Overall Rating:

Publisher: ADV Films
Running Time: 100 min
MSRP: 29.98
Ratio: 1.33:1
Region: 1
Release Date: 10/18/2005

If you haven’t guessed from the title, Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok is (very loosely) based on Norse mythology. Odin has become so irritated with trickster god, Loki, he’s banished him to Earth (Midgard). Now trapped in the body of a small boy, he and companion, Yamino, open a detective agency and pursue cases involving the supernatural.

Episode one opens with Mayura, a high school student obsessed with mysteries and the supernatural. She’s heard the old clock tower is haunted and heads out in the middle of the night to investigate. Sure enough, she finds a freaky looking doll that can talk to her and takes it home with her. The next day, she calls up her friends to brag about her new find with visions of fame dancing through her head. Unfortunately, before she can show it to anyone, a cat grabs the doll and jumps out the window, leaving Mayura to hunt the entire day for her new toy.

As she combs through town, she comes across Loki’s detective agency and stops inside. While Loki and Yamino don’t actually agree to help, they do some investigating on their own, and the three are soon reunited at the clock tower where Mayura is in danger. Here, the formula for upcoming episodes begins – something or someone of a supernatural nature causes trouble. Mayura gets caught up in it and Loki and Yamino must save her.

In later episodes, we are introduced to Thor, who has also been banished to Midgard and although ordered to kill Loki, forms a loose alliance with him and Heimdall, another god from Asgard who’s out to kill Loki for taking his eye. Each has certain powers though they seem to be limited by their human bodies.

While the storylines are somewhat cliche, this anime has the cuteness factor going for it. I really enjoyed all the characters’ personalities and want to know more about Loki and Yamino. Mayura is extremely cute and, while she does border on annoying at times, she never quite crosses that line. Thanks to an in depth look into her past in episode 4, we get a great motivator for why she is so obsessed with being a detective. This episode really humanized her for me and gave me hope that the rest of the series will explore the motivations and emotions of other characters.

As mentioned previously, this anime is very loosely based on Norse mythology. Loki is nothing like how I’d expect the Norse character to act. He genuinely seems concerned about Mayura and sincere in questioning why after so long, Odin would come after him. I wonder if later episodes will present is more playful side.

Narugami as Thor is entertaining in the show, but again, nothing like how I picture Thor. It’s difficult to believe that the mighty warrior would be neurotic about keeping a part time job. I do, however, like that they threw in the Heimdall/Loki conflict in the first few episodes. According to Norse mythology, these two gods slay one another at Ragnarok so it will be interesting to see if this rivalry plays out in a similar fashion.

So far, the anime has a lot going for it. From these episodes, we still have no idea why Loki was banished and why Odin now wants him dead. We know that some time ago, Loki took Heimdall’s eye and now he wants revenge. And we know that Odin asked Thor to kill Loki but doesn’t feel he has a good enough reason to do so.

Still, just from watching these episodes, I still have no idea where this anime is going. I’d definitely continue watching this for the characters, but having watched four episodes, I’d like to have some type of story or at least an interesting hook introduced and I don’t feel I’m walking away with that.

Audio/Visual:

My Rating:
I watched this dvd primarily in English. There’s a lot of dialog to this show, but I thought the English cast did a wonderful job of capturing the emotions and personality of the characters. The music is moody and adds to the mysterious atmosphere of the anime.

Visually, this anime looks great, which a vibrant color palette and some interesting animation effects. In the first episode, for instance, whenever Loki senses spirit activity around Mayura, the screen goes grainy. They characters have a traditional yet detailed feel to them while other visuals in the show are striking. In one episode about a possessed doll, just looking at that doll would freak anyone out. She has a lifelike yet otherworldly characteristic to her face.

They do recycle a number of scenes, however. For instance, Loki calls his mythical crescent staff in virtually every episode and you get that magical boy transformation sequence every time. Is that really necessary?

Packaging:

My Rating:
The cover has a lovely illustration of Loki holding his crescent shaped staff and looking very sad. He is framed by golden leaves surrounding a green trimmed window. The logo appears prominently as a crest of arms in the bottom center. On the back, there are six screen shots adorning the right side. A brief summary, headed by the caption, Ah, how the mighty have fallen! fills the rest of the space.

The menu shows a silhouette of a boy with a large wing extending from his back. The background is a blood red and transparent feathers blow around him. There’s also a creepy animation of a half moon that jumps around. The menu options are clearly displayed at the bottom in a gold frame.

Extras:

My Rating:
Extras include a clean opening and closing, an interview with the voice actors who play Loki and Frey and a character design art gallery.

Overall Rating:

With White Day come and gone, Yuko is obsessing over how Syaoran and friends haven’t yet sent her otherworldly goodies as payback. Watanuki has his own obligations to worry about – he has no idea how he’ll hunt down the Zashiki Warashi spirit.

In the meantime, an ame-warashi (a rain maker) asks Watanuki for help on a rescue mission by some unnaturally bright red hydrangers. The mission sucks Watanuki into the spirit world where he meets a lonely little girl who tries to convince him to come with her into the underworld, effectively killing him. With some help from the hydrangers and a dedicated 10-hour stand by Domeki, Watanuki eventually finds his way back to the living.

The story arc provides some great tidbits of Japanese lore on the afterlife while offering a harsh criticism of how humans aren’t the only (or most important) living beings in the world. Being human, Watanuki is thankful he was able to help the little girl, while helping the girl was the last thing the ame-warashi wanted. However, their end goals were the same so her rescue mission was accomplished.

Watanuki doesn’t have much time before his next adventure begins. A girl in his class has started sprouting wings. As her wings grow, she becomes more irate and Watanuki quickly becomes her prey, despite Yuko’s cryptic warning that he be careful around her. Luckily, Watanuki has made friends in the spirit world, including a pipe fox spirit (a gift form the ame-warashi) which has taken a liking to him and the spirit comes to his rescue before the girl can do much harm.

Watanuki is beginning to become more appreciative and respectful of Domeki’s help, though he still sees Domeki as his rival for Himawari’s affections. Their comedic banter is hysterical. Domeki is a master of the deadpan sarcastic comment, which annoys Watanuki to no end. Though he’s growing, Watanuki is still blind to his major flaws, something Yuki tries to point out when she explains he’s not so different from the girl with wings and alludes to his relationship with Himawari. The volume closes with a cute opportunity for Watanuki to present a White Day present to the Zashiki Warashi spirit.

I’m really enjoying how xxxHolic includes just the right amount of seriousness, comedy, and philosophy in each of its volumes. These story arcs tackle the weighty issues of death and self restraint yet leave you with a lighthearted, feel-good ending. Yuko continues to impress me. Sure, she’s a hard bargainer with her own best interests in mind, but she genuinely seems to care for Watanuki’s best interests. I’m so curious how he fits into the overall plan she’s set up – and what relationship he might have with Clow.

Overall Rating:

Publisher: ADV Films
Running Time: 80 min
MSRP: $29.98
Ratio: 1.85:1
Region: 1
Release Date: 7/5/2005

My Beautiful Girl Mari is a stunning animation from Korea that looks more like a Miyazaki film than Japanese anime or Disney animation. When the movie opens, Nam-woo is in an emotional slump and feels his life is missing something. Out of the blue, his childhood friend, Jun-Ho rings him up and the two spend the evening reminiscing. Jun-Ho is about to leave again, but before he goes, he wanted to return a childhood keepsake, a marble, to Nam-woo. The marble is significant because as children, it was the key to entering a fantastical world and spending time with Nam-woo’s first love, Mari.

A few years ago, Nam-woo and Jun-Ho were best of friends. The story takes place in a small fishing town during the weeks before Jun-Ho will leave to study in Seoul. With summer break creeping up on him, Jun-Ho is having doubts about leaving. There is a girl, Soog-Y, that he likes, and he fears leaving his friends and his current life behind to start fresh.

Meanwhile, Nam-woo is struggling with his own issues. His father died when he was younger and now his mom is seeing a guy, one who wants to spend time with him and take on a more fatherly role. To make matters worse, his grandmother is growing sicker and no one is sure how much time she has left. So Nam-woo spends the majority of his days as an introvert – dreaming in the field by the lighthouse, playing with a stray cat he picked up and hanging with Jun-Ho – to escape.

One day, Nam-woo returns home to find his cat missing so he goes to the nearby lighthouse looking for it. At the top, his marble causes a great spark of light and suddenly, Nam-woo finds himself in a fantasy world with fluffy white clouds, an amazing assortment of plant life, a large pink dog/elephant (I’m not exactly sure what this is – like an elephant but furry and I don’t think it had a trunk) and a strange pink girl named Mari who has the ability to fly.

Much of the story is about how through this fantastical interaction, Nam-woo is able to come to terms with his fear of abandonment and accept that the world cannot stay as it is forever. Eventually, Jun-Ho will leave, his mom might remarry, his grandmother will die, and his beloved lighthouse will be destroyed.

Mari remains very abstract throughout the film. She’s just a concept in Nam-woo’s mind – something for him to hold on to and turn to for guidance, even if it is only temporary. Her world is his escape, yet it is this magical journey that leads him to the inner peace he seeks.

Overall, this is a wonderful animation, worth watching if only for the eye candy. As much of the story is character reflection rather than fight scenes or gags, it probably won’t appeal to everyone, but for those that enjoy high quality animation, it is a must see.

Audio/Visual:

My Rating:
The dvd allows you the choice of Korean with subtitles or English. I switched back and forth but ended up watching the majority in English. Much of the music is instrumental, complementing the feel of the movie. At times, it felt as if the animation was choreographed to the music like in Fantasia, particularly in the water scenes.

Stylistically, this animation is incredible. It is completely 3D generated, yet designed to look like a traditionally animated film so the characters have a very plain appearance while the backgrounds are lush and meticulously detailed. But because it’s 3D, the animators had much greater flexibility to play with camera angles. The result is that the characters move realistically in environments that have a great sense of depth. One excellent example of this is Nam-woo’s cat, which moves like you’d expect a real cat to paw, play, and fidget.

Packaging:

My Rating:
The front cover is a scene out of Mari’s fantasy land with her floating horizontally while looking Nam-woo in the eyes. He’s a bit taken back, leaning away from her and unsure what to do. The back contains a summary in white over tall plant life. Inside, the back of the front cover shows through the clear plastic case, providing a few screenshots and another brief summary of the contents.

The menu is a beautiful illustration of Jun-Ho sleeping on the pink dog/elephant while Nam-woo floats upwards to hook up with Mari. The menu options are in white and displayed clearly.

Extras:

My Rating:
No extras other than the standard previews and credits.

Overall Rating:

Publisher: UBI Soft
Developer: UBI Soft
Genre: Adventure
Platform: Xbox

Naruto: Rise of a Ninja by Ubisoft was released on October 30, 2007, and is part of the gigantic network of Naruto-related products. Naruto began as a manga published in Japan’s Shonen Jump magazine and has morphed into the massively popular anime/manga series it is now. Kind of like Pokemon, if you think they should make it with Naruto, they probably already have – card games, movies, video games, toys, costumes, etc. As a fan of the manga series, I wanted to see how well the story would translate into a video game. As it turns out, it doesn’t translate. At all.

They attempted to stuff the first 80 episodes of the series into a 3-4 hour game, which means a lot of things got left out. What were once fleshed-out characters with big personalities and motives became mere shells of their former selves as almost all character back-story is tossed by the wayside. The cut-scenes are taken directly from the poorly dubbed anime series, which meant the voice acting is pretty painful and visually quite different from in-game. I watched in horror as the scene that initially got me interested in the manga played out before my eyes in its entire poorly dubbed, incredibly edited version. I remember tearing up reading Naruto’s teacher Iruka trying to protect him in the beginning of the manga and then thinking how cheesy it looked on my TV with Iruka and Naruto shouting at each other with over-the-top voice acting.

Best of all, Naruto freely used his horrible catch-phrase Believe it! whenever possible. Just land a good punch on somebody? Believe it! Deliver Ramen on time? Believe it! Preparing to go into battle? BELIEVE IT!!

Gameplay:

My Rating:
For such horrible story transition, gameplay is surprisingly good. It’s also weirdly similar to Assassin’s Creed, but because this Naruto game came out first, I guess that would make Assassin’s Creed weirdly similar to this Naruto game. Naruto spends most of his time in his gigantic hometown of Konoha, and the town is definitely fun to explore. He is able to run up walls, climb roofs, and slide across high ropes to get from building to building quickly, and jump over short walls, leaving town only to complete main missions.

In addition to the main missions that progress the story, Naruto can also take up side missions doing speed runs, collecting coins, playing hide and seek, mending broken hearts with his sexy jutsu, or other small tasks to make the townspeople happy. Happy townspeople are more willing help Naruto, but in reality they’re not all that helpful unless you need directions. Naruto carries a map and scroll that lists any open tasks you’re working on though so it’s pretty difficult to get lost. Side-missions can make up a large chunk of the game and get pretty repetitive after you’ve tried them once, but they’re side-missions so you don’t need to try them more than once if you don’t want to.

Within the city is a weapons shop where Naruto can use the coins he has collected to upgrade weapons, a Ramen shop where Naruto can earn money doing deliveries or purchase Ramen to renew health, a scrolls shop were Naruto can purchase scrolls to upgrade his stats, and a bookstore where Naruto can purchase game extras like game art.

When Naruto gets into battles, the gameplay switches to your standard fighting game with different button combinations for different attacks. He has a health bar and another bar for special attacks that take longer to execute but cause greater damage. After taking a lot of damage, players occasionally get the option to go into a short rage when their attacks are stronger and they are unable to take damage. Naruto’s health bar and special attack bar grow every time he defeats a difficult enemy or completes a task in his hometown. I’m not much for fighting games so each battle ended up being a frenzy of button-mashing, but it was enjoyable button-mashing and honestly, the battles only make up about 1/3 of the gameplay on story-mode.

If you want to skip everything but the fighting, there is a battle-mode that is purely a fighting game. Battle-mode allows you to choose from a vast cast of characters, each with their own unique special attacks and an online option to battle something besides bots.

Graphics:

My Rating:
The graphics are nice. It matches the anime style pretty well although close up, they do tend to look sort of weird. It’s all cel-shaded awesomeness that gives it a sharp unique style with the exception of the cut-scenes, which are taken directly from the anime. The cut-scenes are sort of random, and I would always try to remember what else happened in the parts that the game cut out or wonder if I would be able to follow the super-abridged cut-scenes at all if I hadn’t read the manga first. Music was also taken from the anime, and it’s kind of repetitive to listen to but not to the point that your thoughts will return to how repetitive the music is as you’re playing.

Attention Span:

My Rating:

All in all, it’s not a bad game. It’s pretty short, and there aren’t a whole lot of things to do aside from explore the town to do the somewhat repetitive side-missions or button-mash people to death, but if you go into playing it with low expectations, it’s still a pleasant surprise. You could beat it in a day if you ignore a lot of the extra stuff, but it would also probably make the battles more difficult because the extra stuff is what gives Naruto extra health and money to buy upgrades.

The replay value lies completely in battle-mode, and if I were more into fighting games I’d probably love to play this with friends and strangers over and over. But then, there are a lot of fighting games out there so unless you really have a thing for seeing Naruto fight, it’s not much of an incentive to get this game. It might even be painful for fans to play it through on the story-mode because of all the horrible voice-acting and story compression. Maybe this game is more for a hardcore anime and fighting-game loving pre-teen?

About Tiffany Chan
I currently work in the online ad sales department at MTV Networks Spike Digital Entertainment: GameTrailers, Xfire, and Spike.com. In my free time I run a webcomic called Big Fish Comic and work as a part-time blogger for a video game peer-review/social networking site called VGviews.com. Of course, I love video games and anime!

Overall Rating:

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: BioWare
Genre: Action RPG
Platform: Xbox

EA’s Mass Effect is an action role-playing game released in November 2007 and developed by Bioware, which also developed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. I picked this game up because I hadn’t played an RPG-style game in a while, and after reading a few great reviews from other gaming sites, it sounded like this game would be all the story-driven game play I missed without the meticulous leveling in standard RPGs.

The game definitely has a story to tell that is full of plot-twists and surprises that are to an extent controlled by the player’s decisions. How players decide their main character was raised, how they respond to other characters, and what character class they are in can vastly change the way the game is played. The beginning starts a bit slow as the game literally drowns you in information that is not necessarily vital to the main story but definitely helps players to understand the story and adds to the complete authenticity of the world. The bare-bones plot is pretty much a chase to catch bad guy Saren in order to save all known life from destruction. Along the way players pick up new and interesting characters and can choose to embark on many miscellaneous side quests during the chase.

The voice actors for the most part were great, and I was amazed at how well-written the dialogue was so that both male and female versions of the main character, Commander Shepard, could say the exact same lines without appearing awkward or out of place. All the characters were well-thought out, and their actions are often very clearly explained through the events of their pasts if players take the time to talk to the other characters frequently enough throughout the game.

Gameplay:

My Rating:
One tiny problem in the beginning of Mass Effect is that there is no in-game tutorial to speak of. The game just drops you into the first scene/battle, and you can either figure out the controls through trial and error or actually read the little manual that comes with the game. The controls/menu system doesn’t have any horrible problems that I could see once I figured out how to use them, though.

Depending on which character class players chose in the beginning of the game, characters can do different things. Like most RPGs, there are basically attack-based and magic-based characters with varying degrees of either skill, called combat and biotics respectively. Mixed into that are tech-based skills I’ve lumped into magic-based because it would be like choosing a black mage vs. a white mage in a Final Fantasy game, both magic based but with differing specialties. So purely combat-focused characters can use more-powerful weapons and heavier armor but have very few biotic abilities, while a biotic-focused or tech-focused character might be able to use only the most basic weapons and armor but have a full list of abilities that allow them to do things like create barriers, temporarily increase or decrease character stats, freeze/throw opponents, or hack AI’s.

The battle system is a nice hybrid of the traditional RPG and a shooter. Controls are like an average shooter, LT or RT to shoot, another button to switch weapons, one for grenades, and one for health. Battles are in real-time with players in parties of 3, each with their own health bar. Battles are paused while the player is selecting different biotic/tech skills to use. Players earn experience through battles and events they can have auto-allocated to different skills or allocate to whatever skill they would rather increase. Players can increase their paragon or renegade levels in the game depending on how kind/cruel they choose to treat others, which can lead to some interesting outcomes. There is also a fairly simple inventory system for players to equip, sell, and buy items at merchants throughout the game. All in all, battles are almost always engaging and enjoyable as you try to find the best way to approach/defeat different enemies depending on the enemy type and the different skills for the characters you have chosen in your party.

My only point of frustration would be controlling the little rover named the Mako when landing on certain planets. The thing operates like a tank, and it is very difficult to properly aim while driving as the rover bounces around quite a bit. I’ve found the only way to aim properly while driving is to position the Mako sideways and simply drive back and forth across the screen to avoid gunfire while shooting. You are also immobile when the Mako is repairing itself after taking on too much damage, which means you have to drive yourself away from battle after taking too many hits before you can recover safely.

Graphics:

My Rating:
The graphics are pretty great for the most part. The people look like real people, and the main character can be as ugly or good-looking as you want it to be. Cut scenes aren’t much different from in-game and although graphics can be somewhat inconsistent, particularly while roving certain planets on the Mako, sometimes you can watch scenery slowly populate from flat 1-color texture into detailed terrains or everything will pause for a while as new scenes load. The side quests on planets tend to re-use terrains and maps but the main storyline locations are all vastly different and beautifully detailed. All of the characters are beautifully created and carefully textured so even up-close, they all look amazing.

Attention Span:

My Rating:

This game had me losing sleep to get further along the storyline, which is always a sign of greatness for me, and the replayability for this game is stupendous because of the variety of ways you are allowed to approach the game and change the outcomes. Add on the expansions EA is planning and two more sequels, and this game has amazing potential. I spent many good hours playing through, and although the main quest is actually quite short without all the side quest detours, you want to do all the side quests to get the full game/story experience. The ending is fulfilling and different depending on what you decide to do during the final battle as well as what you had been doing throughout the game.

I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys playing and replaying through a great story. The pros of this game definitely outweigh the cons, and aside from the slow start in the beginning of the game you’ll hardly notice the other minor glitches.

About Tiffany Chan
I currently work in the online ad sales department at MTV Networks Spike Digital Entertainment: GameTrailers, Xfire, and Spike.com. In my free time I run a webcomic called Big Fish Comic and work as a part-time blogger for a video game peer-review/social networking site called VGviews.com. Of course, I love video games and anime!

Overall Rating:

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Fantasy Action Adventure
Platform: Nintendo

Nintendo’s Zelda Phantom hourglass for the Nintendo DS is essentially the sequel to Zelda Wind Waker. The story picks up where the other left off, with Link and Zelda sailing the high seas when they come across a phantom ship, and Zelda is inevitably kidnapped, to be rescued by our hero Link. That, like most other Zelda games before it, is about the extent of the story. Link, as usual, spends the rest of the game slowly collecting key items and meeting various people in his quest to find and free Zelda, always ending in an epic boss battle with very little character development or large plot points to speak of.

Gameplay:

My Rating:
Although Link spends all of his time essentially swinging his sword at monsters and collecting items, the way in which he goes about it makes the game well worth playing. At first I was a little disappointed that I could not opt-out of the DS stylus controls, and I had wished that the game allowed the option to use either the D-pad or stylus. Instead, Link is almost entirely controlled by the stylus. These stylus controls turned out to be surprisingly intuitive and much easier to use than the traditional D-pad. Tapping a monster on the screen with the stylus to kill it feels much less repetitive than tapping the A button and the player is often prompted to use the stylus for unique purposes such as draw symbols on the screen to unlock doors, map courses, and direct bombs. As Link’s arsenal of weapons and techniques increases, so does the number of ways the player is prompted to use them, keeping game play constantly fresh and challenging.

The multi-player option is equally exciting to play, with a capture the flag of sorts. Players take turns either directing monsters with the stylus to try to thwart Link from picking up jewels and dropping them off at his base camp for points or directing Link away from the monsters as he picks up jewels. Random power-ups are placed around the arena, and the player with the most points at the end of a few rounds wins.

Graphics:

My Rating:
The graphics are by no means cutting edge, and there isn’t the explosion of eye-candy one can expect from any Square-Enix game, but there is a uniquely simple style to the characters and background which are beautiful in their own right. Everything reminded me of a construction-paper build – Link being made up of green, clothing-shaped construction paper placed on top of some skin-toned construction paper and then smaller detailed pieces of paper glued on top. The style and music fit the generally lighthearted story, and there was very little difference between cut scene appearance and game environment.

Attention Span:

My Rating:

In summary, Phantom Hourglass is essentially the same Zelda story and game play we know and love with an added twist thanks to the introduction of the stylus. The single-player game doesn’t have too much replay ability, but the multiplayer is definitely something you will enjoy playing again and again with friends. If you loved all the other Zelda games, you will surely love this one.

About Tiffany Chan
I currently work in the online ad sales department at MTV Networks Spike Digital Entertainment: GameTrailers, Xfire, and Spike.com. In my free time I run a webcomic called Big Fish Comic and work as a part-time blogger for a video game peer-review/social networking site called VGviews.com. Of course, I love video games and anime!

Overall Rating:

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Adventure
Platform: Nintendo

Nintendo’s Hotel Dusk: Room 215 for the DS is a point-and-click mystery-novel style game that was released in the United States in January 2007. I received it as a birthday gift and ended up playing the entire game almost exclusively while commuting to work on a BART train. Sad as it may seem, my initial interest in the game was entirely based on the fact that I could play with my DS vertically like a book.

Once I got into the story though, I have to say it is pretty slow. A good chunk of the story is really just getting to know the other characters staying at the hotel and how they are all somehow related to the bigger mystery that the main character, Kyle Hyde, is trying to solve. Because it is essentially an interactive novel, the dialogue portions can be incredibly heavy although, thankfully, not too repetitive from person to person and well-written. The characters each have their own unique personalities that are reflected in the things they say. For example, one of the hotel guests named Martin Summer is the author of a best-selling novel and often brags unnecessarily in an over-the-top Shakespearian style whereas another guest named Jeff Angel is a spoiled son of a rich family with something to hide and usually treats the main character with suspicion and hostility.

Gameplay:

My Rating:
The game play is relatively simple but effective. Players use their stylus to guide the main character around a map, select questions/answers while speaking with other characters, and select items to pick up or use. There is a simple inventory of things Kyle can bust out and use when needed for mini-games – such as wire-cutters Kyle uses to cut a coat hanger or a hammer he uses to smash a wall near the end of the game. There is also a journal/menu the player can use to write notes or save the game in.

Kyle pretty much walks around asking people questions to try to solve his big mystery and completes small tasks/mini-games in order to further the game. I actually landed myself at the Game Over screen more than once by asking the wrong questions or being in the wrong place at the wrong time, angering a fellow hotel patron or the hotel owner, leading to Kyle getting kicked out of the hotel and unable to finish his search. I’ve also more than once been completely lost as what to do next or accidentally missed a simple event trigger that is required to progress and been left wandering the hotel for hours trying to figure out what to do next.

In addition to wishing the menu had a sort of missions list that maybe let me know what I needed to do next, I absolutely hated the summaries at the end of each chapter. These reviews lasted a good 20 minutes at times where the player is unable to save so I have more than once made it halfway through a review on my commute and then had to close the game without saving because I needed to get off the BART train and drive home. During the reviews, Kyle would review the events that have passed and quiz the player on exactly what they should have learned. Get a question wrong and Kyle repeats his entire blurb before allowing the player to select another answer. As much as I appreciated having chapter summaries added to my menu after each review, the reviews themselves felt unnecessarily long.

Graphics:

My Rating:
The graphics were very stylish, and I found myself gazing fondly at Kyle’s well-drawn face on the screen with awe. All the characters look like they were taken straight from a black-and-white graphic novel while the backgrounds are all fairly simple 3D colored objects. Although the characters do have anime-style influences, it’s definitely not the generic same face, different hair thing. Each character has specific facial features that stand out as their own, and if they put the character art into an art book, I would have bought it.

Attention Span:

My Rating:

There is definitely very little replay value to this game as the story is very linear, and any deviance from the story will lead to the game over screen of doom. It had a pretty average play time and aside from all the aimless wandering I had to do- the ending is still worth all the effort if you make it that far. The story pacing was a bit too slow for my taste, but if you’re into slow-moving dramas and heavy dialogue, this might be right up your alley.

About Tiffany Chan
I currently work in the online ad sales department at MTV Networks Spike Digital Entertainment: GameTrailers, Xfire, and Spike.com. In my free time I run a webcomic called Big Fish Comic and work as a part-time blogger for a video game peer-review/social networking site called VGviews.com. Of course, I love video games and anime!

Overall Rating:

Publisher: ADV Films
Running Time: 100 min
MSRP: $29.98
Ratio: 1.78:1
Region: 1
Release Date: 6/7/2005

In the first 4 episodes of Madlax, we were introduced to two main characters from different worlds. In these next episodes, Madlax and Margaret’s stories become intertwined through the mysterious picture book, which may be the key to Margaret’s forgotten past.

Twelve years ago, some grand event happened in Gazth-Sonika that sent the country spiraling into a civil war that hasn’t yet let up. In episode 5, we meet a boy named Chris whom Madlax is assigned to protect. A young idealist, Chris has come to Gazth-Sonika in search of a father he’s never met – one, he’s told, was the head of Galza, the rebel resistance in the civil war. Hot on his trail are Carrossea Doon, an independent contractor working for Enfant, and his hot sniper chic, Limelda Jorg, who has become obsessed with Madlax. Through this episode we learn that Galza isn’t quite what Chris expected but still don’t know what to make of this mystery organization.

Episodes 6-8 focus on the mystery surrounding Margaret’s picture book, dubbed Secondari by Enfant, which is written in a pre-Christian language that only a handful of people in the world can read. Margaret is strangely attracted to this book, which has a weird tendency to bring out the bad side in some of its readers. For instance, when Margaret’s classmate, Lopez, reads a page, his eyes glow and he aggressively demands he and Margaret should go out. Luckily, Elenore and Vanessa arrive just in time and we see Elenore’s super-protective streak shine through as she kicks Lopez’ butt and then breaks his wrist.

As Margaret grows increasingly obsessed with this book, she becomes more curious about the book’s missing pages and decides to hire book sleuth, Eric Gillian, to track down an identical copy. Sure enough, some answers may lie in Gazth-Sonika, so he hires Madlax to accompany him to a remote village where, it is rumored, someone who can read this ancient script resides. Enfant soon learns that he has scanned pages of this coveted book and sends minions after him, but Madlax is worth every cent he’s paying her so he arrives safe and sound.

Thus far, this series has presented a number of key players and mysteries to be unraveled but very few answers. We know 12 years ago, an event happened in Gazth-Sonika that sparked the civil war. Somehow both Margaret and Madlax had something to do with this event but neither can remember. There’s also the mystery of this picture book, Secondari, and the words running through the series – ‘Elda Taluda’ and ‘Sarks Sarks’ – which are obviously meaningful and seem to have the power to make people go berserk. Why is Enfant so interested in this? In addition, there’s the ghostly girl and boy from another dimension who mutters cryptic sayings about the truth but rarely interacts with our main characters. Finally, just how are Madlax and Margaret intertwined? Given the nature of the series, we know they must be, but why and how?

With so many unanswered questions, Madlax is both engaging and a bit frustrating. Trying to get a big picture of the story and the motivations of each of the characters just leaves you confused. But it is very pretty with lots of intensity and action, so on some level you have to take on faith that future episodes will shed some light on just what is going on.

Audio/Visual:

My Rating:
I watched this mostly in English, though I think Margaret comes off as slighly more clueless in the English dub. The dialog in both is clean with music from Yuki Kajiura cued in at appropriate times. Action scenes are animated to her classic techno style music, while other scenes get more somber melodies.

The animation is quite lovely – with some beautiful sunset action shots set to vivid pinks, purples, and oranges. Other scenes are darker, complementing the bizarre twists the story throws at you.

Packaging:

My Rating:
Madlax sits casually in the foreground of the front cover cradling a rifle and staring at a flower. She looks lost in her own world – a nice depiction of the conflicting roles Madlax plays within the series. Behind her, Limelda Jorg looms behind her with her hand on her pistol. A yellow flower offsets her dark appearance.

The menu options are overlaid over faded movie clips. A smaller clip of the opening sequence in brown plays below the episode choices.

Extras:

My Rating:
Along with the basic extras that have become fairly standard – the clean opening and closing sequence, dvd preview and credits – we get a number of design sketches, some unused opening animation footage, and Japanese promo spots. Also included is a section called Conversations with SSS, which takes various frames of animation and dubs alternative dialog, making for some humorous moments.

Overall Rating:

xxxHolic 4 provides a nice blend of character development on Watanuki’s part, some interesting customs surrounding Valentine’s Day and White Day, and a few spirits of Japanese mythology.

Like in the US, Valentine’s Day in Japan is all about chocolate – however, instead of guys shelling out money for candy, it’s up to the girls to confess their love by buying their favorite guys chocolate. Guys aren’t let off the hook that easily, though, as they must return the favor with an obligatory gift on March 14, White Day.

This volume begins with Yuko asking Watanuki to make her chocolate fondue for Valentine’s Day. After she’s had her fill, there are still a few pieces left, so she divvies them out. Some go to Syaoran and friends while Watanuki gets the last piece to give to Himawari.

Things don’t go quite as planned when Himawari is out sick from school and Domeki gobbles down her chocolate. Worse, as the boys make their way home, a well-intending Zashiki Warashi spirit stops them, pulls out the chocolate Domeki just ate from his stomach along with his soul and flies off. It’s up to Watanuki to go after her and save his rival.

The second story arc is a tale of a verbally abusive relationship between two twin sisters. The older one lacks self confidence while the younger one adds insult to injury by suggesting the older one is accident prone and shouldn’t bother trying. When Yuko explains to Watanuki that words can cut deeper than physical scars, he takes her advice to heart and has a talk with the older twin.

There’s also some nice character growth on Watanuki’s part. While he admits he doesn’t want to help his rival, Domeki, regain his soul, he knows he’d never be able to live with himself knowing he’s responsible for Domeki’s condition so he pays his price to Yuko to help. This growing perception and awareness of others continues as he interacts with the twins and starts to realize that if he doesn’t at least try to help out, he’s just as bad as the older twin who has already given up before she started.

Keeping in sync with previous volumes, there are two crossover scenes with Syaoran and friends that shed light on the time differences between Tsubasa and xxxHolic. On Valentine’s Day, Yuko sends them chocolates, coinciding with their time in the Country of Jade. By White Day, a month later, Team Syaoran is in the Country of Oto, where Mokona reveals they just set up a coffee shop and need a name. Yuko suggests one based on her favorite manga.

Overall, this is a solid volume. As I was lamenting Watanuki’s cluelessness in the last volume, it’s really nice to see him do something other than whine about Domeki or drool over Himawari. Yuko continues to add depth to the story with her wisdom, knowledge of human nature, and of course, her self centered, comedic anecdotes that involve more presents for her.

The volume also contains color panels of the first few pages, extensive translation notes on Japanese Valentine’s and White Day customs and mythology, and a Japanese preview of volume 5.

Overall Rating:

Volume 3 provides greater insight into the supernatural elements of the xxxHolic universe with two paranormal tales. In the first, Himawari is worried about a friend who has gotten mixed up in the game of Angel-san, which is a lot like playing with an Ouija board. A group of students ask spirits from other dimensions questions, and those spirits, allegedly, move their hand to point to the correct letters and symbols to reveal the answers. Apparently, the more you get caught up in the game, the more susceptible you are to become prey for otherworldly spirits.

Because Watanuki is still obsessed with Himawari, he’s willing to do anything in his power to help her out – though that means he’ll be paying for Yuko’s advice himself. Armed with a pair of ears like Chi from Chobits, Watanuki navigates his way to the school’s rooftops where he sees three girls immersed in Angel-san and tries to help.

In the second tale, a college student spots a mysterious canister at Yuko’s store. Yuko allows her to take it so long as she promises not to open it. Of course, she does and soon learns that the wishes she’s been granted come with a steep price to be paid.

Throughout the volume, Yuko adds some philosophical points that add to the xxxHolic worldview. For instance, she explains that good and evil are concepts that only mean something to humans – non-humans aren’t governed by such principles – when describing the nature of guardian spirits. She also tries to get Watanuki to see Domeki’s good qualities.

Unfortunately, much of Yuko’s advice falls on deaf ears. Watanuki still falls into the comedic, dimwitted assistant role who takes people at face value. His crush on Himawari blinds him to Domeki’s positive side – he only sees Domeki as a rival for her love. It also doesn’t occur to him that the college student will try to open the container since Yuko told her not to.

This volume also has a short crossover with Tsubasa 3 where Yuko provides Syaoran and friends the means to break the castle’s magic spell. There’s even a Star Wars reference that made me laugh. Like previous volumes, this one contains extensive translation notes and explanations of honorifics.

Overall, I’m enjoying this series. I like the combination of comedy, supernatural and philosophical elements that makes for a really interesting world. The story feels more mature than Tsubasa, and I like the character driven focus and storytelling. Watanuki still has a long way to go to become a sympathetic character in my book but Yuko is such a strong mentor – and comedian – that she and the other characters help balance his zaniness.