If you have not read this chapter yet, there is light spoilers below. Chapter 59 - Blackout: The anticipation for chapter 59 of Kagurabachi has been palpable. After the big twist of Samura turning heel on the bachibros, we had a bonus chapter side story of Sojo at the sauna which was better than it sounds. That said we now get the anticipated follow up and boy does this chapter deliver on that Samura twist. Samura has pretty much wrecked everyone and seemingly killed Uruha. Chihiro isn't too pleased with this betrayal and gets sliced and diced by Samura for his troubles, an assault which we learn 'kills' Chihiro. So I guess the protagonist is dead now. It's doubtful but I am curious how Chihiro will make it through this.  After attacking Chihiro, Shiba rocks up in the nick of time which seemingly scares Samura off who flees the scene and meets with the Hishaku. Samura basically reveals that he has decided to work with the Hishaku to kill all the sword bearers but after ...

  If you have not read this chapter yet, there is light spoilers below. Chapter 13 - The Silver Snow Witch: This week was not the most substantial chapter but there was some interesting layers added to Togeice's character as we got to see a bit more of her backstory. We see that she is the favourite of one of the head witches and had a tumultuous relationship with Descaras in their younger days. Togeice is the polar opposite to Descaras. She is very serious and studious and has little patience to suffer fools. It becomes clear what the head witches plans are and they seem insistent to mold Ichi in the style of Togeice and aiming to get him into their schooling system. I hope that the series doesn't go the school route because that would not be the direction I would like to see this story go. Outside of the look at Togeice and Descaras in the younger days, we see that Ichi is hot on the trailer of the Mushroom Majik and that's pretty much where the chapter concludes for now....

  With the recent release of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake there are more eyes on the Dragon Quest series globally than there have been in quite some time. With the new release breaking all sorts of records, I thought it would be interesting to look into different type of records when it came to Dragon Quest 3; speed running records that is. The Dragon Quest series has been subject to a lot of interest from the speed running community, primarily in Japan where the series is most popular. It is an intriguing series to try to speed run as the games are notorious for being lengthy and at times quite difficult. However over the years the attempts to speed run the games in the series have evolved and speed runners have tried just about everything. One such speed runner is a gamer who goes by the name of Hitshee. In 2020 the speed runner achieved notority for their anything goes speed run of Dragon Quest 3 where they famously put their Famicom console onto a hot plate and heated it up unti...

  If you have not read this chapter yet, there is light spoilers below. Chapter 12 - The Kindake Majik: The latest chapter of Ichi the Witch sees the hunt for the Kindake Majik officially begin. Ichi and company rock up to a village that is being overrun by giant mushrooms. The sight of the giant shrooms towering over the tiny village was a cool visual. Ichi is surprised to learn of the deal struck by the witch bosses in the previous chapter that if he fails to capture the Kindake Majik then he must go to witch school but if he succeeds his identity as the only male witch will be revealed. I am personally hoping for the latter because this series is doing good with its current direction as a somewhat monster taming fantasy adventure series and I would not like to see it become a school based series. The other noteworthy thing in this chapter was that a mystery person crosses paths with Ichi. It looks like we may be getting a look at a potentially significant character here. Could h...

  It is that time of year again when the year ends and people decide what things were the best things of the year that is now ending. As such it is time for the Game Awards for 2024. There are many categories and I decided I will vote in these awards. Here are my votes and a little bit of why I voted for the titles that I voted for. Game of the Year: I voted for Metaphor: Refantazio. There was no other game I sunk so many hours in. I enjoyed the game a lot and think it just slightly edges out Astro Bot for me as Game of the Year. I am a JRPG fan and Metaphor ticked all the right boxes for me. I also gave it the coveted 3 frogs rating in my review article recently so I'd say that speaks for itself. Nominees were Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth Wukong, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Elden Ring DLC and Metaphor: Refantazio. Some thoughts on the nominees. Balatro is an interesting contender here and a big win for indie devs for it being nominated. Elden Ring DLC seems a bit strange to be no...

  A couple weeks back Nintendo released Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket on mobile devices. I was not aware of the game's impending release and was pleasantly surprised when I saw some posts on X regarding it and thought that I would give it a go as well. I am now playing it too much. Pokemon TCG Pocket is pretty much exactly what you'd think it is. It is a simulation version of the Pokemon trading card game which allows you to open booster packs and play matches of the TCG against both computer players and actual players around the world. What sets it apart is the fact that you can do pretty much all of this without having to pay a cent. There is paid currency but the game also allows you to regularly earn all these in game currency by surprise-suprise simply playing the game. Because the game doesn't put any real cash hurdles in front of playing the game, I have now been playing it too much. It has become some what of an obsession and I am becoming addicted to opening pac...

  Metaphor: Refantazio is the latest game from the folks who brought us Persona and the Shin Megami Tensei series. I played it on the Playstation 5 and I can say that it is a long game but I did not find myself getting bored or disengaged even after playing over 100 hours of this thing. The story is very fascinating and never dwells too long on a story arc before jumping to something different yet equally interesting. The game plays basically the same as Persona. So if you like those games, you will probably like this too. The game's story deals with some complex themes that parralels our real world in many ways. Despite this it never feels out of place or not in keeping with the fantasy world the developers have put together and instead it simply puts a mirror up to our real world without being too preachy in doing so. I liked a lot of the characters which is not something I can say with the Persona series where I find most to be annoying. Also I found several of the characters st...