Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5- Vento Aureo: Going Above and Beyond

And so the story of our bedazzling gang-stars comes to a close, with a dual ending I assume most anime-only watchers wouldn’t have expected. It also would have been way too easy if I titled this post a Golden Experience so I had to resist.

Notice: I wrote 99% of this review two weeks ago and now just finished watching the last episode so watch out for some addition to the post since some last minute things were addressed.

Music of the Week #407

Here I am sitting around like an idiot when Waver’s series is out and about.

Feels good having that DMC5 thing out of the way after nearly half a year putting it off. I went ahead and caught up to the entirety of Bokuben during the mean time and have a mild interest in reading the entirety of Gotoubun while I’m at it later. Aside from that, I really need to hurry up with getting caught up with something from this season. Speaking of which, Fall is shaping up to be rather chock full of potential watches, I even think Bokuben Season 2 was already announced between now and before its review went up.

This week’s theme is the remixed Geofront theme that plays during the aftermath of what goes down in the Trade Conference where you are forced to give chase to some problematic people to say the least. It’s a cool remix of the classic Geofront theme now with an intense chasing vibe going through it.

Delayed Ramblings about Devil May Cry V Part 2: Family Matters

Welcome back to the second part of my ramblings on DMC5, this time, about the story and how it was handled. Now, for most non-fans or for people just viewing the fandom from the outside, plot seems like a relatively minor thing in the DMC series. To be fair, there is some merit to that since action games don’t tend to have all too great of a plot and it isn’t really until 3 that the series’ story really started to shine in any way. While DMC1 laid the ground work of the series’ universe with Mundus, Sparda, Dante’s past, and his fixation with his late mother, it was 3 that let the groundwork develop even further by multiplying the  depths of Dante’s character.

Delayed Ramblings about Devil May Cry V Part 1: The Technical Stuff

So it turned out Jojo’s hour long episode is NEXT week so I am now compelled to post DMC5 exactly in the middle of these seasonal anime posts because I got nothing else at the moment. The following intro blurb, as reiterated by the last sentence, was written way back.

Perhaps it’s my judgmental bias really kicking in but from the looks of it, many people that I’m seeing talking about DMC5 don’t seem to have kept up with the series, be it gameplay or storywise, for the longest time. Granted, DMC4 was literally 11 years ago and DMC4:SE was just 4 years ago but in the age of streaming reactions and bandwagoning, it’s tough to believe some of these people actually know what they’re talking about. This translates to, people who only follow hypetrains are annoying and I’m particular about showing genuine excitement.

Speaking as a guy who’s played everything in the series minus fully playing DMC2 and DmC out of morbid curiosities, I have a couple of things to say about Capcom’s recent redemption arc with the 11-year awaited DMC5 being its latest entry into the return of Capcom.

And lord jesus, I wrote that intro around April and here we are.

Music of the Week #406

Wrote a lot

So instead of looking up shows to watch this weekend, I entered one of my writing highs and belted out the seasonal overview for Part 5 before it’s finale came out later this week, an addendum to Bokuben (Since I went ahead and caught up with the whole thing), and more or less finished my thoughts on DMC5. The latter of which isn’t as great as I wanted it to be since I only delayed that for 4 months so whatever gripes I had with the story’s shortcomings have more or less fizzled away so forgive me if I just ramble on like an amateur about shit you already know about. As far as Bokuben is concerned, I did the exact thing with Kaguya-sama when I binged watched that after the season ended but didn’t feel like going over it. Glad to have DMC5 finally behind me though.

Anyways, this week’s tune is one of my favorites. Last week I talked about the event known as the West Zemuria Trade Conference, something one might have heard if they played through Trails 3rd and something they definitely heard about if they skipped the Crossbell duology and went ahead to play Coldsteel 1 and 2 where it’s directly mentioned as to taking place. It’s one of the higher points of an already excellent game and was certainly one of my favorite parts. I don’t think any other scenario in a game has rivaled the air of tense political debating over fictional countries as much as Ao has done. There probably won’t be another meticulously written world as much as this again.

Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san- A Different Brand of Wish Fulfillment

Experiencing this made me realize something about the mental state of my life and trends in this specific anime watching zeitgeist. While anime has been part of my life as early as my infancy, I took a break from its trends and popularity boom during the mid 2000’s and re-entered the scene during 2010.  Call it a ever so slightly educated guess or completely reading trends incorrectly but the overwhelming trend of harems that budded, blossomed, and wilted in the 2010’s, in my mind, was just a sign of the times of the newer generation of anime watchers being pulled in to the escapist fantasies they provide. The younger audience, especially the light novel scene, probably found a bunch of new viewers from this period. But now that time has passed, people grew out of their phases and a newer trend of isekai has taken its place for the new audience or the old guard who still remain attracted to the usual trends.

So what the hell am I rambling on about? Well the people who watched those seasonal harems are all grown up now, it has been quite some time since those days, and while it isn’t as widespread as the isekai craze, I’ve noticed some smaller trends popping up in some manga about a different style of escapism. Those kids are grown up now, and so am I, it’s been a decade. There’s a bit more to life now than just pure escapist fantasies and maybe all we need now in our adulthood is a bit of help. Actually, a lot of help

Music of the Week #405

Almost there

So the first half of the DMC post is ready to go, but I’d feel a bit weird if DMC was plopped right into the middle of the seasonal recaps so I’ll save that for the end. Bokuben got its post and I’m writing up something short for Senko-san while Jojo will conclude, I think, this Friday with that hour-long special. So we’re good to go, things just need to line up in a timely manner.

As if to herald good things to come, despite me not seeing anything that I blatantly want to watch this coming season, this week’s tune is that of the West Zemuria Trade Conference, the single most exciting event in the Kiseki series’ shared history as figureheads from each of the countries arrive for formal diplomacy with the location being in Crossbell’s newest venue, the Orchis Tower. Now, my description of “exciting event in Kiseki’s shared history” might be dwarfed with the combined cast fighting together in Cold Steel 4 but who cares about that wreck?