about nemeses, magic, and his own past. It’s a great battle manga finally given some real justice with its anime and I really have been digging season 2.

RobiHachi


RobiHachi is Diet Space Dandy and in a world where Space Dandy is only 26 episodes and that’s it, that’s a good thing! We need more Space Dandy!!!

While not even close to the animation powerhouse of Dandy, or the experimental nature of how it changed directors constantly, RobiHachi is very close in the same sort of style and humor of Dandy. It’s essentially a buddy series where two men Robby and Hatchi end up on a voyage through space together and get into all kinds of crazy adventures along the way. It’s a nice little series that helps fill in the void that Space Dandy left after it ended in 2014.

Run with the Wind (Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru) 


Run with the Wind, based off a novel of the same name is a series about a disheveled track and field team trying to run the Hakone Ekiden, a world famous (or infamous) race that is extremely grueling and has destroyed many young athlete and potential Olympic runners sports careers in the past. Despite all this team leader Haiji pursues his dream of racing down this grueling track and will stop at nothing to run it, even if he has to make an Olympic quality team out of rejects and losers. He often butts heads with protagonist Kakeru who views the world very differently from Haiji and thinks he needs to accept reality already and give up this pipe-dream. 

Run with the Wind is utterly fantastic, and a show so many people slept on. I honestly don’t even know why! Because it’s about running, I guess? Really, there is no excuse! What are all of you guys doing missing this show?! What separates it from a ton of the other sports anime peers is a few things, on the surface level there is the University setting and older cast. All the characters are young adults, and plenty of them are 20-somethings at the phase of their lives where they need to find their first real career and figure out how to live. But at the heat of Run with the Wind is a far more serious dialogue about being an adult and facing reality vs pursuing your dreams and what the limit of hard work should mean. This is far more than just a series about running. It’s about the weight of the dreams we all carry with us and the weight of the friendship and bounds we all form. And what weight we should carry and what we should let go. 

This was an incredibly emotional and impactful anime series and I am super happy to see it receiving an upcoming dub next year from Sentai, it deserves it!

Senryu Girl 


This series of short 12-minute episodes was one of the most adorable series in 2019 and always managed to make me smile. Senryu Girl stars Nanako, a girl who because of her incredible shy and introverted nature never speaks and only communicates through senryu poetry she writes. Nanaka hangs out with Eiji, a local delinquent that most of the school fears but is in fact a huge softie and a major fan of poetry–he even belongs to the same poetry club as Nanaka. Together the two write poetry with each other, go on dates, and get into all sorts of adorable situations.

True Cooking Master Boy (Shin Chuka Ichiban!) 


In this semi-remake, semi-continuation of the classic 1997 Cooking Master Boy anime we follow the youngest super chef in all of China Liu Mao Xing, as he takes on the dark Underground Cooking Society who seek to control the entire world through their cooking and beat them at their own game.

I think this series is best described as Food Wars!/Shokugeki no Soma but instead of being incredibly horny it’s a martial arts film. I didn’t really follow the original anime series but definitely plan to get around to finding it after watching this newest series. I really enjoyed all the cooking battles that have been shown and the characters are all excellent.

Vinland Saga


Vinland Saga is an artistic marvel and this anime adaptation fully lives up to its legendary manga’s reputation. 

Every episode of Vinlad was so damn compelling, and this feels like what the previous Berserk series should have always been like instead of the infamously janky CGI animation and knife to the page cutting scripts it got. Vinland is such an emotionally powerful series that can be carried by its own characters alone even during long stretches of episodes that lack the adrenaline fueled action fests for the eyes that it has. Honestly the less said about Vinalnd the better, as it’s an experience you should go into fresh without knowing too much about it. But oh boy, I am still reeling for that finale, it was downright terrifying and therapeutic. 

This is easily a major highlight of the anime industry in 2019.

Wasteful Days of High School Girls (Joshi Kousei no Mudazukai)


I’m starting to notice a pattern where I talk about comedies a lot, but I guess that just is my taste in entertainment, huh? This series is also another pattern too, the Hidive exclusive nobody watched. I know, I know, let’s just get on with a few words about the show. 

Wasteful Days is downright the most hilarious anime of 2019. I guess I ended up saving the best for last, as every episode would have tears rolling down my eyes from laughing too hard. The basic premise of a classroom full of a bunch of weirdos is super uninteresting, and on the surface if you read the description it doesn’t sound like anything special but don’t be fooled. The whole damn series is constantly hilarious and ludicrous. There isn’t a single minute of screen time where you aren’t falling over and laughing at the stuff happening on the screen.

Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun!


While not as funny as Wasteful Days, Iruma-kun is also another great comedy of the year, and I would be remiss not to mention. The series has a more fantastical element what with it being a demon school in the Netherworld, and poor Iruma, the only human boy in the school is trying his hardest to not stand out and get eaten by all the demons but he just can’t stop being incredible at everything in the demon curriculum somehow. This is a great little funny series, and the dub made by Curnchyroll is equally hilarious. I really recommend it especially for anyone who is a fan of Disgaea.

2019 Year End Review - Video Game Side


2019 ended up being a pretty grueling year for me personally. It can probably be best described as a year of a lot of ups and downs–and I know that is typically a fairly cliche thing to say, but well it feels especially true now that it’s over. This was a year where I accomplished a great many feats but all of them felt as if they came at a great cost. It was a year where I regressed on some things and accomplished some others. I had a lot of fun in 2019 but I was also deeply stressed out for a large chunk of it and going in and out of doctor’s offices because of said stress. Ultimately it was the quintessential Twenty-First century experience!

I didn’t play too many games this year, especially if you count only games from 2019 in this list. Because of that I am gonna change some things up from the past couple of years when I wrote my lists. This time I am going to create some new sections. First we will have the typical ‘favorite games of 2019’, next there will be a sort-of runner-up category of ‘games that aren’t from 2019 but I played them in 2019 so I will include them anyways’, and finally we have the miscellaneous category of ‘games from 2019 I wish I played but didn’t’. For the most part I will really focus on just the 2019 game section, so don’t worry, but I really wanted to talk about some more games in general too. So without further ado here are my favorite games of 2019. 


Section I: Favorite Games of 2019


AI THE SOMNIUM FILES


AI was easily a game I had on my radar all year long since I was a major Uchikoshi fan to begin with (999 being one of my all time favorites) and his hotly anticipated follow up did not disappoint. It was uniquely an Uchikoshi experience right down to its incredible ARG advertisement campaign leading up to the launch of the game that really made AI feel special even before I got a chance to play it. Following Tesa’s online streaming career in real life months before the game hit store shelves, and weaving through tons of fan theories about said videos was something else.

Playing through the game to find out what it was truly like had me giddy after all those months, and it really delivered on everything I wanted out of it. Great characters, fantastic and hilarious dialogue, and some of the albeit expected, but still executed super well, story beats that Uchikoshi is famous for. My time as Kaname Date, a special agent with the elite police force known as ABIS, was great. I went on dates with high school girls, argued with 12 year olds, shook down otakus, leered at waitresses, stole women’s underwear, and even got to do a little bit of actual police work on the side!

I kid of course, but Uchikoshi’s usual sense of comedy is clearly on display all throughout the story, and anyone familiar with his previous games can expect a sort of more serious Punch-Line out of AI. I honestly think it’s best described as Uchikoshi combining the serious elements from his previous works like 999 with the more light hearted characters of his later works like Punch-Line. Overall it’s a great cleanser for fans after the rather grim Zero Time Dilemma. The puzzle elements, while not as nearly strong as the Zero Escape trilogy, still feel improved from Punch-Line’s, and the framing device of diving into people’s dreams in order to solve said puzzles, works really well.

AI: The Somnium Files was one solidly written game on every front, both from the original writing staff and the localization staff; who all went above and beyond in presenting an incredibly well executed script and an absolutely gut busting hilarious English audio option. AI is probably one of the best English dubs I heard in the last decade for a video game. A feat even more impressive considering almost every line in this 30 hour game is voiced. Then there’s the fact that AI is probably one of the best looking Uchikoshi games in easily a decade. Gone are the super stiff and awkward 3D models from Zero Time Dilemma, and the strange, awkward, and low budget feeling weird mix of old anime footage and 3D models of Punch-Line. AI is what giving Uchikoshi an actual budget must feel like and it feels great.

Out of the games I did play this year I would easily feel comfortable calling this one my favorite.

The Caligula Effect: Overdose


The original 2016 PS Vita release of The Caligula Effect always interested me a lot. On the surface of the game is yet another “Persona Clone” trying to cash in on the success of a popular franchise but when you looked under the hood more you could see it came from some pretty high pedigree–with Tadashi Satomi the writer of the original trilogy of Persona games returning to pen this title and a whole slew of talented musicians (that are far too many to list) doing the soundtrack. Caligula brought its A-game with those two departments … and that was pretty much all it brought. The game was marred with terrible reviews; some even going as far as to say the battle system was nigh unplayable. Add to it a lukewarm localization from Atlus and a digital only release, and yeah, I was curious but stayed my distance. 

2019 brought with it a shiny new remake for the PS4 that improved on almost everything wrong with the original on Vita–completely remade from the ground up in Unreal Engine 4 with a brand new battle system–and along for the ride is the added bonuses of even more great new music, new party members, and an all new story route. So how does it fair? A lot better! 

Overdose is still far from a perfect game however, but I found it was probably the best “Persona Clone” I have played so far. It has a lot of flaws, with some bad dungeon designs, and some overly obtuse game play mechanics that are not properly explained in game; not to mention some fairly bad difficulty balancing as it went on–but it is definitely far more playable than the original Vita version and dare I even say, still a good game. I had a lot of fun with it at least despite its flaws. Of course the main stars of the game are still the music and the amazing story and that’s where Caligula Effect shines the most. In a lot of ways it felt far more satisfying than Persona 5 did to me. 

You’ll hafta excuse this little tangent here, but among my friends P5 is infamously a game I was very disappointed with. I know I will get a lot of flack for this. Hell I hate myself for even being like this considering how much everyone else seems to really like it. It isn’t like I enjoy being that guy coming in to ruin everyone’s fun–but I just can’t help it. Persona 5 is a fantastic game on the mechanical level–with some of the best dungeon designs the series has ever seen, a battle system that feels pretty much perfected by this point, and a whole lot of content and things to see and play (sometimes bordering on too much). All of these Caligula Effect severely lacks as well. These are easily elements where this game greatly needed to be polished. But P5 was also a super safe game that at the end of the day did not feel as poignant or meaningful as all the other past entries in the series.

What did P5 even have to say? “Politicians are bad”? Yeah, no shit. “Lying is bad except when we do it then it’s good”? Ah, excuse me. “Brainwashing people into believing what we think is right makes us just and any repercussions or arguments against it will all be disregarded after the first boss fight”? Yeah, this game is a mess thematically, I’m sorry. (Not to mention the best plot twists were stolen wholesale straight from Persona 2, sorry not sorry lol). This is where the Calgiua Effect really came through–to an almost therapeutic level. Where P5 stumbled terribly thematically, Caligula Effect soars. This was the story I wanted P5 to have. This was the emotional weight I wanted to see in that game. This was the “I have a message I want to scream out and I don’t care how controversial, dirty, or uncomfortable it makes other people feel I still need to say it!” that the Persona series used to be.

Anyways I lost focus. To get back on track, I will just say that the Caligula Effect really delivers interesting, poignant takes on the typical “Persona Clone” game premise right down to the fact that this game is a “Persona Clone”. Because of that the characters have to be high schoolers. They are all trapped in this virtual world recreation of high school; are all forced to assume the form of high schoolers despite their real life appearance and ages being different. That right there is the sort of meta commentary on modern Persona you can get from Caligula Effect.

At the end of the day all these characters are deeply flawed individuals, many of them sick and desperately need treatment for their mental health issues. Most of them simply cannot survive in the real world. Attempted suicide, eating disorders, social anxiety disorders, autism, all these mental health issues and more are what the characters deal with in Caligula Effect. The cast may even be better off in their virtual world prison just reliving the same three years of high school over and over again on repeat, never coming to terms or facing their issues. But despite that the aptly named go home club wants out. They choose to face the world, they choose not to run away from reality itself anymore and escape their Matrix prison cells and return back to their flawed lives in the harsh and cold reality.

Collection of Mana


This is a game I never thought would get localized but somehow it actually happened. When Collection of Mana initially released in Japan sometime in 2017 I desperately pleaded for the game to come out in America; sadly it didn’t. Fast forward two more years and at E3 2019 it is dropped right into our laps! That alone is just awesome to see. This is the first physical release of a Mana game in who knows how long! The franchise was so dormant for such a long time just buying this collection and having it on my shelf made me so happy. 

But even better than that for the first time ever Square Enix has released Seiken Densetsu 3 and has finally quelled the long debate of whether or not to call it Secret of Mana 2. Thank god! That dumb debate is finally over! Trials of Mana is a localization miracle in of itself and playing it again brings back so many memories of my high school days emulating the game (and many, many other SNES titles). It’s good to finally own it in some capacity. Haven’t seen such a miracle localization since Atlus released Shin Megami Tensei I back in 2014.

Daedalus: Awakening of Golden Jazz


It’s no secret that me and my ol’ boy Jake Hunter (that’s Jinguji Saburo for those of you not in the know) go way back. The Jake Hunter series is one of my recent obsessions over the last decade. The games span all the way back to the original Famicom Disk system in Japan and have changed publishers and even developers multiple times yet have still stuck around all these years and have been fairly consistently good too. It is one of the oldest and longest running visual novel series, and anybody who is a fan of hardboiled detective noir fiction will feel right at home with it. 

In this newest entry you play as a much younger Jinguji trying to discover the truth behind his grandfather’s apparent murder. The investigation takes you all the way to New York City and eventually involves an old conspiracy centered on “Daedalus”. This is a prequel which makes it probably one of the easiest entry points into the series we’ve seen get an official English release. With the American setting and no need to know any past continuity (this is an origin story after all), you probably couldn’t ask for a better start to get into the series than this. 

Everything about Daedalus is beautiful. The real life photography used as backgrounds–all shot on location in New York City gives the game such a unique atmosphere. Added with the color pencil like tone of the character art, and neo-noir esque story and this game almost feels like a Hotel Dusk 3 at times. The story is simply fantastic and the ending twist had me screaming in excitement. It all comes together so well and leads into such a legendary and beloved series. I really can’t recommend it enough to fans of detective games.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses



So you guys ever play a game until you become absolutely sick of it? Like you just played it religiously nonstop for months. Like before you knew it you had something like 200 hours clocked in already? Guess what game that was for me. Go ahead. Guess!

Fire Emblem Three Houses came in like a wrecking crew and destroyed my gaming slump this summer. Once I got my hands on it I never let go until I beat all four routes in the game. I was a fiend. I was 100% addicted on this game. Three Houses started out good enough for me. I still felt the previous entry Echoes was a more interesting game but the more I played Three Houses the more it became one of my favorite games in the series. It’s so fresh, it’s so fun, and it’s so full of best boys! Yes, the memes alone that Three Houses brought with it are all worth an award of their own, and are an essential part of the FE3H experience, don’t at me. 

The other most essential part of the experience is the military academy setting. Having three different houses to choose from, four different alliances to forge,students to recruit, paths to discover, it all makes the game perfect for sharing with others. In my friend group I played Black Eagles on my first run while my other buddies played Blue Lions and Golden Deer. Sharing the experience of each house and having our own rivalry over our fictional video game alliances was all so much fun! 

This was a solid entry in the Fire Emblem series and the first time said series has really faced HD, and it succeeded so well! I feel like a decade from now we will all be looking back at Three Houses as an incredibly important and great part of the Fire Emblem series.

Legend of the Tetrarchs


I like Kemco RPGs. I like them a lot. They are a sorta morbid and strange hobby of mine. Most of them however are fairly pretty basic, and some are downright bad–but there’s usually one universal truth between any of their releases: they are all kinda cheap looking. Well not anymore! 

Legend of Tetrarchs is the first Kemco RPG I played where I truly felt it looks on par with its obvious SNES inspiration. The sprite work is gorgeous, enemies are huge and fully animated, and the character designs are all fantastic. If you put this on a SNES cart and told me it came out in 1994 I would 100% believe you. This is all thanks to the fact that Kemco as a publisher has really turned around over the years and has greatly slowed their output down from a new game every month to a new game when it’s ready. They are allowing the developers that work under them more time to release much higher quality work and are targeting home video game consoles and PCs much more heavily than their original mobile phone focus and it really is paying off.

Tetrarchs is a great game, and a wonderful sign of things to come from Kemco. I really enjoyed this one a lot, and feel like it’s the best Kemco game to recommend for anyone looking to get into this company’s line of retro inspired RPGs.

Pokémon Shield



Never in my life would I think liking a pokémon game would be a controversial opinion to have but I really liked Shield. Is it a perfect game? No, of course not. Does it feel rushed? You bet it does. But is it bad? Hell no. Even with its flaws this is still a pokémon game and damn fun one at that, don’t let anyone else try to convince you otherwise. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Sword & Shield. I actually loved all the new pokémon in the game like Falinks and Grimmsnarl, and the soccer themed arenas for gym battles—something I thought seemed kinda dumb—turned out to be a total blast. There’s just something so exciting and fun seeing two pokémon dynamaxing in a huge arena and duking it out in front of a roaring crowd. Heck I even liked the characters which really is saying something since the story regrettably doesn’t give them much to work with. I’ll be darned, I started the game laughing at Leon and Hop but by the end I fell in love with both of these boys quite a lot. Just a darn shame there wasn’t much story this time around after I enjoyed the plot in Sun & Moon so much. 

Overall Sword & Shield was a flawed entry, but still a good showing for the first real major HD output of Pokémon (or actually does Let’s Go count instead?). Now if only the game was a bit longer though, I would have liked it even more.

SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions


Note: I really only just started playing this game earlier last week but I was having such fun with it that it felt wrong to skip out on mentioning. 

The newest SaGa game is here, and it’s both incredibly gorgeous and incredibly ugly. I dunno how to feel about that still. Never before have I seen a game with such a wonderful artstyle and such terrible character models. The world is so pretty, the story book art is so wonderful, and the general aesthetic is so pleasing to look at. But then the ugly character models that look like they popped out of 2003 rear their ugly heads, and the hideous mobile phone looking UI makes it all the worst. I guess I am just ambivalent to how the game looks.

But moving beyond that into much more important things, this game rocks! The classic SaGa game play style is back and you essentially wander around the world making your own story as you go along stringing together all sorts of crazy feats that you do in the neighboring lands. This is one funky and weird game and yet is it so addicting. The combat is fast paced, and tons of fun, and the patented go anywhere and do what you wanna do aspect of SaGa still makes for a great chill game play session. Scarlet Grace also feels like it might be one of the better entry points to the SaGa series as well for new players who may have been interested.

I honestly did not think I would get to play a new SaGa on a home console again so I am honestly happy with just that too.

Yu-No: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World


The original Yu-No is a legendary eroge (let’s just say that means sexy visual novel, okay) from 1996 that was deeply influential to tons of creative minds in the Japanese PC gaming market and would go on to serve as the major inspiration to the 2009 phenomenon Steins;Gate. This remake, ironically made by 5pb/Mages of Steins;Gate fame is an incredibly loyal recreation of the original for better or worse, and it’s because of that I sadly find it hard to recommend for everyone.

There are tons of elements that did not age well since the game originally came out more than 20 years ago. Some of this is not Yu-No’s fault per se since it was a major inspiration for tons of later games in the visual novel genre which in turn gives it a bit of a “Lord of the Rings dilemma” whereas Yu-No can come off as cliche to modern audiences at times but it is in fact the very thing that invented those cliches and did them all first. I think any huge fan of Steins;Gate that may be somewhat interested in Yu-No because of its obvious influence on Steins;Gate will feel this the most.

For anyone that can look past that though you are in for a treat. Especially the second half of the game that is still not matched to this day out of the genre and a real mind screw through and through. That entire part of the game was insane and holds up so remarkably well. Also it should go without saying (but I’ll say it anyways) but the soundtrack is absolutely the stuff of video games legends and easily stands toe-to-toe with some of the best from Falcom during that same era of PC gaming.

Section II: Favorite Games I Played in 2019 But Are in Fact From a Different Year

428: Shibuya Scramble (2018)


What can I say about 428 that I haven’t already said in my two incredibly long blog posts I wrote earlier this year? I really recommend checking those out if you enjoy unique games, text heavy games, or visual novels. 

But I guess I cannot sing enough praises about 428, can I? So let me just say it is a fantastic game that you won’t soon be forgetting if you play it. The story is so interesting and well written, the localization painstakingly fantastic, and the music and presentation so uniquely Japanese. This is a game that you won’t see come out every day, it’s a game that really sticks with you after you play it and you won’t soon forget it either. It’s a perfect game, and there’s nothing more I can say.

Punch Line (2018)


Uchikoshi’s funny game. It came to a shock of some Zero Escape trilogy fans but Punch Line is sort of a return to form to his earlier more romance esque kind of games like Ever17 and Memories Off. Except even zanier and crazy because if the protagonist Yuta Iridatsu sees panties twice in a row the entire world explodes! What starts as this strange Ghost Trick like experience soon turns into an even more bizarre superhero story about saving the world from terrorists and creating the strongest hero team ever assembled. 

Punch Line is bizarre, and just so hard to even put into words without spoiling all the best parts of it. It’s so funny, but at the same time deals with serious issues you would not expect, I am willing to bet a lot of the later LBTQ+ character moments will take quite a few people by surprise in particular. Uchkoshi admitted in an interview that although Punch Line came out first, he actually wrote it after the third Zero Escape game, Zero Time Dilemma, and did it as a way to cheer himself up from the depressing and dark tone of that game. It definitely shows, but I really loved the game all the more for it.

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (2017)


A unique mix on the visual novel genre that is largely character driven dialogue told through a huge cast of episodic characters you talk to in a bar. It all comes together as a grander story by stringing together everything you learn about your setting, Glitch City, and the protagonist Jill’s character growth through talking to the wide variety of patrons who come into the bar. 

This game is just fantastic and shows what a small but talented team can do. It’s hilarious, really relaxing, and has a great dystopian sci-fi feel while never being too overbearing about it and actually remains fairly down-to-earth in spite of the turmoil going on in the streets; no doubt an influence mirroring the developer’s experience in their native country of Venezuela.

Section III: Games I wished I played in 2019


2019 was a year full of a lot of games, and I barely got to touch a fraction of them. Here’s a short bonus little section of games that really caught my eye but I never played. Maybe some will make it to the blog in full in the future?

Astral Chain - This looks like a fantastic action game! Love the design of the world and seems to bring back a lot of the classic pick up and play but tough to master 90’s Japanese style to me. 

Daemon X Machnia - Holy crap a big super mecha game on Switch! Sign me up! Sadly this dropped while I was stuck obsessing over Fire Emblem and I missed it then and things kept piling up and stopping me from getting it later.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 - Hot damn, the first Dragon Quest Builders was one of my favorite games the year it came out and this is shaping up to be even better than that! Really gotta get around to it when I can. 

Grandia HD Collection - I bought this the day it came out. Still haven’t played it! I really need to find the time to indulge in it. God Grandia I and Grandia II are some of my favorite JRPGs and are both some of the finest games from their respective generations. I can’t wait to sit down with them again on my Switch.

Heroland - Brownie Brown is back (okay the name is different now but still) and their new game seems to have all the charm of their old works like Mother 3 and Magical Vacation. I really need to find some time and money for this.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening - This game is a bit of a weird place on this list. I do own it, and I played it for 2 hours but got very frustrated with its somewhat archaic retro game design and decided to put it back on the shelf for a bit. I wasn’t in the best of moods when I played it, and I think the depression really got in the way of my enjoyment of it. I definitely wanna restart the entire game fresh from the beginning when I’m in a better mood. 

Luigi’s Mansion 3 - I loved the original Gamecube game but have since then never touched any of the games. I really wanna go back and even replay the original (maybe on 3DS and while I’m at it play the sequel on there too) as well as this game. 

New Super Lucky’s Tail - This game caught my eye a lot when it was shown at Microsoft’s E3 a few years back, and now this enhanced port/remake for Switch caught my eye even more! It looks so fun and adorable! I really wanna give this a spin if I can.

Ragging Loop - The first of Kemco’s many visual novels (yes that Kemco from earlier in this list, you heard right) to get a localization and it was a huge deal in Japan too. This was by far their most popular of their visual novels they released digitally over there and it sounds fantastic! I really have to get it when I have the time and money. 

Resident Evil 2: Remake - I love the original, heck it was the original on the N64 that got me into Resident Evil in the first place! This remake has been 17 years in the making as far as fans are concerned and it delivers on everything from what I’ve seen. Gotta get around to this bad boy at some point.

Spirit Hunter: NG - The second entry in the Spirit Hunter series and a darn good looking game at that. The first entry Death Mark I still have unplayed on my PS Vita and it haunts me. I need to play both of these some time. 

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair - I didn’t play too much of the first Yooka-Laylee game but what I did play I enjoyed. This looks like a huge improvement on it as well and well I am also a gigantic DKC fan to boot so it’s music to my ears.

Dec 21, 2019

Blog Updates and Plans for 2020


It’s no secret that Zero Caress has been pretty much dead for the latter half of 2019. Explaining the recent inactivity of my blog is a bit of a long story but the short version of it can pretty much be summed up in two words “I moved”.

Since about May of 2019 I began the long and arduous process of moving across the country. It started relatively stationary enough to be fair; I didn’t really leave my house until about the middle of October, but the time it took to pack all my belongings, clean and repair the house so it was in tip-top shape, and list it on the market for sale, was enormous. Between working and moving I had very little free time for myself. My writing naturally fell to the wayside during this entire endeavor and it shows.

Even after I moved things were still in limbo for quite some time. Starting up a new life in a new city was hard, and getting the new house cleaned, repaired, and in tip-top shape was an ordeal all of its own. And this has nothing on the horrors of bureaucracy and dealing with the bank which left my family fairly exhausted and not to mention homeless for some time in-between the sale of the old house and the purchase of the new house. Mooching off of relatives for a month is just not fun, I will tell you that.

By late November everything was finally settled and yet things only got worse from there. I had to organize family events, Thanksgiving happened, and then the Christmas holiday swept up everyone like it always does. It was crazy. There was very little time to myself and I even got sick somewhere in there which I account to the stress, really. It’s only now that December is entering its end that I feel I finally have a bit of breathing room and space back to myself. It is still a bit strange, and it’s hard to get back into the groove of things, but I am finally starting to feel at ease. So with that my blogging will start to resume again ever so slowly. I really would like to get some writing done for my own personal story I have been working on and there are a few end of the year blog posts I really hope to make. It will be a slow process but things are finally starting to come back.

Organizing all my gaming and anime collection has been both the highlight and hardest thing about this move. Without a basement I really do lack my old game room I used to have and storage is limited which means sadly a lot of my older games are now going to have to settle to live in storage in the garage for the time being. This puts a huge collection of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games into storage and while I was super proud of those collection in paticular I decided to focus my small space on other consoles. Because of that I have managed to get a respectable level of display space in my room for my portable gaming collection and current generation titles which feels good enough for me now. Gone are the days I was able to flaunt some Limited Editions sets, but let’s be honest, those limited editions really were just huge space takers and dust magnets.

Anime fared a lot better and I feel I got a majority of them out. My DVD media shelf really grew into a nightmare all its own–and what I thought was enough space was not nearly enough. I wanted there to be room to grow for the DVD shelf but there wasn’t enough room period. I got a large majority of my favorites on display and seeing all my old Gundam DVDs out of storage really felt special. Alas Gundam and Dragon Ball pretty much destroyed any chance of reasonably displaying other DVD sets so it is what it is, I have to admit. For the time what I have is fine and the DVDs and Blu-rays no longer have to share the same storage space which is great.

Speaking of blu-rays I am really happy with what I got for them. There are still tons of room to grow my budding blu-ray collection and I was even able to get my Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Ushio & Tora sets out. Now the LotGH set was quite possibly one of the most stressful things I ever had to move in my entire life surely because of how fragile it is and how much it costs! There was no way I could let it be damaged and went above and beyond when I secured it for the move. Seeing it in perfect condition when I unboxed all my anime set me at ease like a long struggle was finally over.


The last little display piece I feel good about right now is my toy shelf, or perhaps more apt my amiibo shelf. It’s nice to have a lot of space to display my amiibo collection and I look forward to growing it in the future as well. I was also able to get some spots cleared at the very top for my model kits and I plan to grow that even more in the future too–I don’t have nearly enough Gundams!

In closing, I moved, it was tough, but things are finally starting to get comfortable again. There are a few projects I would like to tackle in the upcoming future for my blogging; a long overdo Bravely Second analysis is definitely one of them. It’s been something I planned ever since I did my original Bravely Default analysis and a lot of factors kept causing me to put it off. Now that we had a Bravely Default II announcement though I feel there is no better time than to get around to it. Look forward to that in 2020 and much more.