It’s that time of year again, where a new season of anime awaits just over the horizon and the current season of anime is quickly coming to an end. The convergence of two anime seasons is a time for celebration as the shows we’ve been watching wind down; plots are wrapped up, characters overcome adversity, you know, the usual. At the same time, there’s the anticipation of new shows to come. New ridiculous storylines, accentuated anatomy, and much more. I mean, how many young high school girls can really want to jump one dopey guy? That was clearly a rhetorical question.

The first anime I’d like to share with you is one I recently finished. As the title of this post suggests, it’s called “To Aru Kagaku no Railgun” which roughly translates to “A Certain Scientific Railgun”. Yeah – doesn’t make much sense to me either. But despite the name, this show really delivered and became one of my most anticipated watches this last season.

Must have been perusing chatroulette

The show is actually a spin-off from another anime; To Aru Majutsu no Index. This series essentially takes one of the secondary characters from the original show and creates an entirely separate storyline. It still takes place in the same city, Academy City; a city built around the goal of developing ESPers – or people (and of course since this is anime, namely young children) who have incredible psychic powers. Our heroine, Misaka Mikoto, is one of a handful of the strongest ESPers in Academy City. She has the highly destructive ability to control electricity. Her most notable attack is firing a supercharged coin at ridiculous velocities, donning her the nickname “Railgun”.

This spin-off follows Misaka and a couple of her closest friends through their daily lives. Throughout the series we see familiar characters as well as new ones introduced. A handful of times we even run into the main characters from the previous series the show is based on but usually only in a very jovial context and not part of any meaningful exchange. Kagaku no Railgun continues on in this fashion for probably half the series or so, spending maybe a couple episodes at a time with mini-story development or subplots. I actually would have been ok with the series progressing in this manner. I liked Misaka’s character in Majutsu no Index and would have liked to see more of her, which is exactly what this series delivers.

Some times you want a Dr. Pepper real bad

Eventually, the show starts to gain some momentum with more and more of the episodes following a cohesive plot line, even working in details from the seemingly random episodes from earlier in the series. The last episode just recently aired and it completely sold me on this show. The culmination of the twenty-four episodes really paid off big with an action packed finale that delivered visually as well as wrapping up the story in a way most series I watch fall far short of.

At the end of the day, I liked this series more than its progenitor. The animation quality was solid the whole series. The voice acting was superb. The storyline was both casual and serious when it needed to be and developed the characters in a fluid and believable way. I would definitely recommend giving this one a watch. The original series isn’t a requisite, but it does give you a little extra information about the characters and general plot. At just 24 episodes long, the show isn’t a huge time commitment and who doesn’t like middle school girl super heroes? That was also a rhetorical question.

Explosion of Powah!

Peace.

Any person who refers to themselves as a video game enthusiast (or if others refer to you as a nerd asswad) is more than likely familiar with Final Fantasy. From its ancient beginnings all the way back at the end of 1987, to its current iteration being the 13th in the series, Final Fantasy has secured itself as one of the titans of gaming. A giant edifice carved in the face of Mount Gamesmore, right next to Mario and Zelda.

I’ve always found it interesting how a series called Final Fantasy has persisted through 13 cycles of product with a 14th on the way in the form of a second massively multiplayer online role playing game. Quantifying the catalog of games to 13 (or relatively soon 14) is also inaccurate. There have been a multitude of spin-offs and off-shoots that aren’t officially labeled with the iconic numbering system, but don the name Final Fantasy all the same.

Unlike many people I know, I cannot myself claim to be an FF master. I haven’t played all the games. I haven’t even played through some of the more notable in the series like the coveted Final Fantasy 7. But despite this shortcoming, I do on occasion find myself immersed in the latest offering. I picked up Final Fantasy 13 the other day and just last night got a chance to sit down with it for a couple hours. Firstly, opening the case revealed that three discs were gently packed inside. Three! I can’t remember the last time a game I purchased had more than one. This is the year two-thousand and ten after all.

Immediately the game reminds you that you’re playing Final Fantasy. The icons and navigation menus are all reminiscent of the series as a whole, including the same types of sounds played while perusing options. Then the opening cinematic starts…

I’m on a train, motherfucker

To say it was breath-taking would probably be an understatement. As expected, the cinematic portions of the game – which are many – continue to rise in quality and out perform their predecessors. I knew the moment I went to the store to buy FFXIII that I was buying not a video game but a playable movie, giving me the control to move in between cut scenes. This is Final Fantasy after all. This has been the trend in games for a while. Of course there are tons of exceptions, but I think there is value in both. Cut scenes give developers a chance to make your eyes ejaculate, which is an opportunity I wholly endorse.

I would talk briefly about the actual plot of the game, but once again, as usual in the FF series I have no fucking idea what’s going on. Clocking an hour so far may be part of the problem, but I bet even when I’m midway through disc three I’ll still be clueless. At minimum, I know the first character we see is Lightning, an ex-soldier on a mission. We watch her during the opening cinematic escape from a prison relocation train. The train ends up in the city of Cocoon where the governmental force “The Sanctum” is relocating all the citizens. And by relocating I mean purging.

Is this where I make a joke about “Lightning striking”?

At different points within the first hour or so of gameplay you switch between two or three characters who are all caught up in this pogrom in Cocoon. The game walks you through the combat mechanics which I have to say are a vast improvement over Final Fantasy 12. This game returns to the more typical and expected form of fighting in an FF game, except that instead of taking turns the combat feels more real-time without losing that turn-based style. They even include an option to “Auto-Attack” which will attack in a way most tailored for your current situation.

After playing for only an hour or so, I assume I have things yet to experience that may well change the shape of this post. But so far, the game is delivering. The art is incredibly beautiful and the world is truly unique. The characters and story seem interesting enough – although a little convoluted at this point – to keep my attention, at least for a while. The voice acting is alright. I like some of the characters so far and have a feeling I’ll be cursing the names of others the whole time I play. I even thought briefly about turning on the Japanese audio track – assuming that’s an option – but I’ll stick with English for now.

Lightning and the token black guy, Sazh

Historically my biggest hurdle in playing FF games is the time commitment. I have a tendency to get bored with things even if they still deserve my devoted attention. With the weekend coming, I plan to get a few more hours under my belt and delve a little deeper into the bizarre and strange world Square Enix has yet again created. I just hope I come out the other side with my sanity intact.

Peace.

If this website serves as anything it’s a testament to my personality painting a very clear and precise picture: I’m a pretty big nerd. Virtually every aspect of what constitutes me supplements this undeniable assertion. I’ve had almost twenty-seven years now to come to terms with this frightening truth. Luckily, now as an adult, I am free to basically do whatever the fuck I want without too much backlash from my peers considering now I don’t really have any peers.

Being a self-proclaimed nerd, there’s a subgenre of music that I greatly appreciate and wanted to share with you. I am speaking of Nerdcore Hiphop. To anyone unfamiliar with this already, you may think I just made that up. I can assure you, I did not. Instead, a man, known to his devoted followers as MC Frontalot, did. To be fair, he didn’t technically create the genre, but he did inadvertently name it.

As the name implies, Nerdcore Hiphop is a genre featuring rappers and MCs alike speaking not on subjects of cars, honeys, and dolla bills, but instead science, math, video games, etc. The topics that really matter to nerds such as myself. I can’t relate to songs about growing up on the hard streets of LA, but I totally identify with songs about D&D and the Internet.

MC Frontalot

So without further adieu, I present to you some sweet tracks from the man himself, MC Frontalot. You can find these bad boys featured on the Auscultator at the bottom of the menus to the right of your screen, or CLICK HERE to open a small pop-up version. If you’re reading this post like two years from now, it’s possible that the tracks will no longer be available. That’s probably your fault, and not so much mine. As always you may need to clear your browser’s cache for the new tracks to appear.

Lastly, before I let you indulge in the phat rhymes on offer, if you want to consume more from MC Frontalot or other Nerdcore rappers, you should visit Front’s website as well as watch the documentary created on the subject of Nerdcore aptly titled Nerdcore Rising which is available for purchase or if you have Netflix for free through the Instant Queue.

Nerdcore Rising

** GENERAL ADVISORY **

Tracks may contain material that is inappropriate for anyone who is not a nerd or has allergic reactions to nerdliness. You have been warned.

I wanted to expound a little about something I tweeted on earlier this morning. I’m referring specifically to this. Normally I’m blissfully unaware of such trifling things, but this particular morsel was thrust into my periphery by Mr. Jerry Holkins (Tycho, if you’re nasty) over at Penny Arcade.

Now, just to put this out on front street, I hate reality television. Hate it. Period. The fact I can even say that is something of a personal miracle as there are very few things that stir in me the tempest of rage and raw emotions reminiscent of more youthful days. I’ve found the churning crucible that once composed the core of being, slowing, cooling in ferocity inversely proportional to the increase in my age. I briefly entertained the idea that maybe I’m just not an asshole anymore. But, I think I know better.

Getting back on topic, personally I don’t find the value in what this entire gorram country can’t help but steadily funnel into their gullets; in some cases – witnessed empirically – beyond all volition and reason. Night after night, on virtually every channel, the minds of my friends and neighbors are inextricably drawn into the event horizon of this reality black hole.

Up until this point, I’ve been able to keep my distance, watching those around me succumb to reality television’s siren song, but now it’s treading much too close to home. They’ve brought the battle to my doorstep and I can’t sit idly by. Ok, maybe this is starting to border on the hyperbolic, but it can’t be a good sign when they are creating reality television programs about nerds, for nerds, on a digital media delivery service available to Playstation 3 owners.

Even as inherently ridiculous as this idea sounds, it is no more or less ridiculous than every other reality TV show ever; meaning tons of money (and congratulatory handjobs) will no doubt be exchanged. As someone who does everything within his limited power to avoid watching television, I suppose I shouldn’t be overly concerned. Thanks to the advent of mediums such as OnDemand, Netflix, and Hulu I don’t really need to watch television. I can filter the shows I want to watch when I want to watch them.

As the years have passed by, since the inception of reality television dating back to shows such as The Real World and Survivor, I’ve had to question more and more “what is entertainment”? Is watching purportedly unscripted situations in typically bizarre or exotic locations cast with drooling morons such as you and me truly entertaining? If the invisible hand of the market is any indicator, the answer is a resounding and deafening “yes”.

Peace.

Before beginning this post, I was having a bit of an internal conflict. I was unsure whether to talk a little about some of the new anime series I’ve been watching, and since last writing about them, what my impressions are, based on the first couple of episodes, or spend some time finely detailing the immense pleasure I derived from playing and completing Assassin’s Creed II. I think by this point, everyone has been able to perceive the magnitude and raw voltage of enjoyment AC2 is able to generate. So, in lieu of geek ejaculating over Ezio Auditoire de Firenze, I’ll otaku ejaculate (or maybe more appropriately, bukkake) over anime.

As seems to be my undeniable compulsion when it comes to anime, I can’t control myself in terms of volume. This season, more so than any other, afforded me the opportunity to keep it light. The pressure to stock up on all the delicious morsels on offer was minimal. If this winter season of anime were a chinese buffet, I’d be the guy scraping the bottom of the silver heat tray for the last of the szechuan assholes. With that said, I won’t penetrate too deeply into the miasma and just focus on the egregious offenders.

Easily at the top of the list so far is Seikon no Qwaser. This series is basically bullshit, and this is coming from the guy who watches just about everything. In a single episode, it was pretty easy to determine that the characters are insubstantial; conforming stereotypically to established archetypes. The plot itself is theoretically cool, but might be an idea better left unexecuted. To really top it all off, the first episode – which already made little sense – made almost no sense at all with a decent amount of scenes cropped in visually strange ways or whole sequences removed entirely. This was done for censoring purposes. So basically, they took a series that will in all likelihood suck and stripped it of the violence, blood, and nudity. Awesome.

That’s funny; this is the face I made during the episode

Luckily – and I use that term pretty loosely – there was a webcast of the director’s cut of the first episode, reinserting all the juicier tidbits and restoring a small fraction of purpose. Even with the blood and sexual situations added back in, it makes the series only marginally easier to tolerate. I mean the driving force behind the plot is about legitimate nipple sucking as a means to power one’s magical abilities. Yeah, I know.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, probably the only new series I’m even remotely interested in seeing more of is Durarara!!. Based on what I’ve seen so far, Durarara!! will hopefully prove to be this season’s desperately needed guiding light. I still have absolutely no idea what the series is really about or what direction it might take. On one hand the main characters, if you can even call them that as the series is more of an ensemble cast, seem like perfectly normal high schoolers. On the other, Ikebukuro, the city the series takes place in, is filled with unique and in some cases strange personalities. Most notably, a headless biker who wears a helmet shaped like a cat head.

“I’m confident I’m better than Seikon no Qwaser”

Ultimately, Durarara!! at first glance looks stylized enough to be unique in what is otherwise a doldrum of cookie cutter shows. I’m not saying that it’ll turn out to be the next Cowboy Bebop, but it’s gotta be better than Chu-Bra!!. Peace.