Alastor

One last shill for Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk, which just gets better every week, I'm so unqualified to explain why this is so good, but damn it I'm going to try, because I absolutely love this series:

1) First off, at the time I hadn't seen enough episodes at the time of the previous post to get a real sample of it but one of the things this series does is every episode has a unique art style, it might be a miss sometimes for some people but I don't think there's a style I dislike, in some cases it absolutely adds to the vibes and feel of the scenes too. I believe each episode is done by a different studio? Either way, not something you'd do unless you had a lot of care for the source material

2) The OP is awesome and I think does a good job of conveying the feeling of the show, but the OST for the show is just as good but I'll refrain from posting the insert songs. The part of the OP where the characters are introduced and Gujo-senpai does her cigarette trick makes me feel like I'm in a group of friends.

3) It's secretly one of the best Yuri I've seen in a while, the relationship between Botan and Ibuki progresses in a fairly slow burn-ey manner and yet it doesn't feel like it drags or rushes out, I don't think they're ever not sincere about how they feel when they start to work it out. I dunno, it's just nice to see someone tell someone they like 'you're important to me' outright instead of freaking out for once you know?

4) This is hard to explain and is why I said I feel unqualified earlier but, I like how it's sorta' about finding enjoyment in something normal or regular, and with someone else, it's not about alcohol per se imo. But Ibuki is a massive alcohol nerd and Botan does indeed 'blossom' (read: gets a bit uninhibited, but not outrageous) when drunk and arguably wouldn't be able to open up as much with Ibuki without it, but I just like that they can savour a drink and enjoy it, having a cold one in the the Japanese summer (PTSD) down by the river, what life is all about. There's an episode where Ibuki mentions the wine warms her up from the inside and the cool air cools her down on the outside making her feel cosy as fuck and man, I felt that one.

5) It's incredibly artistic, this is part of the differing artsyles, but there are so many frames of the show I'd happily hang on my wall, it just looks gorgeous. While I'm here, yes I'm going to say the scenes are beautifully directed too, in the sense that you think 'that was a lovely moment'

6) The vibes are off the freaking charts, between the writing, the different artstyles, the drinking in a bar, there are just so many scenes where there's a relaxed silence or a strong feeling that feels palpable, not to mention the music

7) Finally, this might be a bit of an overlap, but I just like the writing a lot, I like the way people talk to each other here, have I used the word 'sincerity' yet? I'll use that now then, I like the way scenes are written, like the one in the shrine, I like the way it doesn't have really any BS that drags it down. It just feels honest. Especially considering the alcohol thing. (I've seen someone online say it glamourises alcohol, but I don't think it does, they drink like they have the tolerance of a superhuman though >_> )

Anyway, just wanted to get this off my chest, I like this more than Bocchi the Rock which was a Top 5 anime for me, no amount of bolded text and numbered paragraphs can really do justice to the feeling I have watching this really, if you get the chance I hope you'll try it, you might latch on to it the way I have but you might still enjoy it!

Maybe I've always incorrectly categorised Code Veronica as 'the Claire game' and not 'The Redfield’s game' but I never liked that Chris steals the spotlight in the second half of CV so part of me hopes she at least gets to close the new game out, but I know not everyone thinks she's the best character in the series so whatever. (Pretty damn popular I think though, despite her GLARING absence in Requiem)

Other than that, I hope we don't lose out on stuff like this in the remake with the new OTS camera

They started way too strong with Code Veronica, showed us a bunch of soulslikes (has to be the most boring genre of all time at this point, surely?) and then we got Tifa in Street Fighter 6, I don't play SF6 but I can't deny that's exciting and the FF7 Revelation stuff saved the show for me. I am super disappointed that Virtua Fighter 6's runtime was taken up showing off some shitty story mode that everyone's going to pretend to want now

New Want:

Code Veronica Remake - I love Code Veronica, and I hope this is more like Resident Evil 2 Remake than Resident Evil 3, but for now I'm just happy it exists, not sure what that stuff with the old lady was supposed to be though?

Final Fantasy VII: Revelation - I sighed hard when they said it was the most expansive open world they've done or whatever it was Matt Mercer said, but I can't deny I'm excited from the footage we got, which almost felt like a mini FF7 direct. The 'Weapons' emerging from the planet have always been the best part of the OG game for me and they seemed to have done them justice, holy shit just seeing Ruby Weapon made me hyped as fuck. They also showed a Job System which is quite frankly, insane for a combat system that is already pretty damn fun, Vincent looked every bit as cool as I'd hoped for and Cid looked like Cid(:shrug:)

If they open world isn't another Chadley Quest Simulator, then fine, but weall know it'll have something like that right? Just please tone that shit down.

I was damn near ready to start a Platinum Trophy run on FF7 OG on the PS5 and then I thought…maybe I should play the Remakes again once more?

Yeah I've tried playing more and even a little bit is painful for me so I really might have to drop this, as amusing as it is to count the individual pixels on the walls it gets harder to do so when your eyelids pool up with blood. 😬

Fair play for the attempt I suppose, the port that is not me trying to play it. The PS1 version of Doom was the one that changed the atmosphere from 'rip and tear' to a more atmospheric affair right? Sounds cool.