Finished watching Banner of the Stars 3

Finished watching Banner of the Stars 3 (2005, Sunrise, 2 epi) on 3/23/2018.

Using his Navy pension and financial support from the King, Jinto plans to return to Martine, his home planet on the Hyde system with the goal of constructing of an anti matter fuel supply chain, thus establishing his Earldom. However, things don't go so smoothly as Martine has still not surrendered to the Empire. On top of that, a squadron of a new class of Assault Vessels is being commissioned by the Empire and Hyde has been chosen as the trial grounds.

Hm... Hahahah! I don't really have much to say about this one in comparison to BotS2. It was still a good production. I think if anything, it was interesting to see how things developed in Martine years after Jinto had left. With his return, he faces some racial prejudice against the Abh. And then there's his adoptive parents and how they feel about Jinto's life as they pose a difficult decision for Jinto to make. The production quality was still pretty good, but that's about it.

8/10 - Maybe I'll look into reading the novels one day.

Finished playing Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions

Finished playing Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions (2007, TOSE, Square Enix, PSP) on 3/19/2018 for the second time.

Play Time: +600 hours

After a gruesome conflict known as the Fifty Year War, another grim chapter awaits the land of Ivalice whose political strife and economical instability are now topped with the recent death of its king. And with the only heir to the throne being an infant, the kingdom is split yet again on the decision of a regent between Prince Goltana, represented by a Black Lion, and Prince Larg, symbolized by a White Lion. This comes to be known as the War of the Lions, and in the midst of all its conflicts is a boy named Ramza Beowulve whose major role in the history of this war was covered up by an influential religious institution known as the Church of Glabados.

Man, oh man, oh man! I've never had such a wild ride of ups and downs with a game before. I've also never played a single player campaign for this long!
So, Final Fantasy Tactics takes place in a medieval setting where magical abilities and mystical creatures abound. The game's political plot is complex and mature played by a varied array of characters. While the plot's maturity is welcome, the number of characters might make it a bit hard to follow along. But their Shakespearean dialogue makes it only more interesting to pay close attention to. I believe it wasn't so Shakespearean in the original PlayStation release.
I've never played the original western release of this game, but from what I've heard War of the Lions brought the difficulty level up to the original Japanese release, which sometimes can be very unforgiving to the point of some battles feeling unnecessarily punishing. This is especially frustrating with story battles that can't be skipped, and is only made worse if you decide to overwrite your save file in between battles with multiple fights as you'll find yourself stuck in the character select screen with no option to go back to the overworld map, leaving you with the only option to start the game all over again or keep trying to beat the battle you're stuck on by hoping for a miracle. This sort of happened to me, but not because I overwrote my save file as such, it was because I had to collect and steal certain rare items (not required) before defeating all the enemies. But because the enemies were so powerful compared to mine, I ended up resetting the game an unbelievable amount of times over the period of two of three weeks before I was miraculously able to do it. And it's not like leveling up my team would've mattered as enemy levels grow with you.
And then there's the very limited amount of character units you can recruit. It's about 32, I think, which doesn't leave much room for ordinary recruits when you're trying to obtain every single special and story character there is. This was a struggle for me as I ended up having to sacrifice characters I had spent hours upon hours of training and leveling up, just to make room for folks like Cloud or Balthier to join the party. Had I known how many spots I should have reserved when I started the game, I wouldn't have recruited and trained so many folks. That's really one of the major contributors to my insane playtime. Next time I'll know better, I suppose. But I'm probably not going to play this game again. I wouldn't want to put myself through another round of this sadistic game difficulty. And if I do, it won't be for a long time. Maybe if there's a remake, I don't know.
But I'm not trying to say the game is completely terrible for that. In fact, I very much enjoyed it for its story, characters and battle mechanics. The whole job system and the thinking you have to do on the battlefield is very engaging. And the cutscenes are great too! The cell shaded models combined with the cross-hatching render gives them a very magical storybook kind of feel. I love it! It's really just the punishing difficulty of this game that ruined the experience for me.

8.5/10 - *whine* The game is too haaaard! ( T ^ T)

Finished watching Banner of the Stars 2

Finished watching Banner of the Stars 2 (2001, Sunrise, 10 epi) on 3/15/2018.

Things only get more complicated for Jinto and Lafiel in this new venture. In the vast wake of Fleet Commander Bebaus' conquest of planets, Lafiel is put in charge of planet Lobnas II as a Territorial Ambassador. Upon arriving they come to find that Lobnas II was being used by the United Mankind to house a million prisoners divided into three blocks. The western block was designated for female inmates only while the eastern block is for males. In the middle however is the section where both make and female prisoners co-mingle on the condition of being sterilized. But when the women of the western block demand to be emigrated from the planet, the eastern men rebel. And to top it all off, Lafiel must deal with an incoming enemy fleet, forcing her to make what is possibly her most regrettable decision.

This season had me at the edge of my seat. Trying to handle the politics between all the prison blocks was quite troublesome for the main characters, specially when the show tells you straight off the bat something is going to go horribly wrong with one of your favorite characters. It was definitely well written and amazing to watch Lafiel deal with so much crap at once.

8/10 - It was a bit of a thriller, really.

Finished watching Banner of the Stars

Finished watching Banner of the Stars (2000, Sunrise, 13 epi) on 2/14/2018.

Three years have passed. Lafiel and Jinto have matured and achieved high ranks in the Abh navy. Lafiel has become the captain of a new assault ship called Basroil and Jinto has finished his training to become a Supply Officer under her command. And so, they depart to join a large fleet whose mission is to defend the Laptic Gate from a force that incredibly outnumbers their own. As if that wasn't troublesome enough, the Abh fleet commander comes from an infamous family name, known for their "spectacular insanity".

First thing to notice here is the improvement in art style. Namely, their head shapes are no longer distracting. And the animation quality has also improved as well with cleaner lines. No only that, but the bridge crew adds some new supporting characters to enjoy, which in a story that is not only politically-driven but also dependent on the relationship between characters, it comes as a good addition. However, only one of the new bridge crew members seems to receive most of the attention. And that is Samson Tirusec. Samson is a human Ship Engineer who likes to poke fun at Jinto about him and Lafiel once in a while, and enjoy a couple of drinks over a nice conversation with his crew mates. He's also a bit of a laid back character, but overall I enjoy his screen time.

8/10 - Definitely enjoyed it.

Finished watching Crest of the Stars

Finished watching Crest of the Stars (1999, Sunrise, 13 epi) on 1/27/2018.

Jinto was a young lad when the Abh Empire invaded his home planet. On that day, his father traded his position as the president of Martine for a high rank in the Empire. Years passed and now Jinto, as a young count must learn the ways of the Abh by attending one of their schools. Babysitting him through this process is an Abh princess named Lafiel Abriel. But after being picked up by an Abh ship, they come under attack by human Alliance forces.

This series was brought to my attention by a close friend of mine. And I'm very happy he mentioned it to me as I've come to enjoy this series very much. It had a hint of Legend of the Galactic Heroes in terms of political strife, and a hint of Space Battleship Yamato in terms of action and a character-driven plot. I think what I enjoyed most about this was the relationship between Lafiel and Jinto. Some might find Jinto to be too simple of a character. In my opinion however, I think it's that ordinary-Joe characteristic to him that I find appealing. He also seems to be very laid back and kind person which I think plays well into the dynamic between him and Lafiel. Lafiel can be a bit of a mean cat sometimes with her tsundere antics, but Jinto's kindness sort of tames that feistiness in her. I somehow find that comforting to watch. Maybe Jinto is the kind of person I wish I was. Maybe that's why their relationship is the main thing that kept me watching.

7.5/10 - The only two things that really bothered me was the very strange shape of their heads and the almost trivial conversations and monologues of the Abh captains. Almost as if stalling for screen time.