Girugamesh Community Tabs Pack v0.1

So, instead of bashing out a review today, thought I'd contribute something to the j-rock community:

http://www.mediafire.com/?hg6gjy95q9wr4pn

This is a compilation of all the Giru tabs I have managed to find throughout the internet. If the tab isn't here, it doesn't exist!
DISCALIMER: I DID NOT MAKE THIS PACK OF TABS. I SIMPLY PUT THEM ALL IN ONE PLACE. IF YOU THINK I HAVE STOLEN YOUR TAB, PLEASE EMAIL ME AND I WILL AMMEND THE CREDITS FILE.

I would just like to say thankyou to all the people whose work I have compiled here from sites such as ultimate-guitar. Special thanks to a guy called Reklein who started this project off with an absolutely massive pack of tabs which makes up a good half of what is here.

This isn't much, but it's a start...the only complete thing here is the Crying Rain single with B-Sides! The albums, especially the s/t are...lacking.

Thanks again, and hope you enjoy these tabs which people have worked so hard on.

EDIT: mediafire's screwed up the file type which is a little...inconvenient, but 7zip can still extract it just fine.

[Review]GAICHU - Harmful Insect

Well, I'd heard a lot about this film (okay, I'd read its name in the comments section of Number Girl's I Don't Know, which is essentially this film's token song...)...and so decided to give it a watch. Sure, a lot of people seemed to hate it, but other people utterly raved about it. So. After about an hour searching I managed to find the *one* working download link on the entire internet, and here we are.

The plot is, um, lacking to say the least. Basically, without giving too much away, it's about the life of a girl named Sachiko Kita (played by a young Aoi Miyazaki, a wonderfully talented actress), whose dad is dead and whose mother tried to kill herself, and how it all falls apart through a series of misfortunes. She roams the streets. She skives school. She starts going back to school...then gets knocked right back down again.

The execution is utterly bizarre. For the most part, there is next to no speech- this film isn't very interested in revealing any details to the audience, which whilst it starts off intriguing, becomes slightly annoying after a while. Humour, desperation, and the outright strange all sit together in this film...but none really affect you, as the film is curiously emotionless. A strange concept I know, and one thats hard to describe without you actually watching this.

The film as a whole though? I really wanted to love it. yet... it was so...emotionless, where it almost became dull at times. Maybe I was expecting too much out of this, but it all seemed so bleak and without any feeling whatsoever. Then again, perhaps that is what the director was going for- looking at how mundane everyday life is, and how ruined Sachiko's emotional state is.

Well, would I recommend it? If you have a lot of patience, it may well be an enjoyable watch. For me however, the film was average at best, with perhaps a few standout moments holding it together and keeping me interested.

Now, this film is surely heading towards the C territory, I hear you say. But no. This film has a certain something, a certain power, which'll only hit you a while after the credits have rolled, and for that reason:

A

[Review] -OZ- - VERSUS

Now, once upon a time, there was this band called OZ. Now, OZ were indeed a Japanese band, and they were not very happy Jappy's. So they made agressive music. This music pleased my ears greatly, and even though I was not a huge fan of theirs, I would listen to their music every so often if I needed a quick fix of metal.
It just so happened that I noticed OZ were to release another album very soon, and a best of album shortly after that. "Oh wow!" I said to myself, in that strange way I sometimes do. Wait..."another album?" for I did not realise they had already made an album.
And so here we are.


So, with high expectations of this interesting album, I set about the business of pressing play.

LAST SHELL. Clean picked guitars echoing through silence. Then BLAM! The guitar hits you hard and fast with some distorted power chords, before going into a calm verse. Natsuki teases out his delicate and wobbly voice, before screaming lotses.

Track two: FILMY. First OZ song I ever heard. The scream at the beginning is truly epic. Highly headbangable, but the song settles down a bit, meaning its also a good song for people who don't want their music to be constant screaming. Highly awesome.

Track three: Blaze. Absolutely filthy guitar, with needless amounts of overdrive, playing some of the least techincal music ever. SCREAMING!! SHOUTING!! before settling into a chorus, with some huge drum blasts. Hm, might grow on me. Then again, perhaps not.

VENOM. Ooh, scary. It actually is though, with some guttural vocals that hit you like a steam train. Not sure I like it, mind you, and its kinda similar to all the stuff before it on this album. Like the love child of SCREW and Dir en Grey.

Needle. Again, the instrumentation is nothing special, and heavily reminiscent of Bullet for My Valentine. Except um, good. Nonetheless, this is a very good song, with a strong rhythm working its way through the song, before jumping into a screamed breakdown. Reservation seems to be very like Needle indeed, with a similar rhythm and practically identical vocals....just a little faster.

Track Seven; ATHENA. Yes, this album has the disease of needlessly capitalising things. Fun fun. Guitar twanging away mercilessly. Natsuki sings in his nasal wobbly little drone, picking it up in the bridge, before launching into a blisteringly fast chorus. Solo. Success! Not your best, guys, but points for making another catchy metal song- if not as good as the original

IN RUBBISH. yeah, cos that makes sense guys. Stop abusing our language :P anyhoo, lotsa raw energy bouncing about in this song, and I'm a total sucker for the chugging guitar with dynamic higher guitar over the top.

MDMA isn't all that special. Neither is Migrant.

DETOX. This song is just...just wow. If there's any justice, songs like this are going to push -OZ- out into stardom. Huge uplifting chorus. LISTEN NOW.

Track twelve: Breathe trees (wow, that must be pretty inconvenient to breathe trees- like breathing fire, but not as cool). Nice intro, Natsuki drawing me in with his voice and making a very good song, as usual. Enjoyable.

Then the album ends. Damn.

Well, okay, what do we have here then? Uh, well, its another 'brutal' Visual kei band whose songs all sound the same. Certainly, if you're into this sort of music, then go for it, but I've (thus far) enjoyed this album on the whole about as much as SCREW's X-Rays. That is to say, not too much. Nonetheless, a pretty fun album you'll come back to every once in a while.

B

[review]Asking Alexandria - Stand Up And Scream

Well, I have been BULLIED INTO REVIEWING THIS BY AN EVIL PERSON CALLED MARY WHO HAS A SILLY HAIRCUT. But okay, let's do this :P

Right, Asking Alexandria. Upon hearing that the rhythm guitarist lived in Dubai for a bit (very near to where I used to live) I'm determined to like these guys. But seriously, another long-black-haired bunch of wrist slitting teenagers? I'm a little dubious.

First thing to reach my ears is a little song called Alerion. Bit of ambience.
POWER CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD. Drum drum, power chooooords. Now, where have I heard this before? :P not impressed, Mary. Your music is making me unhappy. PIG SQUEALIIIIING. Then it stops. Oh, that was mercifully short.

Then, The Final Episode. Sounds exactly like Alerion. But its listenable, I guess...not awful by a long way, but not what i'd call pioneering in the world of metal. Some synth too, you know.

A Candlelit Dinner with Inamorta. Oh, hell yes, those candlelit dinners with Inamorta. Nice guy once you get to know him. Makes a lovely cheese souflé. Either way, this song, contrary to what Urban Dictionary will try to tell you, is not the 'Best f#cking song ever'. Its just fast, and has some truly ridiculous growling at the start, which is more likely to make you laugh than get you pumped. Still, if you're into metalcore or whatever this is, go for it. And brace yourself for the British guy sounding like an American. Lightly enjoyable, but the happy hardcore synthage is really weird, and I'm not sure they can pull it off.

Nobody Don't Dance No More (so surely implying that everybody is dancing?) I'm going to have an educated guess about what this song sounds like. "GRAAAAWR IM MAD AT YOU GUYS".
Oh, what's that? It does? I'm bliddy psychic. It also sounds like everything else here :)

Hey There Mr. Brooks. I'm going to have an educated guess about what this *doesn't* sound like:

"Hey, Mr. Brooks,
you're a pretty cool guy
and I love you a lot.
Let's be friends and I'll stop
making this music
and start doing country western"

I was right. Why am I not surprised? i mean, its fine, I could listen to it like everything else on this album, but I'm seeing a distinct lack of individuality emerging.

Next Song, Hiatus. A....happy dance instrumental?! Uh, great. Thanks for that guys. I'd almost rather you stuck to emo stuff. Points for trying though.
Then, "If you can't ride two horses at once..." Are they actually incapable of playing any other rhythym patterns than "dugga dugga....dugga dugga..."?! Also: autotune.

A Single Moment of Sincerity. I can't deal with this any more :'(

Not The American Average. Hey kids, how about another Asking Alexandria song? *sound of gunfire*

I Used to Have a Best Friend (But then he gave me an STD). I laughed a little at the title. Then facepalmed when I actually heard it. You thought I was joking when i said it all sounded the same? I wasn't.

A Prophecy, followed by I Was Once Possibly Maybe Perhaps A Cowboy King. Great.

Thank God this is the final track on the album. I was beginning to worry it would never end. "When Everyday's the Weekend." Don't even bother.

And albums like this, my friends, are why more people don't listen to metal. THIS ENTIRE ALBUM SOUNDS THE BLOODY SAME.

(As for the rating: you know that FACT album I gave the lowest possible grade? Well, this is beneath that.)

[review] D'espairsRay - Monsters

D'espairsRay. Well, a while ago, I did a review of some album called MIRROR, and didn't like it very much, criticising it for Hitsumi's ridiculous singing and pop-influenced hooks. A year later, this finds its way to my ears and promptly blows me away. Read on...

Human-clad monster. Little tinny drum pattern, a few flirts of guitar, then "RAWR!" Hitsumi sings after a brief intro and his voice reaches me for the first time in a year. And I like it quite a bit. Catchy song, few complaints here, really. But they're just warming up.

Death Point. The third released single off this album (besides Final Call and Love is Dead). The guitar in the intro has such a huge sound, enveloping you. The hook in the chorus sinks into your head and stays there, making a thoroughly impressive song, which has roots in the D'espairsRay of old. Ah, what a lovely song :P as usual, some impressive bass work, thorough drumming, and brilliant screaminess

13 -thirteen- has one of those driving drum patterns coupled with strong guitar and bass which leads to a thoroughly motivating song, which is one of my personal favourites on the album.

Love is Dead. D'espa haven't just borrowed the riff from Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round", they've completely stolen it. Makes the song awesome, mind. The most pop song on here, and for once, I find myself quite enjoying it.

Devils Parade. More of the same evil shouted/spat vocals coupling with punchy guitar. Not particularly incredible, but enjoyable enough. The song after it, Dope, is pretty good too. Little tinkly bit leading into some very headbangable riffs.

Unsurprisingly, Falling is brilliant too, with some very emotional singing especially in the chorus. Progress has moments of brilliance too, though ironically showing absolutely zero progress in terms of muscial style whatsoever :D Enjoyable nonetheless.

The single Final Call has some very bad Engrish, which is always lightly entertaining, but i absolutely love this song...it was probably the first D'espa song I listened to which I actually found enjoyable.

Finally, the emotionally charged Abyss caps the album off nicely- even if you don't understand a word of Japanese, you can still hear the feeling in Hitsumi's voice as he and the other members let this album march to a close.

So, three years after MIRROR, D'espa come back. Is it as bad as last time?
Uh, simply put no. Over the years, my ears have come to rather like this hard music infused with synths and ridiculously downtuned guitars. Either I'm a total moron, or this is a very very good album. Your choice :P

A-

[Review]ONE OK ROCK - Niche Syndrome

^dat box art ;)

Right, Niche Syndrome. Fourth(?) studio album by the j-rock band ONE OK ROCK. 2010 needed this release. Best album I've heard in ages. On with the review...

Track One, Introduction. Which, uh, is an introduction track full of ambient noise. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but all the best albums have an intro track, so we'll let it live.

Track Two - Never let this go
"WE HAVE TO CARRY ON" shouts the happy little frontman Taka. Superb little riffs going on in the background, great intro. Fairly good English pronounciation throughout the verse, and on the whole a catchy indie rock feel driving this song through its 4:17 duration. Wonderful stuff.

Track three, kanzen kankaku dreamer. This was the single that got me into ONE OK ROCK and it still sounds as fantastic as ever. And if you thought they couldnt get any better than this, just wait til you hear the rest of the songs that are ahead of you.

Track four, Konzatsu Communication. An emotional opening quickly falls away into another uniquely ONE OK ROCK style rock song. Very good.

5: Yes I am, the most emotional song thus far on the album. Slightly cheesy, but brilliant nonetheless. SAAAAAAAAY MMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYY NAAAAAAAAME and so on.

Track Six, Shake it down. Not brilliant, but certainly decent. Sounds like most of the other songs on here, but whereas with Tool it makes the album awful, here, the formula OOR have makes me more than happy to listen to these songs.

Track Seven: Liar. Utterly fantastic. You *need* this song. Like, really need it. Chorus will make your life complete

Track Eight: Jibun Rock... its really good. Huge change of pace from Liar back into fast relentless rock with a great little bass noise at the start. Love it. This and Liar make the album for me.
(...this album....O_O )

Wherever you are is an easy listening love ballad-y type thing. Not a fantastic song but very inspiring, and its good to see OOR stepping out of their comfort zone.

Riot!! is needlessly noisy in the beginning, but it soon settles down and becomes almost Paramore in its musical ways. Group vocals and shouting are the order of things here.

Adult Suits and Mikansei Koukyoukyoku win so much, before settling down into the final track, Nobody's Home a beautiful end to a beautiful album with English lyrics that actually make sense and really good instrumentation all round. The chorus will ring in your ears long after you've pressed stop SPOILER: (which you shouldn't, because there is a bonus track...hence why this track is nine minutes long. Its rather cool)

The end. Good album. As I said at the start, 2010 needed this release, and well....thats all there is to it. Truly awesome, and shows a marked improvement from their older stuff.
A

[review]Dir en Grey - UROBOROS

Well, here we have it guys. Possibly the most disturbing, twisted and unsettling (and talented) band you will ever hear. And their best album.

^Unhappy box art. The album itself isn't any happier, either.

Ah, Dir en Grey. What a bunch of crazy Japanese artists. If you have any interest in the Japanese music scene (I'll forgive you if you don't, its not exactly a conventional interest) you will have heard of these guys and their brutal, shocking form of music, most likely through their song OBSCURE, which has a very messed up video indeed. Spoiler: babies get eaten.
If not, all you need to know is that it's a very awesome band, though extremely polarising - the marmite of the music world.

Well, enough banter. Track one, Sa Bir is a moody and eerie intro track, with a pulsating bass backing and Eastern riff going over the top. Kyo comes in with his frankly disturbing screams and yelps (I challenge you to find anyone with a better vocal range.), which cut through the already atmospheric backdrop.

Track two, Vinushka. At over nine minutes, it doesn't really belong at the start of the album, but gives the listener a good idea of what is to come. Kyo croons into the mic, before Die and Kaoru come in with a filthy distorted riff and Shinya drums like a beast. About four minutes in it all goes to hell, with an inhuman scream followed by pure death metal, and some very impressive vocals from Kyo. This pattern of soft, hard repeats for the remainder of Vinushka, making a song that is awesome all round.

Red Soil showcases Kyo's quite frankly appalling English, but superb musicianship from the other band members hold the song together until he lapses back into growling like an animal. Varied, twisted... incredible. But you ain't seen nothing yet. Kyo begins spazzing, throwing high pitched punchy vocals at you. Good, good song.

Doukoku to Sarinu. Sounds a little like Red Soil, but there's quite a bit of actual singing involved and far higher vocals, as well as the usual screams and growls. Amazing, as is the next track Toguro, with a catchy intro riff and some distinct warped vocals, climaxing in some very high singing indeed.

Glass Skin, is a touching and reflective piece, which was one of the many hit single's in Japan for Diru. Calming, and probably one of the best song's here. That is, if Dir En Grey had decided to put the Japanese version on here, not the English version, which although more meaningful to us English-speaking folk, hasn't got the feeling of the Japanese version. Oh well, its still awesome :D

Wasn't impressed with the song after, Stuck Man. Too repetitive, like that crappy Tool album I reviewed the other day. Still unique, still cool, but it kinda sticks out in this album of pure brilliance.

Reiketsu Nariseba. Dude, what can I say about this. Growl, growl, scream, growl. Weird little Carribean riff chugging its way through the verse, while Kyo delivers on all fronts by singing both high and low at the same time. No really, he can sing two notes at once. Anyway, utterly fantastic, goes into a creepy Eastern breakdown before hitting you with a savage drop and chorus. Awesome, and very weird.

Track nine, Ware yami to te ... is such a calming song, endlessly inventive, endlessly awesome. i suggest you give it a listen. Its not heavy, trust me :)

Bugaboo, despite the utterly ridiculous name, is probably one of the most brutal songs on here, combining squeals with growling in a slow, thudding song which drills its way into your brain, with a sudden change in pace for the break. Epic.

Gaika Chinmoku ga Nemuru Koro, a late winner on this album. "He's really not well in the head, is he?" said one of my friends upon hearing this song. "Bloody hell". Said another. Kinda like OBSCURE, but faster and more awesome. Bugaboo on drugs. Songs like this make me respect Diru even more. Wow.

As we near the end of the album, DOZING GREEN pops up with an epic riff, gentle singing mixing with, um, some not-so-gentle stuff, and an ear-destroyingly high outro. Again, better in Japanese, so go youtube hunting for it.

Final track, inconvenient ideal. Winner of the highest singing award by a man ever, the peaks in the chorus being almost painful to listen to. I have no idea where this slow and wonderful ballad came from, but its definitely one of my favourite tracks on the album.

So, what can I say? Dir En Grey have truly created a masterpiece with this album, correcting the flaws of Withering to Death and The Marrow of a Bone - such an improvement must be commended. This album can only get an A*

A*

[Review] Tool - Lateralus

Hey, look, I'm back. And *still* nobody's read my blog. Oh well.

This nasty little (I say that, its ridiculously bloated and overlong) specimen is called 'Lateralus' and is by a pretentious American pretender rock band called 'Tool'. Sputnikmusic have praised this album to the point of ass-kissing, so I thought I'd take a quick look at it to see if it lives up to its reputation as a formidable and inventive album.

(And I apologise for my dodgy humour in older reviews. No more of that. Also apologise for drubbing in the blink of an eye and MIRROR, whih I have now come to realise are amazing.)

Okay, track one. The Grudge. Derp. Moderately catchy riff that repeats for about an hour. Eventually he spits out a few words in a really annoying voice. Sure, atmospheric...loljk, it's terrible. Hey look, some distorted palm-muting stuff. He has a go at singing. Eugh. Louder bit. He pushes his voice to the height of its three note range. Shouting. Spittting. Gawd, its just like Nickelback. Punchy though, not too bad.

Okay, move on. Track two. Eon Blue Apocalypse and The Patient (yes, two tracks at once- how inventive....wait hang on, that's what we call an introduction). Sounds exactly the same as the last one. Those droning group vocals and 'tortured' singing that, uh, is awful. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE.

Track four. I'm seeing a theme, in that none of these songs are any good whatsoever. Oh well, maybe the next bad comedy double act will help ease my pains. 'Mantra' and 'Schism'. I hear moaning. Like a whale taking a really satisfying shite. It stinks about as bad too. Anyhow, to be fair, Schism does have a really catchy bassline. Possibly the one track on the album I don't hate. Slightly unnerving and very atmospherey.

Track six/seven. Its fine, sounds like everything else on this album.

Track eight - the song with teh magic drums. Apparently, the song also killed the vocalists voice for three weeks. Very good, probably the hardcoriest song on the album. Some excellent screaming later on in the song. Impressive, but it comes across as too little variation too late.

TRACK NINE. Um, it's called lateralus. That's about it. There's some sort of mahussive riff going on. Feel like I've heard it before.

Track teneleventwelve. Disposition, Triad, Reflection. Though not in that order. First 'movement' is chillout music, though not necessarily any good. Second movement, reflection, is, surprisingly, a quiet song that ends heavy. Yawn, move on. Guys, its one thing to do essentially the same track several times, but several times on one album? That's a whole other level of musical blasphemy.
Oh well, at least triad has some bite. Some. It's an instrumental. Very listenable, but um, not really the imaginative and intense ride it should be.

Final track, supposedly written in the language of the angels 'Faaip de Oiad" isn't even a song. Is a recording. Of a prank call. Great. Laaaame.

Right, so, overall, what do I think? I think, it has a good foundation for one epic song, but trying to stretch this foundation over an entire album makes the album very repetitive. And boriiiiing. >.>

C+

lostprophets - the Betrayed [review]

Yes okay, it was roughly three reviews since the last lostprophets review I did. But whatever, new lostprophets albums are like gold dust (except considerably less expensive :p ) and as such, it's my duty to review it. Except no-one will read this review. So it doesn't matter. Kinda like talking to myself, really. Oddly therapeutic :D

^Sexy box art is sexy. 'Nuff said.

This rather awesome album opens with the track "If it wasn't for hate...". Nice punchy intro, not really a song though, so you'll be forgiven for skipping over it onto the next track (if you must), DSTRYR/DSTRYR. Cool name, heavy song- this is what lostprophets is all about, not the rather whiny and annoying emo music they later produced (*cough* Liberation Transmission *cough*). This track is epic. Move on to track three "It's Not The End of The World But I Can See It From Here" (snappy!) this is a song that'll appeal to all the NOOBS who WORSHIP Radio One. It's not that great a song compared to the rest of the album, but still a damn sight better than most of the drivel you hear these days.

Track four, Where We Belong, goes for epic and ends up being slightly cheesy but somewhat pleasing :) I like it a lot, to be completely honest, but nowhere near as much as "Next Stop Atro City" (see what they did there?) Shouty. Very shouty, and somewhat unpolished, but thats partly why I like it so much. Watkins once again proves his great vocal range. A track to dance to (whilst being shoved around a mosh pit, natch.)

Track Six, "For he's a Jolly Good Felon", is somewhat Arctic Monkeys-ish. That's a good thing by the way. No idea what genre it is, but hey, it's an amazing song, so I'm not complaining. Track Seven, "A Better Nothing" is another slightly cheesy song, with an amazing chorus and...ah....it's wonderful....as is the next song "Streets of Nowhere", and "Dirty Little Heart", and "Darkest Blue" and...well....you know the rest. It's all amazing. The final track, somewhat reminiscent of Sway (off their second album) rounds the whole thing of beautifully. Wonderful.

Damn, my reviews are getting short. Never mind. They're still as good, yeah guys? Guys..? Oh right yeah, I forgot, they all ran away. May as well write a conclusion anyway. Basically, this album is easily up their with my favourite albums of all time. It lacks a little polish (annoying, since they've had four years to work on it. Silly Welsh people.) but I guess that's all part of what makes this album so great :)

A

FACT - In The Blink Of An Eye [review]

Okay, FACT are a Japanese band who make most (all?) their music in English. Some of it's alright, so I was looking forward to this album, even though it was kind of lost for me amongst the hype of the new lostpropehts album (review soon. Maybe.) Right, and now i have finally had a good and thorough listen, I can say it's pure unadulterated crap. Shame.

^Blurry faces, all in various states of hilarity. Laugh loudly, move on.

Track one and three, in the Blink of an Eye and Slip of the Lip are okay-ish. His voice (dunno who he is. Don't care.) grates horribly, but some awesome riffs make up for it. Annoying high pitched ones, but okay nonetheless. The rest of the album, though, is awful. Look, I really don't need to keep reviewing this crap. Just don't buy it okay? Simply put, I think what we have here is the single WORST album in the history of the entire universe. Thanks, FACT. Thanks a lot. Now get out and never darken my doorstep with your god-awful music ever again. Morons.

(This one doesn't even get a grade at the end. Our alphabet isn't long enough)

DS - The World Ends With You [review]

Happy New Year everyone :)

Right, with that generic opening out of the way, let's jump straight into a review, shall we?

THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU (or "It's a Wonderful World" if you're into importing stuff that's just as easily available in your own country). (On a side note, if I use lots of capitals its because this game DEMANDS it by being so AMAZING.)


^sexay box art ;)

From the box art (and believe me, it's one helluva good one) alone, you can tell this game is going to be amazing. Not only is there the comforting "Square Enix" (who make the best RPG games ever, by the way) logo emblazoned on the front, there's a cool emo type person in an awesome outfit. Seriously, he's WEARING PURPLE HEADPHONES and has SPIKY ORANGE HAIR. What's not to like?
This though, is not your standard RPG. It's a beat-em-up-adventure-action-RPG. Snappy!

The plot? As usual, it's an amazing one, with some really likable characters. Essentially, there are some bad guys and they take people and make them play the Reaper's Game, which lasts a week, and every day new challenges are set and...it's good, okay? And the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you occupied during the more than ample playing time.

The gameplay in this game is REALLY QUITE MESSED UP and yet, somehow, AWESOME AT THE SAME TIME. Outside of battle, you'll wander around a gritty urban landscape, interrupted by anime-style cutscenes, and of course, battles. And there are no immensely irritating random battles that occur every thirty seconds.
I wouldn't mind if there were, to be completely honest, because the fighting system is fantastic. On the bottom screen, you control our spiky-haired friend Neku with your plastic pen of death (er...that's the stylus, by the way), unleashing hell on the incredible variety of monsters (or 'Noise'). On the top screen, you control one of Neku's partners (you'll go through three in the course of the game) with the buttons. I'm doing a really bad job of explaining this. Dammit! Never mind, all you need to know is that this game has a crazy amount of crazy ideas. Truly mindblowing.

As for the games graphics and sound...well, they're fantastic. Style overflows from every frame and the soundtrack really helps to emphasise that. All the characters, no matter how small a role they have to play, Noise, all the Pins and their respective attacks are beautifully drawn in a graphical style which I think more games should have.


^Woo, more low-quality screenshots casually stolen from other websites! :D yes, it's as crazy as it looks. And then some.

All of this wouldnt matter though, if the game was a walk in the park. Thankfully though, it is a real challenge, especially on hard difficulty (well duh). So while that is not an issue, there is one small problem with this game, it may be a little too styled for some.
If you have a hatred of anime (silly you), or are against innovation then a) what did you buy a DS for?! and b) go and sit on a cactus. Underwater. Suspended over an undersea volcano. With some sharks. hungry sharks. (weirdly, there's a shark boss in this game :D ). But that doesn't matter, because I, personally, absolutely love it, and well, it's my blog, so I have no problem in awarding this with not just an A*, but also the title of my favourite game ever :) :)

A*