Anime Review- Lucky Star

Score: 6/10
Coming off the heels of the heartstring tugging K-On!! and the absurdly funny Azumanga Daioh, I found Lucky Star a bit flat. Of the three shows, Lucky Star is by far the most self-aware. It knows exactly what it is and who it is trying to appeal to, and upon achieving that, seeks to do no more. While all of these moe-centric shows are murderously slow and ultimately go practically nowhere as far as plot is concerned, they are redeemed by their breezily entertaining demeanor once you settle into them. Moments of true comedic brilliance shine through every once in a while and even moments of genuine depth are displayed. Lucky Star just doesn't have as many of these moments as its competition. Konata, the main character, is the one unique aspect of the show, essentially a female personification of the otaku lifestyle that many viewers will identify with. Her insights and quips about the obsessive and bizarre nature of otaku culture are by far, the show's best moments- and the most absurd. A certain re-occurring plot theme involving Konata and a group of impassioned manga shop clerks, who idealize her as the otaku's dream girl, are particularly funny because they seem to be in on the show's joke. The gleefully bizarre, Vocaloid referencing OVA conclusion is also a highlight.
    The big problem is that the rest of the time, when the show is in typical schoolgirl moe-show mode, it's just kinda boring. The banter between the four main girls is less nuanced than K-On!!'s and far less abstract than Azumanga Daioh's weirder moments. It's just cookie cutter characters exchanging mundane dialogue about nothing in particular. Look no further than the first episode's 15 minute pastry conversation for an example of the general pacing of the show.
    Lucky Star takes it's look from the 4-panel manga by the same name. The characters are ultra-chibi to the point of being a bit on the overly-simplified side. Their faces don't really emote much. Where as K-On!!'s characters displayed a surprising amount of depth in their subtle facial animations, the same care wasn't taken by KyoAni on this series. I suppose it falls in line with the fact that these characters just don't have the same degree of believability or human attraction.
     Lucky Star may have waned in popularity since K-On!! seemingly took it's place as the epitome of moe anime. Despite a decreased distance between the viewer, the main character essentially serving as a bridge, Lucky Star ultimately shies away from ever taking itself seriously enough to be little more the most derivative thing that moe can be- a sly parody of the schoolgirl tropes aware of it's exploitative nature.

Video Game Review- Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented

Score: 5/10

Despair. Exhaustion. Agony. Not exactly words you would typically want to hear associated with a video game. All the same, the survival horror genre has made it's mark on the history of video games by forcing its players to experience these very emotions. It's an essential part of what makes the games what they are and if you take it away, they become nothing more than extremely clunky action adventure games. By the same token, the survival horror genre is granted a good deal of leniency to mess with gamers, whether it be in the form of incoherent plot, unfair difficulty, shoddy controls and camera, or just plain bad gameplay because, you know, it's designed that way to screw with you. The high water mark of the survival horror genre happened when this concept was still novel and intriguing, the emphasis was put into the art, story and music, and before games, in general, became so damn streamlined. To narrow it down to a single game, this high water mark would be 2001's Silent Hill 2, a game that was equally terrifying, enigmatic, heartbreaking, and somehow beautiful. Although it was painful to play and not what you would call a "fun" video game, it was a towering achievement in the argument for video games as art because it sought to elicit the emotions that the main protagonist would feel in the given scenario, and it achieved this perhaps more so than any other video game… ever. 
The Fatal Frame series is famed for being the third wheel of the survival horror golden age. While Resident Evil was more fun and Silent Hill had the best stories, Fatal Frame had the distinction of being the scariest. Its novel idea of having you enter a first-person camera mode to combat ghosts set it apart and gave the series it's greatest strength- the sheer terror of having a ghastly apparition rush towards your face, emitting a horrid shriek. It's fucking scary- as scary in the third entry into the series as it was before. So why is it that Fatal Frame 3 isn't another stellar addition to the survival horror pantheon?
    Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented might be one of the most aptly named games ever made. Tormented is exactly how I would describe my experience in this game. Imagine, if you will, a nightmare where you continually roam a creepy haunted manor being constantly scared shitless and having no idea where to go or what to do. That is both the concept AND the story of this game and the game. You taken the role of three kids as they take turns wandering (very slowly) through the same dilapidated Japanese manor unlocking doors and battling ghosts… in their dreams! Because the game sticks to this concept or a reoccurring nightmare so faithfully, it can be hard to fault the game for being so exhaustingly repetitive. The extreme difficulty and ghosts that refuse to die seem to reinforce the idea that the game is, in fact, fucking with you and you are supposed to be miserable. This is survival horror, after all.
    Then you come to realize that the game is just plain evil. It literally never gives you any decent hints as to where you are supposed to go, making every stage of the game an entire manor-wide search for something slightly different, running from the same ghosts who you already killed, who take away half of your health the second they touch you. Said manor is where the entire game takes place. It's definitely big, but it's not enormous either. Every step of the game, you keep thinking "I've got to be able to leave soon right?" Wrong. Just to put things into perspective, it's about the size of the Spencer mansion in Resident Evil. Just the actual mansion part. That's the entire game. Oh, and the real kicker is that the game took me 20 hours to beat! If you've ever played a survival horror game, you know that there is something seriously wrong here. These type of games never last for more than ten hours. Honestly, you wouldn't want them to last any longer. Hell, Silent Hill 3 only clocks in at about 5 hours! By the end you are fried and just want to see the thing to its bloody resolution. Fatal Frame 3 could have been easily chopped in half and it would have been a much slicker, easily digestible experience. Instead, it chooses to be this long, arduous, gradual descent into utter despair.
    There is a metric ton of backtracking in this game. That's what the game essentially it. You have this manor to wander around, and you have to find a bunch of things, unlock a bunch of doors, kill a bunch of ghosts in the same rooms over and over and over again. Sound miserable? Yeah it is. Pair this antagonistic level design with the fact that the game is just downright pants-shiningly scary and you have a surefire game that you will always dread playing.
    I mean, if you look at the game purely in terms of its ability to make you scream like a girl, its at the top of its class. The sound design is very high quality and the voices, singing, and droning sounds you hear around the mansion will put you on edge so that when a ghost pops out, often times you just lose it. Certain scenarios are set up just to make you freak out too. Here's an example: A doll randomly falls off a dresser in an eerily still room. When you bring the viewfinder of your camera up to get a better look, there is a bloody eyed ghost an inch away from your face who promptly releases a ear shattering scream and contorts her face to a demented scowl as she lunges at you. As a side note, I find it extremely odd that the faces of the ghosts are so able to convey a wide range of convincing and horrific expressions, yet the protagonists are the among most emotionless, expressionless wind-up-dolls you will find in any game.
    In the end, the story is decent. More importantly, actually, is the wealth of expansions made to the overarching mythology of the series. The games all concern various fictional-yet-believable sacrificial rituals that supposedly took place in traditional Japan. Each one of this is delightfully twisted, poetic and heartbreaking. They are what the games are really about, not the adventures of slow-moving Japanese kids with magic cameras. Fatal Frame 3 is a decidedly weaker outing than Fatal Frame 2 because it seems like the developers half assed a lot of aspects of the game. The area of the game is significantly smaller. Not enough time was spent on distinguishing the progression of the game. It's lopsided to the point where you can access all but a couple rooms only a third of the way into the game. There are a few new half baked mechanics, like a home base, that never pay off. Hell, there's even less variety of ghosts than before. It's obvious that the game was a downgrade from it's predecessor in almost every regard. So, while you could say that in some regards, Fatal Frame 3 is an agonizing experience by design (and I would agree), it does not make up for the fact that it is essentially a borderline broken game. Very few games have been this difficult for me to finish, based mainly on the fact that every time I looked at the box, I got a deep sinking feeling in my gut. This game should be commended however, for being on of the most hardcore survival horror experience anywhere. I thoroughly believe that if you can make it through this, you can make it through anything.

Anime Review: Gankutsuo- The Count of Monte Cristo

 Score: 5/10

While I will admit that I have not read of the classic revenge novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, Gankutsuo certainly appears to be a more interesting entry into the ever-growing heap of remakes of this tale. However, it failed to make a real impression. It certainly has some commendable qualities, but in the end, its jumbled and inconsistent visuals, stilted dialogue and murderously slow pace ruin any chance of redemption.
    The most immediately striking thing about this series in the visual style. Let me make this clear- there is a difference between visual style and animation. The show's visual style is rather stunning. It's main trick is that it employs complex textures and patterns in the coloring of any and everything. This looks pretty cool as long as things are still. The animation, however, suffers greatly because when all of these detailed textures begin moving, all depth and illusion of real texture is lost. Instead of the designs moving with the items that they are transposed on top of, they just stay still. Thing look like jarring kaleidoscopic acid trips more often than not and its just way to much to take in. Interestingly, this visual style is actually extremely reminiscent of the way that thing seem to form complex patterns when under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs. Perhaps the first anime conceived on acid? Somehow I highly doubt it, actually.
    Gankustsuo, overall, just ends up being a case of the good being slightly edged out by the bad. There is a good foundation plot from the original source material… but the they end up adding mechs, immortal demons, space travel and a plethora of needless non-sequitors. The story actually ends up in a very different place than the original tale, actually. While there is some genuine moments of emotion near the end of this overly-long series, the majority of the plot points are played out with the stilted melodrama of a high school play. The english voice actors, aside from the titular character, are awful. The main protagonist, Albert, is possibly the most whiny, insipid character I have witnessed in an anime, ever. The dialogue between him and best friend Franz is particularly uninspiring. It really is an example of just how bad anime translation can get, both actors doing what they can to make sense of a conversation that has more holes and ridiculous lines than the Matrix movies.
    The setting of the show is a rather baffling juxtaposition of 19th century aristocratic France and science-fiction space-opera. The characters travel in space freely and battle in giant mechs, yet they still write letters on parchment and travel in horse drawn carriages. It's like the artists couldn't decide on a consistent motif so they just threw all of their influences into the tub and saw what came together. All of these sporadic technologies and settings create a lack of believable space and time. If you have no relatable setting and no relatable characters, what is there? Just a somewhat-interesting story which takes entirely too long to reach its climax. This series could have easily been a 13 episode series instead of a 26. My mind literally goes blank when trying to recall important plot points from the middle of the series. The big question of the series, whether or not the Count is really evil, just ends up being answered 3/4 of the way through when we find out his backstory. The 15 episodes after the beginning but before that are often mind-numbingly boring. I honestly struggled to finish this series along-side Lucky Star. Lucky Star, dammit!
    Gankutsuo is actually pretty critical acclaimed and I'm not really sure why. Perhaps it's story is a subtle one, revealing itself slowly through repeated viewing ala Neon Genesis Evangelion. Maybe the dub is just garbage and left a bitter taste in my mouth. However, I really don't feel like this should weigh so heavily on the overall experience. Plenty of great pieces of entertainment has cheesy, stilted dialogue. Quentin Tarantino, anyone? Maybe it's the visuals, filled with ambition and moments of beauty but ending up looking like a few too many ideas thrown together. Gankutsuo wants to be a series that is sophisticated in the classic sense of French materialistic excess. However, as we see here, all that glitters in not gold.