After leaving Tokyo... the Kyoto International Manga Museum is good for multi linguists but the section for English manga is small. Unless you are also getting your portraits drawn by the local artists (a cool service) it's not worth the entry fee.
Onto Awaji Island - on the Western side is Hello Kitty Smile, a smallish building dedicated to Hello Kitty which we enjoyed much more than Sanrio Puroland. The smaller scale let them really decorate their rooms much better and somehow the gift shops are bigger!? The food here was also better in comparison. Nearby (in a car anyway) is the Hello Kitty Apple House whose main space is used for a stage show with dining. Live dancers and instrumentalists always are great, and getting the opportunity to "meet" Hello Kitty fulfilled one of my wife's life long dreams (as an aside, I'm officially taller than Hello Kitty lol). :D
The last theme park was my pick and still on Awaji: Nijigen no Mori. There's lots of attractions in this mountainous park including Naruto and Godzilla but the ones we did were Dragon Quest, Monster Hunter: The Field, and the Bleach: Night Walk, which is literally a mostly uphill walk through the forest lit by some cool lighting and screens playing scenes from a Bleach episode. It's a bit of a workout!
Dragon Quest was my favorite: a live action RPG where you help people in the town (by interacting with digital screens) to find stuff (physically in town, which includes opening chests and looking for secret doors) and fighting monsters which comes in 2 varieties: doing the correct pose to do more damage and furiously button mashing to beat bosses. It was super fun and has an ok story to boot! We even stopped by the Dragon Quest bar for a decent lunch (Awaji is known for onions, so expect that everywhere here).
Monster Hunter: The Field is more relaxed on the RPG side, letting you just wander the full grounds to find items / allies via digitally picking them up (you get a nice bracelet with a chip to interact with stuff in all the attractions I think) then returning to battle the creature you are hunting. The fight tech here is more involved as your team (of up to 3 only) gear up with a digitized gauntlet and belt and are set into a room with a 3x3 mat. Swing or shoot your weapon to do damage at the screen but also don't stand in the red (physically) and you'll actively have to duck and jump a few attacks to evade them. Pretty fun!
Definitely want to go back here, and back to the nearby glamping site of Grand Chariot which is spectacular in both accommodation and service, driving us up and down the mountain to the nearby Nijigen no Mori themepark and even providing a phone so to call for pickup. The heated floor yurt was amazing and so were the 7 course dinner and breakfast provided. Yes, it was really pricey but I'm willing to pay that again! If you need a cheaper alternative we also stayed at the Fairfield by Marriott Hyogo Awaji Higashiura which was pretty nice, but expect to walk around to find food. :)
Showing posts with label Bleach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bleach. Show all posts
Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Stuff outside Tokyo
Monday, 4 March 2019
Bleach (Movie)
Good if it gets a sequel, lousy if it doesn't.
Ichigo is no ordinary high school student, he can see ghosts and as such is embroiled in affairs not meant for the eyes of mortals - mainly that of violent spirits (aka Hollows) and those who hunt them (Shinigami).
After a shaky start the story finds some decent footing and the CGI is quite good as are the action sequences of which there are a decent number. Unfortunately it is let down by the ending which I assume was a "safe" way to do it, but to be fair a similar thing does happen in the anime too, the only difference is the anime goes on.
For fans of the manga / anime this is a condensed retelling of the Agent of Shinigami arc, and it actually works just fine, possibly due to the amount of bloat in the original content (hello shots of running feet). All up Bleach turned out to be better than I thought, and is worth a watch but don't expect anything from the end. I give it 2.5 flash steps out of 5 and would probably watch it again.
Ichigo is no ordinary high school student, he can see ghosts and as such is embroiled in affairs not meant for the eyes of mortals - mainly that of violent spirits (aka Hollows) and those who hunt them (Shinigami).
Size compensating sword, check!
After a shaky start the story finds some decent footing and the CGI is quite good as are the action sequences of which there are a decent number. Unfortunately it is let down by the ending which I assume was a "safe" way to do it, but to be fair a similar thing does happen in the anime too, the only difference is the anime goes on.
For fans of the manga / anime this is a condensed retelling of the Agent of Shinigami arc, and it actually works just fine, possibly due to the amount of bloat in the original content (hello shots of running feet). All up Bleach turned out to be better than I thought, and is worth a watch but don't expect anything from the end. I give it 2.5 flash steps out of 5 and would probably watch it again.
Saturday, 23 July 2016
Skyrim: Tomb of the Nerevarine
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
Mellori was happy with all the trinkets I've been retrieving for her, and the next one was a doozy: a little hammer called Sunder. Supposedly it was buried with the Nerevarine centuries ago, the hero of Morrowind who slew Dagoth Ur in the Red Mountain. It certainly wasn't me because a) I'm still alive and b) I didn't kill Dagoth Ur with a hammer. I just pushed him into a volcano (which was awesome btw :P).
Anyway, Brutus would have to stay behind again because he had to help clean up the town after being caught littering.
The ship to Morrowind was really fast. Pretty much instantaneous even. If I wasn't reading carefully I'd even think the Nerevarine's tomb was IN the ship. A small Imperial party was idling in the tomb when I got there. Apparently they all tried to take the hammer and were deemed unworthy - turning into Hollows (someone certainly watches Bleach) who forever were trapped in the tomb.
While not openly aggressive immediately, I obviously had a conflicting opinion with their captain and ... well. I set them free. Finally I reached the burial chamber myself and who do I find waiting there?
Mellori was happy with all the trinkets I've been retrieving for her, and the next one was a doozy: a little hammer called Sunder. Supposedly it was buried with the Nerevarine centuries ago, the hero of Morrowind who slew Dagoth Ur in the Red Mountain. It certainly wasn't me because a) I'm still alive and b) I didn't kill Dagoth Ur with a hammer. I just pushed him into a volcano (which was awesome btw :P).
Anyway, Brutus would have to stay behind again because he had to help clean up the town after being caught littering.
"But it doesn't fit in any of the bins..."
The ship to Morrowind was really fast. Pretty much instantaneous even. If I wasn't reading carefully I'd even think the Nerevarine's tomb was IN the ship. A small Imperial party was idling in the tomb when I got there. Apparently they all tried to take the hammer and were deemed unworthy - turning into Hollows (someone certainly watches Bleach) who forever were trapped in the tomb.
While not openly aggressive immediately, I obviously had a conflicting opinion with their captain and ... well. I set them free. Finally I reached the burial chamber myself and who do I find waiting there?
Azura, the Daedric Prince(ss) of Dusk and Dawn
Saturday, 16 July 2016
Skyrim: End of Eternity
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
The crypt was lightly sprinkled with draugr as one might expect. Deeper in was a nice surprise of a dragon priest turning into a spectral dragon though! Not that it was dangerous for me, just a neat effect. The last chamber was hilarious though: it was filled with "draugr Bob"!
After killing the one true Bob (only one with a key), I found a sacred flame and touched it to find myself transported to... Sovngarde? The mead hall was very different now though. All the nord heroes were dead and burning in the pyre. I mean re-dead? Ahhh this is as confusing as Spirit Society in Bleach! The lone Thalmor Commander, Grand Duamus Rhonac had effectively destroyed it single handedly.
After eliminating him I was fortunate enough to find a glowing ball of light that teleported me back to the fisherman's shack. A little annoyed I had to row back to the mainland by myself though!
The crypt was lightly sprinkled with draugr as one might expect. Deeper in was a nice surprise of a dragon priest turning into a spectral dragon though! Not that it was dangerous for me, just a neat effect. The last chamber was hilarious though: it was filled with "draugr Bob"!
After killing the one true Bob (only one with a key), I found a sacred flame and touched it to find myself transported to... Sovngarde? The mead hall was very different now though. All the nord heroes were dead and burning in the pyre. I mean re-dead? Ahhh this is as confusing as Spirit Society in Bleach! The lone Thalmor Commander, Grand Duamus Rhonac had effectively destroyed it single handedly.
Too bad he and his second spirit form couldn't do the same to me.
After eliminating him I was fortunate enough to find a glowing ball of light that teleported me back to the fisherman's shack. A little annoyed I had to row back to the mainland by myself though!
Wednesday, 15 June 2016
Neverwinter Online: Alliances are Great!
Taking a short break from the Skyrim adventure for a bit to talk about all the new stuff in my gaming sphere recently, the biggest of which is the latest module for Neverwinter: Alliances. Our little band is fortunate enough to be a gauntlet guild of the 13 guild strong Greycloak Alliance, and so far it's been a positive experience all around.
Perks of an alliance include the Alliance Chat and the much larger pool of people to run things with (on top of the Legit Community). Being able to visit allied strongholds also open the doors to being able to buy items from their bases not yet sold in yours and having access to fully manned dragon run flights, more often as various holds get their free flights at different times. My favorite part though is the resource trading. My current behavior is to see what my guild needs and fill that, but any excess goes to allies that require said currencies, and it seems players from the other guilds are doing the same.
It's really uplifting to see our collective coffers grow via cross guild donation, leading to much faster advancement for all. Because of this I give the "Alliance" part of the alliances update a big thumbs up (obviously your mileage may vary depending on who you ally with)! They also made everything a campaign to help people see the "ladder" of things they need to do, and put some decent rewards behind some. You can read more about this at Shintar's Neverwinter Thoughts! :)
With 13 guilds it feels a little like Bleach... :P
Perks of an alliance include the Alliance Chat and the much larger pool of people to run things with (on top of the Legit Community). Being able to visit allied strongholds also open the doors to being able to buy items from their bases not yet sold in yours and having access to fully manned dragon run flights, more often as various holds get their free flights at different times. My favorite part though is the resource trading. My current behavior is to see what my guild needs and fill that, but any excess goes to allies that require said currencies, and it seems players from the other guilds are doing the same.
The actual alliance listing!
It's really uplifting to see our collective coffers grow via cross guild donation, leading to much faster advancement for all. Because of this I give the "Alliance" part of the alliances update a big thumbs up (obviously your mileage may vary depending on who you ally with)! They also made everything a campaign to help people see the "ladder" of things they need to do, and put some decent rewards behind some. You can read more about this at Shintar's Neverwinter Thoughts! :)
Tuesday, 14 July 2015
Magerealm
If you ever wanted to feel like a clone, this is the game for you.
Magerealm is another "adventure" browser game that has mechanics almost identical to Blood and Jade, Bleach Online, and League of Angels. To its credit, it actually surpasses all of those in terms of gameplay and loading times as well as having less eye candy for male players (which might be a plus for some but I actually find a severe negative for this genre). However at its heart it is an idle game, with options to auto navigate to quests, auto fight through dungeons (but this time only those on your main quests - extra dungeons you must control yourself! How mean!), and meditate (AFK) for XP. Yup, you can gain levels by not playing. So... what's the point right? :P
Where it goes lacking once again (if it wasn't lacking enough) was the single tracked quest path meaning you will see doppelgangers of yourself (other players) doing the exact same thing you are doing. The other games I mentioned try negate this somewhat by taking you out to other mini games, battle maps or having a pretty big map with a bunch of different objectives players can do but here it doesn't even attempt to hide just how on the rails it is. Also, I have to question the art assets being used, or perhaps re-used I should say. For the sake of being nice let's just say a lot of them feel like de ja vu?
In the end I give still only give this game one winged clone out of five, and recommend everyone give it a miss. If you really must play one of these types of games, League of Angels is still the best in my book - and that only scored two out of five.
Magerealm is another "adventure" browser game that has mechanics almost identical to Blood and Jade, Bleach Online, and League of Angels. To its credit, it actually surpasses all of those in terms of gameplay and loading times as well as having less eye candy for male players (which might be a plus for some but I actually find a severe negative for this genre). However at its heart it is an idle game, with options to auto navigate to quests, auto fight through dungeons (but this time only those on your main quests - extra dungeons you must control yourself! How mean!), and meditate (AFK) for XP. Yup, you can gain levels by not playing. So... what's the point right? :P
You are unique, just like everyone else.
Where it goes lacking once again (if it wasn't lacking enough) was the single tracked quest path meaning you will see doppelgangers of yourself (other players) doing the exact same thing you are doing. The other games I mentioned try negate this somewhat by taking you out to other mini games, battle maps or having a pretty big map with a bunch of different objectives players can do but here it doesn't even attempt to hide just how on the rails it is. Also, I have to question the art assets being used, or perhaps re-used I should say. For the sake of being nice let's just say a lot of them feel like de ja vu?
Can you feel the originality?
In the end I give still only give this game one winged clone out of five, and recommend everyone give it a miss. If you really must play one of these types of games, League of Angels is still the best in my book - and that only scored two out of five.
Tuesday, 26 August 2014
Bleach Online
[Post #27 of the Blaugust Challenge!]
Fans of the manga and anime Bleach now have another medium to enjoy their hobby... somewhat. This browser based game plays a lot like Blood and Jade and League of Angels except with Bleach characters and anime styling. I still question how they got the rights to do this but whatever. The game begins with the player creating a soul from a choice from 6 "new" characters (not seen in Bleach before). There is no customization apart from adding a name to your avatar.
You will then find yourself with what I am guessing is the only quest hub in game. A gigantic area where all the NPCs regardless if they are on Earth or in the Shinigami realm or I suppose in Hueco Mundo (didn't get that far) show up to talk to. A portal leads you to battle zones which looks like a map with chibi versions of opponents. There are no divergent paths though. You have to beat monster A to get to monster B and so forth. Actually it's quite funny that the first person you fight is Aizen (one of the big bad guys), followed by what seems to be the series actual plot. I'm still not sure why because the translation is hilariously bad in most parts.
Fortunately random characters decide to join your team for some fights. You can also hire them to permanently be on your team from the tavern or from winning a best of 3 rock paper scissors gamble. Sounds like childs play? Well each attempt costs something like half a million gold so good luck. That's still around 75% cheaper than hiring them out right. You can gain a lot of skills as you level up, but in combat each character will only use the one you select as active, every other round. That is the extent of your input as in battle you basically just sit and watch, even in the pseudo PvP arena where you take on other players teams. Oh, you can try enslave the other players too and force them to work at your homestead - because uh... that didn't happen in Bleach.
And then there are the... "bonus" events. There's a lucky cat and gift timer boxes that give you money and items just for being logged in. You can try strip some random females of Soul Society as a daily task. You also have a homestead that you can upgrade and hunt down female hollows to steal their bikinis which you then use to upgrade your girlfriend who lives in your home (i think the first upgrade costs 500 bikinis?). And by upgrade I mean ditch the old one for a hotter one with bigger boobs. Oh you can interact with them too. Higher level girlfriends can give you more rewards when you talk to them, party with them, or "accidentally" fondle their breasts. There's actually a button for that.
While they got some voice lines directly from the anime I think, the music that I've encountered is repetetive and is not of the quality of League of Angels for example. The best part I think is the quiz which lets you answer one question about Bleach everytime you gain a level. Get it wrong and you gain a little money. Get it right and you get a lot of money. Nowhere near enough to save it though, because I give this game just one bankai out of five.
Blaugust Bonus: These are getting harder and harder to do so again I'll go with another of Belghast's writing prompts, one that has a short answer as to not let this post get too long. "Do you follow a games lore? There is often tons of lore both in game and out of game, do you follow it and even track down the tidbits that are not obvious.. or are you mostly oblivious to it?"
Generally speaking, no. The in-game story or world has to give it right to me (or at least feeds it passively through tasks for example) otherwise I don't actively look for it. Doubly so for anything outside the game because it's outside the game.
Fans of the manga and anime Bleach now have another medium to enjoy their hobby... somewhat. This browser based game plays a lot like Blood and Jade and League of Angels except with Bleach characters and anime styling. I still question how they got the rights to do this but whatever. The game begins with the player creating a soul from a choice from 6 "new" characters (not seen in Bleach before). There is no customization apart from adding a name to your avatar.
You will then find yourself with what I am guessing is the only quest hub in game. A gigantic area where all the NPCs regardless if they are on Earth or in the Shinigami realm or I suppose in Hueco Mundo (didn't get that far) show up to talk to. A portal leads you to battle zones which looks like a map with chibi versions of opponents. There are no divergent paths though. You have to beat monster A to get to monster B and so forth. Actually it's quite funny that the first person you fight is Aizen (one of the big bad guys), followed by what seems to be the series actual plot. I'm still not sure why because the translation is hilariously bad in most parts.
Yoruichi handles the cash shop in a maid outfit. Woo?
Fortunately random characters decide to join your team for some fights. You can also hire them to permanently be on your team from the tavern or from winning a best of 3 rock paper scissors gamble. Sounds like childs play? Well each attempt costs something like half a million gold so good luck. That's still around 75% cheaper than hiring them out right. You can gain a lot of skills as you level up, but in combat each character will only use the one you select as active, every other round. That is the extent of your input as in battle you basically just sit and watch, even in the pseudo PvP arena where you take on other players teams. Oh, you can try enslave the other players too and force them to work at your homestead - because uh... that didn't happen in Bleach.
And then there are the... "bonus" events. There's a lucky cat and gift timer boxes that give you money and items just for being logged in. You can try strip some random females of Soul Society as a daily task. You also have a homestead that you can upgrade and hunt down female hollows to steal their bikinis which you then use to upgrade your girlfriend who lives in your home (i think the first upgrade costs 500 bikinis?). And by upgrade I mean ditch the old one for a hotter one with bigger boobs. Oh you can interact with them too. Higher level girlfriends can give you more rewards when you talk to them, party with them, or "accidentally" fondle their breasts. There's actually a button for that.
While they got some voice lines directly from the anime I think, the music that I've encountered is repetetive and is not of the quality of League of Angels for example. The best part I think is the quiz which lets you answer one question about Bleach everytime you gain a level. Get it wrong and you gain a little money. Get it right and you get a lot of money. Nowhere near enough to save it though, because I give this game just one bankai out of five.
Blaugust Bonus: These are getting harder and harder to do so again I'll go with another of Belghast's writing prompts, one that has a short answer as to not let this post get too long. "Do you follow a games lore? There is often tons of lore both in game and out of game, do you follow it and even track down the tidbits that are not obvious.. or are you mostly oblivious to it?"
Generally speaking, no. The in-game story or world has to give it right to me (or at least feeds it passively through tasks for example) otherwise I don't actively look for it. Doubly so for anything outside the game because it's outside the game.
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
That Happy Cat
It's not often that I browse through a manga shelf, pick up a book I've never heard of, at random, then finding myself stuck reading before finally admitting that I need to buy it right then and there. Yet that's exactly what happened when I stumbled upon "Chi's Sweet Home" (volume 1).
Chi's Sweet Home is the story of a stray kitten who winds up being taken in by a small family living in an apartment where no pets are allowed. From what I've seen that's all there is to it, and the artwork is pretty simple compared to the more popular series of Bleach or Naruto. I think even Dragonball was better illustrated, but Chi herself is fantastically cute (way moreso than my crappy fan-art attempt) and very very endearing.
The series seems to geared towards kids and cat lovers as I don't think it would even reach a PG rating. The most violence present that I've seen is Chi scratching stuff! It also and has an animated version you can find on youtube, with each "chapter" running around 5 minutes.
If you have a soft spot for cutesy things or just want to see what this is all about, I recommend watching the first two episodes on Youtube. Then you can see if Chi makes you smile too. :)
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