Wish You Were Here

Although it feels like there isn't much of a difference whether they are here or not, my pre-orders have finally arrived after what seemed like a few months and a little more due to unforeseen circumstances. Everything must be delayed these days. No exception.

Occasionally I wonder why I keep buying merchandise from series that I don't even follow. Along with the scantily clad Cryska Barchenowa (Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse), I've got Wakana Sakai (Tari Tari) and Ultimate Madoka nendoroids as well. Cute, if not slightly underwhelming compared with my other nendoroids for reasons I can't quite explain. I just hope Madoka doesn't suddenly fall and break one day, I can't deal with that.

Lately I've been masochistically reading quite a number of light novels, meanwhile my backlog of visual novels keeps growing at a frighteningly steady pace. Hopefully there will be a couple of actually worthwhile titles this month with the much anticipated releases of グリザイアの楽園 and レミニセンス. Although we all know what usually happens when the expectations are too high. For now I will just try to finish 僕とツンデレとハイデガー, provided that I don't get distracted by 月見月理解の探偵殺人 again. The funny thing with Heidegger, Tsundere, and Me is that I've probably spent more time reading about the gender-bent philosophers and their philosophies than the light novel itself.

Certain Uncertainty

Remind me to take an umbrella next time. I feel like I've been posting walls of text for far too long, so I'll make this one short and sweet.

After a few days of (unfounded) anxiety, I have finally overcome all obstacles and accomplished my goals. To celebrate this monumental moment that no one else cares about, here's a little treat for Date A Live fans from me.

 

Yes, higher quality scans of the Volume 4 illustrations. As far as I know, the existing scans online are badly compressed and thus look quite horrid. You just don't do that to Tsunako's art. And it's good news for Kotori fans, the fourth volume is her story after all.

Live A Date

Totally missed March, and it's only the beginning of April yet it's climax already?! I don't know about everyone else but I can feel my motivation fading away, not so slowly and very surely.

Frankly it's a bit odd but I'm going to summarize the story of the latest Date A Live volume, Miku Truth. Although I'd rather be playing Neptunia V instead.

Nightmare, Once More

Try moving your mouse over the italic texts sometimes.

Continuing on from where the sixth volume Miku Lily left off, Kurumi offers to help Shidou rescue Tohka who was captured by DEM. Kurumi says she is helping Shidou because she is looking for someone in DEM and she intends to use Shidou as a distraction. Give and take. Shidou reluctantly agrees, though Kurumi tells him that locating Tohka will take some time. Kurumi reminds Shidou that they need to first take care of Miku, who is sending brainwashed masses after Shidou. After the events of Miku Lily, Shidou thinks it's going to be very difficult to communicate with Miku. Kurumi however, wonders if Miku had always had a warped view of humanity (and men in particular). She asks Shidou to search through Miku's personal belongings and if her hunch were right, he may be able to find Miku's weakness.

Meanwhile Tohka is being interrogated by Ellen who says that DEM is preparing to launch full assault on the Tenguu Square, aiming to capture Miku and the Spirits controlled by her. Elsewhere, Origami wakes up in hospital and learns of the current situation from Mikie. Hearing that Shidou is missing, Origami feels frustrated and powerless because she's failed to protect him even though she took the risk of using the White Lycoris without permission.

At Miku's residence, Shidou is getting teased by Kurumi about him cross-dressing in Miku Lily. After some sexual harassment from Kurumi, Shidou finds Miku's music CDs, though the name on the covers reads "Tsukino Yoimachi". Listening to the CD, Shidou recognizes Miku's singing but its liveliness is very different from the entrancing voice she has now. The confused Shidou soon finds another important piece of clue, a seemingly ordinary photo of Miku. A photo that shouldn't have existed. However, Shidou knows that there is another possibility. Kurumi uses the Tenth Bullet -Yud- on the photo and CDs to peek into Miku's past, but the sound of Miku's Army Breaker Diva -Gabriel- interrupts Kurumi before she can explain to Shidou about Miku's oddity. Knowing that soon everyone in the area will be after him, Shidou and Kurumi decide to confront Miku directly.

The Tale Of A Bird That Couldn't Fly

So much for the bluebird of happiness.

Almost 5 years after the original release of 殻ノ少女, the story of Touko Kuchiki, a girl who wished to find her true self and ultimately to be free, finally comes to an end with the conclusion of 虚ノ少女. And yet, as if to reflect its title, the story has left me with a feeling of emptiness thanks to its abrupt and somewhat anticlimactic ending.

Since Innocent Grey insisted on pronouncing the names of both games as Kara no Shoujo, I will be referring to the second game as Kara no Shoujo 2 for the sake of clarity. With all things considered, the overarching story of the second game doesn't really have a very strong connection to its title. Indeed, the sole purpose of KnS 2 may very well be to bring closure on the fate of Touko. And by doing so, the game raises fresh questions that doubtless serve to pave the way for a sequel.

Thankfully (?) the rest of the game is nothing like this

Taking place two years after the original game, KnS 2 follows the private detective Reiji Tokisaka as he continues his search for Touko, who was kidnapped by the young writer and serial killer Shinji Mamiya. When a nurse is found dead in a grisly and bizarre manner, Reiji accepts the cocky superintendent Yaginuma's request to solve the case. He soon meets and enlists the help of Touji Aoki (from Cartagra) who provides him with useful information on the murder cases, as well as the whereabouts of Shinji.

Joining Reiji on his investigation is Tomoyuki Masaki, whom Reiji's sister Yukari saves from a suicide attempt. Sensing the link between Masaki and the cases, Reiji takes him in as an assistant to keep an eye on him. In the meantime, Yukari befriends her new classmate Yukiko Kayahara, a meek and mysterious girl who is troubled by recurring dreams of murders.

Masaki's true identify soon comes to light with the visit of his childhood friend Meguri Takamiya, who comes to Tokyo looking for Masaki's cousin and good friend Naori Kuroya. Reiji's investigation eventually leads him and Masaki back to the latter's hometown Hitogata, a secluded and traditional village in the snowy mountains of Toyama prefecture. Together with the hard-boiled Inspector Inui, they set out to confront and uncover dark secrets of the village once and for all.

その少女は、虚に支配されていた―。

Arbitrary Utopia

This is going to be a fun one.

I don't know why but I finished GEARS of DRAGOON -迷宮のウロボロス-, in the sense that I completed every ending and collected every CG. All I can say is, what a journey it has been. I almost thought I wasn't going to survive the storm of cliches that the game brought to my little world. Once again I was left speechless, or rather too busy laughing at what I perceived to be a lack of sincerity and professionalism on the game writers' part. How they can read their own stories and not fall off their chairs laughing is beyond me, seeing as how my chair almost fell off me and flew straight outside the window.

Gears of Dragoon is a dungeon crawler, much like the classic Wizardry and the newer Etrian Odyssey, except its poorly designed 3D dungeons are painful to look at and frustrating to navigate through. Wait, I was supposed to start with the better aspects of the game first. It's actually a decent game with a surprisingly addictive enchanting system. I probably had more fun crafting and enchanting equipments than rushing through the dungeons just so I could get to the next chapter. The art is alright and some of the music tracks are fairly good, but it's never a good sign if I brought up the art and music so early. Indeed everything else about the game left a pretty bad impression on me, with the most glaring problem being the terrible writing.

It's like they added Conrad just to fill up the space

Ever wondered what happens when the most generic characters come together in a most generic story? Gears of Dragoon comes dangerously close to that. The main character Ladius, who conveniently has amnesia, is irritatingly impetuous and stubborn. Filia, whom I take to be the main heroine since she gets the most scenes, has a repulsively bubbly personality which turns out to be "fake" as she is really an overpowered and emotionless anti-Durga/Rudra (why the Hindi names?) killing machine called Dynamis. Oh and her only flaw is that she can't cook. Bravo Japan, you've done it again. Who'd have thought that it was a bad idea to put a powerful system on someone who would then develop a weak, dependent and unstable personality? Right, Noel?