Hunter X Hunter: The Chimera Ant - Review

Hunter X Hunter (manga author is Yoshihiro Togashi) is one of my favourite animes which I watched during my childhood time (although it clearly is not suitable for children, hahaha). Like Naruto, it is a still ongoing series so far ended with the Chimera Ant story arc and the 13th Hunter Association Election story arc is following. I didn't watch every single episode and left out some in the previous story arcs but this one, the Chimera Ant story arc is definitely an impressive one after the Yorknew City story arc where the story surrounds Kurapika, the only member in Kurta clan who survived brutal attack from the Phantom Troupe and wants to get back all the scarlet eyes of the died clan members. It may sound complicated for those who have not watch any of the story arcs but you are encouraged to watch starting from the first episode until the last one (anime marathon!).

The Queen Chimera Ant.
(Image taken from Next Generation Filipino website)

Spoiler Alert!

A very deep philosophy is embedded in the Chimera Ant story arc regarding humanity. It started with an injured Queen Chimera Ant being stranded on an island called Neo Green Life, a country which forbids the usage of modern technologies (despite of secret production of weapon by the government). The one characteristic of the Chimera Ants which is special and also deadly in long term is, they reproduce using the method of Phagogenesis, where the Queen will reproduce selectively by combining the genes of the animals eaten with her genes, that a more powerful offspring will be produced. This sounds like a genetic modified organism (GMO) and indeed it is. The disaster of mankind begins when the Queen first tasted human and she started to request her soldier ants to bring her humans only for her food in order for her to produce stronger soldiers and eventually the King as the ruler of the world.

The King Chimera Ant named Meruem. He looks like a character from Dragon Ball though.
(Image take from My Anime List website)

This story arc emphasizes how destructive humanity is. Yeah we have seen in the reality where there are wars, crimes, abuses etc. and certainly we do not need reminder of those kind of things which we have gotten used to as they often show up in news. So the author used another channel to deliver the message. The consequences of animals becoming more clever are being portrayed in many scientific horror movies such as the Deep Blue Sea. Thus having a human intelligence is beyond imagination. Upon obtaining human intelligences, the Chimera Ant colony grows stronger and stronger until they develop the ability to take over human on top of the food chain. Chimera Ant is a species of ants (fictional) which lives in colony just like other species of ants where they show unshaken loyalty towards the Queen or King. They live and die for the Queen (or King if there is any), carrying out any command given. Even before the interruption of human genes, a colony of Chimera Ants is able to wipe out the entire population of other species of organisms on Earth with their military-like system.

Dead original Chimera Ant soldiers.
(Image taken from Lost in America website)

Despite the human intelligence that makes them undefeatable, eventually humanity also causes the corruption of the whole colony. The ants develop human ego-ness that each of them want to have their own unique name which differentiate every individual. This ego-ness even generate thoughts of wanting to take over the throne of the Chimera Ant and be the King instead of merely being a soldier ant for the rest of their life. Selflessness fades among the ants and that is the beginning of the destruction of the colony when the loyalty towards the Queen shatters. Chimera Ant's nature is cruel that they will do anything to assist the King in concurring the world. Humans are only livestock to them, which will be slaughter as food just like what humans do to animals. So there is no empathy towards human lives. However, after the King's encounter with a blind girl named Komugi, he slowly developed a kind heart towards humans that he is willing to spare some humans' lives instead of killing everyone. This is a bad sign towards the Chimera Ant colony because that human personality should not exist in them especially the King.

The Poor Man's Rose.
(Image taken from hunterxhunter.wikia.com/)

The ending of this story arc is expected but yet unexpected. The Chimera Ant will be defeated of course, but how? The King survives the disastrous Poor Man's Rose explosion but he and his royal guards are infected by a poison without realising the explosion is actually a bioweapon which will ensure no survival of the victims. At the last moment of the King's life, he chooses to spend the time with Komugi, the only human that he cares of in the world and dies. Human is the reason of the rise of Chimera Ant, human is also the reason the fall of the colony. I found the ending beautiful, but am disgusted by the idea of bioweapon like what happened in the history.

Human, is human.

Blessing in Disguise!

Sometimes blessings come when you are too upset to be aware of their presence. Being optimistic is difficult for most people, including me. Here is a blessing in disguise that is worth sharing which happens to me since the starting of the semester. I used to look forward to the starting of the semester during last semester break, but this news broke the bubble - all the seniors have to stay in three blocks in the college only, the other two will be reserved for juniors. Why? There is a renovation going on around the college where all the wooden tables and wooden cupboards will be replaced with new ones! So what's the problem? The problem is all the old furnitures were sent away while the new ones have not arrived!

So I got a room at the corner of top floor. Moving from the group floor to the top floor is not a good thing, both mentally and physically. Last semester, I could just walk out of the block without going down the stairs, and walk back to my room without going up the staisr. I could hang my clothes beside the block where there is plenty of sunlight. I could get hot water and drinking water in less than 50m distance. But now I have to brave through flights of stairs to get up or go down, whenever I need to go to classes or meetings or just for a meal. It really felt like a lemon given to my life. However, eventually I found out the tiny blessings embedded in this unlucky life of staying in the room I am currently living in. First of all, my room locates at the corner of the block, where there will be no one passing by my room, giving me privacy and quietness which is a peace in mind. Secondly, I don't have to worry if my clothes hanging out there will get soaked by water dripping from clothes hanging upstairs since I am on the top floor (I might be the culprit who do that to others though). Thirdly, I get to do more exercises which are actually good for my health because I have sinus which needs good immunity to prevent it from happening. I walk the stairs, I cycle to classes and I do Wushu (if possible) to keep myself in good shape (and optimum weight too, hehe).

Here's the end of my first post after survived one month in my second years. There are lots of changes going on and I won't stop praying so that I can face every good things and bad things alike with a joyful heart!

See it at the correct angle. Everything can be beautiful.

Bad Dream: Hospital - Walkthrough [how to get another ending]

(Screenshot)

SPOILERS BELOW
Yeah I skipped the walkthrough of Bad Dream: Graveyard because I don't find it necessary to give any help in finishing the game since there is only one ending and you will have no problem in finishing it. Instead of losing your fingers in Bad Dream: Butcher, your teddy bear will lose its limbs and body and at the end...everyone will be beheaded and you stick your teddy bear's head on a dead body. I don't get what it means either, just enjoy the weirdness, hahaha. So for this episode, the background is a mental hospital (as expected) and you are required to do colouring on a picture. The normal ending people will get is by colouring the picture with poop, urine, blood, vomit etc. *eww* and realise that you will get a box of crayons at the end of the game actually *speechless*. You will be told that you can try to get another ending by colouring with crayons only. It's pretty easy to reach that ending as long as you behave normally. Don't touch the blood, don't touch the vomit, don't stab anyone. 

1) Look at the piece of paper beside the door

2) Go out of your room (it's room 15), go into WC

3) Touch everything EXCEPT the toilet

4) Go back to the corridor, go up the corridor, enter the cafeteria on your left

5) Get the empty bucket, go back to WC

6) Fill the bucket with water at the sink, flush the toilet

7) Pick up the key, go to room 14 (opposite of cafeteria)

8) Pick up the knife and dirty plate, don't do anything else

9) Go to cafeteria, put the knife and plate on the counter

10) Go back to corridor, go up the corridor, enter room 13

11) Take the sticker on the guy's tshirt, don't do anything else

12) Go back to WC, place the sticker over the eye on the wall

13) Fill the bucket at the sink again, go to cafeteria

14) Enter the previously locked door, pick up the rag on the crate

15) Go to room 13, clean up the vomit

16) Dispose of the dirty rag into any dustbin (there is one in the cafeteria, one in WC, you can find it somewhere else)

17) Go back to the corridor in front of room 13 (you will see a nurse there), go up the corridor

18) Enter room 12, pick up the needle on the floor, don't do anything else

19) Go back to corridor, go up the corridor, enter the room on the left

20) Pick up the key, enter the room opposite to room 12

21) Pick up the stethoscope on the table, the thread on top of the shelf, don't do anything else

22) Give the stethoscope to the nurse, go down the corridor until you see a vending machine

23) Get urine sample from the vending machine, flush it down the toilet

24) Go to the room inside cafeteria, fill the container up with poison

25) Go to the room where you get the last key, poison the snake-like monster

26) Get a thermometer from the dead body, go back to the corridor

27) Place the thermometer at the heater below the window, show the thermometer to the nurse

28) Go back to the room where you got the thermometer, give the nurse the needle and thread

29) Go back to the corridor, enter the Day Room

30) Pick up the crayons and go back to your room to finish the colouring

The mad doctor appears as soon as you finish colouring. Got this screenshot just in time.
(Screenshot)

I don't understand this...
(Screenshot)

Bad Dream: Butcher - Walkthrough [how to prevent losing any finger]

(Screenshot)

SPOILERS BELOW
Cheating is bad, but I still do it when playing computer games, hahaha... However for indie games it is quite difficult to get a written walkthrough that we have to go through the forum to see if somebody has posted about it. So after many many times of trying, I manage to note down step by step of how to prevent your finger from being chopped off in Bad Dream: Butcher (and yeah I did refer to forums when I was stuck). You are encouraged to try the whole game at least once on your own. Besides following the instruction below, do not touch anything else on the screen because it might cause you to lose a finger. When the butcher appears, don't panic, escape calmly.

1) Go into the tunnel, then go to the left hand side of the door 73
[Do not touch the shattered glass on the floor]

2) At the graveyard, pick up the twig

3) Go back to the place at the beginning, then go to your right
[Do not touch the monster]

4) Pick up the hammer

5) Search the right bin (the one without the monster sitting on it) for key of door 33

6) Go to the right, search the bin to get maggot

7) Go to the right again, then enter the tunnel*, pick up the cooking glove

8) Go back to the beginning place, pick up the sharp glass on the floor

9) Go back to the place where you got the glove, pierce the eye on the wall

10) Exit the tunnel*, enter the door on the right which is now open

11) Go upstairs, pick up the key on the shelf on your right

12) Cut the rope of the hanging man, get into the hole appears

13) Pick up the coiled wire on your left, pick up the shovel hung on the wall

14) Leave the whole building, click on the left side of the building
[Pick any one out of the four key on the floor then open the door, if fail, try another key]

15) Go to the left, open the door 51

16) Pick up the mouse trap after using the twig

17) Leave the house and go to the graveyard

18) Dig the grave
[go to the right, when you see the door go to the left instead of right (that is a mirror image, you will notice that if you see the inverted door number), then go to the right]

19) Go back to the graveyard, get the key from the skull

20) Use the key to open the door 73, pick up the key on the bed

21) Use the key to open the bakery door, pick up a twine

22) Go back to door 33
[Do not touch the box with question marks]

23) Catch a rat at the hole

24) Bring that rat to the monster

25) Search the bin previously beneath the monster to get a hook

26) Go back to the beginning place, use the wire on the pipe, get the wet rag

27) Go back to door 73, get a fish from the toilet bowl

28) Get the pot on the stove

29) Fill the pot with the water from the pipe

30) Go back to door 51, place the pot on the stove, put in the dead fish

(Screenshot)

Ambition versus Occupation

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the definition of the word 'ambition' is something that you want to do or achieve very much. I believe that many of us have written an essay entitled 'My Ambition' at least once during our primary school time but instead of writing what we want to do in the future, we ended up writing about the position we want to hold (a.k.a. occupation). Although we were just a child we were still able to choose one particular occupation mainly because we have heard of it or have seen it either in real life or on TV. So, our target after growing up was to get a professional job such as doctor, lawyer, architect, engineer, scientist, teacher, accountant etc. and we were happy about the ambition.

There is a stereotype saying that we must get good results during our school days to secure a place in the university and get a 'good' course so that we can get a promising job after we graduate. However, when we come to the time to choose a course that we want to pursue, we are often guided by people's opinion about that particular course and also our personal instinct that built up since we were young. We had not heard about things like Material Science or Forestry which are not popular, we think that the requirements to get Biotechnology or Environmental Science are quite low and since we got a better results we should aim 'higher', we heard that graduates from Pure Sciences become salesman or even jobless. To be safe, we are willing to compete with thousands of people for the limited seats in popular courses, sometimes not because that it is our dream but because of people's expectation towards us.

An ambition should not be defined as the course you want to study or the job you want to have. It is something you are passionate about and you want to do it to achieve a satisfaction in your life. If you want to teach and unfortunately you didn't get the Education course, you can still be an educator with what you have studied during university time. If you want to reduce people's suffering because of diseases and unfortunately you didn't get the Medicine course, you still can reach the aim by getting into Environmental Health, Biomedicine or even Biotechnology by developing something beneficial to the public. If you want to care for animal's welfare and health and unfortunately you didn't get the Veterinary course, Animal Science and Zoology can lead to the same dream, too! The only difference that you didn't get that particular course but getting something else is, you will not be called a teacher or doctor after you graduate and people may not look up at you with the degree you are holding. However, if you compare the two things, you want to do what you want to do, or do you just want to have the glamour?

It could be weird when people ask you what is your dream and you answer, ''I want to become a chemical engineer.''. And when they ask you for the reason, you couldn't answer it properly because you do not exactly know what a chemical engineer do. Being someone should not be an ambition, it should be what you want to do so that you can benefit yourself and the society in the future. Think wisely before you make the decision. Cheers!



[Disclaimer: This article serves as an advice for students when choosing the path they want to go in the future. I have no intention to offend anyone. Holding on to an ambition as we live is a motivation for us to contribute more to the society. By the way, congratulation for those who are one step closer to their dreams.]

So You Are A Top Scorer?

There is always a stereotype saying ‘Medicine, dentistry and pharmacy are meant for the top scorers in examinations,', I do not deny the statement because you really need to be intelligent and hardworking to be in those so called critical courses or else you will not be able to survive through the tough years. And then, after the UPU results were announced, complaints arises on TV, in newspapers or on social networks with the same issue: 4.0 scorers did not get the offer for medicine, dentistry or pharmacy in so and so university (usually these three).

Before we argue about whether or not you should get it because you are a top scorer, everyone knows that there are very limited places in universities for critical courses. Why? Because our society cannot end up with over-flowing number of doctors or dentists or pharmacist who might not actually be needed. Just imagine half of the total number of university graduates are doctors, will there be enough hospitals and clinics to house them? What about other industries that require fresh graduates to keep going? Graduates from medical or dental schools usually can only work as doctors or dentists, it is quite impossible for them to work in agricultural or petroleum sectors. When a company is hiring someone to work for them, for sure the places are fixed and limited. They cannot hire employees more than they need. If you want to get hired, impress the interviewers. Everyone going for these courses is having the best results in their hand, and only certain number of them is going to grab the place after going through the interview (in University Malaya, for instance). Do not blame anyone if you do not get the place since every competitor is good, maybe you are just not as good as them.

When it comes to 'unfair' university intakes, people start to point out that it is the ''colour's' fault. I really do not want to talk about racism but this is kinda unavoidable. Top scorers do not consist of only one race of people, and skin colour does not influence how our brains work. Thinking ourselves as certain race is superior? You are absolutely wrong. There are a lot of top scorers who speak different languages and have different cultures as us. When you do not know the quality of students successfully enrolled in those courses, I suggest that you should just keep quiet before you see the names of the top scorers in the courses and feel ashamed afterwards.

The thing that really makes me furious is people's attitude towards non-critical courses. If a 4.0 scorer get the offer for some easily-overlooked courses such as pure sciences or forestry or biotechnology instead of medical or dental or pharmacy course that he or she wants, the world seems to collapse as if he or she should worth more than that. Excuse me, with such a flying-colour result you got in your pre-university, does that mean that you are in higher position and should look down on these 'ordinary' courses? So you said it is your dream to be a doctor (or dentist or pharmacist), why do you want to become a doctor? You want to help people? Then what's wrong with the nursing course? Nurses are the ones closest to the patients. They take care of the patients, encourage them and make sure that they are recovering well. To contribute something to the society, there are many ways and I am sure you know it.

Stop being a hypocrite.



[Disclaimer: I have no intention in offending anyone with this post which is quite emotional. The perspective towards this issue is about the stereotype where people worship critical courses thinking that top scorers will usually go for them (and are qualified to do so). I understand that there is an unfairness and lacking of transparency in the selection of students which can be a very important element in this issue but my opinion does not touch on this element. Hope you guys understand. Cheers!]

Bad Dream: Series - Review

(Image taken from gamejolt.com)

A ten-week semester break honestly is a little bit too long for me. I was determined to make this assignment-free holidays useful and beneficial but almost half of the time I am just wasting my life away doing things that I don't even remember what I have done. Slacking around makes me feel guilty because I have better things to do but I am willing to spend some time on a good game so that the time 'wasted' is not actually wasted, haha. However, the game I am going to share this time is just weird. Plain weird. Maybe I am not weird enough to understand what's going on for the whole series except the last one which makes some senses to me (like everyone else I think the last one is the best). Since it is named Bad Dream, so I guess there is no need to make any sense. Sometimes you don't remember nightmares that you had after you wake up.

The developer of indie game. I couldn't find his website, so maybe he does not have one.
(Image taken from gamejolt.com)

Spoiler Alert!!!!!!! Just kidding, haha...

If you are looking for something to do to kill your time and you like arts (there is a wide variety of arts you know, I consider this as one of the arts), this series of game made by Desert Fox that I found on Game Jolt might be suitable for you. What you have to do in the game is just clicking around (if you are simply too lazy to figure out what is what) until you get the endings. Each episode is very short and you can finish all of the episodes within one hour. The game looks like very simple hand drawn sketches with yellow background (I love yellow!) and its soundtrack is clean. There is no spoiler in this post as it is not needed (or should I say I am too lazy to figure out what I have played). You can play it in a relaxing way although there is blood and gore. You don't even have to think of which tool to use because as long as you picked up the tool, it will be used automatically at places it should be used. Something might appear to creep you out but it is not a big deal for me (so I believe you won't freak out too).

Bad Dream episodes:
Butcher
Graveyard
Hospital
Cyclops
Memories

By the way, I saw an update on its facebook page that there will be a Prologue in Bad Dream: Coma coming out. Actually I am wondering what makes this indie game getting quite a lot of good reviews. Just. Weird.



P/S: I would like to know if you guys have any thought on this game because I am just curious. Walkthroughs coming up! Stay tuned!