Super Mario World

Super Mario World (スーパーマリオワールド Sūpā Mario Wārudo, commonly abbreviated SMW) is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo Co., Ltd. as a pack-in launch title for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It has gone on to become a tremendous critical and commercial success, becoming the best seller for the platform, with 20 million copies sold worldwide.

In Japan, Super Mario World is also known as Super Mario Bros. 4 and it was one of the launch games for the system, along with Pilotwings and F-Zero.

Super Mario rides a Yoshi in one of the first levels of World 1.

The game has been re-released twice, first in a Game Boy Advance version with modified gameplay, as part of the Super Mario Advance series. The second re-release was for the Wii's Virtual Console in North America in 2007; there were no changes from the original SNES version.

Game description

This is a side-scroller as in previous Mario games, and it takes advantage of the Super Nintendo's 16-bit graphics and stereo sound. The game consists of a journey through levels in seven worlds: Yoshi's Island, Donut Plains, Vanilla Dome, Twin Bridges Area (including the Cheese & Butter Bridges and Soda Lake) terminating in Cookie Mountain, Forest of Illusion, Chocolate Island, and the Valley of Bowser. There are also two secret worlds - Star Road and Special Zone (accessed via the Star World) - which can be found by finding a key and a key hole in certain levels. Experienced players can utilise the Star Road to reach the end of the game in only 12 levels.

Screenshot of the first world map. The Yoshi's Island world is shown here.

Super Mario World contains a "world map" screen, which provides a passive overview of all the game's levels; each level is accessed individually from the world map. The concept was previously seen in Super Mario Bros. 3, and World's execution is similar but more elaborate. The game features 72 courses laid out across the seven worlds, and 96 exits (some levels have more than one exit; these levels are usually marked red). Secret exits open up new routes on the overworld map, often leading to secret levels. When a player reaches the completion of the 96 "goals," the beginning screen will display a star next to the number "96" beside the file the goals were completed on. Something to consider, however, is the fact that the game cover states that it contains "96 levels," implying that the number of stages and exits are equal when in reality there are only 72 true levels.

The Yoshis appear in four different colours (green, yellow, red, and blue), each with different abilities. Upon eating a shell of any colour, blue Yoshis can fly, red Yoshis can spit fire, and yellow Yoshis stomp the ground, hurting nearby enemies. A yellow shell that has been entered by a Koopa becomes multicoloured, allowing Yoshis of any colour to fly, stomp, and spit fire all in one. There are also Baby Yoshis in the Star World levels which can be picked up by Mario. After eating five enemies, three berries, or any power-up, they will become a fully grown Yoshi of the same colour.

Changes

Numerous changes were made to the graphics, sound and presentation, as expected when a series moves to a more advanced console with 16-bit gameplay. For example Princess Toadstool (later known as Peach) for the first time is depicted with blonde hair and white gloves, in line with her official character design. Mario is capable of a variety of new moves, including a "spin jump". Mario can pick up and throw items, but is now also able to throw them upwards or set them down gently. In addition to the classic Fire Flower ability to project fireballs, the Cape Feather allows Mario to fly with a cape. He can also use the cape to glide down slowly and thus traverse wide distances while airborne. Conveniently, Mario can receive cape and fire power-ups even when he is regular Mario, eliminating the need to "power-up" to Super Mario first. Mario can also spin jump in this game allowing him to ricochet off of hazardous surfaces, break through blocks (only when "Super"), and destroy enemies he would normally bounce off of; a caped spin jump will cause the cape to hit enemies adjacent to Mario, while a fire spin jump will launch one fireball each to Mario's left and right. Mario can also look straight up, although this ability is not useful in-game, other than controlling "direction coins," coins that move up, down, etc., from blocks. Finally, Super Mario World introduced Yoshi, a dinosaur Mario can ride.

Blocks are almost always a big part of a Mario game. In Super Mario World, one of the new blocks is the yellow block, which spins on its horizontal axis when hit, rendering it temporarily passable, then reverts to its solid state after a few seconds. (To destroy these blocks permanently, Mario must get a Super Mushroom and then spin jump on top of them. Blocks that are not destroyed using this method have items or a vine in them.) There are also blocks which Mario can pick up and throw, but disappear after a few seconds. New red triangular blocks grant Mario the ability to walk on vertical surfaces such as walls or pipes, or can be used as a trampoline when riding on Yoshi.

Enemies hit by fireballs from Fire Mario will turn into coins which can be collected, rather than getting knocked off the screen; the same is true if Yoshi spits out a red Koopa shell (which becomes a trio of fireballs). Koopa Troopas jump out of their shells after being stomped on. Goombas can be picked up and thrown at other enemies like Koopa shells. Paratroopas become regular Koopa Troopas if stomped on. Stomping on the shell-less Koopa will completely defeat it. Once they are completely defeated, they will not reappear if the player returns to that area unless the player exits and then re-enters the level. Additionally, for the first time Bowser does not breathe fire in the game, and uses a machine to attack Mario.

When any powered-up form of Mario gets hit by an enemy, he will revert back to Regular Mario. However, when Super Mario receives another power-up, his previous item is transferred to a "reserve box" at the top of the screen. When he is hit, the item drops down and he can catch it. For example, Fire Mario can interchange with Caped Mario at any time as long as the reserved item is held. However a Super Mushroom will never change Fire or Caped Mario, as he is already "super". Getting hit to the point to Regular Mario or pressing SELECT releases the item in the box.

Super Mario World was the first Mario game to provide the option of exiting a level without losing a life or completing it. This capability is only activated after the player has finished the level at least once. When replaying a level, players can exit to the map screen by pressing the START button to pause the game, then pressing SELECT. It was also the first Mario game to use a visible halfway point marker in levels; if the player is able to activate the marker, and dies or exits the level before reaching the end, they will arrive at the marker's location when re-entering the level. The marker will stay "set" even if the player does not immediately re-enter the level, and will not be reset until that level is completed. The marker will even turn Regular Mario into Super Mario.

Star World and Special Zone

The secret exits in some levels lead to one of five portals to Star Road, an otherwise secret realm. Each portal gives the player access to a level in the Star World. The levels here all have a baby Yoshi of a particular colour (blue, red, or yellow), which must be fed five enemies or coins or eat a star (if available) for Mario to be able to ride it. Feeding a coloured Yoshi a power-up results in it growing up immediately. Yoshis have special abilities when holding Koopa shells in their mouths, based on both their own colour and the colour of the shell. Blue colour allows the Yoshi to fly, red spits fireballs instead of releasing the shell, and yellow stomps the ground to stun or kill all nearby enemies (green has no special ability, but is the only one that turns enemies into coins once swallowed). For example, a blue Yoshi who holds a red shell in its mouth can fly, and then will spit the shell out as fireballs, and a red Yoshi who eats a yellow shell can stomp, then shoot fireballs.

Each level in Star World has two exits. The normal exit simply counts toward the total number of exits found; to properly complete it, however, the player must find the key and the keyhole (i.e. the secret exit) in each level to complete the circuit around the Star World and advance to Special Zone by finding the secret exit in Star World 5.

In Special Zone, there is a Super Famicom logo in the top-left corner of the screen. This logo is also part of the European SNES logo. In the Special Zone, there are eight additional levels which are often said to be of particular difficulty. Some have unique characteristics not seen in any other part of the game. In the American translation, the levels are named with expressions from surfer slang (in the following order: Gnarly, Tubular, Way Cool, Awesome, Groovy, Mondo, Outrageous and Funky) whereas the Japanese version has other names describing the approximate difficulty of the courses (each two levels would refer to itself as the same course). Save points are provided after every other level.

Completing the Special Zone results in a drastic change in graphics on whichever file the levels were completed on. Piranha Plants become pumpkins, Koopa Troopas now wear Mario masks and their colours have been switched so blue and yellow shells are now more common, and Bullet Bills become Pidgits. The world map takes on a different colour scheme, using more of an Autumn palette - however, the levels themselves do not change colour. In the Game Boy Advance port, however, this change does not take effect until all 96 exits are found.

In the English SNES version, the redone enemies have new names, but in the Japanese version and Super Mario Advance 2, the enemies share the same name since they are basically the same enemy. In Super Mario Advance 2, two additional enemies receive a facelift: Pokey and Goomba (the latter of which is thought to have been considered for it in the SNES version since it has two identical copies in the game data, one of which is used after Dinosaur Land changes).

Using Star Road also allows more experienced players to complete the game in only 12 stages. However, the stages are more difficult as the switch palaces have been skipped.

At the end of the game, after defeating Bowser and saving the Princess, Mario, Princess, and Yoshi return to Yoshi's home where Yoshi babies of different colours hatch. After they all cheer and thank you, the credits roll. During the credits, photos of the various character and villains appear with their designated name given. This is similar to the ending of SNES's Donkey Kong Country.

Development

The game was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, the music was composed by Koji Kondo, and the graphics were designed by Shigefumi Hino.

hyperventilation

In medicine, hyperventilation (or overbreathing) is the state of breathing faster and/or deeper than necessary, thereby reducing the carbon dioxide concentration of the blood below normal.

This is in contrast to hyperpnea, where the increased breathing is required to meet demand, as during and following exercise or when the body lacks oxygen (hypoxia), for instance in high altitude or as a result of anaemia. Hyperpnea may also occur as a result of sepsis, and is usually a sign of the beginning of refractory sepsis.

Hyperventilation can, but does not necessarily cause symptoms such as numbness or tingling in the hands, feet and lips, lightheadedness, dizziness, headache, chest pain, slurred speech and sometimes fainting, particularly when accompanied by the Valsalva manouevre. Sometimes hyperventilation is induced for these same effects. Hyperventilation can sometimes be self induced for moments of needed focus and adrenaline.

The related symptom tachypnea (or "tachypnoea") (Greek: "rapid breathing") is characterised by rapid breathing and is not identical with hyperventilation - tachypnea may be necessary for a sufficient gas-exchange of the body, for example after exercise, in which case it is not hyperventilation.

Causes

Stress or anxiety commonly are causes of hyperventilation; this is known as hyperventilation syndrome. Hyperventilation can also be brought about voluntarily, by taking many deep breaths. Hyperventilation can also occur as a consequence of various lung diseases, head injury, coffee abuse or stroke (central neurogenic hyperventilation, apneustic respirations, ataxic respiration, Cheyne-Stokes respirations or Biot's respiration). Lastly, in the case of metabolic acidosis, the body uses hyperventilation to counter the increased acidity of the blood; this is known as Kussmaul breathing.

Mechanism

In normal breathing, both the depth and frequency of breaths is varied by the neural system primarily in order to maintain normal amounts of carbon dioxide but also to supply appropriate levels of oxygen to the body's tissues. This is mainly done by measuring the carbon dioxide content of the blood; normally, a high carbon dioxide concentration signals a low oxygen concentration, as we breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide at the same time, and the body's cells use oxygen to burn fuel molecules to carbon dioxide.

The gases in the alveoli of the lungs are nearly in equilibrium with the gases in the blood. Normally, less than 10% of the gas in the alveoli is replaced each breath. Deeper or quicker breaths exchange more of the alveolar gas with air and have the net effect of drawing more carbon dioxide out of the body, since the carbon dioxide concentration in normal air is very low.

The resulting low concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood is known as hypocapnia. Since carbon dioxide is held in the blood mostly in the form of carbonic acid, hypocapnia results in the blood becoming alkaline, i.e. the blood pH value rises. (In the normal person, this alkalosis would automatically be countered by reduced breathing, but for various reasons this doesn't happen when the neural control is not present.)

If carbon dioxide levels are high, the body assumes that oxygen levels are low, and accordingly the brain's blood vessels dilate, to assure sufficient blood flow and supply of oxygen. Conversely, low carbon dioxide levels (e.g. from hyperventilation) cause the brain's blood vessels to constrict, resulting in reduced blood flow to the brain and lightheadedness. Thus, though it seems counterintuitive, breathing too much can result in a decrease in the oxygen supply to the brain. Doctors sometimes artificially induce hyperventilation after head injury to reduce the pressure in the skull, though the treatment has potential risks.

The high pH value resulting from hyperventilation also reduces the level of available calcium (hypocalcemia), which affects the nerves and causes the numbness or tingling of the hands. This occurs because alkalinisation of the plasma proteins (mainly albumin) increases their calcium affinity.

Baraka

Baraka is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

Baraka was introduced as a mean, unforgiving warrior in service of Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat II. The race he belongs to is that of the Tarkatan, a crossbreed between vile Netherealm creatures and denizens of Outworld. This race seems to be populating the vast deserts of Outworld. Baraka, and perhaps all of his race, has the ability to have long blades appear from his lower arms. Although he has had numerous incursions with the Earthrealm warriors, there appears to be no particular rivalry or hatred on Baraka's part towards Earth or its inhabitants. While fighting for his masters, he invariably also plots his own path to power. His nasty, deformed and brutish appearance has made him a fan favorite ever since he first appeared in Mortal kombat II.

In the events leading up to the second Mortal Kombat tournament, Baraka led the attack on the Shaolin Temple of Light, which eventually caused Liu Kang's quest for vengeance in Outworld, as Shao Kahn had planned. During this tournament, he also engaged in a partnership with Mileena. Whether they became lovers or not is another question, but it is certain that their plans to eventually overthrow their emperor themselves never came to fruition as Mileena was murdered and Baraka was sent away to quell an uprising in the lowlands of Outworld. Their second chance at obtaining power (Mileena was resurrected), during the events of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, equally failed.

Baraka as he appeared in MK: Deception

In Mortal Kombat: Deception, Baraka is working for Onaga with Mileena to destroy the Edenian forces. He leads his army against the Edenians (led by Mileena, impersonating Kitana), but they are routed. When he receives a request for a meeting from Mileena, whom he feels aided the Edenians, he sends a body double in his place. Mileena feeds the double to flesh-eating beetles, so Baraka tears her apart. He had sent what remained of his army after Sub-Zero, so Baraka's future is uncertain.

is success necessary for happiness?

 no. it's perfectly normal to be happy pursuing a higher goal. actually, i'd argue that the quest is more fulfilling in itself than its intended result. after you've attained what you were after, you don't achieve happiness, only satisfaction. but satisfaction is a flitting feeling, and if you don't have further aspirations in life, you'll sink into the inertia doldrums. after getting to the peak of a mountain, start climbing another.

An eye-opening realisation

Only go to college with a very, very firm plan. No going to school 'to discover myself.' An unpaid internship to confirm your desired career track is more profitable than a part-time job. Job-shadowing is also a good strategy.

Discover your aptitude(s.)
Identify occupations where being naturally good at [that] is valued.
Pick one that seems most interesting.
Find the fastest, cheapest way to obtain credentials/knowledge needed for entry.
Be among the top 5-10% of those in that programme.
College is a JOB. Pity the fools who think it's a party.

This isn't rocket science. Where it gets difficult is when we consider that large numbers of people don't really have (or cultivate) worthwhile attributes. Not everyone can be an engineer, so stick to what comes naturally to you.

What do I intend to tell my grandkids? Do. Not. Waste. Time. As early as you can, learn to make the most of every minute. Learn to play an instrument as a kid/teen, because you'll hopefully get 75 years to enjoy it. Read, study, lift weights (boys) or take dance classes (girls) and realise that the more you make of you, the more you attract good things. Be polite, engage with others but realise that you are aiming high, and few people will want to take that journey themselves.

I'm not that old but already I feel the frost of being 'out of time.' I look back and painfully realise the value of every minute I pissed away doing non-value-added things. There are two paths we can walk, the Path of Least Resistance and the Path of Least Regrets. They have nothing in common.

Chew Chew Baby

A man and his sidekick are driving through a safari in africa, lost in contemplation of the exotic scenary. They pull up in front of a bevy of pigmies and find the diminutive folk quite cute, while one distinct speciman starts daydreaming about cooking the tourist alive in a cauldron. While our plucky man asks for the pigmy to pose for a photograph, the audience gets the first glimpse that something is amiss: the pigmy flashes a disturbing set of pointy teeth, resembling the jaws of a tropical fish. Later safely ensconced in his home, the man throws a slide presentation depicting highlights of his recent trip to a loose collection of acquaintances when a knock is heard from the front door. In comes the meanest thing under 4 feet tall: the same pigmy that was being shown on the slide exhibition stands before one very astounded man, but he is still unsuspecting of this tiny stranger's motivation.

We immediately cut to both going to sleep, when the titular foe's stomach starts growling in a most audible manner. Without a second thought, he sets out to lunge at his sleeping host, when the latter wakes up just before having his arm chomped off. He assumes that the pigmy has a toothache and takes him to a dentist. The little man eyes up the dental care professional with gleeful enthusiasm and once both are alone behind a closed door, a loud chomping sound is heard from outside and the pigmy exits the room with a pleasant expression on his face, like a cat that just got the cream. The shot of the dentist's office even has the gall to show an overhead tube dangling above the patient's chair, indicating that a terrible struggle just took place.

The next scenes are nothing but a succession of the following pigmy's victims being disposed off in gruesome fashion. There is somethinhg intrinsically terrifying about not being aware that one's life is in danger until it's too late, and this cartoon gets it down to a T.

It isn't until one of our hero's childhood friends is gulped down that he wises up to the pigmy's murderous intent. With little decorum he takes off running, with the demonic goblin in hot pursuit. At first, nothing seems to stop his blood-thirsty onrush and our good character seems to be running out of places to hide when he's run down by a motor vehicle. The cannibal beast prepares for one final assault at his coveted prey when an ambulance intervenes in the nick of time and the paramedic gets immediately busy to do an impromptu blood transfusion by getting the tiny man beast as the donour. Before long, our good-hearted man devolves into a ravenous beast and takes off after a desperate foreign midget. The hunter slowly catches up to his fleeing prey and a slash of the former's jaws ends the cartoon, complete with a violent shake of the end card.


This is hardly a boring cartoon, though it's clearly not recommended to young children. In many ways, it resembles a very short horror movie: there's no background music and the pervading foreboding atomosphere is enough to set off warning klaxons early on. It's also not animated in a conventional manner, it's jerky and simplistic, but definitely not in a cute childlike way. In addition, the scene transition has that famous fadeout effect, akin to real movies, which further distances it from the usual trappings and puerile appeal that a regular cartoon should offer. The final quarter of the show features a chase sequence, and any new viewer would do well to not try to anticipate what will transpire. It's already enough of a twist to have real people picked off one by one, so there's no way to predict a happy ending. Instead, a cliffhanger wraps up the sequence of horror killings, leaving it up to the viewer to interpret our hero's descent to madness and cannibalistic vices.

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 24

I first learned about the chairman's obsessions with unusual forms of entertainment when he assigned Tonegawa the task of coming up with Restricted Rock-Paper-Scissors. This time, the chairman makes things more simple by outright telling Tonegawa to get on with implementing "Human Derby", a new gamble involving debtors, prepared only for the moneyed leader's amusement. The actual gamble isn't shown so as not to rob the show of its light-hearted feel, but anyone acquainted with Kaiji already knows what it is. One of the gambles of Kaiji season 1, it takes place at night in front of a huge bourgeois crowd, but Yamazaki is off enjoying an evening reserved all for himself. When he first received updates of this mysterious event, he immediately thought, "I have got to see this." I mean, how can you go wrong with a gamble specifically thought up by the chairman? Well, in some respects, his ideas sometimes fall short of sensible expectations. Yamazaki eventually does come close to finding out what it is, but his cell phone runs out of battery millisecond before his coworkers can tell him and the suspense continues.

A group of black suits has gathered for one of their peer's wedding. Tonegawa is present as well, but it's soon revealed that predictabe wedding parties are the bane of his wits. The guests do as they please, including showing a short movie about the groom's past, revealing unknown information about his origins, much to Tonegawa's surprise. He sets out to stick around longer, until the wedding photo shoot starts. In a fateful turn of events, two unpredicatble things happen. One is that the black suits elicit some coordenated action with their arms and legs, suggesting that they had planned in advance to form a flash mob. The other is Tonegawa's misjudging the effect of their efforts after noticing that the remainder of the crowd is warming up to it. Tonegawa acts defeated at first, but soon resigns to the overall cheerful mood and surprises everyone by walking away as if to retreat from the scene, only to moonwalk back to join the fun.

The very act of trying to relate an otherwise somber series like Kaiji with the upbeat tone of Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa would normally be taken as an exercise in futility. When Nobuyuki Fukumotto decided to do it anyway, i knew that i was in for some treat. All that was left was to check to see what he would come up with. At first I couldn't imagine how this could ever be reconciled with the bitter and tragic tone permeating all over Kaiji season 1. And it still can't, that's what season 2 was for, to smoothen out the edges and make the series more relatable by giving it a more human side. Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa is just the perfect touch to connect some loose ends about Tonegawa's background with the main story featured in the series. The end result is an artful production, which will have me coming back to rewatch it time and again. Just like the first two seasons of Kaiji.

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 23

I thought that this episode was going to be about Tonegawa just attending a high school reunion, getting some insights from his encounter with his former class mates, and rushing back home to implement the ideas that he concocted in his head after being inspired by the event. Well, it's not. This episode delves into Tonegawa's past, where he used to be mildly tormented by a couple of silly kids out to have fun. Turns out that they haven't changed much, which causes Tonegawa to become frustrated. He honestly expected grown-up people to behave quietly and demure. Instead, the same boisterous bunch prove themselves to still have it in them to be loud and playful. Tonegawa chalks it up to successful people being usually quiet while people who didn't make it big tend to still be immature, as if they still have something to prove. In a way, this has kind of been my observation as well. When you're in your late thirties and with a family, you don't feel the need to be overly extroverted and expansive as when you were twenty five. Our hero suddenly has a realisation, taking time off to reminisce about a girl making advances towards him and how he just jilted her in a way that most people wouldn't like to disclose. In the end, all is well though. The school reunion ends with the students taking part in a choir, with Tonegawa deftly tickling the ivories as his contribution to the nostalgic evening.

Now we are into the Otsuki part. He's again on another 1-day furlough with his trusted companion -Numakawa. It seems like that they will just go about their carefully planned day without anything in the way. But then it happens. Our foreman came down with a cold, advising Numakawa to go on without him and he needs to take care of his status ailment. He puts into action a curious plan: first he gathers a bunch of ingredients at a nearby food mart, rents a furnished flat and gets down to prepare a meal specifically deisgned to help him get over. The repast is enough to send him into mirthful fits, and he proceeds to eat more than originally planned. To wrap up such a successful meal, he goes to bed with some sort of comfort blanket, employing his own special technique to make the most of it and send the agents of his illness packing: The Otsuki Roll. This consists of him grabbing both edges of the blanket and slowly rolling from side to side to wrap himself in. Thus suitably rolled up, he finally allows himself to drift into sleep, the comfort and preparations for his night's rest taking care of the rest. Nobody, not even a petty strain of virus, is going to stop Otsuki from enjoying his 1-day excursions, which means that he still manages to catch up with Numakawa and spend time with him as promised.

Otsuki may be a bit too concerned about his health, but it's understandable once you understand the nature of his 1-day furloughs: to enjoy to the max the brief reprieve from work that he obtained from all his hard work (and profits from his side business and underground chinchirorin). Being ill at a time like this is akin to coming down with a serious illness on your holidays. Otsuki manages to successfully handle this mishap while simulataneously have a ball of a time thanks to his culinary skills and homemaking skills. Now i have to try the Otsuki roll technique to get more cosy and warm on cold nights.

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 22

This episode picks up where the previous one left off, though it features first Otsuki. This may be on account of people being more curious about the honcho than Tonegawa overall (though we're just as much enthusiastic about our charismatic executive). Otsuki tries to strike a deal with Odagiri, but the latter is suspicious of his plump peer's ulterior motivations. Seems that Odagiri is onto Otsuki trying to pry into his movie exhibition business, but Otsuki's intentions aren't so obvious at this point. He tries to win Odagiri over with a dinner complete with alcoholic beverages to allay his suspicions and make him more cooperative to his proposal. It's never revealed what it actually, but the audience can gather that it's related to a part of the profits yielded from Odagiri's sideways undertaking. Either that or outright deception. The money-hungry foreman is on the brink of cementing the deal, even getting their black-suited overseer as the witness to their joint partnership, but falls just short when it comes to light that he had never watched "Once upon a time in America". His unsuspecting partner insists that he watch this NOW, conveniently showing that on his tablet computer. The only problem is that the feature is longer than their remaining time on the surface. The future of their deal is left uncertain as both are driven back to their old familiar world.

As for Tonegawa, he manages to get ahold of a crucial piece of evidence when one of his trusted men notices a picture of a cell phone on one of the past posts. Using photoshop cs6, the brightnness of the image is increased until the reflection on the mobile screen is clear enough to be discerned by all onlookers. Turns out it has been Ebitani all along, and Tonegawa conveniently happens to spot him just outside their headquarters. Tonegawa and his team quickly descend to where the lone wolf is standing, and proceed to confront him about his spiteful actions. In true Phoenix Wright fashion, Ebitami confesses his misdeed along with his motivation in an effusion of perceived slights. This is all for nought though as Tonegawa has him sedated right away and locked up. However, he isn't taken to a regular cell, it's more like a studio apartment outfitted with all the wonders of modern technology: a plasm tv set, a blu-ray player, a computer etc. All part of Tonegawa's design to allow for the stray sheep to amend his ways and start tweeting for Teiai instead of his selfish purposes, the condition for his parole being the threshold of 100000 followers. In the end, we see him exiting his comfort prison, presumably successful in his duty.

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 21

Tonegawa and one of his trusted companions find out that a hate twitter account has been taking jabs at Teiai and garnering a great deal of followers as a bonus. They get lost trying to understand the pattern of the passive aggressive posts and why they command such a huge amount of followers while the Teiai official twitter account has trouble drawing any attention from the outside public. Tonegawa tries his hand at this, but it turns out that people hooked on social media are only after silly and inane stuff. Tonegawa eventually happens upon a solution that hadn't been on any of his previous mind maps: after noticing how the troll account makes heavy use of anime characters and gifs of cute felines, he sets out to watch real anime episodes, making notes of their effectiveness and appeal to draw in people from a variety of backgrounds.


   While our guy is busy implementing what he's learning from his heroic decision (it's rather discomfiting for a man like Tonegawa to watch animes and look up gifs of kitties on the internet), their mysterious rival's ever increasing gaggle of followers seems to be unending, always surpassing the Teiai account's by about a ratio of 3 to 1.


 However, the latest tweet by their nemesis comes with a surprising give-away: what appears to be some minor criticism of the cafeteria miso soup ends up associating the man behind the hate account with someone actually from inside the company.....
 
In the next segment of this episode, we cut back to Otsuki and his customary quest for money (perica, the legal tender of their underground labour camp) and delicacies. The foreman of group C, Odagiri, had been pestering him for a while after dabbing in entrepreneurship and setting up a snack and drinks stand, thus threatening Otsuki's monopoly. Now he's driving his marks customers away from his infernally addictive game of underground chinchororin. Otsuki's curiosiy leads him to a room held in darkness, where scads of labourers are arranged before a small bright screen positioned on a crate some way in front of them.


 Odagiri hovers over to where Otsuki is standing, proceeding to explain that he's providing a new form of entertainment in their otherwise drab work environment: showing downloaded films on his tablet! As there isn't much else to do on labour camp thousands of feet beneath the surface, the idea quickly finds a lot of purchase, and Odagiri is willing to bank on it. Otsuki decides to do something to regain the upper hand in the underground business arena, even going so far as taking a 1-day furlough at the same time as Odagiri. The episode ends on a cliff hanger, with the next episode hopefully expounding whatever came of Tonegawa's search for the traitorous insider...

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 20

A mysterious car drives through dark city streets towards an underground casino. As it turns out, the onrushing vehicle contains our beloved title character while the casino is part of the Teiai conglomerate and in charge of its inner operations is Ichijou, who is also responsible for guarding the casino's major draw card: a pachinko machine named the Bog. It should probably be explained that this episode is a nod to Kaiji season 2, which I couldn't review for personal reasons, although i did watch all the episodes. I'm thinking of doing this again now as this series has an extremely high replay value. Ichijou and his enchanted casino were also in Kaiji season 2 and were a big part of it, with Kaiji having to take both of them on in an epic contest against the Bog. Here it is again, only this time is Tonegawa who is up against it. The odds aren't as stacked up against the Teiai's executive as they were against Kaiji. Tonegawa has a very easy time handling the forest of pins, the paddle flippers and the demonic triple trays (you'd have to know the Bog yourself to know what I mean), effortlessly pushing ball after ball to the desired destination. Ichijou puts up a façade of indignation mixed with frustration, but Tonegawa easily sees through the veneer of pretense. It doesn't matter in the end as Tonegawa predictably wins the mock battle and calmly picks his way out of the caisno with its coveted prize under his belt. At least everyone can safely sleep as no harm was brought upon anyone involved (the casino was a subsidiary of Teiai after all).

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 19

A huge fateful event has just befallen all of Tonegawa's team and  befuddles the black suits with its distracting properties. With the departure of some of the group members, new slots are open for grabs on the team, and the positions are quickly filled up with Teiai's latest arrivals, one of which happens to be...a woman. The men in black are dazed with their female counterpart, and it just happens that she seems perfect in a number of ways, not the least of which is to provide a feminine touch to the drab work environment. Predictably, she isn't spared the romantic passes that her coworkers were bound to make, but nothing comes of it. She just wants to be left mostly alone and go back to being a young woman with something to prove to the Powers That Be. The plot shifts from her to the men's reactions, as her mobile starts ringing an uncomfortable number of times, strongly hinting at the presence of a male interloper to her affections. They start to come to grips with this distressing reality, until it's revealed that she had been talking to a female friend. This discovery served to rekindle the men's spirits again, giving them a measure of hope for what the future might unfold. When she pops back into the story again, it is to serve beverages for Tonegawa and the Chairman, who has a new admirer who makes no bones about making Tonegawa jealous. It takes some time before Tonegawa picks up on his rival's strategy, but he finally concedes that his post as the second-in-command at Teiai is at stake and the fight is on.

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 18

My fancy for this episode was piqueted right at the start as Tonegawa gets the result f his physical. It's another of these episodes that deals with Tonegawa's inner troubles and how he goes about solving them, which usually results in hilarity. This time his quest for better health leads to a drastic change in his feeding and physical habits in an attempt to cut back on fatty acids, sugars and other vices common to the modern man. Sometimes it's episodes like this that turn out to have an extremely high replay value, mainly on account of its capacity to take the viewer on grand flights of fancy. It's one of those delightfully relatable episodes, easily one of the best.

Doushita soon learns of Tonegawa's intentions and sets out to support him by clinging to him like an old sibling afraid that his fraternal peer might get hurt. From a minor annoyance it soon developed into an unpleasant undercurrent of uncalled-for interventions, not the least of which is Tonegawa's sneaking into a toilet stall to savour a cutlet dish. Doushita pops by with the sole intention of helping his leader and stop him from going down the slippery road that is giving in to temptation. It eventually works out for the best though, as Tonegawa leaves the doctor's office a much healthier man after his second appointment. But his impressions of Doushita have taken a hit, and unlike his previous health status, the fix for this isn't medical attention.

The second part of the episode takes us back again to Otsuki and his exploits during his next one-day furlough. This time he notices someone he had never met before, but whose culinary tastes strangely align with his. In addition to the coincidental opinions, they also happen to visit the same eateries at the same time. In case you're wondering, that's abnormal. Chance encounters with an acquaintance are rare, but they seem to happen with comedic regularity. After taking one last trip to one of his favourite culinary haunts, Otsuki notices his mysterious friend again. Everything goes as expected except when he orders chilli sauce and quail eggs as topping. Our rotund protagonist is clearly taken aback from this unlikely combination and starts to wonder what sort of folly would drive one man to conduct such an experiment. His curiosity gets the better of him and he decides to add the novel combination to his repertoire. The result blows his mind, causing to him to drift into childlike feelings of whimsical wonder and awe. Back at work, he reflects on this sequence of events and thinks to himself who was his nameless friend might be.

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 17

This episode takes place almost entirely within the confines of the mighty Teiai office building. That would involve the usual black suits and Tonegawa commanding them as expected. But things aren't going as peachy as usual; the winds of change have started blowing through the usually quiet corporate environment and most of the members down on the lower end of the hierarchy ladder are feeling uneasy about the potential changes. The practical upshot of this shift is that demotion is a  nigh possibility. No one is safe from the dreaded effects of labour reassignment. To be honest, it actually takes a long time into the episode to get wind of why the Teiai work transfers are so feared. Best i could gather is that if you don't fit in well wherever you're assigned, they try to stick you in a new slot so you won't make much of an impact if you screw up. Problem is, you're reassigned to a low-skilled post that no one else would normally want to take. Guess where is the job that no one wants to go? It's on the southernmost island of Japan, roughly on the same latitude as hawaii. that makes it a tropical paradise, and you're being shipped off there to actually earn a living. yes, i wish i could go in their place and bask in all of the wonderfulness that is life by the seaside. Too bad I don't work at Teiai. According to Tonegawa, he at one time caught something strange in his chest back when he was deployed at the same area. His report reveals the offending entity to be a coral sea snake, couched in a brief personal account so as to warn the departing employees of the dangers of being careless in those parts. This still does little to intimidate me. I wish I could be among the individuals chosen to be transferred, even if it meant a half-demotion and risk of coral sea snake bites.

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 16

Lots of people have hazy memories of a rival who seems on the surface less competent than you, but somehow always manages to effortlessly come off on top. Both Tonegawa and Kurisaki need to prove themselves to the dreaded chairman. Tonegawa plays by the book and wholeheartedly agrees with everything that his superior mouths. That was his recipe for success at the Teiai corporation after all, so it's a guaranteed path to get in the chairman's good graces. But Kurusaki has a different approach which relies on earnest criticism of some of the chairman's actions. Normally this would result in an endless string of punishment and admonishment. But Kurosaki manages to use just the right amount of condescending language to get on the chairman's good side. Whenever Tonegawa tried the same, it always rubbed him the wrong way. So our protagonist decides to play it safe, whether they are eating a steak which doesn't measure up to acceptable standards or the chairman asks for their opinion on his personal trifles. However, Tonegawa notices that Kurosaki is beating him in terms of coolness and decides to go on the offensive. He looks to observe the chairman's reactions and probe for an opening. It takes a while for it to materialise, but when it does, he charges headlong at it. However, it was a little too little when he realised that his timing was bad. Some mayhem ensues when the chairman decides to get a horse to take part at the race track and orders Tonegawa to do the same, but choose a poor-looking specimen. The dutiful middle manager does as told, with the expectation that his boss' thoroughbred equine emerges as the winner against his own, something that doesn't go quite as planned...

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 15

Otsuki takes another 1-day leave, but when he's about to start enjoying his timed freedom, he notices a black suit standing guard nearby, watching him. Otsuki doesn't take his presence as a nuisance, but rather, he reaches out to him and offers him some of his snacks. The black suit is caught off-guard by Otsuki's friendliness, then reluctantly accepts to jointly engage in his outings. The remaining episode deals with Otsuki's attempts to enjoy life outside to the fullest with his coworker - Numakawa-, and the latter's astonishment at how the foreman can feel at ease even with the ominous countdown to go back to their underground labour camp. Their stroll leads through restaurants, walks in the park and a carnival fair. In the end, they happily return to the dreaded mine where they have to work, with plans to go again on another 1-dat leave.

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 14

You work nonstop at a labour camp, starting while it's still dawn and only punching the clock again well into the evening. You're not paid a regular wage; rather, you need to work to pay off your debt, and the terms for cancelling said debts are at your employer's discretion. This means years of indentured servitude with little in the way of entertainment. Apart from a 1-day furlough, awarded to those who can afford it.

eating a burger with a friendly leaf.

 To obtain this highly coveted leave, one has to pay 500000 units of the currency used in this underground facility, in addition to being granted permission from the higher-ups. The latter requirement purports to be some form of reward granted to those capable of great efficiency and diligence at work, but it's never made clear. We only know that the one thing standing between another sweaty day slogging away at this mine and freedom basking in the sunshine of our regular world is this required fee. As long as you have the money, you're good to go. Otsuki, the foreman, happens to have loads of it, mostly stashed away thanks to his exploits in Chinchirorin, a game that he happens to win easily thanks to his personal 4-5-6 dice, but don't tell anyone. It's not like they're aware of it.

The dark aura of someone ordering beer while others can't.

Our Honcho starts his journey as a man enjoying his hard-earned temporary freedom visiting a men's clothing store and taking casual strolls about town. Being a fully functional organisation, Teiai always assigns people to keep track of its holiday-makers. They puzzle over the purpose of someone on a one-day furlough getting a business suit and usual office attire. At first they assume that he was heading over to some upscale club or something, but it turns out that his choice of formal garments was to make him look like a salary man fortunate enough to order beer and extravagant food items at a cut-and-dried diner in early afternoon. the purpose of his suit is soon revealed: to make him look majestic while the common crowd, those with regular jobs living regular lives, have to endure the sight of someone doing what none of them can do. The onlookers gasp in astonishment at the singular rotund, albeit fastidiously dressed figure who proceeds to guzzle mug after mug of the elusive barley brew. They reluctantly carry on with their ordinary meals, while Otsuki is ecstatic.

When man and crab jump for joy

Another escapade. This time our hero takes it really easy and does everything without any semblance of haste. He lies down on the grass, falls asleep and proceeds to eat a simple dinner at an average fast food place. Upon realising that his time is up in under a few hours, he sets out to make the most of it. Being something of an expert in fine cuisine (his size should cue you in on that), he decides that a trip to his former favourite haunt is in order. This is actually the place he used to go to as a young student. There's even someone playing a guitar on the pavement, singing the lyrics from the ending credits of the first season of Kaiji! These nods to other Fukumoto works are always a fine touch, making this series all the more appealing. At one point you find yourself watching it just to spot any reference that you might have overlooked the first time around.

That's a rather telling avatar

Anyway, our heroic honcho is caught in two minds as he has to choose which dish to order. He's stuck between his long time favourite 'crab rice' and the mysterious-looking omellete rice. After long deliberation and inner reflections, he opts for the latter. At first he starts to regret his choice as this dish doesn't seem to have anything special to it. But he's soon caught up in the marvellous whirl of the delicacy's taste, and proceeds to wolf it down with gusto. He was already pleased enough when the cook comes personally to greet him, rekindling an old acquaintance with the former student who used to order crab rice on the regular. He presents the former college student with a generous order of crab rice, reminding him that there's no need to pay as it's on the house. The foreman is delighted at eating his comfort food once more. And it feels exactly like that. Memories of a fulfilled youth come flooding back, engulfing him in thoughts and recollections of his younger self enjoying his favourite form of art: the culinary sort.

Transceding experiences

In short, this is one of the best episodes of this series. The viewer can easily relate to any aspect of Otsuki's routine, whether it be compulsory work or his penchant for making the most of his short leisure time. I don't think that Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa gets any better than this, but I'd be glad to be proven wrong.

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa Episode 13

Tonegawa's long-waited day is finally here. The first game of Restricted Rock-Paper-Scissors is already scheduled to take place in a few days' time and all he has to do is bring the happy news to his beloved chairman. The chairman is one cookie who likes to keep our main character guessing though, and soon Tonegawa is cornered, having to answer some random questions thrown in from Teiai's mastermind. The questions seem innocuous enough at first. If you're traversing a length of woods, and all of a sudden an animal pops by in front of you, which animal is it? The answer to which is supposed to determine how Tonegawa views his fearful boss. He somehow manages to give a plausible answer, and is soon presented with another challenging query. And another.

The Chairman's lens of truth.

 To anyone familiar with this series, one thing should become obvious right away: the chairman has a weird of shit-testing Tonegawa. It doesn't seem that he does that out of spite or just to test his mettle though. The old honcho seems genuinely interested in Tonegawa's take on just about every possible subject, like he doesn't do anything without consulting with our title character first. Problem is that, there are dozens of black suits available to him, but he seems to have a fancy to Tonegawa. Maybe that's how he became the second-in-command at Teiai.

Noob Saibot may be lurking anywhere. Even on another planet

The chairman is on the offensive, trying to get Tonegawa to reveal how he actually has little respect for his judgement. Tonegawa finally trips, stating that, should he ever be in charge of a space craft forced to crash land on an unknown planet, the first creature he'd expect to find would be an octopus entity. One would almost think that he had been playing this game a little too much.

I'm going to get a shirt with this design. Much more clever than the usual blather hipsters sport nowadays

The chairman dishes out Tonegawa's obligatory punishment, only to be taken aback by an added detail to his description of the pictured space octopus: it's blue, rather than red. The redress is met with astoundment, causing the older speaker to back up, the black suits nearby joining his quivering figure in unison. Apparently, whatever a blue octopus from outer space means according to the chairman's literary source, proves to be a daunting revelation. It's never revealed what it is, but the chairman concedes that he couldn't imagine how someone could devise such a perverted thought. He ends up throwing a confetti party for Tonegawa, complete with a birthday cake and people applauding him with a performance stage as the setting. Tonegawa comes away the winner again, but what matters is that Restricted Rock-Paper-Scissors is finally given the get-on and Tonegawa can rest. For now.