Author: Xyon McKell

Categories
Food Japan Mystery Boxes Reviews

Japan Crate February 2016 Review

February is here and so is another box of snacks and treats from Japan.

IMG_8789

As usual Japan Crate includes a booklet / mini-manga that explains what everything is and has various additional content.  The Premium bonus item this month is Mini Ramen Bowl plastic toys. Detailed and amusing. As a little unlisted bonus, my box contained a few green tea KitKats. I’ve had them before and love them so this was a pleasant surprise inclusion.

Now let’s look at the other edibles.

The Excellent

Gummies and soda flavored candies continue to be my favorites, and I got a couple of each this month. Yaokin Budou Grape Gummies (a Premium exclusive) have a nice texture and the taste of grape juice. Twinbo Drink Gummies have a great sour taste with two of four flavors (cola, ramune, lime and lemon) per piece.

IMG_8790

Coris Grape and Soda Kajirittyo is more of the wonderful taffy candy that has the consistency of gum but dissolves. We need candy like this in the US.  Toppu Trio Gum are individually wrapped soft sticks of gum in cola, cider and grape flavors.

IMG_8794

Petit Pastel Ice Cream Cookies & Chocolate are tiny candy covered wafers with a chocolate shell shaped to look like ice cream cones and dishes. Amusing and delicious.

The Decent

Super Lemon hard candies have three layers of varying intensity of lemon flavor. Yaokin Moguchuu Strawberry are decent taffy-type candy.

IMG_8793

Chip Star Norishio corrects my complaint from last month’s crate, as Seaweed and Salt is definitely not a potato chip flavor common to the US. They were quite good too. 

IMG_8795

This month’s Premium Crate’s drink is Ramune. Being it’s been included before and I’m quite familiar with it in general it would have been nice to get one of the more unusual possible flavors they had, but regardless original is still a pretty tasty drink.

IMG_8792

The DIY Kit was Heart Ltd. Oekaki Choco, which makes a chocolate lollipop with little crunchy candies throughout. I skipped painstakingly arranging the candies into patterns, which had no impact on the taste. 😉

 

The Meh

Nericcho Soft Cider/Strawberry Cones were listed as a “Shipping Bonus” for all crates, but given the Original tier only had 3 items this time it really just brought the count back to expected for anything above mini. The idea here was fine, with a powder mix to make a foam candy to put into mini ice cream cones. Unfortunately the cones were beyond stale, making this worthless.

Conclusion

 

Despite receiving my first stale item in any of my boxes, this month got back on track overall with the kind of unusual, diverse, and tasty snacks I look for from Japan Crate.

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Japan Trip 2015: Top 5 Matches (Live)

I was lucky enough to spend two and a half weeks in Tokyo to close out 2015 / start 2016, during which I saw 17 shows from 8 promotions with 84 matches featuring 144 wrestlers. The vast majority of it was extremely good, so it was VERY difficult to cull down to 5 or so matches. There are a lot of worthy wrestlers and matches that won’t be mentioned here.

Match reviews copied from my show specific blogs when possible.

Honorable mentions:

Paksa and Riho vs Emi Sakura and Masa Takanashi

This was another great main event in a series of them from Gatoh Move. What helped set this one apart is that it was at their Ichigaya location. I’m incredibly impressed with what they can accomplish wrestling-wise in such a small space with no ring. This held its own with some of the best matches I saw my entire trip.

IMG_7055

Miyako Matsumoto and Risa Sera vs Tsukasa Fujimoto and Maya Yuhiki

IMG_8022

This match was scheduled to be Miyako Matsumoto and Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Azure Revolution (Risa Sera and Maya Yukihi). I was looking forward to seeing two of my favorites team against an established duo, but it wasn’t to be (and I have no complaints about how things turned out). As the match started Miyako got the mic and apparently had some complaints about teaming with Tsukka. She grabbed Risa and rebooked the match herself through force of will and it became Miyako Matsumoto and Risa Sera vs Tsukasa Fujimoto and Maya Yukihi. Classic Miyako and it led to a ton of amusing moments. Tsukasa’s face when Miyako offered her the traditional pre-match handshake after ditching her was priceless. Tsukka’s incredible in every aspect of pro-wrestling and it was a treat to see her so many times during my trip.

IMG_8025

There was an ongoing stipulation where the ring announcer would state a letter, and pinfalls could only be attempted after a move starting with it. One of the highlights of it was Tsukasa and Maya pulling out Miyako’s own Mama Mia on her, then an irate Miyako retaliating with Super Mama Mia once the letter changed. Miyako was easily one of the most entertaining parts of my trip, as she knows exactly how to work her gimmick for maximum effect and amusement. Her running laps around the ring in excitement as a victory celebration (with Tsukasa trying to trip her on each pass until successful) was magnificent.

 

Top 5:

 

5. Stardom Title: Meiko Satomura (c) vs Io Shirai

This was fantastic, with highlights that included Io performing an INSANE moonsault off of a staircase overhang, and of course the end which saw Stardom’s biggest star capturing their main title from an outsider.

 

4. REINA World Women’s Title Match between Tsukasa Fujimoto (c) and Maki Narumiya

This was originally advertised as the main event of its show, and honestly should have been. Even the ring announcer seemed to be going off old notes, as it was announced as the main instead of the semi-final. Tsukasa Fujimoto is incredible, and easily one of my favorite wrestlers in the world. She can do comedy, but is at her best when going all out in no-nonsense competitive wrestling.

IMG_6224

Thankfully that’s what we got here, as she and Maki went to war for the REINA title (after some early mind game attempts by the challenger). This was my first (and likely only) time seeing Narumiya, who definitely impressed. She kept up with Fujimoto brilliantly and it’s a shame she’ll be retiring soon.

 

3. Arisa Nakajima vs Kayoko Haruyama

Simply phenomenal. They beat the high holy hell out of each other, with forearm shots that thundered through the crowd. Haruyama’s guillotine leg drop from the top rope with Arisa standing on the second is one of the most brutal looking moves I’ve seen, and I was totally marking out for every German suplex variation they threw at each other. Was extremely lucky to have seen a few of Haruyama’s last matches, and Arisa was everything I’d heard and more.

 

 

1 (tie). JWP Tag Title Match: Jumonji Sisters (c) (Dash Chisako and Sendai Sachiko) vs Best Friends (Tsukasa Fujimoto and Arisa Nakajima)

This was perhaps the most anticipated match of my trip, and it did not disappoint.

I’d only seen the Jumonjis and Arisa once before, but that was enough to know how good they are and what they’re capable of. As I’ve mentioned incessantly, Tsukasa Fujimoto is one of the most consistently incredible wrestlers on the planet. Put the four of them together and you get magic.

IMG_6605

They threw everything they could at each other for fifteen action packed minutes, including a variety of innovative and impressive double teams. This was exactly the fantastically worked, logical, and wowing spectacle I wanted, ending in a huge title change to boot. Would have easily been alone on top as my favorite match of the trip, if not for Best Friends tearing it up in another title match on a later show.

IMG_6654

1 (tie). Ice Ribbon Tag Title Match: Best Friends (c) (Tsukasa Fujimoto and Arisa Nakajima) vs Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata and Ryo Mizunami)

In addition to my adoration of Best Friends I am likewise a huge fan of Misaki Ohata, so was VERY excited for this tag title match at Ribbonmania.  It was as excellent as expected, and is neck and neck with Best Friends vs Jumonji Sisters as my favorite match of my trip.

 I hadn’t seen Mizunami much before, but she fit in perfectly and this was just fantastic. Neither my memory nor words can do this proper justice. See it yourself if you get a chance.

 

 

——-

I  was blessed to have such a great opportunity to visit Japan and see so much phenomenal wrestling. I hope you’ve enjoyed my look at the best of the best.

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Tokyo Joshi Pro 1/4/16 Live Thoughts

January 4, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan

The last show I saw before returning to the US was by Tokyo Joshi Pro. It wasn’t exactly my ideal way to end the trip.

I will start by admitting I am definitely not their target audience. The show was generally more about extra curricular activities and angles than the wrestling, and a good chunk of the action was extremely basic. The rest of the crowd was quite into the show, but even judging it on what it’s meant to be I personally felt they could have done better in a lot of respects. That said, there were also highlights and sparks of potential.

After a lengthy period of announcements, introductions, and angle advancement, the show started with Yu vs Nodoka Onesan. Well, after singing and dancing ring entrances that is. The match itself was kept very short, which probably wasn’t a bad idea for a double debut. They did ok, but did obviously miss a couple of spots.

I’m going to be brutally honest here – the second match felt like the longest 10 minutes of my life. The 3-Way Match between Nonoko, Hyper Misao, and MIZUHO went 9:45 minutes in match time, but the first third of it consisted of Misao on the mic seeming to stress heroic virtues while her opponents flaunted their respective chosen best features (Nonoko’s breasts and MIZUHO’s rear) behind her back. It just went on and on and on.

When she noticed and got angry the “wrestling” started, which consisted of offense exclusively based around ramming people’s heads into the aforementioned body parts. I don’t mind fanservice or sexual overtones when used well and sparingly, but by the third or forth variation each with little else it lost any humor and/or effect it had. Misao swinging Nonoko headfirst into MIZUHO from behind with MIZUHO on all fours and making aroused faces upon impact also goes a bit too far for me. Their audience enjoyed it, but I feel they could have chopped this whole thing in half without disappointing the fans who liked it and spared fans like me some eye rolling repetitiveness.

Rika Tatsumi and Marika Kobashi vs Erin and Azusa Takigawa was up next, and featured an array of easily identifiable stereotypical characters. We break again in the middle of the match for Azusa Takigawa to get a mic and decide to do running commentary from the apron. At least it fit her reporter character and seemed somewhat amusing. Action was good, if generally basic, but again as I was getting into things a spot would be noticeably blown taking me right back out. Rest of the crowd didn’t mind though. They reacted to a sequence of weak machine gun chops in the corner like they were watching Kobashi.

NOTE: at this point we were closing in on an hour and a half into the show with less than 25 minutes of match time (and keep in mind “match time” included lengthy impromptu promos and posing). Felt like I was suffering through a RAW taping.

Candice LeRae and Yuka Sakazaki took things up a bit during their match. There was still some goofiness, and a somewhat clever spot on the stage involving a string of balloons took them WAY too long to set up, but this was decent. Candice is solid and it was nice to see her in Japan, and Yuka did well and showed potential.

KANNA looked good in a short match against Ai Shimizu. It was my first time seeing either and I’d like to see what they could do with more time.

The semi-main was Saki Akai vs Poison Akane Miura, and it was easily the match of the night. This was a perfect example of how to do unrealistic elements and goofiness right, while still having great action. Muira’s manager, Poison Julie, has incredible presence and charisma and makes the absurdity of him using MAGICAL POWERS to distract / hinder Muira’s opponent enjoyable. Intense battle and good work from all parties, and a glimpse of what the whole show could have conceivably been with tightening and tweaking. Akai in particular was excellent, and I’d love to see more of her work.

In the main event Miyu Yamashita faced Shoko Nakajima to determine TJP’s first Tokyo Princess of Princess Champion. The video package shown hyping the match seemed to decently build up both contenders, but it was longer than any match outside of the one it was promoting. Simply ridiculous. Also, given the idol presentation and nature of the promotion, I thought only having one of the two participants sing and dance during her entrance pretty blatantly gave away the winner.

I’m glad they gave proper time to the main event, but I found the early part boring. They were trying hard but the sense of competition was missing and it felt like a sequence of moves rather than a match. It picked up significantly about halfway through though and ended up a suitable way to crown their inaugural champion.

 

This is a hard show to review. Their audience LOVED it. They were hot throughout, throwing steamers for nearly everyone, and excited. However I think that all could have been preserved while improving the show dramatically by addressing pacing issues. And some of the wrestlers just need more polish, which they’ll get with time.

Tokyo Joshi Pro knows it niche and plays to them extremely well, but there’s a lot of untapped potential they could also capitalize on if they wanted. I would certainly enjoy their shows more as a whole if they did.

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Wave 1/3/16 Live Thoughts

January 3, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan

My sole show at Shinjuku Face was also the only main roster Wave show I managed to see: Happy New Year Wave 2016. It felt somewhere in between REINA and JWP in tone and approach. Like the Wave Young Oh! show, the lighter antics were confined to the undercard and the main event remained an intense, competitive match.

The opener, ASUKA vs Hiroe Nagahama, was mostly fine on a technical level but seemed to be lacking something. Could just be a matter of experience.  ASUKA does stand out a bit against the rest of the roster, despite efforts to blend in.

Aoi Kizuki made her first Wave appearance teaming with Moeka Haruhi against Akane Fujita and Natsu Sumire in what could have been a hint to her announcement later the same day of going freelance. She had a good showing in a decent tag match, although is capable of more than she was able to show. There was a promo after the match that may have laid ground work for her future appearances.

Sumire’s gimmick is fine for her, but I’m not digging the pairing of her and Fujita. Akane was much more impressing in wrecking ball mode in the first match I saw her in than as Sumire’s twin.

Ryo Mizunami and Sawako Shimono vs Kaho Kobayashi and Rina Yamashita was a nice showcase for the younger team, who got a decisive and surprising upset victory. Both Rina and Kaho have been extremely impressive in every match I’ve seen them in. It was also interesting to see Mizunami in a tag match without her Avid Rival partner. The dynamic was quite different, which made sense and is a nice touch.

Given what an incredible technical wrestler Tsukasa Fujimoto is, it was different to see her in what was essentially a comedy / angle match against Yuki Miyazaki. She proved as adaptable as expected and as adept at this as everything else.

I couldn’t understand the mid-match promos, but the gist of what embarrassment Tsukka was trying to avoid was conveyed, and the match ended in a double countout when her “fears” were realized. Fine for what it was.

Fairy Nipponbashi, Hikaru Shida and Mika Iida vs Ayako Hamada, Yumi Oka and Yuu Yamagata was a well booked 6 woman tag, with the younger team dominated and overmatched but making the most of their openings and opportunities. Hamada seemed limited (possibly her shoulder injury lingering) and the heel edge didn’t really suit Yamagata’s style, but it was a good semi-main none-the-less.

The main event saw one of my personal favorites, Misaki Ohata, go one on one with the legendary Nanae Takahashi, who left Stardom, went freelance, and started her own promotion (Seadlinnng) summer 2015.

This was an excellent, hard hitting main event. Avid Rival’s tag title shot at Ribbon Mania was perhaps my favorite match of my trip, but it was also great to see Misaki in a high profile singles match. She went toe-to-toe with Nanae for an action packed 15 minutes.

After the match Ryo Mizunami came out, presumably to challenge the opponent her partner couldn’t defeat. Misaki had some things to say about that and there appeared to be Avid Rival’s usual banter going on. The show ended with a birthday celebration for Misaki, Akane, and Gami, including the traditional cake to their faces.

IMG_8013

A fun show featuring several wrestlers I didn’t get to see elsewhere with spotlights on several great performers. Didn’t quite achieve its full potential, but that’s mild criticism at best.

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Ice Ribbon 1/3/16 Live Thoughts

January 3, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan

I saw more Ice Ribbon than any other company during my trip, and their New Year’s show at the Ice Ribbon Dojo was a great way to wind down my visit (I only had one more show after this).

I love the atmosphere of Ice Ribbon’s dojo shows. It’s a unique venue that lends itself to fun shows. More details on that in my review of the first show I attended there. 

I was unclear at first about whether pictures were allowed during this show, so didn’t get any during the opening match between 235 and Kyuri. This was short but very good, with both competitors looking the best I’d seen without having a veteran in there to hold things together.

The second match was scheduled to be Miyako Matsumoto and Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Azure Revolution (Risa Sera and Maya Yukihi). I was looking forward to seeing two of my favorites team against an established duo, but it wasn’t to be (and I have no complaints about how things turned out). As the match started Miyako got the mic and apparently had some complaints about teaming with Tsukka. She grabbed Risa and rebooked the match herself through force of will and it became Miyako Matsumoto and Risa Sera vs Tsukasa Fujimoto and Maya Yukihi. Classic Miyako and it led to a ton of amusing moments. Tsukasa’s face when Miyako offered her the traditional pre-match handshake after ditching her was priceless. Tsukka’s incredible in every aspect of pro-wrestling and it was a treat to see her so many times during my trip.

This match had an ongoing stipulation where the ring announcer would state a letter, and pinfalls could only be attempted after a move starting with it. One of the highlights of it was Tsukasa and Maya pulling out Miyako’s own Mama Mia on her, then an irate Miyako retaliating with Super Mama Mia once the letter changed. Miyako was easily one of the most entertaining parts of my trip, as she knows exactly how to work her gimmick for maximum effect and amusement. Her running laps around the ring in excitement as a victory celebration (with Tsukasa trying to trip her on each pass until successful) was magnificent.

The main event was a six-woman tag featuring Hamuko Hoshi, Yuuka, and Maruko Nagasaki vs. Aoi Kizuki, Akane Fujita, and Mochi Miyagi. This was fun, serving to further set up the Butchers’ impending match for Hamuko’s title while allowing the other wrestlers to shine too. It was also a nice spotlight on former champion Aoi Kizuki, which made even more sense looking back after the roundtable.

In addition to the normal discussion of the show and the wrestlers’ upcoming appearances, Aoi Kizuki obviously made some sort of big announcement during the roundtable. I got a translation from Aoi herself after the show that it was her “graduation” from Ice Ribbon and she was going freelance after the 1/9 show. In retrospect there were a lot of little hints, such as her first appearance on a Wave show earlier in the day. Aoi is a favorite of mine and I wish her all the best in this next phase of her career.

I had heard a lot about Ice Ribbon from friends before my trip and it certainly lived up to my expectations. It has a phenomenal roster featuring a mix of veterans and up-and-comers that perform a great variety of match styles.

Happy New Year!

 

I enjoyed every Ice Ribbon show I attended and the opportunities to meet and support the wrestlers were much appreciated. The photo op with the whole roster is awesome and something I haven’t seen done elsewhere. I highly recommend IR in general, and even more so the opportunity to see them at their home base.

Categories
Food Japan Mystery Boxes Reviews

Japan Crate January 2016 Review

January is here and so I begin the year with another box of snacks and treats from Japan.

IMG_8492

As usual Japan Crate includes a booklet / mini-manga that explains what everything is and has various additional content. No DIY kit this month due to shipping issues, so a random surprise item was included in every crate. There were apparently a few big prizes mixed in. I got a squishy toy that looks like a face made of bread (so weird) and some decent chewy strawberry candies. Kudos to Japan Crate for always trying to make up for it when things don’t go quite right.

Now let’s look at the rest.

The Excellent

IMG_8496

I don’t know if I buy the Premium exclusive Gaba Infused Stress Relieving Milk Chocolate‘s extraneous claims, but it’s smooth and delicious chocolate none the less. Sparkling Orange Gummy is a great orange flavored candy, and my favorite snack item this month. Asahi Calpis Gummies capture the taste of the unique drink well, and have a distinct texture.

 

 

The Decent

Fit’s Strawberry & Cream Gum has a decent flavor that lasts a while and comes with a “Where’s Waldo” puzzle on the back. Hello Kitty Strawberry Pretzels and Milk Chocolate Pocky are exactly as would be expected.

IMG_8493

Pokemon Pineapple Candy chews like gum while dissolving to avoid the cultural taboo of removing food from one’s mouth. Love the idea and this was great to try. A different flavor and it would have been fantastic.

IMG_8495

This month’s Premium Crate’s drink is Sukitto Lemon C Drink. A simple, light lemon soda-like drink with vitamin C. Another premium exclusive this month is Pizza Pretz. A bit salty and tomato taste heavy for me, but decent overall.

IMG_8498

JU-C Short Cake are sugary “chip” candies. The short cake flavor included is good. Yam White Chocolates have a fudge-like consistency and are decent, which is a lot more than I expected of that particular combination.

 

 

The Meh

The two possible flavors of Usushi / Ume Potato Chips translate to “light salt” and “plum,” respectively. I got the former, so essentially plain potato chips. They were good for what they were, but anything I feel like I can get at my local US supermarket underwhelms me as a Japan Crate inclusion.

IMG_8494

Conclusion

A little disappointed that the number of Premium exclusive items were reduced, especially since one of them this month was Pretz (which is usually included in the lower tiers). The Gaba Chocolate was great though, so I’ll call it even. I like pocky and pretz, but three types of them and a bag of plain potato chips is not the kind of variety I look for in these crates.

Still, the other items were quite unique and several were unlike anything I’ve had before so even though this was the weakest Japan Crate for me so far I’m still satisfied enough with it.

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Ice Ribbon 12/31/15 Live Thoughts

December 31, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan

RibbonMania is Ice Ribbon’s big year end show, and one of the events I was most looking forward to. The biggest deals for me were Neko Nitta’s retirement match and ceremony and a tag tittle match involving three of my favorite wrestlers.

In addition to the usual bringing out the roster, the show started with a singing performance by Best Friends that fired up the crowd nicely.

Hiroyo Matsumoto, Makoto and Maruko Nagasaki vs Cherry, Hiroe Nagahama and Mika Iida was a fun opener with some nice six person spots, and an effective way to use numerous non-regular roster members to fill out the card. Yuuka vs Sareee was a nice spotlight on two young wrestlers with a lot of potential. Yuuka in particular really impressed me in her matches during my trip. 

The second musical performace of the show preceded the next match via Miyako Matsumoto’s band Black DPG. I enjoyed it and being only one song it was effectively just a longer than usual entrance for Miyako.

 Miyako and Jun Kasai vs Antonio Honda and Mochi Miyagi vs GENTARO and Yuji Hino was a great mix of Miyako’s unique and amusing antics and wild brawling. Although being her band remained ringside throughout and it was essentially no DQ they really should have gotten involved at some point.

I was unfamiliar with Buribato (SAKI and MIZUKI) before my trip, but will definitely be keeping an eye on them going forward as they’re great both individually and as a team. Their Number 1 Contendership match here against the likewise impressive Azure Revolution (Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera) was good, but the exchanges seemed awkward when Maya was in the ring and I feel these teams could do much better against each other.

For her last match Neko Nitta chose to team with 235 against Akane Fujita and Kyuri. This was a decent send off for Neko and it was nice to see her highlight the younger talent during her farewell to her short career.

The ceremony was a treat to be at live. I feel honored to have been there to say goodbye and wish her well. More thoughts on that here.   

While Tsukushi vs Ayako Hamada wasn’t quite the blow away encounter I expected, it was still extremely good. Hamada’s shoulder was taped and whether from injury or not it seemed she’s lost a step since I last saw her a couple years ago. No complaints overall though, as she and Tsukushi put on a solid match here regardless.

I consider Tsukasa Fujimoto one of the best wrestlers in the world today and am likewise a huge fan of Misaki Ohata and Arisa Nakajima, so was VERY excited for the Best Friends (Fujimoto and Nakajima) vs Avid Rival (Ohata and Ryo Mizunami) Tag Title Match. It didn’t disappoint, and this is neck and neck with Best Friends vs Jumonji Sisters as my favorite match of my entire trip.

I hadn’t seen Mizunami much before, but she fit in perfectly and this was just fantastic. Neither my memory nor words can do this proper justice. See it yourself if you get a chance.

The main event saw another favorite of mine defending her IcexInfinity Title as Aoi Kizuki (c) faced Hamuko Hoshi. I honestly am pretty “meh” on Hoshi, who had been just ok in previous matches I’d seen and had blown a couple spots I wouldn’t expect from someone of her experience. So I wasn’t thrilled with the outcome here, although with Aoi’s subsequent announcement of going freelance retaining wouldn’t have made sense.

Personal preference aside this match was a good main event. It had an unusual structure as they traded signature moves and attempted finishers early, which made things feel different and intense. Nice trick to use every so often. Hoshi looked like a monster by the end, largely due to throwing a billion lariats that Aoi sold like molten death. I hope we see more of this Hoshi and less of the one I saw on earlier shows as her title reign goes.

IMG_7622

When the biggest criticism I have of a show is that given the talent involved I know a few matches could have been even better I’d say things went well. Overall this was one of the best shows I saw, and a great year end spectacle for IR.

Categories
Board Games Reviews

Hostage Negotiator Board Game Review

Hostage Negotiator is the first strictly one player game I’ve bought (although I never play Onirim with more). While the main draw of gaming is generally social interaction and competition, there is room for games that are challenging and fun to play when I can’t get a group together.

hostage_box

Gameplay

The goal of Hostage Negotiator is to save hostages and capture or eliminate their abductor. Each round you play cards to increase your conversation level (which lets you perform certain actions and/or purchase more powerful cards), attempt rescues, and try to keep the abductor calm and the threat level low.

Almost every card involves a “threat check.” You roll a number of dice based on the current threat level (and modifiers) and resolve things based on the number of successes rolled. The custom dice are numbered as well as having helpful game symbols on them. 5s and 6s are always successes, and 4s can generally be changed to a success by discarding two cards. 1-3 are fails.

IMG_8501

After you’ve played all you can (or choose to) you can buy cards for future “conversations” (rounds). Then a terror card, which represents a key moment between “conversations” and generally escalates the danger is played. If you haven’t satisfied a win or loss condition and the terror deck hasn’t run out you start a new round.

You win when there are no more hostages being held, you’ve rescued at least half of them, and the abductor is captured or eliminated. You lose when over half the hostages are killed, the abductor escapes, or the round after the last terror card is revealed.

General Thoughts

So with die rolls as a central mechanic there is a lot of luck involved, but I feel there really has to be in a one player game to keep things variable and interesting. Hostage Negotiator provides numerous ways to mitigate and manipulate your odds, which is a nice compromise and is where a good deal of the strategy and depth comes from. There is definitely a feel of time pressure as the rounds dwindle and the abductor gets closer and closer to getting away.

IMG_8530

 

The game comes with three different abductors, each with their own demands and temperament, which encourage different play styles. Terror cards, escape demands, and abductor specific demands are randomly selected for each game. The cards available to the player don’t change, but they are varied and balanced well to give rise to numerous options and strategies. The rulebook even suggests some “career goals” which are decent self-challenges to try as you get better at the base game. This all combines to keep the game fresh. I’ve played over 20 games at this point and none of them have felt the same.

IMG_8531

Which leads to another point: while engaging and deep Hostage Negotiator still lives up to its box advertised 15-30 minutes of play time (sometimes less), making it great to have on hand for small amounts of free time.

And while I haven’t tried any of them yet, there are four expansion packs (so far) which add new abductors, a perfect way to continue to increase the game’s  appeal and longevity.

 

Overall

What started as a curiosity play quickly ended up sucking me in and resulting in a couple of hours passed and a continual compulsion for “one more game.” While I don’t think anything will ever take the place of gaming with an actual human opponent (or teammate), Hostage Negotiator is a fantastic single player experience and an easy recommendation.

 

Categories
Film

“You people. If there isn’t a movie about it, it’s not worth knowing, is it?”

Alan-Rickman

I’d love to be able to point to the exact moment Alan Rickman became my favorite actor, but there isn’t one. I loved him as the formidable Hans Gruber in Die Hard when I was in my teens and over time the more I saw him the more impressed I became until he was at the top of the list without me consciously realizing it.

alan-rickman-die-hard

He’s best known as Serverus Snape from the Harry Potter movies (and was excellent in them),  but it was earlier and smaller movies of his that made the biggest impact on me, often because of his incredible comedic ability. From the dry wit of Metatron in Dogma to the life-worn, frustrated Spock analogue in Galaxy Quest to a wonderfully subdued portrayal of Stephen Spurrier in Bottle Shock Rickman always brought the perfect balance to his characters and made them feel real while making the audience laugh.

rickman_bottle_shock

My personal favorite memory of Rickman is being lucky enough to see him live on broadway in Seminar, a fantastic play about a somewhat washed up author teaching a group of wannabe writers a thing or ten. It was an engaging play that provided intriguing characters while giving little glimpses into the process of writing commercially. The entire cast was excellent, but of course Rickman was the centerpiece and he was mesmerizing as expected. It’s a special treat to see great actors perform live, and that performance is one I’ll never forget.

seminar.on_.bway_

Rest in Peace Alan. We’ll miss you.

 

Categories
Japan Reviews Wrestling

Nyah! Saying Goodbye to Neko Nitta

IMG_7349IMG_7351IMG_7366

During my trip to Japan I had the opportunity to finally see Neko Nitta. It was somewhat bittersweet as it was during her final matches before retirement, but I was still happy to wish her well in whatever her future after wrestling holds.

 

I was impressed with all five matches I saw Neko in, and got to see a nice variety from her. From a Triangle Ribbon Title defense at the 1/19 IR dojo show to comedy matches at her and Risa’s events to a hardcore war main eventing her last dojo show to her last match highlighting some of IR’s younger talent, everything was compelling and entertaining. Her ability to adapt such a unique character to numerous different match styles and still make it work perfectly is incredible.

Japanese retirement shows are interesting events, full of ceremony and tradition. I was privileged to be able to attend three such shows while in Japan. Having been lucky enough to meet Neko at a couple of IR shows before Ribbonmania, it was particularly nice to be at her send off.

IMG_7356IMG_7360

 

 

While I don’t have the history of watching Neko I have with some of the other wrestlers I’ve said goodbye to in this blog, I am still a big fan and it was an honor to be able to meet her and witness her final matches live.

All the best.

IMG_6403