Anime Sunday: Fate Babylonia Episode 00 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’m back with one of the biggest series from Fall 2019. It’s my Fate Babylonia Episode 00 Impressions!

Plot: This is a very interesting Episode 00, it gives us a look at Mash’s life growing up which is something that isn’t really explored all that much, but is implied, in the original game. Frankly I thought this was an excellent episode, and definitely deserves watching before watching the rest of this series starting with Episode 01. As a final point I want to bring up I’d like to confirm that they are going to animate the final singularity of the Fate/Grand Order which takes place almost immediately after the events of Bablyonia so my hopes for such a thing occurring were correct!

Characters: Like I said above we get to learn more about Mash in this episode, but we also get to learn more about Roman and we get our first ever look at Marisbury Animusphere which is something we never got a chance to do in the original game. So all in all we get new looks at some of the major players in the Fate Grand Order series and it’s awesome.

Art: The studio who does the animation for Bablyonia is Cloverworks and they did an amazing job with this episode. I can only hope this quality continues for the rest of the series. They aren’t up to ufotable quality, but damn if they didn’t come really close and might be edging out SHAFT for my silver standard. I’ll be keeping an eye out for their works in the future to see if they will do that.

Music: The musical score is awesome, and takes many tracks from the game and uses them to devastating effect. I particularly loved how they used Shikisai for the final portion of the episode, it was an amazingly well done maneuver on their part.

Overall: A must watch series, Bablyonia is a masterpiece that deserves watching by everyone.

For those who like: Fate, Mythology, Action, Adventure, Drama, Amazing Plot, Fantastic Cast of Characters, Stupendous Artwork, Excellent Musical Score.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but seriously give this series a watch. It’s awesome.

Anime Sunday: Winners of 2018

 

This week for Anime Sunday I’m back with a post that is very overdue. It’s my Winners of 2018 post.

TenSura: I loved the original Web Novel of this series, and seeing it animated on screen was a real treat. It had awesome pacing, excellent voice acting, awesome animation although not quite at ufotable level of quality, and an excellent plot. If you haven’t given TenSura a try yet you really ought to give at least the first few episodes a chance. You’ll most likely be very pleasantly surprised.

Emiya-san: I’m always a sucker for Fate adaptations, but the fact that this is a non action oriented series that had some of my favorite characters of all time just eating good food and that it’s animated by my gold standard studio ufotable were what put Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family on this list.

SeiButa: I found this series to be rather interesting, with just enough supernatural to pique my interest and keep it. The fact that the romance doesn’t stray into the dreaded typical Japanese Harem with a dense MC scenario (like Nisekoi, Love Hina, or any of a number of other series) was just icing on the cake.

That’s it for this week’s Anime Sunday, and I’m sorry this post has been so overdue.

Video Game Tuesday: What’s Going On With F/GO?

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’ve got an open question to the people at both Aniplex of America and Delightworks. I’m asking What’s Going On With F/GO?

Huh?: So for my readers here’s a brief explanation. In the past few months, the Fate/Grand Order community in North America has been growing more and more upset with the handling of the game by Aniplex of America. In particular Albert Kao, the Localization director for the NA Client has been getting a ton of flak, not least of which occurred very recently when he handled the Anime Expo panel incredibly poorly and unprofessionally.

If you want some proof just go to the Grand Order subreddit and look at all the posts complaining about Albert and his absolutely unacceptable behavior at that panel. In addition many fans are upset at being treated like crap compared to other servers, like China, not to mention the blatant favoritism shown towards the JP players. The latest insult in a series going back to Thanksgiving is the fact that the playerbase was screwed out of 20 Saint Quartz, the in game currency that you can pay real money for, for the recent Anniversary. The issue with this is that the anniversary was pushed back from the actual anniversary date of June 28th to be announced at the Anime Expo panel. Another inflammatory move that makes no sense to many players of the game, including myself. There are possible reasons, but those reasons all come down to a series of events that could have been easily avoided if they didn’t do a certain thing. And that was announcing things at Anime conventions. But that’s a topic for next week.

So here’s my question to Aniplex of America, what the hell are you doing? Many people understand how poorly Japanese companies can treat foreign markets, the whole Gaijin bigotry plays a huge role in this. But this has gone on many times and frankly it’s insulting to not only the playerbase, who you ought to be keeping very happy, but also the people who you invited to your panels who were subject to a man who looked like he had just shown up after panhandling for a day in the seedier neighborhoods of Los Angeles heading the panel. Do I expect an answer to my question? Nope, because at the end of the day I’m just a small time gaming journalist who can be very acerbic at times.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday.

Anime Sunday: Winners of Winter 2018

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering my favorites from the last season. It’s my Winners of Winter 2018!

Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family: I really enjoyed this slice of life set in an alternate universe of the Fate/SN series. The fact it focuses on just food and some minor character interaction was refreshing from all the battles that occur in the Fate series. It being animated by ufotable might also have a big part in why this is one of my favorites.  Who am I kidding, it being animated by ufotable has a huge part in it.

Ryuo: I actually enjoyed this series quite a bit. While Sangatsu is a great series about Shogi it is also emotional wearing, so a more light hearted series was appreciated. The fact that Yaichi is a dense harem lead though is fairly disappointing.

Honorable Mentions:

Last Encore: I was pretty skeptical of this series after it diverged so greatly from the original storyline. It was interesting, but honestly it just makes me want to play the original game more. It also didn’t feature Tamamo, who is a much more interesting Servant than Nero in my opinion.

Hitori no Shita: I hated the first season of this show, it was terribly animated and the plot was sub-par. The plot isn’t any better, but the animation is much improved and thus get’s an honorable mention from me.

That’s it for this week’s Anime Sunday.

Video Game Tuesday: Newcomers I Want In The Next Smash Bros

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m looking at who I want to see in the newly announced continuation of Nintendo’s best fighting game. It’s all about Newcomers I Want In The Next Smash Bros!

Isaac (Golden Sun): I’ve been wanting Isaac in the series since before Melee came out, but the fact he’s only appeared as an Assist Trophy is nearly criminal. He has so many different moves with his Psy powers and is perfect for a game like Smash Bros since he can mix it up with some melee abilities. Summoning could easily be his Final Smash if they decide to keep that as a thing in this version of the game.

Son Goku (Dragonball): If even Funimation is asking for Goku to be added to the next Smash Bros, you know it probably ought to happen. I mean with characters like Mega Man, Ryu or even Cloud getting into the game, having everyone’s favorite Saiyan in the next installment would be perfect. I can just imagine him slamming a massive Spirit Bomb into the stage for a Final Smash.

Velvet Crowe (Tales of Berseria): I know that Bandai Namco helped out with the last installments of the game, so letting them pick a character from their RPG series would be awesome as a thank you. Velvet being the first solo Female lead would make an excellent addition to the roster with her various Therion skills and Martial abilities. Any of her Mystic Artes could easily become her Final Smash, or even just making it a powered up version where she uses her Therion abilities for like 20 seconds for increased damage would be cool as well. And let’s be honest, we could use more female characters in the next Smash game.

Banjo and Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie): I loved the Banjo-Kazooie games and frankly they’d make an awesome addition to the Smash roster. I have no clue what they’d use as a Final Smash, other than some sort of Mumbo transformation.

Real curveballs I never really expect to happen:

Someone from the TYPE-MOON franchises: Any of the multitude of characters of the Nasuverse might be fun to play in a Smash Game. It’d probably end up being Artoria, because of course it would. But I can always hope for Tamamo no Mae, Ryougi Shiki, or Arcueid right? Noble Phantasm’s would be perfect fits for awesome Final Smash abilities.

Nightmare (Soulcalibur): I don’t really want to see Nightmare in a Smash Bros game, but if it was anyone from the Soul series it’d probably be him. Please choose one of the above though Nintendo if you are actually reading this and seriously considering these character suggestions.

Crazy Taxi (Crazy Taxi): I don’t mean the cab drivers, I mean the freaking car itself. Yeah I absolutely expect this to never happen, but if they were to pull it off somehow, it’d be interesting to say the least.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday. Are there any characters you’d like to see added to the Smash Series? Leave your answers below in the comments!