One of the first scenes from the first episode, Masamune Date and Yukimura Sanada decide to settle their dispute over who gets to use the school's field with a friendly game of kickball. With the fate of their two teams on the line, Date proceeds to hit Yukimura's pitch out of the park thanks to his wielding six bats and the ball gets hit around by some of the series most recognizable faces. This scene has a lot going on with appearances from Mitsunari Ishida, Ieyasu Tokugawa, Kojuurou Katakura, and many more characters; we get a taste of just what kind of comedic hijinks our favorite characters from the Sengoku Period can get themselves into.

Pushed by Maeda and Takeda to enjoy his youth, Yukimura decides to partake in some nefarious activities in order to reach ultimate levels of badness. Despite his best efforts, everything Sanda tries results in him doing good for others. With everything, he tries only making him less evil, Yukimura finally catches a break when he gets scolded for running and screaming in the halls. The highlight of this scene is how sincerely the honest and straightforward Yukimura works so hard at being bad.

The class gets into a heated discussion involving where they will go on their class trip. Every time the group finally decides on a destination, they are halted by the weather. Torrential rain and snow halt them in the tracks forcing them to replan and pray for better weather. There is a whole lot to enjoy with this scene,from everyone's fantasies about their desired location to the way the class handles the strange weather that keeps getting in their way.

One day, Honda and Fuma find themselves taking care of a child they find near the front gate of the school. They must find a way to care for the child and find out where it came from. One of the best scenes of the series, Honda and Fuma are able to get so much laughter without saying a word. The way the two of them go about caring for the child while only exchanging glances and the occasional thumbs up is something you have to see. While the others eventually come to help the two of them out, the sight of Honda Fuma taking care of a child is truly something special.

With Ieyasu running for student council president, he makes a campaign video starring Masamune. We get to see Masamune do some ridiculous stunts that include ballet, one man baseball, and some extreme eating. Although this is the shortest scene on this list, it may just be the funniest. We get to see the usually serious Masamune take part in some ridiculous activities that he would never usually do. Yukimura also makes an appearance at the end of the scene claiming he would not be bested by Masamune and vows to do everything he did but better.

Despite the fact that both the stand and its user have disgusting designs that remind us of decaying brains, their teamwork is amazing to behold. Green Dolphin Street Jail counts on Miu Miu to stop any attempted escapee right in their tracks. Her stand, Jail House Lock, causes short-term amnesia that prevents its target from remembering more than three new things at a time. Any additional new memories will push out old ones. When Jolyne and Emporio try to bust out of the prison to pursue Father Pucci, they both get trapped by Jail House Lock’s ability. Jolyne writes reminders on her arms with a pen, but Miu Miu expertly thwarts her plans by feeding her useless information and rubbing off the pen markings before her opponent can remember what’s going on. Meanwhile, Emporio is locked in an endless loop of being electrocuted by his computer. With this stand’s nearly impenetrable ability, it’s no wonder that nobody has ever escaped the prison!

In order to join the Italian mafia gang Passione, any prospective member has to undergo a terrifying trial. Polpo’s lighter test is supposedly a measure of trust and perseverance to keep the flame lit for 24 hours, but its real purpose is to create stand users. If anyone relights the flame after it’s been snuffed out, Polpo’s stand Black Sabbath will hunt them down and stab them with the stand arrow it hides in its mouth. The stand’s Medieval Italian design, complete with a Venetian mask and robes that evoke old-school clergy or judges, perfectly matches its purpose and similarly intimidating user. Will you follow the path of the chosen or that of death?

Milagro Man functions less like a helpful spirit and much more like a curse. It seems great at first, constantly duplicating money until there’s more than the user could ever possibly need, but there’s a catch. No matter how much the user spends or destroys, they always end up with more cash than when they started. They’ll be buried in bills, unable to rid themselves of the stand unless they return all of the money or trick someone else into destroying it. Joshu Higashikata learned this the hard way, inheriting the stand due to his own greed. He could hardly even spend the money since every store in town knew about the Milagro Man’s signature bills that are always marked with “13R” at the end of the serial number. Curse-like stands have been done before with the likes of Cheap Trick and Superfly, but we like how Milagro Man only affects those who are blinded by easy cash.

This stand’s powers come entirely from the guilt people feel about things they’ve “left behind”. Civil War can manifest anything from Gyro’s abandoned teddy bear to Hot Pants’ dead brother, which then attaches to the victim and suffocates them in a slowly tightening membrane. Even though Johnny, Gyro, and Hot Pants are all tough characters who have wiped the floor with stronger stand users than Axl RO, Civil War’s precisely targeted guilt trips paralyze them into helplessness. Johnny has spent the entire series trying to escape from the shadow of his past, but here we get to see him directly confront it in perhaps the most agonizing way possible.

Unwieldy name aside, the stand most often referred to as D4C possesses one of the most powerful abilities in the entire series. Its user, part 7 main villain President Valentine, can use the rabbit-like stand to access infinite alternate universes whenever he wants. His most useful applications of this ability are presenting opponents with their alternate selves so that they both explode on contact, and summoning new versions of himself to take over when he gets gravely injured in battle. Plus, with the power of the Holy Corpse, D4C can redirect any attacks on Valentine to some other random person in another universe. With such an airtight defense, there’s nothing outside of a reality-breaking power that could defeat him.

The goblin world is filled with all sorts of different types of goblins, but in episode 6, we get introduced to some of the more unique goblins in the series. Living underneath Water Town, the goblins adapted to their environment and became a group of seafaring bandits. The party is able to easily dispatch the first boat using their usual tactics, but things get a bit more complicated when some more ships arrive. Thankfully, with some quick thinking, Goblin Slayer uses the sewer-dwelling alligator to take out the rest of the goblins. This scene has a little bit of everything when it comes to goblin killing, but it really stands out thanks to the random appearance of the alligator.

A battle that was more like a one-sided slaughter, Goblin Slayer and Priestess take out a goblin stronghold by burning it to the ground while killing off any goblins that manage to escape. The goblins are unable to fight back as Goblin Slayer shows off his archery skills, before killing and burying the rest of the goblins. This is possibly one of the best overall scenes in the series, with the killing being interlaced with scenes of Priestess praying the next morning, rain falling, and Goblin Slayer explaining why and how he came to hate goblins. While this scene may not have some of the excitement that other scenes contain, it more than makes up for it with the added story and the enjoyment you get from watching the goblins burn.

After the adventurers wage an all-out war against the goblin forces, Goblin Slayer finds himself up against the Goblin Lord. The two continue to exchange blows until Goblin Lord takes the upper hand and lands a serious blow. However, it was all a trap designed to capture him in between Priestess' protection spells. Goblin Slayer rises to land the killing the blow. Alongside Goblin Slayer's battle, we also get to see every other character that appears over the course of the series battle against the rest of the goblin forces.

After hunting down the group goblins that had kidnapped an elf girl, Goldin Slayer and his crew find themselves face to face with dozens of goblins. Thanks to the combined magic efforts of Dwarf and Priestess, the rest of the party is able to easily kill the goblins, but an even bigger foe appears. The party starts fighting an ogre and are pushed to their limits. Goblin Slayer is able to pull out a win thanks to a magic scroll containing pressurized water from the bottom of the ocean that he had prepared to wipe out a goblin stronghold. This is the first time we really get to see the three new characters in action, with each of them showing off their skills as we learn more about them. We also get tons of goblin killings along with an exciting battle against the ogre.

Priestess sets out on a mission with her fellow rookie adventurers to hunt down some weak goblins. The group is able to handle the first few goblins, but they soon find out that the goblins were smarter than they had expected. Paralyzed with fear, Priestess is only able to watch as her companions are killed and defiled. Priestess is saved by Goblin slayer who arrives just in time to help her out. The pair then goes on to easily kill off the rest of the goblins in the cave. This scene is great because we get to learn so much about the world of Goblin Slayer, while also getting out first taste of how much goblin killing is going to happen throughout the series.

Let’s get the predictable and uninteresting updates out of the way first. The Shanghai Dragons still couldn’t cut the mustard and came out of the third stage winless once again. We didn’t mention this before, but their roster was half-Chinese and half-Korean, so when their sole translator left abruptly in this stage, things went from bad to worse. Said interpreter would also not be replaced until late in stage 4. Ryujehong replaced Miro on the Dynasty’s main tank role and was a downgrade in every sense of the word while Fleta was having a harder time carrying the team with his DPS. The Fuel had a ton of internal drama and players and coaches alike started attacking each other on twitter, their toxicity even driving Effect to leave the team to nurse his mental health. The Outlaws were still a pretty mediocre team, with Muma and Coolmatt’s strong tank showings marred by subpar support and especially DPS players. Jake and Linkzr were fine with their own characters, but neither could play the meta-centralizing Tracer that well. Now that all that’s out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff.

The Gladiators added Void, the zany Zaria, on tank and Silkthread, the DPS player who can play more heroes than a spider can catch flies. These guys were a significant advantage for their team, but honestly, almost everyone on the active roster at this point was playing above the league average. The Californian team had become a bigger threat than they ever had been. The Excelsior added support player Anamo, who fit right into the team, letting them continue their dominant momentum from stage 2 without a hitch. There’s not much else to say of them, really. They were the best before and they still were in the present. The Valiant made a whole clusterfuck of moves in stage 3, becoming nigh unrecognizable. We don’t have time to go over every last point on the smorgasbord of changes, but we will shout-out the previously mentioned Custa, who brought some epic leadership to the team and we credit their impressive stage performance to him as a result. The Mayhem were just plain boring. Their memeable walkout antics and team humor were cut as though the organization believed a serious tone would translate to wins. The only fun part of the team now was the recently added Sayaplayer, who became known for his bombastic Widowmaker plays. If it sounds like we’re trying to imply that the Mayhem did better in this stage, we’re really not. Their attempts at coordination mirrored their name at this point and they often didn’t even look like OWL-level players. On the other hand, the Shock’s signing of underaged players finally began paying off in this stage, as DPS star Architect, finally turned 18 and joined the main roster alongside main tank Super and main support Moth. This trio helped the team earn their best performance yet. They ended up barely missing the stage playoffs, but that’s just a testament to how strong their competition was. Back on the negative end, the Spitfire had a big drop in quality. Birdring’s expert marksmanship was suffering because of a tragic, yet comical, wrist injury sustained by hitting his desk in frustration after playing Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. Fortunately, Hooreg found his footing as the team’s new sniper after a few games and turned balanced their stage’s underperforming first-half with a strong second half, showing London fans that all was not lost. On the other hand, the Fusion almost completely fell apart. They positioned themselves poorly, had some bad aim streaks and Boombox was activating his ultimate seemingly at random. Compared to the proficiency they showed in stage 2, it was honestly pretty sad. We saved the best for last though, with Boston, where everyone’s eyes were during the stage. They had a pretty bad start, not because of hard losses, but because one of their star players Dreamkazper was caught in the act of trying to establish a sexual liaison between himself and two underage fans. This was in spite of the former being an adult and having a girlfriend, so needless to say the Uprising announced his suspension within a few hours and news of his termination came shortly thereafter. It was definitely the right decision from an ethical standpoint, but it meant that the mid-tier team would lose their strongest DPS player and things seemed grim. But they weren’t. Kazper’s replacement, Mistakes, went from an unproven wildcard to a top player practically overnight. Better yet, the rest of the team was doing just as good, with a solid support and tank line and Striker played a deadly Tracer, able to pull off both clutch kill streaks and game-winning stalling tactics. The team absolutely owned the stage 3 and made OWL history by being the only franchise to this day to go undefeated in a stage.

As we mentioned in our last part, the Boston Uprising went undefeated in stage 3, which would have been rewarded in previous stages would have earned them a bye into the playoff finals, however the amended structure would only reward the top team with the ability to pick which of the 3 other playoff opponents they would face in the semi-finals. In this case, those opponents were the previous stage playoff winners, the New York Excelsior and both Los Angeles teams. Careful not to test their winning streak too much, Boston elected to play the 4th seed, the LA Gladiators. The result was a predictable, but entertaining, 3-0 sweep by the men from Massachusetts, further feeding their winning streak and making their future seem bright. It wouldn’t be smooth sailing though, as the NYXL also swept the higher-seeded Valiant in a 3-0 sweep of their own. The match was probably the most one-sided match in the season that didn’t involve Shanghai. New York’s very defensive style baited over-extensions from the Californians and their brilliant adaptation in positioning quickly shut down any push. For context, the Excelsior had the best overall standing in the League at this point, so their finals match against the Uprising, who had the best overall standings in the stage, seemed poised to be a battle of epic proportions.

It wasn’t. The Boston Uprising played excellently just as they had throughout the stage, but they were matched with an even more dominant team and simply couldn’t measure up to New York, who led another sweep. Our favorite play was actually the one that sealed the final map. The Excelsior are on defense and are 3-2 for the final map. As the game goes into overtime, the Uprising push in to initiate a team fight, their payload only inches from the final point and right away its clear who is in control of the battle. Sabyeolbe’s Tracer holds back almost all of Boston by himself thanks to buffs from Ark's Mercy. Meanwhile, Jjonak pops his transcendence for even more healing while Pine is on the backline with his precise sniping, hitting Note out of his D.Va mech. The Uprising seem to try to fall back, but Sabyeolbe dashes in and tears through Note and the supporting Neko. As for the Uprising, Striker tries to attack the support line with his own Tracer, hitting Jjonak with his ultimate, but it’s too little too late as Pine and main-tank Janus clean up the rest of the enemy players. Striker quickly came face to face with Sabyeolbe who quickly eliminates him. New York had wiped each of the Uprising players in only a few seconds, while only losing a single one of their own The irresistible force paradox says that an unstoppable force can never meet an immovable object, but the stage 3 playoffs proved that in that scenario, the object wins, as the Uprising’s unparalleled momentum was not enough to knock the NYXL from their OWL throne.

• The final standings for stage 3 were:
• Boston Uprising 10-0 Playoff finalists
• New York Excelsior 9-1 Playoff winners
• Los Angeles Valiant 7-3 Playoff semi-finalists
• Los Angeles Gladiators 6-4 Playoff semi-finalists
• San Francisco Shock 6-4
• London Spitfire 5-5
• Philadelphia Fusion 5-5
• Seoul Dynasty 5-5
• Houston Outlaws 4-6
• Florida Mayhem 2-8
• Dallas Fuel 1-9
• Shanghai Dragons 0-10

Despite his best efforts, Sakuta—like the rest of the world—has forgotten all about Mai Sakurajima’s existence. However, Sakuta’s love for Mai begins to allow his memories of her to return gradually over the course of episode 3 and he realizes the only way for Mai to be seen by others again is to make something happen in a grandiose way. Thus, our main man Sakuta goes out in the middle of the yard at school and yells at the top of his lungs how he loves Mai! This scene made us smile and gasp at the same time as we witnessed a truly emotional confession spewing from Sakuta’s usual lazy-like face. It was during this scene that we knew Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai was only going to have even more emotional moments to hit us with.

By the conclusion of Tomoe Koga’s arc, we begin to see that Koga has begun to gain love for Sakuta during their fake dating sessions. Due to this love, Koga causes July 18th to repeat constantly and while Sakuta plays along with it for a few repeats he quickly understands actions must be done. Sakuta takes Koga away from their repeated beach excursion and brings her to a shrine where he has her spill her true emotions for him and likewise how he feels about Mai. This moment almost—keyword “almost”—mirrored Re:Zero’s confession scene between Rem and Subaru with Koga being quietly rejected. Koga’s rejection allows time to revert back to June 27th and enables Sakuta to save his relationship with Mai—which had a rocky start due to Koga’s interference—and finally move on from the dreaded Puberty Syndrome that felt like groundhog day.

Rio Futaba was an interesting character initially in Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai as we wondered if she was always destined to be just another side character. By episode 7 though, we see that Futaba ends up being a Puberty Syndrome case herself as she creates another Futaba that acts quite differently from her original self. Episode 8 though is where we see the reunion of both versions of Futaba and she goes off to join Sakuta and Yuuma Kunimi—Futaba’s unobtainable crush—enjoying a fireworks session during the summer festival. It’s also here where we have a quiet confession coming from Futaba towards Kunimi but with her begging him to keep quiet about his answer to her feelings. Viewers know that Kunimi would most likely have to reject Futaba—seeing as how he’s dating another girl already—but felt the pain of the unsaid rejection. We here at Honey’s Anime won’t hide that some tissues were used during this scene…or maybe a box as our eyes magically filled with waterfalls.

The final arc of Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai has Kaede being the man focus as her original memories lost during her incident a while back return. Sakuta witnesses this moment of the true Kaede’s return and runs out of the hospital in dismay. We’ve seen Sakuta go emotional before in Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai, but when he breaks down on the sidewalk with rain coming from above, we couldn’t help but feel ourselves die a little. Sakuta, who has always been the strong character of Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai, finally shows a moment of weakness and it’s easily one of the most capturing moments seen in all of the 13 episodes.

While many mangaka will say that they wanted to be at least some kind of artist most of their lives or say that they knew from a young age that their calling was to be a mangaka, Rumiko Takahashi is very different. When she was a child, she actually didn’t show any interest in being a mangaka. Sure, sometimes she would doodle in a notebook or draw small pictures, but so do many children. She was not seeking out a future in the art field originally. But as she got older, a new interest in manga began to emerge. By the time Rumiko Takahashi was entering university, she was on the road to becoming a professional mangaka. She enrolled in Genkiga Sonjuku, a manga academy, and began to study quite seriously. Under the wing of famous mangaka Kazuo Koike, Takahashi began to publish her first doujinshi, or fan-made comics, in 1975. It was the true start to her career as a mangaka, and though it was small, it was just the beginning of something great. Under Koike’s guidance, Takahashi always created deep characters with well thought out personalities, something she claims she does to this day thanks to his teaching

After her first few successful doujinshi, Bye-Bye Road and Star of Futile Dust, things started to really get rolling. Three years later in 1978, Rumiko Takahashi published her first one-shot story called Katte na Yatsura. This story went on to win Shogakkan New Comics Award and let the manga world know that someone talented and new had entered the scene. The same year, Takahashi began to publish her first serial manga, Urusei Yatsura, in Weekly Shōnen Sunday. However, Rumiko Takahashi did not reach fame and success immediately. When writing Urusei Yatsura, she struggled to always meet her deadlines. The chapters were published sporadically, and Takahashi’s career was off to a rough start. She was sharing a small apartment with two manga assistants at the time and sleeping in a closet. Life was far from glamorous - but she didn’t give up! Instead, Takahashi pushed herself to also publish Shake your Buddha, Time Warp Trouble, and Golden Gods of Poverty all in Weekly Shōnen Sunday to help make ends meet and give her career the push it needed. By 1980, Takahashi was writing her second and far more successful manga series Maison Ikkoku in Big Comic Spirits. Her audience had changed to an older one interested in a romantic comedy, and Takahashi was able to draw from her experience living in a tiny shared flat to create the story. Maison Ikkoku really paved the way for Takahashi’s career to start getting bigger. Being in Tokyo was a good start for helping Rumiko Takahashi’s career begin, but her life there was far from easy, especially at the beginning. If you imagine that an emerging mangaka can live a plush life in the big city, you’re very misinformed. Rumiko Takahashi lived the genuine “starving artist” lifestyle for quite a few years, and she had to just keep battling to stay in the game. Her strong will and determination are obvious because she never gave up on her dream to become a bigger mangaka and make a better living from her skills!.

Rumiko Takahashi may have gotten off to a slow start, but after 1980 her mangaka career really started to take off. Three of her next short stories were turned into OVAs. Takahashi also branched out into yet another genre with Mermaid Saga, which was much darker and showed her true versatility as a writer. 1987 is when the magic really started happening when Takahashi began to publish what would be one of her most famous pieces - Ranma ½. Ranma ½ went on to become one of the most famous manga of its kind in the United States at a time when manga was just starting to have an audience there. That makes Takahashi very influential in the way manga readership developed in America! Heading into the 1990s, Rumiko Takahashi was continuing several of her serial manga while also starting to work on something else big - Inuyasha. Inuyasha remained Takahashi’s biggest work for a long time and is still her most famous and arguably most popular work. It went on to be published all the way until 2008. Since then, Inuyasha, Ranma ½, and Urusei Yatsura all were published officially in English - and 2019 will see an English reprint of Urusei Yatsura after it was cancelled only a few volumes in previously. These works are some of the ones that made Rumiko Takahashi’s name an international one and helped to bring manga to a Western audience more than ever before. Without Takahashi and her characters and stories, it is impossible to tell if manga would have found the same readership that it did in America and beyond. Her career was really influential to the manga world, and her works made her famous both domestically and internationally over the course of twenty years.

Stand powers tend to be much simpler in the early days, but Death Thirteen has the unique ability to attack opponents in their dreams. The carnival-like nightmare world that the stand controls is perfect for isolating users from their stands and torturing them while leaving no memory of the incident in the morning. Kakyoin is attacked every time he falls asleep, but since the stand user is a baby that the group is escorting and he can’t remember what happened in his dreams, his efforts to warn the others about the threat just come off as insane. However, he makes a kickass comeback when he figures out how to bring Hierophant Green into the nightmare world and uses his long-forgotten possession technique to force Death Thirteen into retirement. And, as if that wasn’t enough, the battle features one of his best color changes (black clothes and white hair), the “Noble Pope” leitmotif, and an appropriately petty punishment once Kakyoin and the baby meet again in the real world.

Rather than using the structure of a normal stand battle, this part 8 arc plays out much more like a horror film in the style of It Follows or Terminator. Blue Hawaii is an automatic stand belonging to the largely immobile Rock Human Dolomite, who wants to use his stand’s mind control powers to capture Gappy and force him to reveal what he knows about equivalent exchange. What’s so terrifying is that Blue Hawaii can control anyone if it touches their body, their hair, or even just a blood splatter. The stand transfers itself between bodies while chasing Gappy through Morioh, never giving him a moment’s pause to figure out what’s going on. It’s tense and nerve-wracking, especially once Gappy realizes that he can’t fight back and desperately asks Yasuho to find the stand user before he’s inevitably captured. In the end, Yasuho manages to save the day at the last minute by smashing Dolomite’s head in with a pipe moments before a mind-controlled Gappy drowns himself in a lake. Yikes!

Before stand powers, and even before Hamon, Jonathan and a newly vampirized Dio fight to the death in the burning Joestar mansion. It’s remarkable how, even without any supernatural powers, Jonathan is still strong and smart enough to defeat his brother with whatever resources he can find. This battle harkens back to the gothic horror stories that inspired Araki, complete with dramatic declarations and tearing heirloom weapons from the walls. This all leads up to the fateful conclusion where Dio falls onto the spike atop the statue of the Joestar family’s guardian angel. Assured that Dio will be burned faster than he can regenerate in the raging fire that consumes the Joestar mansion, Jonathan just barely makes it out alive. Too bad that his adoptive brother is more tenacious than he thought...

The very last obstacle before Bucciarati’s gang faces off against the boss is an arduous battle against the sadistic surgeon Cioccolata and his human pet Secco. Cioccolata’s stand Green Day is one of the most dangerous abilities in the entire series – it releases a highly toxic airborne mold that decays flesh almost instantly if the target moves downwards. On top of that, Secco’s armor-like stand Oasis makes him immune to the mold and allows him to turn solid ground into mud. Since this fight takes place in a populated village, Green Day’s mold quickly spreads through bystanders and Oasis’ liquefying ability melts any structures that the gang could use to move upwards. It’s only with Bucciarati’s strangely unaffected body and some badass/homoerotic teamwork between Giorno and Mista that they manage to win without losing anyone to the mold.

When the ultimate lifeform clashes with the luckiest and craziest JoJo in the entire series, insanity is certain to ensue. Normally, Araki tries to stay away from contrived coincidences that sway the flow of battle, but in a fight where Joseph’s battle strategy involves divebombing an exploding plane into a beefcake vampire to drown him in an active volcano, anything goes. As far as final villain battles go, this one invokes a pure feeling of hype that not even Jotaro’s fight with Dio can quite match. Joseph skyrockets Kars into space with his own severed arm while the Phantom Blood opening plays and we can’t help but cheer for our hero’s completely accidental success.

Yuuta and his classmates were expecting a nice and fun field trip but that all changed when Go’yavec attacked. Unlike most of the kaiju Gridman faced, Go’yavec was easily the largest one towering over our cyber-hero. Luckily for Gridman, his team was ready bringing with them Junk and allowing Yutta to transform into Gridman and combine with Borr to make Buster Gridman. This battle impressed us as it showed the resolve of Gridman’s team as well as how scarily large kaiju could be.

In episode 3, Akane creates a new kaiju that is able to blend in as a human but equally can transform into a menacing new kaiju. Dubbed Anti, this humanoid kaiju nearly defeats Gridman in a one on one duel and it’s the first time we see Yuuta/Gridman come so close to defeat! Luckily, Max—one of Gridman’s allies—enters the arena and allows Gridman to become Max Gridman and gives Anti a true beatdown. Unfortunately, due to Gridman’s earlier damage, he’s unable to keep the form for long but ironically, Anti also needs to bow out having taken substantial damage. Gridman shows that despite being a powerhouse, there are various kaiju out there that can match his mettle blow by blow. Anti later fights Gridman on numerous occasions—and even becomes an ally—but the first appearance by him is easily the most iconic of the show.

In most of SSSS.Gridman, the kaiju might have secret powers hidden in wait to hurt Gridman but often are used during battle. Bujack is one of the rarer kaiju that is made from Akane and Alexis to manipulate the Gridman Alliance into believing their dreams are reality. Yuuta is one of the first of the Gridman Alliance to realize his dream girlfriend—who is Akane—is just that, a dream with the rest of the members following suit. Once Yuuta wakes up he’s able to turn into Gridman and defeat Bujack in what is a rather simple fight now that Bujack’s power is underwhelming. Still, if the resolve of Yuuta and his friends was any weaker…who knows what could have happened to Gridman’s future?

The final battle of SSSS.Gridman is easily one of the most impressive kaiju duels in the whole series. Alexis absorbs Akane and becomes a full-on kaiju to battle against Gridman. Thankfully, the entirety of Gridman’s team enters into Gridman himself allowing the cyber warrior to become his true form, which mirrors the older shows. At first it looks as if Alexis is unstoppable with Gridman using every special attack he has in his repertoire to no avail. Alexis just rebirths himself and goes at Gridman with a seemingly invincible form. Gridman realizes quickly though that unlike kaiju or Alexis, his power comes from restoration and he uses this ability to repair Alexis and free Akane. It might seem like a corny final attack but fans of Hyper Agent Gridman or SuperHuman Samurai Syber-Squad will revel in this ability as it mirrors the ending of most episodes.

Takayuki Sugawara formerly worked as a game designer for the Danganronpa series, the trial sequences where players would listen to characters testimonies and point out contradictions with “truth bullets” were specifically designed by Sugawara. Now, Sugawara has taken on a new role. For Zanki-Zero: Last Beginning, he is now the Creative Director and Scenario Writer. The implications of this, to say the least, are interesting. Having a former game designer take control of the writing could influence a difficult aspect of story-based games: how gameplay can synergize with story. In some games, there can be a disconnect between gameplay functions and how the story is presented--things you can do in the game might not make sense in the context of the story. Some simple examples would be enemies dropping money, characters dying in battle, but not in the story, characters losing in cutscenes despite your overleveling, etcetera. However, by allowing a game designer to write the story--by having two elements of a game under one vision--gameplay and story can synergize with each other, creating a more immersive experience.

And with that preface, we can now talk about gameplay. Zanki-Zero: Last Beginning is currently marketed as a nonstop survival RPG. If you’re confused by what this means, allow me to clarify. While the gameplay has elements of a dungeon crawler, movement and actions are not exactly similar. Whereas in a normal dungeon crawler you move/act, then the enemies follow up, Zanki-Zero: Last Beginning does not have any turn-based combat. If you stand still, an enemy can swing at you continuously. When you attack, your respective party members will have a cooldown, forcing you to your next character. Movement is critical in the game, and in order to not be trapped by enemies or, well, traps, you have to incorporate an awareness of your surroundings and well-timed dodges. To further aid your battles, characters can also collect parasites called “Cliones,” creatures that can give its host unique powers. However, with each use, your lifespan is reduced. The “nonstop” part of its marketing seems apt. As I observed more of the game, the survival RPG part became more clear. Similar to its story, players will have to scavenge locations for items. Defeated enemies can drop food, allowing you to satiate your hunger. Basic necessities like sleeping and using the bathroom are also part of the core gameplay. Understanding how death works is critical to both the story and gameplay. Just as characters die every 13th day, characters will undergo an accelerated age progression. Starting as a child, then adult, middle-age, and finally senior--all of these ages will have different strategic benefits that vary between Attack, Defense, Charge Attack damage, and their item capacity. Death is not the end, as dying to an enemy can gift you a Shigabane, or a skill that gives you a resistance depending on how you died. The synergy between Zanki-Zero: Last Beginning’s gameplay and story is pretty evident.

Ayako Nakao, formerly the UI designer of the Danganronpa series, has switched roles for Zanki-Zero: Last Beginning. Now taking the role of character designer, her designs give a sense of her roots. Similar to how Danganronpa characters have their titles, the 8 characters of Zanki-Zero: Last Beginning have titles that reflect the 7 deadly sins and the cryptic “original sin.” A purposeful decision was made when designing these characters. To obscure their past, their designs are less revealing of their sins--although perhaps one character’s design seems rather on the nose. While I’m uncertain, I believe by adhering to a recognizable formula, Zanki-Zero: Last Beginning hopes to appeal to both a new audience and the existing Danganronpa audience. By being rather open with its staff members, Zanki-Zero: Last Beginning’s wants to reassure its fans that the game is in good hands.

As of 2019, the original Japanese Steins;Gate has reached its 10th anniversary. With the release Steins;Gate 0’s anime, Spike Chunsoft saw a unique situation: a renewed interest in the series for its fans, but also a new audience unaware of its original story. Seizing this opportunity, Spike Chunsoft worked with animation studio White Fox to create Steins;Gate Elite, a game seeking to bridge the gap between fans of the game, anime, and a new generation of “lab members.”

Steins;Gate Elite pushes the VN medium in an ambitious direction: an entirely animated experience. White Fox have designed scenes absent from the anime, creating a different perspective for both fans of the show and visual novel. The anime’s original director will also be working on the new content for Elite. The intended goal is immersion. By turning the entire experience into a seamless audio/visual experience, the VN shifts closer towards the TV medium. However, if readers prefer a more controlled experience, they can choose to progress through scenes at their own pace, pausing and continuing with the press of a button.

Understandably, with Elite’s changes, there will be concerns about its execution. Fans of the original might prefer Huke’s artwork and a more controlled, specific vision of its author. These are some valid concerns and ones that I share as well. In some ways, Elite is like an adaptation. It is a visual novel that is transitioning into a medium where ideas are introduced by the director and new staff members. Adaptations are interpretations, and thus naturally different from the original. If your hesitation stems from concerns of accuracy or execution, the developers have anticipated them. To not exclude these fans, they’ve chosen to package Steins;Gate Elite in an appealing way.

While this won’t directly influence the main product, Steins;Gate Elite is more than just the original story. Depending on your console of choice, the bonus content will differ. Packaged with the Nintendo Switch version is a free DLC code, containing an exclusive and completely new story. Done in 8-bit Famicon style, this new adventure will feature the main cast of the game exploring Akihabara. The PS4 version comes with an impressive addition as well--one that I think can sell the game on its own. Steins;Gate: Linear Phenogram, a 30-hour side story that was never before released outside of Japan, will be packaged as a DLC code alongside the PS4 release. In it includes the works of multiple writers, including the original author Hayashi Naotaka. If you’re interested in seeing more content for your favorite characters, Linear Phenogram is an amazingly generous addition to a full game.

In the early 1980s Japanese companies like Hitachi, Fujitsu, NEC, and others had already established a strong presence in making personal computers in Japan with systems like the FM-8 and PC-6001, but there were still some roadblocks to mainstream success. Without getting too technical, many of these earlier PCs had substantial hardware and operating system differences that made lots of software totally incompatible between systems, limiting the number of releases and ports. Enter Kazuhiko Nishi, vice president of Microsoft Japan and director of ASCII Corporation. After seeing the success of VHS in standardizing home video systems, Nishi proposed a similar standard for home computing that would allow many new hardware manufacturers to enter the PC market with compatible software between the different machines. He based his design and specifications on the Spectravideo SV-328 and largely used off-the-shelf parts to further simplify production. The MSX name stands for "Machines with Software eXchangeability", appropriate for what was central to Nishi’s goal. Formally announced on June, 27 1983, with the backing of many different Japanese companies such as Sony, Toshiba, Casio, Yamaha, Sharp, and Panasonic and foreign firms like Phillips and Samsung, the MSX became the dominant computer system in Japan, Korea, Argentina, and Brazil and had a strong following in continental Europe and certain middle eastern countries. Later revisions included the MSX2, 2+, and TurboR continued the legacy into the early 90s.

With the MSX unveiled the same year as Nintendo’s Famicom, Japanese game development was set to skyrocket due to advances in technology, a robust economy, and creative developers ready to capture growing enthusiasm for home video games. Classic gaming juggernaut Konami was an early and prolific developer for the MSX, releasing many of their arcade hits like Gradius, Frogger, and Twinbee along with entirely new games like Parodius, Antarctic Adventure, and it’s sequel Penguin Adventure, which was the first game famous designer Hideo Kojima worked on. Kojima would later direct a variety of games including the original Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Snatcher, and Snatcher SD for MSX/MSX2 as his career began to really take off. Another noteworthy release from Konami was Vampire Killer, an entry in the Castlevania series that shares a lot with the original Famicom Disk System/NES game but has more of a focus on exploration and lock and key puzzles and completely different level design. Hudson Soft was another famous company who developed many games for the MSX with titles like the original Bomberman, Adventure Island, Nuts & Milk, and Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom. Compile also had a number of fantastic releases for the system including the original Puyo Puyo, Zanac, and Aleste. Many of the games we’ve mentioned were also released on other platforms like the Famicom and NEC PCs, sometimes with major changes as with Vampire Killer. Some notable ports to MSX include Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, R-Type, Ys I-III, and Wizardry I-III.