(This is the script for my video article of the same name. You can find the video here!)

Ever since Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight has aired on 2018, it has overtaken a part of my brain. I catch myself thinking about the story and characters when listening to its music, and I listen to the music a lot. The more I think of it, the more I pick at the meaning of the show. Or so I think, but this video might just be the ramblings of a crazed weeaboo. We shall see.

The Revues in Revue Starlight are duels between two of the nine theater students participating in the mysterious Audition. But more than that, they are a fantastic melding of animation and music. Not only do the girls fight with swords and polearms and bows in a backdrop of an uncanny stage, but they also fight in a duet. This element of the show is better explained through an example, for which I will use the revue from episode 3, Hokori to Ogori, or Pride and Arrogance. Anyone who doesn’t want to be spoiled should stop the video now, because I’ll be talking about plot elements up to episode 3. But do go watch the show, I am telling you, it is amazing.

Participating in this revue are the main character Aijou Karen, and the top of their class, Tendou Maya. Karen was not initially invited to the Audition, but after remembering her promise with childhood friend Hikari to stand on stage with together as leads, she literally jumped into the fray. She’s had two victories so far, but her opponent this time is the talented, matchless Maya who, even before the Revue starts, stole the spotlight from Karen. This… is not a good sign for her.

Karen eagerly starts the duel, but her sword is easily parried by Tendou Maya. For a few lines she sings of her promise with Hikari, the source of her determination. But just like the slashes of her sword, Maya rejects Karen’s words and questions her resolve. Karen, who until meeting Hikari again after several years, has had no real desire to take the position zero, the center of the stage. Why should her resolve have more weight compared to those who vied for the center of the stage alone? Compared to Maya who defeated them to take position zero?

The stage goes dim, and Maya appears atop a flight of stairs, with Karen looking up from below. It’s her turn now.

Maya goads Karen into climbing up if she has the resolve. Standing above her opponent, she completely blocks Karen’s futile advances and even pushes her back. And the gap between them grows wider as Karen realizes she is no match for Maya. But still she eagerly tries to catch up to Maya.

And Maya, with her powerful singing voice, boldly expresses her desire. Going higher, shining brighter. Towards unreachable heights. That is my pride. With these heavy words, sung at the highest pitch of the entire song, the clashing of their swords continue. Maya, with her skill of the sword, and the stage bending to her will, brings Karen back down below her.

If you look at the lyrics, you will notice that of the 22 lines in Hokori to Ogori, only 7 are sung by Karen. And her lines are only up to the 2 minute mark of a 5 minute, 46 second song. Karen has completely disappeared in the latter 2/3rds of the duet.

It’s an absolute defeat. Maya completely dominated her in every way. In the stage, in song, in resolve. And with that, Maya cuts off Karen’s pin, symbolizing the end of the revue, takes position zero, and triumphantly declares This is Tendou Maya.

And that was Hokori to Ogori. Karen’s Arrogance was cut down by Maya’s Pride. But this is hardly the end of Karen’s stage.

(This is the script for my video article of the same name. You can find the video here!)

Just Cause 3 is a game that just puts a big stupid smile on my face. The game itself is very stupid. It starts with Rico, the protagonist, climbing on top of a plane, ignoring the laws of physics, and shooting down anti-air batteries with an RPG. It’s stupidly unrealistic, stupidly badass, and just stupidly fun.

The story is a bit… eh. You play as Rico Rodriguez, high flying, guns blazing, eats-explosions-for-breakfast, freedom fighter extraordinaire, liberating his home country, Medici, from a power hungry dictator. Destabilization is the name of the game, and what better way to destabilize something than to blow up its foundations?

For the record, it’s not bad, but it feels like the game can’t decide whether it’s story should be cheesy or serious. The supporting characters are likeable, but the NPC rebels are disposable. There’s a bit of a disconnect between the gameplay and the story when you kneel down a rebel shrine, vowing to avenge them, but you know that you probably cause a lot of rebel deaths yourself with stray bullets and explosives. And I don’t think people will think of Rico as a hero once they start trying to rebuild everything he burned in this path of destruction.

On to the gameplay, you are given this gigantic map of a playground, with loads of things to traverse with, or take apart very violently, and tools with which you can do so.

Tools for movement are important for a game world this big. There’s the civilian and military vehicles of land, air, and sea, but my favorite ones are on your person. First, the parachute. Apart from the fact that you can reuse it, it pretty much just does what a parachute does. But then you also have the grappling hook, which is a simple concept, press a button and it drags you to where you’re pointing. Now, if you grapple over a distance, get your parachute out, and slingshot yourself along with the grapple, you can cover more distance a lot easier.

But it doesn’t stop there. You also have the wingsuit. Oh, the wingsuit. With it you can glide magnificently, cutting through the air like a hot knife through butter. And there is nuance to it. You also use the grapple to speed up, which means you have to be close to the ground or anything tangible, which gives flying a level of danger to it. Mastering the wingsuit is very satisfying, but crash landing never ceases to be funny.

With these, you have transportation, anywhere, anytime. In an instant, you can launch yourself 20 meters in the air and look down on the people in diesel powered automobiles below.

And now, the tools for destruction. You have your usual flavors of guns and armament, pistols, machine guns, shotguns, and then there’s your attachable bombs, grenade launchers, your multishot RPGs, and your airstrikes. You know, the usual! Your grappling hooks can also attach two things together and pull them close. With these babies, you can get really creative with how you want to ravage the country of Medici. Did I say ravage? I meant to say liberate!

Make a bunch of friends group hug, use a car as a wrecking ball, use your own face as a wrecking ball, call a supply drop over an unfortunate statue, turn a radar into waffle maker, help goats get off the road (oh, that didn’t work), hijack helicopters in mid-air, make a transformer do loop-the-loops, do some extreme wingsuiting (oof), solve the traffic problem by lessening cars, solve the pollution problem by abolishing gas stations, stunt off a ramp into a radio tower… I said, stunt off a ramp into a radio tower (there we go)

This, this is where Just Cause 3 shines. It gives you the toys, puts you in a playground, and tells you to go nuts, fulfill your power fantasy! The game mechanics, the visuals, the physics, the animation, the sound design, all of these work together to make you feel like you’re in a Michael Bay, popcorn action flick, with some slapstick comedy on the side.

The only downside apart from the story is that upgrades are locked behind skill-based challenges. It’s a downside for me, because I play the game to feel effortlessly badass. It doesn’t really taint the whole experience too much, but it’s game design that I don’t agree with.

And I haven’t even mentioned the expansion packs that let you ride a mech with force powers, give you a gun that summons lightning from above, and a jetpack with missile launchers. I’m Iron Man and Thor, I am the Avengers itself.

And so I conclude that Just Cause 3 is a superhero game disguised in a loose cannon spy skin. It is a physics based playground that makes you giggle when anything goes right, or wrong (gas tank+motorcycle). And if that appeals to you, go get this game. I cannot recommend it enough.