Current Media: October 2013 Edition

Watching

Sankarea – A boy with a zombie fetish meets a pretty rich girl with severe family problems while he’s experimenting with a zombification potion found in an old family journal in an attempt bring his beloved cat back. Through an unfortunate series of events, she ends up as a zombie herself. Despite the odd setup, the series focuses on this sweet little love story between the two leads as she tries to live as normal girls do once seemingly freed of her familial obligations/expectations. Oh, and her body still decays, albeit slowly, despite the reanimation process, and the boy constantly seeks ways to stop or at least further slow the process. I really enjoyed it, though it ends without really finishing the story (show based on an ongoing manga). I know a few OVAs have been made since, but I haven’t had a chance to watch them yet.

Guilty Crown – It reminds me a lot of Code Geass. A boy meets a mysterious girl and ends up gaining a mysterious power. He starts using the mysterious power to help a rebel organization fighting the oppressive government occupying Japan. The boy constantly struggles with the conflict between his morals and what (he feels) he has to do. I think it reminded the creators of Code Geass too, because the show desperately tries to change gears in a big way starting at around episode 17 (of 22), and falls apart almost completely in the process. The first 2/3 of the show in which it isn’t self-conscious of the similarities to Code Geass is really good though.

Casshern Sins – Note a pattern with all the anime lately? I kind of subscribed to Funimation’s streaming service recently, so I’ve been trying all kinds of series. Despite all the positive word-of-mouth on this one, I didn’t care for it. I can’t get past the dissonance between the serious, almost grimdark story/setting and the goofy 70s-era costume/robot designs (the show is a reboot of sorts for the 1973 show Casshan). It’s a shame, because I quite like everything else about that series. I just can’t get past the one issue.

American Horror Story: Coven – The previous seasons haven’t quite jived with my taste in horror, but I feel the new one was made for me. In addition to bringing back many of the amazing actors from previous seasons, they’ve combined witches (one of my favorite bits of superstitious folklore) with elements of real history. So far, it has all come together nicely. The wait between episodes is killing me.

SeaNanners – A new YouTube video game person I’ve recently started watching. As one of his friends said in a video, he’s got the YouTube thing on-lock. He mostly records multiplayer games played with friends also on mics (who often record the sessions for their own channels), and he cuts up most of his recordings into 3 to 5 minutes of the absolute choicest material. Plus he always laughs and has fun even while losing. Watching someone who has as much fun losing as winning has a certain appeal to it, I’m finding.

Playing

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – I’ll specifically state that I bought the Wii U version, since I know not all the versions were created equal. I’m just going to come out and say it; I had more fun with this game than any Mario Kart game I’ve ever played. Mario Kart is basically a party game in which skill factors in only tangentially and anyone can win depending on their luck with the item pickups. And if you’re not playing with friends, Mario Kart uses cheap methods like rubber band AI to keep pressure on you. Sonic & All-Stars plays more like a proper racer. Fire-able items must be aimed and homing items are few/nonexistent, the tracks sometimes change between laps to shake people who use track memory to their advantage, and if you’re good enough, you can leave the AI in the dust. The game actually rewards skill in a way Mario Kart doesn’t, but manages to remain simple enough for newcomers to pick up.