Of Bad Anime, Facebook, Band Break-ups, and Squees

... ... *stares at date of this post*

Let me know when we have a cure for PTSD.

...

So... cute... @///_///@

Anywho, to get my mind off finishing the Mass Effect 2 review and planning for Persona 4 Golden, I have done other things in my time. When I'm not procrastinating for a test, reading books for class, or writing papers, I hang out on Crunchyroll, Youtube, and/or TV Tropes. Some anime caught my eye, and I've found some music I haven't heard in years.

I opened the floodgates of my mind and vomited whatever had time to escape. So lets see what Fangirl's been up to.

Facebook

Huh. I bet most of you don't know I had a Facebook account. Well, it was a personal one, having nothing to do with this blog. Sure, Rants From a Fangirl was listed as my "website", but still. It's irrelevant now because I am officially done with that website as of October 3rd.

A young woman in college deleted her own Facebook page? *le gasp!*

I only kept it for as long as I did because I used it to log on to Bentley Jones's official site and make comments. There were some friends on Pandora I found on Facebook too, but we haven't been keeping in touch in a long time. Then the site kept begging me to give out more information to "express myself with my friends and family". In reality they're selling all my personal information to businesses so they can stalk and harass me with ads for designer clothes and make up. And they're begging me to be kidnapped by some asshole who likes manipulating people by telling them where I am at all times. And they want to further destroy my future by encouraging me to put humiliating facts about me to the general public.

This blog does more than enough with humiliation. I doubt many employers would like a bratty, spoiled child who curses like a sailor and bashes music, games, movies, shows, and sometimes general groups of people. (Mainly incompetent politicians and companies, but I digress.)

Regardless, Facebook is just a waste of time. If I want to play games, I have three handhelds, three consoles, and a Mac. If I want to talk to people, I have clubs and programs at school to attend, I have email, and I have a cell phone. At home I have my car. If I want to express myself, you're looking at my useful tool right now.

Will I ever have a Facebook for this blog? Most likely not. It's bad enough trying to maintain this on a monthly basis. And I don't want to deal with anymore of Facebook's nonsense with layout changes, monetary begging, and intrusive advertising. And I especially hated how much they wanted to track where you go and when and then put the data on a map.

So, sayonnara, Facebook. I won't shed a tear for this break-up.

Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold

First, that is one of the most hilarious Engrish titles I have ever seen. And the trailer... pffft... I... I might need a minute...

Okay. I'm better.

Second, HOLYCRAPHOLYCRAPHOLYCRAP!!!!!!! Yuka-tan and Stupei are BACK!!!! YAHOOOOOOO!!!!!

Third, Sega, please allow Atlus to send it over in the States. PLEASE, I'm begging you!

I just needed something to make me feel great after a long week of midterm exams and papers. This did just that. I'm pumped for it. Just like Persona 4 Arena, this looks so hammy and over the top, I can't stop grinning like an idiot. Sho Minazuki MIGHT be pretty cool, so long they don't use the Shadow confrontation process used to death in Persona 4. ("I'm you!" "NO!!! YOU'RE NOT ME!!!" *cue boss fight* "Okay... I accept you." *Persona get!*)

As for the plot... I'm keeping an open mind. The gameplay? I suck at fighting games, but Persona 4 Area was fun in short bursts. I'm still excited.

Besides, the Tacky Pink Sniper and the Surprising Slugger of Futile Swing have finally arrived!!! I can't ask for much else to get me pumped!

Attack on Titan

One of my friends from high school recommended this series to me. This same person was obsessed with Portal to the point that was all she talked about for two years straight. This same person has pushed me to read The Hunger Games, watch Invader Zim, The Mentalist, and enjoy the Xbox 360 and the Kinect. This same person has also begged me to be open minded towards Linkin Park's abomination of a fourth studio album.

Don't get me wrong, I love my friend. She's a really, really awesome person. She's fun to hang out with and talk to, and I'm a good anti-bullshit buffer for her. Cooperative symbiosis.

However, this does not mean I always like everything she squees over. In fact, either I'm indifferent (Xbox, Invader Zim, and Portal) or irrationally homicidal (the Kinect, A Thousand Circles of Hell). I think a lot of it deals with the excessive hype in addition to my friend's glowingly perfect recommendation. It's not her fault entirely, is what I'm getting at.

So what about Attack on Titan?

I read about three volumes of the manga online. The premise was decent and the art style is very different from what I'm used to. It's appropriate for a shonen series, but it's dark and eerie, like anyone could have a mental breakdown at any moment. I like the harsh, disturbing, but crisp visuals.

But I couldn't immerse myself in the story. It's a damn shame too. I've heard about how Mikasa is one of the better main female protagonists in recent fiction: a strong fighter and character who just happens to be a woman. She's calm and logical: the blue oni to Eren's red, emotional and impassioned oni. She has respect as one of the best fighters in the village, and she can put her feelings aside (or "man up") for the sake of a mission. Not enough characters like Mikasa exist in fiction lately. I'd love to see her in a video game that asshole, sexist bureaucrats won't blow away with a zeppelin.

In spite of this, I just don't care about Attack on Titan. To be frank, it bored the crap out of me. That is the greatest crime any creative piece can commit.

Moving on.

Bentley Jones

YAY! Another EP! And a new studio album coming out soon?! Man, this guy's been pumping out music every second he can! I'm gonna be broke at this rate. I'll be sure to buy this as soon as possible.

Wait... this was released today...

...

... Ignoring the signs the universe keeps throwing my way...

Once I'm in the mood again, I might make another review of Bentley Jones' music. He's no genius or anything, but his stuff is a bit underrated. It's the only recent pop and dance music I can tolerate on a consistent basis. And his stuff is on iTunes. Yay!

And I highly recommend any of his PHUNKSTAR remixes. The songs he does often sound a lot better than their original counterparts - and other remixes. Heck, even "Payphone" actually sounds more tolerable!

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

That's it, anime. You have joined video games on my jaded shit list. I just cannot keep running into bad show after boring show after intolerable garbage to overrated piece of -

*exhales*

First it was Amnesia. Then Attack on Titan. Then it was Devil Survivor 2 The Animation. Now its Madoka Magica. My luck has been shot dead.

It's a well made show, animated by Shaft, the guys who did ef - A Tale of Memories. I like their really bizarre, abstract art melding with flowing animation. It's not always at top form, but it's interesting visually, nonetheless. I adore ef - A Tale of Memories for how different it looks. Madoka Magica gets similar praise... BUT... it's still not very well put together.

I had no interest in watching this show because critics were praising it out the wahzoo like the second coming of Jesus Christ. SPOILER: it isn't. It's interesting, but it's just not very good. At all.

The moment the problems started to compound thousandfold.

You know what, universe? I don't care how good Portal, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Invader Zim, or Lady GaGa are. Constantly shoving it in my face will only make me hate it. Constantly dismissing my skepticism makes me believe your product sucks so much that it cannot take any criticism one can throw at it. I do not care about missing the opportunity to hop on the bandwagon. At least I avoid the psychotic crazies who will harass me if I so much as say something that does not match up with the ideas behind the cult.

I have no interest in Valve and their Half-Life and Portal universes. I have no interest in their backstory or their setting or their gameplay mechanics.

Yeah, Aang. Come and get me!

I don't want to watch Avatar. Not because it's a children's show. Not because I have a stick up my butt. I am just not interested. I bent over to watch Fullmetal Alchemist, and one long, epic series is enough for me for now. Nothing has topped Harry Potter for me, and I'm content with my being a snob.

I hate Invader Zim. It's an ugly show with pointlessly cheap shock horror and black humor. There is no plot to speak of, and I am past the point of watching episodic shenanigans that all lead up to nothing. The characters are detestable, the color scheme of purple and green makes me nauseous, and I hate the art design. Even if I was younger, I doubt I would have liked it back then too.

And I don't like Lady GaGa. So what if she's the cheerleader for the LGBT community? I am 100% for gay marriage and equal rights to everyone who struggles with his/her sexuality and gender. I do not hate her as a person; I just detest her shallow, stupid music. Her image as a pop star and her music paint her as an attention whore who must literally break people's arms and shove purple sex toys down their throats on tape and call it art. Her lyrics are so shallow, it's offensive when people claim her top hits and their videos have "hidden depths". "Telephone" is not about her trying to get over her party addiction, she's at a bar whining about some jerk who won't stop calling her. Period. She is so pretentious, and I have no tolerance for her music and her fans who insist that she can do no wrong.

But I'm WAY off track.

Takaya, may I borrow your Smith and Wisson Model 500?
PWEASE?!

As for Madoka Magica, the ideas are decent, but the execution is terrible. The fact that only little teenage girls are used to stop the universe from collapsing on itself is stupid. The characters are so shallow that their deaths are ultimately meaningless. The time travel consequence of Madoka being overpowered makes no sense. Kyubey deserves to be shot in the torso two times under a full moon. Pocketwatch not included.

Deconstruction of the magical girl genre? Looks like Revolutionary Girl Utena and Princess Tutu beat Madoka Magica to the punch. Their plot summaries seem more unique and interesting, and it's refreshing to see the more fantastical concepts they tackle. Furthermore, Madoka Magica still plays the genre straight enough that the show feels cheap and lost.

The shredding of tropes and cliches did not go far enough. This show lacks the commitment to go head-first into deconstruction or playing the magical girl genre formula straight. One second it's the power of friendship, and the next one of the girls goes insane and kills everything in sight.

Higurashi handled this whiplash so much better, and it was an interesting roller coaster ride of tragedy as a result. Higurashi had more time for characters to develop, even if the pacing was very slow. Madoka Magica gave me no content to digest because not enough time was spent to let us get to know a character before they get the ax. And how one of the girls descends into madness is too melodramatic and silly. I was a teenage girl once too, and I never got so worked up over unrequited love. It was just cheep emotional manipulation crafted by the Gen "the Butcher" Urobuchi.

This show is grossly overrated. And now their making movies to continue the story. Like it really needed to go on after YET ANOTHER RESET BUTTON ENDING!

I really miss the good old days when Fruits Basket captured my heart with a simple, traditionally-written story and made sense.

Metal Gear Solid 2

My Vita's got a whole new-ish game! I wanted to get Virtue's Last Reward or Gravity Rush, but I was $10 too poor. Metal Gear Solid 2 was on PSN, however, so I said, "Why the hell not?" Then I spent the entire three hour bus ride back to school the other weekend playing the game. It was really darn fun!

I like being sneaky in games. One of the best parts of Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker was Link infiltrating the Forsaken Fortress to save his sister. In Mass Effect 3, I love overhearing Cerberus soldiers talking among themselves as I aim and snipe them both before they know what blew their heads off. It's all about disabling or avoiding your enemies before they can spot and beat the crap out of you. I like that approach.

I just recently started playing as Raiden on the Big Shell. The game is pretty fun so far, minus the boss fights. The gunplay is a bit off, but it's manageable considering how much I detest shooting in general. It's more worthwhile than shooting in Uncharted 3.

However, accessing the inventory with the touch screen is pretty lousy. I can only see it working if you played the game on the DS and used a stylus. Using your fingers is a pain, even with my long thin fingers. It's very imprecise. I'd often have to go back and pick through items again just so I can get the right one. And using the touch pad on the back of the handheld for sidestepping is very hit-or miss. The feature was not necessary at all, to be honest.

Other than that, the story is not too hard to follow and I'm liking it. Metal Gear Solid 2 is fun. Dunno if I'll ever review it, but it's defiantly off my list of games to play before I die.

Assorted Songs

A whole bunch of songs are stuck in my head, and I can't put them all under Music Mood. So consider this a mega playlist of what Fangirl has been listening to in the past few weeks.

I can't believe "Blurry" is over ten years old. It was just yesterday when I heard it play all the time on soft rock stations! ... ... I'm aging too quickly.

I got back into some symphonic metal again. Elis and Leaves' Eyes are the big two at the moment. Once I make a bit extra money, I'll be sure to pick up Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky and Vinland Saga.

*comes back from Wikipedia*

... Elis disbanded. ...Crap.

Okay... I'll give props to Madoka Magica for its soundtrack, especially its ending theme "Magica". Haunting and dark, it sends shivers down my spine. That's the extent of my praise.

 

Songs from Sonic games can be such massive earworms.

I dunno why I always liked this song. I'm still conflicted if "Light Up the Sky" was better than "Ocean Avenue" or not... Oh well. Both are simple and fun.

I Am Ghost was okay. This was the only song off Those We Leave Behind that I liked. Otherwise, the world doesn't miss their break-up at all.

... NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! WHYYYYYYYYYYY??????!!!!!

TT-TT

September 11, 2001 - March 22, 2013

RIP, My Chemical Romance

Our beloved complicated relationship will never be forgotten!

*sobs*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I guess this is my cue to get back to work. Yay.

The last part of Mass Effect 2 is coming out soon.