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Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka (2023)
Like watching a painting
Loved it. The main character is always one step ahead of the audience and the movie does not hold your hand on exposition, choosing silence where it matters. This movie was also really touching. The strange world reminded me of a return to Spirited Away's fantasy. The pacing is excellent too, it felt like four hours packed into a two hour movie without overstaying its welcome. They show the beauty in the mundane, animating the smallest tasks and actions and linger on shots that are so nice to look at. I watched the English dub in a large theater and the cast, while stacked with Hollywood celebrities over leading industry VAs, did an amazing job. I couldn't recognize any of their voices and they really sold me on (most of) their performances. My friends and I stayed behind at the bar and digested the film together, talking about the themes and characters. It's a lot to take in and wrap your head around for a first watch, but it's a testament to optimism and spiritual growth. I can see this being transformative for anyone that may be missing a loved one and wishes they could spend another moment together. I'll have to watch it again subbed and see what else I can pick up on. Really, really enjoyed it.
Black Mirror: Demon 79 (2023)
An engaging mystery that keeps you guessing
I couldn't wait to review this. This is easily my new favorite Black Mirror episode. There are many different lenses you can rewatch this episode with, recontextualizing the story. I watched the episode firmly believing that Nida was imagining everything, but keenly looking for any clues that it was real. It was a nice touch having Gaap's true face smile as it tried to calm Nida down. By the end I was more surprised that the apocalypse really happened. I genuinely believed "Nida Huq" was the writers' clue for "need a hug", signaling that she's troubled and dealing with a complex mental health crisis. Did Gaap ever really prove its existence to the audience or just to Nida? I was never fully convinced. I still had questions, so I came to imdb to see everyone else's interpretations. I think Nida should have asked the dog walker if he had an 8 year-old daughter named Laura. Certainly would have helped to clear some of her suspicions.
Were you surprised by the ending?
Did your feelings on Nida change as you watched the episode?
If you were in Nida's position - believing wholeheartedly that the world would end - would you follow in her path too?
With the apocalypse proven to be real, should Nida have tried harder?
Is it more ethical to wait for the world to end without directly killing a soul, or murder three (relatively) innocent people?
If Nida killed Michael Smart, would his soul become a higher ranking demon than Gaap?
Sonic Prime (2022)
Peak Sonic
Some of the best Sonic on screentime. It's stylistically different, but it rivals Unleashed's pre-rendered cutscenes in big budget visual quality. Voice acting is at its best too. Sonic is snarky and arrogant, and they've already laid the foundation for character development and growth. The age rating means more accessibility, but expect a little narrative handholding. The show uses Dolby Vision well, the colors really pop and have more depth than expected. If you have a Dolby Vision-capable screen or tablet you will definitely notice. The action sequences look great too. I can imagine there will be fan-made clips with songs like "Vandalize" layered over.
It looks good, it sounds good, and it's feel-good. If I saw Sonic translated this well on screen when I was single-digits I would have been really into it.
The Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me (2022)
Return to form
If you loved Until Dawn and have been disappointed by the titles released since, you're not alone. Thankfully, Devil in Me is the strongest game in the Dark Pictures anthology series to date and lives up to Until Dawn's standards. I am only writing this review because I feel that this game deserves a much higher score. I saw Steam's "Mixed" reviews and was afraid this one would be another Man of Medan, but kept finding myself pleasantly surprised. I have played all of Supermassive Games' titles except for Rush of Blood and The Quarry and personally feel that this one is a comfortable second to Until Dawn. It's the return to form that we've been missing.
I found myself liking the characters pretty quickly, this is definitely one of the best casts and stories presented. It was engaging, exciting and struck that same chord as Until Dawn. It's hard not to reference the first breakout game, they definitely have a lot of parallels. It's a modern day slasher with an emphasis on building atmospheric horror. There is a return to the plot-heavy twists and turns that made the mystery of Until Dawn fun and exciting. The plot is a tangled puzzle that is deepened on collectibles. The terror, or feeling of dread building up to something scary, is also really well done here.
This one was hard. I picked the hardest difficulty and the QTEs were really fast. I played on PC with a GTX 1070, 1440p graphics and Ultra texture qualities. I capped the framerate to 30fps but I'm okay with that. My hardware is showing its age but you definitely need the best performance when playing. If you get choppy framerates you can definitely miss crucial time on a lightning-fast QTE. I did save-scum a couple times on that front, but it did always feel like it was my fault for failing them. I liked the challenge, and surviving through particularly difficult scenes feel rewarding again.
There are a lot of improvements here too. The item inventory mechanic was great, and the running has improved significantly. The running animation is a little bit janky because it blends realism with comfortable stop-and-go video game control, but it's a good fit. There are a lot of items, decisions, collectibles, and choices to be made. Even some of the items in a character's inventory can be equipped and used. Depending on how you use them they can definitely pay off, but I was disappointed that some of them were more-or-less useless and relied on the illusion of importance.
Nitpicking here, those "dark picture" collectibles you find (the short clips of potential future outcomes) are as obtuse and enigmatic as ever. Some of them were especially useful and gave advice on what you should/shouldn't do. Others are really hard to interpret anything useful from them.
Overall, don't skip Devil in Me. It's a fun journey that sticks the landing at the end. Not perfect, but it's the biggest step in the right direction that Supermassive Games has had in years.