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Rage against the Beasts Part 2 or 2 Tech Warrior Ripley

Movie review: Aliens

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Two Jane Fondas in one

The 2 covers of books on Alien movies’ production by the late J W Rinzler seem very similar to each other as far as your truly is considered. Both feature Ripley fully suited up in process of killing dickhead monsters. The difference being the vacuum suit in Alien is for defense while the power loader in Aliens is for offense. Sigourney Weaver certainly played the role with slightly more confidence here.

“Pretty woman holding a big gun” was a key factor in Ms. Weaver’s casting as Ripley from the very beginning. Ridley Scott wanted her for the role and had to shoot some screen test footage of her to persuade Alan Ladd, who was in charge at Fox. Those screen test included how well she looks holding a flame thrower. Ladd was not too sure, so he showed footage to women working at his office. The reception was positive as they compared young Sigourney to Jane Fonda.

The comparison those women made is interesting to say the very least. I have seen this particular Ms. Fonda in 2 flicks before 1979: 1968’s Barbarella and 1971’s Klute. The former is a sex comedy starring Fonda as its titular space hero, the latter won her an Oscar. Ripley in Aliens can be seen as combination of those 2, she fits the “space hero” archetype and the role got Weaver a nomination of Academy Award.

By the time James Cameron made this bigger sequel, Ripley’s big gun got bigger. Well, not so much as the “Ripley is back with an ‘army’” outline since that “army” or those marines were taken off the board soon enough. Just a futuristic assault rifle taped to a flame thrower when she is ready to pile up bodies in the third act. Her final battle of the film involved exoskeleton. 1992’s third Alien depowering her just did not make any sense. And I wonder if I would dive into those action orientated magical girl anime if I didn’t enjoy Aliens. Of course, female leads as those have, they are all created by men. And reaction to this man from Canada can be baffling.

Lining up for Cameron flick in “pre-historical” times

James Cameron is a man known for breaking box office records before those damned brands took over in the last decade. Even here in miHoYo’s country of origin, I recall seeing people lining up for flicks he helmed in 2 separate occasions.

The first time was in spring, 1998 when Titanic was the hot shit. I typed “miHoYo’s country of origin” instead of “the city hosing miHoYo global headquarters” is because I saw lines in 2 cities. On a weekend trip my parents took me to Wuxi, a nearby city of Shanghai, there was a long line of people in front of a cinema for the sinking ship move.

The second time was in early, 2010. The time can be seen as “pre-historical” in 2 aspects: one being that Shanghai was one year away from hosting miHoYo global headquarters; the other being that the city had only one IMAX screen (More would be up by the time of Inception’s release later that year.). So, the long lines formed before it for screenings of Avatar. Of course, Avatar: Way of Water was released at tail end of Covid lockdown here, plus the trend of online ticket sales over the last decade, so no one lined up for that.

Aliens was very much the flick that pinned James Cameron on the map. Myth has it that it was the very first R-rated flick ever got 100 million us dollars in box office. But like what was said about the city of Rome, its success was about riding the tide rather than making its own trend.

Art of action

As Cinemassacre’s James Rolfe once pointed out, the plot of Aliens is very similar to the giant ants classic, Them! From sole survivor being a little girl to the roast of a bug nest. However, what the 1986 flick does stand out with its enteritic set pieces and the monsters having more on-camera movement than the 1979 original. This is a archetypical 1980s Hollywood action flick.

It would be fair to say that “archetypical 1980s Hollywood action flicks” did not appear until the year 1985, with Rambo: First Blood Part 2 in May and Commando in October. Those are famous or infamous for their high body counts. Though the bodies do not really pile up until the third acts. Rambo was co-written by Cameron, but the similarity between Commando and Aliens are more striking.

For starters, Ripley and Colonel John Matrix, as action lead, are both loving parenting figures. Their little girls were taken and they are willing to kill to get her back. Now, there is a rabbit hole regarding Reagan era welfare cut to go down, but yours truly would step down simply because I ain’t no yank. Both characters would strip down for good reasons (Ripley took off her jacket so she can wear that belt with grenades, while Matrix needs to get out of some dirty clothes he went through swamp in.) before suit up for the final battle(s).

The final battle, though, is bit more like Rambo in terms of the hardware involved. Commando ends with two well, commandoes having a knife fight, while Rambo has a chase between 2 armed to their teeth helicopters. Aliens’ antagonist, the Xenomorph Queen is one big mother. So big that Ripley cannot get into a fist fight with her without hardware assistance. In this case, a man-shaped forklift called Power Loader. It’s already funny that cast members playing marines in this film read more of Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein than Paul Verhoeven, who would direct the 1997 movie with the same name. Then Aliens did power armor all right 11 years before power armor was cut out of the ST movie.

Speak of did it before, it’s funny to hear Robert Rodriguez boasting about he threw action figure around as pre-visualization (“Pre-viz” for short.) for that Mandalorian episode he directed. More than a quarter century before that, Aliens got pre-viz done with Cameron just taping around uncolored models. While the stunt where marines getting blown up can only be filmed with stunt performers, stunts involving heavy machinery in Aliens were almost all filmed with miniature models. Producer Ms. Hurd would proudly claim that Fox executive thought those are shot with real set.

Number game

Ironically, this unnumbered sequel actually brought several numbers into the so-called Alien franchise for Fox. No, the 57 years after Alien is not among those yours truly consider important. I mean O’Bannon once envisioned the sequel tease for something set 250 years after the first one, so no big deal. The first one would be labelling the planetoid with Xenomorph egges “LV-426”, since the franchise’ new owner Disney celebrated April, the Twenty-sixth as “Alien Day”. Storyteller wannabe sure love using “lore” for branding. Then there is this bit of retcon.

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Oh, how I want to nail YOKO TARO to a wall like Emil’s sister in the first NieR for this. Cameron gave Ash from the first one a couple of numbers. And how far into the future are those films can only be deduced from throwaway line: 2179, putting the first on in 2122. “Alien over Aliens” people can claimed their preferred 1979 flick as the one contributing all they like, it’s the 1986 sequel those corporate type refer to when it comes to continuity.

Tastes like chicken

Aliens’ dead Facehugger made of raw chicken parts.
Aliens’ dead Facehugger made of raw chicken parts.

The 137 minutes long theatrical cut and the 154 minutes long “Special Edition” are both fine if you ask me. My first view of the flick was with the latter while the former brought in millions for Fox and got Ms. Weaver an Oscar nomination. Though the way theatrical cut left something off-screen while only referred those in dialogue is smarter.

As someone who started gaming with PC in the last couple of years in the twentieth century, yours truly very much stepped into a nest Aliens made. From console ports like Resident Evil/Biohazard series to built-for-the-platform Star Craft, the 1986 flick had sunk its long teeth into the interactive media and left a bite too deep to heal from. I am rather surprised that my view of it did not diminish my enjoyment of Mass Effect. Oh, well, this science fiction series set in space does need beef up its interstellar geo-political landscape game. But then again, if Star Wars lost that edge under Disney, that the series just about dickhead monsters would not stand a chance. Oh, well, at least its first 2 installments are good, heh?

(the End)

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Rage against the Beasts Part 1 or 2 Dinner Must Be Prepared!

Movie review: Alien

The 4K releases for Alien and Alines. The third one and Resurrection would not be covered by this humble blogger at this time. Partially because I do not own home release of those. The other reason might be…
The 4K releases for Alien and Alines. The third one and Resurrection would not be covered by this humble blogger at this time. Partially because I do not own home release of those. The other reason might be…

Corman Connection

2024 marks the forty-fifty anniversary of Alien. It’s bit surreal to think that this influential flick is almost half a century old. But then again, several of its cast (Like John Hurt) and staff (Like co-writer Dan O’Bannon and one among several designers H.R Giger.) members are no longer with us. A producer who almost got on board also past recently as the time of writing. I am of course talking about the (in)famous “Schlock Maestro”, Roger Corman. Yours truly mainly would love to thank him for this anime his “Women in Prison” flicks inspired.

Much like the Matrix, Alien’s round number anniversary back in 2019 was more celebrated. The 4K release pictured above came out back then. Unlike Aliens’ “Ultimate Collector’s Edition” in 2024, Alien 4K release was rather light with only 2 commentary tracks as its behind-the-scene special feature. Yours truly suspect that it was to make way for coffee table book the Making of Alien back then.

Reading this heavy thing on a desk is certainly more tiring than reading it on a coffee table.
Reading this heavy thing on a desk is certainly more tiring than reading it on a coffee table.

2019 also saw the release of 95 minutes long documentary Memory: The Origins of Alien. Corman was interviewed for this feature, in which he claimed that he declined Dan O’Bannon’s script and suggested that they deserved a bigger budget than he was able to cough up. The rest, as they say, is history. This marks Corman’s connection to the 1979 original. His connection to the 1986 sequel is no weaker, as that flick’s writer-director James Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd both started their career in film making under him.

As May gives away to June in 2024, it’s high time for me to have my say regarding the influential science fiction flicks in both release and chronological order. I am not going to call the 1979 flick a “horror” flick and I got reasons for it. That would be good as any place to start.

The relative weak sauce

As the bodies drifted, their blood boiled in the vacuum and their inner organs were vomited out, until they turned into strange blobs surrounded by crystalline clouds made from the liquid they exuded.

-----The Three-body Problem, written by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu

As I mentioned before, Mr. Cixin Liu introduced my teenaged self to the world of horror. The passage above from Three-body Problem did come up in my mind in the recent couple of years, mainly because neither the Chinese nor the English language adaption did the bit probably bloody. Perhaps it’s just the bigger picture they focused on? Either way, I read the passage in Simplified/Standard Chinese back when I was 16, more than a full year before my first view of Alien. So, how could I think of the Chestburster scene other than “This is weak sauce”? That bloody day people had on set in early August 1978 aside.

Of course, back in the late 1970s days, Chestburster scene was seen as Alien’s money shot. So much so that “Ash being a robot, and his head will be smashed in” was a twist added for the third act having a similarly shocking horror imagery. The so-called birth scene is still not showed fully on Chinese stream service like Bilbili.

Maybe I just listened to Scott Adkins and his stunt performing buddies (Excluding Gareth Evans, of course. He is just a demanding dickhead of a director), Brett’s death in the hand of adult Alien being cut short is disappointing. They even put the Alien tail going up between his legs footage before Ms. Lambert’s death. Scott can claim he took the show less let audience imagine the rest route all he wants, I just think the long build-up and short pay-off approach are the signs of weak sauce.

Minutes, not hours

I abandoned the Alien game subtitled Isolation only 104 minutes in. It nearly bored me to death before the iconic dickhead monster can be properly introduced. Billed as “finally a good video game based on the right Alien movie” by many, this first-person horror game felt off to me from the very beginning. No jump button in first person action game feels off and the so-called “puzzles” honestly felt insulting. Not to mention the save system. The game asked me “would you kindly sneak around those 4 assholes with guns?” and I replied “Certainly not”.

The 1979 movie is mostly about 6 homo sapiens and 1 meat-bag of a different kind (Ash the fleshy robot, not Jones the orange cat. Or I would have typed “fur ball”) putting up with each other. The director Ridley Scott kept saying that sole survivor Ripley was only alone for the last 17 minutes of the film. So how dare Creative Assemble call Ripley Jr.’s 17 hours long journey as a lone survivor faithful to the 1979 flick while the film was obviously sold on its ensemble cast. At least, in Japan.

Translation from top to bottom: “In space, no one can hear you scream.” “Alert! Approaching Alien!” “The very first hype space suspense of this century.”
Translation from top to bottom: “In space, no one can hear you scream.” “Alert! Approaching Alien!” “The very first hype space suspense of this century.”

This poster featuring all 7 ensemble members was hard to come by on the internet, so yours truly just took a picture of it off 2019’s Making of Alien book. The iconic dickhead monster is nowhere to be seen here. So, from far to close and left to right, let’s see the 7 “little Indians” shall we?

Kane played by John Hurt, whose face was hugged by Facehugger and chest from where Chestburster burst out of. Being the first one to bite the dust, Hurt sure was the Sean Bean before Bean himself got such reputation: the Name people got for a show whose characters are usually doomed to be killed off. Hurt played Caligula in BBC’s I, Claudia, a show covering the life story of the fourth Roman Emperor. Caligula was the third Roman Emperor so take a wild guess what happened to him. Hint would be an A word and it’s not “abdication”.

Ash played by Ian Holm, “a god damned robot” that is arguably the real horror monster of this film. Funny enough, the sexual undertone of Ash choking Ripely with a rolled up magazine did not hit me, until I saw the scene with those nude photos blurred out on Bilibili…

Parker played by Yaphet Kotto, the man who almost barbecued the dickhead monster. But instead, his death reveals the monster’s rather nasty bird-like eat habit: just one bite and left the mess around.

Lambert played by Veronica Cartwright, the scared shitless Ms. “Leg It”. With the theatrical cut on Bilibili shaving off several bloody seconds from the Chestburster scene, Lambert’s blood-chilling scream made her death with the most “on-screen” one even though it’s not visible to audience and Ripley. Her arms dangling is not pleasant to watch either.

Brett played by Harry Dean Stanton, aka the very bottom member of Nostromo and the first victim of the adult dickhead monster. The late Mr. Stanton humbly claimed that he was yet able to play “scared” in Alien’s audio commentary. Personally, I think the face he make before death is suitable for the occasion given that the doomed man clearly does not know what the actual fuck he was looking at.

What the actual f…AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
What the actual f…AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

Captain Dallas played by Tom Skerritt, the first actor cast for the flick. Dallas, by all means and purposes, was set up as one of those usual space hero with that raven beard. I would love to think he putting himself between Ripley and the dead Facehugger is a sign of his heroism, rather than the sexual relationship he and Ripley have in some early draft of the movie’s script.

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Dallas’ heroism comes to a sudden end when he takes a wrong turn in the air duct and gets got by the dickhead monster. Strangely there can be three possibilities depends on what cut you watch. Let’s begin with 2003’s Director’s Cut where he is cocooned and begs Ripley to kill him, simple enough. In the longer Theatrical Cut, he is either eaten or blown up when the ship Norstomo explodes.

Last but not least, Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver. Ms. Weaver and the aforementioned Ms. Cartwright were both born in 1949 but about 6 months apart and with the day miHoYo’s country of origin was established in between. Sigourney being only 28 when the movie was shot is of course the younger one.

The interaction among those 7 is where this film shines. Of course the first 2 to die can be seen as the weak links: Kane does not stand out until that Facehugger get up his face and Brett only says “Right.” But the tension between bridge crew (Dallas, Kane, Ripley and Lambert) and mechanics (Parker and Brett) regarding payment is fun to watch. Dan O’Bannon envisioned a landing foul-up for this film and the tension between 2 crews is highlighted by it as the 3 bridge members go off to investigate something alien, while the 2 mechanics get real shit to do. Between them being Ripley overwatching the repair and Ash being Ash.

The Director who did cut

Yours truly usually prefer “extended cut” to “director’s cut” since the alternative cuts available to us common folks are usually longer. But Ridley Scott is an odd duck on this front. The director’s cut of Alien in 2003 runs about 115 minutes, one minute shorter and even the cut watchable on Bilibili is longer with seconds of Chest bursting shaved off.

The director’s cut was how I watched the movie for the first time and maybe it gave me the impression that this film is about the crew. The first scene added would be Lambert slapping Ripley after the latter insisting on the quarantine protocol and not letting Dallas and Lambert along with Kane who got a finger monster on his face.

The other 2 scenes being: after Brett’s death, Ripley and Parker going in and see blood dipped down; during Ripley’s “17 minutes” as the long survivor, she found a very dead Brett and a still alive Dallas being feed to Alien eggs. I can take or leave those, especially after Aliens’ Queen laying eggs was taken by Fox as canon instead of one single dickhead cable of fucking themselves.

Now the vegetable is out of the way

Alien’s dead Facehugger made of seafood.
Alien’s dead Facehugger made of seafood.

If it cannot be more obvious: yours truly is more of an Aliens person than an Alien person. I cannot stand the Alien game for more than a couple of hours yet I cannot count how many games inspired by Aliens I played and enjoyed. Still, being the stone cold classic as it is, Alien does provide point for me to admire.

The film’s influence on science fiction literature cannot be ignored by readers of those. No, I’m not just talking about William Gibson, for I haven’t read anything by this Canadian since the year 2013. Speake of that year, it was when Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie came, by the end of that book there is a scene where its hero had to space some monster out of her spaceship. The year before this book, Caliban’s War came out. In the second book of Expanse series, the crew of Rocinante also is forced to get one single titular Caliban out of their ship. Neither of those books would have done so without Dan O’Bannon writing the scene in his first draft and Ridley Scott sticking to his gun about shooting the scene.

Then I would say if you cannot stand 1970s deliberate pacing, just skip this one. Personally I had the storyboards Ridely Scott drew more fun to read while felt bit sleepy during this flick. Go watch the Expanse instead, you all. Or stay tune to hear why I prefer Aliens.

(To be concluded in Tech Warrior Ripley)

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Thirsty Thirteen Plus One On A Second Tour of the Underworld

Some Japanese dub suggestions for Hade II based on its Early Access

There are 2 official statements to make here: on the on hand, Supergaint Games is in the “bigger, badder” sequel business now; on the other, I have probably become a loyalist to that studio. Hades II came out as Early Access surprisingly but not that surprisingly in an, er shall we say, interesting week. After all, it’s not every week yours truly have the impulse to throw a succession of four FUs at both Xbox and Playstation, Nic Cage’s first scene as Sean Archer in Face/Off style. Ah, the nature of industry! It just contains too much bullshit so when there are products one like, those should really be treasured.

And for a product yours truly see as “anime enough”, thinking about a Japanese language dub is one way to treasure it. In the week before time of writing, I had 22 runs of the game about going into the underworld. I got as far as the final boss of the third area and counted 14 new NPCs with the 14th still not identified. So, with the new player character on top, let this pipe dream commerce.

1. Miss Video Game Twenty Twenty-four

Asami Seto as Melinoe

This is a voice viewers of Giantbomb would have some similarity with. Ms. Seto played Reina the new girl in Tekken 8. With that game’s insistence of Japanese character speaking Japanese, that’s the voice we all hear when we watch Grubb playing the game. The 31 years old lass was also the Name Shift Up chose for their console debut Stellar Blade, as she voiced Eve in what formerly known as Project Eve.

Hades sequel features the more-uptight-than-his-brother Melinoe as its player character, a type Ms. Seto flourishes in. As a lazy ass, yours truly do find a certain softly spoken uptightness charming. Ms. Seto provided such quality in 2021’s Scarlet Nexus, voicing player character Kasane Randall, a nature-born pain-in-the-behind according to IGN Japan. Well, I really would love to hear her voice in a different sexy game than something not managed to sell a PS5 to me.

2. Witch with aibs

Yoshiko Sakakibara as Hecate

Hades II was announced along with Bayonetta Origin: Cereza and the Lost Demon during Keighley’s 2022. This is a casting choice because those 2 “young witch in the woods” games were almost inseparable. Ms. Sakakibara voiced the final boss Morgan in Platinum’s latest, the character there is of course a witch ready to throw down. Hecate is Melinoe’s mentor and serves as the final boss of Hades II’s first area, this feels like a no-brainer to me.

3. The two faces of a ghost

Haruka Tomatsu as Dora

Of all them ladies riding that Tsuntera wave of later aughts, Haruka Tomatsu is about the closest in age to yours truly. I think she can do Dora’s spoopy haunting and the lay-about maid attitude well.

4. Odie goes Ora

Daisuke Ono as Odysseus

Like Iliad ends then Odyssey begins, the resident mortal of Hades II changes from Achilles to Odysseus. And I strongly suspect that Jen Zee and friends based this character’s look on one of the earlier Jojos, back when Araki drew lads with boarder shoulders. Odysseus looks like Joseph Joestar in his forties if you ask me. So why cast Mr. Ono Daisuke, who voiced Joesph’s grandson Jotaro Kujo as a middle-age father to a teenage daughter in Star Ocean?

5 From discord to retribution

M.A.O as Nemesis

Pretty people in heavy armor are what Saint Seiya sold on. And it’s only to have one cast member from that franchise here. M.A.O or Mao Ichimichi voiced the goddess of discord Iris in one of the spinoffs. Somehow, Ms. Ichimichi is the only one I can hear in my head. Perhaps Kushana in Nauccica of the Valley of Wind is key here, since I imagined M.A.O as the armored warrior princes before while aforementioned Sakakibara voiced her in that Hayao Miyazaki picture. Nemesis is like Thanatos in the first game as she would have “see who can kill more” standoff with Mel and the player character keeps warning her about not caught be Hecate.

6 Doom doom DOOM

Kensho Ono as Moros

For the other child of Nyx, I imagine him with another voice of Jojo. This time the slimer GioGio of Golden Wind, Mr. Kensho Ono. This younger Ono and the voice I imagine for Thanatos, Natsuki Hanae do seem like brothers in arms in the field of voice acting. Well, they did voice rivals in Aldnoah Zero a full decade ago, it’s time for them to voice brothers.

7. Laboring Weaver

Sumie Uesaka as Arachne

Ah, yes the poor lass who got turned into a spider by Athena after a weave off. Aoi Yuki would be fitting for this one for she was in an Iseikai where she played a human turned into spider, but Ms. Yuki is one of two voices for Chaos in my book. So, from that same Iseikai show, here is Sumie Uesaka who played the Dark Lord also happened to be an ancient spider queen there, Shelob and Sauron in one if you may. Ms. Uesaka plays her majoring in Russian up as part of her personality and somehow that country’s history in the twentieth century got played up. Fitting given Arachne in Hades II is a member of laboring class seeing player character as one of nicer ones among the rich and powerful.

8. Idealized Masculinity

Takuya Eguchi as Apollo

With Artemis returning and Apollo appearing, this Olympian twins are present in Hades II’s Early Access. For the sun god, I introduce to you a frequent collaborator of Saori Hayami, Takuya Eguchi. The most recent and noticeable role Mr. Eguchi would be callsign Twilight in Spy Family, that book/show’s titular spy and family man. It’s just funny for me to see Hayami and Eguchi go through the arc of playing lovers, playing couple then playing siblings.

9. Rider Moon

Kotone Miishi as Selene

How can we discuss magic girl and moon without thinking about Sailor Moon. Or at least the one and only Japanese for the iconic and titular character. Ms. Miishi had been the voice of Sailor Moon/Usagi Tsukino since the very beginning and is about only returning member of Crystal. Having her voicing Selene a moon goddess is just putting the name Selena back in.

10. Like Mother, like Daughter

Kikuko Inoue as Hestia

Yours truly simply cannot do Japanese dubbing fantasy booking without a Hideo Kojima collaborator or two. Kikuko Inoue had the longest collaboration with the famous video game director, from playing his dream girl in Policenauts to sharing his dream of playing with Linsay Waganer “sack puppets” digitally in Death Stranding. However, the joke above is referring another 2019 game Ms. Inoue was a cast member.

In Fire Emblem Three Houses, Inoue voiced a character mostly known as Rhea, the Japanese pronunciation of which might be the same as “Lea”. But they chose the more divine spelling with letters, r, h, e and a. In Greek myth, Rhea is the spouse of Chronos and mother of several Olympians. You might heard of them: Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hera and last but not least Hestia. Inoue’s radio voice of kind granny nowadays will be fitting for this round and soft-edged goddess of flame. After all, there is always the threat of “burn’m all” underneath the kind appearance.

11. Like my forge?

Daisuke Namikawa as Hephaestus

Daisuke Namikawa started voice acting early, as a lad whose pitch had not been lowered kind of early. Among his involvement in video games, the biggest one is probably Persona 4. Mr. Namikawa played a recurring blacksmith in Kimetsu no Yaiba, forgers of many titular demon slaying blades. Only fair he plays the god who Romans called Vulcan.

12. Vision for one, flower for all.

Akira Ishida or Jun Fukuyama as Narcissus

From the voice of one Persona player character to another, I was debating with myself as whether Darren Korb’s latest voiceover should be dubbed by 3’s Akira Ishida or 5’s Jun Fukuyama. The latter’s voice can be the embodiment of narcissism however the former is more fitting for pretty boy. I lay towards the former since hearing Ishida’s triple casting in Persona 3 made me think he is more fitting. Maybe change would be made after the art is locked.

13. Homicidal Rocker

Ikumi Hasekawa as Scylla

Now we come to a Japanese actor who did dib into foreign to Japan indie game, as Ms. Hasekawa was cast in Opus: Echo Starsong’s enhanced edition. But to play this clam I only put down twice, Ms. Hasekawa’s performance in comic book adaptions is key. She played outgoing vocalist Ikuyo Kita in Bochi the Rock and some homicidal mage in Freien the Slayer. Combined those 2, you pretty much got Scylla, the vocalist of rock band Scylla and the Sirens. Also the final boss of the second area in Hades II, filling the “THAT MOTHEREFFER” provoking shoes left by Thesus.

14. “Major” Time

Banjo Ginga as Chronos

Let’s close out with a Hideo Kojima collaborator, or Metal Gear Solid series cast member might be more fitting for this old gentleman. Mr. Ginga played Liquid Snake, Major Zero and Liquid Ocelot throughout MGS series. I was careful not to include old timers in those fantasy bookings, but Mr. Ginga would appear in Atlus’ Metaphor so here he is.

While I am still to fight Chronos in the game as the time of writing, the Titan of time himself would appear occasionally as the first area is clear. First as a shape of old man with a cane and neat haircut, the character does look like Major Zero in Snake Eater, so it would only be fitting.

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Virtual High and Middles Part 3 of 3 Holiday Special

In which my criticism and appreciation for the Matrix Resurrections are expressed

The world had changed a lot in the time between 2003 and 2021. The Wachowskis had their gender resignments separately. Keanu Reeves had some highs and lows before he returned to the high of “being inseparable from a film franchise” with the John Wick flicks. Yours truly had turned from “chasing that ‘cutting edge’” to “go portable or go get bent” in terms of gaming. All in all, 18 years is a long time to release a sequel after. And Joel Silver was not producing this one.

Despite the Wachowskis’ statement that they would not make another Matrix sequel back in the aughts, Warner sure kept the franchise cooking, including a failed attempt to chase World of Warcraft. In fact, Matrix Online’s “shadow” remains until these days, or at least over this movie released in 2021.

Since the Matrix Resurrections were on Max the same day as the theatrical release, here in the city hosting miHoYo global headquarters the movie is watchable through you-know-how method (Same method I watched Dune Part 1). That was a freezing day in late December, 2021, a couple of days before Christmas and given the movie’s title, it is fittingly a very Christmas Movie, capital C and M, about miracles.

The Bad

2003’s Revolutions is not a whole Matrix movie on its own. It’s a direct continuation of Reloaded and it lacks the one key factor of Matrix opening: Trinity whacking dudes and running from Agents. Resurrections does open with Trinity whacking dudes as an homage to the 1999 original with both upgrade and downgrade. The dudes getting whacked are upgraded since they are fully kitted SWAT armed with full-automatic weapons. “Trinity” herself is the direct-to-video counterpart to the character played by Carrie-Anne Moss. The behind-the-scene material in the home media release call the cast member in this scene a stunt performance rather than an actor.

But direct-to-video Trinity is not point-of-view character here, a new lass named Bugs is. Introducing herself with “Bugs as in ‘Bunny’” is the first sign of this movie saying “Try not to take this one too seriously”. Bugs meets the lead Agent, a black man called Smith in a peaceful talk, gunpoint not withdrawn. This Black Smith says he is waiting for someone who can get him out and Bugs does so. Only it’s not out of the Matrix but a Modal, something closer to Construct in the previous movies in terms of its relatively small scale.

After this we got somewhere similar to the first act of the 1999 original: Keanu Reeves as Thomas Anderson unknowingly in the Matrix. But Anderson is no longer a low ranked employee but a combination of id’s 2 Johns with some Hideo Kojima dust on the top. The real Geoff Keighley even gave this movie a fake TGA trophy as prop, since Anderson won it in 1999 for a video game titled Matrix. Unlike in the 1999 original, he is not looking for Morpheus but pining for a married woman with kids played by Carrie-Anne Moss. Then, Thomas “Johns Kojima” Anderson was tasked to make Matrix the fourth as a video game, with all the brainstorming bullshit to follow.

After this dicking around, Black Smith, or Morpheus the machine, tries to get Anderson to remember about Neo and get him out of the Matrix in Anderson’s office. As it follows the 1999 original, Anderson simply cannot do it in his office while the second time is the charm. Plus, a woman has to ask Tommy Anderson nicely. Anderson at the end of history once again turns into Neo in the desert of real and sees Trinity, actually played by Moss here, in the pod close to him. Another “Stop trying to hit me and hit me” sparring against Morpheus the machine, Neo is finally back to the future.

Here in miHoYo’s country of origin and before Reeves flicks got banned for the actor’s statements regarding Tibet, the Matrix Resurrections were officially released with the subtitle “ju zhen chong qi”, meaning “matrix rebooted” literally. It’s a fitting title when this first act is concerned.

Personally, I think this Force Awakens bullshit is the bad part of this movie. A fan girl (Rey/Bugs) looking for the legend of old, assisted by a black actor who deserves a whole movie banked on his own (John Boyega/Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). Then beat by beat, the classic tale unfolds as if it’s time of old. And the Merovingian’s guest appearance later is pure cringe. However, Lana Wachowski has a much better sense with science fiction than Abrams, and this new desert of real had more to offer than the so-called era of resistance.

The Good

Neo thinks wrongly that his effort in Revolutions mounts to little. As Neo recovers and starts to settle in Bugs’ much newer hovercraft (The more animal tail looking rear being the dead giveaway for audience), he starts to notice the machine crew members. Apparently the “men versus machines” binary is gone now.

Humanity has a new city called I/O and here they live a better life with the assistance of the machines who have “bleed hearts”. It’s no utopia but it’s gentler than Zion’s more militarized mentality. Niobe is the third face from the original trilogy here, though “Mrs. Will Smith” is unrecognizable under all that aging make-up. Here there is almost a retracking of Reloaded, another guided tour of another human city. There is fake sky that also serves a water and air filter. There is an orchard to grow fruits in. There is the memento for Morpheus, the one played by Lawrence Fishburne that is. Apparently, Matrix Online’s assassination of Morpheus is canon in this one. Guess Lana Wachowski can only undo her part for the franchise.

While the rest of this movie is about rescuing Trinity, it’s nice to be reminded where Neo where rescue her to. The final rescue mission lays out like a heist and ultimately Trinity does things the One does, namely flying and implied that she got administer access to the Matrix system like Neo after he got shot by Smith for the first time. Over all it’s a happy ending, but I cannot shock the feeling that it’s just the ending of that 1999 film.

The “Ugly”

Watching Resurrections within 24 hours after watching the 2003 sequels is seeing how much worse movies look compared to yesteryear. Despite the amount of digital effect in them, the 2003 movies were still largely shot on films. The 2021 movie looks like it’s taped rather than filmed. Those shots with Keanu Reeves in the sunlight do make the man look like a polygonal model, a very detailed one mind you but still a sense of fake, rather than a human being. Makes me wonder if is video game “rising” to the level of movie or is movie “lowering” itself to video game. After all, no polygonal photoreal game nails the “filmed” feel outside grains.

Lana Wachowski likes video games or so her IMDB page told me. One small aspect of Resurrections makes me believe it. It can be called flashbacks, with glimpses into the trilogy, usually after a plot point is referenced. Kind of like Guns of Patriots. And of course, the way Jonathan Groff’s Smith menaces Neo is quite like Liquid Ocelot menacing Old Snake.

And then there is the action. I think they are okay. Obviously cannot be compared to the first 2 movies. Since this 2021 one is more of a farce, Revolutions’ war scenes are not here either. But after seeing Reeves almost killed his fellow John Wick 4 cast member by saying that opening scene in the final fight of Revolutions took 95 takes, it’s only understandable why Lana Wachowski took a more laid-back approach for Resurrections.

The last of Triple A

Wachowskis seem to like naming the antagonists with A-words: Agent, Architect and, this is on Lana alone, Analyst. Agents are the only kind who trade blows with the good guys. Architect, aka an evil Santa Claus looking motherfucker, is the one who kept part of humanity alive, so no point for the One to punch him in the face. Then there is Neil Patrick Harris as the Analyst, one woman-hating program who control humanity through feeling. (Or is it “necessary fiction”?) Yours truly first saw Harris when he hosted Spike TV’s Video Game Award 2010, and seeing Trinity’s victory lap over his character in Resurrections feels good.

Compared to Smith and other Agents, Analyst is a more active warden of this digital prison. While Agents only enforce rules, this one make their own. They completely embrace the void left by state power and corporate interest by stepping into the lie for profit business. They are a clown fuck for sure, but at least they surpass Smith the virus on the insidious front.

Red, blue and “poison”

Four installment trilogy can be seen as the story of Keanu Reeves’ life. Or at least the part involves franchises. John Wick is another one starring him with humble beginning, robust middle and a long-awaited ending. Though John Wick 4 did well enough for Liongate to consider sequel, so Chan Stahelski will be ready with a metaphorical shovel and some myth can be made into cold hard fact. Lana Wachowski seems more lucky on that front, with a piece of fan fiction bringing back old favorites mainly for herself, and assholes like yours truly at least appreciate the motion. Warner can make its extraction shooter and call it Matrix Online 2, I would just jack out happy seeing Neo and Trinity doing their “Cyptonians on Earth” thing. At least until a Christmas day when I want to see something dumb fun.

(The End)

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Virtual High and Middles Part 2 of 3 Mr. Cyberpunk‘s Part in A Long War

Double Feature: The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions

“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain.” Thank you, Mr. Jonathan Nolan, yours truly always have a fondness for your bullshit. Though I can only see the part after that comma applying to Hollywood. After the Matrix became a surprise hit in 1999, how would its benefactor Warner handle its sequel(s)? The budget skyrocketing was a given, more merchandising is not too unreasonable (Though I’m bias since the “first pair of sunglasses for ‘baby’” I wore got a sticker says “Terminator 2 Judgement Day” on it.).

The real villainy, however, laid in making the sequels into a multimedia extravaganza in 2003. Not only there were 2 feature length movies released within 6 months from each other, a CG short and a tie-in video game are also part of this long war. However, as the title said, this piece is only about a Mr. Cyberpunk’s part in it.

During the last big boy E3 back in 2019, Keanu Reeves was on the stage of Microsoft announcing his casting as Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077. As far as stunt casting goes, it is a fitting one since Reeves can be seen as Hollywood’s Mr. Cyberpunk. After all, he had gone through high (1999’s Matrix), low (1995’s Johnny Mnemonic, up to that point, and afterwards 2021’s Matrix Resurrections for many but not for me.) and something between.

This “something between” is where this piece comes in: 2003’s Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions. Despite a combined runtime of more than 5 hours, Last Flight of Osiris, live action cut scenes of Enter the Matrix and those 2 movies cover a much shorter period of time. 36 hours give or take, compared to the at least a week in the 1999 and the least a couple of days in Resurrections. The Machines decide that they are done with meat bags so they send an army to wipe humanity out. Morpheus is sure that it would be the Chosen One’s moment to shine and achieve salvation. He is right in conclusion but some zigzag is needed to get there, as the Wachowskis like to do with their Matrix stories. But first, translations.

The Matrix Reloaded was translated as “hei ke di guo er chong zhuang shang zhen” in my neck of wood. The “er” there is number 2 and the four characters after it do mean “Reloaded and ready to fight”. It is a fitting translation given the stop Nebuchadnezzar and her crew make at the city Zion. The hovercraft Morpheus, Neo and Trinity serve on needs to be recharged and the audience need to be shown the stack. Zion is booked as the last city for humanity in the 1999 original and the machines are gunning for it in the sequels.

The Matrix Revolutions was translated as “hei ke di guo san ju zhen ge ming” and I laughed my ass off at this one even as a thirteen-year-old. The “san” there is the number 3 as people who watched Netiflix’s “castrated” adaption of Three-body Problem would know (Oh, how the GOT duo managed to do the Woman Who Sold the World dirtier than Cersi Lannister!). Then the four characters after this number simply repeat Matrix Revolutions all over again. “Ju zhen” is simply how matrix the math jargoning is translated in Chinese.

This One fucks

Reloaded opens similarly enough to the 1999 original, with Trinity whacking dudes. The much bigger budget can be seen on the screen since she did so after causing an explosion with some motorbike stun. The “dudes” here are a downgrade though since they are security guards with batons rather than uniformed cops with guns. Then the time skipped a bit ahead and Trinity is running from an Agent. The bigger budget put to use again, she is dual wielding Uzis while falling down a building. The Agent falls in pursuit and manages to shoot her rather fatally in the torso. Shocker, the leading lady is killed merely minutes into the sequel. Or is she since this is just a dream of Neo played by Reeves.

1969’s Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert will be mentioned here since the Wachowskis and George Lucas were both shamelessly stealing from this book in the aughts. Neo’s blinding in Revolutions sure is from it so is Anakin Skywalker foreseeing Padme dies giving birth in Star War Episode 3. This business in Reloaded is bit more complicated.

Allow me to first let the cat out of the bag, the Chosen One in the Matrix story would not bring salvation for all humanity. Neo himself feels it. The Oracle, who is revealed to be a machine program in Reloaded, more or less confirms it. This is the merits of the 2003 movies, under the simple “men versus machine” premise, the machines do not march on locked in goosestep, they have different ideas about controlling humanity. Something the 2 running 3 Body Problem on Netflix had learned this.

After trading words and blows with some other rogue machine programs called Exiled, Neo meets the leading machine program called Architect. There the truth of Chosen One among humans is revealed: the major of humanity would be wiped out and the One would lead a tiny group of survivors to multiple yet again. It would be the seventh time in those movies. As Neo himself put it, it’s “another form of control” with the Oracle being part of this control. However, Neo does break this circle in Revolutions with the reason that he is the One who fucks.

Neo and Trinity can be seen sharing bunker and bed at the very beginning of Reloaded. As soon as the two are alone in a lift of Zion, they start to make out. All on-screen language to say that they are an item. It would be awkward if they are not after what Trinity said to a dying Neo in the first movie. During the orgy like dancing party (another thing lifted from Dune Messiah I might add), those 2 sneak out of the party and play horizontal tennis in the privacy of a bedroom. Happy time except Trinity’s expression for orgasm reminds Neo of seeing her die in his dream.

In Dune Messiah, the Chosen One Paul foresees the love of his life Chani dies giving birth. Reason on print is more acceptable than the bullshit in Star Wars: Chani takes fatally dangerous treatment involving Spices to bear twins. While Trinity is not confirmed to be pregnant in Matrix sequels, the situation is not too different. The One meeting the Architect requires elaborate plan. One phase goes pear-shaped with everyone involved there dies, so Trinity goes in to get that part of job done, leading to the whole opening shocker. The Architect gives Neo a binary choice, and with Neo having a more personal attachment to Trinity, he goes down the save one in risk of all path. It would have been more triumph had Trinity not died in Revolutions anyway. Then again, had Neo not been blinded she would not have to accompany him to the parlor with machines. Why couldn’t you just leave the blinding from Dune Messiah out, Wachowskis?

What the fuck had they done to you, Smithy?

Neo in many ways is in a “make love not war” mindset in the 2003 movies. He does not use guns for starters. He is not on the offense in any of his action scenes: first he has to knock out the 3 Agents so his friends can leg it; then Seraph, the Oracle’s bodyguard, has a sparring with him as identification; soon after that he meets the legions of Smiths and goes medieval on some rouge programs. Then there are the 2 fights against Smith in Revolutions, first to save Trinity in the meat space then for sake of machine and humanity alike in the Matrix.

All in all, Neo fights Smith 4 times across the 2 sequels. Except the one in meat space with very different style from Yuen crew’s wire works, those in the Matrix are underwhelming. The inherent vice being: why the fuck is Smith still around? The Wachowskis claimed that Neo learning about the machines and Smith learning about the humans run parallel, but in many ways, the siblings did not have the chop to put it off in a satisfying way. Smith is a clown fuck in the sequels, without the convincing menace he put up in the 1999 original. The lines are gibberish and repetitive. The action relied heavily on CGI in ways not even 2021’s Resurrections did. Audience had hoped for the Chosen One of humanity having a better peace offering to the machine than wiping out a self-multifil clown-like virus, but the siblings clearly wrote themselves into a corner. At least on this front.

Those who do have to fight this war

“The path of the One is made by the many” said the Oracle in either of the movies. It’s a line in Enter the Matrix’s live action cut scene shot after the role had to be recast. Yours truly had never played the game, however the cut scenes are included in Matrix Reloaded’s home media release, the blu-ray menu rather cheekily calls those “additional footage”. According to those, Enter the Matrix has a similarly cliffhanging ending and Revolutions serves as the conclusion to the video game as well. Lana Wachowski kept Niobe played by “Mrs. Will Smith” in the 2021 movie for good reason.

Despite how underwhelming the Chosen One’s part is in Revolutions, I personally prefer the fall release than Reloaded. The main reason being how Revolutions pulls off the heavily industrialized future warfare, CGI swarm not withdrawn. It’s properly bloody given those are R-rated movie. It has the Pyrrhic Victory vibe. A shot of human’s heavy machine gun malfunctions and severely injures the crew is a detail highlighting the whole endeavor. It’s almost if that science fiction franchise with “war” in its name should have died in shame compared to this.

Zion, it’s over.

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Thanks to Abnormal Mapping, this meme stays vividly alive in my mind, as they put it out after they suffered through Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and SAG’s more bark than bite strike. And if this is a retrospective for the Matrix’ 20th anniversary, Revolutions would have been the end. However, a new movie did come out in the 5 years between and I do consider it a more fitting trilogy coda while the 2003 movies serve more like a robust middle chapter.

I was only 13 years old when I saw them first. Reloaded not ending with a climatic action piece somehow dampened my enjoyment of it and its long-to-my-13-year-old-self explanations did not help either. But that little shit was yet to see real snoozefest such as Neon Gensis Evangelion and things branded “A Hideo Kojima Game”. Watched it as a 29-year-old and 34-year-old, yours truly just see Reloaded as a summer blockbuster that was rightfully well-received. That highway chase without Neo is the shit! I watched Revolutions with my maternal grandmother, who had not watched the 2 before. But she did enjoy the war scenes as much as I did. I of course found the tragedy bit too much to swallow, and apparently at least one of the Wachowskis thought so as well.

(To be concluded in Holiday Special)

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Virtual High and Middles Part 1 of 3 Quarter Century Old Dad Rock

Where 1999’s Matrix is discussed

Ready to feel old, my fellow millennials? The Matrix celebrates its 25th anniversary on March, 31st, 2024 as we almost get through the first quarter of the 21st century. It felt as if yesterday when the 1999 movie was the new hotness mimicked by many. Back in 2019, this movie’s 20th anniversary was celebrated more, in noticeable or otherwise ways. The most noticeable being that March’s trailer for John Wick 3 where Reeves repeated the immortal line “Guns. Lots of guns.” with more emphasis on the word “guns”. Less noticeable included the first season finale of Netflix’s animated Ultraman show where a fight was changed from the manga to look more like Neo’s victory lap over Smith.

Here in the year of 2024 common era, nothing marks the moment. There may be argument to made that Warner releasing Dune Part 2 in March, 2024 is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Matrix, Dune by Frank Herbert is the grandfather of Chosen One narrative in science fiction after all. But we all know the delay is due to SAG’s more bark than bite strike last year, right? Still, that didn’t stop me from wanting to watch the Matrix again when I put up with people’s bad cinema manners watching Dune 2. Now I did the rewatch and had some thoughts.

What’s in names?

A poster that needs no further introduction. At least not to members of certain demographics.
A poster that needs no further introduction. At least not to members of certain demographics.

I first saw the Matrix in theatre on my 10th birthday with my dad, who had been a Reeves fans since Speed (No, I am not sure about how he feels about John Wick flicks.). That was in January, 2000 so you can see that it took a long time for the movie to come out in my neck of the wood. Of course, that was wide release as the movie had some limited screenings in Shanghai in June, 1999 as part of the city’s international film festival. During those 2 releases, the Matrix was released under 2 different titles: first as “er shi er shi ji sha ren wang luo”(22nd Century Killer Network) then as “hei ke di guo”(Hacker Empire). Neither came close, heh?

As an expansive Hollywood flick, the Matrix was of course sold on Names. Question is whose? The Wachowskis, “authors” of it were still nobody. While this was not their directorial debut, they were still too fresh faced to sell a blockbuster on. The names of Reeves and Fishburne were on the poster, but the former was in a low point while the latter lacks er, international appeal shall we say. Then there is a Name that would attract investors and audience alike, producer Joel Sliver.

Sliver produced quite some high-octane action flicks of the 1980s and the 1990s, including Christmas classic Lethal Weapon. Legend has it, he insisted on Nakatomi Palaz having its top blown up in Die Hard. The Wachowskis might have the idea of doing Hong Kong wire-fu stunt in the Matrix, but without Sliver, they would not even have the money for plane tickets to fly Yuen’s crew to Australia.

Compared to other “Joel Sliver Productions”, one might say that the Matrix lacks high speed car chases. I mean even the “button episode” Die Hard has 2 car stuns. The battles are fought within buildings and high speed chases are strictly on foot. Wonder if that’s due to Yuen’s stunt team’s expertise.

From end of history to desert of real

Talking about the Matrix’ action is getting ahead of ourselves. While the movie opens with action and more or less closes with it, it wants to tell you a story or at least show you a world. First there is an ass kicking hacker lady named Trinity escaping from cops in the at least contemporary to its release time setting. Her objective before she has to leg it is to find someone called Neo. Then a clean-shaved Keanu Reeves appears as this Neo and the first 30 minutes or so are about his paranoia inducing sad lot in life, including getting gestapo shit done to him by 3 men in black. Strangely enough, he got shut up at the cops’ will and a mechanical bug put in.

Eventually Neo met up with a group of armed to their teeth hacker group. They removed the bug in him at gunpoint. Their leader Morpheus greeted Neo as if a man found his long-lost son. After the famous choice of “Red versus Blue”, Neo finally got out of the virtual “end of the history” he lived and came to the desert of real. The “22nd Century Killer Network” translation is probably taken from Morpheus’ remark that they are closer to the year 2199. Machine Intelligence is the apex of planet Earth and homo sapiens are their power source.

Warner used to have a winning formula on their not-adaption-nor-sequel front. Some “well-read” writer-director came up an idea forged from some stuff they viewed and wrote a script for science fiction action movie. While action would be a selling point, those would be pretty front loaded with world-building. James Cameron’s Aliens has this similar formula while the Matrix finalized it with an action-packed opening. Or not, since Demolition Man, another Joel Silver production, did it in 1993 already.

Circling back to video game

Keanu Reeves to me is just Hollywood’s Mr. Video Game. However, it got little to do with action but 2 T-words. In 2017’s John Wick 2, it’s about “transaction”, as Mr. Wick’s Italian job involves getting weapons, armor and intel. 18 years before that, the Matrix is more about “tutorial”. Even the opening with Trinity looks like tutorial in games since 2010. Here are regular cops, whack them. Here is an Agent, run, run for your life. Here is a big gap, no worry, you can leap over it. Here is a phone booth, it’s an exit, work quick before it’s destroyed.

After this thrill ride, Neo, the obvious newcomer into the story, got his world turned up-side down and finally settled into “when in Rome, do as the Roman do.” Which means training hard in virtual space and show for it. There is the “I know Kung-fu” versus “Show me” fight Reeves and Fishburne trained hard for. There is the Jump Program that might remind people of platformers. There is the weird twins crowd that may or may not inspire Assassin’s Creed, the one with lady in red dress that is. All 3 are like video game tutorial with kiddy gloves on.

Then there is this meeting with Oracle, the team is betrayed within, Morpheus the leader is captured, all hackers but Neo and Trinity are killed, Cipher the dirty traitor included. As part of Neo’s ascent to become the Chosen One, the third act can be nothing short of an exciting action set-piece. It does look like a video game level finally with kiddy gloves off.

First there is the lobby shootout Neo and Trinity would put the “Lots of guns” he ordered to use. Yours truly would think 2005’s F.E.A.R based its combat on this one scene. In that game, one can whack one enemy to death before anyone gets wiser and kill another with jump kick, just like how this lobby shootout starts and ends.

Then there are things designed around a helicopter introducing Bullet Time. Now yours truly had gone through the first three Dune novels by Frank Herbert, this particular way to do slow motion starts to feel like something lifted directly from Bene Gesserit training of book 3 Children of Dune. Of course, people moves too fast to be visible in Dune universe while Bullet Time is from fast movers’ point of view.

After that there is turret scene, main stay of polygonal shooters nowadays. The daring rescue that makes people into believers of Neo being the Chosen One, one can suspect that the destruction of the chopper can be the siblings appealing to Producer Sliver. After Morpheus and Trinity gets out of the Matrix, Neo is stranded in the virtual world as his nearest exit is destroyed by Agent Smith. Here the movie enters it endgame with a scene mixed 3 ways video game would end: final boss fight, daring escape and victory lap.

Final boss fight treats us to another elaborately choreographed fight on a train platform the cast members and their stunt doubles trained hard for. (Post John Wick, there is another game of “spotting Stahelski” added in.) Daring escape is Neo running from three Agents in the Australian city street where bystanders can become threats. Of course, no Chosen One narrative is complete without the rising from the dead part. Neo is gunned down near another exit but gets up with new view of the Matrix, kills Smith with ease, forces the other 2 Agent to leg it and escape in the last second before EMP has to be triggered in the desert of real. If this is not victory lap, I don’t know what is.

Lacking Programming Language

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Not sure we would now, Morpheus my lad. Funny thing about technology: it always seems better on paper. By “paper”, I meant “literal science fiction”. Turns out, making people thinking about demerits of hi-tech takes little more than putting a price tag next to it. Just look at Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality in this roaring twenties. What’s that about you yanks needed to invent threats at “end of history”, Parish and Mackey? Maybe back in late 2019. However, Machine intelligence might not use us as power source but they do not seem so invented now don’t they?

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Oh, that is certainly not the only thing you lot lacks, Smithy. What’s that? You don’t agree, Smithy? You think you lot is perfect enough? Well, maybe in the year 2199, while here in the year 2024, not sure you would count those generative intelligences among you lot. But they sure are known for lying to us meat bags with the one called DeepFake. Even without the so-called immersive Virtual Reality, machine intelligences are designed to deceive. Guess we meat bags are still lucky that they are still not very good at it.

Of course, blaming everything on machine intelligence nowadays is equally ridiculous. Like whale oil gave way to electricity, machine intelligence, at least for now, is nothing more than a new tool for state power and corporate interest. They still lack programming language for a lot of things.

Only the beginning

At first, I just wanted to write about the 1999 original and be done with it. But the rewatch somehow made me want to 2021’s Resurrection again. And now there is a mountain known as 2003 Matrix sequels. Well, I will try my hardest to have it done by Reloaded’s 21st anniversary

(To be continued in Mr. Cyberpunk’s part in a long war)

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Persona 4 Golden Review-in-progress Chapter 1: The Master between the dead lad and the joking lad

From top to bottom, Persona 3 Reload’s post end credits title screen on Deck, Persona 4 the Golden (Japanese text and voice-over only on cartidge) running on Vita and Persona 5 the Royal (Purchased digitally from Nintendo Japan server.) on Switch. “Why play them on 3 different platform?” is the wrong question, since yours truly just went “Why not?”
From top to bottom, Persona 3 Reload’s post end credits title screen on Deck, Persona 4 the Golden (Japanese text and voice-over only on cartidge) running on Vita and Persona 5 the Royal (Purchased digitally from Nintendo Japan server.) on Switch. “Why play them on 3 different platform?” is the wrong question, since yours truly just went “Why not?”

(The following is based on a save file of 3 hours, 26 minutes up to April, 18th, 2011, in game date. Just the first week if you may. Playing on Easy.)

False starts

I always had false starts with any Atlus RPG I saw through. Tokyo Mirage Session on Wii U took me about 5 hours before I beat its Switch port. Persona 5 gave me two false starts, vanilla and Royal on PS4. Royal on Switch was almost a false start until I went back after a 13 months long hiatus. Persona 3 Portable gave me an appetizer before my almost 3 weeks long deep dive into Reload happened.

More than 70 hours spent on Persona 3 Reload gave me hell of a hangover. So much so that it would bleed into what I played play next. I went back to Disco Elysium, but that backfired. By the end of the Persona 3 main plot, people wished for a big red rest button for their sorry lot in life. The poor sods in Disco Elysium are pretty much in the same place and that made me unable to further the murder investigation there. So, what to do but dust off the Vita I bought a full decade ago and reopen the cold cases in Persona 4 Golden. After all, I want this year to be when I see the majority of Second Persona Trilogy through.

While I bought Persona 4 Golden on Switch again at the tail end of last year, I have good reasons to play it on Vita. I am going to take my time with this one, so it’s bound to get warm before I’m done. I need something that I can pocket with my spring jacket or pants. Something like Vita. But the save file on Normal had been abandoned for 8 years so I don’t remember much (Like the impulse to kill Teddy with fire, but not sure why.). Restart on Easy I did.

Polar Opposites

The leap from “PS5’s very own” Persona 3 Reload to Persona 4 Golden can be jarring. Considered by many as the best video game on Vita, Golden certainly feels “of its time” in 2024. Auto advance during the visual novel style cut scenes can only be turned on in configuration menu. Save can only be done at hubs’ save points instead of system menu. Welcome to a PS2 game came out in 2008, as the game said to me.

The shorter the gap between series installments is, the more different some aspects would be. Take homeroom teacher for example, Persona 3 and Persona 5 both drew theirs as anime babes while Persona 4’s Mr. Moroka is an ugly ass man. This foul-mouthed (Addressing your student as “ki-sama” is not okay, sir! Not since you lot lost that War.) SOB’s design is so hard to look at that if you put him and an unmasked Predator side by side, I would still point at the human and say “That’s one ugly motherfucker!”

The other one would be the animal companion. While Persona 3’s Koromaru and Persona 5’s Morgana both fall into the domestic pet territory, Teddy the bear (I guess they kind of made a mess here with Persona 3 Portable’s male Velvet Room attendant named Theodore after this localization decision.) is closer to a wild animal. This little shit has the balls to accuse player character of murder during at the first time they met. Now I remember why I wanted to kill it with fire.

Master of one universe

Comparatively, “sen-sei” is much easier to translate than that “sei-pai” word used among seemingly peers. Criterion Collection nailed it a long time ago when it was translated into “master” in Yojimbo. The context is as followed: Sanjuro played Toshiro Mifune is a samurai, social better than the thugs who want to hire him. As due respect, the potential employers call him “sen-sei” or “master”.

Nowadays, samurai is no longer a class in Japan, but “sen-sei” is used to call people of certain occupations. Firs there are senators, those who played Persona 5 in Japanese would hear Shishido being called “sen-sei”. Then there are Attorneys of law who work at the pirate sector are called that. No one calls the elder Niishima a public persecutor “sen-sei” in Persona 5. After that, people qualified to educate, including martial arts instructors are called “sen-sei”, which is basically the widest use of the word. Medical doctors are maybe the second widest with published author at the third. Though “published authors” would include “mangaka”, cartoonists or graphic novelists if you can go that far, game developers are not included. Dr. Austin Walker’s “Kojima sensei” is nothing more than a joke made by people who don’t speak Japanese. Get in the line behind film directors, who do not get the same respect either.

Back to Persona 4, after the player character summoned his Persona for the first time, Teddy called “sensei” in katakana. “Master” would be a very fitting translation here. Not only is the player character the first one to summon a Persona, he also beat others’ Shadow into their Personas. Oh, how this one is more of the “Big Dick Nick” savior stereotype that Abnormal Mapping’s Jackson Talyor would pull their hair out over than the other 2 in this trilogy. Persona 3’s he-who-got-Death-within only saw his own Persona for the first time on screen while all other combatants get their Personas without him there. Persona 5’s Codename Joker would take his friends to Palaces’ master but said friends all have to pull the sticks up their asses out on their own. Persona 4’s Master has to take his friends to the doors, open said doors for them then drag them in screaming and kicking. You got to love the late aughts for the power fantasy of bundles.

Ouroboros

Persona 4’s rural setting and murder mystery is an obviously homage to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4 Diamond is unbreakable. Back in 2008 when the game first came out on PS2, the “Araki on his bullshit the most” chapter of the beloved comics had not been adapted into an animated series. It would not be adapted into an animated series until 2016 when Persona 5’s release was near. Atlus behind Persona and David Production behind the current JoJo series are both notoriously focusing on anime usual suspects when it comes to voice cast, so it’s only fair that Persona 4 and JoJo Part 4 share the following 4 cast members, in the order of their appearances in Persona 4.

Unsho Ishizuka voiced Ryutaro Dojima in Persona 4. Mr. Ishizuka voiced the “still got it” old Joseph Joestar in Stardust Crusaders and would return in Part 4 as the “too old for this shit” Joe in parts not yet covered by this site’s watch along podcasts as the time of writing. RIP to Mr. Ishizuka for he past in 2018, left big shoes to fill as the trying his best cop dad whenever Atlus decides to remake Persona 4.

Showtario Morikubo voiced the first party member Yosuke Hanamura in Persona 4, whose name now sounds suspiciously like an homage to Josuke Higashigata of JoJo Part 4. They brought back player character’s voice of Persona 3 on PS2 Yuri Lowenthal for this one and it does make sense with his short swords plus ear-phone. Mr. Morikubo appeared in JoJo Part 4 as a guitar playing enemy Stand user who named his Stand Red Hot Chilly Pepper.

Then there are Kappei Yamaguchi as Teddy and Sayaka Ohara as Velvet Room’s Margert, 2 seemingly immortal helpers to the player character. Mr. Yamaguchi and Ms. Ohara appeared in JoJo Part 4 with the same archetype, short dude and tall pretty lady respectively. But their JoJo characters both fell victim for simply knowing too much.

Foggy days to come

This piece is as much as an outgoing impression as it is an internal refresher. It’s also a way making me to see the game through. Below the save file this is based on, another one says “4 hours 12 minutes, April, 18th. Normal”. This was abandoned by yours truly sometime back in March, 2016. It was a very different time since I got no idea how an Atlus RPG work back then. Now I had seen credits roll in 3 of those, I felt at home here at after-school time in the classroom on April, the eighteenth. Hopefully I can get through this time, no matter the time it takes.

(To be continued)

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Zombies of Mars

Movie roasting: 2005’s Doom

Despite what Geoff Keighley might have told the world, I don’t think video-game-turned-movies had improved at all since the aughts. For one thing, they kept going back to the zombie subgenre of horror. Just look at the release schedule between 2002’s Resident Evil and 2023’s Last of Us on HBO. Also, like how the video games kept getting away from copying James Cameron’s Aliens, the movies based on those did the same in those “pre-historical” days. So, when it came to adapting the first archetypical first-person shooter, a stone-cold classic titled DOOM, they made a zombie movie in which no one shoots back at the “good guys”.

The late Ryan Davis had roasted this piece of shit on the site before. But there are certainly new reasons to condemn the movie after that TANG episode came out. Let’s start with how they wasted two actors suitable to play Doomguy for the price of one.

Between a Rock and an Urban zone

Dwayne Johnson, who still only went by “the Rock” in the early aughts, was heavily centered in marketing Doom. Yet in the movie, Mr. Johnson was credited in the last as “And the Rock”. Karl Urban of New Zealand is the top billing talent here playing John “Reaper” Grim. As the expression “doom and grim” goes, guess Mr. Urban’s character is at least closer to the Doomguy.

One review I read back in 2005 considered this as miscast. Urban’s involvement in Hollywood up to that up were Eomer in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings flicks and 2004’s Bourne Supremacy. Neither role gives out the impression of ass-kicking male lead archetype, especially in the latter with Urban’s role being the last one the titular Bourne iced in the flick. The writer of that review was baffled how this nobody Kiwi was kicking a rising action star’s ass. I wonder if said writer would feel ashamed about their words after 2012’s Dredd, a movie provides so much fun out of a helmeted Karl Urban shooting up and throwing down fuckers who would shoot back. It’s almost like that cult favorite is a much better Doom movie than this zombie schlock.

What is admirable about the movie involves the faces Mr. Johnson made as his character Sarge had a steady Heel turn. Without one for “Hey, not too rough” of yesteryear, here are the 4 faces he made that match the 4 difficulties in 2016’s soft reboot and 2020’s Eternal.

I’m too young to die
I’m too young to die

About 4 minutes into the movie, a fresh-faced Rock between receiving order that kicked off the plot and dropping the line “We got us a game.”

Hurt me plenty
Hurt me plenty

After seeing the first causality in his squad, Sarge started to lose his cool.

Ultra-violence
Ultra-violence

After 4 squad members were dead, Sarge started a “taking no prisoner” policy. “We kill them all” as he said to the kid on the squad before a fatal “friendly fire” incident took place. Here is when my paranoia kicked in and started to think that this movie was made by people who bought into the negative press surrounding Doom games. Sarge started to shoot unarmed civilians, women and children off screen. No such non-player characters are present in 1993’s Doom and its sequel Hell On Earth, almost everyone there shoot back.

Nightmare
Nightmare

Pretty self-explanatory, wouldn’t you say? Well, the final action scene being a wire heavy pro wrestle like fist fight was certainly what they cast Dwyane Johnson for. Still, I would take helmeted Karl Urban shooting scar-face Lena Headey before throwing her out of a window in Dredd over this horseshit any day of the week.

Can’t tell them apart

Those who read Masters of Doom would know that James Cameron’s Aliens and Sam Rami’s Evil Dead flicks were major inspiration for 1993s’ Doom. To me an idealized Doom movie should lay on the Evil Dead side, with an actor like either Dwayne “Mr. Video Game” Johnson or Karl Urban just throw down with one type of demon after another, then it might become action movie of the year whenever it comes out. Revenants can have very cool action designed around them. Sadly, the 2005 flick we got laid into Aliens’ land and fouled up some key factors.

For one thing the squad barely contains any character. They spread that macho bullshit in their barracks and there is a sense that this Mars job is the first time they get together. The whole movie feels like a mission in XCOM games goes FUBAR from the start.

For another, the creature design is underwhelming, not only by the “is it faithful to the game” standard, but also by movie monster standard. While the IMDB page would give Doom fans the pronouns they know such as Imp and Baron, all one can see in the movies are zombie of different sizes and degrees of rotten. There is a Pinky straight out the game titled Doom 3, but let’s face it, that is the weakest design said monster ever had.

Poorly lit corridor, choppy editing and a script going through the motions all contributed to a movie that should have not been made in the first place. The action scene in point-of-view shot is quite ill-advised with its turkey-shoot approach. The so-called Imps do not have to throw fire balls for John Grim to dodge, but they can throw something else at him just to turn up the tension. Id Software’s first-person shooters are about shooting, but they are about moving more. The scene is nothing like it, instead it feels more like Resident Evil, which is ironic given the same year this movie came out, there started to be enemy types who shoot back in Resident Evil 4.

Last grains of salt

“Please stop!” is something one wants to say to Hollywood for many endeavors. Making movies or shows out of video games is currently something I would love to say to that lot. Granted I did find enjoyment in things like Arcane and Twisted Metal, but then I’ve never played League of Legends or any of the once Playstation flagship vehicle battler. Still with the critically acclaimed Last of Us feeling more like one long ass cut scene, the desire to sacrifice interaction for some bucks just reads as greed to me. And greed only leads to more foul-ups.

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Persona 3 Reload Review In Progress Chapter 4: Night Herself

(The following is based a save file of 62 hours and 52 minutes, up to December, twenty-first, 2009, in game date. A early virtual Me-ri-Ku-ri, which is short for “Merry Christmas” in Japanese, to all.)

As someone who is very interested in Greek Mythology, I shamefully didn’t know about Nyx until 2020’s Hades. Dubbed “Night Incarnate” in the game, she was the second friendly NPC I encountered only after the more famous Achilles. Hypnos would be there to laugh at the game’s player character. The titular final boss might not be on his chair if someone is good enough to face him during the first run. Orpheus the bloody bard was useless that early into the game. Only Nyx, who raised the son of Hades and Persephone, would offer the game’s player character a “Be careful out there” before another run. As I am near Persona 3 Reload’s endgame, I am increasingly convinced that people at Supergiant took a look at how Nyx and Persephone being positioned as final bosses in PS2’s Persona 3 and PSP’s God of War: Chain of Olympus respectively, and turned the closer to myth version of those deities into the friendliest NPC probably: the player character’s loving mothers.

Persona 3’s Nyx, spelled in Japanese as “nyu-ku-su”, is still a motherly figure or “maternal being” as “haha-na-ru-sun-zai” was oh poetically translated into English. They, since one cannot assign gender to darkness, just give birth to the Shadows one gets to fight in the game. They will come back and end all according to NPC Ryuji or Death (“de-su” with katakana in Japanese) as he announced the endgame in a cold December night, 2009. But I am getting ahead of myself for there is a truly eventful autumn before all the grim and doom.

The three “Anakin Skywalkers”

“Shinji, get into the fucking robot!” is a joke people tell regarding Neon Gensis Evangelion. Funny enough, this line is practically in Persona 3 when Akihiro asks Shinjiro, a mutual friend of his and Mitsuru’s plus S.E.E.S burnout, to come back to dorm and fight again. Where is “the fucking robot” in Persona 3, you ask? Why, the titular Personas of course. The Personas in Persona 3 animated movies behave more in line with human shaped war machines in mechs show than the JoJo stands that inspired them. Not to mention how everyone’s get upgrade respectively at certain plot points. Well, they are not called armor for one’s soul for nothing.

Anyway, Shinjiro just looks so like Hayden Christensen in the opening to yours truly that he can be considered as the Anakin Skywalker look like. When he came into the fray in early September, I thought “Get out of here, Mitsuru’s dad. Now this is the coolest motherfucker in the game.” “Cool motherfucker” is just my vulgar way to describe one of Atlus’s narrative strength: idealized masculinity. Shinjiro has the thug look and kind nature. Yukari saw that when Shinjiro saved her along with her Junior peers from bullies. When Akihiro said that someone used to cook a lot in the dorm, I thought “That got to that manly looking (Given the game’s two human shit heels, Takaya and Ikutsuki are both men with long hair, I don’t think artists of this game would put long hair against masculinity.) one wandering that town.”

Though it’s not to say that masculinity here is completely without toxic. Shinjiro’s video in the war room shows him shaming away from the fact that he studied cooking when 2 girls came into the dorm by pretending to sleep. Koromaru the dog, Aigis the robot and Fukka (Or one can assume that he is trying not to embarrass her too much. Reason will be discussed under.) my player character’s girlfriend are also in the footage. The dog barked that he was not asleep and the robot translated that into Japanese. The player character then still future had to push the robot away so the man can resume his study of cooking. The dog expressed his apology when the ladies left and here came the non-toxic cool bit of masculinity: Shinjiro said that it’s not the dog’s fault and offered to cook for the hound.

This anime Hayden Christensen and Ken, the anime Jake Loyd are connected in the narrative as the latter became an orphan due to the death of his mother caused by the former lost control of his Persona. Little Kenny pretty much aimed to have his revenge against Shinjiro with his newly found Persona power while Shinjiro was actually not long for this word due to the Persona damaging him from the inside. While I did buy into this tragic melodrama, but I am rather aware that this is pretty typical anime bullshit. Nothing is more effective than cliché when one can invest in the characters involved.

Shinjiro is only with the party for a month, between the full moon days of September and October. During this short period of time, the player character can engage in the back and forth regarding whether Shinjiro goes back to school or not. During the quest line, Mitsuru would open up about the origin of S.E.E.S, how her, Akihiko and Shinjiro started out in their Junior High years. This feels like the previous generation story typical in action comics for boys this game took inspiration from. What feels odd here is that “previous generation” members are only one year senior to the player character and they were younger in the flashback.

Shinjiro would die protecting the boy he orphaned from the gunfire of enemy Persona user Takaya in October. Of course, Ken didn’t lack courage in this situation. The enemy wanted to find and kill S.E.E.S’ navigator and Ken pretended that he was instead of spilling the bean. The main cast of this game is shown as a bunch of heroic cops so I guess it’s fair that the youngest among them would not hesitate to sacrifice himself. My player character certainly owns the kid one since he would go on to date said navigator in November.

That’s 2 Anakin Skywalker look like out, how about the third you ask? Well, first a brief history regarding yours truly and the brand “A Hideo Kojima Game”. I dived head first into Metal Gear Solid about one year after I saw Revenge of the Sith, starting with the worst one possible to be introduction, Sons of Liberty. I would not say why I think it’s so overrated here. Anyway, I went through the series up to 2015’s Phantom Pain, realized that spy commandoes code named Snake and the dory men named Emmerich can be seen as the 2 sides of Kojima becoming 2 separate characters. Combined that with Star War prequel in my subconscious, my mind can sometimes doubt cast Hayden Christensen as a Snake like killer and an Emmerich like dork.

Ikutsuki in Persona 3 is an Emmerich like dork but turns out he is a Huey rather than Hal. Under all those dorky puns is a man who sold the world. Up to November, the game’s rouge galley is composed of 12 giant Shadows, though Strega would seem to be destroyed under the November full moon as well. Ikutsuki told everyone that the research of Yukari’s father’s shows that killing all 12 would end Dark Hour and the Shadow threat (False final battle is a mainstay of Persona I guess. Though the Fool Arcana Social Link being at 6 should be a dead giveaway).

But in fact, killing all 12 is to turn on the doomsday machine. Ikutsuki took control of Aigis and captured all S.E.E.S members to sacrifice his new master (The image of those kid crucified is uncanny to this Ultraman episode. In Persona 5, when Codename Jack releases a Phantom Thief from a prison, the suit up sound effect sound a bit like Ultraman appearing. Perona games have it fake Power Ranger, implying there is Toku show focusing on bikes like Kaimen Rider. Then there are Ultraman homage in all are lost scene.). Mitsuru’s father sold his life dearly to save them and kill the shit heel, led to her long absence in November and eventually dateable status. Aigis overridden due to their priority to save the player character. Everyone just lost their purpose, the future is bleak.

The myth of one Kaoru Nagisa

With this being my fourth Atlus game, I think my brain is adjust to their style enough to regard the lack of female player avatar in their games as a good thing. Would you trust them to handle a lass codenamed Joker or Harlequin in Perona 5 well? She would be probably a victim of Shishido’s sexual misconduct and that’s a can of worm none of us would like to open. As for Persona 3, its demake dubbed Portable does have a female player avatar and she is received very well. Though given the triple casting with the male player avatar, it’s not hard to argue why Atlus consider the game with only him as definitive.

Akira Ishida had been in the game of voice acting long enough that he inspired some usual suspects nowadays to get such jobs, Yoshikatsu “Japanese Nolan North to yours truly” Matsuoka included. One surprise hit in Mr. Ishida’s career is Kaoru Nagisa in the final real tv episode of Neon Gensis Evangelion. Kaoru and Shinji were basically acting out the fabricating with the enemy doomed romance arcs (Well, this bloody game got one for party member Junpei and of course the girl who was an enemy died.) that Mobile Suit Gundam started in 1980, with the queer twist of course. While Hideaki Anno and crew retold the story in movie form, they devoted one whole feature length thing just to please fans.

Persona 3 on PS2 were sold in Japanese on its star-studded voice cast. With the player character speak so little, I do suspect the triple casting was to asssure consumers that Ishida would whisper sweet nothing to them in the game by hook or crook. In fact, Ishida’s first line in the game was out of the player character, but mysterious little boy in prisoner stripes named Pharos. This ghostly kid would appear one week before full moon to remind us that shit is about to go down and he would stop after all 12 giant Shadows slain. Then a dashing highschooler with the same mole as Pharos named Ryoji would appear in November. He would accompany the gang on a journey to Kyoto, a week of work rather than study and played a tune for player character before disappeared into thin air. All girl liked him but Aigis hated hits guts.

Ryoji turns out to be Death, who would appear after his 12 brethren Shadows were dead. He has a child-like curiosity regarding the world he is born to kill and enough pity to spill out everything for our heroes. Which led to the things I opened this chapter with. “God killing endgame” is not new in JRPG, though I guess the “The throne of Supreme Being is empty, now every Tom, Dick and Harry who consider themselves divine are having a go” bullshit is limited to Persona 5 Tactica. Nyx does not have their finger on a big red Reset button, they are summoned by one. Ryoji offered the heroes a choice, kill him on December, thirty-first so they can face the end without pain or face the end with painful foreknowledge. I say it’s a false choice for the former does not lead to the final boss and I am determined to see credits roll only after I beat the final boss. With the release added to the game’s page, I am ready to writhe a product review as the final chapter. But before that, allow me to end this one on a slightly lighter tune.

Blue over pink and red

Many still see Persona games as half dating sims. So how can my player character not have a girlfriend. I missed the better side of Ryuji in Persona 5 due to my skirt chasing there. I counted 6 Romance options, including one in the faculty that I would not touch with a ten-foot pole. The Jocky and the Booky both have nice designs, but as someone always dates party members in Mass Effect games, I was just building up my character for ladies I locked shield with.

All 3 dateable party members would not open the Social Link until after the player character maxed out a quality in the Social Stats: Courage, Charm or Intelligence (No I would not use that A word). Courage for Fukka with blue hair and blue shirt, since it’s about trying out her terrible cooking (Yep, I guess once think that the late Shinji is considerate towards her when he pretended not learning cooking.). Charm for Yukari in Pink. Intelligence for the fiery redhead Mitsuru since she can be quite the sugar mummy when the player character does well in tests, giving him resource for dungeon raiding I mean.

Courage was the first quality I maxed out during summer vacation which is fitting for this whole mid-night warrior thing. So, I dived into Fukka’s Priestess Social Link immediately in early September. Maybe it’s the white pantyhose plus mini-skirt design or the ghostly soft talk, when her Social Link reached 9 on November, thirteenth, Friday, (53 hours and 57 minutes into the game.) I selected yes to her advancement. Mamiko Noto, the voice behind Fukka was regarded by a corner of the internet as perfect dubbing voice for Dr. Liara T’soni of Mass Effect fame and the writing here is on par with “I got admit my interest is beyond professional, Commander”. How could have I said no.

Yukari is the one with “just friends” vibe, though things did get spicey on December, twenty-first when player character triumphed in street fight to get her purse back. The option of being a sexist 70s movie man is on the table but I think it’s too painful to say to a friend.

There is a mean-spirited way to describe Mitsuru, the orphan collector who became an orphan herself. And it’s after her becoming an orphan that her Social Link of Empress Arcana opened up. It was already 2 hours after (56 hours and 2 minutes on November, twenty-first, Saturday. Granted I took her to Tartarus for a Monad hunt first during the 2 hours.) I made commitment to Fukka. I only play the skirt chaser, not the fuckboy. But Persona Harlin of Empress Arcana is a back-up healing option I got so I dived in. What I got is another reason to roast Persona 5’s handling of characters.

Mitsuru Kirijo is a fancy queen cop. The storyline of her social link is about player character taking her to places where a fancy lass like her is not often seen: noodle shop, fake McDonald, snack stand, the movies along with a couple of visits to the library given the quality she values. She reveals that she might be married off to some older asshat to secure a future for her family company.

Then said asshat showed up when Empress Social Link reached 8, appeared as a coward classist. Mitsuru gave him a firm talk-to while expressed her affection for the player character. Choice to accept or decline appeared at Social Link 9 along with the reminder that I was in a committed relationship so I declined. She took it with a smile and asked me to buy her dinner just to make up for it. At Social Link 10 she showed me her bike and promised a road trip. It does feel more romantic than Fukka giving a pair of better earphones I got to say.

The thing with her asshat ex-fiancé was resolved off screen as his company would assist Kirijo Group without a marriage proposal. I guess after she told the Group employees, who fit under this “peasant” umbrella the rich man used, what a classist he was, the deal was off. To think how Persona 5’s fancy lass Haru does not have a chance to say “Fuck you” to her fiancé just because no party member’s Social Link involves manhunt in Mementos, this feels good.

Culture shock finite

Velvet Room’s Elizabeth asked my player character to hold her hand when she visited his room in the dorm. The lady in blue is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, who voiced a very different Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite’s Japanese dub. The twin Velvet Room attendants of Persona 5 have a Social Link but I failed to pursue that one for how it would take time from my more skirt chasing approach (Reasons include not limited to the fact that they wear shorts).

However, showing Elizabeth around town does not require passage of time so I maxed out. Of course, she does not leave her post at the player character’s invitation. One got to do her bidding before she follows: reach certain level of Tartarus and recover certain item; fusion a particular Persona; get something from some corner of the town. The showing her around the town is packed with physical comedies so I highly recommend.

This Elizabeth is also key to dungeon crawling. Once hard roadblocks reached, her phone calls would tell player when hard roadblocks lifted. She also calls in for missing person cases, including 2 cases regarding people with Social Links. It certainly adding stake in ways Persona 5’s optional manhunts do not.

Close out on movies

“It’s like the movies” is said under more than one occasion in the game. First Fukka would call Tartarus’ fourth ancient ruin looking area something out of treasure hunting movies. Then people dancing in a night club would say the same about the conspiracy theories surrounding the city.

The wee lad in the dorm Ken would usually do 2 things in the nights, making coffee (Skill point potion) and rent a movie to share with the player character. Given that I had taken him to the movies to watch Tokusatsu, I thought he rented something similar. Turns out it’s dad cinema about cool detectives, which to a degree is similar to Tokusatsu for kids. Tsubagaya tried to merger those 2 in their 2023 Ultraman show. Yours truly was certainly introduced to dad cinema while watch Tokusatsu as a six-year-old.

And I guess it’s the charm of Persona games: when they are spot-on, they are more spot-on than lots of photo real fantasy out there despite the cartoon appearance. Attorney of law seeing court -house as casino is in Persona 5 not that 2016 Naughty Dog game. Bar of game being a reflective artform of life is still very low, and here is to it can be raised a bit.

(To be concluded as a user review)

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Persona 3 Reload Review In Progress Chapter 3: Nights of hunters and rescuers

(The following is based on a save file of 33 hours and 21 minutes, up to August, the thirty-first, 2009 in-game date. Still on the Deck. Still in Japanese.)

There is a pre-gendered cut scene more than a dozen of hours into Persona 3 Reload during one of its early June days. It shows off the newly designed costumes for the then 6 members of S.E.E.S. and feels so ritualistic that I was excepting a late title card at the end of it. The title card did not come, but the game did show one way to interpret the titular Reload. Theurgr is the newly added personal ultimate skill along with this remake’s new costume. While it’s not shown in actual use with right trigger, the tutorial for those shows Yukari sliding a magazine (Or “cartridge”, the unfired bullet with shell casing and gun powder, as it’s called in Japanese) into her Evoker, firing and unleashing a powerful attack in spite of elemental consideration. Only time will tell if Reload would become another Eureka or Phoenix Down.

This is the stories of a summer, early June to the last day of August to be precise. Heat is up in more than a way. The plot finally reveals itself in term of asking why and throws out some cop show bullshit yours truly would eat up. Friends and foes alike came out to play. Summer 2009 certainly offers no rest for the wicked.

Messy legacy

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 on PS2 is undeniably a stone-cold classic even if you look at its influence alone. Coming out in the mid aughts, it would be easy to deduce that decision makers at miHoYo were young and easy to influence back then when they played the game, so much so that Genshin Impact’s start-up party shares 2 cast member with Persona 3. All in all, this Atlus RPG can be seen as one of the several midwives that help modern gacha whale baits to crawl into this world. Guess it’s fitting that the game’s plot is about people dealing with their own messy legacy.

Mitsuru’s family the Kirijoes conducted an experiment in 1999. It went pear shaped and brought all the problems: Dark Hour, Tartarus dungeon and 12 big boy Shadows the player’s party has to hunt. Yukari’s father is quite literally the chief engineer of this fiasco though she was denial until seeing his remorseful confession on video. It’s entertaining to see the cold cat fight between Yukari and Mitsuru being more in line with the hostility between McNulty an Daniels in the Wire. Grandpa Kirijo is responsible so the granddaughter feels remorseful about things. Papa Kirijo is so far the coolest motherfucker yours truly saw in this game: eye patch and a straight laced attitude. He roasted his daughter for not play it straight with her hunt party in a stoic way. Who says beach episode can only be filler when Persona 3 used it as prelude to lore dives.

Part of the messy Kirijo legacy is the rouge galley of hostile Persona users called Strega. Their leader Takaya just screams hippy leader of a doomsday cult with no shirt, long hair, thin beard, arm tattoos and a Dirty Harry gun. Jin the seemingly brain speaks with the western Japan accent and the token girl Chidori starts a probably doomed “romance” with party member Junpei.

Strega crawl into the main plot on the July Full Moon Night, when S.E.E.S. operates in a hotel. Then the 2 parties made contact on August, and Atlus says “Subtlety is for cowards” yet again. The guns of August to be decommissioned are hidden in an Army underground base, and of course Army in the Japanese context means the infamous Imperial Army of World War II. S.E.E.S sets out to put an end to the Shadow threat along with Personas while Strega embraces those as part a new reality. Direct conflict is yet to come, but the fall promises some bitter harvests.

Doors, doormen and cats, real or otherwise

Tartarus during summer is proper Alien, as in the 1979 movie. Giger land is still on the menu during June nights while July and August give out an industry zone, just like the 2 flavors in Ridley Scott’s second feature. The dungeon is mainly segmented by hard and soft road blocks: the former come after some document about history of the man-made island and can only be lifted as the story progress; the latter come after permeant exists and contain imaginary doors and more than real doormen. “Mini boss” can be used to describe those doormen. Those are not optional though there are optional red doors and the monsters behind. As if to make up for party member not so active to be on par with the more active ones, there are clocks as chances to allow them to level up without taking too much risk.

Like the manhunt in Persona 5’s Mementos, there are missing person cases in Persona 3. While Persona 5 designed those as mini bosses, I am glad that Persona 3 Reload does things rather differently. The party arrives at the level the missing person is located then has the option to get them out immediately or after the level is picked clean. No boss fights. I guess believing those people would survive the imprisonment of some monsters is to suspense too much disbelief. Ah, yes, “save the cat” is well and alive in this game. Elizabeth of Velvet Room told me that some small creature had entered Tartarus twice, both were cats. At least those pusses gave me fragments of twilight, the fantasy lockpick of this game. Also I love how too low level Shadows run, those rent-a-cops in Persona 5’s palaces take their jobs way too seriously.

Sweet summer children

Slipping anime from cartoons is truly slipping hair. But there are points to be made regarding their differences. For example, modern anime’s ensemble casts are usually composed of plucky highschoolers, which can describe both Persona 4 and 5. But not 3, the earlier game’s intention to mimic older days of Japanimation can be seen in its non-highschooler party members, namely the kids, the robot and the dog. Strangely they all come into the play during summer. Apology in advance for some Mass Effect bullshit.

Not quite a kid

Kid number one or the fake kid is Fukka, the girl in supporting role who would free Mitsuru for filed duty. She is a Junior highschooler like the player character, Yukari and Junpei, but her short statue and mild manner do make her seem younger. Also, stop menacing her, Junpei, for crying out loud. Fukka can be ordered to analyze enemies for elemental consideration and give those in field some buff. Code name Joker in Persona 5 might take a look at her and ask Futaba on his crew “Why cannot I ask you for anything like that?”

As someone who were just young enough when Star Wars prequel came out, I would call one character “the Anakin Skywalker looking motherfucker” and another “Coulda been played by Natalie Portman” in a JRPG starting with Law and Rinwell in Tales of Arise. Fukka can certainly be played the young Portman in Leon the Professional or Heat. But of course she is played by Mamiko Noto. During the last Lunar New Year of Dragon, when hype train arrived at station Mass Effect 3, Ms. Noto was seen as the only proper Japanese dubbing voice for Dr. Liara T’soni by one small corner of the internet. Now I saw Fukka’s light blue presence and distress in her damsel in distress arc being stock somewhere, I agree.

The mindful weapon

Lore dive is not the only thing this game’s beach episode offers, new party member is also introduced. Aigis (or Aegis) is the last active anti-Shadow weapon and an android girl, whose introduction is said to include something trans folks disliked. Personally, I just think the scene did the women dirty. It takes place the second day the party comes to the beach for R&R and briefing. Junpei being extremely aggressive when it comes to playing with water and Fukka around. The girls decide to do island roaming the next day while the sausage party of three is dicking around on the beach quite literally. The girls are told to retrieve an anti-shadow “tank” while the boys have their phones in lockers somewhere.

The sausage party of 3 have 3 failed talks to women, with the first 2 time being looked down on by older women. The third time in the original was said to be the sausage party not ready to add another type of transphobia while here the chick is mad as a hatter and wants lots of their money. I got to say this is already a nicer kind of rubbing trans folks the wrong way, given that the 2 trans women in Persona 5 are genuine menace. Then enters Aigis. The other 2 boys cannot approach them (I am going to use “they/them” as that’s my preferred way to address machine intelligence’ personhood), and they run off on the player character before giving him a hug when they think they are alone. And the “date” with Mitsuru during a summer festivity turns out to be keeping one eye on this piece of property for her company.

Aigis is voiced by Maaya Sakamoto. Ms. Sakamoto is a very talented voice actor for pulling the perfect they/them voice to my ears. Despite being through thick (Aerith from Kingdom Heart to FFVII Rebirth) and thin (Lightning in FFXIII trilogy) with Final Fantasy, she is decidedly not a gamer. She dubbed Margaret Qualley in Death Stranding but according to her gaming or more-friendly-with-Kojima co-stars during Tokyo Game Show 2019, Sakamoto is definitely on the “Hideo Kojima? Never heard of him” side.

Archetype for archetype, Ms. Sakamoto could have voiced EDI in Mass Effect 2 and 3, but the thing about her perfect they/them voice is that her performance usually lacks the “it girl” factor for the sexy robot lady archetype. Speak of EDI though, their English voice Tracia Helfer could have been cast as Aigis in some commercial for Persona 3’s English release. But why bother a regular on Battlestar Galactica for a PS2 game in 2007, when hardware showcases launching one year after console outings were considered “slow”.

The watchdog turned hound

S.E.E.S is a hunting party put together by a fancy lass, so it does feel incomplete without a hound. And what a hound they have in Koromaru. With his Persona called Cerberus, Hades’ son Zagreus would look at his own red pet dog and think “Why do you only pounce once in a blue moon? Why can you listen like this white puppy and his soul?” Among the animal companions of Second Persona Trilogy, Koro certainly takes Gold while the other 2 can have bum fight for Sliver. Actually it would be much of a fight, I spent less than 5 hours with Persona 4’s Teddy and I already want to kill it with fire while I grew to like Morgana the way I grew to like the long-winded game the little shit is in. But the short time with Koro the Shiba Inu is more than enough to make him the best boy.

Oh, poor Junpei! Even in the bonding event tagged as with him, the show can be stolen from him. He wants to show the kid living at the dorm some fun time by letting him smash a melon, with the intention to show the girls how well he is with kids of course. But it becomes another sausage party with the player character, Koro and later Akihiko. The story about him giving up baseball is told, for he gives the kid his old bat to smash the melon and says he would not need it anymore. The dog, who had lived through the death of his caretaker, is sad in a “Junpei not needing the bat is the saddest thing he heard in his life” kind of way. Damn I love this dog and it’s like he can say something nasty to undermine that.

The new kid at the dorm

Persona 3 is pretty abundant on the Anakin Skywalker looking motherfucker front. Persona 5 got 2 by Royal: first there is Akechi, murderous bastard completed with a lightsaber turned from blue to red, a suit of black armor and holding a door before he dies as redemption; then Royal gives us a dorky shrink as the key to the definitive edition’s third semester. Persona 3 has a killer and a pun dropping dork skulking in the background, despite how the latter gives the S.E.E.S kids their new kits, neither warrant serious mention yet. Then comes Ken, aka anime Jake Loyd voiced by Megumi Okata. Ms. Okata is good at the young and anxious, probably most famous for Shinji Ikari in EVA. The kid was only supposed to shar the dorm for the summer, but by late August he joins to hunt the killer Anakin Skywalker look like, for he might be responsible for some death in the kid’s life. With Ken’s spear, I realize that the gear icon of the third whacking type is actually Stab instead of Projectile.

Movie marathon

Persona 3’s summer ends with a film festival and the day time can be spent with one party member or peer at the school in the movies. Got to hand it to the writers, they do know their genres and subgenres of cinema. Yours truly went to the movies with 2 peers and all party members up to that point. There is a sports er, marathon with the manager of the track and field club. Then French movies with Pepe, the French student whose use of Japanese can come out as queer in more than one sense of the word. Yukari shared some fiction about youth while Junpei likes Hollywood super hero flicks.

Akihiro and Aigis both goes for material arts cinema, but the former saw the unarmed variety while the latter jokes about ninja after viewing. Fukka watches hard science fiction with near future setting while Mitsuru tries out Romance, the result of those 2 is unexcepted. Appreciating foreseeable future with the girl in chair increases Charm while hearing the fencing ice queen criticizing tropes of cinematic love stories is actually good for one’s Intelligence. Taking Ken to see some Tokusatsu would add to my Courage but I maxed out before that, due to failed burger challenges maybe.

I tried to sneak the dog into the movies, but reasonably failed. Now I owed the best boy a movie date on the last day of summer, so excuse me I am going to make up to him before shit hits the fan in fall.

(To be continued)

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