Fantastic Phantom Climax

I finished Fantastic Children last night and the "Another Marrone" scenario of Phantom Brave Portable earlier today. The former was a pretty good show. Nothing too spectacular and filled with a few too many flashbacks for my liking (flashbacking can be a useful tool in telling a story, but sometimes you've just gotta lay off and show something right from the beginning). Though I do have to admit that I found it satisfying that the reincarnation of the lead girl's love interest didn't turn out to be the lead guy, or even anybody featured as a major character in the series at all. It felt like a nice change of pace from the norm without trying too hard to be different for the sake of being different.

As for the latter, I enjoyed Phantom Brave tremendously. While I do tend to get attached to characters in stories that I'm watching, reading, playing out, etc. a little more easily than others, this game in particular had a cast of characters that I grew particularly fond of. The principal lead Marrone (Marona in the English version) is simply such so much of a kind, thoughtful, endearing little girl that I think it'd be hard for most people to not grow attached to her and want to see her succeed. This goes double for the bonus scenario's eponymous alternate dimension version of the character, who has been thoroughly broken emotionally, and yet under it all, you can still catch glimmers of the wonderful person at her core. The endings for both the normal game and the extra scenario had me emotionally invested enough to shed a tear or two of joy.

And now, on to today's swag.














Various Gundam video games, especially ones for the PS2, tend to be not so great. This title, Mobile Suit Gundam: Climax U.C., is one I've heard many fans speak highly of, and so I decided to procure a copy for myself to check it out. I'm particularly looking forward to playing the game's "Progressive Mode", in which the player takes control of a succession of somewhat customizable characters taking part in battles throughout the Universal Century timeline. Of course, I'll be doing my first run aligning with the Earth Federation and AEUG factions.