JDorama review: Mr. Brain

mrbrain
Title: Mr. Brain Broadcast dates: 5/23/09 - 7/11/09 Number of episodes: 8 Genre: Detective, Comedy Cast: Kimura Takuya, Ayase Haruka, Mizushima Hiro, Kagawa Teruyuki Plot: Tsukumo Ryusuke (Takuya) has recently moved into the Institute of Police Science (IPS) as their resident "brain scientist." Even though his methods of assisting the police are quite unorthodox, he somehow manages to become one of the most beloved scientists in the IPS. What is good: Absolutely every bit of it is good What is bad: It was a little annoying that the last few cases ended up being 2-parters, therefore leaving us with cliffhangers instead of solving the case during the episode...but that can be a good things sometimes. Letter rating: A+ Overall: I originally downloaded this series because Gackt, my very favorite Japanese rock star, guest starred in the second episode. To show how amazingly awesome Mr. Brain is, I watched that second episode before ever watching the first episode AND I watched it raw, despite barely knowing the Japanese language, and I absolutely fell in love with the characters. Despite barely knowing what anyone was saying, the acting and the characters themselves were so likeable and eccentric that I knew I had to watch it subtitled. Adding to that, once I watched the first episode subtitled, I had to get my husband to watch it with me because I knew he would love the show as well. Out of all the series I've watched and loved, this one is now my absolute favorite and new series will have to try really hard to do better.

Game review: Mr Jones' Graveyard Shift

When I saw the title of this game, I knew I had to play it. Something called Mr Jones' Graveyard Shift would either be awesome or awful. It turns out that it is a time management game. You play as Mr. Jones, owner of the local graveyard. Your job is to fill your customers' requests for their loved ones' funerals. Some want specific flowers, some don't want trees...there's a lot that they ask for, but, the gameplay for each is pretty much the same.

I actually had to play the game twice. The first time, I screwed up royally and had to start over. The second time, I figured out where I messed up and made sure to not make the same mistake again. That is when the fun kicked in. I didn't think I would actually enjoy arranging funerals. After all, it's a rather morbid thought. But it was lots of fun. At the very least, it's a good Halloween game!

Club Bing

I had a topic to write about....and then I forgot it. So today I will talk about one of my current obsessions: Club Bing. Club Bing is a website run by the Microsoft search engine, Bing. I haven't spent a whole lot of time using the search engine side of things. Instead I have spent my time playing games and earning "tickets." There is a pretty wide variety of games to play. There's a crossword puzzle, a word search, a couple hidden objects, and some other original games. (One of my favorites is CrossWire, where you have to match items from one column with an item in the second column.) Each time you complete a game, you win a number of tickets. Then you can use your tickets to purchase prizes or you can donate them to a local school. I purchased a Net Ball game, which is kinda like lacrosse, but I haven't had a chance to play it with my daughter since school started recently. I'm currently trying to save up my tickets to buy a new Zune.

There is a daily limit on how many tickets you can earn each day. (1,000) But that doesn't make the games any less fun. Come win stuff with me!

Dungeons & Dragons Online

There has been a Dungeons & Dragons MMO for awhile now. It used to have the 'normal' fee schedule where you'd pay $15 per month to play as much as you want. Recently, the game has decided to change that. Now you can play for free. You can pay for upgrades or extra quests if you want, but a majority of the game is free. I've been playing it on and off for the past week or so. Some of the original quests from the pay version of the game have changed but it's still the same feel. It is a little odd to see the same dungeons with different quests in them though. All in all, if you liked DDO before, you'll like just as much now. Only you won't have to pay for it!

Jdorama review: Ping Pong

pingpong Title: Ping Pong Release date: 7/20/02 Genre: Sports comedy Cast: Kubozuka Yosuke, Arata, Sam Lee, Nakamura Shido, Okura Koji, Takenaka Naoto, Natsuki Mari Plot: Peco (Kubozuka), a really good table tennis player, meets his match against a player from China (Lee), but there is another talented player Peco must face. Will he meet the challenge or give up his lifelong dream of being the world's best table tennis player? What is good: Kubozuka Yosuke once again pulls off an amazing character. What is bad: I can't think of anything that really detracts from the movie. Letter rating: A Overall: I really love Kubozuka's acting and his skills shine here. The rest of the cast supports him well, even though I did find myself giggling a little bit about all the drama that takes place around ping pong. This is definitely a movie that every jdorama lover should watch at least once.

Game review: Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light

Over the weekend, I took some time out to play Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light. I figured it would be a typical hidden object game that wouldn't require a lot of thought. Man, was I wrong! Each hidden object in the game comes in pieces. You have to find all of the pieces for each object. Then, where normal games would just mark off that you found that item, you have to use the item to find the rest of the list. For example, you have to find all the pieces of a key to open a chest that will hold a piece of another item. It makes the gameplay a lot more interesting since you have to figure out which is the first object you need to find all the pieces for and where to use it. I had tons of fun playing this game. I think I'll be buying it in the near future.