It’s a brand new era on Tooning Japanese! We have a new host for this season in Superfan So, Shinji is in the mech. Now what? This week Shinji takes Unit 01 out for a spin and battles his Is this the horniest episode of Tooning Japanese ever? Maybe. Is it the fault of Evangelion? Maybe. We may not know these answers, but we do know that this is another great episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion. This week Andy, Bill, and Matt talk about Episode 3, “The Silent Phone.” Toon in for Matt’s very first review!
It’s time for a two-for-one episode! This week Bill and Andy talk about Episodes 22 and 23 of Gungrave. These episodes are…not the best in the series, but one has more promise than the other. Which one is the better, and which one is an unpolished turd? I guess you’ll have to listen to us break down “Remorse” and “Daughter.” Just 3 more episodes to go!
Did you know this is the 200th episode we have released on the feed? Crazy to think that we’ve come this far! Thank you all for your continued support of the show!
This week Bill reviews Episode 21 of Gungrave, “Duty.” Thankfully, he doesn’t giggle at the title too often. Grave and Mika go and visit some old friends and try to lay low after Grave’s fight with Bunji. As you might imagine, these attempts don’t work, and instead Grave and Mika find themselves in even more danger. Check out this week’s review to find out what happens!
We didn’t drop off the face of the earth. Okay, maybe for a bit. But we’re back now with a brand new episode! Speaking of dropping off, the quality of these Gungrave episodes sure are teetering on the edge lately. Will “Letter” be a success or a flop? Guess you’ll have to listen to find out what happens between Big Daddy and Harry!
Hey, anime fans! We’re back with another review of One Punch Man. This time around Bill and Andy go back to the fighting tournament to talk about Season 2, Episode 6, which is titled “The Monster Uprising.” While the tournament winds on, the city is still under the attack of a ton of monsters. Can Genos, Fubuki, and the others save the day? Find out by listening to our recap and analysis!
Welcome to the next installment of a new articles series,Tuesday Top Five! From time to time I’ll be coming up with a Top 5 spanning a number of geeky topics. This week we celebrate the release of Final Fantasy XV with an article chronicling my favorite Final Fantasy protagonists.
Greetings, fans! It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Top 5 article, but I’m back with a promise of several Final Fantasy themed articles. Final Fantasy XV dropped today, and a lot of people have been eager to get their hands on the game. I may try it myself, but for the first time ever I’m not rushing out to get it on Day 1. Perhaps I was burned by every game after Final Fantasy X-2.
The first of several weekly articles will be my personal top 5 playable characters from the history of the series. I can tell you right now that my list is probably going to be VERY different from your own. As always, let us know what your own list is in the comments section below!
#5 – Vivi [FF IX] As I said in an earlier article, the original Final Fantasy is one of my favorite games in the series. Of the 6 playable character classes, my favorite has always been the black mage. Wielding immense magical capabilities, the black mage could cut down a number of enemies that your fighter or thief couldn’t handle with sword alone.
Final Fantasy IX is an underrated game. It suffered as a successor to the mammoth that was Final Fantasy VII. That being said, the game served as a love letter to its fans, providing a story that went back to the classic formula of legendary heroes obtaining elemental crystals. Among a colorful cast of playable characters, the one party member that stood out as a true call back to games of old was Vivi.
Vivi breaths real life into the original character class of the black mage. Sporting the signature robes, staff, and tall pointy hat, Vivi is an absolute joy of a character. He’s clumsy, shy, and quiet, but as the game progresses he grows in confidence and becomes an integral role in the overall story. Add to his general nature his questioning whether he is a living being or simply an animated creation, and you have an endearing and intriguing supporting character.
#4 – Auron [FF X]
This may end up being the one brawling, true badass to make my list. I could have easily put many of Final Fantasy X’s characters on this list. Yuna is a truly sympathetic character. Kimahri is the strong, silent type with a unique character design. Wakka takes on the role of comic relief.
Then there’s Auron, the grizzled veteran that leads Tidus away from his world to the vibrant, fantastical Spira. From the first cut scene, Auron exudes machismo. He wields a massive sword and deals heavy damage, breaking through the armor of most monsters.
Not only is Auron the strength of the team, but he’s the only character to have taken on the role of a guardian not once, but twice. His knowledge of Sin and the pilgrimage of summoners places him in the role of mentor to both Yuna and Tidus. Without Auron’s actions as guardian and guide, the story could not have been possible.
Auron’s design is pretty awesome as well. The long red coat is somewhat reminiscent of Vash the Stampede, and the fact that he feigns a sort of arm injury mixed with his grayed hair might catch his foes off guard. In a series filled with fantastical and often feminine male characters, Auron is a bit of a breath of fresh air for his more mature look.
#3 – Yuffie Kisaragi [FF VII]
I tend to love characters that others may not find that appealing. There’s something about the overly quirky and sometimes annoying female support characters that I just find endearing. Selphie is one of my favorite characters from FF VIII. I’ve mastered the lethal kicks of the adorable Ling Xiaoyu from the Tekken Series. I’m an adoring fan of just about every Sailor Senshi.
That being established, it’s no surprise that my favorite playable character from Final Fantasy VII is Yuffie. She’s one of the few optional characters in the game, which by itself was such a new and crazy concept to me. My favorite JRPGs on the NES and SNES followed strict rails, and you’d get new characters when the game decided it for you. The first time I stumbled upon Yuffie was by complete happenstance. The fact that there was some character I stumbled across while wandering around forested areas pushed me to find out who she was and how I could bring her into my party.
Yuffie is a feisty ninja that uses a ridiculously large shuriken. When you try to follow her to her town of Wutai, she ends up pilfering all of your party’s materia. Many players might find that reprehensible, but you find out through the story she takes your magical orbs to restore her hometown after it was attacked by Shinra.
Once in your party, Yuffie becomes a positive voice and a spunky personality to break up the more glum and grumpier characters like Barret and Cid. It’s more than worth the time and effort to recruit Yuffie to your party and brighten up the dark world of Gaia.
#2 – Tellah the Sage [FF IV]
As a fan of magic users, there’s no doubt that the elderly Tellah made my list. Yes, Tellah is most famous for his unforgettable line of “You spoony bard!” However, there’s much more to this wise old coot.
At first, Tellah seems to be a senile retirement home escapee. He isn’t a capable hand-to-hand fighter. He has lost some of his magical prowess, most notably the knowledge to cast the almighty Meteor spell (or Meteo if you’re playing the SNES version).
Even though he is a crank and a nuisance throughout much of the early parts of the game, he is also a loving and caring father. He proves this by hunting down Edward, who he believes has kidnapped his daughter. When he loses his daughter once again, this time to the actions of Golbez’s evil, his mind becomes bent on revenge.
One of the most interesting things about Final Fantasy IV is the rotating cast of characters. Just when we think we’ve seen the last of Tellah, he comes back at the later stages of the game. He even eventually regains his ability to cast the epic Meteor spell to try and best the evil Golbez and protect the world.
Tellah isn’t your typical young and spry character, and his sincere actions throughout the story made him a really fun character to root for and watch develop and change.
#1 – Laguna Loire [FF VIII]
Yeah, I know. This may seem like a really strange choice. Just hear me out.
Final Fantasy VIII isn’t my favorite game of the series, but it will always hold a very special place in my heart. It was the first of the Final Fantasy games that felt realistic. There was just the right blending of real world technology and non-cartoony character design that made the story seem like something that could exist out there in our own world. In short, it made me believe that magic and monsters weren’t only part of Tolkien-esque worlds.
Laguna is a unique character. He exists for the most part as an inhabitant of a dream world. Throughout the game your main characters pass out inexplicably, and they would wake up in the bodies of three characters: Laguna, Kiros, and Ward. We mostly see Laguna in his role as a Galbadian soldier, and to be honest he really isn’t that much of a fighter. If we’re being honest, he’s pretty inept and bumbling.
So why do I like Laguna so much? Laguna is a sincere, kindhearted guy. I have always seen a lot of myself in Laguna. He doesn’t see a lot of potential in himself, he wants to be well known as a writer and journalist, and his impulsive and odd personality can be misunderstood by those that don’t know him.
Even though his role within the story is a bit confusing, I always got excited when I got to take a break from the main party to see what Laguna and his companions were up to.
We’ll be back for another Tuesday Top 5 article! Be sure to check back and let us know what you think about my rankings in the comments below! We’ll read your favorite characters on a future episode of Tooning Japanese!
Welcome to another installment of Tuesday Top Five! Each week I’ll be coming up with a Top 5 spanning a number of geeky topics. This week, I’m going to rank my favorite video games from the Final Fantasy series.
Out of all my NES games, the one I treasured the most was my copy of Final Fantasy. This JRPG from Square was published in 1987 and was supposed to be the very last video game for the failing company.
I am a child of the Nintendo era. Growing up, I owned the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES for short), and I would lose myself in its many worlds, such as The Mushroom Kingdom and Hyrule. The games had simple graphics, but many of them were insanely difficult to play and master.
That being said, it turned out to be a massive hit, and as most people know, it spawned a number of other games in the series. Most of these games are not sequels, but many of them had similar themes and mechanics that evolved alongside the hardware of new consoles.
Trying to rank my Top 5 this week was extremely difficult, and I’m sure those of you out there may disagree with my list. If you do, leave your own list in the comments below. We may read your comments on a future episode of the Tooning Japanese Podcast!
#5 – Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1)
Final Fantasy is best known for the numbered games in it’s series, which will soon span all the way to 15. However, there were also a number of games that weren’t given the honor of being part of the official series.
Of the non-enumerated games, the very best is Final Fantasy Tactics. First appearing in January 1998 in North America, this was one of the earlier games to hit the brand new Playstation 1.
The biggest draw to Tactics was the change they made to the original turn-based mechanics. Instead of two teams facing off against one another on either side of a screen, battles occur on a large map consisting of squares. Think of it like a tabletop like Dungeons and Dragons. Players not only have stats for their attacks and defenses, but they also have movement and jump speeds. The entire combat is still turn-based, but you move your team around the board in order to attack. This adds a whole new level of strategy beyond simply choosing to attack, defend, use magic or items, or run away.
Another draw to this game was the deep class system. The class system is not new to the Final Fantasy franchise, starting with the very first game. However, it feels like an advanced version of Final Fantasy V in that there’s not only more classes but many more skills and abilities to learn. The game itself is fairly balanced, and you’ll find that you have to do a bit of experimenting during certain combats to find the best strategy for the enemies as well as the layout.
For example, thieves have an ability to steal the heart of an opposite gender, in effect bringing them to your team temporarily. Aside from my frustrations that it’s not taking into account people who prefer the same gender, if I’m up against a large number of male spell casters, I may attempt to bring in a couple female thieves to effectively add a few more members to my party.
Will you be my Valentine, please?
There were also a few extra features that really never made it into other games in the series, including quests where you send out a group of 3 characters for a certain number of days. When they return, depending on if you chose the right classes for the task, they earn a certain amount of skill points. Also, certain towns have fur shops where you could poach the baddies and sell their pelts.
While those are both cool aspects to the game, my favorite addition has to be in combat. When a character (bad guy or your own) stays dead on the field for a certain number of turns, their body disappears and is replaced by a crystal. Yes, your characters can actually DIE in this Final Fantasy game. The crystals are an addictive part of the game: when you move into the same square as one of these crystals, you can either regain your lost HP/MP, or sometimes you can also learn an ability that the bad guy knew. This usually leads me to kill all the human NPCs and keep one alive long enough to hoard as many new abilities as I can.
The game’s only drawback may be in its confusing story. There are a lot of characters, and some of them really lack the depth that you’d find in other Final Fantasy games. If you like political intrigue and backstabbing (Game of Thrones, anyone?), this is the game for you. If not, you might be a bit bored or get lost in all the names and factions.
Despite that issue, it’s a really fun and in-depth game that everyone should experience at least once.
#4 – Final Fantasy I (NES)
You can’t go wrong with the game that started the entirety of the series. As I mentioned earlier, I spent far too much time playing this game, and it was really my first exposure to the RPG genre. It’s a game that I still revisit from time to time due to its surprising replay value.
The premise of the game is fairly simplistic, and it’s a formula that future games in the series would follow. A group of destined heroes come together to defeat ancient evils and light elemental crystals. The crystal motif would continue into FF 2, 4, and even 9.
Sure, the story seems simple, but the real fun comes with creating your team of 4 Light Warriors. If you’re playing for the first time, it’s probably best to create a balanced team of a Fighter, Thief (or Black Belt), and a White & Black Mage. However, once you get the hang of the game, you may want to challenge yourself. For example, a few months back I played with 2 Thieves and 2 Black Belts, a feat that led to many deaths early on in the game. Or what about a team entirely of spell casters? Sure, they can deal damage, but they can’t take a hit to (literally) save their lives.
Above all else, this is the game that started it all. It was a truly revolutionary game for its time with its creation of the turn based combat, its fairly robust magic system, and its epic storytelling. If you’re a fan of other Final Fantasies but have never played the original, do yourself a favor and do so. Also, play the original NES version because it’s the most difficult and unrelenting.
#3 – Final Fantasy IV (SNES)
The best thing about Final Fantasy IV was the great storytelling and colorful cast of characters. Like Final Fantasy 1, this story involves heroes and magical crystals. What this story has over the original is a real sense of character depth and development.
The greatness of this game lies in its writing. Remember, folks, this was back in the day when there was no voice acting in video games. Without having a voice, each character feels completely unique. There’s Cecil, the angsty main character that undergoes a moral and class change from an evil dark knight to a paladin. Then you have the stalwart dragoon Kain, who is corrupted and used by the bad guys. The summoner of the party is a young girl whose family is killed by the main characters. The mage of the party is a confused old man, and there’s even a bard!
A bard! With a harp and everything!
C’mon. You know we had to include this.
The story jumps around quite a bit, and your cast of characters come and go. Sometimes your party gets separated, and you pick up new members; other times your beloved characters suffer a terrible fate and can no longer fight by your side. Either way, it was a whole new level of storytelling that many video games did not attempt.
The game was so popular that it even spawned a series of smaller sequel games that can be purchased on Steam. I’ve played them a bit, and even though the sequels aren’t great, the nostalgia factor made it worth trying.
This game will take you to the moon and back, both figuratively and literally. Go download it now or go dust off your old SNES!
#2 – Final Fantasy X (PS2)
When the Playstation 2 came out, all I could think about was when we would get our first Final Fantasy game. Once Final Fantasy X was announced, I was extremely jazzed. The graphical possibilities of the PS2 were outstanding, and knowing Square-Enix, this game would more than likel be gorgeous.
The game did not disappoint, and the first few cinematic videos absolutely blew me away! My jaw was left standing open as I watched Tidus playing Blitzball only to have a massive monster appear and destroy the city. They had accomplished something completely beyond what we had already seen in the series.
Another big change to the game was the inclusion of voice actors. Sure, the dubbing looked a little off most times and the dialogue wasn’t always delivered with the best emotion, but giving each character a voice made the game feel extremely unique and gave the world a real sense of life, even if that meant I couldn’t name all of the cast.
Like any good Final Fantasy game, I fell in love with the diverse cast of characters and was completely swept away with the world of Spira. The locations were interesting and absolutely gorgeous. Some of my favorite areas include the Farplane, a place where the dead spirits killed by Sin reside; Macalania Woods, a forest that looks like it’s made out of diamonds; and The Thunder Plains, a barren land where a storm forever rages and poses an actual threat of your characters being struck by lightning.
The combat is fast and strategic; you can swap out a character at any point during a battle rather than always having a set number in your party. This leads to a lot of tough choices and each character feeling important. The leveling system consists of a giant grid filled with abilities, spells, and stat boosts. It’s one of the most unique takes on leveling up and allows players to truly customize each of their characters by choosing one path over another.
Even though there isn’t as much replay value as other games in the series, there’s a lot of side quests and seemingly impossible tasks in this one that will keep you playing. That reminds me…I need to try and dodge 200 lightning bolts on a row once I finish this article.
I know some of you are looking at my article and are freaking out about Final Fantasy VI not making my list. It’s not a bad game, but it’s one that I honestly never got as into as some of the others. It’s also one of the few that I’ve never actually beaten.
I also know that some of you may be rolling your eyes at my choice of Final Fantasy VII as my number one Final Fantasy game. For some reason the game has been on the receiving end of some hate. I’ve heard the arguments that it’s overrated, the graphics aren’t that great, and the story is completely incomprehensible.
I’ve got several arguments for why Final Fantasy VII will always be my all time favorite game in the series. First of all, it may have something to do with the fact that it was the first FF game to make it onto the Playstation. The jump from the SNES/Genesis to the Playstation/N64 era was huge for gaming. The ability to render environments and characters in three dimensions changed the way that we view and play games. While this game does not hold up to later games in the series, it significantly raised the bar with regards to other RPGs.
Final Fantasy VII has some of my favorite characters, environments, and moments in all of gaming. Who didn’t enjoy running around the Golden Saucer playing all sorts of mini games or racing chocobos? Was I really the only one who obsessed with actually obtaining a gold chocobo? Well, I had three of them on my main play through, but that’s besides the point.
Whoa, indeed!
Even though Cloud’s story is a little convoluted, he’s still an interesting character. Also, consider the crazy characters that he surrounds himself with: an offensive renegade with a gun for an arm, a giant red cat with human intelligence, a massive mechanical moogle suit piloted by one of the villains, a grumpy old airship pilot, and a bubbly ninja girl. What more could you want?
Do I even have to mention the scene where Aerith dies? Sephiroth’s sword didn’t just kill our favorite flower girl; it killed my innocence.
The Materia system may be my favorite use of magic in any Final Fantasy game, and there were plenty of spells to keep the game interesting and add lots of strategy. Well, except for Knights of the Round. That took far too long to summon and felt like an “Easy” button. I’m so thankful that Final Fantasy X allowed you to cut the summon animations down.
Yes, analyzing Final Fantasy VII’s story causes headaches, but just enjoy it for the exciting RPG that it is! Whenever I need a JRPG fix, this will be one that I go back to time and time again.
Come back next week for our next installment of Tuesday Top 5 article! Let us know what you think about my rankings in the comments below and sound off with your own Top 5!
Our group of disparate wolves are one step closer to coming together into a brand new pack. Unfortunately, this means that we have to introduce a new character. A very…grating character. Yeah, this week we’re reviewing “Toboe, Who Doesn’t Howl.” Tune in next week for Andy and Ray’s review of Pokemon: The First Movie!
Not a Patron? Here’s one of our bonus episodes! We currently have almost 4 hours of bonus content for you to check out for just a $1/month donation! During this episode we debate our favorite anime (and other geeky) weaponry.
We also announce a contest! Head over to the Questionable Endeavor Discord and enter our free contest. The winner of a $25 Amazon gift card will be drawn on September 1st!
Don’t forget that from now until August 31st, we’ll release a bonus episode alongside our regular release for each new Patreon backer! Our next bonus episode will be a fan Q&A & other surprises!
We know this episode is dropping three days early, but Andy is out of town all next week, so enjoy an early weekend anime gift. The guys are joined this week by Jason from the New Blood Rising Podcast to review one of the very best episodes in the entire anime, “Paradise.” This episode was recorded remotely, so our apologies for any changes in our audio quality. Go listen to New Blood Rising today by visiting newbloodpod.podbean.com or on the Questionable Endeavor Network!
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