Touhou for Beginners: Playing With Safespots

Phew... such a long hiatus due to some issues on my hardware. 

Alright. still alive and managed to jump back into the depth of Gensokyo, I'm here to tell you guys about this.... so beautiful, so magical phenomenon called "safespots".

What exactly is safespot? safe spots! A special sanctruary that shelters the player fro,m getting hit by bullets... AT ALL. Sounds crazy right? Trusrt me, there are several safespots that can be found in the game.

Beforewe get to the main point, lets learn more about safespots and their nature. some danmaku will have a fixed pattern. some might change depending on time and health. I'm not really sure if it was intended by ZUN himself or it is a flaw in his programming that causes some danmaku to have a tiny spot where it is totally safe to stay there without moving. Who cares, f it makes the game easier then why not?

There are multiple examples of safespots But I will show the ones that are confirmed to be able to be obtained consistently. 

1st clip, TH08 (Extra Stage)

I should say one of the easiest to be done. Only works using Reimu/ Yukari.  Immediately move to the bottom left edge of the screen when the final fairy appears. Possible to be done with other characters but the position need to be shifted slightly to the right.

2nd Clip, TH06 )Extra Stage)

Not as easy as the 1st clip but can be done quickly with practice. At the 6th spellcard named Starbow Break, Quickly move tro the top left edge of the screen and move very slightly to the right which is by the size of the player's hitbox..

3rd clip, TH07 (Extra Stage)

This is a tricky one. The timing for this safespot is very crucial because there are 2 phase for the player to reposition. One is for the beginning of the spellcard and the other one is when the boss starts firing the Round red bullets.Plus, if you move too much, so as the boss and it will ultimately disrupts the safespot and the bullet direction becomes non uniform, making it even harder to dodge the bullets.

There are also several safespots in the normal stage but it is even harder to achieve than the ones in the clip... except for one which made Cirno famous.

TH06 Easy mode, Stage 2. Just stand on front opf her during her 1st spellcard. Try it. 

There should be even more safespots that are yet to be discovered. However, not all of them are easily done. Some of it do helps you win the game but mostly it is just for fun. It wouldn't hurt to test it out though.

Next review should be up by next week so stay tuned. Bye!

Natsume Yuujinchou: A General Outlook

Wolvenciel here. I'm writing this post in advance as I'm having something going on right now. I'd like to keep my mind off of it so here comes a half-assed post.

Hey there guys. Sorry for the long hiatus. I was... yeah I have something up. But now I'm free. So look forward to that I guess?

This is half of the characters for season 1. Just saying. (Taken from awyeahnatsumeyuujinchou.tumblr.com )

So this is just my opinion on Natsume Yuujinchou. I'll do a season-by-season review or a full anime review or anything of the sort if anyone is interested or anything but as it stands... yeah. Maybe if I ran out of stuff to write about eh?

A shot of both natsumes.

So if you're wondering what kind of post this is, take it like a simple summary of the Natsume Yuujinchou series and how I see them. So first of all, what is it about?

Who's This Guy?

Natsume Yuujinchou tells you the daily life of Natsume Takashi (I REALLY REALLY LOVE THIS NAME IT SOUNDS SOOOO CLASSIC) a boy who can see youkais and talk to them and stuff. This weird power is inherited by him from his grandmother, Natsume Reiko. Now, in his early childhood this sorry bastard didn't know what was what. One day he just up and saw all of em creepy shit all around him and as a child everything really goes rock bottom for him.

How It Began

His parents died early so he was taken care of by his relatives and due to his "There's someone else here" and "I saw something hanging at the window" outbursts (because truth be told, even I would literally scream my head off and ask for help from everyone near me if some long-necked woman was staring the hell outta me) he was often passed around among his relatives. Yes, they said he was an omen of bad luck and the such. You know the drill with these things, right?

He smiles like Gin from Bleach. Its a bit fake don't you think?

 Eventually someone who was acquainted with his grandmother from the past took him in and now he's trying to live a youkai-filled life without his guardians knowing it coz he ain't gonna move no more. Yeah sorry if you wanna see the guy's guardians you go watch season 1 or something I ain't got the pictures here.

This fluffy lump of cuteness... Is a youkai called Madara (and a lot of other names too)

Natsume Reiko (The Grandmother)

You might ask, "He's had so much trouble with the youkai in the past, so why the heck did he still bother with them?". The thing is, the place that he's staying at right now happens to be a place where his grandmother did a lot of spelunking and running around beating the crap out of other youkais. Have you heard the saying "Kicking butts and taking names"? That saying perfectly fits this situation.

So cute. Am I right?

It turns out, Natsume's grandmother was a lean mean fighting machine and strong spiritual powers to boot. She kicked all the youkais' assess and took their names (literally) and put them in a book she called yuujinchou (the book of friends). So when the youkais in the area smelled Natsume (according to them he and his grandma smelled the same), they rushed to him and begged/strong-armed/swindled/blackmailed/threatened him just so they could have their names returned.

The Significance of a Name

According to Madara, a youkai's name symbolizes its very being. If someone were to take a youkai's name, the person would have complete control over it. What's more, if anything were to happen to the paper of which the name is written on, it affects the youkai directly (if the paper burns, the youkai burns etcetera etcetera).

Madara's True Form

Of Natsume And Madara

Natsume made a pact with Madara (more like a mutual agreement) that Madara shall protect him for as long as he lives and the moment he dies, Madara gets the book. Now if you still didn't get the value of the book yet, the book is FILLED TO THE BRIM with a lot of youkai names. From the weakest will-o-wisps to deities that can break man-made seals with a flick of a finger.

So yeah. Of course Madara wants it too. At first he decided to take it by force but things happened, and he decided to go with Natsume's decision of returning the names of every youkai in the book.

Yes the cat is the focus of the show. Not Natsume. Mmm. No I'm kidding. Both of them are main characters.

My Words (Read This)

I watched this show with no expectations at all in the beginning. I thought it was a dark depressing, betrayal-filled anime because it involved cunning conniving youkais. I was wrong. The show was very lighthearted and though it does have its fair share of malevolent youkais and all that, for the most part of the show its about Natsume going through life encountering these creatures. Sometimes he helps them... Wait. That's wrong. Its always him that helps the youkai. Both willingly and unwillingly. Sometimes you just can't tell the difference anymore.

Judging by what I said, I'm sure you realize that this is one slow-paced anime. Yes. It is really slow-paced and it doesn't really have much of a clear plot. So you just watch each episode independently and by the end of one episode, you'll wonder what will he find next. What will he see? Where will he go? If I had to give an example, Natsume Yuujinchou has a slower pace than even Barakamon

Oh. Because the anime has like four seasons, you can see how Natsume changes over time. He was a bit cold and secretive in the beginning but you'll see him open up bit by bit as he goes around and meet new people (and youkais. Lots and lots of youkais) and share a bond with them. So yeah. Its... mighty peaceful I tell you.

Last Thing (IMPORTANT)

One thing I can't let go before wrapping up is the soundtrack. Okay first of all the sountrack in the anime itself is mostly comical and weird. Like a youkai. The one I'm wanting you to direct your attention to is the opening and ending songs. You know when you like the songs so much you can't even skip them every time you watch the anime? This is one of them. The first season's opening song is so damn meaningful and beautiful I can't get it out of my head. It was like its telling you what the anime is about.

The ending song is just like that. A nostalgic wind blowing as you lie on the lush green field.

Don't even get me started on the ending song. I'm somewhat of a classical junkie. So it got me hard. This is just my personal preference though. If you don't like it, don't kill me.

So yeah. If you want a more in-depth review or something just tell me. Hell, ask me about this. I BEG YOU. ASK ME.

Okay bye.