[Review] Ghost of Tsushima: What Makes it the Most Beautiful Game of All?

I saw a ton of reviews calling Ghost of Tsushima the most beautiful game ever made. Now, I was pretty skeptical. We live in a time where good graphics is a must for open world games. So what is it that makes people keep calling it beautiful?

Dir en grey Tour19 This Way to Self Destruction @ Gramercy Theater

I never got the time to write about the concert experience and this was the last concert I went to before the pandemic hit the United States. I consider myself lucky to have been able to attend Dir en grey's performance in 2019 because from what I heard, all the tickets were being scalped no matter what state you were in. I had been lucky to have obtained the pre-sale code because on the day the tickets were released to the general public, there were none left. It had been sold out during the pre-sale. A serious case of ticket scalping if you ask me. Now looking back in the year 2022, this was the last concert attended before COVID-19 and will be my last one for a very long time.

[Review and Recap]Ramen Shop (2018)

Originally named Ramen Teh, Ramen Shop is about a young man named Masato going on a journey to Singapore to learn more about his deceased parents. When he arrives at the food metropolis, he learns that he is uncovering a very painful past surrounding his family that he was never aware of. I saw very little information about the film and very few people even reviewed it. With a bare minimum synopsis and my small admiration for Saitoh Takumi who plays Masato, I decided to give this movie a try about 2 years ago and didn't review it until now. Full spoilers ahead, you have been warned.

[Review] Lost Judgment

This post is a conclusion of my thoughts on Lost Judgment after finishing the game and a continuation of the previous post [Impressions] Lost Judgment.

I had an awesome time with Lost Judgment. RGG Studio proves to us fans that they keep improving themselves with each game by making changes when necessary and consistently keeps content fresh. While I was unfortunately spoiled on the ending when browsing on the Internet, it didn't completely deter my enjoyment only lost the element of surprise. The final boss fight ... man I struggled hard with it.

[Impressions] Lost Judgment

Today's post is more of a first impressions and less of a review. At the time of writing, I have not completed the game yet. This post covers up to Chapter 9: The Weight of Guilt. I will avoid major spoilers and try my best to omit character names. Game titles will be abbreviated to initials for better reading.

Our favorite Kamurocho detective, Takayuki Yagami, is back again with another case and direct sequel to Judgment. Fans like myself really enjoyed the first game as it diverges from the main Yakuza series and can be played as a standalone game. Of course, if you are longtime Yakuza fans, playing all the games is a plus and adds to the experience for better immersion. In the timeline of Lost Judgment, events in Yakuza 7/Like a Dragon are canon. Ijincho is now an accessible map with the additional of Seiryo High School. Some areas and building previously accessible in Y7 are now blocked off as they do not pertain or add to the story of LJ. Less noticeable in Kamurocho, but Little Asia is no longer accessible. Those of you that have played Y7 know that Ijincho is a lot larger than Kamurocho so this allows for more exploration. I will give my opinions on most of the game mechanics.

[Review] Final Fantasy XV: It Could Have Been Better Sadly

It's been 6 years since the release of Final Fantasy XV. There are talks about a Final Fantasy XVI and frankly I'm not really pumped for it. Unlike other players, I'm not a veteran in the FF series. FFXV was my first FF game and I plunged into it with no knowledge of the lore whatsoever. While I was aware of the many criticisms and flaws of the game, I was one of those people that were able to enjoy the game regardless mainly due to the fact I had little knowledge of the universe to begin with and I played it 3 years after its release. By then the Royal Edition was already out with the Ardyn DLC and a lot of patches had been released. But I had also missed the limited time Assassin's Festival event.

[Movie Review] The Blood of Wolves 孤狼の血

A nitty gritty homage to yakuza films. While this genre is no longer as prevalent as it was in the old age of Japanese cinema, The Blood of Wolves captures the essence of the yakuza and police in Showa era Japan. This is my first yakuza film to date. Other content I've watched are usually focused on something else while the yakuza are side characters or pushing conflict in the story. I don't think I've mentioned on this blog (or maybe I did) that I am a big fan of the Yakuza game franchise. This series of games and spinoffs really furthered my interest in yakuza/gangster media and related entertainment. Naturally when I discovered a title like The Blood of Wolves, I knew I had to give it a try. I only heard about this film because there's a sequel planned for it and Saitoh Takumi was announced as one of the cast members. As a result, I decided to do some additional research which led me to this amazing movie. Japan sometimes creates some questionable movies, but then they come out with gems like these.

[Drama Review] BG: Personal Bodyguard S1&S2 + Original Soundtrack

Season 2 cast

Alternative Names:  BG: Shinpen Keigonin , BG～身辺警護人～, BG贴身保镖，BG-搏命保鑣

Having abandoned the jdrama world since 2016, I have been very out of touch with current actors and shows. In the year 2021, I have returned with an unrealistic goal of catching up with dramas that were produced during this time gap, both old and new. The one that resurrected my interest in dramas again was BG: Personal Bodyguard. Kimura Takuya has been my long time favorite actor so I really bet all my chips onto him for producing entertainment. I was not disappointed. There were some parts of the story that I didn't like, but overall I really enjoyed watching it. Since this is my first jdrama in a while, I was introduced a lot of new talent and also revisited by familiar faces, mainly Eguchi Yosuke. Today I will cover both season 1 and season 2, along with a bonus music review on the Original Soundtrack. Brace yourselves for a very long post.

[Review] How I Got Hooked on Kengan Ashura

 

Over the past 2 months, I have successfully cultivated a ferocious appetite of anything Kengan Ashura related due to finally giving the series a chance. Having breezed through the two seasons on Netflix, I am really eager to see season 3. Before watching the show, I originally had a negative impression based on the manga. About a couple years back when Kengan Ashura was first picked up by the scanlating group, Hokuto no Gun, I had read through the first chapter. I was not impressed and was very turned off. If I had to guess why, I wasn't in particular a fan of the art style and I don't remember reading manga with much intent. At the time, it didn't click with me so I had put it down and forgotten about it altogether. Fast forward to 2020, I'm approaching the series with an entirely different attitude.

Anime Watch Summer 2019 Impressions

A follow up post to my previous post. These titles are currently still running from the Summer 2019 leftovers.

[Anime Watch] Summer 2019

 Back at it again with anime, this time with Summer 2019. As it turns out with Spring 2019, I ended up dropping Fair Gone because it was getting too boring. I am genuinely surprised that it received a second season for Fall 2019. Unless there are some rave reviews for season 2, I may consider picking it up.  Dororo was really good and Kimetsu no Yaiba remains my favorite series thus far. Kimetsu no Yaiba does have its odd moments of humor, but it's still put together well.

[Anime Watch] Spring 2019

It's been ages since I've blogged. As a mid-year welcome back post, I'll keep everyone up to date on my anime watching progress. No matter how busy work can get, there's always a bit of time to squeeze in some anime. Not to mention Netflix has debuted the Rilakkuma and Kaoru series on April 19th which I have yet to see. For all you Rilakkuma fans, enjoy our favorite lazy bear in 12 ten minute episodes.

[Drama Review] Kodoku no Gourmet

I had some high hopes for this series only to have it crushed terribly.

[Drama Review] Nazotoki Wa Dinner No Ato De

A somewhat star studded cast, but a poorly written script destroyed it. In short it was funny for the wrong reasons.

[Drama Review] Roosevelt Game

I should have been done with this drama a long time ago, but my interest had slowly waned.

Drama Review: Hanzawa Naoki

Oh dear. I forget to review this drama. Off the bat, I want to say I love this drama a lot. Based off a novel, it was very well written and there was a lot of twists and turns. Hanzawa Naoki is a banker working at Tokyo Chuo Bank at the Osaka branch. In a nutshell, this is one man's struggle and revenge story against corporate scum with pure intention to reform the banking industry for good.

Music Review: Fuujin Kaikou/Raijin Sousei

Released September 24, 2014

What a surprise to see that Onmyouza decided to release 2 albums on the same day. Both of them are meant to complement each other like the Fuujin (Wind God) and Raijin (Thunder God). Overall I think both albums still kept the original style that Onmyouza had, but didn't explore as much as I thought it would. It's gearing more towards symphonic metal than folk metal with a lot of complexity in melody.

Book Review: Yoshiki by Komatsu Narumi

Since there has been no translated book on the market, my only bet was with translations done by fans. I can only assume that they remain as faithful as possible to the original source. Despite a few spelling errors, it's easy to understand. This is the biography of Hayashi Yoshiki, the beloved leader and drummer of X Japan. We really love our Yo-chan because we believe that he puts maximum effort in his performances. His occasional bursts of cuteness overload also results in the fandom breaking into heaps of moe. Today I will give my impressions.

Drama Review: Yorozu Uranaidokoro Onmyouya e Youkoso

It's my first time watching Nishikido Ryo act. Knowing that he is one of the members of Kanjani 8, I didn't expect the drama to be something complicated. This drama with an extremely long subtitle accompanied with its long name will be called Onmyouya in this review for the sake of convenience. Abe no Chomei opens a fortune telling store on Oji Street and neighbors in this neighborhood are against having a former host "taint" their territory. They are also convinced that he is charlatan. However Chomei uses his talents of listening to his clients in order to solve their problems behind the pretense of the supernatural.

Drama Review: Dinner

On my search for Cantonese dubbed j-dramas, I came across Dinner. It was next on my to-watch list anyways after Higashino Keigo Mysteries, which I am almost finished with. It's a food related drama about the staff and chefs that work at an Italian restaurant named Roccabianca. They were one of the best in Japan except that now their head chef suddenly collapsed and the restaurant is falling into ruin. The manager, Tatsumi Saori, hires Ezaki Motomu, a former apprentice at the renowned restaurant, Tereza, in Italy as the new head chef. I kind of wish they named the drama something else because Dinner sounds extremely generic and only refers to the fact Roccabianca does dinner service.