DBZ: Battle of Gods Review

By: 14thLord

Release: 2013
Genre: Action, Super Powers, Comedy

It's been 17 years since the last Dragon Ball movie came out. Not counting certain specials, such as Episode of Bardock, Goku and His Friends return, etc. Was it worth the wait? More or less.

Lets get this started with the Dragon Ball Z / GT franchise have never been about... well, continuity, story, plot, depth, etc. Its always been at its core a series about light hearted action and being of immense super powers. If you'd argue this, literally every movie and special breaks the canon and cannot of happened based on the series. Even in the series canon is often brought up and forgotten at moments notices. So to be clear, the story isn't anything amazing, but it's nothing poor if you're into Dragon Ball Z.

Lets not bring up math and how Trunks and Goten should be in their teens by this point. Honestly, it doesn't matter too much. The story itself is simple. Bills, the current God of Destruction has awoken after a 15 year nap in a comedic way, at once showing that the new Dragon Ball Z material will be making its return back to more comedic and fun times of the original series.

Again we meet wonky looking aliens in the new drawing style that looks quite foreign to the old, which was used sparingly in the Dragon Ball Kai relaunch. Filler is near non-esitant as charging for power is kept to a minimal, and the focus is more on fun, so scenes that add nothing to the story fits quite well. Even the name Bills isn't the most serious name for a God of Destruction, and as you learn his character, he becomes increasingly comical despite the threat he presents.

Overall, Dragon Ball Battle of the Gods is a must watch. Unfortunately due to legal issues revolving around Fox, it may be awhile before we see Funimation dubbing this movie. On the bright side, projections are looking to say that this movie will be released sometime 2014, so stay tuned!

If you must know the overall plot, it follows Bills the legendary God of Destruction on his search for a threat to him. This threat was told of him by a oracle, and during his latest slumber he dreamed of it. Something called a Super Saiyan God. If you're familiar with DBZ and GT, you can instantly tell this is something new, never before seen. Of course the Saiyan race is all but gone, with all the remnants of it (besides Tarble) moving to earth. Oh and Goku who for some reason is just relaxing on King Kai's planet, which I thought was destroyed during the Cell Games. Alas, I'll just assume it's been either brought back in show or by some other means.

Characters: 7/10
Overall, all the characters act in character for themselves. Unlike all the other movies though, the other characters seem to get more of a highlight even if they're quickly forgotten. Still, the new current cast of characters all play a part, with a big thumbs up pointed at Vegeta's way. This is the first time that Goku won a battle where it felt like others actually mattered, even if they (as always) couldn't even weaken the villain for him.

Plot: 5/10
As mentioned, Dragon Ball Z has never been plot heavy. Yes there's a plot and it's not senseless, it takes us where we need to go. Even if it recons and forgets things here and there.

Fun Factor: 9/10
I have to say that this is where the movie shined its best. The feel of the movie was quite fun, humorous, and I never once got bored or felt the need to pull out a stop watch and time how long a fight took or how long it took to power up.

Music & Art: 8/10
You may remember the new art direction from the previous specials. While it's different than the style we're used to, it adds overall to the tone of the movie. The music itself isn't anything to speak of in particular.

English Dubbing: ---
This will be added when the movie is officially dubbed (and I've seen it).

Overall: 7/10
This movie gets a thumb up for watchable, and a +2 for longtime fans of the show. This movie stays true to the series and is just so much more fun than any of the older more serious movies.

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Amnesia (Anime) No Spoilers

By: Lostsakana

Release: 2013
Category: Harem, Romance

Now the question is: Can you dock a rating for an anime based only on its genre…? I would say no. No, that would be unfair. It’d be like rating a show for kids poorly because you’re holding it to the standards of adults. It’d be like rating a horror flick poorly because you don’t like scary movies. Like rating the Naked Gun as a 2/10 because your dog died moments before and the thought of laughing makes you sick.

Amnesia is based on a reverse-harem dating sim. For those of you unaware, Japan has an abundance of not just anime, manga and video games in its popular media, but also dating games where you play as the protagonist and have the chance to date a number of characters with different looks and personalities. These games are designed to incorporate many different endings and often these can have huge variance depending on the decisions you make. There are hundreds of these games in almost every genre: romance, hentai, adventure, and even horror (try googling Song of Saya)… as long as you’re a guy. (Or don’t mind playing as a boy…)There are OVERWHELMING numbers of these games but the options for girls are very limited. (But I would encourage almost anyone to look into the bird dating sim “Hatoful Boyfriend” because holy shit—just do it.)

Amnesia is, as you have probably figured out at this point, based on one of these dating sims for girls. With that in mind, what rating does it deserve? Certainly not a 2, or a 3, not anywhere near the ratings I keep seeing over and over. It seems to me that the main beef most people have with this series is that it is “a shameless harem”. Oh please!!! And the same people who rated this series probably gave anime like Shuffle a 9 or 10. Alright men in their 20’s: this is not the anime for you.

Girls? Gay men? Give it a shot. But understand what it is:

This game is based on a dating sim. In dating sims the main character is left a completely blank slate for a reason. You are supposed to project yourself onto this character. If the lead was designed to have too much of a defined personality players would feel pressured to make decisions based on what they feel the protagonist would want, not their own interests. That being said…

An adaption should be able to break through that play-through motif. Unfortunately without changing too much about the story this is a difficult work around, to invent a new character as the lead out of thin air.

The Amnesia anime has a HORRIBLE protagonist. But with an understanding of where she came from (a completely blank slate designed to compliment every potential suitor) who could blame the writers? Had they changed too much about the lead I think this would have upset some players (and the main target audience) who saw her as having a different personality.

The Amnesia anime is eye candy. Watch the opening and ending themes: This will give you an idea of what you’re in for.



Animation: 10/10
Beautiful animation. No complaints here.

Directing: 5/10
My main complaint here is that there are some problems real problems that can pull you away from enjoying the story.

Why were the directors so set on keeping this series Y-7? They have references to “spending the night together” but the director must have explicitly told the animators to draw stab wounds without blood, because wow, what the heck.

My other complaint is that they never had the main character make any expression beyond a blank stare. Even in situations where she is about to be horribly murdered, or even when she’s being strangled she still has a more calm expression than the average person discovering a parking ticket. It’s outrageous how expressionless she is. Even if her personality was designed to be a blank slate, she should still feel emotions for heaven’s sake! Her facial pallet is embarrassingly blank even in desperate situations.

Story: Eh…. 6/10
It’s an adaption… they did the best they could… Not dreadful anyway.

Music: 8/10
Not bad.

Characters: 8/10
If you ignore the main character’s blank personality the rest of the cast is interesting and fun.

Overall: 7/10
Amnesia is a dazzling 7/10. Amnesia knows exactly what it is and exactly what it’s trying to be. It’s refreshing to watch an anime that doesn’t take place in high school for once. I cannot emphasize this enough.

Remember where this series originated and enjoy the eye candy!

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Initial Thoughts: Attack on Titan (No Spoilers)

By: 14thLord

Release: 2013
Category: Action, Horror
Also known as: Shingeki No Kyojin, Advancing Giants

Shingeki No Kyojin, Advancing Giants, or Attack on Titan. Ah anime's will always have a fun variety of names, wont they? Beginning in April, we're witness to our newest flavor of the week. Attack on Titan is currently still airing, and as of the time I wrote this, 13 episodes have come out (not including the recap episode). By the time I publish this though, a couple more should have followed.

With a week break to recap the events of the prior episodes, I decided to get my initial thoughts out. This is the mid-seasonal break, and would serve as a bridge between Chapters, where my opinion may vastly change. I first heard about this anime in June, where my friend described it as being influenced by old European stories about giants, with them attacking human cities. I instantly pictured the old Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, a live action series from the 1990's, and was immediately disinterested.

Despite my ill opinion, the night of AnimeNext, we went on a short marathon of the first few episodes until our party members began to pass out from exhaustion. The marathon started strong as we were all blown away by a intro sequence that couldn't be described as any less than “Epic.” Perhaps one of the most engaging opening soundtracks, we're first treated with a Medieval crest. Soon we get a picture of the titans and wow, does the intro look impressive. It really starts strong and shows off the European mythology that spawned its creation.

Once the first episode begins, we're treated by the whiny, arrogant, annoying little brat that happens to be our main character. Besides Erin, we meet Mikasa, his sister who we later learn was adopted, and Armin, the blond boy. For some reason, this characters hairstyle very much reminded me of old King Arthur stories. Whether that was intentional or not, we'll see.

The first episode ends with perhaps one of the most shocking scenes I've seen. It is there that we gain full perspective of the titans that was spoken of throughout the episode, and at last, does giants come off as threatening. Perhaps its all the goofy giants in modern culture now, that made this scene so unnerving.

Throughout the next many episodes, we're again and again treated with shocking imagery, and learn to respect and fear giants once more. Understanding the weakness of giants from lore, the creators of Attack on Titan gave them quite a few tricks. Not only are these titans impossible to kill except by a surgical strike to their Cervical vertebrae, there exists abnormal Titans. These abnormal giants are capable of many unpredictable traits, making them far more dangerous than the standard mindless creatures.

While Attack on Titan starts out fast and hard, it quickly loses its momentum. Starting at episode 5, we're treated with a NINE part long chapter, “Battle of Trost District”. In this chapter, we spend whole episodes with nothing significant happening to move the story long. We literally spend the entire Episode 12, following Erin who's unconscious. Yeah.

Characters: 6/10
Erin, our annoying main character that I absolutely HATED the first 3-4 episodes. After which, I remained indifferent. Armin, a useless and afraid kid who too, is part of our main cast. Finally we have Mikasa, our quiet, yet competent character for a change. Out of all the characters, Mikasa took the greatest shine to me, making me like her even more once we're treated with her back story. Almost every character is portrayed as being extremely afraid of the Titans, and while it may work to build up the audience's fear of these creatures, after the first few episodes I was left more annoyed than anything else.

Plot: 6/10
While it's constantly wowing the audience, the more we learn, the more weird things we learn. While at the moment, it's more annoying than interesting, we'll see whether or not these questions will have compelling answers. My answer is on it either turns out bad, or is just plot holes.

Fun Factor: 9/10
The art starts out as fresh and unnerving, especially for the titans. We're taken through a fearful journey and are quickly treated with action. The anime thus far has been quite eventful, except for episode 11 and 12 which was spent with the main characters just running and sleeping. We'll see if it regains the momentum.

Soundtrack & Art: 8/10
While the art starts out somewhat surreal and attention grabbing, it has slowly been devolving into what comes off as very generic of anime. While it's still very good, only in the very beginning does it come off as attention grabbing. The opening theme though is by far one of the more amazing and “Epic” intro's that I've seen in awhile.

Overall: 7/10
Attack on Titan starts out amazing. It really does. Perhaps if it wasn't for the horrible characters, I may of enjoyed it far more, but at the end of each episode I was instead left ranting in annoyance about how much I want them to get eaten.

The first two episodes are a must watch, with each episode weaker than the last. I'll come back at the end of the shows run, and we'll see how much my opinion may have changed.

Also I swear, if this turns out to be a mecha, with humans piloting these giants, I will RAGE. I don't know why, but I've been expecting it since episode 2, and nothing has shaken that opinion.

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