蓝绿各打五十大板

Was bargain hunting for cheap retro games and found Giren’s Ambition PS2 version. Not really retro but it is at least six years old so what the heck. Burned pretty much the whole weekend playing, but got a bit sick of having dirt cheap Type-61s overrun my shiny Zakus through sheer numbers. Makes sense, since for the same weight-class a tank would probably be the more efficient design, it’s just less shiny and less popular with the kids.

I remember one show which did try to “realistically” portray its mecha though. What the scriptwriters for Gasaraki came up with was that humanoid mecha, Tactical Armour (TA), are specialized weapons designed for urban ops in which the TA relies on its flexibility to beat the tank’s superior armour and firepower, e.g. it can fire around a street corner but the tank cannot. What they forgot was that Taliban militants armed with RPGs and IEDs can be stealthier than any mech, even those equipped with mirage colloid / minovsky / GN particle camo. Can’t really blame them, the show was produced pre-2001. Then again, a squad of TAs proceeded to pwn an entire mechanized battalion in wide open desert several episodes in, so what can I say besides “hey, at least Sunrise gave us Gintama”.

Mighty busy with Indon class as well; up to my neck with revision and homework I’m supposed to be doing but obviously not. I don't even want to think about the reports that are very behind schedule and the weekend duty coming up. Fuck, i just did.

Instead of mugging for my vocab test later in the afternoon, I shall now write a rabu reta to Rierie in Bahasa Indonesia. Behold the power of procrastination:

Rierie yang tercinta,

Anda wanita yang tercantik (dan tergarang) di dunia ini. Saya cinta kepadamu untuk selama-lamanya dan tidak akan lupa kepadamu. (Tapi saya juga suka Miyukichi. Dan Kugimi. Dan Mami. Dan Ayako. Maaf.)

Kentang.

Ok, random pic spamming time.

Minorin and Sakakibara "live" in Taipei this Dec. That's good, they avoid mass protests that the DPP is trying to pull off. But who knows what will happen in Dec? Taiwan is so fun.

Mami's room layout apparently, though a few years old. She's got a huge bed. Hmmm....

Meronpan. Wow! Meronpan. Yay! Superduper yummy! (i'm singing the Paddlepop ad jingle from aeons ago if you haven't realised. Anyone knows if they've changed it?)

PS. Title is no indication of my political inclinations, just tot it's a cute little slogan. (Btw, i'm pan-blue cos green is just such a hideous colour.)

Yukana in Yukata

It’s a Yukana in a yukata. I just thought she looked mighty cute.

Yukanas in yukata are coming down the stairs,
Yukanas in yukata are coming down in pairs,
Yukanas in yukata are chasing teddy bears,
'Cause on Tuesdays they all try to catch them unawares!

Seems like I haven’t updated in ages. Wow. Not that I haven’t been writing, I had just submitted a 15-page report to god-knows-who last week, together with 360+ pages of annexes. Good luck to whichever bastard who’s going to read the damn thing.

I could upload my masterpiece-of-shit report as filler but I’ve got a feeling bad things will happen. So let’s just keep this blog totally apolitical and full of porn. Actually I’ve been churning out proper blog stuff; it’s just that somehow all my draft posts end up as one, two-liners. Since I can’t sleep, I’ve decided to clobber a month’s worth of one-liners into a totally disjointed Frankenstein-like post. Do not expect any logical flow of thoughts ahead.

First up, Rierie’s computer was down for 2 weeks bcos of a virus, explaining the lack of activity on her blog. Kagamisumi says it is bcos she surfs porn. That guy is a paed, I won’t believe his lies. My blog has been lacking activity as well, mostly because of work (or slavery, however you want to put it. Apparently slaves nowadays live pretty well. Just ask C. Ronaldo.)

I was going to finish up my summer first impressions, but since we’re already five episodes into the season - screw it.

Haven’t been watching much anime, wasting time on Battle Moon Wars instead. Akiha (Tsukihime’s resident Tsundere imouto chara) is quite broken, she’s got some youkai ability that just shrugs off the damage. Which reminds me, Itou Shizuka (Akiha’s seiyuu) has got a blog up and running just recently:

http://ameblo.jp/beerlover-shizuka/

What an apt url, cos she seems to be quite a drinker.

I did watch the 3rd Kara no Kyoukai movie though. The first two movies totally didn’t prepare me for the level of explicitness in this one, so I happily started up the movie while everyone else was still up and walking around. The first sight that greeted me (and whoever happened to be looking over my shoulder) was mamimami’s character’s boobs. Yay.

Didn’t realize till last week that I am actually due for promotion, i.e. get paid $70 more a month. Ooh, Level UP.

The catch is I’ve got to clear the bloody Eye Pee Pea Tea first. The longer I take to pass the fucking job fitness test, the longer I have to wait for my pathetic stripes. They really should take pity on old men. Oh well, at least I’m getting time-off to train. Maybe I’ll scribble another Lucky Stripes 4koma to commemorate my character class upgrade to Corporal Potato.

Cookhouse food is nice, bcos it is free of charge. The bus rides are not nice, bcos they aren’t free. Weekend duty is coming up next week, but we don’t get paid for OT, which sucks. And as old as I may be, I think there might be a generation gap between me and my boss. Seriously, I dread speaking to her bcos I have no idea if I’m being understood. Haha… ok, I’m exaggerating a bit. She’s probably a nice lady, if only a bit too pushy when it comes to sharing her faith.

Somehow, Tomoyo has been a real inspiration for me these past 4 weeks. Seriously, I mean it. She’s got a big heart (and I don’t mean pathological hypertrophy). Whenever some bugger pisses me off, remembering how Tomoyo shrugged off all the insults and accusations makes me feel better somehow. Yay for Clannad 24!

Btw, I am scheduled to attend some all-expenses-paid Bahasa courses because, well… you know. It’s a good chance to get reacquainted with the language, letting my training go to waste was quite a pity. Right now, whenever I try to say something in Malay, I’d subconsciously end off with a です or say some other nonsense which is a mix of four to five languages/dialects. Once, I almost asked the auntie selling epok-epok “Berapa desuka?”. This is what happens if your language foundations are as fucked up as mine.

I’m really hoping though, maybe one day Truly Asia’s southern neighbour (the tiny one) would go pick a fight with Japan or something. That way, I can probably con my bosses into sending me for Japanese language classes. Too bad no one gives a damn about Japan in this region, besides anime fans/otaku and probably Odex. Even the local TV stations show nothing but K-drama with bad dubbing.

Oh screw it. It’s 4am and I haven’t slept a wink. I’m so going to drop dead in the office later.

Kupo!

What a cute moogle.

Druaga is an asshole of a show, really. After getting my hopes up with an episode made of win, it dashes them with a dead boring one. I mean, where were Fatina and Neeba? I like their party more than Jil's, if only for the chance of seeing Fatina fight a roper. Even Jil's party got sidelined by some (probably) once-off character, leaving Coopa to keep ep6 afloat.

This has been evident since the first ep, but the way most of the fights in Druaga were handled reminded me of Zunderella's fight with the invisible shape-shifting monsters at the Prince's ball. The fighting choreography got outsourced to some far-flung country and didn't make it back on schedule, so they just 轻描淡写 or plain skip to the next chapter. It's as if Jil and company got so sick of level-grinding they went to the options screen and turned off the battle animation just to speed things up. Zunderella didn't have to do much fighting "on screen" because the author sucks at writing you see. Not that i'm complaining, it doesn't really matter to me as i'm tuning in for the laughs (and fanservice) which are sadly missing from this ep.

Highlight of this episode for me was the OP, no joke. The OP animation is still freaking enjoyable after 6 weeks, as is the song itself. When is the single for Swinging coming out? Come to think of it, the other show this season where i enjoyed the first 90 seconds more than the subsequent 20 minutes was ToLoveRu. That song is too good for the show.

On the gaming front, i finally got sick of Persona 3 (again) after 20+ hours and a sore left thumb. Game clock now stands at 90+ hours. The 100% completionist in me refuses to speed play through the game, so I wonder when i'll actually finish Persona 3. FFXII, Xenosaga 3 and SD Gundam G Generation Spirits have all been sitting in my DVD box at various stages of "incompletion" too since last year. I was hoping i could finish up P3 before Persona 4 is released, but that feels improbable now.

P4 seems to be a sequel to P3, but so is the anime. Thus, i shouldn't expect too much in terms of story or character crossovers. Horie Yui and Koshimizu Ami are part of the new cast. Voice samples for Ami here and Yui here. I recognised Koshimizu's voice immediately (it's just a less goofy version of my Yakumo's cockroach sister), but Horie is using a slightly gravelly and tomboyish voice i'm not used to, especially in her very first line in this clip. Interesting stuff.

P.s. Congrats to Kagamisumi on finally solving your Hdd space crunch. What did you do? Delete your triple redundant copies of LS? Or Inuyasha?

Spring 2008 Best Slice-of-Life (i didn't draw the 3koma)

Kurenai 6 was so ridiculous it's awesome. Totally caught me off guard. I don't think i've seen an anime musical since, urm... Excel Saga? Even the sudden drop in animation quality during the musical montage that made the characters look like paper cut-outs added to the absurdity and awesomeness. Plus, the off-key singing was just great. Without a doubt, Kurenai is the premier slice-of-life comedy this season.

On a side note, i seem to have developed some form of repetitive stress injury in my left thumb after the Persona 3 marathon yesterday. Had to ice it while grinding for exp this morning.

Lucky Star OVA

Apparently, the lucky star OVA will keep the original's cast and crew. Look here.

Yay?

Btw, i'm a bit too distracted by Persona 3 right now. Why the fuck do they have to come up with an undubbed version for the US? I'm stuck playing the dubbed version of course. Shucks... RieRie! Mamimami! Miyukichi!!!! Toyogumi!!!! Arhghhh....

Clannad Has Ended (Sort of)

So Clannad ends at 22, with the next few eps being extras.

I've no idea what to say abt the last ep except it doesn't feel like the show has ended. This particular Key adaptation feels rushed and incomplete. "Anticlimatic" would be the word to describe this. Sigh... All that unrealised tear-jerking potential.

Kyou & Ryou's story got screwed, Tomoyo's arc got screwed... Sigh... The only characters who got proper arcs were Fuuko and Kotomi. Fuuko! Of all people!

Sigh... The tear-jerkiness probably peaked in ep9 at the end of Fuuko's story. Kotomi's arc was rather bah, probably cos i screwed it for myself by listening to the drama cd which spoiled the teddy bear suitcase at the end.

Tomoyo's "arc" was a footnote. Sigh... All i can remember of Kyou's story is the PE storeroom and her Haruhi impersonation during the basketball match, but then again the match was part of Nagisa's story wasn't it?

Sigh... i feel cheated.

But looking on the bright side, i did get loads of Kyou-service so...

YAY!!!!

おめでとう！

おめでとう！

おめでとう！

おめでとう！

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Sigh... How long it has been since that other anticlimatic ending...

By the way, i'm changing wallpapers from this...

To this.
Martial Kingdom 2 (天下霸图 贰). It's a Taiwanese game. Got it for RM7. Tujuh ringgit. Of course it's the not so original version. I've been hunting for it in local stores for months, but it appears no one is carrying it. Managed to find MK 1 in the most challenging local computer store though. Bought that one for 19 bucks. (Forgot my membership discount card or it would have been 16 bucks.)

Gameplay wise this game is very similar to Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital, only with an Wuxia (武侠) setting and minus the wacky humour. Basically you manage a pugilistic sect in Ming Dynasty China and beat the stuffing out of other sects.

Most of the game consists of watching your disciples scurrying about performing menial tasks like woodcutting or growing vegetables. You can't slap them or strap them to the torture table though, which is a pity.

Kind of fun for a simulation game, but the gameplay can be a bit slow, especially the turn based battles in MK1. On average each battle takes me about an hour to play through. Imagine the boredom when the enemy has 5000+ hitpoints but you're dealing only 100-odd damage each turn even with 10 characters gangbanging him. I haven't played MK2, but i sure hope they did something about this.

So that'll be my wallpaper until someone decides to translate Muvluv. Or until someone decides to animate Nagisa and Ushio's glorius death. Oops, spoiler. =p

Btw again, i cursed myself when i saw the RM7 version of Blue Blaster. Oh well, at least i got the nice box and the instruction manual full of typos.

New Game, New Look, Same Old Maki?

Finally finished the first playthrough of Blue Blaster after 20+ hours of clicking. Besides the difference in character design, this sequel, unlike the first installment, actually has multiple endings, i.e. it's more of a ren-ai game than the original.

I would have gone for the awesome Maki, but you can't get her ending unless you clear the game at least once. So I had to settle for Ashley the tsundere instead. I'll planning to give a more in-depth description of all the major characters, but since I'm dying for some sleep after clicking for the whole of yesterday and last night, this post is reserved for Maki pics.

Maki's New Look, complete with Mini-Twintails. Ikezawa Haruna returns as her Seiyuu.

Maki's Evil Grin. She's just come up with a hilarious scheme. We'll save it for the next post.

Maki's Butt. She wears Pink. The Twintails look like Nekomimi from the rear. The Tomoyo look-alike is Yukino Satsuki's Character.

Btw, this game is rated age 6 and above. That last pic is probably the most servicey one in the entire game.

Are you disappointed?

Blue Blaster Ge-to!!

Just blew $29.90 on Blue Blaster.

As you can see the character design has gotten a bit more "cutesy". And in place of Tanaka Rie, they gave me Yukino Satsuki. Since I like her too i don't really mind but why can't I have both?

Oh well.

At least Ikezawa Haruna is back as Maki. Only this Maki is not the same Maki. We'll see how this Maki compares. (Edit: It is the same old Maki!!! She just looks different with the change in character design.)

Muchi's bio is going to be delayed.

Haha.

KGNE - Kimi Ga Nozomu Ero-game

Let’s talk about mecha and moe. I mentioned the last time that if I wanted mecha and moe in one neat little package I’d go for the sequel to Blue Flow. Actually there’s this one other game that I’ve been dying to play for some time. Since I’m lazy, let’s quote the most reliable source on the Internet word for word:

“Muv-Luv (マブラヴ, Maburavu?) series are an Japanese adventure games for the PC by âge. It is later adapted into fandiscs, comics, and novels.”

I think I saw at least 2 grammatical mistakes in that quote. Basically Muvluv is a ren-ai game that has prawn in it. Btw, it’s probably all these wiki links that got my blog marked as spam and shut down for 5 days. “False positive” they said. Their bot probably has a sensitivity of 99.99% and a specificity of 6.02x10^23%.

Question:
1) What does that say about the positive predictive value (if it does say anything)?
2) Is it possible to calculate the positive and negative predictive values using the given information?
3) Is it suitable as a screening or a diagnostic test? Or neither?
4) What is the gold standard for diagnosing spam blogs?

And while you’re at it, here’s some service:

Before we get sidetracked any further, I was first introduced to this series through the Kimi ga Nozomu Eien anime (aka Rumbling Hearts). Both are by âge and are set in the same universe, with Muvluv being some sort of pseudo sequel to KGNE. Ok, I just realized that saying they’re set in the same universe is quite problematic. I’ll explain shortly. (Meaning in as few words as I can.)

The first part of the series is Muvluv Extra. Heck, I’ll quote the most reliable source on the Internet:

“Muv-Luv Extra (マブラヴ　エクストラ, Maburau Ekusutora?), the main part of Muv-Luv, takes place in the same world (and general area) as Kimi ga Nozomu Eien and Kimi ga Ita Kisetsu”.

“Pretty much a standard love comedy, only weirder.”

No Mecha here.

The next part is Muvluv Unlimited, which is unlocked after you get the prawn CGs of the two main girls of Muvluv Extra.

“Muv-Luv Unlimited (マブラヴ　アンリミテッド, Muv-Luv Unlimited ?) takes place in an alternate world to Extra, where aliens called BETA… have invaded and mankind fights back against the alien aggressors with giant robots…”

In other words Extra’s protagonist Takeru finds himself in another universe where humans are at war with aliens. He is still surrounded by his moe classmates, who are now his fellow cadets in BMT. That’s where the mecha come in.

The Imperial Guard’s Takemikazuchi (pictured above) reminds me of Eva-01. I like the way the feet actually consists of separate rays of “skeleton” like human feet though it could use a few more toes. It can probably tango much better than the Gundams which all have flat slabs of metal for feet. Another mecha game/anime with nice feet is Gunparade March. And it’s got cute girls too. Hmmm… Maybe I’ll write something about Gunparade next time.

“Muv-Luv Alternative (マブラヴ　オルタネイティブ, Muv-Luv Alternative ?) is a sequel to the first Muv-Luv game, taking place after the events of Unlimited (to Takeru, at least).”

The third part is Muvluv Alternative. You have to buy this one seperately from the other two unless the most popular local bookstore decides to bundle the whole lot together in a discount package like they did for Diablo, Diablo II and Lords of Destruction. (That’s just an example; Muvluv is not available at the most popular local bookstore the last time I checked. They do carry some ren-ai (prawn?) games though; they’re usually placed right beside the Teletubbies and Pokemon VCDs.)

Then there are the fandiscs and side-stories which you can read about at the most reliable source on the Internet.

This picture reminds me of Kyou no Go no Ni.

I can’t really comment on the gameplay or production values since I’ve not played the game. But the story is interesting and the characters are quite lovable. This I know from reading the Unlimited manga. I have yet to get down to reading the Extra manga (which comes first chronologically) ‘cos the characters look deformed and there’s no mecha. I already knew the characters from Akane Maniax and Ayu Mayu Gekijou so skipping the first part wasn’t that confusing though there’s no doubt I would have missed important plot points.

Anyway, here’s the cute cast:

From left to right,

Mikoto (Green hair – Actually some people insist this colour is blue.)
Takeru’s gaming buddy in Extra. Was a guy in Extra, became female in Unlimited’s alternate universe but forgot to grow boobs.

Chizuru (Meganekko)
The class rep in Extra, and platoon I/C in Unlimited. She seemed like the typical iinchou character. Has a prominent role in Akane Maniax as she’s a good friend of Akane but didn’t get developed much in the Unlimited manga. (The manga didn’t go her route.)

Meiya (Blue hair in a weird-but-still-criminal pony tail.)
One of the 2 main girls in Extra. She’s some rich ojou-san in Extra and the Shogun’s twin sister in Unlimited. This makes her a white horse in the army. Acts serious, but still cute. My favourite character. The Unlimited manga went her route.

Yuuhi (Purple hair in the same weird-but-still-criminal pony tail.)
Appears only in Alternative, which means I know nothing about her besides she’s the Shogun and Meiya’s twin sister. I like her design though.

Kasumi (Usagi-mimi)
Appears only in Unlimited and Alternative. In Unlimited, she’s a mysterious girl who appears a bit autistic or something, doesn’t talk. Pretty much like Shuffle’s Primula.

Sumika (Red-head)
The other main girl in Extra. Doesn’t appear in Unlimited so I know nuts about her. She seems like The Clingy Osananajimi based on what I gathered from Akane Maniax. I do not like clingy osananajimis.

Tamaki (Nekomimi)
The class/platoon pet, with the associated “kawainess”. Nicknamed Tama. (There’s a squad pet Tama in Blue Flow too…) Elite sniper, managed to shoot down a space shuttle from the ground. (The other Tama is just ruined for marriage, but I’m sure you can ruin this Tama for marriage too.)

Kei (Black Hair)
About as random as the Tiamaat/Wilhelmina combo. Strangely amusing.

There are quite a few other interesting characters that aren’t in there but I’m too lazy to find nice pics for them.

The soundtrack is good, at least for Alternative. The BGM’s sound like they would complement the game. The battle themes are kind of exciting and I imagine they would be able to get your heart rate going when combined with the battle scenes. And I think the militaristic marches fit in well with the “World at War” mood of Alternative.

The vocal songs are good too. マブラブ、紫音、未来への咆哮 and NAME ～君の名は～ are all permanently on my playlist. Actually 紫音 isn’t on my playlist because I can’t find a copy that can go into my Zen Microphoto. Any help is appreciated.

Remember to visit the youtube links for the songs, they’re really good hot-blooded songs that go well with exciting mecha action. Except マブラブ which has a melody that doesn’t go well with mecha but is still nice. Come to think of it, it’s one of the songs I used to learn Jap.

Well, there’s nothing much left to say so let’s just spam pictures. Now they can rightfully call this a spam blog.

Characters from KGNE that appear in Alternative. The ponytail is Mitsuki and the white ribbon is Suzumiya Haru… ka, the 2 female leads of KGNE. I love their staff uniform, it looks so slick and professional, unlike the one I had to wear so long ago. Then again you’ll probably have truckloads of clerks and scholar officers dying of heatstroke if the army adopted this uniform. But I really wouldn’t mind seeing a few of my female ex-colleagues in this outfit though… haha… they’re so going to kill me if they read this.

The one in the pilot suit is Suzumiya Akane, star of Akane Maniax. FYI, the purple parts of her suit were originally transparent since this is a prawn game after all, but they coloured it in for the All-ages release of the game. I’m glad they did, because the transparent suit just looks ridiculous.

What is it with twins and purple hair? This is the third set I’ve come across.

Mitsuki…

…and Meiya. Don’t you think they look alike?

She’s a ninja meido who serves Meiya’s clan. She doesn’t look like a proper meido here because she’s also an officer of the Imperial Guard. Maria should brush up on her mecha piloting skills or she’ll get overtaken soon.

Slumber party…

… and the morning after. Ruined for marriage.

Dear Koubuin Yuuhi-san,

I have been looking at you from afar for the longest time. You are the most beautiful lady I have ever seen in my entire life. You are my Goddess. I know I said the same about your sister. The truth is I have mistaken her for you this entire time. Honest. I swear the both of you must have been derived from the same embryo.

I would really like to get to know you better, so would you please go on a date with me? I won’t mind if your sister would like to tag along as well. Please date me or I’ll have to commit seppuku like an apoptotic white progenitor cell. Thank you for reading my rabu-reta, and I look forward to a favourable reply from you

Yours sincerely,
ZeoiNagePotato

p.s. Even if you must say “no”, can you at least introduce me to your sister?

Kasumi. 8D

Kasumi. ¦ 3

Kasumi!!!

Kasumi RIP.

Lastly, here’s hoping someone decides to translate this game into some language I can handle and release it in stores here. Or somewhere else, doesn’t matter as long as I can get it somehow. Or at least make a Muvluv anime. I can’t believe KGNE is getting an alternate ending OVA this Dec but there’s no Muvluv!!!

This is sad.

Blue Flow – An Introduction

I was first drawn to this game because the box art reminded me very much of Power DoLLS, a tactical RPG that I played donkey years ago (it ran on MS-DOS). As it turned out, both games were published by the same company, KOGADO.

Besides the nostalgia factor, what drove me to fork out 49 dollars of hard-earned cash for an old game released back in 2005 is essentially summarized in the picture above. I mean, what can go wrong with the combo of mecha and cute girls, right?

Btw, don’t bother zooming up her skirt. I already tried. It’s just a bunch of black stuf- SHIT. Wait… So did she bleach her hair or… Nevermind.

Synopsis

The year is 2500AD.

Mankind has colonized space and there is war between Earth and the colonies (think Gundam). A civilian boy gets caught up in a prototype mecha hijack and ends up piloting it (think Amuro/Kamille/Kira).

The Gundam:

The boy gets stuck with the (previously) all-female 177th Publicity Unit, whose mission is supposedly to boost the morale of Earth’s soldiers with steamy pinups of its members. Of course, we all know that is just a cover and they are actually an elite covert squad of mecha pilots. But since they have to do the photoshoots for real to keep up appearances, I’m a happy guy.

Gameplay

The game is a real time tactical RPG with a dash of dating game elements.

Those who have played the Mech Commander series would find the strategy aspect extremely similar. I suspect the developers of Blue Flow are probably fans of Mech Commander. Basically, the game plays like any RTS minus the base building and your characters get stronger as they gain experience.

The missions are varied but rather standard, ranging from “kill everything” to “protect this idiot who will try to kill himself by charging the enemy”. What I enjoyed about them is that most missions can be completed in multiple ways.

And half the fun is customizing your team to suit the upcoming mission. Do you pick the brawler who jumps head first into fights? Or do you pick the recon expert who directs airstrikes onto enemy positions from behind the scenes? That said, I usually find myself picking the squad based on cuteness though.

Hey, it’s a moeritocracy here.

The dating game aspect is minimal actually, and they come in between missions when the story plays out. You get to make some choices which I don’t think affect the overall story much beyond which girl the guy gets to spend time with. It does affect whether he gets to kiss the beauty above though. Btw, it’s a splash of white this time. I’m confused.

There is a mini-game which lets you “converse” with the girls by clicking on them. Clicking on different parts gives you different responses, most of which are rather amusing. Guess where you’ll have to click to make one of the girls say “Ugh~ I’m ruined for marriage~”.

One interesting point to note is that since the protagonist is only 14 years old, all but one of the female characters are his Onee-san. So those with an Onee-san complex would probably enjoy this aspect of the game.

On the whole, the gameplay isn’t really outstanding and there isn’t much replayability, but it did keep me entertained for 2 whole weekends.

Next, let’s talk about what I think is the main draw of this game for me.


The Cast


Blue Flow has full Japanese voice acting and several popular seiyuu are on the cast list. I think the wonderful voice acting is probably the main thing that kept me interested. It really helped to make me feel for the characters and I found myself looking forward to the story scenes more than the missions which were suppose to be the core of the game.

Here’s a few of the characters that I like:

Yuan - The Protagonist.
Seiyuu: Kawakami Tomoko

Well, I don’t exactly like him but he IS the protagonist and you’re forced to field him whether you like it or not. This guy’s all dere dere around the Onee-sans. I knew Kawakami could do both Butch (Soifon) and Cute (Misuzu). Now I know she does young boys too. (That sounds wrong somehow) Plus her real name is 川上 倫子, according to the most reliable source on the internet. See the 倫? That means she’s awesome.








Claudia – The Squad Leader
Seiyuu: Tanaka Rie

Gentle, nurturing, yet extremely capable in her own right. Basically sounds like a mature Maria/Lacus. Harbours a dark secret. My favourite character, probably because it’s Tanaka Rie. And the criminally good-looking ponytail definitely helps her case.





Maki – The Goofy Melee Tank
Seiyuu: Haruna Ikezawa

Somehow “Goofy Melee Tank” made me think of Minsc and Boo. “Jump on my sword while you can, Evil. I won’t be as gentle!”

Carefree, a bit of a busybody. Exploits her Onee-san Authority to torture Yuan, like forcing him to apply sun block on her just to see him blush. Ponytail not as criminally good as Claudia’s, therefore 2nd favourite character.

The only other Haruna Ikezawa role I know is Mizusawa Mao (Kimikiss) and both are quite similar in character. Ikezawa did mention in an interview for Kimikiss that she does mainly such roles. Mao’s my favourite Kimikiss girl by the way.




Rachel – The Tsundere Nekomimi Tsukomi (TNT)
Seiyuu: Morinaga Rika

The squad’s disciplinarian. Polar opposite of Maki in that she is a total sticker for doing things by the book.

The nekomimi is actually a hairband. I’m not really into nekomimi but she’s always on my min- I mean, squad for her marksmanship.

Morinaga voiced Mawari (Seto no Hanayome) and Souseiseki (Rozen Maiden).



Tama – The Airhead Ruined For Marriage
Seiyuu: Morinaga Rika

Morinaga doing overtime as the kawaii unit Pet. Actually, all the seiyuu here voiced multiple roles in this game.

One of the more useless characters stat-wise, but she’s a regular on my team. It’s to make up for getting her ruined for marriage.







Jerid – The Enemy
Seiyuu: Shiraishi Minoru

For someone who’s supposedly a hotshot colonel in the enemy force and the final boss of the game, this guy is quite a goofball.

Maybe it’s because he’s voiced by Sebastian from Raki Suta. Ok, fine. I know Sebastian wrecked the Raki Chianaru set. But where I come from, colonels are old men who at least look capable and authoritative even if they really aren’t.

Tessa doesn’t count. She’s cute. Our armed forces could use more colonels like her.




Soundtrack


The BGM was totally unremarkable. The theme song, on the other hand, was rather enjoyable.

旅光年空へ, which loosely means “To the Sky Lightyears Away” (I think), is a catchy number by now defunct tiaraway, a seiyuu duo consisting of Saeko Chiba and Nanri Yuuka.

Nanri Yuuka was the one who sang 暁の車 and 焔の扉 in Gundam Seed, both pretty good songs.

The 2 instrumental versions of 旅光年空へ were decent as well.

Here’s the Game’s Opening featuring the theme song. And a live version.


Extras

I just had to fork out $20 more to get the “Deluxe” edition which came with the fandisc and some extras.

1) Game guide, useful if you want to get past the tougher missions with minimum fuss and enjoy the story.
2) The OST, which like I said, has only 3 decent tracks.
3) 3 extra missions – a prequel, a conclusion to the cliffhanger ending which ends on a cliffhanger yet again, and an epilogue.
4) Game Setting Book that introduces the characters and mecha.
5) Drama CD – 2 decently funny skits and 3 monologues which were kind of boring.
6) Novel – Expands on the back-story of the characters. I’ve yet to read this.
7) Bonus CD with wallpapers (plastered all over this post), screensavers, system sounds etc.


Conclusion

Not the best of games, but enjoyable nonetheless. If you ask whether I’ll spend another $49 on another game of the same quality though, the answer will be “No”. If I wanted a real time tactical RPG with Mecha I’d play Mech Commander 2. If I wanted moe girls, superb voice-acting and story I’d watch Anime.

What if I want a well executed tactical RPG with mecha, moe, superb voice-acting and story?

Well, I hear the sequel Blue Blaster came out in 2006…

And I can’t let it end like this…


…GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MARIA, YOU TANIGUCHI!!!!