Paulaelia

I just finished up watching the 12 episodes of Mashiro-Iro Symphony: Love is Pure White and I have to say it is one of the better romance/slice of life/harem shows I’ve seen in a while. The characters are all very lovable and the story moved along in. I enjoyed it, I was frustrated by it, I was surprised and I nearly cried. All in all, it gets my vote of approval. Now on to the details:

Shingo (pictured below) is a very friendly student who lives with his very cute sister Sakuno (blue-haired girl in above picture).  The school he and his sister are attending is in the process of merging with a nearby all-girls-upper-class-fancy-pants school. Shingo, his sister, his best friend, and a large collection (of both male and female) students from his school are set to move into a class at the all-girls school at the start of the new term.

Before that happens, Sakuno gets lost on her way home from shopping (she’s the airheaded slow paced girl). Shingo goes to find her, only to have her cell phone battery die with them still separated. Sakuno meets Airi Sena (blonde girl in top picture) who is also lost and uses her phone to contact Shingo. They all meet up in a local park. Airi leaves them with the feeling that they have made a new friend and they look forward to their change in school.

Uh oh, Airi Sena not only attends the all-girls school, she is in Shingo’s class, and she is completely AGAINST the merging schools. She doesn’t want any males in her school! Thus begins their conflicting school days.

The rest of the cast is made up of Ange the maid-in-training (green-haired girl in top picture), Miu Amaha the animal loving senior (purple-haired girl in top picture) , Sana Inui who is Miu’s best friend (pictured above), and all their classmates and teachers.

The story is nicely paced with everyone getting their own little mini-plot arcs and events, and the romance isn’t so overbearing on the story that it distracts from the rest of their lives. The animation is soft and flowing and it really lends itself to the pacing of the show. All of the characters, while at times frustrating, are rich and have their own thoughts. A few points here and there they show some minor flaws, but ultimately I really enjoyed it.

SCORE: 9/10 - Really Good Watch! Recommended!

Champions Online is a Free to Play MMO available on Steam, their website, and a lot of other places, but I downloaded it through Steam just because I was there. Before I knew it I was in Character Creation, and it was pretty awesome. Tons of features, and I hadn’t purchased any of the costume packs or anything. So right away, this game has gotten my hopes up.

After spending a good 30-45 minutes there, I had created my Super Fish Man with Mind Powers! The game loaded the tutorial and I was in the world, fighting aliens along side my fellow Super Heroes.

Or was I? A lot of the quests were simple tutorial stuff, go kill x number of these guys, go blow these thingies up, stuff like that. And of course, there are a bunch of other people doing the same thing, so it felt like you were with them. Then came time for the final boss battle of the tutorial, and I was alone. Completely separated from all other users, my only ally was the overpowered NPC giving me the quest and dialog.

Overall, for my first Super Hero MMO it was quite fun, but the Super Hero theme is always the Hero out fighting either alone or with a few others, and since everyone playing is the Hero, no one wants to be a side character in someone else’s story. I think with some friends in the game who want to play together, this MMO would be amazing. The only thing I have an issue with is that it costs money to buy extra costumes, classes, and stuff. I know they have to make money somehow, but it still feels like I’m only playing half the game.

So, give it a try, it’s free after all. Let me know what sort of Hero you make! Also, does anyone want to be on my super friends list?

For the current “What’s On” in the anime world, I got to say my pick is Steins;Gate. It’s a Science Fiction story, but it has MAJOR elements of Psychological Drama. Mainly, the main character, Kyoma, is a self proclaimed Mad Scientist. He talks to him self, is paranoid about a secret organization following him, and has invented a Microwave that can send text messages (and goo-bananas) back in time.

As they story progresses in the first 2 episodes (only 2 out at the time of writing this) we find more and more strange characters as Kyoma tries to figure out why his memory of events doesn’t line up with the rest of the worlds memories. Something to do with “World Lines” which from how they described it, sounds a lot like the parallel multiverse theory to me.

But seriously, if you have any interest in this sort of weird, complex, thought-based drama, this is looking like it’s going to be a good one.

Also, side note. The two companies who are making this made a very similar series before, and it’s almost like they go together sorta-kinda. They could exist in the same Canon Universe if you will. It’s called Chaos;Head. It’s one of my all time favorites, so check it out, and make sure to try Steins;Gate.

Just saw Accepted for the first time. As a Justin Long fan, I knew I was going to like it, but I wasn’t sure exactly how sure I was going to like it…

I loved it, and now I want to start my own University. Patrick… Brian… We could totally pull it off. LOL

SERIOUSLY? That cliffhanger was worse than some of the stuff I do! I want the next episode now and not in a few days! Come on! UGH! So frustrating but I love it!

Just sayin’, that ‘The World Only Gods Knows’ anime is getting rather awesome… Kami-nii-sama.

Also: Kanon-chan <333