The Anime Shelf: Kara no Kyoukai

Ryougi Shiki has special eyes that see the death of all things.

This will be my first anime review and Kara no Kyoukai is a difficult beast to describe. Mix this with the fact that I have no formal education in film or 2D animation and we're left with a post that is probably going to be a little bit rubbish. Either way I plan to do my best and avoid spoiling anything along the way.

Kara no Kyoukai in summary, is the story of Ryougi Shiki who investigates various supernatural crimes while struggling with her own killing urges. With the help of Mikiya Kokuto and her magus boss Touko Aozaki, they spend most of the films in independent stories that tackle their problems.

Kara no Kyoukai was originally a three volume light novel series by Type-Moon. Kara no Kyoukai was their first ever work and probably stood as a prototype for their later visual novel Tsukihime. Many of the concepts that appear in Kara no Kyoukai end up in Tsukihime in one shape or form. Now that is not to say that Kara no Kyoukai (from now to be abbreviated as KnK) is an incomplete or even mechanically flawed work. It's a stand alone complete piece that works perfectly even if you completely disregard the existence of Tsukihime.

Anyway, we're not here to talk about the light novels, we're here to talk about the animated films. KnK was animated by Japanese animation studio Ufotable and released as seven films and one 35 minute OVA epilogue. The length of the films can range from as short as 48 minutes to 121 minutes. Pair this with the fact the films were released in non chronological order and you have a reasonably difficult plot to get into at first glance.

You might feel lost sometimes but it all comes together.

That being said, I urge not to rearrange the films and watch them in chronological order but to stick it out in the order they were aired. This is because that the films were designed that way and everything falls into place properly. I've yet to go back and watch the films in their chronological order but I can tell you that it's not really necessary.

The first film, Overlooking View will be the only true stumbling block in your enjoyment of KnK. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic film but there is little to no character development until the second film, A Study in Murder (Part 1). As such, you may be tempted to quit only a little way into it. Overlooking View is a film that is retroactively brilliant. Once you know the characters it adds more layers to the already visually stunning film. So I would ask you to keep watching KnK but if by the third film, Remaining Sense of Pain, you do not think it's for you, then it's probably not going to grow on you.

All of the main characters get plenty of development.

KnK looks and sounds fantastic. Takashi Takeuchi's art style has always been really great and the light as well as the general use of colour is really great. The music was composed by Yuki Kajiura. She's worked on some of my favourite anime soundtracks to date, including the recent Fate/Zero soundtrack. I would say that KnK was even better than that. The music fit perfectly with the scene and is honestly one of my favourite soundtracks to date. I would even say it gives Kenji Kawai a run for his money.

The story was written by Type-Moon's Kinoko Nasu. I've always loved Type-Moon stories and KnK ranks up with the best of them. The main thing that will probably turn people away is that it's very dialogue heavy. If you're a fan of action, you won't find too much here to begin with. The few primary characters get an absurdly large amount of development. You feel that you could comprehend all of the small details of the characters actions by the end. Even Ryougi Shiki, with her multiple personalities has little quirks you will probably pick up on. Some things however are somewhat broken to us due to the language barrier. In Japanese, both of her personalities are the same name but written with different Kanji. Also depending on the personality present she will speak using different mannerisms, which only those who speak Japanese or at least have some limited understanding of Japanese might pick up on. (something I did not at the time.)

Cigarette magic!

I feel that with having watched Fate/Zero recently and now Kara no Kyoukai, I've been spoilt by fantastic Type-Moon works. If Kara no Kyoukai is too much for you, I would recommend maybe getting into the Fate/Stay Night anime, (though butchered compared to the Visual Novel) if only so you can go and watch Fate/Zero afterwards. I honestly think that Kara no Kyoukai is one of the best anime films I've seen in recent memory, if it's not even the best I've ever seen. I can only imagine how good Ghost in the Shell or Akira could have been if they had the budget to release them as several, more complete films.

I don't see the point in giving a score for anime as it's really going to depend on your tolerance for tropes and pacing. All I will say is that Kara no Kyoukai does what it does perfectly. There is very little room for improvement and aside from one small spoiler related aspect at the end, I had no real gripe to speak of. Only watch this show however if you're willing to sit through tons of dialogue and waiting a little while for the character development to kick in. 

The biggest setback I have left for the end. As of now, it's not available to buy in the UK and the US boxset by Aniplex will run you up something like $500 last time I checked. You can rent the films on the US Playstation Network but other than downloading, it's the only legitimate way without spending an absurd sum.

Mark of The Ninja Review.

This will be the first time I've played a game by Klei Entertainment. After pretty much skipping Shank and Shank 2 due to the presentation I am starting to regret that choice. Mark of the Ninja is a 2D platformer which mixes some of the best elements from it's peers. This is probably one of the most well designed stealth games next to Metal Gear. 

Level design pretty much follows the tried and tested Metroid style but slims it down to keep the objectives clear and turning the game into a stage based game as opposed to one giant map. This works in the games favour as each little perch, vase or tunnel gives you so many options to proceed.

Like most Metal Gear games, you do not have to kill a single guard to continue the game and this is a big bonus for doing so. However some challenges will be impossible down this route. Metal Gear is easily more well designed in this sense but all the same, it works incredibly well.

Challenges on each mission give an extra layer to stages. They can vary from killing two guards with a single chandelier, or passing through a section undetected. Each of these completed bonus objectives will net you a point to spend on upgrading your ninja. You also can collect through scrolls on each stage which will each also give you a point, and finally your rank can earn you up to three points to spend.

The upgrades you can buy are overall, very good and practical. You can learn new methods of assassination, such as killing while hanging above a target. Or you can learn new combat skills, though more often than not, you will not be fighting toe to toe with an enemy. You can also buy or upgrade your ninja tools. Want smoke bombs to also choke the enemy? (if they do not wear gas-masks) or perhaps you want to drop caltrops behind you while escaping? Better than all of these, you can hide in a cardboard box.

There are also several costumes you can unlock which dramatically change the way you approach a level. One costume will make your footsteps silent but the trade-off is that you forfeit your sword. Another will make assassinations also succeed without a button prompt but you can only take one kind of tool into a mission instead of two. All of these features lend to make the game so free but without sacrificing structure.

The game is reasonably challenging and you will rarely die by accidentally hooking onto a ledge that you did not mean to or screwing up an assassination that was well planned. The game is very clear on the consequences of your actions. When you stop time to throw a dart at a light, it will give you a ring around the target to show the noise you will be creating and weather it'll be within earshot of them. Features like this means that you will rarely do something wrong without a lapse in judgement. As long as you stay in the dark, the field of vision for guards is very low and they have to be within assassination distance to notice you. This makes the stalking around you do, very much like Tenchu but without very tight controls.

The weakest point in the game is easily the story. It's very cliché and serves little purpose but to throw you into your next mission. This is little to complain about as this game was always about the gameplay but you essentially are given the task of stopping an evil mega corporation from making dangerous weapons to stamp out your ninja clan. Other than the story itself, the art and animation is a little sub-par but not really bad for an XBLA game. It very much reminds me of Samurai Jack and various other cartoon network shows of the time. I don't normally mind stuff like Samurai Jack but it does feel a little off this time.

My Score: Stealth games are more often a large battle with the controller than careful planning and execution. Mark of the Ninja does what it's trying to do perfectly. Other than being a little short and the story being a little weak. It would be one of the best games out there. 9/10

The People: I don't see many complaining about the art or story much but perhaps the length of the game will bother some. 8/10

The Dream of Flight: A Rocketeer Movie Review.

I don't normally do reviews of movies but I will make an exception for one of my favourite movies. I can't promise it'll be a good review or anything but if it turns out okay, maybe I will do some more.

Picture the scene. It's 1991, the only good superhero films have been in the shape of the DC giants Superman and Batman. Fantastic, considering the limitations of the time. Out of left field comes Disney with the idea of making a film of the 1982 comic The Rocketeer. To my knowledge, the character was not greatly known and only spanned 8 chapters total. Nevertheless, the Rocketeer became a cult classic which embodied pulp comics and drew them into the modern age. The general plot of the film is about a pilot called Cliff Secord who is at the bottom, just doing low paying air shows while building a plane that is capable of flying in the nationals. He soon discovers a Rocket which had been stolen and stashed in his hanger. Both the thieves and the American government want it back.

The film was directed by Joe Johnson who is known as the director or art director for many films, such as the original Star Wars trilogy, the first two Indiana Jones films, Batteries not included, Pagemaster, Jumanji, Jurassic Park III, The Wolfman, Captain America: The First Avenger and a fair few more. The guy pretty much summed up a decent amount of my childhood.

James Horner did the music for the film but I care not to run off a list of his work. Needless to say it's a fantastic soundtrack. If the Topgun soundtrack captured the idea of flying big powerful F-14s, then the Rocketeer soundtrack captures the pace of the propeller engines that are present in the film.

As for actors in the film, it all fits well in my opinion. Billy Campbell plays the lead role of Cliff Secord and he feels great in the role, I must admit that I have not seen any other films of his, other than the 1992 Dracula in which he plays Quincey Morris. Even then, I did not know it was him. Jennifer Connelly plays Jenny Blake and works really well, even though the character is changed greatly from the original comic. Finally we have Timothy Dalton as Neville Sinclair, the snobbish Hollywood star who acts as a giant thorn in the side of Cliff throughout the film.

It's difficult to not sound biased when writing about something one is passionate about so I’ll say right from the start. This film is one of those films that varies from great, to average, to terrible for people. Though I will say that if you like this film, then you will most likely love it. It's not deep and it doesn't have ground breaking special effects but they have held up pretty well for an early 90s film. Hell the film doesn't even have a ton of action. It is just an exciting film which taps the will that people have always had to fly. A shallow comparison would be Indiana Jones but with a Rocket pack. Either way they are both pulp action films. A mostly dead genre that often gets pulled from the cutting room floor just to fall back there again.

The film did poorly by Disney’s expectations but did turn a profit. This was mostly, like Scott Pilgrim, the fact they could not actually get people into the cinema to watch it. There had been a planned sequel, with a concept that I thought sounded amazing but alas, we will probably never see another Rocketeer film.

I really suggest that everyone at least see this film. Even if you just watch it when you feel like seeing a laid back film with some guy flying about with a rocket pack. You can take the film as that or you can see it as an action adventure which almost rivals some of the newer marvel films. I'm going to take some flak for this but I also think it's better than Tim Burton’s Batman.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Here we go. This will be the first time reviewing a game that I've not actually completed. I want to mention first of all that I'm playing Skyrim on the Xbox 360 without it installed. If the PC version if better then great but this is based off the console version as I'm not willing to spend a ton of money upgrading. I touched upon the story a little bit and get the general idea of the plot. With that said, lets get down to it. 

This is a given but Skyrim is no game to take lightly. There is tons to do and you'll probably never do half of it, much less all of it. My level is in the late 20's and I feel like I've not really even started. Normally this would be a negative to me as I hate games which pad out the plot with random fetch quests and encyclopedia based back stories. Skyrim improves these areas greatly in that the quests feel far more fleshed out and have exciting sub plots of their own. Nice change from beating up rats in someone's basement. Also the delivery of the main plot seems much better this time with well written dialogue and less emotionless and pointless feeling characters from it's roots. Outside of Fargoth I have trouble remembering any faces from the older games.

At first glance the game does not feel that visually superior to Oblivion. The character models have had a slight improvement but I must admit that the backgrounds at distance are utterly stunning. Facial features feel less abnormal than before and attack animations are improved somewhat again.

Gameplay is another place where it's difficult to say if it's changed much. I'd say it's all improved upon but by how much is somewhat difficult to judge. All the little things are what make the combat far more fun to deal with. They found a happy medium between Morrowind and Oblivion. Having the ability to charge up your sword swings is nice to see again and the shield is no longer your magical block against all and including the apocalypse. Blocking will now chip a little off your health and you can shield bash to create an opening with your weapon.

One thing I will say is that the game still feels too easy for the most part. My Nordic warrior was quite easily dispatching everything including dragons for the length I played. Dragon shouts are another point where the game shines. Really adds a point to this massive world. I cannot seem to grow tired of searching for words and dragon souls to strengthen my character. Jobs are also a great new system which almost feels fable like but unlike fable they do more than just add to your cash flow. Smithing is really the way to go for any warrior. Abuse can easily net you some powerful armour and weapons early on.

I played for a good amount of time and I never encountered one game breaking glitch...A massive change from Bethesta's track record of having to pray to make it to the end. I've bumped into the off cosmetic glitch of enemies floating a few feet into the air and being killed from a long distance away but nothing that stops you from being able to progress. Skyrim does not really reinvent the elder scrolls series but rather greatly streamlines it to be more practical. Away are with all of your stats besides Health, Magicka and Stamina. Away with the silly major,minor and misc skill system.

If you had asked me before Skyrim was release if it needed to reinvent itself I would of said yes. I loathed Oblivion and all it stood for and Morrowind, though better, was not really much fun for me either. Skyrim is still not totally my kind of game as I still prefer a strong story and character development. I don't see why the Skyrim can't have the same system as Mass Effect and Dragon Age in which you pick out of multiple backgrounds to begin from but even so, I'm nitpicking. Skyrim is fun for even someone like me who'd fond of JRPGs and generally non PC gaming.

In a generation with such lack of quality in the industry, this is a much needed change.

My Score: Elder Scrolls finally reaches the point that I can enjoy the experience. 8/10

The People: I think most people are gonna to find this game nigh on perfect if not perfect. 10/10

Batman Arkham City

Honestly, I was never a fan of comic video games in recent years. I played Spiderman on the Sega Master System back in the day and I played the first Playstation Spiderman game. In reflection they were not what I'd call a fantastic game but I felt  there was something missing from comic games since...Maybe it was my love for varied costume designs which the Playstation game did well. Anyway...This is about Batman but first I'll refresh quickly on Arkham Asylum from a couple of years back.

Arkham Asylum is proof that source material will not limit your game design choices...Just because it's a movie game or an adaptation of a comic hero does not give it the right to suck. From the fluid rhythmic combat, to the
creative use of Batman's gadgets. This game was made with equal part Batman and video game. It's only real limit was it's narrow scope to place it on an island. That's where Arkham City comes in.

Everything good about the first game is built upon and improved. Tons more options for combat, some interesting new gadgets. There is also a bat signal this time round as your map marker. The game went sandbox this time but without destroying the core story to do so...It's more akin to Assassins Creed II or Infamous than it is to something like GTAIV. I won't lie though..Arkham City feels pretty small when compared to the above but it does not really detract from the experience. It's just tons of fun to swoop from building to building as the caped crusader.

Detective mode feels far better paced this time. In Arkham Asylum you feel like you need to check every nook and cranny but this time you just use it as a quick flash to help an objective. If you force me to pick a fault with the game then i'd say it's the lack of options to take out guards silently...It's a mission to get by without alerting the guards to your location...My impression is that Batman would not be such a screw up...Maybe it's just me.

The story is well put together too. It's made in such a way that you are not required to play Asylum to understand the plot, but I'd do it anyway as it has tons more screen time for the Joker. You get to see pretty much all the famous bad guys from the Batman universe and even some of the smaller ones. Every character feels like they are strong enough to the plot to justify being there. I would've liked to see more Tim Drake as Robin in the game and Nightwing would not have gone amiss during the main story but Catwoman is awesome to see and plays differently enough.

On that note..Catwoman is the kind of DLC i'm more keen to try out. Her DLC has actual point in the plot and is not some short few minute ordeal...It is a little bit few and far between that you get to use her but it's great considering it's free. Next time though, I'd rather play as Robin or Nightwing.

So I guess in closing...Best comic book game so far? Yeah most likely so. The flaws in this game are so minor that even someone who is not a fan of Batman should play this game...Hell play this if you don't even really like comic books. Let us just hope that in future we see less post release DLC and more core game...I dont feel like missing out on playing Nightwing just because I've decided to buy it near launch and finish up with it before it comes out.

This game deserves all the Praise it gets. 9/10