Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE: Do You Remember Love? (Part 2)

I would be remiss if I didn’t start this post off with a story about Yourself.

No, I’m not talking about you.  I’m talking about Yourself, a girl I happened to meet when I was in kindergarten.  At the time, she was (presumably) a year older than me, but other than that she seemed normal.  Brown hair, brown eyes, freckles -- not exactly someone who’d stand out in a crowd.  But the thing about Yourself was that she had a certain verbal tic: as far as I could tell, she would end every sentence with the word “yourself”.  Say hello to her, and she’d say “Hello yourself.”  Moo like a cow and she’d go “Moo yourself.”  At one point I was walking through the school halls and spotted some art from her class; sure enough, I spotted a piece with Yourself’s name in the corner, written in the black ink of a Sharpie.  Permanently etched into green construction paper.

Since my family packed up and moved to a different town (and, you know, because I was six), I never got around to learning the full story behind Yourself.  Maybe she was just being cute and sassy, and tagging all of her sentences with that single word.  Maybe there was legitimately something wrong with her.  Maybe her parents had terrible naming sense, and spamming that word was to be their penance.  No matter the origin, I wonder about the end result: what’s life like for her now if she hasn’t dropped the tic?  Is it a waking nightmare, or proof that she lives by her own rules?  The mind boggles.

I just thought I’d tell that story because it’s so bizarre it’s actually kind of entertaining -- unlike getting tangled up in Tokyo Mirage Sessions “censorship” again.  So let’s do this lickety-split.

Who’s the Best Superhero Ever?

So both Captain America: Civil War and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice have made the rounds in the past few months.  One of them is great; one of them is not so great.  Still, they do represent an important talking point: even though superhero movies have been around for a good while now, they still have enough clout and momentum to stay self-sustaining, at least for a while yet (and more for the Marvel camp than, say, Fox, Warner Brothers, or Sony).  We’re bound to see more of them, obviously.  There are detractors, and they have a good point -- we’re at risk of oversaturation, for sure -- but hey.  Maybe we’ll get a good Doom Patrol movie out of WB, so that my dream of seeing Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man on the big screen can finally be fulfilled.

That does bring up something worth discussing, though.  Obviously, the Marvel movies (and others) have brought once-obscure characters into the spotlight, and pretty successfully; where would Iron Man be if not for the efforts of Robert Downey Jr. way back when?  But I wonder how many people the movies are actually converting.  That is, how many people have gained enough interest in comics thanks to the movies to actually seek out these heroes in their natural habitat?  How many people who weren’t already down with stuff like Asgard or the Infinity Gauntlet have even run a Google search?  Are people actually converting into true fans?

I’d imagine so, because the movies serve as condensed introductions.  But that leads to a follow-up question: who are people choosing to follow, and why?  Who’s captured their hearts and minds?  Who is the best superhero?

Okay, that’s like three questions (technically four), but whatever.  It’s for a good cause.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE: Do You Remember Love? (Part 1)

Considering that Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE puts a lot of focus on Japan’s infamous idol culture, I was going to try and lead into it by talking about the recent anime series Macross Delta -- since it also leans deep into idol territory. The problem is that, even if I like the core concept of Macross/Robotech, I haven’t seen enough of it to be an authority.  And more importantly, I haven’t seen anything from Macross Delta besides complaints that it skews WAY too far in favor of idols/CD shilling, to the point where it cripples the show.  I don’t know if that’s a fair assessment, but for now I’ll switch to Plan B.

See, when I was in elementary school there was this special program that incentivized turning in stuff to the lost and found.  Even if it was just a few coins nicked from the playground, you could still be recognized for it on a bulletin board in one of the halls -- and better yet, potentially win prizes.  So by turning in some lost lunch money, I won a coupon for a free rental at the local video shop.  I thought that it meant I could get my hands on a new game, but the selection at said store was so limited I opted for a video instead.  And so it was that I discovered Macron 1.

Don’t worry.  I’m going somewhere with this.

RE: Final Fantasy XV

So it’s the middle of July right now, and Final Fantasy 15 is due out on September 30^th.  In other words?  Oh God.  It’s almost time for another Final Fantasy game.

Right, then.  Let’s do the sensible thing and talk about Star Ocean.

Do Me a Solid: Hype Song Arrange

I find it vaguely hilarious that a short post from me is probably the equivalent of an extra-large blog post on the sites run by normal, reasonable, well-adjusted people.  But let’s not dwell on it.  Every once in a while, I need to do some quick posts -- and this is one of those times.

Why?  Uhhhhhhhhhh…there may be a slight chance that there are some technical difficulties going around.  Very slight.  Hopefully.

RE: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

I have a lot of questions about this game.

“Just Turn Your Brain Off!”

Welp.  The last horse has finally crossed the finish line.

Even though I’ve known about it for years, and even though people have urged me for just as long, I’ve finally taken the plunge and started watching JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in earnest.  It’s not as if I hate the franchise, because even my formerly-shallow understanding of the Joestar bloodline’s exploits have told me “This is a thing I need to get into.”  I would’ve gotten into it sooner, but every time I tried, I did so with my tablet -- which I’ve found is not at all conducive to Crunchyroll usage.  Eventually it flat-out decided to say that it was incompatible with the site, so I did what I should’ve done ages ago and watched it on my PC.  Not all at once, mind, but over time.  Progressively, if and when I get the chance.  (Who’ll write stupidly-long posts, if not I?)

For the record, I’m all done with Part 1 (Phantom Blood) and Part 2 (Battle Tendency).  I’ve got an uphill battle ahead, considering that Part 3 (Stardust Crusaders) is longer than both of the first two parts combined.  Still, it’ll be worth it so I can get to Part 4 (Diamond is Unbreakable), AKA the part I’ve been hyped about for ages now.  I don’t know what’s wrong with the guys in-universe; I think Josuke’s hair is pretty cool…though I could be biased.  I’ve always had a soft spot for delinquent-type characters.

It goes without saying, but I’ll say more about JoJo in the future.  In fact, let’s go ahead and start now -- because there’s a topic tied to it that’s pretty important.  And it relates to video games, too!  And media in general, really.  Yeah, I’m seriously playing the magician here.

So How Good Are Microtransactions, Really?

I feel like I should start by apologizing for the title, because that would imply that microtransactions -- the scourge of gamers everywhere -- can actually be good.  And I should apologize even more, because there’s a part of me deep down that thinks they actually can be good.

Deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, DEEP down -- but it’s there.  So let’s talk about microtransactions for a bit, and ignore the fact that Word refuses to recognize the term as legitimate.  I, uh, can’t say I blame it.