I saw videos about this movie appear a couple of times in my yt home so I decided to give it a try. It has a couple of interesting subversions and I like how subtle its disturbing elements were, it clearly wasn't for me tho
I really like when a medium I'm watching cleverly hide in plain sight some twists so that once you rewatch it they are as clear as day, but for movies that doesn't apply for me strangely enough. It's absolutely more of a me problem in this case, but ye in the first watch I really didn't get anything
Also really didn't help that some of these aspects were japanese-only puns or references so I really couldn't get them without an explanation video. That being said, I appreciated how cleaverly it is in presenting the main horrific elements honestly
I got two and then watched the others externally because I didn’t really vibe that much with the gameplay and the prospect of repeating it at least other 2 times without any significant variation was a little bit too painful for me…
Yeah, I completely understand that. I got hyperfocused on it and played it all the way through to get all the endings but I don't blame anyone who didn't want to do that.
Ngl, some of them confuse me even more, like, I can understand where to put them in the timeline in a general sense but the mechanics for which a lot of stuff happens is very confusing for me currently
It's actually insane how much it improves every single thing of og F&H, while also expanding a lot the lore and creating a cast I got attached to almost immediately. VERY EASILY a contender for best game I played in the last years, I really can't wait for the next update!
Elaborating a little bit on some aspect, for starters having such a big map that with the right knowledge you can navigate as you please gives to the game almost a metroidvania kind of flavour that I ADORED, optimizing the map after the first playthrough has been satisfying beyond measure
Regarding the characters, even if at first focusing more on their interactions instead of giving the sense of isolation the first one seemed a weird jump to make, it has been cooked so well not only it doesn't bother at all, but I would go as far as to say it's one of the main selling point now
Miro is an enormous bastard (affectionate) regarding that because he made the characters so appealing that when you start to like them, he hits you with the "you have to kill ALL OF THEM to progress for the ending", and making them moonscorch doesn't soften the process AT ALL
For example, there was a moment when one of them, Marcoh, was isolated enough to kill, and when I reached him I discovered that he went in the center of the town, full of ghouls, police, and all kinds of horrible beasts, just to retrieve a wheelchair for a disable passenger. Like, COME ON
Even the story has some extremely interesting subversions that really can catch you off guard once you can understand them. A lot of details that seems irrelevant in the lore come together very nicely, it almost seems like building a puzzle at times
Very entertaining in some parts, it really helps that animations go super crazy in the last couple of seasons and that the girls are all very gay, but some of the writing choices made me more angry then I should have realistically be for a series like this ngl
Like, I usually hate the discourse about "yuri written by men" not because of the thing per se, I can understand that, but because they usually target series that really don't deserve that kind of discussion. This one tho is absolutely what those people envision a yuri written by men is lmao
Overall tho I still liked it in the end, it has enough entertainingly silly moment to make me appreciate it and it's mostly enjoyable from beginning to end, I just think my expectations were probably a little bit much for the kind of series symphogear is
Just to explain why Ver and Hibiki's father are under Adam and Fudo, I think as characters they are slightly less awful than the latter two, but the sole fact that the writers had the GALL of giving them a redemption arc makes me angry
I expected a lot worse considering the incipit, but it was surprisingly interesting as a horror movie and had a couple of very clever ideas and setting ups. Also the fact that an hypotetical debunk created more tension than any paranormal phenomena was an unexpected twist
I really can't wait for the next episodes to release, the writing was phenomenal from start to finish with a lot of interesting twists and even the less flashed out characters were compelling in their own way
Ok also I was about to forget, I want to add the music to my playlists, I was vibing quite literally the whole time. There aren't a lot but they all go insanely hard
Damn finally a good Alien since idek how much time, a very good time overall and I like it has returned a lot to the origin, tho it's also a little bit sad for that (still after seeing how the other "experimental" stuff went this is light years better)
Like, the movie really feels a big deja vu of a lot of aspects from previous parts of the series (ex. the tight corridors of Alien 1, the organic structures of Aliens, the hybrid human-xenomorph of Alien 4), but I feel like it's not a lot more interesting outside of that
So what I'm trying to say is that this movie clearly had the goal of being the textboook definition of a very good classic Alien (and it absolutely succed) but outside of that is not THAT interesting. It has good execution but it's also super safe so idk
Incredible story about generational trauma and abandonment. I was really surprised about how heavy its themes are and how explicitly they are represented, for being a 15 hours experience there is sooo much going on it's just impressive
Music was super good, same for the animation style, I just wished there were more episodes... this anime clearly deserved another season and probably the writers had to condense everything in a few episodes, but it ended up ruining it a little bit for me ngl
[biased ninamomo liker voice] it just felt like it had so much gas building up to episode 8 and then after that kinda fumbled around with what to do on its band plotline after that with the agency and such. not bad by any means but definitely not as magic as the earlier parts
the last part was clearly suuuuuuper rushed, especially the last couple of episodes. Hina is a big example I feel for a character they tried to set up since almost the beginning but they ended up not doing a lot with, I really wanted to see more of her instead of those couple of minutes last ep
not to mention, like, all the conflicts that were set up, each and every one of them was solved with such a rush that it wasn't that satisfying to see in the end I feel
This game fucks so much jfc both for atmosphere, sound design and general aesthetic it has so much charm. I would say the only downside was that after the first, like, 1/4th of the game everything was very easy but I didn't play the highest difficulty so idk
Shout out to Szaregon for being a frail af, all bark and no bite nerd, I defeated him in 2 TURNS and he barely scratched one of my Magos, what was his problem
I didn't expect an expansion on the level of Shadowbringers and Endwalker honestly, so in that regard my very warm expectations were fully satisfied. Even so, I'm very interested in the base they are setting up for the new narrative arc
I honestly liked a lot the idea of not having another WoL-centric expansion, I feel like it gave new characters so much more deserved attention. Of course the absolute highlights were Wuk Lamat and Sphene, even Erenville tho was a lot more interesting than I expected I'm not gonna lie
For the dub stuff I've seen a lot of drama about, it absolutely is 100% the director's fault. The english VAs are clearly skilled in their work, but the direction was super weird for some reason. Unironically I think the most unnatural one was Graha, for some reason he sounded different than usual
Comments
I saw videos about this movie appear a couple of times in my yt home so I decided to give it a try. It has a couple of interesting subversions and I like how subtle its disturbing elements were, it clearly wasn't for me tho
Loved style, atmosphere and sound design a TON, also it has lesbians in lovecraftian space horrors so I was bound to like it a lot.
That being said, I really wish I understood some parts of the story more, it’s probably on me for starting it and then dropping it for 2 months tho
It's actually insane how much it improves every single thing of og F&H, while also expanding a lot the lore and creating a cast I got attached to almost immediately. VERY EASILY a contender for best game I played in the last years, I really can't wait for the next update!
Very entertaining in some parts, it really helps that animations go super crazy in the last couple of seasons and that the girls are all very gay, but some of the writing choices made me more angry then I should have realistically be for a series like this ngl
I expected a lot worse considering the incipit, but it was surprisingly interesting as a horror movie and had a couple of very clever ideas and setting ups. Also the fact that an hypotetical debunk created more tension than any paranormal phenomena was an unexpected twist
I really can't wait for the next episodes to release, the writing was phenomenal from start to finish with a lot of interesting twists and even the less flashed out characters were compelling in their own way
I will instead complaint there is still not a phone charm of AD_84, developers what are you waiting for I love this creatura
Damn finally a good Alien since idek how much time, a very good time overall and I like it has returned a lot to the origin, tho it's also a little bit sad for that (still after seeing how the other "experimental" stuff went this is light years better)
Incredible story about generational trauma and abandonment. I was really surprised about how heavy its themes are and how explicitly they are represented, for being a 15 hours experience there is sooo much going on it's just impressive
Music was super good, same for the animation style, I just wished there were more episodes... this anime clearly deserved another season and probably the writers had to condense everything in a few episodes, but it ended up ruining it a little bit for me ngl
This game fucks so much jfc both for atmosphere, sound design and general aesthetic it has so much charm. I would say the only downside was that after the first, like, 1/4th of the game everything was very easy but I didn't play the highest difficulty so idk
The irony didn't land at least 85% of the time and too many incest jokes, some episodes were actively painful to watch jfc.
Sorry but not even trans allegories can save this (Bashame was cool tho, she should have been the protagonist)
I didn't expect an expansion on the level of Shadowbringers and Endwalker honestly, so in that regard my very warm expectations were fully satisfied. Even so, I'm very interested in the base they are setting up for the new narrative arc