Anime Geek: The Slayers Next

My review of the first season of The Slayers wasn’t exactly great, but I still continued on watching the second season, because I had hope that it would improve as it went on. I think it was slightly improved.

The animation was about the same. The artwork had not changed. It seemed that they did not use as many still shots or repetitive scenes that was a plus. It is still a far cry from today’s computer generated artwork.

The story bounces back and forth between serious and comedic. I’m alright with the occasional gag to break the tension, but I know a lot of people that would rather their anime to be serious.

The end of the story does become very serious. I was impressed with the amount of damage that was shown to happen to each of the characters. However, when someone has their arm blown off or a whole punched through their side there should have been a lot more blood. They probably went easy on the blood for the rating.

Not trying to give anything away about the ending, I was disappointed. There were opportunities for the characters to die, which I feel would have given greatly to the drama of the show. Instead the writers went for the happy ending for everyone.

Even though at the end of the first season the characters went their separate ways, they are all reunited in the first episode in the city of Xoana. A couple of new characters are also introduced, Martina who is primarily in the show for comic relief and Xellos who has his own agenda that pushes the story to its conclusion.

The story does tend to wind around a bit and go off track a few times. There are entire episodes dedicated to fishing for a rare dragon for a special meal, joining an entertainment troupe, killing off a sea monster that is blocking passage on the sea, and an homage to Sailor Moon. 

Once back on track the group is pitted against the  powerful demon Gaav that used to be controlled by Shabinigdo from the first season. Gaav wants to take control of the demons, but this is all a minor plot to the actual bad guy Hellmaster who wants total chaos and destruction for the world.

All in all it is good fun. Even though it really didn’t meet my expectations or standards, I still enjoyed it. I am looking forward to watching the third season which is titled The Slayers Try.

Video Game Geek: Star Wars X-Wing

In 1998 Lucas Arts released, I feel one of the best video games ever, Star Wars: X-Wing. It was originally created for DOS operating systems. Yes, some of you don’t know what DOS is. Go ask your parents. It was eventually released for play on Macs and Windows 95. Following its release was the B-Wing Expansion Pack. The game is obviously so old it would not work on current operating systems, Until now. GoG.com just recently updated Star Wars: X-Wing to work on current systems. It is a $10.00 download. 

This was a trip down nostalgia lane. Even though the graphics are dated, it is still very well designed game. The music is not 8-bit synthesized. The music is from the movie soundtrack. This is one of the first simulator games that used a 3-D perspective. It is amazing how the tie fighters fly past and then bank to the side all the while shooting their lasers at you.

To start off the game there are training grounds for you to fly each of the four fighters. This is a good place to learn all the controls and hot-keys. The training grounds are exciting all on their own, but you eventually have to graduate to the missions. Each mission has specific goals that must be accomplished. You don’t get to choose which ship to take with you, but you do change fighters with each mission so you won’t get bored with one thing. I have to tell you that I am such a dork that I have contemplated wearing my motorcycle helmet while playing the simulator, just to add to the realism. 

If you have the ten dollars, I highly recommend getting this game. You won’t be disappointed. If you are worried about GoG.com being legit, I believe they are. I had no problems with the charge or the download. I did not pick up any viruses. It is a good website. While you are there, check out all their other games. They have a wide collection of old school games that might strike you nostalgic funny bone.

Anime Geek: The Slayers

The Slayers is an anime that came to the U.S. in 1995 that was originally created in Japan in 1989. The two main characters are Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev. Throughout the series they pick up companions, such as Zelgadis and Amelia. For those who are looking for the buxom and beautiful Naga you will have to wait for the second series to see her. She is not in this first series. 

Through all the wackiness and fighting there is actually a small plot. In the very beginning Lina destroys a camp of bandits and then loots their treasure. In all the loot Lina takes there is a statue and within the statue is the Philosopher’s stone. The Philosopher’s stone is supposed to magnify any magic user’s powers.

The Great Red Priest Rezo wants the stone so he can restore his eyesight. He sends all kinds of monsters and magic users after Lina, including Zelgadis who joins Lina and Gourry. Rezo does end up with the stone and tries to restore his eye sight, but in the process is destroyed when he releases the evil deity Shabranigdo who is bent on the destruction of the world. 

Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis do defeat Shabranigdo, but the adventure doesn’t end there. The trio find out they have large bounties on their heads. Lina and Gourry discover they are wanted in Sairaag so they make their way to the city. They are fought every inch of the way by bounty hunters and magic users. Once in Sairaag they discover Rezo the Red Priest is still alive and wants them dead and he doesn’t care how much collateral damage he causes.

Now I can’t stress enough that this anime is old school. If your library of anime is less than five years old you’re going to have a difficult time getting into this series. I know I did. 

The art was excellent for twenty years ago. This was when all animation was done by hand. I appreciate that sort of thing. It took a lot of work back then to do all of the animation by hand.

The strength of this anime is its wackiness. The innuendos border on adult, but nothing riskier than a few boob jokes. Through all the jokes and light-heartedness there are moments where the series tries to take itself seriously, but honestly I feel the drama and power that it could have are lacking.

So if you are looking for a light-hearted action story this should do it for you. Just remember it is old school. Personally, I'm looking forward to watching the next series of Slayers.

Thanks to:

Slayers 20 years ~ Ly-Xu

SLAYERS ~ Spring Temari

Rezo ~ Lina-Inverse

Books Vs. E-Readers

The debate of books vs. e-readers has raged among book geeks (bibliophiles) and techies for a long time. I like to think of myself as a book lover and a techie, so I thought I would share my two cents on the topic. 

From a techie point of view it’s a gadget and gadgets are always cool. It is nice to be able to read off an e-reader in the middle of the night, without having extra lights on. For us older techies (shut it) to be able to enlarge the text is so nice. I have glasses and I still struggle to read the text in books. 

The thing I like about books the most is being able to point to my vast collection of books on my books shelves. It’s just not impressive to point to an e-reader and say, “I have over a hundred books stored up.”

When it comes to graphic novels and manga I strongly recommend sticking with the books. I feel something is lost not being able to take in the entire page and then work your way around to each pane. Sometimes the e-readers show the entire page and then everything is too small to make out. Taking the time to zoom in and out on the frames really detracts from getting into the story.

Yes books are more expensive, but the prices for a novel on an e-reader, I feel are out of control. I personally have published my stories electronically and the only overhead you have for e-reader publishing is your time. Paying $10.00 for an electronic story is, in my opinion, robbery.

One of the big arguments books vs. e-readers is durability. Personally I think it’s a tie. Water and fire will do equal amounts of damage to both books and e-readers. You can drop your book and it will be fine. Falls don’t work out so great for e-readers. Now most e-readers back up your library to the cloud, so if you do lose your e-reader you can download the books again.

I don’t know if I solved anything here. I know a lot of you out there have strong feelings one way or the other. However, if I had to choose between books or an e-reader I would choose books. Yes, I’m old school that way.

Thanks to:

E-Reader ~ Z4N9@deviantart.com

Reading ~ Sachiko-Hime@deviantart.com

Library ~ Eudetenis@deviantart.com

Reading ~ JaneMere@deviantart.com