Redwolf's Journal (continued)

 I watched Cyberpunk: Edgerunners over the last few days and I'd call it fairly good cyberpunk (even Cyberpunk) entertainment. I would have preferred if the over-the-top style was dialed back a bit in favor a touch more realism. That may be Studio Trigger influence. It's not unbearable, but I do have to suspend disbelief just a little more than my ideal and go along for the ride. The city on display is definitely Cyberpunk 2077 's Night City, down to crosswalks and cameos. The core characters fall largely into a range that I like. I would perhaps complain that Lucy may be *too* standoffish and David *too* lacking in drive of his own, but those are traits that may have some value in exploring. Unexpectedly, I found Rebecca to be the shining star of the main cast. She initially seems like little more than a psycho-loli, but by the endgame she displays a trustworthiness that is valuable beyond just about anything in the setting. And the story very firmly reminds that the cybe...

 Early in the morn I woke from a dream in which I was GMing a Bubblegum Crisis -based game for some others. The relatively new player was running an ex-military major who had been extremely cyber-augmented and was causing disruption around the city. Somehow the city major or similar corporate official tracks him down and challenges him to a series of battles with a thought of "I'll show him in escalating fashion how difficult things can really get for him to demoralize and make him stop." The first fight is against a standard boomer, put forth with no expectation of actual challenge. Indeed, the major trashes his with little effort. Next is someone piloting battle armor roughly equal to what the AD Police field. This is more of a fight, but the major manages to dance around attacks and, deciding he doesn't want to kill the pilot, he slips around behind to pull out a power core. Then the mayor-guy puts forth the Knight Sabers. This is a real battle between the parties,...

 Whilst dogsitting, I rummaged through Netflix to try out an anime, Hero Mask . It looked like it could be interesting, even if the main character being a cop with a habit of going after criminals in spite of property damage and ths like (named James Blood of all things) felt a bit cliche. Well, after going through most of the first season waiting for things to pick up and mysteries to pay off, I just gave up. I rate it a "meh." The idea of biotech/superscience masks that give super powers isn't terrible. The shady organization behind them faking the death of inmates to use them as test subjects is predictable, but has potential. One of the "bad guy" company men in charge of keeping it under wraps being a former friend/partner to the protagonist could be something. Starting things off with a mask-wearer who can change his appearance and regenerate assaulting a police headquarters makes it seem like the series may be action-heavy. Yet none of that really pays off...

Let's see, I did get through some series on Netflix recently... I finished She-ra . It was enjoyable overall. Catra remains my favorite character even though her "redemption" (and really all the relationships) felt a bit over-simplified. Entrapta's up there, though, with her quirky lack of focus. And Double Trouble pretty much carried a season on his/her own. The overall story worked fine for me even if certain aspects lacked any depth and the Eternia/Greyskull stuff leaves a massive, unresolved mystery to the universe. I do have to say Adora and Catra being a "thing" at the end felt a little... hmm... "incestuous?" Sure, it's clear through the series they love one another, if in some muddled ways, but their shared background and youth painted that as more sisterly than romantic to my eyes. I also thoroughly enjoyed Aggretsuko season 3. The OTMGirls storyline worked so well and was so largely positive for Retsuko I was sad to see it end. The H...

I've been putting a dent in some shows that I've had on my "I should watch this sometime" list, slowly but surely... The first season of Stranger Things was pretty good. The 80's nostalgia factor works for me. The mix of youth adventure and supernatural works for me. The cosmology felt a little so-so, but overall interesting enough to watch and I'll follow up on it, I'm sure. There were a few details that strained my suspension of disbelief, but overall pretty cool. I do find it a little hard to devote the time to hour-long shows, though, it seems. Curious. I also went through the first season of The Dragon Prince . That was easier in a time sense, at least. The whole "from the makers of Avatar" sort of told me early on I would want to check it out. The art style turned me off a little, though. I dislike the CGI/cell-shaded look to the point it's a mark against several series, though I can like something in spite of it (like SW: Rebels)....

There are some things I actually want to watch on Netflix, so I'm not sure why I find myself scrolling through options looking for other things that catch my eye. Odd. This weekend, I settled on Ingress as an interesting-enough animated series to try. It's... odd. There are some interesting ideas that never quite come together well. I actually quite liked the main characters and watching their adventure, but the foundations of central concepts and the setting are so awkwardly forced. There's this supernatural XM (exotic matter) that's been around in the world basically forever, which tends to gather at sites people considered sacred. There are "sensitives" with psychic abilities that can tap into this on some level. Only fairly recently has technology been able to perceive and try to harness all this. Okay, that's fairly standard for an urban fantasy-style setup. Then, they go and gamify it all. There's two factions and they can claim these sites...

With video games in a slight lull for me over the weekend, I took to Netflix and took in some animation. The Sex, Death and Robots series was entertaining. It's a collection of shorts. Some are certainly better than others, but over all the series makes me appreciate the format and how much story can be gotten across in little more than ten minutes. There were others I certainly enjoyed, but I think Good Hunting managed to be my favorite for combination of historical mysticism, classism, and steampunk clockworks. It might also help that it resonated strongly with the origin story I established for my cyberpunk Fool's Moon version of Mika. I also watched Revisions - a more traditional (in series structure) anime-ish show. It's clear almost from the get go that it's a time travel story, and it has some of the problems with inconsistent causality that usually brings. It's interesting, though, and manages to dole out some twists as things progress. What I found ...

... Not the concept, but rather the Japanese anime/manga/game IP. I got into Fate because of character designs for the most part, seeing Saber and others online before I had any clear idea of the source. Since then, I've watched a number of series and played the original visual novel through once - which is only the Fate/Stay Night "path." I also took up Fate/Grand Order on my phone, though "playing" that often entails poking at it a few minutes a day. The basic idea is straightforward enough: a group of magi summon magical warriors of various classifications who are based on legendary figures to battle in a contest. The last Master/Servant pair standing gets a wish. Of course, then it veers off a bit by making some of the characters deviate wildly from their historical/mythical selves. The most obvious of those would be the original Saber - Arturia/Altria/Artoria (depending on spelling translation) Pendragon. And King Arthur being female is sort of just th...

After a veritech scene came up in our Lords of Gossamer and Shadow game, I was bitten by a bug to skim through possible mecha anime to watch, centering in on Macross series. I've only seen the origin via Robotech rewrites. I watched Macross Plus. Frontier seemed decently recommended, so I started in on that, a little bit surprised to find the series have actually been created with intentional continuity, referencing earlier series (even making an in-universe movie that seems to be a retelling of Macross Zero). In a Macross series, you're getting into a few things. At the very least, there's variable-form mecha, pilots, and music that has in-world effects. I haven't seen enough of the series to generalize too much beyond that, but I'm thinking relationships, especially a central love triangle, seem to be a commonality as well. Overall, I liked Frontier. Sadly, watching without audio, I miss out on the major music aspects, but still. The series manages to include ...

In GW2 , I keep telling myself I'm done replaying the Battle for Claw Island, yet it keeps happening. Ah well. Playing a little bit following others through story, otherwise just doing Sunday guild missions and keeping up with the basic living story releases. In WoW the Broken Shore content has gotten me a bit more interested of late, at least. And I did put the effort in to level up my druid to be my 4th max-level character over a weekend - so much easier with flying unlocked. I've some dungeons I want to do at some point, but it's all okay right now. Cryostasis I've been watching playthroughs of some "horror" games of late - stuff I wouldn't generally both to play myself, but listening to the experience is interesting. Cryostasis was the latest, and I was quite impressed by it, actually. It apparently has loads of technical issues, but looks decent when it runs, and has some interesting themes with health based on warmth and the ability to sort of ...

Le Chevalier d'Eon is an anime series I started watched probably years ago now, but didn't really get into. I picked that back up and watched it through to the (fairly tragic, I must say) ending. It's a spin on a historical figure of France - a knight and spy who dressed and lived as a woman some of the time. Of course, being a manga-turned-anime series, a lot more importance is put upon things and the story is wrapped together with some heavy supernatural elements (among the least of which being d'Eon being possessed by his sister Lia). It generally looks good, and there's a neat Musketeer-ish vibe to the adventure. On the other hand, character motivations are opaque a lot of the time and the supernatural stuff doesn't piece together very well for me, all told. And the end is, as mentioned, pretty tragic for most of the characters involved - plus leading into the French Revolution, so... there's that. Interesting, but I don't know that I would widel...

Ergo Proxy looked like an atmospheric noir cyberpunk anime series. I suppose it sort of is. The best word for it that comes to mind, though, is phantasmagoric (ie. dreamlike - thank you, old word-a-day calendar). Visually, it's dark. Dark enough that there were a measurable percentage of scenes difficult to make out - not a particularly good thing. Characters are... okay, with some good and bad traits. The story is... scattered. Whole episodes of the 23-episode series are spent in internal reflection, dream states, or the out-of-nowhere quiz show. It's disjointed for no particular benefit. I suppose the creators were going for deeply psychological, but I can't help but feel the actual plot could have been presented more tightly and been a more thrilling and captivating 13 episodes, if that. Even then, the series feels like more style over substance. Snowpiercer was on TV over the weekend, and I hadn't seen it, but mentions have popped up a lot on sites I frequent si...

I've seen the title before, but passed it over. Still, making my way through subtitled options, I settled on giving this one a try. The first season (and a full "season" of 26 episodes, at that) grabbed me initially with a good balance of action and mystery. As it went on, I came to appreciate more and more the distinctive pacing (while things develop through the series, each pair of episodes is a particular story) and the interplay between different characters and groups. The story primarily centers around a small group of agents for a "syndicate," pulling thefts and assassinations and the like. They manage to grow and bond to an extent, even though "contractors" (people with supernatural powers) and "dolls" (personality-deadened medium/scryers) are regularly said to not have emotions like normal humans. It's fun to watch, even though these are "bad guys." Which is why the second season (13 episodes) was so remarkably dis...

With these anime titles, I often feel like there's some sort of context missing. X "on the Sky" doesn't make much sense in English, "of" or "in" seems more appropriate. But whatever. This series gets my most emphatic "I wish there was more, but there probably won't be" award in quite some time. I may have to keep an eye out for translated manga, but I'm not expecting a whole lot there, either. I believe it's based on light novels, which don't seem to see translation themselves very often. Alas. It's a war story. The main character is a lazy strategist who specifically wants to avoid becoming a soldier, but gets drawn into it supporting a friend. With the focus on strategy, there is some trace of the feeling from Spice and Wolf (about commerce) or Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (about society-building), but with a focus on warfare. The technology level seems a little in advance of feudal, with allied spirit companions providing...

Ah, the holidays. They play out one of two ways for me these days: 1) Lots of scrambling, stress, and little sleep throwing things together to go visit parents over the hill for Christmas. This ends up being a pleasant enough diversion from the norm, but usually isn't very restful. 2) Boring time by myself because parents are away, with little feeling of celebration of Christmas itself. This time around was the latter, and stretched through New Years. I got some extra days off, so there was plenty of time to rest, but that also means plenty of time to struggle for entertainment. Over that period, I went through several things... The Games... Titanfall 2: I put this on my Christmas list with a little reservation, considering it's one of those first-person shooters where multiplayer is a large facet that I wouldn't really touch. As a single-player campaign, it's still pretty good. Perhaps not worth full price for the length of it, but the game plays well and the ...

Ah, what to say? I seem to be suffering a seasonally-enhanced melancholy. Less daylight has an effect. So do the holidays. As much as I am an introvert and find gatherings of people to be wearying, I have to acknowledge there's a sort of validation to it. Without interaction with others, life rapidly starts to feel pointless - or at least not rewarding. It's difficult to feel connected and involved in anything when you have trouble finding someone to even share thoughts and experiences with. And while holiday visits are often burdensome in my experience, they are enjoyable at the time and make such days feel special. And I do seem to have some psychological expectation for certain days being "special" in some way. When they aren't, even if they aren't bad , it makes them incredibly disappointing. That sucks. My WoW play has tapered off some, though I still like Legion and I'm occasionally surprised by the new Suramar content being released every week,...

Leaves are falling and the weather is cool, but not cold. It definitely feels like autumn. I look forward to the end of the election season, though there's no telling how that'll all shake out in the end. For a time, I considered third-party presidential candidates, but I reached a conclusion much akin to John Oliver's assessment . WoW goes on. I still am enjoying Legion overall. I've spent some time playing alts over the last week or two as well. My main is sitting pretty comfortably awaiting company to delve into heroics and/or mythics at some point, though relatively few guild regulars are there yet. 7.1 is set to be released next week - I'm pretty surprised by how fast that feels. They did announce is pretty early on, and I don't want to turn away content, but that's still pretty early in Legion's life cycle. I'm curious to see what's there, but with the Karazhan dungeon being mythic+ difficulty, it may be a while before I get to see an...

So I watched the anime series Erased which involves a 29-year-old manga artist "time traveling" in mind back to his 11-year-old self and trying to solve some child abductions by changing the past. It's a solidly interesting psychological drama - not much in the fantastic beyond the main premise (which isn't particularly explained, but that's okay). It got me thinking. There aren't any childhood traumas I would be driven to change in a similar situation. The one childhood regret that sticks with me is I didn't appreciate the uniqueness of a situation one day and opted to hang out with friends over going to a baseball game with my father. I'd change that. But otherwise? Then I came to the big... well... I'm not sure "regret" is appropriate as I thought through later in my life. College. I could save myself a lot of angst and grief if I actually applied myself and found a better direction rather than failing out in my first year. But if...

So, it looks like the division between spring/summer anime seasons is here, which gives me time to consider what I've been watching... Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress was probably my favorite going into the season. After 13 episodes, I still sort of like it, but it also feels like it doesn't live up to its potential. The action's solid and the premise is interesting, but it just lacks a sense of payoff. By the season's end, no fewer than three city/stations have fallen to the zombie-like kabane on and off screen, and it felt to me like a sign of a death spiral for society, even though most of the cast rides off into the sunset. The villain never became very sympathetic, making him seem just a nihilistic force, which is fairly uninteresting. If there's another season, I'd probably watch it, but it's not as exciting to me at this point. Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- has moved up to my favorite of the season, I think - and is continuing on from a...

So, yeah... Twin Star Exorcists has fallen off my radar. It just doesn't distinguish itself into being "worth watching" in my book. I started watching Mayoiga , which I suppose is more mystery/supernatural/psychological. It starts with a bus full of people dedicated to leaving society behind and going to a rumored lost town. I want to say it has sort of a "Lost" vibe, but I only know about that show from cultural saturation and overflow rather than watching it myself. It's several episodes before there's any confirmation of supernatural forces, but I don't think that's much of a spoiler. Some of the ideas are interesting, but I have trouble believing a lot of the behavior. No one bats an eye at the gun-lover (who, amusingly, might be a furry with the way their lines constantly include cat references). Even moreso, no one really seems concerned by the girl whose solution to everything seems to be "execute them!" Ultimately, I've f...