Movies and Shows Archives - Samantha Lienhard

Parts of the Ace Attorney Anime & 20th Anniversary Orchestra Concert Are Available for Free

Dec 012023

Preorders have been opening up for the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, with physical Switch copies in North America confirmed.

Digital preorders have finally opened as well.

While I was puzzled before about why so much time passed before they opened preorders, I now wonder if they were waiting to decide about physical preorders first.

But preorders aren’t the only thing Capcom has made available!

To celebrate the upcoming release, Capcom has made some paid Ace Attorney content temporarily available for free. First up, select episodes from the Ace Attorney anime adaptation can be watched for free until February 29. Second, selections from the 20th Anniversary Orchestra Concert will also be available for free until February 29.

Capcom is really putting in an effort to promote and celebrate the series ahead of the Apollo Justice Trilogy’s release, and I’m thrilled about that. I don’t remember promotional efforts like this ahead of the original trilogy’s release.

Between that and the physical preorders, it just further fuels my optimism in Ace Attorney’s future. If they’re giving the series this much attention now, I think we’ll see an Ace Attorney 7 announcement sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, we’ve got some free Ace Attorney content to enjoy!

Danganronpa 3 (Anime) is a Mixed Experience

Movies and Shows, Reviews 5 Responses » Tagged with: danganronpa

Sep 182023

After finishing Ultra Despair Girls I continued my Danganronpa experience by watching Danganronpa 3.

Yes, watching. The story set up in Danganronpa, Danganronpa 2, and Ultra Despair Girls is concluded in the anime Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School, which is not to be confused with the entirely different game called Danganronpa V3.

As if that isn’t confusing enough, Danganronpa 3 is split into two arcs, the Future Arc and the Despair Arc, and the intended viewing order is to alternate between the two.

(Note: Due to the nature of the story, it is impossible to discuss Danganronpa 3 without implying spoilers for the previous games, especially Danganronpa 2. If you haven’t finished Danganronpa 2, stop reading this post now.)

The Future Arc is set after the events of Danganronpa 2, with Makoto being called in by the Future Foundation to answer for what they see as treason. However, this inquest is brought to an abrupt end when everyone is trapped and forced into a new killing game. Each person is given a bracelet that restricts them from performing a specific action. Breaking the restriction will result in death via poison. The bracelets also knock everyone out after a set amount of time passes, at which point an attacker will awaken to kill someone.

While a different setup than the traditional Danganronpa situation (it actually reminds me a bit more of Zero Escape), it creates a great deal of paranoia and tension amongst an already-fractured team.

Meanwhile, the Despair Arc is set ahead of the games and follows the events at Hope’s Peak leading up to the Tragedy.

For about the first half of the anime, I was really enjoying it. The Future Arc was exciting and suspenseful, even if it amped up the action to the point where being an Ultimate basically means you have superpowers, and the Despair Arc was full of comedy tinged with sadness due to my knowledge of where it was going. There were a few things I had to get used to – like different voice actors, different translations for key terms (“Super High School Level” instead of “Ultimate”), and the dub’s decision to make Monokuma’s laugh “nyek nyek nyek” instead of “puhuhu” – but overall I was having a lot of fun.

Then things started to fall apart.

Click for major Danganronpa 2 and 3 spoilers

I already had mixed feelings about Chiaki being a real person, but I could accept it. And I didn’t like Junko making the Student Council kill each other instead of Izuru actually killing them all, but it was just a minor gripe. And Monaca giving up on despair and blasting off into space was a bizarrely boring way to handle her character, but at least it wasn’t a major plot point.

Then the brainwashing part started.

I had been looking forward to seeing Junko interact with the Danganronpa 2 cast. I expected to see her psychologically manipulate them into falling to her side. Some of them, such as Mikan, felt especially set up for this sort of manipulation.

But no. Junko creates a despair-filled murder video and adds in subliminal messaging created by the ultimate animator, and this causes anyone who watches it to be brainwashed into loving despair. The Remnants of Despair ending up that way because they saw a magical brainwashing video was so, so much less interesting to me than what I’d expected. It’s basically presented as mind control, too.

That plot point made Junko a less interesting villain to me and retroactively lessened the impact of 2’s reveal that you are the Remnants of Despair. It changed Makoto’s perspective from, “You did terrible things, but we believe if you’re reminded of hope and given a chance to bond, even you can be saved” to “You were brainwashed, but we can undo it,” which weakens it a lot for me.

And then, when the secret of the Future Arc turned out to be that there is no traitor, just that one person is woken up each time and shown a brainwashing video that makes them kill themselves…… well, I suppose I felt some despair at that plot point, so at least that’s something.

While the Future Arc remained interesting for a while before falling into the same trap, the second half of the Despair Arc increasingly felt like less-interesting retcons to what the games implied.

The climax, therefore, hinged on a plot point I hated… but I actually didn’t mind the final episode. It had a lot of fanservice (of the “catering to fans” variety) and glossed over some points too quickly, but at least it was fun, which is more than I can say for those earlier plot revelations.

In the end, I’m not sure what to say about Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School. It has a lot of fun parts, especially in the first half, but I also feel like my overall Danganronpa experience would be the same or even improved by not watching it. Regardless, I’ve now finished the Hope’s Peak storyline, so next up for me is Danganronpa V3!

If you watched the Danganronpa 3 anime, how did you feel about it?

Dark Shadows: The Beginning (Episodes 1-209) – Overlooked, but Worthwhile

Movies and Shows, Reviews 2 Responses » Tagged with: dark shadows

Jul 262023

Last October, I reached the end of Dark Shadows, the gothic soap opera that ran from 1966 to 1971.

Despite falling off in its final plot arc, it was a wonderful experience I hold near to my heart.

But since I have the complete series, yet started from the arrival of Barnabas, I’ve spent the time since then steadily watching the previous 209 episodes.

(Since the individual Dark Shadows collections start with episode 210, the early episodes are sold separately as Dark Shadows: The Beginning. All episodes are included in the complete set.)

For as much as these episodes are often overlooked, I enjoyed them quite a bit. While it starts out with no overt supernatural elements, those early episodes carry their own drama, and the slower parts of the show lead into more exciting plot arcs later on.

It was strange to watch these early episodes knowing how things would end up. During a murder mystery plot, I suspected the true culprit based on him being gone from the show by episode 210 and implied to be a villain. The arrival of Laura made me gasp because I recognized her from a later plotline. Character relationships and dynamics early on had me invested in how they would change to become the way I remembered them. It was an experience very different than if I’d started the series with episode 1.

Click for Dark Shadows spoilers

I bet I would have suspected Sam Evans as the murderer if I’d started from episode 1. The evidence against Roger was too heavy, while subtler hints were being dropped about Sam. I think I would have jumped on that and missed the handful of clues hinting at Matthew.

Yet at the same time, many of the tense scenes were still tense even though I had a rough idea of how they would work out. There’s no reason to worry about the fate of a character I know will still be alive in later episodes… but I did. That’s a credit to the writing.

With the knowledge that Dark Shadows eventually becomes the supernatural show opera with Barnabas Collins as its lead character, it’s fascinating to watch the progression in these early episodes – from ghosts being referred to mainly metaphorically, to ambiguously supernatural elements, to the first on-screen appearance of a ghost in episode 70, to ghosts being used as part of the plot, to the Phoenix plotline and its explicitly supernatural antagonist, and finally to the build-up to Barnabas.

The Phoenix storyline is especially interesting, because it feels like Dark Shadows. Aside from the absence of Barnabas and other characters who would eventually become mainstays, the Phoenix story feels like it could have happened later in the show without feeling out of place. While the arrival of Barnabas would change the course of the series forever, it had already found its tone with the Phoenix.

Now I’ve come full circle and reached the arrival of Barnabas once again, with the full context of what is happening with the surrounding plot. It’s been such a long journey, but it’s worth it. I’m happy I have the Dark Shadows complete set, and I’m happy I went back and watched first 209 episodes after all. They’re often overlooked in favor of starting the show with Barnabas, but they’re definitely worth watching.

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