This is a 1996 game for the Sega Saturn game console. The premise for the game is that two kids, Clair Sinclair and Elliot Edwards, have nightmares when they go to sleep. Claire wants to sing and Elliot wants to play basketball, but their dreams turn to nightmares. Nights, a being who lives in the dream world, goes through their dreams to find these red bubbles that represent courage, and when you get through all of the levels, you eventually get to Wiseman, the ultimate bad guy, and have to try to defeat him to allow their dreams to come true.
To begin playing, you must choose either Claire or Elliot, and then using Nights, you travel through their dreams trying to get a high enough score to progress to the next level before the alarm clock wakes you up. There are seven levels in total with a mini boss after each level. As Nights you have to fly from left to right across the level, but other than that your movement is pretty much free, and you can gain points by executing several different acrobatic movements or loops while you get your points.
The game was really well received. A hand-held version came out and a sequel was made for the Wii in 2007. Also, a mini comic book series was released where Claire and Elliot meet up in the real world to save Nights. I really enjoyed playing it, and still do. It's colourful, imaginative, and creative. Even though it's a side scrolling game, so you can only move left to right, there is still a bit of freedom. There are a few secret passageways to find and a couple of shortcuts. All in all, one of my preferred games from childhood.
This anime is of the 'magical girl' genre, but unlike Sailor Moon or Cardcaptors or Shugo Chara, it's a bit darker.
For those who may be unfamiliar with this type of story, the magical girl genre involves stories about girls (usually ordinary girl next door type of girls) who are contacted by some magical being, and are given the choice to accept magical powers. They are then obligated to use these powers to combat evil magic already in the world, or to complete some task with their magic.
In this story, the girl's name is Madoka, and she is a sweet, good- hearted girl. She doesn't have anything that distinguishes her from any other girl... in fact, she may be lacking in several areas in comparison. Everything changes for her however, when a new exchange student transfers into her class. The girl stares at Madoka, who oddly enough had had a dream about her the previous night. The girl warns Madoka that if she values her friends and family, she should not make any changes to herself. Madoka of course finds this odd, but disregards it. Later that day, she hears a voice in her head calling out for help. The voice belongs to this cat-like creature, who the new transfer student is apparently trying to kill. Madoka and her friend are then exposed to the hidden world of witches and magical girls. The cat-like creature, named Kyubey, explains that he has the power to grant a chosen girl any one wish in the entire world. But in exchange for that wish, the girl must agree to become a magical girl, and devote her life to hunting down 'witches' or evil spirits that are the cause of many unexplained evils in the world. Madoka and her friend Sayaka are both chosen by Kyubey, and try to learn more about this world, to see if any wish they might make would be worth giving up their freedom, and maybe their lives. However, the transfer student is adamantly against Madoka becoming a magical girl, and does everything in her power to prevent this. Kyubey said that Madoka would be the more powerful magical girl who had ever existed to this point if she were to choose to turn. Is the new girl afraid of her power? Is there anything Madoka would wish for that would compensate for what she might lose? Why is someone as insignificant as Madoka so important in what seems to be the fate of the world?
As I said before, this is a darker manifestation of the magical girl genre. There is a very real possibility of death with every battle the girls may face, and indeed we witness several deaths. A couple, quite significant to the plot. The girls are fighting against these monsters, but they are also fighting against themselves for territory. If a girl kills a witch, she gets to cleanse her source of magic with what is left over from the witch, and if the girl doesn't do this, something bad may happen to her. As the story progresses, we find out that being a magical girl is not at all a fun thing, that a lot of sacrifice and heartbreak and loneliness results from the wish they make. We also learn that there may be more to the contract with Kyubey then we might have been initially told. The show deals with the idea of 'good deeds', and how much of yourself you would be willing to give for the benefit of someone else, without getting anything in return. It makes you wonder, is there anything you would want enough to sacrifice your life for, or at least your livelihood? Just how valuable are the relationships in your life? What would you give to keep them, or let them go? Just how much do you actually care about others? And more interestingly, what do you consider about yourself to be human? Your body?
An interesting, if not somber, show. The animation was interesting as well. The anime was very detailed at some points, but the scenes with the witches played around with animation styles. Another interesting thing about this show is that the main character of this 'magical girl' show, is for the most part, the only main character who is not a magical girl. It re-imagines the genre, and positions it for an older audience, who maybe grew up with the more traditional magical girl shows. It takes a little while to get into, but it brings a new level of complexity to the genre. It's only 12 episodes long and can be seen online.
This is an animated movie about an agency that has developed a device that allows an agent to go into a client's dreams and provide therapy. Things start to get strange however, when the dreams start getting out of control and begin trying to take over people's waking lives, even influencing the to kill themselves. Kind of sounds like Inception (2010), doesn't it. Doesn't it. Well, it's not exactly like Inception, but there are several similar themes.
Paprika is the dream form of a young woman whose job it is to help clients work out psychological problems by participating in and interacting with their dreams. The company she works for has developed a device that allows the company to see the client's dreams, and interact with them in their dreams, but this new technology is still in the trial period and has not been sanctioned by the government yet. The government decides that these devices are too dangerous to be on the market, but before they can remove these products, one of them is stolen, and is being used to drive some of the scientists to insanity, and even death. The dream world slowly begins to seep into the real world, and it's up to Paprika to overcome the obstacles put in her way to find who is behind this madness, and to stop it before it's too late.
This is an amazing movie. The plot is interesting of course, but I would recommend that you watch this more for the visual and aural experience, and I guarantee that that will be what you will take away from the film, and what you'll be talking about with your friends (if you are a loser like me and talk about films with your friends). Watching this film is like watching a moving canvas. Because it takes place in the dream world (and because it's Japanese) weird is ok, which makes for an amazing visual experience. I can't stress this enough, you'll be tripping even if you're sober. There are one of two disturbing scenes, the film is rated R, but if you're a mature adolescent or older, I'm sure you'll be just fine. The soundtrack is also amazing. I don't usually go out of my way to enjoy a soundtrack if the film is not a musical, but I listen to this soundtrack on a regular basis. It's high energy and quirky.
The movie starts off kind of slow, but once it gets going you'll be unable to tear your eyes away... maybe in a good way and maybe in a bad way... but you'll remember watching it either way.
