I am a big fan of the Dark Souls games. Huge fan in fact. I consider Dark Souls and Dark Souls III to be some of the best games to have been created in recent memory. As a fan of these games, it is understandable that I have tried to seek out games similar to these, the term Souls-Like being coined to describe games similar to Dark Souls. Let’s start by defining what a Souls-Like is. Being such a new term, there can be disagreements on what defines Souls-Like games but commonalities typically include: Dark Souls has undoubtedly had an…
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When I first began making content for YouTube, there was (and may still be) a strong trend for manga youtubers to review manga chapters as they came out. I ultimately resisted this temptation and, as time went on, I began to feel repulsed by chapter reviews, viewing them as meaningless content as well as actively damaging to the manga industry. I will try to make my viewpoints clear in this article. Let us start with a question. What does it mean to review? I want you to take a moment and think about what that means. Done? To me, reviewing…
Leave a CommentI love the idea of Noitamina. If you’re unaware of what Noitamina is (animation spelled backwards for one), it started as an anime programming block in 2005 on Fuji TV, one of the major television networks in Japan. Its stated goal was to expand anime’s viewership by producing shows that appealed to audiences outside of the standard anime demographic. As I stated before, I love this concept. I believe that for anime to thrive, we need to expand the demographic to include more people of different ages and genders. The desire to create shows aimed at different demographics also means…
Leave a CommentThis might seem like an unusual post to write as I have hardly talked about the Marvel Cinematic Universe (henceforth referred to as the MCU) before so this might seem out of the blue. However, I have been thinking a lot about the MCU as of late and thought that I’d discuss my history with the films. Unsurprisingly, the first MCU film I saw was Iron Man (2008). The first film in what would become the MCU, I can remember being at a friend’s house and he decided to play the DVD of Iron Man. Not knowing anything about the…
Leave a CommentEver since the beginning of the medium of video games, there has been a dream of photo-realistic graphics. Whenever a new console is released or a new form of graphics technology is created, developers immediately demonstrate games or tech demos that push towards realism. I have no doubt that this will also be the case for the newly announced Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X. It’s true that photo-realism can suit many types of games but, concurrently, I am often drawn to games that deliberately eschew realism for a different style of art. Let’s start with the disadvantages of photo-realistic…
Leave a CommentIn the run up to Christmas, I have been thinking about how different cultures celebrate this event. Unsurprisingly, the culture I’m most interested in is Japanese. Japan has a unique culture compared to the west and, as one might expect, celebrates Christmas in some very different and even unusual ways. Christmas has not traditionally been celebrated in Japan with Christmas only beginning to be celebrated post World War II. This is down to the fact that Christianity is a minority religion in Japan with only an estimated 3 millions Christians out of a population of 126 million. Because of this,…
Leave a CommentThis might seem like an unusual topic for an article but hear me out. One of my most fond but unusual memories comes from when a friend and I went into a bookstore called Waterstones. We went over to their manga section and quickly realized that many of the manga titles were organized incorrectly (at the time my thoughts accused the staff although, thinking back on it, it’s likely that other customers were the ones who had ruined the arrangement). We began to correct this, moving titles around so that volumes 1 to so-so were arranged from left to right.…
Leave a CommentI’m sure that as many of you began watching anime, you noticed how different it was from western animation. The content and art style are certainly two notable aspects that differentiate this medium from western animation. However, these are not necessarily unique to anime with a lot of western animation now embracing the content and art style. Instead, I want to focus on the differences in animation techniques and how they give anime a distinct feel. In order to explain how the animation techniques of anime are so unique, I first have to explain the techniques of western animation. Looking…
Leave a CommentHere is the conclusion of my list that began in “My Ranking of the Main Final Fantasy Games Part 1“. 6. Final Fantasy XIII A controversial entry, I’m sure that many of you are shocked that I rank this game so highly. In contrast to many people, I actually like the characters and story (except for Snow who I found very irritating). The graphics are absolutely incredible (particularly for a 2009 game) with an art style that I actually prefer to the much more recent Final Fantasy XV. The combat system also feels highly engaging although I’ll admit that it…
Leave a CommentAs I have mentioned in “Why I Prefer Turn-Based JRPGs” and “Is the PC a Good Platform for Japanese Games?“, I am a massive fan of Final Fantasy. I thought a nice way to discuss this series would be to rank the main Final Fantasy games that I have played and completed. That means no spin-offs will be ranked here and it also means that I will be excluding Final Fantasy II, XI and XIV as I have not completed them. Therefore there will be 12 entries on this list. Also a reminder that this list represents my personal opinions…
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