Clannad ~After Story~ (Anime) Review

Nagisa: "Do you like this school?"

Tomoya: "..."

Nagisa: "I really, really love it. But nothing can stay unchanged."

Tomoya (internal monologue): A girl I've never seen before. The words weren't directed at me. She must be talking to someone in her heart.

Nagisa: "Fun things... happy things... They can't all possibly stay unchanged. Even so, can you keep on loving this place?"

Tomoya: "Just find them."

(Nagisa, startled, turns to face Tomoya. They look at each other for the first time.)

Tomoya: "Just find new fun and happy things. C'mon, let's get going."

Tomoya (internal monologue): We start to walk up... the long... long... uphill climb.

If you have known me personally for quite some time, then you might have heard me gush over this show like no other. I’ve sung my praises time and time again, I’ve listed it as my favorite anime of all time, and most of all? I’ve labeled it as a masterpiece. I laughed, I cried, and this was the show that had genuinely changed my perspective on life. It’s not every day that you can come across an anime that can do all three.

However, it has been three years since I last watched the show (Except for maybe a few clips here and there on the internet), but my memories of this show never wavered. Then again, it has been three years already. After all this time and especially as my personal favorite anime show of all time, I felt like I had to rewatch the show to give it my most honest review. Now, does it still hold up?

Before you continue reading, ‘Clannad ~After Story~’ is a sequel to Kyoto Animation’s anime series ‘Clannad’ which first aired back in 2007. Knowledge of the first series is highly recommended to get the most out of this show and this review, but if you cannot wait or spare your time for the first then it is totally fine.

*For simplicity’s sake after this point, I’ll refer to ‘Clannad ~After Story~’ as ‘After Story’.

After Story’s… Er… story is arguably nothing new. But it’s one of the best parts of the show overall. It’s not that the story itself is unique, and it’s not that it’s revolutionary. But rather how it was done. By all means, if you dropped the first season because it was nothing but a harem show to you, then I strongly urge you to give After Story a chance.

After Story shows the story of a life of Tomoya Okazaki as he grows up into a man. A life of love, a life of laughs, a life of pain, and ultimately, a life of hope. It’s a slice of life. A slice of the life of a man who is having struggles with his own life and the people he wants to protect when everything goes awry.

KyoAni nailed the points of what makes life the way it is. The true meaning of “life goes on”, and that time always marches on. After Story takes some time after the point first season ended, and chooses to focus on the main character and the smaller group of people who are much more important and close to him. This is what a lot of stories rarely show or represent properly: the story after the story.

Are you looking for a happy and upbeat anime from start to finish? Then this anime is not for you. KyoAni did a lot of things with After Story that’ll evoke different emotions from you. It’ll make you laugh. It’ll make you happy. It’ll make you cry. And oh boy, it’ll make you cry a lot. It’ll even make you smile and cry in the same scene. Despite the depressing tonal shift in the last third of the show, KyoAni still manages to make you laugh or smile through all the tears.

If there’s one thing I really love about After Story, then it’ll be the characters themselves. This is undeniably the strongest part of After Story. When the first season had a remarkably large cast of colorful and likable characters, After Story trims down the main list of characters down to Tomoya, his wife Nagisa, her parents Akio and Sanae, and arguably Tomoya’s best friend Sunohara (who is oddly enough absent during the last third of the show). The other heroines of the first season are still present however, but their amount of screen time has been drastically reduced to give way for the people I mentioned.

After Story has some of the best character development I've seen across all media. Tomoya begins the story similar to his state during the end of the first season. A delinquent who is unsure of what to do in his life. After Story breaks him down. He is destined to go through pain and suffering in his life, no matter what he does. A fatal hero, some might call him.

What also After Story did really well for me, was that it got me to like, if not love, characters that I used to dislike or were indifferent to in the first season. Major points go to Nagisa, the girl Tomoya ultimately chose to have a relationship with at the end of the first season. She has become a much more likable character this time around, and her parents are even better here. Remember how they were the plucky comic relief characters in the first season? Here, they're Tomoya and Nagisa's major source of support through their life together (Especially in the former's case in the latter half of the show).

The stories Tomoya made with the people he connected with got me to rethink of the situations of the people I knew from day to day. With these stories in mind, they can help the watcher come to respect him. I probably won’t last through the stuff he had to go through, but I genuinely respect the fact that he kept going. Through his pain, I learned more of myself. Through the struggles of the people around him, I grew to forgive and respect the people I had once hated. 

Every episode had me on the edge of my seat. Many episodes leaving me close to tearing up, if not outright bawling my eyes out. Not a lot of shows can do this to me, but I continued to watch it. Even when I knew that each episode from then on can have a ticking time bomb somewhere in it. I continued to enjoy the show, and I continued to cry and laugh with the characters as the episodes ran. While I have watched shows before that were tear jerkers for me, these shows always somehow seemed to force the viewer in to a position where they had to cry. For After Story however, this is real and you really feel it, emotions are not forced.

I feel like I have to note this however. The OST is amazing. However, there is one piece of music which stands out, for the wrong reasons. OP is one of the best at its time (And still is to this day), and while the ED is good, it's a major mood whiplash on some episodes. 'Torch' by Lia is an upbeat and generally happy song all around. This isn't a bad thing, but the thing is, it is used in every episode of the show barring the last. Some episodes can have you close to tearing up if not you're bawling your eyes out already, then this song pops up. It kills the mood and can ruin your experience of the show. They could have at least removed the ED during those episodes, or played the other ED song they had 'Chiisana Te no Hira', also by Lia. Many consider 'Torch' unnecessary, and sadly I agree.

People might think that having a story of a fictional character influence a person’s life is crazy and/or stupid. But the thing is, Tomoya’s story moved me. It had me rethink myself and my situation time and time again. It shows how even a simple story can make a big impact with the right direction. Clannad ~After Story~ is a masterpiece and I will continue to sing my praises for this show for as long as I live.

Kyoukai No Kanata (Anime) Review

With finals out of the way, I finally got around to doing this review.

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“I told you the same goes for me. But we met each other. The world changed. Don’t be a slave to your regrets. You’re not alone anymore. I’m here for you.” - Akihito Kanbara

If there’s one thing I really hate doing, then it’s giving a show/movie/game a rating before I even finish it. In most cases, these ratings tend to drop when I finish the thing, and very rarely do they ever rise or remain the same. Sadly, Kyoukai no Kanata is one from the former. What was initially the show running for my favourite of the season turned into one of the more controversial ones when the final episode finally aired. What do I think of the show? Let’s see.

Kyoukai no Kanata (Or Beyond the Boundary in English) at its core, is an anime that focuses on two outcasts who, for the first time in their entire lives, finally experience what it means to have a true friendship.  It deals with what it’s like to be born unusually and to be shunned for that reason. This is the part of the show that originally got me to continue watching it. While it probably isn't too original by today’s standards, the way it was handled during the first few episodes was well done and managed to keep my interest going.

The visuals? Two words. FUCKING BEAUTIFUL. This show has some of the best animation that anime has to offer. From the mundane to the epic, everything looks so magnificent. KyoAni has definitely raised the bar in terms of what hand drawn animation can do in an anime show setting. The action looks so fluid and is breath taking to watch, each youmu managing to have a distinct design and animation while still managing to keep their malevolence intact. Nothing was done in CG, even the biggest of enemies or the most epic of fights are all wonderfully done with hand drawn animation (Looking at you Tokyo Ravens). If the story was what got me to start, then the art was what got me to stay.

Being a KyoAni show, the OST doesn't falter behind to the visuals. Both the OP and ED are some of my favourites of the season and each scene was partnered appropriately with a wonderful piece to accompany it.

I’ll wholeheartedly agree with what a friend of mine said regarding the show. The pacing is way too fast for its own good. This is one of those shows that I feel would have definitely been much better had the show been 24 episodes at the very least instead of only 12. While each character is given a unique personality and unique quirks that separate them from others, given the pacing they weren’t fully realized barring the two main protagonists. And even then, they weren’t developed as well as they could have been. Then again, it could have been worse. With that we got? It’s alright. Their interactions get a few laughs out of me and seeing Mirai and Akihito interact just gives me this warm fuzzy feeling inside, especially when the show was nearing its end (If not tear jerking).

With my praises out of the way, let’s get into what doesn't work. First off, waaaay too many side characters. Having a cast of this size can only mean one thing when you only have 12 episodes to explore them; A) they all feel hollow when all is said and done, or B) only the main characters get any development while everyone else is cast aside. In this case, the former wins out. Most of their  casual interactions feel odd, and it doesn't help that the comedic timings tend to be improper. The dialogue usually just falls apart, especially more so when the topic switches to the male characters’ fetishes. It’s hard to take it seriously despite its darker atmosphere as it tries too hard to be of the “slice of life” genre.

Another problem with the show is that it has way too many plot holes. A good number of subplots were initiated but were never given closure or given time to be explored. Episode 10 (Which was supposedly the episode that won back the watchers) gives us a wonderful flashback regarding a certain character’s motivations and another character’s agenda. A lot of things suddenly made sense and a lot of fridge horrors and brilliances come into play. Now while this is great and all, this also meant that they were now pigeonholing themselves into a specific ending. One that would ultimately leave many divided on whether they like it or not, with me being one of them. If you've talked with me on the days of December 19th and/or 20th, then there’s a good chance you have heard my thoughts on this. I’m not going to elaborate on this to keep it spoiler free.

Overall, the show is at the very least worth a watch. There are a lot of elements done well but there are also a big number of things done badly.  What started with a lot of potential ended up a big blob of mess and confusion when the dust finally settled. Kyoukai no Kanata can definitely be summed up in two words: “How unpleasant.”

Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 (PS3) Review

Let me just say that I apologize for the delay. A lot of IRL stuff happened and I eventually lost track of where I was when I continued writing this that I decided to rewrite it from scratch. With that, let’s get the ball rolling!

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Ahh, the console wars. A debate that has been going on for decades about which video game console is "better" than the other. Imagine your Sony PS3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and SEGA Neptune (Remember the cancelled SEGA Genesis/32X hybrid over a decade ago? Yes, that one) consoles locked in an actual war against each other. Now imagine them fighting each other as... busty goddesses... Huh. Now add in lots and lots of moe and jokes regarding the gaming industry. "What the goodness?” indeed. Now, is it worth playing however?

Before we delve into mk2, what is Hyperdimension Neptunia in the first place? The original title in the series was titled as such, and was a quirky and niche video game that had a somewhat satirical look on the gaming industry as a whole. While it definitely had its moments with the enjoyable cast and jokes, the mostly non-existent budget made it feel like an unfinished version of the full thing. The combat was clunky, the dungeons and quests got repetitive very quickly, the healing system –while it added some fake difficulty- was really more annoying than helpful, and the world feels bland. Despite these setbacks however, the first game still managed to sell well enough to gain a cult following -myself included-, and get the green light for a second game.

Someone's mad.

Now then, let’s talk about the sequel. Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 is essentially a reboot of the series. Since the true ending of the first title left no openings for a sequel unless an entirely new cast was introduced, the original story was Jossed and a new canon storyline was created. While largely similar, a few details were changed here and there, such as how Neptune met Compa and IF. For those unfamiliar with it, the story takes place in a world named, "Gamindustri". In said world, there are four main nations: Planeptune, Leanbox, Lastation, and Lowee. Each of these is ruled by a goddess called CPUs: Neptune, Vert, Noire, and Blanc respectively. And each CPU has a little sister -barring Leanbox's CPU while Lowee's CPU gets two-, coined as a CPU candidate: Nepgear, Uni, Ram, and Rom. In this world, a group calling themselves "ASIC" seek to revive Arfoire -the big bad of the game- and as such has been distributing pirated products -which reduces the shares of a nation, thus reducing the faith of the people in their goddess and ultimately decreasing their powers.

Right off the bat, one can quickly tell that the story is going to be darker and edgier than the first. Because as soon as the game begins, the four goddesses and Nepgear take on one of the major antagonists but they get beaten quite easily. They then get captured and disappear for three years. After said three years pass, Compa and IF -good friends of Neptune and Nepgear- sadly only manage to rescue the CPU candidate Nepgear. Now it's up to Nepgear and company to try and rescue Gamindustri from the clutches of impending doom.

Getting quite risque here aren't we Compile Heart and Idea Factory?

While Nepgear isn't as fun of a character as Neptune was in the first, she still is likeable in her own ways and her acting as the only sane woman -in some cases- definitely brought out the best in the others. Every character has their own quirks and traits that players will ultimately find either cute or irritating. Fortunately, Neptune does return eventually, and she easily steals the show from then on.

If the gameplay was the main issue of the first game, then that is thankfully not the case for the second. The gameplay here is miles ahead of the original. The developers now opted for a more active turn-based combat similar to how "Eternal Sonata" played. In each turn, you can move your character around within a certain boundary -which can be expanded through equipment- and you can attack an enemy, use an item, or defend within said boundary. Once you are in range of an enemy, you can choose to attack them via combos or skills. Combos can be customized according to your liking and/or according to your opponents if they resist a certain element. You have three moves to choose from to form combos: the X button moves which do more damage to an enemy's guard gauge, the Square button moves for damage, and the Triangle button moves for more hits. If an enemy's guard gauge is empty, you'll deal more damage. After a certain point in the story, characters gain access to finishers and these are activated through specific combinations. On the other hand, skills can only be used by using up SP. And SP is generated from attacking, being attacked, or through consumable items. On top of the skills, the CPUs and CPU candidates gain access to HDD once you accumulate a certain amount of SP, which is their super form. HDD raises their stats by a large margin -or decrease depending on what equipment you have-, but use up a portion of your SP per turn.

Sadly, Cave (The character on the farthest right) is only playable through DLC.

On top of the customizable combos, you also gain access to a lot of clothes, accessories and processors. These become available relatively frequently, though barring the ones unlocked through story progression; they tend to cost quite a big number of money. A new feature introduced in mk2 is the option to change the canvas of Nepgear’s HDD form to your liking. Be it Miku Hatsune’s clothing, to a pirate’s, to Neptune’s own HDD, you’re free to do so provided you have the image file for it. Sadly none of the other CPUs or CPU candidates get this option –at least not until the third game.

Don't use this move too much, Nepgear gets dizzy apparently.

As you progress through the game, you’ll eventually recruit the other characters. And once you surpass four members, the other characters will be placed in the backline. Your backline will provide support traits to the character they’re paired up with. Support traits range from a defense upgrade, immunity to a status ailment, increase in EXP gained, or in Nepgear’s case, breaking the damage limit. Thankfully, your backline also gets experience from battles so the ones in the front do not quickly outpace them.

Outside of battles, players have a ton of events to engage in. One of which is doing quests, which is a staple for RPGs. Quests will raise a nation’s shares while decreasing another’s. And apparently the higher the shares of a nation, the stronger their respective CPU will be. However, this is hardly noticeable; at least for me. One can also pass time by accessing Chirper, Gamindustri’s version of Twitter. Through Chirper events, Nepgear can develop her relationship with the other party members or chat with a random NPC. Although Nepgear can raise her relationship levels by pairing her with a member and sending them to battle, this is a VERY tedious task and is hardly reliable unless you really plan to stick with a specific party composition for an entire playthrough. Raising a nation’s shares will determine when a CPU will join after you rescue them and which ending you will get in relation to Nepgear’s relationship with said character/s.

Yes, that is Keiji Inafune in a TV.

Audio is mostly decent, barring the opening song and that song Nepgear and Neptune danced to in their idol video which easily steals the show –you’ll know which ones I’m talking about when you played the game. The English and Japanese dubs both do well enough to bring life to the characters, though a select few seem to fall flat but it’s more of a case of boring character design than bad voice acting. 

One of the things that might turn off some RPG fans is that it’s fairly short and easy. You can blast through the main story in about 22 hours –much shorter than the 64 hours I sunk into the first before I finished it-, even without grinding much. You really only need to grind if you plan get the true ending or if you want to fight in the coliseum –which, trust me, WILL stomp you if you’re unprepared. Another thing some might dislike is that the graphics, while the world and characters are colorful and wonderfully animated, aren't exactly “cutting edge”. On top of that, the game also tends to drop frames, which makes the movements look choppy.

Did I mention that the game was meant to be darker and edgier? Well, on top of the above statements about the beginning of the story, a certain ending not only brought a very depressing conclusion to the story, but it also brought a thought provoking very plausible meta-outcome. I am not going spoil as to what happens, but basically imagine a world with no competition. Sure you won’t have problems choosing over one or the other, but would it lead to development or stagnancy in the long run?

Nope, totally not darker and edgier.

In the end, Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 is a vast improvement over the original. What with the much better gameplay, more diverse cast, and better developed setting, it undeniably is what the original should have been. Although the first had its charm on the jokes but sacrificing the gameplay, the second finds a balance between the two. I am personally very happy that the sequel was very well-made, and it is currently one of my personal favorite video games of all time –at least until the third game came along and stole its spot. While it definitely won’t win any awards, the enjoyment factor is off the charts as long as you remember that it’s not meant to be taken too seriously and keep your brain off for the most part. I suggest you stay away from this if you’re looking for a serious video game. I will most likely talk about the third game sometime in the future. So keep an eye out for it.

Hopefully you survived long enough to see this.

Thank you for sticking it out with me on this review. Hopefully my next ones do not take as long as this one did.

Images courtesy of: Siliconera. I wouldn't have minded taking my own screenshots, but the quality from my Dazzle is highly unreliable unless you guys don't mind somewhat blurry images or images taken from a cellphone.

Next review: TBD.

Opening Post

Let’s get acquainted, shall we? Well my name is Jonah. I am 17 years old, currently attending the De La Salle University in the Philippines studying Computer Science. I’ve always loved playing video games and when I was in the 5th grade, I played one specific video game that really inspired me. Since then I’ve self-studied about how to code and program with Macromedia Flash (Now known as Adobe Flash). When I reached the 6th grade, I’ve managed to create my own video game. Well, sort of.

It was a turn-based RPG, which only had about 3 or 4 battles with some cutscenes in between. When I released it online on a website known as Newgrounds, the reviews weren’t too positive. There were a couple of errors that pop up when certain patterns are followed, certain specific characters were missing so the scenes wouldn’t continue unless you right click and hit “Play”,  and the animation wasn’t too stellar.

But they were all impressed when they found out that I was only about 10-11 at the time, so I got praised for being able to create my own slightly complicated video game at that age. I have since then removed that specific game, but my other works are still up on my page on the Newgrounds site. If you would like to view them, feel free to take a look here (And maybe cringe).

Through watching Ebert and Roeper, The Nostalgia Critic, Todd in the Shadows, and The Angry Video Game Nerd, I eventually got into writing reviews. Be it about video games, movies, anime or TV shows. I found that I also had a passion for talking about these subjects and loved to hear other people’s opinions on them. So I’ve started to write up my own reviews on my Facebook page, but it didn’t feel like a good place to post reviews, so I’ve looked around for possible websites where I could host my blog or something.

I was then introduced to WordPress when I joined the Nyne Volt Games team a couple of years back to review games, but as soon as I had joined I got bombarded with school stuff so I wasn’t able to be as active as I had originally wanted. A couple of years later, I’ve improved on my writing skills and have decided to start up my own blog for reviewing, and chose to start on Blogger.

My blog will most likely be centered around writing reviews for video games and anime. Maybe movies if I find one that really gets the inner critic in me running. I’ll also be accepting requests for reviews occasionally (Or maybe often if I don’t have anything to review). If ever something interesting pops up, I’ll be writing up a post on it as well.

Post frequency would normally depend on when I find something that piques my interest and lights the passion in me. Although since my university runs on the trimestral system, I probably won’t have much free time barring the weekends and/or breaks. So I’ll try to get something up once a week, or if I’m lucky, maybe two or three a week.

With that, let’s get started! Feel free to drop questions and requests in the comments section.

First review: Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 (For the PS3)