Getting started with Pokemon: Best Wishes

So, I sat and watched the first two episodes of "Pokemon: Best Wishes" just now as a break from my nearly-completed homework. I have to say, it's following the model pokemon has set for itself pretty closely so far.



I watched it entirely for Araragi, but I might stick around for Iris and Dent. (Dent hasn't shown up yet but I'm looking forward to it.) Araragi seemed pretty standard fare for professors who aren't Prof. Oak. She didn't get much of a personality, but I'm hoping this will change in the future. She got excited over Pikachu since he's not from Isshu, but otherwise didn't come across as anything special, which is a shame.

Iris on the other hand is adorable. She does a lot of making fun of Ash, but I think my favorite thing about her is that her Kibago lives/rides in her hair. I'm looking forward to what she brings to the series since she seems very different to Ash's previous 3 female side-kicks. she's is excitable and not as egotistical or vain as the past three.



I am less impressed with Shooti, who seems to be the basic douche-canoe rival, this time with the "exciting" twist of obsessively taking pictures of everything. His only redeeming quality is that he chose Tsutarja as his starter pokemon. Though, I really don't blame him for being kind of a jerk to Ash. Shooti was trying to pick his starter and get his journey started, and Ash was kind of up in his space and being a pain in the ass.

Shooti and Ash had a battle in the first episode which Ash lost because Zekrom broke Pikachu's electrical abilities... And then... fixed them? I'm really confused by this event. I'd heard about it before I watched the episodes, but it sounded like it was something that was going to go on for a while. But it was cleared up in like five minutes. And while it was hilarious to watch Ash tell Pikachu to use all of his electrical attacks on him, I'm bothered by this. Unless it's going to be something that happens regularly (which may just get annoying), it is a really unnecessary plot hiccup.

Though, so far, I think my favorite part is Mijumaru...



Don't be fooled by his cute face. This little guy is the craziest stalker. He was disappointed that Shooti didn't pick him as his starter, and I guess decided to follow Ash around. He saves them all from Team Rocket, who surprisingly would have finally gotten away with stealing Pikachu (and Kibago) if Mijumaru hadn't stepped in. I'm sure eventually Ash will catch him officially, but for now he's just following them around, akin to that crazy old stalker Jigglypuff.

So, I'll keep watching to see where it goes, but for now it seems like Best Wishes is following the set-up that the previous seasons have created. I'm hoping that Best Wishes will break out of it a bit in the near future. We'll have to see.

Another post about video games.

So. I've played a little more Wind Waker, and I have one question.

When will this game start being fun? 

I'm on the Rito's island now, trying to get up to the crazy dragon so it will stop rampaging. Except I am charged with the impossible task of throwing a bomb halfway across a pool of lava into a jar. I spent about three hours on this task last night and continued to fail.

This frustration aside, I've realized that the Rito aren't really all that bright. Several of the Rito people spoke of how their spring dried up. So, I blew up the rock that was clogging it. And then... All of them still talked about it being dried up. Including one standing on a balcony overlooking the spring. I've taken a coding class. I know it's not hard to have dialog changed after an event. I'd be satisfied with even a "HO'SHIT THERE'S WATER AGAIN!"

Then again, if this spring, which is being filled with ash, thanks to being inside of a volcano, is their primary source of water, I suppose I can understand why they are not really that bright. And also jerks.

The better part of today has belonged to Pokemon Trozei. Suri passed it off to me a while ago because he didn't want it. When I took it, I didn't know what I was getting into. You see, I have a problem. When I play a puzzle game, I get pretty hooked on it. I will play it for hours straight, weeks at a time. I don't LIKE playing puzzle games. They frustrate me because they are pretty high maintenance. If you lose focus for just a second you're totally screwed.

I made it through the first round of the adventure mode and am currently on some kind of secret hard mode. I am impressed that there's some kind of logical reason for rescuing a bunch of pokemon to be in the form of a puzzle game. That was pretty clever, even though I can't remember what it is.

The Bleach filler seems to be winding down. We've gotten to the big boss and the evil plan and all that nonsense. I've got a lot to say about it, so when it's done I guess I'll marathon it and write a post about it.

I'm getting a new laptop in the near future, so with wireless internet in my grasp again, I'll be slightly more mobile in my otakudom. I'm gonna go back and look over some things I've checked out recently and hopefully get posts for them up soon.