Another Heaven

I know I'm never on time with this kind of thing, but I wish everyone who chances upon this lazy quarter of the internet a happy New Year. I'm certain that this year is going to be quite exciting with many things to look forward to. So don't stop taking it easy just yet.

Amazingly enough it's already been 3 years since the last time that the G5 Project had done anything together, and no doubt many have been eagerly anticipating a new album for a long time. I personally didn't feel like it's really been that long since G5 2010, mostly because Godspeed had put out G.O.D. and Growl in the meantime. It's difficult to describe the feeling I had when I found out that a new G5 album was slated for release at the Winter Comiket, but I wasn't too thrilled about it. Indeed, it was with some skepticism that I bought the album, because the era when crossfades could be trusted had long since gone. Yet at the same time I was aching to hear the evolution of some of my favourite guitarists' music. My life is truly blessed with ambivalence.

Even if I tried my hardest, it would have been difficult not to compare G5 2013 with the previous albums. In my opinion, G5 2013 is like a totally different beast than what the G5 Project had offered so far. It's aspiring, spontaneous and experimental. There was never a dull moment on the album for me, but on the other hand high points were far and few between. A wild beast, ready to surprise the world with its majestic roar, but has yet to break free of the chains that have been binding it for far too long. That's pretty much how I feel about the album. In that sense I guess one could even say that G5 2013 has more in common with G.O.D. than the other G5 releases.

Strange Attractor

I must have really been out of the loop but no one's told me that setzer had left MintJam and become a supporting member of the band, which he had originally founded with a2c in 2003. He is now concentrating on his own group Polo Rockers, whose M3-30 release Imitation is like one of those strangers you can have a nice chat with and forget about soon after. Indeed, as capable as setzer is, his inability to stand out musically is kind of outstanding in itself. This is what happens when you are in a band with a monster, but even the great a2c seems like he's starting to run out of gas a bit. The guitar works on the single Try to be Brave/Weed Spirit and the mini album Little Monster were technically impressive as always, but lacked the melodic sensibility in a2c's earlier efforts. I'm not sure if this were the direction that a2c and TERRA had decided to take after setzer's departure, but I do hope that they can bring back some of the energy and creativity they had back in the good old days. It seems to me that quite a number of my longtime favourite musicians have been showing signs of burnout, and the quality of their compositions have suffered a lot as a result. Take a break, people. It's better to burn out than to fade away, but once you're gone you can't come back.

As old actors exit the stage, new players make their entrances. Released a few months ago at C84, CHIAROSCURO is perhaps the most inspiring album to come out of the event, and certainly the most ambitious offering from An (AcuticNotes) so far.

Influenced by onoken, particularly the track felys -long mix-, while he was still in high school, An began composing in 2009 and was first featured on a certain Diverse System album before releasing his first solo work Encryption in 2012. The dynamic rhythm and skilful arrangements of various instruments on the album quickly caught my attention, though admittedly I was much less enthusiastic when it came to his contributions on Diverse System albums. The full-length Abstreact, which An considers to be his first proper album since he treats Encryption as a prelude of sorts, saw him experimenting with different approaches while maintaining and perfecting his own style. Strangely enough, the concept album Kathalshame went largely unnoticed, which might have had something to do with the fact that it was much mellower and more ambient than his previous releases. Whereas Abstreact hit me fast and hard with its opener Infectious, Kathalshame left a pleasant impression on me with its closing track VIII.『対岸の話』. Both album had their moments, but overall they suffered from inconsistency either through a lack of a coherent theme, or a few too many filler tracks. That's probably the reason why I was really surprised when I picked up CHIAROSCURO, which had a string of solid tracks that tied that album together nicely.

Farewell To Arms

Next year can't come soon enough. Numerous technical issues aside, Sen no Kiseki was a lot of fun and ended on a massive cliffhanger that left me laughing for a good six minutes. I'm quite impressed by the effectiveness of the ending even though Ao no Kiseki had already spoiled the conclusion to the conflict between the aristocracy and the reformists. Indeed, the time for me to rejoice is still a long way away.

Set in the Erebonian Empire, the story follows Rean Schwarzer as he arrives in the town of Trista to begin his studies at the esteemed Thors Military Academy. During the admission ceremony, Rean becomes acquainted with the soft-spoken Eliot Craig and the two talk very briefly about their distinct crimson uniforms, which set them apart from the majority of students who are dressed in either white or green according to their social classes. As the students leave for their designated classrooms after the ceremony, Rean and a few others are instead taken to an old building behind the academy for their "special orienteering". Once inside, their instructor Sara Valestin informs that they have in fact been selected for Artillery Class "VII" - a new and unique class where the students are chosen without regard to their background. This is very unusual given the widespread segregation between the nobility and the commoners within the empire. Machias Regnitz, who appears to bear some animosity towards the aristocracy, immediately takes issue with this arrangement and almost gets into an argument with the seemingly prideful Jusis Albarea, the second son of the Duke of Albarea, whose family rules the state of Kreuzen as one of the Four Great Prestigious Noble. Before Rean and the others can ask for any clarification about Class VII, they are thrown into a dungeon underneath and must navigate their way back to the ground floor. Puzzled and a little troubled by this turn of events, Class VII nonetheless set out to complete their orienteering in hope of getting some answers.

What lies ahead of them, however, are hardships and challenges that they would have never expected to face as a group of students. This is the story of Class VII, and the story of Erebonia, a mighty empire whose very foundations will soon be shaken to their core.

Use Your Illusion

Just another day. Amassing and training groups of cute girls turned out to be a lot more time-consuming and heartbreaking than I had expected. The fact that my luck seems to have gone really rotten lately only adds insult to injury. This whole experience sometimes feels more exhausting than plodding up Canton Avenue.

I'm of course talking about Lemuria of Phosphorescent, which has just celebrated its first anniversary not long ago. Frankly I don't even remember how I got into browser games, but after suffering through the monotonous Gun Blood Days, which I quit playing months before its termination of service this April, I somehow discovered Lemuria of Phosphorescent and the rest is all history now. Before I knew it, I had been playing it rather actively for more than half a year. Although at one point I was unsure if I were actually getting anywhere in the game, joining the top guild on the server had certainly cast away all my doubts and essentially motivated me to put some more effort into the game.

A few weeks ago I would have probably sneered at a team like this, but now I'm laughing at myself for spending so much time and energy putting together teams with a balanced build, which should have ideally produced Strikers who could deal, withstand and avoid damage. Sounds too good to be true? It sure is. The balanced build, while decent for early parts of the game, begins to fall short of specialized builds as with many balanced things, its weakness lies in the fact that it lacks an edge that makes it truly stand out. With this team, the idea was to ditch agility completely in favour of defence. Quite a bold decision considering that the Keyblade master Justina's skill 光滅刃 (Attack + 20%, Evasion + 24%, Shield + 50) actually meant that I could have gone for a dodge ball team instead, as the vanguard's skill affects the whole team against bosses. However, I was quite adamant on creating a team who is so tough that even the bosses struggle to scratch them, since the Shield ability can virtually reduce all damage to just 1. A normal Justina was picked specifically for her Shield ability, because her rare skill シャインズハルト (Attack + 35%, Hit + 20%, Armour-Piercing Damage + 150) is purely offence-oriented, and I wasn't too keen on making her a pure damage dealer. Shield is just too good a ability to pass on. It's such a shame that I missed out on the best meat shields so far - Mugino with her rare skill メルトダウナー (Attack + 45%, Defence + 10%, Shield + 70) and Misaka with her normal skill 砂鉄ブレード  (Attack + 35%, Armour-Piercing Damage + 100, Shield + 80).

Good Manners And Customs

While I was looking for some art books the other day, I came across the third volume of Date AST Like which I then picked up as I was mildly curious about the finer details of the Ashcroft project. There seems to be a general lack of information on the spinoff, which is not too surprising considering its focus. Since I had already touched on the story before, I figured I'd briefly run through the new volume and whatnot. Hopefully this will fix any mistake I may have made and clear things up a bit more than the last time.

Let's quickly recapitulate the major events so far. DEM develop five special CR-Units as part of a new project. Four of them are transported to the AST base in Tenguu city, while the first unit Alice is left in the care of Okamine Heavy Industries. Three former SSS members succeed in hijacking three of the Ashcroft units at the end of the first volume. The next volume begins with Mikie accidentally unlocking and equipping the fifth unit Cheshire Cat before the hijackers can get their hands on it. She later attends the demonstration of the Alice with Origami, Mana and Ryouko. The SSS trio attempt to steal the unit but Origami takes it after Mikie's father gives her the password. That about sums it up, I think. On a related note, I forgot to mention that while DEM build Realizers, the subsequent task of developing them into CR-Units are typically left to other companies.

I have said before that the Alice provides protection against other Wizards' Territory, but it actually does much more than just that. The CR-Unit specializes in the composition of Protect Territory. In practice, the unit was able to deploy a barrier so thick that neither the SSS trio nor the AST girls could break through. Furthermore, the barrier could be extended to create a boundary field. Ashley and Leo nevertheless managed to get away thanks to Origami's overconfidence, which allowed Cecil a chance for a sneak attack on Origami that weakened the barrier.

Artemisia? More like teenage Vert amirite?

Inside her solitary confinement cell, Cecil tells Mikie about her group's "stolen lover" - one of the world's five best Wizards and the top ace of the SSS - Artemisia B Ashcroft. I kind of left out details about the SSS trio and their relationship with Artemisia the last time since I mostly wanted to talk about the Ashcroft units, so here goes. Cecil is a fairly amiable girl who lost her eyesight in a spacequake prior to joining the SSS; Ashley is short, brash and a bit of a lone wolf; Leo is tall and tough-looking but she is actually a crybaby. As for their relationship with Artemisia, she's an irreplaceable friend of theirs and the glue that held the group together - a role which has since been passed down to Cecil after Artemisia's departure. Artemisia eventually left the SSS for DEM as the latter wished to study the unique properties of her Territory. She thought they were going to put her powers to saving the world, but she couldn't have been more wrong.