Baseball

One of the most recognizable sports out there, my dad used to let me and my brother go play baseball at the organization called UVV, which practices honkbal & softbal. This happened through my late childhood to early teens.

I'm happy to find out that the organization still exists at https://www.hsvuvv.nl/ . Anyway, I used to play this not only at the club, but back at school too during the warmer months, especially the summer.

There's not much I can remember in regards to memories. Once upon a time, I was not conscious once that a home run was made, and at another time, when the grass was very wet, I turned 180 degrees in order to run back home, but then I fell down hard, but it was funny then, and a laughing afterthought now.

Softball is the softer version, while honkbal is basically baseball in Dutch, they can also be classified for youth and adult. Other than that, the rules are practically the same. As I type this out, I cannot seem to remember anyone from my baseball mates or teachers either, it has been so long. Although, I still have a group picture somewhere.

Still, the spirit of the sport itself remains vivid, and during life, I noticed how very popular it is in especially the United States and Japan. Some interesting movies have been made about the sport too, and I believe that The Sandlot(1993) resonates the most with me.

Baseball is a wonderful sport.

 

Death Stranding

 

 Path | Apocalyptica

Divided by critics, sales and what is defined as "fun", Death Stranding is Kojima Productions's first independent video game, after the internal affairs between Hideo and Konami was done, five years earlier.

Developed with the Decima engine from Guerrilla Games, it is an ambitious and large open world game, set in an apocalyptic setting where a doom full event named after the title has reshaped it badly, making it dangerous, empty and broken.

Delving around and then synchronizing so called Knot Cities around the United Cities of America with your main character will let them connect with the chiral network and be granted it's benefits of communication and rebuilding the country.

Delivering packages is the main gameplay, which in a nut shell can be considered as an expanded walking, or fetch quest simulator. You will have to carefully manage the cargo, balance your weight and use exploring equipment to traverse, avoid and defend yourself out there as Sam Porter Bridges.

Dedicated towards rescuing his sister captured by terrorists, that is the motivation at first for Norman Reedus to keep going, at least on the substance. Below that, themes of extinction, afterlife, personal manifestations and ultimately reconnecting the world play out and accompany the general plot.

Death Stranding's mood is slow for the most part, having around 11 hours of cut scenes in typical Kojima fashion. In also around 10 hours at Chapter 3, when the game starts getting better, it allows you to travel by bike or truck, support other players socially in a dynamic multiplayer experience, and experience touching plot points and strange yet emotional scenes.

Definitely, considering that combat is put onto a low scale, the game feels like a breath of fresh air, and you have to be in a certain mood in order to appreciate it, and of course have patience. Remember Paperboy for the NES? Look how far delivering has gone now on the PS4.

Does it go out there and over the top? Certainly, but that's why it's a video game(movie). Death Stranding resonates with me through it's plot elements, gameplay, pacing and so on. I also used to be a delivery boy for mails and advertisements myself, and I like to hike and jog, which might have helped in liking it and delivering the overall score.

BB's Theme

Rating: 8.0

Top 5 Favorite Anime Openings

And while this resurgence is playing out during these uncertain times, it also brought me back towards the numerous opening intro songs I have heard throughout the years. Five of them happen to be coinciding with the tone of the plot, standing out, being memorable, and lasting long.

1.Bleach Opening 3(Reaching a satisfying buildup and conclusion towards the arc)
2.Naruto Shippuden Opening 6(Very foreboding, dramatic, and emotional)
3.One Piece Opening 11(So many characters were introduced here in exciting proportions)
4.Hajime no Ippo Opening 1(Motivating and exhilarating in general, similar to Rocky)
5.Monster Intro (Mysterious, inviting, full of plot details)
(Extra)Monster Outro(Beautifully peaceful)

Anime Resurgence

My interest faded away once again previously.

5 years later however, during the Corona crisis, suddenly I had much more time left to do other stuff I normally could not do, and it also rejuvenated this dormant medium once more.

I thought that I had seen it all, and that my main argument of repetitiveness and redundancy applies, and it still does with familiar tropes, but fortunately I was able to still uncover older and newer series which impressed me.

 I will highlight several ones:

Samurai Champloo(2004)

Set in an alternate Edo Period of Japan, Samurai Champloo follows the journey of these three eccentric individuals in an epic quest full of action, comedy, and dynamic sword fighting, all set to the beat of a unique hip-hop infused soundtrack.

Samurai Champloo is stylish, has Holland references(and talking!), a jazzy/hip hop soundtrack, and it has episodic chapters; from undeads to baseball, and from assassins to eating delicious food. It’s a humorous action adventure that I have finally watched, I am way too late to this party! Western Hip-Hop and Eastern Samurai swordplay define it.

 

      My Hero Academia(2016)

Enduring many months of grueling training, Izuku enrolls in UA High, a prestigious high school famous for its excellent hero training program, and this year's freshmen look especially promising. With his bizarre but talented classmates and the looming threat of a villainous organization, Izuku will soon learn what it really means to be a hero.

My Hero Academia is a shounen anime inspired by American superhero comics, featuring your standard trope of a young nobody quickly turning into an inspiring hero. With a world full of superpowers to abuse, the battles were entertaining to watch and got better near the end. The humor is so-so, the art style and intro are good, and I actually binge watched it, meaning that it got most of my attention.

  Attack on Titan Season 2(2017) and 3(2018-2019)

Still threatened by the "Titans" that rob them of their freedom, mankind remains caged inside the two remaining walls. Efforts to eradicate these monsters continue; however, threats arise not only from the Titans beyond the walls, but from the humans within them as well.

The survival, gore, cliffhangers, action, animation, mystery, plot twists and exciting intro all helped to make this a very enjoyable and dramatic anime. It's easy to see for many how objectively, Attack on Titan stands out, and it arguably is also a good introduction towards the medium in general, if you can handle the mature themes.

 Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin(2010)

Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin follows the seven cellmates as they struggle together against the brutal suffering and humiliation inflicted upon them by Ishihara, a sadistic guard with a grudge on Rokurouta, and Gisuke Sasaki, a doctor who takes pleasure in violating boys. Facing such hellish conditions, the seven inmates must scrape together all the strength they have to survive until their sentences are up; but even if they do, just what kind of lives are waiting for them on the other side?

Rainbow: Nishan Rokubou no Scichinin is at first a prison drama with dark themes of violence, corruption, rape and later on business and prostitution, but the group’s bond, perserverance and hope eventually overcome this hell, and the 2nd half focuses on their lives after getting released. It’s a touching story, as it shows that friendship is one of the most powerful things to have.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

 

The Airbuster

It's surreal that the remake has finally been released, although Square Enix has decided to split it up into parts so that they can expand each part with more content. Considering that the running time of the original game is about 38 hours, and this first part is about 32 hours, that's impressive.

It only details the Midgar chapters, which were about 15 through 20% of the original game, roughly. And now after haven beaten it in about 36 hours, I am very content with it, and glad that they decided this internally.

Even the climax and ending are fine by me, which has apparently damaged some purists and hardcore fans, but I saw no issues or concerns. The world, or should I saw the mini world of Midgar has been brought to life, leaps and bounds better, 3 generations of PlayStation later on.

The main cast has been given fuller fledged out personalities and voice acting, and their models remind of the animated movie Advent Children. Even supportive characters such as Biggs, Wedge and Jessie have been improved, and I found all of them likable in their own way.

Combat wise, the action RPG is the main stage, where they brought back limit breaks, the Materia system and the traditional magic spells to accompany it. You can attack, block, dodge and perform abilities to affect the battlefield.

It's a fluent experience, where you can switch between the characters to add variety into the main gameplay. I find it to be a modern workable combat system in overall, as it pays tribute but it also enhances it.

The narration is also better as the game is filled with cut scenes, dialogue and voice acting to keep the general story going. It's also filled with faithful nostalgia, as all of the memorable scenes that happen in Midgar return, including Don Corneo's woman of choice, Shinra HQ's infiltration and escape, Tifa's bar and Aerith's church.

Aside from the formidable graphics this game shows, especially with the character models and the backgrounds(minus some textures that they should patch), perhaps the game's greatest aspect is it's fantastic soundtrack.

All of the songs are wonderfully arranged, enhanced and faithful to the original, including the battle themes, the village themes, the character themes, the dungeon themes and so on. They even decided to include songs of locations which the main cast has not visited yet, including Gold Saucer(arguably my favorite spot of the original), Costa Del Sol, Kalm and Wutai.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is a fantastic fantasy showing us the humble yet exciting beginnings of the game. And now the long wait for part 2 will start, and I can imagine by the way that they will make a remake trilogy of this, perhaps part 3 could start at the Icicle Inn.

Rating: 8.4