Anime Analyze: K-On! I

Happy Labor Day to everyone, I hope that you all had a nice long weekend, I personally did.  So, the next anime that I will be doing is the first season of the show called K-On!.  Made in 2009 this first season is 13 episodes long, based off of the manga started in 2007.  It was produced by Kyoto Animation, who is known for making shows such as Clannad and Lucky Star, and doing other animation for shows like Inyuasha and Full Metal Panic!.  The opening is "Cagayake! GIRLS" by Aki Toyosaki with Yoko Hikasa, Satomi Satou, and Minako Kotobuki, and the ending is "Don't say "lazy"" by the same people who made the opening.  So, lets get together with Sakuragaoka Girl's High School's light music club and see what they have to show. Side note as well, this is the show that brought about the video game that was reviewed by Hikachan earlier in the summer.

Future Diva: Review of Hatsune Miku Project Diva 2nd

           A virtual diva that surprised all of Asia being the first successful virtual diva to hit the market. If you know Hatsune Miku, there is no need to explain how popular this character has become. If you don't know her, you should look her up on the internet to get a better feel for the character.Her main products include music albums, several video games, action figures, and the software. Although there are many products, we will be looking at Hatsune Miku Project Diva 2nd or also known as Project Diva 2. This again includes grading on gameplay, graphics, music, presentation, and overall appeal.

      Project Diva 2 is quite a simple game at its core by a simply hitting the buttons when the icon reaches the marker. Its for the psp. Although being a Japanese game which are typically harder than American games, the timing for each note has to be very exact in able to score combos or points in the game. As a musician, I believe that the amount of leeway for a note to be counted towards a combo is a 16th note. The game doesn't contain the normal "get to the end of the song without failing"; however it contains a quota system which is to get a certain amount of fine and cools in order to get a passing score. This game really is hard when it comes to that and people without rhythmic training will soon learn how difficult the game gets.

Gameplay

 

Opening sequence 

   

A Game with Tea Time: Game Review PSP K-on Houkago Live

By: Hikachan 4/21/2012

Awhile back, I bought the k-on psp game from play-asia.com. Being a hardcore K-on fan, I was extremely excited to play this game. I had already watched the trailer of the game and saw that sega was producing the game. Already playing project diva, I had a good feeling of buying this game for about 70 dollars which is normal for an imported game. When it did finally arrive in my front door step, I took it out of the package, took it to school, and played it through my English class. 

Well at first glance the game is in complete Japanese characters.In result, anyone who can't read Japanese will probably have to take a Japanese class or just fiddle around until you get to the performance button. There is also a clock, event, ad hoc play or multiplier, title, album, and dress mode. This is quite a lot considering its a fan service game.

The game play is quite simple. Its a standard bar that runs in real time going over notes. Although the game content does persuade for a sub-par game for fans, the game play actually has a very difficult and strict grading system. even compared to guitar hero, the game is stricter on its judgement of timing. The first time I played the game, I had major problems of getting used to the timing of the notes. Instead of hitting them right when the tempo line crosses the note, you must actually hit the note slightly before as if you were actually playing an instrument. The punishment for the missing notes however is very light. Individuals are pretty much able to mash buttons and still pass the song with a very low rating. However, that is were the game gets hard. The game contains many rewards such as costumes and in game menu items. These items usually require some sort of rating in able to unlock them.