the second eyelids » rant

Japanese games not being kept Japanese

ilifin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:24:36 +0000

Milling around lately on the great Internet is the news of the new Star Ocean 4 game, coming out this month, having de-animefied the game and changed the menus and whatnot. Also, there's no original dub track from the Japanese release and thus only an awful excuse for an English dub will be available instead. I assisted my housemate in wrapping up his copy of Infinite Undiscovery and returning it to the gamestore. We screamed as the voiceactors in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 opened their mouths. I really, really don't like dubs. And I can't play the non-dubs unless I import Japanese consoles.

For games like Tales of the Abyss, where I have use for the terminology the translators there used, I have soft-modded my PS2 with a networking adapter and a huge IDE harddrive in it. Works like a charm with HDLoader and I play an UNDUB of Tales of the Abyss. I didn't have the need for this with one of my favorite games, Eternal Sonata, where the game itself came with a Japanese language option. My XBOX 360 is European, which means all the games are usually in English since region codes prevent me from getting Japanese games. And because of this, I had hopes for Namco Bandai, who started out so well on the 360 with Eternal Sonata. Come Tales of Vesperia, and the North American release doesn't have a Japanese language option. I hold my hopes high as I wait for the Asian English release to possibly have it - no luck there either. And this game doesn't even have a European release slated yet! With both Tales of Vesperia and Star Ocean 4 probably only having shitty dubs - and both games I would really like to play - chances are I won't even play them. Until I get my hands on a Japanese 360, as these dubs are just plain awful and hurt my ears, and thus also ruin my experience with the game.

So I'm asking whoever's reading this - are there any good current generation games like Eternal Sonata out there - without awful English dubs, that keep the Japanese dialogue? I think Lost Oddysey has kept it, but if there's two games in the pool of many, I'm sad that we're not even being offered the ability to get the original audio as downloadable content at least. I'd pay full price for the game and half the original price on top of that just to get the original audio. Please, Namco Bandai, pretty please!

Nijuu-Mensou no FFFFFFFFF

ilifin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:58:14 +0000

I was forced to watch yet another episode of the story of Hirano Aya still not being able to voiceact properly in an anime about a boring girl. Episode 21 felt like an ending to the show, FINALLY, yet there's an episode 22. I don't even... this show has again and again frustrated me with how it was damned cool with a really cool concept from the first few, is it five episodes? And then they just killed the cool crew Chiko hang out with. And the whole concept of a gang of thieves doing ridiculous thefts like in say - Ocean's Eleven - just vanished, and Chiko met up with all kinds of fucked up characters and especially that goddamned annoying maid and COITUS SHUNKA. Akechi was cool though. But I hated that fake detective with my every being and you were supposed to feel for this guy and sister complex.

And then it just went down the drain, really. Characters modifying their bodies, a mecha woman lusting for OJISAN, some other weirdo that looked just like the mecha woman lusting for OJISAN and those fucking kids and then the doc has molded himself into OJISAN? Topple all that with that song Hirano Aya so wonderfully fails at singing and then they're making Ion Cannns and I don't know anymore. I can't wait for episode 22 so I can finally say I managed to watch through this show and that I can rate it so low that I will forget it existed and announce how it managed to be worse than Evangelion. And from my point of few, that is a seriously major feat - and Evangelion doesn't even have Hirano Aya!

My XBox 360 is fixed; a new challenger appears

ilifin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:59:47 +0000

I got my 360 back yesterday. I also confirmed the imminent death of my PC the same day, as if though the 360 decided that it now wants attention instead. I am now saving up funds to get a new one since I can't be arsed to get a new PSU for the old hog. The 360 did work just fine though, since I finally was able to play through the Mirror's Edge demo, which was the initial cause of the crashing before Fallout 3 did the death strike.

Question now is whether I play or whether I do something else.

I still don’t like Hirano Aya

ilifin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:50:26 +0000

My housemate saw Yes Man this weekend, and confronted me on my thoughts on the acting history and hilariousness of Jim Carey. I presented my point of view where I laugh well at his roles where he is allowed to do his batshit thing where he just goes all the way out with his faces and weird remarks and whatnot, especially in cases like Ace Ventura and The Mask. However in cases like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, what were they thinking? Putting a leash on Jim Carey isn't how you do it, you rather take a different actor. By returning him to his glory in the Yes Man, my housemate was as happy for this as I would have been if I got to see Hirano Aya do her thing again.

So I think this is the case with my misgivings with Hirano Aya too. I'm so pleased with her roles as Haruhi and Konata, that hearing her earlier roles and more recent roles just seems so wrong. I can understand the seiyuu market in Japan where you have to take every season to make a living, yet while being a seiyuu doesn't really pay your bills - and at the same time I can see that there aren't enough explosive types of characters out there to use her on - she's getting roles she's not really fit for. I'm not really one to say here, but I don't think she's really liking these roles, is she? With her success using her explosive voice she can't be all to pleased with getting shit roles like Minato in Akasaka, Ayumi in Hyakko or goddamned Polka in Eternal Sonata. Can't you just let her do her side-jobs instead, Japan? Please don't ruin more characters by not letting Hirano Aya do her thing. Other seiyuus can do better, and riding on her popularity will just last you that long.