Trauma Team

I'm mostly a guy that enjoys long bouts of time spent on RPGs. It's just how I roll. Some games may take me longer because I sleep with it on. If there is an RPG that makes me fall asleep after 8 or so hours of play, then that means I'm having fun. To some that would mean that they would be bored. However, there is probably one game thats not an rpg where it's so good I fall asleep to it. That game is Trauma Team on the Wii.

Trauma Team is another entry in the Trauma Center series. TC or Super Surgeon Caduceus as I may believe is called in Japan, is a series of medical simulators. The first one debuting on the DS during it's infancy was relentless. So much so that I cracked in front of my college friends and admitted, "this bitch is hard." Let me reiterate. I cried in front of grown nerds and geeks and college students aloud and said that this bitch is hard. Usually games are playable and beatable and a ton of fun. However, Trauma Center is probably the only game I ever played where I got to the end and the last boss was unbeatable....for real! It's hard enough where your going to fail...alot (LordKat).

The games consist of surgery, that's pretty much it. You cut, your inject, stitch, ultrasound, pick up with forceps, burn with a laser, drain and patch up with gel. In some scenarios, you will have to use these tools outside of the surgery table. Such as dismantling a bomb, or pick lock an alarm. The most important ability to mention is the Healing Touch. Slow down time, invoke painless procedures, or Regen hands. I love this concept as it takes pure concentration to invoke or use the Healing Touch. Also gives you an excuse to tease your girlfriend in letting you use the Healing Touch on her. eh? eh?

In the first game you play as greenhorn Doctor Derek Styles who's not in the right mind set when it comes to his job. He gets paired up with Nurse Angie Thompson who is not really hiding the typical brash aloof personality. Like a bittersweet chocolate, Angie criticizes Derek until later in the game where they get into some sticky situations with the main villain.

Derek and Angie are hired to work at this medical group named Caduceus to fight against a bio terrorism group creating this man made disease known as GUILT. That's right, the same GUILT that I was affected by that money sucking whore who I will call a vampyr. GUILT stands for Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin. That doesn't matter though, your job as the player is to get rid of GUILT. You're the doctor, GUILT is the disease, kill it with antibiotic gel!

Now Trauma Team takes the same premise, but this time you can play as 6 characters each with different personalities and professions. There are 6 fields of medicine that you go through: Surgery with CRS01, a young surgeon who gets arrested for something he thinks he didn't do; First Response, with the fiery boisterous busty bruiser tsundere Maria Torres; Orthopedics, with The Big Guy and superhero costume wearing Hank Freebird; Endoscopy, with the rebellious clan princess complete with a teleporting ninja butler Tomoe Tachibana; Diagnostics, with the smart ass Spike Spiegel/Mugen expy Gabriel Cunningham; Finally, Forensics with Naomi Kimishima who can hear dead people with her purgatory hot line cell phone and mini me Little Guy who solves the cases in a big whodunit. Each character is full of life, humor and a back story that's worth a pilot for a real TV show if they execs in Hollywood weren't so stupid in creativity.

The game has a great storyline that intertwines with each episode as you play it anyway you want. Want to start with CRS01 and go to Tomoe? You can. The Real story however, comes into play when you finish all the episodes from each of the doctors. No posliers (spoilers), an epidemic with something of a rose becomes a key in the main plot in the disease that affects the people in the game. It's very well written with the intentional cheesy dialogue that doesn't detract from having a good time with each of them.

There is are couple of things that I find strange especially when it comes to the art and the dialogue. For a T rated game, Maria sure knows how to cuss. I would like to invoke Getting Crap Past the Radar because with stuff like prick and goddamn staying in the dialogue, man the ESRB was off that day when they let that pass. I love it though. Shows the more raw emotion put in the lines.

The other is in the artwork. Again, I'm sure Maria's attire with a tight skinned tank top and a green-yellow jacket is not exactly doctor material. Plus in the intro to her story, we get a blatant shot of her in shorts and nothing but a towel after she gets out of the shower. (See above pictures in order from Americans hiding cleavage to Shot of Maria to Maria in her "usual attire" to the japanese cover to Maria in nothing but a towel) For that kind of blatant fan service, I give Atlus a salute and Suzaku's Seal of Awesome.

The music is also worth mentioning. At first it became catchy, catchy enough to run in tune with Maria's themes. If it comes off that I'm talking about Maria too much, no I don't dig her that well. I'm just the kind of person that doesn't dig hot blooded people. Each theme pertaining to each doctor has a different feel. Tomoe's feels like Fantastic Voyage in caves and dark corridors. Maria is hot blooded so her themes are intense and the addition to the guitar solo in her Rosalia theme. Gabe aka Dr. McJerkass has a jazzy feel with a much more sinister brooding foreshadow for the things to go bad. Hank has a medley that grows each time your score gets better.

However the detriment is that if you make even one mistake it goes back to 0. Kind of a downer really. CRS01 is toe tappingly addictive that you can do a walking montage in the beat of the theme, I like themes like that. Finally, Naomi has different themes that fit the overall finding the truth behind the dead. However, it is when Rosalia's theme effects the overall emotion of the characters is where it truly shines. Maria is still intense, Gabe is brooding, Hank is strong, Tomoe is sinister (like going to the struggling world) and CRS01 is overall powerful to invoke dread and a final shout out to Rosalia for showing up as the final take on her virus. Sure it seems like a missed moment, but after feeling stressed for most of the game, it felt nice to know that what I did was miraculous. The song that seals the deal is Gonna be Here, the ED of the game. Not only is it a kick ass song that closes this chapter in the series, but it's another one of those Crowning Music of Awesome that people who are modern music buffs will grow to recognize as another reason why Video Game music kicks so much ass, even the struggling pop artists who are flooding the TV airwaves are put to shame. No mainstream artist in the western hemisphere outside of the gaming industry can really top this kind of caliber! Here.

My only gripe with Trauma Team is not the game itself, it's great. It's some people who complain on how it's hard to play the game that they give up without giving it a try...or they watch it on YouTube. Ironic how I was one of those people who discovered it on YouTube. It's not difficult to play with the Wiimote on your dominate hand. I'm a lefty so it was pretty easy to use the forceps, but there was one level where I had to use the nun-chuck to aim the chisel to get rid of some nasty purple stuff on the bones. It shows I'm not exactly accurate or the Wii motion plus needs more tinkering to be completely jitter free. Other than that the gameplay is great.

Overall this game is worth the value considering that most games are 60 to 80 bucks, or I daresay up to over 100 bucks for one stupid game clocking in at 30 bucks now. If blood isn't your thing no matter how fake it is, then rent it. You know what, buy it. If you got a Wii and you love taking tumors out of people, then this is for you. 9 out of 10. Buy it.

Bad Filler and Eclipse

Damn it, why do I keep getting dragged in these things? Why do these bad fillers keep happening? You might be wondering why I am punching myself in the stomach for bad filler? Well, the main bad plot of this filler episode is I was dragged to see Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
The story begins as I am wanting to bring a friend to the Obon festival. S, being slow as all hell taking her time, takes me to this restaurant near her house. Not only does she take her sweet time and lacklustingly pay no attention to the conversation, but she thinks she convinced a hostess to join her "company". I am now thinking this is a codependency thing. Where she can get people to help her. Technology is not really her best forte.

As soon as the restaurant passes it's sweet time, S and I end up at the theater. 2000 points of damage to my wallet later we end up climbing the slowly crawling escalator to my unfortunate fate. The moment the movie started I knew I wasn't going to have fun.

The first part of Eclipse I was bored with exposition and how the characters other than the bland Bella and wooden Edward kept going on with their "love" and "engagement." First off, that isn't love. There's no way in hell that a bland unattractive mentally unstable high school graduate who fell in love with a vampire who saw you as food could ever be love. It just can't. Besides, what else is there to Bella and Edward besides their on again off again stalker with a crush relationship? Does Bella have any interests? Does Edward enjoy a game of sport instead of a sport of game? What is it about these 2 that has people, guy or girl swooning? I'm writing this because SpoonyOne had a great point about the main couple. The other characters who I paid no attention to had a little bit more backstory and we only got to see some background of some characters. Rosalie I guess her name being that explained in a flashback that she was a broken bird waiting to be engaged until her "husband" on a extreme drunken stupor and his friends rape her and leave her for dead. She got her revenge and that's it. The blond guy who was part of the civil war was entranced by these 3 maidens/vampires. Nothing more nothing less. Yes yes I know I would know more about the whole thing if I read the book, but listen...I don't read shitty harlequin romance novels. Nor do I care for any of the characters in this abomination of a movie. So keep your cliff notes to yourself!

Among the love triangle is the werewolf, Jacob. Native American symbolism abound, his clan are of a pack of werewolves who look terrible as CG. Either the creators couldn't splurge on more effects went the China route and hired cheap CG artists or they got lazy. Jacob is as gullible as Edward is as he sees Bella as a love interest but not intentionally in a good way. From this point on my anger is not pointed at the boys besides Edward who is more like a rapist, but more towards Bella. And unrelated to why I didn't get some after watching this. More on that later.

This among the quadrilogy of so called harlequin romance novels was written by Stephanie Meyer, a Mormon mother. In this one it's about not really about scoring before marriage and how it's wrong, but in my mind I am more on the lines of when, and how. They want to screw, screw so hard the bolt will strip. However, I ask among the fans and haters, and critics does a human girl whos mental instability puts the DSM IV to shame and an undead vampire who should have melted away 2 books ago make love I do not know. NO one knows! And the fact that Meyer who can target this to teenagers as a romance novel?! Luckily it's taken an opposite effect to some, but if my theory or logic is true, most people's lives are so dull and baron that they must seek out an escapism and Twilight is one way to do that. However, because of the "appeal" of it, they take it as a part of their lives like it's real. Pliskin or Snake once said or mentioned Diminished Sense of Reality or DSR. Can't tell the difference between real and fake. Their lives are fake to them so they seek a way into the doorway of fantasy and consider that real. Seriously, this is how fanboys and fangirls are born!

Bella is one of those mentally unstable characters that doesn't know what she wants in life. She obsesses over Edward like a chunk of her heart was torn away. Like Sora going all emo cause Riku is gone and doesn't know where he is. Except Sora is not allowed to angst in from of Disney. Then she flirts with Jacob but still denies him as she is forlorn for Edward. That itself is a open shut case of a 2 faced whore. She knows that shes toying with the boys yet obsesses over them. I have never been so offended at such misandry and that's just from one character! Shes a backstabbing manipulative bitch!

So the story or convoluted "arc" of Eclipse. The psycho lesbian Victoria who's not getting over the whole my boyfriend is dead cause the human girl and Irish vampire killed him makes new vampires called newborns. Think newborn babies wanting food. Tantrums aside and no goals besides the whole feed me thing, it's retarded. She did this, make a new batch of vampire babies to fight Edward and Bella. Ed and bitchface go to werewolves for help but vampires and werewolves don't mix. Fight ensues and it's not interesting. Not only are logic and physics non existent in this trite, but apparently babies are made of clay heads when they are killed. Now here's where I say symbolism as you or I put it more bluntly, killing babies in a PG movie. Is it even necessary? No! Cause before the fight and obvious trap, Bella tries to quell Jacob one last time and as she says kiss me, he does. It was then I was frustrated as much as Spoony was. Not only do we get a scene where Jacob spoons Bella in front of Edward, her FIANCE!!, she wraps Jacob's finger around her and makes out in front of him again. Edward is nonchalant about this.

The big 4 Volturi is wasted space. Not only are they not doing anything, but they are just there to further drag on the plot. They don't like the whole Victoria making babies on top of the whole Bella showing off vampires. The "heroes" of this ragtag team of teenage goth wannabes save a little girl baby vamp. Volturi doesn't like it and kills her. Finally after the pointless revenge plot that was just filler and pointless, it goes back to Edward and Bella and their cuddling in a field of flowers and that is when I just felt that my manliness was reduced to a puddle of goo.

After storming out of the theater not even getting a chance to put on the moves due to the estrogen throwing S at the screen, I kept muttering to myself, "why". Why did I get dragged into this bad filler episode with no reward for my endurance and pain. Back in the real world where magic and science fight each other S brings up something to my attention about appearance as she and I head to the store to bring her mad pussy (no pun intended) some cat food because she was starving the whole time. What got me to the point of awkward and uncomfortable is when S said she wanted to model me after Jacob. Why I ask is when she mentioned my hair at first. I have short hair, a small husky body and buff legs. Not exactly the shirtless heartthrob that most girls would see in the light of day. Then S went on with clothes as the dress shirt, black slacks and au natural hair was not enough to bag a woman. Not only am I an average looking guy, I have no interest in scoring with a woman who thinks I can be like Shark Boy, or even worse a direct description of those manly men only seen in harlequin novels. It supposed to be your own style, no one else.

Eclipse is the worst movie, no the most heinous piece of crap I have ever been dragged to. The Last Airbender is in the same boat, but it's like comparing 2 pieces of shits taking a shit and going for penis hair (I saw it) and manservice. Not only do I need to use SCIENCE to bring back my manliness, I will try to get something back from S in return for seeing this. It sucks nut-logs and even if I were to say so, the fans are going to defend it, no matter how much oomph I put in the counterpoint. If you saw it yourself, reclaim what was lost, equivalent exchange is in order. If you didn't, then you have staved off the beast. The large, plus sized Midwest beast who's life is as dull and wooden and bland as the sparkling vampire himself.

Kanon and Visual Novels

Ah, visual novels. A genre that highly overlooked in the mainstream video game industry... in America. It's not known whether most gamers outside of the internet know about visual novels. Sure we have some already released in the form of Phoenix Wright and the underrated Time Hollow, but the majority of VNs don't see the light of American soil unless importing is involved and even then it can really be daunting to how difficult the game could be to acquire depending on which title, year, or console it was released on. Most of the time, game publishers don't even think about bringing VNs to the states. Maybe it's marketing, maybe they don't care. Who knows.

What does this have to do with that? Well some Visual Novels are turned into TV shows, or in some cases, anime. And in 2006, Kyoto Animation or KyoAni adapted or remade the visual novel Kanon into a 24 episode series. A rather bold move that introduced or at least I think it did the subgenre in anime known as moe. What is moe? Well, moe (moh-ay) is a type of character trait that is best explained as someone so cute you want to take them home and take care of them. Kinda like an cute orphan...if that orphan is hugably, f**kably cute. The problem with moe is that it causes people to develop what I call DSR or Diminished Sense of Reality. Once they spend too much time looking at something cute, no matter how fictional it is, they will lose their grasp on reality and soon sanity as they will see fictional characters as real. Whether it be on a computer screen that they lick to simulate frenching, or they like the taste of hot hot liquid crystal display, if it's cute, hot, and you want to be with it forever, people with DSR will consider it real and take it as it's own. It really can't be stopped.

So Kanon, yeah. Kanon is a harem anime. Where the main character has to gain the hearts of 5 or so girls by finding out what they like, what they are like and how to flourish the relationships of them.

Yuichi, our main hero just returned to his hometown after 7 years where his cousin and her mom live. It's also important to the plot because it's this town where he had 5 childhood friends: Nayuki, the cousin and her mom mistaken as her sister; Makoto, a baby fox who turned into a human; Mai, a quiet demon hunter and her 3rd person friend Sayuri; Shiori, a sickly girl who's neglectful sister ignores her presence; and Ayu, a mysterious girl who knows of Yuichi from long ago. Each of these girls has a tragic past that is somehow connected to Yuichi as a kid. As we move on with the story, they began to unravel terrible relationship killing memories that haunted Yuichi. One incident in particular has Yuichi barely hanging on to sanity's cold harsh reality only to find that everyone got better by some weird miracle even when he was on the brink of death.

What I like most about Kanon is not the moe factor, cause even some animators can make mother characters look hot enough to be sisters. Forget I said that. The reason why I like Kanon is the fact that not only will it make you cry, but it really well written. I am aware that there are 2 versions of Kanon and the other one looks like the animation company, Toei, had alot of growing up to do. It just looks pretty ugly. KyoAni or Kyoto Animation however made alot of effort to make it beautiful. Not just for scenery porn, but the characters look like their original counterparts. I guess it's in presentation or something that makes the show appealing.

With 1 series down and 2 to go, I'm looking forward to Air and Clannad so I can at least finish the Key Trio as I call it. It's weird, when I look at each of Key's works, they remind me of sybolism. Let me explain; Kanon for one has a snow theme to represent winter and it goes along winter invokes something that has to do with sadness, or snow means death which makes sense. As winter, or fuyu ends, spring comes and life is began once anew. Air, represents summer, however I haven't seen it yet, but I do know it has a summer theme. Clannad is spring, what with the cherry blossoms and all. It also represents family or a clan (hint hint) Nakama, a group of comrades or friends. That itself probably got in my mail already so I'll give that a shot. I don't consider Clannad After Story a seperate series as it is a continuation of the first one. With comedy hijnks in the first half and drama in the second half. From what I hear, episodes 16 through 20 are the heart wrenching parts and people praise it outstandingly well. If it's considered a new classic I'll consider that status for it.

Toy Story 3

I'll admit I don't see movies in theaters that often, if not never. Why? armor piercing prices, crowd control, screaming babbies, and food prices even the richest of scalpers at a Yankees game can't match. So yeah, I have a beef with theaters. However, the prices are only due to the fact that there are pirates everywhere, eye patch and all. I somehow forgot what I was talking about, but I saw Toy Story 3 this weekend.

Toy Story 3 is like a last hurrah to childhood innocence. Released 10 or so years after the second one and 15 years after the first one, Toy Story 3 is a pure unadulterated movie that shows not only the hardships of growing up and moving on, but passing on a past that you have kept in your heart to another of ones youth. Kinda like passing on a lineage to your kid when you die, but in this case, it's your old toys to a new owner. It's heartwarming to the point where most people who saw the movie practically teared up. To see that act of kindness in someone as pure hearted as Andy shows that there are people like him in this world.

I, however, thought it was a good movie. As a jaded recovering GUILT victim and potential critic, I am probably the only one who has a heart of steel not to cry to Toy Story 3. Why? For one recovering from GUILT is a very difficult process as it takes will power and maybe something that pertains to getting memory loss that I must use to forget about it. Rosemary recovers memory loss, I just want to forget what happened. Sorry, I lost track.

The other thing I noticed alot in the movie was that there were lots of symbolism and shout outs that made me say what the hell out loud. If you seen it, go ahead and read on, if not they are not spoilers. In no particular order: Escaping daycare = Great Escape; Totoro cameo; Mr. Cucumber Head; the milkshake, box of fries and meat sandwich; a glimpse of Return of the Jedi that went over my head (shows why I didn't grow up with Star Wars); finally Coraline.

Why do I say there's symbolism without not shouting it egregiously as SYMBOLISM@!!!!!11!!!11!(?) Well, for one, that's Film Brains, and 2 no one cares for symbolism. I must point out the whole....holy crap...Circle of Life?! Yeah! It just donned on me. The whole freakin movie is one big symbolic image of the Circle of Life. It was explained that once toys get outplayed, they get either donated where they get put into intense torture in the hands of kids to the point where they are thrown away. Once that happens, it's dumping time and into the incinerator for most matter. That's what Woody and his team went through as they were cast aside by that stupid redneck bastard Lotso. Just as they were about to be burned to forever become reincarnated as plastic matter, they are saved by the aliens who have seen The Claw.

Finally, we see the toys escape their fiery death bound hell to find their way back to Andy's room as he leaves for college....Even though hes 17 and driving....aren't kids his age still in HIGH SCHOOL?! As Andy sees Bonnie, the little girl I guess he used to see somewhere play happily with her toys, he approaches her. The little teenage giant knelled down to her level and introduced Bonnie to his toys as he heartfeltingly said farewell to his old toys as he drove off to his destination at college. In the end, we see Woody and his gang wave goodbye to Andy and presumably the audience. And that's when the tears barely made it out.

Retirement, entrapment in a camp, escape from prison, death, descent into a wasteland down to the pits of hell, resurrection, and finally passing on the torch into a heavenly world. If any of that makes any sense it's symbolism.

Plus the development and timing was genius. The VA who played little Andy is playing the same role as he is in this movie. Instead of being 11 years old, hes 26. Also, it's been 15 years since Toy Story 1 came out in theaters so it's a real marketing ploy that worked out well.

There was one instance where there were 2 jerkoffs who reprimanded it's perfect score down to a fallen from grace 98%. Something this perfect and they thought it should exist in the continuity? Does anyone have a "have a heart" trap? Then again, who reads negative reviews on good movies huh? I mean it's not like the upcoming Eclipse will top Toy Story 3......right?

Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

After resting after a full day of journey and fetch questing I am back from Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. However, I'm going to backtrack to the beginning of this important outcome. Because If I did I'd start off with a cold opening then I be like House.

2 weeks ago, I heard that this movie was going to premiere in San Francisco on the 21st of May. This specific date was kinda important because it was the only movie I actually give a damn about. Not because it was Haruhi, but rather taking an interest in watching a movie premiere. So seeing that the premiere was taken place in the New People's single screen theater, I took upon myself to go there. What I found out later was at that premiere was a special opening where Cristina Vee who's been starring as a live action Haruhi to promote Haruhi in the us was signing autographs there and giving out copies of Haruhi's book both novel and graphic. I thought it would have been a good time to recruit her for an interview for the Limit Break. Sadly, I missed that opportunity as I've missed all sorts of opportunities around this time.

The reason why I missed the premiere of Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya was I had to visit a friend of mine who was graduating from Santa Rosa College. Steven, the graduate in question had clinged onto me as a friend since high school. The poor guy doesn't know how to do things without motivation which drives his sister bonkers. Even after 8 or so years as he went through school as I have been through "life", social, on going training, academics on my own pacing, traveling and exploring and so forth. He on the other hand never had that kind of interest. From what I've seen, all he accumulated was a ginormous collection of manga and an unopened Japanese sex doll from his sister. I maybe somewhat of a pervert looking at yuri and straight hentai, but even I have standards. Plus he's becoming whats called a hikikomori even though hes got a degree and a small job. Wait, are they even considered it if they have that and no social life?

Anyway lost track. So going up there meant crashing at his place... more like sitting up on his sisters couch during the night coughing due to allergies. There was actually 2 things why I hated and punch myself to this day was the fact that he's living with 2 ladies and they drink. Sure I could be a sicko to think about watching my sister drink with her BFF/commuter marriage wife and get on what seems to be every sick ass guys dream come true, but I don't have one. The other is that Meeting Cristina Vee would mean more reputation on my end and the station which I used to work at. Next day was standard stuff, left in the dust while he got his diploma. I did explore bits and pieces of the city and it wasn't that bad. Hipsters and hippies abound, it was quite quaint for a big city. A trip to a slightly upscale Italian spot and filler later I ended up back in town.

The next week the subplot commenced and still disgruntled after the decision I took him as a surrogate brother as my dad deemed him so. There was a short 3-parter about him getting pissed dropping an F strike in front of his mom that caused him to be left out of his parent's house and bunked with me. The twist however, was about him butting in a conversation that didn't involve him. Everyone does that. So mentioned his friend's dad's urn and it sort of pissed off his mom cause he used to have a twin brother who didn't make it. Yeah, it's kind of a berserk button for Steven's mom when death is mentioned. What kind of insensitive jerkass mentions about someones death so nonchalant without realizing some people haven't gotten over it?

Once the truth came out he said he was going to Fanime. It kinda makes me mad that someone who is as anti social as he is is able to go to a convention like that easily. So after some training and showing me his boon from the convention he left.

Cue a week later as I see that June 6th was the last day to see Haruhi in San Francisco. Armed with nothing at my beck and call but directions I traversed through the concrete jungle utopia to finally find Japantown. I realized that it wasn't much of a long journey running in at a mile and a half. Seeing New People for the first time was quite a high class culture shock. 3 floors of real surreal Japanese modern stuff that makes even the most gauche new york artist blush. Across the street was the Kinetsu Mall and all of it was above and underground...well ground floor but it might as well be the last best mall I ever been in. All around was an half otaku's dream come true. Stores exclusively for them to gaze upon. Kinokuniya above has a share of normal people checking out lots of general stuff like a J-GQ, regular books and stuff in English, but downstairs was where the bait was. A whole ground floor full of manga, straight up manga, otaku magazines and lots and lots of teenagers and otaku alike. Not like creepy obsessed otaku, just your local kind.

The rest of the time was simply wasted checking out potential as I saw not one, not 2, not even 3, but 4 stores that piqued my interest. Your toy shop had models up the foggy yin yang, your stationary store with girls inside, a Japanese rental store, and a store right up my alley. All my life I've been looking all over Silicon Valley for a store thats a dumbed down version of Suncoast, but fairly priced like Walmart. I know that in the near future I will travel up to Kinetsu again to do business. The rest of the mall included a furniture store, incense store, restaurants left and right, a place in the corner with prissy photo booths you see somewhere. Even the restroom in the museum was very high tech. I know I may seem weird being amazed by a toilet of all things, but for a guy who lived a semi American lifestyle, an automatic toilet with bidet abilities and electronic sensors to show if you are near was the most amazing thing I ever seen.

As time passed with my jaw spiritually dropped, I headed to the showing of the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. My initial remarks about the showing were sub par as I thought, "This will get 14 people tops, not bad, but not a huge box office." For a single theater with a couple of hiccups along the way, it really became a full house with the top rows nearly filled.

As the movie went along I thought to myself if this movie was considered a dramedy or the same as the show which by opinion should see or get used to as it was cynical Kyon who lead the audience to believe that Haruhi really disappeared. In a shocking twist, Yuki, the residential alien bookworm was the one who created a world where she and Kyon or John Smith (seriously? John Smith) would enjoy a mundane life as members of the literary club. Sure if I ended up in an alternative world where I was in a room with a silent and shy bookworm I'd stay. The reason? She subconsciously hated Haruhi's abrupt personality and it drove her to create another form of herself to make an alternative world from another time. Power Rangers Time Force can chew on that, ha! Anyway, as Kyon went back and found Adult Mikuru (just roll with it), The 2 of them go to present day Yuki who saved Kyon from that world. As they explained the situation a la Back to The Future Part II, the 2 of them travel back to the alternative world and Kyon being the nice guy changed the alternative Haruhi's path. As they found the alternative Yuki using her powers, the Alternative Asakura who was in Yuki's memory comes the crap out of nowhere and goes all yandere for no reason for her shy alternative Yuki. Suddenly, another voice (possibly another Kyon) appears and helps the other Kyon. After that, no one ever mentions it again..... BIG LIPPED ALLIGATOR MOMENT! So what did I do as a semi inspired critic? Let out a it's a trap gag as the audience laughed as I said it to alternative Asakura. What? Well it was!

Then we are treated to a weird sequence where Kyon is fighting himself with himself to see whats real and whats not. Look, your not Eva, you got a budget, don't screw with the audience's mind! Turns out, it was all a dream as he was in the hospital for falling down the stairs as he was in a fever dream of being in an alternative world which was created by Yuki. As Kyon sees Yuki on the roof, in the cold, Yuki tells Kyon that her bosses are gonig to punish her because it's against the rules to make an alternative world without her permission as they want all time and space to be linear not split into 2 paths. Kyon tells her bosses through her that they can screw themselves and will save Yuki from whatever shenanigans happens. Yuki's bosses approve for some reason. As the movie came to a close we are treated to a tender scene where Yuki finally has some character development and her and Kyon are closer than before. The audience applauded the movie which is something I never seen before as the other movies I've seldom rarely seen there was no audience.

The movie itself was good, a few hiccups as the frame rate skipping a couple of seconds, like in Haruhi''s C-grade movie. Not the movie's fault, it was obviously a digital copy played on a projector connected to a laptop or something. The big lipped alligator moment had no significance to the plot and felt pointless and the mind screw came the crap out of nowhere as the realization felt like KyoAni screwed with my head. I didn't know if it was a drama or a comedy with Haruhi's same cynical humor. But I enjoyed it as much as everyone else. the 45+ or so people who were there. I give it an 8.

The trip back however was kinda disappointing as I found a shortcut back to the subway. Instead of going different turns and into weird territory, I went one way down the street. As I journeyed back, I stopped by Nijiya for a bite as I didn't buy any food considering I just recovered from GUILT no thanks to that wallet sucking whore (long story, probably for another entry.) Besides food at San Francisco is dangerous. It cost me 1.65 for an onigiri (a freakin riceball!). Sure it was tasty and kept me going till I reached the train as I crashed. I'll stop by a restaurant there as Kinetsu had a huge lineup of places to eat, even a Benihana in the middle of it all, but it's still too early to be considered out of the hole so to speak.

Back in San Jose, I had to retrieve my laptop as it's my bread n butter. Grabbing my bike and still half asleep from the boring train which you can practically live on, I grabbed it and headed back.

With that, I hear One Piece is going to be here in the middle of June. Will I go to it? Who knows. All I know is I have a few things to do during this summer arc.