Genki Japan Blog はじめまして。

Yes, I know it's Monday, but I was busy Friday working on my second part of Anki. Anyway, Today I'm reviewing The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Plot Overview: Cynical Kyon finds himself going to high school surrounded by aliens, espers, time travelers, and one very, very powerful teenage girl, Haruhi Suzumiya. I'm sure everyone has heard of this anime before, as it seems to have taken the otaku subculture by storm, thanks to it's witty characters, excellent script, and that one dance . Basically, Kyon meets Haruhi, an eccentric girl who wishes to meet aliens, espers, time travelers, and basically anyone who isn't "normal" since that bores her. Dragging our poor protagonist into making an unofficial club, the SOS Brigade, of which its sole mission is to find these abnormal characters and have fun with them, she then manages to kidnap (I think Koizumi came willingly, and she apparently inherited Yuki along with the room) a few other students to complete th...

Update: For everyone coming here looking for a review of TextFugu, this post is out of date. It was written when TextFugu was in its infancy, and is a first-impression review. A more accurate and up-to-date review is here. Textfugu makes the incredibly bold statement, “Best way to teach yourself Japanese, guaranteed.” I’ve been meaning to review Textfugu for a while, as Koichi is a hardworking guy who endlessly promotes the Japanese language. He’s a very successful marketer, has a vibrant personality, and is actually dedicated to your success, not his. Well, I wouldn’t wager he’s that selfless, but you get the idea. So, what do I make of his product? It’s a mixed bag, but I’m going to spoil the review by saying I’m glad I bought it. However, that doesn’t mean that Textfugu isn’t without its flaws, so here’s my complete review. Oh, but before that, I’m going to offer a disclaimer. Namely, Textfugu doesn’t yet offer lessons for my level, so a lot of this is the hypothetical if-I-was-st...

Plot Overview: I’m afraid of giving too much away. Vash is a man who’s wanted for 6 billion dollars for the destruction of July city. Even though people say he destroyed July, no one was killed. There’s a lot of philosophy and morals. Plus, this is one anime that has strong Christian beliefs. If you like to have to really work to figure out a character’s psychology in order to learn why a character behaves the way he or she does, then this is for you! However, it doesn’t do it in a tricky way, like, say Paranoia Agent or Serial Experiments Lain . It’s an action-packed show that doesn’t rely solely on watching our protagonist invent new fighting moves to win the day. Artwork: The artwork is okay. There’s a lot better in other anime, but that shouldn’t discourage you from watching this. The character designs are great; especially Legato’s. The only problem is that sometimes it doesn't look as great as it could. Vash's design is great, and it's easy to pick him out amongst ...

Another old review of mine I did a long time ago for a website that never actually made it to the web. Be warned that there are a few spoilers here, but given the game's age, this shouldn't bother anyone. The long-awaited sequel to Chrono Trigger is here. The artwork is very different, but not a bad change, and the graphics are stunning. The plot isn’t as good as Chrono Trigger, I don’t think, and some of the side characters don’t get nearly enough character development, but that’s okay. The highlights are definately great music, thought-provoking dialogue (hey, it's better than some of the other stuff out there), and an interesting story. Plot Overview: Serge is transported to an alternate world that’s very much like his own, with the same people and places, but everyone has different lives and the timeline is a little different. Both of the worlds’ fates have been crossed, and this chrono cross will bring about the destruction of both worlds. You have to save them, even ...

I was going to do GTO, but I have to rewatch it. Instead, I'm going to review Haibane Renmei , and I'm going to do it with only a small portion of the screen visible, since my laptop screen seems to have something wrong with it, maybe the ribbon cable. This is an amazing anime, and I can't believe how many years it took me to discover it! Being a fan of Serial Experiments Lain , you'd think that I’d have jumped right into this one. Oh well, better late than never, eh? Plot: Again, this is another anime where it's hard to give away much information without completely spoiling the plot. Well, here we go. A girl who appears to be in her mid-teens dreams of falling from the sky. Unfortunately, the dream ends before we can se the rest of it. Anyway, she wakes up inside of a cocoon that’s filled with water, and when it hatches, she finds herself living in a home amongst the Haibane, who appear to be humans with wings and halos. She herself is now a Haibane with no memor...

I'm doing things a bit different with this review because I'm lazy right now, not to mention a bit preoccupied with other matters. Anyway, I stumbled accross an old review I'd written for my high school's "newspaper" reviewing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time not long after it came out. I figured, how neat would it be (and lazy and time saving) to format it into a Friday Review article and post in on my blog. That way people can see what my original thoughts on the game were, and believe me, they haven't changed that much. Without further ado, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Plot Overview: Does the plot change much? Ganon wants to take over Hyrule, again, but this time he has to find the three chosen ones who carry the Triforce symbol on the back of their hands, kind of like in the second game, The Adventure of Link . This game takes some of the best elements from the previous games and forms a more complicated plot than we’re used to seeing. T...

My favorite Harvest Moon game is still probably A Wonderful Life , but since this is the new game, I figure I should review it first. It lives up to my expectations, and is a great addition to the series. There were a few disappointments, but the game’s rewards outweigh them. Now, without further ado, time to review. Plot Overview: Most Harvest Moon games are relatively plot less. One of my biggest pet peeves with this series is that after A Wonderful Life , the developers began trying to complicate their games a bit more by introducing a being known as the Harvest Goddess, and also by tossing in the Harvest Sprites, which were featured in A Wonderful Life , although they really didn’t affect the game. I love the games for their simplicity – just trying to carve a life out of a scrap of land and living amongst some of the most simple-but-pleasant townsfolk you’ll meet. The plot for this game in particular is that you’re traveling to an island, Waffle Island, to be exact (all th...

This is a really great game for anyone who likes a good story to be told! It has an intriguing plot, interesting characters, and great gameplay. This game has been hailed many times as one of the greatest RPGs ever! It's techinically for SNES, but you can now find it for the Nintendo DS. This review is for the SNES version and the Playstation remake only, as I have never played the DS version and am unsure as to whether gameplay elements have been changed or not. Plot Overview: Crono, a young man, has been placed in a situation where he must travel through time to save the world, in each and ever era, from certain destruction. It’s very complicated to explain, but trust me, the plot is very good and well-thought-out. Artwork: The artwork looks a lot like DBZ, but I don’t care. If you look really closely, the artwork is slightly different in the Playstation remake than in the original – the characters are shorter and fatter in the Playstation version, which I found to be kin...