Caelin Bragg
Advertising & Distribution Manager
Album – Cinematic
Owl City’s newest album takes a more personal approach in contrast to the grand, bombastic feeling Adam Young’s previous releases have had.
Each of the 18 songs in Cinematic focus on Young’s life and that theme is strengthened through his choice of simple instruments and the uncharacteristically subdued or lack of synth in some songs.
The personal feel is a nice change of pace and features exactly what I want from Young in songs like “Lucid Dream” and “Fiji Water,” but Cinematic doesn’t hit those beats all the time, and it feels like its retreading similar ground only halfway into it.
Movie – Chuunibyou Take On Me
Chuunibyou: Take On Me continues the delightful story of the anime and advances Yuuta and Rikka’s relationship in a meaningful way.
The movie doesn’t do this without adversity though and follows the two protagonists in an adventure throughout Japan. As with the majority of the anime, I couldn’t help but find myself smiling at every moment the two were together.
While the movie often feels like an extended episode of the anime and doesn’t have the quality expected of a feature length film, that was all it really needed to be.
TV – Comic Girls
Comic Girls doesn’t stand out, but it doesn’t need to stand out to be one of the most fun and enjoyable anime that started in the Spring season.
Comic Girls’ animation feels like it’s to reach a animation quota rather than be impressive. But the humor of the characters and situations are what drove the show forward and the humor always landed.
The anime also shows some real moments of what it’s like to work in a highly competitive creative field like the mangaka (manga artists), who are the main cast of show, must deal with that kept it grounded in some semblance of reality throughout.
Game – Sonic Mania Plus
Sonic Mania was one of the best games of 2017, and Plus is a small upgrade that offers the perfect excuse to replay the entire game another six times.
Sonic Mania Plus builds on what its base game by adding the often forgotten characters Mighty and Ray from SegaSonic the Hedgehog. While Mighty’s inclusion doesn’t add much, Ray’s special glide is almost broken and allows the player to gain height at will and change momentum in the air on the dime, which makes for interesting strategies.
Sonic Mania Plus is easily worth the $5 upgrade fee and is available on all major platforms.
