Danganronpa's Sayaka Maizono Is A Paradox

So I've been playing this little PSP/PS Vita game called Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. The story is basically that you are Makoto Naegi, a soon to be high school student. He wins an enrollment  lottery and is accepted to Hope's Peak Academy. Hope's Peak Academy is a school for high schoolers who are the ultimate in their field. When he gets to school, he is knocked out and brought into a demented prison like version of the school. He meets the headmaster of the school, an evil robot bear named Monokuma. Monokuma informs them that they will live here till the day they die, unless they murder another student to leave.

This is where the game kind of stabs the element of choice in the throat. You are immediately BFFs with the Ultimate Pop Sensation, Sayaka Maizono. Let me tell you, she is the absolute least interesting character of the bunch. She clings to you 24/7 (literally), she complains, and she had at least four panic attacks in the first fifteen minutes. You are forced to hate the character, even though your in-game character doesn't. Ugh.

She turns up at your door one night asking to switch dorm rooms, then spazzes out on your bed. You take the key to her room, and go to bed there. You wake up, and go into your room. Guess what? She's dead in the shower with a knife sticking out of her. "Oh goody," I exclaimed, noticing that the game had finally started. Sadly, my character felt differently. Before I could use the double sticks to make Makoto prance through the halls, he fainted for no damn reason.

He wakes up, and everyone asks what happened. You say you don't know, so you go investigate the crime scene. Anyway, once you've finished investigating, Monokuma tells everyone to come to the school courtroom (because obviously). This is the part of the game called the Class Trial. It puts you in a first person shooter mode where you must shoot down incorrect statements with bullets representing the evidence. It's honestly rather fun, and I enjoyed it. One of the more mysterious characters, Kyoko, tells you something that supposedly changes everything. Sayaka was trying to frame you, and it backfired.

Now your character is filled with hate and despair (by the way, the baseball player was the killer). I was not surprised, since Sayaka was such a bitch. This is where things get really interesting. Apparently, you were supposed to suspect something from the beginning. This would mean that YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HATE HER TWICE.

This is the first time I've ever seen this. But why, you ask. Well I'll tell you. Sayaka was meant to be your gateway into this surprisingly cerebral game. She reminds you that anyone and everyone is out to get you, and death is most likely imminent. You have no friends now, and you must win a deadly game of kill or be killed while holding onto a shred of your obsolete humanity. How wonderful.

Sayaka Maizono is the strangest character you ever will find in a game like this. She seems bubbly, but explodes for no reason. When she dies, you don't care. When she double crosses you, you still don't care. It's dumb, but it's another terrifying glimpse into Japanese game development. Thank you, Danganronpa, thank you.

E3 2015 And JRPGs

E3 2015 is upon us. Through all of the predictable nonsense, there were some nuggets of Japanese gold that were undeniable. Nintendo brought their a-game this year, in their eternal quest to make the Wii U and New 3DS JRPG friendly. Here's what they brought us so far:

• Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)
• Yo-Kai Watch (3DS)
• Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem (Wii U)
• Fire Emblem Fates (3DS)

Yo-Kai Watch will be an americanized version of the Japanese Pokemon clone/youth sensation for the 3DS. I find this to be exciting, since this is a very Japanese experience. I am positive however, that the reception will be nothing short of fantastic. It uses the mechanic of using the bottom screen as a magical watch, and the top screen for everything else that needs displaying.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is going to be a spinoff of the original game for Wii, and it's predecessor/port for 3DS. The new game is nothing to look at to closely, since Square Enix did the same thing over the last couple years. The graphics are great for a Nintendo game, so I have high(ish) hopes.

Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem is going to be an Atlus run JRPG adventure game, following this bizarre crossover of series. The graphics seem amazing, and so does the battle system (demoed in Nintendo Treehouse Live @ E3). Although no significant Fire Emblem components have been demonstrated, they're shoving the Persona/Shin Megami Tensei elements so far down our throats, that  you can practically hear the d-list J-Pop emanating from your now radiated organs.

Fire Emblem Fates for 3DS. It's just Fire Emblem Awakening. Same color pallet, same style, same gameplay. There goes my hype.

The next company to have a great JRPG lineup would be the aforementioned god have JRPGs, Square Enix. Square Enix announced in their press conference two new Final Fantasy games:

• World of Final Fantasy (PS Vita, Playstation 4)
• Final Fantasy VII Remake (Playstation 4, ???)

They released a very basic trailer for the FF7 Remake, but nothing to go off of. They appear to be using the same graphics engine as Final Fantasy XV, which will most likely never hit shelves. World of Final Fantasy is going to be something of a family game (or so they say). It will be a chibi stylized adventure using a conjoined Final Fantasy universe. That's about all we can pull from these, but you can expect more info as time progresses.

The soonest these games will be released is around September and early 2016. We should definitely hope for the best, and prepare for the worst with these games.

I Can't Believe I Read "Shugo Chara" (And Liked It)

Shugo Chara! The unholy child of Shojo and Lolicon anime! I had been hearing about this franchise for quite some time. They had the whole series at Barnes and Noble (obviously), Crunchyroll said it was right up my alley, and it was in the recommended for fans of Sailor Moon.

Anyway, I found myself at the capital of all trashy washed up manga (a.k.a. that huge Barnes and Noble on the 3rd street promenade), looking for some colorful story to get invested in. There it was. Staring it me with those beady little eyes that only Shugo Chara can pull off. I was too curious. I could feel the twenty dollar bill in my back jean pocket begin to unfold. I needed to put this mystery to rest, even if I got burned in the process. I grabbed the damn thing and got out of there before I bought the next few volumes as well.

When I got home, I realized that this was not your typical high school Shojo. In fact, it wasn't even a high school Shojo. IT WAS ABOUT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLERS. As I read the first page, in which the main heroine saves a boy from being bullied, I realized something was off. That's when the little boy cried out, "She's the coolest kid at Seiyo Elementary". I quickly looked at the back of the paperback copy, only to be greeted by the same daunting phrase. ELEMENTARY. No, I thought to myself, I am many things, but a pedophile is not one of them. I put down the book, and left the room. The next night, I found it waiting for me. Like a vengeful spirit, those same beady eyes from the bookstore were nestled in my bedsheets. The dark pedophiliac grimoire that is Shugo Chara was sitting in front of me, and there was no escape. I let out a grunt of frustration, and grabbed the book. Who knows? Maybe it would turn out to be good.

"Dear god", I exclaimed. It was midnight, and I had finished Shugo Chara Vol. 1. I don't know which was more shocking, the feeling of liking this necronomicon of Lolicon, or realizing that I had stayed up until midnight reading a manga from Barnes and Noble. For those of you who don't know, Shugo Chara is about elementary schoolers who use their ambition straight out of a self help book to combat evil. That's it. A lot of scantly clad children though, which I'm not sure how I feel about.

The first volume left on a huge cliffhanger. I don't mean mysterious, I mean a character was mid-sentence. "Well I can't just stop there", I said, realizing that it had used it's dark magics on me. The next thing I knew, I was at Barnes and Noble. I felt my hand reach out and grab the book clearly labeled, "Shugo Chara! Vol. 2". I took it to the cashier, and got the hell out of there.

The second volume was just as uneventful. It was just some J-Pop, some beach scenes (you guessed it, fourth graders with insane cleavage), and some stupid fights. This is where I put my foot down. "I cannot continue this," I said to myself. "I will be insane or dead or both within the next forty eight hours." That's when I decided to write this. At the very least, I liked it. It was a cute story, with relatively interesting characters, but horribly inappropriate artwork. I would recommend reading the first couple volumes, but everything after that is just dumb. I read the next few volumes, and was not impressed. Just read it to be able to say that you read it.

Waifu Reviews: Inou Battle Within Everyday Life

Welcome to the first ever Waifu Reviews! Today we'll be taking a look at Inou Battle Within Everyday Life, also known as When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace. I will be trying out a new formula, so cut me some slack if it looks dumb. I will divide the post into three sections; Plot, Characters, and Relationships. We'll start out with Characters.

Characters:

This Anime is centered around chuunibyou victim Andou Jurai, or as he calls himself, Guiltia Sin Jurai. He runs his high school's literature club along with four other girls; Chifuyu, Matoko, Tomoyo, and Sayumi. One day while doing a farm of live action roleplaying in the club, Andou awakens some sort of power within all of his friends. The each are given a different power. Chifuyu, the youngest of the group, is able to create materials and pocket dimensions out of nowhere. Matoko is given the powerful ability to manipulate and materialize any of the elements. Tomoyo is able to stop, slow, or manipulate time. Sayumi can "return everything to it's original state". This includes everything from healing to destroying. Andou finds the seemingly useless power of creating a small purple flame in his right palm. Andou creates names for each of the powers in his infamous notebook called "Bloody Vivre". This also becomes a running gag, as his notebook of nicknames was supposed to be named "Bloody Bible", but Sayumi told him how to spell bible wrong.

The characters progress exceptionally, and their personalities become more and more complex. Andou becomes much more serious towards the end, where as he started out the happy-go-luck geek of the group. Matoko begins as the shy but kawaii cook, but evolves into this amazingly bitchy badass. The amazing part is, she stays kawaii the whole time. Tomoyo is revealed to be a hardcore otaku mid-season. Sayumi is counseled into pursuing Andou romantically by his rival chuuni. I'll cover this subplot more in Relationships. Sayumi definitely has the most growth out of all the starting characters.

Andou ends up naming their powers as follows: Closed Clock for Tomoyo, Over Element for Matoko, Route of Origin for Sayumi, World Create for Chifuyu, and finally, Dark and Dark for his own. He goes on to meet fellow chuunibyou, Kiryu Hajime. Kiryu introduces himself as Hellkaiser Luci First, which Andou takes as a joke. It is later revealed that Kiryu is actually the leader of a strike team within the secret super-powered war known as the "Fairy War". This will be explained in depth in Story. We briefly get to meet Kiryu's strike team, but they are never dwelled upon.


Plot:

For a large portion of the series, we see numerous examples of the literature club using their powers for recreation. We are also exposed to many examples of their powers interfering with everyday life. For instance, Chifuyu's friend picks up on the fact that she has a secret in the first couple episodes. To save their secret, Andou tells Chifuyu's friend that he is in fact a lolicon (pedophile, pervert). This becomes a running gag for the duration of the series.

Towards the very end we are introduced to the aforementioned "Fairy War". This is the idea that there is an ancient war going on between different teams of super-powered people. This is showed when there is a whole episode from Kiryu Hajime's perspective. We see his team and their endeavors to destroy all opposition. This becomes a relatively boring part of the overall story, since none of the main characters are referenced. There is some crossover between the fairy war subplot and the main story on the final episodes, although it is not clear enough to be interesting.


Relationships:

This anime promotes the side effects of breaking the shoujo relationship mold. A love hexagon is featured for the duration of the anime, between the 4 literature club girls, a 5th girl, and Andou Jurai. This is a little hard to keep up with, but very worth it since it's so entertaining. Personally, I loved the way that the love connections never got resolved, although that may have bugged some people.

The characters interact with each other very realistically, which adds a sense of depth to the series. The girls had conversations and exchanges with one another that were really interesting and incredibly fun to watch. I was very surprised by how compelling the relationships in this show were. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Andou's relationship with Chifuyu is really something to look at. He acts as her big brother, whereas she has a huge crush on him. This is hilarious to watch play out, as her friend, Kuki Madoka, is very protective her. I loved seeing this storyline, and how it wrapped up was incredibly cute. I will not spoil it, since this is something you need to see to appreciate.


Verdict:

This is a must watch for fans of shoujo and shounen alike. I loved the way the story progressed and the characters developed. I would watch this multiple times if I had the time. It's a masterpiece to say the least, and a cult classic for sure. The whole thing is great, although the ending definitely could have been more meaningful.