Nana MarfoA student with a passion for game development and all things Japan. Archives
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Update: Store is Open25/7/2019
Hey all! This is going to be a short one since I am posting this the day I'm recording this, but I just want to say that my store is now open!
This is mostly for people who want to support the site as a one off venture. My designs(as with everything I do are inspired by pure creativity, and a love Japanese mediums of entertainment(some more than others). The links on the store will take you to the appropriate page on RedBubble, when you can get these designs on T-Shirts, Sticker, Posters, Hoodies and more! Take a look at the designs below, and if you see something you like, head to the store, or go to https://www.redbubble.com/people/nanamarfo1. While here I would also like to promo my Buy Me a Coffee(like Ko-fi but works with credit cards) with commission options available at the button below this post.
By extension, I want to shout out my co-writer at Game Savvy, Kiley Wilde, who is kinda like my online mother to be honest, who runs a small business in T-Shirt and printing business herself called Bamboozie. Check her out she makes good stuff.
But yea, get some stuff if you want to support us! See you guys next week for the in review!
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Cutie Honey:The Live: First Impressions23/7/2019
So MHA is kinda of on the backburner for now. Not in bad way at all, in fact, I would say Season 3 is best season of MHA so far, but that's for another day.
This show is a Toku Show, and did hear about it in some capacity(I even mistook it for the 2004 live action Cutie Honey film), but this keeps on being talked about by fellow Toku Twitter person, KiwamiCube, or just Cube. So I figured, why not? I need to watch more Toku anyways. Rules: 1. Spoliers are abounding folks. 2.I am using TV-Nihon subs. Also as a disclamer, this will get NSFW. This is my first impression of Cutie Honey: The Live.
We begin 3 criminals escaping different jails, and they have all been convicted of at least murder. The police but up an effort to stop them, but they end up getting special guns that end helping defeat them. We then cut to our intro theme, which is a bit... unorthodox, to say the least?
The song itself, Cutie Honey, is pretty nice despite some questionable lyrics. As for the opening... I would link to it, but I can't find it on YouTube... and for good reason.
We then cut to a women going to a place called the Hayami Detective Agency, where she meets private detective Hayami Seiji, a detective who lives in poverty in order to expose the problem with capitalism in Japan. She goes there to ask him to find his brother Yamashita Jirou, one of the criminal that escaped. I'll bring this up here so we can come back to it later, but we also keep cutting to a high school where girls are getting their medical check up.
Jirou was convicted for murder, and his sister, Nana think he should turn himself in, and we learn more about him and his motive, but for reasons I'll get into, knowing this is kinda pointless.
We then go to a swimming pool where we see a dude who's actor also plays Kusaka from Faiz talking about who is going to win "this match". It seems that 3 people have bet on the prisoners on how long they can outrun the police. If they win they get a prize and if the prisoners get caught they die. This is demonstrated by Kishima Naoki, who gets caught, and ends up dead. While this works and the game itself is explained fairly well through the episode, I would have preferred some sort of exposition to explain what's going on, but I don't think that's this kinda show.
Nana and Seiji go to the spot where her brother commited her murder, and then Jirou knocks out Seiji, and takes off with Nana, where we learn it was Nana that commited the murder and that Jirou was in jail because he want to keep his sister out of jail. However, someone gave him "a chance". The police show up, and then escape in a car Nana shows herself to be a psycopath, attempting to kill her brother, until the police show up. However, the police,Jirou Nana and Seiji are assulted by a group of hitmen and Kusaka(his name isn't mentioned so I'm calling him Kusaka for now). I think he has multipal people in one body, as he seems to switch between playful and serious on a whim. I like his introduction though, as he still comes across as pretty threatening. But if you think things are weird now... well, be prepared.
Jirou ends up killed as Nana runs and Seiji calls a girl name Kisargi Honey, who's in the medical check-up we talked about early, a he begins running towards a park. However, she gets to the scene pretty fast, and seems overly naive at first. After the hitman begin attacking again, she transforms by RUNNING NAKED THROUGH THE PARK AND KICKING ONE OF THE HITMEN.
YES I JUST TYPED THAT. I needed a moment when saw that, but it is either the dumbest thing I have ever seen, or the coolest thing I have ever seen, and I'm still not sure which.
Her suit is pretty nice, even if it is just red and black leather, though I do like the metal/silver(I can't really tell) on her fingers. Looks like a bunch of rings. Anyways, the last criminal survives and winner got... uh... sexual favours. Huh. Kusuka turns his fingers in FEATHER SWORDS. That's pretty cool. The ends with Cutie Honey being tossed around. Oh and Nana dies as well, probably because she's no longer needed.
The ending is pretty nice, just Honey fighting mooks while a nice little ending theme plays. Honey is a intresting protagonist in the fact that she's pretty childish and innocent all things considered, and I can't wait to see where that goes.
Overall, this reminded a LOT of Senran Kagura, but honestly I'm curious to see where this goes, as the opening teases more heroines, and I want to see how they affect the story. Plus, it's Japanese kind of abusurdly that is fun to watch, because you it's going to be a fun ride at worst.
This was fun to write, it was very different to the stuff I usually watch and I had a lot of fun with the jokes this time. Either way, thanks for reading, and I will catch you guys next time. Written By Nana Marfo. Cutie Honey the Live belongs to TV Tokyo
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"For over 30 years, across 15 mainline titles, the Final Fantasy series has been delivering thrilling RPG adventures to players,featuring icon characters and stories that people love or get really mad at. The series has been constantly reinventing it's self when it comes to gameplay and setting."
KZXcellent took 3 pitches for this in the Armchair Devs podcast. Today(in a more serious and "professional" manor) I will present my ideas for the next game in Square Enix biggest franchise. This is my take on Armchair Devs: Final Fantasy XVI.
Elevator Pitch
This is the part where I have to write a pitch in around 30 secs: "The setting for Final Fantasy XVI will be set in the modern world, where our hero must go through the both the suburbs and the modern city in order to bring justice to the world." What is the General Setting going to be like? Like I said, our protagonist will have to adventure between the urban and suburban environments, exploring the city and looking at different places in order to save the world. The world has been overtaken by the corrupt government and monarchy, oppressing the people and it's up to the resistance called Dyna, who are looking to find out what is going on in with this oppressive rule, but will find out that a sinister force pulling the strings. Speaking of, who is the main antagonist? The stories main antagonist is a female who felt as if she was oppressive by social norms and values within society, because of the fact that she learned to use dark magic and mind control. However, this will only be hinted at in the main story, as a lot of the main moves will be made by the government. Who will the main protagonist(s)? Our main protagonists are a part of this resistance force. A boy named Mike and a girl named Rachel are the main 2 fighters in this resistance, Mike uses the element of Fire and Clare uses the Element of Ice, and this would be reflected in their weapons, fighting style and magic. I would have art, but I'm broke and can't draw that well, so sorry?
Speaking of what will the gameplay be like?
The gameplay will be an action RPG, in the style Final Fantasy XV, but with improvments such as enemies counting within a middle of a combo, and different button inputs to peform different combos. As such, it takes elements more from the hack n'slash genre of games. If you had the choice, who would be your Character designer, Director and Composer? I want this Final Fantasy XVI to have some style and flare to it. As such, if I had the chance, I would ask Mr Kingdom Hearts himself, Tetsuta Nomura to direct the game. After seeing his work on Megaman Zero and his interptations on the Kamen Rider series, I would ask Toru Nakayama to design the charaters for this game.
As for the sound track, I would hire Yoko Shimomura, because she has proven that she is able to make music for a range of different settings via the Kingdom Hearts series and Final Fantasy XV.
What is the projected time scale for this game? I would hope to have this game completed in 3-4 years, unless we are working with a unknown Console Artcutre, which would require an extra year or to iron out any bugs. And that's about it! Thanks to the GigaBoots PodCast Network inspiring this post. What do you guys think? Would it be good or bad? Anything else you want to know? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading, and I will catch you guys next time. Written By Nana Marfo Inspired by Armchair Devs #2:Final Fantasy
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Kamen Rider Bulid:Be The One: Review9/7/2019
Bulid was a good Kamen Rider. I fell off towards the end because school got hard, but I caught up afterwards in the main series, and while there was a bit too much politics in play, and I felt that Evol was pulling BS out of his ass towards the end, it was fun. But how does the movie hold up?
Rules as always: 1.Spoilers(and I'm talking series, not just the film this time) are abounding folks. 2.I am watching TV-Nihon subs. This is my review of Kamen Rider Bulid: Be The One.
So before we begin, I should note that this film is canon to the Kamen Rider Build story between Ep. 45 and 46. If you go from here, I am assuming you have watched up to those episodes.
We begin with a flashback to Shinobu Katuragi, who talks about the energy of Pandora Box and how it could destroy Earth, and that the fate of Earth depends on someone, though if you watched the show, you know who it is already. We then cut to the present day, where Sento is talking to Sawa and Misora about the weather, as well as where the other Kamen Riders are. Gentoku is sleeping, while Banjo and Kazumi are visiting the graves of their fallen ones. The new governors of Touto, Seito and Hokuto make themselves known, with Kengo Ino, the new governor of Touto, saying to the people that Build should be eliminated He then puts them under mind control, and the Hunt for Bulid begins. Saigo Ryouka, the governor of Hokuto, goes to fight Bulid, but Grease(Kazumi) and Rogue(Gentoku) fight her off so Bulid can keep running from the people.
Banjo Ryuga on the way back hears about what is happening, but he ends up in a car with Goubara Mitsuomi, the new governor of Seito. He was also the one that chose Banjo's girlfriend to become a smash, because Banjo needed a reason to be pissed off? Maybe I'm forgetting something in the series, but this kinda comes out of nowhere. Ino shows up, activating Banjo's alien nature, making him pure evil, and granting him the power of the Great Cross-Z Dragon once again. Oh and Kamen Riders aren't affected by the mind control, probably because of the Nebula Gas injected into them.
Sento goes into the government Labs again to research the the Kiwami(extreme in Japanese, though I have seen it called Zenith in relation to Kiwami Arms from Kamen Rider Gaim) Project. This is where Sento meets Kengo Ino, who is a part of the Blood Tribe. This is the tribe that Evolto is a part of, and they were going to destroy earth together, but Evolto had his own plans of course. They also manipulated the wars for each region somehow, though they all saw of the light of Pandora Box(that's not a typo btw, just saying), which increased their motivation to go to war. Himuro Taizan wouldn't have of course(he sent Gentoku, his son in his place), so if we subtract Touto wouldn't Hokuto and Seito gone to war in the first place? Maybe I'm over thinking it.
With the help of Evil Banjo, Kengo is able to retrieve the Hazard Trigger, and combines that with the power of the other 2 governors(who can turn into smash) to become Kamen Rider Blood, a really cool looking dark rider form. He tries to kill Sento(they ended up fighting for the Hazard Trigger), but Evolto keeps him alive, probably to advance his own plans later in the series.
Sento ends up wandering in the rain for a bit, speaking to Katsugri Takumi, and if you haven't watched Bulid, why are you still here? Takumi is still worried about Banjo destroying the Earth, though in a flashback, we see that Shinobu said that Banjo holds the key to the Earth's fate. In that flash back Sento(possessing Takumi's body), asks why he became a scientist.
The next day, Sento goes to fight Kengo, and despite the people being against him, fights valiantly. Misora is saddened, despite being under the mind control, probably because of Vernage's infulence and Sawa seems to be the same way because of her smaller exposure to the Nebula Gas. Sento says he'll keep fighting even if no one is on his side, and using the Gold Rabbit full Bottle(they explain later that riders with High Hazard Levels can make bottles evolve), he's able to free Banjo, however Blood activates the Hazard Trigger to dig into the earth and destroy it from the core. Kamen Rider likes set piece final battles for the movies don't they? Ghost had the 100 Eyecons Battle, Ex-Aid had the City Being trashed while fighting Gamedeus, and now this. It's not bad, in fact it works for the movies, just a trend I've noticed.
Grease and Rogue take on the 2 smash, while Sento thinks of a using Gold Rabbit and Silver Dragon to stop Kengo, but Misora(now with the Vernage personality)combines 2 Gold and Sliver bottles with Genius to form Cross-Z Bulid, a really good looking form which you can is based off the Rabbit Rabbit and Tank Tank suits for inspiration.
Rogue and Grease defeat the smash, while Cross-Z Bulid, in what is a really cool fight scene, fight Blood, and reveals that Shinobu became a scientist for the reason that Sento and Banjo fight: Love and Peace. They defeat Blood, returning the people to normal, and Sento ends the film saying he's happy as long he can create a future for others, along side Everlasting Sky, which is a nice ending theme.
After the credits, Sento is taken to a world where other Riders are fighting, when Zi-O steps in and explains who he is after kicking the monsters asses. This is better than the Ex-Aid movie, because at it feels like the slot at the end was intended.
The story overall is pretty good, though one thing I will levy against it is that the Blood Tribe are not that interesting, which is a shame considering Evolt's character and personality. Kengo does comes off as a charismatic leader, and while a bit bland, I do like what they do with him, as he comes off as a more serious Evolt, but I feel like Goubara and Saigo could have been removed and we would have nothing really missed.
Another complant that I have is that Kazumi and Gentoku are absent for most of the movie, as you can tell the writers want to focus on Sento, more on that in a second. Utsumi also made a cameo, but it's nothing noteworthy. I also think that Misora could have been freed from the mind control earlier, given that she has Vernage's power within her, but for how she was used it was good. However, I can apprecate the focus of this movie on Sento.
Ever since Kamen Rider started doing post-series movie with a focus on the main Rider, just to wrap their story or see how they got on after their series. This feels like that, a wrap up of Sento's character and everything surrounding the relationship between him and Banjo, as well as him accepting that even if people hate his existence, he has to fight.
Overall, I can say that I liked Be The One. While there is a lot of pacing issues, characters that go missing and a few uninteresting elements, those are minor flaws for a good written story focusing on our hero Kiryu Sento.
Been a while since I reviewed a Toku show or movie. Hopefully I can get around to doing the Rider Time shows for Shinobi and Ryuki.
But for now, thanks for reading, and I will catch you guys next time. Written By Nana Marfo For Daichi Nobe, the suit actor for Hammer Bros. Kamen Rider/Kamen Rider Bulid (C) Toei
Note: If your thinking about buying either of the 2 belts, please check others sites first! Kamen Rider products have a tendency to be over priced on Amazon, even when new and in box.
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In Review:May and June 20195/7/2019
Hey all! Bumping 2 months into 1 this month, because they were overlapping exams, and June has just been hectic in general. But how did I do writing wise?
Writing in review May was still a big month for me writing wise, as I wrote a big article on creativity. June I had to slow down, but I still got an all in the character out. Blog Posts NM GameWorks #21:What is Creativity? Daily Inkling:Broken Memories All in the Character: Oerba Yun Fang NM Gameworks #22:Always Learning More GameSavvy Posts N/A Favourite Art pieces
Awesome things I saw/did/read
-First and foremost, huge shout to my friend Jennifer, who is back doing art now that exams are over! She's done pieces of Kasumi from Persona 5 and Nessa from Pokemon Sword and Shield! -If your a female wanting to get into games, speak to Anisa Sanusi, she runs a female mentorship scheme for girls want to get into game development. -Kiley Wilde, my co-writer at Game Savvy, made a really good video on living with BPD, and how it affects her. - I sadly did not have a prom, but if you need a hair-do females, my friends Beverly and Mary will do hair for a cheaper cost than most! -Thanks to everybody that came to my Sixth Form show last week! It was pretty awesome! -Japanese music was all sorts of awesome. Kenshi Yonezu released a song called Spirits of the Sea, and Reol released a new video for Lost Paradise. -My friend Philip has started streaming! Go check him out! He's currently playing Arkham Knight! Games Played I ended up starting Final Fantasy VII thanks to a friend, and it's been fun so far! Man, why do I have so many JRPG's to play?
I also started playing Forward to the Sky! It's pretty fun so far! I really do like the look and feel of the game, even if the voice acting is...meh.
I also went back to Re:Birth 1! Just grinding at the moment, but I will say Pluta and Peachy are pretty cool to play as.
Final Thoughts
May was kinda a normal month in my mind TBH. Yes, I was still doing exams and other things, but I was still regularly going into school. However, as some of you may know, my teacher of 4 years,died in this time period. I wish him and his family the best, and like I said before, I hope he finds peace wherever he is now.
June... has been hectic. Between E3, my last exams, the funeral of said teacher, my A-Level show, putting up and taking down said show...yea it's been a lot. However, July will not be the same! I am trying to tick off goals one at a time! And now with school over, I can do this at will. I'm also looking for a job to support this website, and I'm launching my T-Shirt brand this month!!
But that's all for now. Thanks for reading and I will catch you guys next time. |