First blog in over a month... It's too bad it had to be about this. I am sorry to hear of the death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, reportedly of a cardiac arrest at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medial Center at 2:26 PM. Although I was never a fan, I am sure that he will be sorely missed by all his fans, friends and family. He has inspired so many people, many of them are popular now, like Miley Cyrus for example... Rest in Peace MJ
August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009

P.S. another actress, Farrah Fawcett, has died of cancer, just a few hours before the death of MJ. Her death has largely been overshadowed, but she sould still be remembered. RIP Farrah.

You may not know it, but I have been playing the highly underrated (underrated, cuz' the reviews are mostly average) Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2: Explorers of Time on an emulator for a few weeks now. (I HAVE played the original, and I got the emu for playing Platinum) But now, I am here to announce, that after a few weeks hard work, I have beaten the pre-credits story line (I have not yet beaten the game ) Oh yes, let me share some time with you for a mini-review!

BREAKDOWN

Plot: 7/10

While the plot gets stupid at times (like, preventing the planet's paralysis, Pokemon from the future), overall, it is quite good. You can feel the emotions of the characters (at least the main characters). There are many lessons that can be learned, like friendship, teamwork etc.

Graphics 6.5/10

Not exactly the best, but still good. The graphics of the dungeons aren't really good, but the scenery is quite decent.

Music 7.5/10

This is, in my opinion, one of the game's strengths. Though the music of the first few dungeons aren't really good, the ones of the later ones are actually quite nice.The battle music with Dialga is among the best I ever heard.

Overall 7/10

This is one of the few games where I don't agree with the critics (I usually agree with them). It really doesn't deserve the fairly average ratings it recieved. Despite a few problems, it is still a fun game to play.

So, this is my OFFICIAL review for the LaMB one-hour special. I was planning to write this a few weeks ago, but I was just so busy (you know, being active on YouTube again). Anyway, here's the professional, honest review ala Roger Ebert.

Plot 3/10

The plot is nice, it is good, I like it. But where it fails is the execution. Because of the 1-hr format, there was not enough time to develop either the story or the characters. Everything goes so fast. Also, it has a lot of plot holes, most obvious in the ending (the only scene that was extended, despite the commercial promising "extended scenes" instead of just "an extended ending"). It is about a few yrs. after the story, the planet is all green, and the LaMB is freed. The plotholes include:

• What happened to Lamination?
• Was she (Eve 1135-Sara Integra) the only one freed? Were there others freed?
• What happened to the mayor?
• There is not much development among the characters.

What a shame. A script that had a lot of potential... wasted...

Animation 2.5/10

Who did the animation? The characters move like robots. The CG is quite good, but the 2D is bad as hell. It was made combining Flash and 3D. While it is a great idea, it fails badle. They could have just made it full 3d o full 2D. I have seen many flash animation (amateur even) that have MUCH better animation.

Hype -1000000/10

The hype is too much. It's like Haruhi Suzumiya coming to a place where she has a lot of fans and the news spreads like wildfire. The hype is as bad as Naruto is overrated. I heard that they were given 6 million bucks for the budget. And I guess 5500000 of that was spent for paying Simple Plan and The Click Five to perform the theme song (did I forget to mention that Simple Plan makes a cameo in the movie?), pay all the advertising, pay Vivenne Tam (who the heck is she?) to design all the clothes (which is ironic since it is incinerated anyway). The rest goes to production. So that explains the abysmal animation.

Music 6/10

This is one of the few things I liked with LaMB. The music used, Summetime and I Can Wait Forever, are great songs. So why did I give the music a 6/10? Because they overused the song They did not seem to get the feel right.

Voice Acting 5/10

The voice acting was generally OK, although weird at times. Same for dialog. Pretty much like any other Animax shows.

Overall 3/10 (Bad)

Poor Filipinos. I am so ashamed at ranting over my fellow countrymen. But I should not blame the Pinoys. I should probably blame Animax for everything. I will try to contact Simple Plan and ask if they ever watched LaMB, and if they did, what did they think of it. I will also contact Carmelo Juinio the writer of the script) and ask him if he liked what they made. Chances are, me won't. Overall, LaMB is absolutely not worth the hype. Thankfully, their "history making" Tears to Tiara and FMA: Brotherhood are quite good. This should be a lesson for animax. Better luck next time...