Categoria: Ramblings

E3 No Jikan (Again)

It’s really that time of year again, and while this year the expo is happening (for those who forgot, in 2020 the pandemic maybe it impossible to host for obvious reasons), it’s gonna be a digital only event.

And for the better, i think, since most people couldn’t afford to go there anyway and it wouldn’t be wise anyway to do a big gathering of events while the pandemic is still going (people are bored of it, but it ain’t over yet), so oddly everyone will share the same viewing experience. If you still care.

And frankly, i don’t care much for the E3 anymore. I still do to some extent, but it’s just for the communal, ritualistic aspects of it being the “big event” for the gaming scene.

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Some (mostly) SPOILER FREE words about Castlevania’s Season 4 and the series as a whole

Since i don’t have time to review the whole series right now (maybe for october), i’ll just talk about Season 4 of Netflix’s Castlevania animated series in a less composed and more “first thoughts” kinda way.

One season with the tall task to basically undo the damage the crappy (and honestly problematic in handling its themes and issues) third season did, and keep in mind i didn’t even know of the allegations of Warren Ellis (the writer) being a sex pest when the third season hit, i found out a bit later, and sure as shit it didn’t make me like the absolute trainwreck Season 3 was.

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Soon Back To The Theathers

So, in a matter of weeks most cinemas in Italy plan to re-open for real (even more since they already planned summer releases for movies like A Quiet Place Part II), which gives me great joy, and also means i’ll eventually cover more recent releases after watching them in theathers, instead of waiting for months to dribble on some streaming services here in Italy, if at all.

I still have a shark month (and something else One Piece related) planned, i enjoy reviewing b-movies, shlock, etc, but i also like to cover the recent releases, you know?

So, fingers crossed i don’t have to write another post where i say i will not be able to cover theathrical releases (as soon as they get here) because of another lockdown.

The Disappeareance of Balan Wonderworld’s Demo [HANDS ON]

To be honest, while i knew of this title since it was announced… i also kinda forgot about it, knew was coming out, but i didn’t particularly care, even if did look like Nights Into Dreams platformer, fairly obvious since this was from Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima’s new company, formed specifically to make this new title, the aptly titled Balan Company. It looked a bit cheapish, but whatever, could be fun, though i wondered why we didn’t see reviews already out for it.

Then i saw people in the internet calling it a “dumpster fire”, the press giving it low scores (very low scores), the fact that the demo could accidentally cause seizures due to an unforeseen bug, that Square Enix (who published the title) didn’t actually give out review codes for it, and then this week Square Enix removed the demo with just a couple of days notice before doing it, so people that want to see for themselves if the game it’s as bad as they heard now will have to pay the full 60 bucks. Or pirate it.

Thankfully i downloaded the demo on PS4 (and Switch and PC just for kicks) long before, so i was able to play that… and even from that you can get a grip of many problems pointed out in reviews for the full game.

And i really feel like i should say SOMETHING, because this is kinda tragic.

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Happy Easter

I guess, here in Italy we’re still knee deep in quarantine, so much theathers didn’t even re-open, and we still have no dates for when some of the hot new movies will hit streaming services here, so that’s why i haven’t posted a review of Godzilla Vs King Kong, i simply have yet to see. And boy i do wanna see it BADLY, even if i really wanted to see in theathers…. it’s not gonna happen this year where i live.

So look forward to some more anime reviews from last season (i do plan to see and review Godzilla Singularity Point, though), and MAYBE an EXPRESSO review of the Snyder Cut of Justice League. MAYBE because i really don’t care about it to be honest, but i did watch the theathrical cut back then, which gives somewhat of a limp excuse and – regardless – is more than i can say for Man Of Steel.

I probably won’t, because it’s 4 frigging hours, but who knows.

That Old Gray Mare: Pretty Derby

Remember Uma Musume? Yeah, ironically the anime version, which is usually used to prop up the main attraction of the media franchise… almost managed to have 2 entire seasons (and a chibiesque mini-anime) out before the game released just a few weeks ago (and today the PC version released via DMM, japan only of course), at least in Japan and i guess other asian countries.

I really should have covered the anime series (given i’ve already covered almost all Azur Lane anime iterations), but at the moment my schedule is full, so probably later this autumn. I would like to give the game itself a shot and make an EXPRESSO review eventually, but i can wait for an eventual western release of the app.

I wouldn’t expect an official western release anytime soon, considered the game was supposed to launch in 2018, but it’s Cygames and we did eventually get Princess Connect Re; Dive (which i didn’t like, but whatever), so it’s possible.

So that’s that, back to Giant Monster March!

Netflix’s Way of The Husband anime, with now marginally more animation than the manga

I just woke up today to clips of the Netflix anime adaptation of Way Of The Husband (set to release this 8th of April on the streaming service), that manga about a legendary yakuza conman who gives up the criminal world to be a full time husband and support his wife, cooking, cleaning, doing chores, but with the intensity and the untentional creepyness of settling grudges, cutting fingers, plotting murder, and all the comedic misunderstandings that such a premise can spun.

It has become a fan favourite and i gladly bought it when they brough the manga volumes here in Italy some months ago, it’s pretty funny….. but what the fuck is this adaptation? I couldn’t believe it, but yes, it was posted officially by the OnNetflix Twitter Account, i did more research just to rule out me hallucinating or something. I wasn’t.

Now i feel sorry for continuining to journal the disaster that still is the EX ARM Crunchyroll’s anime adaptation, at least it’s animated and not a motion comic of the manga panels. I can’t take that away of that dumpster fire.

I don’t plan in reviewing it, what’s the point of even watching since i can just read the manga again? But clearly i’m the fool, for expecting anime to be animated, despite the word meaning exactly that. Even worse, this is no accident, it’s the producer in the charge of the series…. well, not really liking 2D animation, to put it mildly, as he literally asked to make it look like the manga. In a way, this is worst than EX-ARM, here people knew what they were doing.

For the love of god, just read the manga, Way Of The Husband is frigging great and deserves WAY better (pun not intended) than a QueenBee’s style hack job. Or watch the short live-action TV drama series they made for it!

This week, on Cells At Works: BLACK…

Yeah, the latter episode of Cells At Work darker, edgier spin-off series, Code BLACK, shows what happens when you have trombosis.

Which means big ass katamari of red blood cells cadavers, of course. Which almost kills the body of this poor unhealthy, overworked bastard. You know, the same that got gonorrhea from 10 seconds of coitus some episodes earlier.

So, this week’s lesson is don’t get trombosis, or the King Of The Cosmos will make huge rolling spheres with your literal “dead blood” and stuff your inner holes with it. I guess.

EX-ARM, the oddly shaped Manos of fate, and the invisible off-screen truck of doom

I didn’t expect to write another one of these posts, because the novelty of the EX-Arm anime being unbelievable crap wore off and i just got accostumed to its foul, robotic and uncanny fare. Oh well, it will avoid me having to note down another batch of odd fuck up, animation errors, bad camera angles and stuff.

Or so i thought.

(Gif taken from Twitter, from a fellow stunned viewer)

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