"Body swap" stories have made the rounds dozens times. Its ilk of well-worn and seemingly-predictable contrivances are what can make subversions so very very fun.
Tag: BlaugustReborn
Nier Automata x OST and Conlang
One of those elements that instantly makes a setting feel fleshed-out and well-realized to me is the presence of conlang, or constructed languages. It's dead impressive that the invented "chaos language" in NieR: Automata is custom-made just to deepen the series' often-haunting and sometimes-thrilling soundtrack.
Monogatari Series and Level-Setting
Monogatari is fairly hard to recommend out-of-hand. It’s also not-so-secretly a personal favorite of mine. It has a broad and well-balanced cast, every single episode is a visual treat, and in retrospect the anime is possibly the most one-to-one adaptation of a source material I’ve ever seen that still manages to take advantage of its new medium. How those three things in particular reinforce one another is what makes Monogatari grab you and never let go.
Ore Monogatari and Quixotism
There is, to understate it, a mile-long list of various problems with the way that anime and manga tend to portray relationships.
Last Remnant and Software Extinction
Yesterday, it was announced that The Last Remnant would be discontinued for PC in a week and some change. For sales/support reasons? Some issue with licensing? Who knows! Point is, no new players on those games. This isn't even the first time this has happened by a long shot.
Saints Row and Variable Tone
Back in the college days, Saints Row 2 was our vice of choice. Yet even with our inbuilt good faith in in the series, I've barely spent a third of the time in Saints' Row The Third as I have its predecessor. So what happened here?
Bravely Demos and Succinctness
I love me a good JRPG. I have for about two-thirds of my life now. But here's the thing - I can only really play a very limited number of them.
Kids on the Slope and Soundtrack Integration
It's so satisfying when a score is so well-matched to the material it's created to accompany that the two can become inseparably associated in your mind. Kids on the Slope is on the top of its game with regards to this.
Hamtaro and Piracy
I find it strange how little I remember about Hamtaro. So, being a millennial, I went to see if I could stream a few episodes somewhere to jog my memory. I had no such luck.
Kokoro Connect and Spoilers
It’s quite rare that I proceed into a game, movie, series, or any other work of fiction not knowing much. I lucked out in that, all I really knew about Kokoro Connect at the time was that people tended to like it.
Yakuza and Closed-World Environments
The Yakuza series of games has been gaining a lot of traction recently in the West . Like with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s sparse inventory space, its unwillingness to let the player off the proverbial leash works in its favor.
My Hero Academia and Motivators
Just like what seems like everyone who even remotely keeps up with modern anime releases, I’ve had an eye on the runaway success that is [Boku no | My Hero] Academia. You come for the flashy action and cool character designs, you stick around because the cast is so gosh-darn endearing.
FLCL and Breaking Format
FLCL is available to stream on Funimation/VRV and Hulu. I get really excited whenever I see a show with only eleven episodes in its season. Not because that makes it faster to get through my long backlog of the many great and wonderful things being made these days. (Granted, that's definitely a mark in favor …
Shadow of Mordor and Genre Borders
Video games are a weird thing to think about as a category, and sorting them into different genres is tricky. The RPG label just might be the worst of them these days.
Aria the Animation x OST and Milieu-sic
Aria is another one of those shows that I love the idea of, but I've not watched a single episode of. Instead, I've thankfully run across its fantastic musical score.
This Thing Is Neat 