Nimble Strong is an anime themed drink mixing game. Yes, you read that correctly. The combo isn’t really that unheard of. Wasn’t there a bartender anime that came out a while ago? Anyway, you take the role of a complete bar noob. Part of the game is like a visual novel where you talk with customers and choose from one of two snarky responses. The game part of the game is where you mix drinks and are graded accordingly. There’s also a drink recipe thing that you can unlock with your tip money and a “survival” mode.

I could do without the visual novel part of the game myself. I think if the art had been better, I may have been more interested in the characters. The drink mixing part of the game is actually pretty fun. You hold down on a glass to add ingredients. Ice first, then liquor, then sweet stuff. You can also add a garnish if you want. The game makes use of some of the iPhone’s gimmicky features (you shake the phone to shake a martini).

The game grades you based on how accurate and fast you are with the drink. I think the level of tip that you get depends on how well you do. If you over pour or under pour, you’ll lose points. I would go on about the main mode, but I didn’t finish. I got to a place in the game where I’m supposed to make a Piña Colada for some robotic chick. The thing is she never accepts my drink. So either there is a bug in my version of the game or I’m horrible at Piña Coladas…

If you wanted a drink recipe app or wanted to learn more about mixology, I guess this game is of some use to you. I personally got kind of tired of mixing the drinks, because there wasn’t much variety besides pouring ice, and then liquids. It’s kind of a boring job if you don’t get to actually get real tips and mess with actual people. At least Burger Time had you running away from burger ingredients!

Also, I could never figure out why the game is called “Nimble Strong.” Because you need to be nimble, yet strong? Or is it like Strong Bad?

For $.99 I could definitely recommend this game. But for the $5 it’s at right now, you’d have to evaluate for yourself whether it’s worth it for a buggy game. Hopefully there’ll be a fix for whatever’s making my Pina Coladas go bad… There’s a light version of the game out as well, in case you want to try it first. Perhaps it’ll go on sale at some point.

Disclosure: Adam, the guy behind the game, sent me a promo code for a free copy of the game to review it. He didn’t offer me any money or drinks for a review, however

Edit: Adam wrote in to say:

I just want to point out that the Pina Colada bug isn’t actually a bug, it’s more of just a typo. In the recipe book for the game we just forgot to put ‘shaken’ – but since the mixing glass appears the majority of players are used to shaking drinks with mixing glasses and juices inside anyway (that it’s shaken is also mentioned in the dialogue prior to the drink)

It’ll definitely be fixed, but I don’t think this qualifies the whole game as being ‘buggy’ – if you could write a small update I’d really appreciate it

I think at that point in the game I was kind of running on autopilot (it was kinda late) and didn’t notice the glasses, reference, etc. I still think this qualifies as a bug, however, as the recipe book states what is necessary to “beat” the stage and in this case, it is wrong. As for whether the whole game is buggy, no, it is not, but the fact that I couldn’t progress means it was a pri 0 bug as far as I am concerned.

It’s good to see that it’ll be fixed. I still consider it a great $1 or $2 app, but I don’t see enough to warrant the current $5 price point. (For $1, Angry Birds is the shiznit!)

Friend Zone Handshake Agreement

Later, Junichi and his buddy meet up with Morishima and her… caretaker? Her pal seems more like a mother or something, keeping her out of trouble. Junichi’s friend does a horrible job as wingman as they walk home from school together. He should’ve neutralized the threat and left Morishima and Junichi alone together…

Oh god Morishima is hot

After a note throwing fight with the big hair girl, Junichi is stuck with cleanup duty, but is quickly convinced by Morishima to help her find a swimsuit. Then we get to meet the hot swim team frosh. Oh, and then they go to the library so Morishima can talk with his debu osananajimi. Personally, I think she could be drinking whole milk if she wanted to.

Not gonna buy you a diamond ring, that kinda gift don't mean anything

Back at the library, Morishima falls asleep, so like a good tool, Junichi waits for her to wake up, then confesses again! Protip: wait at least another day to confess to the girl who just rejected you. Morishima then agrees that it’s okay for Junichi to like her. WTF? She gives him a kiss on the forehead, which is like the kiss of death that is banishing Junichi to the friend zone forever. Only he doesn’t realize it yet. I kinda feel bad for him.

Beware the kiss of relationship death

Thoughts:

I like that Morishima lists the traits she finds appealing in men, and none of them describe Junichi at all.

If Morishima keeps up using random English, she could be the next TK.

Junichi needs to back off a bit, since he’s basically being a tool to Morishima. He should hit on his fat friend a little to make her jealous, then break it off and rebound onto Morishima.

I actually sorta feel like I could relate to this Junichi guy, but I also feel he’s doing pretty badly. This is probably why Amagami SS is so entertaining for me to watch. It’s like watching a train wreck, but one that resets and starts over and over again!

It’s been a while since I updated my Mikan Watch series… like three years? Oh well.

I was watching Kamichu with my girlfriend and I spotted a mikan box in episode three at around the 5:40 mark. I tried explaining to her that they’re kind of like easter eggs, and I’d point them out in other anime. I think she just wanted to continue watching the show, though.

This mikan box is a bit boring, because it doesn’t even have a picture of a mikan on it.

Amagami is the other Summer season anime that I decided to check out. It’s a pretty standard dating simulator to anime conversion, though apparently it hits each girl’s arc, so you can see what the main guy would do in alternate timelines. Either that or he’s just a major player.

Junichi starts his day off in his closet panic room planetarium. He can’t get over being stood up two years ago on Christmas eve. Note: Christmas Eve is sort of like Valentine’s Day here. You need to have a date, otherwise you’re a loser who just waits for Santa to bring you stuff.

A variety of the six girls who appear in the OP show up in this episode, but the arc belongs to Morishima, the school idol and class president. Junichi does something nice for a freshman, and Morishima notices. What follows is a bit of luck and a bit of stalking (by Morishima, actually). Junichi is probably too gun shy to hit on Morishima, but she makes it easy for him by running into him at the library and jumping onto his back (literally).

There are a few warning signs that Junichi is headed into the Friend Zone, though. Morishima keeps saying he’s a nice guy. FRIEND ZONE! She also uses him to carry books and whatnot. She’s just testing how much she can get away with by messing with him. Probably self esteem issues or something. When she mildly suggests that he might have taken a liking to her, Junichi jumps the gun and confesses. He obviously should have acted like a douche instead, because Morishima tells him she prefers older types. This sends Junichi back into his closet planetarium fetal zone for the count. Or at least for the episode.

I’m guessing that Junichi will use his persistence to prove to Morishima that he deserves to play in the major leagues. I don’t envy him though, as getting out of the friend zone is an uphill battle. Probably better to just hit on one of the other girls.

As far as the episode went, I liked the art and the character designs. I noticed that the characters all seem to have pretty large waists. It’s probably a more realistic design, but they seem kinda awkward. Also, there is no megane character as a love interest. Unless one of the girls develops an astigmatism, I will be very unhappy. Amagami SS is generally pretty cliche, but I think it could be worth it given the quick turnaround per girl and cute character designs (Nice choice grabbing Morishima first, Junichi)!

Also, more evidence for picking Morishima:

TENSO

Oh, there she is. I found her.

For a random crazy sister anime (apparently the director of Minami-ke is on this one, too), Mitsudomoe is about right. There’s the genki one, the evil one, and the studious one (which doesn’t necessarily make her good).

Also, I think the title has a meaning, but I’m gonna make up my own. Let’s break it down. Mitsu = 3. That makes sense, three sisters. sudo = sudo cause havok. moe = the kids are moe? Not really, but I needed to use the “moe” part somehow.

The gag of the episode was the kids naming their pet hamster “nipple,” then a lot of Three’s Company style humor with the hot nurse misunderstanding the kids talking about nipple getting sore from too much touching, etc.

This one got a few laughs out of me, so I’ll keep watching it as time permits.

Well, that takes care of Angel Beats! After getting rid of the smoke monsters, Yuri wakes up and everyone has already moved on. Way to thank your fearless leader, guys! The only ones left are Otonashi, Hinata, Fake Potter Guy, Yuri and Kanade. They have a fake graduation ceremony and then “move on,” one by one. I have a feeling the ceremony would have had a greater effect on me, had I graduated from a Japanese high school. They really sing school theme songs and that one universal Japanese graduation song?

The last two to go are Otonashi and Kanade, obviously. Otonashi decides to get cold feet and proposes that he and Kanade just chill in the purgatory world. He uses the excuse of wanting to help other poor souls, but we all know he just wants to take advantage of alone time with Kanade! Oh, and then Kanade tells him she already has his heart. Which is not a euphemism. His donor heart went to Kanade. She just went to the high school for the dead to say thanks. Hopefully the reason she died as a highschooler was not because Otonashi’s heart turned out to be a dud. “Thank a whole bunch for giving me a heart that just failed after a few years!”

It seems like fate is nice in this series, and everyone gets reincarnated and gets to live a happier life the next time around, as shown in the epilogue. All’s well that ends well, I guess (which is hard to determine with reincarnation).

Angel Beats kind of reminds me of a Japanese film called “After Life.” It also features a pretty mundane afterlife, though with a twist on “moving on.” You should check it out if you liked Angel Beats!

Overall, Angel Beats was pretty darn good. It’s the first anime that I’ve followed on a per week basis regularly and actually finished. I feel it could’ve worked well as a longer series though, since many of the characters had no backstory at all, and so their personalities just seemed forced with no reasoning behind them. And what was up with TK? I guess we’ll never know. Unless there’s a spinoff.

Where have I seen this before? Oh, right, the last Matrix movie did this. Remember the horrible ending where Neo met the Architect guy and he explained everything but it really made no sense at all? And the exact same thing happened in this episode of Angel Beats! Apparently love blooming on the battlefield (like Metal Gear Solid!?) causes bugs in the Matrix…

The next episode is called “Graduation” so I’m guessing everyone gets fulfilled and the school ends up resembling Conway’s Game of Life with only NPCs hanging out and interacting with each other.

Angel Beats is still pretty good, but has anyone noticed the production values going downhill? Look at the side of fake pottery guy’s hands!

Also, I guess it is sort of annoying that things seem to be going nowhere and we’re still stuck wondering about Angel and her “Angel Manual.” If this is all a computer program I’m gonna be pissed!

Hey all,

My first iPhone app is now available. Get Anime Nano for free on the iTunes App Store!

Oh, and go here for more details on the app itself.

Angel Beats is actually a pretty entertaining and funny show. People seem to be enjoying it more for trying to figure out what it’s about, but I kinda like the characters and the random stuff that happens in any given episode.

This week, the Girl Dead Monster band is on hiatus while looking for a new lead vocalist. So the boss makes everyone play in the baseball tournament instead. Main dead guy and the gar for main dead guy start recruiting for a team. I can’t remember anyone’s name, btw, so I’ll just describe them. They end up getting annoying little girl, ninja girl and spear guy. Plus a few other generic cute girls who don’t mind balls being thrown at their faces.

I’m starting to think of Angel Beats as a sort of Anime version of Lost. We get to learn about the tragic pasts of all the characters. And I don’t doubt all of them have tragic pasts. They are all dead high schoolers, after all. Between the tragedy there’s lots of fun gag humor like the dude putting the annoying girl into a headlock repeatedly. Angel Beats seems pretty self-aware in that we all know the girl is annoying and enjoy seeing her get into a headlock. And main guy already suspects that people leave the island world when they fulfill what they couldn’t in real life. So the anime is now using that suspicion to its advantage by pulling the football from us, Charlie Brown style, right before gar guy catches the game winning fly ball.

This episode seemed like a bit of a filler, so hopefully there’s more plot moving forward. I was pretty happy with the humor in this episode, at least.