It’s Friday again, and that means time for an anime review, and this is one I particularly recommend, especially if you’re looking for a nice anime with lots of useful vocabulary. Granted, I recommend this anime even if you’re not learning Japanese, as it’s really fun. That anime is Azumanga Daioh!
Doing what they do best - slice of life stuff!
Plot Overview: This is a slice-of-life anime, meaning that we just following the lives of six girls throughout their three years of high school. In other words, it’s a show about nothing, Seinfeld style. There’s no intricate plot, no deep characters, or anything of the sort, yet it’s highly addicting to watch.
Basically, these three characters enter high school together (in Japan there’s only three years of it) and we watch them up until graduation. The whole thing takes place in only one season and is full of neat little situations.
Artwork: The artwork is incredibly basic, although it offers one thing I really like about it – no weird-looking characters. By that I mean everyone has either black or brown hair, and it doesn’t stick up in weird, impossible directions. The anime tries to stay within the limits of reality, as much as is possible whilst still remaining entertaining, and I welcome the change. That’s not to say those little blue-haired girls aren’t cute, but I find it distracting in anime of this style.
Animation: Again, extremely basic, and you can tell that a lot of it is recycled throughout the episodes, especially as the series draws to a close. It can be distracting, but the charm of this series is in the characters and situations, not in how amazing it looks. Granted, I feel that it could have been improved, but it doesn’t detract from the show so much as to make it unwatchable. Indeed, I watched it marathon style, and while some of the animation made me cringe a bit, it didn’t make me dislike anything.
Action: Any action present in this anime comes in the form of a sports festival or a wild daydream by one of the characters. Oh, and if you count Yukari’s driving…
Music: Okay, it’s not exactly The Vision of Escaflowne, but there’s some memorable little tunes throughout the show. The melodies are simple and do their job, but they don’t really do more than their job. The characters carry this show from start to finish, whereas nothing else plays that big of a role in it.
Character Development: There’s a bit of it here and there; about as much as can be expected from an anime of this genre. Sakaki comes slightly out of her shell, and there’s a few other things as well. Mostly these kids just grow up, which is both joyful and sorrowful.
Tone: If I had to compare this anime to anything, it would be Charlie Brown. Whilst simple, it captures us. Granted, it doesn’t have any religious or social commentary the way Charlie Brown delivers, and the adults are actually present and audible (sometimes perverted), but it retains that simplicity. It’s about a group of friends and their interactions throughout high school. There’s no dating (although they appear a bit curious about relationships), but Japanese high schoolers aren’t as big on the dating scene as Americans and other Westerns.
This anime is extremely funny, however. The situations are the kinds that anybody can find themselves in (great for sentence mining if you can find a decent transcript), but they are always a great deal of fun to watch. Don’t believe me, here’s a few clips.
Pacing: This is a hard one to talk about. It’s slow, naturally, but it’s not too slow. Actually, I thought the whole thing went by pretty quickly, and was a bit sad that not more episodes were made. Oh well. There’s always the manga it’s based on.
Dubbing: I’m not a fan of it at all. I think it’s mostly due to Osaka’s southern accent, because apparently when you dub an Osakan, they should speak like they’re from the deep south. Granted, it tends to get lighter and thicker depending on the whim of the translators, or the voice actress, but it’s annoying. I much prefer the Japanese voices.
Recommended? Of course! Granted, some people will find it not to their liking, but for those of us who enjoy a good laugh and a slice-of-life theme, then this is easily one of the best anime you’ll find in this genre. The characters are all likable and relatively down-to-earth, and you’ll definitely find their antics endearing. If you’re looking for an anime that is relatively simple to follow (you know, if you’re trying to wean yourself off of subtitles), then this one gets a very high recommendation from me.
Yes, I know it’s Monday, but I was busy Friday working on my second part of Anki. Anyway, Today I’m reviewing The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Plot Overview: Cynical Kyon finds himself going to high school surrounded by aliens, espers, time travelers, and one very, very powerful teenage girl, Haruhi Suzumiya. I’m sure everyone has heard of this anime before, as it seems to have taken the otaku subculture by storm, thanks to it’s witty characters, excellent script, and that one dance.
Basically, Kyon meets Haruhi, an eccentric girl who wishes to meet aliens, espers, time travelers, and basically anyone who isn’t “normal” since that bores her. Dragging our poor protagonist into making an unofficial club, the SOS Brigade, of which its sole mission is to find these abnormal characters and have fun with them, she then manages to kidnap (I think Koizumi came willingly, and she apparently inherited Yuki along with the room) a few other students to complete the club. Oddly enough, each member secretly reveals themselves to Kyon to actually be the kinds of people Haruhi is interested in, and that Haruhi herself is probably the most powerful being on earth, though she doesn’t realize it, apparentlyhaving the ability to change reality to match her own worldview. If they aren’t careful, Haruhi might get really bored, and then it’s sayonara for everyone and everything in existence!
Artwork: The artwork for this show is very good. You can tell that a lot of time went into it, from the small details of the clubroom to the computers they use. The beauty of this anime is in the details, and there’s enough here to make everything look spectacular. Each moment and each mood is captured perfectly, the characters always look good, and the show always manages to stay interesting because of the artwork… even endless eight… maybe…
Animation: The animation is also top-notch. The movements are fluid and seldom ackward, managing to make each character look and feel real. At first I was worried about Haruhi, because energetic characters tend come off as overdone sometimes in animation (thinks of Ouran High School Host Club), but Haruhi’s abundant energy seems unique and natural.
On the other hand, Kyon manages to stay subdued, yet interesting, letting his body do most of his talking for him with frequent shoulder shrugs and a deadpan expression. The even more subdued Nagato is animated in a way that keeps her a mystery, yet doesn’t steal from her unique character. She’s given a few quirks, unlike other “silent girl” anime characters.
Beyond the characters, the animation always stays good, never faltering and always keeping appropriate to the tone set by each scene.
Action: To be perfectly honest, there isn’t much action in this show, seeing as how it’s more about characters and solving problems in a more interpersonal way than fighting an external conflict. However, this scene is more than enough to make up for the lack of action!
Music: This category also gets high marks from me, and I’m sure it does from a lot of other reviewers as well. The music isn’t Escaflowne, but the simple background tunes match perfectly, and the openings and endings of each season are very good. The songs are what really draw people to this anime initially, I think. At least, it’s how I found it.
Character Development: Again, very strong in this area. Granted, Koizumi and Mikuru are still a bit of a mystery, but Yuki seems to be developing a lot, as well as Kyon and Haruhi. The other, more background characters seem to get a decent amount as well. If the series continues, I’m certain that we’ll be seeing even more in this area.
Granted, Yuki started out as a blank slate of a character, so she really had nowhere to go but up, and these types of anime characters usually go way up.
Tone: This is a witty, yet light-hearted anime. It manages to be nerdy and full of obscure references that some may not get, yet it remains engaging and almost impossible to hate. At the surface, it seems like just another wacky anime, but it manages to stay exceptionally fresh, and has a large fanbase for a reason.
Pacing: The first season’s episodes were deliberately aired out of order, mixing things up considerably, and the second season had a terribly long arc known as Endless Eight. While the pacing is good (except for Endless Eight), it’s difficult to judge, seeing as how things are out of order.
Dubbing: I can’t really say anything, seeing as how I’ve never bothered to watch it. If you’re learning Japanese (and if you’re reading this blog, I assume you are), then you should really kick the dub habit.
Recommended? Most definitely! Probably more so than any other anime I’ve reviewed thus far, in fact. It’s really, really hard to dislike this show, seeing as how it has such widespread appeal. There’s always something to like in it, even when it doesn’t fit your tastes exactly. At the very least, check out the first season. I can see waiting on the second one, but the first is a must-see.
This is the box set I recommend. It’s only season 1 (season 2 hasn’t been released in America yet), and it’s the highest quality DVD I’ve come across. I didn’t like the other “complete” collection. It was just formatted wrong or something.
Update: For everyone coming here looking for a review of TextFugu, this post is out of date. It was written when TextFugu was in its infancy, and is a first-impression review. A more accurate and up-to-date review is here.
Textfugu makes the incredibly bold statement, “Best way to teach yourself Japanese, guaranteed.” I’ve been meaning to review Textfugu for a while, as Koichi is a hardworking guy who endlessly promotes the Japanese language. He’s a very successful marketer, has a vibrant personality, and is actually dedicated to your success, not his. Well, I wouldn’t wager he’s that selfless, but you get the idea. So, what do I make of his product? It’s a mixed bag, but I’m going to spoil the review by saying I’m glad I bought it. However, that doesn’t mean that Textfugu isn’t without its flaws, so here’s my complete review. Oh, but before that, I’m going to offer a disclaimer. Namely, Textfugu doesn’t yet offer lessons for my level, so a lot of this is the hypothetical if-I-was-starting-again kind of thing, and may not be 100% accurate.
Textfugu is basically an online textbook, but specifically addresses the self-learner. It deals in “seasons” with each season comprising of a series of lessons, and I gather that each season is supposed to take approximately a month to complete. There’s a separate section for studying kanji.
Since Textfugu is specifically designed to center around self-learners, Koichi’s first task was to find out why self-learners have this nasty habit of failing and to make Textfugu a better way to learn. I must say that Koichi does this quite well. He pinpoints the biggest problems with self-learners and does his best to make Textfugu overcome these hurdles.
He gets a good portion of vocabulary out of the way right at the start, as well as some basic grammar. After this point, he accurately predicts how you’re feeling and tells you why you feel that way. He also offers motivation and study tips to help you stay focused on learning Japanese. I really appreciated these chapters. Why? Because I’ve never seen another book address this. AJATT addresses it pretty good, and I know some people would love to compare their styles, but AJATT also doesn’t attempt to teach Japanese, just offer a method for learning it. As such, Textfugu scores big points for this one. Stay motivated, Japanese students!
Another thing I enjoy is the way that Textfugu does kanji. Personally, I was afraid of kanji for a long time, and by that, I mean more than reasonable. I finally started working my way through Remembering the Kanji. As such, I don’t want to switch methods now, but looking at Textfugu’s kanji section, I can safely say that Koichi has the right idea. In fact, his method is, in small ways, similar to Heisig’s in that the kanji just keep building on each other. Great way to learn the kanji, and to get into a good rhythm of studying it.
I think this is important because usually a textbook will offer you 300 odd kanji to learn by the end of the book, but it won’t give you any way of remembering them or learning them! Moreover, the kanji it throws at you is usually in a weird order. So, again, Textfugu shines in this area by making kanji not only easy to learn, but actually comprehendible.
I also like the way the lessons build on each other. Each new lessons feels like you’re getting into something way different, whereas traditional text books can sometimes take baby steps so small, you wonder if you’ve accomplished anything much by doing the lesson. Not to mention, Koichi has an interesting story going on, which is a lot better than the dialogue stories you get in traditional textbooks. This way, you’ll have great writing skills in Japanese, which is something that we self-learners occasionally lack.
Also, Textfugu has a great community. Tofugu is a popular blog, and its followers seem to have migrated to Textfugu. What does this mean? It means that the people at Textfugu are pretty passionate about what they’re learning. You can meet them in the forums, although you’ll have to sign up for that separately.
Now, Textfugu still has its problems, some of them unavoidable. A good example of the unavoidable problems is that it can seem a bit boring at first. Smart.fm (a review coming soon for that one) is heavily utilized at the beginning of the course, so you basically do a lot of memorizing. It’s well worth it, and a quick glance at the lists tells me that Koichi really wants you to get conversational fast, but that doesn’t change the fact that a ton of memorization is just less than fun. Still, you can’t really get around that, no matter where you go or what you do.
Another problem, and a blessing at the same time, is that Textfugu isn’t a traditional textbook. What am I talking about? It updates. This is great because sometimes when you get to that certain level in language learning, it can be hard to find an intermediate or advanced book that you actually like, especially if you’ve gotten used to the style of the beginner’s book you were studying. Textfugu will always update and give you what you need. In the long run, this is excellent, but right now it can be problematic. For example, it’ll be a while before Textfugu reaches my level, and you have to wait until the updates come, although I go through all of its lessons anyway. I really only got it when I did because I knew the price would only go up.
That leads me to the last problem. Pricing can get expensive. I mean, the guy’s gotta eat, and Textfugu is his full-time job. When Textfugu first hit the market, it was around $50. Not to mention, once you paid that fee, no matter what pricing system Textfugu would adopt, you would have a lifetime membership and not have to pay anything afterwards. Great deal! The pricing is a bit trickier now. I think there’s a monthly subscription. I don’t know if I could afford Textfugu now (unsteady income alert), so I’m glad I got it when I did!
All in all, though, Textfugu is a great product. I highly recommend it, especially if you have a hard time finding that right book or software and this blog hasn’t helped your decision so far! So go check it out. The first few lessons are free, so you have nothing to lose.
(Disclaimer – This article could be subject to rewriting after my brain comes out of its illiteracy fog)
Plot Overview: I’m afraid of giving too much away. Vash is a man who’s wanted for 6 billion dollars for the destruction of July city. Even though people say he destroyed July, no one was killed.
There’s a lot of philosophy and morals. If you like to have to really work to figure out a character’s psychology in order to learn why a character behaves the way he or she does, then this is for you! However, it doesn’t do it in a tricky way, like, say Paranoia Agent or Serial Experiments Lain. It’s an action-packed show that doesn’t rely solely on watching our protagonist invent new fighting moves to win the day.
Artwork: The artwork is okay. There’s a lot better in other anime, but that shouldn’t discourage you from watching this. The character designs are great; especially Legato’s. The only problem is that sometimes it doesn’t look as great as it could. Vash’s design is great, and it’s easy to pick him out amongst the hoard of other anime protagonists, and our two insurance ladies are pretty good as well, but some of the villains are just pathetic.
Animation: Our spoiled brain would consider the animation to be sub-par. There are some very good-looking scenes – most of them fight scenes. Still, some of the animation looks a little choppy. It’s an amazing story that unfortunately didn’t seem to animated with the quality that a lot of anime that came out surrounding it did.
Action: The thing that I found really neat about this anime is the sudden change in style around episode 12. Until then, the action is very one-sided, and you always know that Vash is going to come out on top. Everything is exaggerated and slap-stick during the fighting. However, once the show begins to pick up and Vash’s dark side becomes more visible, the action becomes much more intense and psychologically demanding. It’s a nice turn-around, and I really enjoyed the action; you could count on some in every episode, even if that episode was turned towards character development.
Music: If you’re into western tunes, then this is definitely for you. I don’t care for it too much, but there’s still some great tunes. I like the track where the flute plays softly in the background and there’s no trace of western stuff. It sounds kind of like Suikoden music, actually. Plus, “Sound Life” is a great song! It gets really long after a while, but it has a lot of meaning; at least in the Japanese version it does.
Character Development: Pretty much every character in this show has at least some development. The drunk, the outlaw, and other not-well-known character from the very first episodes at a lot of development, considering they’ll only have a part in one episode only.
Meryl and Milly lack development, which is a slight disappointment, considering they’re main characters, but we still see a glimpse into their lives.
Vash has a lot of character development, because he has so many different personalities. I can only describe Vash as being everything: Funny, kind, compassionate, downright stubborn, dark, troubled, concerned, and a lot more. Basically, he has a bunch of different personalities. We first see him as a donut-eating man who wins all his victories through sheer luck. However, we notice that, while he acts like an idiot, he really knows what he’s doing, but for some reason won’t let anyone see that. Then, we see that he’s sad for some reason. He lives in a kind of melancholy state, making up for it by acting like a loon. Of course, then there’s the dark side. When he’s mad enough, he’ll turn into a monster.
The bad guys aren’t developed a lot, so you really have to work at their psychology to figure it out. It isn’t plainly given away in flashbacks, so you have to do some thinking. In fact, after you finally work out Knives’ psychology, you’ll actually sympathize for him! Of course, it isn’t laid right in front of you’re face; you have to figure it out for yourself.
Tone: This series starts off very slap-stick-like. It has no seriousness in it at all, but then the tone will change drastically and bring you into a more dramatic and intense atmosphere. You’ll notice that it’s a lot like Rurouni Kenshin, but I think that the transition from comedy to drama is done much better in Trigun. It just works better.
Pacing: Okay, after watching the first DVD, I wanted to turn it off, but I bought the others to see if it gets better – it does, but it takes a while. Once the plot started to kick up, I couldn’t turn it off! The episodes are done just right so that you want to see what’s going to happen next; especially after the episode where we see just how Vash destroyed July City by using the Angel Arms. It will keep you hooked and you won’t guess what happens.
Dubbing: Terrible! Not only do the character voices stink, but the dialogue is really bad. I’m going to go through the characters and complain about their dubbing. I actually never watched the entire series dubbed because I was too busy yelling at the TV whenever they made a mistake, and the Cartoon Network version is even worse!
Language and Content: There’s quite a bit of swearing, especially for an anime that deals with pacifism. There’s also a few seconds of nudity and some disturbing things said. There’s also a lot of violence in it, on that note. The swearing is nothing you’ve never heard before, although some the characters who swear will take you by surprise until more is revealed about them later (can’t say more…too many spoilers).
Villains: If you really spend time working out the psychology of some of the villains, you’ll find that they actually have reasons for doing what they’re doing. I only wish that they would’ve developed some of the Gun-Ho-Guns better. Dominique the Cyclops was developed okay, and so was the guy from Diablo, but most of the others just showed up. Knives is in the lead, with a dark past and psychology much different from Vash (you may sympathize for him if you really work at it), and Legato is under him, and the Gung-Ho-Guns are under Legato’s command.
Recommended? Definitely! This anime is both funny and moving, action-packed and relaxing, and full of morals and challenging issues.
Yes, this was another one of my insanely old reviews.
I found the complete series for an actually affordable price to boot!
Another old review of mine I did a long time ago for a website that never actually made it to the web. Be warned that there are a few spoilers here, but given the game’s age, this shouldn’t bother anyone.
The long-awaited sequel to Chrono Trigger is here. The artwork is very different, but not a bad change, and the graphics are stunning. The plot isn’t as good as Chrono Trigger, I don’t think, and some of the side characters don’t get nearly enough character development, but that’s okay. The highlights are definitely great music, thought-provoking dialogue (hey, it’s better than some of the other stuff out there, and better than Chrono Trigger), and an interesting story.
Plot Overview: Serge is transported to an alternate world that’s very much like his own, with the same people and places, but everyone has different lives and the time line is a little different. Both of the worlds’ fates have been crossed, and this chrono cross will bring about the destruction of both worlds. You have to save them, even though it’s not really clear what you’re saving them from until the end. This was kind of a downside. There’s nothing wrong with leaving some mysteries until later, but saving it until you’ve completed over half the game before finally telling you exactly who is behind this bizarre twist and why is asking the gamer to be a bit too patient. That’s probably why I stopped playing it for a year in the middle of the game and then picked it up again.
Artwork: If you’ve played Chrono Trigger, you’ll notice that the artwork is very different in this game. I think it’s better – I’m glad that the artwork wasn’t like this in Chrono Trigger (no offense, Akira Toriyama). The characters have a certain look to them that makes them not believable characters, but not cartoon-looking either. They look kind of like anime characters, but at the same time they don’t. Some of them look surreal, while there are some, like Solt and Peppor, who look very cartoon-like indeed.
The different places you can go to, and even the overworld, are all very detailed. The dragon fort has all the little cracks and details you’d expect. I was hoping to find a little bit of medieval architecture in it, but I didn’t, although it could be expected with the effort put into it. You can see strings hanging from tents, and the most meaningless things will intrigue you. It was a very beautiful game, and while you expect RPGs to be wonderful in appearance, this one surpasses it. If the in-game graphics weren’t so fuzzy, you could probably see every pebble on the ground!
Animation: The characters and animals all move smoothly. I think the panther, when it turns its head in one of the FMVs, should have been better, but when the animators really wanted to pull in emotions, they could. The scene with Serge stabbing Kid was nicely done, and the expressions on everyone’s faces were pulled off to look real. Even the in-game graphics behaved normally, except for one time when I stopped running and Lina continued to run in place; that looked abnormal.
Sound Effects: This is a hard area. Chrono Cross is one of those games that has excellent music and graphics, as well as a whole bunch of other stuff, but no sounds. I think Serge, when he’s in Lynx’s body, makes a sound, but it’s muffled, partly to bring out the effect of the character’s anguish. There are no sword-clinging sounds, but you can hear Norris’ gun shoot, which doesn’t sound too realistic. This is one area that lacks.
Music: This game has one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard! Yasunori Mitsuda has done it again, only this time implying new styles into the overall sound. Some of the music can get old every now and then, but the majority of it is really great. “Time’s Scar” is a wonderful piece, and I enjoy it very much. I also like how the style differs slightly. Sometimes it sounds Irish, others it sounds tropical, and sometimes even Native American-like! Most of the music is very nice to listen to, and I advice you to get the soundtrack. I don’t have any complaints about it at all, and there’s a reason why it’s one of the most sought-after video game soundtracks in existence!
Gameplay: This is more of a watching game than a playing one, like most RPGs, which doesn’t bother me, but it bothers others. Sometimes the game gets boring, but hardly ever frustrating. I didn’t find it to be a challenge to me at all, but I still liked it. Also, if it doesn’t affect the flow of the game, chances are you can’t interact with it, which is a let down. I like doing stupid things in a game just to see what happens. It’s just a typical RPG on the same vein as Final Fantasy, so don’t go looking for, say, Luigi’s Mansion when you play this.
Characters: There are 75 playable characters, which, while some might not think to highly of this move, it actually is an interesting factor in this game. Yes, it doesn’t seem like much of a Chrono Trigger sequel, but it’s actually not bad in the least.
The characters all have their own beliefs and accents, which makes them all unique and interesting, and almost every characters is well-rounded. Some are rather flat, but they make up for it by having good battle tactics.
Practically every character has some wisdom to share with you, so you might feel enlightened. I don’t know. Some of them, like this one guy in Arni village, sounds like Rem from Trigun.
Character Development: There’s some for Serge and a lot for Kid, but little to none for everyone else. That’s because there’s 75 possible characters in this game, some which will lead you on a slightly different rout if you accept them, and there’s just not enough time to develop them all. However, you will be amazed at what you learn about some of the characters, especially if you’ve played Chrono Trigger.
Tone: This game isn’t dark nor is it overtly funny. It’s just a good adventure story that’s enjoyable to play. It’s not one that will grab you and force you to play it until it ends, although I’ve found that it has a strong cult following, but it’s still fun.
Dialogue: The dialogue is amazing in this game. Each character seems to have his or her own accent. Kid has a very strong British accent while Harle has a French one, and so on and so forth. This is a touch that makes the game, especially during those long talking moments, more interesting.
Also, every character has a lot of knowledge and wisdom and will share their philosophies with anyone at any given time. It was nice to hear all these different ways of thinking (they all kind of sounded like Rem from Trigun), but some of the characters shouldn’t have been so intellectual. When you find a poor person on the street, you don’t expect him to speak so powerfully.
Dubbing: There’s no talking, or any sounds made by the characters, with the exceptions of Lynx’s cry. I’m glad there’s nothing to be dubbed. However, there are some name changes with the translation. Kidd is now Kid, and Yamaneko is now Lynx. There’s probably more, but I’m not sure who they are.
Villains: It’s not clear until the end who the real bad guy is, but when you find out, you may be disappointed. I was hoping that Lynx would end up as the main bad guy, as he seems better suited for the role.
Recommended? If you like RPGs, then you’ll like this game a lot. Even though it’s a sequel, you don’t have to play Chrono Trigger to understand it; trust me, this is a completely knew thing that just happens to have some familiar characters. Don’t get this game is you like a fast-paced game.
Well, that was my review from close to ten years ago. I am much more fond of this game now than I was then! Trust me, it’s not always as bad as I make it sound. To give you an idea of what the game looks like, I’m embedding the amazing opening sequence!
I was going to do GTO, but I have to rewatch it. Instead, I’m going to review Haibane Renmei, and I’m going to do it with only a small portion of the screen visible, since my laptop screen seems to have something wrong with it, maybe the ribbon cable.
This is an amazing anime, and I can’t believe how many years it took me to discover it! Being a fan of SerialExperiments Lain, you’d think that I’d have jumped right into this one. Oh well, better late than never, eh?
Plot: Again, this is another anime where it’s hard to give away much information without completely spoiling the plot. Well, here we go. A girl who appears to be in her mid-teens dreams of falling from the sky. Unfortunately, the dream ends before we can se the rest of it. Anyway, she wakes up inside of a cocoon that’s filled with water, and when it hatches, she finds herself living in a home amongst the Haibane, who appear to be humans with wings and halos. She herself is now a Haibane with no memory of her past or her name, and we follow the story through her eyes.
She learns that she is in the town of Guri and lives in Old Home, an empty boarding school set aside for Haibane. The Haibane are forced to live simple lives; they can’t have anything new, must work, but they can’t make money; they must also not get too friendly with the townsfolk, and the townsfolk aren’t supposed to involve themselves much in the Haibane’s lives. There seem to be a few exceptions and friendships between townsfolk and Haibane, but the general rule is that they are separate but equal. Well, not really, since the Haibane must be insanely humble at all times, but you get the idea. They coexist is what I’m trying to say.
Artwork: It’s simply gorgeous, yet very simple. If you’re familiar with the series Serial Experiments Lain, then you know what to expect. The characters are all drawn with a simplicity that makes them very appealing. Likewise, the scenery used and the color pallet all reflect the simple life that the Haibane are made to live. The atmosphere is a welcome one, though there’s still plenty of mystery.
Animation: I’m working through the series my second time through, and I’m surprised at how good the animation is! Very few things are repeated, and everything was done flawlessly. I thought Kuu was a little over the top, but that was a reflection of character.
This is a show where not a lot happens, particularly in the sense that characters don’t fight, or even seem to have much urgency at all. As such, there’s not a lot of really interesting things to animate, and sometimes things appear slower than they should. I’m thinking of the fireworks scene, in which I thought the animation could have been a little better, particularly since the scene was of some real significance.
However, the animators take time to make even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant actions and sequences a masterpiece, and since the story doesn’t delve much into the lives of other Haibane aside from Rakka and Reki, the animators make hints at the personalities and thoughts of the other characters by animating them perfectly. Their expressions have as much significance as their dialogue, and their dialogue can be deceiving!
Action: There’s some mild conflict, but no physical fighting at all. This isn’t Naruto, it’s a story of forgiveness, repentance, and all that good stuff. I know, Trigun did it with a lot of action, but that’s just not appropriate for this story. I’m pretty certain that Guri has the lowest crime rate in the world!
Music: Imagine a dark, watery abyss with only a vague touch of light shining through the top. There’s an audible splash and a flock of crows take flight. A girl falls through the sky, apparently unafraid and the song “Ailes Grises” begins to play. It’s a sad, haunting melody that starts the show up, and the music never fails after this. It doesn’t score the epic points that Escaflowne does, but the music is some of the best I’ve ever heard in an anime. In fact, I’m listening to the OST as I write this (in .flac format to boot!)! I’m on a track called “Wondering” which is a vocal song sung in English. I’m pretty sure I didn’t hear this one in the series, but who knows. It reminds me of “Home and the Heartland” from Riverdance.
The music tends to alternate from sad and lonely to somewhat perky, although it never really loses that melancholy feeling ot it, thus connecting all the tracks. I think it’s the only anime OST I can listen to straight through without skipping atrack, except for, of course, the multitude of Escaflowne CDs! There’s just not enough to say about the music; it definitely seems to do much more than set the mood for a particular scene.
Character Development: Admittedly, this is a tough one, since none of the Haibane can remember their pasts. They are like clean slates, and by the time the series starts, many of them have hit the point where they don’t need to develop much, particularly since it seems that there really isn’t much around to challenge them in a way that would require growth or self reflection, save for what’s required to take the Day of Flight. Thus, only two characters are ever given much time to develop, but it’s well worth the wait. They are interesting characters, and I can’t give much away without completely spoiling the plot, or at least, a clue to how the Haibane arrive. Let’s just say that there’s one instance in which everything you thought you knew will be turned upside down.
Tone: Some have described this anime as being sad, but I’d call it happy. However, each episode left me feeling melancholy, which isn’t something most shows, movies, etc. manage to do. I didn’t ever feel sad, and many times I felt happy (not in an excited way), but the melancholy would always be present. If you’re looking for a humorous show, then this isn’t it. If you’re looking for something that will warp your mind, it’s not as extreme, or confusing, as Serial Experiments Lain, but it does provide food for thought (someone on the Christian Anime Alliance forums managed to make an entire Sunday School lesson plan out of it, though it doesn’t depict a single religion or theology, according to its creator).
Episode Flow: If it weren’t for the fact that the seasons change and the characters speak of the months changing, this anime could be mistaken for an animated soap opera! It has an almost slice of life feel to it, and everything is joined together very nicely.
Dubbing: It is my impression that they tried really hard to find actors who could match the Japanese voices, and the translation isn’t too bad. I didn’t care for the line delivery, but I seldom do. All in all, it’s not too bad, and it sure surpasses a whole lot of other dubs.
Language and Content: As far as language goes, there’s some mild swearing, most of it being heard in one episode that had a lot of Kana in it. However, the dialogue is very tame. As far as content goes, the wing emergence scene in the first episode may shock some, but it’s not too bad, either, and it’s the only scene like it in the entire series.
There are some weighty themes, such as depression and suicide, that may not be suitable for younger audiences, and Rakka appears nude in the opening sequence of every episode, although you can’t see anything private.
Villains: Every good story needs a bad guy, right/ No, not really, since the only bad guy in this show is the characters’ own inner demons. No evil overlords, no homicidal maniacs, no nothing. It’s better this way.
Recommended?Without hesitation! This is an amazing anime – a masterpiece in itself – that everyone should see at some point in time. I mean, it’s got great characters, great music, and nice artwork, not to mention an intriguing story once you get into the swing of things.
I’m doing things a bit different with this review because I’m lazy right now, not to mention a bit preoccupied with other matters. Anyway, I stumbled across an old review I’d written for my high school’s “newspaper” reviewing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time not long after it came out. I figured, how neat would it be (and lazy and time saving) to format it into a Friday Review article and post in on my blog. That way people can see what my original thoughts on the game were, and believe me, they haven’t changed that much. Without further ado, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Plot Overview: Does the plot change much? Ganon wants to take over Hyrule, again, but this time he has to find the three chosen ones who carry the Triforce symbol on the back of their hands, kind of like in the second game, The Adventure of Link. This game takes some of the best elements from the previous games and forms a more complicated plot than we’re used to seeing. The second-most complicated Zelda plot, that is. A Link to the Past is still more complicating than the others.
Artwork: The artwork in this game is some of the best we’ve ever seen in a Zelda game! Link’s new look is great! We know that the characters change somewhat in appearance for every new game, especially Princess Zelda, but the new designs fit the game perfectly! Plus, we finally get to see what Link looks like as an adult, which has never happened before. Miyamoto says that he sees Link as being youthful, and I agree that the stories of all the previous games have been kind of youthful, with Link being only 16 years old, but this story takes a different road, and it’s a little more appropriate for Link to be older than in the previous games.
Link’s age has always been about 15 or 16, but now he goes from being really little to being an adult! It was a really neat change. Link has always represented a young boy living an adventure, which is the dream of most young boys. I know I dreamed about that kind of stuff when I was little. However, this story calls for a more mature Link.
As for Link’s actual appearance, he no longer has dark brown or light brown hair that flops down in front of his face. Instead, he has neatly combed blonde hair that sort of resembles mine. His tunic is kind of different. He’s always worn a brown shirt with matching pants and a green vest. This changes slightly throughout A Link to the Past, but you get the idea. In Ocarina of Time, he was a white undershirt with a green tunic and white tights. He also has a little blue earring and gauntlets that you can upgrade throughout the game.
As a child, he wears something similar, but no white undershirt and no slacks. No gauntlets either.
Zelda looks great in this game! She’s been blonde before, but her bangs looked more like new Link’s in, at least, A Link to the Past. She’s been seen wearing almost peasant-looking clothing, very beautiful gowns, and a matter of things. She’s also gone from blonde, to red-head, and back to blonde.
As a child, we don’t ever see her hair. She keeps it tied back in a turbine thing. However, her face looks child-like and yet full of wisdom. I enjoyed seeing her like that. She wears a pink and white dress with the symbol of the Triforce on it and some family symbols. It’s not really fancy, but it’s not too plain, either; it’s the perfect gown for our favorite princess.
As for her adult design, I didn’t like it as much. I enjoyed it for the most part; she wears the same dress as she did as a child, and her blonde hair hangs loosely on her head, held out of her eyes by a gold head-piece, which was really nice looking. However, the problem was in her face. It didn’t look full of wisdom like the child version. It wasn’t smooth or anything. If I could combine her new look with an older version of her face, then she’d be perfect!
She has another look, too, that looks really cool, but I won’t tell you what it is because it’s a key plot point.
Impa’s back, and while she still has white hair and is Zelda’s caretaker, she’s thin, muscular, and fights like a professional! It was a dramatic change, but not a bad one. It kind of makes you wonder, though, why the king would want someone who is obviously trained for battle rather than nannying (my new word), take care of his daughter. Therefore, I like to think of Impa, in this game, as being more of a protector than a caretaker.
As for the ears in this game, they’ve changed. The people of Hyrule used to look like they popped out of Santa’s workshop. In this game the ears and much longer and more pointed, kind of like Deedlit’s ears from Record of Lodoss War. I really like the way the Japanese draw pointed ears, and Link and Zelda, as well as the other Hylians and Kokiri (one of the new races), look absolutely marvelous!
Ganondorf will surprise you. Remember that overweight pig Link used to fight? Well, Ganondorf is much more man-looking now, but still intimidating. Although I’m fond of both looks, the more human-like look is much more appropriate for this game. I kind of wish that they’d keep this look for a while. He looks like bad guy should, and looks really scary when he comes riding his steed through Hyrule, pillaging villages and setting flame to everything in his path. You see this in the introduction. He looks really wicked!
The Zoras look and act much different in this game. Since they were evil before, it was only natural to give them ugly faces with mouths big enough to shoot fireballs from. However, since they’re not evil in this game, the creators decided to give them a more peaceful atmosphere. Zora’s Domain looks stunning; just like I’d expect an underwater paradise to look like.
The Zoras are slim creatures with fins coming out of their arms and other parts of their body. Their heads are very narrow, although Princess Ruto’s is quite large. The only Zora that is terribly bad looking is the king. He’s HUGE! I don’t mean to insult people’s weight, but this guy can hardly move, and it makes a certain scene take a considerably long time to complete.
The Gorons are very large and heavy, but muscular. We’ve never seen the Gorons in any other game, and they’re a nice addition. They live on Death Mountain, which we’ve seen before, but this time it’s inhabited by Gorons. Not my favorite race, but still really cool.
The Kokiri are a race of children who never grow up. They look like anybody else, though. The leader of their tribe is Saria. Some of these kids are really weird looking, like the Know-it-All brothers.
Another new race are the Gerudos, female bandits who work for Ganondorf, at least until Link shows up and shows them who’s boss! If it weren’t for their undying hatred for men, this would be every guy’s dream! However, they all look the same! The only girl who looks different is Nabooru, the leader. That was kind of disappointing, but still a cool race of people. They wear Asian clothing and live almost a Mexican lifestyle.
The bad guys look absolutely frightening in 3D. I was kind of hoping to see a Moblin, but those were left out. Goma, while her design has been changed to make her a giant spider rather than a giant crab, she is still a part of this game, and her design is stunning.
The landscape is equally beautiful. Hyrule’s plains can be explored thoroughly, and who wouldn’t want to live in Kokiri Forest? I’m done talking now.
Animation: The animation is also really great in this game. I was kind of hoping that Link would still shoot beams from his sword when his life was completely full, as that would have been really cool to see in 3D!
Link’s body moves very gracefully. He has some great body expressions, especially when he’s a kid and running from Ruto, Gorons, and other people! He has some facial expressions, too, but that would be too hard to animate on a 64.
All of Link’s moves are executed with great timing! It was a thrill to see exactly how Link fights, and it’s fun to try and copy him. The battles are really cool looking because of this.
Some of the movements of minor characters, like in towns and stuff, are really stupid, though. The dancing couple in the Market are stiff, but the running child chasing a chicken looks real enough to stick out. There’s these two guys who are talking, sometimes they’re juggling with each other, but their movements are kind of choppy and stupid-looking. They repeat the same thing over and over!
Some of the best animation scenes, like cut-scenes, goes to Ganondorf. The expression on young Zelda’s face as Ganondorf rides madly on his horse, nearly running Link over, as he heads off into who-knows-where, is priceless! Her face expresses utter fear, and some of the best facial expressions are used in this scene, considering adult Zelda shows little expression. Link looks worried, Ganondorf looks more determined than ever, and Impa pursues them with confidence that she’ll get Zelda back. It’s great!
The horses move very realistically. I was looking forward to seeing how they would pull off horse riding, as it’s never been done before, but they did it! Plus, you can even shoot arrows from Epona’s back! When you shoot it goes to first-person view, so that saved the creators the time it would take to show Link on the horse’s back with a bow and arrow, and it also makes it easier on the player.
Epona, and Ganon’s horse as well, moves majestically. Although you might find yourself screaming at Epona for being one of the dumbest horses alive, there’s still a lot of detail in her movement. I still wish that I could’ve had the privilege of riding Ganon’s horse.
One of the best parts of the game is how seemingly useless things behave. It’s really fun to go fishing, because not only are the camera movements enticing, but just walking in the water is fun. The water ripples and forms small waves as Link wades, and even the lily pads and cat tails bend and move over. We were all staring in amazement at this. It’s also fun to throw the owner’s hat into the water!
Sound Effects: There’s not much to brag about in this department. However, the sounds that they have are better than all the previous games! Link’s sword hitting a wall sounds really cool, however the sound doesn’t change in pitch or anything when you hit a rock or barrel.
Epona sounds like a horse should, and her whinnying is one of the best sound effects in the game!
I guess all of the sounds and pretty good, but nothing spectacular.
Oh, but Link screams battle cries and whimpers when he’s hurt, which is neat. I like listening to it.
Music: This game is full of fun and captivating music. Some of it’ll get old after a while, and I’m sure I liked the old Ganondorf theme, but it’s easily made up for by the other pieces.
Zelda’s theme is now called Zelda’s Lullaby, and it sounds wonderful in this game! The ocarina sounds almost real, and the keyboard sounds that created the majority of this soundtrack is a huge step from using computers to do the work. It’s not exactly Squaresoft material, but it’s just as fun to listen to.
The overworld theme is amazing and almost captivating! It fits perfectly, and I know that not all of the Zelda overworld music fit.
Zora’s domain is very nice to listen to. It’s soothing and enchanting. It literally takes your mind away from all of Hyrule and you can only focus on this underwater kingdom. I was very impressed.
I didn’t care for the Goron music, but I really liked the Mexican-style Gerudo music! I’ve found so many remixes of it, it’s hardly funny, but most of them are worth downloading.
The music in Kokiri Forest is great! It grabs from the start of the game and never gets old! I really enjoyed the Lost Woods music, but some people get annoyed when it plays over and over. I used to sing it in the car whenever we got lost, but that was put to a halt right away.
The opening music will ring a bell. Remember the tune the recorder played in the first Zelda? Well, that’s the opening, only remastered with string instrument sounds in the background. Also, the ending music is very moving, so be prepared.
Is there a flaw to the music in this game? I missed the Zelda theme! How can they not include that familiar tune that has played throughout every game since the beginning of Zelda? I was mad that they didn’t include this tune in the game, so I hope that they put it in later games.
I recommend buying the soundtrack, but not the American one; it doesn’t have all the songs. The Japanese were sure to include every last piece of music in their soundtrack, so get that one. They left Sheik’s theme out of the American!
Gameplay: Riding horses, using a large variety of weapons and accessories, and even being able to fish and goof off – who could hate the gameplay? It grabs you from the minute you start playing and holds you captive until the end of the game. It makes the game addicting, and you’ll find yourself playing it for hours. There’s also so many side-quests that anytime you get bored of the overall plot, you can just complete one of them. Sometimes side-quests in this game are just as fun as the overall game. The only disappointing part is the stupidity of the guards. They are very easy to trick.
Characters: The characters here are very much like in every Zelda game. Some of them you will hate, some you will laugh at, and you’ll really like the main characters.
Character Development: For a Zelda game, this has a lot of character development. I think a lot of the development revolves around the many plot twists this story has, which makes it all the more entertaining. Link’s past is explored a little more, mostly by the Great Deku Tree, and we even learn quite a bit about the royal family. The past holds many secrets, and some of them will be revealed. Maybe one day we’ll know everything about Link and Zelda, but I like to keep part of them secretive. It’s nice to know more about them, but I don’t want to know too much. After all, I’m sure the series hasn’t ended yet.
Tone: This story has pretty much everything. It can be funny, dramatic, suspenseful, and even slightly sad. It’s an adventure story, not much of boyhood dreams anymore, but a classic adventure story with many other elements. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.
Dialogue: Some of the characters say funny things, and sometimes it’s fun to frustrate them! Like when Zelda tells you about her dream and, if you choose not to believe her, she will get really frustrated with you. Ruto has some funny dialogue because she’s obsessed with Link, and Malon has some funny things to say as well. Some of the townspeople say funny things, too.
Link doesn’t say much other than “yes” and “no”. He’ll say other things sometimes, and you have to pick what you want him to say, but there’s not much.
There’s no swearing in this game, which is good. I hate playing a great game that has swearing in it. A lot of really good games with wonderful stories have language in them, and that deducts the quality of the game.
Villains: I still say that Ganondorf is the perfect video game villain because he’s so evil. You can hate him and not feel bad about it. Ganondorf represents greed, and isn’t just satisfied with gaining the Triforce of Power; he wants them all. He has a new, and really neat, look in this game.
I was a little disappointed that there were no Moblins, but the Redeads make up for it. They’re some of the scariest zombie creatures I’ve seen in a game; even putting Resident Evil to shame! Take that Squaresoft!
You will certainly see your favorite bad guys coming back, though some of them aren’t. I was hoping to see a bunch that just didn’t appear, but was really thrilled with the ones that did show up.
Recommended: Definitely! The best part is, you don’t have to be a Zelda fanatic to like this game. You’ll understand it without playing any previous Zelda games, because this is the start of the story. Unlike some games, Zelda’s chronology is really screwed up. Ocarina of Time is, obviously, supposed to take place before all the other games. What I like about Zelda is that when you rearrange the games, they create one big story, but you have to think about what order the games are supposed to go in because the games aren’t created in order. A Link to the Past is, so far, the very end of the series, and this made known with the words “and the Master Sword rested again…forever” that appeared on the screen at the very end. This game is a must-have for everyone!
*Shoots back to the present*
A quick note about the re-release of the game in 3D, it’s tons brighter. This can be a good thing, but sometimes it’s so bright, it takes the edge away. I particularly hated the Shadow Temple and the final fight with Ganon. It’s supposed to be dark and gritty! I hated being able to clearly see Ganon’s final form. So, just a head’s up.
Oh, and it’s also version 2 of the game. That basically means that the blood is now green (I didn’t think red blood would bother little kids, as there’s hardly any at all), the mirror shield is different (it looked Islamic before), and the Fire Temple music is different.
Kudos to everyone who actually reads the whole thing. Can you tell I was really excited for this game? Anyway, since I was growing a bit nostalgic while reading this, here’s docjazz4′s excellent tribute to the game on its 10th anniversary. I can’t believe so much time has gone by!
This video is pretty cool because a lot of the people interviewed were a bit younger than I when the game was first released, so they were able to play it before hitting that cynical age that Angela Lansbury once referred to as the “age of not believeing.”
My favorite Harvest Moon game is still probably A Wonderful Life, but since this is the new game, I figure I should review it first. It lives up to my expectations, and is a great addition to the series. There were a few disappointments, but the game’s rewards outweigh them. Now, without further ado, time to review.
Plot Overview: Most Harvest Moon games are relatively plot less. One of my biggest pet peeves with this series is that after A Wonderful Life, the developers began trying to complicate their games a bit more by introducing a being known as the Harvest Goddess, and also by tossing in the Harvest Sprites, which were featured in A Wonderful Life, although they really didn’t affect the game. I love the games for their simplicity – just trying to carve a life out of a scrap of land and living amongst some of the most simple-but-pleasant townsfolk you’ll meet.
The plot for this game in particular is that you’re traveling to an island, Waffle Island, to be exact (all the towns are also named after food), you want to become a rancher, but a storm hits and you faint. You have a strange vision of the Harvest Goddess trying to tell you something, although you can’t make out most of her words. After you start up your ranch, you’ll learn about how the Harvest Goddess’ tree died, and, how the Harvest Sprites disappeared along with the island’s famous rainbows. It’s up to you to revive them all, and do the normal things required of you in a Harvest Moon game.
Artwork: It’s rather plain. Basically, if you’ve seen one game in the series, you’ve seen them all. The artwork doesn’t change too much between games, and this one is no exception. That’s not to say that the artwork is bad, rather that it’s not very flashy, pretty, or bold. That’s not what Harvest Moon sets out to do! It’s a simple game that requires the player to be able to set aside their penchant for eye candy type games and find pleasure and joy in the simplest of settings, playing as the most plain-looking character they’ve ever laid eyes on.
Animation: It’s fluid, but the gameplay and settings don’t require it to be very sophisticated. The animation isn’t choppy at all, and everything looks great. Your character is able to perform all of his (or her) actions in a realistic way, and, with the exception of the horse, all of the animals’ movements are fine.
I say all except the horse because when you ride your horse, he looks less like an animal and more like a stop motion toy. His head is kind of jerky and the whole thing is just a letdown. As good as everything else is, you’re almost better off riding an ostrich throughout the game if only because it doesn’t look like its about to collapse from improper movement at any point in time.
One of the more interesting aspects of the game is the range of emotions your character is able to express. They’re very exaggerated, but it was comical to watch my guy sweat all over the place at the prospect of (gasp!) pulling weeds all by himself, or to get excited when he learns that he’s getting his own house and plot of land. It’s rather cartoon-like, but that’s what’s expected of this game. It’s just great to watch these characters express themselves in ways we haven’t seen in the series.
Sound Effects: Here’s a quick rundown. The animals all sound fine; there’s no chickens that sound like ducks, no cows that sound like some random person making “moo” sounds in a microphone, and no horse that sounds like a stroke victim. The ocean waves, waterfall, and characters’ footsteps also sound fine. However, the sounds emitted from the various items aren’t spectacular. Breaking rocks and chopping down trees sound like they’re little more than recycled sounds from previous games, and the milker is just a strange thing in and of itself. It makes this weird squeaky sound that makes me wonder how my goat can stand it.
There really aren’t many sound effects other than the ones I mentioned. There’s a little chime that sounds whenever you talk to an animal or present a gift to someone. It’s not special at all, but it is there.
Music: There’s a tune for your house, a tune for each season, and sometimes there’s special occasions that require a different tune, but music is really a background element of the game. Since there’s very few special events that require a big score to set the mood, the music remains simple, but effective. It’s hardly memorable; if you were to ask me to hum a quick one from the game, I probably couldn’t do it. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize the music as I’m playing. It isn’t soundtrack worthy, but the game would feel dull if it was without.
Gameplay: The first hour of this game is boring. There, I said it. I was afraid that it was going the route of Animal Crossing when I first started it up, for in the beginning you can’t get your own house right away, instead you have to stay with a farmer and family to learn the basics of farming, as if it’s hard in the first place. Then, after a few days of watering this guy’s crops, putting them in the shipping box, and weeding his garden, you get your own place. You even get to pick where you want your house, although it’s not a critical decision. Your choices for land are all pretty much right next to each other. After this, you get to work on building your ranch, making friends, finding a girl to court, and trying to reawaken the Harvest Goddess.
What makes this game different from previous ones in the series is that you don’t start off with a coop and barn. Instead, you have to raise crops, fish, and scavenge items in order to make enough money to be able to build them, and you have to supply your own rocks and lumber to do this. There isn’t any gold lumber available, nor can you buy what you need, you just have to do everything yourself. This provides some challenge in the game, which I enjoyed. This put building your ranch in the forefront of the game instead of the Harvest Goddess quest, which, thankfully, feels like a sub-plot.
On that note, it’s nice that the Harvest Goddess quest is almost an afterthought. There’s not a lot of pressure to spend all of your time bringing back the rainbows (and the days are short in this game), but it is still rewarding enough to not put it off forever. For example, new places open up when you do decide to bring back a rainbow, and one of the girls requires a specific rainbow event to take place in order to marry her.
There are also a lot more animals to raise in this game. You have your normal chickens, ducks, and cows, but the goat also returns! I’ve always liked goats (my own pet goat is a pygmy goat), and I was a bit sad when A Wonderful Life seemed to be the only game that featured them.
Another big change in animals is that the horse is optional. In all other games, you eventually come across a horse, and it becomes your main method of transportation. This game introduces ostriches, which you can ride around! Not only do ostriches provide you a faster means of traveling, but they also lay huge eggs once every four days. In my game, I own both a horse and an ostrich, but I like the ostrich more.
You can also acquire pets. Just make friends with the animals you come across and they’ll one day show up at your house to live, and there’s plenty to befriend! There are a few different dogs and cats, but there’s also a monkey, turtle, weasel, rabbit, baby boar, and squirrel, just to name a few.
This also marks the first game where you can choose whether to play as a boy or girl. I suppose the general idea is to keep from alienating potential gamers by only allowing one gender. Up until this game, all Harvest Moon games featured either a boy or girl, and although I’ve never played any of the girl games, I assume that they all feature the same kind of gameplay. There doesn’t seem to be any real difference between the two in this game, except that the boy can marry any of the girls and the girl can marry any of the boys. Both genders have plenty of people to choose from, so no worries there.
Courting is the same in this game as in the previous ones. Talk to your potential spouse and bestow gifts upon her (or him) and buy their love! You trigger special heart events that eventually lead to a confession of love. After that, it’s only a matter of acquiring a blue feather and proposing. And while it isn’t necessary to marry, if you do and have a kid, then when the game ends you can choose to keep playing as your child.
You can also trigger rival events by forming relationships with a potential spouse’s rival, but I wouldn’t recommend you do this with the girl or boy you want to marry.
Other activities are fishing, mining, and cooking. There are different fish in each season, so the variety of fish is increased in this game. Mining is very much the same as it is in the DS version of Harvest Moon. Simply drop from floor to floor, smash rocks and crystals, collect the spoils, and either upgrade your equipment or sell them for extra cash. To cook, simply buy some cooking supplies, steal other peoples’ recipes (or get them to tell you some), and just start cooking. You can also experiment, but this ends badly for me.
If there was only one thing I could change about the Harvest Moon games, it would be the length of the days. I always get frustrated when playing these games because there just isn’t enough time in a day to do all the things I want. I’m terrible with time management!
Characters:A Wonderful Life introduced a whole slew of characters that could be reused in later games, but this game offers a whole new cast. Admittedly, I like the familiar characters better. I particularly miss Daryll, the crazy scientist who looks like Tim Burton’s Vincent. There also aren’t any supernatural characters to marry, so my mermaid dreams have been shattered.
The only real irksome thing I can think of regarding these new characters would be that the translators decided to Englishize all their names. Harvest Moon games have traditionally featured names that were both English and Japanese, but this game just changes them all, which is especially weird because some of the changed names were originally English sounding!
Character Development: Your relationships with the various characters strengthens, but the characters all remain true to themselves without much development at all. This isn’t an epic, story-filled game, though.
Tone: It’s a fun game, plain and simple. It never gets too serious and it’s very whimsical. Not much to say here.
Dialogue: The characters are all quite well written! Everyone has their own personality and the dialogue is very good at reflecting that. For example, Hamilton is very cheery, likes to talk about rainbows, and prompted my brother and I to wonder if he might be a closet gay. I’m pretty sure he’s not, but when he used variations of the word “fabulous” three times in a single dialogue box, it left me scratching my head.
Luke has some of the most personality-filled dialogue in the game, so talk to him lots if you can. However, my stupid little character’s “let’s go!” line is pretty annoying. He just shouldn’t talk, plain and simple.
Recommended? This game isn’t for everyone. People tend to either love Harvest Moon or hate it, so if it sounds like it’ll float your boat, then go for it. Otherwise, it would be a complete waste of time for you to even try to like it.
This is a really great game for anyone who likes a good story to be told! It has an intriguing plot, interesting characters, and great gameplay. This game has been hailed many times as one of the greatest RPGs ever! It’s techinically for SNES, but you can now find it for the Nintendo DS. This review is for the SNES version and the Playstation remake only, as I have never played the DS version and am unsure as to whether gameplay elements have been changed or not.
Plot Overview: Crono, a young man, has been placed in a situation where he must travel through time to save the world, in each and ever era, from certain destruction. It’s very complicated to explain, but trust me, the plot is very good and well-thought-out.
Artwork: The artwork looks a lot like DBZ, but I don’t care. If you look really closely, the artwork is slightly different in the Playstation remake than in the original – the characters are shorter and fatter in the Playstation version, which I found to be kind of a turnoff.
The weapons are extremely cool, and although this is a SNES game, the graphics are still good enough to attract some of your attention. Not as good as a game like Castlevania or Donkey Kong, and more like Shining Force, but don’t let that discourage you.
Animation: There’s not much to animate in the SNES version. The characters don’t move very realistically, but that’s hard to capture in a game of this platform for this system. I didn’t like the animation job in the remake; it was choppy and looked really bad. Everything could have been smoother, but it felt really rushed.
Even though there’s not much to comment on the animation, the scenes that are supposed to be emotional are able to capture your attention. It doesn’t look real, but most SNES games, or any game made during that time, don’t. These sequences are typically animated in a new cut-scene anime for the Playstation version, but you have to unlock the darn things, making the remake kind of a pain.
Sound Effects: The sound effects aren’t the best, but some are really good. The seagulls sound almost real, but the sword sounds and gunshots are less realistic. The monsters make funny sounds, but that’s expected of this game. It’s really almost unfair to review the sound effects for a game like this, but if Donkey Kong Country can pull it off, then I suppose I have to hold this game to the same standards.
Music: The music isn’t grand, but it’s still good. I thoroughly enjoyed the soundtrack for this game almost as much as the game itself. The tunes matched each situation perfectly, and some of the character’s themes are really catchy. I caught myself playing “Frog’s Theme” in band on more than one occasion when I was a high school student. Now I just play it for fun, but it used to get me the strangest looks from classmates. Ah, those were the days…
Yasunori Mitsuda is one of the best video game composers out there, alongside Nobuo Uematsu and Koji Kondo. He captured every aspect of the game in his music, and there’s hardly anything to criticize, other than the occasional repetitiveness of some of the pieces, such as Magus’s Theme. I do have to give some credit to Nobuo Uematsu, as Yasunori Mitsuda had a stomache ulcer and was temporarily taken over for by Nobuo Uematsu.
Gameplay: The gameplay in this game is very interesting, considering that you can actually see the monsters, and try to avoid them if you wish. Like every other RPG made by Squaresoft, the characters stand in a nice little line and take turns attacking the enemy, or enemies. Also, the things you can do in this game are kind of limited. If it doesn’t affect the outcome of the game, chances are you can’t tinker with it or anything, except for when you’re at the Millennium Fair, but even then you can alter the course of the trial event.
Characters: The characters in this game are all very likable, and very rounded. You know how they think and feel, making them seem like real people. The characters are the whole reason to play this game! Sometimes you’ll find a character with a common goal, but with a personality that’s hard to get along with. They interact with each other appropriately and make for an entertaining game! It’s what you’d come to expect in a great RPG, and Squaresoft was/is one of the best.
Character Development: As entertaining as these characters are, they don’t have much development. There’s just no room for too much, and the only way you can see flashbacks of the characters is if it influences the plot somehow. We know that Marle is a tomboy and that Frog was once a human named Glenn. Actually, Glenn goes through most of the character development. He finds the strength to carry on after his former mentor’s death, and eventually plays a vital role. Crono goes through some, maybe, but he doesn’t speak directly, so it’s hard to tell.
Tone: This is an adventure story filled with suspense, some romance, and great fun. It’s never really frightening, although it has the potential. It’s a story, nothing more.
Dialogue: Each character talks differently, depending on what time period they’re from. There’s no swearing, and the dialogue is suitable for all ages. The only thing that disappointed me in this game was that no one in the Middle Ages, except for Frog, spoke the way they should.
I should note that the DS version sports a new, more accurate translation.
Dubbing: There’s no speaking, so there was no dubbing. That’s really good.
Villains: The villains are some of the most spectacular for its time. I admit that some of them, like Ozzy, and a few of the common enemies didn’t look so great, but Lavos was a very detailed villain. They all seem to have their own purpose, but not a common goal. This is the wonderful thing about Chrono Trigger; you can find evil all around you, but they don’t all work under one enemy.
Recommended? Yes! I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who likes RPGs and a good story to be told. It has everything anyone could want in a game, and has a lot of interesting twists, too!
Sorry, but PlayAsia’s Japanese version is out of stock right now, so I could only link to the English version from Amazon.com.
