Rosario + Vampire: Something Good After All.

A while back, I ran across this fansubbed anime on Youtube titled "Rosario +Vampire". While it was amusing, I wrote it off as typical harem/romantic comedy anime. You know, the ones where there is no resolution and the guy never picks one girl over the rest?

Of course, the only real blight on that series was the bat. He got on my fucking nerves by episode two.

After seeing it, it soon passed from my mind as I moved on to other bullshit to kill time.

About a year or so ago, I took up reading scanlations online. To be honest, despite being a little rough around the edges in quality, I came to prefer fan work over licensed stuff. The sad fact of the matter is, other than some of Dark Horse's imports, many publishers (TokyoPop being the most notorious) heavily censor and edit what they bring in for content. Which is a crock of shit, in my view. If you want to market to a younger audience, then market the right manga for the fourteen year olds. In other words, material aimed specifically for that age group. Don't butcher up the stuff for the older crowd, who like manga/anime as much as the young kids.

Ahem....anyway.....to get back on topic here......

While reading some Full Metal Panic online, I ran across the Rosario + Vampire manga. At first, I wasn't really interested. But something made me check it out. I'm glad I did.

The first few chapters were drawn in a cartoon-y style, with a storyline that started out having a similar tone as the anime. But I stayed the course, and noticed that it was all building up to some awesome shit. The artwork matured over time, almost symbolizing the maturing of the characters.

The were conspiracies galore here. And while I don't like everything I read being "dark and gritty", with this supernatural themed manga, I didn't much mind. Mostly because there is many positive themes and lessons mixed in with the bad.

I won't go into much detail about the plotlines, since I recommend that anybody reading this (who likes manga) go find it through Google and check it out. But I will discuss some of the characters.

The characters are both somewhat the same, and a lot different, than the anime. Some of the basic traits are still there, but the cast tends to be a lot deeper and richer than in the anime. Kurumu is a perfect example of this. She's still a flirt. But she is also a tender hearted girl, who is hurting inside. Kokoa is a lot more developed as a character than the bratty little bitch seen in the Capu 2 anime (she actually cares about other people). Mizore is, at heart, a very vulnerable girl. Ruby is a lot more serious and mature than in the anime. Which is no surprise, considering the trama she suffered in her younger days. And Yukari is truly a genuis, and a hell of a lot tougher than she looks (and her magic isn't as silly as in the anime).

I like the portrayal of Gin in the manga. He's still a pervert. But he considers the Newspaper Club members as close friends (perhaps as a family of a sorts). He's also a lot more serious in the manga and has put his life on the line for his friends.

The two Dark Lords seen so far, the Head Master and Bus Driver, play a larger, more active role in the manga. They have an agenda, and seem to truly believe in the mission of the Youkai Academy. Tsukune and Moka, it seems, figure into their plans. And I don't believe that Tsukune's father found that application to the school by accident.

"Outer" Moka is a lot more aggressive when it's called for (it appears that she develops a spine over time). The "Inner" Moka is capable of showing compassion, and even tender emotions, at times. And as always, she's wise beyond her years.

Tsukune Aono is the big talk among fans of the manga. His growth as a character is all about learning life's hard lessons, while trying to be true to what he stands for. He's put into a position of having to learn a delicate balance between the kind, gentle nature he developed from his sheltered, middle class Japanese background and the need for occasional violence in the real world (and in the supernatural world). Sometimes you have to fight to protect someone, or to right a wrong.

But the buzz is all about his accquired "bad ass" side. Throwing himself in danger constantly has had the unfortunate side effect of his eventual "degeneration" into a ghoul. He was pulled back from the abyss, so to speak. But now he has to deal with the growth of his supernatural abilities, and still maintain the essense of what makes him Human.

Great stuff. Of course, not everyone will get what I got out of it. But it's still worth a look-see if one hasn't already.

It turned out to be something good, after all.

I can't wait for the Season II, Chapter 18 translation.

Government Motors

Well, ain't it something? It seems that Dear Leader can call the shots now for companies who take greenbacks from Uncle Sugar. The recent socialist bail-out package, to be exact.

Since when does a "President" tell a company, or a top employee, who to hire or fire? The Federal Leviathan has showered corporations with mula in the past, but still didn't meddle too awful much (with the exception of government regulations, which is a different matter). And the companies generally paid the government back. This kind of help is a LOAN, not a freebie.

Obama the Infallible's recent actions with GM (and to a certain extent, Chrysler) is akin to a bank dictating how a company should run it affairs just because it gave them a loan. If a corporation defaults on a government "loan", then the Feds should take action to get their money back. Just like a bank.

However, banks don't set conditions on how a company should structure itself, or restructure to the bank's liking, as a prerequisite to get a loan. The Feds have long been in the business of playing banker. Thus, they should ACT like a banker. Not this smoke and mirrors populist bullshit just to keep up the approval ratings and potential future votes. Which Mr. Empty Suit is doing.

If you are afraid of voter backlash because of how your debtors are using borrowed money, then get out of the lending business. Let the private banks loan out the cash, or let the natural forces of the Free Market take over.

If I were Wagoner, I would have told Obamessiah to go fuck himself. If I had my say, I wouldn't have recommending taking the money with such bullshit "Leviathan State" conditions. I would've have recommended exploring other avenues. And if all else fails, then GM would have just gone under, which is what should happen to failed corporations in a true Free Enterprise system. General Motors has had a damn good run. But nothing lasts forever.

It would have been amusing to see all those UAW assholes, who always demand more than they're worth, in the unemployment line.

Nationalized industries, here we come!

I'm Going Friggin' Nuts.

I've been playing Motorstorm: Pacific Rift here of late. It's a neat game, but it's driving me up the freakin' wall.

I'm a Motorstorm vet, having spent much time playing the first one (got it free with my 60 gig PS3). In the past, I avoided racing games, generally favoring other genres. But Motorstorm got me hooked on the franchise. Damn you, Evolution Studios!

Naturally, I picked up Pacific Rift. In some ways, it's better than the first. It's been challenging and fun. But now I've hit a speed bump on my path to off-road glory.

For a while, I've been doing the online thing with the game. It was mostly due to getting the top trophy, which requires you to win online trophies in addition to the single player awards. This is something I don't approve of and what many game developers are doing now. It puts those who don't care to game online, or can't for whatever reason, in a position where they are not getting their money's worth out of the game.

Anyway, after a few days of that, I decided to backtrack and pick up the remaining single player trophies. I'm working on the last two: Champion (all gold medals) and Hire Me (beat developer's ghosts in Time Attack, with every vehicle on every track).

This is where the problems have popped up.

The last Rank 8 race in the Earth Zone involves using a bike on a track called The Razorback. And no matter what route I take, or what kind of tactics I use, I can't manage any better than the occasional second place. I don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong. But it's driving me bonkers, which is why I haven't played in a couple of days.

The second major problem has been in Time Attack. More specifically, the Monster Truck run on the Wildfire track.

As I've mentioned before, I've been a Motorstorm player for a while. And I've played Pacific Rift enough to notice things that are out of the ordinary. And there is definitely something fishy here.

The developers "ghost" is moving a hell of a lot faster than I'm capable of, even if I follow the same path exactly. And jumping a hell of a lot farther on the ramps. To confirm my healthy sense of suspicion, I did a little test.

And sure enough, the only way I could run with the dev's ghost was to constantly use "boost". And the "ghost" vehicle had far greater boost endurance than the player vehicle. Far more than I've seen even with the AI in the game proper. Despite trying every route and using proper boost tactics, I can't beat the dev's ghost. I've come close once, but only by running in the red on the boost gauge half the damned time.

If I had to take a guess, the dev who did so during development ran the course earlier on in the process. The boost function was probably toned down later, but the course wasn't replayed for Time Attack.

What was strange was some of the times posted on the Time Attack rankings, which looked pretty fucking impossible, considering my experiences with this particular race. I later learned of a "boost exploit" used by players early on to get some pretty spectacular times. However, I didn't start running Time Attack courses until AFTER I downloaded the update/patch (which I had to do before playing online). Which causes all these 1:20 runs listed to make me scratch my head in wonder.

I dunno. Maybe I'm just missing something here. All I can do is just keep playing and find out.

And continue to be driven bonkers.