Don't ya wish there was more story~~?

girl??: /Hey! Are you alright?!/

-from off screen, a van screeches to a sudden stop-
-the slide door opens and two large men, wearing dark sunglasses, advances toward the girls-

girl??: Hey! Can you guys help her out? She's fainted--

-One of the large men pushes with great force that slams her to the wall behind her, also causing her bike to fall down-

girl??: Aagh!

-the two men picks up Sayumi and drags her into the van-
-the door slides shut and the van drives away-
-girl?? recovers again just as she relizes the van begins to drive away-

girl??: Hey! Get back here!

-girl?? picks up her fallen bike and rides it, chasing the van-

-van passes a few blocks trying to lose the chasing girl-
-van screeches on every corner it turns, slowly losing the girl-
-van approaches the bridge that goes over the town's river-
-the bridge ahead is blocked by a wooden barrier and shows signs of work are currently done to remodel the bridge-
-van drivers through the barrier, breaking it and leaving a huge gap-
-girl?? cycles through the gap and without looking, hits one of the many potholes on the road-
-hitting the pothole lauched both girl?? and her bike into the air-
-girl?? lands on a pile of dirt while the bike falls hard on the ground, bending the frame of the bike and twists one of the tires-

girl??: Ouch...

-girl?? dusts herself off and goes to her bike and examines it-

girl??: There goes my bike. *sigh* No more chasing cars for me.

-girl?? stands in th middle of the empty work site, while feeling a cold breeze-
-the camera slowly zooms out while the girl says-

girl??: It's freakin' cold...

-fade to black-

----------------------

-fade in into a shot of a taxi driving through the streets of Chinatown-
-shot of inside the taxi have TerryAA, Iscariot85 and Kamomo sitting in the backseat-
-Iscariot85 sitting between the two, apparently drawing on a piece of paper-

Narrator: When we left our heroes, they begin to find more information about the robbers. They are now riding through the neonlight streets of Chinatown...

TerryAA: So, since we don't know where they are, how are we gonna find them?

-Iscariot85 ignores TerryAA as he continues to draw-

TerryAA: Are you listening?!

Iscariot: Yeah, yeah.

Kamomo: Do you have a lead?

-Iscariot stops drawing, showing that he's finished-

Iscariot85: This is our lead.

-the paper shows a drawing of a sun with black wavy rays and a scorpion in the middle of it-

TerryAA: What is that?

Iscariot85: The guns that Gaki-san and Ai-chan were holding were both fake. But the large dood held a very different gun. Assuming that it was real, the man would have used it to make sure the girls did what they did. This special embelishement was printed onto the side of the gun. I had assume that it was custom-made. This also gives me a hint that his exclusive choice of weaponry made him part of a crime syndicate.

Kamomo: Wow. You picked up all that in the parlour?

TerryAA: I was busy trying not to die and you're apparently enjoying this.

Iscariot85: I can't really see the joy of watching my favourite j-pop group forced to commit a crime on a night that they should be performing a concert. And besides, it's just a hunch. Maybe his gun might be a toy too.

Kamomo: I doubt it. I rather like your syndicate theory better.

TerryAA: So where exactly are we going?

Iscariot85: Oh! We're here.

-Iscariot85 tells the driver to pull over signaling that they arrived to their destination-
-the group stepped out of the taxi, TerryAA paid for the fare, unhappily-
-display white subheading '7:45 pm'-

-the group stand in front of two chinese restaurants-
-between the restaurants was a gap for a narrow alley leading to the inner part of the block-
-Iscariot85 begins walking into the alley-

Iscariot85: Follow me guys.

-the group walks in the narrow alley for a few seconds, leading them to a door lit by a wall lamp-
-Iscariot85 walks up to the small flight of steps while the other two followed suit-
-the door was steel and covered with rust. the door also had a small sliding peeking window that can be opened from the inside-
-Iscariot85 knocks on the door-
-the sliding window opens to reveal a set of eyes-

eyes: password?

Iscariot85: Lights Out, Orients City

-the sliding window closes, now beggining to hear the cold steel door unlock form within-
-the door finally opens, behind it stood a man nearly as tall as the ceiling-
-Kamomo and TerryAA were a bit nervous of the man because of his large appearance-

eyes man: It's been a while 85.

Iscariot85: Yeah, yeah.

-Iscariot walks in first and faces the man-

Iscariot85: Is The Vulture here?

eyes man: In the thrid floor, where our boss usually is.

-Iscariot85 faces his two friends-

Iscariot85: Are you two gonna stay here or you're coming with me?

-Kamomo walks inside with TerryAA following her, both not making eye contact with the large man-

-inside the building was at first a small narrow hallway, where they begin to feel alot of savoury smell-
-they turn into a corner and found a busy kitchen, full of cooks preparing meals-
-Iscariot85 didn't stop to look at the busy kitchen and headed left to the left side of the room -
-TerryAA and Kamomo for a moment stood there in awe but catches up with Iscariot85 as he is opening a door infront of him-
-they climbed up to two flight of steps and the smell changed drastically from the smell of food, to the smell of cigarette smoke-
-the flight of steps ended with just another door-
-Iscariot85 grabs the handle and turns to open-
-they are now in a large room full of mahjong tables full of cigarette smoking men-
-they were all seedy looking men, some waited for the next person to play, some were shuffling tiles around, very noisily-
-Iscariot85 gives his friends an advice-

Iscariot85: Try not make eye contact with them. Some of them are really down on their luck and can get a little grumpy.

-taking Iscariot85's advice they try not to look at the people while they cross the room to the other side-
-they arrived to another door and another pair of steps to climb-
-to break the silence TerryAA remarked-

TerryAA: This is one hell of a place. A restaurant as a front for a illegal mahjong parlour.

-Iscariot85, who was putting on a stern face all this time, finally broke out a smile-

Isacriot85: Ha! This is acutally legal mahjong parlour. It's just the customers here make it look too seedy.

-they've reached the door to the third floor and opens another door-
-the door this time leads to a hallway full of doors-
-as they walk inside, one of the doors opened and came out a lady wearing a tight tube top with a stylish extra small miniskirt-
-she was carrying a large plate full of empty beer bottles, she approaches to the door where the group had came through-

skirted woman: Hi, 85! Did you miss me?

-not caring for the warm greeting from the skirted lady, Iscariot85 replied:-

Iscariot85: Is The Vulture here?

skirted woman: The boss is right over there, Room 305. There's a game going on in there.

-the lady diverted their attention to the door with the room number on the right side of the hallway-
-the skirted lady turned to Iscariot85 and reaches close to his ear trying to whisper something, very seductively-

skirted lady: (I'll prepare something warm and hot for you after you're done talking with the boss.)

Iscariot85: No thank you. I won't be here long.

-Iscariot85 just continues to walk towards the door with the numbers 305-
-she looks at Iscariot85 smiling, then towards the other two, who apparently heard what she said-

skirted lady: Take care of him for me okay~ ?

Kamomo: Uhh yeah.

TerryAA: Sure.

-both flustered, TerryAA and Kamomo walks past the skirted lady to join Iscariot85-
-Terry and Kamomo now finally feel they arrive their destination-
-Iscariot knocks and opens the door without a hearing a sign from the inside that he can come in-
-by the door stood a guard about to reach something in his jacket-
-a voice from inside the room can be heard-

voice: It's okay. Let them in.

-the gurad lets them pass to go further inside the room-
-inside the room was four people playing a game of mahjong, three of them were men in their 40s, while one of them is in her late early 30s-
-it appears they've reach at the climax of the game-
-one of the men called out-

man1: Richi.

-and places a tile down-
-the woman sees his tile and layed down all of her tiles-

woman: I win again.

-the three men around her laughed out as they were pleased that she won-

man2: Ha ha ha ha! Thats The Vulture for ya buddy!

man3: 10 consecutive winning hands. It's totally not our night! Ha ha ha ha!

man1: Whatever. I'll get you next time! Ha ha ha ha!

woman: Next time you come here guys, try to bring more than just chump change.

-woman notices Iscariot85 and his friends, then she asks her mahjong buddies-

woman: Do you mind leaving the room? I've got important business to attend to.

-all three men looked at the group and understands and leaves the room, still having a few laughs-
-the woman also told the guard that was standing by the door to leave as well-
-the room is now left with the woman sitting at the mahjong table with the three friends standing across from her-

woman: Take a seat 85. And you guys too.

-Iscariot pulls out a chair and sat across form the woman's side, Kamomo sitting on her right and TerryAA by her left-

woman: What's up with you? You normally don't like coming here.

-staying calm and collected, Iscariot85 responded-

Iscariot85: I want to chase after a man who carries this symbol on his gun.

-Iscariot85 pulls out his drawing of the symbol that he remembered, and gives it to the woman-

Iscariot85: Do you know anything about it?

-the woman picks up the drawing and gives it a close inspection-

woman: How did you come across this man?

TerryAA: We were inside a icecream parlour when he barged in to hold a robbery.

Kamomo: His accomplices were two of the members of Morning Musume.

-the woman looks at Kamomo when she talked-
-the woman's eyes widened-

woman: You're Kamomo!

-the woman pulled back her chair for half a meter with her hands covered her mouth in surprise-
-Iscariot85 remembers something and said to Kamomo-

Iscariot85: Oh yeah. She's one of your hardcore fans.

Kamomo: Huh?

-the woman grabs Kamomo's hand and held it with a big smile on her face-

woman: I'm such a fan of your work! I've bought all the clothes from your back catalogues all the way from when you debuted! Your 2009 summer catalogue was absolutely to die for!

-Kamomo, still surprised by the woman's sudden behaviour can only let a small 'uhhh?' sound-
-the woman stops holding her hand to compose herself for a second-

woman: Let me introduce myself. I'm Madelene Awesome. I'm also known as The Vulture. I run this establishment.

Iscariot85: She's my sister.

-both TerryAA and Kamomo quickly turn to Iscariot85 when he said that-

TerryAA and Kamomo: Your SISTER!!

Madelene: That's Right~!

-screen fades to black-
-story cuts to a commercial-
-maybe a commercial for the release of Morning Musume's new album, 10 My Me-

Story has a bit more~~~~~

====================================

-scene opens within Chill Bill robbery-
-white sub heading displays, '7 o'clock-

Narrator: The last time we saw Iscariot85 and his friends, they were inside the ice cream parlour while a robbery in progress...

TerryAA: (Why are they doing this?)

Kamomo: (They're j-pop idols. They shouldn't be doing this.)

Iscariot85: (It seems like she's hesitating.)

TerryAA: (Huh?)

Iscariot85: (Look.)

-shot zooms to both of Gaki and Ai's hands shaking while holding their guns-

Kamomo: (I bet that big guy is forcing them.)

-the clerk finishes filling the bag with money and proceeds to raise up his hands)-

Man: /Get back in the car./

woman 1: /yes/

woman 2: /...yes/

-the tall man hurrily leaves the shop first and starts the car-
-woman 1 trips to the floor in panic-
-woman 1 makes eye contact with Iscariot85-

Iscariot85: (Mayuge Beeeeaaaam!)
-Iscariot85 does the pose for Mayuge Beam-

-woman 1 pauses by the surpise-

woman 2: /Hurry Gaki-san! Or they'll be in more trouble!/

-woman 2 helps her partner get up and both runs into the car-
-Iscariot85 gets up and chases after them-
-car begins to drive away-

Iscariot85: Gaki-san! Ai-chan!

-as the car drives away, in the rear seat, both Gaki and Ai remove their disguises and looks back to Iscariot85-
-the car disappears into a corner-

Iscariot85: ...

-TerryAA and Kamomo both ran out to meet up with Iscariot85-

TerryAA: They're gone.

Kamomo: I wonder why they did it.

-Kamomo lifts up a gun and hands it to Iscariot85-

Kamomo: Gaki-san dropped it. It's not real. It's just a toy.

Iscariot85: There is no doubt that they've been force to do this. And probably the other Morning Musume members are in trouble too.

-All of them goes quiet for a moment-

TerryAA: So what now?

-Iscariot85 steps forward and turns to TerryAA and Kamomo-

Iscariot85: I'm going to follow them and help them. If you want to come--

Kamomo: I'm in!

-Kamomo steps forward to Iscariot's side-

Iscariot85: How about you dood?

TerryAA: *sigh* It's just another day with Mr. Awesome.

Iscariot85: Ha ha ha! You ain't seen nothin yet.

-police sirens can be heard from far away, approaching closer-

Iscariot85: I dont know about you guys, but I don't wanna waste time talking to the cops. Let's blow this scene and we'd better hurry.

TerrAA: Ok!

Kamomo: Right behind you!

-scene of them running away from the shop and disappear into a corner-
-fades to black-

-scene fades in into a shot of a alarm clock, displaying '7o'clock-
-scene changes into a bedroom with a girl sleeping in a bed tossing and turning-

Narrator: While our heroes begins their journey to save the Morning Musume members, here begins another fan waking up from her sleep...

girl??: Oh crap! I'm soo late!

-girl?? stumbles around getting herself ready-

girl??: Penlights. Check. Money. Check. Phone. Check.

-girl?? runs out from her house and rides away on her bike-

girl??: It really was a bad idea to take a nap before the concert starts!

Narrator: Little did she know that there isn't a Morning Musume concert and she's heading straight for a cat...

girl??: huh? who said that?

-girl?? realizes the cat and pulls the brake hard, nearly falling off the bike-

girl??: Watch where ya goin'!

-cat hisses and runs away-

girl??: *sigh* It's getting dark fast.I wonder if the concert started...

-girl?? looks across the street and sees a hooded woman looking around in disarray-

girl??: What's up with her?

-the hooded woman sees girl?? and runs across the street and stops in front of her-

hooded woman: HELP ME! HELP ME!

-girl?? was surprised and realizes-

girl??: You're Sayumi!

-girl?? does the Usa-chan Peace pose-

Sayumi: Yes! Yes!

-Sayumi takes of her hood-
-girl?? looked extremely happy while holding in her excitement-

Sayumi: /Can you speak japanese?/

-girl?? struggles to respond-

girl??: /a little bit.../

Sayumi: /Please! You need to help me! My friends have disappeared!/

girl??: /Who? What happened?/

-Sayumi falls to the ground clutching in pain-

girl??: /Hey! Are you alright?!/

More story~~~

more story yeah?

-----------------------------------------------------

TerryAA: Ok then. See ya there!

-hangs up phone-

Narrator: Rather than waiting for the day of the concert, he actively decides on something...

Isacriot85: I'm playing Guitar Hero! Run that montage magic!

-slides in montage of Iscariot85 playing Guitar Hero for days-
-screen fades to black-
-scene fades into the front of the Mark Hamil Arena-
-Iscariot85 checks the time on his phone-

Iscariot85: I'm a little early...

-display white text subheading, "Satuday 5:50pm"-
-Iscariot85 looks at his surroundings. No other people are around-

Iscariot85: I knew it. Another cancelation. *sigh*

Narrator: Just as Iscariot85 expected, there wasn't a concert being held tonight. But just as he was preparing to leave, a girl wearing pink heels turned from the corner of the building, approaching Iscariot85. Her overall outfit seemed like she was also expecting a Morning Musume concert tonight. She wore a Reina printed T-shirt and a short skirt that screams out that she's fashionably late.

Iscariot85: Or in this case, fashionably early.

-the girl stops in front of the double doors of the lobby and tries to open it-

Iscariot85: There's nobody in there.

girl: That's lame. It'd be nice to really see them, live, here in our town.

Iscariot85: Oh well. What are ya gonna do? It's the Up Front Works after all.

girl: Ha ha ha! I guess you're right.

-Iscariot85 looks away for a moment-

girl: Are you waiting for someone?

Iscariot85: Yeah. We were suppose to meet up here at six to get in the line early. But apparently, there wasnt a line to get into.

girl: Why dont you call her?

Iscariot85: No no! He's a dood. A late dood at that.

girl: I'm sure he'll show up.

Iscariot85: Hmmm... I dont really want to wait for him anymore.

girl: Then why not make the most of this night? Let's go have a shake in that ice cream parlour over there.

-girl points at a ice cream parlour across the street named, 'Chill Bill'-

girl: I still have some time to spend until my cousin picks me up at 9 o'clock.

Iscariot85: ....

Iscariot85: Fine.

-scene transitions to inside Chill Bill, both having thickshakes-
-Iscariot85 stares at the girl-

girl: Yeah?

Iscariot85: Is this a date?

girl: Nope.

Iscariot85: ??

girl: This is a way of how I deal with disappointments. I thought I would share it with you.

Iscariot85: Well, I do feel better from not seeing Morning Musume live.

girl: No sweat buddy.

-girl finishes her shake-

girl: Oh yeah, my name is Kamomo Mori. Nice to meet ya.

Iscariot85: I'm Iscariot85. Iscariot85 Awesome.

-Iscariot85 pauses and realizes-

Iscariot85: !!! You're that famous teen fashion designer.

Kamomo: That's me!

Iscariot85: You designed the oufits for Morning Musume for their latest single. Yeah?

Kamomo: That's right. I wanted to see them wearing them in person.

Iscariot85: Huh? You haven't met them?

Kamomo: No. Their contacts just gave me the girls' measurements to work on. I was really nervous because i didnt have a suitable model to make the clothes. All I did was winging it from just numbers and choice fabric patterns.

-Kamomo pauses as she watches Iscariot85 takes another sip-

Kamomo: How did you know who I was?

Iscariot85: My big sister keep mentioning about this cool teen designer that she loves. She spends half of her paycheck buying your designer clothes.

Kamomo: I'm flattered.

Iscariot85: Don't be. Now her room is overflowed with clothes. She even asked me to leave some of them in my room.

Kamomo: She's quite a sister.

Iscariot85: That's only the half of it. She's--

TerryAA: There you are!

-TeryyAA enters the scene, angry-

TerryAA: Man! I waited for you for half an hour! Why didnt you answer your phone?

Iscariot85: My phone?

-Iscariot85 checks his phone-

Iscariot85: Ah! It's set on 'silent'. My bad.

TeryyAA: Should should be more considerate when people might call you.

-TerryAA looks at Kamomo-

TerryAA: Who's the girl?

Isacriot85: Oh! She's--

-noise of a car pull up infront of the parlour-

Narrator: The parlour doors all of a sudden, swing open violently.
Enters two women and a tall man, both wearing cough masks and black sunglasses, They were all carrying handguns and black bags.

Woman 1: /Get down!/

Woman 2: /Nobody move!/

-everybody shrinks to the floor, including Iscariot85, Kamomo and TerryAA-

TerryAA: whispering (They're speaking japanese.)

-woman 1 aims the gun at the clerk-

Woman 1: MONEY! NOW!

Woman 2: HURRY!

-the man scouts the room-

Iscariot85: (Who are they, trying to stop me from finishing my shake?)

TerryAA: (Dood. I recognise who they are.)

-Kamomo looks to the guys beside her-

Kamomo: (Who are they?)

-Iscariot85 stares intently at the two women-

Iscariot85: (It's Gaki-san and Ai-chan...)

END OF EPISODE 01?

Tell me a story~~~

ummm... heres a fanfic im working on?

A GeN style MM Fanfic ( ;-_-)
-Script Version-

-scene opens with a shot of a guy sitting on a park bench-

Narrator: It was a hot summer day where Iscariot85 decided to relax outside to fight off the heat.

Iscariot85: That, and my AC is broken.

Narrator: While he lazily slump his butt on the bench, his cellphone started to ring...

-Iscariot85 answers his cellphone-

Iscariot85: Yeah?

TerryAA: Yo! I got--

-Iscariot hangs up and begins to close his eyes-

-cellphone rings again-

Iscariot85: Yeah?

TerryAA: Why did you hang--

-Iscariot hangs up again and closes his eyes-

-cellphone rings again-

Iscariot85: Yeah?

TerryAA: Ice cream.

Iscariot85: Now we can talk.

TerryAA: Dude, I've heard Morning Musume will be in town on Saturday! They're gonna perform at the Mark Hamil Arena, 7:30 pm.

Iscariot85: So?

TerryAA: Huh? Aren't you excited?

Iscariot85: Not really.

TerryAA: Why not?

Iscariot85: Because the last time they tried to make a concert here, only three people showed up for the show. And those three people were the both of us and that girl wearing those pink heels. So they decided to cancel the show.

TerryAA: Hmmm

Iscariot85: Where did ya hear this from?

TerryAA: I heard it from a friend of a friend, of a friend's cousin's friend, who's dad worked at this ramen shop, of one of the customers there, who had a sister, who's brother's friend, who worked in the UFA toilets, overheard the staff, that they will make a concert here.

Iscariot85: That sounds like a reliable source.

TerryAA: You gonna come and check it out anyway?

Iscariot85: Why not. I should get out of the house more. I'll meet ya at the Hamil Arena then, at 6 o'clock.

TerryAA: Ok then. See ya there!

Fly Me to the Moon -review

And here I thought the significance of the song 'Fly me to the Moon' to me was an ending song of a great anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Just yesterday, I finally got a copy of a game that makes the games like 'God of War' and 'Ninja Gaiden' look like fine theater. This of course I'm talking about is SEGA's new stylish action game, Bayonetta.


During this game's gameplay preview back in the last E3, many compared this game to Devil May Cry. And you're right to notice that. Bayonetta had also the same creative director from Devil May Cry, Hideki Kamiya. After reviewing from what Capcom did with their latest DMC, Kamiya wanted to create a game that has evolved from DMC to focus more on feminine style centering a female protagonist.

It's Bayonetta making herself known to the world.

Bayonetta's setting is about Paradiso(heaven realm) and Inferno(hell realm) having a ongoing war, with the real world and purgatory as their battlefield. Totally original right? So anyway, here comes in Bayonetta, the last surviving witch from the Umbra clan stricken with amnesia. She tries to recollect her lost memory while she gives a bunch of whoop ass to both of the waring factions. During her journey has reoccurring stereotypical characters. You got a hardass black dood, a 1940s danny devito chump, a red-wearing rival witch, a lame love interest, and a little girl who looks similar to Bayonetta. I havent play too long yet but i can tell story isnt gonna be that original but it'll definitely get you to travel many different baddies in the game.

About the game itself: It's freakin awesome!
Well, that's if you dig games like DMC and Ninja Gaiden. Fans who are familiar to the series genre can expect some of the moves you can pull out from the game. I got the 360 version of the game so ill point out the control scheme by referencing the 360 pad.

A - jump
B - kick (hold to fire wepon)
Y - punch (hold to fire weapon)
X - weapon
RB - hold to lock on target
RT - dodge/Witch Time
LT - change weapons
LB - taunt (lol!)
Left stick - move
Right stick - move camera view

Like the usual of the genre, you can have many combination of flurry attacks against your opponent. Many of which are combos of weapon+punches+kicks. To add a halt to your combos, you can hold one of the punch or kick buttons to end the end early (or to chain off it) with firing your weapon. You can press punch/kick while moving the left stick in a circle to execute in 360degree shooting mode to aim baddies around you (while you press left or right in the stick to switch baddies).

Beating up big scary angelic monsters
is all in a day's work for Bayonetta.

Back to the combos, having a long stream of punch/kick combos sets up a attack that delivers a devastating blow to the opponent. You can immediately notice the heavy blow coming by seeing you character momentarily strip off for clothes leaving what looks a black V-shape bikini (just to note first, her clothes are made out of her magical hair). After a long chain combo, her hair goes into a portal and come out to another portal in front of the baddie looking like a huge 'hair weave' fist; or a 'hair weave' leg wearing heels. It may sound obsurd but while fighting larger baddies and bosses, you'd want to have long combos with devastating blows to end it.

Nice heels you got there Bayonetta~

The real helpful tactic while fighting is the dodge button. Pressing RT by itself just lets you dodge enemy attacks. But dodging just moments before the baddie lands a hit on you, time slows down and the stage goes purple. This mode is called Witch Time. While times slows down momentarily, your character becomes a bit faster, this means you can run up to the baddie, make a long but very fast combo and end it with a devastating blow. Time reverts back and you can repeat it as much as you want just as long you time your dodges just right to go back in Witch Time mode. And also, its absolutely free, meaning there isn't a gauge that times you while doing it.

Witch Time makes the screen look more purple...

There are many different ways while being in action in Bayonetta. The weapon button doubles a interact button and a pick up button. The things you can pick up are baddies' dropped weapons, with each of them have a very unique style of using them. There is also a bar adjacent to your health meter. This is your magic gauge. What it does is while you chain successful blows to your opponent, the gauge fills. Once it fills, you get Bayonetta close to the baddie and press Y and B together. This activates the Torture Attack. The opponent is placed inside a torture device, and with a little bit of repeated presses of the B button, the attack increases and you get a wonderful bloody animation of damage.

Don't get caught by one of Bayonetta's Torture Attacks.

Bayonetta is split up into chapters containing many verses in between. After clearing each verse you'll be given a medal. And after clearing that chapter, the game accumulate your medals from the chapter's verses and gives you an overall score. Sometimes while it calculates the accumulated verses, there are some medals displayed in black. This means there are some optional verses that you can clear later on your 2nd playthrough, hence giving this game some replayability. Also, after the end of each chapter, a short shooting minigame can be played. It's played by how many 'bullets' that you have collected in the chapter. Shoot enough baddies on the screen gets you to get some points to buy items or just change them into halos(currency of the game).

There is also a shop located in different points of the map called the Gates of Hell. It looks a bar, but it's really a front for a weapon and item shop. As you get through the game, there are a few weapons will be available for you to purchase. You can also buy recover and life enhancing lollipops. Buy accessories to add more punch during your fights. There is also a special section where you can buy new flashy moves to add your repertoire of baddie slaying.

Rodin, the owner of the shop, Gates of Hell

The set pieces of the game are nicely detailed while you tour the European terrain. You get to cross the city streets of Vigrid, tour active caverns and explore gothic ruins. But all this limits you to move from corridor to open-room pathways. You can also destroy pots and benches to get some ingredients for alchemy. And there are some objects on the field that you can pick up and toss them on baddies. You can tell by a fight coming if you approach a larger open space, so be prepared.

One of the beautiful locale in the city of Vigrid.

What makes this game made more interesting are the set pieces when fighting bosses. Sure there are some mini-bosses in the chapters too but the real boss fights are fought in a huge scale. Even different stages of the fights is having the boss pick up the land you are standing on and you try to land hits while being tossed around. During and near the end of the boss fight, there is move you can do called Climax Mode. What it is, is that you get to execute a number of quick time event presses on the pad to make large (or even decapitating) damage to the boss. This is both quick exciting and pleasing to watch. Almost all mini boss and big boss ends up Bayonetta removes her hair clothes to help summon Infernal Demons. One of these is a bigass 'hair weave' dragon (and a bird sometimes)that just brutally crush the boss. While this happens, you can get more halos by pressing the X button.

Top Left: Bayonetta's Infernal Demon

Bottom Right: a not so happy mini-boss

This was a pleasure to play and own. Though the story maybe a bit lacking with still shot cutscenes and lack of better voice acting. But what really gets you going is the many different stylish moves you can acquire and the insanely larger than your 'three storey house' bosses. Now I can't wait to finish it because I heard that the last few chapters is gonna eat my face lol~! This game is now set the standard to the extreme stylish action genre. Even you aren't familiar to this type of game, pick it up, and you'll be in awe by the hilariousness and craziness that is Bayonetta.

Thumbs up: Stylish movelist, crazy Quick Time Events, jazzy j-pop and larger than life bosses.

Thumbs down: Still shot cutscenes, lame dialogue, story at times is hard to follow.

Bayonetta Trailer

May I have your attention please?

Something has happened to me recently and I'm not sure that you all can comprehend.

I'll do my best to explain it anyway.

I STILL LOVE MORNING MUSUME~~~!!!

That is all.

-GeN

Why Can't Women Stand Out -Review

It's finally here~~ Morning Musume's latest single, Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai~~


Before I start this review, let me take you back the end of last year when the name of the song was anounnced. Immediately, the H!O forums had the impression that its gonna be another Nanchatte Renai of the sort. I, for one, expected another fast-paced pop-y MM song. Weeks later, a radio version had released in the radio show Five Stars, then later a leak was released of a cam quality of the PV. I didnt wanna spoil the fun so i resisted long enough not to watch/listen to it.

But a week ago, I just went ahead and watched the LQ quality. When i watched it, I only wanted to analyse the song rather than the PV. I have to admit, it was hard to get into it straight away (which is unheard of, even for me as a momusu fan). I had to listen to it again by extracting the audio from it and put it in my mp3 player. While putting the song in 'repeat' helped alot to get this song into perspective. Holding back my comments about this song until the higher quality of the PV was released today. Now I can finally review this new single.

The Song:
This song is what i expected from our current lineup of Momusu. Which is, like the last few singles, give out the theme of maturity.

Q: Have they succeded?
A: Yes.

Q: Did they deliver what they want out of this song?
A: Very Yes.

Q: Do I like it?
A: Kind of

The song starts off with a rumble of acoustics and high pitched sythesizers. Immediately i thought this song was gonna kick ass. But when it came to the verses, it kinda slowed down for me. I guess it's probably to let the audience feel the sexyness of their voice so we wont miss a second of it. But i already heard that in Nanchatte Renai. What saved those parts was the acoustics doing its thing. It really helped build up to the chorus.

The chorus itself was really lacking for me. It hurts me to say it, seriously. I have no problem with all of them singing at the same time like in Nanchatte Renai or Shoganai Yume Oibito, but this song's chorus felt like they just wanted to just shout it out. Dont get me wrong, there are some good shouting choruses in their old singles (Ai Areba Its Alright, Go Girl Koi no Victory and Ambitious! Yashinteki de Ii Jan).

I see Sayumi gets another "Ahn~" line.I can feel that she's probably tired of it by now. Ah well, she looked cute doing it lol.

Here's to add her collection of "Help Me!" and "Ah~"

There's a part of the music that I actually cant get use to but I'll save for the review of the promotional video.

The PV:
UFA has finally shelled out some cash to make a decent setting for the video. But, somehow it feels all too familiar? Maybe an inspiration from and old PV? Does it include bright background lights, dancing the flamingo dance in red dresses, and have fire hands?

The theme of the video was obviously a runway/fashion model motif. The catwalk itself was long and wide, and has different shades of red by the overhead lights that stream on it. The shots of them walking on it were ok. The slo-mo effect was a bit over used even when they were making their pose at the end of the runway. Good thing these shots were only shown during the verses of the song. It was nice to see each member get their own shot walking (slo-mo) and get their own pose (slo-mo). What actually annoyed me about the slo-mo was the part of the music when you hear the high-pitched sound, it sounds like it stuttered which sometimes made these good but it really annoying to me. The I'm part I'm talking about is:
!!TEEE-TE-TE-TE-TE TEEE-TE-TE-TE-TE TEE-TE-TE-TEEE!!

Here are shots the moment you hear this sound:

(00:13)

!!TEEE-TE-TE-TE-TE TEEE-TE-TE-TE-TE TEE-TE-TE-TEEE!!


(01:33)
!!TEEE-TE-TE-TE-TE TEEE-TE-TE-TE-TE TEE-TE-TE-TEEE!!


(03:37)
!!TEEE-TE-TE-TE-TE TEEE-TE-TE-TE-TE TEE-TE-TE-TEEE!!

Close up shots this time was really nice, considering that they look absolutely stunning in their 'fluffy' costumes. Thats one big ass disco ball in the background:

Yep. That's one big ass disco ball in the background.

The make up scenes was a fresh change from their previous PVs. Whats a fashion show motif if there arent scenes of models putting on their make up? The girls' scenes of them putting on their make up was done beautifuly. We can all pick our favourite shots of the girls and who looked the cutest. Votes are on Eri and Linlin. You can see a change from these shots compared to the runway ones coz of the natural orange hue that come fromt he lights on their mirror. I think it gave their skin more smoother look and made it glow.

The girls are getting ready to kick ass in this PV,
while looking good of course~~

Normally I give credit in some of the choreography they do in their PVs. But this time around, this has got to be the weakest of them all. There was no defining movement that went with the song's chorus. It was almost flaily. I'll give it more consideration once I see their group shot version of the PV.

Overall:
This was a really so-so release. The song was okay. Some might say that this is their best yet. But to me, there are alot of other singles that places on top. It's quite cool that Tsunku didnt slow down the rhythm of the release since Kimagure Princess and keep it that way! The PV was pretty much the same formula but had better set mixed with good 'makeup shots', not just the standard group-shot/solo-shot. I guess the PV director finally listened to us that we wanted something more from our comments about the recent PVs. Good Job you.

Thumbs up: Rhythm of the song was great and the PV was an improvement with better post production effects.

Thumbs down: !!TEEE-TE-TE-TE-TE TEEE-TE-TE-TE-TE TEE-TE-TE-TEEE!!

The PV from the Dohhh Up website