Light Novel Thursday: Absolute Duo by Hiiragi★Takumi

This week for Light Novel Thursday I’m taking a look at one of the better “Magic School” series I’ve recently read, it’s Absolute Duo by Hiiragi★Takumi. Yes the star is meant to be there.

Plot Synopsis: 《Blaze》— That is a weapon made by materializing your own soul with your enhanced will power. I, Tooru Kokonoe, have that ability which is said to be possessed only by one in every one thousand people, so it was decided that I would enroll at the  Kouryou Academy that gives out 《Blaze》, and a school that teaches battle techniques. But for an unknown reason, my 《Blaze》didn’t have a shape of a weapon, but a protector, and it takes the form of a 《Shield》.

Plot: The plot is fairly standard, and while I enjoy this series it’s nothing fantastic like the Toaru series or Mushoku Tensei. That said it’s better than most of the other “Magic School” series like Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance which is about a guy getting into an all female school. Absolute Duo is a co-ed school, thank god, and it’s a pretty harsh school. The character’s don’t get off easy and have to struggle to not be expelled from the school for failing a test.

Characters: This is a harem series, which is fairly typical of a “Magic School” series, however they make it so the characters falling in love with the guy, Tooru obviously, is actually believable. He earns their trust, and subsequently love, in a way that is endearing compared to other series. The characters are all pretty interesting, with my favorite being Yurie for not being an Tsundere character. Thank god, I’m so sick of Tsundere characters in these stories that I roll my eyes whenever they enter a scene now a days.

Artwork: The artwork for this series is pretty great, and since this will be getting an Anime adaptation (I think it airs in January 2015) I expect the quality to keep improving.

Overall: If you don’t mind all the females falling for the male lead you’ll probably love this series.

For those who like: “Magic School” series, Fantasy, Lots and lots of Action, Great artwork, Interesting characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or a harem series.

Retro Game Friday: Oregon Trail

 

 

This week I’m going over an old game, something I used to play back in 1st grade during recess during the winter and could beat in the half hour of time we had off. It’s Oregon Trail.

Plot Synopsis: You are a poor fool who decided to go to Oregon to live a better life free from the crap in the rest of the world, it might be your last good idea.

Plot: Okay I was kind of kidding above, this is a simulation game and there really is no plot.

Gameplay: The most “fun” was the hunting aspect of the game, although if you chose to travel by river at the end you could have fun dodging rocks in the river. You chose to play as a traveler who loaded up his family and tried to bring your family through wind and rain and snow and get to Oregon via the Oregon Trail. You’d have to deal with diseases and plenty of other things as well. That’s about all I remember about the game itself, as the last time I played it was in the winter during 2nd grade in elementary school.

Music: I hated the music that got played through the old Macintosh speakers, and even if I wasn’t in the library I would’ve had the music off.

Art: It was okay for it’s time, but not spectacular. It’s terrible now a days.

Overall: If you haven’t played this game at least once you should. Than you can safely say that you’ve played one of the worst games ever, but probably the best educational game ever. Excepting Portal of course.

For those who like: Oregon, Simulators, Old games.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but it probably won’t be Oregon.