Wulff

http://www.dota2.com/reborn/part1/

My personal favourite is to build flat health items on agility cores, love that meme - goddamn.

"Ore Monogatari" is probably the sweetest anime I've seen since Usagi Drop.

Armed with plenty of spare time and the sudden urge to voice my anime opinions I'm gonna go ahead and write a bit about the anime "Parasyte: The Maxim" or "Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu". I watched the anime from start to finish a couple of months ago, with no prior knowledge of the series (which is based on an original manga of the same name). The only thing I did know before watching, was that literally every single person I knew who had seen the anime or read the manga really liked it.

Now usually I get wary when a lot of people tell me they enjoy something within the anime nation, because the unfortunate truth is that most anime fans find regurgitated, otaku-pandering, slice of life anime with cute moe girls furiously chowing down cake to be "good". But I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Parasyte is in fact deserving of the praise it gets!

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So just to sum up the anime very shortly:

The viewer enters the life of "Izumi Shinichi" a 17 year-old Japanese high schooler. A quiet and timid young man with geeky interests and a bit of a socially awkward guy. He lives with his parents in a cozy house in the suburbs and is just trying to get through life with as little trouble as possible. He has relations with a young woman from his school named "Satomi Murano", they're "kinda-sorta" a couple, as they very clearly have feelings for each other, but being the typical JAPANESE YOUTH that they are, they have some troubles getting their feelings out in the open.

One night while Shinichi is sleeping, a strange looking larva creature enters his room through an open window. No bigger than a couple of centimeters, the creature scurries up Shinichi's body and attempts to enter his ear canal. Unfortunately for this creature, Shinichi is wearing earbuds, as he had been listening to music before falling asleep. While attempting to find an alternate way into Shinichi's body, the creature's scurrying wakes the sleeping boy, who immediately freaks out. A short battle ensues and left with no other option, the worm burrows directly into his arm. In a rush of clarity, Shinichi quickly wraps the cord of his headset around his arm and tightens it, preventing the creature from moving further into his body. After a short while the struggle seems to be over. Shinichi's parents rush to his room as they heard him screaming and struggling but when Shinichi tries to show the hole left from the creature who had burrowed into his arm - there is nothing. His parents write the event off as a vivid dreaming experience and tell Shinichi to get a grip.

Little does anyone know that Shinichi had just been infested by a Parasite.

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The rest of this post will contain MASSIVE SPOILERS for the anime, so please DO NOT read unless you're willing to be spoiled about basically everything!!!

I liked Parasyte, I thought it was a really good anime. The first twelve episodes are INCREDIBLY compelling. There was a clear focal point in terms of story, character development and overall theme. It had some great twists and turns and several very powerful climaxes. And that's what I will start with - The good stuff.

Animation:
Parasyte has excellent animation, there is no other way to describe it. There aren't any moments in the anime where I felt they had been skimping on the animation budget, it stays consistently crisp and pleasing to the eye from episode 1 to episode 24. Is it the best animation I've ever seen? Of course not, but in comparison to the many anime that get released which feature horrible CG and very basic frame animation, Parasyte was a definite breath of fresh air. Having the visuals be pleasing in a visual medium is satisfying as a viewer.

Story:
The story of Parasyte is very well put together for the most part. The pacing in the first half of the anime is superb and I found myself having serious trouble putting the anime down. Each episode ends on a note that just begs the viewer to watch the next part. It's interesting and this is a key word that I think is lacking in the story development of many current anime. The episodes are well put together, the revelations, climaxes and downtime flow naturally. It's almost like the series composition manager was good at his/her work or something.

Characters:
This is it. This is where Parasyte shines the brightest. I am in love with (almost) every single character introduced in this anime. Shinichi, his parents, Migi, Kana, Reiko - the list goes on. Do you know why I am "in love" with these characters? Because they feel real. It's just so refreshing to see characters that are actually 3-dimensional in terms of their personality instead of just cardboard cutouts of various anime tropes. The development that Shinichi goes through in the first half of the anime is fucking stellar! Him coming to terms with Migi, his inner debate on what he should do with himself, the confrontation with his parasite-infested mother (This part is especially good), his development both physically and mentally after Migi acts as a surrogate heart for him, the strained relationship with Murano, being in the position of the "pained protector" as he wants to stay near his friends and family to defend them from parasites, while also acknowleding that he himself is a parasite and thus represents a threat to them on his own and finally there is the death of Kana. Goddamn that hit home. It's SO good.

And not just Shinichi, Migi is one of the most interesting characters to come out of anime as far as I am concerned, not to mention the more cerebral parasite, Reiko, and it's struggle to come to terms with parasites place in the human world and the human child it ends up giving birth to. Kana is a character that I also really enjoyed, a delinquent girl involved with some questionable types with a low-powered ESP ability to sense parasites, even though she doesn't know what she is sensing. Her belief that Shinichi is her soulmate (because she can sense Migi in his body) and her ultimate fate, fuck me it's good.

This is where my praise for the anime ends and where my ranting about the things I disliked begins. Basically all of my complaints start in the second half of the anime, following the death of Kana.

What sucks about Parasyte?

My biggest problem with this anime is that it kinda loses focus in the second half. Things start moving a lot of quicker in comparison to the first half and many of the events feel really... Uninteresting? In particular, I dislike the part of the story that focuses on the government issued branch of special forces who are tasked with hunting down the parasites. The confrontation in the government building lacks impact, because the characters involved have barely had any screentime prior to this event. When it's revealed that the mayor, who everyone assumed was a parasite, was actually just a human who had sided with the parasites, it felt like it was supposed to be a big deal. The way it was presented made it feel like it was some sort of major plot twist... And I guess it was, I just had a hard time giving a shit, considering the character had like 20 minutes of screentime during the entire anime and maybe 15 lines of dialogue.

Oh and don't even get me started on the "showdown" between Shinichi and the character "Gotou". Admittedly I think the concept of Gotou (One body shared by half a dozen parasites for crazy combat ability) was cool, but it just feels so out of place to me. Here we have an anime where the story, characters and themes are overwhelmingly focused on humanity and what it means to be a human vs. what it means to be a parasite and now suddenly we're in the fucking mountaints fighting some parasitic super-beast? Not to mention that the death of Migi was an extremely underwhelming scene. And the event that followed after that point, where Shinichi was given refuge by some random-ass old lady, was so out of place that it actually made me angry while watching it.

It's not like the second half of the series was devoid of memorable moments. The death of Tamiya Reiko was a super good scene, for example. It's just that in comparison to the first half, the good moments of the second half were far and few between.

At least the ending was somewhat satisfactory, with Migi entering the next stage of his evolution by hibernating. It makes sense from the parasites viewpoint as they were currently being hunted to extinction by the government.

 

Overall Parasyte: The Maxim is a great anime. It goes places where most anime don't tend to tread and because of that it ends up feeling fresh and interesting. Great characters combined with a compelling story and praiseworthy pacing makes it easily one of the "must-watch" anime of 2014/15. The anime is not without issues, but the good outweighs the bad by far and if you're looking for a mature and compelling story with a bit horror and a bit of action - you should watch Parasyte: The Maxim.

​I haven't watched any Egoraptor content in years so I don't even know who 80% of these people are but I didn't think any of them were particularly insufferable. I know having them start at level 90 instead of level 1 is kinda the gimmick of the show and to prevent it from dragging on for too long, but I really think this Ross(?) person who is the seemingly experienced WoW player is stupid

Why give them a fucking lore explanation about a franchise that they obviously haven't cared about for at least 10 years? Why not just spend some time explaining the base mechanics of the game? Part of World of Warcraft's charm is that Azeroth is a massive open world with lots of interesting zones, locales and secrets. They were having fun when they realized they could take to the skies and explore the surrounding forest, why not just let them do that for the first session? Let them explore the world, see the cities, see the zones?

Instead they're being tugged along by this guy who's done it all four times before and seems to be more interested in herding them through questlines which they get no chance to associate themselves with. Why don't they get to make their own characters? A big part of WoW's longevity is also attachment to your personally customized avatar. Why not just start them off at level 1 where the amount of abilities they've got is manageable? Where they're dealing damage in the tens instead of the thousands, where they can find a sense of progression as their character class unlocks new abilties, specializations and talents as they level up.

My immediate assumption would be because it can add some easy "funny moments" by having them all dive headfirst into high tier levelling when they don't have a clue about what their class does and as I said in the first paragraph, it's less time consuming. But really though the "WOW LOOK AT ALL THESE SPELLS I DON'T KNOW WHAT DO IMMA CAST THEM RIGHT NOW" and "WHAT'S HAPPENING I DON'T UNDERSTAND VIDEO GAMES HAHA", with Ross resting his face in his palms in frustration got fucking stale after five minutes. Who can blame them though when they're being handheld through a game they clearly have 0 interest in and the quote unquote "fun" parts were being sidelined for the sake of progressing in levels.

I don't know man, seems retarded to me.

dr paveleer im cia

http://a.pomf.se/qagibo.mp4

I'm running out of space for my fucking Immortals

​Gamebryo, Creation Engine - Whatever you choose to call it, it's basically awful.

Also it's pretty damned easy to tell that it's on Gamebryo or w/e they call that engine these days, just look at the human running animations.

EDIT: Also nice shitpost above my first post btw, love it.

Yeah the Fallout trailer was less than impressive to me.

I'm not even trying to pull the "le jaded internet fuckwit who hates modern video games Xddd" meme, I'm a big time fan of the Fallout series, I just have zero trust in Bethesda to not fuck this up. It's kinda bad when the only thing that stood out to me in the trailer was the old soundtrack and none of the new footage.

Though I will say, that it already looks a lot better aesthetically than FO3, at least this game seems to have some fucking colour.

I remain wary.

EDIT: Also it's on fucking Gamebryo. I thought we were past that.

Tracer does look like a lot of fun, it's a shame her voice makes me want to slam my head against a wall. I also really hope they do something about that gasp soundfile that triggers at several points in the game. I can't tell if it's when the player drops below 50 HP or if it's when they take a big chunk of their maximum health pool of damage, but it got really awkward in the Symmetra video, where she was taking a lot of fire while being healed by Mercy and it basically sounded like she was being dicked with the amount of gasping and groaning she was doing.

​Looks like a "hard ass game" my friend, i'm happy that you won.

A lot of questionable builds going on in that match, especially the Juggernaut and the CK. I don't know why people thinking building Moonshard before you're six-slotted is a thing. Vlads Ursa is also kinda bad in this game I mean maybe vs Witch Doctor or PA or other massive physical damage dealers, but leaving it at Morbid Mask is probably the realest build you can do.

I also fucking hate Bloodstone Axe, but hey I guess he won this one.

I think you should get another Soul Ring on Tinker, even after you finish a Bloodstone with the first one. The mana you can get from Soul Ring is insane.

Today I watched the first three episodes of "Kekkai Sensen" or "Blood Blockade Battlefront" as it's titled in English. I found the character presentation to be a bit questionable but other than that, the show has been thoroughly enjoyable so far and it has a lot of flair. I'd say people are spot on when they compare it to shows such as "Baccano!" or "Durarara!!". It's not quite the same, but the comparisons are still apt.

Love the ED too.

Will you play Dota 2 again ever in the future? Then it's worth it to grab a compendium.

Got everything but the golden AM bashers, fuck. Guess I'm sticking with my Arcs of Manta for now.

can we talk about dota memes?

this one is my favourite, it makes me roflmao every time Xddd

Hearthstone on Mobile is surprisingly fun. Pretty sure I've already played the mobile version for way longer than I ever played the desktop version. I've also drafted the shittiest Hunter deck ever in the arena, 2-3 here I come.

Boys I need an anime that will make me cry like a bitch. Tears streaming down my face, eyes puffing up, snotty nose, heart writhing in agony, post-watching depression  - the whole spiel.

Preferably not super long (<100 episodes)

For reference, the following anime have achieved this effect on me:

• Clannad: After Story
• Rurouni Kenshin OVA Tsuikohen + Seisouhen ("Samurai X" is the English title)
• Grave of the Fireflies
• A specific episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes

And the following anime have been recommended to me in the past under this same subject and while I did watch them, I did NOT enjoy them.

• Angel Beats!
• Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

Thank you.

​That's me...

I just realized I made some mistakes in the winrate rankings. Oh well, it was 3 in the morning when I did this shit. Also The Summit 3 is good entertainment, you should watch it if you can find the time.

I was bored so I stalked everyone on Dotabuff. Please bear in mind when you read these numbers that I don't know the detail of every single match. You might've had several games where you were a support Elder Titan or a support Necrophos, but I counted those heroes as non-supports. You might also have had games as mid Lina or mid Nyx, I counted those heroes as supports.

All data taken from Dotabuff, total number of games include abandons. I shaved the decimals when calculating total support games played because I am lazy. Also human error. If you really got into the nitty-gritty, your numbers would probably come out different, but not by a lot I imagine.

​

Hey kids, it's me again, back to blog about dank animaymays for all the cool kids in the club. I've been away from this board for a while, so I have a lot of shit I need to write about. First up is a long anime, so I think I'll leave my thoughts and comments on the other stuff I've been watching for another time, as this post will be very long.

Hunter X Hunter (2011)

Done and dusted, it only took me an entire month of my life to chew through the 148 episodes of this Shounen anime. Before I delve into the actual "review" part of this anime, I'll preface it by saying that Shounen anime are a bit of a mixed bag for me. In general, I consider Shounen anime to be my guilty pleasure. I absolutely love the tropes that commonly appear in Shounen, such as "The Power of Friendship" or "The villain becomes a good guy after he is defeated" and stuff like that. At the same time, I have to recognize that A LOT of Shounen anime are utter garbage. Riddled with filler, paced horribly, extremely clichéed and not to mention the absurd power-level asspulls that sometimes occur for the sake of plot convenience.

Luckily for me, Hunter X Hunter (Which will be referred to as "HxH" from now on) managed to mostly stay away from all the bullshit.

I find it difficult to properly structure a review for an anime which is as long as HxH is. I considered reviewing each arc individually, but I think that would end up being too convoluded.

Instead I'll just go ahead and say that in my opinion, HxH is very high up there in the list of Shounen anime worth your time - mainly because it actually fucking ends (Yes, I'm aware it only "ended" because it caught up to the manga and might continue in the future, but it had an ending and nothing more has been announced). HxH certainly does have pacing problems (Most of which are apparent in the second half of the Chimera Ant arc) but at least it is not bloated with dozens and dozens of filler episodes and I experienced a very fluid and pleasant sense of progression as I watched through the show.

While the cast of characters for HxH is very big, there are three characters that appear in every single arc of the show which stand out to me: Gon, Killua and Hisoka.

Gon is the main character of the show and is central to every arc of the anime. The story of HxH is about Gon's journey through the world and all the crazy things he gets caught up in. Gon is an honest, kind-hearted and good-natured young boy. If you've ever seen the original Dragon Ball series you could basically equate him to Kid Goku. He's willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, he doesn't discriminate and in general he is a very innoncent, albeit naive child. That being said, he doesn't let himself get pushed around and is more than willing to fight to the death for his friends. One of the only vices you can attribute to Gon is the fact that he is stubborn.

Killua is Gon's best friend, a silver-haired boy at around the same age as Gon. Killua is a vastly different character though. He comes from a family of assassins and he himself is a trained murderer. In many ways he is the polar oppossite of Gon. He certainly does discriminate against people, he is distrustful of everyone around him and is well aware of the potential dangers found in the world. He also has no qualms with killing people, as it is something he has done plenty in the past. He's not an evil character however. While he might have been a contract killer before meeting Gon, he has distanced himself from his family and he most certainly doesn't condone of mindless slaughter.

Finally we have Hisoka. Hisoka is an interesting character in many ways as he appears both as a villain and an ally throughout the anime. The best way to describe him would probably be "Neutral Evil" if you're familiar with alignment system. Hisoka isn't a bloodthirsty monster hellbent on laying waste wherever he might go, but he considers himself above the law and doesn't bat an eye when it comes to killing. Men, women, children, innocents of all ages, shapes and sizes: It doesn't matter to Hisoka. If they're in his way, he'll kill them. If it furthers his goals, he will kill them. Hisoka just wants to be entertained and so he travels the world looking for people strong enough to give him a run for his money in mortal combat. He has a particular eye for Gon, as Hisoka realizes the vast potential that lies within him and he holds back from killing Gon and even saves him on more than one occasion, because he wants the opportunity to fight him once he has matured.

There are many other characters I could talk about here, but these three are the most pivotal to the story and also by far the most interesting in the way their personalities play up against each other.

HxH as an anime is comprised of several arcs in varying size and intensity

Hunter Exam Arc
Zoldyck Family Arc
Heaven's Arena Arc
Yorknew City Arc
Greed Island Arc
Chimera Ant Arc
13th Hunter Chairman Election Arc

The arc I want to highlight in particular is the Chimera Ant arc, as it is probably the most discussed arc of them all. Before I started watching this anime a lot of people I talked to online told me that it was entirely worth it to watch Hunter X Hunter simply so that I would be able to watch and understand the Chimera Ant arc... and boy what an arc it was. There was an extreme sense of doom and despair to that arc, as the villains were portrayed as near unstoppable. The final showdown between the group of good guys and the group of bad guys was very intense, because I honestly had no idea who would survive and who would die. Overall, I'd dare say that the many high-points of the Chimera Ant arc really helped contribute to it being one of the most tension-filled storylines I've ever experienced in any medium - EVER.

Unfortunately the Chimera Ant arc also suffered from some issues that were not present in any previous part of the anime and those issues were pacing. I don't care what you say to me about the Chimera Ant arc, you can't get around the fact that it was paced absolutely horribly. We're talking Dragon Ball Z levels of bad pacing here. The build-up to the final confrontation was insanely long and many of the episodes were extended with meaninglesss battles between low-level villain henchmen. You could honestly have cut ~15 episodes of the Chimera Ant arc and still have maintained the same level of understanding of what was happening for the viewer. I discovered after searching around the internet, that the reason for this poor pacing, was actually because the creator and writer of the manga was struggling to continue it, which is why many plot-points were created and then forgot about or created only the receive very lackluster resolutions.

While the Chimera Ant arc had two of the most epic (in the non-ironic way) moments in the entirety of the HxH anime, I can't give it too much credit, as its pacing problems really put a damper on my viewing experience. It started out well enough and ended well enough, but the middle part leading up to the climax was a textbook example of poor story pacing. My favourite arc has to be Yorknew City.

Sadly, the final arc of the anime which contains the ending to HxH 2011 also has issues with its pacing. It does manage to create a resolution that somehow works out, but it is definitely not done as well as it could be and a lot of characters outside of the main cast are kinda left hanging in terms of closure. Which is a shame, considering how well done the anime is overall.

There are a lot of things I could say about Hunter X Hunter 2011, but I think I'll sum it up by saying that I consider this anime to be in the top-tier of battle-shounen shows, even with its pacing issues and somewhat rushed ending. If you enjoy anime such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Rurouni Kenshin, Dragon Ball/DBZ, I can't imagine you won't enjoy Hunter X Hunter. It has a great and varied cast of characters, not to mention an interesting power-level system and an extremely well-thought out world. It's an endearing and carefree action-adventure with excellent development and some very satisfying twists and climaxes.