Thursday Media Review: Cells at Work!

written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: This review may contain spoilers to the series, do not read if you don’t want to be spoiled. Also sorry for the late release of this review
Introduction of Cells At Work! (English Dub)

Happy Thursday, it’s ya boy, Choujin here.

Well, with all this talk about Covid-19 and how everyone’s worried has gotten me watching an anime-themed around the human body. I’m sure everyone’s heard of shows, TVs, movies that tell this story in animated form. Though we’re not talking about Osmosis Jones (or its Tv spin-off Ozzy and Drix), we’re talking about a series that started out as a manga in 2015 and was made into an anime on July 2018 (and released on Netflix and Crunchyroll by Animeplex) known as Hataraku Saibō or by its English translation Cells at Work! So what is this anime about? Let’s dive into this exciting piece of infotainment.

Characters+Story

Cells at Work! It takes place inside an unnamed human body and that every cell in the human body has a job to do in it. The entire focus of the series focuses on two characters: A Red Blood cell named AE3803 and a White Blood cell named U-1146 as they do their everyday job. AE3803’s job as a red blood cell is to deliver nutrients and oxygen to cells while moving Carbon Dioxide out of it. U-1146’s job is simply killing filthy germs and viruses that threaten the body. Throughout the episodes, these two run into each other during some moments, such as when bacteria invade through a scrape wound, the body suffering dehydration and sometimes random occurrences. Throughout the story, they are greeted by a cast of various other cells such as the Gung-Ho and militaristic T Cells, the maternal maid Macrophage, and the oh so adorable hard-working Platelets. Though as the cells work each other, they have to deal with dangerous invading bacteria such as the evil Staphylococcus, Pneumococcus, and sometimes the harmless Cedar Pollen Allergens. However, they may have to deal with something far worse than those such as a dreaded Cancer Cell. Sounds pretty dangerous, but it’s more or less the everyday life of Cells at Work and that they’re only doing their job by working hard to keeping you healthy from filthy germs and viruses all while ensuring every cell inside gets their fresh supply of oxygen.

Cellular Greatness: What made the Anime good?

One thing I liked about the anime is how the show is more than just an anime, but what some call “infotainment,” which means the show entertains and informs. Though you do get to see the misadventures of cells, there are parts of the anime to explain certain things. In one example, the 2nd episode titled “Scrape Wound,” we are introduced to the Platelets and explained (in a humorous way) in how they help mend wounds (while also being briefed by the villains) or having brief explanations of the cells that make up the Human body. I never knew that Macrophages are cleaner cells or that there’s a cell known as a Mast Cell that produces histamine or that there is a white blood cell that specialized in killing parasites called an Eosinophil. Another thing that makes the series likable is how the anime portrays cells with specific jobs and appearances. Red Blood Cells are portrayed as delivery people who carry boxes of O2 or nutrients ala house delivery to cells. White Blood Cells like the T Cell division are militaristic police who go in and fight cells or bacteria. The Macrophages (and their monocyte counterparts) are viewed as the cleanup crew (Monocytes viewed as hazmat cleaners and Macrophages as maids with huge weapons), the platelets are viewed as children with a knack for repair and construction while regular cells are viewed as just normal people. Bacteria and viruses are also portrayed in this series as invasive viral monsters that don’t look human. Some like Pneumococcus and Staphylococcus are human enough but alien enough to be viewed as your typical anime villains, and others like Bacteria are viewed as monstrous abominations. Interestingly, the only ones not portrayed as anime villains would-be parasites, as they’re true to their real-world counterpart. Lastly, some of the stories are pretty heartwarming, and some occurrences can be dark. Two examples of this are episodes 6 and 7, which introduce us to our main villain, the Cancer Cell. Usually, we all know cancer is bad, but in this two-part episode, he is portrayed as a victim of being a “copy error” while angered that he knows his fate is to die or kill the body. Very unusual to portray a dangerous issue as a sympathetic villain. The next one is the final episode, “Hemorrhagic Shock.” Just as our main rookie blood cell is now a veteran teaching a new red blood cell, the body suffers a fatal head injury. Both cells try their best as more of their brethren disappear as the body starts to die out. The new rookie blood cell starts to break down as they feel that it’s impossible, to which our now veteran cell tries to deliver all by herself and nearly fails until the body gets a blood transfusion and is able to recover. The anime has some impressive details, but we’ll get to some issues.

Cystic Failure: What the series falters in.

Though the anime does have some good portrayals of characters, some characters seem to be pushed on the wayside and not mentioned much. Though we get to see the Killer T Cells (alongside Helper T and Regulatory T), we rarely get to see the NK Cell (Natural Killer Cell), who only appeared in 2 episodes involving cancer, and that’s it. No mention of her or anything. Others like Basilophil are seen once and never mentioned while Eosinophil is mentioned a few times and never seen at work. There are also some cells in the body that I feel are ignored (like nerve cells, brain cells, and even fat cells) as well as other things in the body that happen. Some are mentioned in the manga, but in the anime not mentioned at all. Another gripe is that the season is pretty short, only up to 13 episodes. That’s pretty short for some seasons of anime and, to me, makes the series pretty short with only a few threatening episodes (Dehydration, Cancer, and Hemorrhagic Shock). Otherwise, most of it involves either just bacterial invasions or just a routine day. I mean, the stuff our bodies go through, I’m surprised they don’t mention other problems. One annoyance I also find is that with the English Dub of the series (not knocking on the voice talent thank you very much) but on how most of the series doesn’t bother translating the information boxes (small segments that explain either what causes the cell or describes the cell) while relying on solely on just the person telling you instead of telling and describing. It just feels a bit lazy if you still have Japanese words or no English subs for some segments.

Conclusion

In an age of cell themed cartoons, Cells at Work entertains while informs people with tidbits of facts. It may take liberty on how they portray cells and how the body works, but that’s what makes the series pretty impressive. Though I did criticize the series of being short with only 13 episodes, it’s been confirmed that the anime is getting renewed for a 2nd season coming this summer. If this is the case, I can’t wait to see more of what will happen to our body and other things. If you’re locked in due to Covid-19 and want to watch or imagine what your body does during this thing. Cells At Work is something that helps you pass the time. So look on Netflix or Crunchyroll if you’re interested for watching the series, and keep an eye out in the summer for that 2nd season.

References

Tuesday Mumble Special: Sudden Changes and Isolation

Written by TheChoujinVirus
Note: This is based on my own opinion. So don’t take this too personal if it hits too hard at home.

Hello, it’s ya boy, Choujin here.

Today’s one hell of a change, isn’t it? Classes are cancelled, some stores are closed, events are ground to a halt and some people are now either massively distanced or even locked in because of COVID-19.
It’s a pain in the ass for your boy, and for some people out there like in San Francisco where they’re all locked in. What can someone do with sudden changes? What can one do? Well, let ya boy give you some tips and advice.

First off, when it comes to life changes, sometimes its stuff that’s beyond one’s control. COVID-19 and the shutdowns its causing is something one can’t stop. However, there is ways youc an plan around this and thus minimize the outcome. For example, your boy’s college classes have been cancelled and moved online so i’m doing that online as well as my blog stuff. It’s a bit more flexible and thus easier to do my studying and work. For entertainment, that can be no problem as you have things like Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ or other streaming services to keep you entertained (Lucky for your boy he has some stuff to keep him entertained.) that stuff isn’t much of a worry but i’m sure there’s more things that can cause problems.

The more severe things are tied to work and school. With some schools closed, parents have to take care of their children. Some have to make some adjustments as their kids stay home while they have to go to work. Speaking of work, some places have shut down to avoid spreading the virus such as either total shutdown or working with a small crew. Ya boy’s grandmother told him that a local McDonald’s had a long drive-thru line as they closed their kitchen (and some places have done changes too). Best to avoid going out often and stock up on essentials (and not hoard like that one jerk who hoarded sanitizes).

The last thing that people may feel with this is hopelessness, but people need to know that this isn’t the end of the world and that by a few months, we’ll be back to normal. We’re not going to enter a societal collapse, but best listen to your medical experts and state government to know what’s going on. Other than that, all the best one can do is try and adjust with what you got.

So when it comes to what’s going on, it’s best to just try your best and not let the negativity get to you.
With that, ya boy wishes you all stay safe.
and don’t worry, this Corona Virus wont’ affect me posting my blogs, so stay tuned as we’ll ride this out together.

Friday Fan-Work

Happy Friday, it’s ya boy Choujin, the guy who writes, writes and never lets up.
Today’s another fan-work friday and now we’re sharing Chapter 2 of my Slayer of Foultongues story.
If you want to see the story, click here to see the last chapter .

Last time on Slayer of Foultongues…
Bit, A Kiralin wanderer, found himself on Bindi X due to an Acheronite Blockade. He intervenes to save Maria, a Lizard Augment from a band of Acheronites that were after her. However, the Acheronites sent small group of their troops to find out what happened to the group. Suddenly Finely and a group of terrans took this as a chance to attack the Acheronite group, leading Bit into a current situation.

And Now the Conclusion

Slayer of Foultongues: Chapter 2

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Bit ran to cover as the town erupted into chaos with Acheronites and townsfolk in an all-out war. The Kiralin firing shots at the acheronites from his cover, felling two attackers but missing the others as they took cover too. Maria was taking shots from the same shelter Bit was at as she fires with a rifle she picked up from one of the townsfolk killed in battle. Finley, still on the upper floor of a nearby building, used one of his grenades and threw it at a group of Acheronites hiding in an alleyway. Finley’s smirks as he watches that group flee the projectile all while getting picked off by Maria and her cohorts. Maria notices that Bit has stopped firing his gun.

 “Why did you stop firing now?” the lizard augment yelled, weapon fire making it hard for her to speak.

Bit replied back, yelling like Maria “I need to reload my gun and I’m looking for their leader.” He scanned the battlefield from behind his cover as he noticed the APC in the area. Positioned to where it was serving as a makeshift barrier for some of the soldiers while blocking off the road out of town.

Inside, the leader of the attack group was furious at the degrading situation as she told the soldiers “Gah! These blasted humans! How can one Kiralin embolden them so easily?!”
“We need to call for reinforcements,” one of the soldiers informed.
“Better yet, use this vehicle’s main weapon,” the leader stated.
They obeyed their order as they activated the APC’s cannon.

Meanwhile, back outside, Bit noticed the APC and asked Maria “What is that vehicle?”

“It’s a Terran Federation Armored Personnel Carrier, Bulldog class,” a townsperson said from an adjacent cover near Bit, “It’s armored to repel small arms fire and armed with a Gorgon class anti-barricade cannon.”

 “Armored huh?” Bit stated but was forced from his cover by Maria as the Acheronites fired the cannon. Their cover reduced to blown pieces of metal and stone, surprising the Kiralin gunman of what power that cannon has. He quickly ran for new cover as he turned to his gun.

“Piercing shot.”
 

The gun began to make some clicking noises as Bit started opening fire on the vehicle. Maria and another townsfolk saw the bullets punch a hole through the interior of the occupied APC. One of them felled, struck her in the head while the other crippled by a shot in the shoulder. The Leader quickly took control of the APC’s cannon as Bit aimed again. He fired again as the bullet left his gun in a brilliant flash, flying through the air like a silent angel of death and entering below the hinge of the Gorgon cannon before striking the leader through her neck. Her panicked motions caused one of her arms to brush up against the vehicle’s controls. The Acheronites using the vehicle as cover found that their cover was moving away from then then crashing into one of the buildings.

The remaining Acheronites were either routed or retreated to safety; Bit sighed as Maria looked at him with surprise and amusement.
“Damn, you took down an APC. Those things are heavily armored to hell, how did you make short work of it.”
“I’m just as surprised myself,” Bit explained “It shouldn’t have happened, but…even a cockroach can still die.
Finley, who was behind Bit and Maria, said to the two, “There’s no way that gun of yours could have done that…”

“It can,” Bit said

“Well, do you think they’ll learn of our uprising??” Maria asked.

“Probably,” Finley replied “Acheronites aren’t the kind to fold upon one fight”

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

News of this sudden uprising spread to the orbiting Acheronite Cruiser, the Vigilance. Orda, a tall and powerful class of Acheronite known as an Amazon, was on her way toward the quarters of their leader, the one overseeing the occupation of Bindi X. Her silver and bronze armor served as much as a badge of honor among the Acheronite Soldiers as they saluted or moved out of her way. She arrived at her destination: which was a large room resembling an exotic zen garden. An acheronite with large dragon-like wings, two sets of arms and dressed in a billowing robe would be meditating in this sanctuary.

“What do you have to report, Orda?” the robed acheronite looked at the Amazon at the entrance
 “Our troops retreated out of sector Ortega nine.” Orda reported.
“Is that possible? I thought we had control of the planet? How can we be having trouble?”
 “We’re enduring small pockets of resistance, but it shouldn’t be any-,” Orda said. The robed Acheronite then interrupts her.

“Small pockets?” the robed Acheronite said. “Orda, I gave specific orders for you to ensure the troops kept this planet under control.”

“Yes, Priestess, but-“
Orda saw the robed Acheronite stand up and heading toward her with fury and anger.

“How can we save them if we can’t control these…jii’alks!” The priestess fumed.

“We’re on it..but we believe they’ve been motivated…by a Kiralin” the Amazon explained, “They reported he took down three soldiers and was able to defeat Field Captain Esvesta….”

The Priestess looked at Orda with concern, “A Kiralin? Here? I thought they were staying out of our war with the Terrans?”

“It seems so, but…” Orda looked down.

“But what?”

“one of the soldiers reported that he had some unique firearm on him,” Orda stated.

“a gun?” The Priestess’s face grew confused “just one weapon?”

“yes, Priestess,” Orda stated.

She looked at her Amazon companion then headed toward the door out of the Zen Garden, “Inform my mother that we need more reinforcements, and call an old friend of mine…”
 “Yes, Priestess,” Orda said.

The amazon politely bowed before leaving the priestess alone. Said priestess began to rest her fingers under her jaw, pondering about as she wondered about the firearm. She only heard rumors, but this may confirm something her people wanted.

——————————————————————————————————————————————
 Night crept upon the now battered town as the townsfolk began to rally at the sizeable local building most refer to the “Community Center.” The Center was filled to the brim as everyone started to contemplate about the inevitable.
“…you know they’ll be coming down here with greater numbers.”

“What do we do?”

“Should we run or fight?”
Bit quietly watched the whole ordeal unfold as the barkeep yelled: “SHUT UP!” Like obedient dogs, everyone turned and quietly listened to the barkeep.

“Now, I know what happened was something of a surprise. We managed to chase those Acheronites out of the area. However, we know that they won’t be beaten that easily. They will be back, with greater numbers. They’ll keep coming here until we’re overrun should we stay and fight”

“So what do we do?” Maria asked, “Where do we run or flee to?”

“We’ll head to Neo Austin,” Finley said. On cue, the group looked at the African American like he was crazy as hell.

“are you nuts?! That place is under total control by the Acheronites!” one person stated.

“You’re proposing we go marching into enemy lines and expect them to give mercy?”, a female townsperson yelled at Finn.

“It’s better than heading to the Mother Lode Quarry, where they have their best troops there. Also, we got our savior over there.”
Finley motioned to Bit, who remained quiet but stoic as he felt dragged into this conflict.

“Hey now! I’m no soldier,” Bit stated to the group “I was dragged into this conflict, alright! I’m not here for your rebellion or such.”

“What!? You’re going to leave us here!” Maria said shocked.

Finley looked at Bit and replied “You might not have been, but you killed their squad leader and pushed back their attackers. They won’t tolerate this little turn of events and will go out of their way to kill you.”

“and getting off-world is impossible thanks to their ships in orbit,” The barkeep said.

Bit hated to admit this, but Finley was right. He did kill three soldiers and took out their squad leader. He was more or less a dead man, but he would ask Finley a question “So what is your plan? It seems everyone’s terrified of Neo Austin.”

 “The Acheronites occupy it, but most of them are soldiers and their wet nurses. Nothing out of the ordinary in that area”, Finley stated.

“but what about the people? What are you going to do?” Bit asked.

“We’ll start a caravan,” Finley stated.

“A convoy?! We’ll be sitting ducks!” one villager said in fear.

“They’re right” Bit agreed “These people aren’t soldiers.”

The barkeep stepped up, “Why not Smuggler’s Gorge?”

“Smuggler’s Gorge?” Bit asked.

“It’s an area out of the way. Small enough that most people don’t know exists. It’ll be a perfect place for the civilians to hide.”

Bit was amazed that the people knew their planet, as he was just an alien (no pun intended) to this world.

“Smart girl,” Finley complimented “and I know some of the guys here who are willing to fight.”
 The group agreed as they looked at Finley then back at Bit over the situation on what to do next.

“So when do we move?” Bit asked Finley.

Finley cracked a smile at the Kiralin, “We started yesterday.”
 

Everyone began to start packing essentials aboard large vehicles resembling hover freight trucks. Civilians were quickly gathering their belongings, weapons, and essentials from whatever they can as several volunteers armed with firearms keep an eye out for the group to ensure the Acheronites weren’t arriving.

Bit watched, studying how these humans, despite all their odds, are helping each other. He heard stories as a child about the tale of early humans and how their “warlike nature.” To him, he was surprised about their communal nature in helping their own.
If it weren’t for the current situation, he would have asked Finley more about humanity more academically and casually. However, he turned toward Maria, who was getting her hover bike revved and ready with a question on his mind.

“Care to explain more about Smuggler’s Gorge?”, Bit asked.

“Just an old mining area,” Maria said, “when the mining colony was in the initial phases of setting up, Smuggler’s Gorge was the first mining area. Then when we discovered the Mother Lode, the place more or less became a place teens and the degenerate hang out.”
 

Bit listened and nodded quietly to Maria’s story; he never knew that a human teenager’s hangout spot would be survival for these people. Once the last of the supplies were packed, and the last person got on, the convoy left their small town. Should the Acheronites arrive at this area, they would only find a deserted ghost town devoid of life. By the next day, the convoy stopped in an arid cracked desert-like badlands nicknamed Satan’s Nook due to the harshness of the area. The drivers needed a break as well as the townsfolk, as they need to stretch, eat and tend other needs. Bit was with the heavily built African-American human on lookout duty. Both kept an eye out to ensure no Acheronite patrols found the convoy. As Bit was cleaning his weapon, Finley started a conversation with the Kiralin.

“In all my years here on Bindi X, I’ve never seen a weapon like yours,” Finley said, admiring Bit’s weapon, “What company manufactured it? Razzo Arms? Hugo? Kami-Tek?”

The Kiralin replied back, “It’s neither Rissan, Human or third party made. Manufactured back on the homeworld.” Bit then continued to show off his gun to Finley but keeping the gun safely in his hand as he continued to explain the gun.

“She’s a Mjolnir Magnum, a Class VI weapon by Division 9 standards. Multiple firing capabilities, the perfect all-around handgun for your Kiralin soldier. Also comes with a built-in security system that will burn a thief’s hand off should they steal it. Durable enough to withstand any abuse thrown at it.”

Finley looked dumbfounded at Bit’s description of his gun, “Shoot, what can’t that thing do? Make French fries?”
 “It can’t create complex explosives like bombs or grenades,” Bit stated, “but I heard that some third-party manufacturer had modified some makeshift mine dispenser for the gun.”
“Interesting,” Finley said. Their conversation had to end as the human noticed something on the horizon.
“Aw, crap!” Finley cursed, “looks like they’re on the move.”

Bit noticed as well, “We best get the caravan moving then.”

With that, the two of headed back to the caravan and notified the group. Some protested as they didn’t get the chance to relax enough.
“We have to go? But my kid needs to use the bathroom!”
“Some of us are still hungry!”

“Listen! Finley stated that the Acheronites are patrolling so we need to get moving!” the barkeep stated. He was more or less the head of the private caravan for the time being. With enough prodding, the convoy continued on its way to Smuggler’s Gorge.

The small Acheronite scouting force was scouting about the area, providing the recon against any resistance. One of them spotted the convoy on the horizon and reported to her superiors via commlink.

“Recon to 25th, enemy convoy detected,” she said.
 On cue, a group of 3 alien fighters with insect-like wings began flying over the recon squad and headed toward the convoy.
“Be advised, current status on enemy is unknown. Do not open fire unless needed”, said another pilot.

Bit, riding backseat on the hovercycle Maria was riding as one of the Acheronite fighters buzzed the convoy . Maria nearly caused the bike to tumble due to the shock while one of the drivers of the convoy also panicked.

“Shit! They found us!” he yelled on the radio. Bit looked up as the fighters turning back toward the convoy.

“25th to recon, confirm enemy convoy may have armed escorts.” The pilot said on the radio, “proceeding with attack run.”

 The fighters opened fire and took out one of the convoy vehicles, flying debris smashing into another one as Finley’s voice is heard on the raido.
“Damnit! We don’t have any means of killing their air superiority! Bit, find a way of fixing the issue.”
 
“Can’t do that” The Kiralin replied, “The Magnum’s not equipped to deal with moving armored targets.”

“Great, we’re sitting ducks out here!”

The lizard augment noticed a raging sandstorm in the distance, “Hey! Let’s head in there.”

“Are you crazy? That sandstorm will flay us alive,” Bit said in concern.
 
“That’s the point,” Maria reassured, “Those Acheronites would be crazy enough to try it.”

The convoy made a B-line right into the sandstorm, all while the three fighters picked off another convoy transport. Once they got inside, the fighters had no choice but to back out and retreat. Inside the sandstorm, Bit felt the sheer winds whipping his face hard. He has never had to deal with sandstorms, especially ones on Bindi X.

“Any convoys lost?” Finley asked on the radio.

“we lost three to them..” The Barkeep said, “One of the convoys had children.”

“Damnit! Are we near Smuggler’s Gorge?” Finley asked.

“Should be a good mile and a half until we get there,” said the barkeep, “Once there, we shouldn’t have any problems whatsoever.”
Bit overheard the conversation the best he could and realized that they were not expecting that level of an ambush.

 Eventually, they would arrive at an old, abandoned mining quarry. Bit looked around as the convoys began to unload the survivors and supplies. Everyone was doing a headcount of who was here, and some were giving condolences to those lost. Bit was curious at what was going on as he asked Maria.
“You humans are an odd lot. I’ve never understood why you would risk everything to resettle here, especially after what just happened.”

“We have something aliens like the Acheronites don’t have or understand: The Human Will to fight,” Maria boasted before snorting in laughter, “That’s what Finley would say, but I’m as clueless as you are.”

Bit remained quiet as Maria headed out to help unload the supplies. All he did was look up to the sky, ensuring the Acheronites didn’t follow them.
“Air Support….shit.,” he said to himself “It’ll be difficult to deal with them

**************************

Back at Satan’s Nook, the scout force that intercepted the area began to inspect the wreckage of the convoy. The lot of them mortified at their discovery.

“Children?! There were Children here?!” an Acheronite scout growled.

“The reports claimed the same forces from quadrant Ortega. The Pilots reported that this was a military convoy before they retreated into the sandstorm,” the second scout explained.

“Orda’s getting blind if we’re shooting children,” The first scout angrily stated “I want to know who ordered the attack?!”

“I agree, but I feel that our priestess is becoming weird and obsessed as of late. As though she’s becoming mad,” The other scout spoke, “Her madness is not going well with troop morale or order-“

Her partner hushed her “shhh! What would Orda or our superiors hear you?! They won’t tolerate this.”

The second scout sighed as she started to feel this was becoming more than just an occupation.

————————————————————————————————————————————-

Nighttime crept up to Smuggler’s Gorge, as the remaining survivors managed to set up for the time being. The Civilians were either doing some basic drills or chatting with each other. Finley headed to Maria with a flask of alcohol.

“Here,” he offered Maria, “I’m sure you need it.”
Maria, too young to drink alcohol, decided it was the only time she could get the chance. Taking a quick swig, she nearly spat out the alcohol.

“Gah! This drink tastes like piss!” she complained to Finley
“Welcome to the world of alcohol, missy,” Finley replied, “Though I thought you augments had a stronger taste.”

“I’m part lizard you black douchebag! My taste buds are much more sensitive than others,” Maria replied, “It’s like snorting beer up your nows.”

“Well then, sorry princess,” Finley apologized before heading back toward a different group. Bit was watching the whole thing as he asked Maria.

“Not a beer drinker?”

“I don’t mind beer, just Finley’s shit tastes like piss,” Maria replied

“I see…” Bit stated.
“Why? Do they have beer in your world?” Maria asked

“on Alderyr? Never really did drink the stuff, I assumed all earthborn love to drink it,” Bit explained
“Hey! I’m no earthborn augment, got it?” Maria scolded Bit “I’m a Frontier born girl, not a Federation one.”
Bit only smirked, “I can see why the barkeep keeps your attitude in check.”

“Yeah well…sometimes I got a mouth, and the old guys gotta keep me from snapping off at people. We’re at war with the Acheronites; we got a Kiralin who happens to arrive on Bindi X while the Federation fleet is probably fighting near the border of Federation Space. Of course, I have to have that stubborn attitude. ”

“Sounds harsh,” Bit interjected
“Hey, we’re on our own here. Until we can retake our home, we’re stuck with what we got,” Maria replied back. “That’s what we have.”

“we?” Bit looked puzzled
“us! Humanity! We have a never give up attitude that got us out of 3 world wars, several conflicts, colonization and outright survival. We never say die, and we never stop,” Maria continued.

Bit nodded as he then began to ask several questions about humans as a whole and what they did. Not all Kiralins learned about human history and how it led to the rise of the Terran Federation. It was a respite for the time being for another event to happen.

slayer-of-foultongues-ch-2Download

Thursday Media Review: The Division 2: Warlords of New York

Written by TheChoujinVirus
Note: The review contains spoilers for the game, so if you don’t want to get spoiled, skip this article.

Happy Thursday everyone, it’s your boy Choujin here.

March is a good day for gaming. With Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons coming in 2 weeks, it’s something everyone’s anticipating. However, other games, too, have anticipated releases in March as well. One of which is the expansion to Ubisoft’s game Division 2 that was released yesterday (though was released on the 2nd of March). The expansion is known as The Division 2: Warlords of New York (I know an odd title that makes me feel like it’s something from a bad World of Warcraft expansion). However, the game has some aspects of it that make it charming and brings us back to the location of the first Division game: New York City. So how does the expansion bring to the month of March? Here’s my review of Tom Clancy’s The Division 2: Warlords of New York.

Summary of the Plot (Spoiler alert for The Division and parts of The Division 2)

The story takes place in an alternate 2015/2016 in which an eco-terrorist attack on Black Friday brings the U.S. to its knees is unleashed. This virus known as the Green Virus (or Dollar Flu) causes a massive Pandemic all over the United States. The U.S. Government not only sets up their offices to maintain order the best they can, but they also activate their sleeper agent group called The Division. They serve as the last line of defense in dire situations in a collapsed society. In the Division 2, you play as a Division agent nicknamed “The Sherriff” as he/she heads to Washington D.C. when the SHD Network goes down (The network vital for powering the Division’s arsenal of equipment and communication with other agents). Throughout the game, the Sherriff is tasked with returning the SHD network online as well as dealing with several factions within D.C. Such as the sadistic Hyenas, the vengeful Outcasts, The militaristic True Sons and the high-tech militaristic Black Tusks. Warlords of New York has the Sheriff being sent to New York City after they discover that the Division’s main enemy (and the original antagonist in the first game) Arron Keener has unleashed his attack on The Division in New York, undoing a lot of the work from the first game. It’s now up to the Sherriff to find Keener and stop him before he unleashes a new viral strain worse than the Dollar Flu as well as uncover a deep plot involving Rogue Division Agents that go as far as with some older guards.

Gameplay

Warlords of New York is similar gameplay-wise to vanilla Division 2 though it does add some unique gameplay mechanics to the game. One such change is introducing a Fog of War to New York. As you explore the districts of New York City, parts of the map become exposed that show new areas, events, control points, and SHD Caches. Another change is the mission Progression system, which adds an interesting change. Unlike the Division 2, in which you progress through specific areas and leading up to the fight at an enemy stronghold, Warlords of New York have you going on a manhunt against Keener and to do that you must hunt down Keener’s guards: Four major Rogue Division Agents who have managed to manipulate the original factions of the first game: The Cleaners and the Rikers. For those unaware, the Cleaners and Rikers were two factions from the First Division game. To find the rogue agents, you have to head to specific areas on the map that are hinted as big yellow circles, thanks to the Fog-of-War. Solving each progresses the story against one of the four Rogue agents, and by completing it increases your progress in finding Keener.  After going through several areas and defeating Keener’s four agents, you now get your chance at fighting Agent Keener on Liberty Island and a strong presence of Black Tusk. Though throughout the game, there are mini-events like rescuing hostages, territory control, and breaking propaganda machines. To make the game easier, besides acquiring loot like guns and armor, your agent has access to several “specializations” that give them new tools to use besides their usual arsenal of portable gun turrets, drones, and roller bombs. Classes like the Gunner lets you wield a Minigun to mow enemies down to the Survivalist that lets you use a crossbow to shoot them with explosive arrows and fire. Though the game does introduce a new class (The last being the Technician class) called the Firewall. This class lets you use a flamethrower to set fire to enemies directly.

SHD’s Strength: What makes Warlords of New York Good

Warlords of New York brings some new faces (or old returns for those who have played the first Division) as you fight the factions like the Rikers, Cleaners, and Rioters that do have their own unique quirks compared to Vanilla Division 2’s Hyenas, Outcasts and True Patriots. Another positive thing the expansion adds is some interesting boss fights that do add some unique fights that add to their lore. One such fight I liked was against Theo Parnell, one of Keener’s rogue agents. His boss fight’s a digital version of whack-a-mole where he uses holograms to hide while you have to figure out which is the real Parnell. Another I liked was the fight against Javier Kajika and having to deal with his shock traps and having to move from one spot to another as steam starts to obstruct your vision. The last fight I liked was the final battle between you and Arron Keener. In the final battle, you’re not fighting Keener and an army of troops: It’s just you and him, agent vs. agent with just your tech against Arron’s. It makes it feel like a final battle. The Fog of War aspect of the Division 2 does encourage exploring the area for every nook and cranny. The last thing I like about the Division 2 is always the lore and how It references back to the First Division game with some character callbacks, areas, factions and such. It does have you wonder a bit more about the lore of the first game while playing Warlords of New York. Lastly, the detail of New York is stunning as they show what it looks like after a societal collapse would look like. Seeing streets turned into swamps, crumbled main buildings and areas become enemy strongholds, and even seeing Liberty Island become the spot of a final battle is stunning.

 Agent Needs Assistance: what Warlords of New York lack

The game does have some good things in the game, there are some problems I found while playing the game. One example is how, after defeating the rogue agents, you only get information on Keemer and nothing much besides that. Sure they give a hint about taking over the Oil Tanker after killing Vivian Conley or destroying a giant drill when fighting Kajika. One annoyance was that besides those two, you barely saw any changes besides that. Like after killing Theo Parnell, enemies I fought still used some drones. I felt that killing a guy who was a drone specialist would somehow deliver a blow against the enemy, but it didn’t feel like I took out that threat. Another thing I did like was the challenge, but I felt that some of the enemies were annoying as hell. It’s true that The Division 2 does require some strategy to fight enemies, but some of the new enemies can feel less of a challenge and a bit annoying. One such is the Cleaners faction, which loves to use flamethrowers (particularly their default attack units and Tank class). It can be hairpulling having to avoid getting a flamethrower facial or getting your eyes blasted by the Riker shield tanks. Unfortunately, the mini-events in New York don’t seem to be any different than before the expansion. It’s a shame as it would be nice to see something new other than opening caches from enemy territories, saving hostages or taking control points. Perhaps it would be nice to see something different, but that feels like a nitpick on my half.

Hidden SHD Cache: Cool little secret

One little thing I noticed when playing Warlords of New York was that in Haven, there’s an area where I found an NPC puppy there. I found out that I could actually have my character pet this puppy. I found out this was a callback to some Division 2 fans who wanted to pet the NPC feral dogs seen wandering around D.C. (as the sad part is you can shoot them but not pet them). It’s a nice thing to add and something cute in between fighting ex-Convicts, rogue agents, and Sanitation workers with flamethrowers.

Do you trust The Division? (My conclusion)

In conclusion to my review of the game, It’s a great game that gives fans of the first Division game some memories of their first foray into New York and gives us a stunning story. I forgot to mention that after beating the game and finding that the Rogue Agents continue beyond Keener, there’s a new endgame in seasons in which you have a new cast of Rogue Division agents to fight (though they won’t be live until the 9th of March). If you want my opinion, your boy would say that Warlords of New York adds some new content into The Division 2 and gives a stunning closure to one of the major villains in the series.

References

Tuesday Mumbles: Coronavirus Fearmongering

written by TheChoujinVirus
Note: what you’re going to read is based on opinions, so don’t take it too personally if it hits too close to home. It may be frustrating, but it’s something that gets under my skin.

Heya, happy Tuesday. It’s your boy, Choujin. Talk about one hell of a week. A couple of days ago, I got a notification from my community college that their school district reported that four students have come down with the Corona virus. (Luckily it was related to their job and not due to travel or random exposure) and to top that off, you have the news discussing various reports of how the Corona virus and whether or not the various ideas and conspiracy theories that have become rampant because of this news. Now, your boy remembered when we heard of stuff about the SARS Virus or Avian Bird Flu. Some people either do two things in these situations: They either treat this like some herald of the end of the world, treat it like a hoax or think it’s some bio-weapon. Now, I’m sure a lot of you are already sick and tired of hearing more about the Corona Virus, but your boy does empathize with your annoyance. Let me explain this to help narrow this stuff down for some of you that are; there’s been a lot of chatter about the Corona Virus, a virus that emerged from Wuhan, China, and has several confirmed reports in the US with one confirmed death in Washington State. It’s annoying in this day of age of fake news, fear-mongering, and just outright propaganda.

  One problem is that you got several people that are claiming that this virus is some bio-engineered weapon the Chinese (or America) created for some nefarious purpose to do something like undermining the US President. Now, this is more just annoying and silly as people seem to think that the Corona virus is like the Dollar Flu from The Division. With today’s internet and people’s distrust of the media, it makes crap like this more believable when folks ignore and trust said sources. I mean, as the CDC and World Health Organization mentioned, The Corona virus was something that originated from Wuhan and was traced to a butcher. Not from some laboratory in Wuhan that it was “created”. We can also agree it’s not some divine plague designed by a higher being to purge sinners. Viruses like the Corona Virus wouldn’t really be an effective virus for some killing. I mean, the Common Cold is proven to have claimed more than the Corona virus has, though this is where we get to another part that’s just as bad as pushing the bio-weapon crap.

Some are claiming that the virus is a hoax and, like the original conspiracy, designed to sabotage the economic market and the US President. In short, they are talking about how the virus isn’t such a big deal, and folks should outright ignore it. Now, as I mentioned and what the CDC has mentioned, it’s true mortality rates are low, but it doesn’t mean the Corona virus isn’t much of a threat. The reported death (including the one in Washington state) was reported to have some prior health issues. Also, like the cold, young kids and adults are vulnerable to any new disease. So in a way, yes, it’s dangerous, but it’s not something that would lead to some doomsday scenario that’ll reduce us to some dark age. So what does this mean? Then let your boy explain this.

It annoys me how these two extremes have led to people not knowing the real nature of the Corona Virus and believe the sources without better understanding more about the virus. One such thing someone should do is maybe look at sources like the CDC (here) or the World Health Organization (here) to get a better grasp of what the Corona virus is. They have a bit more explanation on this than your boy here.  If you do have yourself coughing, hacking, and not feeling well? Make sure you stay at home and self-observe yourself for any changes. See a doctor if you do have some serious complications during your cold, such as trouble breathing. If you’re not sick, make sure you cover your coughs and sneezes. Wash your hands and keep yourself in good health. Oh, and make sure you don’t listen to any bull crap artists that either claims the virus is some doomsday virus, bio-weapon, or a hoax. To quote Pokemon’s Guzma about the conspiracy pushers:

Other than that, that’s my rant on this corona virus stuff. Remember, I’d suggest you look up at the CDC and WHO websites in order to get a better grasp as they know more about this than I do. Ya, boy’s only a blogger, not a doctor. Until then, be safe out there and be careful.

Friday-Fan Work

Heya, it’s your boy, Choujin here.

Today I’m deciding to post something already done, something tied to my last story and the Bola’Vettir bit This little number is what I’ve been working on for a while and takes place in that same universe, with a bit of a space western vibe to it. I hope you don’t mind my work and enjoy this this as much as I have written it.

Slayer of Foultongues

written by TheChoujinVirus

Bindi X, a Terran Federation planet caught up in the Terran-Acheronite War. This Mining Colony found itself under occupation by an Acheronite battalion, with little to no resistance. A good chunk of some people still fight the Acheronite invaders, but not enough to push them off the planet. At a nearby small shipping area of the mining colony, away from any form of conflict, A lone stranger, not part of the war, found himself stuck in this world. The transport he was on was locked down as the Acheronites prevented no ship from leaving the planet, not even private carriers As stranger stepped off the transport, it would be clear that he was neither human nor Acheronite. In fact, he was a race of humanoid aliens called Kiralins. His sandy grey pants, shirt, rusty dirt brown colored long coat, and hat perfectly covered his chitinous, scaly body. His hat was covering his face, which looked human save for the texture, greyish yellow skin. The Stranger found his travel cut short as he looked at his surroundings. The shipping area was more or less nearly barren with a few humans doing their best to go on with their lives with this occupation. The stranger’s first stop was the local bar as he was in need of a drink.
As he walked into the bar, he noticed it was pretty drab by human standards as only three people were there, an old bartender and two patrons. The bartender beckoned the stranger over to the counter as he asked: “Anything you’d want, stranger?”

“what do you got?”, The stranger asked

“We got scotch, beer, and water,” the bartender replied, “I would have the special stuff, but with those xeno she-devils, I have to hold onto that stuff for special occasions.”

“Water,” The stranger asked.

The barkeep began to pour the Kiralin a glass of water as the two patrons started eyeing the stranger from their table.

“Hey, boy! You ain’t from around here are you?” said one of the patrons.

 “You’re right I’m not,” The Kiralin replied.

“what’s with your bit? You trying to copy some old Earth cowboy movie?”

“You know those xenos, Lester,” the other patron replied, “They want to copy our movies because they think Clint Eastwood is a real-life cowboy or superhero. Knowing this feller, he really thinks those movies are actual ‘historical documents.’ “

The Kiralin watched the two patrons chat on, though not before the barkeep handed him the water he requested. Bit thanked the barkeep then quietly enjoyed his drink, looking around as the sound of old Earth country music played on a busted jukebox. The somber tone of the bar was interrupted as a woman’s scream can be heard outside of the bar. Everyone in the bar ran toward a window as they watched the scene unfold. Three Acheronite soldiers in armor were holding a seventeen-year-old girl by her wrist. People fled to their homes as they are familiar with these attacks. Not a single person was willing to stick their neck out as they knew what happened to those who tried to resist Acheronite soldiers

“Trying to cause trouble like the rest of them?”, One Acheronite snarled, her amber eyes glared at the girl.

The other Acheronite replied, “These Terran jy’alk need to learn a lesson. We’ve already killed several of them, but they keep coming back and harder than ever.”
 “Perhaps so, but the commander suggests we do not kill her,” the leader said, holding the girl’s wrist. She looked like she could snap that wrist like a twig.

“Just kill her here and now!” the third Acheronite snapped “This jy’ alk need to know their place!”

Back at the bar, the barkeep shook his head “shit, this is the fifth person this month. If this keeps it up, they’ll just purge us all.”

Upon hearing the distressed tone of the barkeep, the Kiralin placed his glass down, got up from his seat and headed toward the door quietly.

 “Hey! Boy, what are you doing?!” Lester’s eyes were shocked, “They’ll kill you!”

Bit turned to the bartender and said “There may be a way to diffuse the situation without any bloodshed.”

The stranger walked out the door and toward the trio. The Leader of the trio threw the girl to the ground and aimed her weapon at her head.

“This didn’t have to go like this,” The leader told the girl, “But you Terrans leave us no choice.”
As the Acheronite leader was contemplating about killing the girl, the Kiralin let out a sharp whistle that got the four’s attention. He merely stared at them, his green glass-like eyes glaring at them like targeting irons.

“What’s with the show of force?”, he asked, “I assumed the Acheronites were above this level of barbarism?”

“This doesn’t concern you, Kiralin,” the Leader said calmly.

He sternly glared, “It does if you’re harassing the locals. I’ll ask again, why the show of force?”

“We’re at war, so stay out of this!”, One of the Acheronites was ready to pull her gun on the stranger.

The Kiralin began to scan the trio and kept calm and cold as ice even though he did feel a twinge of fear coursing in his mind. Usually he was expecting them to just talk it out, but they looked like they meant business. The Kiralin and the Acheronite trio were in a standoff, the leader stared back along with her compatriots. Both sides waiting for one to make the first move. The Acheronite ready to fire shifted her feet, the sound of dirt shifting caught the stranger’s ear. On that cue, the Stranger reached into his coat and pulled out an elegant but bulky looking handgun. The trio heard the sound of gunfire as the Acheronite that was about to attack fell to the ground, the bullet striking her through her through her amber eye. The Leader prepared her weapon while the second Acheronite dashed at the Kiralin, closing the distance to kill him. The Kiralin muttered the words.

“Flak Shot”

The gun in his hand began to transform, changing itself from a handgun to the appearance of what one would describe as a sawed-off shotgun. The Acheronite was caught off guard as she was sent flying backward, hot buckshot tearing through her armor. The girl looked at her rescuer then turned around to spot the leader of the group making a quick retreat.
“Hey, mister! That Acheronite’s making a run for it!”

The Kiralin noticed the Acheronite leader fleeing in the distance like a panicked animal fleeing a predator in pursuit. He said another word:

“Long Shot”

 His gun slowly began to change into something built for long range shooting as the barrel of the gun looked elongated. The girl watches as the Kiralin took aim and fired. The fleeing acheronite in the distance fell to the ground as the bullet struck her. The girl dashed toward the bar’s entrance as the Kiralin followed behind, looking back as he wanted to be sure that was it.

“Maria! What the hell caused you to get in that amount of trouble?!”, The Barkeep said sternly
“They only caught me because I was entering some no-go zone,” the young girl snapped back

“That was completely stupid and reckless of you! You know they’ll kill you”, He turned his attention to the stranger, “I don’t know why you did it. You were either brave, stupid or both. Either way, thanks for saving Maria…”

“Don’t count on it,” the stranger replied, “I just didn’t want to see someone get hurt.”

“by the way, what is your name?”, Maria asked the Kiralin

“the miners referred to my getup as a ‘bit,’ so I guess you can call me Bit if you want.”

“Okay,” Maria asked.
—————————————————————————————————————-

The next day, the area was abuzz with rumors about Bit’s skill and how he managed to defeat three Acheronites by himself. Most of the miners couldn’t even take down one of them, and they were surprised that an alien was able to do it. Some were amazed while others felt disdain that a xeno had to do something the Federation failed to do. Bit, on the other hand, woke up after sleeping in a guest room the barkeep kept for overnight guests (it wasn’t pleasant or pretty, but it kept him warm). As he left the room, he was greeted by the patrons as a hero.

“Three cheers for the stranger who saved Maria.”
Bit remained silent as he headed to the barkeep and asked: “anything to eat?”

 “Only ration packs,” he replied as he hands him a ration bar “It’s not much but with the Acheronites blockading all supply routes, we’re stuck here with limited supplies. I would make you some chicken fried steak and eggs as a thank you for last night”

“that sucks. Why are the Acheronites here anyway?”, Bit asked

“hell if I know, they showed up and mentioned about this being some sacred ground of some sort,” the Barkeep served Bit some water as he continued talking “First the mines claimed that the mines got some ‘feral infestation problem’, and now the Acheronites have arrived here and occupied the planet. All because of a war the Federation got us into with these she-devils.”

“Figures…,” The Kiralin said calmly.

“Can I ask you a favor, Bit? Can you go to Maria’s room and get her down here.”, The barkeep said, “She may have had to deal with that mess, but that doesn’t excuse her from work. I need her checking the water filtration system.”

“Alright,” Bit replied, “where’s her room?.”

 “Oh, it’s on the right, the sign that says ‘No Entry’ is her’s,” The barkeep replied.

“never knew that was a room. I thought it may have been something else entirely. Alright, I’ll inform Maria then.”

Bit headed back upstairs to find Maria. He found the “No Entry” sign. He opened the door and was surprised to see Maria in a transition of changing her clothes. Due to Kiralin upbringing and customs, he was oblivious to human nudity. However, he noticed that Maria had something different than any other human, she’s got aa lizard-like tail. Before he could even tell her about the Barkeep’s request, she gave a loud shriek and began throwing stuff at Bit.

“OUT, OUT, OUT YOU XENO PERVERT!”
Bit closed the door in a rush just as she started throwing some heavy stuff. The Barkeep overheard the commotion as he tells Bit, “we usually knock on doors before entering. Ladies don’t like that when you walk in on them changing.”

“Wasn’t expecting her to change clothes,” Bit replied, “Though what is she?”

A nearby patron walked up to the two. A heavily built African American male with a square face and wearing a sandy dirt mechanic’s jumpsuit then spoke to the Kiralin. “I take it you’ve never seen an Augment before?”

The Kiralin turned toward this patron, “What’s an Augment?”

“Bio-Engineered Humans, supposedly hybridized with animal DNA. Maria’s one of them.”, the big guy said.

The barkeep noticed the heavily built man and scowled “Finley, what brings your sorry ass over here? Didn’t I kick you out because of that brawl you started?”

“Hey! That little shrimp started it”, Finley snapped in defense.

Bit quietly enjoyed his meal while listening to the two bickered. He saw Maria headed downstairs, but not before she gave an angry scowl at Bit before heading out the door. Finley looked at the Kiralin and replied, “Well, you’re off to a good start with Maria already”

“If you mean romantically, I’m not interested in cross-species-“

Finley interrupted, “Whoa there, Polanski, I wasn’t hinting that. I was talking about your little stunt with the Acheronites.”

“I had to do something,” Bit said, “Though I didn’t want to kill them”

“True, but now those Acheronites are going to be mighty pissed,” Fin stated, “You just killed one of their captains, and they don’t like that one bit.”

“What’s going to happen?” Bit asked

 “They’re probably going to come and kill us all,” Finley asked. With that, everyone stopped and stared quietly at the group upon hearing this conversation.

Bit looked at the group before turning to Finley, “Now I can see why you got yourself kicked out of this bar. I highly doubt they would cause that much trouble for three soldiers.”

“I’ve heard them Acheronite she-devils will kill people just for killing one of them. Supposedly they’re all sisters to one mother.” Finley said “I hope you’re right that they won’t kill us all over your stunt.”

“I hope so. This town doesn’t have the equipment to deal with an Acheronite force. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be occupied when the Federation base fell.” The barkeep said.

Meanwhile, outside of the bar, Maria was cleaning the grime and crud off the water filters for the bar. She hated that job with such a passion that she wished she was captured by those Acheronites than doing this hard labor. She heard the sound of vehicles pulling up near the loading station. Maria saw from a corner and noticed they were Federation APCs, though something felt wrong. The APC doors opened, and several troops of Acheronite soldiers emerged, followed by another, decked out in much heavy body armor than the rest of them.

“Search this place! We lost contact with our sisters in this area”, The large Acheronite commanded as several troopers began scouting the area. Maria saw this and quickly ran into the bar, terror in her eyes as she ran into the bar, and announced loudly to the patrons

“Acheronites! They’re outside!”

On cue, everyone stopped and made a mad dash outside to see the area had around 20 soldiers, all of them lead by the sizeable four-armed female that was heavily armored. Bit followed outside last as he overheard the four-armed Acheronite announce to the crowd.

“We have reports that three Acheronite soldiers disappeared in your area following reports of capturing someone violating the no-go zone. As you know, we’ve allowed some form of protection to ensure safe transitions. Therefore, we are requesting any information on what happened to them. Cooperation will produce compliance.”

The crowd murmured as one townsperson yelled out, “What if we refuse? You’ve chased us out of our homes and such.”

 “Then we’ll have no choice but to occupy and detain this area like the rest,” The Acheronite leader replied.

 “That’s not a wise way to win the hearts and minds of the people,” Bit replied as he walked out of the crowd and out in the open where the large Acheronite could see them.

“A Kiralin? Here on this planet”, The leader couldn’t wrap her head around Bit’s appearance

“What are you doing on this planet, Kiralin? I thought your government wasn’t lending aid to the Terrans? Has your government decided to fight alongside these ji’alks?” 

“I was passing through and found myself stuck here,” Bit stated. The crowd continued to watch them, “even though your soldiers were harassing a girl,” Bit explained, “But I’m sure you would know…after all, don’t Acheronites have some form of psionic link between each other”

“You lie, the soldiers would not resort to that lower level of barbarism! You probably killed them in cold blood. None of my soldiers would ever attempt that basis of barbarism””

“I did it in self-defense,” Bit said, “Maybe you need to keep your soldiers in line.”  The crowd began to cheer on as one of them yelled: “Tell those she-devils off!” The group grew bolder and pushy, making the Acheronite soldiers nervous and defensive.

“Stand down! We do not want to start violence!”, The leader yelled. Finley, leading a small group, entered the bar while the crowd got louder against the Acheronite forces. Bit remained quiet as he watched the squad leader’s face grow worried. She wasn’t expecting the humans to become this agitated and Bit knew this.”

“Listen, we can just walk away from this situation if you just take your soldiers and leave these Terrans alone.” Bit said, “We don’t need more bloodshed.”

Despite his words, the Acheronite was more occupied with the humans around them than Bit’s words.  “Keep the ji’alk in check!”, She barked. However, one Acheronite noticed something thrown at her. It looked like a metal ball with a charge as it began beeping. However, she realized too late what it was as it exploded, searing her and sending three Acheronites flying. Some of the human townsfolk found themselves shaken (a few injured) by the detonator.

The Acheronite squad found themselves under fire as Finley, and his group took positions in the buildings and began firing, sending the lot into cover to hide or fight.

Bit just witnessed an uprising, an uprising that he’s now caught up in. An uprising that he himself had no clue would change his life and views of both occupier and occupied.

slayer-of-foultongues-ch.1Download
Keep an eye out for more of this chapter in future segments, and you might see more of this outside of the blog.

Thursday Media Review: Monster Rancher Anime Part 2 (Ep. 16-30)

Review by TheChoujinVirus
Note: This is part 2 of a review on the Monster Rancher anime, to see part 1, please click here. As before, there are spoilers, so you’ve been warned

Hello, it’s ya boy Choujin

Welcome to part two of my review of the Monster Rancher anime. This time we’ll be focusing on episodes 16-30. If you want a recap of the last events and a brief explanation of the Monster Rancher series, I would suggest you click on the link here to catch up. Other than that, let’s continue our adventure.

To recap from the last episode, our heroes have enlisted the help of Captain Horn and his crew of Rockies to help them cross the sea in order to find the Phoenix before Moo can find his body. Suezo complains about why the group has to do work as passengers on Horn’s ship. Horn reassures them that he’s an honorable pirate (despite Suezo’s hatred for the pirate captain.) Meanwhile, below the sea, Gali orders his troop of whale monsters called Zillas and their leader Gooji. The blue whale monster is ecstatic to fight his old foe, Captain Horn, again.Back on Horn’s ship, Horn finds that Golem is shirking his work, despite Golem’s pleas that he hates the water. The pirate crew decides that in order to “face his fears,” they throw him overboard. However, they realize that Golem is afraid of water not because he’s afraid of water, but because he’s a giant rock monster and thus cannot swim. With Genki’s help, they get Golem back aboard Horn’s ship. During Dinner, Holly visits Golem and discusses how much has changed since they all started their adventure. Holly doubts herself in thinking they may never be able to find the Phoenix as the land they’re visiting is entirely new to her and that there are rumors that Moo’s influence is greater there. Golem reassures Holly that as long as they work as a team, they’ll be able to find the Phoenix. However, just as the peaceful night was going so smoothly, the group is ambushed by Gooji and his Zilla troops. The group managed to repel Gooji’s Zillas, which angers the monstrous Gooji as he decides to take care of our heroes himself.  Gooji captures Holly and threatens the rest of them, which causes Golem to snap out of his fear of water in order to repel the giant whale. Horn orders his Rockies to tie up Gooji and dispose of him in a giant whirlpool for good. Gooji tries to take our heroes down with him, but again, Golem intervenes and knocks the whale into the depths once and for all (Though not without Golem returning back to his post upon realizing he’s still near open water).  Horn delivers our group of heroes to the new land. The Group thanks Horn for helping, and Horn returns the thanks by giving them a map of the new land.

Though their new journey is not without new perils besides Gooji and his Zilla troops, Gali dispatches his deadly illusionist Joker to ambush the heroes. Our heroes now have to find a way to get over a massive cliff, which leads to Tiger and Hare arguing. Moochi discovers a cave buried behind rubble, and our group now has a practical way through the cave. However, the darkness also hides Gali’s Joker. A cave in and some bats later cause them to return back to their new area. However, they discover some new paths that the cave in created. Tiger takes this chance to accuse Hare of trying to find a quick lazy fix that hurts everyone and outright accuses him of caring more about money than friendships. Hare snaps and accuses Tiger of being a hypocrite (as he brings up Tiger’s past about being a Bandit). The group then falls into Joker’s trap as they’re now searching for Hare, who promptly ran into the caves after his fight. Joker makes his move and gives Genki and his friends a run for their money with his ability to create illusions. This causes them to succumb to illusions like fighting Moo, peaceful fields, open water, falling daggers, and chains. Though just before Joker can deliver the killing blow, Hare returns and saves the group from Joker. During the fight, Hare learns a new move known as Dragon Kick. With that, he dispatches Joker, and the group escapes the cave.

Along the journey, they managed to run into a new face as they explore the ruins of an abandoned city. This guy’s name is Hengar and was one of the monsters referenced in Monol’s story. He aids them from other Hengars that viewed the heroes as a threat to the ancient city that they maintained for so long. It’s humorous as the group (save for Genki and Hare) is puzzled over some of the technology used (such as a vending machine). Though with Hengar’s help, they managed to not only survive the ordeal but managed to reacquire the Magic Stone that was dropped when they fled the other Hengar. It’s a pretty sad ordeal as Hengar learned that the Ancient’s war was over, and as he tried to explain to his other brethren, they replied by blasting him to pieces. They also learn of the Hengar’s boss known as Techno Dragon and how he controls all the Hengars (save for our companion’s Hengar).

  After leaving the city and saying good-bye to Hengar, the group finds themselves pursued by Gali’s Dokoos. Throughout this battle, Hare calls out that Suezo has no actual talents of combat (despite Suezo’s protest that he can fight.) The group has to deal with not just the rubbery monsters, but Suezo’s existential crisis on how he couldn’t defeat them. Genki tries to help Suezo discover this journey, but it takes one major crisis for Suezo to discover his Teleport ability.
Along their journey, Genki and company run into Pixie and Big Blue again, this time now an enemy of Moo and fighting on the side of good. When she and Genki are separated from the group, they are able to work together and defeat the Scaled Jells attacking them, all while learning that Moo has started an excavation in the north of the continent, hinting that he found his old body.

With Gali defeated, Moo’s Big Bad Four is now down to only two: Grey Wolf and Naga. Grey Wolf gets news of Gali’s defeat from a Cabalos. Grey Wolf views this as a worthy hunt, as he gives orders to his Black Worm troops to attack the group. The group gets ambushed by one of them, and by capturing one of them, they learn that Grey Wolf is one of the remaining Big Bad Four (which shocks Tiger). Though in the ambush, Holly is poisoned by one of the Black Worms. Tiger goes and finds the antidote while defeating the Black Worm’s Captain. They are able to save Holly and continue on.
The group later runs into Mocks and their leader Ebony as they are captured. Though Mocchi escapes and runs into a strange monster named Ducken, who guides Mocchi out of his home as he’s afraid they’ll find him. Mocchi, with some pressuring on Ducken, heads to the Mock’s camp to rescue his friends as he disguises himself as a Mock. Though the operation is a bust, Mocchi runs back to Ducken and finds a bright idea of using Ducken’s tunnels to fight. It’s in this argument that Ducken was too scared to fight against the Mocks and Ebony. Mocchi reassures him, and Ducken agrees to let Mocchi use the tunnels, and with his help, Mocchi is able to defeat the Mocks and rescue his friends. Also, Ducken learns the importance of friendship.

Later on, they learn that some monsters aren’t naturally evil and either learned the error of their ways. Such monsters such as Undine, a mermaid monster Golem, falls in love and, in her chaos, kills herself when she realized that Golem believes that she’s still good regardless of her affinity.  The others happen to be three monsters Centaur, Celios, and Dragoon. Three Monsters who work for Grey Wolf but have a code of honor who at first want to capture the group and later aid them when a group of Salamanders tries to steal their thunder. Lastly, they run into an abandoned factory where they must deal with a robotic insect called Melcarba, who, just like Hengar was created long ago and created with a purpose that was wasted.

Throughout the ordeal, they eventually take the fight to Grey Wolf. For Tiger, this makes it extremely hard as this Baddie is his own brother. Before the battle, Tiger has a dream when he taught his brother how to be strong. By the next morning, after the Pendant is found, they are greeted by one of Grey Wolf’s Cabalos, declaring that his boss demands Tiger to fight him in a one and one fight. Tiger departs to fight his brother while Genki and the rest follow behind him, fearing that their friend may be walking into a trap. Tiger gets flashbacks of the event that led to Grey Wolf being captured by Moo until he arrives at the dueling ground. The two of them exchange quips as Grey Wolf calls Tiger a coward while Tiger tells his brother that he’s been lied to. They both fight as Grey Wolf gives Tiger an ultimatum: Join Moo’s forces. Tiger turns it down, which led Grey Wolf to cheat with his Cabalos soldiers. Genki and his friends intervene, leaving Tiger and Grey Wolf in a one and one battle. The two wolves equally matched until Grey Wolf uses his tail to blind Tiger (a trick Tiger taught his brother). However, Tiger managed to pull one last trick against Grey Wolf. He used his horns to gore his brother though his Crest. Grey Wolf learns that his brother Tiger still loved him. His last words were that he wished they could go back when they were little. Unfortunately, Grey Wolf dies of his injuries as Tiger howls in mourning. Though they defeated the third of Moo’s Big Bad Four, Tiger lost a brother.

While back at the excavation site, Moo’s forces have discovered their master’s original body.
 With news of Grey Wolf’s demise, Naga of the Big Bad Four remains, and our group must continue their travel to find the Phoenix. Throughout their journey they must deal with Naga’s forces. The first one being Stone Dragon. However, they managed to get help from the odd caterpillar named Color Pandora. It’s revealed that Stone Dragon’s been kidnapping the Color Pandora’s children, hence why they resorted to using traps. Another ally they meet is a Ferry Captain named Jim and his companion Eared Mew. They help him deal with Naga’s dangerous Arrowheads. Both of these allies help Genki and company defeat Naga’s threats.
Interestingly, they had one incident where they had to lend aid to two warring monsters. Two tribes of Ape and Rock Ape both started waging war when our heroes awaken a baby monster named Bossy. The group managed to find a solution to where both tribes work together and end their squabbling. Though, as the group is unaware, Moo is marveling over his newly discovered ancient body. Pixie finds this news and heads out to warn Genki and his friends.

The series is impressive and gets a bit dark, especially with the battle between Tiger and Grey Wolf. What I also like about it is that the series does reference past episodes and not forget certain things (Golem’s Aquaphobia and how some episodes have Suezo referencing his attempt at trying to master Teleport). Another thing that I like is how some episodes do hit hard in certain parts. Undine’s Lake actually made you feel sorry for the villainous Undine and how she commits suicide upon realizing Golem’s kindness regardless of if she was on the villain’s side. Another good episode was Tiger’s Battle with Destiny as we get to see a fight between brothers. Some characters also have unusual quirks that make them cute or interesting. Some of them being Hengar, Eared Mew, Captain Jim, and Ducken have some important reasons for their goals (good or bad).
 As mentioned in my last review, the Japanese version has some alterations and changes. Though some are an exciting twist (Ducken in the Japanese version is actually female while the dub made him a male.) while others are typical (Changing Gali’s attacks that reference God to his name such as Gali Finale) and some changes are just really odd (Removing a scene that had mud on Pixie’s face). One that gets me scratching my head is how the “Unlock Your Disk” segment refers to Gooji as Zilla Kong.
Another thing that changed was the aforementioned Tiger’s Battle With Destiny. The episode was not aired when the show was on FOX due to a scene involving Tiger impaling Grey Wolf. It’s odd as Undine’s Lake is broadcast as it involves the monster committing suicide. Then again, the episode is still aired, so at least it’s not like Pokemon where some episodes are outright ignored.

With that, that’s part two of my review of Monster Rancher. Wow, already 30 episodes, and we still got plenty of other episodes soon. So see you next time for the next installment.

References

Friday Fan-Work

Hey, it’s ya boy, Choujin.

Today’s a new Friday, and new fanwork. While your boy (or yourself) are probably waiting for Phantasy Star Online 2 to let you long in. I’ve found one of my older works again. The bad news is that i’m running out of old work to share. However, the good news is that I’ll be musing some new original stuff soon. For now, enjoy a poem I wrote about my first hat I got.

                                                         My Hat

I remembered when I got my hat.
It was on the Christmas of 2013
My grandmother gave you to me
like it was a literal missing piece to me

You were my hat
and we never left each other’s sides
Like brothers, but a stronger bond than
Jim and Old Yeller.

When I go out without you
I feel like I’m naked without you on my head
I wonder if you think the same thing
without me under you.

Though sometimes I admit
that I may be a hataphiliac
since I don’t leave the house without you
or your siblings on my head.

I always wear you on my head
and I admit you make me look good
hopefully nothing bad happens to you
because I don’t think anything would replace
my hat.

my-hatDownload

Thursday Media Review: Monster Rancher Anime Part 1(episodes 1-15)

Review done by TheChoujinVirus
Note: this review may have spoilers to the franchise, so if this is your first time with this, I’d advise you to watch before reading this

With the talks of a new game on Steam called TemTem, it got me thinking and remembering the various monster collecting genres that existed. We all know of Pokemon, the franchise that more or less is king in the genre, and we are all familiar with those digital monsters we call Digimon and the oddly gimmicky Yo-kai Watch series. Some might not have forgotten about an odd series that was introduced by Tecmo and introduced on the Playstation in 1997. This franchise is known as Monster Rancher (or Monster Farm in Japan). However, we won’t be talking about the games (that’ll be for another time), but we’ll be discussing the 1999 anime that was released. For this, we’ll start out with our review of the first fifteen episodes and explain the events that transpire but don’t worry. I’ll be doing reviews of the rest of them soon enough. Another note is that I might make a comparison between the US version and the Japanese versions at the end (or added in an explanation with parenthesis). Without further or due, let us get started with our review of the Monster Rancher anime.

Our story begins with an introduction to our protagonist Genki, a child who is obsessed with Monster Rancher and champion at a major Monster Rancher tournament. One day, as part of his prize, he receives a copy of a new Monster Rancher game and heads home to play it. Little does Genki know is that the game he’s playing is tied to the Monster Rancher world and is pulled into it after witnessing two beings being chased by Black Dinos: Holly and her friend Suezo. After being pulled into the area, Genki learns from Holly that she and Suezo are on a quest to find the mythical Phoenix. They need this monster because of another evil being called Moo, who has the power of turning good monsters evil and that the Phoenix can not only stop Moo but make evil monsters good again. Genki thinks the game disc that brought him here may contain the Phoenix, but when they awaken it, it turns out it’s not. It’s revealed that the monster is a pink, squishy armadillo creature called Mochii. Though it’s not the fabled creature, the group continues on their journey as they’re guided by Holly’s magical pendant on a quest that points her to the Phoenix. Along the way, they gain allies for their adventures, such as Golem, a giant and friendly rock monster who was guarding a graveyard of dead monsters. Then they’re followed by Tiger of the Wind, a horned blue wolf monster who wants revenge on Moo for kidnapping his brother Grey Wolf and Hare the trickster who starts out joining under not so noble intentions and interested in money.

Throughout their quest, they also meet some strange allies and enemies along the path. Some who are redeemed like Allan and his Worm and others lend aid like Ed, a prisoner who helps the travelers across a canyon. The crew also has to deal with Moo’s forces known as the Baddies, and having to deal with his most dangerous generals known as the Big Bad Four. Composed of four monsters: Gali, Naga, Pixie, and Tiger’s brother Silverfang. Each of them is loyal to Moo and aid in enslaving both monsters and humans. Genki and company are successful in defeating the first of the Big Bad Four, Pixie, and thus were able to deliver a blow against Moo. It an episode prior to this, Holly remembers events of her village as she remembered her father being banished and a few years later, invaded by Moo’s forces as she escaped with Suezo, thus starting their journey. The group also later awakens a monster named Monol and learn about the ancient race that created the monsters and how rampant war gave birth to Moo and his nemesis, The Phoenix.

 Eventually, the group finds themselves face to face with Moo himself and kidnaps Holly as he needs her pendant. He reveals that though he is Moo, he’s only a spirit possessing a vessel until he can find his true body: the dragon body that he lost in the great war. Moo reveals (akin to a Star Wars twist) that he’s Holly’s father. When Holly’s father was banished from the town due to a failed election, he stumbled upon the mystery disc containing Moo’s soul, and as a result, he has become Moo himself. Holly’s pendant is used by the villainous Moo, and he’s able to find the location of his body. The gang staged a rescue and managed to help Holly escape from Moo’s palace with the help of a group of monsters called Pirate Dragons. They also gain the aid of Pixie, who now has switched sides against Moo.  Once Holly is rescued, the group managed to make their escape and thanked the Dragons for saving Holly, the group began to ponder that if Moo could use the magic pendant to find his body, perhaps they can do the same to find the Phoenix. Holly then uses the magic stone, and it guides them toward a direction across the ocean. Everyone is excited, save for Golem, who is revealed to have aquaphobia due to being a rock monster.

Though as the group is admiring the sea, Gali of one of Moo’s Big Bad Four has dispatched his troop of raptor-like Zuums to attack the group when they arrive at a nearby port town. However, they’re rescued by a blue Suezo with a horn named Captain Horn and his white Suezo Rockies. The group then explains to Horn that they need to cross the ocean to find the Phoenix. Horn agrees to this deal but wants to put a wager through a game of Old Maid. Should the group win, he’ll sail them across the sea, but should he win, he’ll sail off with Holly instead. Suezo and Horn are mono y mono in their game of old maid to the point that both resort to cheating and sneaky tactics in order to win. Though just as the game will turn into a brawl, the Zuums arrive to attack the group and Horn’s crew. They now take their chance to set sail while Golem holds off the Zuums, though he manages to get aboard and briefly ignores his fear of water until he’s aboard the ship. The group now ready to search for the Phoenix’s body.

Now with the summary of the first 15 episodes of Monster Rancher done, let’s get to some of the good and the bad of the series. Now, for those who may have watched the American dub of Monster Rancher, you’d like how you have some decent voice acting for the dub and had some like Scott McNeil voicing the roles of Suezo and some of the monsters and villains like Gali or the Black Dino captain. Even having major voice actors like Sam Vincent (Ed, Edd, and Eddy fame) as the voice of Hare, and you have a young Andrew Francis voicing the protagonist Genki.

However, though as the anime in the US had its pros, there were some cons in the series that might get some people upset in this day and age is that some of the stuff in the series may have censored some moments such as removing references of Hare’s gas attack (an attack where Hare farts on his foe. In the US version, it’s changed to a rabbit punch). Other changes were mostly stuff such as removing the Tecmo logo, and altering scenes of violence where it’s not so dragged out or extremely painful. This is nothing new as anime in the 90s to early 2000s had this level of typical censorship, and some of it doesn’t seem to be that bad. I could list more of the changes, but that would take away from this review. Another happens to be the “Unlock Your Disk” song, a song that is played in the first break that feels great with it’s rap-like tone. However, it feels like a knock-off of the Poke-Rap. The beat’s good though, but again..doesn’t feel orginal.
With that done, that’s my review of the Monster Rancher Anime. For those who are asking, there are more episodes, fear not, I’ll be doing future reviews of the later episodes soon. So don’t worry, we’ll see what happens to Genki and his friends soon enough.

References