Alabaster, my PlayStation Vita has taken over my life. No, no, no. Persona 4 Golden has taken over my life. Actually, wait, since Alabaster is the device that allows me to play P4G, then the Vita has taken over my life. But then playing P4G directed me to start watching the anime series . . . HRM. I digress.

I have come to discover that P4G really is an awesome game. I deeply regret not playing the PlayStation 2 incarnate in the past (yes, I own the game, but I never got around to playing it), despite the game getting so much rave reviews. I dedicated myself to get the true ending of the game on my first playthrough, and after a couple of weeks, I met my goal. Now I am on my second playthrough to try and nab the rest of the trophies I didn’t get and to max out all my social links. I decided to take a break (okay, truth be told, my Vita is charging at the moment) to write a spoiler-free review of P4G.

The Goods
* The plot is really engaging, and the slow build-up to the climax over the year (in-game) was well done and well paced.
* The realism portrayed by the small town impressed me. I especially like how the teenagers acted like teenagers.
* All the twists and turns in the plot were quite unexpected.
* The characters and their interactions and their development — top notch stuff, Atlus!
* All the social links the main character has to build up on — lot of work, but this is where so many character development happens. So good.
* The battle was fast and intense. Gotta love exploiting the enemy’s weaknesses.
* The music and sound effects were great. In fact, unlike with Persona 3 Portable, I liked many of the songs upon the initial listening. P3P’s soundtrack took me a while to get used to.
* Teddie, Kanji, Naoto — I love them so much, especially since they add so much depth the plot, I think.

The Bads
* The dungeons drove me crazy. I think 10-12 floors were too long. 8 would have been a good maximum.
* The new game plus does not carry the enemy’s stats over, so players have to guess or use guides to figure out their weaknesses again. Really makes no sense to not carry those over.
* The camera was wonky for me. I hated how it’d zoom in on things, which gets in the way of attacking shadows for the player advantage.

The Uglies
* Chie’s English voice — horrible, horrible, horrible. Hearing her voice makes me cringe.
* That bloody fishing game. I do not like.

Conclusion
Some reviews I read claim P4 to be one of the best RPGs ever made. For me, the best RPG will always be Chrono Trigger and Suikoden 2, but P4G definitely ranks up there as being a fantastic RPG that gives fantastic plot, characters, and battle system. Not to mention, the game is FUN. I have not had a game that made me laugh and have fun in a long while — not since Persona 3 Portable, it feels like. Sure, Hakuouki and Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward were great, too, but P4G is much more enjoyable.

On a similar note, Persona 4: The Animation is enjoyable, too. It’s obviously meant to be watched after playing or having some knowledge of the game. I can see people watching the anime without any knowledge will be lost. Still, though, it’s a good companion to the franchise.

In the last few weeks, I have given up my soul to these six + five un-pictured characters from Hakuouki. Long story short, I went to Japan in October 2010, and Otome Road was doing a major publicity stunt on the second season of this series, a series I never heard of, but was still captivated by the bishounens. I left Japan with a lot of Hakuouki merchandises without knowing the series name. It wasn’t until in 2011 that I researched and found this series. By then, I learned that Aksys was going to release the video game in North America, and I eagerly bought it for my PSP in February 2012.

Now, ten months later, I finally played the otome visual novel, and I’ve become a die-hard Hakuouki fan. I even ordered the anime series on DVD and just finished watching them. I’m glad I watched the anime after I played the game because the anime, while a good addition to the franchise, would have been confusing otherwise. I love both, though. The plot, the characters, the history of the Shinsengumi (hugely fictionalised, but it has introduced me to them!), the whole Bakumatsu era . . . they were all engaging for me.

Playing the game and watching the anime have made me go through a very cathartic journey, but it is a journey I do not regret. Do I recommend this to others? The game, yes — the anime only after playing the game. The game is a visual novel, so it requires a lot of reading, so technically it is not a game, per se, but it is definitely more interactive than reading an actual novel.

Ah, getting involved with a series that has taken over my life . . . I’ve certainly ended 2012 with a bang!

Lately, I’ve been craving to watch a new anime series, and I decided to finally check out Nodame Cantabile. I’ve always wanted to watch it because the anime featured classical music, which I adore as an aficionado and as an amateur musician myself. So I started it last night and spent all of my Sunday watching the first season. Below is my spoiler-free review!

The Goods
* THIS ANIME CAUSES PURE CLASSICAL MUSIC ORGASM. All the orchestra scenes, the piano performances, all the musical terminology being featured in the anime . . . *_* I was in classical music heaven!
* All the supporting characters (From Mine to Masumi to even Stresemann . . . they really added to the whole series.
* I was impressed they added a couple of homosexual characters to the series. It somehow made things feel a bit more realistic.
* THE CLASSICAL MUSIC. Yes, I am emphasising this again!

The Bads
* Maybe it’s just me, but I almost felt like Chiaki was almost too perfect (despite his fear of flying and his uber-strict musicianship) of a character. I mean . . . good looks, rich, talented, smart, domesticated, and all those musical abilities . . . I dunno. I think I preferred someone like Mine over him.
* A lot of the classical pieces performed in the episodes are ones I’m not familiar with — which is a good thing since I get more exposure to different classical pieces. However, it’d be still nice to have a lot more pieces that are “overrated” and “famous” once in a while!

The Uglies
* In the first episode, Nodame intrigued me (her incredibly messy ways and her hygiene . . . ) but then she pulled the whole “I LOVE YOU SENPAI” thing and acted really stupid . . . ugh. Ever since she proclaimed her love for Chiaki, I’ve lost any respect for her. She’s a great player, I admit, but her annoying love for Chiaki just turned me off. Yes, I’m aware this anime is supposed to be a romantic comedy, but I think it would have been better without the whole romantic aspect.
* I did mention I liked Stresemann, but man his philandering ways were just too much for me. I don’t deny he’s a good conductor, but I’d certainly would not want to go partying with him!

Conclusion
It wasn’t a bad anime per se, but it wasn’t exactly the best thing I’ve ever seen neither. I mean, I really think it would have been better if Nodame hadn’t gone the “I LOVE YOU” route with Chiaki . . . I tried to like her, and there were times she was all right, but I found myself just getting aggravated with her throughout the whole series.

I did enjoy all the classical music bits in the anime. In fact, those are the only reasons why I’d even bother to watch the next two seasons. But I dunno if I can stomach any more of Nodame. Twenty-three episodes of her was a bit too much for me.

I’ve got these Suikoden III mangas in the mail today. I was lucky that I found them fairly cheap. I found volume 1 to 9 on Ebay for $49.99 + $10.99 priority shipping. And Amazon had volume 10 and 11 for $9.99 each with $4.98 priority shipping. All together that cost me $85.94, which is a steal considering how it normally would cost around $120! Not to mention, these will soon be hard to find because of the circumstances written below.

By now, many are aware that Tokyopop is ceasing all US operations. That includes their Yaoi imprint Blu. :( Now the US Yaoi manga industry is short of one publishing company. Boo! I’m still reeling from this news and am very unhappy about it. This news is what triggered me to get the Suikoden III mangas. It’s strange, really. Of all the games in the Suikoden series, I have to say that Suikoden III is my least favourite, but with Konami not doing anything since Suikoden Tierkreis, I’ve been feeling utterly deprived for my favourite video game series. So deprivation and demise is what led me to get this series, filling me with a strange sense of urgency.

As an anime and a video game music fan, these Antique Bakery and Distant Worlds ~ Music from Final Fantasy ~ Returning Home DVD boxsets are LOVE.

P.S. — I am not thrilled by the way they packaged the FF concert boxset, though. X_X;; There were three discs, and two of them were placed in a way they overlapped one another, but there’s nothing in the middle of the disc to hold it in place. Plus, the box was smushed because they sent it in a bubble wrap envelope instead of a box! Very bad packaging.