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Kalafina – oblivious MP3

Even if you haven’t seen Kara no Kyoukai, even if you have no interest in anime – you really must hear this song. All of the Kara no Kyoukai soundtracks are beautifully composed by Kalafina (Yuki Kajiura) so if you like this song, check them out!

Kalafina – oblivious
Kalafina – oblivious (fuka fuukei mix)

Please listen and enjoy!

Tekkon Kinkreet

I want to share the amazing art of Tekkon Kinkreet (2006) with you!

We watched this movie around the same time it was released for sale in Canada, but it’s still worthy of note to this day. The cover art is beautiful and the film is nothing less. I’m personally a huge weiner when it comes to quality of picture and detail. Oh goodness, detail detail DETAIL! And boy does Tekkon Kinkreet have these down pact, not to mention a great story with the cute Cat characters Black and White.

Enjoy! More to come!

Avatars!

This morning around 5AM the NXE update was finally available and Gryansaur and I were able to make our avatars! Cute, eh? He doesn’t approve of my hat, but it’s quite nice. A more in depth update to come once I get over this nasty cold.

Review: Eternal Sonata (XBOX 360)

Only recently having purchased an Xbox 360, I had been anticipating the release of this game for the Playstation 3. Having played through so many Japanese RPG’s on other consoles over the years, I have grown accustomed to many gameplay features and storyline cliches. While Eternal Sonata may not break down every wall and preconception you might have about the sub-genre, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

STORY
The tale of Eternal Sonata is told through 2 different angles: the world inside the dying dream of famous composer Frédéric Chopin and the world outside of it. The one you’ll be seeing the most of is the former. A young girl named Polka has the ability to use magic which seems to distress everyone around her as they fear they might get sick by being around her. You see, in this world it is widely believed that the reason a person might be able to use such magic is that they are nearing the end of their lifespan. Frédéric enters into his own dream at some point and agrees to help Polka travel to the nations ruler to prevent the sale of Mineral Powder which is causing her villages famous Floral Powder to dwindle in sale. Shortly after leaving her village, she meets up with young rogues Allegretto and Beat who for somewhat similar reasons also wish to stop the sale of Mineral Powder in their town. From this point the story touches a fairly good amount of common territory. The main charm lies within it’s ties to the life of Frédéric Chopin. Without spoiling anything, the ending is quite controversial and highly debated. Closing each chapter of the game is a short history lesson on the life of Chopin told through a slideshow of pictures accompanied by a number of his famous piano pieces.

8/10

GRAPHICS
Eternal Sonata uses a very nice example of cel-shading to tell it’s tale. The backdrops are gorgeous and highly detailed for this sort of game. Though it covers a ton of stock territory, (snowy mountain, volcano, caves, forests, etc.) it’s never boring to look at. In an age of gaming where brown/gray are the most common colours, Eternal Sonata is a very welcome addition to the Xbox 360’s current lineup. Even over 1 year after it’s initial release, it’s still a very pretty game and stands up against this year’s RPG offerings with no sweat. If you appreciate the anime art-style you should really enjoy this games visuals.

9/10

GAMEPLAY
The combat in Eternal Sonata is definitely where the game shines. Taking place in real-time with visible enemies roaming the fields, battles play like a modified version of any of the Tales games. Each character is given a set amount of time to complete their battle phase each turn. During this time you may move around, attack or use items. The real fun starts when you are able to chain everyones attacks together to pull off some very impressive large combos. Outside of combat, you will be able to assign special techniques to buttons based on light/dark affiliation. For example: If you are in the shadows or in a cave during combat one button might perform a dark-based ability whereas if you are out in broad daylight or in the glow of a lantern you would perform the light-based version. There is no MP to worry about, though you may increase the potency of your special abilities by building up a gauge first with a string of regular hits. There is a few side events to complete, a few of which require you to play through the game a second time on a harder difficulty level. It should take roughly 20 hours on your first play through depending on the player. Most Xbox 360 achievements can only be unlocked this way, with a maximum of around 300 achievement points to be had your first go.

9/10

MUSIC
Eternal Sonata features a wonderful score of mostly instrumental compositions. You will also hear several of Chopin’s works, with the ability to play them in a sound gallery of sorts as you come across them in the story. Another wonderful thing about Eternal Sonata is that it features both Japanese and English audio tracks for the dialogue. Voice-wise, it’s a mixed bag. The Japanese version seems mostly competent and fitting, though some of the English voices are very childish and airheaded to listen to.

9/10

FINAL
With very few other competent choices in the Japanese RPG genre this gaming gen, Eternal Sonata remains one of the highest quality games out there. It features a great story with a fairly memorable cast and a unique perspective. The battles were still fun even on my second playthrough and you have a large enough pool of character choices to play around with with none of them playing like duplicates of each other. At this point in it’s lifespan, it’s a pretty cheap game to pick up. So if you have an Xbox 360 and haven’t checked it out yet, I’d highly recommend doing so.

9/10

the shameless self-promotion of an achievement whore

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In a mere 2 months I have managed to amass a 10K gamerscore. /epeen

Apparently the woman in the picture is my avatar, despite my not having NXE yet..

Introduction post

Welcome to the World of Modern Visual Culture. If you have read or seen Genshiken you’ll understand why I chose this title. The characters participate in a college club Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyuu Kai (Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture). This blog will be updated with game, anime and manga reviews + lots more! Personally I am one for picture-posts, anime OPs/EDs, PVC figures, and other fun goodies. Our other contributor, Gryansaur, is the video game expert and will definitely keep you up to date on amazing games. Stay tuned – winter anime 2009 season is fast approaching!

Penisz.

jurjurjurjur TIHS IS A VISUELL U C? lol!