Darlo's World

It took a little bit of thinking about how I’d word this blog entry to avoid it being chopped up by Cyber Patrol, Net Nanny and various other blockers … not to mention possible knocks on the door from the police. So here we go, wish me luck.

A couple of days ago a friend and I decided to buy PSPs. After spotting a few of the “2000 model” (why they add three zeros instead of making it the “2 model” is beyond me) at a bargain price we also did a little hunting for some cheap games and UMD films to accompany them. From one shop I spotted (and bought) 2 UMDs at 350 yen each (£2.43) which looked to be very crappy films (I didn’t try and read the descriptions, I just saw cheap and crappy).

From Here To Reality starring Risa Goto is a 55 minute tease-fest in which she walks, swims and dawdles around in various outfits (the swimming is topless), but the viewer doesn’t get to “see anything”. Definately one of those “get what you pay for moments”, and was good for a quick giggle, but not really good enough for a laugh. I’d just like to point out that in 2005, when this was made, Risa was 21 years old. Which brings me onto the next one.

Those familiar with dating sims will know that the objective is to follow a string of tasks, quests, questions or whatever, with the eventual aim of getting with a girl (depending on the age rating of the game this aim could just be going steady with her, or something more series). Likewise games have been made with different genders in mind. Well as it turns out that’s just what Sweet Paradise was.

You take one of three young girls out for a date somewhere in beautiful Bali. When I say young, the first couple of goes of it I thought that they were still above that “barely legal” age limit, but it turns out I was wrong. After nosing google it happens to be that the 2006 game/video stars 14 year old Runa (now 17), 12 year old Saaya (now 15) and also 12 year old Jessica (also now 15). From the couple of goes I had it seems the dates end in one of two ways; you either agree what good friends you are or you fall face first into a swimming pool (there way have been more endings but to be honest I really didn’t want to have to sit through it again and again, especially as it’s date scenes are unskippable).

So this brings us up to today. Obviously I didn’t particularly want these two UMDs, and there was absolutely no way in hell I was going to try and bring them through customs, so I had to get rid of them. I didn’t particularly care on getting my money back on them, so I just took them to the first second hand game shop I visited … well, second actually. I go in the first one too often to have them forever know me as “that perverted git-bag”. Going that extra step to avoid future face to face contact with the shop I was selling to, I ended up visiting a shop in 桃山台 (Momoyamadai), a good hour north of Umeda (not just for this, I was also visiting a mate) getting 100 yen (69p) for each of the games. I was going to just think of it as me renting them at that kind of price that I ended up parting with, but then I just remembered it cost 680 yen (£4.71) to get there and back.

What a load of bollocks.

Ok, so right now I’m in a completely different mood to how I was when I wrote yesterday (aka – I’m smiling). I’ve just been having a great laugh for the past hour courtesy of the doujin (fanmade) Higurashi DVD I bought last weekend. While I’m not going to do a proper review of this, I thought I’d share my thoughts on it with you guys. Also, bonus points for anyone who can explain the term “shiggles and gits”.

Freett 18′s そのひぐらしのなく頃に (Sono Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni) is something I’ll definately take my hat off to. I wasn’t expecting much (judging from the box), and I guess to be honest I was right in that regards, but it’s definately the best DVD I’ve bought here. Huge points go to them for actually going and filming in (I’m guessing) 白川郷 (Shirakawa-gou), the village that the Higurashi village of Hinamizawa was based on as this really helped give it more of a Higurashi vibe. The major downside to that is that because it’s a public place, let’s just say they had more extras in the background (and at times in front of the camera), staring at the cast wondering what they were doing.

They followed the story from the first anime arch (don’t really like that term) where Keichi is introduced as the newcomer who doesn’t know anything about the atrocities of the villages shady past and for the most part follows it quite well. There are some changes to that original storyline and it seems to make Rika out to be the villain. Amusingly Rika and Hanyuu are always seen hanging around in the background, the most entertaining moment was seeing them have a fist-fight.

If I’m going to get technical about what I thought “could have been improved upon” (I didn’t want to say “was bad”), the sound was all over the place for most of the film where the audio seemed to have been recorded in post-production and (not too well) lip-synched to the video. Sound effects also seemed to play a major part with the frequent use of 蜩 (higurashi – cicada) cries in the background. Filming … beware of mirrors and other reflective surfaces. I had a laugh and a giggle seeing the dramatic moment where Keichi practices bat swinging talking to Mion … with Satoko and the camera man staring at the pair.

However, for all it’s faults this DVD was balanced by a sense of effort and fun that cannot be taken away from the film makers. Despite the fact it was raining for most scenes (camera man had an brolly, but hey I won’t complain), the cast were out there brolly-less enjoying what they were doing. I don’t think this, or the next two films they did, were meant to be taken seriously, much like Stephen Fry’s contribution to Little Big Planet. It reminds me much of whenever we made films and such back home, something I miss actually.

Though I would highly recommend this DVD to anyone who wants to see something made by determined fans to show their appreciation for something they truly love, I have no idea how most of you guys would find a copy since I found mine by shere fluke in a second hand shop in DenDen Town. Good luck though! In the meantime, here’s the opening to the movie.