Kingsglaive : Final Fantasy XV - Movie Review

I'm a big Final Fantasy fan, I've finished almost every Final Fantasy series (I didn't have PS2 and PS3, so I haven't played X, XIII, but I finished XII on my friend's PS2 lol). Final Fantasy XV was initially called as "Final Fantasy versus XIII". But we almost never heard of its existence until a couple years ago. I thought Square Enix dropped the project and moved on to the new one. But they didn't. So this game has been in development for 10 years. And we almost had it next month (september) until SE decided to delay it until November 29th. And here we are now, on August 17th, SE released a "teaser" of the game in featured movie, "Kingsglaive : Final Fantasy XV"
So I've watched this movie, how was it? Let's dive into it!


The story revolves on war between two kingdoms, Lucis and Niflheim. Niflheim tried to conquer other kingdoms and rule the world with its advanced technology, while Lucis stands still from Niflheim. One day, Niflheim came to Lucis and asks for Truce. But they need to surrender Imsonia (Lucis' capital city) to Niflheim. King Regis (King of Lucis) of course refuses this offer, and he offers another territory which is a neighbor territory from Lucis. Hearing that condition, Niflheim offered another term, the Lucis' prince, Noctis must marry Lunafreya, the Princess from Tenebrae which is a kingdom under Niflheim empire. And finally they agree on that term. and they will held a truce treaty in couple of days. King Regis thought that Niflheim won't make a truce and a deal this easy. So he sent one of his troops called the "Kingsglaive" to met Lunafreya in person. What will happen to Lucis? Will everything be okay? Don't worry, I won't spoil it for you! XD

This movie is a prologue to the Final Fantasy XV, so I think it goes without saying that this movie has an incomplete/unresolved conflict and stories. There's no resolution or whatsoever in this movie. But this movie did a great job on establishing the main conflict of the story. And hopefully some plot holes will be explained later in the game.
The first half of the movie is plot heavy. It could turn off some people who didn't really like that kind of movie. But not for me, I really love this kind movie/series where they really nailed it on the "world building".
All I can say that this story telling is much much much more coherent than previous Final Fantasy movies (i.e Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children or a non-existent Final Fantasy movie : The Spirits Within). And I can tell you that this is the best Final Fantasy Movie that we have right now!

The last half of the movie is mostly action. And I think the action looks cool and all but it is the kind of animation that throws a lot of stuff in one frame so when you watch it you'll be like
"what is going on? where should I look?". But this movie succeed on telling me about the "game mechanic" of this game. And I can't wait to play it! XD

The details on this movie are stunningly beautiful! I really want to screencap everything on this movie and make wallpaper for my desktop PC. Great job SE! I think this is one of the most beautiful/realistic 3D movie I've ever seen.

The soundtrack is amazing! Yoko Shimomura really nailed the tone of Final Fantasy XV. Modern yet classic at the same time! XD

The voice acting are great, this movie has amazing voice actor casts. (Sean Bean, Aaron Paul, Lena Headey)
Aaron Paul really nailed his role as Nyx. And I kinda wished he swear "B*TCH!" on this movie. Because that's what Jesse do on Breaking Bad X'D
The voice acting are amazing and everything felt natural when you hear it.

You can enjoy this movie without having previous knowledge about "The world of Final Fantasy". But it is very entertaining for a Final Fantasy Fan like me. There are a lot of callbacks or references to the previous games. And I noticed it is mostly from Final Fantasy VI (one of the best classic FF RPG) and also VII. For example, from FF VI, there's Magitek Armor and Fighting Ultros on the airship (if you remember that, you are awesome!). As for FF VII, there's a monster resembling Emerald Weapon and Niflheim resembles Nibelheim in pronunciation. which Cloud and Tifa's hometown. And probably there's more to it that I didn't notice when I watch this movie


The problems that I I had in this movie:

1. At the first and the last minutes of the movie, the movie uses a lot of "fade-to-black" screen transitions. It's kinda distracting and annoying at times. But I think it's just my personal nitpick lol. 
2. Even though the movie is titled Kingsglaive, we don't see a lot of them in this movie. They told us their background story a little bit. But I wished that I see more of them, since they are a group of badasses

So here comes the final verdict. Should you watch Kingsglaive FF XV? If you are planning to play the game, of course you should!
Some people say that this game is going to be the best Final Fantasy game ever made. But let's just manage our expectations right now and hopefully it won't make people left dissapointed like FF XIII.

So that's it from me guys, I hope that you find this review useful! This is Reikichi, signing out! XD

ReLIFE - Anime Review

This question is for you, adult readers, have you ever wondered what would happen if your appearance is a lot more younger than you are right now (let's say, your appearance looks like a High-schooler) but you got keep your experience and your adult-mind-like and you are thrown into the high school and living your life as a high schooler?

Of course, we would act and see differently compared to how we did back then in our high-school days.

So why did I ask about this question to you in the upper hand? Because that was the setting of this new Anime coming up on this Summer 2016. My friend on twitter recommend this anime, and my god, it was a ride! So what's it all about? Let's just dive into it!

The story starts with our main protagonist, Kaizaki Arata, a 27 year old man, who is currently a NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or in Training) and struggling to get a new job. He left his previous job that he had working for 3 months, he left  that particular company because of reasons (which I won't spoil you). He tried to keep his image as a "working person" in front of his friends. At one fateful night, his mother called him and told him that she wouldn't support him financially any more. When he feel "oh dang, what should I do now? I want to look for jobs, but I can't get any right now", enter Ryo Yoake, a person from ReLIFE laboratory and asked Arata to be the experiment of ReLIFE. He is going to give Arata a medicine that'd make his appearance looks like a teenager, and he is asked to live his life on a high school for a year. If Arata did pretty good during that 1 year period, he will got a proper job. 

Arata hesitated at first, because everything seems too sketchy, added with Yoake claiming that he has been stalking Arata for a month. (yeah, I'd feel very suspicious too ^_^;).

But in the end Arata took the medicine and living his ReLIFE,  

How will it turn out for Arata? How was his school life? 

Just watch the anime. dude! XD

My thoughts on this series are : 

1. I didn't expect that I will enjoy this series so much! This series can be watched by either adult audience or teen audience. It has a very relatable story (for me, as an adult audience). 
2. The setting actually is not really something "breakthrough" it feels like me, playing Persona games (1 year period story, high school setting, etc). And that medicine feels like APTX 4869 from Detective Conan. Unlike Conan, in ReLIFE there's a medicine that'd make their appearance normal again.
3. The characters felt so real. It's been awhile that I watch anime that I can see a real person that would do the same thing as the characters in the anime! 
4. I'm glad that the main character is normal person (aka not an Otaku), so I can relate a lot to him as an adult (haha). I think the "otaku" main character is over used in the anime these days (yeah, seriously tho). Besides, it didn't really fit in this story (if you watched the anime, you'll understand why I say this)
5. There's no overarching conflict and misunderstanding throughout the series. Every conflict is resolved properly and it didn't carry out to the next episode. 
6.  The soundtrack! oh my god! I really love the BGM, and the opening & ending song (which changes on every episode) really fits in the anime! 
7. The only thing I complain about this anime is the animation it self, it feels "normal" like a middle budget animation. It reminds me of the first season of Oregairu. but in the second season, they improve the animation a lot. and hopefully ReLIFE will get a better looking season 2. Perhaps the budget of the anime went to the soundtrack, since there are a lot of awesome artist at the ending song, like Laruku, Brilliant Green, TM Revolution, Porno Grafitti, etc.
8. The ending! arghh! I can't say much about this since this is a non-spoiler review! but the ending makes me desperately asking for season 2! hahaha!
9. A friend of mine, who read the manga, told me that they skipped a lot of arcs, But so far I didn't see that many plotholes in this anime, probably I should start reading too ^_^;
10. Otoya An best girl (yes, I'm weak against megane 2D girls (^///^); )

asdafasdgasdgag!!!

And the final verdict, should you watch ReLIFE? Definitely yes! It's worth your time! Go watch it! You can marathon it right away! Thank god they release it 13 episodes at once!

So those are my thoughts on ReLIFE. I hope that you will find this review useful for you. This is Reikichi! Signing out! XD

Rant on Game of Thrones spoilers

finally done with GoT Season 6 and
holy shiet! 
the last 2 episodes are the best in the series so far!

but my enjoyment of the series is greatly reduced because the internet are spoiling everything because of those rabid fans.....

it feels like if you don't watch it on D-Day

you're screwed

totally screwed, mate

I really hate the people who'd be like "Please do not spoil it for me!" 

and after they watch it

they spoil everything on the internet!

and they’d be like

"it's your own fault, why don't you watch on D-Day too?"

People have their own lives and not all of them have the spare time like you, you spoilery cunts!

people invest their time to watch it.. and so does the writers who put so much effort to make twist and turns of the stories!

if you already know something is happening in the story, 

it feels like that you already lost the element of surprise!

the element of surprise is what makes people who can't stand spoilers (like me) feels engaged and immersed with the story

so what's my point with all these rants about spoilers?

please be considerate to others who haven't watch it

if you have watched it, and you feel that you need someone to discuss about it. just discuss with the person who already watched it instead

I don't need to know your reaction of the twist or someone's death on a series! 

if you feel so inclined to make a reaction make a reaction video out of it and upload it to youtube!

it's a thing on Youtube nowadays!

okay guys, that was my rant on Game of Thrones spoilers

for those who did enjoy the series without spoiling 

good for you 

for those who spoil it well this picture is for you

Captain America : Civil War - Movie Review

Civil War! One of the most anticipated movie of this year is finally out and thankfully I have the time to watch it and I decided to review it for you guys this week! Honestly, when this movie is announced, I thought that this movie is going to be a "fanservice galore" for superheroes fans out there. But boy, I was wrong!

First of all, this is a non-spoiler review, so don't worry if you haven't watched this movie yet. So let's dive into it!

Civil War is a direct sequel from the The Winter Soldier. This movie focuses on how the government and the whole world started to think that Superheroes' action must be under control/supervision. And that makes the Avengers split into two sides, the ones who support the act and the ones who denies the act. Tony Stark thought that "yes it's true, we should be under supervision and control." and Steve Rogers thought "If we are under control, how far they will control us?" and both sides made some good points from both perspectives as well which I won't spoil you what it is. It's a two clashing ideologies and the other Avengers crew must choose which sides are they on.

What I love from this movie is how they build up the conflict from the start to finish. This movie is divided into two parts, Captain America's sequel movie and Civil War. Cap's relationship with Bucky (The Winter Soldier) is carrying the main conflict on this movie. Bucky's inclusion doesn't feel forced at all. And for the Civil War part, it's not just bunch of superheroes suiting up for the fight fest (unlike Showa vs Heisei Rider lol). The Civil War dilemma carries on to the movie. And when they fight each other, you can feel the tension, the reason to fight, and of course the dilemma of (almost) each Avengers members. And in the climax, it feels emotional.

This movie successfully explaining to us how two sides of a problems works. It builds up tensions, characters, and depth perspectives of both sides. Honestly, when I read the comics, I was in Captain America's side (because I don't really like Iron Man in the comics and Spidey finally ends up with Cap, And me as a Spider-man fanboy ends up choose team Cap's side lol). But when I watched this movie, I can't really decide which side that I should root for since both sides has their points on their arguments. It feels like watching Gundam, Each sides has their black and white points. It feels like we are stuck in the grey area. And you will feel like "Oh yeah, I do see two sides of the conflict" and you will feel stuck in the dilemma just like the characters in the movie. Great job movie!

And when they fight it is really enjoyable and entertaining to watch! They know when they have to be funny and serious.

So let's talk about Black Panther, I'm not really familiar with his character, but I know that he is kinda like the Batman of Marvel universe (By Batman, I mean, he is a rich kid, who dresses black to fight crime when his parents are dead, yeap pretty much the same background) And this movie have strong and solid introduction of him and it makes me excited to watch his stand alone movie next year!

And Spider-man! Oh My God! We should talk about this guy! First of all, before I watched this movie, I think Andrew Garfield made a good portrayal of Spider-man before. But he didn't really nailed the Peter Parker side and the movie is not so good. And Tom Holland nailed both of Peter Parker and Spider-man character in this movie! I'm super-super-super excited to see his stand alone movie next year! XD

The villain in this movie.... welp, this is a strange one, I can't see the villain as a real villain here since the main conflict is the ideologies of both sides. All the villain is do is just giving them a gentle push to fight. But he didn't really add something new to the conflict. I think the hero of this movie is the villain of this movie too. The antagonist of this movie is the opposite sides and the protagonist of this movie is the side that you are on. Which depends on how you, the viewers, sees it.


In the end, it's not a perfect movie, but it's really entertaining to watch! And probably my favorite marvel movie of all time. Things that I found lacking in this movie is the score, it doesn't really stand out. At first, the  action scenes has too much shaky cam and it feels jarring. But fortunately it gets better throughout the movie.
So, should you watch this movie? Yes, definitely watch it!

That's all I have to say about this movie guys, I hope you find this review useful!

This is Reikichi, signing out! :D

Gundam Thunderbolt - First Impression

I'm a big fan of Gundam series, and watched almost every Gundam series. I haven't watched several Gundam series for instance: Turn A Gundam, V- Gundam, Gundam AGE, Gundam X and currently finishing the first season of Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans, 2 more episodes to go to be precise

I've been thinking to myself, what makes the first episode of Gundam so good? It's because in the first episode they established the main conflict, so we know what we will expect in the series. I shall called it the Gundam's first episode Formula!

So if we look back at the first original Gundam 0079, in the first episode, it is established that the main conflict of the series is between The Earth Federation and The Principality of Zeon. The Principality of Zeon wanted to realize Zeon Zum Deikun's goals, which is to make Spacenoids to be fully independent from Earth Federation. But the Earth Federation didn't agree to it, and finally, the Principality of Zeon proclaim their own independence and declare war as well to the Earth Federation by dropping Side 1, the first space colony that is build by humankind, to the Earth. Hence, starts the legendary One Year War between the 2 factions.

And so does the direct sequel to the Gundam series, Zeta Gundam, which established the main conflict of the story, Earth Federation becomes cocky because they won the One Year War (err, spoiler alert for Gundam 0079) and they assemble the team to wipe out the remnants of Zeon which is called Titans, and the spacenoids formed AEUG (Anti Earth Union Group) which have the remnants of the Zeon as well,

In Gundam 00, It is explained in the first episode that Earth has no fossil fuel anymore, so they made an orbital elevator in order to get the solar energy. And there are factions on Earth who wanted to monopolized the elevator for their own benefits. In this series, there's a group called Celestial Being that has one purpose only, to intervene every global conflict in the world by using Gundam.

Even the silliest Gundam series established the main conflict in the first episode of the series, G Gundam, (which is my guilty pleasure Gundam series)
Domon Kasshu is a Mobile suit Fighter, searching for his brother because his brother made Demon Gundam cells which is dangerous and has massive destruction power. And he looked for his brother by joining the Gundam Fight Tournament as a Neo Japan Colony representatives.

I could go on and on about this since most of the Gundam series that I watched followed the same first episode formula (8th MS Team, Stardust Memories, Gundam AGE, Iron Blooded Orphans, etc)
so yeah, I'll stop there

Unfortunately I can't found that formula on Gundam Recongista in G, I've watched the first two episodes and I still have no idea what is going on in there. Too much shit happen, but I don't understand what the hell did I just watch... and sadly it is made by the father of Gundam himself, Yoshiyuki Tomino. or maybe I'm just too dumb to understand it, I dunno hahaha


So
I have the same vibe when I watched Gundam Thunderbolt's first episode, the main conflict of the series is clearly established ! It's an UC series, and it takes place at One Year War timeline. just like The 8th MS Team (which is my favorite OVA Gundam series), MS Igloo and many others.

So we will see the battle between Earth Federation and Zeon in here.

In the first episode, we see our main protagonist, Ensign Io Flemmings of EFSF (Earth Federation Space Force), an ace pilot and a Jazz music enthusiast, and he always listen to it even when he go to the battlefield. He even has his catchphrase when he killed some of his enemy.

He is a badass and an asshole at the same time, A loveable asshole that is!

and on Zeon's side, there's a sniper named Daryl Lorenz, and he used prosthetic limbs because he lost it in the combat, and he loves pop music. Unlike Io, he is more calm and composed. But when he saw his teammates got killed by Io, he got triggered

The conflict of these two characters is foreshadowed in this first episode. and I can't wait to see them actually fight!

In the last minutes of the first episode, since Io is an Ace in their team, they let him to use Gundam prototype and then he went solo for the mission. He obliterated Zeon's troops so easily! Daryl saw the recording of his teammates last moments and he noticed that the Gundam has Jazz song played as his BGM, and he knows who pilot the Gundam, and then, the shows end.

when the show's first episode ends, I was like

Damn! I need more of this! Right now!

It feels nostalgic, finally another good UC series! 

For an ONA (Original Network Anime), the animation is really good! If you have watched other UC series, especially the original one, you can see that Gundam Thunderbolt's art style is modern but remains classic at the same time. 

And the soundtrack, my god, don't get me started on it! I can't believe that jazz music would fit in the Gundam series to be honest. It feels like Cowboy Bebop and Gundam has a child, a very beautiful child, a child that I want to protect. *wut* 

So, based on the first episode, if you love Gundam series, I'd say that you have to watch this series!
I really can't wait to watch the next episode of Gundam Thunderbolt! XD

After Thoughts - Lost in Translation

So this is a new segment on my blog that I'd love to call as "After Thoughts",
It's basically my after thoughts after I watched something, be it movies, anime series, or anything.
Of course it contains spoilers (well, duh!). This is a review of the movie... welp, kinda! but more to my thoughts about it.

So I just watched this movie yesterday with my girlfriend, and I honestly loved this movie! I've heard a lot of good things about this movie but I didn't have a chance to watch it, but fortunately, I finally watched it.

The ending of the movie just hit me right in the feels, the story is focused on these 2 persons who stuck in Japan. 

The first one is Bob Harris, a well known actor played by Bill Murray, who is going to Japan for shooting some advertising and doing a lot of, you know, actor stuff there. And since he is busy with work. he forgot his children's birthday and sometimes having trouble with his wife. 

The second one is a housewife named Charlotte, played by Scarlett Johansson, whose husband is a photographer and rarely spend his time together with her. And she hardly enjoying her stay in Japan because she felt that she is marrying a different person right now.  

The main dish of this movie is the relationship between these 2 characters. 

This title is quite self-explanatory. Both of them are lost in translation since they can't really understand Japanese and both of them are lost in translation as in they are in a point where they don't know where to go in their life right now. 

Normally, we would expect them to hook up or fall in love in the end of the movie, but this movie didn't go there. They are just two persons whose life are stuck in the rut and they share loneliness together in the foreign world and I loved this idea!

I loved the chemistry between Bob and Charlotte throughout the movie. But in the end, they have to say goodbye which hits me right in the feels. And the thing that he whispered to Charlotte, I think he is saying a proper goodbye to her since he didn't managed to do so before he leaves the hotel. and maybe he is thanking her for sharing his loneliness together with him when he is in Japan.

Bill Murray's acting is superb here, I'm not really sure who is he playing here, is he playing himself here? Hahaha

Scarlett Johansson's acting here is good as well.

The cinematography is really good and beautiful. and honestly this is the first Sophia Coppola movie I've ever watched and I'm excited to see more of her movie.


So that's my after thoughts on Lost in Translation, have you watched it? Did you like it? Share your thoughts on the comments below!

if you liked this new segment, please let me know :)

This is Reikichi

Signing out!

First Impression of Spring Anime 2016

Since the new season has started and I've watched quite a bit anime this season. I'm going to share my thoughts which anime series that I'll be watching this season (despite of me haven't watched a lot of anime in previous seasons lol XP)

So. without further a due, let's jam!

Honestly this season has more diversity/variation of genre compared to the last season, last season we had a lot of your-typical-light-novel-anime-adaptation-that-has-an-OP-or-too-edgy-for-you-main-character-that-a-lot-of-the-female-character-on-that-anime-fall-for-him-for-absolutely-no-reason

and this season we have Hundred 

Hundred

Someone told me that there's a reason why it is called "Hundred", because there are hundreds of this kind of anime series. lol

nope, I won't watch this hahahaha

*starting up with a very bad joke XP

Flying Witch

Flying witch is on my watch list and I've watched the first episode of it, it's been a while that we have a very good slice of life anime since Non Non Biyori, this anime has the same vibe to it. The animation is stunningly beautiful! Props to J.C Staff! If you love Azumanga Daioh, Yotsuba&, or Non Non Biyori, I think you should watch it! it's really tranquil, silly, and more importantly heart warming to watch!

Gyakuten Saiban/Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Have you ever played Phonix Wright : Ace Attorney games? This is the anime adaptation of the first game! I've watched the first episode and it was...ok.....I guess.. it's quite faithful to the first game and it might bring you nostalgia to those who've played it. But the animation is just so-so (that is to be expected from A-1 Pictures seriously ^_^;) and the opening song is just so meh, but the ending song is good though. I'm not really sure that I will continue watch this anime again.. I'd recommend you for those who haven't watched the anime or played the game, just watch the Live action movie! It's very hilarious! XD

Joker's Game

I haven't watched it, but since it's a seinen series, definitely going to watch it! It looks promising since Production I.G made this series!

Kiznaiver

Here's another anime by Studio TRIGGER! well the last anime they made is Ninja Slayer the animation which is quite........bizarre hahaha! But the premise is quite promising, *yes I haven't watched it yet XP. I've read the synopsis and there's a kizuna system where they share wounds....

that is very interesting. they made a pun between "Kizu" which means wound and "Kizuna" which means bonds. So yeah, I'm intrigued with that concept, so I'll definitely check this series out!

Sakamoto desu ga?/I'm Sakamoto. you know?

I've read the manga and it's very hilarious! And I've watched the first episode of the anime and it successfully made me laugh like a drunken seal. X'D

if you loved Nichijou or Danshi kokosei no Nichijou, you'd love this series as well!

Sakamoto is an epic swag fabulous student, and that draws attention from everybody at his school, and most of the male student hates him for it, but he always manages his way through the problem with style and cool attitude! a must watch this season! XD

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure : Part 4 - Diamond is Unbreakable

WHAT

A
BEAUTIFUL

DUWANG!

XD

Yes! It's finally here! The best part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure! David Production is still handling this anime series and I'm very happy when they announced this anime! The art style is following the later arc in the manga, so it might surprise for those who didn't read the manga and just watched the anime.
"Why Jotaro suddenly looks so skinny? My god!"

Can I talk about the anime opening song? Yes, it's catchy as hell! 

again, it might bogged for those who only watched the anime

"Why is it so fun? It's not manly like it used to be! Urgh!"

dude please, Part 4 is way more fun than previous JoJo series. and it has interesting plot and intense action just like the usual! I can see that Hirohiko Araki-sensei (the author of JJBA) is trying to be explore what he can do to the series on this part, and he nailed it so hard!

and for the ending song is I Want You by Savage Garden and it fits the theme as well.

anyway, am I the only one who hears "Duwang" on the Reff of that song? lol

okay guys, that's all the list that I'm going to watch for this season, if you feel that there's another series that I should check it out, just let me know in the comments below!

This is Reikichi, signing out!