Here Is An Irrelevant Title

Let this (Re)set the tone for the rest of this post.

Except probably not. So I figured that I'd take some time to write something before the year ends. There isn't a whole lot to say but I must admit this festive season has been quite good for self-indulgence (read: eating); well it's fine since for some strange reasons I can't seem to gain weight. Anyway I talked about a2c being featured on Maon Kurosaki's Vanishing Point back in July, and I have been meaning to do this for a while now so here's Maon's first full-length album, "Butterfly Effect", which was released at the end of last month.

Move your mouse over it. The album starts with an introductory track which really doesn't seem to flow into "Vanishing Point", the highlight of the album, all that well. Indeed the more pop-oriented songs that have been put in between the heavier rock tracks make the album feel as if it is lacking in consistency, which is rather unfortunate because it ends up destroying the album's momentum. I wouldn't really know but some of you may find that a few songs sound familiar; Magic∞world and メモリーズ・ラスト, the ending songs of To Aru Majutsu no Index II; ANSWER, the opening to the To Aru Majutsu no Index PSP game; and SCARS, the ending theme of HELLSING IX OVA. All in all it's not a bad effort from Maon for her first album. It'd be interesting to see what directions she will take for her next release; will she stick with rock songs that seem to suit her or will she go for dance pop that feels a little off? The butterfly effect indeed.

While everyone is busying themselves with WHITE ALBUM 2 ~closing chapter~, which is getting rave reviews; I played Corona the Dragon Maiden for a bit instead.

There have been quite a number of changes made to the battle system, it is now simpler in many ways. Firstly there is no usage limit on the skills and I very much welcome that; secondly the team formation has been modified to allow a more free and faster combat environment, due to the fact that everyone can now attack and/or support at the same time; thirdly the implementation of a new HP/Life system, every player character comes with a barrier (enemies tend to have 3 to 4 barriers) that has elemental strengths and weaknesses. The barrier points are essentially a character's HP, and once the points are depleted, the character will lose a Life Point. Unless the barrier is restored, every subsequent attack will cause the character to lose one LP which results in the character's death withdrawal once it reaches zero; and lastly the introduction of Field Skills which range from damaging a group of enemies (which I thought is rather pointless) to restoring LP (this will revive the withdrawn characters, despite making me initially believe otherwise).

Whatever Kaname is wearing, I think she's missing the left strip

Yeah I hope it's not just me who's seeing it. All those changes basically made the game easier in my opinion, which mind you isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's mostly just selecting the right party members since the elemental attributes play a big part in the game. During the early stages you might want to turn off Kumi's reaction skill which makes her tank for others, as she has arguably the worst elemental affinity in the whole game. A couple of other things that caught my attention is that Kaname's "Blue Melting Boundary" at max level (reduces opponents' attack power by 550) pretty much renders most if not all attacks useless against her; and Touka is better off not having a barrier sometimes and just rely on his "Parry" skill since it allows him to dodge any attack, just make sure that there is sufficient MP left to use it.

Best swimsuit ever?

The story is average at best. It felt as if the writers took ideas from other works and didn't really try to add their own creativity, which resulted in too many convenient plot devices. You will find out why there are clock gears everywhere soon enough. There were some funny moments but also a couple of scenes that made me headdesk. The cast is likable but it's impossible to hide the fact that their personalities and designs are all quite generic. The art is decent and the music has some memorable tracks, maybe because one battle track sounded like "Magus Night". I also spotted a few egregious typos. Anyways I'm going to hold off giving my final impression until the party meets up with Yumina and all, since it looks like the story is going to relate back to Yumina the Ehtereal which seemingly involves the destructive nature of Corona's kind.

Dem detached sleeves

That's about it I guess. I know what I had forgotten to write but let's leave them for next year. It's still a few days too early but you all have a happy new year~