Shuffling Cards

It looks like disrupted blogging this week; I lost this morning for various reasons, and I'm away for meetings tomorrow. I might be able to get something up later this week, I guess we'll see. Time for some random comments:

• Finished watching Fruits Basket yesterday. *sigh* I can't believe there are no more left to watch... Easily the best anime I've seen in years. Looking forward to watching it again.
• I feel like I'm barely playing any videogames at the moment... a little Lego Star Wars here and there, and some Micro Machines too, but for the most part I feel like I'm between games.
• Taped Torchwood at the weekend; first Dr. Who spinoff since the short lived and ill conceived K9 and Company. I don't appear to have any expectations for it, so I guess it will be hard to be disappointed.
• Supposed to be getting a master candidate for Play with Fire soon, but no sign of it yet.
• Some interesting news about Reluctant Hero recently, but I don't think I can really share it publicly yet. I've been sketching out some more of the game design on paper recently though; might share some of the details for discussion soon.

Enjoy your week!

Comments

[Neil]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Fruits Basket anime. You will probably enjoy the manga too if you can get hold of (and afford) it! Actually, it is probably easier, and maybe cheaper, to get hold of in the States, so maybe wait til you're out there if you want the manga.

Also, if you liked Fruits Basket I feel that I can recommend Haibane Renmei to you with ease. It's similar in some respects and madly different in others - but as cute and sweet overall.

[Suyi]

You could check out Bully (PS2). And wonder what might have been if they made the game with a female protagonist...

[chico]

I´ve seen some images from Reluctant Hero Tech Demo. Looks like 3D People are making a good work - I really like the overall style, with its graphic novelesque colours (well, I thought they look like colours from graphic novels, am I right?)

[Chris]

It occured to me after posting that I forgot that I am also playing 'Tube It' on Taito Legends 1. Those Taito collections have been far and away the best value for money in terms of recent game purchases. Between 'Tube It' and 'Cleopatra Fortune' alone I have racked up dozens of hours of play.

Neil: thanks for the anime tip! Don't suppose you have a copy to loan me? ;)

Suyi: have you played Bully at all? I'd be interested in your thoughts. I'll keep my eyes open for a demo...

Chico: thanks for the kind words! I really like the 3D People art style too - it's feels painted, somehow. I hadn't specifically thought of it in terms of a graphic novel, but now you mention it there is certainly something of that feel to it.

[GregT]

I loved Fruits Basket... except for the ending, where the female protagonist manages to neither (a) grow a spine, or (b) prove that she doesn't need a spine by transforming the villain's world view through her doctrine of loving submission.

But then I'm rarely satisfied by anime finales, with the possible exception of the excellent Haibane Renmai.

[Chris]

The ending surprised me too for much the same reason, but it wasn't a 'deal breaker' for my enjoyment of the show. One cannot completely eliminate the skewing effect of cultural factors in this sort of situation.

Another plug for Haibane Renmai - clearly I have to check this out! :)

[Neil]

I think the problem is that Fruits Basket didn't really end as such. Certainly the manga are still being produced, so the story hasn't been concluded yet.

My main problem was thinking there was another series out there... Once I realised there wasn't I felt frustrated - but that was long enough after watching them to not taint my feelins towards them.

Chris: I used Amazon's rather fun DVD Rental scheme to watch Haibane Renmei so I haven't got them to lend you (but I know Amazon have).

And knowing you have now watched Torchwood I was wondering what you had thought?

[Chris]

Re: Torchwood, it's a crime drama which is probably the bottom rung of scripted TV for me (but still above reality TV). I'll probably watch it, because there's not much sci fi on TV, and it will tide me over till the next Dr. Who series, but it's not really grabbed me yet.

Being an adult show allows them to deal with sex and violence, but it also seems to rob it of a certain humour which is part of the appeal of Dr. Who for me - that it's elabourately grandiose pulp sci fi. Torchwood is just a little too much like a po-faced Buffy crossed with CSI, sprinkled with sci fi, and set in Cardiff, if you know what I mean. ;)

Still, nice to hear genuine Welsh accents on TV. :)

[Suyi]

No, I haven't played it yet. I don't actually have a PS2; I use a friend's system. However, he hasn't let go of the controller since I bought Okami. I will get the game in the next month or so.

I'm just surprised it didn't occur to the game designers that a game about boarding school might be appealing to the people who play The Sims. They've created what looks like a mini-GTA and marketed it as such. Seems like the wrong audience *shrug*.

[Jon]

Hello! I've heard Torchwood called a lot of things, but po-faced? Wow, I wouldn't have said that. Torchwood seems to be coming in for a fair bit of stick, but fortunately for us, Helen and I seem to be living in a parallel universe where Torchwood is one of the silliest, make-you-laugh-out-loud pieces of twisted genius we've seen in years. Just thought someone who's been enjoying it enormously ought to stick up for it. Deeply silly, but great fun.

[Chris]

Jon: I think I'm just grumpy about the show at the moment because it's a crime drama. ;) I'm sure I'll warm to it once it's had some time to get on its feet. I do wish I could see the silly side of it more easily though, superfluous pteranadon not withstanding. :)

[Neil]

You're not seeing the silly? Did you see the invisible-to-non-story-related-people lift that goes up from way underground to deliver people to the pavement...?

It's patently ridiculous! :-P

[Chris]

Yeah, that was pretty silly, I'll grant you. But still... crime drama. :P