Never Spreading it's Wings

Title: Fractale
Episodes: 11


Fractale is a short, 11 episode, anime. It's about a young boy, Clain, as he tries to find out the truth behind the 'Fractale System' after a chance encounter with a priestess of said system and ending up with an anti-fractale group.

You would think there would be a lot more action and this show, but it really doesn't start to pick up until around episode 8. The lack of anything really happening makes the show lag quite a bit, which is a rather large downfall to the series. One thing that bothered me about this show was that they referred to the 'Fractale System' as being relatively new and then saying it was around a thousand years old and people were now completely reliant on it, and then proceed to go back and forth on that issue. Another major, and I mean major, downfall of the show is the ending. I'm not going to spoil it by saying what happens, but be warned the ending pretty much makes everything else that happened in the series seem rather pointless.

There are some upsides to Fractale too. For instance, the character design and landscapes are absolutely gorgeous! The characters themselves are also very likable (except for when Clain makes the same resolve about three or so times), I especially liked Sunda, Dias, and Enri.

If you are looking for a nice on the eyes show with good characters, then you might want to give this show a shot; however, if you are looking for something with high adventure (as you think this show would have) or a meaningful ending that doesn't render things to nil, look elsewhere. Fractale just never really spreads it's wings.

Final Grade: 5.5 out of 10

Title: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (first game in the series)
System: Nintendo DS

OBJECTION!

I don't really know what I'm objecting to right now, but it's certainly not to this game. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a rather unique in it's on right. You play through the game as the newbie defense attorney, Phoenix Wright (You will see name plays like this throughout the entire game.), and you must prove your clients guilty or else it's jail time for them! Things are not as simple as they seem though with rivals like the experienced prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth, sitting just across the courtroom.

HOLD IT!

I am not, however, saying it's a perfect game - in fact it can get extremely repetitive. You move around by selecting the places you would like to go rather than walking from place to place and the characters are drawn in an anime like style with few facial expressions. Still, I think the game makes up a bit for that with it's originality, it really is a breath of fresh air. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes puzzleish type games and are looking for a short challenge as the game is only about fifteen hours long.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

Title: Magyk (First in the Septimus Heap series)
Author: Angie Sage

I haven't read any books lately, or at least since the Harry Potter series, that involved wizards as the main characters, so I was itching a bit to get back into a world of spells and incantations. Magyk is about A princess, her adoptive brother, and a boy from the Young Army trying to survive when their lives are turned upside down by a Necromancer, named DomDaniel, who once again becomes the ExtraOrdinary Wizard.

The main villain of this book, DomDaniel, felt more like a glorified idiot than someone with powerful magyk and cunning, and I had to wonder how anyone could have feared him at all. The main characters didn't seem to have much trouble running circles around him - I didn't mind it to much at some parts he was, after all, different from the usual antagonist. Despite that I liked most of the main characters themselves, especially boy 412 and Niko, and I thought they were decently developed. There were some small things that didn't make to much sense to me, but they didn't pull away from the story overly much and I do plan to continue with this series to see how it plays out.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

Starting Off the New Year with Books

2011 has just started and I have already bought a good number of books! It was so hard picking out such a small amount to fit in the gift card amount I had to work with, but here are the final results of hours of careful consideration.