Lily's review of Howl's Moving Castle Written by Diana Wynne Jones Movie by Hayo Miazaki

Howl's Moving Castle
Written by Diana Wynne Jones 

Movie by Hayo Miazaki

I really really loved this book! Like so it's the book club book right, so first of all that's incentive enough to read this book, but then Mrs. Jennifer was all like this is SOOO great! And she was so right! So if you know me, you know that I pretty much only like books that are fantasy and are happy, mainly because they are so cool and magical, and this one started out sorta depressing actually. 

The main character, Sophie, was super depressed and had like no self value, which for me makes it harder to read a book, if I feel sad while reading then what is there to really make me want to continue? Well the storyline was really interesting and was one that I never knew what would come next! It was really cool to see how Sophie would solve her problems and if the people around her would be able to figure her out. All the characters were SUPER interesting and at times surprised me with how deep they could get! Overall I didn't see the ending coming that did but it was so nice and I loved seeing like no cliffhangers! I think everything was resolved and overall I give this book a big thumbs up! By the way I purposely put NO SPOILERS in this review so that you guys can read it yourselves for the book club! See you there! Now onto the movie...

So I love Studio Ghibli, mainly because I'm learning Japanese so it's fun to listen the the movies and see how much I can understand! But this one was sorta painful! Like I hate when movies don't follow the book, I read the entire book one Saturday and watched the movie as soon as I finished so everything was fresh in my mind so when I watched it it was like my expectations just crumbled into a million little pieces! Don't get me wrong the art was absolutely AMAZING! But the movie barely followed the book, it's like Miazaki just was like hey I like this book let's change everything we can and look at the book as more or an outline. YOU JUST DON'T DO THAT TO PEOPLE MAN! So I don't think Miazaki's version made any sense like at all! Seriously NOTHING made sense!!! I'm sure I would have liked it enough if I hadn't have read the book, but that's not the point! I couldn't enjoy this movie at all after reading such a wonderfully written and beautiful story.

I hope you all read this book, and if you've only seen the movie also read the book b/c it will make the movie make SOOOOO much more sense!

Lily's review of Avatar the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra

Avatar the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra

So basically this is a review about my childhood right? Well I first got hooked on these series when I was much younger and was all like hey there's this remote thing that has buttons on it... Let's try it out! Eventually I found the glorious channel of Nickelodeon, home to shows like iCarly and fairly Odd Parents. 

So as great as these shows were, they paled in comparison to the epic Avatar the Last Airbender. Like even the title sounds cool! So this is the time in my life where Hannah Montana was just starting out, like way before scary Miley Cyrus went all crazy, unlike Hannah Montana who as much as I loved her all she really did was sing and say sweet nibblets, Avatar actually had an AMAZING story line, a bunch super awesome strong and smart female roles (who were literally my idols), and probably like THE BEST art in an animated series that I have ever  seen! (And I watch a lot of cartoons people, like a lot) 

So if you don't know about Avatar you have probably be living under a rock, but anyone if you haven't seen it WATCH IT! AND KORRA! If you don't want spoilers STOP HERE! LIKE HALT RIGHT NOW! GO NO FURTHER. 

But anyway time for the actual review. So Avatar got so deep and made me think as a kid, the bad guys were actually not all that bad when you thought about it, then they became the good guys too! The good guys weren't invincible as much as others wanted them to be. And the good guys got beat up, like A LOT. But that's ok because they fail so spectacularly that you are on the edge of your seat WAITING for it to work out!

And bending, don't even get me started on how AMAZING SPECTACULARLY AWESOME THAT IS! I don't know any kid who didn't want to be a bender when they grew up like I still think wouldn't it be nice to just throw a giant boulder at that guy? And I was totally convinced I was a fire bender one time, I was staring at a candle and it like flickered, and I literally spent the next hour staring at it trying to make it move by thought! Anyway the art of how it was animated! Like it still blows me away! Like the artists made it so that they used different styles of martial arts for each bending style and each bender! HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!! I could probably rant for hours about how beautiful the background and characters were made, but I think that would bore you guys so let's move onto some of my favorite characters, shall we?

So Aang was like soooo cool! He was really young and had tattoos! But unlike the youngsters that I know who have tattoos he totally was all peaceful and innocent! Like a kid should be! You really watch Aang grow up throughout this series which is really a great thing! He's so funny and takes nothing seriously at first, but even as he grows up he never loses his goofyness! That's a word right? Goofyness? Oh well, it is now! 

Now onto my favorite...DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!!

KATARA *thunderous applause*

She was my IDOL she had long brown hair (like this gal) and had an older brother who she yelled at a lot (like this gal) and had amazing powers of WATER BENDING (ok maybe not EXACTLY like this gal but I sure hoped I'd get it!) So of course, I thought I was basically Katara and became obsessed with her in everyway! She was very girly but still beat everyone up! That's something I really appreciated because girly girls can be seen as weak, but I've always been girly and very in people's face and bossy (in a good way... I hope). She traveled around the world with her best friends and beat up bad guys learning valuable life lessons! What more could I ask for in a role model?

Sokka, what can I say other than that you and your boomerang is such a better love story than twilight. Like on so many levels! And your sword, I almost cried during the finally dude, I almost cried! That was worse than like the fault in our stars dude! Anyway Solka is amazing and every time I see a guy who shaves the sides of his head and pulls the rest into a manbun I think of Sokka and smile. 

Toph was so incredibly strong and independent, but she had a lot to learn from her friends still, like the fact that she needed to depend on them, she couldn't just be alone her whole life and not be really happy. I loved Toph so much, and the choice of the creators to make her blind was a great call, I loved how she depended on her Earthbending to "see" and her disability really made her stronger. It was nice to see a children's show acknowledging such a touchy subject.  

And Zuko, Sifu Hotman, what can I say, I totally hated you as a child! You had that creepy ponytail and sad backstory, but I never got how Katara and Sokka with their sad backstory were good, and you were bad with yours. But then you went from ROAR FIRE GRR to LESS RAWR STILL FIRE LESS GRR. And I was cool with you! Mainly because Iroh. And let's face it when Katara forgave you so did I!

And there are SOOO MANY AMAZING PEOPLE IN THIS SHOW  I could rant for days about cabbage guy! But I won't b/c as amazing as Avatar was, it ended, I cried, and then, Korra came. 

At first I was all no way Jose that is not for me! Because not only was this show telling me Aang was dead, but that a hot headed and sorta selfish girl is his reincarnated self! I had a few issues to say the least. But I came to terms with myself and was SOOO glad that I did! 

So it was only like a year ago I got really into Korra, I found all the episodes on nick.com but then they took them off, but luckily the library came to the rescue and had them all!!! Woot woot! So I watched them and fell in love! This show was so incredibly funny, well written, beautiful to watch, made you think, got really dark, and related to current events!!! What more could anybody ask for?

Like I really loved how the seasons progressed, unlike Avatar, Korra had a completely different enemy every season, Aang had the fire lord the whole time, but lots of enemies scattered around, so I never knew if Korra would be renewed for another season! Which was a serious factor for stress! I love how in the first season she traveled to a new place, got new friends, and then there were terrorists! Like really terrifying terrorists! It really seemed to relate to current events with all the craziness in our world! Than the second series had levels of deep thinking and spiritual stuff that Avatar was never able to delve into! All of a sudden the whole Avatar universe made perfect sense! Season three was heart wrenching and I finally saw Korra growing up to be more level headed and mature! It was a relief because even though I loved her, I worried she would never be as intelligent as she could be. And I loved seeing the air nation being rebuilt so much! And then season four, how do I begin?!?! Korra has to face all of her demons, big and small, and everyone got so much older! And the ending was so perfect to me! Only I misinterpreted it...big time. 

So apparently Asami and Korra were dating? I really didn't catch that, mainly because they were acting just like I do with all of my friends. Don't get me wrong, I think it is great for a show that means so much to kids really emphasis that being gay or bysexual is great! I have actually been wanting for more shows to do so! But I always liked the ending I first understood, I thought that the fabulous team avatar: Korra, Asami, Mako, and Bolin ended this story as best friends! I really don't care for romance in any form so I was so excited to finally watch a show that had a happy ending with everyone as FRIENDS! I mean I still think that the intended ending was great, it's just not what I got at first. 

Anyway, I love all the characters so much and feel no need to describe them any more because I love them all SOOO MUCH!!! Just know that they are all so so so great!!! Plus there are like too many and I would forget to write about one and feel awful! But a special highlight on Ikki! She seriously talks just like I do and I love her for it! 

I feel like this review was very long, so if you've read the whole thing thanks! I hope you enjoyed it because this is a show that is really close to my heart! And I hope you've enjoyed these series as much as I have! 

Oh and there is an AMAZING comic series about the adventures of The Gaang that you should also check out! The first is called The Promise and it's really good so check it out! It is really fun to read about them!

Anime Club recommends:

At the last Anime Club here at Highland I asked the members to submit titles for us to watch and their suggestions were too good not to share! Please remember that these titles, unlike the ones that are shown at our club meetings, have not been pre-screened by the librarian. These are teen suggestions for other teens!

Most of these recommendations are for comedy shows (lots of Hetalia fans in Highland, Indiana).

Myia recommends the comedy Nodame Cantabile, and wrote that the show "is funny and it gives you a view of a kid who wants to be a conductor"

Liliana and Stephanie both suggested the fantasy series Fairy Tail (Liliana said it is "AMAZING :3 ")

Nick recommends Blue Dragon to our viewers at home.

Annabelle thinks that everyone should watch Ouran High School Host Club, which was the first anime she ever saw.

Chloe is also recommending her first title: Hetalia, which she claims is hilarious (agreed) and educational (sometimes? PLEASEplease Fact Check before citing any events that happen in this show).

Katie's first show was Bunny Pop Kids and she recommends to fans of cute anime.

Zack recommends the military/action show Arpeggio of Blue Steel.

Camellia's recommended three titles: Kagero Project, Houzuki no Reitetsu, and Comedy in Hell.

Alissa's favorite series right now is "Say I Love You" which she has watched through twice now!



Aaand Mrs. Jennifer (the librarian) thinks that everyone should be watching MY love STORY!!



Do you have another favorite to add to our list? Comment below!

Thanks,
The Highland Anime Club

GadgetJax Reviews: Sonic Generations (PS3/XBOX360)

In my more recent of years of gaming, I really haven't played a 'new' game that really blew me away. Sure there were a lot of titles that I loved, like 'Super Mario Galaxy', 'Portal 2', and even 'Super Smash Brothers 4'. However, I ended up receiving Sonic Generations for Christmas of 2014, and it was defenitely one of the grandest experiences of my gaming life.

Let me momentarily say this: Sonic Generations is not a perfect game. There is no such thing as a perfect game. That said, however, Sonic Generations does such a good job of combining old school Sonic conventions with the new that it ends up feeling so close to perfect without actually reaching it.

I would touch up on the plot of this game, but it's defenitely the weakest point of the experience. It's every crossover plot ever written: A portal appears out of nowhere, sucks Modern Sonic and his friends up, and then they get Time Travel'd all the way to 1991- or more specific, Green Hill Zone from the first Sonic The Hedgehog game. Modern Sonic teams up with Classic Sonic to defeat Modern Dr. Robotnik, who has allied himself with Classic Dr. Robotnik. Yeah, it's predictable on every corner, but a Video Game honestly doesn't need to have a story to be good.

Sonic Generations is split up into 2 gameplay styles. Act 1 levels are played as Classic Sonic and feature 2D Side-scrolling gameplay. These levels focus on tight platforming and run at a fairly smooth pace, providing a solid experience that is just as good as the original Genesis titles. Act 2 levels are played as Modern Sonic and focus on a combination of 2D AND 3D platforming. The Modern levels also focus primarily on speed rather than tight platforming, making the game feel like one long marathon.

The beauty of Sonic Generations and it's gameplay is in replay value. While the main game is rather small, featuring only 18 Acts and a few Boss battles, the game makes up for this in the level design itself. Every level features multiple routes that encourage playing through certain levels over and over to find the route that is the quickest and/or most enjoyable to play through.

Speaking of beauty, Sonic Generations features a really well done graphical display. Everything is colorful and feels distinct within each level. Even levels with similar appearances have enough color variation to feel like fresh each time. The character animations do end up feeling a bit out of place in certain cutscenes because of how they incorrectly contrast the level they are in, but because of how the story means nothing to the actual gameplay, this is easily ignored.

The sheer amount of fanservice this game features (I don't mean in the filthy kind of way) is absolutely crazy. There are tons of unlockeable music remixes, some of which from the more obscure titles in the franchise. Remixes are featured from games varying from Sonic Advance 3 to as far as Knuckles Chaotix, and there's even a remix from Sonic Mega Collection, which was just a compilation title!

Oh, but Sonic Generations is not perfect, like I mentioned. In fact, because of how much good there is in the game, it makes the bad portions feel even worse!

First off, all the levels in the game are inspired by levels from previous Sonic games. For the most part, that's fine, because the level selection is fairly strong. Chemical Plant, City Escape, Planet Wisp, and more are all good choices, but WHY IS CRISIS CITY IN THIS GAM-

Sorry, lost my train of thought. Now, Crisis City from Sonic '06. This level is beyond broken. It is just way too flip-flopped and there is little consistency. This is especially true to the Act 2 version of the level, because of how the level keeps switching between speed-based platforming and precise platforming. A good analogy for it would be riding your bike at 20 mph down a straight path, but out of nowhere there are a bunch of precise turns you have to make, meaning you need to slow down and lose that incredible experience of speed.

Also, this game introduces a very unenjoyable mechanic called 'Skills'. They act as sort-of power ups that you can equip that give you bonuses. The problem? Most of Sonic's trademark moves from previous games can only be accessed by using these 'Skills' the one that angers me most is the one skill that prevents you from having to take time to get up after taking damage. Sonic is the fasting thing alive, why would HE need to take his sweet time just to recover?!? He doesn't do that in any other Sonic game in existance, not even Sonic '06 or Sonic Shuffle, so why does he have to here?!?

Challenge Mode is also a thing here. Every individual Act has 5 Challenges that are 'optional' to play through, meaning that there are a total of 90 of them in the game. They keep the game lasting long enough so it doesn't feel like an unsatisfactory purchase, but some of them are really bad to play through.
Ones that come to mind are the Doppleganger races.
I normally like rival races in games, but in these races, it's just to see who gets to the end. Since your doppleganger isn't affected by anything you do, and you aren't affected by it, it turns the missions into average Time Trials with a shadow running alongside you to show if you're doing good or bad. That's boring.
Also, I say 'optional' to play through with very loose air quotations because the game requires you, once every few levels, to beat a few of these Challenges in order to reach the next leg of the game. It throws off the pacing so much that I just end up completing all the Challenges for that Act at once, just because I don't like to have to leave missions un-finished. My Completionist side is ruining my Sonic experience :(

And finally, the boss battles. There are a few cool rival battles within the game that act as a sort-of 'Sub Boss', which are really enjoyable, but the rest are just average. Many of them often involve waiting, and more waiting, and MORE waiting. As Arin Hanson once said: "Waiting isn't hard, but it gives off the illusion of difficulty because it causes the battle to become an ordeal."

Still, don't let any of the above issues derail you from getting this game. It's otherwise perfect, and on the same level of quality as Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which is my favorite game ever! I wouldn't say that you NEED to get a PS3 or XBOX360 just to have this game, but anyone who ever gets either of those consoles needs to make sure that they get this title to go with their bundle.

Sonic Generations earns my seal of approval any day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfUoXJzff2I