'Devil Survivor 2: The Animation'

I like anime. I really do. Some of the conventions and cliches are fun, hilarious, and enjoyable. Some characters fit the same mold constantly, but others break down boundaries and create a new spin on tropes of characterization.

Some shows are classics. Some are memorable and provide a lot of commentary. Some are forgettable, but still watchable. Others are just simply bad. Even fewer reach legendary levels of awful. Basically, anime is like everything else: movies, music, shows, books, and various other mediums of entertainment.

Maybe I've been on TV Tropes for far too long and I'm even more jaded than ever since I became a realistic pessimist. Maybe I'm just naturally finding faults in everything. Maybe I do too much simple research on suits, temperature, and health concerns before I dive into a public pool. Regardless of the reason, I came to the conclusion that Devil Survivor 2 The Animation is a sterile anime.

How it fairs as an adaptation will not be a strong factor as I have not played the game. However, I will stress a few things that rubbed the wrong way with me, still relatively new to the Shin Megami Tensei franchise.

To put it simply, this is Shiki meets Sonic Colors... with Altus and the SMT label slapped on for sales.

Great. Spoilers ahoy.

'Oblivion'

...

I... um...

...

This is a first.

SPOILERS.

"Payphone"

"Fangirl, why are you reviewing pop music when you despise it with all your being?"

That statement is untrue. Pop music was all I knew for a decent chunk of my childhood. It was easy to find and nearly everyone knew the songs I was talking about. Then I hit a phase when I spent my days bashing everything pop music offered. Now, I'm slowly leaning back towards the genre to the point I can tolerate some songs or artists without feeling too guilty. Maroon 5 is one of them.

My dad and I adore Songs About Jane. Sure, "This Love", "She Will Be Loved", and "Sunday Morning" were played to death back in 2002, but these were strong, versatile tracks full of energy. This was pop music in which I could actually hear guitars, drums, even pianos playing. If I can hear any of these things over the highly produced and polished electronic whines and obvious autotune, I tend to be a happy camper. Songs About Jane felt so organic that it's one of my favorite albums of all time. It easily sits with Smash Mouth's Astro Lounge as awesome albums to blast and sing to on a long road trip.

Then came It Won't Be Soon Before Long. And Hands All Over. Maroon 5 took a completely radical 180 turn that rubbed me the wrong way. Every now and then I get hints of the band trying to be, well, a band again ("Misery" in particular), but they continue to sound like overproduced, processed sludge. At one point they may have been considered funk rock, but by this point, they are exclusively pop. There is hardly any "rock" left in them. And "Payphone" is only solidifying this fact.

The song on its own is decent, but I don't see how it's hit-worthy. The melody is nicer and catchier than most of Maroon 5's recent works, yet it's very... weak. Other than being childishly simple, the lyrics are nothing to write home about either ("One more f***ing love song, I'll be sick" and "I gave you my love to borrow"... really?) Without Adam Levine's higher-than-normal vocals, I could see this being anyone else's song. It's so bland that it sounds like Fall Out Boy's "Me and You" sped up and chipmunk-ed. Or maybe this was a rejected Linkin Park song during the Minutes to Midnight era. Even HIM could make this if Ville was drunk-stupid and suicidal. Besides, Maroon 5 was once so easy to spot in the sea of samey-sounding music. Now they dropped whatever potential for unique flavor they had just to sell out.

"Selling out" is an overused phrase thrown by angry fans once their favorite acts go corporate and fit in with the latest music trend. Arguably, Linkin Park seems to be testing their luck with this to not much success. But with the nonsensical "Moves Like Jagger", Adam Levine in The Voice, and a guest rapper in this mediocre song, I think "selling out" describes Maroon 5 well.

Speaking of the guest rapper, the verse is pointless and forgetable. It needs to fall in a pit and die because it has nothing to do with the rest of the lyrics in the song. Wiz Khalifa, thank you for making Adam's parts sound godlike while thrusting the quality of the song as a whole into a pile of garbage. One minute, it's "I have nothing left now that this is over", then it's "eff u, biatch! I gotz all did $$ w/out u!!!" Way to make "Payphone" a schizophrenic mess.

This is far from Maroon 5's worst, but this continues to solidify my doubts that this band can be interesting again. They don't have to try to be edgy, but they could at least sound like they're trying to have fun. Where's the energy, the passion of the music? Where are the instruments? Clearly they were left to die trapped in a locked box, or executives successfully drowned them in varnish. This sterile piece of "meh" is okay, but from what these guys showed before, this is yet another big disappointment.

Really, I cannot say anything more.

With Rap: 1.3 out of 5

W/out Rap: 2 out of 5

'The Open Door'

(CREDIT: to Evanescence.)

Rank: 1.8 out of 5 <-- VERY wasted potential

Ah, Evanescence, I remember like it was only yesterday when you introduced me into rock and heavy metal. Thank you for leading me to the path of enlightenment and blunt honesty. As much as I am grateful to you, you are not as important to me as you once were.

Don't ever get the impression that I despise the band because Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, and After Forever kick them in the behind and bury them in the mud. The highest praise I can give Evanescence is that they are a perfect gateway for anyone interested in gothic metal and its fellow siblings in spirit. Amy Lee can deny it for all eternity, but that is the truth. My problem with Evanescence lies more in their atmosphere and execution, both seeming artificial, overdramatic, forced, and fake. Maybe that is part of what some define as "mainstream."

At this point, I am almost completely uninterested in this band anymore for reasons already mentioned. Another sign of my growing apathy is my forcing myself to listen to an entire album, which has been more noticeable in the past several months. I sure am grateful, but I'm outgrowing my musical diapers - if I put it that way.

As for The Open Door... I cherish it because a transfer student whom I befriended years ago gave it to me for Easter. That's pretty much where my praise ends. Don't misunderstand, there are great tracks ("Lacrymosa," "Lithium," and "Snow White Queen"), but there are far more that are bland or just plain old rotten eggs. "Lose Control" and "Your Star" are the lowest points of the album, bringing down the quality so much that the last half of the album is 90% unlistenable. "Good Enough" is okay, but it's not worth playing when everything between that and "Lacrymosa" are terribly forgettable and lazy. Even when I listened to Evanescence frequently, I still never could finish beyond "Lacrymosa."

To better explain the "laziness" and "blandness" of the album, let's just say that it's like a person who is used to eating incredibly salty food has to eat plain rice with a subtle, bitter flavor. As a person who likes salt, I would have a terribly hard time liking something bitter. Sure, over time the flavor might improve, but there are other people you can run to to make the same rice, but do something to make it more likable. The second half of this album is like that. If I want a song that is seductive ("Lose Control"), I can just pop in HIM's Razorblade Romance or try out Moonspell's works. If I want a song about overcoming odds ("The Only One") I can just listen to Within Temptation's The Silent Force. If I want a song about badmouthing some jerk ("Your Star") Emilie Autumn does it better with Opheliac. Evanescence had lost their energy and will to keep you entertained at that point; although many bands can have an album with it being half good and half bad, I can't name many that are this intolerable.

I could go on and say how Amy Lee sounds more obnoxious than ever by singing so loud that you can't hear the actual music, but maybe I'm too used to less "mainstream" music. No, even Marilyn Manson knows when to tone down his loud voice in his music. As good as a voice as she has, Amy Lee needs to learn that from this album, Evanescence is not just her, but the BAND with GUITARS and DRUMS. The instrument department is rather lackluster and not worth noting at all.

To the album's credit, the imagery is very beautiful and polished, the latter being something some lesser known bands have difficulty with, maybe due to available resources. Also, a great friend gave it to me; I really miss her so much...

The worst part is that Evanescence has potential, but they sound too unnatural by trying too hard. Because of my current taste in music, I can see them as a cheap cardboard copy of better bands. Dommin, Lacuna Coil, Darling Violetta, and even I Am Ghost just do far better in melancholy, melody, emotion, and/or all the above. I'm sorry, but I don't care if you want to check this out or not. Check it out, but don't buy it because a half good album is not worth $10.00+ for.

That does it. I'm going to research some cool gothic rock and metal bands with albums I'm more willing to invest in...

'Paranoia Agent'

(CREDIT: to the late Satoshi Kon and all who helped him.)

Rank: 1.8 out of 5 <-- so much wasted potential

An elementary school kid dubbed with the title "shounen bat" or "lil slugger" has been going around attacking people with his bent, golden bat. Now, two detectives are investigating so they can stop this kid from making any more attacks, but they will find out soon enough... that this case is much more than they expected.

(From Anime News Network)

Once again, my opinionated, cynical self cannot agree with the majority. This must be my destiny.

No matter where I went, everyone said nothing but full praise for this series and all for the same reasons: Satoshi Kon, the music, the animation, the maturely intricate plot etc. Everyone said that this show is for all anime fans to watch and be marveled by such a masterpiece. Everyone said how scary and shocking Paranoia Agent is because of its relatable themes.

13 episodes later. ... ... ... was that the best this "psychological horror" anime can do?

Fine, maybe Higurashi had so much show and bravado that this is bland and thumbed down in comparison. But despite how more realistic it was, almost nothing about Paranoia Agent scared me... or shocked me. Maybe it's wrong to compare two different series, one based on an amateur visual/sound novel and another made by a late "genius." Pardon my rudeness.

Well, I only found one critical review that had fairly reasonable arguments. That's a plus.

One of the biggest flaws with this show is the cast with many bland and irrelevant characters. Some of them appear for one episode and add nothing to the progression of the story; others appear frequently but never get much development or relevance ever again. Furthermore, they lack depth or at least one trait that can contribute to the greater part of the story. Fans say that the series derails from episode 9 to 11; however, I can call bullshit and say that things derailed by halfway of episode 6. The cast is so big, yet so pointless that this makes every character in most shonen anime (like Naruto and Bleach) look complex.

Plus, if you have characters this shallow and bland, the psychological twists they go through look silly, boring, or just ridiculous. Again, I hate to bring it up BUT... Higurashi had developing characters go through slow psychological torture before they went batshit crazy. Paranoia Agent just assumes we care and makes crap happen... far... too... quickly.

The final verdict for the plot? Average. Nothing was shocking - not even the ending, which was just more random than anything else. Potentially good ideas were provided but never went through. Possibly good characters were wasted. There were no plot holes, but there were lots of dead ends.

Might I also add that the plot is fill of "scrapped" ideas Satoshi Kon wanted to use for movies but never made it. Well, it shows.

However, to the show's credit, the animation is very good and character designs are very realistic, rather than going by typical anime designs. The opening theme, as stated earlier, is hauntingly creepy and yet beautiful; I am almost tempted to download it. Paranoia Agent might have been really random at times, but some issues were covered in a decent manner: mass hysteria, coincidental misunderstandings (one innocent kid was thought to be Lil' Slugger), split personalities, and escapism. It's only a shame that these highlights could not make a sloppy story get a high score from me.

I'm sorry, fellow anime fans. I tried to like this show, but it took far too long for me to get interested - no, I had to force myself to watch every single episode. Paranoia Agent did an awful job at "sucking me in." I'm sorry. But yet, I do not regret watching this show. This is something any anime fan should try out at least once and see what he/she thinks. BUT as sad as it is that it is out of print, I will not recommend trying to buy it at all. I quite frankly don't think I can watch this show ever again. At least I tried...

'Sweep: Book of Shadows'

(CREDIT: book by Cate Tiernan.)

Rank: 1.9 out of 5 <- missed the mark

This time last year I was in the middle of writing two essays on witchcraft, and one might say the broad topic fascinated me. Wicca, spells, earth-based magick, it doesn't matter. I really doubt I would ever engage in it, but there is much I can appreciate from this practice. At this point I think I could ramble on about the European and Salem witch trials until you lost count of the sheep in your mind's eye.

I had spent time researching through nonfiction to learn about earth-based practices and witchcraft, but I never had the chance to find a fictional book about it. Sure there were TV shows about witches such as Charmed and Sabrina, but I wanted a good book about it.

Well. My wish was sort-of granted.

The Sweep series tells of a teenager named Morgan Rowlands as she explores into the world of Wicca with her friends. They learn it through Cal Blaire, a patient and accepting witch who is proud of his family's traditions. Because this is the first book, it dives into Morgan's self journey as she warms up to Wicca and impresses everyone with her talents. Predictably, of course, her parents start to fear her because of her involvement in "dark arts."

There is more to the story, but I forgot about 75% of it.

Nothing about it stood out and sticked to me long enough to continue to invest in this series. Although the author does write very well about her doubts and concerns about this new path, Morgan appeared to be an obvious Mary Sue. A Bella Swan type of Mary Sue. When she's not telling us about what she learns in her free time, she thinks about how wonderful Cal is. Cal and his "perfect nose," his "beautiful olive skin," and his "riveting, ageless, gold-colored eyes." Well, at least Cate Tiernan didn't describe the skin as "incandescent."

Right now I am sick and tired of the "gorgeous lover-to-be" type of guys in any form of story. Flawlessly beautiful men suck, and it's pretty true when a typical guy takes a look at the character and either laughs or runs away from girls who drool over it. Cal felt too perfect, too nice, and too laid back; maybe I overanalyze too much, but I could sense something was not right about that guy. Or maybe I don't believe in the "soul mate/true love" concept due to the shallow execution of it in books.

Furthermore, there were so many characters, whom I could never remember, and 176 pages isn't enough to properly establish a unique coven of at least ten teenagers. It's sad.

The points I will give to this short book is the information about Wicca seemed pretty interesting, though kinda made-up, on the author's part. (Wicca is such a broad umbrella.) Perhaps it was the only thing that kept me going and kept me interested. Otherwise, this is a weak and slightly-below-average book.

Meanwhile, I can happily watch Willow Rosenberg continue to study and practice witchcraft and not worry about plot in Buffy... Maybe I should shut up about that now. lol