I'm David, welcome to my brain. Here I write to not only show that I can but to share my opinions on various topics. Mostly Video Games, Anime, Movies and Tokusatsu. Though I am open to suggestions and never afraid to admit when I'm wrong. Have a good time in here and be sure not to mess with my memory, it's bad enough as it is.
Showing posts with label Gangs of New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gangs of New York. Show all posts
Well apparently this is finally happening, with this and this mobile game getting an anime adaptation I think it's time for me to get serious about covering the spin-off mangas again. Especially considering that some of the characters introduced in these books; including Kazumi, Oriko, Yuma etc are involved in this game I figure that I need to get back to work. While this series doesn't feature any new characters it does ask a question that most fans have been asking once they learned about Homura's time travel powers. "What if Homura took Madoka back in time with her before she made the contract?" This story attempts to answer that but honestly kind of stumbles with the response. We open with the familiar scene of Homura getting her ass kicked by Walpurgisnacht when Madoka says that she's going to make her wish. But this time Homura has a revelation, so she grabs Madoka for a hug and takes her with her back through time.
"The f**k just happened?!"
Homura wakes up in the usual hospital room and thinks to herself why she did what she did.
So you didn't even know it would work?! DUMBASS!!! It honestly wouldn't surprise me if Madoka accidentally let go, got stranded in the feudal era and had to hitch a ride back with the Dende-damned Ninja Turtles, gold star thinking right here.
But thankfully Madoka was still in school when Homura came inside the class and best of all her theory worked!
Insert FF victory Fanfare music here, you can choose which one you want.
The two bolt for the nurses office and along the way Homura starts to chew Madoka out for nearly making the wish, but Madoka suggests that with her future knowledge she can help Homura save Mami, Kyoko and Sayaka.
"Hey Madoka how many fingers am I holding up? That's the exact amount of craps I give about these two, ya dingus."
But since Madoka has her future knowledge she can back up Homura's arguments to the three to help keep them alive; she figures that it could work and agrees.Later on Madoka and Sayaka head for the music store and she waits for Kyubey's telepathic plea for help. She does hear him but he catches her off guard by telling her to meet him where they first met. So she heads to the construction area where Kyubey and Homura are waiting for her. He explains that when Homura took Madoka back through time Kyubey managed to grab on and so he retained his memories of the last time line too. Kyubey says that he's all for their plan of changing the future but the two aren't stupid and dispute his crap; but they do still need the proper events to play out before they can be changed so Homura knows exactly what to do next.
"Did you just spin kick him? I know right, I always wanted to do that. Please don't do it again. My body, my rules!"
Right on cue Sayaka shows up, uses the fire extinguisher on Homura, they end up in Gertrude's Labyrinth and get attacked by the most iconic familiars in the franchise aka the demon mustaches!
Madoka knows the drill they get attacked, Mami saves them, brings them into the Magical Girl training course blah blah blah. She saves them and the first chapter ends with Kyubey swearing to make Madoka into a magical girl this time. Chapter 2 starts with Mami about to transform but not before Madoka jumps to give her a big big hug. After the familiars are dealt with Homura asks if Mami's all right. But Mami quite blatantly tries to play it cool, essentially "nope nope it's all good here everything's under control here, now; how're you?"
Till next time Batman Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
Afterwords Madoka tells Homura that events played out pretty much like before except that Kyubey covered for Madoka's slip of the tongue as an attempt for the two to trust him, but they're still not buying it. While Madoka gushes over seeing Mami in action again with hindsight Homura brings the mood down by reminding her that when she fights Charlotte at the hospital she's doomed. While Madoka does suggest keeping Mami from fighting it Homura reminds her that unless the witch is dealt with the hospital will become her buffet table. So she plans on beating Mami to the punch to save her from the witch, but there is a tiny, tiny white problem. THEY DISCUSS THIS PLAN WITH THE WHITE DEMON RAT RIGHT BEHIND THEM!!!
So of course on the next day when the Grief Seed is ready to hatch Mami shows up almost instantly to follow Sayaka into the Labyrinth. Because a little white rat told her where it would be, and more as showcased when she tries to use her ribbon lock trick on Homura.
What?! How can she move within the frozen time?!
Mami then engages Homura and manages to overpower her with another trick she stole from another hero.
"Dai Kaigan, Nobunaga, Omega Drive!"
She manages to jam Homura's shield with her ribbon bullets and lock her up as usual.
Laugh it up fuzz ball. Wait a minute if Incubators don't have emotions don't you all think him being so prideful is more than a tad odd?
Kyubey tells Mami to finish Homura off but of course she won't and brushes it off. But when Homura tries to warn her she just walks off with Madoka. Even when Madoka tries to tell Mami her ego is so inflated by Kyubey and her victory against Homura she refuses to listen.
She's so freaking dead.
So chapter 2 ends with Mami and Madoka making it to Sayaka, Charlotte appears and Madoka swearing to herself that she'll save Mami no matter what. Chapter 3 opens with Mami fighting Charlotte and going as usual, while that's going on Homura struggles to break free when Kyubey comes around to gloat some more. He says that he's here to free Homura so she can save Mami. Homura of course asks why the hell he would, he responds that with Mami dead her overall goal would be far more difficult. So she drops a hunting knife from her hammer-space shield so he can cut her down.
Gee, it's almost as if Kyubey was an untrustworthy character or something.
Back to the main fight it looks like Mami's about to have her head bitten off like an animal cracker. Madoka however, dives towards Mami and saves her. She creates a barrier around Sayaka and Madoka and goes after Charlotte again with a clear mind and no distractions. She notices the regeneration trick so she forces Charlottes' mouth open and teaches it a very important lesson. That, no matter what time line, universe or bra size there is always one constant.
That's when Homura and Kyubey arrive (Homura says a normal knife wouldn't be enough to kill her but he still could have just climbed up and broke your Soul Gem dumbass!) But that gives Charlotte the opportunity it needed to kill Mami. And Homura couldn't have stopped time to get her out of the way because? Oh right this now an idiot plot never mind. So our chapter ends with Homura killing Charlotte, taking her Grief Seed and telling Sayaka that it only belongs to Magical Girls.
Gee, its almost as if this whole situation could have been prevented if if you stopped time to survey the situation instead of barging in and potentially distracting Mami OH WAIT!! And yes I will ride your ass on this, Phrasing!
So those were the first 3 chapters of Homura's revenge. For those who don't want to have the rest of the story spoiled here's my overall thoughts. The artwork is pretty damn good, there's much more attention to detail in the backgrounds this time with the artist managing to replicate the looks of the witches and Labyrinths pretty well. The humans also look cute and distinctive; looking pretty close to their anime depictions though with a different design for the eyes. I'm not sure what it is maybe they're just more expressive or the faces are slightly different but it is pretty damn close. The story however is where it has its faults. For those who've read this; the first two chapters are more leaning towards this being a comedy. But right when chapter 3 comes around the tone changes with a rather distinctive clunk. With that change the characters actions will have to be put under more scrutiny. As such almost everyone is acting like an idiot, specifically Homura, she Madoka and Kyubey know what will happen in a months time yet she openly discusses her plans with Madoka right in front of the creature trying to undermine her plans. Like I said before this has become an idiot plot and it only gets worse from here.
But if you want to see for yourselves here's the Amazon link.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica Homura's revenge is owned by, Masugitsune/ Kawazukuu, Magica Quartet and Yen Press. Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record is owned by Aniplex, F4samurai and Magica Quartet. Dragon Ball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT and Dragonball Super is owned by Funnimation, Toei animation, Fuji TV and Akira Toriyama. Dragon ball Z abridged and Hellsing Ultimate Abridged is owned by Team Four Star. Gangs of New York is owned by Martian Scorsese, Initial Entertainment Group, Alberto Grimaldi Productions, and Miramax Films. Nostalgia Critic is owned by Doug Walker and Channel Awesome. Hellsing Ultimate is owned by Kouta Hirano, Studio Madhouse, Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment, Geneon and Funimation. Hellsing Ultimate Abridged is owned by Team Four Star.
Please be sure to read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.
So now it's time for Naoya and his group to begin their assault on the three towers. You can start on any one you choose but for now we'll start from the easiest tower to the hardest so the first on the list is Hypnos Tower which you can find in the Fencing Club. But before you go inside here's a very important warning, once you go inside a tower there's no save points, you either die against the demons inside or you beat the guardian, there's no two ways about it. You can quick-save however so if you're smart with computers the "you can't save" thing should be no problem. Just make a copy of your current quick save so that once you die you can just upload the copied save and you're good to go.
Remember, second star to the right and straight on till morning.
The tower itself as said holds the weakest demons in the Snow Queen quest so the teams initial Personas and the others you create should help carry you through, but if not the towers always have Stores and Velvet Rooms. Also keep in mind that the three towers are on a one hour time limit, but that's only in the dungeon itself in the first person view mode. If you're in the Shops, Velvet Room, pause menu or in a 3rd person view room the clock stops so you aren't on as much of a time crunch as you think. Once the team makes it to the third floor however the gang finds Tamaki, Tatsumi and the Nurse asleep and stuck in a dream.
Thankfully they're not being attacked by Freddy Krueger, but them asleep in a castle surrounded by demons is hardly better, but no matter what Naoya tries the three can't wake up. Along the way the group finds Hanya (remember him?) as well as Ooishi stuck in the same prolonged slumber. So once the group is forced to pass them over they find a secluded room which leads to the Dream World. With this they can pull a Part 3 and enter the dreams of the victims and wake them up so they can get to relative safety. Philemon however warns that the five are under the spell of Hypnos of the Fortune Arcana, the Persona of the Tower's guardian Kumi Hirose.
The Personification of sleep in Greek Mythology and is a son of Nyx, the Goddess of the night alongside his brothers Moros and Thanatos.
Philemon further explains that the group has two options, either go inside the Dream World and awaken the people there or continue and defeat Hypnos and his Master. Either option is viable but he also reminds them that they have a time limit. So the choice is either go off the beaten path and save the five or ignore the Dream World and stop the sleep spell at the source. Of course the gang can't just leave the five asleep in a demon infested Tower so they go with door #2.
Inside they find the five stuck in their respective dreams/ nightmares and awaken them. But they also find Kumi as well with Hypnos. Brown and Ayase think that she's a student since she's wearing the St Hermelin uniform but she spills the beans that she's one of the Snow Queen's guardians. Elly points out that with her power Kumi could easily kill them so why would she go through all the trouble of just putting her victims to sleep? She then gives her back story that at school her classmates at the Drama club would give her grief over her supposed lack of commitment to the club and at home her parents would berate her for not getting every exam exactly right. But instead of defending herself she just let herself be pushed around and was finally convinced by the Snow Queen Mask to kill herself so she could stay in the safety of the Dream World forever.
The gang has the appropriate response, to call her out on her crap by saying that instead of growing a spine, being honest with herself and sticking up for her self she became someone just as much of a monster as those she's demonized. Whenever she has a problem she blames it on someone else behind their back like a coward. She's like if George McFly never got the cajones to punch out Biff at the dance so he instead takes out his frustration on his family. With this she snaps and Hypnos offers to attack the group.
However Yukino calls their bluff and points out that if they're in the dream world then the two are just parts of the real Kumi's dream and that the real one is somewhere else in the Tower. So they pinch her awake and the two vanish. The group then goes back to where the other five were sleeping to check if they're okay. They are and have a gift for the five. Hanya (after getting chewed up and spat out like a piece of gum by Ayase and given the death stare from Ooishi) gives the group a Mirror Shard. When the group checks up on Tamaki and Tatsumi they have a Shard to give them as well bringing their count to two. The Nurse however has nothing to give but hey I guess a good dead is it's own reward.
With two shards in their possession the gang makes their way to the top of the Tower where they find Kumi who is not happy with them crashing in on her dream like that and sends Hypnos to attack them. Hypnos can be a major hassle, especially if you did pinch Kumi and woke her up. The only attack to worry about is his Dark Slumber which can not only hit everyone for major damage but also has the potential to put everyone to sleep. Once pretty boy is down for good Kumi admits that she was weak and wishes she was as strong as they are so that she wouldn't have succumbed to the mask. Elly tells her that because she admitted her weakness, she's no longer weak, and with that Kumi gives them a Mirror Shard and passes on to the afterlife.
One tower down two more to go. But before you do there is another area called Devil's Peak. This area is composed of several floors which can only be accessed when a tower is conquered which can make for a great place to grind levels, spell cards and Personas. Now on to the library where you found Elly which holds the door to the second tower, Nemesis Tower.
Well on the bright-side they might get some help from Venturestein and U.R.G.H.
However they instead have to deal with something far worse then an army of scientific abominations who practice Guevara Marxism. The tower's guardian Michiko Matsudaira.
I really hate to use this next clip but here it is anyway.
Nope it's just a warthog in women's clothing. She makes that abundantly clear as she is a completely sadistic and narcissistic egomaniac who looks down on the group and later on takes pleasure in torturing those she deems ugly. I'd put her on the Bastometer but like another bloated disgusting warthog of recent memory I will do the greatest insult and refuse to give her any form of attention beyond acknowledging them for the purposes of this review. In her egomania Michiko removes the time limit of her tower. Though of course there is a catch as the group sees on the third floor, where they find Toro and Tsutomu being tortured, Tsutomu being forced to do push ups on a bed of spikes and Toro being essentially waterboarded with Milk, and he's lactose intolerant.
Michiko appears again and offers the group a choice, take the door on the left which will take them to her floor lickedy split so they can get the key to free the two or take the door on the right which will not only give them a Mirror Shard but will also tell them Michiko's weakness. However that particular path is very long which means the two will be tortured for that much longer. So the gang refuses to fall for Michiko's trap and take the short route right to her chamber. She's flabbergasted that they would choose their friends over the Shard and hint. Also her Persona draws power from negative emotion so if the group wasted time while Toro and Tsutomu were being tortured she would get even stronger.
But if you took the fastest way and got there under 20 minutes she would be at her weakest form. Nevertheless she transforms into her Persona, Nemesis of the Justice Arcana.
The Greek goddess of divine retribution against those who've succumbed to arrogance and pride. She is also the daughter of Erebus and Nyx.
Even if you managed to get there between 20 minutes and 1 hour she's still weaker then Hypnos. The only thing you have to worry about is her Maziodyne and Revenge Leak attack which attacks everyone with heavy electrical damage and deals non elemental damage to one party member respectively. With her down she starts going on about how everyone was so jealous of her because all she did was bribe her way to becoming the Snow Queen, bribe her teachers to get the best grades and have a girl who was hanging around her boyfriend expelled.
So then Pumbaa gets dragged to hell and the gang gets another shard bringing their count to four now. As well as a piece of Ambrosia which I will address next time. Once the gang makes it back to the frozen school they find Toro and Tsutomu who thank the group for saving them from the bitch queen and give them two Mirror Shards, bringing their count to six. Last but not least is Classroom 2-1 which leads to the worst tower of them all; Thanatos Tower.
The only place in the collective unconsciousness that could contain Seto Kaiba's ego without creating an imbalance in the universe; unleashing said ego as a demon that's essentially a Super powered Donald Trump.
All joking aside this tower is going to be the bane of your existence in this game. Not only because it holds the strongest demons aside from the Ice Castle but also because if a party member dies they can't use their Persona unless you go all the way down to the second floor and retrieve said Persona from Tartarus. Also the time limit is back so not only do you have to climb all the way to the top, get the rest of the Mirror Shards, avoid having your party members die but you have to do all this crap within a 2 hour time limit. You're gonna die, a lot.
So we start off at the bottom where we meet the last of the guardians, Yuriko Yamamoto and user of Thanatos of the Death Arcana.
Thanatos is the harbinger of peaceful death in Greek Mythology and is the elder twin brother of Hypnos and son of Nyx.
She's definitely an odd duck as she acts so over the top cutesy that reading her lines is like inhaling Pixie sticks. She goes on to say that the way to open the first door is to just blow out a candle, that's it. What she doesn't tell you is that by doing so revokes either Naoya or Yukino's Persona powers. She says that her tower runs on give or take, can't get without giving something in return in this case their other life, their Persona. So the gang has no choice but to make the trip to Tartarus on the second floor.
Tartarus isn't all that bad though since you can pick up 4 count em 4 Mirror Shards in here as well as recover your Personas. Though for one of them you will have to purchase it from a girl for 5000 yen so make sure you have some cash before you come here, the rest however are just in the Skull shaped Treasure chests. Once you've gotten all the shards and Personas head to the shops on the third floor and upgrade your armor, weapons, guns and ammo because trust me you're gonna need it. Moving on, when the group reaches the 6th floor of the tower she's set up another game, there are two chests, one contains a Mirror Shard, the other will seal Ayase's Persona in Tartarus. Choose the left one get the shard giving you 11 shards and save yourself the headache and rage.
Once you climbed all the way to the top you confront Yuriko who's feeling generous and offers the group a chance to die so they can look good forever! Ayase of all people is the one to call her out saying that she's a coward for running away from her responsibilities of life, of growing up, of dying and that's like so not righteous with her. So Yuriko drops the act and transforms into Thanatos to fight the group. She's a problem, not only does her attacks hurt like a jackhammer on your kneecap but she also has six tentacles to back her up which comes in two sets of three each set having different elemental weaknesses and each tentacle has 980 HP. Thanatos herself is a whole other set of problems, she has two; count em two instant death moves as well as the Slumpa skill which makes her opponents unlucky and more susceptible to status effects as well as instant death skills.
Also when you beat her she transforms into a floating eye ball that while it has much less HP then her normal form has only a tiny more HP then a tentacle as well as only casting Hell Eyes one of her 1 hit kill moves. The group manages to beat her, to her gratitude as she breaks down sobbing over her foolish mistake of letting the Snow Queen kill her just for eternal beauty and giving up her friends, family and her own mortality. She thanks them from the bottom of her heart and gives them the last Shard and a piece of Ambrosia before passing on to the afterlife. Now that the mirror is completely restored it's time to save Ms Saeko from the Snow Queen once and for all.
Shin Megami Tensai Persona is owned by Atlus and Sega. Batman: The Animated Series is owned by Dc Comics, Warner Brothers and Paul Dini. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is owned by Wes Craven, Heron Communications, Smart Egg Pictures and New Line Cinema. The Lorax (Film) is owned by Universal Studios, Illumination Entertainment and Chris Renaud. Gangs of New York is owned by Martian Scorsese, Initial Entertainment Group, Alberto Grimaldi Productions, and Miramax Films. South Park is owned by Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Comedy Central.
