Trust and Betrayal: The World Ends with you a Tragedy in 3 ACTs, maybe heh

Ok so I beat the game finally and I'm going to have lots of spoilers.

The World ends With you is a very intresting game and the main themes of the game are about people and their relationships with others as well as individulaity. Shibuya is represented as a place that has all kinds of ideas and different people. It's a place of indivuality and self expression. But none the less every person is an island encompassing their own world. And Neku Sakuraba is someone whose world extends no furthur then himself. When the game opens you see him walking along alone saying he doesn't need anyone that the only one needed in this world is himself. He's just a self-centered lonely kid who has no one who understands him and he doesn't even try to understand anyone else. He doesn't trust anyone. He doesn't even care.

As the game progresses though you see the Amnesiac Neku changing. The first one to start this change is Shiki, his first partner. At first he treats her like shes just some stalker who is annoying him. In fact when one of the reapers tells him they will let him out of the game if he kills her or he will get erased himself he decides its her or him. Luckily My Hanekoma comes and stops this saying its against the rules. Hanekoma tells him he needs to trust his partner. After that Neku starts to change. Neku is not a bad person really so he has a conscience. Realizing that what he did was wrong he makes up with shiki and starts to open his heart up as Shiki's past is revealed.

Shiki herself had expeienced betrayal in friendship and she was jealous of her friend. Before she died her friend had told her she had no future in design. This really hurt Shiki, it was her dream to be a designer like her friend Eri. But then it turns out that Eri was only trying to tell her that she was talented with sewing that she had the ability to bring the designs to life. As Shiki heals her heart of her jealousy and realizes that Eri was only pointing out her true talent Shiki is also helping Neku.


In fact she becomes so important to him that when he gets put back into the game after the 7th day she becomes his entrence fee. This shows that his world has expanded that no longer is he only caring about himself. So now he's fighting for not only his life but Shiki's life.

Hanekoma is an intresting charachter. He is actually the artist CAT who Neku admires though you don't learn that till later in the game. His advice to Neku makes him think. he tells Neku enjoy the moment. Expand your world. Trust your partner. He helps Neku see that the world ends with you however in order to expand your world you need to reach out to others. You can't fully understand anyone but you can try and in doing so your world expands. Hanekoma is like a guide to Neku.

Another charachter who helps Neku Grow is Beat. Beat who was partnered with his sister initially is very simple minded. He ends up becoming a reaper but in the 3rd round becomes a player again to help Neku when no other players are in the game but Neku. Beat feels bad about causing his sisters death and wants to change her fate. And even though he hated Neku at first as neku changed they become friends.

His secong partner was Joshua, a secretive and sly charatcher who seems very untrustworthy. A guy who says he wants to jack Shibuya. Someone who doesn't seem like a normal player.  Someone who it turns out even killed Neku. Neku suspects him at first but then is convinced that the Reaper Minamimoto was the one who killed him. In fact he even makes neku think he died to save him on the 7th day as partners. However, this is all a trick. Joshua who is rally the Composer tricks Neku and makes him feel like he's found someone who understand him. Even though he's changed himself and no longer felt like you don't need other people he still feels like he's found a friend. It was all a game between the Conductor and the composer. Neku was killed by Joshua to be his representative.

Neku who had not trusted anyone who had shut himself off from the world had finally opened his heart up to others and seen their value. The truth was he was being used by the Composer. He was murdered and made to suffer all for a bet. In the end Neku is the one who is hurt. To trust only to be betrayed by someone he thought was his friend. In the end Beat, Rhyme, neku and Shiki get their lives back. But Neku has a new scar in his heart. His last lines are I won't forgive you. but i trust you. And now I'm not alone anymore I have friends. Even though he was lied to and betrayed he's much stonger then he was because he's learned to trust others. He has people to support him. Even though he's been betrayed he chooses to still believe that Joshua will allow Shibuya to continue with its cacaphony or ideas with its clashes and battles to be the most fashionable. So it's not really a tragedy becasue Neku is transformed into a better person. In fact Shiki, Beat and Neku are all three transformed. The problems that were plauging them before are all delt with in the UG just by working them out together.

Usagi Drop

So I finally decided to finish reading Usagi Drop. Be warned I'm going to have spoilers. Prior to this i had only read the first chapter. It wasn't exactly the most exciting series. In fact i found it a bit on the boring side. Even so I read it hoping there would be some kind of developement. Once it finished with the elementary school area and skipped to the high school years it started skipping around back and forth to the middle school days. Where everything I had hoped would happen like Daikichi and Kouki's mom getting together and even Kouki and Rin getting together all fell through. Now that in itself would have been ok but the ending was a bit disturbing to me in some ways. When I started out I thought oh this will be the story of a man who takes in and raises a girl and then she grows up and gets married and so on. Sure this accessment was not entirely wrong. However, after Kouki gets tricked and forced to date the evil Akari sempai who then harrasses Rin and Rin's feelings for Kouki change, she starts to have feelings for Daikichi, who she thinks of as a father and who she thinks is her Nephew. After much drama Daikichi even tells her that he will think about it and give her an answer after she graduates high school. And when that happens he gives in totally to her even though he has mixed feelings saying that he can't refuse her anything. I find it a bit disturbing after raiseing her for 12 years he's going to marry her. What is this the tale of Genji? Just a bit more on the innocent side since unlike Genji Daikichi had not intended to make her his bride until kouki and her force the subject on him. Even if they weren't really blood related as it turns out he raised her as if she were his own daughter from the time she was 6. I would have been way happier with the ending if this Daikichi and Rin relationship developement had never happened. Even though you don't even see any kissing between them or anything, just a bit of discussion on the matter I was very displeased and felt it was morally wrong. Also i have to point out what would society think of the? The people around them in town and all know Rin as his daughter or at least that he's her guardian? Doesn't it look like he's a 40 year old man who took advantage of a young girl who was in his charge, even if its not so? Wouldn't he look like a child molester? I could see people looking at him and gossoping about it. In the end I'd say i'm very displeased.

Twisted Brotherly Love Part 2

So yes its more spoilers

So after reading chapter 29 of Blue Exorcist I thought I should say something else. I did mention how Vincent in Pandora Hearts hates himself I believe because Gilbert has to sacrifice so much for his sake. So much so that he wants to erase his existance. In fact he seeps himself into darkness for Gilberts sake. When he's fighting with Gilbert after he and Leo meet up with Oz, Alice and Gilbert after defecting to the Baskerville side overtly, he even tells Gilbert I did it all for your sake. Even though thats not something that pleases Gilbert. So back to Blue Exocist then, when Yukio is being tempted by the trator who reawakened the impure king Yukio says "I love and hate my brother, but I hate myself the most." He is like Vincent in this. Though Vincent is a pshcopath and Yukio isn't. So both charachters Hate themselves.

Ok so I think this is as far as i can go on this topic for now. Maybe once both mangas end I'll sit down and write out a paper on the subject with refrences and proper quotes. But for now its an intresting topic to contemplate. Will Vincent erase himself? Will Yukio join Vincent on the path of Darkness? All that has yet to be seen. I need to read more of  Blue Exercist. I should see about picking up through vol 7 when I go to Seattle. Hopefully I can go soon. I really wish to see what will happen next and how the charachters will develope. Pandora hearts and Blue Exorsict as well as Nurarihyon no Mago are the three currently running mangas i'm most intrested in at the moment. And it's exciting to see how a good series developes.

Twisted Brotherly Love

Alright I'm going to write some spoilers for Blue Exorcist and Pandora Hearts so be warned yo! I'll be focusing mostly on the manga versions of each.

Pandora Hearts and Blue Exorcist are two series which have a basis in older well known stories: Blue Exorcist being loosely based on Faust and Pandora hearts on Alice in Wonderland. Though they both have entirely different art and story telling styles they share some common themes. One of these themes is about the relationship between brothers. In both series you have a set of twins, A likeable older brother with a  secretive younger brother. These younger brothers have very complicated feelings for their older brothers. They love them. They admire them. They hate them. They want to protect them. They would do anything for them.

Okamura Yukio and Vincent Nightray definetly love their elder brothers. In both cases the only blood relative they have is their brother. They have always been together since they were born. Though in the case of Gilbert and Vincent they were seperated for a time but were later reunited.

These younger brothers also admire their elder brothers. Yukio even though he is brilliant and talented admires his brother Rin because he is straightforward, kind, and able to get along with others well. He admires these qualities which he himself is unable to express. Even though people fear Rin's blue flames, the flames of Satan, they still are able to see that he is not evil but kind and a good friend. Yukio admires him because of this ability to draw people to him plus the fact that Rin always saved him from being bullid as well as encourageing his dreams. Rin would also sacrifice himself in order to help another person. Vincent also admires Gilbert. Gilbert is someone who sacrificed in order to protect his brother. Gilbert is a very loyal person who would sacrifice himself for others.  Vincent sees his brothers kindness and admires him.

 Yukio and Vincent even though they admire and love their brothers  they also hate them.  In part its the very reasons they admire them.  Rin and Gilbert shine to brightly next to them overshadowing their younger brothers. Because of Rin having his demonic powers he was lavished with love and care by his adoptive father in order to foster a loving human heart. In contrast Yukio who did not have any powers was given strict training to protect Rin and become an exorcist. This lead to resentment. Rin gets all the love. While people flock to Rin, Yukio is feeling lonley. Vincent  also resents his brightly shining brother. Vincent though feels that his brother is held back because of the fact that he has cursed red eyes and so Gilbert is pushed back from a normal life. He resents the fact that Gilbert is so kind. He resents that Gilbert has room in his heart for others besides him. Vincent just wants to monopolize Gilbert. Vincents heart is seeped in Darkness and loathing.

Yukio and Vincent would also do anything to protect their brothers. They would even betray their brothers in order to protect them. One of the strangest story lines in Japanese video games and manga would be the I love you so I betrayed you to protect you. These two younger brothers would both go so far for their brothers. Yukio I have felt is that type of charachter from the start. In the anime this does happen when their grandfather shows up and tricks Yukio into trying to destroy all the demons and spirits telling him they can turn Rin back into a human. I'm not sure about in the manga since I've only read through vol 5 so far. Now Vincent Nightray on the other hand kills people to protect Gilbert. He murders members of his adopted familly and anyone else who he thinks posses a threat to him. Vincent would sell his soul to save his brother. Both Yukio and Vincent would even hurt their brothers in order to save them. They wouldn't kill them but they would definetly harm them bodily if they thought it was for their own good. They see their elder brothers as ones who need to be protected from a world which would harm them.

In all both yukio and Vincent have complicated feelings for their brothers. In fact I would go so far to say they are both obsessed with their elder brothers. They love them but they hate them. They love them but they would hurt them if they think its for their beloved elder brothers good. In their obsessive love they not only go so far as to hurt their beloved but they would even destroy their very selfs. Vincent sees his very existance as a threat to his brother and wants to erase himself so he doesn't care how far he falls into the darkness. But I believe that Yukio may well follow his path as the series progress' if he doesn't change.

It's a Wonderful World part 2

So after playing for a few more hours last night I mangaed to get more rank C battles then anything else and bunch of rank a, c, d, e here and there. So I am getting a better hang of it.

One thing I didn't mention before is that you have to do things like shopping, eating, use your cell phone. In fact intresting enough you have in the corner of you screen the time and signal information you would usually have on your cell phone. It's a bit funny though when they are like It's broad daylight and the time states 10pm in the corner since the real time is displayed for where you are, though i have to admit that at that time in Japan it is actually broad daylight. I once made a call there at that time and I believe it was the afternoon when I called. The shopping in intresting too. You go into different shops and as you brouse the items you make friends with the owners who ten reveal secret items or activate special atributes in items for you. There are Lolita shops and all kinds of different shops. Depending on how brave the charachter is you can eqip different clothes items. Shiki is way braver then Neku in this department. heh. The food items are intresting as well. Each food item is so many bites and charachters can eat so many bites a day. You go into say the Ramen shop or the hamburger shop and stock pile food items in your inventory. Then you equip in the food consumption spot what you want them to eat and then while you walk around and fight the noise your charachter digests the items and once digested it effects your stats and charachter synchronization. So you want to make sure to have them eat up.

Overall I have to say this is a strange but fun and intresting game. And yes it is a strange game heh. Strange isn't nessicarily bad.  It's definetly unique and creative. The battle system takes some getting used to but its do able. It's a bit hard on your hands thougth after a while since the brunt of the weight of the system is on one hand and being controled by both hands simultaniously. Definetly a bit on the awkward side. I have small hands and carpel tunnel so after a while my hands start to hurt so can't really play too long.  It's nice that you can save anywhere so as long as you save before a battle you will be fine even if the noise annihlates you so you don't have to go searching for a save point or worry about repeating long sections.

If your looking for something different this is definetly a must. You get a fun game taking place in Japans hip Shibuya shopping district that has an intresting albeit morbid story. heh.

It's a Wonderful World

After watching the Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance trailer and seeing the World Ends with you (original japanese title literally meaning Its a Wonderful World) crossover, I said you know i wonder what this game is like. When i had first read the premise I was like I don't know if I really want to play this game. Afterall its a game about a group of people who are dead and they have been choosen to play the reaper games in which they have to complete missions in order to win a chance to come back to life. That description didn't sound really appealing to me. However, after seeing the trailer for the new Kingdom Hearts game I thouht maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to look into this game.  So I looked up some reviews of the game. The reviews and the trailer togerther plus a buy one get one half off game sale on amazon convinced me to try t he game.

I'm into the 3rd day of the reaper games. So i've been playing for about 2 hours total. First off the art is very very stylized. It has kind of a Urban graffiti feel to it. Even with that you can see this is defiently Nomura-sensei's charachter design. The music is good too. It's not a classical score really but pop music like. Though I have to say that you get to hear one song in particular so even though i like the song it gets a bit annoying after a while. Intresting enough the soundtrack is by the same composer who did Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core.

NOw for the story part. The Main charachter, Sakuraba Neku, is a antisocial guy who has amnesia. He wakes up and finds himself in the crosswalk in Shibuya and is confused. He discovers he has the ability to read peoples minds and that no one can hear him. Also there are strange creatures attacking him. A girl named Shiki comes and tells him the only way for them to survive is to become partners so he joins her and they defeat the creatures. She trys to convince him that they  have been choosen as players in the Reapers games and that they have 7 days to do misions and to try to survive. Neku doesn't believe her and doesn't even want to be with other people. He takes some convincing. I have to say the story is actually more intresting then i thought. Players of the reaper games traped in Shibya fighting for their lives.

Now the battle system is different then anything else i've played and its a bit on the tricky side. I have mostly been ranked E and the highest i've mangaed is C for battle outcome. On the bottom scream you use the stylus to control Neku. On the top screan you have shiki, and you use the dpad or the buttons on the opposite side to control her actions. Now you also have to pass the puck between screans during battale to increase the finishing blow. And to do that you need to control the charachter who has it. Plus you need to watch both charachters health. It's a bit awkward. For one thing Shiki has an ai so when your controling Neku shes fine in part. But when controling shiki Neku is just standing there getting attacked. I think the battle system is going to take me time to get used to. At least i've worked out how to manage to unleash a combo attack.

One intresting feature of the game is that at one point in the game you get a function where you can turn your game off and while your away your Pins that you have equipped will level. You can do this for up to 7 days. So you just turn your game off and you can level your attacks up without doing anything.  Also all the charachter information and stuff is controled through the cell phone

So overall I have to say the story is intresting and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. I wish i had picked this up earlier.

And they call her Venus the godess of Love

So yesterday i picked up a copy of Code Name Sailor V, I got that one instead of Sailormoon since I haven't read all of Sailor V previously. Now the Sailormoon volumes actually have the same cover art as the newly released special editions released in Japan the past year. Which are very lovely. Sailor V takes place prior to the events in Sailormoon following the adventures of Aino Minako, who we all know is Sailor Veunus in Sailormoon. She is a glutonous, lazy, yet athletic girl who loves games. One day she decided to confess to her sempai but this mysterious white talking cat keeps getting in her way. He tells her that she has been chosen to be Sailor V and fight evil.

Kodansha does a fairly good job. The translation is nice. The cover and the color pages are nice. The paper quality inside after the color pages isn't really that great. But besids that i'm happy with the book. I'm glad that this series was finally brought to the US.

Sailormoon was the first anime I saw that i saaw as being an anime. Considering I was a kid in the 80's watching things like Voltron, Transformers, and GI Joe, which of course are anime but I didn't realize it until much much later. There were so many types of animation on afternoon and saturday cartoon spots that those story types seemed normal to me. But Sailor moon is vastly differnt from those titles. For one thing it's a magic girl shoujo. Sure you still have heros fighting evil but the story telling is extremely differnt form the shonen titles I saw in the 80's. Shoujo has a differnt feel and look. I'll admit I saw the anime for sailormoon totally out of order. The series started on tv when i was in high school in a time slot where I was in class. There was no way for me to watch it unless I was home sick or had a holiday. So I saw an episode here and there. My impression was that it was a bizarre show but facisnating in a way. When at college I was able to see quite a bit more. It was shown on USA for a while and then on Toonami. Though I still missed because of classes and never really saw the episodes in order ever. My friend Clare introduced me to manga. She had the Japanese release of sailormoon and lent it to me to look at, since at the time i couldn't read Japanese, and i found it to be beautiful. Then i found the Mixx comix release of Sailor moon. I had some on the single chapter relases and a few of the volumes. The graphic novel release was on better paper, but the pages were cut off on the edges in the dialouge bubbles in places. I ended up giving my sailormoon manga to a big sailormoon fan since i thought they would appreciate it.  Though I think i'll be buying Kodanshas rerelease when i'm able to. The manga is much better then the anime. And very beautiful.

But Sailormoon and Sailor V, might not be the best shoujo manga out there, but its definetly a fun read. Silliness and seriousness mixed together with charming art.