I don't have any reservations about nerding out over games that I don't play at all. That's lucky, because Last Ranker is a double whammy, and soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura gets me going every time I hear it.
Author: Data_Error
Blogger & DevOperator || Pokédex: 898/898 || Special Move: Hold B to Dash
Writer for Dextraneous and Geek to Geek Media
EVO and Blind Appreciation
At a competitive level, fighting games are some of the most impressive games you can watch for my money. So much so that the lion's share of the details go way over my head much of the time, which is fine by me.
Tokimeki Memorial and Elusivity
Tokimeki Memorial does a lot to emulate the tricky feeling of navigating social spaces, which makes it deeply intriguing. With that said, I doubt that I'll ever play it.
Golf Story and Visual Comedy
An awful lot of games make attempts to be comedic to various degrees. And almost always this comes across exclusively through the writing as quippy dialogue. But Golf Story is really playing into the strengths and tropes of its medium.
Tari Tari and Narrow Audiences
Anime is in a bit of a production boom at the moment, so as you might imagine, concepts can get really creative in an effort to stand out from the crowd. Like extracurricular choir.
Animal Crossing and Happy Spaces
Animal Crossing is a very mundane sort of wish-fulfillment, to be sure. But that only makes it more important.
Claymore and Tsundoku
I love Claymore so very very much. But probably I won't ever own it.
Hidamari Sketch x OST and Background Music
A lot of people will swear by working to music. I've personally found "slow noise" to be the way to go, and the soundtrack(s) to Hidamari Sketch fit this job to a 'T'.
Cardcaptor Sakura and Well-Roundedness
Magical Girl anime exist in this weird space as a subgenre. On one hand, there’s a clear public conception of the sparkly, sugary-sweet Saturday-morning goodness they bring to the table. On the other hand, very few of those most recognizable to your neighbor’s mom’s cat completely line up with this conception of the genre.
Rewrite and Misconstruction
Even after Key’s writing contributions to the oddly-paced and hardly-affecting Charlotte, though, I still held out some measure of anticipation for the following season’s Rewrite. But it turns out that missing the point did the series even more damage than what repair it was positioned to do.
Final Fantasy IV-VI and Characterization
Many games were evolving the genre with the fidelity offered by the SNES, but Final Fantasy’s overwhelmingly successful reception set the tone for how JRPGs would play themselves thematically for years to come.
Vinland Saga and Embellishment
More than the harsh-but-grounded depictions of war and destitution that immediately provide it with gravity, perhaps Vinland Saga’s greatest strength as historical fiction is in its carefully-chosen boundaries with respect to how it envisions 11th-century Scandinavia and Danish England.
Hidamari Sketch and Fluff Media
Slice-of-life shows like Hidamari Sketch are in a weird position where they don’t truly have many equivalents in Western-based markets, outside of anime and manga.
Yuru Camp and Hobbyism
Among the new anime television series airing last season, my personal favorite of the bunch was something relatively understated. Yuru Camp△ exemplifies its exact niche beautifully.
Final Fantasy XV and Vision Alignment
Sidestepping the divisive highs and lows of the concept direction, narrative choices, and distribution model of Final Fantasy XV, there’s one dungeon in particular that sticks out from all the others for how it showcases the game's uniqueness. As a brief one-off, I’d like to delve into that level in particular on a point-by-point basis.
This Thing Is Neat 